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DISTANTYET uliY"a'VERYCLOSE

F@lt :

VILNIUSMINTIS PUBLISHERS I9E9

Translat€d lrom the Lithu.trian by DALIJA TEKORIENE

r, 4?02390204-340 ,, "^N mffitl- 89 O Min-is Pubiishers, 1989

ISBN 5.417-002t4

When you look at the ancient cit ies and buildings olIndia, i ts temples, sPacious halls and giant sculpturescarved oi sol id stone, at the ten'century_old Ajanta ires'coes inlerior lo none of the best specimcns oi medicvalart in Europe, you become aware vhy the East is consi 'dered to be the cradle ot civi l ization As the West tooka turn for the victory of mind over matief, lhe de-veloDment oi science and the creation of material values,it bicame dominated by practical activi l ies and rationalihinking. The Easi, on ihe conirary, has been conccntral 'ing on man's psychology and spir i tual values lfom ihe\ 'ery beginning. Throughout the long centuries al l thescdil ierences found expression in art, l i terature and philo'soPhY.

The East and the West, the two poles ol a magnct, eachtrying to inf luence the other. The walls which used toseparate people in the past have long crumblcd down.We l iYe in the agc of extensive lravel, communicalion,exchange of knovledge and iniormation. Whatever bar'r ier there is i t is confined to the invisible world oi thoughtand ideas.

In the West people began to take serious interest inthe East several centuries ago. This interest gave birth 10a new branch oi science, the Oriental siudies, and broughtthe arts of Europe - painting, l i terature and music_unde. a considerable inf luence oi the East. Rembrandtcopied Oriental miniatlres, Matisse and Van Gogh prac-t iced the Oriental manner oi painting, the two geniusesoi l i terature - Goethe and Tolstoy - studied lhe wri i tensources of the Orient, Herman Hesse atternpled to recon-ci le the philosophic and aesthetic principles of the East

and the West, which was also the aim oi the famouscomposer5 Beelhoven, Mahler and Messiaen,

But the inl luence of the East has always been thegreatest in philosophy. A lot ol analogies can-be lound inthe philosophical ideas of the ancient Greeks Socrates,Plato, Aristotle, and the ancient Hindu books.

Alberr Schwei!zer, a Swiss philosopher of the 20rhcenlury whose conlr ibution lo the development oi WesLernI 'hi lo:ophy is very great indeed, was guidea by ancienr.ntndu pntlosor'hy both in his work and his personal l i fe.He- \ \ . r . . . l und o r repear ing t l r e

"nc ien t max im . iBe you r own

lanrefn". He betieved thal a loving man possessas al l lheworld in himself and this Ieads to perlection. Isn r i t arei lection ol universal love advocated by Hindu philo_sophers?

^ The East is a poweriul attraction to the contemporarySoviet art ists,_writers and philosophers as well ( i l 'wouldnol be possible to narne thern al l), who try lo assessl l r e , i n \ r l ua .b le he r i t age o f I nd i r ' r p r . t i n r ] r c t i gh t o fInodern achievements.

The ancient fiaxifi Et otiente la, has stood the testof l ime..Light-means wisdom. Allhough I ieel incl ined rosee . l l r s l o l a l t . coming f f om lnd ia , i t wou ld no l beright 10 neglecl the other Oriental countries, for the civi_l ization o[ the world would have been much poorer withoulInem.

India is our cradle, a unique counlry, which, unlike anumber oi other old civi l izations, has preserved its ancientculture and never grudged to share i t with the neigh-bouring peoples.

We identity India with the old majestic buildings, theAjanta kescocs, Asoka's pi l lars, Taj Mahal, Akbar's tomb.

We ideniily India with the Vedas, the Uponishads andth€ two greatest books in the world, lhe Mahobharctoand the Ramagana,

We identity India with the Bhagauod-Gita, a col lectionof eighteen hymns glori lying man, his greatness andpower.

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We identi iy India with the names o[ Tiruvaluvar, Ka-bir, Tagore, Ramakrishna, Vivekanarda, Gandhi, Radha-krishnan, Nehru, Indira Gandhi.

We identify India with i ts reverberating voice of uni-versal peace reaching us irom down the centufies, withthe Delhi Declaration on the new world, a world withoutnuclear weapons, a world which has done away withviolence and hatred, fear and suspicion.

We idenii fy India with the white summits of the Hi-malayas, the sacred Ganges bringing I i fe to the thirstyland and the human heart.

We see India in the open eyes oi every Indian whothroughout the long centuries has been taught by thesages to love his fel low being.

It is not easy to know India. But this knowledgebroadens ouf horizons, takes us into the inner depths ofourselves and leads us up and up into the mystery oithe universe.

A vefy nice smell- -. I t is not easy to understand whereit is coming from. The trees, the shrubs, the grass orthe earih, which is so red and so un'Lithuanian? Thesun is boil ing hol, i t seems to be sitt ing r ight on myhead. I can't escape it , I can't protect myself against i t .Alter a short while I ' l l have lo leave the shade and walkon together with the sun. I have to walk the streets ofthc city, I have to see everything with my own eyes.Thai is why I have come here. It sometimes seems to methat I came to India on a wonderlul carpet. Overtakingtinle, I emerged on the olher side ol the real vorld-Someone from the wait ing crowd piaced a wreath ofl lowers round my shollders, put his hands together atthe breast, bowed his head and said: 'Namaste!" 'lhis

was surely a greeting but I did not know what to answerand I said: "Atit ! "fhank youl" ' The Indian looked atme once again and sait 'Namaste". I took courage andsaid €ven louder: "Aiin, at ia!" And suddenly I remem-

bered that the Sanskrit word lor i t was very similar. . -The invisible wall which had divided us crumbled down.

India. . . This name occurs in the earl iest writ ten re-cords oi mankind. At the loot ol lhe Himalayas, on theterri tory oi the present India, archaeologists f ind evidenceoi human habitation daling back half a mil i ion years.Three biggest r ivers oi India, the Ganges, the Brahma-putra and the Indus, r ise in the Himalayas. The valleysof the l ive tr ibutaries ol the Indus river were the homeot one ol the greatest ancient civi l izations. The veil hang-ing over this civi l ization has been raised by the excava-t ions in Harappa and Mohenjo Daro.

Mohen jo Daro means ' the mound o i t he dead 'and i tis the name used by the local people to fefer 1o ihe city.But what is i ls real name? Five thousand years intervenebeiween !s and one of the oldest cit ies oi our planet.

If is believed that the people oi the Indus valley learntto write a l i t t ie later than the Sum€rians and used ietterssomewhat similar lo those on lhe Easter lsland the stoneiaces oi which sl i l l hold many secrets. Serious attemptshave been made to i ind the continent ol Lemuria, men-tion€d in Hindu legends. The number of secrets held inthe ancient books is very great indeed!

People t l 'ho l ived along the Indus river cal led theircountry Sindhu, but the l irst sound of this word was loo.di l f icul i ior their neighbours, the Persians, to pronounceand they changed it into H. Thus Hindu and Hindustanappeared. In this form the word reached ancient Greeceand all ihe adjace[t countries.

India was also known by some other ancient namessuch as Jambudvipa ' the land of the sacred tree Jambu',and Braltmavartha ' the country oi Brahma'. For us Lith-uani6ns. there is a clear association between udrrfta andthe Lithuanian word, oadai 'gaie', so lhat the translationof Brahmavartha seems to be'the gate to the country otBrahma'.

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Three and a hali thousand years ago ihe people whocame to lhe iert i le val ley ol the Ganges called themselvesArvans or perhaps thal wa: how they were called by othersThev seli l ia dorvn there and called their new homel2ndAryinvartha ' the country of the Aryans'. Their l i rst greatking was Bharat. There are many songs aboui ihe exPloitsol ahi. Iegendary hero. The erploits oi Bharat { sons arerecounted in one o[ the greaL books of ancient India theMahabharcta. Some timJago lhe lndian golernment ol i i 'cial ly conlirmed the second name of ihe state, Bharai,after the lamous king.

No matier how hard ihe scholars have tr ied, ihey havenot been able lo give a convincing answer to ihe questionwho the Aryans were and wherefrom they came to IndiaThere have been many di i ferent theories about i t . TheEnglish were incl ined to prove that the Aryans had brought10 the lndian tf ibes a superior culture which became knownas Indian cullure, similar to that which developed laterin Cfeece, Italy and, natural ly, England. For centuries,the lol lowing assert ion had been taken lor granted: hadit noi been for ihe Aryans, the world would not have hadwhat is known as the phenomenon ol Indian culture.

But the excavaiions in Mohenjo Daro and Harappaknocked the bottom out of ihis theory: they proved thatlndia had possessed advanced culture long beiore thearrival of the Aryans.

The meaning of the Sanskrit word oryd is not quiteclear. Some scholars say it is derived lrom orl whichmeans 'a stranger' but in the yedas it also means iree-born. noble'. The local people met the newcomers wiihouthosii l i ty so long as they sett led down peacelul ly on thelree lands, but the feud, natural ly, erupted when thenewcomers began lo appropriate their land.

The Mahabharuta contains descript ions of a northerncountry, long nights and long days. This points to theconclusion thal lhe Afyans came from the north. This alscserves as the basis for the theory ol some Indian scholarsol the Arctic origin ol the Aryans of India.

The Lithuanian scholar Antanas Poska has written astudy, unpublished as yet, in which he uses numerous

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facts and excerpts ftom the Veda, to prove that the wordo,'ya is derived from the same root as the Lithuanian.i'-otd atejaa 'a plougher'. The author is absolutely sureof his theory. "There can be no doubt about i t , . . hi savspoinLing ro his {hick manuscripr The HistotA ol Agrkiflure. One can listen to his argurnents ioi houri andhours,

In those ancient t imes the vast thickly wooded expansesirom the Balt ic to the Caspian Sea were sparsely inha_bited by semi-nomadic tr ibes. The tal l fair,hiaded'oeoolewilh elongated Iaces had dome,ricaLed lhe horse and usedwheel. wilh spikes. Some ol lhem slayed on Lhe land lheyl i l i ed . rea r ing zn ima l : and wo fsh ipp ing rhe sun , i i r e an ;na ru rd l e lemen ts . O lhe rs . a rmed w iLh l i gh i buL du rab learms, moved in al l directions reaching the Middle Eastdnd Weslefn Europe. They bccame lhe anceslors oi theGreeks. Latinc. CelLs. TeuLone<, Balls, Slavs. In ancjenlSyria. too, there lived a people the names of whose godswefe \ery cimilar ro lhose rhe Aryans brought to ln-dra:lndaru - Indta. Utuaona-Varuna, Miltu_Mitta.^ In shorl, lhere is no knowing why and wherehom iheAryans overran Indra and mixed wilh rhe dark.skinnedlocals. Alter some time iree fert j le lands were already insiort _supply but the number ol the arriving Aryans con-t inued lo grow. With sword and shield thiy pushed thelocal people down Lhe Ganges and yamuna rivers, theIa l l e f hecoming l he Jumna . These con t l i c l 5 t ound a \ i v i drel lecl ion in lhe Mahobharata and Romayona, .they coit i nue l o_be l e lL nowada ls i n Lhe a r roganr a t r i Lude o i antnd ran l rom the no r th l o a Dra \ i d ian , a da rk -sk rnnedIndian trom the south.

With the arrival oi the Aryans India developed slave_ry, castes and rudiments oi a state. The oldest word fora sla\ 'e is dasrc. The Aryans used this word also for thelocal dafk-skinned people whom they lorced to work lorthemselves. At f irst, only prisoners of war were madeslales but with t ime anybody could become a slave. Lthe Mahobharula King. Yudhisthir becomes a slave whenhe loses al l his possessions, servants, wife and himseliin a gambling game. Another kind oi ancient books _

Puranas -- fi,enlion the sage Vishvamitra who sold hisson to slavery ior a hundred cows.

The ancienl writ ten records give l i l t le inlormationabout the newcomers. Some scholars maintain that lheearl iest part ot the yedas - the Rig-yedd, which is acollection of hymns to gods, was created eight thousandve- r ) aso A l thoueh lhe Ind ians l ea rn t l o w r i t e ea r l y . l hehig.V"a-, I lylnn" were not "ommrlted

to wri l ing lor along t ime. It was believed that the sacred word must bepas.ed on lrom moulh lo mouth because lhe gods lhem-' " t t " r l ua wh isne red i t l o l he r i 5h i ' d i rec l l y i nLo l he i rears. In early t imes when the Earth was sti l l clean andthe people honest, the sages possessed the power of seeingthe hymns which l ike I iving beings were presented tothem by gods because it was easier lo .emember andreproduce what the eye had seen. From generation togene fa t i on l he cages pa : )ed down the tex l , o l l he hymnsto the i f pup i l . l ogpLher w i l h l he fa i l h i n i he ho l i ness o Ilhe wonderiul wotds. From all parts oi India the pupilsused to be called togelhe. for a str ict testing i t theyknew lhe hymns word for word and i l they could recitethem in the right intonation. That is how the Rig'Vedahymns have reached us intact as the gods presented themto the Maharishi, i . e. senior r ishi-

The Himalayan mountains are relerred lo in the yeddsaq a citadel ol thought and the habitation ol gods and menwho had attained the stature ol gods. They send wisdomto mankind and cool r ivers to the earlh. The Gangesdescended from lhe sky down the hair, shoulders andarms oi Shiva sitt ing on the highest summit ol the Hi.malayas.

Ffom the cool refreshing rooms of the museum I stepolt inlo the street under the beating sun. Sculplures,fragmenis and pieces oi broken objects oi art dance be-lofe my eyes, their names and dates whi. l in my headHow can I remember al l I have seen, heard and read?It was good for ihe r ishi who couid see sounds as l iving

beings, but we, simple mortals, are doomed to Jorgetiul-ne!s. Maybe. afler a long l ime al l thar I have see-n wil ltise, to the. surface from the deep layers ol my memory?

I lace the bustle and rush of the capital. Cyclists, vi_lorickshaws, molor-cycl ists, pedestrians, tr ishaws and carsgo diving in and out the trafi ic. l t seems that the nextmomenL somebody must go crashing into sotnibody, rhe0rafies wll l screech, the tyres wil l cuL inlo t l lc sol l asphall .But nothing of the kind happens - the tralf ic mov;s onas belore. I t al l looks l ike a miracle! I was told that inCalcutta, a city even more densely populated than Delhi,there were pracl ical ly no trafl ic accidents. Brt I sawmore than once myself that scores and cven hundrcdsof accidenrs could-have hafpened righl bcforc rny eye.lDu r on ry once o ld I see a man knocked down on the road ,and I was nol sure whose fault i t had been.

The street l lows l ike the green Santana river, thc f iverol l i ie. We si l down on a small bench. Ramachandra putsh i s ,da rk - -qk iDncd hands on h i s knces , s t f a igh l cns up h i soack and sluts his eyes. I don\ know what i l is_self.discipl ine, relaxation of meditation, but in a lew mi-nutcs he wil l open his eyes, and smile, rested and refre_:Icd. He does Lhis simply and nalural ly. I hdrc noricedtlat almosphcrc in an Indian jtrcct is conducivc lo opcn.ness..People sirnply l i \ 'c in thc street but nobody cn_croaches. ori the thoughls of othcrs, evcryone has gotenough thougll ts ol his own.

We continue our conversation.

, , "Do you rea l i ze , Rama. . . I say , ' . how r i ch you a re w i th

Jl l lnesc possessions _of your nation? youf cuunlry is avcritable museum in the open.' ._ "Our art possessions used to be much greater than

that," sighs Ramachandra. .What numbers ol them wer"laken away by the English! The museums oi London over_IIow with our treasures. They plundered our couniry andtook away the besi. You asked me why lhere weie somany headless statues outside the temDles. The reasonis simple. The Engli5h, who are so proud ol rheir superiorcivi l ization, knocked ofi those heads which they couldreach and took them away to their own kingdom. There

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is an international agreement which provides for the returnol .rrt objecls acquired by unldwiul mean' But ihere afeso many good igreements lhese days and who heedsthem? \ie ian only hoPe that some day some part oi thestolen lreasures wil l come back to India, after al l . Let 'sgo now and sit on the steps over there and I ' l l ieachiou horv to tel l the different Indian t,vpes by their clothing,iewelrv and lacial ieatures, a Bengal, a Sikh, a Tamil, anbriva. 'a Maratha, a Parsi, a Brahman, a Sudra. ."

iVe make ourselves comlortable in the shade. A gustol wind sometimes touches our backs and we watch th€endless f low of people and cars

Suddenly Rama waves to somebody and disappearsin the crowd. He comes back with a gir l wearing a l ightbiue sari.

"This is my distant relative," he says, "a siudent olour uni\rersity. Her name is Kamala. She is a one-h!ndred'perceni Aryan. Have a good look at her so that I don' ihave to point out Aryans lor you any more. Please staywith us a while, Kamala Devi.*

Orienial wisdom teaches: i i you want to be healthy,Iook at the l lowing water, I lowers and beautiful womenI had seen beautiful faces belore but not ol this kind.Poets say "almond eyes". These words had been mean-ingless to me but at that moment they struck me l ikel ightning and became real. Neiiher too dark, nor too l ight,just l ike two almonds, her eyes looked at me and carriedme away. Her regal stance made her stand out among thecrowd. Was she a goddess descended on the earth? Shedsoon disappear but her image would long stay belore myeyes. And every t ime I heard the phrase "almond eyes"it wol1ld brins me back to that moment.

Thank you, India. Only a good and clean land canDroduce su;h a perlect creature May you be happy, Ka'mala Devi. on the blessed land, may you give joy to theDeoDle, Everv man or woman to whom you hold out yourirrnd

"i l l f"" l th"."-e bl iss as t did.

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We have a lot ot t ime beiore the cool of the nightdescendr upon the eanh. I am going to lel l my fr ie_ndKamacnandra abou t L i t huan ia , abou t rhe l ime when i ldid not exist as a state. The past is covered with a thicklayer of dlrst and i i is nol easy to see what l ies beneath i t .. . In the 5ih century B. C. Herodotus, the recognized Ia_lher oI scjence ol histofy in rhe West, mentioned {heNeuran and Budin tr ibes which I ived norrh o[ the Scy-lh ians . The i den t i l y o f l hese l r i bes a ro ! .ed a l l mann i ro l specu la l l ons l i l l a l l as l rhe scho la rs ag feed rha t l heywefe the Balts. There were even artempts lo associate lh;n€rne of lhe Neurans with the Nefl: . a lr ibulary of theNemunas river.

Today there are only two Balt ic nations, thc Lith-uanians and the Latvians. Sevcral centurics ago thercwere m^orc Ball ic tr ibes: prussians. yolvingian; Curo.nrans, -se ontans. Semigall idnc. Ihcy l ived on t l tr coa:lot the ball 'c sea and thal wa: why they canre to bc knownas tne 6alts. In his book Getmania. which hc wroLc in rhelst century A. D., Cornelius Tacllus used rhc name ofl i .<t i .ans. Aestiorum gpnles {which was pronounced asA,sl iotum). This was how he called the Frussians. Hiscontemporary Pliny said in his Naturul l i istot!! lhat lheDnicfef r iver ro5c in lhc country o, rc Ncuians. ThcUrcek geographer Ptolomy wrote aboul rwo Aisrian lr ibes,l ne Ga l rnd ians and Sudov ians .. Laler. more and more hagmented iniormallon aboul

tne pcopie who l ived on thc Ball ic coast occufrcd in thebooks. In lhc 7th cenrury rhc Swede: wfotc about lhcLuronians, Iater Scandinavian hi5rorical book. conlcinedinformation about the Semigall ians sublugated by the

The name of Lithuania was f irsi mentioned in Germanannals nearly a thousand years ago. Since then it has beenrepeated in al l the chronicles and hislorical books.

T l ' e L i t l r ua , i i ans cons l i t u red on ty one o i t ( Ba l t t cLfibes, but lhey became rhe core in the lormalion oi lh€Lithuanian state-

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Lithuania. as the rest of norlhern Europe, was coveredbv the ice caps that f lowed from the north When iheice retreated, i i lett a great number ol high-banked rivers,hi l ls and Iakes. Archaeologists have established that peoplel i led there as many as 12 thousand years ago Where theyhad come lrom is not known. Only one thing is clear-thev wer€ the ancestofs of the Balts. The boundaries oftheir lands wefe reconstructed on the basis oi toponymy,of Place-names.

Scholars wefe surprised to f ind place-names of Balt icorigin lar away from the present terr i tory of Lithuania:on the other side ol Berl in in the west, around Moscowand Kursk in the east, around Kiev in the south. The!al leys ol lhe EIbe, Oder, Vistula, Nemunas, Daugava,Dnieper and upper Oka rivers were al l at one t ime inha-bited by the Balts.

Those were marshy, wooded lands. To make ihe landarable people had l irst to clear and burn the woods. Cul-t ivated land became the most valuable loot which madelhe stronger tr ibes attack the weaker ones. The Balts werepressed on al l sides and they retreated to the Balt iccoast. This retreat continued for a long i ime, up unti l the

' glh century.There are al l sorts of speculations about the origin

of the Balts. There have been attempts to prove that theLilhuanians are descended lrom the Romans An old Lith-uanian annal wrote that f leeing from Nero's attrocit ies,a group oi Romans had reached Lithuania. Their chief,related to Nero himseli, was a Roman duke, Palemonas,who penetraied by ship from the Ball ic sea along the Ne_munas river into an unknown country togeiher with hiswile. chi ldfen. servants and other nobles. He l iked thecounlry a lot, the sleep banks of i ts r ivers teeming wiihi ish, i ls hi l ls and plains, and its forests lul! of game Hedecided to sett le down there. His thre€ sons buil i the i irstihree cit ies on the Nemunas river. One of the suburbs ofKaunas, second largest city in Lithuania, st i l l bears thename of Palemonas,

Kefnius, Palemonas' grandson, founded the f irsi capi 'lal oi Li lhuania, Kernav6. After his iather's death he con'

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quered a lot ol lands al l ol which he calted by theL iLhuan ian word / i r r s . and tne r rumpe ls $h i c . t p .op .eplayed there he .al led tuba. As the local people did notunderstand these words, they joined them together andpronounced l i l rsfrro. With t ime the sound B bccane V andthat was how the word Lietuaa'Lithuania' aDoeared.

The hi l l lorts of Kernare are st i l l rhcre. Tircv commanda wonder iu l v i ew o I rhe Ner i s r i ve f va l l ey ;h i c l r bea r ,the name ol Kernius's daughter Pajauta. The story ol thel irst Lithuanian capital is told by the exhibits ol the localmuseum and the remains oi the recentlv unco!.ered citv.

Even ihe descent of hislorical peopie-Dukes Mi;-daugas, Vytenis, Gediminas-was traced to Palemonas.The legend persisted through several ages and it existedin several versions for the wish 10 prove a fomanlic andnoble origin of Lithuania was very great indeed.

A Flemish mathematician, geographef and cartograph,er who l ived in the l6ih century made a map of Lithua,nia and wrote under i t : "Lithuania's name derives lrom,/l&o 'a hunte. 's horn', because people hunt a lot in thiscountry. This derivation is denied by another hislorianwho gives his own etymology ol Lithuania's name. Hesays thal several l tal ians, who had leit I taly becauseo[ the internal Roman discord, came to Li lhuania andcalled the people who l ived there and their country bvlheir own name, l tal ia, l tol ians. The local lrerdsmen rdde;one more letter and began to refer to their country asLital ia, while their neighbours, the Ruthenians and ihePoles, changed the word even more and to this dav thevcall lhe counlry Li lhuania and i is people Lir l ironos.-

A Polish chronicler says that lhe Roman chiei 's namewas not Palemonas but Libonas who hated Caesar's ty-ranny and brought his people to a country in fhe northeasl. His name gave rise to Livonia and this was howthe Prussians and the Lithuanians appeared.

There is another story which says that simple Lithua-nian people were descended irom the Goths while theLithuanian nobil i ty came down from the Romans. It couldnot have been otherwise: nobil i ly always comes down fromnobil i ty. A Li lhuanian proverb says: "A man is poor

because he is stupid, and he is stupid because he isD O O r , ''

There are also several myihological legends explainingthe orisin ol Lithuanians. A manuscript lound in a cerlaincastle t-el ls about a mythical semi-divine Lithuanian hero'Celonas. born ol a mortal vestal tending the sacfed f irebv a father who was a Lithuanian god.-

Long long ago the Li lhuanians wefe atlacked homlhe south and Lhe west by horrible anthropophagi man_eaters. They caught men and women, carried them to thetorest and there they ate them. From ihe bones of the deadpeople they buil t pyramids to their own gods. The pyra-mids came to be known as the landmarks marking theboundaries ol the Iand inhabited by the Lithuanians. Themighty Gelonas began a desperate war against the mon-stcis, he slayed and dest.oyed them in al l possible vaysti l l al last he ki l led them all . Altcr that the Lithuanianslived peac€ful ly, always paying homage io ihe hero whoset lhem free. Gelonas' descendants were also very justand succcsslul tulels.

What curious fantasies ihe unrcstr icted imaginationoI thc early annalisis produced about the rarely visitedcountrics! The Balt ic countries were no exception. Therecould have becn a grain ol truth in these stories, too.History has prescrved King Theodoric's of the Oslrogolhslctter wri l ien to the Balts in the 6th ceniury: "From yourenvoys coming here and back we have learnt about yourgreai wish to know us so that there at the edge of theocean you could be l inked wiih our way of thinking..We send you our sincerc greelings and thanks for theamber we got courtesy of the collectors of these cit ies .Please come to see us more oflen along the ways yourlove has opened, Ior i t is always usefl l to seek concordwith r ich kings who are appeased by small gif ts andlaler reward lor them amply. We have also given yourenvoys some oral messages in which we try to conveyto you something that must be pleasant for you to hear."

Nobody wil l ever know why the Balts chose to senda rich gi l i to the king of a dislant lofeign land who wasloo Iar away lo be of any praci ical help.

From the Nemunas and Daugava rivers, then down lheDnieper and Danube, the great amber way l inked theBalt ic Sea with the Black Sea.. . .A"s €a.ly as the Neolithic period the Balts wefe already

skil l ful cratismen in amber, which the sLorrny ano unpre-dictable Bait ic Sea threw out in large amounts. Amberjewelry, amulets and al l kinds ol f igurines spread inthe neighbouring countries reaching as far ;s Rome,Greece, Byzantium, Scandinavia, Asi; Minor, the Cauca-sus, Egypt. From there Lithuanian amber could easilyreach India.

. Money in the lorm oi Roman type coin. appeared inLrlhuania father late. The earl iesi money known in rhrscountry was in the form ol small si lver bars wiih notches.The number oi the notches indicated the domination valueol the si lver bar. Wooden bars were never l lsed as money,lhey were used only for counring purpo.e.. The numbiro r ru r sk rns , t o r exampte , wou ld be i nd i ca led by noLche .on a wooden ba r . t hen the ba r \ ras sp l i t i nLo Lwo downrhe m idd le o f i he noLche : so l ha l by puL r ing rhe t *o ha l resrogetnef Lhe notches coincided.

In those early t imes the Balls bartered furs, bee wax,oak t imber and ash lor sa1t, fabrics, iron and bronzeart icles. But the merchants ol the ioreign countries valuedamber most of a 11.

, Hi.rorical records conLain a story aboul a Roman envo!w l ro $as sen l on ho r5eback to l he Ba l r i c coa ( t ro b r i ngambef to Nero's court. The envoy visited al l the marke_iplaces there and broughr back enough anbef ro decoralebo lh thc am lh i thea l re and l he c loLhes o f t he g lad ia to fq .In their turn, the Balts sent their own enloys Io the Ro-man Empire and that is how archaeologrsrs excavare alo 'o i Roman Lh lngs , such a : co ins . l ewe l r y . a rm. and me .da l l j ons , on l he {e r r j l o r y o f L i t huan i i .

The Roman inl luence on ihf spjr i tual Balt ic culture isobvious. It has been established, ior example, that theancient European custom ol putt ing somc coins in themouth o[ a dead person so that he could buy himsell abetter place in heaven came to Europe lrom Rome.Lithuanian barrows haYe relealed the evidence ol a simil_

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i

ar custom which consisted in placing, among other things,a clay pot or a birch bark box with money at the head oithe dead man.

Ancieni Lithuanian burial places contain even si lverf igufines from Egypt. Some ol them depict a young manwearing a horned mitre and holding a soft of whip anda sceptre in his hands crossed on his chest. I t is Osir is.Anubis is depicted as a man wearing a square mitre onhis head, while the woman weafing a horned mitre isIsis. She is sit t ing and suckling Horus.

So very distant and di l ferent worlds! Yet they areunited by the same ideas which penetrated dense Noodsand crossed bridgeless r ivers.

You ask, Rama, what kind oi people the Balts were,ihose tr ibes of obscure origin who I ived on the coastoi lhe Balt ic Sea and a l i t t le larther away from it. Ar-chaeological excavations and hislorical research permitus to reconstruct a fair ly fnl l picture of lheir spir i tualculture and way of i i fe. Natural ly, there are gaps thatcan be i i l led only with guesses. But i t has been l irmlyestablished that in the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages theirculture was in no way inlerior to that of the neighbouringpeoples.

Our ancesiors cult ivated land. They grew ba.ley, wheat,mil let, rye, oats, i lax and hemp. The same crops havebeen cult ivated in Lithuania to this day.

In his book about the Germanic tr ibes Cornelius Ta,citus noted that lhe Balts gathered amber on the seacoastand tended their f ields much beiter than the Germanicpeople did.

The Balts we.e catt le breeders as well, they kept horses,cows, goats, sheep, pigs and dogs. The word a! ' is bothin Sanskrit and Lithuanian has the same meaning. 'asheep. The Sanskrit ,agas and lhe Lithuanian . ia;gar'yoke'a!so coincide in meaning. Couldn't the latter factbe taken as evidence that sofie domeslic animals wereused for pull ing loads?

The Balls also knew how to use ihe plenti lul gif tsol the wood, they were hunters and bee keepers. Theylived in large vi l lage communit ies. Their houses were

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square, made oi logs, with doors and a roof but no ceil ingor windows. Thefe was usually no fufniture, and peoplaslept on lur skins spread on the f loor. In the middle oithe house there was always a f ire to cook tood on andkeep the people warm. Houses ol this kind were sti l l tobe iound in oufol ihe-way Lithuanian vi l lages as late asthe end of lhe 2nd World War. One of them, which musthave been the last one, has been moved to the LithuanianCountry Li ie Museum in Rumsiskds and now it is con-sidered to be one of lhe most yaluable exhibits ol the mu,seum.

The visitors can see for themselves how the Lithuanianslived a hundred and even a thousand years ago.

At f irst, as the historians maintain, the rural commu-nit ies consisted o[ several generations which belonged tothe same tamily. There a.e such iamily communil ies inIndian vi l lages even today. The f ields oi the cleared land,the pastures, meadows and the catt le - everything wascommon property so that vi l lages were, in lact, Iargecommunes. There afe people who visualize this pefiod asa goiden ag€: there was no money, no inequali ty, peoplewere related by blood and they al l worked for thei i owncommon good,

But there is nothing eternal in this world. The prim-it i !e communal sociel ies disinlegraled and, as familyreralron\ became more and more complicaled, Iarge fa-Ini l ies broke down al logerher. Personal property applaredand with this some people became rich and oiheis poor.This entai led the emergence oi social classes, ai iorexample, lhe casle system in India.

As vi l lages were olten lhreatened by invadefs fromIoreign countries, they had to be protected by a mound,a pa l l i sade o r a moar so rha l l hey cou ld ba f l he wayIor lhe enemy. In Li lhuania a forLi l ied setl lement wascalled pi l is, in Sanskrit i l was pur. Laler the word pi l lscame to designate the central and mosi important fort i f iedbuilding erected from wood and stones. Li lhuania isspotted by thousands ot hi l l forts which used to be sur-rounded by homesteads. At the sound of the horn or atthe sight ot the smoke ol a big bonfire at some agreed-on

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places, which inlormed lhe inhabitanis of the cominguanger. people grabbed whalever weapons or lood sup_pliea they had and sought reluge in rhe iori . The tortslad secret passages, sometimes even under the water.When the people sav/ that there was no hope ior ihem torepel the aitacking enemy, ihey would escape at nightacross the surrounding swamps and dense woods to asaler lort.

Bronze and iron came to Lithuania rather Iate, alterthe celebrated Iron Column had stood in Delhi for morethan a few centuries. But the Lithuanians were quick tocrack ihe secrets involved in iron processing and in theproduction of Damascus steel because they knew well thatonly a spearhead or a sword made ol lhe hafdest steelcould pierce the shield and armour of a Teutonic knight

As far as we can judge by the writ ien records, theBalts were sedentiary, fr iendly and hospitable people bulat the same time they were i irm and independent This iswhat the Germans wrote in the preiace to the Lithuanian_German and German-Liihuanian dici ionary, published in1800:

"On the whole, a Prussian Lithuanian is hospitable,noble, fr iendly and ralher brave. This i inds expression inhis general satisfaction with ihe exist ing stale ol aifairs:he is sedentiary, avoids large gatherings and has noincl ination lor any part icular alf i l iai ions. He believes whathe can prove by experience, taking action in a small circleol rel iable lr iends.

He holds his parents'rel igion in high esteem but seemsto be not quite lree from paganism, al ihough his progressthrough sell-education cannol be denied. In spite of thecrippl ing efiect of numerous wars, he is strong and loughol body.

,{ Lithuanian is kind and obliging by natur€, he hatesqfeed and is eager to help wiihout remuneration. But heis proud and by no means gull ible, he sett les lvith hisoutragers there_ and then but very soon he is able tocontain his anger.

The Li lhuanians have deep respect lor their king Theytake olf their hats to him, and say sincere words of kind-

l 9

ness relerring to his grace and selldependence. Anotheriypical ieature which dist inguishes al l Lithuanians is loveior their homeland. They are very attached to the land ollheir ancestors and are loalh to leave their homes ior newplaces. Oilering condolences to the family of their deadneighbour they always add: 'You wil l not lorsake yourpatrimonial home.' These features make ihe Lithuaniansloyal ci l izen., and soldiers ol lheir srale -

Pefhaps it is true, Rama, that as long as you have yourland, you have work and bread. But when your nativeland iai ls to sustain you. you are forced to leave i1.Hundreds of thousands ol Lithuanians leit their countrywhen it was fuled by the R ssian Tsar and, later, by lheirown bou.geoisie. They scattered iar and wide in the UnitedStales, Brazi l , Argentine, Canada and Austral ia. Someol them came back, but many became established inioreign countries so that at present the number of Lif l l -uanians l iving abroad reaches almost a mil l ion whereasthe number of those who l ive in their own homeland isihree mil l ion.

The f irst records oI Lithuanian Iolklore date back tothe lgih centt lry. Up unti l then iolk tales, songs, proverbs,bywords, incaniations, charms were passed on Iromgenera l i on l o genera l i on exc lu< i \e l y by $o fd o f mou th_

Even now in L i t huan ian r i l l age , rhe re a re peop le w \oknow hundreds ol tales. The collection ol folktales avai-lable at the Insti tute oi the Lithuanian Language andLiterature ol the Academy ol Sciences oi the LithuanianSSR includes over 50,000 i lems. The oldest ol them-iairv tales- rei leci the world oullook ot the primit ivemani the!. tel l of personif ied celestial bodies, suparnaturalbeings, kings oi the animals and birds, unusual marriagesand naiural spir i ts. In Lithuanian iolktales we can f lndcustoms and elements which afe relaied to Hindu spir i tualculture.

Let's tale, for example, the fale Slga/i wh€re ano fphan g i r l i . abused by he r e t i l . r epmo lhe r . The g i r l ,r rgu re , ge l s . ympa lhy and he lp kom a cow. The cowhelps hef spin the low and gi\es her u:eful advi.e. Wheredoes this close l ie between man and cow come lrom?

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Isn't i t from India where the cow is considered to be asacred animal?

When Sigut€ is burni and her ashes are scattered,the good cow recognizes them lronr their smell. It licksthe ashes and a duck i l ies up into the air to tel l Siguid'swrongs io her brother who is r iding home from warthrough ihe foresi. The burning oi the orphan gir l , th€scattering ol her ashes, the iouch ol the cow's l i fe-givingsaliva on lhe ashes, the lransformation ol a human beinginto a bird-ai l this is ciosely r€laled io Hindu viewsaflo cusloms.

The characters ol anolher Lithuanian lolk Iale, T,.oeheRa|)en Brothers, afe hermits vho l ive in the forest. Thiskind oi characters appeaf only in the most ancient tales.In the tales which belong to th€ nrofe recent t imes theyare no longer to be found. Doesnt the sister who is t iedlo the stake lo be burnt lo death remind us ol the Indianwidows w!)o, just a short i ime ago, used to be burnt altertheif husband's death?'lhe lale Egli, Queen of Gruss-snahes poeticizes aNile's love for her husband and conveys ihe idea ol rein-carnation. It is one oi the saddest and most beautitulLithuanian lolktales.

EG!-E (SPRUCE), QUEEN OF CR,4SS-SN/(ES

Lo g long ago, in tirnes gone bA, therc lil)ed an oldman anl an old u)oma . TheA had llaeloe sons and lhteedatlgh.tets lhe goungest of @hafi 'Jas called Egrc.

Oke summer eaening the thtee sislets u)ent lor a bathein the nearbg ld.he. Theg s@am and spl.ashed about, and,haling had theb IiU of it, clinbed out on shorc andteached fot their .lothes. Egb looked, and. thete, coiledup in lhe sleeae of her shift, she sa&) a grass"snake! Herolder sklets snatched up a stake in oder lo chase it outbul llle gruss-snake lut'Ied lo Egk and saii! in a human

''Egli, mg dear! P!,omise lo mafia me and then I'llcra@l out mlseli.

Noto, this ottltt made ihe tears @ell up itu Egte's eues,iot hoto could she ma g d grass-snahe. So she criedangri lg:'Give bath mg shift ond go to u)he.eo i l is lou

But the gtass-snahe slageil .ahere he :Cas and soid

"Prcmise to marr! me and. I'll cnlo! out."Nol knaloing,ahat to do, Egk said rat she @ould.8efore ]hrec days had patsed het pore,tts solJ a gt?ol

numoer ol gross-snakcs cratl l i tLg inlo thei [rcnt gatd.t ighteniag euetgone hatf out ol t iei aits. Thig swaimedin wiggling and ltlisling, lhe nntch makers lotcing lheirtuag.inl.o the hu! Iot a talh @ith Egli and her parints.

A! f irst the lao old pcople &c;c angercd and &.outdnot eoen hear of suclr a thing but in the face ol lhe uastnunbet of {&)isling arigglerc, lhere @as liftle lheA coulddo about it. lvhelher tlrcg rranted it ot not, thei dAughtetaould be marrying a grass-snohe.

Obtaining thei bt ide, lhe grcss.snaies s@ormed oulof lhe gad. I]er familg toept oret Egla and that @as

Meanahile Egli and het escotls came lo the shoreol th. sea..Thete a handsome qouttt t ,os tsait ing lot lhem.ne sard he @as the verg sane grass-snake lhat hadcratele^d inlo the sleeoe ol her shil!. Theg nade oll atonce lat lhe nearest island and desccnded lo the bouomnJ lh( sea tshete stood a tich pala(e. Thcte tneA ecte mar-ried and held thei @edding. The! dtunh and feasted forthree tthole @eehs.

_ fhe polare @as l i l led r l i lh mang louelq !hings andEgle lclt Jrea and happg thete. A pca.e dcs.ended-on Ircrhearl as the da|s @eat bg. She Ioryot lrct patenls and

Nine gears passed, Egti had ttuee sons, ,4Luo[as(Odk), Uosis (Ash), and Bedas (Birch), aniL d daughtet,the Aoungest of the forr, rphom she nomed Dreblleld(Liltle Aspen).

One dag Egle's olilest son, s)ho ttas rcmping aboutond pliging prunks, ashed his molher:

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"Mother, @hete do goo patents lioe? Let's go and pagthem a o,'sit."

So Egld rcmembered her fathet and mother and her@hole lamilg and set to rpondering ho1lt the! @erc,Ilhether theA @ete sate and. sound or maAbe some of themdead. She @as filed @ith deep longing to see them andlold her husband so.

At tirst Grass-snake @ould not hear ol it but lhen hesaid: "All right, onlg gou must spit this silk tola Jitst."And he pointed to a spinning-toheel.

Grass-snahe's @ile set to rtotk, she spun daa and nightbul the tou] grc1o no smaller. Then she understood that hethusband @as trging to trick het: that @as a magic totvand she could ne,rer tinish spirning it no matter ho@ haftlshe tried.

So ofl Egli aent to see an old tpoman, a sotceress,t)ho liped close bg and asked her in pleading tones:"Please, mother, please, fi! dear, sha@ me ho@ lo spinthis tot!.'

The old &)oman lost no time in telling Egle e)hat sheshauld do.

"Thro@ it," she said, 'into the Iire, otherreise Aou'llneaet be able lo do angthing e)ith it."

Egle came home and 1lhen she lit the slore lo bakesanle bfead, she threl! the lout into lhe tire. The silh lLaredup and Egb saa a toad lhe size of a large laundra beetLea thing in the Jlames. She undetstood thal the toad hadbeen prollucing nele and nerD atuounts of silh lshile she'oas ttging ta spin it inta garn.

Having finished to spin lhe toa in this rsag, Egleapproached het husband. again to let her oisit het parcnts'hame Iot a te@ dags. This time Gross-snohe pulled a pairol iron shoes trcm undet a bench and said: "you mag goos soon as gou @ear lhese out."

Egli put on the shoes and. began 1ltalhing and stampingabout in them, eren g nding them or sharp stones, butthe shoes utere thich and strcng ond tr, es she @ouldshe could not @eat them out, She sa@ theg @oul.d. Lasther all her lite long.

So ofl Egli u)ent to ash the old sorcetess for counselagain. The old. s)omatl adoised her to tahe the shoes toa blachsmith and ask hitn to heat them 1lelL in lhe lorge.

Egla did as she @)as ddtised, and once the shoei aireburnt through, she @ore them out in three dags. Agoinshe pleoded @ith her husbond to let het go to see her

"Ver! @ell,' said he, "but Aou must bahe a pie belorclou go. Else you'll haoe no present lo giae gour nepheas

. But he hod all the dishes, pots and pans put awa! solhat_none @ete lell tor Egb lo mix the dough in.. Egli toched her bruins for a tong time lrging lo thtnhholo she coulcl bing @atet Ircn a aell etithoul a pailand mix the dough @ithout a trcugh, bu! as thete ll osnolhing she could thinh of she u)ent lo see lhe okl @omonagatn.

The old @oman said: "Tohe a sieue, slop up ils holesttilh leatten and use il to b ng lhe aotet and nix lhedough."

. Egli.did.as she @os lold. She slopped the holes of asieue @ith leauen, btought some @oter in it, tuixed thedough and baked het pies.

NolD she sald good-bAe to Grass-snahe and alt hishousehold and laking her children sel out tor het parcnts'home. Her husband sou) them oll himsell, put them onlhe shorc and said in patling:

"Don't spend mote than nine dags at gow patents,house, Then go sttoight home, olone u)ilh tlre childten and.don't let ongone see gou to lhe sea shorc. rX/hen gou allcome to lhe sea, call out to me thus:

2ik)ine, Zilvinil!Il alive gou are, milh t1)hite is the sur|lIt 'tis dead. gou arc, blood rcd is the sutl!"lf the sea cones surging @ith the toaft as @hite as

mith, gou @ill hno@ that I am alkte, but il the foam isred at btood, then I om no mote. As for gou, children,mind gou dor't tell angone ho@ mother is to call out

Hauing said, this, he bode then good-bge and @ishedthem a happg return.

There rA)as no end of rcjoicing @hen EgIe appeareditu her parents' house. AU her kith and kin and her neigh-bouts, too, came lo haoe a looh ot het and eaetgoneu)anted to knolt @hat het liJe &tith grass-snahes a)as lihe.Theg spohe hindlg to her and hept het talking and talkingabout her tite and treated het to the best lhea had. itN the'aoA ol Iood ond drinh.

Egle did not notice hou) the nine dags e1! b!!In lhe meantime, her patents and het btothers and

sisters e)ere racking their btains for the u)a! ho1-o to heepEgli Taith them and not let het go back to Gross-snake.At last theg decided to Ilorm out ol het children her hus-band's name and hora) she toos lo call him out Irom thebottom ol the sea.

"Vhen @e hnor.g it, @e'll go to lhe sea shore, call himout and kill him," the| said.

on the lirst dag the! tooh A|uolas, EglEs oLdest son,to the totest, stood round him in a close ckcle and. startedquestioning him, But the bog Wetended that he hner!,nothing.

"l don't kno@," @as the onlg anstoet theA got Ircm

TheA elten bitched him but for aII thek threa.ts thegcould get nothing mote. tyhen theA let him go, the! sa)orehim nol lo sag a @ord to his mothet about il.

OtL the ne) dag theg took Uosis out lo the forest, thenBet,as but couw karn nothing Jrom either ol them.

At last theg lurcd the goungest of Egli's childtet,Dtebukk out lo the lorest. At fitst she, too, said thatshe hnel! nothing but as soon as she saur the bir.hes,she blutled out the secret.

lmmediatelg Egl6's leteloe btothers tooh their sharpscllhes and set out tor the sea shore, Reaching the sea,theg stood on the shore and. calLed out:

zuotne, zuttnelll alioe lou are, milb tt)hite is the stf!II 'tis dead gou ate, blood red is the suil

As soon as Grass-snahe s1lam up trcm the sea, thel@eloe men fell on hin and slasheil him to death @iththefu scllhes. Coming home, lhe! did not saA a @ord IoEgle about lhetu foul deed.. The nine dags passed. Egta bode good.bg? to att herR h and Rin, and (oming lo th? spa, coll?d out to helhusband:

Zillrine, Ziluiftl!Il alioe Aou ate, milh tehite is the sutlIJ 'tis deod Aou arc, blood rcd k the sutl!

At this, the sea spaftled and surged up frcm the bo,ton. and Egle sau) lhe btood rctl [o;m ding ouer thp..rest ol,lh? @aues. Suddcnly she heod the ioice o[ her

'yoo t@eloe brctherc slashed ne to death @ith theitscAthes and it @as Drcbuleli, ou belatled daughter, @hohad betraAed fie."

, Teats rcl.led lrcm Egle's eAes and tutning to het chi!-

You shall turn into on aspen,Ttembling al@ogs, dag ond night.P-outing rain sholl aash Aour Jace.U-uslg @inds shall btush yow btatds...fou, mg sons, sltong trces shall be,I, gour mum, a spruce shall be. . .

And as she saiil, so it !)as.The oak, ash, and birch are aw mightiest ttees, but lhe

aspen to this tetg dag heeps trcmbling at the touch ofthe slighlest breeze.

when {he omnipotent Shiva dances, the worlds shake,when he sits deep in thought on the throne ol lotusflowers, there is peace on the earlh l ike ionight on thecoast o[ the Indian Ocean. In the south, night fal lssuddenly and imperceplibly, the colours iade, the wallsol the nearby buildings disappear, and the earth, ihirstyfor the cool of the night, becomes absolulely black. Onemore day iul l ol indell ible impressions has passed... Ilake a deep brealh of fresh air, expectant o[ a new sensa-t ion. Where does this wonderlul aroma oi the nighi comeirom? Night. . .

The precious stones, small and large, embedded by thesoft hands ol goddesses in the vaults ol the earih whichrests on the backs of lour elephants, l i t up suddenly andbrightly. In the shimmering band ol the Milky Wayextending over the black abyss I see ihe sacred Gangesflowing in the sky. Urca Moior hangs slrangcly askew,qli te unlike in Lithuania. Except, i t is not Utsa Majolat al l , i t is seven Hindu sages, the sons oi Brahma, thecreator of the universe. Bright in lhe TaMus constel lat ion,at the very edge ol the sky, sparkles the rosy Rohini, theMoon's loved one. Drugva - lhe North siar - is a symboloi justice, iort i tude and f idel i ty. God Vishnu took her tothe sky and seated her lhere in the very centre to guideand attract al l the other stars.

A warm and qu ie l n igh t o f t he sou lh . . .Just l isten to i is sounds, the messengers of the dark-

ness: they do not lr ighten yoll and do not interfere withthe si lence of the night. Forget lor a moment who andwhere you are, who is si l t ing beside you. Forget yourjourney to this far.away land, India, which extends now

27

all around you, under your dusty feet. At the moment itembraces you l ike one ol i ts own sons and lets the dark-ness fal l upon your bare shoulders l ike a soit scari.

Time disappears. There is no yestelday, no lomorrow.You have always been, and you wil l always be, just asthe earth, the stars or the ocean. Such is the night.

My good lr iend Ramachandra, an lndian student, issitt ing beside me. "Take ofi your sandals and let 's go,"he says almost in a whisper, for people do not speak ina ioud voice on an early night.

I fol low him in the direction of the ocean across tner^'arm and soit grass. The velvet carpet ends and wecome to sparse and prickly shrubs. Ou. leet feel sand, therough coastal sand, which is no longer hot. Ramachandrasits down tucking his leet under him and looks at thevast expanse oi the sky and the ocean where the moonis soon to appear. There is so much darkness, so muchquielude.

The Milky Way is becoming whiter and brighter till atlast i t turns into a r iver of milk, i ts waves rol l ing towardsthe almost invisible banks.

"The evi l dragon Rahu is sl i l l asleep," Qamachandraexplains, "but Soma, the moon god, wil l soon look downupon the earth. He serves Surya, the god of the sun,l ighl and truth, and lel ls him what happens on the earthat night, how people behave."

A round moon rises ol l t ol the water. I t r ises slowly,becoming brighter and brighter, ful l oi the intoxicatingsomo, the holy drink ol the chosen, gods and souls guardedby Yama in the underground kingdom. When they al l fal lupon the moon to drink and suck the soma, the moonwanes and w i i he rs . . .

The shore becomes more and more visible, the MilkyWay blurs and the slars fade. This sudden change in lheview makes me catch my breath, I teel weighiless as i fmy body were d i sso l v ing i n io l he th in a i r .

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We became fr iends with Ramachandra the minute wemet. His open and serene look caught my eye the minuleI stepped on the Indian soil . I fel i lhat ol al l those whohad come to meet us this man was going to be my fr iend.He had even heard a l i t t le about Li lhuania and knew lhatLithuania's capital was Vilnius. Besides, he was leafningRussian. He was a typical student and shared a commonworry wiih every student in the wofld - how to use hislree t ime to replenish his purse. That was why he took ajob with a l irm catering for ioreign tourists. He had agood knowledge oi Indian history, knew people's psycho-logy rather well , was fond oi travell ing himself and dreamtthat some day when he had a good permanent job, hewould be able to go to the Soviet Union to see lor himselfhow the ideas o! equali ty and a classless society pfopa-gated by Indian sages more than a thousand ycars agorr 'ere being translated into l i le. He seized every opportunity10 shower me wilh questions about Lithuania. I tr ied to dothe same, except my queries were about India. And so itwenl on and on in rounds, usually under the moonlit sky,ior our days were too busy to give us t ime for that.

A bluish golden l ight envelops ihe earth. I t colours ihesand and the palm grove and its reflections burn in thewindows of the i ishing vi l lage.

"I wonder, Rama, how waves appear in this calmness.""How did the ocean, the earlh and the people appear?

When and how did the sky, the moon and the starsappear? The rishis, ancient Hindu sages, used to knowa lot and they used to teach people. They haven't disap-peared, they sti l l know a loi and lry to teach people, butthe great sages - maharishis - the wisest of them all ,d I2 r i l l ha d ra r i <p^ rp i c "

Hindu sages have their own symbolic and poetic inter,prelation ol the lormation oi the univetse...

Long long ago there was absolutely nothing, no earth,no sky. Neither anylhing visible, nor invisible. Only pri-mordial chaos lurked in the darkness. It was stirred upby the breath of Prajapati, the Creator. Fifst appeared thewater, the source of all lite- It began to nove, got veryhot and that was how i ir€ and heat came inlo beine.

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"What did you say, Rama? Ptuiapati? Vishaapati? Btl lthese are Lithuanian wordsl"

So, al ier a long long t ime a kind oi golden egg ap-p€ared. l t t loated in the boundless $/aters t i l l at last i tl racked and that was how Brahma, the prime origin ofevervthins. ! \as born. The upper pafl o: the egg shelliormed tt ie :ky, the lowef was the earlh Brahma fi l ledthe space belween them with air.

The power of Brahma's creative thought was inconcei 'r ab l v g iea t . He sp l i l h im .e l f i n to lwo pa r l s . l he ma le andiemjl ioart. He cieated lhe y€das. planeLs. mountains r i 'vers, seas, )anguage, joy, anger.. But he could not copewith everything alone, and thus he gave birth to six sonswho inherited their father's creative powers The threeworlds-those of the heaven, the earth and the under-sround - $ere f i l led w;th gods. people animals andiemons known a. asaras. The lalter wefe terribly jealous

ol the gods and could not l ive in peace with lhem'

Thirtv three is a peculiar number in lndia in that i tstands for the numbir oi the greatest gods, eleven ineach of the ihree worlds. Later, the number ot the godsreached lnirtv three hundred, lhen lhirty lhfee thousand't i l l a i l a5 l n ;body $as ab le to ' a ] , how many gods l he fewere in a l l .

The assembly of thirty th.ee gods agreed io recognizelndra qod oi the l irst rank and lhus he became the lordoi the gods. But even the power of the gods has its end'

The rule is universal: once you have done your duty, you

have to make way lor another' And so i i was that Vishnu,who was the youngest god, succeeded Indra on the lhrone.

There were al l soris ol people then as well. The cleverones managed to learn a lot of secrets lrom the gods dur-

ing the irequent visits ot the latter on the earlh and they

recorded those secrets in books.When he saw that evi l was taking root on the earth,

and the world he had creaied was going astray, ihe gfeat

Brahma was inluriaied to such an extent that his lurygave birth to god Rudra known by the name ol Shiva.

30

"Oh, wil l you stop, pleasel You have mentioned somany gods that I 'm afraid I wil l not be able to remem-ber them all i [ you go on bringing up mofe names."

"l am only lel l i f lg you one of the many version.,and the simplest one to that- That was how the brahmansused to explain to the simple people lhe creation of theworld and the appearance oi gods and evi l forces. Ancientbooks contain a lot ol other versions. There are a lot o!contradict ions, too, with one and the same god proclaim-ing dif lerent lhings in di l ferent books. The books werewritten by people, not by gods. Different people in di i ier"ent places. If you don't gfasp the thread oi the main storyat the beginning, you' l l get bogged down in the mult i tudeol names and categori€s, and the real world wil l get mixedw i th the imag ina ry one . . .

Stars... Myriads ol shining, f l ickering stafs. Blue, redand yellow. Black and extinct. Beyond our own galaxy,thousands oi other galaxies which appear to our eyes astiny specks. Where is the beginning or the end ol theini inite expanse? Whefe wil l the human thought f ind i tssupport?

The Hindus wefe the l i fst to understand that the earthdid not stand sti l l . Although the structure ol the universewhich is depicted in ancient Hindu books bears l i t t lesemblance to our own conceptions, the sages v/ho wrotethese books knew the distance between the earth and thesun, the Mars and the Venus. They knew how lar i t wasfrom the Saturn to the World of the Seven Sages, UrsaMajot, or lo Drugva, the Nofth Star. They knew how iarbeyond Maharloka, where the sainls l ived, were the otherwoflds - Janarloka, the habiiat ion ol Brahma's sons, andSatyaloka, the world oi ihe eternal truth. By ihe way, theword lota is also very similar to the Lithuanian lolr&as' l ield'.

11 is a mystery to us how the ancient Hindus calcu-lated the cosmic distances, but lhere are many more mys-

3 l

teries abour the knovledge they possessed. We can onlymake guesses about i t .. . Norhing_can app€ar from nolhing, and nolhing candisapp€ar- Ir . is diff iculL to comprehend the beginning.lne aD:otute Degrnnlng or even the continuation oi thebeginning. We may as well accepl thar ir wis Brahma'sbreath. fhou)ands ol mil l ion years ago lhe universe wasconcentfaled. in a single poinL. Where was lhe bcginningo r t he end o l t ha t po in l?

The cosmic i ire compressed and expanded lhe universe.The great f iery explosion. A l irr le I lame gafe birth tothousands oi new flames. Our earth is ont-y a speck inthe universe, a single atom. The rnicrowbrld ind themacroworld. The one that is immediately around us, andthe one l ha t we a re unab le 1o comprehcnd .. . .B.ut t !" human thought reachis orlrer ptanet. and theIn rn t r y . e rea r ' . t he power o i t he human lhough t . Cosmicpower. The though{ does not disappear in spice withouti lrace, tt et lher creales or destroy. A, lhe presenl t ime,no rno re and mad . j t hove rs ove r rhe eanh p ragnanr w i ththe ult imate threat - a new world war. Wil l th"e earth beable to withstand this last insanitv ol man?

. { *11 " l

i dea . and rhough ls i s rag ing i n rhF humanmrn0s , t r ke In l he t i e tds o I Ku ruksher ra The c ruc ia l mo .ment ol the i inai decision has come: where do we stand,with those who create or those who deslrov?

A bluish warm ti l e ba adorned wil l ; whire feathervc loud5 . Pu re and c lea r . rad ia l i ng l i gh t f rom w l l h in . I l i ' sou r t a r l l r i n a p i c lu re taken f rom rhe ou re r s lace . Thepl€net of i i ie, our home. What would i l be wilhout water,without a single i iower, tree or bird? Without man?

-1o1" 0"99t" compare ou-f ptaner lo a spacecrafL f l l ingIn tne oound tes< expanse o f t he un i ve r {e where l hc re a r ino t :o muc l l ox )gen . t ood o r [ uc l , a l t e r a l l . znd f i r e t hou -<an0 tn r l l r on pa5senger - who behz rp l i Le naughry ch i l d rentrying to dri l l through the side ol the spacecralt.

There have been many changes in tne crust ol lheea r tn , t he uo r ld o [ p lan ts and an ima ls . l he :e chanses re -mained on lhe olher side oI hi5lory. Man aloni_ theenigma oi the universe-ieels that he is elernal, that

32

he has always been and wil l always be. He feels he is om-nipotent, capable ol everything, even oi the destructionol himseli . But what i i I i fe, once it is destroyed on iheearth, is unwil l ing to be born again and moves 10 other,cleaner planets which have not been defi led by evi llhoughts and ideas?

What are the motivations of this man? What emotionsdo his eyes hold when they look at the sky? What noisedoes he use io si lence the voice of his conscience whenhe cfeates the horrible deadly weapon? How salutafy i twould be for him to sit quietly in the evening, alone withhimseli, away lrom the bustle and rush of the world!He would l ind something in himseli that would destroyhis wish to ki l l lor ever...

Now, as never befofe, i t has become absolulely clearwho stands ior darkness and who f ights against i t . Wa.or peace? The continuation oi the road or a precipice. . .Has there ever been so much anxiety. so much insecufi iyin the world? The batt le started by the Kauravas andPandavas is st i l l continuing. Except that now the l ieldoi the batt le is the human heart. The evi l fofces aredetermined 10 stand their ground, ready to l ight tooth andnail. Poor Dharmi, the sacred cow! In Salyarrga she sloodon iour legs, how dil f icult i t must be for her to stand onone leg in Kaligugal But she musl hold out t i l l at the mosfdif l icult moment ol the dark age Vishnu's tenth incarnationappears on a white stud and stafts a nev and better era.In the Himalayas he is cal led Maitreya.

When in lhe summer ol 1987 the head ol the Phil ippineCatholic Church, Cardinal Haime L. Sin , i isi ted Lithuania,he expressed these ideas quite explicit ly: "Both in theWest and in the East people must realize thal outerpeace can be attained only through man's inner world."

The Balts, very much l ik€ the Hindus, deif ied the worldwhich they inhabited. They worshipped the sun, moon,stars, thunder, birds and al l kinds of iourlegged animals.This seemed an outrage to the i irst missionaries who came

\

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io the Prussian, Lithuanian and Latvian lands. They couldnoi understand the heathen customs and ri tes, such as,for example, the tree cult. . . The Lithuanians felt a specialalf inity to trees since theif enti fe land was covered byforests. The forest provided them with tood and gave themshelter from loes. Trees were for them l iving beings whocould ieel pain and cfy. The iree which gods had chosenior their habitat ion was a sacfed tfee. It was a sacri legeto break its branches or col lect i ts lruit . Most often theLithuanians worshipped old oaks, rowan trees, ash-lreesand blackthorns. Trees with 1wo or more slems and alsowith unusually shaped branches were held in specialesteem. People l irmly believed that the children oi a manwho cut a lwo-stemmed tree would be born deal.

Only the elders could go to the forest in quest ol asacred tree and ialk to i t . When they iound one, lheyfasted and prayed for three days enlreaiing the gods tostay in the tree and help those who would come to askIor help. I i the gods agreed, the tfee answered by rustl ingits leaves; i f they did not, the man continued his prayersand entfeaties. I i the tree did not answer at al l , the manwould tear his bfeast and smeaf the frunk oi the treewith his blood- The response of the tree to the p.ayers orthe appearance of the god himselt was a sure sign ihat i twas a sacred lree and only then did people start comingto i t with ol lerings to the gods.

In Lithuanian mythology trees are associated with theidea oi reincafnalion. A dead man does not disappear be"cause his soul enters another body, i t may be that of anewly-born baby or a tree. Reincarnation in lrecs is typi-cal of people who have died an unnatural death, bydrowning, lor example, also the vicl ims murdered in arage or out ol jealousy, or those who have been cursedby otbers.

The oak was not the only lree lenerated by the Balis.They also worshipped l irs and pines under which theyused to pray and seek shelter kom the tage ol PerhLnQs(thunder) because ior some reason it is noi very oltenthat a l ighining str ikes a l ir tree. Fir trees were used toadorn the gates and chambers of lhe house where a wed-

34

ding was taking place, palhs leading 10 the house werestrewn with i ir twigs. This cuslom has survived in [unefals10 this day. Firs are used nowadays to adorn the ioneralcarts and to make funeral wreaths.

One of the oldest oaks in Europe sl i l l grows in Siel-muZC, the eastern Lithuanian distr ict ol Zarasai. I t wasplanted or perhaps it sprouted lrom a seed at lhe t imewhen the great Indian astronomer Aryabhata was born.It is so big thal i t takes seven men to embrace i l .

ln the 1sfta Upanishad therc are wonderlul l ines de-voted to the Sun, the l i [c-giver to our Earth: ' ,Oh. Sun,the lonely warmhearted wayfarer, you are thc lord andguardian ol everythingl Daughlcf of Prajapati, pul l inyour rays, extinguish the l ight! Now I can sce your perfectsemblancel I am rcally the crcalufc who l ivcs thercl.,

The ancient Lithuanians worshipped thc sun in themosl bcauti lul words. We, Lithlanians, do not have loomuch sun l i gh l I f r hc re i s a r ca l l y ho t spc l l oncc i n awhilc. i t usually does not last Iong. soun ctouds coverthe sky and rain begins to soak the earlh, which is solong ing to r t he sun . . , Poe ts dc r i ve thc name o i L i t huan ia\Lith. Lietuoa) l tom l ielus'rain'. ' l lcre js Lithuania, hererains are lrequent," wrote our poet Eduardas Miezelait is.

The sun, lhe nroon and the stars were gods to thc an-cient Lithuanians. Originally, the word dieuas (now mean.ing 'god'), just as the Sanskrit deual2, meant both l ightand the object that shone, sparkled. So it was natural thatthe sun should become the supreme visible divine lord.But as the Lithuanian word sa,ld is ol the teminine gender,the sun was looked upon as lhe heavenly queen. Theearl iest images ol ihe sun were made o[ amber, stoneor wood and they come from the Neolithic period. Theanihropomorphic symbol oi the sun used to be carriedround the f ields in the hope ol a good harvest. We canalso f ind a picture of the Sun's cart pul led by the twinsteeds on a iunereal urn from the 6th century. Gable poles

35

were olt€n carved ilt th€ iorm oi two horses, with a sunin the middle.

The sun frequently appears in folk art i facts and cros-ses. When the serpents begin to suck at the sun, i t dimsand covers i tself with clouds. Part icularly t ir ing is i tsgrapple with the Big Serpent which has several heads.To help the sun people used to burn snakes and theirsymbols such as sticks and poles.

Anci€nt Lithuanians were famil iar with the signs oithe Zodiac and believed that they exeried ini luence onpeople's l ives and everything that happened on the earth.Dukes and nobles used to have their ovn aslronomefsand astrologers. In more remoie t imes pagan priests usedto prophesy from the posit ion ot the slars in the sky andtherefore they vere relerred lo as,oaigzdongs,2L,aigz"dininkai 'sI^r t eaders'.

The Balts saw the signs ot the Zodiac as l i \r ing beings.Foreigners who visited our country i ive hundred yearsago wrote that Lithuanians worshipped a huge iron ham-mer with the Zodiac signs uscd to smash thc towcr' lvhcrcthe sun was imprisoned. The largest pagan tcmple waslocated in Vilnius. There wete twelve steps leading toit, with an altar on each step. On the day when the sunentered one or another sign of the Zodiac, a sacred f irewas burnt on ihe respectiv€ altar and appropfiate r i teswere pcrlormed. ln a very large area inhabited by theIndo-Eufopeans, the Balis are the only people who havcpreserved the old names of the planets and stars. Thisshows lhat they were well famil iar with the l i le ol theheavenly luminaries. The moon, referred lo by words oithe masculine gender, was regarded as the divine lordot the night, guardian of t ime, plants and animals. Thenew moon was always greeted with prayers, men took otftheir hats to him and bowed.

New and lul l moon were regarded as the most imporlant lunar phases. The majori ly ol the Balt ic lesl ivalsincluding the New Year usually staried at ful l moon. Onthe basis oi their experience people believed that i t wasbest to plant vegetables and corn.,Mhen the moon wasthree quart€rs lul l , whereas the wane was the best t ime

36

ior sowing peas, rye and wheat, because lhen these cropscould prolecl ihemselves better against al l sorts oi pests.Even nowadays every farmer knows when it is best io sowcorn, plant potatoes, turnips or cucumbers, when it is bestto ki l l a pig i l you want to have really tender meat.

Full moon is more favourable to the beings of theastral world. AII kinds oi probable and improbable thingscan happen then. Molhers are convinced that the l ight ola ful l moon is bad for their babies because it makes themprone to sickness. To prolect them from lhe harmful raysof ihe moonlight mothers used to place a rag doll or adish oi water on the window si l l . The l ighi of the iul lmoon was believed to be harmlul 1o the grown-ups aswell. There are several Lithuanian popular sayings whichmeniion the daughters of the sun and the moon, e. g.As beautilu! as the daughler of the sun; A daughter olthe sun @ouldn't be able to please ftia. These melaphori-cal names refer to the stars. The anlhropomorphic ieaturesascribed to the Iuminaries betoken ihe inf luence they werebelieved to exerl on people's I ives. Early vri t ten records]ntenlion Zaaigidihis, a star-god, who is usually depictedon horseback. One oi the legends says that ZtaigZdikis\r,anted to presefve a "clean" place on the earth and that$,as why he never al lowed to erect a Chrisl ian cross ona certain hi l l in the dislr ict of Varena. As soon as thefol lowers of the new laith buil t a cfoss there, i t wouldbe struck down by l ightning. There are legends about thesunken shrine ol Zuaigidihis, his wonderful sword thatcould deieat al l his ioes beiofe i t was stolen lrom him byan evi l witch.

There are a lot of legends about the Milky Way. InLithuanian it is known as the Path of the Bifds, the Pathof lhe Souls. the Path ol the Cranes or Herons becauseit points in the direction in which the birds f ly away fromLithuania to the warmer countries in the auiumn. It issignii icant that both the Lithuanians and the Hindus be-l ieve that human souls are also oriented by this band oifaint l ight when they l1y away lfom the earth.

Oi al l the stars, the Morning Star was held in thegreatest esteem. I i was deif ied just as the Dawn. The

37

Morning Staf was visualized as a queen ol divine beaulywearing a cloak studded with stars, clasped on the shoul_der wilh the moon. Her head was adorned with the sun,and her smile was the signal for the Morning Dawn toarise. When it rained while the sun was shining, peopleused to say that the Queen was crying. The Sun andMorning Staf were in conslant r ivalry over the moonand could never agree which ol them was more bealt i ful.There is a legend about a gir l wilh golden hair whoclnerges tronr the sca on a gold lhrone while the sun issett ing. It is actually thc Morning Star but the sun doesnot want to meet her and people cal l hcr then by anothername - lhc Evening Star.

The year when ihe Morning Star was well visible wasbelieved 10 be a lucky year. People uscd to pray to thcMorning Star because its l ighl was considered to havenragic power. On seeing it in the sky i t was advisable tosay the lol lowing prayer {hfee t imesi "Litt le MorningStar, you arc thc l ight delayed for dealh". I t was consid-ercd to be a sufc saleguard againsl l i fe, watcr or suddcndeath.

The Mofning Star had a lot oi brolhefs, sistcrs andkiends. /r i l ,ei l is, a Lithuanian god, and ,4asefrl ls, a Lat-vian god, must havc been thc Morning Star's brothers.They could transform lhemselves into a bull or evcn aman ,

It is believed that the Ausra Cate on the easlern sidcof the ancient lown wall of Vi lnius werc iormcrly a placeof worship where the Lithuanians paid homage to A!Jr.o,or AuSlrc (dawn), and the Morning Star. Aiter lhe intro-duction of Christ ianity a chapel was erected over the gate,and now there is an old and beautiful picture of St. Maryhanging over i ts altar. l t is framed in a wreath oi starspressed in gold and is said to have magic power in thatit always answefs people's prayers. The iame oi the AusraGate chapel has spread iar and wide in the western count.r ies. Now, just as in the ancieni t imes, Vilnius beginswith the AuSra Gate. They lead into a r inging bright-coloured modern city. But i ls story wil l be coming Iater...

38

The Lithuanians, Prussians and Latvians have createda lot of legends- It is impossible to tel l them all here. Butyou see, Ramachandra, they contain similari t ies withHindu mythology. AuSra and Usha, the Airiie4iai twinsand ,4srirs, the Morning Star's brothef and the bullNandi, the Daughters ol the Sun... You dont hav€ tobe a great scholar to see a similari ty between these my-thological beings. Before the divine moon sets, we havesome time and I am going to tel l you about some oiherBalt ic gods the number ol which just l ike that oi the Hin'du gods seems to have been colossal.. .

At the beginning ol the l9th century F. M. Mii l ler, aGerman Orienlal ist, made a comparison between the Hindugods and those ol some olher nations. According to him,there is an obvious paral lel ism between lhe tr inity ofBrahma_ Vishnu and Shiva and three ancient Balt ic gods,Peftan;, Patrirnpas arld Pikulas. Per&r:n.6, like the H-inducrealor ol the universe Brahma, is a powerlul god, theprime mover and father ol everything. Palt impas is sim-i lar to Visbnu. He is a cheerful guardian of l i fe. adornedwith fruit, always active and ful l of good spir i ts, a symbolol the continuous renewal oi l i fe. Pikulas is a pale, angrydeslroyer and ki l ler, resembling Shiva to some extent.His wife Gilr ini (death) has a servant cal led Drertal is-Mil l ler points to the similari ty between Gilr ial and Kali ,one of Shiva's wives, who is also a ki l ler and blood sucker.Similarly, there is a good deal o[ discord between Pd-lt impas and Pikulas, on lhe one hand, and Vishnu andShiva, on ihe other.

Many nations conceive of deity as a tr inity, a unityol three parls ol one god or lhree separate gods. Thetrinity of Bfahma, Vishnu and Shiva, the supreme deii iesof Hinduism, correspond to three colours - yel low, greenand red, which stand for cosmic powers. The supremedeit ies have wives: Bfahma's wiie is Sarasvati, Vishnu'swife is cal led Lakshme, Shiva's wile is Pafvati This isan expression ol the unity oi the male and the female,

39

the active and the passive, the unity oi spir i i and matler.Just as a man is not capable oi creating l i fe without awoman, so spir i t can have no expression wiihout matler.In other words, matter is lhe material ized spir i t .

Different Balt ic ir ibes had a number of gods and god-desses which were common to al l of them, such as Pel-hrnos, ZemAna, ddd. By touching lhe clouds the hoovesol Perhinas' steeds sent t lashes ol l ightning to lhe earth.There is a good deal ol similari ty belween Pethinas andthe Hindu gods Indra and r\gni. Several hisiorians haveleit descript ions of ancient Lithuanian and Prussianshrincs which they had secn themselves or had happ.nedto hear oi. One such shrinc .,vas located. ior examDle. inthe trunk ol a big oak under i ls three branches. It contain'ed three statues, lhat ol Petkinas, Patrimpas and Pihulas.' fhc images of lhese three gods wcre also painted on lhePrussian i lag. Several such statues of Pe,' trnos havereached us irom the tast ccnturies. In anothcr shrine, Per.Arinas was holding a huge t l int which thc priests used lors l r i k i ng l i r e .

In iront o[ the stalue of Petkunas in Vilnius. nriestsand !cstals kcpt thc sacred l irc always burning by contin-ually lccding it Nith oak logs. I l thc i ire died out throughsomcbody s fault, the priests brought a new flame struckItoln Perktnas' hand and aDDroached the altar on thcirknees. To placate the powerful god thcy burnt the priestwho had let the i ire die. But i f the sacred l ire was put outby rain or storm it was interpreted as PukAnas' angtydissatisiaction with people's prayers and offerings.

The ashes of the sacred l ire were believed to bc a po.tent remedy but even more potent werc the ashes of theoak struck by l ightning. For many long centuries f irewas considered to be sacred in every Lithuanian home.It was kept always burning and it was a bad omen i ii t went out- Then the tamily asked the i ire lof forgivenessand went 10 their relatives to fetch new embers. A bridealways took some fire from her parents' hearth to bringit to her new home.

Goddess Zemgna was the guardian ol the earth, whileher husband (or her brother) Zemipalis was the master

40

I

ol the earth. ZemAna was held in great esteem: she wasthe f irst to be remembered at every iestival, she \xas givenolferings of iood and her help was sought, together wiihthat ol the moon and the sun, when somebody was bittenby a snake. Every evening belore going to bed the Lithua-nians would kiss the earlh and say the tol lowing prayer:"My mother Earth, I was born trom you, you led me andalier my deaih you wil l lake me."

Laimi, lhe goddess oi fate and success, was no lessimportant to the Lithuanians because she accompaniedevery man fhrough l i fe irom his birth. Lain' had a daugh-ler by God Pruho mas. Her daughter's name was Au|rinaand she was queen of the newly crealed world: before thisworld the earth was inhabited by giants. People appearedonly atler the waters had subsided.

. . . And again we have paral lel ismst Laimi * Lahshmi,Zemgna-Jama. . ,

There are a lot of analogies in Hindu and Lithuanianlegends as well. The numbers 3, 7, I and 12, which occurvery otten in our ioik songs and lolktales, are st i l l con.sidered to be numbers ol special meaning and power inInd ia .

Ramachandra keeps si lent. What is he ihinking about?The dancing Shiva whom we saw in ihe museum a shoriwhile ago? Bul i t is a tree ot l i ie, a tree of universe. Theeternal circle ol l i fe... I f people do not come to theirseoses in t ime, i i they stray irrevocably from the pathoi truth, i i darkness prevails, Shiva vr ' i l l no longer helpthe wor ld and w i l l s ta r t h i s 'Tandava 'dance . Our l i t eglobe wil l shake, ci l ies wil l be drowned in a sea oi angryi l ames . When the 'Tandava ' i s ove r , ou r ea r ih w i l l d i sap -pear in the inl inity.

Alter a good rest Shiva wil l start another dance andthen a ne$' and better world wil l come into being. Butwhen people cone back, they wil l have to learn anewhow to l ive and l ind the trulh.

When we came to the tourist camp which was locatedon the coast oi the ocean near Madras and bore the nameol The GoLden Sun, we really lot|nd ourselves overpoweredby lhe hot golden sun. As soon as we got up in the

4 l

morning, we began to wait impatiently for the sun to setand take away al l i ts gold.

The windows ol the thatched cottages buil t on pi lescome o!t to the inf inite expanse ol the ocean which isshimmering and moving al l the t ime. If you look at i tior some time, i t appears to l ie higher than the coast andthe optical i l lusion makes you think that the gfey massesof water wil l come down tumbling on everyihing. In theopposite direction l ies a gloomy slretch of scorched redIields spotted here and thefe with a desolate I igure ola man. Far ahead along the coast l ine, on a promontory,loom the mysterious outl ines oi a templc.

I could not miss the opportuniiy of walking the pathonce walked by the ancient Dravidian poct Tiruvaluvar,and I asked to be awakened before sunrise so lhat I couldreach Mahabalipuram. It seemed to me the tclephone rangat my head as soon as I pul my head on my pi l low.But the clock said i t was half past iour. A warm ir iendlyvoice said: "Good morning!" and wished me a pleasanijourney.

It is pitch dark. I gropc my way down thc steps andturn in thc direction which I establishcd on thc previousday. I walk over the crackl ing grass and dry Ieaves to-wards lhe water. I try nol 10 think of snakes and olhersharp-toothed crcatures. I have seen women wall i ing hercbarcfoot, haven't I?

I1 is tantasi ic walking l ike this at night under a brightmoon. AII alone. Crabs are scampering under rny leet andI have the impression that they are lrying to provokeme to chase them. The templc grows bigger as I walk on.ln the i ishing vi l lage I pass by, men are messing aboutwith their boats, i f two sharp-pointed logs t ied togethercan be called that. But they can be used for f ishing puf-poses quite successful ly and I have seen lhat with my

Suddenly i t is dawn. I pass a young Tamil, most l ikelya Brahman, recit ing a passage lrom lhe sacfed writ ingsout loud. He is oblivious of what is going on aroundhim - soon the golden disc wil l r ise ffom the ocean.

42

That morning I was not fated to see the wonderfulsunrise. The sky became suddenly overcast and only agreenish l ight f i l tered thtorgh the clouds. I must havebeen unworthy to see the sunrise at a place l ike that.The old ueather-beaien temple was buil t o[ sol id stone.How great the builders of India were in the 6th century!How could ihey l i f t slabs of stone weighing hundreds oftons to the top ol the tower? Two gods share the templepeaceful ly: Shiva sit i ing in the rays ol the sun risingIrom the sea, and Vishnu whose lace is l i t by lhe raysoi the sett ing sun penetrating through a narrow sl i t .Eas t and Wes t . . .

The vigi lant Easi. I ts dl l ty is to see that every morningthe golden sun rises over the world clear and brighi.

The development oi the material and spif i tual cultureot e\ 'ery nation is rel lected in i ts iolklore. Li lhuanianfolklofe is peculia. in that nature and things in i t areendowed with human leatures and character. Incantations.and heathen prayers, which are the oldest lofms ol folk-lore, are woven together with advice oi lolk medicine. Ail-ments and mislortunes were believed to be the doingsol the invisible spir i ts. Some ol the mysterious naturallorces could be won over but some were implacable andpeople had 10 submit themselves lo their wil l- Only pureand absolutely guileless people could contacl these iorcesand pass their advice to other people. 4/g-yedo andAthata-Veda contain a number ol incantations similar toLhose lo be iound in Li lhuanian [olklorl .

A greai amount ol natural wisdom is amassed in pro-ve .bs and say ings . . .

PROVERBS AND SAYINGS

Fine leathers mahe Iine bids, gteat @isdom makes Iine

The head bads the mon.Ne@s is s@ilt, thought is srsitter.To each bird its orDn song.

once a rooh, alu)ags a rook, once a peacock, al@aas a

Oke @ottl is enough tor a good man, but not euen a sticvhas pou)et tot a bad one.you cannot 1oash a bLach croMshile.He @ho comes trom the loood, ak!)ags loohs back at the

A frog reill leap ihlo a pond euen trcm the nicest meodou).Habit is sttunget lhan nature.Looe cannot be gai ed b! lotce, ot the gruce ol God bgreoenge.Neither lire, @alet not lare can be concealed.Age makes a hunchman al lhe strong man and a babe

An ald man is the he! ol lhe home.No need la ask about a man's heallh alter one look into

Agues come on horseback, but go olea! on Ioot.If lou are hungta, nobodA can see it, il aou ate nahed,it's oboious to all.Rest fot the soul is good lor the bodg.It's beltet to \oalh up the hill than to fall do@n.Vlhat is put inlo the soul bg one man cannat be laken

Eren a saint bends his tingers toaatds himself.A roise man sees through lhe earth, a fooL cannot seesrhat lies tight under his Jeet.Some people grol! inlo utisdom, some out of it.A fool is recognized b! his lauglter.There's something lo be listened lo, but nothing to betold.lVhen God uants to punish a man, he depiaes him of

Speech is silLrer, silence is goLden.Thinh olet eoerAthing gou saa, but a{on'l sag etergthinggou think.

4+

It's good to hnout eoergthing, but not to sag eoer|thing.A song mahes the da| shotter and the @otk lighter.To hiss lihe a glass-snahe that has not beea giuen itsmith.Eaetr the Sun's daughter u)ould not be able lo please

Strcng is not he aho beats, but he @ho holds oul.The tpotst @heel ol the cart cteahs most.you aatnot ouercome others, belore gou o,Jercot\e gour-sell.Listen lo aduice but dan't lose gout judgettent.Cou)ads die mang times, lhe laliant onlg once.It's ftom stench and not Jear that ftom muck tolks steelclear,Don't driue Gad. into the @ood, you',Don't be able lo gel

. him oul, euen @ilh o pie.As handsome as the Sun's daughter.DotN't be sottg Aou gol up earl! or matried Aoung.Deal is the Jarmhause @ithout dogs, blind are the @in-douts 4)ithout childten.The son's honour toears his tather's coat.rvhen the son eats apples, his lalher's teeth become blunt.Bend. a ttee @hile it is supple, punish a child &)hile Aousti l l can.A great lottune is a gteot utotrg.The lean man u)ill die betote the fot man be.omes lean.The teeth of time arc sharp but those of pooedg arc

Misfortune has no teeth get it can eat a mon up.Eoen lhe best broom cannot s@eep trcuble out of the

you'll die beforc all gour u)otk is d.one.Some call it God, some Lord.you mag pass fortune bg and @alh straight itlto misfor-

Vhat's the use ol gettiag up earla @hen God doesn't help

RIDDLES

The rool is lutl ol @indotts. Euetgbodg t es to laoblhtough them but cannot see anlthing (The shg and theslars)A nast field, innumerabLe sheep, a hotned sheplrctd. (Thesk!, the stus and the moon)A golden shroud @hi.h cooerc the lehole tsorld. (Light)

It buns aLt da! long but neaer burns itselt out. (Thesun)A blue @arp and a bto@n @elt @hich are cut 1lilh a galdetuhnife. (Da,.on)A black cott lo@ed and aLl the lences tell do1ln A &)hiteco@ loteed. and. all lhe tences slaod up. (Daa and night)

]t is bigEer than a man, but lighter than a leathet ll isbotn al suuise a\d. tlies al sunset (A shadote)A grea buLl srhich loohs in through lhe @indola (The4oon)It has no parcnts, il does not g/ot!), nar does it die, but itetisls. (A stone)you maA cut it toith a knile, liou mag chop il tt)ith an axe,but Aou can neter cut il into t\lo. (lyatet)

It Ilies @ithoul @ings, it Ilades leithout legs. (A cloud)

tt's both long and thin, but ahen il crauches in the grass,gou cannot see it. (Rain)

lvhen I see it, I can'l heat il,'Vhen I heat it, I can't see il. (Snou) and ruin)

ll can open lhe door Ilithout using its hands ot legs.(The teind)Horses utithout saddbs run among mountains, caressittgthe pebbles and inspectitg the edges. (A rioer)

It is a Iield utithout paths. ryhen gou cross it, Aou leaueno lracks. (A Lake)

46

The motning's daughler-in-la@ is u)earing a oelnet bon.net. (De1!)The horse neighs far a@a!, but its hatness iingles closeat hand. (The Thunder God)The bull rcams and rcats loudlA, cuttiag the shg @ith hishoms. (Thunder and. Iightning)The Jather has not been born !et, but his son has ahead!tutned greA. (Fie and smohe)You, Fathet, staA here and rct, I'm going up the hill tosee ha@ high the sun is. (A r|e shoot and grain)Il is grcen, but it's nol gtass,It has a tail but il's nat a mouse. (Cucumbet)A lodg aras leearing a ted Ircch. Vhile theg @ete undres-sing her etetgbodg ctied. (An onion)lvhen I ,sas aliae, I Ied the Liuing. Vlhen I die(I, t ca iedlhe dead. (An oah ttee)The molhet died last gear, the children @erc botn this

TtDa run, l1!o chase, troo look, troo listen,Six hundted came @hislling behind. (A horce)People mag @ash thei lace l,ith something that is neitheltain nor snou), s)ipe their face tu)ith sotuething that has nolbeen spun or @oten. (Tears)Its legs are of stone, its @aisl is ol tDood,its eges ote oJ glass, its cap is of strcIj). (A house)fhp beat kecps running ond grc@ling and shohing i6tbhite @hisherc. IMiI lslones)Fiue ate tufting, ten are mouing, one is spitting. (Spin-ning on a spinning @heel)It keeps loohing at ils home on its u.)ag to the torest,It heeps loohing at the lotest on its q)ag home. (An axe)lJ it stood up, it tsould rcoch the sku.If it could speak, it luould haue ; Iot of totes to tell.It it had haads, it @ould catch a thiet. (A rcad)

47

PAAAN PRAYERS, INCANTATIONS AND CHARMS

A prayer to the Goddess Zemgra (lhe goddess of theEar th ) :Thick buslr, heau! deu)! Ripe corn, floe)erg Zemgna! Keepus in good heallh and in plenty! Bless eaerylhing thatcan be eaten, drunh, soe)n and hatrcured on this flollergZemgnd. Sate us ttum hungtg beasls!A prayer said at the sight of the new moon:Ne@ moon, goung man, ptince ol healren and earth! ̂ laAyou haae the goLden circle, and maA I haue good heallh.Yaw lot is to a)ane, mine is to ltue, mag gou hate lord-ship, mag I be gtunled lhe heaaenlA hingdonLA prayer at the sight of the Morning Star:DaA is breahing, deut is in the shg. A goung larl! is sitlingon a gouen chab ond teaching children @ords.

Fire must be put to bed lof the night in this way:you musl s@eep the embers into a pile, co\)er them @ilhash in the lorm of a cross, and make lhe sign of lhe crcssoupt i l u)hi lp saging lhe Iol lo@ing prcgelSleep @ell, mA Jirc, sleep &ell, Gabieteli. tyhen I getup, I 1lill Jind gou alipe.

Incanlations against snakebiteiFiery hing, Lord af the snakes, cast a look [rcm undergour cro@n. King of the gruss-snahes, lahe Aow face au)dyfrom this poor man (Iloman) hete.The iol lowing incantations musi be said over a piece o[bread:The stone is @ilhout roots, the lern is &)ithout blassom,the bird is loithout milh. Blach, greg, sttiped, brolDn, red,lighl blue (ot ana other colout) I curse lhee and 'sishthou u)ent lor God's iudgement to drg @oods and moot-lands so that it @oald not hutt and it &)ould not stuell.

Then the piece oJ bread must be eaten ba the man ot theanimal @ho has beetu bitten b! a snake.Lo@ ea h, high heaten, our mother, gueen ol anget! youcome as an eail so go a@a! os an eoil.

48

The lal loain! in(onlotion musl be said three l imes @ilh'

out ;ahinp a bteall t . The brcalh ol lhP petson saqing the

intantati in musl Iot l onla on a pic(e of breadGoLd si luer, gold si lwt gold si loer' I .hawn t done an!'

tiiin-iia i'u.r, ! haoeln t done anathing bod lo gou' I

hauin't done inuthing bad to Uou You haocn l done ona'

thinp bad ta mi, goi haten't done anylhing bad to tue'

uouTauen't done anglhing bad lo me'ifier the spelt has- beei put on the piece of bread' il

iust be eaien blt lhe man ot the animal sul le/ ing Itumsnahebite.

Incaniations said to stop bleedingliiera bloorl, fern blossom. The rhter has calmed dolon'

Mai this blood sloq tlo@ing.Thi son of the god l]Jas hetaing a botn to put up a go,lden

,ai.it"t. t inou f,Io"" o "opp",

gate thete to ptetent drcps

lrcm lallinP thete.'The ionoalng ptoyet musl be said lhtee lim?s vrilhout

ioi i" lg o ar"oin, f i" tun s milh a slone s blood lhP Pclips?

of the sun, the lass of blood.

At the wane ol the moon al l warts must be counted and

^'.""p""t iu" number of knols made on a woolen thread

accompanied by the fol lowing words:t am ttt inp this lea ' I om l| i1g this @attri. eioti"a thrcad is buieA uidet lhe dtops lolling Ircnthe roof. The @atts @ilL disappeat @hen the thtead rots'

when a child loses a tooih, he musl throw it on the stove

saving:M"ousZ, mouse. take this bone tooth and gioe me an iron

To ensure a better growth of corri, the sower must keep

a pebble in his moith. When the sowing is i inished, he

sDits out the Debble and says:fiia p"opt"'be carclul a6out trcading on corn as theg

ate caretul about treading on stones'

. The Indians have a deep respect ior the past. Theyknow how to l ive with i t and in i t . Even an uneducatedIndian can talk ior hours on end about his native vi l laqeor lown and lhen it is hard lo lel l Iegend from reali ivor i icl ion invenled by hi i imagination.

- New Delhi is the yourgest part of the lndian capital.I ts modern streets are vide and clean and there vou cansee specimens of new architccture which vou could n,rrha\e dreamed oI seeing so Iar lo Lhe cast. When lhcstreet l ights go up at night, New Dclhi looks l ike a typicalEu ropean c i l y . S low ly Ramachandra i n le rp re ts thc namesoi the sireets lor me: Humayun, Akbar's father (the begin,n ing o t t he Mogu l dynas ty ) l G rea t Akbar , t he s la i o ft hc Mogu l dynas ty ( rhc l 6 th cen tu ry ) ; Jahang i r , ShahJahan , Au rangzcb -a l l Mogu ls r Ra jpuL p r i l hv iRa l . rheemperor ol Delhi; Asoka (the First Empire B. C.); FirozShah Tugh lak , Ja i S ingh , Mara lh . . .

" l think the entire history ol India is covcred beforeone goes over al l the streets in Delhi,. , l said to Rama,cnandra.

"Just l isten to me," he said.going to tel l you, some of thesee l o r you rse l f . . . "

_ Everybody knows Alexander the Great, king oi Mace-don, and many call him the f irst conqueror oi the world.His army overcame the small Indian pfincipali t ies onea f l e r ano lhe r qu i re ea r i l y , a lways mov ing l u r i he r i n land ,l eav ing beh ind re l i ab le v i ce roy r , ne \e f even l ak ing thetfouble to conceal that ihey had come to plunder, eni laveand rule.

50

"Some o[ the things I amthings you afe going to

But the invincible Alexander did not conquer the world'He never saw his thirty third birthday and weni to hisqfave lar from his home with a leel ing that he had not hadinoush ol his viciories and fame Alexander the GreatIeft irore evi l than good on the earth. The Hindu ma_nuscriDts do not even mention his name. It is impossible1o record everyone who has ever plundered and tr ied todeieat India. I int the ambit ion to conquet the world didnot die with the greaf warrior ' I t is st i l l l rying to i inda place in human minds fanning up the hollow i l lusion'Maga.

ibe k ;ng r o f Mauryan d lna ' t y were l hp l l r s f l o un i l ethe l nd ian ; i bp . , p r i nc rpa l i l i es and a lmos l a l l r a jas Eve ryruler deems himself to be the chosen of God Asoka wasno exceDtion and as soon as he ascended the throne beannounced that he was the darl ing ol gods and they hadhelped him to become king.' In

ihe olden t imes when a ruler accepted the c'own,he alwavs swore 10 be just to his subjectsl "May I losethe heaven, l i ie and my descendants i l I do wrong untovou." Asoka tr ied to be a just king. And he has l ivedin the memory ot his people as one ol the most giftedand noble sovereigns in world history. Never was therea kine in lndia, before or after him, who has buil t so manyroad{ bridges and wells. His imPerial road - raipatha -

is st i l l meandering lrom north to south across the entirecounlfy. Asoka h;d the high\ra). lrned 'rr 'r l l ' tree' andinnc to g i ve .hade and re . t l o l l dve l l e rs He bu i l t hosp i_tals wheie people could get treatment lree oi charge

We wouid not know much about Asoka s deeds if i twere not lor his edicts carved on stone pi l lars sei upin d l l Da r l - o l h i - \ r ngdom In h i : r ock ed i c t c Asoka 5e ldown h i s p r i nc ip le . . r nd mora l i t ) and h i - imper ia l w i l lThev are known as edicts ol Dhatma.

Ramachandra said Dhatma and I immediately asso_ciated it with the Lithuanian dermi, datna'harmony. con-co rd ,

Asoka lr ied 10 l ive and rule by ihe principles olDhatma, and he demanded the same ffom his subjectswho wefe, in tact, inspired by his personal example The

grand,ceremonies at lhe royal palace and cos y huntswere discontinued, animals were no longer sacri i iced togods and gradually meat and wine disappeared irom thetable at feasts. In addit ion to that, the king rnade anotherdaring step -.he publicly proclaimed thai lhe pala andlhe. mechanical repeLit ion of lhe manlrcs were poinrlesland absolutely unneccessary. The priests pricked up theirca rs . Was rhe k ing ques t i on ing the i n ta l l r b le Ved is andproc la im ing l he equa j i r y o [ Lhe ca :Le :? Wasn r t he da r l i nqo r t ne gods l ak ing l oo many l i be r l i e \? Bu t l he p r i es l ioowed lheir heads before lhc king lvho boldly prociaimedrne rdea tnsc f j bed on an o ld l emp le on l he bank o [ l heUanges: "No rel igion can pfe\ 'ai l o\.er Trurh...

Let s not lofgel lhar ir was lhe 3rd cenrufy B. C._ Pecrl iar was the behaviour oi this extraordinary king:he cou ld pun ish an o f f cnde f c rue l l y . bu r l ne nex t m inuLehe ,cou ld ,be j o f f y f o r hav ing done so . When rhe c ropsIa r re0 -and peop te s ta rvcd , he ga !c o rde rs ro d i s l f i bu tcrood l rom the s ta le s to rehou :es . He had hosp i l a l s bu i l lIor animals and beasls, and on the whole, i t is only juslt o . rega rd -h im as rhc f r f s r k i ng i n rhc wor ld who i ; s t i r u -Icd laws tor the protection of nalure,. . Sarnath... The ruins which have reached us from Aso-kas t imes The famous Dhamck S lupa . The con l i nuousrow o l p r tg ms who rnovc round and round thc sLupa .repeating the same words: Om mani poame hum.. . I nccnse bu rn jng on thc cas t s rde , , t t he wa l l . I a l soJo rn the p j l g r ims and l h ink abou t t he e te rna l c i r c l c o il i le and the irreversible f low ot t imc.

We wander about the ruins admiring the f loweringshrubs .and the niccly tended jawns which glow in thisun with a reddish sheen. From l ime to l ime wi pass Bud-dhist rhonks.wearing orange robes, ana toreign'pitgrim.E \e fy l oo l o [ l he ea r lh , eve ry b r i ck and sLone exudes the!xc j t i ng sp i r i t o f l he l as r ages wh ich l h f i l l s eve rvbodvas.soon as he sets his foot on rhe ground. of these ancienirutns.

We read the words carved on ihe stone twenty fourcenturies ago. Two Indians, husband and wife, she"wear_ing a bright green sari, approach the pi l lar. The woman52

pushes her hand ihrough the cast iron f€nce in an attemptto place some flowers on the broken column.

In lhe museum at Sarnath the visitors can see the ca_pital oi an Asoka pi l lar ' Strong_maned l ions squat, back[o back, facing the lour cardinal points ol the earthThev svmbolize power and determination. Below them isthe ;ftabrd, the wheel ol Dharma ( ' law'1, beauti iul ly carvedon the shiny monolith. The l ions, so l inely carved andburnished from greenish sandstone, hav€ been immorta-I ized in the coins and banknotes and the naiional emblemof India, which also bears lhese Sanskrit words: "SA-TyAM EVA tAyATI" " l t t i th always prevails

The Etefnal Wheel has found i ls way lo the Indianflag.

India has been destined to have al l sorls ol ruletsIn the l6th ceniury boih Asia and Europe were f loodedwilh rumours about a r ich country and its kings of un-surpassed wealth, the Creat Moguls.

Akbar was the greatest king oi the Mogul dynasty.He ruled lndia ior half a century, taking care of thepeople's national pride, their spir i tual nobil i ty and theiriove ior their country. I t must have been the t ime whenihe lndians began to realize ihat al l oi ihem, no matterNhat iheir birth, language or creed was, were united byMata Bharala, Moiher India. Although she could not ieedher chi ldren every day, she could always comlort and

I soothe them for she was everywhere-in ihe stfeet, iheI t i"tas. ihe palaces ol the r ich and thc huts ol the poofI -qtrhough the unif ical ion of Indra pfoceeded by the] .word, ir.- power conrinued lo grow. The glory ol theI .ounttt and Akbar's royal palace attracted cfowds ofI peop le ' f rom a l l ove r t he wor ld . They came w i th d i f l e ren tI a i rn . i n r i e \ \ ' : : ome czme to bu i l d 2nd c rea te o the rs l oI t " r t n o f I r ade . s t i l l o the fs to i ng raL ia le themse lves w i thI the emperor or to win support tor a new iai lh. But lheI cmperor sas endowed ui lh great sagacity. The weak and

I guitLy cowered undef his shrewd look sages alone couldI s tand j t w i thou t I l i nch ing

ls:III

, Disgusted by the squabble and leud at the royal pa-lace, Akbaf set everybody to work at last - he hai themb u i l d _ a n e w c a p i r a l a c c o r d i n g l o h i 5 d e c i g n . l l i < b e l i e v e dt h a t A k b a f h i m s e l f c h o . e l h e . i r e i o r I h e n e w c a p i l a l a lthe loot of a big mouniain where he had lound the'biggestfuby i .n lhe world which he \^ore day and night. An"oiherslory ha: i l that once Akbar wenr barefool k;nr lhc Agrap a l a c e r o l h a r m o u n r a i n w h e r e z . a g e . t h e p e r . i a n S h e ; k hr a l | m ( h r s r l l t . l r o p h e s i e d l h e b i r l h o f A k b a r . s s o n _G-raleful ior ihe prophec). Akbar began the conslruct iono r 2 c r l y a l t h a t v e r ) p l z c e . w r t h t h e b l e s s l n g s o l l h e g r e a tsage.

_, Wh,i le lhe ci ly rva. rapidly going up, Akbaf compleLed

l le s!DlugaLion oI al l lhe fajas and became rhe emperoro r a l l , l n 0 r a . U o m r n g b a c k \ r i l h \ i c l o r y a n d r i c h e . , A k b a rs a w l h e r e d c i l y o l g l o r y l r o m a I a r , F a t e h p u r S i k r i . H em o v e d h j s c a p i l a l l h e r e a n d _ o h , j o y i r h e h o l y m a n , spropnecy came true-a son was born to him, the hei. tothe.throne. He was given the name of Sal im in honourol t l le great sage.

, Fatehpur Sikr i was a capi lal only ior l i l teen years. I ts

glory came to an end so soon because i t was di i f icul t tol i -ve, lhere as there.wa" no \ ater. people lef t the ci ly. Ao e a d c j l y a n a r c l j ; i e c i u r o l m o n u r n e n l o f u n i q u e b e ; u l v .Two .cul tures, two architectural styles, Hindu' ana Mo!-t e m , h a v e r e m a i n e d n i c e l y b l e n d e d t h e r e. . R a m a c h a n d r a a n d I g e r m i x e d w i l h t h e c r o w d o , t o u r .lst5, schoolchj ldren and pi lgr ins wlto come here in bu\es.1-11 ln:y go back to Agra. rne ciry i*i lenr again,:,:: l l"q.', i the sun. and wairing eagerty for anorheiday1 . [n rch w t l l b r i ng l he r r cke l o f hu rnan vo i ce . . l t j s s ;c rea r ry ob \ rou5 ,he re th€ r a c i l y w i l l l ou l pcop le i s no c i r ya l a r r howe \e r beau t i f u l i t m igh i be .

.The t idy green iawns, shrubs and lrowers grow hereonly. because they are nourished by water bro-ught fromanother place. Two small brothers are standin! al thegate, sel l ing waieri "Buy it , .Mister. The waler is cold..,

Ramachandra lakes me irom building to building: hereis lhe site oi the throne, here is the astrologer's c;ttage,here is the palace for Akbar's Hindu wiie,-here ior f , is

Moslem wiie and here for his Christ ian wife. Here Akbarused to hail lhe r ising and sett ing sun; here is the place

where he used to medilate and play chess From the deckon the roof of the palace we can see the red f ields run_nine irom under our feet into the misty distance, theircol;r blendinq with that ot the city stones We are inihe citv but aathe same time we are in the f ields

"You know," Ramachandra, "Akbaf had a saying: Acrosseved man cannot see the middle. Messengers o[ var-ious ri l isions made el lorts to win Akbar over- But the

",| l0"ro,

-guu" preference to l lone The healhFn\" he u\ed

to .av. -oeliere

in the good but lhi ' is ju' t what lheMos lems and Chr i . r i an . do So who sha l l I j o i n? TheemDefor lr ied Io cfeaie his own fel igion but i l l -ad iewIo l i o$e r : who d i : appea fed a l l oge lhe r a l i e r h rs dea lh Bu tthe idea ol unit ing al l the rel igions was really greal i thas contribuled a lot io the rapprochemenl between Hin_dus, Moslems and Parsees.'

The v"rd ol the mosque of the glorious ci ly ic l i le a6 ,s .q r i r " . u r rounded w i l h I i gh l open_work s l ruc lu resan-d toweri. Ai leI lhe dealh ol lhe Holy Dervi 'h Sheil 'hSalim Chishti. Akbar had a white-marble mausoleumerecled in the middle of the yard, very l ight and verygraceiul. He bore the body of the P.ophet in himsell in

irat i tude tor his son, his success and the ci iy.we come in. In the middle we see a stone lomb draped

with a cloih. I t is believed that i f a person goes tnreetimes round the tomb and pronounces his wish at each ofthe four corners, his wish is bound lo come true, for thespir i tual power oi the holy man was very greai indeed,maiched only by very lew chosen.

Ramachandra takes me round the tomb. loo l fol lowhim repeating si lently: I 'd l ike to come to India onceagain, l 'd l i [e to see again lhe Himalayas, the sacredmoun ta ins o f t he gods . . .

When we were about to leave, the sitent city resoundedonce aeain with the hubbub and laughter ol a group o[l i{elv indian schoolchildren who had just disembarkedfrom a sun'baked bus, their inquisit ive big eyes burningwith curiosity. What a variety oi laces, what whiteness of

their teeth! India's healthy tuture. The inhabitants oi thenew twenty-first century, reading the living textbook ofnlslory.

, , , ,W: :1 . " back home a long l he du . l y road . pass ing byh r r r \ . va l l e l s and g ro le . . Co rn wa_ r i pen ing i n l he t i ; l d ; .I l i t had not been fof the peacocks or gieen and blueparrots l lying from lree to 1ree, I would

-have thought i

was travell ing in Lithuania on a hot aiternoon.The wind- ro_5e A grey wall gfew in lhe dr: lance co_

! : r l ng a ha | l o t t he r ky . . .A sdnd . l o rm. . .5a id the vo i ceol Rama, Let-s close the \ l indows "

. . ,Thu . . . , r ung" . awe insp i r i ng e lemen ls enve loped l helrerds. l t greu d"rrk. The dri\ers qwiiched on thelr head_l i gh t ' . Ch i i d ren were qu i cL ty d r i v i ng l he an ima t . home.rne gusL . o l w jnd cd r r i ed the wh i r l i ng sand wh ich pene-

lrated-e\eryrhing and everFvhere in lhe mosi unexp;cledway . Lven the l i gh t l y ,hu r w indows o I Lhe ho te l cou ldnol heep it .oi[ . . Du5] covered rhings and people. Werert, depre.sed al lhough we lnew thal lhe next day wouldDe Drrght and sunny.

.S i kandra . i 5 a suburb o f Ag ra . Akbar . s mauso leum,red and wh i te ma fb le . I t co re r ( rhe l e r r i l o f y o f a who ler l t y ,qua r te r I t i s . ac ru r l l y , pa rk w i r a t o io t impudenrmonheys . l he r . r : i t o r en le | c rh rough rhe I i r , l ga le . wh ich:3t1,"., y* nade of sand-alwood, ascends a ie; sreps andlrnds hjm:elI in kont of lhe second gare. It Iead: onloa green lawn with a lot of trees and a wall embedd€dwith colouriul slones Beyond lhp lhird gale lhe vjsi lorr rnd \ t he ta fgeq t a rea o f rhe pa rk w i th [oun ra ins . rndr rowe f rng s f rub : . I n i he m idd le o l i l . l ands i he mauso .Ieum-a posh structure, half Indian, half p".. irn, * i i f ,a mtnatet at each ol the foui corners and an elongatedbell .

Outside the narrow entrance I take off my shoes andenter the twil ight oi the mausoleum. The steps lead medown. The passage gels darker and darker. I t is al l verywell ior the Indians, lhey are shorler, buL a jal ler manhas lo bend his head and even his knees. Ai last I reea dim l ight. I t is a candle. One or iwo sreps more and

I straighten up with rel ief. I see two Indians. They addressme in a fr iendly tone. I think they ask why I have comealone. Turning back and bending down the visitor cansee the narrow, almost a mile-long passage he has justpassed and al l the four gates. It seems that irom hereAkbar can see and walch the people coming to visit him.

The walls disappear high into complete darkness. Theyare coveted wiih sacred words. "Twenty i ive meters," oneol the lndians explains to me in broken English. One olthem utlers a sound in a bit louder voice and th€ echorepeats i t seven t imes. Dolcful ly and dreari ly. But theguards oi th€,nuseum sincerely vish to tel l and show thevisitor cvcrylhing. As every Indian, they afc proud ol theirgreal cmpcror.

While the bands oi the persian shah Nadir werc ma-rauding in India, they robbed thc emperor's tomb and tookaway the sandalwood gate. Luckily they did not knowabout lhe diamond Kohinoor hidden in the wall. I t wasdiscovcred later, when lndia was a colony ol Grcat Britain,by an lr ish soldier who scratchcd i i out accidental ly withthe bayonet ol his r i f le. There r lust have been a curse onlhe diamond: i t cost many people their l ives belore i treachcd England. Thc tsnglishmen cut the diamond intotwo parts: on€ is the property o! the Bfit ish Muscum, theoihcr adorns thc quecn's crown. But can a cursc bc dividcdand spli t into two parts?

Akbar, who was the richcst empcror in the world, diedat the age ol 64. Some people say he \Jr 'as poisoned byhis son Salim, given to hirn by thc saint. Princc Salimmounted the throne as Emperor Jahangir, but he did noteven approach his iather as a great ruler. He knew onlyhow to squandcr wealth.

I must be going, I 've heard everything.No, i t 's nol everything. I musl walk round the tomb

three t imes to pay my respects lo the great emperor andget his blessings. I walk round the tomb, and an Indianguafd pins a i lower to my shirt. This is not his present,this is a present irom the great Akbar. How strangel Thellower did not wither during that long day.

1 am dazzled by the bright sun. I stop at the i irst gateand turn round, perhaps I ' l l see the tomb once more. Onlythe second gate... The loud echo of farewell coming, i tseem\ . i r om rhe o lden days . hom rhe pa . l .

I meet Ramachandra again in the evening. We useall our f ime together for tel l ing each other about our landand its people. I t is simpler for him to do so lor he canshow me a lot. I have brought Lithuania only in my mind'seye and I have to make Ramachandra see it as i t is. Butthe Lithuanians have a long history. l ts recorded sourcesgo back more than a thousand years. What was beforethat? It is impossible lo reconstruct the complete picturelrom the bits and pieces thal have feached us. It is im,possible to answer why the Lithuanians alone lrom all iheneighbouring tr ibes were able to build a powerlul stateextended from the Balt ic to the Black Sea.

The Balts were sur.ounded by hosti le tr ibes on al lsides. In ordef to survive i t was necessary for al l theBalt ic tr ibes to unite under one king. In the gth to i l lhcenturies the Balt ic tr ibes which I ived on the coastal str ipwere attacked by the vikings, Iater by the Swedes. Forover a hundred years, not far lrom the Klaip€da port,there was a disused Cerman lortress with a moat, dfaw,bridges and apeftures Iooking out on the Lithuanianlands. It is st i l l there bul now it houses a beauti lul ma,. i f ime museum where the visitor can see exhibi is lromall the oceans of the world. There is also a beauti lul col-lection of shells and corals lrom the Bay of Bengal inthe Indian Ocean.

There were strong states around Lithuania: Russia,Poland. But the greatest lhreat came irom the Gefmans.Their method was always the same. First came the mer-chants to lound colonies and commerciai cenires. Thenthe missionaries lol lowed burning with a desire to Chris-t ianize the pagans. The merchants and the monks needed,natural ly, well ,organized and well-armed protection. Wasn'ti t , Ramachandra, the same method ihe Brit ish merchants

58

used t i l l in the end, slowly and imperceptibly, theymanaged to put the chains ol slavery on the vast Indianland?

At the beginning of the l3lh centlry on the land in-habited by the northern Balts, the present lerr i tory otLat\ ' ia, the German knighis gol ihe Popes blessings toIound a new order which came to be known in historyas the Order ol the Sword. The monks o[ the order wor€white cloaks with an embroidered cross and sword.

It was a Golden Age ior al l sorls ot adventurers andeven criminals expelled from their own country. New andnew crusades were undertaken against the non-Christ ianswith Papal sanction. Whoever was strong enough to holda s\\ 'ord could join one or another order created todelend the Christ ian iaith and l ighl lhe pagans. Thosewcre the ostensible aims proclaimed belore the world anddesigned to justi ly their predatory moti!es.

ln the west lhe Balls were threatened by anoiherGerman order, the Order ol the Cross, whose knights Norea black cross on their cloaks. It was a very r ich and ag-gresstve order.

The f irst German monks came to the Prussian landslocaled belween the Vistula and Nemunas rivers as earlyas the l0th cenlury. One of them was Adalbert who camethere with two other monks lrom Poland. The Prussianskneu a l ready wha l l he Po l i - \ and Cerman m i - ' i ona r ieswere l ike. Adalbert and his companions must have sloppedto spend a night in a holy wood where no strangers wereallowed to enter and this must have been ihe reason whythe Prussians ki l led them. The Poles redeemed Adalbert 'sbody, the Pope immediately proclaimed him a saint anda c rusade wa : announced aga ins l l he P russ ians .

The rulers of many countries raised money and senllheir knights to "set the uninvit ing country free". NoChrist ian Iand was supposed to have any trade relationswith the Prussians, to sel l them arms or salt. The Orderol the Cross encircled the Prussian land with castles butwere airaid to go lurther inland. There is writ ten evidencelhat the Prussians used to i i l l their lands close to the

59

outside walls of the casiles while the knights sit t ingwithin the castle $/al1s sang sad rel igious hymns-

It is absolutely lrue, Ramachandra, that the Germanswould have never conquered Prussia i f i t had not beenior the assistance oi the Poles, Danes and Czechs. Theconquerors were very cruel and demonically vengeiul.This is how their bloody deeds were described by their ownCerman chronicler: "The savage expedit ion annihi lat ingeverything on its way crossed the entire counlry. Therewas no mercy lor anybodyi the path ol ihe Christ ian armywas marked by the smoking ruins of al l the iormer set-l lements."

The Prussians had a number ol heroic leaders wholought courageously lor their lreedom. Their names havecome down in history for ever. The namc ol Herkus Man-tas, lor example, is known 1o cvcrybody in Lithuania. I leled the greatest Prussian uprising of 1260 and foughtagainst the invaders ior l4 ycars.

But the Prussians were f ighting against great odds.The Prussian pcople and their language died in the lTthcentury. This gfccn lcaiy branch of lhe Balt ic trce disap-l)eared alnlost without a trace. Thc Cefman colonizerstnoved in and occupicd the rich Iands, sl i l l giving ofti he odou f o l t he P russ ian h lood sp i l l cd thc fc . l hcy k i l l cdthe,nen, destroyed lheir houses and lorccd the childrcnio learn thc new language. Thc Gcrmanization of PrussiaIasted sevcral hundred years. The words Prussia and Prus-sian acquiled a new mcaning and came to mean the saneas Cermany and Cerman.

Several ccnluries laier, after thc 2nd World War, agreat number ol Gernrans changed their general ait i tudctoward thc word Prussian and themselvcs. Those whowerc born in East Prussia became inierested in theirroots for i t was believed that nearly a halt of those peoplewho l ived there were descended lrom the Prussians. Oneoi them, I leinrich Gerlach, cstablished that he was actual-ly a Prussian because his name was most probably defivedffom Girlaukis and his anceslors came lrom Lilhuania.Aiter that he devoted himseli io the colleci ion oi infof-mation and historical malerial about the Prussians. His

60

work resulted in a book entitled OnlA the Nome has Sur'uiued (Nw der Lame blieb r i6l ig.- Knaur. I978) Openly,n.l \orrowlul lv the book descfibes how cruelly and cold_b looded lv l he German ' cx te fm ina ted l he P rus ' l ans AIarse number of Germanc ol the Prus' ian ofigin joined

rlre SocieL\ o! rhe Pru<<ian Friends' Tolhemila ectabli :hedin 1980. - ihe aims ol the Society include the explorationof lhe cultural heritage oi these extinguished people, thecollection and study of {he remaining iacts of the Prussian language, bringing together peoPle ol the Prussiano r i s in . The Soc te ty r ' r a . t he p r ime mover i n l he e fec l i ono t i he on l v monumen t l o l he P ru5 ' i an ' i n D ie l2bu fg Germanv. l t is a monolith, as ial l as a man, set on lhe Prus"sian earth brought lrom the township oi Tolkemita Thewords carved on the stone say Ptusse /283. This wasthe year when the Order of the Cross compleied the con'oue; o[ Pru.: ia. A red ro\e bu.h grow' ar lhe ioot ofl he monumen l . I l i - p lan ted i n t he ea r lh b fough t f rom a l !lhe provrnceq ol Prusqia. ln I988 a club P/aso engagedin the p rese rva t i on and exp lo ra l i on o f cu l t u ra l and l i n_guist ic heritage oi the ancient Prussians was set up atVilnius University.

The well known Soviei Russian l inguist ToPorov hassaid that the disappearance ol the Prussians lfom worldhistory is a greai loss to humaniiy. Al l nations have arighl io existcnce and we, the l i ! ing, are responsible lortheir sufvi!al.

In 1966 a collection of al l the Prussian wtit ten textsexlanl were published in book form, entit led Prass14ntvrit ten Recotus.- Vi lnius, 1966. In l98l i t was re-edited,updated and enlarged. The scholar who prepared the col-lection for lhe press is the greatest authofi ly on the Prus-sian language Vytaulas MaZiul is, a Vilnius Universityproiessor. This is what he wri ies: * lhe importance of lheinvestigations of the Prussian language to the Balt ic andIndo-European studies can be described laconical ly in theiol lowing way: without the Lithuanian and Latvianstudies there can be no Prussian sludies, but without thePfussian studies there can be no Balt ic studies and

6 l

without the Balt ic studies no Slavic or Indo Europeanstudies are possible."

But the most invaluable cont. ibution the prussiansmade to history is their blood which they spil led tor theirfreedom and thus saved the Lithuanian and Latvian na-t ions lrom exiinction. In 1230 the Order ol the Cross star-ted the conquest o[ the Prussians with a delini ie aim inview: i irst, they planned to enslave lhe prussians andthen, together with the Order of the Sword, founded inI202 in Riga, to occupy the Lithuanian lands and in thisway acquire an unbrokcn tcrr i tory ior thc Cefman state.B]lt . lhese evi l designs were checkcd by thc hcroic qrruggleo l t hc P ru . \ i ans wh ich he ld back rhe Ger rnans up ;n - l i lI233. By the t imc the cermans approached the Nemu-nas river, the Li ihuanian state had become strong andinv inc ib le .

Although the Order of the Sword had enslavcd al l lhcLatvian tr ibes, they did not feel sa[e for they wFrc con-slantly.attacked by Lithuanians. Sceing no other way out.the Order b€gged the Pope to announc; a crusadc againstLithurnia. Knights ffom all ovcr Europe I lockcd to-Riga.A l a rge and wc l l - a rmcd a rmy invaded L i t huan ja andla id i t was rc . M indaugas . onc o f l hc g rea l cs l L i t huan ianru le rs . co l l ec led h i s a rmy in has rc and h lockcd the waylor th0 relrealing enemy. I l is believed rhat lhe batl le tookplacc in the vicinity o[ the present city of Siauliai in 1236.The Lithuanians won. All the leaders and the master oithe Order were ki l led. The chronicles say that the Cermanarmy was decimated.

At the pope's orders the Order of thc Sword was dis-solvcd and united with the Order of lhe Cross as i ts auto"nomous branch. The new order was known as the Livo-nian Order and now the two orders posed a constant thfeatto Lithuania both irom the north and the south.

In the l3th century Lithuania was already a strongcentral ized state. But the Grand Duke Mindaugas wasworried about the inlernal str i fe within his state. To endthe str i ie he needed the support of the order which it waswil l ing to give on condit ion that Mindaugas would agree10 be baplized. Mindaugas agreed and thus he became the

62

crowned king ot Lithuania He iook this sfep in order 1o

unite and "i iengtten

Lithuania and make it one of the. i rongesL s la te5 i n Eu rope a l t ha t t ime l f a s ia te had a

Chris.t ian king, the Pope aould no longer give his blessings

to a crusade against the state l t was a correct reasonlng

but the wheels"ol history sometimes iurn against ihe wil l

ol the kings. By his baptism King Mindaugas acqulredenemies ir ihis own statel his pagan subjecls reiused to

discontinue the veneration oi the god Perft 'nas (thunder),

ihe sun. the dawn, the eternal f ire, the grass-snake" They

relused to recognize the Chrisl ian Cod who al lowed hisworshiooers to

"behave so cruelly ln ten years aiter his

bap r i . n r . M indauga ' ! v . s a5 \a '5 ina led Bu l L ' l l r uan iawhich he had creired and made co : lrong did not ial laDart and continued to l ive.' o f

a l l t he s rand dukes o l L i t huan ia who l i ved andreigned aiter Mlndaugas, the wisest and most tolerant wasce;iminas (the l4th century). He felt aversion ior ' \ tar

and always tr ied to get al l his enemies sit down at thenesotiat ion table wheie, he knew, they could solve morep rob lems than anY war cou ld .'

Grand Duke Gediminas wrote letters lo a large num_ber of European rolers in which he explained thai t ieLivonian Order was concerned not so much with Christ ia-n iLv a - l he ens lavemen t o I new peop les and l ands . t ha lthJ t i o lence and te f ro r t he Orde r used aga ins l L i l huan iawere, in tact, ihe greatest obstacles to the inirodlct ion oiChrist iani iv there. He also wrote that he was wil l ing tobe baptized i l only ihe Order agreed io stop al l i ts hosii-l i i i€s asainst Lithuania Such declarai ions undermined theoower ;f rhe Order. His peaceIul and irrendly policies!nabled Gediminas io add vasl lerr i tories of Ruc<ia andihe Ukraine to the Lithuanian state.

Six ol the leiters Gediminas wrote to the Pope andIarious European cit ies have survived to lhe present day.This is what one ol them says: "King Gediminas o[Lithuania hails al l who wil l see or hear this letter, wish.ing them peace and good health in God We open up ourcounttv, possessions and our entire kingdom to every manoi gooi wil l . To knights. ar,n_bearers, merchants, doctors,

63

smiths, wheelwrights, shoe-makers, tanners, mil lefs,shopkeepers and al l other kinds ol craftsmen - lo al l thosepeople enumerated here we are wil l ing to al lot some landaccording to their status. The farmers who wil l come wil lbe able to t i l l their farms lor ten years without havingto pay any tax. Let merchanls come and leave freelywithout levies or customs duties, al l without any obs-tacles.

.-.What are you tel l ing me about the Christ ians?Where else, except among the Christ ians, can greaterinjusl ice, inequali ty, violence, butchery and exploltat ionbe [ound? Where else, except among those who takespecial care to appear very pious, as for example, iheknights of the Order oi the Cross? They do only evi l . . .Especial ly last year when they signed a peace lreaty inthe name oi al l the Christ ian countries and reafl irmedtheir commitments with oaths and kisses oI the cross.But immediately after that they did not obseive an)thingthey had sealed wiih their oaths, for they ki l led myenvoys whom I sent 10 sign the treaty as we had agreed,and not them alone but many many others whom theykil led, kidnapped, chained and starved on hundreds ofoccasions,- the.efore I do not believe their oaths at al l . . .

I t is not quite clear whether Gediminas opposed thenew rel igion as such or whether he opposed only thosewho used pressure to make the Lithuanians adopt thenew iaith. Nol a single tr ibe of the pagan Lithuanian statesupported the king's idea of accepting Christ ianity. Theythreatened to disobey al l Gediminas' orders, whil€ thezemait ians said they were going to throw lheir lot withthe Order and annihi late the Duke's kith and kin. Whenthe delegates arrived Gediminas announced that he nolonger wanted to be baplized, his only wish being peacewith the Chrisi ians.

But there was no peace,The Orde. ol the Cross iort i f ied i tsel i on the Prussian

terri tory and approached the banks of the Nemunas river.Gediminas was iorced to f ight and delend his country.But the Order was atraid 10 meet his army in an openbatt lei ield and preierred to send small bands of knights

64

on Irequent altacking raids They enjoyed the'e expedi-t ions :r i much as they enjoyed royal hunts lor every hon-ourable knight considered it to be his duty to wash hissword with lhe blood of a pagan. If ihe raid was succes'slul and the knights returned with a lot oi loot and cap't ives. women and children, they held a big feast andkniehted new members of lhe Order'

i t was dif i icul i lor the Lithuanians to defeat a knightwho used to be clad in armour lrom head to ioot. There'iore they resorted io atl kinds of tr icks such -as lorexample decoying the knights into a swampland or a

When attacked, lhe Lithuanians fought ior thei. iree-dom to the last. as can be seen from the heroic delenceoi the Pil€nai castle in 1336. When new contingents ofknishts arrived trom Austria and France, the Master oithe Livonian Order undertook another inroad into Lith_uania and laid siege to the castle of Pi1€nai where theinhabitans of the neighbouring vi l lages had iaken refugefrom ihe advancing knights. For several days and nightsthe Lithuanian leader Margir is put up a beroic defence

But the number oi ihe knights exceeded that of thecastle defenders many t imes. The knights succeeded inde< t rov ins Ihe ea r thwork and rampar t< o f l he ca ' t l e Whenlhere wai no more hope for lhe c.rsl i l l izns and theirnumbers diminished drastical ly. they buil l a huge l ire'threw into i t their more precious possessions and thenentered the f ire themselves. The casti l l ians - men, womenand children prelerred death in the f ire to slavery. Exceptfor the bodies oi their own knights ki l led in ihe batt lethe invaders did not f ind anything in the castle to takeaway and thus they had to return without any loot Thechroniclers wrote thal the European knights, who had seena lot and had greal experience, were stunned by the sell-sacri l ic€ of the defenders oi the Pilenai castle

Didn't the Rajputs, a proud and lreedom'loving Indianpeople, do the same when, unable to resist the enemyattacking their lortress Chitor, they preferred death toslavery? I have learnt their story from you, Ramachandra.Remembering the ancient ' jauhar' r i tes, eight thousand

65

women of Chitor partook o[ bire, put on red robes andentered the f ire. In the meantime, the men opened thegate and threw ihemselves at ihe enemy to meet deathin lheir last despefate el iort.

Gediminas was ki l led on the bank of the Nemunasr i ve r wh i i e de iend ing L i t huan ia f rom the kn igh rs o i rheOfder ol l ie Cross The cxacr place where rhi body $ascremated is not known bur on a high hi l l on the banko r . r I e Nemunas the re i : h i5 symbo l i c g ra \e and i n rhevalley below ihere is an old oak in thJ shade oi whichGediminas is said to have rested.

Lirhuania has n"vef had a Iong pefiod ol peace. Oneor ano the f enemy , Ramachand fa , wou ld a lways come andtrample i ts land. But the people managed to presefvetheir ess€ntial character and spir i t which-is best expres_sed in Lithuanian folk songs.

. . . L i t huan ians l o re r6 . ; ng and c red te i ongs . The o ldes lL l l nuan ran l o l k song \ f ea rh down lo immemor ia l t imesbu l t he i r re .o fd ing rnd co l l e . t i on s ra f l ec on l y as Ia re a .rne I / t h cen tu ry ._ Simonas Daukantas, Simonas Staneviaius, ihe brothersAntanas and Jonas Juska, Liudvikas R€za were the l irstLithuanian scholars and educationalists wno recorclecl andpub l i shed L i t huan i rn Io l k . ong . becau .e rhe ) unders toodIna l t h t \ p r r ce le . { t r ezsu re cou ld d i sappea f 5oon . L i l i r a -nian .Fo.lk Songs, published by Liudiikas Raza in 182S,revea led i o . l he uo r ld the bedury and o r i g ina l i r y o f t heL r rnuan tan tanguage . l he un ique l y c i sm and mus ica l i t yo l L rLhuan jan ' ong . wh ich re i l ecLed l he L i rhuan ian n ji ional character. cuslom5. old beliels. nofm( oi behaviourand a t t i t ude to na tu re

At the present t ime the f i les of the Insti tute of theLithuanian Language and Literature oi the Academy oiSciences of the Li lhuanian SSR contain more than aquarter of a mil l ion oi Lithuanian folk songs. A iot olfolk songs have been collecled for the i i l is of otherinsti tutes, l ibraries and their manuscript departments.

This is what two decades ago the well-known Ameri-can novelist, poet and l i terary cri t ic Robert payne wrote

66

about Lithuanian songs: "One comes lo ihem almost un'\ e l i e \ i ns . su rp f i -ed l ha t . uc l - pe r i cc l ' ong - shou ld beDermrtle? to si lr ! ive. They have a beauly and pure primi_tive splendor abole anyihing I have known in westernl i terature except the early songs oi the Greek islanders.They seem to have been wri l ten at the morning of thewor ld . . . The dew i s s t i l l on them. "

Lithuanian folk songs are classi l ied into mythological,work, calendar, r i tual, wedding, lamily and nature songs.The oldest ol them are mythological songs They b.ingback to us the t ime when lhe Lithuanians worshipped thesun, thunder, i i re, grass_snakes. Without losing any oitheir divine ieatures, the heavenly Iuminaries acquire hu-man propert ies in these songs as well. They sing aboutthe worship oi natural forces, trees and stones, the sacti-f ices to gods and the old r i tes. A more al lentive personwil l easi ly detect some similari t ies between the Balt icand Hindu mythologies as reflected in Lithuanian my_thological songs. For example, the name used lor God'ssons and daughlers in these songs is very similar to theSanskrit word with the same meaning - detaduhtri.

Some songs sing aboul goddess Zemgna and god Ze'mipdtls, which brings us back to the t imes when theLithuanians worshipped the Earth and its divine guardians,Zemgna and Zemipatis. In the l6th century the lound-ers ol the Lithuanian leiters Marlynas Mazvydas and Mi'kalojus Dauksa reproached their countrymen lor their per-sistence in worshipprng Zemgno al let so many year. sincelhe i n r roduc t i on o l Ch r i s l i an i t y i n L i t huan ia .

Calendar and festival songs remind us ol the old Lith'uanian customs and ri tes. Each ol these songs usedto be performed al certain staled t imes. Peopl€ believed,ior example. that the earth would yield a better harvest,i f they went round the l ields singing a song in the spring.Also, young people were suPposed to swing and sing inthe swings in ihe spring for ihis had a magic inl luenceon the harv€st and helped the earth to awaken lrom thewinter's sleep. Even to this day vi l lage people believethat the best t ime lor picking medicinal herbs is the

67

Midsummer's day and each herb should be addressed wilhsome part icula. words.

The number of Lithuanian wedding songs collected isvery great, ior Lithuanian weddings were iul l of di i lerentri tes each accompanied by some part icular song. Weddingand nature songs are lhe most poetic, because they singabout ihe subtlest human feelings.

Folklorists maintain that folktales and lesends vrerecreated by men. but song: wefe mo<lly created-by women,That is why songs are so tender and even sad.

When Ramachandra comes to Lithuania, he wil l beable to hear our folk sonss...

LITHUANIAN FOLK SONGS

Moon tooh to be his btideSun in lhe Ihst sping tide.

Vhen Sun u)ohe up at daton,Maon lrcm her side u)as gane.

Moon, as alone he rcued,Auirini beheld. and. loued.

Then Pethunas. Lstoth, wiLh his blodeCleft him in t@o and said:

"llhA did.st abond.on Sun?tYh!, AuS ne minion,Bg night didst roae alone?"

Yesterdag at sundo@nmg lamb trcm the sheep pen strcled.Oh me, @ill no one aidin finding mg one lamb?

I ltent and asked Auiri\i.AuSi.no teplied:"In the eatlg mornl|delhe Sun's Iire I must kindle.'

I @ent and asked Vakarine.Vohatini replied:

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"The Sun's bed at eaentideI hoae to make readA.'

I u)ent and ashed the Moon.The Moon rcplied:"A s@otd has clett mg sde,sad is mg appearance."

I @ent and asked the Sun.The Sun replied:'Nine dags I'll seatch far and rbide,on lhe tent I'll not set eoen.'

In lhe midst of seas and iuercHigh a mountain rises.On the summit of the mounlainRises a grcet oahlrce.

Thete I s@am in desperation,Fftmlg gtusped the oah-ttee:Vill gou not be changed, ook-tree,Changed into mA tather?

And these greenlg gtaleing branchesTurn lo arms of esh-lihe @hiteness?And gout liltle leaues so greenTun to loaing toords?"

Sorro@ing I @ent a@a!tYeeping bitterlgFor the oak has nol been .hanged !et,Changed into mg Iather,

And the btunches haue not tunedInto atms of tlesh-lihe @hitenessNor lhe little leates sa grceftInto loping @otds,

Belooed Sun, God's d.aughter,Vhere so long tarriesl thou,Vhete so long dlDellest thou,Vhen from us temotst thg sell?

69

Behind seas, behind mountainsI shelter homeless @aifs,I heep u)orm the shepherds.

Belooed Sun, God's daughter,lvho ol a morning hindleththg tite? Vho at eueningptepateth lhA bed.ding?

The Auitini, the Vahaini.The Auiini hindks mg [ie,The Vakarina prepares ma bedding.ManA are mA hith and hin,ManA are mg gills and boons.

Three lime ttees in a slaamp,ALI gtolaing Ircm one stump.Amongst lhese Limes bg the strcamThree maidens @andering came,The boughs t@o sisters seizedAnd in bell!een lhem squeezed.But the last @as unable toAnd let into lhe JIo's.Her the current carriedTo@atds lhe Nemunas u)ide.Her the Nemunas did not @antAnd to the Rusn, sent.Het the Rusni dA not vtantAtd to its esluara sent.Her the estuatg @ould nol heepAnd bote oul to the deep.Her lhe ocean reould not keepAtd bach to lhe shote d.id. stpeep.There into a Lime tree greenShe grero @ilh btanches nine.Her btothet came a lLuteTo cut Jrom a litne shool.Mg tlute plags beautifutgIts aoice speahs mounJullg.

But his mother sad b him:'That loice is not Ircm the lime -

70

That's the spirit ol gour sislet

*

ttt**tnt upon the u)alet."

Auitin' held d rDedding feaslPerkrnos galloped. thtough the gateAnd sttuck do@k a gteen oak-tree.The blood oJ the green oah-tree lrickledAnd stained mA garland.

The Sun's daughter @ept,And lor three Aearc gatheredlYithercd Ioliage.And u)here, oh molhet mine,Shall I @ash mg apparcl,llhete @ash a1lay the blood?

Oh daughter mine, so aouthf&|,Go to the lake there gonderwhere ate pourcd the slteams of n[ne rioers.And @here, oh fitothet mine,Shall I tlry ma appotel,lvhere in lhe sind shall I drA it?Oh daughter mine, so gouthlulIn gonder gatden gteenWhere are floae ng nine rcses.

And a)hen, oh mother mike,ShaU I put on mg appareLPul it on its l.Dhiteness?Oh daughlet mine, so goulhlul,On thal sane dag ol singingVhen lherc shall shine nine suns.

India is boundles. It has neither the beginning nolthe end. Vast expanses of land f i l led with human l ives. l tis diff icult to i ind a place in India where a person couldbe alone. Bul i t is not di l l icult to have a talk with one'sown seli here. Ramachandra is always beside me. Wecan be si lent together lor hours on end and ihat does notbother us. But moslly we talk: he either tel ls me some-thing or asks me to tel l him about my land. Here now,we are sitt ing under a big tree, staring at the road, eachholding a bott le ol iced juice with an inserled straw.A car wil l soon come and take us across the scorchedDeccan Plateau. The sun, so painful ly hot, secms to bcjusi waii ing ior the moment when we emerge trom thesna0e .

Ramachandra is a good l isiener... Nothing seems tobe more inieresting to him at the moment than the i ightof the Li lhuanians against the crusaders.

In the past Lithuania had a considerable number oi1^' ise rulers bul lhe greatest of them wefe the GrandDukes Mindaugas, Gediminas, AIgirdas, Kestutis, Vy-tautas.

AIgirdas, Cediminas' son, greatly exparded the bor,ders of the Li lhuanian state.

Kgstutis, Algirdas' brother, came down in history asa staunch deiender oi the Lithuanian lands against thecrusaders. In one of the batt les the Cerman knights suc-ceeded in pull ing him down irom his horse and took himprisoner. The Order of the Cross celebrated the occasion

72

bv a least and shut ihe Lithuanian Duke in the cellaroi the Marienburg castle. There he was served by a youngman who could speak Lithlanian for as a chi ld he hadbeen broughl forcibly to Germany lrom the Balt ic lands.His convefsations with the Grand Duke in his mothertongue opened his eyes ior him and he nderstood that hewaJnothing but a slave of the Germans Kestutis changedinto the cl;thes brought to him by the young man andwith the Iatter 's help he managed to escape lrom thecas t l e .

There is also a beauti iul legend about Kestutis' mar-naqe,

bnce while visit ing at the Palanga castle on the Bal-l ic coast. Kgstutis saw a vestal virgin oi peerless beautyShe q.as tending the sacred l ire in the temple on a hi l land Dfaving Io PPrh nas and othef god. tor help lo theLilhuanian warriors in their f ighl again:L lhe enemy. TheDuke lel l in love with the beautiful gir l , whose name wasBiruie, and in defiance ol her vow ol chasli ty given tothe gods, made her his wife. The wil l oi the sovereignswas above everything then.

i. l ter their death, Algirdas and Keslui is were crematedon a pyre together with their best horses, r ich clothes andarms. In no oiher Indo-EuroPean country was ihe customo[ cfemation more popular than in the Balt ic lands- Itis believed thai the iwo grand dukes were cremated inVilnius, for the Lithuanian Olympus, i . e. the hone ol theLithuanian gods, was located in the Sventaragis val ley,the site oi the present central avenue of Vilnius whichbears the name of Gediminas now.

This central Lithuanian i€mple is described in one ol{he 9 lolumes ol Lithuanian history by T. Narbutas, algth century romantic historian, in the lol lowing way:"ln ihe middle o[ a holy wood there was a sacred l iretended by vestal vifgins who had sworn their devotion tothe sods. The breach ol the vow was punished by burningat t ie stake or burying al ive in the ground. The highpne- l a l so l i \ ed i n I he oak g rove When the l h rea t o lihe enemv aLtacks incfeased, lhe siatue oi PelArnas wasbrought fiom lhe Peftanas temple in Palanga io the Val-

73

ley ol Sventaragis at the foot oi the cediminas hi l l . Thegod

.PethAnas.was depicted holding a tafge slab oI i l inrrn nri nand. No olher piece o[ f l inr could be uqed ro str ikea sacred t ire."

Of al l the European countries Lithuania alone hadremained pagan. Now Lithuania had to make the bigdeci. ion Bapri 'm was necessafy lor the Lithuanian ru,er!lo be treated on ihe equal fooring wilh the orher European sovereigns. Beside this, baptism would have knockedout every reason used to justi fy the attacks ol the Ger_mans on L i t huan ia

And so, Ramachandra, in l38Z Lithuania became aC i r i ' t i an _coun l r y , e rcep r l o r Zema i t i l a , t he l and o i onFo l t he ,ua l l r c l r j bes on the ve ry coa . t o f l he Ba l r i c Sea .i ney o tq^no r -w t :h to accep l a ne$ god and be t ray l he i ro rq De l l e rs Know ing the s tubborn d i rpo . i t i on o f rhe Ze -ma i l i ans , Vy rau las made a p re .en r o i l hpm lo rhe Orde ro [ l he Cro )s . . Take . l hem i f you w ish , i t ] ou Lh in^ youcan manage them." The German knights used e,,ery mein.po :5 rb le to o le rpower l he Zema i t t an re . i . t ance bu t rheycould not bfeak them. The Zemait ians revolted and, na'_tu ra l l y . t hey go t suppor l f r om Vy tau ra : h imse l f . TheUrde r was ou t raged by rhe po l i cy o f rhe Crand Duke andstarled preparations for a new aitack.^ Th€ dec rs i ve ba { l l e rook p lace i n Ju l y . t 410 . L i rhuanra .qu - fand ,uuke Vy tau tas dnd K ing o f po land Jag ie l l o hadzo,uuu nofsemen. lhe nUmber ol the Cefman hor.emen wasno less. The Germans thought that the Lithuanians werego ing l o a t tack rhF i r cac r le - a long l he Nemuna : r i \ c fl r om lhe no r ih wh i l e rhe Po lec d t l acked l hem l rom lhesou r. But the -huge united Lithuanian-polish army cameto the lormer Prussian lands and lurned on the capitalcity of the Order.

The two armies met at Grunwald. AII the high com-mander( ol the German arm'. were ki l led in the ba le-Lven the Ma , le r o [ l he Orde r o f l he Cro . . wa . p ie rcedby a Lithuanian lance. Four thousand iron_clad knightsremained lying in the bat e f ield. The jron chains w;ichthe Germans had broughl for Li ihuanian p.rsoners ot wa,were put on their own knights.

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The Grunwald batt le was an important event in theDolit ical I i le oi medieval Europe. Aftef the tvo hundredyears drive io the East the Oider oi the Cross receiveda nrortal blow. According to the peace tfeaty Polandgot back its lost lands, and the zemait ians whom Vytautashad presented to the Order once again belonged to theLithuanian siate.

For some time after the batl le ot Grunwald the countryhad a welcome respite. Trade and cralts f lourished, the{ountry became more enlightened. Once again Lithuaniaand its capital Vi lnius became an important point onthe trade route which l inked the East and the West. Un-de. Vytautas Lithuania became a poNeriul state stretchingas lar as lhe Black Sea.

For long centuries our ancesiors passed down theirknowledge of ihe luorld to ihe younger generations throughtheir work and ri tes: how to I ive in the world, how towofk and celebrate, who should be thanked for l i le onthe earth. Work, r i tes and cusioms were the main vehiclesol peoples experience, wisdom and enlightenment- Thefirst Lithuanian schools appeared at the end ol the l4thcenlury. In the lSth cenlury there were already severalhundred Li lhuanian students in other European ci l ies.

But another century had to pass before the Renaissanceawakened the need lor enlightenment, knovrledge andhigher education. It brought a new movement which elevated man, his mind and spir i tual powers. Vi lnius wasbecoming an important cultural centre. I t became thehome oi a large number oi scientisls, scholars, writers andart ists. 1547 saw the publication in Karal iau6ius (Kdnigs-berg) ol the i irst Lithuanian book, Martynas Ma;vydas'sCatechismus. "Brothers and sisters, take me and read me,"said ihe introduction to the book which, in facf. wasthe f irst poem \^'r i t ten in Lithuanian. ln 1579 Vilniusunilersity was tounded... In I595 Mikalojus DaukSa'sCatechismus appeared. It was lhe f irst Lithuanian bookp r in led i n t he G fand Duchy o l L i l huan ia

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Tha t was ou r beg inn ing . . . I t was ra the r l a te - . .Another two hundred years were to pass before the t irstauthor ol secular poetry, Krist i jonas Donelait is, can1e toou r l i t e ra tu re . . .

Donelait is wrote at the end of the lTlh century andthat was the t ime of the awakening ol Lithuanian nation-al consciousness. "And al l the rest who've come hereto our grief. who told you 10 revi le us and ol1r iolk?"asked the nation through the poet's l ips and neyef againIorgot i ts question.

All the writers and inlel lectuals of ihe lgih centurydevoted great etforts to defend their native language whichwas despised by the Polonized Li lhuanian gentry. To someof the intel lectuals the resurrection ol Li lhuanian culturecost their l ives. By I844 the Russian Emperor Nicholas Ihad abolished al l the insti tut ions oi higher education inLithuania. Vi lnius university was closed for almost ninelyyears. In 1864 the Tsar prohibi ied to print or importLithuanian books in the Roman alphabel. The prohibit ionoi the Lithuanian Ietters lasted for iourty years. Thesedif l icult condit ions tempered the Lithuanian national con-sciousness and fanned the i lames of the struggle for na-t ional survival. The prohibited native word, driven fromits own country, became especial ly deaf to the Lithuanianheart. Clandestine schools sprang up in vi l lages one afteranother, they used to move from house to house supportedby famil ies with young children. The Tsarist aulho.it iesthreatened vith punishment and exi le but the Lithuanianschools continued to function. In the Kaunas pro\. incealone, the Tsarist gendarmes t.acked down 126 Lithuanianschools attended by more ihan I l00 children.

Lithuanian books began 10 appear in the United Staieswhere they were printed by Lithuanian emigrants. Butthe largest number of Lithuanian books was printed inTilZe (Ti lsit), Eastern Prussia, which belonged then tothe German slate.

The phrase "book smuggler" may sound unusual loolher nations but in Lithuania i t is quite tamil iar. Whatcan be more noble than the dedication to your ownpeople? Cruel punishment awailed those who kept, read

76

and broughi into the countfy Lithuanian books across the

border. \ fhen caughi, book smugglers were sentenced tohard labour and exi led to Siberia where they found sure

death. But new brave hearts appeared both lrom amongihe intel lecluals and almost i l l i terate peasants who were

not alraid io awaken and educate peoPle by disseminalingthe Li lhuanian printed word.

In order to win over some of the more gi i ted young

DeoDle ihe Tsar insti tuted ten scholarships for Lithuanian'. iudents at Moscow and St. Petefsburg univefsit ies A

number ol Lithuanian intel lectuals availed themselves ol

this scholarshiP.The Drohibit ion ol ihe Lithuanian letters was the dark-

est period in our history On May 7, 1904, after sevenyear-s of consideration, the Tsar decided al last lo returnio the Lithuanians their printed word.

The Tsarist oppression was as hard for ihe Lithuaniansas the Bfit ish ruie was lor the Indian nation' Both na-t ions ha!e experienced that pain..

Ha \ ' i ng pa .sed the d i s l r i c l o t f ac lo r i es and p lan ts wecome ro i qu ie le r pa r t o f l he l nd ian cap i l a l l l i s i heD lac r where Candh i and Nehru were c remated A d ryi,nd .orered wilh spaf<e .hrubs We ascend the broadsteDs in si lence. A nicely tr immed hedge in blossom sur'rounds a i lat big val ley stretching about 3 meires belowus. It can be entered through an iron gale. The darkgranite slabs are covered with f lowers and petals andihe last words ol the Father of India are carved on on€of them: OM RAM, a sacred combination of sounds toeverv Indian. It opens and closes every pfayer, hymn ormanira. Ram is i name, Ram is Cod, hero, savior, theone whose advent is looked fofward to. Some parl olGandhis, Nehru's and lndira Gandhi 's ashes were cere-moniously scattered into lhe r iver at ihe confluence oithe Ganges and Jumna-Yamuna where the Sarasvati i lowsunder the gfound. OM RAM!

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Mahatma Gandhi gave India lessons ol lort i tude andendurance, helped the countfy to regain i ts ireedom. Heals/ays believed that the age of l ighi. iruth and elernalpeace would come lo the eafth at last. Al l people dreamabout i t bui reler to i t by different names.

It is very quiel hefe. The noise of the city does notreach lhis place.

"But why don t we descend inio the valley?" I ask myk iend .

"Only Indians are al loNed to approach the tombs. I i isa holy place. Well, how shall I put i t? Candhi was Mah-atma, i . e. the Creat Spir i t . He cannot be matched by anyliving man. He is the pride of the nation. We can onlytry to come a l i t t le nearer to him. This place reminds ushow and why we must l ive. The graves oi the greatpefsonali t ies altract people l ike a magnet. On lesi ive dayshundreds, nay, mil l ions come to visit them, members o[the governmenl take vows here and concentrate on lheaffairs of the state. Gandhi, Nehru or Indira Gandhi seernto be talking to them hefe. They sit round the lombs andspeak si lently 10 their own conscience. Let us be si lentIor a momenl too, you and me, . ."

How bright and blue is the aiternoon sky in India!We s tand i n s i l ence i o r ha l f an hou r . . . Ramachandra

does not move. His closed eyes are direcled upwards, tothe sky which has been changing al l through the centu-

It is a law that sooner or later al l powerful andinvincible empires break down. The Mogul Empife alsobroke into pieces l ike an icej loe.

I l only India could have known what heavy chainsthe cunning Bri ions were iorging ior them, and what adark cloud was gathering over their free country! l f onlyit could bave known that the road under this cloud wasleading lo slaveryl

Merchants came sail ing by ship, they smiled in afr iendly way looking a1 the half-naked Indians. At f irstihey kept in the shade, away lrom the sun, wiping theirsweaty faces. But soon they began to behave l ike masterson this new land and looked upon ihe Indians as their

78

servants. The merchants were no longer satisl ied withthe $rooden huts on the coast of the ocean, they wantedDa laces and l a rqe Por t s .'

f l e ancienl R;mans used lo sayt Dir ide el impeta!Thc Brit ish behaved in India according to the same rul€:uith some rajas they quarel led and wrangled, with otlersthey were on good terms trying to set lhem against thosewhom thev disl iked.

Inspir;d by their glorious past, the Indians tr ied toresist ihe unwelcome newcomers. The war continued formauy long years, for the people did not want to lose lheirindependence. Re!olts ruould t lare up in di l ferent places.People were seething with hatred. Distu.bances becamemor'e and more frequent among sepoys who relused toturn the Brist ish-made ri i les againsi theif broihers andpoo f pea5an l : . Bu t . reg re r l ab l ' . l he Ind ians l r cked un i t y' t ho

r i ch and the nawab5 : ided w i l h t he co lon i ze rs dndhelpcd thein exploi i the simple people who, lhough dfivento the Iast measufe ol destitut ion, were airaid even to lhinkabout raising their hand against the r ich and twice-born,about taking the lands oi lhe rajas and dividing themamong themselves. Besides, they were made to believethat ihe cause oi al l their miseries was the Brit ish colo'

Theif passion ior amassing wealth made the Britonsblind 10 everything else. They were so much engrossedin their commercial al lairs thai they did nol even noiicethat India was preparing fot the decisive blow

The news that Mother India had risen spread l ike l ight-ning without any telephones of cables. Sepoys turnedtheir r i t les against their recruiters. But while some In-dians fought againsl the English, others supported themand lurned against their brothers. A lot oi blood wasspil led, a great many palaces and poor huts were burntBut the god oi waf was sti l l not satisi ied. He was askinglor more.

The Indians dealt wiih the Brit ish very cruelly, thereis no denying ihat, but the colonizers soon outdid themlihey ki l led the Indian people without asking lhem whowas guil ty or v/ho was not.

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I went alone to the monument erected in commemora-t ion_ol the- uprising. Cars, buses, bicycles were speedingby. Very lew Indians ever stop here. Time has healelthis wound, for lafer there were others, more bjtter andpainiul._But people always remember with great respectthose who stirred and awakened people and troved io theoppressors that the spir i t ol freedom was sti l l al ive inthe hea r l s o f a l l l he Ind ians . Thcy re rnember Nanr Sah ib ,Tan t i a Tope . Ahmad Shah , Lak 'hmrba i , r du .ches . ands taunch suppor re r o f rhe up r i . i ng , and rnany o the f .

6ut the r ivers ot blood fai led lo lake India lo freedomalthough rhey i lowed lor two long ycars. The I ight overMother Indir. rhe blessed land, was becoming very dim.the noose o i co lon ia l i sm ve ry r i gh r . f he ca t i l a l ; f l hecounLry was moved lrom Calcurta lo Delhi and rhe loun.dations were Iaid for New Delhi. Althoush the Indianswere _building it Ior rheir oppressofs. rhc-y workcd rcryconscientiously, lor their industrious hands could not wori<otherwise. Or perhaps their hcarts lclt that thev wcrebuilding ior themselves, for luturc India

- .The ideas propagated by Ramakrishna inspircd theIndian people to struggle against the colonizer! and be-l ieve in their victory. These ideas are al ive in lndia eventoday. Representatives oI the Ramakrishna mission part i-cipated in the Peace Forum in Moscow.

Alter the Teacher's death Vivekananda resolved lo l iveas Ramakri)hna had laught. He crossed India on foolf rom lhe H ima layas to Cape Comor in , rhe sou rhe rnmosrpoint of the country. He wandered round the country forthree years absorbing everything he saw, taking ihe "wor-nes ol lne poor ctose lo his heart. changing his name, lorwrth a new name jusl as with a new dress a man alway\experiences a renewal. His communication wiih simplevi l lage people and scientisls, the poor and maharajas givehim a good, int imale knowledge oi India.

There was one thing that never gave Vivekananda anypeace: how could India get r id ot i ts status ol a Bri i ish

EO

slave? How could i t regain i ts Past glory? His ulopianidea oi forming a union oi r ich rajas, raising money for

leople s armed struggle crumbled l ike a sand castle ButVivekananda never wavered in his determination to de-\,ote his I i le to the rebirth of India and the awakeningoi i ts national consciousness. His voice lul l of determi_nation to pull people out ol thei. stupelaction resoundedtlrroughout lhe country l ike a bell made of a blend ofcighr metal-: -From the momenl ol birth each ol youcc,ines into a wonderlul legacy, the never_ending past ofour glorious nation. Beware, mil l ions of your forelathersare l ieeping a careful watch over your actions "

Sone i ime later this was repeated by the l irst leaderol iree India, Jawaharlal Nehru.

Rabindranaih Tagore said: * l f you want to know ln-dia, read Vivekananda." Now progressive Indians write:"Let's go back to Vivekananda and borrow some of hisl ire, his open-hearted devotion and love lor the needy,his irust in ihe iuture and abil i iy to accept new anduntrjed things.*

Viyekananda did e!erything he could to boosl the confi-dence of the Indians in their own strength and their hu-man dignity, and to ioster their pride in the past of lheirhomeland. He argued ihat the Indians have always beendistinguished by thejr innate dignity but not piety.Meanwhile, the Brit ish did everything Possible to prove tothe world ihat they were a superior race which wasbringing a superior civi l ization io lndia, that a singleshelf of books in a good European l ibrary was more!aluable than the enlire Indian and Arabic l i lerature.

To commemorale iheir compatriots ki l led in the In_dian revolt ihe English erected a monument in Cawnpore:an angel ol mercy carved in white narble standswith his head bowed and his hands holding a lrond olpalm folded on lhe breast. The inscript ion on the monu-ment speaks about the rebell ion o[ sepoys and ihe crueliyol ihe Indians threatening wiih eiernal f lame the con_temptible and rebell ious slave who dares raise his handagainst the "God's chosen nation."

8 l

Thal's the rub-God's chosen nation. Others werecreated worse and they were meant to be slaves. Canslaves have their own culture? These are old and verytenacious ideas, they motivated the acl ions ol the Chinese,Japanese, Romans, Germans, Britons,.. German fascislsalso considered themselves to be Aryans, the besi and electhuman rac€.

Mahatma Gandhi, the Faiher ol India. continued todevelop Vivekananda's ideas and called on ihe people toawaken lrom lethargy. Indians call Mohandas Gandi Ma_hatma, which means the Great Spir i i . Some lhink andspeak of him as God. His glory never oppressed or embar-rassed him. He was too great tor that. And he knewpeople's weakest spots !ery wel1. His l i le was open toeverybody, his long search for Truth was simple buthard ior oihers to repeat i t fof Truth grows bigger whenthe distance to i t grows smaller.

lndia had long been wait ing lor a man who wouldspeak through the l ips of mil l ions. Spell 'bound by thestrength which emanated lrom his l fai l body, people l iste-ned to him, and considered his lhoughts. "The Englishdid not take India irom us, we gave i i away to them. Theyare here not because they are strong bul because we sulierthem here."

Ramachandra, did you know that our anthropologistAntanas Poska met Mahatma Gandhi twice when he wasa student at Bombay Universi ly?

...Throngs oi people f lowed to the meeting in a sub-urb ol the city. The next day's newspapers wrote i t hadbeen atlended by over a mil l ion. Every fooi of the landas iar as the eye could reach was t i l led with people si l-t ing and standing shoulder lo shoulder, for who wouldmiss the opportunity oi seeing and l istening to lhe greatGandh i !

When the congressmen i inished their speeches, Gandhimounted the rostrum surrounded by journalists andwestern admirers. The cfowds oi people welcomed him withshorlst M.thalmaji hi iai!

'Glory lo Mahalmal' Bhatutmatl hi jai! 'Glory to Mother Indial '

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Swathed in a piece oi cloth, called khadi, his leet ihrustinto a pair oi sandals and his big glasses hanging onhis nose, Gandhi squatted, took a spinning distal l , lahLi,and kcpt spinning al l through the t ime the lofeign dele-gations were reading their congratulatory messagesi aithat t ime al l India spun cotton ior ihey boycotted theBrit ish cotton and did nol buy any loreign goods. whenat last Candhi spoke, ihe crowd was absolutely st i l l . WhenGandhi l inished his speech, a woman approached him andgave him a message ol welcome embroidered in gold.Delegations brought presents. The heap oi things donatedto lhe l iberation lund grew bigger and bigger. Four youngmen dfagged a big bag ol si lver coins onto the rostrum -lhe money raised by the city ol Bombay. The crowdcheered.

Helped by his Indian fr iends Poska managed to ap-proach Gandhi surfounded by a t ight wall oi people ande\.en had a short conversation with him. " l knowLithuania. I have read about i t . I t is our people who re-turned to the north. Your language is as old as Sanskrit .Lithuania has a lot of ancient tales and songs."

Mahatma smiled ironical ly when he saw an Indiancap on PoSka's head. As al l Indians he did not l ike whenthe Europeans immilated them. Then he continued: "Weshall win wilhout blood or violence. But unily can beachieled only by people of high culture who are ableto control iheir passions. A lot of i ime wil l pass beiore weunderstand that our victory is in our unity."

Poska met Candhi lor the second t ime in l ive years."The lreedom of India is almosl langible now," spoke

Gandhi. "Sooner or later we are going to win. We haveanother problem: how we shall use our freedom. Weshall have to annihi late the system ot the casles, otherwiseour freedom wil l give us noihing. But what has beenbuilt in the course of many centuries, cannot be abo_Iished by law at a stroke. We shall need another centurytor that, i f we f ind the right way to i t . Even now ourf irst sl ight attempts in this direction evoke accusations:we are said to be ruining rel igious faith, betraying ihenation, slavishly bowing before European culture..."

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The Lithuanian press oi that t ime carried a lot ol ma-terial on the events in India. Everybody was eager loknow the oulcome oi the Brit ish and Indian duel, therewere no people who ' , \ ,ere indi l ierent to i t .

The words oi the Faiher ol lhe Nation never partedwith his deeds. He was a paragon of lorl i tude, truthful,ness and seli-sacrif ice. With a group of devoled fr iendshe founded a communal fafm which he named altef Tols.toy, his highly esteemed writer. Al l the members oi thecommune were iree and equal and could ffeely voice theiropinion. Common meals, work, studies and worries weldedthem into one big lamily. Their work to their own common good became a source ol joy ior them and lef i noplace in iheir hearts for petly fancies. Gandhi 's aim waslo create a model oi the fulure society made up ol free andintel l igent people.

On his desk Gandhi kept three monkey f igurjnes: oneoi them was depicted covering her eyes, another her eafs,the ihird one her mouth. They embodied candhi 's threeideals which he propagated and ir ied to achieve himseli:not to see bad sights, not to l isten to harsh sounds, notto speak untrulhful words. But I i fe proved to be morecruel,

Short ly beiore the pfoclamation of independence, lndiawas rocked by a lratr icidal war belween the believers inthe Hindu gods and the lol lowers oi Al lah. pakistan wascut olf irom the l iving body of India by a bloody sword.It was a bitter sacrif ice on lhe altar ol freedom.

Beiore his trrgic death Gandhi said: ' .Truth andahimsa ate twins. they wil l have to f ind their embodimenlin social ism."

The t ire of Gandhi 's funereal pyre died out long agotogether with thousands ol olhers. Rivers of blood andtears have become dry. Lighl seems to have returned toLhe i ndependen l and qac red Ind ian l and

The legacy Jawaharlal Nehru came into was rathercomplicated. Nehru was a man oi greal mind and soul,India remembe.s him with deep love as a man with arose in his hand.

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Nehru looked far into the future and dreamed about aclassless society. His policies were based on peace, co-operation and concern about the future oi mankind. 'To

err is human, thereiore every beliel in an unerring orga_nisation, idea or stale is absolutely al ien to rne," hesaid. He did not believe in war either: "All our dreamsabout the future oi the New India wil l crumble i l theharassed world gets entangled in a new war."

People have forgotien r ich maharajas, kings and rulersto whom India has erected luxurious mausoleums. But thelndian people never forget their teacher. sages andleaders.

Jawaharlal Nehru had only one daughter, Indira. Oncehis lather Moti lal Gandhi said these prophetic words: "Adaughter can sometimes be as good as a thousand sons."And really, Indira.epresenied a concentration of the bestfeatures of the Indian nation: wisdom, wil lpower, love...She gave al l her l i fe 10 her nation and devoted herself toits unil ication for she understood that the strength of theIndian naiion lay in i ts unity.

The third great funereal pyre f lared up on the bank ofthe Jumna river. I t set t ire in the hearts ol al l the In_dians. The day of the Nation's gfeat daughter's deathbecame the Day of ihe National Unily. At the place oiher cremaiion people erected a natlral monument-ared slab ol iron ore with black veins which was broughtfrom Orissa. It looks l ike a frozen i lame, coming out ofthe depth ol the national soul.

At the end oi the national mourning ihe ashes ol In_dira Candhi were spread over the white Himalayan sum'mits, the place that sends I ight to India and the whole\ ! or ld .

OM RAMI Clory to the coming!

The art icle which fol lows was written by Dr. V}, ' tau-tas Kubil ius, a l i lerary cri t ic and theoretician, aboul lheini luence of Indian culture on Lithuanian l i terature. Theauthor gives a general survey ot the works by Vydinas,Vincas Kr€v€, Eduardas Miezelai i is, Vacys Reimeris andother writers and poels who drew their inspiration lromthe subtle spir i tual cultufe of India.

Vytautas Kubil ius is the authof of a number of mon-ographs and hundreds ol essays and l i terarv surveys. Hisarguments are always well 'considered and bear consider,able weight with the reading public ol Lithuania. He isunivefsally respecled ior ihe well-grounded and tolerantstand he invariably takes in l i terary disputes, his melic-ulous eiforts and, last but not least, for his modesty.The readers are atlracted by his aesthelic sagacity, origi-nal general izations and his melaphoric essayist ic stylewhich enables them to undersiand the most complcx prob.Iems which the author analyzes and expounds with greaterudit ion.

For a number of years Vytautas Kubil ius has beeninvesfigating the roots and sources of Lithuanian l i tera-ture and its relation to the I i terary problems oi othernations. He has been taking a special inlerest in Indianculture and its direct relation io Li ihuania. His visit 1oIndia deepened the scholar's aifection for lhat countrysti l l more.

Ot all the Otientat cultues, the Lithuanians hate al-@ags felt the gteatest degrce of altinitg to Indian culttre.A considerdble number of Lithuanian poets haae been

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explorinp i!s lhtee-!housand-UeaFold hcrilage in seatch oJidias rcTterninp unitercal Loue, man's inmorlal i lU andspititual concenlrution. "Recentla I hate been taking morcand nore i\terest in lndia. People are more hno@ledge'able thele and thei lhought is mate daring l lnn ours...Those @ords @erc @tilten bA Kazgs Botuta, the mostatdent Lithuanian aoant'guatdist, @hen in 1930 he @as@oting ol l lol lard lhe exlremist "acl iue acl io\" lh?oties-

Tnire aere tuto mopn?ts tehi(h a!l .a(tPd the Lith'uanians lo tndia.

Fist. India @as loohed upon as the rcmonticized, mV'lhalogical ancestrul land of the Indo Europeans. This gaoerise to all hinds of cantradictotA hApotheses and Iantasticasse ions @hich eicited the Lithuanian minds ". . .ancientboohs proclaim that the lndian tand ltas the ctudle otthe Lithuanians, Auk|lailians and Zemailians; the @titingsol their priests, discol)ercd in aur cenlurg' also indicatethal in ancient times the Indians u)ele our cousins .'''rtole Simanas Dauhanlas at the beginning ol the 19th cen'turg. It meant that aerg long ago the Lilhuanian andI ndian ttibes must ho're liued side bg side some@here inthe Asian sleppe, but most probablg in lhe basin ol lheDanube riLter.

The olher magnel u)as Mahalma Gandhi the tounderol the ideotogA and lactics ptopogating passite resistancean(L citiL disobedience lo lhe colonial oulhorities, Betl!eenlhe lnio n'attd 1lars Mallalna Candhi ctas one of lhe maslpapular Iigurcs in the Lithuanian ptess Lithuanian poli'ticians ana iou.nalists @ere illing to see the apostle ol"the ne@ humaneness" exlolled ba Romaine RoLLond inh i s baoh l r l aha l tua Gandh i , ' , t ) h i . h ] J ,as t rans la tedatld pubtished in Kaunas in 1931. ln 1937 Gandhi himselfspohe about lhe Lilhuanians @tith gteat alfection "Thisis our lndian tribe," he said, "@hich has relurned to thenorlh." ln the unstable poli t ical situation of prc'@ar Lith'uania lhe "skinnll liltle mon's moraL slogans had a spe-cial appeal, lot theg u)ere dirccled against the hegemongol the great poaers (Are s)e going to get rid of thettogtodg!c psgchotogg llhirh compels us lo oppr?ss lhet)eak?) and lhe sloughlPtous aarlare ( ln lhe 20Ih ten-

tug armed struggle must be superceded bA spirilualsttuggle).

These ttoo psAchological faclots stimulaled inletest inthe oncient Hindu &rtitings closed to the ordinatA teaderthen bA the ultnct cultue and lhe dead language.

At the beginning ol the 20th cenlurg, Makonis, thegreatest poet of the Lithuanian nollona[ rebilh, ttansla-t ed f i r Je hgmns o f t he R ig -Vedo , The O t i g i n o lThings among them, @hich lhe poet .onsidered to belhe tnost beautiJul and amazinglA proloulrd piece of @rit-ing. He translated il frcm the Getmon ond the Ftench lihepoetrg, skrpprng ouer the incomptehensible mgthologicallacts ond mgsterious associations in atdet ta bring outthe most oital element in the prcbtng thought. Althoughthe tronslator intrcduced needless rhgming (rehaleuerthgmes therc are in the origindl, theg are all accidental),he managed to preserue beautifulllr the otiginal sltophicstructure, and conoeA the high tanalitll ol the apostrophiesand rcpelitions, mahing them sometimes, hoaeuer. laorheto c and. less naitelA concrcle thon in lhe original,similar to the ones used in his oten teligious hgmns.

In 1920 the @ritel Balgs Sruoga translaled one ol theRig-Veda hgmns lrom lhe Russian as he tDas greallAimpressed bA the sercnitg and intensilg ol its doubtinglhoughts so chaructelislic al his o{n epoclt.

Ritardas Mircnas, 'aha qualified in Sansh t at Sot-bonne h 1939, translated 12 Rig-Veda humns, r, i thh[s ottn introduction and. commentoiey He ltunslatedlhem in lerse using diltercnl iambic oariations, althoughthe original melrics is sAllabic. He t ed to mahe histranslations semanticallA letg exoct because, being a San-shritist, he also pursued linguislic aims.

Setetal attempts haue been made to lftnslale inlo Lith-udnian one and the same episode ltum lhe epic af ancienlInd ia Mahabhara la abou t Na la and DomaAdn t i ' slo|,e, the psgchological tension ol @hich is lhe most cam-prehensible lo the redder ol the modern times (ln a gameof dice Nala loses his hingdom, ab'ndons his utile and,greotlg ashamed, goes into hiding, but the beautilul Dd-moganti loohs Iot him etetgv)here and Iinds him at last.

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Motetl by her deuotian, the gotls let him @in his kingdombdch). In 1914 seoeral stahzas of this episade @ere ttans-Ialed lrcm lhe atiginal bA Kleopas Jurgelianis Tbho ttied.lo do nothing ahich rsould modetnize the at.haic epic. Inils ent[tetg lhe episade @as translated i4 prose from theFrenclt bu Vihtoras Kamanlaushas in 1926, and another at-tempt @as made in 1930 bg the pupils of lhe Panel,iagsgirls' secandarg school under the supetoision of the orilerGabield Petheviiaili-BiIi. The ltanslators lrunslaled ltomlhe Russian lersion @hich had been highlg poeti.ized inlhe manner ol Russian lolhtales ba its lranslatot VasiLgZhuhooshg.

Hindu mgths, philosophical legends and tales, in theitauthentic lorm or in lhe form of literarA translatioas intoEurcpean languages, atlracted the altention of seoeralolher translatorc as v)ell, such as the @riter I uazas Tumos-Vaizgantas, Edmundas Steponaitis, Stosius Budatas. Thepoet Maionis ltanslaled 32 lines frcm the IAricaL poemChau ro Panchash i kha , @t i t t en ba an l l l h cen -lurg poet Bilhona.

The Lilhuaniak philosophet and plagu)tighl Vgdinasmaintained that belore the intrcdu.tion of Christianit!Lilhuanian spiritual cultue had a lot ol similarilies toHinduism: in Lithuanian folksongs man is compoted tothe sun iust like in the V e d a s. Euen tadag lite is sacredto lhe Lithuanians like it @as lo the ancient Aryans (200hltmns of the Rig-Veda ate deooted. to Agtri , god offne). Vldnaas belieted that the reoital of the old taith,chohed blJ lhe Chrislian dogmas, tpould nnke lhe Lith'uanian natian impetrious b Aermanizatian In lhe samelashion as Hinduism made lhe Hindus imperl]ious to theBrilish aggression. In Vgdinas' mgsletA plagsptoduced al lhe top ol Mounl Rambgnas pagan tites1i)ere performed @ilh solemn dignita. In his plalls Iire sgm'bolized lite, spiritual pwilA, communicalion @ith gods,etetnitg, iust l ihe in the Rig-Veda hgmns.

But the basic aim l.Dhich VgdAnas pursued in his terit-ings lpas lhe rcaital of the pte-Christian Lithuanian con-ception of the cosmos as a unitied @hole, preseroed toow dags i4 the old Sanshrit Litetuture. His otutl concep-

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tion ol the uniaetse os a single unit rcsted on Hindu mo'nistic idealism extended bV the principles of theosoph!and intuitioism as u)ell as the idealization ol the Lithua'nian chatacter ('lheb eotnestness and healthg impeccablerccti tude"). Paraptuasing one of the Rig-Veda'shAmns he @rote:'l dirccted mg gaze upwards and eoera'1lhete in the space I beheld onl! the One alone." On thebasis ol the U p ani s had s, V edic philosophical t tea-tises, Vgdunas diaided the uniuerse inlo seoen spheres.Matler is the lotsest sphete @hile lolJe,4)isdom and spitit(Manas, Buddhi, Atma) belong to lhe highest sphete. Thatis r!h! sptrit and matter are not opposite elements (spkitis the mo,ring Iotce, malter is rshat is being moaed), butt'ao manifestations of the s@me inuisibte unilA (ln theVedas the unilerse comes from Atman, the supreme anduniuersal soul, and reluns lo il again). Man is a parti'cle ol lhe unitetse in ti)hich the uniuerse b ngs .)ut thespiritual elemenl sunh in lhe lou)est spheres, lealizingin this @aa its ullimale aim.

ll man is "lirst ol all a saul" lehich belongs to etetni't!, lhe ulLimate goal ol human Life consisls in the enlightenmenl of consciousness, prcmotion al @isdom and ex-ploration ol lhe inner depths. 'The putpose of human lifeis pettection." Man must canquer his lalaer instincts, selt-ishness and harmful habils ("Special poison passes frommeat into lhe bodg and bload, lhus iniwitrg health"). Hemust eierrate himsell to spiritual lile, lhe onLA form al reaLlile, lhink onlA about @hat is "beouliful, tight, good" andlite "lot athers". OnlA high ethic gilJes birth to greatdeeds. OnI! the "iaaincible poller al rcctilude' can saaethe nation b! unit ing an indiuidual @ilh hutuanit! . Thiselhic of national resislance 1D.... latgelg based on theleach ings o f t he Ved i c and Mahabhd ra ta sages@ho said that the spiritudt aotld is tegulated bg the un'shahable IaI! (Virtue is bound to @in, antl it neoer tailslike lhe sun neuer |ails to rise), and that llte spititual seq-education of an indioidual is the pterequisite condition ofthe perleclion of huma4il!.

Vgdinos' thinking litos latgelg allected ba the V e'das, v)hich leete prcduced i4 the petiod of pre'logicaL

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intellecluaLization. He also ttied to expldin the @orldnot so much bg lagical catega es as bA emotive d.escrip'tians, ligwatiae similes, didactic eramples atud his emo'tional s;lf-exprcssion. He did not trg to create a wtiliedseLl conlained sAslem as the Creeh philosophers d.id, butsouplLl a moral support against lhe national oppressorsand a fatmula at moral petleclion, fot lihe MahatmaCondhi he belieued. in the moral salualian of the @oru.From his ethic urit ings Vgdrnos'dtumas inheited theskelchA nouemenl ol the philosophicaL thought, lree tromspeculatiue logicalitg, eleaaled absltactions diluled bApoeticized hislotical images, lhe identitg of the indioidualand unioersaL ego, the names of Hindu gods (Varuna

l r cn h i s E te tna l F i re ) , op t im is l i c be l i e l i n man , h i spa1ler and destinA (Man is born in the thi.kness oflorter cwrents but he stands ia the Ilo&) ol bright andshiny currenls")- But most impotant of all, his dramasinhetiled lhe light ol noble spirituolila @hich is respon'sible lor their specittc stru.tlre and atmasphere independ-enl af anlt literatg source except lor lhe rclation at itsethic id.ealism to Hindu spitilualist philosaphA.

In Indian cultute Vgdinas sallr, Iitst af all, the har'manll ol man ond the unil)erse rshiclr is the pterequisiteco4dilion to man's inner harmong. Anothet Lithuanian@titet, Vincas KftuO, @as moslla av)are here of man'sc!?tnol dissalisla(l ion. Ps.apism and tPooll againsl Iheorder ol lhe aorld. He laoked at lhe Hindu, Persian,Hebrc@ an(L Arabic ltths lhrough lhe prisn af \Yesternpsgcholog! and cultwal tradilions: actiltitU, risk, retolt,teaching for the unhnotun, but tLot passite resignation.yel lhe influence of Orienlal cultutes u)hi.h the @ritef

Ielt @hen he lk)e(l in Bahu, the citg ot the .rossroads o[Islam and Russian litelatg ltaditions, led him to theprcblems of the llorld's genesis l-Dhich became lerg im-portant lo him: holo u)ere the skq and lhe earth formed?Did man participate in the Iormdlion ol the @orld? Thus,lot lhe fitst time in ils histot! Lithuanian prose torc itsellaLt 'au ftam sacial and eletadag prcblems ond soared tothe tetel of genetal problems of man and the unioetse'For the fitst time it treelg absotbed lhe thinhing situations'

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moods and colouts of d.tstant cultures blJ tusing the mo-tils ol le1lrish messianism, Babglonian astrclogA, Greehfitionalism and Oriertal despotism in the philosophicatepopee The Sons o l t he Skg and t he Ea r thtshich lhe @ let began in 1947. Ancient O ehlal cultureuged the @riter to explore and poeticize the pimitioelorms of e)cislence, gaue the relics of Lithuonion paganlhinhing a brcader philosophical petspecliae and enabledlhe authot to detect remnants of animistic lsotld oullookin Lilhuanian psgcholog!.

The most inlimate rclation to lndian culture VincasKrioi lelt in his eatlg petiod rehen he @orhed in the fieldo f Sansh r i t s t ud ies (The I ndo -Eu ropean A tuce -s l t a l La nd , 1909 : The Or i g i n o f t he Names a lBuddha P ra tgekabuddha , 1913 ) , t r ans la ted t hed tuma Shahun ta la i n to Russ ian , and l ec tu red i nBuddhbm at lhe Bahu people's uniLretsitA in 1912. Thelegendor ! s to rg P ta tAehabuddha pub l i shed i n theiouma l Va i to rgk | t i i n 1913 , @as bon o l h i s San-skril studies and interesl in lhe gteal rctigion of the Asiancontinent. He onote the storg lihe a poetic cammentatgon the o gin of Buddhism, gioing a Iree interprelalion tothe real facts of Gautama Buddha's life, paruphtusing hispte.epts and binging lo life uatious colaurlul legends.Onlg lhe main hero of lhe storA is nol Buddha, thepreacher and toundet of monasleries, but PralAekabuddha,a man @ho kept his acquired hno@ledge la limselt and. didnot pass it to people. Vincas Krit't uas concerned @ithtle dialectics of human cognilion, ils currenls and suddenchanges tuther than the description ol intelectual dog-mas. That @as a)hA he chose lo depict the initial stage ofButldhisn uthen it aas not gel canonized and its psAcho-logical sources.

Nlon's po@erlessness in the lace ol death is the leilnolil of the rctlections urhich deletmine lhe actions bothof Prctgehabuddha, the liteturg personage, and lhe histo-rical Buddha. Whoeoet came to this life shal pass out ofit, rthoelJer @as bon shall die, @hateL,er had the begin-niag shall haoe the end. "And th.ere is no escaping frcmamong those loho 19ere born and came inlo e)cistence." -

lhis painlul melancholg descends upon Kteoi's Notagonist.To Buddho, lendetness meanl libera.tion, and inaclioilgrJos bliss. Atiryanaptiga, on the coolrcrg, is assailed bgemotions ol disquiel, tuge, ambiliaus arrcgance. To theuerg end he .annol lind peace u)ith lhe atder ol lhe @orhjot himsell. Buddha is lhe Orienlal spitil, lmnquilifu, pen'siue nobililg, quiet submissioeness and deep lope. Atipra-naptiAa is lhe spiril ol rcbellious indiui.lualism charucte-rislic of 'V/esl Eurooean liletolute.

The place ol lhe aclion @hete Vincas Krcli unloEedlhe romonlic philosopha ol lile ol teslless indiuidudlismdemonded a specific colouring @hich the @tilet dte@ lrcmlhe sowces ol ancient Hindu lileralure. Among lhe petso.nages acling in lhe slorA he included lhe Vellic god Indraanl goddess Kali, the di|)ine messenget Narada (in thel l l ohabhara lo r c fe r ted to os "d iu ine sage" ) , an r l ca l -leal lltc lilal elemenl ol the dipine . otld Prajapali as inlhe Upan isho t l s . I l e a l so quo led pa taph tased l i nesl ron l he R ig -Vedo hgmns (There , ,Das o l ime @henHe did nol exisl. lherc' l l .ome a l ime @hen He @il l beno more), and botrolsed some lerms fram there (theArea! One). His lutmil sils absoLuk lg stilL "as yogo bAlo sil," and his soul sinhs in niruana. The btahman'sname is invatiablg ac.omponie(i bg lhe epilhel "th ce-bo tn " . a l so l ahen l r cn l he M ahab ha r a I a . Bu l l he co 'Iourlul sl|le and imagetg do nol b(come lhe dominalingloclot, lot lhe labulous lndian dclails are subjecled lothc logic ol the dtamalic psltchologism, supple imagino-lion and lhc thgthm of ihe senten.e.

At lhe bcginning of lhe 20lh centwg Li lhuonian Liter-alule also obsorbed atidlg lhe arlislic imptessions olmolern lndian lilcralve, for lhete it lound the sgnthesisof nalional and unioetsal spirit, luhiclt u)as so importantto L{lhuania al lhot lime. Rabindrunalh Togote @as theIitsl foteign @riter on @hose lile untl worh an oiginolsludu @a"s published in Litlxuo.ia in 1924. Vgdanas adti-sed " io rcod hin ailh an elel)ated heott in quiet momenls,"lor Tagore's books 'give a lot lo out nation as aell."lllade euen more famous bg the Nobel p ize, Tagore's booksteached Lilhuania in the tlanslotiotts lrcn llrc Etrylish

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and lhe Germdn bg Kleopos Iurgelionis, VtJdunas, StasgsSiL:ntos, later, bg Korolis Vaitus'Ratkaushas, AlbinasRimka. Petrus Vaiiiinos, lonas Simhus. 1972 sal. lhe pub'lication of a large lolume ol Tagote's lgtics translaledba Vytaatas Nistel is.

Aflecled bA sgmbolicol aeslhelics, llrc Liltuanian lit'erulure ol the 20th cenluA @as allracled bA lhe spiril oJialcalisfl tsltich soated triunphanllg oner lhe logic ol eae'rtJidU chcumstanLes i4 Tagare's 'aotks. young I ithuanianDoe[s 'oete fosci\aled bg the inplicil space o[ Tagote's!qtical poelr!1, his abilitg lo tuanipulale &ith seeminglgextralingual meons of exNession, lhe ptaiected e:densionof his ideas into i ini!!t. Kleo1as luryelionis tried loadapt Togore's pure poelical lotnt lull ol lroble meditation'noling in the unde itle ol lhe poem: "ln intmitation olTagate's sl!)le". It1, 1921 Bulkq tuze nnde an attempl touse lhe lanaiion ol ttee lerse, lluctualitrg bet@een thetot41 of a poelical ailorism and lhe simpliclg ol a prosaicphrnse, tomelitues botrotoitg TaCore's phtuses absolulelgItcelq aad openlg.

Aller lhei I)isil lo ladia Soticl Lithuanion @titers de'lelaped lhe saltte Ieeling of allinitg lo lndian cuLluteuthich ut,as characletislic of Vgdanas and Vincas Ktiui,lhe utilers u)ho liued al lhe beginning ol Ue 20lh .en'lura. "Fot me lou orc lull of loue and sunlight, aid themothers' lcndet lullabies," I!rcle Vacgs Reimeris allerhe came bach fro his t'isit lo India in 1957. He u)asamazed by the |ootd tu e d u s llhich an lndian bdker pto-nounced "I ikc a Dzikian Li lhuanian lrom lhe banhs oflhe Meftgs rieet." fhe poet rgrcle: 'Sansktil speahs fromthe boohs I lle ate old, ae ore goung and rclaled.'

I n h i s book A t t he l : oo t o l t he S ta r s ( 1959 )Eduardas Mieiclai l is published his cycle Man and hisfi'rt Indian cgcle lthich introduced the leitmotil of theexpanse ol lhe unilelse i4 his lgical poetrg Holo did themaniteslo of "lhe homoceotric sAstem' @hich placed man althe summit of cosmos harmonize &)ith the I ndian cullural trc'dilion @hich proclaimed the equalilA of all lieing fotmsand demanded that mon should. denounce its erclusioe-ness? A! lirst, the Intlion @orld (lhe face ol Buddha's

s4

stalues, lhe God Shi.ra @ilh Iou atms, the snahe charmer)had lo be absorded blt the European thinking forms -the indi"ridual consciousness stilh "ego" at the cenhe,romantic ecslasA and lhe rcfined pLaA ol associalions.The image ol 7ai Nahal gteIA) into the ltadilioiLal legendof laldt LolJe tenderlA recaunted ("The sldue maiden lelland ahilened, the shah fell and blackened I Ooer the @hiteboClt benl and uied..."). But the echoes of the Ra'n a u a n a erpressed the sublLe muslicism of loae tahichhas teigned in Eutopean Iwical poetta since Petrarchrathet than the direct eroticism of the Hindu epic poem.

lndia4 culture li\ed Eduadas Mie;alaitis @ith stiUgtealer admitation duing his second. uisil to the countrAin 1971, ut il is &ilnessed in his memoirs T h e T o l.a e to f I I l us ions (1973) . A nunbe t o l l t i s poems beg in- t i t h ep ig tuphs I r cm Vedas , l he Upan ishads , Ra-ma g ana and Tagore ' s Gardener (The l a l t e r boohaccompa ied lhe poet duing his uisit Lo lndia as a poeticinlrcduclion to the soul ol lhe coutrA). An authentic ora paruphrused epigrcph suggesls the original poem's themeor imtgerg motil Ilhich ma! be e)ipanded, remoulded orinlesled @ilh a neis meaning, but the Indian quotalion isal@alJs there lihe lhe spinging board lor the pla! of thepoetic lanlasA, becoming on inlegral patl al the @holeraork. Hindu names and lorms ol oddress are used in thecontersalion ol hermit philosophers stlJlized alter the ori'gif ial sources: 'And tuming to yoinaaulh, raid tanahoashed: ,' "Oh yainaualh! Ans@er if you can these ques'lians. . .' The paet paraphrases the authentic alorismsl /om lhe Upan ishads : "T loo suns sh ine l o r man : oneIrcm abote I The other from u)ithin. Both are ol the samemagnilude." He makes a exprcssioe use of the mllsteriousVedic fotnlula: "thrce hundred and thtee, three thousandond thrce, thittlJ thtee," '\Dhich indicates the number ofgods. Dtumatic colours are used to describe Shba's dance&hich causes ri t ips Io crumbl? in lhe samP @ag os inlhe Hindu myths. The poet's liaeu imaginalion rclires theoiginal image ol the uniaerse as a giganlic tnan: "Theshining btidegroofi I Raises himsell in the moon sadle. . .The lragrunt btidegrcon, h.is slim lrunh tubes his btan-

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ches stalded &)ilh blossorts I to the slariiled shg..." Hegires a poe[ic interptetation to lhe lheorg of teincarnation("1 Ilrill tutn into @ine or perhops into rain dtops"), lhephilosophical conte\t of M a lt a ('The illusian - the azured reanx - i s c l&n ted i n the Mahabha ta ta : ma-!a"), to Ahimsa ("Do not hutt ang l ioing thing fat theblack beetle is gour btulhet"). Eduatdas MieZelaitis hand-Ies the stglistic ornafienls at Indian cultue oery easilg,cteating someti.mes ueitable lire@orks of rDards. But mostimpotlant of all, lhe poet managed to gtusp lhe relatiotrof lndian culture to lhe tootld. HrJpetbolizing man's porDeraccording lo the docttine ol Eurcpean hun&nism, the poetsuddenlg saAs to the same man: "you'U find a friend u)henat the green trce I gou laoh thtough lhe lree's eges, ata beasl or aninml llhtough the eges ol the beast or ani-mdl, al a mou latn ot streom through lhe eges oJ maun-tains and slteams." Euen lhe earth, n)hich stoad so firmlgin lhe centre ol the uniuerse belote, be.omes nou) its smalland lemporarg pdrt iLle l ihe in t l le U panishads. 'Theglobe is like the @hite eAeball I flltough Ilhich Ilisdomloohs at the black I Baok ol the Uniaetse a.d rcads itsbirlh tcrtifi.ate and obituatg I Ptinted. in bight ond staLrA snall prinl. . ." To l lrc poei Indian c l tue is onlAone ol the pluralisti. aieutpoi.nls nnslerlg teprotluced anddtumalized toeiether atilh his Sune.ian, Gteek, Armenianan'1 llalian reminiscences. Bg no neans is it lot him themain inner ele ent as it aas for VAditnas.

Contacts @ith Indian culture haue been amazinglgptoiNcliue lo modern Lithuanian literaiure. Not neces-sarilg etptessed bA an lndian lheme, lheA stimulated theimagination ol tnanA Lilhuanian sriterc and galJe thempo&,erf ul oeslhetic erpetience.

' [he true vay of l i fe is attained in the search ior iormsof e)i isience which ha\e no end, and irr the explorationoi the inner depths of one's own self. This is the wiseconclusion King Savalkiya comes 1o when he can noIongcr stand his lame, and this is lhe idea which Vincas

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Kfava propagates in the excerpt fro|m his slory Pratgeha-,ddlid given below.

SaLralhiga tode up lo a dense iungle but lindingno path thrcugh il to the mounlait8, lurned his elephantrcund and tsenrled his @ag home@ard, to the .il! @here

The elephant on @hich Salralhiga rcde @as etrquisitelgadorned. The gold housing and the gold saddle studded@ilh ie@els spotkled @ilh all lhe colours ol lhe tuinbo@like the cha ot ol Indru, the god ol lhe Ii nament, as hedroue lo @in lhe &)orld in the ballle lDillr lhe ruler of lhe

The inhabilanls of lhe lan&, cilies and caslles themaharaja passed bg on his loaA bach, twned out in latgenumbets lo Ilelcome him @ith shouts ol grcaler joA andutotds ol deeper I)eneralion lhan llrcse the! used in thera)otship ol lhe heatenlg gods,

A lot ol people, tich and poor, goung ond old, brah-mdns, hshaltAas and chandals v)ho Ililnessed lhe ctuu)d'sadotolion of him, tpere iealous of his Fo une, for no manlnd eter been esleemed so highlg ond adored bg his lelIoln men as Souolhiga @as notp.

Bul his lace u)ds sad and dour, @hich caused peoplelo lbonder and ash ol each other: "lvh! is the lace ol lhehappiest man so sullen? l,(hol does lhe tuan u)hose pou)eleauols that of lndra lach?"

Eoetgbodg ashed this, but nobodg could anse)et.Tltose @ho tolloroed him neatesl to his escort tded to

cheer lheh lod and masler and dispell lhe gloom onhis |ace. To tuise his spitils, some plaged @or Eames,some sang ancienl songs and recounled legends, othersgare teporls oJ lhe lalest ne@s, but Sa\)alh[ga's tace te-mained as gloomg as betote.

Once in lhe etening &)hen theg had stopped for thenight, some local people come ond told Sa|ualhiAa's escorlsoboul a shaman, the u)isest and holiest of dll the shamans,toho @as staging on a nearb! riuer bank, onergrolln @ithttees. Theg said he could see etetA man's past and Juture

as il it @ete the ptesent unlolding betote his egesVondrous @ere his deeds, ptoloundlg tgise his @ords. . .

Vhen Saoalkiga 1tas tolil about the shaman, he @ish'ed lo see him, but daring not disturb him more thon it@as absolutelA flecessarg, he @ent to see lhe holg maihimself @ith all his rctinue.

Vhen he came to lhe pla.e 4rhere the shaman liaed,he sala him sitting in the dooraag of a hut made of tteebtunches, eating fruit and @oshing dotbn his lood @ith

O4 seeing all this, Saaaldiga said in a loud uoice:.Oh, hoa happg is he @ho is satistied @ilh as little

as the shaman herc. The shellet made ol the toots ofttees prctects hifi tronr the scorching sun and the pouingtuin, the trees protide hhn @ilh Jtuit and the springgushing out trcm the bank of the rirer 4tilh crgslal'cleat@ater, and he does not ask |or angthing else. Indeed, hap'pA is the man ahose ege has neoer hnotu)n the a,iditA ol

"Ho@ tight Aou ate, Maharaia," responded to all hise)ords his toad.gish attendants. "The tate of lhis shamanherc is onlg to be eavied in this sea ol misfortunes."

Then Sa,rdlkiga said, directing his 4,otds to the sha'

" Holr happg gou are, ma shaman, fot gour eges do nolhno@ enog and gou hearl has no desies! your souL issatisfied @ith the oetg leasl."

"lvhat is the uerll least la a human soul?" ons@eredlhe shaman'aithoul loohing up a Saoalhiqa. "There is nola single humon soul in the @orld thal &,ould be satisliedIlrith the oetA least, Iot il al@aAs hno ts lhat the oerAleast is pa ot the great

"uhich it keeps longing Iot and

toould lihe to hate. But not eoergbod! knou)s a)here thegteat is to be found, and euerAbodA heeps laoking Iorit - but al@ags in lhe @rong place."

''God bless aou, oh the holg thrice-born and @isest otthe lsise rohose heart is as serene as a summer eoeningand the sacted @oterc ol lhe Ganges!" said SaoalkiAa,bo|ling his head before lhe man in u)hose heatt there u)ds

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no rcom far kama ang more and u]hose soul @ss trce ol

Vilh his hand on his bosom and his head ba\oed, hesload like a pupil before his teacher 1laiting Iot taotds ofrsisdom to faII fram his lips 6 a frost-bitten flo|Der u)aitsIar lhe firsl rags of thc sun. Standing lihe this, he said:'' Gad bless !ou!'

The shaman raised his eges and loohed btiellg at themaharaia of maharaias, the highest ruler of all, toho @asstanditg before hitn lihe a man, @ronged bA IiJe, standsbelore his luckier fellol!-being, lihe a urong-daet u)homthe lichle Jinget af late hod pushed into lhe arms ol abgs-fiaI saaness.

Said the shaman to Savalhiaa:"God bless gou, too, u)ho tried to find happiness @here

il cannot be lound. you hape gtound the u)orld u)hich isfamiltar to gou under gour Ioot in se ch of honou inorder to learn @hat gou could hate learnt bg foUoi.Dingthe path of @isdom. . .

"God btess gou, too, leho halre been cutsed b! all thecufses oJ heaoen and hell. Let gour heart Iind peace andgour soul the road lo the land of @isdom and truth!

"MaU gou, a)ho hate distubed the peace of heaoen,haue Koli's blessings. . ."

Fear gtipped Sal,alhiaa at those lasl &rotds ol the sage.Holding out his hands like d man @ho has suddenlg seendanger, he said:

"Oh Lotd! Oh Lotd!"Looking do1ln again, the shaman ashed:"Vlhat do gou @ant, SaualkiAa? Whal Jor haae Aou

come to this place the peace ol @hich used lo be distutbedonlg bA the tustle oJ ttees and the song aJ bitds? Nobodg@ants to hnou) gou here, nobodg is altaid of gou, nobodgpraises Aou hete @hile holding cutses i his hea . . ."

"I came here, oh lotd, lo heat a @ord of truth, Iorthose @ho haae spohen to fte so Jar, those @rho lire @heteI come Jrom, and those @ho accompang me here, ate tullof lies. Their tongues onlg hno&) hoto to pronounce [alseand Ia@ning tootds."

"Sal)alhiAa, didn't Aou kill the truth in people's heartsgouse$? lvasn'l it lou @)ho taught them to speak unttuthand lite bA Lies?'

"you speoh bitter truth, mA lord. I no longer heu suchtxotds eoen in mg dreams, the! arc as stoeet to mg heartas the memorg of mg gounget dags."

The shaman got up frcm his seat ond said urith greatmoral strenglh:

'lvhat is thete tor me lo be aJtuid of @hen it is meatho chooses bg m! o@n trce @ill the @a! thitrgs go.'

Saging these @rords, he made a lea steps and sat do1t)non a stone lging a gad ot ltt)o from the entrance tohis hut.

Although Saoalkiga heatd these @ord.s, he paid. nomind to them, for neithet he not those'@ho reere thereteith him couLd grusp lhei meaning.

So Soralhiga said again lo the shaman:'I tollott)ed, m! lotd, the road @hich the @isdom ol

lhe leorld had pointed to me. I follo(eed it in search olthe gteatesl happiness in the @otld, lot mg heart hadalutoys hno@n it did ?xisl. Those u)ho acre mote expeti-enced in IiJe said lhat happiness came &)ith honows andpo@et. so I l t ied lo attain i t in thar @a9...

"l @as adpised bg lhose'aho said theg hneut a lot ondhad a lot of toorldlg &)isdam. Tell me, m! Iord, tDhethertheg @ete ghl, but it theA lied, ard rng heatt suspectsnou) that the! did, Ilhere is the u)ag lo trulh? But perhapsgou do not hno@ it, either?"

Vhile Saoalhiqa spohe thus, his ,roice gtelt) Iouder andIouder and his lasl t\)otds reuerbetated in the ab as adistant thunder.

"There ote a lot ol peaple .xho lhink thea knot! eoetg-thing. But thea are @rcng, Iot theg do not hno@ that theteis onlg one ttuth, one kind of honesta, one hind ol hno@-ledge aad one hind ol happiness in the @otld. That truth,hanest!, knolt)ledge and happiness orc aLl one u)hole. Eoe-tgbodg htrol.Ds it in his mind and. heatt, but oain atepeople's attempts to tind a road @hich mi.ght tahe thenrthete. But before this road has been tound, the soul otthe man @ill tind no satisJaction in @hateaer honouls he

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might hate, his hea u)ilL not be gladdened bg success,and his lite tutll be darhened bg sadness Lihe the darkestetenal night. . .

"tvhot people call hnololedge is but a lie; ruhat peoplecat trulh is a mistake; @hat people call justice is but anuglg iniuslice; ra)hat people call happiness is lhe sourceol deceit and disappointment. . .

"The @ise people @ho thinh the! knol! a lot and aregteallg expe enced, d.eceilre themsell,es and others, andlhe @orld subslitutes one [ie for another @hile heeding

"Thete is onlg one grcat iustice and truth @hich liuesin lhe kingdom of hno@rledge but people do not toob andhaoe no 1lish to look for the @a! therc, tor theA are sa-tislied utith @ell-trodden paths.

"Thete is one and onlg happiness @hich lites in lhekingdom af lrulh and hno@ledge, but people do not tindthe loag lhere and the! are not goitrg to lind it so longas theg @alh the 1lell-lrodden paths. . .

"There is one and onlg honow @hich does not demanilto be noticed ot respected. lt liaes in the hingdom olhnollledge, ttuth and rectilude that people do not trg tolind a &)ag to. Vlhat people call honour is a mistahe anddeception. Theg rcmind of a beggat @ho is @alking alongthe rcad shouling that he is ich. People belieae himbelote lheg tdhe a better looh and then theg see the ragslhat coxet his bodg. B! shouling the lie the beggat suc-ceeds in deceiling others and fotgels his olan hunger onl!to feel it morc sharyl! later. . .

"you, SaoalkiAa, halte been italhing these @ell-trodd.enpalhs and il Aou conlinue to utalh them, gou late @illbe similar to the |ate of those @ho haue @alked these paths

So spohe the shaman and lhe maharuia listened lo him.Vhen he tinished, Saualkiga said:

"your @ords, mA lod, are aerg @ise. Sho@ me theu)ag uthich leads to lhe hingdom of truth and @isdom solhat I no longet @ralk the @ell-lrodden paths but seeh truehappiness and attain that honofi of hnotoledge. . ."

The shaman said [n ans@er to his rDords:

l 0 l

'lvhat good teill it do gou il I lead gou bg the handas o blind man? It gou ate reallg a man, be a man andIooh fot gout rcad, but don't follour another man's raad."

"The meaning ol gour aords is obscurc, mg lord," Sa-odlhiga said, "and. I don't underslant them.'

"ll gou ate Aou, if gour e)orld is not mg @orld @hichliles in me, gou must lind o u)a! to il gourself."

"And ahere is the beginning ol that aag, mU lotd?""lt ts at the point @herc gau u)ill renoun€e rphat Aou

thinh Aou ate in otd.et to be @hat gou can be.''A source ol @isdom Jlott)s fram lhe place @here gouate, mg lotd.," Saaalhiga said to hifi and smiled like aman aho @anted, to moch tlrc other man's roords becausehe did not lihe them. "l am aeah and g soul is s)earA.I am blind and mA soul is lhitstg. lvhy don't ljou let medinh at Aou saurce and rEash mlJ eges @ilh its aater solhol I ran sec ltght and acquite strcngth

The shaman hept silence and did not sa! &ngthing.AIter a u)hile Saoalhiga continued:

"You sag, mg lord, that lhete ale ls)o reorlds, gours andmine. V/hat mine is like, eretgbodA hno@s for I teign thercand rule lhe people in it like Indtu rules lhe gods inheauen. V/hat is gour @orld. Iihe?'

Saging these @otds, Saaalhilja smiled; seeing himsmile, alL those @ho turere @ith htm smiled too.

And said. the shaman to him:"You sag, Saoalhiga, that gou rule people lihe Indtu

rules gods. Mahataja! Vlater is all the same eterg@here.tvhen it falls Jrcm the clouds, don't gou call it rain?Vhen it JtorA)s doan from the mountains to the eallegs,don't gou call it rilrets? lyhen it spouts cool from @ithitlthe bo1uek of the earth, don't Aou call it springs? Butlhis is not tuin, not tioers, and not sp ngs. It is @ater,the same utater eterg@here. Am I not ght, Maharuia?'

"Yes, Aou are tight, mg lord."'lVell, lhen, Maharaia, and. all those present hercl

Listen to mg @ards so thdt the hingdom of @isdom magopen before gour eges. There is onl! One in all thelbotld. One in plentg. Vhen he ueales the u)otld Inh imse$ and l h rough h imse l t , @e.a t t h im Pra iapa t i .

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'tYhen he urarms and grou)s eletAthing lhat erists, laehonow him and .alL him AgnL Vhen he @ahens uplhe da! in earlA motning, I le honour him as Varuna'and ro:hen ae liefu nin up @ilh out o@n hands so tholhp mau serue t)s-. u)e honout him ba (al l ing him Mil tolvh?n @e Dtou lot help and deliuetance l n d I a is lhPname our' l ipi pironoun.c. Bul this is al l lhe greo! O n ei n p t e n t t t , the one Q)ho speahs lhrough out l ips' theone r 'ho t islens lhrottPh our ears lhe one u'ho moves ourhearls in the boson s() that theA mag beal and lioe; theone ilt)ho liues in us, lhe ane @ho is I the one and onlgsou rce o l l i f e , A tman , l he g tea l P ra iapa l i

'Thol is rshal I tel l !ou, Mdharaia, o4.l al l lhase @hohone come here,"

So sooke the shaman and his face glo@ed lihe Varu'no's foie, and his eAes glislened lihe lndra's eVes t!'henhe loohs t i trclhlul lA o1 111" 2stlh thtough lhe clouds. Seu'dal al thosc teho t istened to hts @o.ds aad uralchedhim speohing, lhough! he possessed the great power olIadto, so lheg bo@etl lo him in au)e and saicl

"You arc gteal and po@erful You kno!) all the roadsin heaten and earth, ond all the sectets are open lo

'Ve see lhe Po@et in

lou are lndra, descendedsoid. '

Othets @ho did nat lealch his lace ond did not opentheir ed.rs to his toords lhought he &)as as mod as lhosertho do not live lor the eafth Theg @ete scared @henthe! sa1!) and heatd hote their lriends paid lheir respect to

Then Saaalkiga soid:"lf gou are 1!)hat you saa lou are, gino o sign ol gour

powet so lhal I mag belieue Vou'' 'Didnt t sag it &'as idLe to lPod a man ntho is bl indol sou! alonp ihe road af tsisdom? Bul gaut eges ondeors sholl opin beco sP lhis is mg lr i l l th? shaman said" Maharcia. do people sag that he s)ho is bon utill die?"

'yes, mg lord: he @ho leas botu must die, and il hasnener been othertoise,"

gour face and u)e belieue lhalon lhe earlh, as aou hate iusl

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"And I telt Aou, Saaalhiga, that lhete is no greaterpotoer than the one @hich is tiJe, Vho, being as @eah asdeath, coud get the belter of the most po@erful? Vho,being nothing as death, could gi|)e the beginning to @hatis euetgthing? I an saging lhis to gou, Maharaia: hetoho liues &)as no! botn, did not rcme inlo existenie andcannot die, eithet. He @ho lilJes and calls himsell I isthe etemal ATMAN. Akd he @ho understaod and rc-cognized that he @ds Atman, Ieatnt all the secrets c,f lheutorld, and oleraame all lhe obstatles. He is lhe prcotPtujapoti and Irc does not lear he night die or beTorn.He does not haue the beginning ot the end for he isbrahman, Lord Alman, reho destlogs some @otlds in andthlough hinsell, and. creales the olherc like lhe one @hohas lhe pottet, lhe ctealor oJ lhe reotlds Pruiapati,-andhe toould not be @hal he is if lhe aorlds @ete not bornot did not die ia hin and lhrough him.. "

Saaalkiga listened lo the shamon's @otds most alten-lioelg, ahd @hen the laller titrislrcd, he said:'Mg lord, a lhought has Ilashed ih mg mind, quickas lighlning, an aluful thought, but it is dim to me aetl ihe Ihe jungle en'Jeloped in mist."

"The lhoughl is oalg arelul to those utho arc afnid ofthe ltuth, but il dalons ii lhe mind ol eoer! tuan @hoIoohs Jor it ond is not alnid lo lind it,,, ans@ercd theshatuan to him. "lust lihe @oler rises to the shu in thelotm ol uapour to lloat as (louds ol rain in space ind lhenlo lall on lhe ea h. so Ptujopali gets otd and dies inAlmon to be botn goung again. But Almon nerer dies andls neuer botn. Onlg ds Ptuiopati he changes his loce Inhimsell and through himseq... Thot is @hat I am tellinsgou, and l?t those @ho haue eorc and reasoh l isten ana

"And let eoergone go his otpn @a!.'"Mg lord, gou plomtse to lind lor me @hot I drcomed

of finding, !)ou prcmise lo heaL mq roounds @hich ranhlein me dag and \ight. Can I, a fian, be so po@e ul eslo get the belter ol death, can I rise abooe @hat erhts?"

"Maharaja, @hen lou shut WW eges lou alo not seedagliqht, II gou closed gout eges for eter, the sun, shg

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and stars rAould tlisappear fot Aou, Jor euerg man hctsthe sun and slarc, the da! and night onlg @ithin himsell.It is not Aou @ho lbe in the &)otld., but the @otLd Lktesin gou. It is botn through Aou, it gets old through louatd dies in Aou, but it is not Aou'@ho d.ie in it. . ."

So.ualkiga and those @ho @ere toith hirn lell into deepthought. And then again thell &,ondeted at the shamdt's

"IVho is this man @ho saas such strange @otds tous?"

Tdhing a step lorleatd, Satalhiga said:'Then, alL mV l i le has been a l ie, onlg a dream...

lvhat I haoe done, @hat I ha|)e sought to al lain..."Tahing another slep, he asked:"you speah rlilh great @isdom. lV ho are gau?"" I am Atmon @ho cteales the skg and the earth, tvho

tel ls the stats and lhe sun to'@olk in the shg and makedag and night. . .

"l am the one 1!ho stands above @hat is good andenil, abol)e sadness and jo!, misery and happiness, abolrepain and jol i tg... I atu the one s)ho is aboL,e birth anddeath; lhere is neilher good not bad fot me, neither allatdnor punishment. I am the creator of eperything thatexists. I am I and lhere is nobadlJ else I!,ho tsouLd litein me. I am the one aho has understood that he is theone and only omnipotent creator ol the e)otds @hich haLree:dsled and zEill exist, Iot all ol them are me - lhe etetnalAtmon. . .'l @ho has tound the @ag to truth am speaking here. . .Let those t!,lro lwte ears and reason lislen and under-stand it ."

1)lhile he rA)as speaking lhus, ane ol lhe escotts apploached SalralkiAa and said to him:

'Oh Maharaia, I think this man gou are listening tois the one u)ho lioed in Vour falhet's palace as lhe sonof brchman Bruhadashua."

lYhen the othet men heord. these 1!)otds, theg rccognizedAtiVanapriga and said:

"Vetl, rcallg, this is the man i.ae used to hno@ andcall bg the tuame of Aliqtuna? ga. "

105

"He is reallg the mon aho lett gow fathe/s palacefot the d.esett l@ice. . .'

"Ve thought he @as dead, lor @e haae net)er heard.angthing about him since the daA he disappearcd."

Listening to lhese aords and loohing inlo the man'sface, Saoalhi\a said:

"Mg lotd, I see nolJ, too, lhat gou ate rcallg the mantoho 'oas mg brcther's friend and \ehotu ae all calledAtiprcnapiga."

"I am reaLlg the man lou used to call Atipranaptiga. . .-The othets, tu)ho had been lislening to his e)ords, also

(ame up ond said:'You said Aou had akaalJs been and u)ould aheags be.But there are people s)ho hnet! low tathet and. Aou @henAou |oerc a child. Ve also hne@ and sa-d) Aau @hen gousefe loung, and no19 aau are a gfarsn-up man,"

The shaman ansu)ered those @ho spahe to him:" Eterylhing lou sag and eLtergthing you saA gou hno@

[s a dteam and a lie, brought about bg gour.,!ish to seeitr athers some part ol gour ou)n lite. But he lrho aantsto a@ahen, shall @ake up and then he shall face the

And again Satalkiga, lhe gteot mahataja, ruler of ma-nu countries, said:'Then @hA haoen't I aakened. up os gau saA I should,Ior I do u)ant to @ahe up- Please I!)ake up m!) soul iJgou can, ancl make il see the truth as gou see it gourselftace to face. . ."

"S1.Deet ds honeg is the steep ol life, but hno@te(lge iscLs hatd and hpaug as lhe mounloit1s gou sep when goulace lhe norlh. Is lour tsish and tenglh grca! enough lobear this heauu load?"

"lt is, mg lord.., I think i t is.. .""AU tight. Let gour soul ae)ahen trcm lhe sleep... ' 'Saging this, he tooh Sapalhiga blJ the hand, sat him

on the slone he himself llas sitting on, looked into his eAesand said:

"Saoalhiga, hnollr @hat Aou arc!'Those @ho slood nearb! thought the maharaja had

suddenlg tallen asleep. . .

106

But he @as truaelling tn expanses tohere there utasneilher gesletdoA nor toda!, @here lhete @as neither thisnor that place, in expanses @hich @ere neither high nolIo1r. . . He t)os t tuuel l ing in e)cpanses @lt ich had no be-ginning and o end, no light and no darhness... He s)asl r a ' t ) e l L i n g a s A T M A N .

lvhen the shaman louched him on lhe shoulder, Sa-MLhiAa laohed alound 6 a man @ho had been brc)ught tomootland.s in his sleep and lelt there bA his enemies lodie lot he could not l ind his wag bach.. . Couet ing hiseges u)ilh his fu1nds, SatalhiUa butst inlo bitter tears@|tich tolled douDr his cheehs betu)eetr his Iitrgers.

All /ns retinue slood bU in gteat arandet.Then Saralhiga rcse, anll saging not a silgle'aord

to angone, @ent on his ,!aA @hich tooh him to lhe moorin lhe directian opposite to his gild.ed tents.

lvhen those c)ho had all.DaAs accompanied him euerg-@here tried lo follou) him, Salralki.la Jorbade them to andto[d lhen to go bach @heteaer lheq tgished. . .

Nobodg hneto and nobodg has eoer learnl e)hete he

People haoe neuer seen Saualhiga ang mote, the hap-piest ma'r and gteatest Mahataja in the @otld.

For theif poetry and conlr ibui ion to the ir iendly rela-t ions between Lithuania and India the Lithuanian poetsEduafdas Mieielait is and Vacys Reimeris have beenawarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Prize.

Back from the presentation cefemony in India, Mieie-lait is wrote: "I must coniess I discovered India only duringmy third visi i to the counlry. Only {hen did I understandwhat was India and what wealth ol art, poetfy and beautywas hidden both in i ts remote past and its present. Whereelse in the world can you f ind such a country, grey-haired,wise and beauti iul I ike mother?

And suddenly I understood how much I needed India.I needed it ior my poetry which, I teel, has become richer.rr ' i1h new moti ls, new colours and the unending inspiral ion

t07

lrom the deep resources oi Hindu philosophy. It is noteasy to reach it , for i t is necessary to delve into greatdepths. But the dif i icult task gives a lot of joy andsatisfaction."

Here is some poetry by Eduardas Miezelait is and Va'cys Reimeris.

Edua tdas M ieZe l 4 i t i s

MENTAL EXERCISES IN THE AIANTA BUDDHISTCAVES

A man come up lo a high mountain and knelt at ils lool.And.said. the mountain lo him, "Spli t me, I shall be gour

guatd."And said the rioer, "Drale some @atet, put it to loul

l ips -you'Il slahe gout thkst in m! cool efletoescenl stream."And said the bird @hich citcled round the mountain in

the sk!,"Slag me teilh gour slltift otrol! and appease youl

hunger, man."And said the doe, "l'll help aou and let *, O::;:ff;.:.

And said lhe mango tree, "Bend do@n m! boughs andtaste rng f ruit."

And said the bultalo, "Put on mg loins a heatg aohe.Plough up a plot oJ land, so@ it erilh rice and eat gour

l iu.'And saiil the colt), " I in mg udder halJe some milh tor gou."And said the otange lree, Pro", gord"n"

::ur:r:orn"rdr."And said lhe rcse, "l'll please gour saddened

"* U7#^".,,And said the bnd, "lvith mg su)eet loice I'LL charm laur

ear"And said lhe lighlning, "Take mg light and light a cosg

tite,It'lI keep lou @arm al home and giue lou glaaing lighl ot

night."

108

The man did listen to the mountain, rioer, bitd and tree,To lyhat the doe, the buttalo, the lightning had to sag.He bent his head, knitted his brotos and stafted to

rcf lect -The earth that he no@ had to shouldet seemeiL too big

for him.He rcalized he couldn't split the mountain on his ou)n,He couldn't dtinh up all the aater lrcm the crystal

Ot pluck the fruils that so abundaotlg gr". "n

th: [:::.So he began lo carue a gross grim idol trom a rcck.Vhile geltitLg d.o1!n to reoth, he must have ehtertained

a thoughtTo mahe his lileless idol in the imoge of himseltSo lhat lo Jrce himselt lrom cares and @ith this idol

shareThe land, high noutains and the ctAstal slrcam ol a sroift.'lhe @ork s)as slotg- But then at last the rcch granted

He ttied to talk to it. The idol @as ,r"rUrrt "Ijli'And then lhe man, beset b! feat, put at the ido!'s leetA loaf oJ bread, meat, ce, sofie oranges and a iaeel

|-he man-made creature took, as il it @ere ni" o.n, o't1""'land.s,

The slreams of ctgstal l,alet, roses, birds, blossoming

The mon. bending the hnee to his gtim idot. r, O,rjl"tlOt'lVould beg lor iis oan snare, i if it were lor saiing

So kneeling at his idot's teet he humbtg r"id hb pf:;::;And lot each gtain of ice and eoerg truit he pluckedSincerelg lhanked his onlA mostet anil his gracious loral.lnoaiablg the idol ansllercd @ith o stong smile...

But said the mountain, "l'm o mountoin, I am at Aoulfeet."

And said the riaer, "l'm a rh)er, I am frce to o@.'And said to him the bid, "l am a bid, I'nr ttee to tlg.'

109

And said the tree, "l am a trce, I bear mV truit lor Aou."And said the doe, " l am a doe, I'm Irce lo climb lhe

slopes."And said the tose, "l 6m a rose, I'm Irce la bud and

bloom."And satu the tield, "l on a field, I'm Iree to giae tpu

food:'And said the lightning,'1 am light, I lrcelg run thrcugh

@ires."The man @ho helplessl! ads kneeling al his idol's teet -At his cteation that had tubbed him ol his boundless

@eauh -On hearing that, afiazinglA a@ohe trom his bad dteamAnd told his idol, "l'm a man and I am also ftee."And suddenlA the cruggA mountain and a hundred. trees,The mountain stteam, lhe doe, lhe mello'a truils borsed

do@n to him.The man agoin loohed at lhe godlihe idol, and he sdv)lust a dull image of himsell. Thus he alt)oke - the man.

Transla|ed hy Lionginas Pazasis

E dua rdas M ieZe l a i t i sSNAKE CHARMER

A snake chormet inscrulablg sits in lhe street@ith a round @ichet basket placed ight at his feet.lf a passerb| puls a small coin on his palm,he @rill lake the lA oll e)ith habitual calm.Like a ribbon ol smohe Itum the tire to lhe shies,a big cobra

before loM letg eges. . .Il atises, statls t!rcathing ils ne.h here and thete,as il @inds @ete distubing greA smohe in the air.Then the cobtu gets angra:tull ol halted and tuge,it atlempts to attack and to bite ils oten cage...

l l 0

But lhe mon tahes a pipe and lo check the atatmhe begins lo appl! i ls mgsletious (harn.Slott)l! out of the pipe,

lihe a snake on its @oAIrcm an old holloro lrunk Iallea inlo decag,rj'riggles out

o caressinglg quopeting sound. ..That stoeet lingeing tune u)taps lhe cobra atound,its slim bodg slarts sloaging @ilh somnol,ent easejust like smohe lloating up in lhe slumbeting btee?e.Anal the music to tohich il cohtinues lo suraglakes lhe snake to the jungle, a long @ag atDaA,I9here, shpn gounger and lree, i l aas running a ra(e

ond bight bulterlliesilting @)ith gtoce

and @here once on a carpet ol beaulitul llo@ersil @as @ailing

lo meet its sloeet malefor long hours,

and cicadas @erc liddling @hen, losl in a ttonce,lhe l@o cobtas teioiced. in a'aild toedding dance. ..So lhe cobta keep l@isting os il in a doze,sti l l unable lo lwn Irom the pipe its heen gaze.,.The pipe lurns lo lhe side,

and the snahe do6 the some -

Iol len undet i ls spell , i t loohs hotmlesslg tome...Vlile lhe chartuer is piping,lhc cabtu must dance. , ,(. . . .eho can doubt at this moment lhat music enchanls?..)But the tune unmistakablg dtvindles and tires,il ctolels back to the pipe and completelg expires.. .Here the cobta's sLaeel drcam prctuptlg comes to an end..,Like a s1ltful of gte! smohe,il begins lo descend. . .It rcheats to the bashet, unhappg ond shg,and does not rise again to the blue summer shg.

I l l

Vith his basket @ell cooereil and put at his feet,the snake chatmer sits dozing again in lhe strcet.

BombagTtanslaled by Lionginas PaZisis

VacAs Re ime t i sINDIA

ll'lang timestrcm the Baltlc teind|I lnd Jlolon to Aou in mg dreams.Lihe a gteat heatt to me, o India,on lhe map lour outline seems.

Eoer thrcbbitlg,sufleting, bleedihg,in the shachles ol slalery hept,Iihe a butlet g, geaning Ior treedonrlhat heart Iluttercd and softl! u)ept.

You la! u)ounded,CeUlonseemed a blood-drop.And, bercft of treedom and btead,like tishestesemb litlg each other,shoals of gearc, fut ol sultering, sped.

But lot Asia, too, da@n hos risen.The colonialists lost theb hold.lndia's btohen the bars ol her ptison,though her heatt still aches,as ol old.

Yes,I sato gofi deep @ounds

n2

of the Baltic breeze.Bul -l noticedaour salt teols Qtere drginga\d gour PuLsebeat @ilh oigot ond ease.

Yes,

boundlesslg happg.And no@, thot ogoitlee?e oqorl,in gour age-oldlong-sullering patience,Aou'll rctuincl meo greal and looing heatl.

TrAnslaled by Dorian Rollenberg* Soviet Li lerature, 1972, No. 6, pp l35-136

V acgs Re imer i sA COMPLAI NT

ln gre!-old Benorcs,B! a lhich banAan lrce,Hauing poid on lhe spol ltuo brcss coins.Mid an odd gaping ctotodI @as standing lo seeHo@ o llultering dancet perlorfis.

On the tabot he plaAedllilh his drg boig hands,His stselled lingers did not come lo rest,And I head not the labolPetlatming lhe donce,But the da\.et's dtg skeletal chest.'[ranslaled by Lionginas PaZisis

The inf luence ol Indian culiure and l i teratur€ has beenexp€rienced not only by the older generation ol Lithuanian

I l 3

artists and writers but also by representatives of iheyounger generation, poels in parl icular. Original andcreative transformations oi Indian poetic tradit ions canbe detected in the poetry oi Jonas Juskait is, Sigi ias Geda,Aldona Puisyte, Vladas Baltuskevii ius, Al lonaas Bukon,tas, Violeta Paldinskait6. Although the Indian theme is notalways well del ined in the works ol the middle andyounger generations of lhe Lithuanian writers, a magicrel lection oI the thousand-year-old Hindu spir j tual expe-rience and the depth ol i ts thought can be lelt in manya page of their books.

We ofler the reader a handlul of poelry writ ten byLithuanian poets ol the middle generation.

S ig i t as GedaFrcm B I LHANATHREE BLUE G,4R'ANDS IN REMEMBRANCEOF'CHAURA PANC H ASH I KH A'

Second GarlandI also hno@ u)hat I aanled to soA:dolDn into the tatines al sand and limestonethe riaers llorD, tt)hile I am hotding Aauin an abgss of light, u)hile roots shoot upancl spread in the deep sea, enchanled nighlslill up the ea h @ith gleaming lirc 1!)hicn stteamsJrom mg o@4lips; a botlom plant unlotdslike a demue bilingual, and the @indossails ond bIinds m?. somp ltaming nothingtepeats i lsel l quite nulelA in the nighl.and snoltstorms tage around, @hile gou a seand go a&)aA lhis purposeless cold night,disconsolalelg loaking tot a stat.

I also hnolo @hat I &)antecl to sa!:ouet the fields in the pale soulless maonlightmg aoice utill slit be ringing, in the distanceit @ill be shining lihe @hile lruits, but thenI'll oeil tugse$ in deeper shA-blue, then

I t 4

o blachening bitd-cheftg ttee @ith bitlelripe |ruits and drcoping fa|'lihe leaaes @ill btinga rumau - lhus Ior us it druIls near autumn;lhe santlbanhs glea ,aith beads ol ro@an ltees,olef the precipices lthilher grclJel rollsa slar slatts t@inkling slotltlg lloaling bg,os int ical elA-str ucl ut ed g Io@ itrg .o talI shall be touching lou talling asleep

I also hno@ u)hal I Q)anled to sag:beside lhe broads ol ctlstal streatus, gout godenssill also tipen ttuils, on haoing namedan alder trce, an olile tree, a rced, lhe @ordIihe a lehite god t!)as floaling in lhe distance,il leas a siluerg brighl berrg'shrub,a shad.o.! ol the dag @hich leils lhe earth;loroatd.s lour gold, to@atds glou mellolp moonlighl'toaotds lhe s)indless l@ilighl ol Aout lipsit bent gteen stalks of calamus, il shol!)edlhe shellA botlom, shodot!)g uoid nolhing,lhe crescenls ol a tlolleted face, ol snou)lging ashorc and lroslg lips llere deepening,deluged bg the erpanses ol the distance.

Third AarhndI also hnol!) @hat I @onleal lo s49:the bird.s alrcadg sing in the earlh's lorch gtotes,ou dreams again arc blighler allet @ihtet,lhe shgline of lhe mountoins, and lhe chordsof lhe bitd-chety s@aging neot oM home -lhe @ind is cotching silentl! ils shades,and blood keeps oozing frcm lhe togal aards;like a @hile thistledoll)n, a summer pigeon,lhe lioelA sunrog ol a giLded morningt!)iII glide alshile ouer goo naEed shoudetand then @ill slide into god's gloomg t@ilighl,but still gour eges are shining lihe a lLo@erin the blue tinted breathing deplhs of tields,@e ha|)e been slolks ol nolhing, @ith no place,gou sombte aldet lrce, loh! did gou IIve,

l l 5

.ohA dA gou need AoM death and senseless life,if theg had not sptead the @hite teal ol toaein the rcsounding palace, u)ild and greg.

I also knol.D u)hat I aanled to sag:once at the tar edge of the icg seasae @ete.conlined. to stag, the @inds utere raging,the @eightless silhouettes ol @aues, lhe (tdrhred shapes of roses, ltsiblg disto ed,1oe llould hate died u)ith thist, mean@hile ou louehept looking Jor strcg birtts, the limestone shoteand the strange touches of a hotnbeam trce.but then at last @e u)oke and sato the cha&Astone and the moon, lorDards the luslrous namesn e Isent, some @orm|loods stood benl at the gate,rD.hil" the da.h strcla apn! on trucktng, splirt-ing:.losc Io his ltelted lorehcad, !tces lot;ahen,aotn by thc ltosls. tler. tising lo the dae)n,so @ete theb putple crc@ns, thei silent rcots,lh? salin? sea.- @e all aerc making ptu{e\slo@arcls lhc summet ,.Dhich aas doomed rc loue.'franslaled

by Li.onginas Paausis

V io l e l a Pa l i i n ska i t iA CANDLE

Again I 'm drcaming lndia. Benign,brisk blarh.pged children in my u.)ag a.p standing.and an old setaant like in an old shrineupon the staitcase lighls Iot me a candle.

Again I'm dteaming Indio. I needits centuried experience and seclusion,tehete clochs allot me lime at a slo@ speedand time itseq seems like a lagae illusion.

Again l'm dreaming lndio. In calnrI'll search the booh ol s)isdom it discloses,

I 16

otrd @ofien once agaitu @i rcod fig Pabnqnd put upo mg rcch o @reoth of rc'es.

Agaln I'm dtedmt rg hdld. At dushI see o cro@d into lhe Conges hnzeurg,theh tdces anl 44 elephtnl', slraige nQthundet @hlch god heeps h,s oab lbce conceollng.

Agolr I'm dream,ng l\dla, I seea aoma\ lltt h.r pitcher by th. handL,ond on oU servdnl otrce itgah tor fieobedientlg and colmlg llght o condle.

Translated by lbngiMs Pdrtisis

II

- Once when I was walking round Delhi in the eveningI saw a groun oi poorly dfes.ed people carrying rorcheiAII lhe passers.by quickly moved out of their r iay. Thevdisapleared before I could undersland wherc thev haicome Jrom or where they wcrc going to. perhaps they werethe Un louchab les . I nd i rns o f l he Sudra ca . re , who r f cconsidered unclean and wilh whom physical conlact isconsidered" defi l ing by lndians oI higher castes. Or ma].oe sone ol grcat many rel igious groups.

Mahatma Candhi took greal care oi lhe Unlouchablesas a part oi the nation which was tramDlcd bv others.Once one oi the Unlouchables wroie a lettcr to Gandhiin which he suggestcd thai peonle should refcr lo rhem asCod's chi ldren - hari jans, and ,skcd Gandhi ro helD rhemget r id of the hurni l iat ing tcrm of rcfcrcnce, the Un-touchables. Mahatma l iked the idea and his powerful voicer€sounded in India ufging people to opcn {heir eyes anddo away with the age.long shame.

T]le government did a lot to help the poor, a greatnunber ol wells, inns and schools vere buil t . a l ; t ofnew jobs created. With Jawaharlal Nehru's approval goodbrick houses were buil t in Delhi where thi-numbe'r olthese God-forsaken people was as high as a rni l l ion. Neh.ru s mother was the f irst brahman in India who oubliclvaccepted food lrom a hari jan s hands.

ln places which are a long distance from cit ies analrepresentatives of the oif icial authorit ies, hari jans haveno rights even today. Newspzpers ofien carry newq aboulplaces where it is prohibited for lhe hari janr to drawwat_er from the conrmon vi l lage well or enter a temple.

I was valking about in the streets on a windv and

118

relatively cool morning. Approaching a r ich quarter Istopped at a jewelry shop. Not many can sland againstthe temptation oi these sparkl ing stones especial ly whenthey are iold that wearing one oi them can saleguardtheif owner from misfortune. Who wouldn' i l ike to haveone oi such stones?

I turned round and round this quarter ol two-storiedhouses but the shop did not open. Only a man wearing afed impressive turban and nicely combed beard came outand sat down ai ihe door. I thought he was perhaps aSikh, but I could see no comb in his hair and no steetbracelet on his wrist. I could not takc my eyes fromhim. I was impressed by his si i l lncss, nothing seemed tobe able lo make him losc his composure and spir i tualconcentration which the Westerners try so hard to learnfrom thc lndians.

Suddenly I saw a l i l t le man, dresscd in poor blackclolhcs, coning along thc strcet with a box in his hand.\\ 'alking past the man in the red turhan he caughi hisalmost impcrceplible motion, bent down to thc ground,approached the rnan, sel a lolding chair beside him, placcdhis woodcn box in his lap and opened it . Thcn he putsome drops ot water on his l ingers that meant he wa-shed h i s hands - look a th in sma l l s i i ck and pushed i icarel! l ly inlo thc man's ear. Thcn retr icved it , wipcd it ,pul i l away, and look a second and then a third st ick.Through ihe fourlh one he blcw into the ear and had agood lool( i l i t was well cleaned, thcn he repeated every_thing wilh the other ear- The job oi cleaning eats is notditf icul l and the man performed i l beyond reproach. Hisremuncration uslal ly dcpends on what his cmployer isthinking about at thc momeni. This t ime the l i t f le manwas rewarded very amPly, the ernployer's hand held outa rupee. The l i t t le man put his hands logether beiore hisbreast, bowed and went happily away hoping he wil l haveanother invi lat ion to do a similar job.

The scene seemed to have been periormed special lyior me. I think the l i t t le man was a Sudra. Now whenI hear the name of this caste I always remember thai l i t 'l le man cleaning the ears ol the man in the red turban

l l g

on that windy morning in Delhi. They belong to the oppo-site sides of the gulf ot social inequali ty dividing ihecasles.

- In India I was also greatly impressed by small shops.Each one is a veri iable museum, Iul l ol beauti lul. inim-itable things, both cheap and expensivc so lhat everycl ient can f ind something according to his means andtaste. I f the cl ient wants lo see how these things are beingproduced, he is invited to open th€ door into [he adjaceniroom or the patio. A grey-haired Indian is bending overa strelched canvas, embfoidering a paradise bird and l low-ers vith a gold thread. He greets the visjtor with a smileand immediately goes back to his work. ln anolher patioa ve ry young boy i s mak ing a s i l ve r l r ay s i l t i ng a i rhewa t t under a c to lh roo l . I I i s h inds a rc wcav ing a comDl i_cated fatlern ot f i l igree. This kind ol work cjn be donconly by the sensit ive hands of a chi ld watched over bvhis young sharp cyes. The thin si lver thrcad and almosjtransparent leaves of gold are made into unearthly mas.te rp ieces . M i l l i ons o f I nd ians ea rn the i r t i ' , i ng by mak ingjewelry, pol ishing and cutt ing precious st;ne;. India;souvenirs and handicraft are known al l over the world.Indian vases, lrays, candlesticks, rcading lamps andjewelry can be lound in Lithuanian shoDs as well_

Ind ian fab r i cs a re s imp ly fanLas t i c . A r ho rnc l hadalways. passed indi l ferently by the windows of drapcryshops ful l of wollen, cotton, si lk and l inen cloths. ihei icolours nevef catching my eye as i f lhcy werc nol thcrc.In lndia i t was absolutely dif lerent. I t seemed that al lthe colourc and hues oi the world were revealing jn Da-slashvamedh Street, Varanasi, and the saris f lut iering inthe l ight breeze attracted the passersby's eyes l iki amagnel.

I did not know how I found mysell inside a shop. Iwas oftered a seal r ight under a venti lalor, a small bovimmedialely gave me a bo[le of iced juice wilh a strawand the shop assistant asked me wher€ I was from. when.and v/hy I had come to Delhi, whether I l iked the citv ornot and only then did rhe parade oi lhe fabrics srart beioremy eyes. New and new cuts were laid out in front ol

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me growing inio a high mountain. Where l l /as now thefirst or the twell th they had shown me? I became simplydizzy. Nothing seemed to be nrore important than a lengthol the thinnest sj lk. To buy a sari, half a sari, for my wifein the best shop ol India suddenly becanre the chiei pur-pose oi my tr ip.

l i lhe buyer is r ich or sofl-hearted he pays what heis asked to pay at once- I i he knows better, he olfers lwothirds oi the price asked. Then at ihe impcrceptible mo.t ion oi the owner ot the shop a new bott le of juice arrivesand the convcrsation continues. If there are no moreclients in the shop the owner ol lhc shop takcs his onlycl icnt to a largc shed in lhc back yafd whefe the workcrsare dyeing thc cloths, pressing rows oi the unendingcaravan ol elephants with woodcn templatcs as i t vas donea thousand or even lhrec thousand years ago... This isihc placc where lhe sublle di i ferencc bclwecn machinc-ptoduced products and thc oncs that conle lrom ihe handsoi thcse workers is creatcd... To Icavc the shop alterthat without buying anything is too awkward.

When I unwrappcd the purchasc in Vilnius, our roomwas suddcnly i i l led wilh wondcriul colours. I had nol evennoticcd when I bought i t in India that in the electr icl ight this iransparenl iabric changed colour and sparkledin di l ferent hucs. I saw my wiic's radiant lacc and againI fclt I was sitt ing in thc shop in Dashashvamedh Streel,Va ranas i .

Indian women are good guardians oi the domcstichcarlh, they ieach their chi ldren to see beanty, love cveryl iving being and have patience. Marfied women go outto work only when pfessed by extreme poverly. Havinga job is regarded as an obstacle in lhe caring for the fa-mily and thc chi ldrcn. With lhcir mothcr's milk lndianwomen acquirc a rare gift , love ior bcauty. They get upearly in the morning in order to decorate the path leadingout from iheir bome with coloured sand, petals, pebblesand shells arranged in patterns oi their own inventionor copied from nature. During fesl ivals lhey inscribe oneanother's palms wiih slrange signs which, nalural ly, wearout in a day or two. But doesn't our memory store hun-

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dreds oi spectacles which we saw only lor a short mo,ment? And here I remember Mahatma Gandhi 's wordsthal only a woman can ieach people how lo bring orderIn ro rh rs con tused and d i squ ie t i ng $o r ld . We l l , i t . s l hewomen's years, ihe r,vomen's era. I I human intel l igencecannor.save us from decrfucrion. perhaps it wil l be"doneDy lne numan hear t . . ,

Once , I a te i n t he even ing . Ramachandra ,nd I wander_ed to the streeis ner,rer vi\ i ted by Ioreignerr and srayedrn one ol Lhem unli l midnighL. The slfeer $a5 decoratedw i lh l e5 loons o i r i bbons and b l i nk rng co lou red l i ghL r , onIne pavement lhere \rere caapeis of i lowers and peLal5,loud music was playing. The spectacle was lantastic. I twas a wedding party. The whole streel seenled to be smil-i ng . speak ing . c lapp ing , danc ing . s rng ing . l hc b t i nk ingl i gh l s . na l ch ing l he co lou rs o l l he women . .a r i 5 ouL oJthe darkness, There were very many \romen ancl noL as ing le one o f rhem wore l he same co lou r . l n I nd ia l l i 5almost impossible to see iwo women dressed in the sameway lor Indian women know even more ways of dressingthan Parisian women do.

Ramachandra explained to me the Indian weddingcustoms. In every province they are di i lerent, but they alsonave some common etements-the b.ide and the bride_groom are always sprinkled with the holv \\ ,ater ol tbeGanges, they eat a morsel of melted bulter and honey andthey are laken round a sacred f ire. . . I rnust sa)," thaibetween Indian and Lithuanian wedding customs there issome similari ty-the Lithuanian bride and bridegroomalso used to walk three t imes round a sacred i ire, a lr iestused to smear their l ips with honey, and the bride wlshedher husband's leet and wiped ihem with her hair.. .

A bull 's hide wouldn't be enough to describe an Indianwedding. The only drinks served at an Indian weddingare sweatened tea and brolh, but the merry-making is n;less intense for that.

I had the good lortune to part icipate at several wed-dings, some were posh, others rather modesi.

When I t irst saw a huge crowd of people wiih lorches,musicians, rows of carls and cars not lar from my hotel,

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I thought i t was some national lestival. India withoutfestivals is no India. There are al l sorts of festivals. Thenations character is best revealed at a iestival. I i yorihave had ihe good luck to be present at one of the greatIndian lestivals, you can salely say thal you know India.

But when I saw the shining moon-l ike iace oi thebridegroom born under a decorated canopy I understoodil was a wedding. I joined the crowd and went togetherwith everybody else. Soon we approached a path l inedon both sides wiih a carpet oi i lowers and petals arrangedin the most beautiful ornaments and patierns. What aharmony of colours! The path iook us into a festoonedgreat hall sparkl ing with coloured I ights I ike a royaipalace. All the guesis approached and congratulated thebfide and the bfidegroom sitt ing on a plai iorm. How manyguesls were there? Perhaps a thousand ot maybe evenmote,

But ihe path ol l lowers was taking us iurther on. Insome distance I saw a canopy, decoraied with beauti lulornaments, and strewn with f lowers. Even its posts werefestooned with l lowers. I t was to be the place oi rhe maincefemony ol the wedding: herc sacred words would bepronounced and a sacred i ire burned,

I \Vas sorry I had no Indian ff iend there who couldexplain to me what was going on. I jusl sat together witheverybody else and walked around t i l l I was bored. Atlast I iol lowed the path which led out into the night.AII the trees and shrubs were sparkl ing with electr icl ights. They created a special almosphere as i f ihc heavenhad sent to the earth a myriad of slars. On the way backto my hotel I saw lhe servants and the carriers oi lhecanopy resl ing on the ground. They also wore beauii fulclothes. The l i t ter on which they had carried ihe bride'groom was slanding by. I came closer to them and tooka good look at their iaces,- ihere was no sadness inlhem. They were dreaming abouL the wedding, a r ich wed-ding of strangers.

On another occasion, when through my window inCalcutta I saw an open car being decoraled, I immediatelyunderstood there was going to be a wedding. Natural ly,

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I was curious. I admired the dresses ol the women andtheir beautif ied legs and palms. It seemed that al l ihecolours oi the rainbow were already there and no moreshades could possibly exist, but miracl lously the arrivalol each new car added a new sari of an lnseen hue. Thewomen smiled holding out their hands graceful ly. I feltawkward conscious of my everyday appearance, not surewhat I was expected to do with the proffered hand coveredwith brown signs.

I also had an opportunily to observe a wedding onthe Elephanta Island. It was attended by the eniire localpopuial ion. The island resounded with music, lhe bride-groom sat separately irom the bride, surrounded by hisrelatives and fr iends. There was a different atmosphere,different colours and values: ihere was no luxury, thelestive appeaiance was modest and simple. Oniy theflashing white teeth and the dark brown skin of theguests were the same as at any other gathering where alterthe day's hard monotonous work people are brought to-gether by merry music. I t was a festival not ot the brideand bridegroom alone, but of al l the people of the island,lor common joy is always greater.

The ancient Lithuanians had many customs, some olwhich wefe rather similar to those of the Indians. Lith-uanian customs were also accompanied by certain r i tes.

Every Lithuanian man, just as eyery Indian, alwaysdreamed oi having a son. To that end men observedcertain magic r i tuals as, for example. going to bed in capand boots. They also closely observed their pregnantwives' fac€s: i f there were brown spots on her lace, shewas going to give birth 10 a daughter, i l her face wasbright and free from spois, a son was coming 1o lhe world.Beside a newly-born baby a i i fe was kept burning t i l lhe was given a name in order to fr ighten away evi l spir i tsand demons. When the baby was born, he was i irst shownlo the iathe. and ihen to the mother- For twelve days themoiher did not communicate with any outsidefs and lor

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forty days she kept within the l imiis of her own land, lori f she went into other people's t ields she could bring harmto their cfops. Aiter the birth ol the baby, ihe parents andth€ midwile always perlormed certain r i ie in honour ofthe goddess Zemgno, Laima and the god Petkltnos. Be-fore baptism babies were washed with the water of thesac.ed springs or r ivers. The pagan baptismal r i luals sur'vived Iong alter the introduction of Christ ianity. Peoplewere lorced to baptize their babies in church but immedia-tely after i t they hastened to wash ofi ihe Christ ian bap-t ism in the water of a sacred river according to the ancientcustoms.

Wril ten sources and iolksongs testi ty that in the Balt iclands the woman has always occupied a special place ofimportancc ever since the Stone Age. ' fhc Ptussian Code(lwa Prulenotum) ol 1340 included a law according towh ich thc pun ishmen l o f a man io r wound ing o r k i l l i ng!r woman was lwice as heavy as ihat of a woman i i shcwounded or ki l led a man. Laler. t l le Li lhuanian Slalulealso provided that the ransom ior ki l l ing or wounding awoman had to bc twicc as large as that for ki l l ing or\vounding a nran. Even today a marricd woman is incharge o[ the housc kcys and home economy.

With lhe development of agricul lutc and stock iarminga man's physical slrengLh acquired a spccial priori ty andthc rolc of the woman in the iamily chrnged. Matriarchalarrangcment was supcrceded by pair iarchy. People l ivedin big iamil ies the tradit ions oi which could bc found inLithuania as late as the I9th century.

With the developmenl of various property forms bigiamil ies fel l apart. Small rnonogamous lamil ies appearedand thc r ight ol primogeniture was introduced. The eldestson \vas now in charge ol the property owned by his laleIather and divided among his brothers after the tather'sdeath. Daughlers married and left theif parents' home,oiten against their wil l . Belore Ieaving her home a gir lused to visit al l the places dear to her, praying and givingollerings to the gods. The crying bride would be takenround the home i ire. Bi i ter tears were shed in the corner

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where the lable stood and where the house gods weresupposed to l ive.

The cuslom oi closlng lhe gare before the nswly*.6,and Lnetr sulte, or barring lhelf way has hcen ob.erredin L i t huan ia 1o Lh i . day . I he cu .Lom o i h id ing Lhe L r i dereminds now of the tradit ions when wives used to bestolen. Tradil ions oi paying a ransom are also al ive. Longago the bridegroom used to pay for his rvife, he wouligrve oxen, horses, money, r ich presents lor her,

Under rhe matriarchal sysrem young people u5uallymaoe an agreement to l ive ds husband znd wile \^irhoutany witne(ses. The,e cusioms pro!ed Lo be very lenaclousano su rv t ved even under pa t r i a rchy . B r jdes d id no . wan l1o l ive ln lheif husband s homes and lhe Inen began {oresort lo violence,- they began to steal wives. Lateiwivesw€re boughl. This.cuslom was very populdr al lhe begin.ning of our era. lherefore i ts re ections can be iound_ iniolklore and folksongsiThis night, the @hole night, thete @as__ much noise ()n the farm,foung men aamp and stole thp dauphlet.Thc doots arc open, lhe doaru chesT pone-'' Aet up, dear sons, saddle gour horsis,Sarldlp gout hotses, al l !he si.t Ereu oner.Vherp she has passed, the rc;d is sttev)n )tth rues,T.he dp@ k @iped at the roadside bA the men's feet.Al lhe cdge ol a green grcue. a lit; has bepn burnt,Rouad thal sarrcd I irc lhe Aoung peoplp danced.Uncler lhe grpcn linden !t?p !he btidc teas dtesscd up,On its leatg btunches areaths aere hung.

. The bride's evening party on lhe eve of the weddingday .also reminded ot the olden day\ when lhe yountcoupre used lo make an agreemeni to l ive as husbandand wife in the presence of their lr iends. The bride sat atone table. Lhe tr idegroom ar anolher. A pagan priecl, jarer.lhe match maker. gave them lo drink kom lhe same gla<sand then dropped it ai lhe bridegroom's ieet_ ,,This is asacri i ice to temporary love," he used to say. The bride-groom put his foot on the glass and the priest said the

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lol lowing magic words: "May you l ive in constant andtrue Iove." AIl the guests present repeated these words,then danced ri tual dances and made merry...

Accofding to an archaic pagan custom which survivedlor rather a Iong t ime Lithuanian brides, betore leavingfor their husband's home, uscd lo pray before a f igurcmade of straw and dressed in a woman's clothes whichwas supposed to represent the Earth Mother.

Some distance ffom the bridcgroom's vi l lage one of his.elatives used to meel the bride with a torch in his hand,walk round the cart where shc was sit l ing and addresshcr in lhe fol lowing words: "f lere is a sacred f ire. Lookait€r i t in your ncw home as you did in your father'shouse,"

Evil spir i ts and lorces always tr icd to do every pos,sible harm to the bride and bridegroom for they wereyoung and did noi know how to rcsist them. Therelorc thecart of thc bridc would always be prolected by al l sortsoi tal ismans, lanterns and charms and her atiendants tr iedto kcep thc cvi l spir i ts away by whistl ing, r inging bcl ls,beating drums and producing a loud noise with ratt les.Beforc cntcring hcr husband's house thc bridc also tookall sorts of precautions, such as for example, sending inothcr gir ls disguised as lhe bridc so that the cvi l spir i tsshoold be confused and could not know which one was thcreal one. As soon as thc bridc crossed the threshold, oneof her new fclat i lcs sprinklcd hcr with grain saying: 'Ourgods wil l givc you cvcryLhing it you become their wor-shipper."

Special sacral bread was baked lor thc wedding ri tes.Now it is cal led the cake ol thc matron ol honouf. Everyguest at ihe wedding party had lo have a piece of thisbread as a symbolic gesture conlr ibuting to the bridc andbridcgroom s unity. The baking of the sacral weddingbrcad was a long and complicated process. Thc lop of lhebread was adorned with suns, halfmoons, lnagic signs andplant patterns. The round loai ol wedding bread wasalso decorated with rues, cherries, guelder-rose berries,three sprigs each with three shoots. Charms? Magic? Orsimply tradit ions?

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The study of the old descript ions oi sacral weddingbread and the decoral ive elemenls u.ed on it nowadavs.such as geomelrical f igures, animals, birds. repli les, iheforms of heavenly luminaries, has convinced the Sovietscholars V. lvanov and V. Toporov that these elementscoincide with the ri tual symbols of the world tree whichrepresents the et€rnity of the universe, the never-endingpower ol l i fe penelrating al l the rhree worlds, lhe under:ground, earth and heaven. The top oi the lree is sur-rounded by suns, moons, stars and sky birds, the trunk byanimals, a spring ol l i fe and wisdom coming up fromunder i ts roots or a stonc lying nearby. It never runsdry just as l i fe i tsclf which the Earth Mother gives birthto. The vrorld tree unites the l iving and the dead ior theyare separated only by a span oi t ime. Thc eagle in thebranches of the tree was regarded as a mediator betweenthe earlh and the sky. The world tree could be a pineor an ash tree but most oi lcn i t was an oak. I l couldalso be a bird-cherry so olten mcntioned in iolksongs. lnspring it covers i lsel i wirh while blossoms which laterbecome black berf ies just I ike the passing youth of a younggr r l .

The rue is an inseparablc clement of every Lithuanianwedding. Every gir l used to havc a l lowcr garden wherca special place of honour was given to the rue. A younggirl was suppos€d to look aiter her rues jusi as a youn!man looked aiter his horse.

Ancienl wedding ri{es are now performed by erhno-graphic enremble\. ' fhe colourful, merry and at the sametime a l i t t le sad specLacle lasls lor several hours butit is only a stage presentation.

The ancient Li lhuanians had a lot ol festivals althoughtheir number was somewhat less than thal ol the Indiinfestivals. Everybody looked forward to them as they gavea short respit€ both for the body and the soul.

The festival of the shortest day, the winter solsl ice,was dedicated to the guardian god of the home and ani-mals Zemapatis, the harvest goddess 2emgla and Lada.People said prayers to them wjth lheir hands raised to the

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heaven. The prayers ended with very importani words:"Give us our daily bread". There is a ce ain regular re'petition of the numbers three and nine in the tites ol thisiesl ival For the ancient Lithuanians these numbers hada magic meaning and meant success and power, Duringthe longest night ot the year people told fortunes andtried to predict the future. Belore this occult occupationthey were not al lowed to make noise or to do certainchores,

Shrove-t ide vas celebraled in February as a fesi ivalof saying goodbye to the winter. PeoPle went driving insledges round ihe i ields to ensure a good crop ln a ryefield i t was advisablc to rol l in the snow and this wasregarded as an act demonstrating a close relation betweenman and the earth, their nrutual trust.

One ot the r i ies involved sprinkl ing people with vater'Anyone could pour water over any other person prcvidedthe waler was clcar and purc. This was lhc di i lcrencefrom a similar r i tc in India observed dufing the Holy ics_tival when pcople sprinkle cach other with coloured waler'Spfinkl ing one another lvith water was not mercly a frol ic,i t was suioosed to awaken the natural lorces so that theyshould start melt ing lhe sno$/.

But thc most imDortant elemeni oi thc Shrove't ide iestival was the trundling about oi a stulfed t igure calledMora, Kolre, Mori, i ts burning and dances with animalor demon masks. l i reminds a l i i t lc oi ihc Ramayana tes't ival in India and the burning oi the Ravanna f igure-Shrove-t ide was a merry festival, iul l ol laughter andiokes. People made merry by disguising Lhemselvcs wilhmasks and clothes madc o[ fur, rough bag cloth or barkThe masks were supposed to represent ihe worst humanvices: avarice, anger, gui le. Therelole ihe masks weremade to look horrible. Hair, eyebrows, beards used lo bemade o[ horsehair, a pig's or boar's brist le, the iur oi adog or a bear.

the makins of masks was a tradit ional Lithuanian pass_tirne on long- wjnter evenings. Mostly i t was ptacticedbv the Zemait ians in west€rn Lithuania. Vi l lages used tocompele among themselves whose masks were more in-

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genious, lunny and at the same time horrible. The art oimaking ri t lal masks has developed into an art.

Egg decoration is also an old pagan tradit ion. Greatmagic power was attached lo the egg. people carried eggsround the i ields. oifered rhem lo gods and iheir d;;drelatives. Archaeologists have discovered decoraled eggsmade oi stone. bone or even clay. fxcavations al rhe i; lo f t he Ced im inas h i l l i n V i l n iu r revea led a deco ra led sLoneegg made 700 years ago. Egg rol l ing and brFa.{ing rernindol l t te old Hjndu mylh about the Cosmic Egg dnd CoimicSerpen l . . t he sou rce o i l i l e and i e r l i l i t y . On lhe tou r ih dayoi lhe Shfove ride fesl ival, cal led lhe Dav of Ice. Lirhua"-nrans did not work, they were airaid even lo touch theearth so as not to inl l ict any painlto i t and ensure thesatety oi their crops irom hail and ice. peoDle were notsupposed even to dfi \ 'e a pole into the ground on that day.This was how they showed respect to their goddess Laiaand ier daughrer lpla. ln spring lhese goddasses awakFn-ed the ea r lh and nou r i shed i l w i .h ra in . The te : t i va l o fegg .deco ra l i on was Io l l owFd by rhe fes l i r r l ce leb ra i ngthe day when the an ima ls were [ i r . t d f i \ en ou l t o pas tu resin sp r ing . The o lde \ t man o t rhe v i l l age wou ld announcethe adv€n t o I sp r i ng l rom lhe rop o l a h i l l and sayprayers to the goddess aadd. the Great Mother. This festi_val was observed as late as the beginning oi the 2othcentury. The Catholic Church idenii f iad thit iestival withSt. George's Day. People v/ent into the l ields. rol led in thesproutjng cfops shouting: ..Grow them, oh Godl Growthem. oh Codl" The ri tual hymns were sung which weresupposed to induce the growth ol the crops.. . T rad i t i ons o i sac r i l i c i ng an rma ls and sp f i n l , l i ng rhe i rb lood sun ived i n L i rhuan ia l o r a l ong L ime . peop le -sp r in -k ied l he i f ba rn5 , an ima l , , manger \ w i th l he b tood o f ab lack cock o r hen . . \ f t e r rho i n r rodu . l i on o l Ch f i s r i an i r vthey u .ed ro b r i ng wax f i gu re . o l t l r e i r an ima l . t o t hechurch and place them on the altaf.

Whitsunday was the day ol plant veneration. It wasbelieved that young green birches had a strong growingpower and they could convey it to people and animals.Entrance doors and ceil ings used to be adorned with

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young birches co that the ghosLs of lhe dead vi. i l ing thehou .e on rhe fes l i va l day cou ld have a l l ace l o res iOuf elhnographers maintain that ihe tradit ion of makingwreaths oi l lowers and tree twigs is as old in Lithuaniaas it is in India. On Whitsunday people always decoraiedcows with birch wreaths and i lowers. Since olden t imes theLithuanians have always regarded the cow wiih greatrespect and love, for i t gave food and helped people inmany other respects. There are a lot ol folksongs about

On the longest summer day, the Day of Dew, Li ihu-anian women f loaied small l i res placed in wreaths on theriver. This tradit ion also has its counterpart in India.The Dew lcstival lasted ior a fortnight The Lithuaniansregard€d dew as a supernatural bcing. Collected from theplants in early morning, i t was believed to have a magicpowcr. During this iesti !al people worshipped the goddcssLada and f iade oiterings lo her of white hens. Spfingsand sources coming up irom thc undcrground would beadorncd with i lowers. People sang hylnns to the sunthanking it ior the warmth and the revivcd eaflh spoltedwith I lowcrs. During the shortest night Lithuanians andLatvians uscd to burn huge l ires. They jumped ovcr lhesci ires, Ior t ire was supposed to puri iy nol only the phy_sical body but lhe soul as well. I t was the only night whenthe tern blossomed. Its blossom was supposcd to bringhappincss to the person who found it . Even nowadaysvil lage women believe that medicinal herbs collccted onthai day havc more potenl healing powers.

It is testi f ied by historical sources that the Dew festivalwas celebrated as far back as the I6th century on theentire Bali ic terr i tory. Today it is also a popular fesl ivalful l o[ cheer. I t has been revivcd by thc Society oi IndianFriends for at the beginning of i ts exisience the societywas making active aitempts to discover the commonsources and elements in lndian and ancient Lithuaniancultures. I remember one oi the f irst celebrations ol theDew iestival on the bank o[ the Neris r iver, in Kernav6,the old Lithuanian capital. Young and old people pickedllowers and srasses in meadov/s and showed their

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nosegays to the biologist Dr. Eugenija Simkinait6. Shecould say a lot about the person irom the way he choseand arranged the f lowers. She is sometimes called ihelast sorceress of Lithuania and her knowledge of medicinalherbs is amazing. When it grew dark, burning cart wheelswere rol led irom the top of the hi l ls, f ires burned andsmall wick lamps l loated on the river. This was a won-derful night even for a man who fai led to i ind a fern blos-som.

In late autumn, at the very beginning oi November,Lithuanians celebrate the festival of the commemorationol the dead. It reminds of the Diwali festival in India.Craves are tr immed, last autumnal f lovers planted andthe cemeteries turn into gardens ol chrisanthemums. Fortwo evenings candles are burnt on every grave, suffusingthe cemeteries with dim quiet l ight. A ihrong oi darkhuman shaF/es move along the paths. This lesl ival is asurvival irom the old beliei that the dead could helo or.on the contrary, do harm to thc l iving. By the way,Ramachandra, in ancieni t imes the colour ol mourningin Lithuania was white as i t is now in Indio. On thosievenings the l iving and the dead seem to be talking to-gether. Talking about important things. For very long cen-turies this journey has been continuing in one direction -out ol this world. The entife nation. thc l ivine. the deadand the coming. seem ro ncet at the graves. The conri.nuous, l iving t ies of the spir i t . From generation to gen-eration passed down by blood, by word of mouth, by thewr i t t en word . . .

The Lithuanian epos has not been broughl togelheryet into one unii ied whole, i t is st i l l disperscd in legends,folk songs, folktales and proverbs. Bul in olden t imesthere surely were a lo1 ol bards who used to travel iromcastle to castle, from vi l lage to vi l lage, irom house 10house singing to the accompaniment ol hanhlis, a Lith-uanian str ing instrument, their endless songs about theancient t imes when al l people l ived in a lr iendly, brotherlyway, about the legendary exploits and victories againstioreign invaders, about gods who were similar to peopleand people who were similar to gods.

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Every Indian knows the Mahabharata and the Ra-magona, lhe great epics ol ancieni lndia, which he haseither read or seen perlormed. Long long ago the lowestcasles had no right to l isten to the sacred words of thelour Vetlas. I t vas lhen that both these epics, iul l ofwonderiul poetry and worldly wisdom, were written asthe f i t th yedo meant lor al l the people to read and l istento, for reading and l istening lo Vedas had always beenconsidered to be one o[ the greatest human vir lues.

The Mahabharata recites the dynastic wars o[ the Bha'rata iamily which started the age oi injustice anddarkness, the blackest period in the history oi mankind.

The exca'ration oi the city ot Hastinapura negates thepremise that everylhing recorded in an epic is f ict ion andinvention, just as the legendary Troy the existence olwhich was doubled by al l except Schliemann. But doublis the eternal companion oi humanity. History repeatsi iself. Today when the scholars analyze the text oi theMahabhotuta they know betier than deny what they can'nol pro\,e: maybe, i t is quiie irue that the A.yan tr ibesof land i i l lcrs migrated to lndia Jrom the north, maybethe ancient Indians did have an unusually powerfulweapon which was similar to the atomic weapon oi thepreseni t imes and maybe they could t ly. Today scholarsdo not neglect any of the clues to ihe distant past whichthey come across in myths and legends.' fhe Mahabharala is really a unique and inimitableepic, i t is the biggesl in the wofld and it took two thou-sand years to be written and perfected. For another twoihousand years i t has inspired admiration al l over the\lorld by the profundity ol i ts ideas and vi, i id images. TheMalnbharata is l ike a shoreless ocean where it is impos-sible to lrace back your way to the exacl place Nhere you-qtarted sail ing across its wa\jes.

- lhe Mahabharota is not a heroic poem although i icontains mostly descripl ions of batt les. Most scholarsagree that one oi thc batt les, lor example, really tookplace at the end of the lolh-beginning of the l l th centuryB. C. The heroes described in the Mahabharata ^re sttongcharaciers but they are also endowed wiih many human

133

fai l ings. This great Hindu epic continues to inspire ad-miration and gives good meat for thought. Maybe, i t isbecause its heroes are both weak and majestic just as

A lot ol waler had f lo$rn under the bridges ol theGanges and ihe Jamuna (now Jumna) r ivers before peo-ple buil t another capital - Delhi ( lndaprastha) - in theplace of the ancient capital of the Pandavas and Kaura-vas, Hastinapura. They made their new capital verybeautiful and now Delhi is the heart ol al l India.

About a decade ago the Mahobhatuta was perlormedin Vilnius by the Kathakali thealre from the Kerala state.

No scenery whatever, except for a piece ol clothstfetched t ight and held by tv/o barefoot Indians. Theystand absolutely st i l l , l rozen sti f f . They do not exist, theydo not part icipate. The audience is supposed to see a r ichroom in a palace. A change of the cloth would mean thatthe action is set in anoiher place. A l i i t le way oif lourmusicians and 1wo singers make lhemselves comiorlableon the l loor. The ringing sound of the gong, the rol l oithe drum, the singers' i i rst high notes, and the perlorm-ance statts. A historical opera, a drama, a mystery, apantomime wilh masks-call i t whalever you l ike. Thefive Pandava broihers: Yudhisthir, Bhima, Afjuna, Na,kula, Sahadeva. Their eyes, staring lrom behind ihe masks,look noi quite real. At i irst i t is not easy to see anydif lerence in lhem except that Sakuna's mask is of adifferent colour. Their clothes sparkle and blaze on thedark stage. The audience is bedazzled both by their je$r-elry and rings, and the unexpected unusual spectacle.They do not look l ike people, they look more l ike goodand bad gods descended on the earth.

Yudhisthir againsl Sakuna. The green one againstthe dark one which is not black, though. Amiiy and justiceagainsl vi les and deception. Whichever one is going toprevail?

The wild uncontrol lable passion for gambling. It seemsthat one lucky cast oi the dice is enough and eve.yihingthat has been lost wil l come back-1he pearl, the potsof gold, the slaves, the royal elephants. Sakuna's mask

)34

rocks to and fro incit ing his adversary and stirr ing hisblood: "Make another try, King, your next move may bethe great lucky str ike."

The eldest of the Pandavas stakes himsell, throws thedice-his head goes down-all is gone. The Kauravascan do whalever they l ike with him and his brothers noru:a slave has no say, no rights. But Yudhisthir st i l l hashis wife, the beautiful Draupadi. His brolhers shift uneasi-ly, they exchange glances is the King going to put uphis wife? Yudhisihir 's hands shake. he cannot teat hiseyes from the dice.

The audience is slunned by the tumult ot human pas-sions. The human passions ot the bygone days whichcome alive on the stage to the accompaniment ol musicalone without a single word.

The batt le between ihe cousins-the Kauravas andPandavas took place in the f ield ol Kurukshetra, now oneof the most sacred places in India. I t is also calledBfahmashetra because it was the site where gods them_selves, together with r ishis made sacrif ices to Goddess Sa_rasvati, Brahma's wile. Kurukshetra is the human soul,the place of the eternal i ighi between lhe good and evi l ,the l ight and darkness.

The great batt le ol the Bharata lamily lasted eighteendays. l i also took eighteen books to describe it . Nearly al lthe Pandava and Kaurava warriors v/ere ki l led The batl lef ield was covered with their dead bodies as lar as theeye could reach, wolves and jackals feeding on them

Travell ing story-tel lers spread al l over ihe countrylrom the Bharata lands to chant the epic to rapt l isienersand explain why the Kaliyuga, the age oi iniustice andtrouble in which we l i \re now, came.

God Krishna's teachings to Arjuna are recorded alsoin e iehLeen hvmn- wh ich con ( l i l u e Ihe Bhagauad G i ta a,epaiale parl- in the Mahabharala.

' Ihe Bhagauad-Gita isregarded al l over ihe world as the mosi valuable Hinduphilosophical poetry.

Today this relati !ely smallcan be bought everYwhere in

book is widely read andIndia. I t is a\rai lable in

135

every room of the more prestigious hotels so thai aftera hot day ful l oi exotic impressions a foreigner mightI ind a piece ol wisdom there most suitable to himself.' lhe thagal)ad-Gita is the place where al l the roads olHindu philosophy cross. It is the best observation deckof real India, which is at one and the same time so simpleand comp lex . so open and mys le f i ous . Mahr l l a Gandh isaid that he had learnt to love people and to serve themsell lessly lrom the 6l lo, while Jawaharlal Nehru wrotethat the ideas of this book had penetrated al l his l i te.

For the modern man to undcrstand thc Bhaeavad-Gitait is necessary Jifst lo gel rhoroughly acquainred wilh lhelogic oi ancient Hindu reasoning and the development ofHindu philosophical thoughi bccausc the book is a subileand poctical concentration ol Hindu spir i tual lradit ions.

The book has received different, sometimes even op-posrte, assessmcnts: some people view it as a purely athcis,t ic book which proves that the seeking ol Cod is bound1o bring man to a bettcr understanding of his inner self.Olhers keep to the oppositc view: they are convinccd thalthe book is a source oi divine wisdom which provides theanswer 10 any question pertaining to huntan condit ion.n hugc l i tcrature has grown around Lhe Bhagaua(l-Gila,boih in thc Wcst and in the Easl. The l irst commenls onthe pocm were writ len as early as the 8th cenlury A. D.by onc ol the best known Hindu lhinkers, Sankara. Thcperiect poelical form of the pocm is organically blendedwith the proiound philosophical contcnt. Any foreign tran-slator who translales the Bhagooad-Gita into hjs motherlongue, no maiter how well he knows Sanskrit and al li ts nicel ies, is always conlronted with insurmountable dif-I icult ies: thc translation cannot be entirely I i terary becaus€it is not enough to convey the poem,s ideas alonei i t can-not be a verbatim translation of i ts philosophical conceptsand categories, either. How should the lranslator rDDroachh is task i n ce f l a in p laces o f t he tex r i s a moo t q ;es t i oneven today. But every nation considers i t to be a Doini olhonour to have this part oi the Hindu epic translatedinto i is own language.

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The f irst translator of the Gita into Lithuanian wasVydrlnas. His translation was published in 1947. Therehave been other altempts as well.

The Ramagana, one of the most beautiful epic poemsin Hindu l i terature, was created at f irst as a part of theMahobharata, circa th€ 4th century B. C.

Rama, the mythical king of the Sun dynasly, l ived Iaterthan the dynasty of ihe Moon which is describ€d in theA4ahabhatala. Rama was an incarnalion of Vishnu, bornto save thc gods lrom the demon Ravana. But in the poemhe is depicted not as a god but as an ideal hero, a perlectmodcl lor every mortal to copy. The poem has not lostany of i ls actuali ty even loday lor i ts ideas continueto be a sourcc ol inspiration and slrength to thc modernman looking forward to the advent ol Rama or anotherhcro who. together with his warriors, would start a warto upfool the evi l and any kind ol injustic€ on theca n ,

After the Kaliyuga the Kingdom ol Rama wilt come. Itwil l be a new era, which is conceived oi as a periodoi justice and cnlightenment without wars, coercion,povcrty or mislortunes,

The word /am is sacred in lndia. I t is one of the,nost Irequcnlly used words. It can be both the f irst andthc lasl name oi a man. Every year thousands of boys aregiven the namc ol Rama. Romrom is used as a greeting,as a shorl prayer of sacred words. When the assassin;sbullet cut short the I i fe of Candhi, the lndian nationalleader, he sti l l found strength to pronounce thesc lastwords: "OM RAM" which can mean'Clory to the comingl ,'Glory to the Kingdom o[ Rama'.

i When Rama l ived on the earlh, Ioved Sita, ruled theI country and iought ior justice, nobody could ever imagineI that i t was Cod Vishnu himself sett ing an example to theI PeopleI Si la means a furrow'. She was bofn lrom a furrowI o f l he ea r lh when lhc k ing was p lough ing a l i e l d . Th i sI my.h must have been crealed rery very long ago whenI lhe If ldians worshipped the earlh and rhe tr ibal chiefsI \uere nol a:hamed o[ physical work and used lo toi l lo-II 137III

gether with everybody else. The cults of the Eafth, Sunand Fire are the oldest cults in the history oi mankind.A lot of peoples have known them but the Indians andihe Lithuanians have preserved them best with a numberol identical features, which is hard to explain.

Ramachandra goes on and on recounling his lavouritehero's epopee while we walk round the Red Fort andthen in the cenlral square ol the ci iy where the giganticstulfed l igures of Ravana, his son and his brofher are1lsually set during the celebfation of the Rama lestival.Evi l is always big, i i olten walks the eafth openly beforeelerybody's eyes. A lot of effo.t, unity and concord isneeded to defeat i t . The ceremony oi burning the stufiedl igures always attracts over a mil l ion spectators. Whowouldn't l ike to see how evil is ki l led? According to thetradit ion established by Jawaharlal Nehru, the iestivalis also al iended by representati les ol ihe Indian govern-ment. Whoever is better equipped to eradicate al l evi l inthe countfy? The fuse carries f ire io the stufied f igureol Ravana's son and it t lares up, exploding with a loudnoise and spit l ing oul showers ol sparks. I can imaginethai iantasl ic show at night. Ramachandra continues topaint that picture belore my eyes and I see Ravana sbrother disappear in lhe f lames and Rama's burning arrowfly along a streiched wire and pierce the demon. Peoplerejoice: they have seen the destruction oi evi l with theirown eyes and now, ai least for a short while, there isno evil on the earth.

At midnight Ramachandra and I wend our way iowardthe hotel along the streets teeming with peoPle even atthis very late hour. I always wonder when people sleepin Indian cit ies: whenever I weni out inio the streets Ialways iound l i fe in ful l swing there, only in more remoteor secluded places was it possible to i ind a l i t t le morequlet.

In a darkish street, along ihe wall of a r ich man'sqarden, several homeless tamil ies are sett l ing themselvesior the night 's sleep. Imperceptibly I slow down my pace.The piciure str ikes me as the epitome of al l the miseryand poverty I have ever seen.

t38

. .Th€ wick lamp bl inks unable to disperse the dafknesswith . i ls feeble t ighr. A middle-aged man and a womancfoucn o.ler a.tew ulensils. On Lheif lei l three l ir t le babies,aosotutely naked. cleep on {he concrete pavemenL coveredwith a piece oi thin cloth, their l i t e h;nds folded undertheir-head., or between lheir curled legs. t le two oitters,a I l ue o lde r t han the ones : l eep ing on Lhe c lo th , s i ti esn tng aga lns t t he wa l l .

, , Some lh ing g r i p : a r rny fea r r and doe . no l l e l i t qo .r low many nomete.s and hungfy chi ldren rhere are in iheDeaur t l u t coun t r l l _Ho ld ing ou t l he i f hdnd . f o f a lms , t he i reyc . a i r rng rnu te l y f o r b read . How d i f f i cu l l i r i s f o r l hel l 9 l : " : . j " . . p i t e o l rhe i r recen r rap id p rog re ,s znd l henew ly de \e loped pos> ib i l i r i es o l rendFr ing a5 ( i s l ance l oolhpr countriec. lo do a\ray with poverly on lheir ownran0 l t e r t t l e . gene fous and w ise i s Morhe r Jnd ia , bu las...soon as she provides food ior al l her chi ldren, newmil l ion. oi hungry mourhs come inlo rhe world. Eve.vyear lhe number of births exceeds that of deaths byseveral mil l ion. And al l of them have to be clothed, fedand schooled

B ig i . l he ( tu l t ed l i gu re o l Ravana wh ich i 5 bu rn l l n: l : . ? l - , i :

cap i l a t s \ qua res eve ry yea r . bu t b igge r a rerne lwo . demons _ hunger and pove r t y_ wh ich th rea lenff:u.,: ,-

,n9." wlo walch lhe .pecracte in rhe ,quare.Ine ! l l ter sLruggle againsl lhose demulrs contrnues..

The homeless lamily on the pavement at night is elchedIOrever in my memory,

We know periectly vel l what language people spokein India two, thr€e and even lour thousand years ago.What language people spoke lhen in Lithuania we canonly guess or, at best, reconstruct. Blt to what d€greethese reconstructions correspond lo the Ianguage actuallyused is di l i icult to €stablish, for Lithuanian wri l ten iextsdate back but a few ceniuries. In the 4th or 3rd centurvB. C. proto-Balr ic spl i t into Prussian and Lithuanian-Lai-vian. The latter developed into two scparate languages inthe 7th century A. D.

The branchy trec ol world culture grew irom commonroots as did the majority of the world's many languages.Some ol i ts branches have become dry, others, on theconlrary, have f lourished and produced new shots- Indo-European languages are used on al l ihe contincnts olthe world by nearly a half ot i ts inhabitants. Some ol themhave moved a long distance from their parent languagc,others have retained a considerable number ol i ts archaicpropcrt ies. Of al l the I iving lndo-European languagesLithuanian and Latvian have retaincd best their archaicelenrents.

Once there was an ancestof Indo-European Ianguage,there must have been an ancestor lndo.EuroDean land.For many years scholars could not decide where it hadbeen located. They looked for i t everywhere, in the northand in the south oi Europe, in the east and in ihe west.between the Volga and Kama rivers, between the Danubeand Dnieper, between the Vistula, Nemunas and Dauga-va, If w€ knew where the Indo-European ancesior landwas located, we would resolve al l doubts abont the migra-i ion ol the Aryans into India. There have been a lot of

140

dif ierent explanations ol the similari t ies between Sanskritand Lithuanian and the common elements in Hindu andLithuanian customs. Some scholars say that i t is absolu_lely.ob\' ious.. lhar lhe cl imale growing colder. lhe Aryanslot Ltlh. ateiai, orlojo; ploughmen ) moved from norih Losoulh.unti l they came to the fert i le r iver val leys. TbeysetLled there and gave one of the tr ibutaries of t trJ Gange'sthe name of Jamuna to remind lhem oi the Nemunas ri ir ,their homeland and their brothers whom they had lei ibeh ind A l rhough i t i s a ve ry beaur r fu l exp lana l i on . i t i s' , n l y a hypo lhes i \ . The re a re s im i j a r i t i es . a l i e r a l l , be rweenSanskrit and oth€r languages as well, for exampie, Slavicwnerc wc can l ind hundreds of words with a similarsound lorm. There are similari t ies in the SIavic andHindu customs as well.

But st i l l , ot al l the European nations thc Li lhuaniansspcak a taoguagc the similari ty oi which 10 Sanskrit isthe.greatcst. Justas Paleckis, an outstanding Lithuanianpublic f igure, poet and former chairman o[ ihe Nationa-l i r i cs Counc i l o f l he Supre rne Sov i c l o [ l he USSR, v i s i t edlnd i ! . . i n 1955 . . \ f t e r h i s r c tu rn , hc wro tc a book , l n l hetuo tvattds. and thcre he rccounlcd rhe fol juwing cpi-

"During one ol the brcaks in the scssion of the Excc_u t r ve co rn rn i t l cc o I Lhe In te r -pa r l i amen ta ry Un ion , t hern0 r rn p r i l c m in i s te r Jawahar la l Nehru i nv i l ed i l s p3 r -l i c i pan (s ro_a d inne r banque l l n t he shady ga rden o f h i sres rdcnce . A l l e r . . d i scuss ing .on le po l i r i ca l and pa r l l a -Incntary i \sues, Nehru asked me:

"Tell me, please, i f i t is t fuc that the Russian wordcnacu6o ' thank you' is made up ol two words cnacu,sa\e,and 60? god. as onc o[ my SovieL guesrs lr ied to con_\ ince me? '

I assured him that i t was quite true and said tberewas anolher Russian wofd 6ac?odapb which had the sameneanrng and consisted also oi two parts. Nehrusaid: "Therc are a lot of common words in Hindi1nd.. othef Europedn Ianguages. For example, innrnor we have :emin. in Russian it is 3eatrs (zemlia),

l 4 l

But ol al l the European languages Lithuanian has thegreatest number of similari t ies to Sanskrit ."

"What a coincidence," said A. de Blone, secretary gen-efal ol the Inter-parl iamentary Union, pointing to me."The Soviet reptesentative is a Lithuanian."

I told them about the l inguist ic investigations and thecomparative analysis oi Sanskrit and Lithuanian carriedout by our scholars. I also quoled the SanskfiL phrasewhich I had learnt in my youih, delas dala dantas, deoasdata dhanas, and vhich is wonderful ly similar to the Lith.uanian saying Diel)as daod dantis, dieuos duos duonos'God gave teeth, God wil l give bread'.

"Dietas daoe dantis, dietas duos d.uonos," rcpeatedNehru ihe Lithuanian phrase, then said: "I have longknown about the similari t ies between Sanskri l and Lith'uanian and even wrote about it in my book The Distoo-erg of India, but i t is the f irst t ime I meet a Lithuanianin India."

Antoine Meil let, lhe well known French l inguist. l lsedto say that in order to hear the old Indo-Europeans speakone must go io Li lhuania and l isten to i is people's slowand melodious speech.

Today an Indian who knows Sanskri l and a Lithuanianwil l easi ly understand both these phrases in the tNo re-spective languages:

Skt. has t|)am asi? - Lilh. &as la esi? 'who are you?'Skl. kas tatd strrls _Lith. has lato sAnus? 'Nho is

your son?'Musical accent, intonation, short and long vowels. the

aifr icaies , l t t l and dz ld3l, the nominal endings -ar,-!s, - ls ol the Singular nominaLive case are pcculiarboth to Sanskrit and Lithuanian.

Scholars have found a great number ol Li lhuanian,Latvian and Prussian words which are similar io Sanskrit-Many ol ihem have retained ihe same sounds, lorm andmeanlng.

Skt. auis Lith. auis 'sheep'

Ski. nafr l is - Lith. nahlts'nighl 'Skt. dhumas - Lith. drmar 'smoke'

Skt. nrlrs - Lith. mirtis'death'

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Skt. l&prds - Lith. lapias 'peeled'

Skt. deuds - Liih. die.ros 'god'

Skt. ndr'tas - Lith. naujas'tew'Skt. podds - Lith. padas 'sole'

Skt. so/ras - Lith. senas 'old'

Skt. slopnos - Lith. sapnas 'dream'

Skt. iaftlxd - Lith. Sard 'branch'

Skt. ioa - Lith. Saua 'dog'

Skt. tada - Lith. hoda'when'Skt. /allxas Lith. ralai 'vheels'

Sl i t . madru * Lith. medus'honey'Skt. hrcuAam - Lilh. htauias 'blood'

Skt. snaas - Lith. srars 'son'

Skt. duhila - Lith. duhlt 'daughter'

Skt. aal,s - Lith. mintis'thoughl'Skt. viros - Lith. l l ros 'man'

A large number of Li lhuanian nouns, verbs, pronouns,numerals have the same grammatical lorms as in San-skrit .

Skl. hada ralho uahali - Lith. hada ratai laaiuoia'when the cart drives'.Skl. lvam mala uodoli - Lith. laue moli uadino 'mo-

the r ca I I s you ' .There are also numerous cases ol similar declinal ion

torms.In lhe 4th century B. C. thc Indian l inguist Panini

wfole the i irst grammar in thc world and created a per-fccl alphabeL: f irst, the shorl vowels lol lowcd by the longvowels, then the short diphthongs fol lowed by the longdiphthongs. Our Lithuanian alphabet is based on the Ro-man lettefs. I t was f irst used by Martynas MaZvydasin his Calechisf ius written in 1547, tour and a half cen,tunes ago . . .

The thorough study oi Panini 's grammar in the lgthcentury taught many a useful lesson to European scholarswho could nol slop marvell ing at the pundit 's subtle ap,proach to language so many centuries ago, Panini alsomentioned several olher scholars and earl ier l inguist icwofks lrom which he dfew a lot of beneli t while writ inghis own grammar.

143

Sanskrit is a more complicated language than Lalin orGreek. Philosophers learn Sanskrit to be able 1o readHindu philosophical treatises in the original, for no trans-lat ion is as good as the original. Sanskrit is especial lyimportant to historical comparative l inguist ics. Withoutknowing the oldest Indo-European Ianguages- Sanskri iand Li lhuanian - i t is impossible to understand lhe hislo-ry of the lndo'European family oi languages. Both Lith-uanian and Sanskrit are taught at the best universit iesof the world. Without the knowledge o[ these languageshistorical comparative l inguist ics is l ike a house withouiwindows. Its lounder was the German philologist FranzBopp who was f irst 1o makc a comparative analysis oiSanskrit and other Indo-European languages in 1816.

Investigations oi the Ball ic languages nave Dccome aspecial branch of l inguist ics and a great nuntbef of loreignscholars devote al l their I i le to their sLudy. Thcy oftencome lo Lithuania to learn the language. Somc of lhcmalso record Lithuanian folklore and later Dublish i t . ThcLithuanian language was introduced as an acadcnic sub-jecl in the universit ies of Berl in, Jena, Leipzig, Paris,St. Petersburg, Prague, Vienna in the l9th century. Phi-l ip Fortunatov, a Moscow universi ly professor ol Sanslir i tand historical-comparative l inguist ics, lounder ol theMoscow school of l ingl l ist ics. visi lcd Lithuania in thc sum-mer ol l87l at the invitat ion of onc oi his students.In the three weeks he spent in Li lhuania, the prolessorrecorded 150 songs, tales and proverbs. The next year hepublished a colleci ion ol Lithuanian folk songs and in1878 he introduced a course of Lithuanian at Moscowuniversi iy. This was a very important evenl in the darkyears when the Lithuanian letters were prohibited by theTsar.

The l isl of the 20th century l inguists who have devotedthemselves to the study oi the Lithuanian language wouldbe rathet long. It should include Prolessor WoligangSchmidt who teaches a course in the Lithuanian Ianguageat Gitt i ingen university, the Federal Republic of Cerma-ny; Wil l iam Smalstieg, one oi the most outstanding Bal,l ists in the United States, the author of a number of books

t44

about the Lithuanian and Prussian languages; Cuido Mi-chelini, a l inguisl irom Milan who presented his candi 'dale's and doctor's theses at Vi lnius univefsity and lhenpublished them in Italy; Lithuania also has an eruditelr iend in Japan, Professof Ikuo Muraia who knows thelwo l iving Balt ic languages - Li ihuanian and Latvianraiher well . He writes on various problems connected withthe Balt ic sludies, makes translations of Lithuanian f ici ioninio Japanese and has already visited Li ihuania mofe thanonce. Professof Ikuo Murata and his wife l ike the Lith'uanian lolktale Egli , queen of Gtcss'snaAes so muchlhat they gave thc name ol Egla to theif son, althoughin Lithuania i l is a ieminine name.

Anrong the l inguisis who are interested in the Lith'uanian studics wc could also menlion the Dutch scholarFrederik Kort landt, Czcchs Jan Peier and Lubos Rehatek,Norwegian Terje Mathiassen, poles Michal Hasiuk, Ta_deusz Zdanccwicz, Swiss Jan Peter Locher, AmericansE f i c Hamp, Dav id Rob inson , Ju l cs Lev in and manyolhers.

Bul lhe ccntrc {)f lhc Balt ic studics is certainly locatedin Vilnius. ror threc decades it has becn thc venue olregular al l-Union Ball ic confefcnces. In 1985 i i hostedan international conference on the Balt ic sl!dies whercl70 papers were presented by l inguists from l5 di l ferentcounlr ics and 20 cit ics ol the So!iet Union. The emblemof the conference was the l.adit ional Balt ic s!n wilhan inscript ion of three words. meaning the Earth, in Lith-uanian, Latvian and Prussian.

Jonas Jablonskis and Kazimieras Buga were the mostoutstanding Li ihuanian l inguists at the lurn of the 20thcentury. Prolcssor Briga was the f irsi lo introduce Sanskritat Kaunas !niversity. But his gfeatest contribution to Lith-uanian l inguist ics was his work on the Dicl ionatA of theLilhuonion Longuage based on historical principles. Bigawrote: " l i we really want to know the unwritten hisloryoi our nation, we must col lect al l the place-names andpublish them in dict ionary iorm, for place_names are thelanguage oi the earth... we must be able to ask i t andthen to understand its answer." The proiessor devoted al l

145

his l i fe lo lhis d-ict ionafy, the grealest wealrh of lhe Lith_uanlan nation. He died early, al theberrnd a, rire conlaining 600,000 .,,0.,ifl"'""".lroot;o'i,"""rTf: l : .*o,k ].rrr been inhefired and conrrnued Uy orler t ir l .gu rsLs , and .now. the pub l i ca l i on o f t he I7_vo lume d i c t i on -

ri:il :li!ils,il;ii,:;,,,x! t;i:::i";,i;1,";,;: i;i"l!l,llii"i:',"'j; "f ": ",.,'[,' !i, ",'," !l: ̂ ":::,

"!; I*!;lf i ' ; i: l: i l i:" Ianguage to preserve its puritv ind archaic

. San5ki l ie5sons u,ed to be taught al Vl lnius Univer-5rry Dy uocent l?iaardas Mlfonas. He had ial len in Iovewrrn 5anskrrt when he wa. a :Ludenl ol Kaunas univer5i-ry_ano atLended prole55or Bitga s lectures ln thi . subjec.,p r o r e : s o r t s t g a _ s t i m u l a t e d t h e y o u n g m a n . . i n l e r e s i i n: i :] l :11,i l"

phjlotosy, a 5ublecr'whi;h i. or \peciat im.por lance, to ,L i thuan ian l ingu is r lcs . A f te r rour ' years o inarq work the g, i led student was sent Lo paris ' to con_L r n u e n l s : t u d i e . i n S a n c l r i L . T h e r e h e s p e n r f o u f ] e a r sa n d r e l u r n e d l o L i L h u a n i a a q u a t i f i e d p n i l o t o g i , t . R i t J r J a .

fl:"^l:: lLyCl! in a number_or initiLurio-nr or higher;'"11:i*-,?;'Jll;,'"".'"J"i"l:]l,t,l: j:';,:;.,il";ly,l,:1,il"" &i'li, i,['r,ifl L;[ "'f ,lj;,,i""".;i.,jil:,i?,"i:,,.,-.:{ffi:;;l il: :", li;;;:T :"::i,x',i J;,;; fii":';,f:;:i\:,Ii:i'::,:"';;::,.,,'illi;ffi ::,1;lllll:il:"iiiah i s l r a n s l a t i o n s o f l h e R i g - y e d a h v m n \ .

, m r r o n a . p u b i i : h e d a n u r n b e r o i b o o k s o n > a n , k r i r a n drelared suDJerls. 'uch as , ,1,? Ou!l ine ol Sanshrt ! and Li th-

antan Histor iral Conparatt te pha ?t ics. Conmon Nom-tnat .De.t tnat[ons in Sansht i ! aad Li thuanian, Simi lat i -

nes-tn Sanskt i l and Li !huanian, On Ttunslat ing Sanskt i !rgn,onums.into Li thuanian. lyha! is Sanskt i t?, lyha! ateyedasi. and olhers.

. . I , r o l r l \ r a < l h e i i f . t c h a r r m a n o l r h e L i t h u r n i a n .lndran fr iendship Soriely founded in February 1967. He1 4 6

Dluneed in to l h i s work w i i h you th lu l ene rgy and en ihu_

liu.fr. H" L;*t"rt possessed a large I ibrafy of book' onindia, o nrrnber oi which were personal gifts from bislr ienis in India with sincere inscript ions on their t i t le

ore".. On." he showed me a publical ion of Bhagauad'Gitain ian :k r i t wh ich he had rece i ved l rom Ind ia a sho r l wh i l e,eo. "Soon I am going to start my work on the translationnithis wonderfuibook," he said "l t is a unique master-oiece of hleralure which leaches people to strrve lor kind-

ness and perfrcrion This parL of lhe Mahabho4la is a

hv,nn to man. duty and the greatness ol his spir i t lJln't know how muih t ime it wil l iake me to iranslatei t buL I an l go ing l o do i l w i thou l has l ( l l l have l o l ea rn

lo l i \e according lo this book and it docs noi know whatt ime i s . "

Befofe visit ing the state of Orissa Riaardas Mironascompiled an Ori ia-Lithuania n-Hind i dict ionary and pub-

l ish;d sevefal ari icles on Oriya. Thc scholar came backhom India with indell ible impressions, he talked enthu-s ias t i ca l l v abou l t he hosp i ta l i t y rnd f r i end l i ncss o i l he

lndian neople, rboul l l lc re:pcct lhcy showed him for hisknowletigc of Sanskrit and II indi. Whal grcat inlcfesthis lectuJes on the common elemenls in Sanskrit andLithuanian cvokedl How enlhusiastical ly thcy reacLed loeverv case of similari ty betw€en the two languagcs! Alterhis visit to lndia, his inspifal ion to work became sti l lgreaier. Now hc delivered his lectufes in Sanskrit atVilnius univcrsi iy with more love lor he could include thclatest information on Indian l i tcrature and culture andcn l i ven h i ' p rc .en la t i on w i th h i s pc fsona l i n rp fe {s ion ' u fl hc coun t r y . M i rons ' hnew t l l a l L i l huan ia needed spec ia l_ists ir Sa;skrit and Hindi and it was his dream to trainas manv of them as Dossible, but i t was not so easy, iormany a beginner deiisted alter his i i fst encounter withthe dif l icnlt ies ol the subjeci

Brl i who could know how nuch more t ime the scholarwas 1o wa lk humb ly i n t he s igh l o l God l Dea th camesudden ly . ! vhen i t was l eas t expec led On h i s l as l j ou rney

lo rhe - zndy h i l l s o f t he V i l n iu ' r eme lc f y ne was a ' com_pr"i"O ly rf i" *ota' he himself had tran' lalcd lrom a Rig-

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Veda hymn dedicated to the ruler of the underground,Y a m a :

"Meet ' [ama, meel Lhe idLhers, meeL rhe meri t of f ree orordered acts, in highesL heaIen.. . l fo yona, x, 14)

, , , Th"

l"* : lhar Ri iardas Mirona\ had becn awarded rheNeoru. pr|ze lor lhe promofion of the l ies belween Lirhuaniaa n 0

, l n d t a a n d L h e p r o n a g a l i o n o f I n d i a n c u l l u r e c a m er o o t a r e , . . t t u l 5 a n . k r i t , t h e a n c i e n l l a n g u a g e w i L h s umafiy simi lar i l ies lo our own. cont inues lo r ing in rhesmatt foon whefe Ri iafdas Mlronas uced lo leach"i l , Nowi t i s l a u g h t b y P r o f e i s o r V ! , t a u t a c M r Z i u l i s . a n o u t s t a n d _I n g a u l h o f j t y o n l h c B a l t i c a n d o r h c r I n d o . E u r o p e a n l a n -g u a g e ^ \ . a n a c t i v e m e m b e f o f l h c L i r l r u a n i a n _ l n d i a n F f i e n d .snrp

.soclety. Among thc acr ive memberj of thi \ socicLvwe atso I lnd another profe5sof oi Vi lnius universiry, Zig--l l^1.-,Zl-l l",ylt jr.:

.\rho ir rhe aulhof of a number of signi.rcanr works in Lithuanian Iinguistics. such as Li!hua;ianutarettotogg, Lithuantan Histotiaal Oraflmal. At rhe lres-ent, l im-e_the, prole\sor is.working on thc Historg oi r ieLrrnuonran Lang age which wil l be pubti:hed i; 5 vol-umes .

. In the recent decade Lithuania has come !nto a st i l lcloser contact with ancient lndian culture. Mironas,spup i l s .a re t rans la t i ng books i rom l l i nd i i n to L i t huan ian ,contacls between Li lhuanian and Indian scholars aniqcientists are becoming nrore irequenr. I feel an irresi"t i l jcu rge l o exp fess my w i .h l ha r I nd ian l i ngu i s t . wou ld showmorc inleresl in lhe Lirhuanian languagi. that rhey \^ouldv rs r r L r tnuanra .more o l t en . pe rhaps then l hey w i l l comeup wllh new original ideas abour the similari i ies belween:? , l . l r , l 1nd . L r l huan- ian . Pe rhaps some day L i l huan ianw l De tn t roduced In Ind ian un i ve rs i t i es too ,. .The ou l . l and ing Ind i . rn l i ngu i s t Sun l t i Kumar Cha l .terJr, protessor- oi Calcutta university, was a good fr iendo r L huan la , A las . aga in we nus t say he war . . , He wasglven.lne lJoctorate .honoris (ausa by many famous uni-::r j i i ,": : ! . ,rh" wortd. He visired Lirhuania several r imes,a0mtred LtLhuanian lolk.ongs and lolk dances. and, abovea l r , r he L l t huan ian l anguage . He a l so i nves t i ga ted rheI48

similari t ies between Sansk.i i and Lithuanian. His bookBalts and Atgans (in thei lado-Eurcpean bachgrcund),writ ten in English and published in Simla in 1968, is asymbol ol Indian and Lithuanian ir iendship- It is a bookwritten with love and devotion to Li ihuania and its people.It is not so much a scholarly treatise as an expressionoi the author's f irst discovery of Lithuania, his impres-sions and admiration of i i .

The book opens wilh the sentencer "Dedicaled withgrati tude and affection to my Sisters and Brothers inihe Balt ic States of Soviet Lithuania and Lalvia."

Then the author expresses his hope thai his book wil lcontribute lo lhe closer contacis between the two branchesol the Indo'European lamily-the European Balts andthe Asian Aryans. . .

The book describes the ancieni Lithuanian customs,songs and gods. The auihor relates the Lithuanian worddaina lo Ihe Vedic Sanskfit dhena, he also establishesthe meaning oI certain ancient Lithuanian names and com_pares a number oi Lithuanian and Sanskrit words.

Sunit i Kumar Chatterj i has paved lhe road lot thelr iendship ot ihe lndian and Lithuanian and Latvianl i ngu i s t s .

In Vilnius there l ives a man who considers Indiabe his second homeland. Whenever a visitor cal ls athouse, India and the years spenl there in his youthan inexhaustible source of convefsation.

The room oi the well.known Lithuanian traveller andanthropologist Antanas PoSka produces the impression ofa museum. Side by side with his books, various curiousart icles such as pieces of broken pottery, stones andbones are displayed on numerous shelves and in glasscases. The host opens one of the l i t t le boxes inlaid withcoloured slones. " l had the good Iuck," he says, "to takepart in ihe excavations of Mohenjo Daro, the ci iy ol thedead. l t was very long ago, bul I can sti l l see the exca-vated ruins beiore my eyes."

loh i s

149

Remarkable was Antanas poska's l i ie: i ls path mean-de red ac ro ,q d i> lan t l and . l r y i ng t i , pa r i ence . pe rs i s lenceand endurance. "But i l I were given a seco;d chance,r. would choose the same kind of l i fe.., says lhe profe.sor.A . l o r o I young p rop le en !y h im h i s i n te res t i ng I i f e I u l lol advenlures and exolic experience!. Thcy rre ia.cinaledby the roman l i c s ide o f h i5 l i f e bu r l hey fo rge l Lhe moqLjmportant thing - his hard continuous ' ,rr 'ork.

^ The . i dea . to v i . i r I nd ia came qu i te uno \pecLed ly .qSwed i .h s luden l o f Up .a la un i !e r i i l y w ro tc j r l eL te r l oL r thuan i t i n wh ich hc asked w l te lhe r l hc L i l hucn ian andIndic languages, customs and ancient beliels were reallyso similar. Nobody in Lithuania could give a really qua'-l i f ied answer to that question. India seemcd to

'be so

d is tan l . t u eve f ybody excep t l he rwen .y - : i x . yea r .n ld s rudcn tol medicinc al Kauna\ universi ly. poika ielt ashamed thatpeople in loreign countries should know more about Lith-uania than Lithuanians themselves. This was a wonder-iul chance lo prove his lovc for this homcland and dosomelhing useful for cverybody.

Poika spoke to Professor Vincas Kr6ve who was arthe l imc l he g rca les t au lho r i l y on Ind ia i n L i l huan ia . Thcfrrotecsur said: _lt is beil lo go ro India and Iearn lhclanguage."

That was enough. The Swedish studcnt rcceived thcanswer: "Wc do nol know much about India bui I ' l l gothere and learn what I can.,,. , Therc. is no money for the lr ip, no support. A fantasticroea s r f l kes l ue young man_10 reach Ind ia by a mo .to rcyc le . Where l he re i s a w i l l . r he re i s a way i l e t i ndsl r9mpanion ior himself. A board saying KAUNAS_CAIRO-CALCUTA is aff ixed to an old nritorcycle. Ahandiul of people come to see the two brave men ofl ontheir jolrney on that Novembef morning in 1929. Theirlaces expre.s doubt rnd apprehen5ion about lhe oulcomeor tne enterprise,

- But l i ie is sometimes more iantasl ic than the wildestfantasies. Neilher the old motorcycle nor lhe two youngmen bfoke down. But al ler poika had been taken'i l l i iTeheran, his fr iend lost coufage and turned back home.

r50

The ad!enturous journey lasted a year' In India therewere l ive t imes tewer universit ies in 1930 than there arenow. Antanas Poska entered Bombay universi iy to studyanthropology. He worked very hard lor he had come notonly to see and observe but also io learn languages andcompare lndian and Lithuanian cultures. Soon he beganto send ari icles to newspapers one atter anolher in \thichhe described his impressions ol the places he had visited-It did not take long ior the universi iy professors to noticethe gifted studeni who had such an extraordinary fhirstfor knowledge. Antanas Poika was granted a specialscholarship. his l i ie became easier, he had more t ime lorstudies and the work he had come to India to do

There is always a l i t t le secret ior everybody in theancient manuscripls, Vedas and P ranos. Thcre were anumber oi such secrets and discoveries lor the young Lith-uanian student, such as tor example, the story aboutthe old Aryan homeland where the sun did noi set at al llor several months, where waier turned inlo stone andthe gods were called by ihe same names as in Lithuania.The Sanskrit text was spolted with Li ihuanian wordswhich sparkled l ike diamonds in sand. A lot ol work waswail ing for Anianas Poska-

Then there was also the f ield work, a scholar's im_mediale source ol informaiion, which he wanted to doHe wanted to see ior himsell as much as possible, totouch evefything with his own hands. Soon a lucky chancecame his way: he received an invitat ion lrom the Brit ishethnog.apher E. Leithner to part icipaie in his expedit ionin the Himalayas.

At last his dream came true. In Ball isian the expedit iondiscovered tr ibes whose language, customs and evenbuildings were extraordinari ly similar to those in Lithua'nia. But this had to be proved by scientif ic methods, andPoika plunged into workr he dreu diagrams, took pictufes,made hundreds ol anthropological measurenenls

In iwo years after graduation lrom Bombay university.Antinas Poika became the youngest university prolessorin Ind ia .

l 5 l

As.India was then a Brit ish colony, poska had to pre-sent his doctor's thesis on the Shina ir ibe l i l ing in B;lt i-stan in London. l ie was glad because on his wa' 'y to eng./and he wou ld be ab le l o v i s i t L i t huan ia .

Useii to rough lravell ing. poska sel out to the westtoge lhe r w i th A rab p i l g r ims and merchanr ca ra rans . Thusne lound h imse l l i n Tu fk i ch Kurd i s ran whc re Lhe Kurdswere f ighting ior their freedom. There ne spent some timeior he could nol rfsisl hi\ wish to record their songs,lales.-and vafious ethnographic facls. Once in a whileIne Kurds a t i owed h im ro pa r l i c i pa le e ren i n l he i r m i l i _larv aci ions.'Bul

rhe Turkirh policc arfe\Led the susprclous travcl ler,conlrscaled al l his_papers. notes and personal po\ression:,and incarcerated him in prison lor a wholc yedr. Whcn,-l

l i . l l" y9: denorted. lo Butgaria (then occupied by rhelurts) he did not ger back any oi his confiscated rhings.(Jon€ was hjs disserlat ion, gone wefe the results oi i isl-_gr-l jql, ih: was emply-handcd. It was a rcrr ibte disap_porn rmen l . uu l he had l ea rn t i r om lhe Ind ian sage l t h ; tl l ,r"! . :h9"ld never lose his head, he shoutd nevcr toie hope.wnatever wil l be, wil l be. Fate demands a iot from thosewhom nature has endowed with great gifts.

I n Bu lga r ia PoSka d id no r . i r i a t c , Lc co l l c ( ' t ed andrecord€d the reminiscences about the Li ihuanian doctoiand cducation-rl ist Jonas B?sanavieius, an outstanding f ig-ure_ot. utc Lithuanirn national ntovcment, who had l ivcii h Bu lga r ia a r l he l u rn o f t he cen ru ry . Basanar i i i us hadarso l aken an dc l i r e i t c f cs t i n rh ( s im i l r r i t i c \ oJ L i t h -l ran lan and Ind tan cu l l u res . had wr i en a cons ide rab lenumber oi books and art icles on this subject.. Poska came back to Kaunas a shofl r ime beiore theoegtnnrng oI the 2nd World War. But he could nol geLeven a teacher's job because of the economic crisis-inLi ihuania. The proiessor tr ied to earn his l iving by contrib-uting lo _newspapers and edit ing various pubiicai ion". Hepljblrsned lwo volumes oi a very inleresl ing book, Frcmlhe Boll ic to.thp BaA ol Benga!, and began lranslatingthe Bhagatad-Oita irom lhe Sanskri l and iagore from thEBengali. But the war put an end to al l h' is work and

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wrecked al l his plans. After the war came a short restand the professor plunged into work again. Distant countriesand journeys did not let him sit at home. Nearly ten yea.sPoska worked in the republics of Central Asia where hepart icipated in the rcstructuring of ethnographic museumsand various expedit ions.

Old age does not spare anybody no matter how toughhe were. But i t was not easy lor i t to get the better ofthe experienced traveller. Shorl ly belore the 50Lh anniver-sary ot his travels, the sevcnty-year old scholar set oldage at deliance once again: vith a group of young mo-torcycl ists he travelled the distance of 900 ki lometresirom Vilnius to Armcnia in 40 days! His youthlul en-thusiasm can only bc envied!

"l wil l disappear, but a small part o[ me, chargedwith my inner lension, wil l remain to be active andinquisit ive. I ts cnergy wil l induce other pcople to seekperlection and pursue their aims even though they mightscem quite unattainable... Thus I !r ' i l l belong to eterni lyjust as those who have passed on iheif slrengih to me l ikca torch oi ctcrnity..." Those words wcre written by An-tanas Poika.

Although the scholar has celcbrated his 85th bir lhday,he continues to write, translate, lectufe and give consul-tat ions to others. He has written The Vlotld Hislotu ofAgti.ul lwe, translaled a number of yedds, wrirtcn a-de.tai led survey ol similari t ies between Indian and Lithuaniancultures. At the present t ime, on the basis ol his own earlypublications and the bi ls and pieces ol the cxpedit ionmaierial that hav€ been savcd, h€ is trying to reconstructhis lost dissertation on Balt istan.

ln 1934 when he l ived in CalcLrtta. Poska sent a consid-erable number of art iclcs on Lithuanian customs, folkloreand language lor publication in Ihe Modem Repieu). A.l-ter some time. through the editorial board of the journal,he received Rabindranalh Tagore's invitat ion to visitShantiniketan. Laler Poika described his impressions olthe visit : "Beiore sunset leachers and pupils bcgan toassemble in small groups in the garden under the trees.The grey-bearded poet appeared dressed in a red gown

153

with v/ ide sleeves. His thin grey hair parted in the middle-He was accompanied by several long-haired gir ls dressedin white holding flowers in their hands. They were iol-lowed by a row ol honourable guests, then the staff of Vis-va Bharat, and at last the students. The procession movedtowards the amphitheatre where ihe poel sai down ioldinghis legs under himsell in the Oriental manner on a plat-form made of turfs and covered by a jule cloth. Placingthe i lowers on his throne, the gir ls sai down on bothhis sides.

I greeted Tagore in the Hindu manner by placing myhands together at my brcast and bending my h€ad t i l li f touchcd my thumbs. He did the same, then raised hishands above my head and whispcred somcthing. I intro-duced myseli , saying who I was and where I had corneirom. Then the daily sunset ceremony starled. The poeircad his verses which he had crcated that dav. The mo-mcnt the sun louched the h,rf izon. evcrybodi . lood up,the gir ls sang the iarewell hymn to the sun, then thenational anthem oi lndia.

"ln my poctry," Tagorc said, " l try toand melody of Bengali lolklore. Wordslu r i ance . l he i r g rea l c . l v r l ue l i ( s rnmood."

Every evcning at thc sunsel ceremony I used 1o readmy tfanslations. First, Tagore read his verses in Bengali_The sound and inlonation were the only cri teria by whichall ihose present judged i i I had succeeded to convey thepoe t i ca l i ee l i ng . . . "

Antanas Poika has nol been thc only lranslator olTagore's poetry into Lithuanian. In lg72 came out a col-lecLion of Tagore's verses in Lithuanian translated iromvarious publical ions. The name ol the translator, Vytau,tas Nislel is, had not been known belore at al l either tothe generai reader or the l i terary cri t ic. He turned outto be an architect, a modest man ot great efudit ion andsensit ive heart, who knew several languages. Fascinatedby ihe Oriental countries, India and Japan, Nistel is hadworked very hard for many years t i l l at last he could

154

convey thc sori ndare of second im-the fee l i ng and

summon his courage to ol ier his lranslations to thepublishers.

Aiter his death i t was discovered that Nistel is hadwritten poetry himsell. This had been a secret even tohis best fr iends. Among his manuscripts lhere is also apoem dedicated to Rabindranath Tagore:

Come and visit us, oh Ae,Frcm the distant counlrg, from the distant time,rvho's sung to us in stronge u)or(ls,Come and speah in mA naliue tongueThtuugh nA t ingerc,lhrough mg l ips,Through mg heaft.lVeaw the silh ol lhg taolds into ou llaren silence.Ferrg Aour songsActoss lhe ri|)er of time that llotrs bet@een us.Com( dots.n [rcm !he.Himalagas ol gour poetryr0 out qutet IotDlands.Become a lake in ow landFrom lhe ocean of !)our songs.Your &)otds arc lihe mango ttuitRipened bA lhe Bengoli sun,Piched bg ils hutticanes.lve'll string go . pearls logelher aith our amberI'll be gow hands,I'll be gout lips.

Whcn Antanas Poska l ived in India, his greatest worrywas to l ind an answer to one question - why were Indianand Lithuanian cullures so much al ike? In 1933 in hisletter trom the Himalayas he wrole:

"Here al lasi I am in Kashmir... The language peoplespeak in Kafir istan is wonderful ly similar to ours. Theircusloms in al l the minutest detai ls are also very mlchlike Li lhuanian customs. I had recorded an Astorian folk-song because two thirds of i ts words were absolutely si-milar io Li ihuanian words, but i is a pi iy I have lost i i .

Here are some names of the Kaiir people: Ramguli,Zhemguli, Vaiguli , Karguli . There is also a legend aboutthe Trakeni clan of Duke ci l i t (or ci lgit). . . "

Poika has a feeling that a loi of intormation is hiddenin ancient Hindu manuscripts which sometimes reveal themost curious things. In 1937 Poska published an art iclein the Lithuanian journal Misq yi lnius aboul the originof lhe Lithuanians: " ' fhe Motsga Prrono books contain adetai led descript ion oi the geography of ihe then world.According 10 these books the great r ivers of Naruna, An-t i la, Rusna and Nara l lowed in the land which is drainedtoday by the pripet r iver, thc land ol Masuria, and theland whefe the town oi Pinsk is located now. The Rusnariver banks were the homeland of the Puru iamily headedby the greal Krivi. The Puru family was al lcgedly relatedto thc Pandava and Yadava tr ibes. They had come tothe Rusna river after the Mahabharata war."

The pundit Narayan Mishra wrote the fol lowing withgreat convict ion: "Our Iegcnds and tradit ions indicatc thataltef thc ItaIabharata wars thc Purus fctrcatcd to thenorthern lakes aDd sctt lcd down on thc banks ol the Rusna.Later thcy \rcre joined by other relaled lalni l jes such asYadaYas, Danavas, Kurus, who selt led down on the yamu-na rivcr. Goruda Pttana gives a detai led descript ion ofcustoDrs, prayers and ri tes which clea.ly show lhat iheAryans l ived in a fert i le land where the days were longin summer and thc nights werc short rnd l ight, wheresnow storms and darkness reigned ior half a year to-gelher with Ushlra (Aurora Borealls). ' fhere were nonountains there, i t raincd a1l the ycar round, and thepeople werc red-faced and robust l ike sacred bulls. ' ,

Antanas PoSka had an opportunity to discuss thisproblem with the greatest Indian authority on ancienlhistory C. Dat{o who was convinced thal some part otthe i\ fyans went back 1() the north and ior a long l imethev maintained rel igious rclat ions with their southcrni { i t h and k in i n I nd ia . . . To the no r th o [ Yavana was Pan-chala, or the Prussian land, whereirom the Indians used

ro get a lot oi Geltaru (Lith. gintaras 'amber'). People thereworshipped the Vedic gods: Agni (Lillt. ugtlis 'lite"), paF

156

iona \Li lh. Pethinds, ' thunder' l , yait (Lith. .r i las'wind'),

Vrettu lLith. uetld'storm'), Ushtta lLith. aair4 'dawn'),

and others.Another lndian authority on ancient hislofy, pundit

M. K. Mukerj i , says €ven more. In his book describingIndian shipping he indicates even lhe waterways, r ivefsand seas, along which the lndian seamen used to reachtheir Puru brothers.

Audacious and far-reaching wefe the speculations ofAntanas Poska. Today science has expanded our know-ledge and information on the problem but the mainquestion - vhy - remains unanswered. Moreover, i t hasspli t inlo a nurnber oI more spocil ic questions, snch as:Where did the Aryans comc to India from? Why vas iton l y t he Ba l t s who s tayed i n the l ands on the Nemunasriver?

In Jammu and Kashmir in the noflh of India, beyondthe FIind! Kush mountains. on the banks ot the coldIndus, wherc thc mountains are covered not with greengrass but white snow, where arable land is scarce andthe people's hair is not black at al l , l ies Ball istan whichPolka visited half a century ago. When a Lithuaniantourist sets his eyes on the colourf! l Kashmir vi l lagesfor the l irst t ime, he is absolutely astounded lor i ii t were not for the guide's voice he would think he waslooking at a Lithuanian vi l lage somewhere in Dziki jaor Zemait i ja: grain barns, thatched wooden houses withgable posts shaped l ike horsc heads, window shuttersadorned with l i l ies, porches with carved doors and birchlre€s growing nearby. Famil iar t f immings and ornamen-tations of clothes, famil iar place,names: Gilgit , Ball i t ,Skardu, Askole. . .

When did these people selt le down on this palch oi theHimalayas? Where did they come from? Nobody can an-swer that. They are outwardly different from their Mon-goloid neighbours, they have a fairer skin, lairer hair

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and fairer eyes. Not al l oi them, of course, but there arepeople among them who have even blue eyes. The menare tal l and thickset, the women are lul l ol cheer, withred round cheeks. They l ive in vi l lages, dispersed in val,leys among hi l ly mountains, t iny f ields and swilt r ivu,lels,

It is believed that lhere are even sacfed oak sroveswhere sacrod f ire is burnt. Everything is famil iar-to usthere, songs, loods, clothes, cusloms, games. . . in short,i t looks l ike a chip oi ancient Lithuania which bv a mir.acle has found its way to lhe Himalayan mountainc. TheBrit ish ethnographer E. LeiLhnef fecorded lots and lorsoi interesting facts about Balt istan and its people.

The l and i n Ba l t i s tan y ie lds good g fa in h r r ves ts , bu tas e\rerywhere in the mountains there is a great shortageof _it, _ therefore every patch of arable land is carelu[ylooked after. Water, brought along the ditches, is cal ledby a word similar to the Lithuanian word with the samemaaning - ahada,

Thc peop le o t Ba l t i s tan have a D€cu l i a r t ra i t -oncethey sett le down in a vi l lage, thcy nevcr leavc ir by thcirown kcc w i l l . l t i s a t ragedy l o bu ry a member o f onesfamily in a cemctery far korn his home. ln cvery otherrespec t l he i r way o f I i f c i s \ ' e r y s imp lc and vc ry n r tu ra l .They provide fof thcmselves and producc everyjr ing theyneed. ln many houses Poska saw a wooden butter churnvery similar to the ones used in Lithuania. Their sense oiproperty is not vcry slfong. lhey l ike ro .hare every,hinglhey have and he lp cach o lhe r as much a r i hey can . Whena baby is born, the neighbours plant a tree near the houseso that the baby's guardian spir i t should have a habita-t ion. When the man dies, his ghost comes 10 l ive in thetree lor some time.

Tribal chieis build their own houses on a more levelground and use more t imber. The walls are usually madeol iogs altefnating with layers oi stone nrixed with earth.Doors, the inside and oulside ol the walls, the porch pi l-lars are careiul ly adorned with carved I i l ies, suns, crossesand sprigs oi rue. Every vi l lage has its own house oi wor-ship. I t is usually erected in the best place, embell ished

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with luxurianl tr immings and ornamentation. In lowerplaces where ihete are more trees, the houses afe madeof wood exacily l ike lhe ones in our old Li lhuanian vi l-lages. Theif granaries usually have pofches with carvedp i l l a r s .

The Balt istan people have a deep respect for lheirdead. The graves ol their chiefs, elders and warriors areusually ienced and a wooden monument, cal led tord, isplaced at th€ head. Taba is a l lal axe-hewn board withnotched edges and carved plants, horns, moons, suns, andcircled crosses. The form of lhe taba may remind oi abird, i lower or man. They are similar to the Prussiangfa\ 'e monuments.

In the spring the Balt istani tr ibes celebrate a sp.ingfestival which lal ls on the day when the l irst egg is laid.Poska writes thal a decorated egg is hidden in a meadowlul l of blooming l lowers, and gif ls wade in the grassIooking lor the egg. Each one is eager to l ind the egg.proclaim the beginning oi the festival and thus, at leastonce in a year, be in the centre oi attention. The peopleare wait ing. As soon as ihey gel the signai, they startplaying and singing. Everybody brings decorated eggs,they rol l the eggs and test the strength of their shell .Women swing in the swings, teenagers demonstrate theiragil i ty by making somersaults while swinging in theswings.

The beliei oi European and Chinese chroniclers thatBall istan is the homeland ol polo is quite well-grounded.A level polo i ield is a luxury in the mountains, but in theautumn when the crops are harvested i inding a smalleror bigger f ield is no problem and young men sitt ingastride their small but strong mountain horses come toge-lh€r ior a polo game then. Touching the f lat f irm groundwith their leet makes the horses as exhilarated as theifr iders. Late into night the air r ings with the shouts andcheers ol the players dashing about the f ield atter awooden ball . The winners have the right to order songsand dances, the elders provide the treat. In lhe vi l lagesof our Zemail i ja chi ldren chase a wooden disc. During thesummer festivals and picnics chasing a wooden disc is

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the usual pastime oi grown-up men, chi ldren can onlywatch them. A very short t ime ago egg decoration androl l ing was sti l l a gay and l ively spring game in our vi l ,lages, too. The clothes of the Balt isianis and their tr im-mings resemble those worn by ihe Lithuanians but theLithuanian visitor 's eye is mostly atiracted by the shapeand ornamenlation ol the Balt istani houses and barns.What a great number of them Antanas Poska drew then,during the expedit ion! It is not always easy to say whichone comes from a Lithuanian vi l iage and which one lroma vi l lage lost among lhe mountains in the neighbourhoodoi Gilgit or Astor, sheltered by high sleep mountains l ikeCod's sentinels-

PoSka considers the town Skardu to be the centreoi Balt istan. It is surrounded by entirely di i lerent tr ibes,the Shina. Balt is. Banisal and Barcha.

Poska did not come acfoss aoy sacred oak groves inBalt istan, though he heard people speaking aboul themand was even shown places where they had formeflygrown. He did not see pyres oi sacred f ire, either, buthe brought back to Lithuania information about theunheard-of Balt istan, i ts people, songs and music.

The words in Balt istani songs are sometimes str ik-ingly similar to Li lhl lanian as can be exempli i ied bv the.ong which PoSkz recorded lrom lhe l ip5 oi rhe zemindarKarul Daulal on Julv 12. 1933:

Mana htidi mu|eiMani hollra datdiDusti dusti taoSessa brali slaaPtasada gaide

Lith.Mano Sirdis dauaos,Mano galuo hrinla (darda)Distu dtstu be taugsSesuo brolis stoai

Beiore reproducing these words in this book I con-sulted our l inguists but they could not say anything def-inite. I t is easy to understand their doubts: Poika couldhave rnisheard the exact words, E. LeiLhner could havespelled them in the wrong way. Scienti i ic theories needsolid argumentai ion.

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Antanas Poska is the only Lithuanian vho has evervisited Baltistan. His dissertation on the Shina tribeis stored somewhere in London. The copious materials,negatives and notes were lost in the war. Now the scholaris determined to reconstruct everlhing from memory, pho-tos and lragrnentary material.

Lithuania is beautiful in al l seasons. In the sp.ingwhen birds come back from the warmer countries. whentrees and meadows bedeck themselves with leaves andblossoms. In the warm or sometimes rather cool summer,wiih a lot or rather I i t t le ol rain. In the autumn whenbefore ihe winter's sleep nature bccomes mellow and theleaves of the trees turn rcd and yellow, the wind tearingihem ofi merci lessly; when oaks alone do not sufrenderth€ir dead brown leaves to the wind because they are ihelast to sleep in winter and awake in spring. In the winterwhen the sky takes pity on the frozen earth and coversit with a soft white blanketi when the trees and houses,with a l ight burning in their windows most oi the day,seem to be wading through the deep white snow; whenthe children alone welcome cold and snow and take tothe skates, skis and sledges with such joy and alacri lywhich makcs them rcsent their mothcrs when they callthem home to watm thcir cold hands and noses. Everymonth has i is own mood and enchantment.

When there is frost and snow in Lithuania, India en.joys the evcr-green trees, I lowers, the warm watcrs olthe Ganges, although there might be people who evenin this weather swathe their necks with a scari of weara woolen kerchiel.

There are no great mountains in Li lhuania, just soit lyundulating hi l ls. But Lithuanians often mention mountainsin their songs. It is perhaps because their hearts havealways reached out ior the inl inite expanses of freedom.

Where would the gods l ive i f there were no Himalayason the earth? For they are the only mountains which reachthe sky, wiih their feet i i fmly planted on the earth.

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Where would the great gurus f ind refuge i i they werenot prolected by the rocks of the Flimalayas?

Where would the sages have written their best booksii the cool r ivers did not f low in the Himalayas and theyhad not gladdened their eyes by their heavenly beauty?

How would the Hindus imagine sacred Mount Meru,the centre oi the earth, i l they did not have the summitsoi the Himalayas belore iheir eyes?

Wherewould the Goddess Ganga have l ighted down?Where would the Ganges rise i i the sun, ihe eye ol Vishnu,did not heat the Himalayan ice?

I experienced a pleasant sense of freedom when Iarrived in the Himalayas lrom the scorched and dustyplains and the ovenlike cit ies ol India. Bui when alter ashort excursion to the mouniains I was coming backio the t iny mountain vi l lage across the t ields ol maize andpools ol watef, treading the red sticky eafth which wasgrowing darker and darker, I started casling uneasyglances around, for the darkness was creeping lrom themountains and quickly catching up with me. While I $raswading in ihe lal l grass, I could not think ol the beautyor the people I had just encouniered, for I tr ied to re.membef what I had read in the books and hoped it wastrue that there were no poisonous vipers in the Himalayasand ihe predatory beasts never visited vi l lages but stayedthere, beyond the great crest. I kept repeating to myself:" l t is true, i t is true" t i l l I fel i lhe hard road under myieet and heaved a sigh oi rel iel. The iear ihat had Pursuedme l lp to that moment turned slowly back into the dark-ness. Through the paneless windows dimly l ighted bywick lamps I saw women, chi ldren and men busy overthe hearth i ire. Suddenly relaxed I lMatched the eveningli fe oi the mouniain dwellers, open and not concealed bycurtains. I saw the people gell ing ready lor the night 'srest, saying their last words to each other, praying to theirgood gods who also dwell peaceiul ly here, in the moun-Ia ln5,

I came home l ired, with my head bursting wiLh impres'sions oi what I had seen in the last few hours, but I w3salraid to go to bed lor I did not want to oversleep Brah"

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ma's hour, the t ime belore the sunrise when the GreatHimalayas seem to become spacious and start r inging.I wanted to take this impression of ihe great mountainsvith me back to Lithuania, so that i t would l ive in myheart lor ever,

I stood irembling in lhe morning chil l with my eyestixed on the mountains, unable to turn my gaze from thetrarsparent colourful cloak they were puti ing on lor theday. Chomolungma, Kangchenjunga, Tschogori, Mahalu,Nanga Parbat... the names oi the mountain summitswere l ike music to my ears. Through the small portholeI saw, for the iast short moment, the summits washed bythe sun rays, i loating among the clouds. I had not hadenough t ime to properly say good-bye to the mountainsbelore I was soared to ihe sky, swayed in the air andlanded in ihe heat of the city on the plains, from thewhite summits of the Himalayas, the kingdom ol truth,the invincible citadel of thought.

Thc art museum of Vilnius is l looded with people. Forthe second t ime the Himalayas have come to adorn thewalls ot the museum. Two art ists, fathcr Nicholas and sonSviatoslav Roerichs, have brought their wonderlul can-vases ro our ct ly.

"Every man has his own way to beauty and alwaystries to convey it in some way or anolher," wrote theialher. " l have always sought beauty. I t fascinated me.By conveying the beauly I saw on my canvases, I tr iedto convey some part oi the joy I experienced myself,"continued the son. Both painted the Himalayas, both gazedat the same summits and felt their grandeur but each ex-pressed it di l ierently, in his own part icular way. But intheir pictures both father and son captured that myste-rious power of lhe mountains which magnetizes people,cleanses them of the dust oi petl iness and elevates toits own purity.

As i i unable to resist the compulsion ol their guidingstar, the Roerichs started their journey about the world

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at the beginning of the century. Their cuitural missionlasted iof l i i ty years. Both io the East and to the Westlhev brought new ideas."When -our

sculptor Petras RimSa met Nicholas Roerich,he asked him when he had i irst ielt interest in Lithuania."l t 's diff icult to remember," Roerich answered, "perhapsin my childhood. But i t is absolutely certain that I knew,boui Li lhuania when I was a studeni at lhe St Pe'lersburg Academy. I drew my kno$ledge from books andbv 1900- when I altended lhe World txhibi. lon In ParisI had acquired a lair ly good knowledge oi Li ihuania. Iwas atlracted by the Li lhuanian section at the exhibit ionin ihe Trocad6ro palace. There I saw a nice display ofthe history ol your misioriunes. I met some Lithuanianso[ my age there. Their basic complaint was the prohibi 't ion ;f the Lithuanian letters. I felt ashamed lor thisbarbarity. Since then I have never abandoned Lithuania,i t has aiways l ived in my heart. In 1903 I was happy tohave an opportunity to travel in Lithuania and it wasone ol the most memorable years in my l i ie."

When Nicholas Roerich l ived in lhe Kulu val ley in theHimalayas, he did not lofget his visit to Lithuania ln1936 he Dublished two art icles, Lithuania and Ciurl ionis.At the bdginning oi ihe century only a person oi NicholasRoerich's inlel lectual and art isl ic powers could ful ly un_derstand and appreciate the absolutely new and originalart ol the Lithuanian paintef. He was the f irst to fathomCiurl ionis's aft, the intensity and potency oi which was tobe iul ly appreciaied by the world only aiter the passageof many yeafs,

"First, take care of art and not your material well 'bcing. Art teaches intui l ion. An era ol art is coming,a new and truthful era which wil l noi be dominated bythe mechanisi ic approach to l i le," wrole Nicholas Roe-rich.

"Our l i ie wil l be burnt on the Aliar ol Elernal, Inf ini leand Omnipotent Arl. . . Aren't we ihe happiesl people inthe world?" wfote Ciurl ionis.

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LITHUANIA

, , S u e t o u i ! S t ? e d s u t a s o n e o l n A l i r c ! p i r t u r e s .I had tong enter laincd l lLe idca ol majpst i . ahi tp horscsgtaztng in th? sact?d oah grcues al Lithuania. HotsesrpaclA

.t.o hclp mankind! Herc!d\. saddled and rcadA tom,oue. l ike l iehtning a! lhe l i 's! bidding! I fotd aboui nAid.ca lo. .mg Jt iend Leonid Semyonou f ian Shansky anihis,poelk so.ul t!,as inmedialelA (aptured bg these iiages.Alt la sone t ime he brcught a po?m, dedicolpd lo me;nde n l i t l e d f h e V l h i t e S t e e d s

,, . \y.e

.disausspd the magni l icenl Li thuanian ?pos tei thVladimir Stasou aruMadinfu Solouqou. Li thuania hosa"lyy.s ya a br ol. eood. [tipnds. lthite listcning ro myo:"1:i lt i2n. ol .u)hat Llas going lo paint. iotougolsltatchecl in his long bpatd and t?peated: " But that is lheunenl. lhe grcat Otient., Slosoo smiled into his euefllonget beard and addpd ,,Ccdoitlt!. it ts !hp Oticn!, euenIhe longuage is similat la Sanshtit . lyhetp is mq S u ?-taa i t -S teeds noa )? The te @as a l so a p i c tu r i , Hea-,

! : ^,P ,

i " t,!,,: depictiag anrien! ri!?s in a gtade among

sotrea oa4.. Where is i t na@? I dan t knou There sasalso 6 picture entit led pethAnas (Thundet). lust ashott u)ltile ago I had @otd from Gene-,)a that it tt)asrn some ptitate collectian. Whol a tumber of messengersol the. gtorious Lithuonian epos haoe dispersed. in the

AIlet out uogage along the -@atet.toaqs truuelled in lhepast bA the likings on thei \t)ag to Grcece, ,,[e @anledto trA anot.her u)ater|lag, no less enlicing, the Nemunasr_iter. In 1903 yelena ltanoana and I

-rnade a t p in

Li lhuani.a. l t @os a long !t ip rcund histotir pla.es. Inaclc shpl(hes in pucrg placp ae slopped. ahiie yelenatuanoun.a uscd h?r (ompru and mad? pialurps sone parlol.tshtth tppte int luded lalet in L Gtabor's A Hisloryo l Russ ian A r t and o the r books on h i s to r i ca l mo i_umpnts. . l also mode a big numbet al studies of Lith-uanlon lands.eapes. Their late is tuth?t (utious, theA goldisperse.d all oa-et thc luotld- On(e, in Catilot;ia: Ichanced . on m ! Kaunas Chu rch , The Ru ins o l a

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Cas l I e on t he Nemunas R i t e r , An O Id Or 'l hodo , Chu rah nea r G rod tLo l t ) h i ch eoen t he te ,across the ocean, conlinue to perlorm tlei tash andarraken the memo es ol Lilhuania's beaul! and her hislo'tical dignitg.

Out lrip in Lilhuania @as reallg lascinaling. Besidemodern neans ol trcnspott @e also had to use a farmer'sjolly ca . Once @e eoen gol bogged do@n in the dtgsands. It oksags loohed lihe a mincle to see a local manemerge trcm his hut hai buied in sond altet o sandslorm- Bul the severe enuiro\ftent has nol been able lowipe out lhe hospilable smile on a Lithuanian's tace.Once loe put up Ior the \ight at a rcmole iln @hereagainst our o@n @ I e)e u)ere ossailed b! doubls aboutlhe rcliabilitg of llrc lochs.

But such our apprehensions rvere absolulelg gtound.-less. Nolhiag bad euer happened lo us lhroughoul lhetrip. On lhe controrg, @e encounlered a lot al good. etpe-tiences. lve listened lo a blind bard, recorded a consid-erable number ol lhe most beauliful heroic legends, Outol lhe geat number of lhe counl es I hane I) isi led Lith-uania has lelt lhe mosl pleasant memoies. It is bestptooed b! the communilg ol leelings. In lhe stoties erploilsof the herces alletnated @ilh lhe mosl beautilul inslancesof @anen's self-sac fice. There were nunterous oacasions(hich mada us renemhcr thal lhe Lilhuanian language@as !er! similat lo gteal Sansfuil. The lreasves ol lhe!,ilhuonio spiril @ere bon of lhe satne hind ol nobilitganLl spit i lual @eallh.

Eucrg caunlrg l.phose people loue lhei gteat pdst hastich lolhltte 6nd a greal mong songs. There arc a lolol occosions @hen tse haue lo speoh abokl a gole to thelulwe. The oerg idea of a gale is d stimulus to cteale.A eaie hns lo be built, the galeposls hat'e to be lixedtitmllJ in lhe ground. But in order lo atlract people thegale hos to be beautilul. A person tttho daes nol hno@the past, .annot think about the I ldure. The unique beau-lg of the old pictures proceeds iusl from their openness.Onla this hind of ad colL teallg become a gale lo a bellelfutute. Ecetg man has a tight to thinh about il. The &)ell-

meaning concepliotr ol a betler future, ucryessed in jogfulsmiles, is alrcadg hoveing in the Lithuanian oak gtol)eslDhifh gto@ on the on(ient pagan altarc.

CIURLIONIS

I heor that the ndme of Ciurlionis hds become a na-tional name, the prde ol the Lithuaniatl nalion. It fills mAheart @ilh iog. Eoer! nation must alteags hail the acctaimoJ real lalues. A aounttg lehich lalues ils oa)n heraes,ctealors and @orkets is txorthg ol a btight fulutp. It ishtgh,l imc @e did a@ag @ith ignotan.e and s!upiditgtohich, at cettain hislorical crcssrcads, ttumple and d;-spise the @orh oJ the best people. A nation is alite onl!@ith positite lalues. A lot ol good things lnppen in thepracess ol creation and construclion.

Not !e4J long ago it @as usua! to leet at eoetg heaand unconeenlianal thing or just dismiss it toith a skepti-cal shrug ol the shoulders. Oh, lhese sheptics! Their ruth-less hearts @ere ready to sttungle elJerA ne@ achielJe-mpnl. l l somelhing is giu?n a ncu.! Iotm. mu.! Ihis rene@al be totn lo piecps lhe momenl is (pa!cd? Let sremember Van Gogh ,aho cut olf his ear and sent itto^ his landlord instead of his rent. A renl paid bg a pieceo-l lhe adtst's bodA! Let's remembet Modiglia i rnho diedttotu statuation, and the unfuetsal rccog;ition @hich hisshoching d.eath brought him. I remember the great Vlrubettshose tragedg reas unlalding just before our eges. Wasn,lhe dtioen insane bA the monstrcus injuslices his nobteconsciousness suffered lrom al the hands af the ignorantsaoages?

The doom that befell Ciurlionis tu)as lhat u)hich ooer-tahes manA a genius. He brought neu), inspircd and rcaLart. wasn't it enough lo engeatler the ttrath ol the p/o-tane? Thei dust-cotered. eoergdaa lile :(,as threatenea bgsomething ne@ - @asn'l it necessarA to resort to the mostbeastlg @ags to d.efend theh relatioe u)elt-being?

1 temenlber @ell the ston! skepticism ahich aiurlionis,spictures met in the aorld ol a a quatlet of a centwg

168

ago. The hardened hearts of tle sheptics &)ere not mooedeither blJ his solemn Iotms, or u)ell-considered. harmon!of tones, or the beautilul ideas u)hich petoaded euerg pic-lure ol this great artist. His inspiralion seemed to cometrom nalue itself. Frcm lhe lery beginning Ciulionishad his ot,n stlle, his o@n conception of colour tones andhotmonious composilion. ll a)as his atl, his tield ol 1)i-sian. He could nol lhinh or cteole itr ana olhet lerms.He s)as not an inno,Jalor, he &)as a car er of neu) ideas.This gem should haoe been gipen everg possible suppotl.Bul he rcceited iusl the opposite. Eten his best compo-sitions etoked nolhing but doubt, As chaiman of 'The

llorld of Arl' I brche mana a lonce in delence of Ciurlio-tls's art. Undetslanding and faoourable comments camefrcm Mstislao Dobuzhinskg, Alexander Benua, but, alns,manA of those o)ho belonged. eten to lhe best a isticgtoups did not undetstand hitu and denounced hls art.

B l the efla s of the enemies and obscuronlistsachieved just the opposile - thelJ conhibuted to Ciurlio'nis's lulwe fame uthich come at last not to spend a nightbeside his pi.turcs, but to spotlighl lhem lot ages. It iso grcal iog lohen @e can saA that lhe enlirc nalion has/ecognized ils grcalest asset.

ll is so @onderlul thal Ciurlionis has been tecognizedbA the Lithuonian nalion and that it is trot a tempotut!shote ol senliments bul a permanent discotrerg and respecltthich the @hale nation leels lor the dedicated. crcotot. Iam hoppA to heat gaod ne!)s from Lilhuania about lhehonouing of lhis magnilicent arlist.

Roerich's youngest son, who is an artisl too, a cogno-saente ol Agur-Veda and the guardian oi his lather'sart ist ic heritage, l ives in India but he considers theSo,riet [-rnion to be his second homeland. Li ihuania alsohas a small part in his heart: he admires our greatestart ist Ciurl ionis and the cosmic world of his Diclures. forin his own pictures he seeks to convey the same combina-t ion oi thought, feel ing and music. As every Indian art istwho has seen reproductions of Ciurl ionis s pictures, Svia'toslav Roerich dreams ol seeing the originals.

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Ciurl ionis, the usherer oi ihe new era in our art. wasborn in 1875, a year Iater than Nicholas Roerich. Butthe Fates al lotted him too short a t ime in this worldas i l they were scared by the genius who had come too€arly. Ciurl ionis died in his thirt ies. There were iew whounderstood him but many who derided him. Sii l i , Ciurl io-nis never lowered the iorch ol ihe new l ighl, for he be-l ieved thaL i l was bound lo f ind a way ro

-peoplc c hca .

even though it happened in a hundred years. At the begin-ning ot ihe cenlury there were very few who could ap-preciate Ciurl ionis's art which was so unusual. so dit ief-ent from what had been created belore him. RomainRoiland, the well knoNn French writer. said i t was l ikethe discovery of a new spir i tual continent. Ciurl ionis con-ceived oi the world in cosmic images, his thoughts hoveredin regions beyond the reach o[ ordinary people's minds.

But the great art ist could not afford to buy goodcanvas and paints so that his pictures could be longpreserved lor posterity. Now the cheap cardboard andpaper change colour and the paint disinlegrates. On theadvice of the best aulhorit ies in the restoration of painl ingsa new gallery has been buil t where the temgerature andhumid i t y i s kepL cons lan t a l l l he yea r round . A l o l o fci l iec Slul igart, Tokyo. Los Angeles and many olherswould be only too glad 10 have a travell ing exhibit iono f C iu r l i on i s s p i c ru fes . . . Bu t , reg re t rab l y , i l i s roo r i skyto move his fragile pictures irom their home.

Ciurl ionis was born on the banks of the Nemunasriver, in a small town of Var€na. The harmonv oi thesurfounding nature. lhe fr iendly atmosphere in the ia-mily, the warm-hearted relal ions among his parents, bro-ihers and sisters awakened his laient at an e;r ly age andslimulated hir soul s yearning for perfect l i ie. Th"'futur"art ist was the eldest o[ the eight chi ldren in the iamilyand he stood out among them noi only with his abil i i iesand intel l igence, but also with his mor€ sensit ive heartwhich was ready to respond to the pain and misery ofal l the people in the world. "When a man l ives among

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people, he cannot help doing good and his l i fe can neverbe worihlesg even if the man himself is worthless in theeyes of others," he wrote in one of his lelters home.

As a painter Ciurl ionis was active only for about sevenyears. He was in a hurry as i f he had a loreboding thathe did not have much t ime. " l paint and paint. I get up atseven, even earl ier, and cannot tear mysell irom thepaints. I have a lerr ible urge to paint. I work ior l0 hoursand even more. I don't know where t ime disappears, burit does I ly by and I travel along the distant horizonsot my dreamland which might be a l i i t le strange but Ileel good in i t ."

By his l i le and by whatever he created Ciufl ionissought to bring people happiness and beauty. But to himlife was rather 1ough, i t rankled his body and pressedhim io the gfound while his wings burnt with desire toI ly. " l ' l l muster up al l my strength and shoot up intolhe iree expanse. I ' l l l ly to the most distant cofners olthe world, 1o the lancy counlry oi eternal beauty, sunlightand Iairytaie, to ihe enchanled land, to ihe most beauti lulland on the earlh."

Ciurl ionis was enticed by the starry expanses and theunfathomable depth of the human spir i t . The sun, stars,grass'snakes, birds and bells t igure in many of his pic-tures. His fantasy took him to the cosmic expanses, to theworld ol vision and legend, but i t gre{, out of his naiiveland, i l \r ,as rooted in the lolk art tradit ions oi hispeople.

Ciurl ionis l ived at a period which was vefy hard toLithuania. The country was steeped in the Tsarist oppres-sion, the Lithuanian written language was prohibited, i tscultural l i le was moribund. The Lithuanian intel lectualswere deeply concerned about i t . " l am determined to dedi-cate al l my past and luiure work to Lithuania," the art istwrote to his brother. Bui i i rst he had lo earn acclaimhimsell. He took his works to St. Petersburg, the capitalol the Russian Empire, but there he lound starvaiion andpoverty and was struck vith a grave disease. His visionsand dfeams enabled him sometimes 1o lorget his ierr iblemisery and he found enough strength in himseli even to

l 7 l

comlort his younger brother: . ,please, don't abandon youf_.e l l . i o p -e \ im is l i c t hough t : . I I i ke l he v ie \ s p ropuga teaby the H indu fak i f s who ma in ta rned rhz r t houg l i t , -we rcl iving beings, bodiless and shapeless, an active'army tobe used by a strong-wil led man who can conqter evefy_thing with i ts help," he wrote. Not to give i ;-1his iswhat he said both 1o himself and to his lamity.

Ciurl ionis was one of the organizers oi the i irst Lith-uanian art exhibit ion, but his own unusual pictufesdisplayed there attracted very I i t e attention. prepirationshad to be started for a second exhibi l ion.

Bu l C iu r l i on i s wa . no l on l y a pa in le r , he wdn led Lolay i i rm founda l i ons fo r L i l huan ian na l i ona l muc ic aswell. He created music himsell and urged the Lithuanianstudents,and composers whom he met in Sl. petersburgto write Lithuanian music. He sent art icles to the paper!published in Vilnius where he expounded his ideas aloutthe cornposit ions oi Lithuanian music and programmesdesigned io popularize i t . Al l this he did with only oneaim in viev - to revive ihe Lithuanian spir i t and promoleits national culture.

. Bur his ! irenglh \[as ebbing away. MisundersLood bylhe world. depres:ed by his dreary ionelin"s., rhe grearcreator died keeping nothing for himself, having givenaway everything to the last drop -love, brotherhood andfriendship. In one of his lelters to his wite he wrote: . .1,dl ike to soar to the highest summits which could not bereached by the morlals, and make a wreath of the mosibeauti lul stars... Do you remember the t ime Nhen we weretaking a rest in the Oasis sit t ing in the shade of coconutfa lm5 . A l e r r i b je s ro rm wa , ga rhe r ing . a ho r r i b l ] heavyc rou0 \ ^as sp read lng a mou fn ing :h foud ove r t he dese r l .Bu t we were ca lm. l he re was a sm i le on you r l i ps rnda big l ion and l ioness were l icking your feet. I even re_mernber your exact words: Do you kno" s y we are nolarrarq. you sard, because even i i we die \Ihen our bodie5are exhausted. we wil l meel in lhe other world, and so i lw i l l be . you and l . f o r we a re E le fn i r y and In l i n i . ) . . .

Near lhe exit Irom the si lenr rooms of lhe Ciu;l ionismuseum the visitor l inds himsell in front of his g.eatest

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Dicture which is entit led Ret. A mysterious picture, con-ia rn ing a l o t o f symbo ls - the sun , I he moon . Lhe s ta rsan a l l i r and ange ls . . . A s t fugg le be tween l i gh t and da rk -ness. Two sovereigns of the kingdoms ol virtue and evi lseem to be wrestl ing for the burning Fire. When lookedat lrom a distance i i seems to be a piciure o[ our Clobewith i ts seas and continenis, and an altar at the centreWhat is i t? A cosmic vision or a coded prophetic mes'sage?

His pictures wil l be admired by many generations, thesounds of lhe sea and forest wil l l ive in his music f i l ledwith a strange sensation oi longing Maybe he came tooearly to lhis earlh. Maybe we are not yel worthy oi a ta-lent oi lhir magnitude and his arl. But the more he re-cedes to the past, the nearer we are to his a.t as i i hisgreatness could be appreciated only from afar.

The road from Var€na where Ciurl ionis was born toDruskininkai where he spent his young years is l inedwith wayside poles carved from oak by ou. folk art istsTheir ornamentation, f igurines and inscript ions make apasser.by slop, look around and admirc the land whichgavc l i lc to onc of the greatest geniuses ol the countryThe road bears Ciurl ionis's name and it leads to hismonument in the centre o[ Druskininkai, made by thesculotor Vladas VildZiunas.

Lithuania l ives in lhe works ol her wood carvers,weavers, knitters, polters... Through lhe long centuriestheir hands, cal lous and chapped, have been creating Lith'uanian art. Even in the blackest years in the historyof Lithuania their art expressed the longing ol the nationior truth and beauty, lor they knew that th€ dark oi thenighi is always fol lo!,ed bY dawn.

The crosses carved by Vincas Svirskis Only a hun-dred vears separate us from the man but we have forgotten b;th whai he looked like or where his gfave is. lnLithuania, just as in India and everywhere else in the

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world, folk arl used to be nameless, anonymous. Whatwas created by one man belonged to lLc nalron.

Vincas Svirskls began lo iarve irom wood when as ayoung boy he worked as a shepherd, maybe because hewas more delicate than his elder brothers. He took thechisel and never let i t go t i l l the moment oI his laslbrealh. He did not acquire any greaL possessions. he didnot even have his own house. He was shy and indifferentto money, pleased wilh whatever people chose ro gtve himIor his work. Al l his wordly goods wenr into; singlewooden box which he always carried along.

Several oi his brothers were ki l led in the uprisingof 1863 against the Tsarist oppression, but noihing coul;int imidate Vincas Svirskis: when the Russian Tsar prohib.i t ed the .use .o f_h i s no the r t ongue in w r i t i ng , he ; lwayscatveo Dotdly Lithuanjan \^ord5 on hrs crossc,, In noolhet way was he differeni from simple vi l lage peopleexcept perhaps for his exlraordinary vivaciLy. "He movedabout l ike I ightning, as i l he were charged with elecrriciry,..rememDers an oid woman kunl the r i l lage where Svirskistr ied to build a baloon so that he could soar to the skvIike a bird and see the earlh Irom high above at leasifor a short moment.

When his hands and his back began to throb withpain lrom work, he would read Li lhuanian books whichhe bought and then circulated clandestincly among people.H€ never worked on a Sunday. This was a daylor rest.Whcn the sun was sh in ing . he wa lked i n rhe I i c l ds andmeadows . Somet lmes he wou ld knec l i l nd rd i . c l t i . handsto thc sun in adoration as a pagan, lhen stand up andwalk on. Even in winter he would sometimes l ie;n thesnow and look at the starry sky. Many ihought himstrangc. Peoplc said, he could see even the ghosG oi thepeople who had recenLty died. White he \^ork;d, he woutdtalk to somebody, but who i l was nobodv knew for thevcould nol see anybody nearby

For his work he used to select thick branchv oakswhich he felt were a challenge to his [anla\]. He workedatone, in some remote place, further lrom the Deoole,'Whatever you do, do well. ' he u,ed lo say. ..Sorne people

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plough the earth, some turn their hands to some craft 'Everv work is sacred."

In his old age he grew sl i l l more reticenl and unso'ciable. But he iorked to his lasl day. 'This is going to

be my two-hundred{hir iy-f irst cross, the most beautifulo f a l l . . . "

There have been many other' lvood carvers in Lithuania'We do not knov everything about them, even about the

most receni ones. The perleit beauty of simple folk art has

been recognized ioo l i te. Many of those who crealed it

went to t ieir resting places leaving nothing behind but

their nameless art.One oi those whose name we do know was Lionginas

Sepka; also a strange man who chose a hermit l ike l i teal 'an earlv ase. When his beloved broLher died hi ' sister_in.law asied-him !o mrke a simple birch cross on hisgrave, but when she saw lhe result. she was outrageditrere and t len he resolved to erecl a really beauli iulmonumeni to his brother. He was lorty_three then

He went to l ive in a small bathhouse' "How good itwas to l ive in my dugout, hc srtd ycafs laler" 'Carvingali dav lons. al l aloni l istenrng Lo the songs ol lhe birdsana ai int<i ig in lhe smell oI the earrh l t was bl iss "

Sepka l ivcd-on vegctables, Iruit bread and watcr' Whenhii relatives broug-ht him food, they could not l tclp won-

de r ins how he s tood the co ld o i t hc w in te r ' .Bu [ I wasn t- ia

-t ut"a lo carvc oulsidc al l through lhc winler' I

would sit on the ihreshold and have a mcal ol potatoes'

Mv heart would be l ight and gay "Lirt le bv l i tLle more and more peoplc learnL ahoul the

strangc caiver who l ived in a bathhouse Many came

to see'him on Sundays, interiering with his work Wearyoi DeoDle's censute, his relativcs pulled down his bath-r 'n,- i ." tut the master relused to move to iheif house and

I i ve l i ke a l l peop le do . "When they pu l l r d down t r r y ba thhouse. I didri i so to lheir house l st.ryed outside wilh mystatues. There i slepi Then I decided 10 build myseli asmall log cottage. While I was building it ' the sun \ ' !asshinins ind no rain came As soon as I took my sculp_tures i ; , i t staried to rain "

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He was a sensit ive man and always l istened to hisinner voice: "Once when I l ived in the dug_out, I lelta stab in my heart: 'Don't go to bed tonighf i t seemed{o say. So l srayed up and }uddenly the foof caved in.I would hale been buried al iv€'.

The art ist ic world oi Lithuania soon learnl about thegifted folk sculptor. The art ists who visi led Sepka's placewere stunned by that sirange unseen world. Siacked oneupon another were the most beautiful and original, veryexpre.si!e sculplures: birds singing in lne tfees, orna.menred Doards with carved lext<. Their eves were im.medialely artracled by lhe organic blend ;f the monu-mental detai ls and the rich ornamentation. A great numbe,of smaller f igurines were "imply strung together.

Sepka was true lo his word and made beauriful monu_menls on his. brolher's and parenl, graves, grand sculp-tural eniembles carved irom Iinden riees with long leris.columns, trees and chains, To preserve lhe monumentsfrom lhe destructive elfect oi ihe natural elements. thevwere taken to a mu .eum. " l t hough t I made my . cu lp ru resror mysell . my own salisiacl ion, i t rurned oul I wa5 work.i ng i o r peop le . . . "

lvhen Sepka became old and weak and could no longerlook aiter himself, he was laken to an old peoole's hoimewhere he l i ved a r rhe expense o l t he . l a ie . t l <eemedlhe \ ^ood ca r re r .hou ld have been on l y roo g lad to l eavehrs asce t j c p r im i l i ve home lo r t he b ig l i gh r and c leanrooms w i l h runn ing ho r and co ld wa le r , f ad io . co lou r TV<e i . l i b ra ry . good i ood . . . Eve ry rh ing c r (ep r l e , ce anoqu ie lude . Jus t wha t Sepka ra lued mos l - l need ! i l ence .I hare no quiel, noihing gives me joy. I don l know mycelfwhere I am going. sitr ing. jying. I have no peace.. i Hetook to wearing dark glasses io create at least an i l lusionof seclusion. He would not take them otf even in bed.

Laler Sepka moved io Vilnius. He used lo carve sift ing in his bed, at the foot of which he kept a pitch forklo remind him oI his homeland as he used lo cal l hisnative vi l lage.

"I am not airaid to die. I t 's funny, bui I am notafraid. I could tal l dead just this moment... I do not

even cut wood fo. the next day. But who knows' we maylive for ever. . . I leel l ike a chi ld even now." The ari istdied in 1965 in his late seventies. His last wish was:"Please. oDen the window, I want to see the clouds andthe birds Jlying in the air."

the covir of lhe art book dedicated to this wonderfuliolk art ist depicts a detai l irom ihe monument on hisbrother's grave. It is a carving ol Christ 's head whichreminds oi the art ist himself,-the same deep wrinklesin the tace, ihe same thoughtful eyes looking down. Onlythe ha i r i s l onge r and the face i s more e longa ted . . l neverv other respect i t is a face typical oi many a Lith_uanian son ol ihe soil who has l ived a long and hardl i ie.

Not al l lolk art ists are as shy of people as Sepka wasOn the contrary, many of them are more cheerlul andcommunicative than any other ordinary man is When theycome together, there is usually fun and banter galoreSomeiimes they are invited fo come to work on a jointproject. Then they are provided with trees ior carving.iood and shelter. Inspiration, good humour and a chiselis everybody's individual responsibi l i ty Sunlmers areshoft in Lithuania. In two or three months it is impossibleto compleie a bigger projeci. Then the master carverscome together again the next summer. That is how uniqueensemb[s of oak carvings were made in Ablinga, thedisir ict oi Klaipeda, and Mil i tnai, the distr ict ot RokiSkis'to commemoraie the vict ims oi the iascist invaders. InNerinsa the folk art ists efected their wooden sculpiuresat thttop ol a hi l l on the shore of the Curonian Lagoonwhere old pagan ri tes used to be periormed. As the hi l lwas referred to as the Wilches' Mount, the art ists inhabitedit with witches. demons and other monsters. What inf ini ieresource and ingenuily! In the daytime when the sun issh in ing l hc scu lp lu re r l ook e \en i unny ch i l d fen a lonecan i i ;d them scary. Bui ar nighl lhey say i l s bptlef nolto walk on the hi l l alone

Recognit ion does not always come readily to art istswhose ait sprouts lrom the national tradi i ions Bul peoplear€ always thri l led when they ieel the throbbing oi the

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artist's heart in his work. This is how the Lithuanian poetMarcelijus Martinaitis describes the life of an artist:

Let's gioe us out to people lihe summerPiece bg piece and drop bg drop.Let's leatte nothing tor ourseloes,Let's gtue out ou smile in t endlg handshahes:Good morfiing, Gooil elefling!Let's gine us out to people [ihe a souceThat reaet runs ihg.Let's gioe us oul like the sun gioes out itsel'...And help ea.h othet lo collect our scoltered sek)es.But u)he| thete is nothing telt in us ony morc...Cood tlight, good night. . .

Translated by Daliia Tehorieni

To an Indian the Ganges is a holy r iver' At a weddingDeopte pour milk inlo i t and f loal f lou/er wreaths l t is'rt .o

rhi otace where lhe ashes oi lhe dead are usuallyooured in. Peoole take lhe holy waler ol lhe Ganges homcand svear by' i i . On a sunny day the waier oi the r iverlooks sreenish and transparent On a misty day it is greyand d;l t . Belore s!nrise i t shines I ike a polished si lvermirror which it is impossible to iouch with dirty hands'Ai sunset i t looks quiel, rei lective, ful l ol strenglh andgIandcur. l t is catl ;d Dasahara, that is, ten gods whoi,ash off ten sins. Thc four elephants which support the

ca r th come to ba the i n t h i s heaven ly f i vc r i n ro la t i onRising in the Himalayas this iurbulenl and transparenl

r iver beiomes slower and calmcr when it f lows acrossthe northern plains oi India There stands a beauti lulcitv known by t*o names, Hardwar and Gangadwara'Sohe distance away from it is Rishikesh, a clt ious l i t t leiown. and sti l l a l i t t je i lr thet away on lhe sun'baked plain

is Atiahabad, the birthplace of Jawaharlal Nehru and In'

dira Gandhi. This is the place where ihree rivers meet: the

Canges, Jurnna'Yamuna ;nd sarasvali which l lows under'sro,;d. Thor", at the conllucnce of these lhree riversiama and Sita met the wise bard Valmiki and, iascinatedby th€ beauty of the place, buil t themselvcs a home

A nlmber oi beautiful cit ies - Delhi, Agra, Mathura -

ha \e <p rung up on l he banks o f l he Jumna Some l imeslhe Canges ;nd Jumna l l ood l he fe r l i l e f i e l d> and l he su r_rolndin! vi l lages and then their holy water becomesa sea ol tears and misety.

There would be no India withoui the Ganges, whichis more than just a r iver oi pure fresh water coming from

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the,mountains. The Canges is amtita to the body and:.our 9l : .vely lndian. When rhe Aryans came lo lhe vallevrney Durtt_lemptes and sang hymns to the river. Evenrooay rhe_lianges is a r iver of myslic power Lo an lndianAno | l wr| De tor a tong l ime. Hindu l i leralure. Dhilosoohvand art were.born on the banks of the Ganges. f ie Gan!e.n€s. grown deep into the soul of the nation and i l isr i gh t tu l l y re fe r red l o as a heaven lv r i ve r .. Today, however, lhe waler of ih" Crng". i . no longer

cle€n and pure. The ciLies looming on its banks and th?rrrn0us t r res have po l l u led the r i ve r t o such an ex tenL i hd tIne.Department for the preservation of nalure wi,s forcedro oectarc Lhat lhe water of the r ivcr presented a dangefto pcop lcs hea l th . The p i l g r ims a lonc pa id no a t ten l tnro lDe prohibtl ion. Now lhc govefnment has srarLed a bicproject ot. cteaning the sacred f iver and iLs water i ioecomrnS lretLcr_

,, ffi", "(t!: ?il' ;: "l 5:',i"J','l;.lT:"" i"T" l; 1"; :Dottom ot th! r ivcr. Buddha gave people a new conceDtronor , | lrc, toLtghL against the slavery oi the casles an; thcrrcn. . laugnl others to I ive as he did, exlol lcd work andurged people Lo know thc rei l world. l- tc wished lhar al lpeople should I ive in pcacc, he dreamed ol a classlc5ssocrery lrec lrom pfejudice and supcrsl i l ions. Al that t imconry .a man o t an i ndomi lab le sp i t cou ld pub l i c l y say!",,ni:

piroi l l , . "Telt c,r 'erybody rhat arr peopie. rhe-pooian0 l he rumb le , t he r i ch and l he nob le , a re equa l . . . Bud -Ll lr-_yr..r. I", . afraid ro cha enge Hinduism and sry tharDroody ol lerjngs to the gods were not necessary andpeopre,shouid not wail passively for God s grace but tryan0 nelD themselves

Ramachandra divests himself of his clothes and wadesinto. the warm walef of the Cangcs. He wets his chesr,rorenead. l tolds out hjs hands palms upwards, clo,,es hiseyes and secms to freeze. I can see only his back. Si ingon the steps I try to guess what he is thinking about, whaiwords he is repeating in his mind. There;re a lol oipeop le a round bu l abso lu {e l y no no i se . . . When Rama-chandra gets out oi ihe walef, he urges me to 5tep in

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and \ 'r 'ash at least my sweaty face. I think he has a prettygood idea what I am thinking about. I remember only too;el l the warnings at home about the sanitary condit ionsin India. Perhaps they were not necessary. Europeanstravelled in India many mally centuries ago when theworld knew nothing about pi l ls or vaccinations, didn' ithey? But st i l l I cannol make up my mind for a longtime-lhe water near the bank is not invit ing at al l , iorin the foam among the plants there is a lot ol rubbishand some of i t , I must say, is not exacily aitractive. Butmy fr iend's weighty argument that no onc has ever ial 'le; i l l with cholera or smallpox alter washing in theCanges makes me more towards the water' OtherwiseRamachandra wil l make the conclusion that courage wasivoical onlv of the ancient Li ihuanians, and then, whok'nows, I miy never have another opPortunity of touchingthe water oi thc Ganges. I dip my hands into the waterand wet mv forehead.

There a'fe many things that make a European di l lercntlrom an Indian, a man who has been brought up in theOrieni. At f irst sight an lndian secms to bc passive, tooquiet and l ist less, a contrast to our people who are alwaysbusy doing something, and noving about whcn left aloneEurooeans do not know what thev should do with them_selvci and boredom makes them restless An Indian isabsolutely di l lerent. Take, ior example, Ramachandra, whois so childishly open, lul l oi fhe best intenlions to every_body , s imp le bu t a ! t he same t ime d ign i f i ed . He i ' neve rin i hu r r y , bu l he i s nevc r I a t c f o r any lh ing e i l he r . H i smovements ale lree. he has no mannerlsms, and neverlr ies to ingratiaie himself to anybody. He has no tear thathe might do or say something wrong

During my visit to India he tr ied to teach me how torelax and behave ireely, discard al l the masks in com'munication and concenlrate on the convetsation, how torest by relaxing the muscles ol my body. He could takea rest anywhere in the shade and do some breathingexercises in the presence oi everybody. But I lelt too awk_ward to do the same with him, for I could not get r id ofthe teeling that everybody was looking at me al lhough I

l 8 l

knew that, of al l the people, the Indians were the leastl ikely to pay any atlention to what a man was dolngin the street. Aiter such minutes oi rest Ramachandriwould ask met "Well, what were you thinking about?,,I wou ld s ra r l enumera l i ng my end les . l hough ta and rh i swou ld make h i5 b rown eyes l augh . . youd -be t l e r l ea fnto i h ink abou l one th ing a t a l ime . T ry to g ra ,p a l h reddrn you r l t r ough ts and pu rsue i l r o l he end . Then l r y no t l othink at al l so lhat there shoutd be not a single ihoughtin your head. At f irst i t 's diff icult but before you leirnto control_ your thoughts, your concentrai ion wil l do youli t t le good. No, no, don't wave your hand and don't iel lme you have no t ime ior that. Al l oi us can leafn to knowthe deepest depth of our soul. This should be done jm_mediately, without postponement. Now. This minute, lhishour. Al l through your l i le."

Here, a man twice younger than me, and I cannotsay tha t he i s w rong . . .

_ The-heavenly Ganga, the divine bread giv€f, drughterof old Himalayas, f lows from the heart of her lather.-Twomo]lniain r idges which give the Ganges to the hot plains,unfold the.most beauti iul val ley in the world. Happyare those who have seen i i ,

Bui we may say that the Nemunas is neafly as sacredto the Lithuanians as the Ganges is to the Indians. Itmeanders across Li ihuania and reaches the Balt ic Sea.It gives joy to al l the Lithuanians: Dztkians, Aukstait ians,Suvalkians and Zemait ians. There would be no Lithuaniawithout the Nemunas. Lithuania is often referred lo as thecountry of the Nemunas, the iand of the Nemunas.

When the ice caps melied and receded, they gougedout high and beautiful banks for this r iver, which otenwast expanses of green and yellow f ields, meadows andundulating hi l ls. A person has to visit a lot of counir ies,discover many lands beiore he can learn to feel andlove his native land and the spir i t of his iorelathers. No-

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body loves it mo.e than a person just back from ioreigncounlttes.

Sacred Mount Rambynas, covered with trees to thelery top. Here people celebrale ihe longest day and theshortesl night by feasling, dancing and singing. In oldenlimes a sacred f ire used lo burn under the oaks. Todayit is perhaps the spir i t ot these bygone days which al iractsDeoDle to ihe mount and the shade ol i ts old trees.-

Al the vi l lage ol Rusni, beyond Mount Rambynas, iheNemunas f lows inio the Curonian Lagoon, a large bay oiiresh waier separated ffom the sea by a narrow slr ip oiland. Earl ier i t was inhabited by the Balt ic tr ibe ol Kur'i iai {Curonians). Now we should cross the Coronian La_goon and visit Nida, a f ishing vi l lage on the narrow sandsir ip cal led the Curonian Spit, a unique place ot naturalbeauly.

There is no arable land or orchards on the Spit, onlysand and woods. The industrious hands ol the Li(huanianpeople have barred the way to the blowing sands, whichhave buried many a vi l lage, and have given l i fe io thegrecn carpet now slretching along the entire length olthat str ip oi Iand. From the top of the high duncs no-thing except the vast expanses oi water can be seen onboth sides, the sky touching the clean primordial landwhich the sun once turned into sand. Walking in the dunesis not easy, the feei sink into lhe sand and pull the bodydown bri i t makes the soul l ighi and serene.

After his visit to the dunes oi Nida Jean Paul Sartr.the iamous French writer. said: " ln Nida I discoveredCiurl ionis." Others who had seen a lot oi beauti iul Dlacesin the world, said that they had never thought such aplace oi amazing beauty and purity could exist in Eu-rope,

Maybe there was a t ime when the Nemunas f loweddirectly into the Balt ic sea and there was no sandy str ipand no lagoon between the sea and the continent. Neringa,the powerful and beauti iul guardian ot lhe [ ishermen,always kept a careiul watch over theif boats when theywent out far into the Balt ic Sea, which was sometimesrather hosli le and stormy. Once when hrge waves rose

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and threatened the f ishermen with sure death. Nerinsalook pity ot the men and lheir poor wives and childr;nwait ing for them with lanterns on the shore. She plantedher feet firmly on the shore, leaned torward as far as hergiant body would go and poured the sand irom her apronin lo the sea . and l h i s was how the sandy s r r i p appe ; red .

A lot of arnber has been mined in the Gintaras (ArnberlBay in the Curonian Lagoon. Amber is cal led Lithuaniangold and it has made Lithuania iamous al l over the world.Earl ier, people used to attr ibute magic poUers to amber,perhaps because it appeared mysteriously lrom the sea orperhaps because it felt warm on ihe palm and cxuded apleasant aroma whcn burnt. To thc Lithuanians amberreminded ol Fire and lhe Sun. Evcn now some womenbelieve that amber necklaces have a healing el iecl. andprevent certain diseases. Amber art i iacts, jewelfy anditems used in rel igious ri tes which have been excavatedon the site of former temples and bufial places bespeakthe high level of ancient Balt ic culture. Whcn the deadwere no longer crematcd but buried in the gfound, thebox placed at the dead man's head usually containcd apiece oi amber,

The f irst travellers who visi lcd the Balt ic lr ibes wrotethai there was so much amber that peoplc used it forluel. This is ce.tainly an exaggcral ion - the Balls burntamber on altars and used it as incense.

Having occupied the Prussian lands, the Order oi theCross appropriated the exclusive r ighis to the amberfound or mined on lhe shore. Anyone who found a pieceol amber and tr ied to sel l i t could be punished by dcath.There were special guards and groups of rnounted police,and ahe coast was spotted with gallows for the localpeople who slole amber. For more than a century p€oplewere executed for stealing amber in the prussian capi-l a t .

By the way, amber is also found in northern India.It is a l i t t le di i ferent irom Lithuanian amber and it iscal led bt1rmite.

There are al l sorts ol museums in the world but ambermuseum is a rarity. I t is located in Palanga, our

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coastal resorl. Thousands ol amber specimens oi variouscolours and shades, lrom vhite to black, some absolutelytransparent, some conlaining inclusions, such as iossi l izedinsects, grass blades and blossoms, are displayed in thepalace which belonged once to 3 r ich Lithuanian noble_man. Amber discloses very early natural history. The vis-i tor 's eyes are immediately glued to a reddish sPider ora blossom of an unknoNn tree which grew fourty mil l ionyears ago. Nearly every ioreigner who visits our countrytakes home at least one piece of amber jewelry, a me'mento, a fragment oi Jurate's amber palace...

The legend has it that Jl lrat6, the sea goddess o[unsurpassed beauty, who l ived at the bottom of the sea,used to come up to the sutlace to see how people lived.

Once she saw a handsome young i isherman, Kastytis.Her ever young heart trembled at his sight and she iel l inlove with this son oi the earth. More and more oltenthe goddess wished ihat the f isherman should catch herwilh his strong net and pull het into his boat. In thisway they spent many a happy hour togeth€r and saidmany a lervent prayer to Milda, the goddess ol love. Theytorgot who they were and this made Perktnas very angry.Was it possible that a goddess should love a man ofthe earth? He struck Jurata's palace wilh l ightning andreduced it to ruins. The waves rol led up the dead bodyoi ihe f isherman and a lot of broken pieces ol the amberDalace onto the shore.

Aiter evefy storm, lhat is, after every manifeslationof Perkunas' rage, the sea keeps bringing up pieces ofthe goddess'palace which people col lect and adorn lhem-selves with.

Regimenls oi crusaders used to march from the en-slaved Prussia northward along the coast oi the Bali icSea. They sought to join lorces wilh their accompliceson the Latvian terri lory. The Germans argued that the seacoast there belonged to them and gave Klaip€da, Lith-uania's only sea port, another, a German, name.

Lithuanians called the area on the sea coast LithuaniaMinor and never ceased to i ight for i ts l iberation irom lheGermans, Swedes and French... I t is impossible to thinkol Lithuania without the Balt ic Sea or KlaiDada.

Vydunas, a prominenl I igure in the Li lhuanian nation-al movement, was born in Lithuania Minor in 1868. Hewas to th€ Lithuanians what Ramakrishna, Vj\,ekanandaor Gandhi were to the Indians. His l i fe was de.'oled ionoble humanism, truth and justice, struggle against sla-very, concentration upon spir i tual l i ie, exploration of thedepth oi his own soul and the altainment oi lhe meaninqof the higher exislence. He was a srrong, ofiginal per.o:nali ty and he pursued a peculiar way oi l i ie. He abstainedfrom alcohol and was a vegeiarian. In this way, he remained active and energetic even in his old age. Oncehe is said to have challenged some young men to run a1oo-metre race. They accepted lhe challenge with mockerybut you can imagine their embarrassment when Vydinascame i irst.

His cultural activit ies and interests were verv broad.He was a wr i l e r and p laywr igh t -he has l e f t 3b p layc .He was also a musician: he founded a Li ihuanian Societvof Singers in Ti l te (Ti lcit) and direcled i l [or forry vears.he organized song fesl ivalq, .realed and harmonizedsongs. He was an active contributor to papers, publishedand edited journals himsell. He was a philosopher, hecreated philosophical theories and wrote philosophicaltreatises. He was the author of a n!mber oi historicaland l inguist ic books and dict ionaries, translated Goethe,Tagore. Kant, lhe Bhagaual-Gita. Vydunas wa< an rcrivel i gh le r aga ins l l he Cerman i r z l i on o l L i t l . uan id M ino r andhe mainiained that the Lithuanians could rctain iheir na-t ional character only by attaining a higher cultural andspir i tual nobil i ty than that of iheir oppressofs. Vydunaswas a very good lecturer on a variety oi subjects. FIisf iery words and lhe personal examplj of his noble l i teactivated the souls of his compatriots and resurreciedlheir moribund national consciousness. Those who cansti l l remember Vydinas say that he simply hypnotized hisaudiences, leading them ior hours along the labyrinths

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ot his thoughts and explaining complicated problems ofl i fe and philosophical ideas in simple words v/hich e\.ery-body could understand.

Vydinas grew under the ini luence oi German culiure,altended German universit ies, nevertheless, his aim oll i le was the f ight againsi Germanization and every kindoi national oppression. The iorms oi i ight he chose anddete.mined himself. From his wri l ten works i t may seemthat he had l ived in India for many years but, in fact,Vydllnas had never been in India although trom ihatcountry he always drew his strength, knowledge and wis-dom.

But Vydinas had a good knowledge oi Hindu philos-ophy, epic. and sacred writ ings. In his own journalDarbgmetis he wrote: "Wonderful ideas come from theVedas and Upanishads". The lact that Vydtnas was theIirst translator ol lhe Bhagaoad-Gila into Lithuanianshows whal great importance he attached to Hindu phi-Iosophy. The most acceptable to him were the ideas olNeo-Vedanta for they were lhe most suitable io th€ soulol every Lithuanian.

"Thefe is nothing more valuable than man himself.Everything must serve his growth," wrole Vydiinas,although he understood ihat man is only on his wayto lhe true spir i tual kingdom which in the €nd wil l comeio dominate this earthly l i fe. Man is imperlect but thereis a goodly port ion oi humanness in him which should bekindled and activated by al l possible means while man'smeanness should be control led and suppressed. Vydunasmaintained thal spir i tual ly man grows best when he him-self lakes care ol i t . tn the process ol his perfection manstimulates the spir i tual growth ol others passing the torchoi his exDerience and wisdom to another man who hasjusl awakened. "Wisdom is the l lame and human natureis the candle. When the candle is no good, the i lame isweak." To Vydrlnas, conscience was the l ight of wil l andthe core of decency. Like the Indian national movementleaders, Vydunas was convinced that the only way toresolve social contradicl ions lay through man's moral im-Drovement which could even lead mankind to social ism.

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Like the father ol the Indian nation Candhi, Vydinas dideverything to st imulate the national pride of the Lithu_anlans.

Vydnnas died in t953. He is buried in the FederalRepublic ol Germany, but Lithuania is wait ing lor nimand . Iook ing . f o r .a poss ib i l i r y o i t r ans le r r i ng h i s g raveIO nts naltve tand.

One of Vydiinas's pupils, Viktor Falkenhahn, I ived inlhe Cerm€n_ Democraric Republic. Encouraged by histeacher. Falkenhahn devoted al l his I i fc Io the sL;die"oi the Prussian language and culLure. Bclore t lre 2ndWorld War he wrole a srudy on Jonas Brctkunas, aI6th-century East Prussian writer and translator, one ofthe founders of the Li ihuanian lefters. Falkenhahn alsodevoted a lot oi t ime to the collection of malerials onBretki lnas. rhe priest oi Labguva, a Lirhuanian prcachcr,n Aonlgsberg,

. Fallenhahn learnt to speak Lithuanian at an early ageI rom the . L iLhuan ian ma id o i h i s pa ren l s . Then h i s I ; t h ; r ,a. secondary school tcacher in Eastern prussia, boughihim a Lithuanian textbook written by Vydnnas. In iheiorword ol the second cdit ion of this bdk Vidnnas thankcdFa lkenhahn io r h i s he lp i n i t s p repa ra l i on .

Vydunas wro te h i s ph i l osoph ica l wo rk en l i l l ed Coa-scloasness belore the lst World War. l-lere the authorexplains _the importance of consciousness, i ts degrees andexpands his conceplion of the essence of l i fe.

co,vsc/ous,vEssVieas on lhe essence of life

The hunan bodA, so tDonderlultg sltucluted, is bornlrcm a spech ol liting motteL Aitet pdding frcm itsmol.her it comes under the influpne ol th? sutrcundings@hich act on its senses, In this @ag conscious life deueto:psslololg but definitelA. All kinds of sensatiotrs appeot andthe child etpresses lhetu in one u)ag ot anotnet.

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From these sensalions emerges his consciousress'aleateness, all kinds ol Ieelings, inclinalians snd thenthe bith af thoughts, concepts, understanding, teasoning,.onlemplation and, at ltlst, self'kno@Ledge.

And then man begins to rcler lo himsell as'1". Hesaus he knouts his sensations,Itelings and thoughts u)hiahexist in his in1lard part. But'rera [e1! ash llrcmsek)es tehohe is @ho hna@s all lhis. Hots @onderful is this in@atdoatt of man @hich can hold in ilself so much! lt is amgslerg to us @hat hoppens there, but 1!2 must also asht!)hete lhis in@ard Parl is.

Ve also sag that the lehole @otld is gtusped bg man'saonsaiorsness, lhat rcnstiousness orises Jrcm uncon-sciousness. But nobodg can sa! hou) it dll happens. Somecleaer people adlJise us lo tr! and altain a greater clarilAabout it, as il man cauld a@aken a mote IucA aonscious'ness bu his o@n Po@ers alone!

(Jnconsciousness is conceit)eil of u a darh boundlesssea the deplh of @hich co tains something @hich becotuesli4ht. ...ft is tmpossible lor people @ith a more cleatmind to lioe and neoer shuddet at their Ioilute to undetstond theb exislence lahich theg teel is lAing in the unfa-thomable, mgsletious depth of unconsciousness and con'sciorsness.

Consaiousncss does nol appeor lrcm unrcnsaiousness-Vieued frcm another point, euerglhing toould be easierto etplain, especiallA il @e assume that un.onsciousnessis actuallU a concealed consciousness. And lhen, conscious-ness and, uncosciousness, Ilhich becomes cleorer in us'erptess sonething @hi.h forms their essence and u)hichto a man can be the high and lucid consciousness allhoughhc does nol undcrslond it- -

Consciousness and unconsciousness exert a po@etlulinlluence upon lhe thinking al the obsetting man Andthis atane orcues lhat both ol them constilute the basicelements oi life. The appearun.e of consciousness entdilslhp beginning ol the.rcatio4 and building ol the @orld

To-hate7 beltct i( lea abou! ow .ons(iousness lhispeculiat manifestation of us being cons.ious' @e 'ouLd'resor!

lo an image. Consciousness is oltefl compared to

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lighl. lusl as lhings bcrcne betler uisible in lish!. so theuDccome better kno@n lo a (onscious man. And-again, juilas"e-a,er"ylhing

,thal .e.rists erisls in spacc the contpni ol@htch lorms lhe uniuerse, so lhe uniaprse is enconpasseibg consciousness, Thus, consciousness ona Dght, conliiiiii-ness and space, consciousness o\d time Aincide oL atIeast, theA seem to be related.

2.

. .Verg olten people rpgard consciousness as a ce otnaddition lo lile. Ttue, it is nthet dilli.uu lo hate a ctealconceptton ol (ons(iousness betause @e seem to be looelo,se-to,i t . The,aonsttur!. ion ol ow thoughls ond thinhingaa4es ploces almost exalusiuelg aithln our consciousnessas tt teott! is. TlLeteJute u)e are onlA difi[! a@arc thalconsc@usness.is a prereguisite lor our thinking, hnolpledgeond euen off lile.

.Some people thinh lhis is a pointless dis(ussion. Con.sctousne.ss- lor them is onl! something unrcal @hich istnuented 0! ph,losophets, Ior lhe philosophers themselue,:i!!lt :"9

tDha{.il is although it is ctoser lo us than evenJ-I,htng etse tohich conslitutes liJe and lherclote @e shouidRnoto tt Oest ol atl

- - -There is,,hoaeuer,.one thing u)hich euergbottg ex peti-ences, .ond lhe signifieance of aonsciousness be(omes soc.teat lhat it can no longer be ignorcd. lt .an be descibedog one sentence: @hal man heeps in his consciousness for.^,::,i1 .a

!*: .onsidetable.t.ime acquies an euer grcsing

stgnqtcance lor him and al l his l i lelve.also kno@ onother impo ant lhing abaut conscious-

ness. tt can,be al l t ibuled to one or onother thing at man,spteasute Man Iearns to contrcl his allcntion 6r at teasthe shoutd tearn lo do so. Au?ntion is a pe.uliar alliludeol consciousness, But &)e speak here not so much aboutallenlion as consaiousnpss, Thc uerg aora mahes us dosome parliculot lhinhin o.

It is absotutelg cleal hat elerylhing that exists in oul{onsctousness os i ls @nlent lor some time, continues togrolo, Iloutash, acquircs po@et. capacitg o\d. fonten!. Thenolutal question is - hot!) and @hu is iI?

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, . .Vhen some citilization experiences a decline or eoendealh, lhe cause ol it is to be sought in the llepartue ofman's consciousness lrom it. The ciailizalion of ow limesErelt on lhe basis of people's atlention lo material thittgs'Therelore this culture is charactetized tirst oJ alL b! itsmaterialism, @hich aerts a ce ain inlluence upon people.The consciousness ol the people of our time is o'cupiedbu maletial lhinls lo such an P cnl tha! i l has suchedi; ot l th? oth;r httmon quati l iPs. The matPriol ism olthis culture qro@s and becomes heaoiet People no long'er control tiings, tohich come tumbling dou)n, almostctushing all humanilA.

Periaps the generutions @hich @ill sutoioe @ilL diecllheir consciousness lo other things @hich lDiLl grot! ondacquie o spetiol signili.ance in lifP Pethaps lile aill bebrightpr lhen, pcople @il l see I ieh! ond t ise lrcm theil,opttoitg to tha space of lheb essence. And lhen the! @iLLremembet thek humanness u)hich loill gro@ and acquircb! ilsell a ne ).rcattue significance in lhe @otld of things,but on o nets, Liting leuel.

3... .etetgthing seems to indicate that consciousness and

unconsciousness are troo extremes ol realitA.lll/hat the eges see, the hands grasp. There arc things

and therc is unconscious ess. But @hat theA exist in [sconsciausness. There .an be nothing else beside it. Bulon lhe alhet hand, in eaeta thing lhere is somelhingrlthich does nol belong to consciousness. But again' itmusl conlain consciousness, other@ise il uould not haoebeen born, @ould not haoe become a lhing

Both the erttemes gite bilh to @hat erists, i e to allthe uniterce, atl existence. Being cons.ious does not diflerlrom our ,onsciousncss bul being untonstious pcnPlrol?s'oLtr

rons(iousness ai lh al l i ls ?xpetiPnce Ftom lhis tsc

learn ta undetsland @hat consciousness is. From uncon-scioasness &re realize ourseloes as participanls in con'

Thus, @e understand aII the uni'Jerse as bolh 'onscious'ness and unconsciausness. lJ ncons ciousness exisls in con'sciousness iust as things perceited bA our senses exist in

l9 l

s.pace. But couldn,t it be that these t@o exttemes ol realitA&a|re one and the some oripin?

.. . .Therclorc i t mahes us rercgnizp that un@nsciot ls-,:e:s fu:t 9s l,me and space. oiginates in rcnsciousnessour not the othcr urag round. OnlA tha! slate ol beinsconscro,rs is incomparablA morc lueid thon the onc ahijma4tl?\rs i tset l thtough ou tonsciousn?ss. lve shouldtn:,nR ltot il creole-s unaonsriausness una ammasscs tn ilau sulJstanae.ond lorm in order to prcetaim existcnce ondt,nus create lhe obundancp ol thp uniu?rsp bet@een these

4.

^._:, ." / t4,1! ol t : ! " acts arcording !o the u,a! hp under.slan.as tr le. A b?t lpt undetstanding prcdutcs a beuet be-naa,tour an.d gtpatet. strcngth in mon. According lo his

:ili,istandine oJ tife. man oc(onmodates U^r;/. ,iiiarr nls.essenae, @ilhin the conlen!, pxistpnae and process

Bul.@e..should not think that man uLqutrcs a .et tatnunac.tsrandrng ol lile b! ac.epting opinions abou! i!. Monmusr, see,that tile rcallA is @hat it is thought Io be. gutne sn,o.utd not lorgpt that il is onty kno@kdAe about rcati-,!::::-n.:!^ otone is c^opabte ol acquiring-. Onty to him(-an rh.e two extrcm?s ol realitg mentioned abotti becomestgnq.tcant. and il also dcpends on t|hat hind of man

,-- ! : : , : : :1" Io t iue bg his rcason. But i t is atso impot-Iant u. tnot hls sensol ions are- Ve haae learnt !hat therco,re, inoisible l igh! rugs @hich mon pet.etues only astlarkness. Bul il our eges could see these rags, then per-

haps,-,lhe simple daglighl @outd be duRness to us ant!rne ule t$e p?treiue @ould be.ome dilfcrcn!.

. . . . .Onlg man's lash is much mote comptrcated thanolher trioiali.tks of lile. Not on!! his sensatiotts are im_p.ottant. to,his experiencc bu! also, ana even more so, a!!nts. rhtoatd.(ontpnl, ol l h is spir i tuo! l i le aM i ls p?.ul ia-rt,tcs,, Itut the mosl-.im.porlanl is lhe po@cr, man,s esscn(e,tohtch (onceiues all the inlotmation giuen b! his sensesrnrough his aonsaioasness, rolours i! toith his inner spir-

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ituaL states and innet spiritual content, antl Iorms emore or less ckar oqinion.

The @ag man conceites of lile and looks upo4 it Iscompklelg determined bg fta\'s indioiduolit!. Therc isno olhet possibiLitg. ln a similar @og, the erplonation oflhe unioerse bg consciousness ard tnconsciousness canproceed onla Ircm human indtuidualilg.

...EtetA man's attitude to lhe unioerse and his rela'liotl to tite depends on his ou)n peculiot nalure Nobod!can hate a tuore lucid underclanding of the @otld thanhis mental abilities petmil him to. The lact that all ottrIife is expetienced in ou consciousness does not Ldmltanglhihg else.

Thercforc nobod! can prooe &that is lhe most correctundetslanding of the \Dotld. What science has said aboutil concettrs onla lhe d.ilterences betlleen oarious @oAs ofundetslanding lhe @orld. Mankind is not matute enoughto eslablish degtees of correctness get.

5.lVhen ste trrt to comprchend something, @e pull a mor

sel trcm unconsciousness lo out consciousness and expandi! bu beinp con.. ious ol i t . l t can bc exenpli l icd bg lheoroi"t, ol^on's nult i l ion. Let 's.aa. Iaod is lahcn lrcmunconsciousness. Vhile eating it, man obsorbs it into thetife of his bod!. But hols il all happens man himselt doesnot hnont, although it has been proLted that ttan's con'scious attitude to the food he is ealing conl butes to itsbetter absarption inlo his lioillg bodg. ln this ltdg' foodbecames the .ontent of consciousness and, os if becomingmore alitre, accommodales itse$ into lhe lile of his bodg

A similar prccess tahes place in the formation ol ne',states of maad. At first they arc IeIl almost as some mani'feslations ol unconsciousness @hich @e etpetience. Alterstaging for some time i1 our consaiousness, theg becomeclearei and assume a greater importance in ou life.

The same can be said about Ieelings, motites' imoges'concepls. thoughts, etc. Eoerg man.a see ho@) a lhoughtbecomes clearet 1lilh e.)eta neq) attetnpt to ditect his mindlo it, ot hol! his inclinations and desires @hich he allolos

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lo stag in his consaloksnes. lor a longer lime, bccomesltonget and more lirmIA established.

...The most impo ant thing is to note that ik al! ourexpeflence consciousncss al@aus mahps unconsciousness,of IhtflEness, more lutid.

6.

- - . . lhe fa.e ol lh ls great l ! di t?tse @ortd is the tesul lol the corfclotion bel@een aonsciousn?ss and unrcnscious-ness. This torrclal ion lahes place not onl ! @ilhin moa bulatso in lhe @orld around hin. Eter!@here t)e tan seediftetenl degrees ol this corrctation,hicn nao" long Aiiitermed as natutal spheres, such as the sphere ol minerals,phnts, onitnals and mankind.

- In order to haue o more cottect ideo about lhe conlentol the @orld @e.mus! tpgatd nanhind as a sepo.ate lactot.rel . i l is _irnpo anl lo thinh of i ! os part ol natuie andall its liJe. The tela!ioa ol @hat is seporale to the uni-oetse should not be obscured bA grcundless opinions.rnt.s tetaton connot. be destrcy?d. Man is par! of lheuniverse, nalure. He belonos lo it-

7. -

Al l kinds ol neu.) lhings and possibit i t ies inside manare conceiaed ol in lhe same ea! a,s those in lhe su-roundlng @_otld. And lherc, more and more things ak,noented. lvonderful things ate knolan and used in oull[mes. Elect cltq, - inuisible tags, cosrnic tugs, rudiotoat'es, appatalus lot seeing an.l hearing oeer great dts-ranaes onat. ntan! olhers are euergda! phenoftena. Euerne@ .@eauh and resources ol ntneosurcd omounl arca,pehL.ng 0elote lhp ?!et-sear(hing ege ol man.

.t hus, man txi lh his aonstiousness and l ls a?alth standsbelorc lhe @eallh al lhe @odd- Theg seem to be entirclusepofa[e liues, Bul as soon as u)e rpmember tonstiousneslit-becomes clear lhat things of the @o d as the contenloJ aonsarcusness are trpalions of being con*rcus,

Loe-rglhing in lhe sutrcunding sorld becomes lhe con-lenl ol mah's consciausn?ss. ond euet| lhing frcm hisaonsaiousness beaomes the conlenl ol lhe worl-d, IS so^eIhtngs al the @orld. @er? nol knoetn to man, lhal m?ansthot lhea did not exist in his consciousness. Onlu s)hen194

the! are approached b! man's consciousness do the! be'come pa ot the contetlt of his conscious\ess. Thetehl liesthe @o\det of this all.

Frcm lhis @e can surfiise that @hat does not existin tuan's consciousness is not unconsciousness bul some-thing lhot man does not knoto. The [acl that man doesnot knot! about certain things protes onl! the limitedpossibilities of his ^qeience. Mo|'s cons.iousness isusuallA tuther nafto@, its light is poor. This is becauseaonsaioasness is slifll! suslained on uncons(iousness,lhing.ness.

Aboae human thoughls, therc is aholher degrce olconsciousness. Bul il is nol unh)ersallg hnotu)n. Onlg sagesspeoh oboul it. Usuall! it is belieoed thol the inner li[eol man is the &thole complei( of his perconalitu and itremoins conslanl as il @as ance Iotmed. But it is \ot diJ'licull lo see lhal lhe consciousness of mot is not separated lrom his bodg, lrom his moods and also lrom hislhaughls. Each ol lhese sphercs is a particular degreeof consciousness and, @e should sog, a parliculot sort olit t)hich enlighlens nlan's consciousness lo a grealer orsnwllet degtee.

. . .Consciousness is lilled 1lilh lhe cc,nlent ol its sotl.Bul it is not onla possible for man lo roise his conscious'ness from one degtee ol being conscious to aaothet but ilis also his oim lo do so. People tsho can do it, hnov) @elllhe aforesaid degtee of highet consciousness.

...Tlen i l is impotlan! lo undetsla d lhal monsconsciousness alone as it is usuallg hnolln does not con'sl i tute the essence ol man.

The asphalt road meandefs paral lel 10 the Nemunasriver. I ts southern bank borders on the present regionoi l(al iningrad, former prussia (Lithuani/ Minor). wherevyduras lought 50 bit lerly iof rhe pre<ervaiion oi Lith-uan ran cu l tu re and sp i r i t .

I t js enough to go do\,n lhe Nemunas ri \ .er as far asihe Curonian Lagoon, cross the sand dunes and you cansav you have crossed the Lithuanian land along its mainwaterway. But there is more oi Lithuania than ihat, andif you.wanted to see it al l , your lr ip would lake muchmole tlme.

I have no idea how many days i l would lake to walkround India, but some time ago a group of zealous andper : r s ten t h i ke rs wa lked round L i l huan ia i n 45 days .

Li lhuania ir nor a big counLry lhough rhere are 30s ta les i n l he \ ro r l d whose a rea i s e !en sma l l e r . Bu r i sthe greatness ol a state measured today by square miles?The area oi Lithuania is a I i t t le smaller than the HimachalPradesh state of India.

.-^The.geographi-cal cenlre of our republic is Iocaled alrouu k ometres lrom lhe zero meridian oI Creenwich,4000 ki lomelres from the North pole and more than 6000kilometres from the equator. The distance to India is lhesame.

Il we asked the i irst Lithuanian we meet \r,hat Lith-uania is to him, what a variety oi answers we woutdhear! Everyone has his own Lithuania just as every In-dian has his own India, the one which exists in his ioul.The Cediminas Castle, St. Anne's church, the AuSra cate,the old campus of lhe Universi ly oi Vi lnius, the perktlnasHouse and the Ciurl ionis Museum in Kauna5, the hi l l forts

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of KernavC, the Stelmuze oak, Mount Satri ja, TrakaiLakes . . .

But f irst of al l Lithuania means Vilnius. i ts third caD-i t a l a l l e f Ke rnavF and T raLz i . Thc caD i ta l . t he sea t ; fthe Crown, the seat ol culture and l ight dominating thenatron,' [he cenlre and symbol of the Lithuanian capital is theCediminas Hil l with the castle tower at the top. Whocan say now when Vilnius was born? The olf icial date of1323 has been pushed back considerably by the recentexcavations in Cediminas Square. Archaeologists are goingto write a new birth cert i i icate to the cirv.

On lhe p resenL {e r r i r o f y o l rhe V i l n iuc cac r le where i heserpenline Vilnia joins the Neris, the major tr ibutary ofthe Nemunas, a fort i f ied setl lement exisied as iar back asthe lst mil lenium B. C. The place was very good fordeiensile purposes. The Upper Castle stood at the top ofthe hi l l , the Lower Castle nestled at i ts foot. When inthe lsth century i i f€ deslroyed the wooden Upper Castle,Grand Duke Vytautas had the castle rebuil t ol stone andbricks. I ls ruins have survived to the present day.

The beginning ol ihe ci ly is associaled with half Iegend,half real i ty. This is how i i is described in the Lithuanianannals, the Bykhovets chronicle of the l6th century:

"Soon Grand Duke Gediminas went on a hunt fourmiles lrom Trakaii on ihe Vilnia r iver he found a beauti l l lhi l l . There, at the iop of the hi l l he saw a huge beast,an aurochs, and ki l led i t . Since that t ime the hi l l hasbeen reterred to as the Hil l ol the Aurochs. As it was toolate to go back to Trakai. he put up lor the night in theSvenlaragis val ley where the l irst Lithuanian Grand Dukeshad been cremated- At night he dreamed he saw an jronwolf standing at the top of the hi l l which was called theCrooked Hil l and now is known as the Bald Hil l . Thewolf was howling as i f there were a hundred wolves insidehim. The high priest Lizdeika said: 'Grand Duke, the ironwolf means thisr i t is the place where the new capitalwil l stand, and the howling inside the wolf means thatthe lame of the capital wil l spfead al l over tIe wor1d.'The next day Grand Duke Gediminas did noi leave the

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place bui sent people and had them build the Lower Castlein the Svenlaragis val lev, and the second castle at thetop of the Crooked Hil l now known as the Bald Hil l , andhe gave these castles the name ol Vi lnius."

Lizdeika's words came true, the lame of the city ofVilnius and Lithuania spread far and wide. In the l6thcentury the German cartographer G. Braun printed a pan-oramic plan of Vi lnius in Cologne and described theIife of the cit izens on it in this way: "Vilnius, the capitaloi the Lithuanian Duchy. The ci iy is r ich, big and ol afamous name... The f ields yield big crops so that hugeamounts ol corn are taken by sea to Gdansk, East Fland-ers and there sold very quickly... The counlry rears largequantit ies ol calt le and draught animals, therefore ihereis a lot of dajry products, meat, domeslic and wild iowl.They have neither grapes nor olher kinds of sweel lruitlrees, blt they collect a lot of wax, hemp and honey.When in September they take honey out oi beehives, theynever let any man pass by withoui giving him a pieceoi a honey comb. They also inviLe more distant neighboursor go to their places themselves with this preseni, thinkingand being quite sure thal i i they did not share the honey,which God had sent to them in such great amounts, withothers, they would not have so much ol i i the next year.The ho .p r l a l i t y o f l he i nhab i ran lq o f rhe . i l i es i s no 1e . . . . .

Vi lnius grew and became more and more beauti lul.Craftsmen and builders came there lrom various countriesand created its beauty. Al l the Eu.opean architecturalstyles (Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Classicism) havebecome an integral part oi the city.

In the square at the foot of the Gediminas Hil l standsa tal l bel l lry buil t on the place of a pagan t ime-measuringaltar. The chimes of the bell fry clock now seem ro Decoming irom the olden t imes, from the pfiests'tower oithe temple oI Perkunas in the Sventaragis val ley. TheIegend says it was pulled down when Lithuania accept-ed Christ ianity and a Cathedral was buil t in i ts place in1387.

The present cathedral with the Dofic columns was buil tin the 18th century by the well- l(nown Lithuanian alchi-

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tect Laurynas Stuoka-Gucevidius, rMho was a son oi a serland whose art isl ic abil i t ies had atlracted the atiention olr ich patrons of art. The bas-rel iei at the top of the facadedepicts Noah giving olferings to God in grati tude ior hissurvival in ihe Deluge, just l ike the f irst man Manu whoafter the recession ot the ocean made the l irst puja andstarted the human race, that is the dynasties of the Sunand Moon. Both cxlerior and the inierior oi the calhedralconlains a great number of art objects, sculptures, ires-coes, canvases, tomb plaques. The most beauli lul and lu-xurions pafi of the interior of the caihedral is St. Casimir 'schapel buil t in honour oi Li ihuanian Prince Casimir wholived in the lsth cenlury.

Some time ago during excavations under the cathedralLi lhuanian archaelogists discovered ihe remnants of theancient Lithuanian temple, i ts altar and the pit of lheoflerings. Thesc discoveries wil l introduce corrections inthe datc ol the birth ol thc ci ly.

For the thrce poslwar decades the cathedral hadhoused a picture gallery, In 1988 ihe cathedral was retur-ned to the believcrs.

On the bank oi the Vilnia stream the graceful lowerso f S l . Annes chu rch reach ou t l o f t he sky :When in 18 l2Napoleon crosscd Vilnius on his way to Russia, he wascapiivatrd by the beauty oi this Cothic church and saidthat i f the could he would bear this wonderful constructionol the I6th century to Paris on his own palm. Togetherwith the Bernadine church it real ly makes an exquisitelypicturesque ensemble.

St. Nicholas' church is the oldesl church in Vilnius.It was also buil t in Gothic slyle in the l4th centuryat the crossroads oi trade routes. Today it slands in aquiet lane in the Old Town.

SS. Peter and Paul 's Church, buil t as many other Lith-uanian churches at the place o[ a iormer pagan temple,is reierred to as the East European gem oi Baroque.Earl ier there had stood ihe temple of the goddess Milda.The interior oi SS. Peter and Paul 's Church conlains 2000sculptures, and no two sculplures are al ike. The faCadeis also very original. I t is di i i icult to describe adequately

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such architectural monuments, they ought to be seen withone's own eyes.

The old campus of Vilnius University, established in1579, is locaied oif cediminas Square. It occupies a wholequarter of the Old Town. But some of i ts facult ies areIocated now in oiher parls oi the city. The Universi lyhas 14 [acult ies, over a hundred departments, a botanicalgardens, a cl inic, an observatory,

Vilnius University was restruclured several t imes, i twas closed and opened again, i ts circuitous and unevenroad reflecting the zigzags of Lithuanian history. The Un!versity has always been ihe most important seat of lear-ning and culture, the Alma Mater to many an enlightenedman of Lithuania. By its academic and scientif ic standardsit has always equalled ihe best European universi l ies.

On Oclober 9, 1986 Vilnius Universitv was awardedthe European medal ior lhe presefvation o[ monuments,This medal is usually awarded for the besl preservationand adaptation to modern uses oi historical bui ldings oigrear archllectural value. lhefe are only lwo univeri i t ie.in the world which have been awarded this medal, lheother one being Dublin university.

The old campus ol Vi lnius University was buil t iromthe l6th to lgth centuries. I t encompasses 12 closed cour!yards. One of them contains St. John Church the interioroi which is very beautiful. Now it houses a mlseum oflearning and science the exhibits of which cover theentire hislory of ihe University.

In the OId Town of Viinius, vhich is the larsest inEast Europe. there are a lor ol valuable buildinss ofun ique and i n te re5 r ing a rch i roc lu re . ove f a thousa ;d o fcultural monlments. The Old Town of Vilnius is an int i ,mate pari of the city, criss-crossed wilh a maze of narrowserpentine streets,

After doing the sights of Vi lnius Jai Prakash Bharti ,editor oi the most popular chi ldren's journal in IndiaNandan, said quite an inter€sting ihing: the streeis in theOId Town of Vilnius remind of the stfeets in ihe Old Townol Delhi and even the old cobbles in some places are oiihe same size and shape as ihose in Delht.

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Although Vilnius is really much smaller than Delhi andit wil l be quite some time belore i ts mil l ionth cit izen isborn, i t is impossible lo tel l everything here about Vilniusjust as i t is impossible to visit al l the most interestingplaces in Delhi.

The old gate in the ancienl defensive wall referred toas the AuSra Gate would take us out of the Old Town.But lei 's not hasten to do that. In the upper part of thegate there is a beautiful chapel buil t in the l8th century.The steep steps take the visitof to an exquisite Renais-sance canvas of Madonna painted by an t|nknown art istof the l6lh century l tal ian school. A hundred years laterthe local goldsmiths covered the Madonna wilh a si lvergi l t leaving only her face and hands uncovered. In thelTth century Carmelite monks proclaimed it to be a magicprclure.

At the loot of the stairs a narrow passage takes the vis-i tor into the interior oi St. Teresa's Church buil t in theITth century. Al ler a i i fe in the l8Lh cenlury i ts inleriorwas decorated in rococo slyle.

Ages speak 1() us in this si lence. And every personof a noble soul can hear i t . The heavenly beauty inspiresawe and wonder. Whose wonderlul hands laid thesebricks? Whose wonderful thoughts directed those hands?

We come from there. This is our Dast.It feels good 10 say this to a fr iend when I sce him

ofi leaving Vilnius.

The bulky building oi the observatory which was con-structed several centuries ago sti l l stands in the verycentre of Delhi, compl€te with the ascending steps, col-umns, foundations, ditohes and wells. Bul the present-dayaslronomers have l i t t le need for the building for they havenew premises, sophist icated technology and powerfultelescopes.

Ramachandra has come here a l i t t le earl ier than me.and through the thick widely spaced palm trunks I can seehim walking along the smoothly paved paths with a parcelin his hands.

ml

This afternoon we are saying good-bye to each other.Usually talkative and l ively, he looks now melancholyand even a l i l t le sad.

"Rama," I say in a l ight tone, " l fr 'hy are yo! so sad?Didn't you tel l me that Indian wisdom teaches to takeeverything calmly, for everything that happens to youis your karma?"

Rama s ighs and unwraps l he pa rce l ."Take it . This is a statue of Vishnu which our family

worships, Ior Vishnu - and Mithra - are the prophets olthe new e.a. I 've brought i t from my vi l lage to guard myroom. From now on, may ii guard your house. Promiseme that when you come home, you l ight a sl ick ol incensebelore i t and, while i t burns, you think about India andthe hours ve spent together. I 've bought a lot of incensesticks 1o keep you busy lor a long l ime."

Swaying high above our heads, the branchy crownsof the palms reach up to the sky, which is so dazzinglyblue.

Our last tr ip in a small bus across the capital to theiniernalional airport. Our last minutes on ihe lndian soilthis t ime. Our larewell tour oi the streels oi Delhi.

I t seems such a short t ime since we landed down inIndia. Down there, against the yellowish green backgroundtwo rivers - one wider than the other - seem lo be comingtogether. From above it looks l ike lhe si lhouette of a hugeman w i th a huge head , a rms and wa is t . . . I I i s l ong i i nge rsseem 1() be stroking the scorched tortured land, thirsty lorrain. I know now why the lndians say that precious stonesare lormed in the bowels of the earth irom people's suf-ferings and why thefe is such a lot oi them in India.

So what is India l ike? The India of today. The Indiaoi yestefday and tomorrow. Side by side with the giganticplants you can see the tent oI a craftsman under a tree;next door to an impressive structure designed by Corbu,sier or any other lamous architect you can see a poorthatched hul; next lo a Iuxurious automobile walks anelephant or a camel ovefburdened wiih loads, a sweatyrickshaw.

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India is in a hurry to compensate ior what i l has lost,i t tr ies to keep hunger and poverly away from its doorstep.Deep down in my heart there is a morsel ol pity for thatold India which is receding inlo the past. There are twoIndias today: one which develops and produces man-madesalel l ires oi the earth. eleclronic devices, ocean-going ves-sels, airplanes and cars, India which atlends colleges anduniversit ies; and the other one which sti l l sings Vedichymns in the shrines, washes and feeds god idols, givesmilk to snak€s, offers r ice, i lower pelals and dances togods . . .

Jawaharlal Nehru was righl when he said that in orderto conquer starvation and misery, the lndians must buildshrines oi science and scholarship. He l ikened constructionsites to places of worship where people ofiefed their work,the most signi i icant ol al l lhc oflerings, to their future.

Therc is India in Li lhuania as well. That is the nameof a vi l lage. It is di l f icult to trace now how the vi l lage gotits name. More lhan a hundred ycars ago our historianSimonas Daukantas wrole in his book The Charccter ollhe Ancienl Lilhuanians, Auh'taillans ond Zemailians:"The Lithuanians were called Indians becausc Deoole be-l i eved the c to r i e . wh ich 5a id l ha l L i l huan ians ; r i g ina tedin India, and thus were similar to thc Indians in theircharacter, way ol l i le and faith." The idea of the kinshipbetween thc Lithuanians and Indians reaches down inloa remote past. The f irst Lithuanians visited India in thelTth ceniufy. But the secrel has remained.

I visi ied lhal Lithuanian vi l lage bearing the name ollndia. I walkcd down a steep slope and lound myself ina closed valley with a swift stream, cal lcd Akmena, run.ning in the middle- I was shown a path which led to themound bcaring lhe name oi India. The evening sun, thevalley ot the r ivef which seemed to be cut ol i irom theouter world, the swiit stream rol l ing i ts waiers merri lyover lhe pebbles made an indelible lmpres\ion upon me.The place was ful l ot indescribable serenity and almosta sacred peace. In that bl isslul patch of Li lhuania I sawthe vision oi the oth€r. distant. India.

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