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DESCRIPTION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHARACTER, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PEOPLE OF INDIA. 
 
 
 VOL. II. 
 

 ■ A 
 
 f 
 
 ✓ 
 
 t 
 
DESCRIPTION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHARACTER, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PEOPLE OF INDIA; 
 
 AND OF 
 
 THEIR INSTITUTIONS, 
 
 RELIGIOUS AND CIVIL. 
 
 BY THE ABBE J. A. DUBOIS, 
 
 MISSIONARY IN THE MYSORE. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH MANUSCRIPT. 
 
 wxx/wvwvwvw 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 W\iVWVWVWWV 
 
 PUILADELPHM^ 
 
 PUBLISHED BY M. CAREY AND SON, 
 
 so. 126 , CHESNCT-STBEET. 
 
 1818. 
 

CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE SECOND VOLUME. 
 
 PART II. {Continued.) 
 
 OF THE FOUR STAGES IN LIFE OF THE BRAHMANS. 
 
 CHAP XXVII. Page. 
 
 Death and Obsequies of the Brahmans - - - 9 
 
 CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 The Ceremonies practised by the Brahmans for the Dead, af- 
 ter the Obsequies - - - - - 19 
 
 CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 Of the Third Condition of the Brahmans, that of Vanaprastha 
 or Inhabitants of the Desart - - - - 29 
 
 CHAP. XXX. 
 
 Rules of the Vanaprasthas - - - - 36 
 
 CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 Of the Sacrifices of the Anchoret Brahmans ; particularly the 
 Yajna - 44 
 
VI 
 
 eONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. XXXII. I^age. 
 
 Of the Giants, the Adversaries of the Anchorets - 52 
 
 CHAP. XXXIII. 
 
 Opinions of the Hindu Philosophers on the Nature of God, of 
 the Different Beings in the Universe, and particularly the 
 Soul ---..--56 
 
 CHAP. XXXIV. 
 
 On the Influence of Penitence in purifying the Soul ; and on 
 Purification by Fire - - - - - 65 
 
 CHAP. XXXV. 
 
 Of the Learning of the Solitary Brahmans, and of the Epoch 
 of the Flood 72 
 
 CHAP. XXXVI. 
 
 Of the Magic practised by the Vanaprastha Brahmans, and 
 still in use among the Hindus - - - 81 
 
 CHAP. XXXVII. 
 
 Of Sannyasi, the Fourth State of the Brahmans: the Man- 
 ner of Inauguration and the Rules - - » 92 
 
 CHAP. XXXVIII. 
 
 The various Duties of the Sannyasi, particularly Contem- 
 plation ..... - 98 
 
 CHAP. XXXIX. 
 
 Of the Funerals of the Sannyasi Brahmans - - 107 
 
CONTENTS. VU 
 
 PART III. 
 
 RELIGION. 
 
 CHAP. I. Page. 
 
 The Origin of the Triniurti, and the Primitive Idqlatry of 
 the Hindus - - - - H3 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 The principal Festivals of the Hindus, particularly that of the 
 Pongol or Sankranti - - - 133 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Of the Temples of the Hindus and the Ceremonies there prac- 
 tised - - - - - 148 
 
 CHAP. IV. ' 
 
 Of the principal Divinities of India * - - 195' 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Of the Worship of Animals, and that of the Bhutas or Male- 
 volent Beings - - - - 215 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Of the Pariahs and other Inferior Casts of Hindus - 227 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Of the Metempsychosis. The Hindus the Inventors of tlie 
 Doctrine. Causes and Number of the Transmigrations. Of 
 the pains of Hell and their Duration. Abodes of Bliss 258 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Exercise of Justice, Civil and Criminal - - 279 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Of the Hindu Fables 
 
 290 
 
Vlll 
 
 CONTENrs. 
 
 CHAP. X. Page. 
 
 Hindu Tales - 297 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 Of the Military System of India 32Q 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 On the Sect of the Jainas, and the Principal Differences be^ 
 tween them and the Brahmans 
 
 359 
 
A 
 
 
 DESCRIPTION 
 
 OF 
 
 THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, 
 
 PART II. 
 
 C Continued. J 
 
 OF THE FOUR STAGES IN LIFE OF THE BRAHMANS. 
 
 CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 Death and Obsequies of the Brahmans, 
 
 THE decease of a Brahman is attended and followed 
 by such a number of foolish and ridiculous ceremonies, 
 as clearly prove the determination of that sect to outdo 
 the rest of their countrymen in this as well as in all other 
 things. And indeed they are not at all rivalled, in re- 
 gard to rites performed for the dying and the dead. We 
 shall first briefly mention such as accompany the agony, 
 and then such as follow the death. 
 
 When it is evident that a Brahman is in extremity and 
 has but a little time to live, a space is prepared with earth, 
 well spread with cow-dung, and strewed with the holy 
 herb of Dharba ; over which a cloth that is pure is 
 stretched. By this is understood on the present occa- 
 sion, a cloth which has neither been worn nor washed in 
 suds. The dying man is placed upon it at his full length, 
 
 VoL. II. B 
 
40 
 
 DEATH AND OBSEQUIES. 
 
 and another pure cloth is wrapped round his loins. 'I'his 
 being done, they ask his permission to perform upon 
 him the ceremony of expiation ; which is to be made by 
 the Purohita, assisted by the chief of the funeral, lliis 
 appellation is given to the person who, by proximity of 
 kindred, or by the customs of the country, has the charge 
 of conducting it. The dying man having given his con- 
 sent, the chief of the funeral brings on one plate, some 
 small pieces of silver or copper coin, and on another, the 
 Akshata, the Sandal, and the Panchakaryam. The Pu- 
 rohita pours a little of this last into the mouth of the sick 
 man ; and by the virtue of that nauseous draught the 
 body is perfectly purified. But this does not supersede 
 the general cleansing called Prayashita. This is accom- 
 plished by the Purohita and the chief of the funeral go- 
 ing up to the dying man and making him recite with- 
 in himself, if he cannot articulate, tlie proper Mantas ; by 
 the efficacy of which he is delivered from all his sins. 
 For this reason, the ceremony is called Prayashita or 
 general expiation. But how shall we gravely describe 
 tlie next ceremony ? A cow is introduced with her calf. 
 Her horns are decorated with rings of gold or brass, and 
 her neck with garlands of flowers. A pure cloth is laid 
 over her body ; and thus bedecked, she is led up to the 
 sick man, who takes hold of her tail. Mantras in the 
 mean time are sung, the prayer of which is that the cow 
 would conduct him, by a blessed path, to the next world. 
 He then makes a gift of the cow to a Brahman, in 
 whose hand a little water is poured while he accepts the 
 present ; which is the ordinary ratification of a gift. 
 
 The donation of a cow, which is termed Godanam^ is, 
 in this crisis, of indispensable aid in helping the soul to 
 arrive, without accidents, at the Yama Lokam^ or the 
 
DEATH AND OBSEQUIES. 
 
 11 
 
 world of hell, which has Yama for its king and lord. In 
 this progress they come to a river of fire, which all must 
 pass after death. Those who have made the Godanam, 
 or the gift of the cow, to a Brahman before they die, are 
 met by one of these favoured creatures from the dwelling 
 of Yama, the moment they arrive at the bank of the 
 stream ; and by her help, they are enabled to cross, with- 
 out injury from the flames. 
 
 The Godanam being ended, a distribution of the 
 pieces of coin is made amongst the Brahmans present ; 
 and their value united should amount to that of the cow. 
 
 On this occasion also, are prepared the Dasa-Danam, 
 or Ten Gifts, (reminding us of the Latin Dona,) 
 
 to be distributed on the day of the funeral, which is con- 
 jectured not to be far oft'. These ten presents consist of 
 the following articles : cows, lands, millet-seed, gold, 
 butter, clothes, grain of various kinds, sugar, silver, and 
 salt. Such costly gifts offered to the Brahmans, being 
 very acceptable to the gods, will accordingly secure to 
 the dying man a blessed world after his death. 
 
 It is fitting that a Brahman should die upon the ground, 
 not on a bed, nor even on a mat ; and the reason is this : 
 his soul being disengaged from his body must enter into 
 another, which will carry it to the world that is destined 
 fork. And if he should die in his bed or on a mat, he 
 must carry with him these moveables wherever he goes ; 
 which would be very tormenting. If, on the other hand, 
 he should happen to die, by any accident, in a different 
 way from what has been here supposed, a much more 
 liberal distribution of presents, and a longer tract of cere- 
 monies would be required to get him extricated from 
 burdens attached to him. This absurd and ridiculous 
 idea, in which the Brahmans are educated, has given 
 
IS 
 
 DEATH AND OBSEQUIES. 
 
 rise to a curse very common among them, when they 
 quarrel ; namely : “ mayest thou never have a friend to 
 “ lay thee on the ground, when thou diest.” 
 
 As soon as the breath has departed, all who are pre- 
 sent must weep for a reasonable time, and join in lamen- 
 tations, in unison, and with a melancholy air adapted to 
 the circumstances. , 
 
 The chief of the funeral then goes to the bath, and, af- 
 ter ablution, closely shaves his beard and mustaches ; 
 makes a second ablution, to cleanse him from the pollu- 
 tion contracted from the touch of the barber n ho shaved 
 his head ; and indeed, on all occasions, ablution must fol- 
 low the contact of the barber. The conductor, on his 
 return, brings several things to the dead body ; and 
 amongst others a piece of pure cloth to serve as a hand- 
 kerchief for the deceased, and fire for the sacrifice of the 
 Homam, which he himself offers up without delay. 
 
 After these introductory ceremonies, the corpse is well 
 washed, and the barber is called to shave his head, and 
 wheresoever else hair grows. He is invested with his 
 finest clothes, and decorated with all his jewels. He is 
 rubbed with sandal where he is uncovered ; and the ac- 
 customed mark is affixed to his forehead. Thus dressed, 
 he is placed on a species of state bed, where he remains 
 exposed until the preparations are ready for carrying him 
 to the pile. 
 
 Every thing being in order, the chief of the funeral ap- 
 proaches the body ; and, with the assistance of some re- 
 lation or friend, strips it of its clothing and jewels, and 
 covers it with the handkerchief provided for the occasion ; 
 one corner of which he tears off, and wraps in it a small 
 bit of iron and a few seeds of sesamus. I never discover- 
 cd the reason of this practice. 
 
DEATH AND OBSEQUIES. 
 
 13 
 
 The litter on which the body is placed to be carried to 
 the pile, is constructed in this manner. To two long 
 poles, placed parallel, they fasten seven pieces of wood 
 across, with ropes of straw. Upon this frame the body 
 is laid at all its length. Then they bind the two thumbs 
 together, and also the two great toes. The handker- 
 chief, which was before negligently thrown over the body, 
 is now carefully wrapped all round it, and firmly bound 
 by straw-ropes. They leave the faces uncovered of 
 those only who have died in the state of marriage. The 
 litter, adorned with garlands of flowers and foliage, and 
 sometimes decked with valuable stuffs, is borne by four 
 Brahmans chosen for that purpose. The procession is 
 thus arranged. 
 
 The chief of the funeral marches foremost, carridng 
 fire on a vessel. The body immediately follows, sur- 
 rounded and attended by the relations and friends, all im- 
 turbaned, and with nothing on their heads but a plain bit 
 of cloth, in token of mourning. The women never at- 
 tend at the funeral, but remain behind in the house; 
 w’here they set up hideous cries as it is setting out. 
 While advancing on the road, the custom is to stop three 
 several times on the way, and at each pause, to put into 
 the mouth of the dead a morsel of unboiled rice moisten- 
 ed. But the object of the stoppage is very important. 
 It is not without example, they say, that persons, sup- 
 posed dead, have not been actually so ; or, even when 
 lifeless, have been reanimated and restored ; and some- 
 times also, it has happened that the gods of the infernal 
 regions have mistaken their aim, and seized one person 
 instead of another. In any view, it is but right to afford 
 time and the opportunity for rectifying such mistakes, so 
 as not to expose to the flames a person who may be still 
 
14 
 
 DEATH AKD OBSEQUIES. 
 
 alive. Hence the propriety of the three pauses ; each of 
 which continues half the quarter of an hour. 
 
 Having at length arrived at the place set apart in each 
 district for burning the dead, they commence by dig- 
 ging a trench of inconsiderable depth, and about six or 
 seven feet in length. The small space which it occupies 
 is consecrated by the mantras of the Purohita. It is 
 slightly sprinkled with water to lay the dust ; and a few 
 pieces of money in gold are scattered upon it. Here the 
 pile is erected, of dry w^ood ; on which the body is laid 
 out at full length. The chief of the funeral kindles a 
 piece of dried cow dung^, and puts it on the breast of 
 the corpse, over which he makes the sacrifice, of the Ho- 
 main, which is immediately succeeded by the most ex- 
 travagant of all ceremonies. The conductor places him- 
 self close to the deceased, and addresses certain mantras 
 to each aperture in the body ; at the same time, apply- 
 ing his mouth to every one of them in its turn. There 
 are nine in all, according to the Hindu account, which 
 includes the two eyes, the ears, the nostrils, the mouth, 
 the navel, &c. When he has concluded the appropriate 
 mantram to each orifice, he pours into it a little liquid 
 butter, which operates a perfect cleansing of the body. 
 The disgusting and indecorous spectacle is closed by 
 his putting a bit of gold coin into the mouth of the 
 corpse ; which each of the assistants follows up with a 
 little crude rice that has been steeped in water. 
 
 They at last strip it of the few ornaments which were 
 left, and even of the handkerchief with which it ^vas en- 
 
 * It is well known that in India the scarcity of fire-wood is so 
 great as to oblige the inhabitants to burn the dung of the cow or 
 buffalo, which has been previously flattened and made thin like 
 a cake. 
 
DEATH AND OBSEQUIES, 
 
 15 
 
 veloped, and the little belt to which the bit of cloth is ap- 
 pended which all Hindus wear before them. Over the 
 body, a quantity of twigs are laid, which are slightly 
 sprinkled with Panchakaryam ; and the chief of the fu- 
 neral, taking on his shoulders a pitcher of water, goes 
 three times around the pile, letting the water run aslant 
 over it through a hole made in the vessel ; which he then 
 breaks in pieces, near the head of the corpse. • This act 
 and the more important one that follows constitute him 
 the universal heir to the deceased. 
 
 At last, the torch is brought for setting fire to the fa- 
 tal pile, and is presented to the chief of the funeral. But, 
 before receiving it, he is obliged to make some grimaces 
 to prove his sorrow. He rolls about a little on the ground, 
 beats his breast, and makes the air resound with his 
 cries. The assistants also cry, or appear to cry, and 
 embrace each other, in testimony of their true or coun- 
 terfeited grief. Fire being then applied to the four cor- 
 ners of the pile, the whole crowd retire, excepting the 
 four Brahmans who carried the body ; and they remain 
 until the whole is consumed. 
 
 The chief of the funeral flies immediately to the bath, 
 and plunges in, without taking off his clothes. All 
 dripping, and in the open air, he boils some rice and 
 pease, and exposes them to the crows, which, it is well 
 known, are numerous in India ; but on such an occa- 
 sion, the crows are not crows, but devils or malevolent 
 beings, under that shape, whom they wish to appease and 
 render propitious by this oftering. If they should re- 
 fuse to eat, which the Hindus say has sometimes hap- 
 pened, it is taken for an evil presage of the future state of 
 the deceased ; and people ivould thence have a right 
 to conclude that, so far from having been admitted into 
 
16 
 
 DEATH AND OBSEQUIES. 
 
 a region of bliss, he had been kept fast, notwithstanding 
 all the mantras and purifications of his brethren, in the 
 Yama Lokam^ or place of torment. 
 
 The body being consumed, the four individuals who 
 alone continued about the pile, repair to the place of as- 
 sembly of the other Brahmans who have assisted at the 
 funeral. After three times walking round the assembly, 
 they request permission to go to purify themselves in the 
 Ganges. This boon being obtained, they formally wash 
 themselves from the sin, as they term it, of carrying the 
 carcase of a Brahman. 
 
 All present are then invited to join in the bath of 
 Wath, with a particular application to him who has just 
 been consumed. After the dreadful heat he must have 
 undergone, the bath, they suppose, must be refreshing 
 to him. When it is finished, some presents of money 
 and of betel are distributed among the assistants, after 
 presenting them with the Dasa Danam or Ten Gifts, 
 which had been previously got ready. The assembly 
 then shew themselves before the gate of the house of 
 the deceased, into which no person can enter in its pre- 
 sent polluted state ; and, after washing their feet, they re- 
 turn home. 
 
 y-^The chief of the funeral, however, has still something 
 more to perform. He must fill with earth a small vessel, 
 in which he sows nine sorts of grain : Rice, WTeat, 
 SesamuiD, Millet, and several sorts of pease. They are 
 well watered, to make them shoot soon, and be ready for 
 the ceremonies to which they are applied. 
 
 But there is an intermediate one to be performed, not 
 less curious. It consists in placing in the house of the 
 deceased a small vessel filled with water, supported by a 
 thread, fixed to tlie deling or to a beam. 'I’his thread 
 
DEATH AND OBSEQUIES. 
 
 17 
 
 serves as a ladder for one of the Pranas, or winds of the 
 body of the deceased, to descend every day to drink. It 
 remains ten days ; on each of which a handful of boiled 
 rice is put into the dish to serve as food for the Prana. 
 
 After the completion of all these ceremonies, and not 
 till then, the people of the house may eat. But, for that 
 and several following days, the food must be simple and 
 unseasoned, so as to accord with the idea of sorrow. 
 
 All the rites we have mentioned, and many others we 
 have omitted, are observed with the most scrupulous ex- 
 actness, either from superstition or respect to appearances. 
 The omission of the most frivolous or ridiculous of all 
 would probably excite the greatest murmuring and of- 
 fence. Poverty, indeed, necessarily excuses the per- 
 formance of those that are attended with great expence, 
 such as the ceremony of the Dasa Danam, or Ten Gifts. 
 
 Though the customs of the other Hindus are in the 
 same taste as those of the Brahmans, yet they differ from 
 them in some striking particulars. Such are the dull and 
 deafening sounds of their drums, trumpets, and other 
 instruments of music which accompany the funerals of 
 the Sudras, and which are not in use among the Brah- 
 mans. Among the intruments alluded to for aiding the 
 expression of grief, the most remarkable of all is a kind 
 of trumpet called Turi in Tamul, five or six feet in 
 length, whose awful and dismal roaring spreads conster- 
 nation all round. Two of these instruments at least 
 must be employed, and they are sounded with a most 
 piercing, though monotonous tone. The one thunders 
 out a sort of Si Bemol, on which it dwells near half a 
 minute ; and, after a moment’s pause, the other groans 
 in a Sol Diez, which he prolongs in the same manner. 
 Their obstreperous alternations, which are continued 
 
 VoL. II. C 
 
18 
 
 DEATH AND OBSEQUIES. 
 
 through the ivhole ceremony and are heard afar oft, are 
 intended to inspire dread, and are indeed well adapted to 
 increase the solemnity of funeral rites, by spreading con- 
 sternation through the whole neighbourhood. But it is 
 still more remarkable that these same lugubrious instru- 
 ments accompany the wedding festivals, among some 
 casts, M’ith their tremendous braying. 
 
 The greater part of the ceremonies which wc have at- 
 tempted to describe, aftord complete evidence of the dis- 
 tinct knowledge which the people of India have preserv- 
 ed. in the midst of the darkness of their gross idolatry, 
 of the immortality of the soul, and above all of the ne- 
 cessity of a remedy to obtain the remission of sin ; though 
 the emblem of pollution, under which they represent this 
 condition of the soul, no doubt has often led them to 
 confound the voluntary corruption of the mind with the 
 stains which affect the body alone. 
 
 In the different Pranams, tvhere this subject is fre- 
 quently in view, and by which sometimes the soul itself 
 is signified, and sometimes the principle of life, under the 
 notion of JFmd, can one avoid recurring to the Breath 
 of Ia/c of the Holy Scripture, by which the Creator ani- 
 mated the clay which he had formed, and man became 
 a living soul.” But, in all ages, it has been the parti- 
 cular tendency of superstition and idolatry to darken and 
 corrupt the purest ideas of natural religion. 
 
CEREMONIES FOR THE DEAD. 
 
 19 
 
 CHAP. XXVIll. 
 
 The Ceremonies practised by the Brahmans for the 
 Deady ajter the Obsequies. 
 
 THE rites which the Brahmans celebrate for a whole 
 year for their dead will perhaps appear more tedious than 
 those we have already described. To avoid this as much 
 as possible, we shall be contented with giving a brief 
 outline of the principal ones, leaving it to the reader to 
 imagine the constant recurrence, upon every occasion, 
 of the bathing, the Mantras, and the eleemosynary pre- 
 sents to the officiating Brahmans. 
 
 The day after the obsequies, besides the ordinary alms 
 to the Brahmans in general, a special mark of attention is 
 shewn to one in particular, by giving him a piece of 
 cloth, and money sufficient to provide him with a good 
 repast. Both are given with a view to the deceased, 
 who, as they observe, can be hungry no more nor stand 
 in need of clothing. 
 
 The third day, the relations and friends re-assemble, 
 and proceed to the place where the body n^as burnt. 
 The chief of the funeral collects the remains of the bones 
 which have withstood the flames, and, after moistening 
 the ashes with water and milk, he puts them into a little 
 new basket, and thi^ows them into the water, if there be 
 any at hand, or if not, into some desart and solitary place. 
 
 A part, however, is reserved, tvhich, after being pro- 
 
20 
 
 CEREMONIES FOR THE DEAD. 
 
 perly Avet and made into a kind of paste, is fashioned into 
 something of a human shape ; and this is understood as 
 the representative of the deceased, and has sacrifices of- 
 fered up to it with the usual ceremonies. Some reserve 
 a part of the ashes, to be cast, at some future time, into 
 one of the famous rivers which possess the sacred virtue 
 of purifying, and even sanctifying whatsoever they touch. 
 
 After this first ceremony, a small bank of earth is 
 thrown up, on which three little stones are set ; one 
 called by the name of the deceased ; another by that of 
 Yama, or the god of hell, and the last denominated Ru- 
 dra, or he that is the cause of tears. It is likewise one of 
 the titles of Siva, the god of destruction ; and the place 
 where the dead are burned is called the land of Rudra. 
 
 After decorating the three stones with flowers and 
 small slips of new cloth, a sacrifice is offered up to them 
 with great solemnity ; and then the assembled Brahmans 
 set up a cry of lamentation, all in one tone, and embrace 
 the chief of the funeral. He, in his turn, makes them the 
 usual presents, and after exposing to the crows, or rather 
 the devils in the shape of those birds, some rice and boil- 
 ed pease, he takes up the three stones, and carries them 
 home with him, to be used in the rites of the ten fol- 
 lowing days. For the present all is finished, and every 
 one betakes himself to his home. 
 
 On the fourth day, the chief of the funeral, after bath- 
 ing, performs the saricalpana, or application of thought. 
 His meditations must be wholly fixed upon Ahshnu, of 
 whom he is to think as master of the world. To this 
 consideration, he must add that of the metamorphosis of 
 this divinity into a hog. He must also think of Brahma, 
 of the earth, the sun, the moon, and several other gods. 
 He must call to mind the year, the month, the time of 
 
CEREMONIES FOR THE DEAD. 
 
 21 
 
 the month, the day of the week, on which the deceased 
 yielded his breath. Many other considerations must be 
 present to his mind, which we cannot stop to enumerate. 
 
 In general, the application of thought is recommended 
 in all the ceremonies, which are made by Purohitas ; and 
 it would be a very commendable practice if it were 
 employed on rational objects. 
 
 In most of the ceremonies practised during the twelve 
 days of mourning for the death of a Brahman, they make 
 great use of the sacred herb dharba, or darphy, as it is 
 called in some languages. Mention is made of this plant 
 so regularly, in almost every rite of the Brahmans, that 
 a short account may not be here misplaced of the origin 
 of that veneration which the Hindus entertain for it. 
 
 It is found every where, but chiefly in wet and marshy 
 places, where it grows spontaneously. In some parts, it 
 is so plentiful that the natives thatch their houses with it. 
 It reaches to about three feet in length. The blade re- 
 sembles that of the common grass. In the Hindu books, 
 there is no end to the praises bestowed on this herb, and 
 the good it occasions. It is this great estimation in which 
 it is held that recommends it to the Brahmans to be used 
 in all their ceremonies. The cause of its virtue is that 
 wdien the gods and the giants joined together to churn 
 the sea of milk, by means of the Mandara Parvata or 
 Mount Moadara (probably the Caucasus,) which served 
 them fora churn, and when from this operation emerged 
 the vase which contained the Ainatari, it was first set 
 down upon this herb ; which acquired from the sacred 
 contact, the most excellent quali'dcs. 
 
 But, to return to the ceremonies of the mourning. 
 Those w'hich are carried on up to the tenth day, being 
 nearly in the same style as those w hich have been already 
 
32 
 
 CEREMONIES FOR THE DEAD. 
 
 described, require no farther notice. On the tenth day, 
 they vary in several particulars. The chief of the fu- 
 neral then provides some dishes of savory food in the 
 manner of the Brahmans, but in no great abundance. 
 He adds to them flowers and fruits ; and the whole being 
 covered with cloths stained yellow with saffron water, is 
 placed on a sort of tray, and carried to the widow of the 
 deceased. She then adorns her forehead with some 
 scarlet emblem, the edges of her eyelids with black, her 
 hair with red ^flowers, her neck and bosom with sandal, 
 and stains her face, arms, and legs with the ordinary 
 dye of the country, which consists of water made yellow 
 with a mixture of powdered turmeric. She then 
 puts on her jewels and her finest robes. 
 
 All who are present then proceed to the brink of the 
 nearest tank or well. The chief of the funeral marches 
 at their head, bearing the several articles necessar)' for 
 the ensuing ceremony. He is followed by the widow, 
 by several other married ^vomen who accompany her, 
 and a p-reat number of the relations and friends. Thev 
 repeat the ceremony of the three little stones, and receive 
 the offering of rice and other artieles, brought for that 
 purpose from the house. The women have then per- 
 mission to weep ; which they employ with loud shrieks, 
 beating their bosoms till their grief real or pretended is 
 exhausted. The chief then introduces a ceremony 
 which is w orthy of notice. He tiikes the three little 
 stones, and the vessels in which is commonly prepared 
 the rice offered either to the stones or the crows. Then, 
 going into the water up to the neck, he turns towards 
 the sun, whom he addresses in these words : “Up to 
 “ this day, these stones have represented the deceased. 
 “ Henceforth let him cease to be a corpse. Now let him 
 
CEREMONIES FOR THE DEAD. 
 
 23 
 
 “ be received into the Swarga (the paradise of Deven- 
 “dra). There let him enjoy all blessings, as long as the 
 “waters of the Ganges shall continue to flow.” In pro- 
 nouncing these words, he casts behind him the stones and 
 the vessels he held in his hands, and returns to the bank 
 of the pond. 
 
 It deserves to be remarked, as a thing perhaps now 
 peculiar to the idolatry of the Hindus, though admitted 
 in some degree into the ancient religion of other nations, 
 that they rank the carcasses of the dead among the sub- 
 ordinate and malevolent deities, it appears also that it 
 is only those that suffer a violent death, or that have been 
 deprived of the ordinary funeral rites, who remain in this 
 abhorred condition of carcasses, and who prowl through 
 the vast regions of the universe to inflict evil upon men. 
 Such as perish by an ordinary death, and who receive 
 the accustomed funeral rites, retain but for a few days 
 this hideous form. 
 
 In diis aspect of Hindu Paganism, a considerable re- 
 semblance appears to the Manes of the Greeks and Ro- 
 mans, or to the shades of their dead, fluttering on the 
 banks of the river Styx ; and, perhaps, still more to the 
 walking spirits which are to this day believed in by many 
 persons in Europe. 
 
 The women have likewise their own particular cere- 
 monies ; the most important of which is that performed 
 in constituting the wife of the deceased a widow. We 
 have elsewhere described this ceremony, as applied to 
 women in general ; but a difference takes place in regard 
 to the wives of Brahmans. 
 
 On the bank of the pool where they are assembled, a 
 shed is constructed, on which they place a ball of earth, 
 to which they give the name of the deceased ; and his 
 wife stripping off her jewels, lays them on the ball, pro- 
 
24f 
 
 CEREMONIES FOR THE DEAD. 
 
 nouncing these words : “ I divest myself of these as the 
 “ evidence of my love.” She then, with her own hands, 
 cuts the Ta/ili from her neck ; the emblem of matri- 
 mon}^, which is worn by all wives. 
 
 These ceremonies are accompanied with the tears and 
 loud cries of her who is the object of them ; and the 
 other women, embracing her by turns, join in the cries 
 and lamentation. 
 
 The custom is, in such cases, not to untie the string 
 by which the Tahli is suspended, but to cut it ; and 
 hence arises the curse so often imprecated by women, 
 when they quarrel : “ may your Tahli be cut mean- 
 ing, may you become a widow. For it is by this sign, 
 above all others, that the state of widowhood is published 
 and declared. 
 
 After the lamentation is ended, they bathe, in order 
 to purify themselves for the following ceremony. The 
 chief of the funeral extends on the ground, in a suitable 
 place, a long piece of new and pure cloth, on which he 
 places a vessel filled with water, and whitened on the 
 outside with chalk. Close to the vessel is placed a small 
 heap of saffron powder, which represents the god Fig/i- 
 nesxvara^ to whom they sacrifice, as well as to the vessel 
 itself; by which means the water it contains becomes 
 the holy element of the Ganges. All the assistants must 
 drink a little of this water, to cleanse them from all the 
 impurities they have contracted during the celebration of 
 the funeral. Every one then receives an arcca nut and 
 a leaf of betel, and the widow a new dress. 
 
 The ceremonies of the eleventh day are not more inter- 
 esting, and therefore we shall lightly pass them over. On 
 this day the chief of the funeral I'cpairs to the tank, at- 
 tended by the Purohita and nine Brahmans. There he 
 
CEREMONIES FOR THE DEAD, ^5 
 
 digs a little trench, which he fills with cow-dung. This 
 he kindles ; and on the fire he performs the sacrifice of 
 the Homam. He then rolls up two little balls of boiled 
 rice, and casts one after the other into the fire. Pros- 
 trating himself before that element, he prays for a bless- 
 ed world to the deceased ; and immediately he returns 
 to the house for the Deliverance of the Bull. 
 
 To celebrate this rite, one of those animals is selected, 
 which must be all of one colour, and that either white, red, 
 or black. Having decorated him well with garlands of 
 flowers, they brand on his right flank, with a hot iron, 
 the figure of a sort of weapon called Sula^ which is ap- 
 preciated to Siva. In honour of him the bull is set at 
 liberty, and has a right to pasture at large. This em- 
 ancipation of the bull is considered as one of the most 
 meritorious acts that can be performed for the welfare of 
 the deceased. 
 
 The celebration of the twelfth day is of a piece with 
 the preceding. From amongst the eight Brahmans who 
 are invited by the chief, he selects one whom he con- 
 stitutes, in his thoughts, a dead carcase. He puts in 
 his hand the herb Dharba, and washes his feet ; upon 
 which he then puts some grains of Sesamum. Seating 
 him then in a particular place, he puts Dharba on his 
 head, pendants of gold at his cars, and a ring on his fin- 
 ger, and, after making him some presents of cloth, he ends 
 by putting a string of Rudrasha about his neck. These 
 are a kind of beads, of which necklaces are often made, 
 and are nearly of the size and shape of a nut. 
 
 Afterwards they proceed to one of the funeral rites 
 which the Brahmans deem the most important of all. 
 In a place prepared for the purpose the cliief deposits 
 four little balls made of rice and other vegetables, knea* 
 
 VoL. II. D 
 
so CEREMONIES FOR THE DEAD. 
 
 ded together. The first is for the deceased ; the second 
 for his fatlier ; the third for his grandfather ; and the 
 fourth for his great grandfather. He pours a little water 
 on each, and adds a few grains of Sesainuin. Then ad- 
 dressing himself to the Brahman, who represents the 
 corpse ; “ thou hast been till now,” says he, “ a dead 
 “ carcase ; henceforth thou shalt be a progenitor ; thou 
 “ shalt dwell where they reside, and enjoy all happi- 
 “ ness.” He has no sooner spoken than he takes up 
 the ball which was dedicated to the father of the de- 
 ceased, divides it into three parts, and kneading each 
 portion with one of the three other balls which have re- 
 mained entire, he offers to them a sacrifice in common. 
 
 Although the Brahmans, in the invocation of their an- 
 cestors, on this and similar occasions, confine themselves 
 to the three latest generations, yet they by no means 
 exclude those that are more remote. On the contrary, 
 they particularly enjoin upon those whom they invoke, 
 to bring w'ith them their forefathers. 
 
 After having accomplished all the ceremonies of which 
 w'e have given this brief detail, the chief of the funeral 
 goes to the tank and bathes, and then returns home, well 
 wrapped up in a sort of cloak. On reaching the house, he 
 embraces all his relations there assembled, and addresses 
 them in words of consolation. An entertaiment suc- 
 ceeds for all those who have assisted at the ceremonies 
 of mourning ; after which he resumes his turban : a mat- 
 ter so important as to require an ostentatious display of 
 ceremonies peculiarly adapted to the occasion. 
 
 The rites which we have described are not the only 
 ceremonies practised on the death of a Brahman. The 
 same, or similar ones, are repeated at least fifteen times 
 in the course of the year in which he dies ; and the day of 
 
CEREMONIES FOR THE DEAD. 
 
 tlie anniversary of his death, called Ttdhy, must be kept 
 for a succession of years. The same ceremonies, or nearly 
 so, are repeated, of which we have furnished so tiresome 
 a detail. 
 
 The ceremonies practised at the death of married wo- 
 men, are not much unlike those performed for the men. 
 To die in the state of matrimony, is so happy an event 
 for aw’oman, that it can be nothing less than the reward 
 of the fervent worship she has paid to Lakshmi, or some 
 other distinguished goddess, during her life. 
 
 But I shall close this long and tedious detail concern- 
 ing Mourning, after recounting one remarkable ceremo- 
 ny which is practised by all the casts. 
 
 The Hindu Astronomy attributes to the Moon a sort 
 of zodiac consisting of twenty-seven constellations, hav- 
 ing a relation to her periodical course of the same num- 
 ber of days. The four last are more or less unlucky ; 
 and miserable is he who happens to die when the Moon 
 is in that part of her orbit. Or, unhappy rather are his 
 relations. The body of a person who dies under so 
 auspicious a planet, can in nowise be carried over the 
 threshold. In taking it to the funeral, an aperture is 
 made, by demolishing a part of the wall, through which 
 it is brought to escape the perilous consequences which 
 w’ould otherwise ensue upon so ill-starred a demise. It 
 is necessary to abandon the house for six or at least three 
 months, according to the degree of malignity of the lunar 
 influence at the time of dying. While this is going on, 
 the door is barricadoed with bundles of thorns. The 
 time being elapsed, the briars are removed, the door open- 
 ed, and all the apartments carefully garnished. The Pu- 
 rohita attends to accomplish the Purification by his rites. 
 It is then in a condition to admit of a feast and donation 
 
28 
 
 CEREMONIES FOR THE DEAD. 
 
 to the Brahmans ; after which its owner may dwell in it 
 as before. 
 
 The same superstitious observance takes place with 
 respect to Births. When they occur on days when the 
 Moon is passing through a malign constellation, the re- 
 lations are so much alarmed at the evils which cannot fail 
 to ensue, both to themselves and to the children born 
 in so evil an hour, that they secretly get rid of them ei- 
 ther by delivering them over to people who are less 
 credulous on that score, or, when they cannot find such 
 an opportunity, by exposing them on the highways or 
 streets. 
 
 In admitting the absurdity of the Hindu superstition 
 in general, and that of the funeral rites in particular, we 
 are not compelled, thank God ! to insult over the blind- 
 ness of those who have so erred. I view their conduct 
 only with eyes of compassion. Such, and lower still, 
 perhaps, were our own ancestors; and such would we 
 ourselves have been, but for the undeserved gift of Re- 
 velation, which the Father of Light has descended to 
 impart unto us, in his infinite mercy, for the purpose of 
 rescuing us from the thick darkness in which our fore- 
 fathers were so long immersed, and of exalting us to the 
 glorious light of truth. Thanks without gid be to 
 Him for those his inestimable bles&ings ! 
 
VANAPRASTHAS. 
 
 S9 
 
 CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 Of the third Condition of the Brahmans., that of Vana^ 
 prastha or Inhabitants of the Dcsart. 
 
 THE third order of Brahmans is that of Vanaprastha, 
 or Inhabitants of the Desart. I know not whether any 
 of this order still remain in the territory washed by the 
 Indus, or in the north of India ; where it is certain they 
 once abounded and flourished. This sect of philoso* 
 phers is now to be found no where in the peninsula, and 
 I believe it to be there absolutely extinct. 
 
 The ambition of acquiring a name, and also that of 
 attaining the utmost degree of perfection by purification 
 in solitude, impelled many of the Brahmans, in ancient 
 times, to forsake the towns and all intercourse with men,' 
 and to retire into the woods, with their obsequious wives. 
 They who assumed this distinction, were kindly re- 
 ceived by those who had embraced it before them, and 
 were initiated by them into the rules of a solitary life. 
 
 From this class of philosophers, the Brahmans of pris- 
 tine times acquired all their original lustre ; .nay, it ap- 
 pears that they were the true founders of the cast. To 
 them, undoubtedly, it was that Alexander the Great, 
 after invading their territory, applied for instruction ; and 
 to them allusion is made by the ancient Greek and Latin 
 authors, when they speak of the Brahmans of India. At 
 the time, t herefore, when the conqueror of Greece pene- 
 
so 
 
 VANAI'RASTHAS. 
 
 trated into their country, they were still famous, and were 
 esteemed the only real Brahmans. There were, no doubt, 
 a great many who lived in intercourse with the world ; 
 but they were not held in equal reputation with the Va- 
 naprastha. 
 
 The most celebrated amongst them, and the most an- 
 cient, were the seven great Rishis or Penitents, whom 
 we have already mentioned. Their successors enjoyed 
 nearly the same degree of respect. Even their Kings 
 did not disdain to shew them honour, and to pay them 
 marks of reverence which almost approached to adora- 
 tion. They looked for no success but through their 
 benediction, which they preferred to all the honours they 
 could elsewhere obtain. On the other hand, they stood 
 in extreme awe of their curse, which was believed never 
 to fall innoxiously. 
 
 The reception accorded to some of those solitary Brah- 
 mans by a great monarch, is thus described by the au- 
 thor of the Padma Purana : 
 
 “ Penetrated with joy and respect beyond expression, 
 “ he prostrated himself at full length before them. When 
 “ he rose, he made them sit down, and washed their feet. 
 “ He then poured the water that had been so used, upon 
 “ his own head. This was succeeded by a sacrifice of 
 “ flowers, which he oflered to their feet. Then, with 
 “ both, hands clasped and raised over his head, he made 
 “ them a profound obeisance, and addressed them in these 
 “ words : ‘ The happiness which I enjoy this day in see- 
 “ ing your holy feet, is a sufficient reward for all the 
 “ good works I have yet performed. I possess all hap- 
 “ piness in beholding those blessed feet, which are the 
 “true flower of Nilufar. Now is my body become 
 “ wholly pure. Ye are the gods whom I serve, and be- 
 
VANAPRASTHA3. 
 
 31 
 
 “ sides you I acknowledge no others on the earth. No- 
 “ thing is purer than I shall henceforth be.’ ” 
 
 Such is the degree of honour in which the Penitents 
 arc held, and such the style of Hindu compliment. It 
 indicates a sentiment of the lowest flattery in those who 
 use it, and no great degree of reverence for their gods. 
 The same taste subsists, in its full vigour, to the present 
 day, and particularly among the Brahmans : for, when 
 they have any thing to hope or to fear, even if it were 
 from a Pariah, there is no strain of compliment too high 
 for the occasion. 
 
 It is not surprising that Kings should pay such hon- 
 ours to the penitent philosophers, seeing that the gods 
 themselves respect them, and feel honoured by their 
 visits. There is no sort of approbation or distinction 
 which the deities do not manifest for them ; while tliey, 
 in return, treat them with haughtiness, and sometimes 
 even insolently. Witness him, wdio paid a visit to each 
 of the three principal divinities of India, and began his 
 interview by giving each of them a kick ! His object 
 was to know how they would demean themselves, and 
 to find out their temper, by the conduct which they 
 would adopt upon such a salutation. 
 
 The penitents always maintained a kind of superiority 
 over the gods, and punished them severely when they 
 found them in fault. It has cost Brahma, Siva, Deven- 
 dra, and some other deities, pretty dear to have incurred 
 their maledictions, on account of their infamous obsceni- 
 ties. These stories, silly as they are, prove the high 
 opinion that has been entertained of the penitents, and 
 the antiquity of the institution ; on which I shall hazard 
 some conjectures. 
 
 The Hindu fable of the seven penitents that were saved 
 
33 
 
 VANAPRASTHAS. 
 
 from the waters of the deluge in a vessel of which Vishnu 
 M'as the pilot, seems to shew that sons of Noah, or at least 
 of Japhet, to the number of seven, having been disper- 
 sed by the famous event which confounded their lan- 
 guage at Babel ; some of them might have reached In- 
 dia by the way of Tartary, and so have become the first 
 founders, not only of the Brahmans, but also of the other 
 people ^vho gradually settled in the country in which 
 they had instituted laws. It happened to the people who 
 inhabited India, as it has done to all other ancient nations, 
 that the laws prescribed to them for their worship, their 
 morals and good order in society, as well as the dogmas 
 for preserving health, suffered in a length of time great 
 alterations, occasioned by prejudice, interest, and a thou- 
 sand other causes. At length, they degenerated into a 
 phL’osophy ill understood in many respects, to which 
 certain Brahmans attached themselves ; forming at once 
 a sect of philosophers and a community separate from 
 the rest of the nation. Their retreating to the woods, the 
 austerity of their lives, and their contempt for temporal 
 wealth ; the purity of their morals, and their high cultiva- 
 tion of science, were qualities which could not fail to es- 
 tablish their reputation and to gain the public esteem. 
 
 It can scarcely be doubted that these savages of India 
 are of higher antiquity than those of Greece. For, what 
 was the philosophy of Greece before Pythagoras, and 
 what its legislation before Lycurgus ? It was because 
 legislation had been established in India on fixed rules, 
 and because the philosophy of tliat country had spread 
 its renown as far as Europe, that those two celebrated 
 philophers undertook, at different periods, so long a jour- 
 ney, in order to see the Hindu Vanaprasthas, and to stu- 
 dy their precepts and their example. Nor were they. 
 
VANAPRASTHAS. 
 
 33 
 
 as far as appears, the only persons that visited India 
 with similar views. 
 
 It is true that the philosophy of the Greeks, though 
 later in its origin, soon surpassed that of the Hindu 
 Brahmans, by the clearness of its conceptions on all the 
 points which it discusses, by the beauty of its morality, 
 by the success with which it cultivated every science, by 
 its researches into the nature of the Divinity, and by the 
 abhorrence which it inspired for the ridiculous gods of 
 paganism. Yet it would be unjust to deny that the 
 Brahman Vanaprasthas also would have made great pro- 
 ficiency in the knowledge of morals and of divinity, had 
 they not suffered their minds to be pre-occupied by the 
 idle dogmas respecting the means of purifying the soul ; 
 which they thought indispensable in practice, although 
 with the certainty of spoiling their whole philosophy. 
 In this way, the wisest of the Hindus became the most 
 besotted. 
 
 This illusion concerning uncleanness and the corres- 
 ponding purification from it, which they pursued, as 
 one may say, till they lost sight of it, made them stum- 
 ble from one error upon another, from precipice to pre- 
 cipice ; and the current which hurried them away car- 
 ried with them the whole nation, of whom they had been 
 the oracles. This was the more unavoidable that the 
 people of the north had just subdued India, bringing 
 with them the Brahmans, who were hardlv known till 
 then, and who established their religion upon the ruins 
 of that of Buddha ; the one altogether as absurd as the 
 other. 
 
 It may be asked, whether there was any communica- 
 tion between Zoroaster, or his disciples, and the Vana- 
 prasthas of India : a question to which I do not consi- 
 VoL. II. E 
 
34 
 
 TANAPRASTHAS. 
 
 der myself capable of giving an answer. A great affini- 
 ty has been demonstrated to exist between these two 
 different casts of people by a modern author^, whose 
 profound and interesting researches into Oriental litera- 
 ture have challenged the attention and admiration of the 
 learned of Europe. This author, in comparing the 
 Zend, or sacred idiom of the ancient Persians with the 
 Sanscrit of India, has found so great a resemblance be- 
 tween these two ancient tongues as to lead him to pro- 
 nounce that they were in ancient times the same dialect. 
 Nevertheless, the worship of Zoroaster and that of the 
 Brahmans are so different, and in many particulars so 
 opposite to each other, that it would be very difficult, on 
 comparison, to persuade one’s self that they both sprang 
 from the same fountain. And if at the present time, 
 some slight resemblance is observed between the Gabars 
 or Parsees, and the Hindus, in the w'orship of fire, which 
 is common to both ; their religion and customs are 
 wholly different in every thing besides. But that which 
 constitutes the fundamental basis of the Hindu philoso- 
 phers is so exclusively peculiar to them, that I believe no 
 traces of it can be observed in any other nation ; nor 
 can it be shewn that there is any thing in their practices, 
 religious or civil, in which other nations have been 
 their instructors. 
 
 I pretend not but that, in some particular points, there 
 is a resemblance between them and philosophers of other 
 countries. Their morality has a great affinity to that of 
 Zeno and the Stoics. Their manner also of teaching, by 
 imposing a great deal on the memory, bears a likeness to 
 that of the Druids. The spirit of seclusion which cha- 
 racterises the Vanaprasthas, is also found among the Be- 
 
 Sir William Jones. 
 
VANAPRASTHAS. 
 
 35 
 
 liabites, the children of the prophets, and the Essenians 
 of Egypt. But no certain knowledge can be thence de- 
 rived concerning the philosophy of India, the antiquity 
 of which seems to go beyond that of those other nations. 
 It is extremely probable that it must have had for its 
 founder some one of the ancient patriarchs, grandchildren 
 of Noah ; who being contemporary with those who are 
 mentioned in Scripture, and instructed in the same sys- 
 tem of morals, may have transmitted them to their des- 
 cendants who settled in India. Amongst these some en- 
 thusiasts and fanatics were found, who, aiming at the 
 perfection of morality and perhaps at the renown of sur- 
 passing their masters, entirely perverted the doctrine of 
 their ancestors, and formed the sect of Vanaprastha phi- 
 losophers. 
 
36 
 
 RULES OF THE VANAPRASTH AS. 
 
 CHAP. XXX. 
 
 I 
 
 Rules of the F anaprasthas. • 
 
 THE life of the Brahman Recluse was regulated by 
 the observance of certain rules of conduct to which those 
 who embraced it were restricted. They are thus descri- 
 bed in the Padma Purana^ to my quotation from which 
 I will add a few remarks to make it more intelligi- 
 ble. 
 
 1. The Vanaprastha must renounce the society of 
 
 other men, even of the Brahmans, and take up his 
 abode in the desert, far from towns and inhabi- 
 ted places. 
 
 The renunciation, however, was not so complete but 
 that they might be permitted occasionally to revisit the 
 w’orld, for several purposes ; instances of which are seen 
 in the Hindu WTitings. 
 
 2. They shall carry with them their wives, who must 
 
 be subject to the same course of life as them- 
 selves. 
 
 It is here that the Vanaprastha is chiefly distinguished 
 from the Sannyasi Brahman, who is bound to live sin- 
 gle, or to put hisSvife aw'ay if he has one. But though 
 the Vanaprastha be not condemned to absolute conti- 
 
RULES OF THE VANAPR ASTHAS. 37 
 
 nence, it is yet required of him to use his conjugal rights 
 with moderation. 
 
 3. They must inhabit no house that is covered other- 
 
 wise than with leaves, as any other dwelling would 
 ill become those who profess to have renounced 
 the world. 
 
 Houses thatched with palm leaves are very common in 
 India. 
 
 4. They must not wear garments of cotton cloth, but 
 
 must always have their dress of a fabric made 
 from grass. 
 
 This last species of cloth is still common in the north 
 of India. It is as soft to the touch as silk, and has the 
 advantage of not being subject to be soiled like the cloth 
 of cotton. 
 
 5. They ought to practise, with the greatest exactness, 
 
 all the rules prescribed to the Brahmans in gene- 
 nal, particularly that of bathing three times every 
 day ; with the accompanying prayers. 
 
 6. They must be particularly attentive in the choice 
 
 of whatever is used for food. They should al- 
 ways confine themselves to such herbs as are 
 found within the forest they inhabit. They ought 
 scrupulously to abstain from all roots that form a 
 bulb in the ground, and particularly from onions. 
 
 The Brahmans of the present time as well as the other 
 casts of Hindus who live on vegetables, still keep up 
 this regulation. Onions, garlic, mushrooms, and some 
 other productions of the same kind are prohibited 
 
38 
 
 RULES OF THE VANAPKASTHAS. 
 
 to them, although their women, who arc not so scrupu- 
 lous, sometimes introduce very secretly, both garlic and 
 onions for a relish to their ragouts. In the practice it- 
 self, a similarity will be found to the Egyptian supersti- 
 tion, in which onions are considered sacred, and even as 
 the objects of worship. 
 
 7. They must be continually meditating and ponder- 
 
 ing on Para-Brahma ; by which means they may 
 attain that spiritual temperament which shall 
 re-unite them with the divinity. 
 
 We shall speak, in the sequel, of the various modes in 
 which this re-union may be eflfected. 
 
 8. The sacrifices, and above all that of the Yajim, 
 
 ought to be their principal occupation. 
 
 In the next chapter will be found the description of 
 this sacrifice, the most famous of all that are offered up by 
 the Brahmans. 
 
 I am surprized that the author of the work had not 
 inserted among the occupations of the Recluse Brah- 
 mans the study of the Sciences ; for it is certain that at 
 least a very great number of them cultivated learning 
 with assiduity, particular those branches that relate to 
 Theology, Morals, Astronomy, and Magic. To them 
 we are indebted for the Hindu books, which still exist 
 on those subjects of science. 
 
 These ascetic philosophers, as far as we can judge, ob- 
 served their rules in all their force at the time of the in- 
 vasion of Alexander the Great ; and there is reason to 
 believe that they persisted in them long after the era of 
 that famous conqueror. Their conduct was far supe- 
 
RULES OF THE VANAPRASTHAS 
 
 39 
 
 rior to the general rules we have quoted, as may be in- 
 ferred from the following account of their principles. 
 
 Men, according to these philosophers, are born with 
 three leading impulses ; which they express by the fol- 
 lowing words : Loka-yetshanee, atta-yetshaneCy Putra- 
 yetshanee. The first is the Love of Land ; the next the 
 Love of Gold ; and the last the Love of Women. By 
 the Love of Land, they mean not only the various pro- 
 perty which one may acquire during his life, without 
 even excepting a throne, but also employments and posts 
 of honour. 
 
 So far were they from grasping at wealth or aspiring 
 to dignities of this kind, that their exhortations and exam- 
 ple sometimes prevailed upon Kings themselves to make 
 a sacrifice of their worldly possessions, and to renounce 
 their state and dignity, to lead with them a philosophi- 
 cal and penitential life in their forests. The Hindu books 
 make frequent reference to those penitent and secluded 
 Princes. They sometimes went beyond the Brahmans, 
 their masters, in the fervour and austerity of their peni- 
 tence. And, so far from being jealous of their illustri- 
 ous rivals, these have frequently, in admiration of their ex- 
 traordinary devotion and zeal, conferred upon them the 
 signal distinction of becoming Penitent Brahmans like 
 themselves, and have incorporated them accordingly 
 with their cast. 
 
 By the passion for gold, these philosophers meant not 
 only the desire of possessing that metal, but also what- 
 ever else it could acquire as money ; such as precious 
 stones, fine houses, rich dress, sumptuous feasts, and 
 whatever appertains to the table. The Vanaprasthas 
 had the same indifference for all these good things as 
 they professed to have for worldly honours and posses- 
 
40 
 
 RULES OF THE VANAPIIASTHAS. 
 
 sions in land. The simple furniture of their cabins con- 
 sisted of some vessels of copper and earthen ware. They 
 accounted themselves sufficiently rieh if they had some 
 cows to supply them with the milk which was the chief in- 
 gredient of their food. For this reason the present of a 
 cow was gladly accepted by them from any of the vota- 
 ries. 
 
 Many ver}' extravagant fables are still extant regarding 
 these cows of the Penitents. I have tbund in the Bhaga- 
 vata the history of one which could suppl) , not milk only, 
 but every species of food, for a large army. A neigh- 
 bouring Prince being desirous to possess a valuable 
 treasure, went to seize her by force ; but the Vanapras- 
 tha to whom she belonged had received her from the 
 gods, as a recompence for the fervour of his devotion, 
 and the merit of his sacrifices ; and the cow, being en- 
 dowed with as much courage as exuberance, rushed in- 
 to the midst of the enemy’s force, which had come to 
 carry her away, and put the whole army to the rout. 
 
 As these solitary devotees lived in great simplicity, 
 their expences were but small : and they found, in the 
 offerings wffiich were brought them by their numerous 
 votaries, not only enough for their own wants, but also 
 for the alms which they gave to the neeessitous among 
 their visitants. The}’ confined themselves to one meal 
 daily. Inebriating liquors were not in their thoughts ; 
 nor was the want of them felt as any privation by men ac- 
 customed, from their infancy, to consider the use of 
 such an indulgence as impure and debasing. They 
 had conti acted in good time a salutary detestation of it, 
 and no crime appeared in their eyes so degrading to hu- 
 man nature as drunkenness. 
 
 By the passion for women they understood all the sen- 
 
RULES OF THE VANAPRASTHAS. 
 
 41 
 
 sual pleasures connected with the sex, excepting what 
 the legitimate union of a man with his wife permits ; and, 
 even in that case, their moderation in the use of autho- 
 rized enjoyment was extreme. 
 
 On this subject we may perceive, in the conduct of 
 those philosophers, vestiges of the primitive races of 
 men, who held sacred the command of their Creator to 
 our first parents : “ Increase and multiply and replenish 
 “ the earth.” They held it as an indisputable obliga- 
 tion imposed by nature on all living creatures, to trans- 
 mit, by a new generation, the existence which they re- 
 ceived from their predecessors. But they were so strong- 
 ly impressed with true sentiments concerning marriage, 
 and with the purpose of Him who ordained it, when He 
 created the first man and woman, that they abstained 
 from all intercourse but as it promised to be fruitful : 
 so different in this respect from the Manicheans, who, as 
 St. Augustin relates, from their dislike of progeny, ne- 
 ver acted the husband but under circumstances where 
 conception was not likely to ensue. 
 
 They were convinced, in short, that a spiritual life was 
 unattainable, excepting by subduing all the passions, and 
 that passion in particular which chiefly predominates 
 over our nature. It was not lawful for them even to look 
 in the face of a woman ; and they were impressed with 
 the belief that a single act of incontinence would erase all 
 the merits of a life of devotion for a number of years. 
 The Hindu books are filled with instances of this kind. 
 But as it is the fatality of their authors to corrupt all 
 narration by an intermixture of the wildest and most con- 
 tradictory fables, we shall find, tacked to a true story of 
 a penitent who was punished for not effectually control” 
 ling his desires, some wonderful and highly embellished, 
 
 VoL. II. F 
 
IvS RULES OF THE VANAPRASTHAS. 
 
 tale of his excesses, in voluptuousness of every kind, 
 committed by some devotee, and continued for thou* 
 sands of years ; and unaccountably supported, during 
 that long period, in full vigour, by the fervency of his 
 devotion. 
 
 I shall not go into any long detail of the virtues of the 
 Vanaprastha Brahman. If, on the other hand, they can- 
 not be considered as real and genuine, upon the ground 
 that they are not founded on the natural feelings of hu- 
 manity, but rather practised for ostentation and show ; 
 on the other hand, we must allow that, whatever was the 
 motive, they are at least on a level with the virtues of the 
 vaunted philosophers of Greece. For they practised hos- 
 pitality and enjoined it so strongly upon others, that the 
 Brahmans, on going to their meals, were bound to look 
 into the street, to observe if any wretched wanderer stood 
 jn need of a morsel. And it is still more remarkable that, 
 in such a case, no distinction was made between a friend 
 and an enemy. I will not indeed avouch that their prac- 
 tice always kept pace with morality so pure. 
 
 Their highest boast is their moderation in resenting 
 the injuries which they suffer ; and they strongly incul- 
 cate upon others the duty of restraining the feeling of 
 wrath. The ebullitions of this passion in themselves, 
 which sometimes break out against the gods, they as- 
 cribe rather to zeal than to anger, as they are never ex- 
 cited but by the contemplation of the disorderly conduct 
 and lascivious practices of those celestial personages. 
 
 Yet notwithstanding the purity of their principles on 
 this topic, it is certain that a small vexation serves to ir- 
 ritate them, and that they do not well exemplify their 
 own precepts. Their maledictions have become formi- 
 dable, because they may be incurred by a trifling fault ; 
 
RULES OF THE VANAPRA3THA8. 
 
 4^3 
 
 and because, though unjustly fulminated, they never fail 
 to take effect. 
 
 N 
 
 All the other virtues natural to man, such as compas- 
 sion, humanity, disinterestedness, liberality, were familiar 
 to them. They taught them to others by their discourse 
 and their practice. From this, no doubt, it must be as- 
 sumed that the Hindus possess moral principles not dif- 
 ferent from ours, and that they are well acquainted with 
 the duties which men reciprocally owe to each other in 
 civilized society. 
 
44 
 
 SACRIFICES OF TilE ANCHORETS. 
 
 CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 Of the Sacrifices of the Anchoret Brahmans ; particU’ 
 larly the Yajna. 
 
 THE sacri6ce most in use amongst the Vanaprasthas 
 was that of the Hornam, so often mentioned ; and which 
 was commonly performed by producing new fire from 
 the flint, and casting upon it some boiled rice and liquid 
 butter, and pronouncing over it the appropriate Mantras. 
 This easy and simple sacrifice appears to have had the 
 Fire for its object, and to have been generally offered up 
 to the Sun, as being the most obvious symbol of that 
 element ; and occasionally to the whole Heavenly 
 bodies. 
 
 The penitents likewise offered to the gods several other 
 sorts of sacrifices, all of them consisting of the simple 
 productions of nature ; such as flowers, rice, pulse, and 
 various sorts of fruit. These sacrifices were repeated 
 every day, and occupied all the leisure they had after 
 their ablutions, their hours of meditation, and their con- 
 templation of Para-Brahma. 
 
 Although it appears certain, from the perusal of the 
 Hindu books, that bloody sacrifices of animals were ha- 
 bitual to them in very remote times ; and although it 
 be affirmed that they are required by the Atharvana 
 Veda ; yet it does not appear that the Brahmans in per- 
 son lent their assistance to such sacrifices, by slaying 
 the victims with their own hands. These functions have 
 
SACRIFICES OF THE ANCHORETS. 
 
 45 
 
 always been devolved upon persons of another cast. 
 That of the Rajas, the next in rank to the Brahmans, 
 has not considered it beneath its dignity to exercise the 
 office of sacrificers. But, in more recent times, the 
 Brahmans have always kept aloof from sacrifices where 
 blood was spilled ; and they assume no employment in 
 temples where victims are slaughtered. 
 
 The only case in which the Vanaprastha Brahmans, 
 as well as those of the present day, could possibly offer 
 up a living victim, is at the sacrifice of the Yajna, at 
 ■which a ram is immolated. But even here, to testify 
 their horror of blood, the animal offered up in sacrifice 
 is not slaughtered in the ordinary way, but crushed and 
 smothered. 
 
 This sacrifice is the most exalted and the most meri- 
 torious of all that human beings can devise. It is the 
 most grateful to the gods. It calls down all sorts of 
 temporal blessings, and blots out all the sins that can 
 have been accumulated for four generations. Nothing 
 but the unbounded benefits which it imparts could have 
 surmounted the horror which the Brahman feels at mur- 
 der ; unless he be, in some degree, supported by the 
 arrogant feeling of having the exclusive right of offering 
 this sacrifice, at which no man of any other cast can be 
 present. They extend the privilege of contributing to 
 the expense, it must be allowed, very widely. But, with 
 every aid, this is so enormous, on account of the num- 
 bers of Brahmans who assemble from all quarters, not 
 so much to grace the solemnity, as to share in the pre- 
 sents which he who presides is obliged to lavish amongst 
 them, that such sacrifices are but rarely attempted. 
 
 He who presides at them must select a ram, entirely 
 white, and without blemish ; of about three years old, 
 
46 
 
 SACRIFICES OF THE ANCHORETS. 
 
 well shaped, and fat. He must also proclaim the day of 
 the sacrifice through the whole district, and invite the 
 attendance of the Brahmans of the four Vedas. If any 
 one of the four should fail to be represented, the cere- 
 mony must necessarily be put oflf. The Sudras, of 
 whatever rank, are not permitted to attend ; and Brah- 
 mans themselves are excluded, when afiected by disease 
 or infirmity, or when blind, lame, or labouring under 
 any other bodily defect ; as well as widowers not re- 
 married. 
 
 Every thing being prepared, the Purohita, after an- 
 nouncing the favourable moment of the day for com- 
 mencing, goes to the place of assembly, attended by the 
 concourse of Brahmans, sometimes amounting to two 
 thousand. As usual, they begin by digging a shallow 
 trench, three or four feet square. The ground is then 
 consecrated with IVIantras, and the sacrifice of the Ho- 
 mam; the trench being half filled with dried wood of 
 the following species: the wood of the tree Ravi or 
 Arasu, of the Ali-maru^ the Icha-maram and the parsu- 
 maran. These are all trees consecrated by the super- 
 stition of the country. Dharba, the sacred grass, is also 
 used in abundance; and the whole is sprinkled with 
 liquid butler, that they may the more easily be set on 
 fire. Every stage of the ceremonies is accompanied by 
 the appropriate Mantras, which the Purohita pronounces 
 with a loud voice, while the attendants are responsive, 
 irregularly, and with tumultuous exclamation. 
 
 When the fire is properly kindled, the ram is conduc- 
 ted into the midst of the assembly, after being duly wash- 
 ed, and consecrated by the service of Mantram. He is 
 decorated with flowers and akshata, the grains of rice 
 died red. He is bound with cords made of Dharba, the 
 
SACRIFICES OF THE ANCHORETS. 4? 
 
 sacred grass, and Mantras are ofiered up, which are of a 
 nature to kill the ram, although their efficacy is some- 
 what aided by stopping the ears, nostrils, and mouth of 
 the animal. During this process, several of the Brah- 
 mans assail him with heavy blows with their fists, and 
 one of them, by violent pressure of the knee on his neck, 
 chokes him outright. If the animal, during these cruel 
 torments, find an interval to bleat, it would be held an 
 evil omen. The Purohita, all the while, recites his Man- 
 tras to accelerate the death of the victim. 
 
 When the ram is dead, the chief of the Yajna opens 
 the paunch, and taking out the caul, holds it over the 
 fire until the grease dissolves and drops into the flame. 
 Melted butter is likewise added, as an appropriate liba- 
 tion to that element, serving to render it more intense. 
 
 The carcase being scorched, is cut into small pieces, 
 some of which are soaked in butter and cast into the fire 
 one after another. A part, however, is preserved for him 
 w’ho presides at the sacrifice, and part for him who is 
 at the expense of it. These share their portions with 
 the Brahmans who are present ; amongst whom a scuf- 
 fle ensues, each striving for a small bit of the flesh. Such 
 morsels as they can catch they tear with their hands, and 
 devour as a sacred viand. This practice is the more re- 
 markable, as being the only occasion in their lives when 
 they can venture to touch animal food. 
 
 The fire is then supplied with boiled rice and also 
 with raw, but cleaned and washed as if intended for be- 
 ing dressed. All being now ended, each assistant re- 
 ceives his portion of betel, which had been laid out in 
 readiness around the fire of the Yajna, and is now chew- 
 ed like some hallowed daintv. Tlien he who is at the 
 expense gives a splendid entertainment to all the Brah- 
 
48 
 
 SACRIFICES OF THE ANCHORETS. 
 
 mans present, and concludes the whole by distributing 
 money and apparel among all the Brahmans ; which, on 
 account of their great number, is a matter of large ex* 
 pence. 
 
 The president of this solemnity, who is by no means 
 to be- confounded with the Purohita, who is merely the 
 director of the ceremony, is ever afterwards considered a 
 person of consequence. He acquires by it the right of 
 keeping up a perpetual fire ; and when it is extinguished 
 by any accident, he rekindles it, not with sparks from a 
 flint, but with heat generated by the friction of one piece 
 of wood against another. When he dies, his funeral pile 
 is lighted from that same fire ; which is extinguished 
 only with his ashes. 
 
 I have not learned whether this famous sacrifice, which 
 at first view seems to be offered solely to the fire, may 
 not have a reference to some particular divinity. But it 
 appears probable that he who conducts it is entitled to 
 address it to any god he pleases, provided it be one 
 of the superior order. But, on tlie other hand, the fire 
 of the Y ajna bears the appellation of Yajnesxvara^ or the 
 god fire ; and the word Yajna is derived from Agni, fire ; 
 as if it were to this god that the sacrifice were really offer- 
 ed. I need not point out the resemblance between the 
 word Agni and the Latin Ignis. 
 
 This most renowned sacrifice, the most meritorious 
 and efficacious of all others, is one of the six privileges 
 of the Brahmans ; who alone have the right to assist in 
 it, while other casts are only admitted to participate in the 
 expence. It was more common amongst the Anchoret 
 Brahmans of old, than it is at present ; but at the same 
 time, in those ancient days, it was carried on in a way 
 more simple, and exempt from the extravagant expence 
 
SACRIFICES OF THE ANCHORETS. 
 
 49 
 
 which interested motives on one side, and vanity on the 
 other, have loaded it with in the present times. 
 
 The Great Sacrifice of the Yajna, which was still 
 more famous, is no longer in use. But I have been as- 
 sured by persons of credit that, towards the beginning 
 of the last century, the King of Ambhir in Hindustan, 
 had it celebrated with all the pomp and expence which 
 pertain to it. His present to the Guru alone was a lac 
 of rupees ; and the Brahmans who attended, to the num- 
 ber, it is said, of twelve thousand, all received gifts 
 according to their rank and dignity. 
 
 The fabulous history of the Hindus commemorates, 
 in numerous passages, this sacrifice of the Grand Yajna 
 and its powerful effects. It was practised in its utmost 
 splendour, by the Gods and the Giants, when they war- 
 red against each other. 
 
 The effect of so high a sacrifice was to insure the cer- 
 tainty of victory to those who practised it, over all their 
 enemies ; and in this it never failed, if the preparations 
 and ceremonies ivere not imperfect. 
 
 The Brahmans flocked to it from all quarters ; and 
 tlie Prince, or God, or Giant, to whom it belonged, 
 could not reject the claim of any one of them. They 
 who know the nature of a Brahman may well judge of 
 the rate of the cx pence. I remember to have read some- 
 where in a Hindu book, of an ancient King, who, on 
 such an occasion, gave away a bushel of pearls to each 
 of the Brahmans present, who amounted to thirty thou- 
 sand ! 
 
 At this sacrifice, every species of victim was immo- 
 lated ; and it is beyond doubt that human beings even 
 were offered up. But the horse and the elephant were 
 the most common. Before the great ceremony began, 
 VoL. II. G 
 
50 
 
 SACRIFICES OF THE ANCHORETS. 
 
 it was held necessary’ to make a long excursion, and to 
 go over a great tract of country, attended by a numer- 
 ous army. The Kings, Giants, or Gods, against whom 
 the sacrifice was designed, came in array against them 
 with all their forces, and endeavoured to carry off the 
 victim by violence or stratagem. If they succeeded, 
 the sacrifice was at an end. The Prince, Giant, or 
 God, who was for preparing it, lost all the advantages 
 that he promised himself from it ; and those against 
 whom it was directed were delivered from the evils 
 which would have arisen from its success. For, this 
 terrible rite produced no less advantage to those tvho 
 succeeded in making it, than to render them always 
 victorious in battle, and to throw an enchantment upon 
 their arms bv which one man was enabled to overthrow 
 a whole army. 
 
 I shall pass over the long ceremonies of the Grand 
 Yajna, having been unable to procure an accurate ac- 
 count of them. But I will extract from one of the Hindu 
 books, a specimen of the innumerable fables which they 
 contain with respect to the virtues of this sacrifice ; the 
 more particularly as it is the history of one of the meta- 
 morphoses of Vishnu. 
 
 “ The Emperor Bali, the Giant, was performing this 
 “ sacrifice ; and, if it had been accomplished, the whole 
 “ of the Princes of India would have perished, and he 
 “ would have been absolute lord of the country. 
 “ But, before it took effect, Vishnu, the Preserver, 
 “ descended from his throne, and presenting him- 
 “ self before the tyrant, in the shape of a Brahman 
 “ dwarf, entreated of him the humble boon of a bit 
 “ of ground of the bigness of three prints of the sole of 
 
sacrifices of the anchorets. 
 
 51 
 
 “ his foot, merely that he might sacrifice upon it. The 
 “ Giant smiled at the request, and very readily granted 
 “ it ; and immediately Vishnu, resuming his own migh- 
 “ ty form, covered with one foot-step the whole earth ; 
 “ with the second, all the space that lies between the 
 “ earth and the firmament. ‘ And where,’ he demand- 
 “ ed, ‘ shall I place the third ?’ ‘ On my head,* repli- 
 “ ed the Giant Bali ; who saw, too late, with whom he 
 “ had to treat, yet believed he might preserve his life by 
 “ submitting to the discretion of Vishnu. But the un- 
 “ relenting god made his third step on the head of Bali, 
 “ and crushed it flat ; then hurled down to hell the mons- 
 “ ter who had been the oppressor of the earth.” 
 
THE GIAXTS. 
 
 5S 
 
 CHAP. XXXII. 
 
 Of the Giants^ the Adversaries of the Anchorets. 
 
 THE Vanaprastlia Brahmans were exposed to great 
 difficulties in the accomplishment of their sacrifices, by 
 the opposition of their declared enemies, the Giants. 
 They were likewise frequently thwarted by the Gods. 
 Such opponents could render themselves invisible, by 
 ascending into the skies, from whence they rained down 
 lumps of flesh upon the offerings of the unhappy Peni- 
 tents ; by which they were altogether profaned. In this 
 manner they avenged themselves, in part, of the impe- 
 diments thrown in their u^ay by the maledictions of those 
 pious men. 
 
 I should not have introduced Giants into this book, 
 having otherwise fables enough to grapple with ; were it 
 not that they seem to have been formed on the model of 
 those that are mentioned in Scripture^, and whose 
 crimes were one great cause of the universal deluge 
 which overwhelmed the whole human race, with the 
 exception of eight persons ; or of those in after times, 
 under the name of Anakims, the race of whom w^as 
 wholly extirpated under the rule of Joshuaf. 
 
 The Giants of India are represented to be of a size so 
 enormous, that, in order to w’ake one wdio had fallen 
 
 • Gen. vi. 4. 
 
 + Joshua xi. 21, 22. 
 
THE GIANTS. 
 
 f>3 
 
 asleep, they were obliged to make several elephants walk 
 over him at once ; and, even then, it was a long time 
 before he was sensible of their weight. The hairs of 
 his body were like the trunks of the largest trees. At 
 one time, in a skirmish with some Gods with whom he 
 was at war, he fixed a rock upon each hair, and advancing 
 into the midst of his enemies, with a sudden twirl of 
 his body, he made the huge stones project around him, 
 with such fury, as to overwhelm them all. 
 
 The Giant Havana, the same who ravished the wife 
 of Rama, that is to say, of Vishnu, personating tliat 
 Prince, had ten heads. The palace which he possessed 
 in the island of Ceylon, of which he was King, was so 
 prodigiously lofty, that the Sun passed every day at noon 
 under one of the arches. 
 
 All the Giants were extremely debauched, and of a 
 very malevolent disposition ; particularly those that were 
 Brahmans : for some there Vi ere of that cast, and they 
 were the most wicked of all. They had been trans- 
 muted into Giants, on account of their evil deeds when 
 in the condition of men. They were very numerous ; 
 whole armies of them being sometimes seen, who occa- 
 sionally made war on each other, but more frequently 
 joined together in attacking the Gods ; who, in many 
 instances, have been subdued by those formidable op- 
 ponents. 
 
 Sometimes they devoted themselves to an ascetic life, 
 but with no view of reformation. The Giant Rasmes- 
 wara supported a life of penitence so long as to compel 
 Siva to grant him at last the power he had long and 
 earnestly solicited, of reducing to cinders all persons on 
 whose heads he might lay his hands. The ruffian was 
 willing to make the first experiment of this miraculous 
 
54 
 
 THE GIANTS. 
 
 power upon Siva himself. The hapless god knew not 
 whither to fly from the pursuit of the giant. But Vishnu, 
 the Preserver, seeing his distress, came up to his relief, 
 and saved him, by artfully engaging the giant inadver- 
 tently to raise his hand to his own head ; by which means 
 he was consumed to ashes. With stories like this the 
 Hindu Mythology is filled. 
 
 It is probable that Noah and his sons related to their 
 descendants the history of the mighty giants whom they 
 had seen before tlie flood ; and that from their mouths 
 the account was propagated ; until the Indian imagina- 
 tion, improving on the ancient traditions, created those 
 monstrous and extravagant fables which excite the won- 
 der of the silly vulgar and still command their belief. 
 
 With respect to the giants who were in hostility to 
 the Brahmans, I am led to believe that they were merely 
 the chiefs of the people in the neighbourhood of their 
 hermitages, who would sometimes take oflTence, and 
 annoy them in the performance of their magical rites ; 
 the effects of which they were taught to dread. This is 
 a feeling not without example amongst ourselves ; if we 
 consider that, though not perhaps the first of our philo- 
 sophers, yet many of their successors, have been held in 
 dread, as being conversant in occult science and dange- 
 rous necromancy. Some feeling like this, no doubt, it 
 was that attended those ancient Hermits of India, which 
 rendered their malediction so terrible, their wrath so 
 awful ; and it would naturally follow', that the fear of 
 falling under such a perilous influence would excite 
 tliose around them, both kings and people, to league 
 against them. And thus may have been effectually ex- 
 tirpated those renowned Vanaprastha Brahmans ; of 
 ^\'hom no vestige now remains. 
 
THE GIANTS. 
 
 55 
 
 It was a fit theme for some poet, in his frenzy, to 
 describe their contests with the neighbouring kings and 
 people, as a war with gigantic enemies. And, whatever 
 the imagination of the poet could invent, there tvas cre- 
 dulity enough amongst the Hindus to devour. 
 
56 
 
 OPINIONS ON THE NATURE OF GOD. 
 
 CHAP. XXXIII. 
 
 Opinions of the Hindu Philosophers on the JVature of 
 God, of the Different Beings in the Universe, and par- 
 ticularly the Soul. 
 
 THE Vanaprastha Brahmans, or Ascetics, being 
 bound, by their rules, to devote a large portion of their 
 leisure every day to the contemplation of Para-Brahma ; 
 it is not surprising that they should have acquired some 
 tolerably pure notions of the Divinity ; unless, indeed, we 
 are to suppose they derived them, by direct tradition, 
 from the early patriarchs ; from whom they were not 
 extremely remote. It is only by the latter way that they 
 can have mounted up to Melchisedeck, to Job, to Abra- 
 ham, and many other celebrated personages who were 
 near the era of the flood. 
 
 “ God,” to use the words of the philosophers of India, 
 “is an immaterial Being, pure and unmixed, without 
 “ qualities, form, or division ; the Lord and Master of all 
 “ things. He extends over all, sees all, knows all, di- 
 “ rects all ; without beginning, and without end. Pow'- 
 “ er, strength, and gladness dwell with Him.” 
 
 This is but a slight sketch of the lofty terms in which 
 the Hindu writings, after their philosophers, describe the i 
 Para-Brahma or Supreme Being. But it is painful toj . 
 see these sublime attributes unworthily profaned, byj i 
 
OPINIONS ON THE NATURE OF GOU. 
 
 ^7 
 
 prostituting them to the false gods of the country, and 
 blending them with innumerable other attributes, as ridi- 
 culous and absurd as the fables to which they are attach- 
 ed. 
 
 The earliest of these philosophers, maintaining ideas 
 of the Godhead so pure, in all probability never strayed 
 into the absurdities of polytheism and idolatry. Their 
 successors, however, adopted them by degrees, and in- 
 sensibly conducted the nation, whose oracles they were, 
 into all the extravagances in which we see them now in- 
 volved. Hence we may conclude, that the speculations 
 of those spurious teachers have prevailed no farther than 
 to corrupt the purity of the inherent notions, and of re- 
 gular tradition, respecting the nature and unity of God, 
 as well as the worship which was paid to Him by those 
 who flourished immediately after the Deluge. 
 
 These philosophers soon separated into two parties, 
 upon the nature of God, and that of the universe. Up 
 to the present times, each has its nmuerous partizans. 
 The first is called Dwitam, the Sect of Two ; that is to 
 say those who hold the existence of two beings or sub- 
 stances, namely, God, and the World, which He created, 
 and to which He is united. 
 
 The other sect is called Adwitam ; not Two ; mean- 
 ing, those who acknowledge but one being, one sub- 
 stance, one God. 
 
 The professors of the last doctrine designate the foun- 
 dation of the system by the two technical expressions 
 Abhavana Bhava-nasti : From nothing nothing comes. 
 They maintain that Creation is an impossibility, and 
 that, on the other hand, a pre-existing and eternal sub- 
 stance is absolutely chimerical. From these premises 
 they infer, that, w^hatever we imagine to be the universe, 
 
 Voi.. H. H 
 
5S OPlNIO^fS ON THE NATURE OF GOD, AND 
 
 and the various objects which appear to compose it, is 
 nothing but a pure illusion, or Maya. 
 
 From the various tales which they have invented for 
 illustrating their system, I have selected the following : 
 
 “ A man, in a dream, imagined that he was crowned 
 “ king of a certain country, with great pomp and many 
 “ ceremonies. On waking, he met a man who had just 
 “ come from that country, and who related to him the 
 “ whole circumstances of a king being chosen and 
 “ crowned there. His narrative agreed in all points wdth 
 ‘‘ what the other had seen in vision. There w'as, there- 
 “ fore, no more reality in what the one person believed 
 “ that he Iiad seen, than in what the other certainly had 
 “ dreamed. The illusion was equal with regard to 
 “ both ; for that which we take to be a reality is nothing 
 “ more than a deception from the Deity, the only being 
 “ that exists ; and the various tilings we behold are but 
 “ appearances, or rather modifications of the Divinity.” 
 
 I know not whether these philosophers deduce from 
 their pernicious system, all the consequences which na- 
 turally follow from it. Some of them I know have done 
 so. I have read, in a Hindu book, an extract from the 
 celebrated poem of the Bharata, the author of which in* 
 troduceson the scene the god Siva, instructing his wife 
 Parvati, in familiar discourse. He tells her plainly, 
 amongst other things, that the most abominable crimes, 
 such as adultery, fraud, and violence, are mere sports in 
 the eye of the Divinity. 
 
 In the system of Ikvitam, which admits of two essen- 
 ces, God and Matter, our souls are nothing but a por- 
 tion of the Divinty ; which is enveloped, as it were, by 
 real objects, and shaded bv the various passions which 
 aftect those several substances, and are inherent in them. 
 
DIFFERENT BEINGS IN THE UNIVERSE. 59 
 
 The supporters of tliis last opinion try to explain it 
 by the image of the sun, which appears in many vessels 
 of water, all distinct from each other ; or by an ingot of 
 gold, from w'hich various trinkets and vessels are form- 
 ed : W'hile there is but one sun and one inarot. 
 
 The ordinary Brahmans, less learned, but more intel- 
 ligent than those of the cast who attach themselves to the 
 controversies of Dwitam and Adwitam, acknowledge 
 one Supreme Being, the author and creator of the uni- 
 verse and of our souls. But they do not confound these 
 created things wdth God, by whom men are governed, 
 punished, and rewarded, according to the goodness or 
 evil of their doings. 
 
 There is still another scheme of philosophy, which is 
 utterly rejected by the Brahmans, and is said to be fol- 
 lowed and taught by the Jainas and the votaries of Budd- 
 ha. This system is nothing else than the pure Materi- 
 alism, which Spinosa and his disciples have endeavour- 
 ed to pass for a new discovery of their own. The ma- ' 
 terialists of India appear to have long preceded them in 
 this doctrine, and have drawn from it the same practical 
 deductions which their European brethren have done, 
 and w’hich have been propagated in modern times with , 
 such pernicious success. 
 
 Agreeably to this system, there is no god but matter ; 
 which, separating into various masses, forms as many 
 gods, according to some ; and the whole forming but 
 one god, according to others. 
 
 Thence they eonclude that there can be neither sin 
 nor virtue, no migration nor transmigration of souls ; 
 that after death, there is no Szvarga, or place of delight; 
 no jXaraka, or abode of torment. The truly wise man, 
 according to them, is he who seeks after all the pleasures 
 
60 OPINIONS ON THE NATURE OP GOD, AND 
 
 of sense, and who believes in nothing that he does not 
 see. All beyond this is a chimera. 
 
 God, sa}^s a philosopher of this abominable school, 
 possesses four Sakti or Faculties; which are like so 
 many wives. These are knowledge, desire, energ}', and 
 deception or illusion. 
 
 The body, in applying the first Sakti, which is Know- 
 ledge^ to its whole senses at once, enjoys perfect pleasure. 
 It is but imperfect, if the diffusion is limited to a part 
 of them. From this partial extension of knowledge 
 proceed pain and sleep. Death is a total suspension of 
 the knowledge of the body regarding its senses. It thus 
 becomes insensible and perishes. 
 
 It is to amuse and divert Himself with the pleasures 
 of infancy, that God creates his own substance into chil- 
 dren, while at the same time He is enjoying the var}dng 
 gratifications of maturity and age. Such, in a few ivords, 
 is the \vhole secret of the commencement of life, and of 
 its close. 
 
 The second Sakti of the Divinity is Desire, which 
 changes with the various impressions it receives. God 
 is man, horse, dog, insect, or in short whatever he 
 wishes to be. His desire extends to each living crea- 
 ture, and varies with the instinct of each individual. He 
 is delighted by enjoying what is adapted to the particu- 
 lar gratification of each. '• 
 
 But the Sakti of Desire unfortunately obscures that of 
 knowledge, and hinders it from perceiving that there is 
 no other deity but the material body, propagation, life, 
 and death. From this ignorant deviation, occasioned by 
 Desire, the inclinations of men are derived ; such as 
 the aft'ection of a mother for her children, and the pains 
 she takes in rearing them. The truly wise man, who 
 
DIFFERENT BEINGS IN THE UNIVERSE. 
 
 61 
 
 would acquire the enlightened knowledge of truth and 
 nature, must therefore renounce desire. 
 
 The third Sakti is Energy y upon which these pre- 
 tended philosophers speak still more mysteriously. 
 
 All the universe, according to them, lay in confusion. 
 Men lived without subordination, without laws or easts. 
 To remedy this mighty disorder, a general consultation 
 of bodies was held. Energy proposed to them the fol- 
 lowing scheme : “ Let us collect,” quoth he, “ from all 
 “ bodies, whatsoever is found most excellent in each. 
 “ From such materials I will form a complete man, who, 
 “ by the union of beauty, wisdom, and strength, shall 
 “ make himself master of the whole earth, and become 
 “ its only king. I shall be its spouse ; and from our 
 “ marriage shall spring bodies innumerable, each more 
 “ perfect than another.” The project was approved, 
 and carried into effect. It fully succeeded ; and from 
 the body of the wife of a Brahman, called Sutadana, was 
 born the god Buddha ; a being, incomparable in all per- 
 fections ; who has promulgated laws, the transgression 
 of which is the most heinous sin. No iniquity can be 
 more enormous than to deny Buddha to be what he is. 
 He who acknowledges him, is the true Bauddhist, a 
 Brahman indeed ; the Guru among Brahmans. His own 
 body is his only god. To his body alone he offers up 
 sacrifice. He procures for himself all possible enjoy- 
 ments ; he has no dread of any thing ; he eats indiscri- 
 minately of all food. He scruples not to lie, in order to 
 attain the objects of his wish. He acknowledges neither 
 Vishnu nor Siva, nor any other god but himself. 
 
 “ But, as all individuals are so many deities, or rather 
 “ modifications of the same god, why are they not all 
 “ endowed with the same talents and equal penetration? 
 
63 OPINIONS ON THE NATURE OF GOD, AND 
 
 “ Why are the greater part devoid of sublime intelli- 
 gence ?” Such was the objection started by anew pro- 
 selyte to one of the sages of the sect. His answer was, 
 that “ the evil entirely proceeded from the fourth Sakti 
 “ called Maija or Illusion. It is the cause of all decep- 
 “ tion, and makes men take what is false for what is true. 
 
 “ It has misled men into a belief that there are gods ; 
 
 “ that there are such vicissitudes as living and dying, 
 
 “ pollution and purification. The only means of shun- 
 “ ning the errors of Maya is to cling to the doctrines 
 ‘‘ of Bauddhism.” 
 
 The author of the Tantra Sastra^ from whom I have 
 borrowed this exposition of the system, proceeds next • 
 to explain creation, and to make us comprehend how 
 God, united to Maya, should have produced men differ- 
 ing so greatly in their inclinations. But what he advan- 
 ces could only have proceeded from an extravagant 
 imagination, and is no more worthy of attention than the 
 talk of a sick man who is deprived of his reason by 
 delirium. 
 
 He then returns to the principles and doctrine as above 
 described. He sneers at the Brahmans for their ablu- 
 tions, fasts, penitence, sacrifices, mantras, vedas. The 
 true veda, he exclaims, is for a man to please himself, to 
 procure all sensual enjoyments, to take vengeance upon 
 an enemy, and pursue him to death ; to disclaim all sen- 
 timent of humanity, and to think only of his own ad- 
 vantage. 
 
 It is not wonderful that persons, who promulgate doc- 
 trines like these, should have created enemies to them- 
 selves ; or that the Brahmans, in particular, should be 
 at open war with a sect that sets their principles so com- 
 pletely at defiance. 
 
DIFFERENT BEINGS IN THE UNIVERSE. 
 
 63 
 
 But the most odious part of this detestable doctrine is 
 the gravity with which it inculcates the renunciation of 
 all natural feelings, such as filial piety, compassion for the 
 distressed, and similar propensities ; which they some- 
 times denounce as sinful. 
 
 In tracing the course of this system, we encounter the 
 history of a certain king, who scarcely ever left the apart- 
 ments of his wives ; but notwithstanding condemned to 
 death a man W'hose crime was the practice of humanity 
 and of charity towards his fellow-creatures. 
 
 Nevertheless, I doubt whether the genuine Bauddhists 
 would avow such horrid doctrines ; and I rather believe 
 the calumny must have been invented by some envious 
 Brahman, for the purpose of casting odium on a sect for 
 which his cast entertains the most implacable hatred. 
 
 While employed in writing these pages, I am in the 
 midst of a district, where there are great numbers of 
 Jamas or followers of Buddha; and, after much enquiry 
 into their character and conduct, I can assert that, in the 
 practice of the moral virtues, they are not beneath the 
 level of other Hindus ; and that, in good faith, in pro- 
 bity, and distinterestedness, they far surpass their anta- 
 gonists the Brahmans. 
 
 I can also recognise in the present description of the 
 system in question, the bias of some Hindu philoso- 
 phers, which always prompts them to extremes, in their 
 theories as well as in their actions. 
 
 One prominent custom amongst them is, never to 
 yield to their taste or appetite in eating or drinking; but 
 to habituate themselves to the most nauseous aliments. 
 
 They must elevate themselves above the prejudices of 
 the vulgar, and always pursue, in their conduct and mode 
 of thinking, a course opposite to that of others. 
 
64 OPINIONS ON THE NATURE OF GOD, &C. 
 
 They hold it improper to give themselves up to sen- 
 sual pleasures in this present world, in which the desires 
 of the body must be suppressed by mortifying penance. 
 
 At any rate, it must be admitted, that, if the Baudd- 
 hists actually hold the odious and detestable tenets which 
 are ascribed to them, in the reports which we have here 
 abridged ; these have no visible influence on their beha- 
 viour, or the slightest effect in relaxing the social ties 
 which bind them, equally with other casts, to the great 
 stock of society. Whatever is peculiar to their order 
 they abstain from making public, by writing or in act ; 
 and this reserve, which is still continued, is probably 
 occasioned by the memory of ancient persecution, which 
 lias at length softened down a rugged and pernicious 
 system into a harmless theme of speculation. 
 
INFLUENCE OF PENITENCE. 
 
 65 
 
 CHAP. XXXIV. 
 
 On the Injhience of Penitence in Purifying the Soul ; 
 and on Purification by Fire, 
 
 THE doctrine of the Ascetic philosophers was, that Re- 
 tirement should dissipate the clouds of Illusion which 
 lead us astray, and break the chains which unite us too 
 closely with the created beings that surround us ; as 
 well as with our own evil passions, which entangle, de- 
 press, and pollute the soul. Being thus set free, it re- 
 joins the Divinity, even Para-Brahma ; and the penitent, 
 now cleansed from the stains of guilt which defile other 
 men, can boldly exclaim, “ Behold a Brahman ! I am 
 “ wholly divine : I am Brahma !” 
 
 Men, whom a vain philosophy has beguiled into this 
 ecstatical pride, cannot fail to look upon all other mor- 
 tals with contempt ; as wretches whose accumulated 
 |K)llution and sins require the revolution of generation 
 after generation to expiate. 
 
 This pride was farther inflamed by the marks of at- 
 tention, or rather of adoration, which the greatest Princes 
 lavished upon them ; and which they accepted with ab- 
 solute coolness, or in a manner which shewed that they 
 considered the honour as not more than their due. 
 
 After this, one ceases to wonder at the behaviour of 
 one of these philosophers called Mandanis ; who, ac- 
 cording to Strabo, refused to visit Alexander the Great, 
 
 VoL. II. I 
 
66 
 
 INFLUENCE OF PENITENCE, 
 
 when he sent for him, and even wrote a haughty epistle 
 to that sovereign. He was no doubt a Vanaprastha 
 Brahman, and doubtless he shewed great condescension 
 in taking the trouble to write to any one. But, if the 
 letter of this Hindu philosopher, as preserved by Strabo, 
 be not a forgery, at least it is certain that, by paraphras- 
 ing and tricking it out in fine Greek, it is so disguised 
 that, I venture to say, it never came out of the hands of 
 a Hindu Muni or Rishi in that shape*. 
 
 But, how did this penitence or purification operate 
 upon the Anchoret, in his solitary state ? It operated in 
 three ways ; by subduing the passions, by the habit of 
 contemplation, and by the mortification of the body. By 
 the first, they pretended not only to eradicate the three 
 great propensities before-mentioned, as relating to land, 
 money, and women ; but also to extirpate all ordinary 
 prejudices, concerning casts, distinctions and honours. 
 Their wish was to extinguish the most natural feelings, 
 and even the instincts implanted in us by nature for our 
 preservation. They required of their disciples to be in- 
 sensibk to heat and cold, to wind and rain ; and to eat, 
 without reluctance, not only the most ofiensive and dis- 
 gustmg scraps, but even things of which nature herself 
 shews her utmost abhorrence. They called this disci- 
 pline by the name of Moksha Sadhakam, or Exercise of 
 Deliverance. In many respects, then, they were more 
 Stoical than 2^no, and more Cynical than Diogenes him- 
 self. 
 
 It is probable, at the same time, that the great num- 
 ber of the solitary Brahmans did not enter into these ex- 
 
 * Strabo, Geog. xv. He is called Dandaiois by Arrian and 
 Plutarch. 
 
GYMN030PHISTS OR NAKED SANNYASIS. 67 
 
 tremes, but left them to be practised by some enthusias- 
 tical penitents of an inferior order ; although it cannot be 
 disputed that their rules led implicitly to all the excesses 
 that have been mentioned. 
 
 Even at the present time there are pretended penitents, 
 who preach and practise the detestable Moksha Sadha- 
 kam. Some of them go entirely naked, and affect, by 
 that evidence, to shew that they are insensible to the pas- 
 sion that has the most powerful influence over men, and 
 that the objects most capable of exciting it have no in- 
 fluence whatever upon them. 
 
 Many of these naked Sannyasis are still met with 
 about the country, to whom the Greek authors gave the 
 name of Gymnosophists. They all exercise the profes- 
 sion of mendicity ; and under the appellation of Sanny- 
 asis are mere vagabonds, without house or habitation. 
 Though completely naked, no appearance of any throb 
 or involuntary motion is ever seen in parts of the body, 
 over which the will has often but little control. Sights 
 the most apt to produce excitement, appear to make no 
 impression on this race of knaves. The multitude, who 
 are unacquainted with the means by which this control 
 has been acquired, and who believe them to be out of 
 the reach of passion, hold them in great admiration. And 
 the European authors, who are not much better inform- 
 ed, have acquired this power of restraint to cooling me- 
 dicines ; of which, according to them, they make con- 
 stant use for the purpose of deadening their feelings. But 
 the utmost austerity of living is not likely, of itself, to 
 make them so callous to the impressions which affect the 
 senses, and irresistibly influence that animal affection which 
 these penitents boast that they have subdued. But, so far 
 from their leading an austere and regulated life, I can 
 
68 GYMNOSOPUISTS OR NAKED SANNYASIS. 
 
 testify that they are, of all Hindus, the most intemperate; 
 eating publicly, and without shame, all sorts of meat, and 
 immoderately using strong liquors and intoxicating 
 drugs. These transgressions are imputed to them as 
 nothing. They are Sannyasis ; and the use of the Mok- 
 sha Sadhakam, which they are supposed to practise un- 
 der those circumstances, exempts them from all blame. 
 
 The real means employed for producing the quies- 
 cence alluded to are quite mechanical. Before ventur- 
 ing to exhibit themselves, they attach a heavy weight, so 
 as to swing between their feet towards the ground. 
 This is augmented from time to time, and they drag it 
 about with so great an effort, that the muscles are dera- 
 cinated, or so weakened as no longer to be capable of 
 their functions. Such, I have been positively assured, is 
 the sole causO of the famous inertia in the Gymnoso- 
 phists or naked Sannyasis of India. 
 
 Others amongst them boast of having conquered na- 
 tural feelings of another kind ; and they give horrible 
 proofs of it, by eating human excrements, without shew, 
 ing the slightest symptom of disgust. The stupid Hin- 
 du, who is never tickled but by extremes of some sort 
 or other, looks at the fanatic with admiration, and feels 
 nothing but respect and reverence. 
 
 Contemplation fills up the outline sketched by the 
 mortification of the passions, by replenishing the soul 
 with thoughts of the Divinity, and re-uniting it to that 
 first being from whom it emanated, and of whom it is 
 a part. This re-union is not effected all at once, but by 
 several degrees, as will be explained under the head of 
 the Sannyasis. It is to bring about, by little and little, 
 this happy union, that the Vanaprastha is obliged, by 
 
PURIFICATION BY FIRE. 
 
 69 
 
 his rules, to devote a considerable portion of his time 
 every day to contemplation. 
 
 The third degree of perfection consisted in the mortU 
 jication of the body ; by which was understood, not on- 
 ly that hard and austere mode of living, which every one 
 must lead who aspires to perfection ; but also frequent 
 bathing, according to the usages. These philosophers 
 confounded the pollution of the body with that of the 
 soul, and were persuaded that they reciprocally passed 
 into one another ; and therefore they believed that the 
 bath, by cleansing the body, had also the virtue to puri- 
 fy the soul. This was more particularly the case when 
 it was performed in the Ganges, or any of the other ri- 
 vers which superstition had rendered famous. 
 
 The little that now remained to complete the work of 
 purification was accomplished by fire. It 'was for this 
 reason that all the devotees were burned after death. 
 Their obsequies were attended only by the solitary 
 Brahmans, their companions; and were in the same 
 taste as those we have formerly described ; though much 
 less protracted than those of the ordinary Brahmans. 
 It could not indeed be supposed that they should stand 
 so much in need of purificatory ceremonies, after renun- 
 ciation of the world, the gloomy life they had led in the 
 deserts, and their continued labour of purification during 
 the whole course of their existence. 
 
 But, the uttermost perfection of purity was only to be 
 attained by terminating their earthly course by fire, and 
 offering themselves alive on the burning pile. Strabo 
 relates the history of the Brahman Calanus, in which 
 there is nothing improbable ; who exhibited this specta- 
 cle before the whole army of Alexander. At the same 
 
70 
 
 PURIFICATION BY FIRE. 
 
 time, I do not believe that examples of this kind were 
 frequent among the Vanaprasthas. I remember but one 
 instance in all the Hindu books I have perused or heard 
 read ; which was of an ascetic and his wife. Both were 
 advanced in years ; and they joined together in erecting 
 the funeral pile ; seated themselves very quietly upon it, 
 set 6re to it themselves, and were consumed together. 
 After the highest degree of purification which human be- 
 ings can reach, their souls were speedily reunited to the 
 Divinity, without the slightest danger of being called up- 
 on to revisit the earth. 
 
 Such were the melancholy and deplorable effects of 
 the Hindu superstition, and of the chimerical notions of 
 their most enlightened philosophers. 
 
 Calanus was undoubtedly one of the Vanaprasthas. 
 Certainly he could not have had the education and the 
 manners of the Greeks ; and that w'as a sufficient reason 
 with that vain nation to treat him as a barbarian. Cice- 
 ro, who has copied this story from the Greek historians, 
 treats him in the same manner*. But it may be reason- 
 ably doubted that he was not so ignorant a man as the 
 great Roman imagines ; although, at the same time, I 
 do not pretend that our Vanaprastha had any knowledge 
 of the Grecian mythology, as Cicero seems to suppose, 
 or that he chose the manner of his death in imitation of 
 that of Herculesf ; a name which probably he had ne- 
 ver heard of. 
 
 * Calanus Indus, indoctus ac barbarus, in radicibus Caucasi na- 
 tus, sua voluntate vivus combustus est. Tusc. ii. 22. 
 
 t Est profecto quiddam etiam in barbaris genlibus praesentiens 
 atque divinans: siquidetn ad mortem proficiscens Calanus Indus, 
 cum adscenderet in rogum ardentem, O prseclarum discessum. 
 
PURIFICATION ' feY FIRE. 
 
 71 
 
 What Cicero mentions of Calanus being bom at the 
 foot of the Caucasus, confirms what I have already said 
 concerning the origin of the Brahmans ; and tends to 
 shew, that the discoveries made at the time of the inva- 
 sion by Alexander, at a period so near the establishment 
 of these philosophers in India, are evidence of their de- 
 riving their descent from the environs of that famous 
 mountain. 
 
 inquit, e vita, cum, ut Herculi contigit, mortali corpore cremate, 
 in lucem animus excesserit ! Cumque Alexander eum rogaret, si 
 quid vellet, ut diceret : Optime inquit ; propediem te videbo. 
 Quod ita contigit. Nam, Babylone, paucis post diebus, Alexan- 
 der est mortuus. Divin. i. 23. 
 
78 
 
 LfeARNING. 
 
 CHAP. XXXV. 
 
 Of the Learning of the Solitary Brahmans, and of the ! 
 
 Epoch of the Flood. 
 
 HAVING already treated on the devotion, and the mor- 
 al and philosophical system of the Vanaprasthas, it would 
 be now proper to consider the learning or science to 
 w'hich they w’ere addicted. But w'hat has been else- 
 where said on the sciences of the Brahmans in general, 
 applies so nearly to those of the devotees, that it is un- 
 necessary to repeat it. There are two sciences, however, 
 the one useful and the other pernicious, to which they in 
 a particular manner apply themselves ; namely, astrono- 
 my and magic. I have already given my reasons for not 
 entering minutely into the former ; but it is so connect- 
 ed with the epoch of the universal deluge, an event fa- 
 mous through all the world, and the point from w'hich 
 they date their astronomical calculations, as well as their 
 commercial and ordinary eras ; that I shall detail a few 
 of the principal notices which the ancient Vanaprastha 
 Brahmans have transmitted to us on this subject. They 
 have been treated very superficially by such authors as 
 have come in my way. 
 
 They recognize four ages of the world ; to which II 
 they give the name of Yuga. They attribute to each of I 
 these, a duration, which would extend that of the world I 
 to several millions of years. I 
 
LEARNING. 
 
 73 
 
 The first is called Satya-yuga, or the age of innocence^ 
 which they prolong to 1,728,000 years. The second, 
 which they call Treta-yuga, lasted about a fourth p. rt 
 less than the preceding, or 1,296,000 years. The 
 third, called Dwapara-yuga^ continued for one-third 
 less than the second, or 864,000 years. And the last, in 
 which we now live, and which is called Kali-yuga, or the 
 age of misery, will endure one half less than the third, and 
 will consequently amount only to 432,000 years. 
 
 This last age commences with the epoch of the Hindu 
 deluge ; and the year of the Christian era, 1805, in which 
 I m now writing these pages, corresponds to the year 
 4906 of the Kali-yuga. 
 
 I imagine it wull not be necessary to attempt proving 
 to reasonable persons that the three first of these ages are 
 fabulous. The Hindus themselves seem to regard them 
 in that light ; since, in the affairs of life, they make no 
 mention of these yugas ; and all their calculations and 
 dates, as well as the most ancient monuments, and the 
 most authentic that are found among them, take tlieir 
 origin from the commencement of the Kali-yuga. 
 
 This pretension to high antiquity is a chimera which 
 has been pursued by every nation, as they sank into ido- 
 latry, and, forgetting the traditions of their ancestors, be- 
 lieved they could add to their glory, by seeking an ori- 
 gin high and remote. It is well knowm how far the Chi- 
 nese, the Egt’ptians, and the Greeks pushed their claims 
 in this resspect. But no ancient people has advanced 
 higher in this career of ambition than the Hindus ; who, 
 carrying every thing to excess, must even remove to an 
 inconceivable distace the creation of the world. 
 
 At the close of each of the yugas which they admit, a 
 revolution in nature took place, so universal, that not 
 VoL. II. K 
 
 I 
 
LEARNING. 
 
 7 ^ 
 
 a vestige of it subsisted in that which followed. The 
 gods themselves have had their share in the general 
 change. Vishnu, who was white in the last revolution, 
 is become black in the present. 
 
 It is therefore clear that the commencement of the true 
 era of the Hindus, that is to say the Kali-yuga, in which 
 we now live, must ascend very nearly to the epoch of the 
 universal flood ; an event most distinctly marked by the 
 Hindu authors, who give it the name of Jala-pralat/am, 
 or w^ater deluge. 
 
 The author of the Bhagavata gives a very elear and de- 
 tailed aceount of this deluge, which covered the whole 
 surfaee of the earth. It is said in this book, one of the 
 most ancient and famous of any which the Hindus ac- 
 knowledge, that the Jala-pralayam, or universal inunda- 
 tion of water, swept oflP all mankind, with the exception 
 of the seven famous Rishis or Penitents ; who, with tlieir 
 wives, were saved from the total ruin of the human race, 
 \ by means of a ship, into whieh Vishnu made them em- 
 \ bark, and of which he himself became the pilot. 
 
 Besides this narrative in the Bhagavata, frequent allu- 
 sions to the Jala-pralayam are found in several authors ; 
 some of whom add, that, besides the seven penitents, 
 who embarked in the ship provided by Vishnu, there 
 was also preserved in it Menu, who appears to be the 
 great Noah himself. 
 
 I believe that the universal flood is not more elearly 
 announced in any ancient w'ritings whatever, that have 
 alluded to it, nor described in a manner more elose to 
 the recital of Moses, than in the Hindu book to which 
 we have referred. 
 
 Thus a eoncurrent testimony of this remarkable epoch 
 is aflbrded us, whose antiquity cannot be called in ques- 
 
LEARNING. 
 
 75 
 
 tion ; by the only people, perhaps, on earth, which has 
 never been humbled into a state of barbarism, and whose 
 territory, from its situation, climate, and fertility, must 
 have been settled amongst the earliest of all ; a nation 
 which, perhaps, above all others, has been rigidly attach- 
 ed to its rites ; and in whose customs no considerable 
 change has been ever known. That nation, in its civil 
 institutions, dates always from the epoch of the abate- 
 ment of the flood. It appears, in its civil and popular 
 intercourse, to have entirely rejected its other fabled ages, 
 and to cling solely to this; since, as we have shewn above, 
 all the eras promulgated in public, take their source from 
 the commencement of the Kali-yuga, that is, the precise 
 period of the flood. Every public and private act bears 
 that it is done on such a year of its cycle of sixty years ; 
 and it expresses exactly, how many such cycles have 
 elapsed from the deluge downwards. How many facts 
 connected with historical truth are considered to be im- 
 mutably fixed, which have not nearly so solid a founda- 
 tion as this ? 
 
 Another very remarkable circumstance is, that their 
 manner of reckoning the age of the world expressly 
 agrees with what we have in Scripture : “ And it came 
 “ to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first 
 “ month, the first day of the month, the waters were 
 “ dried up from off the earth.” So saith the Scripture 
 (Gen. viii.) ; and so the Hindus compute ; by such a day 
 of a given month, in a certain year ; numbering the cy- 
 cle, and reckoning from the commencement of the Kali- 
 yuga m. 
 
 In the passage above cited, it is no doubt the epoch 
 of Noah’s birth that is in question. He was then enter- 
 ing into his six hundredth and first year. But, to say 
 
76 
 
 CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 nothing of the opinion of several chronologists, that 
 Noah’s birth day fell on the same day of the year that 
 the world commenced upon, bating the six days of crea- 
 tion ; it appears, that, in times immediately succeeding 
 the deluge, the Scriptures reckon only by the years of 
 this patriarch ; and that the anniversary of his birth com- 
 memorated to men the day on which the earth was re- 
 stored to them : a memorable day, forming the epoch 
 from which they were thenceforth to date the years of the 
 renascence of the earth. 
 
 A thousand revolutions occurring, in dark ages, 
 amongst ancient nations; some alterations in figures, 
 which there is reason to suspect in the holiest of all 
 books, with other causes, have obscured that just calcu- 
 lation which the Hindus alone, seated in a land which 
 was exempt from the troubles that agitated other coun- 
 tries, have to this day been enabled to preserve. 
 
 Besides their civil Cycle of sixty years, they have also 
 adopted one of ninety ; which is used only in astronomi- 
 cal calculations. They both commence from the same 
 epoch, that of the cessation of the flood, or beginning of 
 the Kali-yugam. It may be questioned, however, 
 •w hether the astronomical Cycle be of the same antiqui- 
 ty as the civil ; and it may be well supposed that the 
 astronomers, having arisen after the establishment of the 
 nation, made it to accord with that which they found al- 
 ready established, and that they could not, or durst not, 
 change it. They likewise saw that the two modes 
 of calculating could never occasion the least confusion ; 
 because, in every third succession of the Cycles, they 
 started together afresh. 
 
 The Hindu astronomers admit into their calculations 
 another epoch, still more modern ; as it commences on- 
 
CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 77 
 
 ly abo'ut the middle of the first century of the Christian 
 era. It is called the Salivahana epoch, because it takes 
 its date from the death of a famous King of India 
 of that name, who reigned in a province called Sagam. 
 
 The Chinese likewise have a civil Cycle, of sixty 
 years, in common with the Hindus ; but there is this 
 difference between the two races, that the Chinese are ig- 
 norant of any relation which their era bears to that of the 
 flood. It is hardly to be imagined that the two nations 
 could have communicated with each other, seeing that 
 they do not agree in the computation. For, according 
 to some authors who have written on the affairs of Chi- 
 na, the birth of our Saviour falls on the fifty. eighth year 
 of the Chinese Cycle, while it coincides with the forty- 
 second of the Cycle of the Hindus. This at least con- 
 firms the antiquity of the Cycle of sixty years still in use 
 with the two most ancient races of people on the face of 
 the earth. 
 
 It would be useless perhaps to Inquire whether this 
 Cycle was instituted before the flood, and whether it be 
 from Noah or his immediate descendants that the Hin- 
 dus have derived it. All that we know for certain is, 
 that weekly Cycle was instituted and acted upon be- 
 fore that famous epoch, and that the Hindu week agrees 
 exactly with that of the Hebrews and with ours. The 
 days of their week correspond precisely with those of 
 ours, and are numbered just in the same way. 
 
 But what is peculiar to them is that, in the same man- 
 ner as every day of the week and every month of the 
 year has its particular name, so has each of the sixty 
 years of the Cycle. Thus, they do not say that a certain 
 event happened on the twentieth or thirtieth year of the 
 Cycle ; but they give the year its name, and say that it 
 
78 
 
 CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 happened in the year Krodhie, the year Viswasu, the year 
 P ingala, and so forth. 
 
 The only solid difficulty which remains unexplained 
 in the Hindu computation with regard to the flood, is to 
 ascertain whether it corresponds with that of the Bible. 
 
 I reply to this, that, though some discrepancy may be 
 observed between the two, it is not of consequence 
 enough to produce any serious doubt respecting the 
 event to which both of them relate. 
 
 Let us take into our consideration, for example, that 
 there is a diflerence of more than nine hundred years be- 
 tween the period supposed to have elapsed between the 
 flood and the birth of Christ, as it stands on the authori- 
 ty of the version of the Septuagint, and on that of the 
 Vulgate. Neither of these calculations is wholly reject- 
 ed, and both of them have able chronologists for suppor- 
 ters. The Catholicc hurch, which adheres to the V ulgate 
 for the Old Testament, adopts the calculation of the Se- 
 venty for the Roman Marty rology, which is read eveiy 
 day in the church service. 
 
 The difference therefore, between the Hindu calcula- 
 tion and ours does not appear a sufficient reason for our 
 rejecting it, or even for our supposing that it does not 
 proceed from the same source. 
 
 According to the Hindu calculation, the time elapsed be- 
 tween the Jala-pralayam, or Deluge, and the birth of Jesus 
 Christ, is three thousand and one hundred and two years. 
 This period does not at all correspond with the calcula- 
 tion drawn from the Vulg'ate, as there is the wide differ- 
 ence between them of about seven hundred and fifty 
 years. But it approaches much nearer to the calculation 
 made in the Septuagint, which gives a space of three 
 
 a-r ' -■ i ' 
 
 / 
 
 
 
CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 79 
 
 thousand two hundred and fifty-eight years between the 
 Deluge and the commeneement of the Christian era. If 
 we conform to this last calculation, the epoch of the 
 Hindu Jala-pralayam does not differ from that of the 
 deluge of the Scripture more than one hundred and fifty- 
 six years. , 
 
 A discrepancy to this extent, in so intricate a compu- 
 tation, is so far from affecting the credibility of the event, 
 that the Hindu epoch, on the contrary, serves to confirm 
 that of the Scripture, and adds incontestable evidence to 
 that most important event, the universal deluge. 
 
 Some modern chronologists, at the head of whom 
 stands the learned Tournemine, who have taken their 
 calculation from the Vulgate, have found,' between the 
 Deluge and the Christian era, a period of three thousand 
 two hundred and thirty -four years ; and they have sup- 
 ported their system upon solid grounds. In adopting 
 their opinion, we have a variation of only one hundred 
 and thirty-two years between the Hindu computation 
 andt hat of Scripture ; a difference of the less importance, 
 that the audiors of this system give it only as conjectu- 
 ral, and with the view of reconciling the Septuagint 
 with the Vulgate. 
 
 It is not at all to be imagined, that the flood of Deucalion 
 should approach so near the true one as that of the Hin- 
 dus does. The leanied place it so near the birth of Jesus 
 Christ, that it can in nowise have been borrowed from 
 the scriptural flood, or intended to denote the same event. 
 That of Ogyges, though long anterior to the deluge of 
 Deucalion, is nevertheless posterior by more than thir- 
 teen hundred years to the Jala-pralayam of the Hindus, 
 if we allow, witli the best chronologists, that it preceded 
 the Christian era only about set-cnteen hundred and 
 
80 
 
 CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 ninety years. It must thence be concluded, that, in re- 
 ality, it was merely a considerable inundation in a parti- 
 cular country. The same observation equally applies ^o 
 that of Deucalion, if, in fact, it be not wholly fabulous. 
 
MAGIC. 
 
 SI 
 
 CHAP. XXXVI. 
 
 Of the Magic practised by the Vanaprastha Brahmans^ 
 and still in use among the Hindus. 
 
 THE secrets of Magic are taught in several Hindu 
 books, and particularly in that of the four Vedas, which 
 bears the name of Atharvana Veda. The Brahmans 
 assert, and wish to have it believed, that this Veda is not 
 in existence ; being desirous to avoid the suspicion of 
 being initiated in the pernicious science which it teaches. 
 But this assertion is the less to be believed, because 
 books of this sort are sure to be preserved, in preference 
 to all others, in an idolatrous country. 
 
 Another motive which induces the Brahmans to keep 
 this book concealed is that bloody sacrifices of living- 
 victims, human not excepted, are there prescribed as 
 part of the magical ceremonies which it teaches, as well 
 as of the worship of the Bhutas or Demons which it 
 enjoins. 
 
 The Brahman devotees were accustomed to study 
 these Vedas, and particularly that of the Atharvana. We 
 have had occasion to remark elsewhere, that their sacri- 
 fices frequently bore a great resemblance to magical ope- 
 rations ; and the power which such sacrifices were sup- 
 posed to possess over the Gods themselves, makes it 
 extremely probable that those who practised them were 
 conversant in the mysteries of that pernicious art. 
 
 VoL. II. L 
 
8S 
 
 MAGIC. 
 
 We have also mentioned that the Solitary Brahinansj 
 at first cherished and respected by the kings and their 
 people, became at last detestable to all their neighbours, 
 on account of the terror which their malediction and 
 their magical sacrifices inspired ; and that this W’as pro- 
 bably the real cause which united against them the 
 princes in the vicinity of their retreats, who at last extir- 
 pated that sect of philosophers ; so that no vestige of 
 them now remains. 
 
 There is no reason, therefore, to doubt that the Brah- 
 mans, in the remotest times, have been conversant in all 
 the mysteries of the art of magic. They still give it a place 
 in the table of their sciences ; and indeed it holds a high 
 rank among the sixty -four divisions which they arrogate 
 to belong exclusively to themselves. It is no less certain 
 that many of them dabble in magic to the present times, 
 and are publicly known to be initiated in all the secrets 
 of the occult art. 
 
 There still exist, in all the casts, numbers of persons, 
 who pretend to be skilled only in some one of the many 
 branches of magic, such as that of divination, augury, 
 and other branches of the science which imply nothing 
 of a ix:rnicious tendency. It is not to be wondered at 
 that in a country like India, plunged in the thick dark- 
 ness of gross idolatry, and of every sort of superstition, 
 impostors should abound, who find their interest in 
 promoting such abuses. In every quarter, tellers of 
 good fortune are to be found, who will distribute good 
 luck to those who are w'illing to pay for it. Brahmans, 
 aixl even Pariahs, called Valuver^ announce the good 
 and the evil days, favourable and inauspicious omens, 
 tell fortunes, by observing the features of tlie face or the 
 
MAGIC. 
 
 88 
 
 lines on the palm of the hand : and those who exercise this 
 profession are consulted by incredible numbers. 
 
 But these common soothsayers are by no means dread- 
 ed, or held in fear ; while those who are understood to 
 be initiated in the profound mysteries of magic, or such 
 as possess the art to detect robberies, and the most secret 
 crimes, to cure diseases, or to bring them on, to infuse a 
 devil into the body of any one, or to expel him, and to 
 produce other similar elfects of supernatural influence, 
 are looked upon with horror and awe. 
 
 Those pretenders to real magic are often consulted by 
 persons who wish to avenge themselves of some enemy 
 by W'ay of malediction ; and also by sick persons, who are 
 persuaded that their disease has been caused by some 
 magical operation directed against them, and who would 
 gladly recover their health by a counteracting art, able 
 to repel the malady and return it upon those from whom 
 it proceeded. 
 
 I believe that a better notion of the art cannot be given, 
 than by offering a short notice of a Hindu book, called 
 Agrushada Parikshi which has fallen into my hands, 
 and which perhaps few Europeans have yet heard of. 
 What I have to report, I believe, will give but little in- 
 sight into the magical art ; but may prove interesting to 
 those who are desirous of understanding and comparing 
 the practices of the various ancient people on this sub- 
 ject. 
 
 I compress into three heads the doctrines of this 
 book. 
 
 1. What is the aim of the magician, and how far does 
 his power extend ? 
 
 2. What means does he employ to succeed in his 
 operations ? 
 
84 ; 
 
 MAGIC. 
 
 3. What has he himself to dread in his magical prac- 
 tices ? 
 
 As to the first, there is no sort of good or evil which 
 the magician will not undertake to produce ; although 
 he is more inclined to the evil. There is no species of 
 malady which he does not pretend to be able to cure : 
 fever, dropsy, retention of urine, pain in the whole mem- 
 bers, fatuity, madness, and all other disorders. But all 
 this is nothing, compared to the energy with w'hich he 
 denounces the destruction of an enemy’s army besieging 
 a place, the death of the commander of the besieged for- 
 tress, and the inhabitants it contains. 
 
 The Moors in India being equally superstitious as the 
 natives of the countr}', are no less infatuated with the no- 
 tion of magic. I knew, from the best authority, that 
 the last Musalman Prince who reigned in the Mysore, 
 the fanatical and superstitious Tippu, in his last war, in 
 which he lost his kingdom and his life, resorted to the 
 most celebrated magicians he could find in his own coun- 
 try' and elsewhere, trusting that, by the operation of their 
 art, the English army, w hich was then marching to lie- 
 siege his capital, and u’hich he could not expect to rcq^el 
 by ordinary means, might be destroyed. The magicians 
 whom he consulted on this occasion, acknowiedged their 
 impotence, and w^ere obliged to confess that their opera- 
 tions, so potent amongst other races of men, were utterly 
 inefficient against the Europeans. 
 
 But if magic teaches the means of draw ing down evil, 
 it also affords, by counter-spells, not only a defence 
 against eminent peril, but the power of causing the per- 
 nicious effects of sorcery to recoil on the heads of those 
 by whom it is meditated. 
 
MAGIC. 
 
 85 
 
 The magicians are likewise provided with many Anti- 
 dotes against witchcraft, which they distribute among those 
 who consult them. There are certain enchanted beads ; 
 some sorts of roots ; very thin plates of copper, on which 
 extraordinary figures are engraved, with inexplicable 
 words and unknown characters ; amulets, also, of various 
 kinds : all which are worn by the Hindus, to serve as 
 talismans, and to preserve them from every species of 
 incantation. 
 
 Secret methods of inspiring love are likewise under- 
 stood by the professors of the magical art ; and this is 
 not the least lucrative part of their trade. A wife or a 
 mistress resorts to them eagerly, in quest of a spell to 
 restrain the husband or lover from deviating into other 
 amours. Debauched gallants and lewd women consult 
 them on the means of seducing the object of their passion. 
 
 In the book which I am now describing, I was sur- 
 prized to meet with Incubus Demons. Those of India 
 are not quite the same in their practices as the beings of 
 that nature in Europe, which some country people still 
 believe in. In India they exceed so much in the fierce- 
 ness and frequency of their attacks on women, whom 
 they haunt in the shape of a dog, or some other brute, 
 that the harassed female dies in consequence. A su- 
 perstitious people takes dreams for realities; and it would 
 be in vam to attempt to convince a Hindu that these are 
 not operations of the devil. 
 
 But the great subject of the work is the means of 
 communicating enchantment to the arms used in war. 
 Enchanted armour is celebrated in all Hindu writings. 
 The gods, in their wars, constantly made use of it. One 
 weapon was called the arrow of Brahma, and that W’as 
 never shot without effect. Another was named after the 
 
88 
 
 MAGIC. 
 
 serpent Capella, which, when launched against an army, 
 lulled to sleep the whole troops that composed it. To the 
 present day, those who have weapons charmed by magi- 
 cal sacrifices, bid defiance to wounds in battle. Cannon 
 balls and musket shot levelled against them become 
 harmless, and tumble at their feet. Cutting instruments 
 cannot penetrate their skin, but bend or break when 
 directed against them. 
 
 The book likewise reveals secrets for obtaining all 
 sorts of temporal blessings, and wealth unbounded. It 
 also points out some which have the virtue to make 
 barren women conceive. Generals and soldiers may be 
 provided with certain bits of bone, which will not only 
 render them invulnerable, but make them appear terrible 
 in battle. There are also enchanted drugs, which, when 
 rubbed on the face and eyes, will enable them to disco- 
 ver concealed treasure. But I find no secret to insure 
 immortality ; which I rather wonder at, as the Hindu 
 Charlatanry does not generally stick at trifles. 
 
 The next question relates to the means used by the 
 magician to insure success to his incantations. 
 
 In Europe, as long as the belief in magical arts sub- 
 sisted, it was understood that their virtue depended on a 
 compact entered into with the evil spirits. But, in India, 
 it is sufficient for the practitioners to receive a few les- 
 sons in the art from their masters ; whom they thence- 
 forth style their Gurus. If, upon experiment, the dis- 
 ciples give any orders to a demon, spirit, or god, and 
 these are disregarded ; they have only then to command 
 obedience, in the name of their masters, and instantly 
 their orders are executed. 
 
 In using the word Gods on this occasion, the very 
 highest even are to be understood, Brahma, Vislimi, 
 
MAGIC. 
 
 87 
 
 Siva, being as much under the control of the magicians 
 as the inferior deities. Some indeed are allied upon, in 
 preference to others, when something evil is to be invok- 
 ed upon any one. The planets are of this class. Their 
 name GrahanUy which signifies the act of seizing, points 
 out their office of laying hold of those against whom the 
 magician employs them. The Bhuta, likewise, or Ele- 
 ments, pass for extremely malevolent beings, fit to be 
 employed for such purposes ; as well as the Pisachi (or 
 Ptsassu), other wicked spirits, under which appellation 
 the Hindu Christians denote the devil. The Sakti, fe. 
 male divinities and wives of Siva, the God of Destruc- 
 tion, are much employed in evil purposes. Marana Devi, 
 or Goddess of Death, Mari, Kali, and some other gods 
 of the same sanguinary and malevolent kind, also perform 
 a great part in this game. 
 
 In order to put all those gods and spirits in action, the 
 magician offers up sacrifices of the Mantram, with many 
 ceremonies peculiar to the occasion. The sacrifices are 
 much in the same taste as those before described, although 
 they are sometimes accompanied with particular ceremo- 
 nies. The magician, for example, while he offers up 
 his sacrifice to Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu, must be 
 entirely naked ; and on the contrary, he must be deco- 
 rously dressed when he sacrifices to Rama. The flow'- 
 res which are presented to the god invoked must be 
 red ; and, when the object is to procure the death of 
 any one, the boiled rice offered up must be sprinkled 
 with blood. And, upon the same principle, when the 
 utmost effect is required from magical operation, u 
 human victim is sacrificed ; and particularly a young 
 girl. 
 
 We have already spoken of the virtue of the Mantras; 
 but it is in the work of magic that they are most tffica- 
 
88 
 
 MAGIC. 
 
 cious. They imperiously dictate to the great gods ; 
 and compel them to act in the heavens, in the air, or on 
 earth, whatsoever the magician requires. 
 
 It is in incantation, chiefly, that certain Mantras, call- 
 ed fundamental^ are employed. They are composed of 
 some barbarous syllables, of harsh utterance and difficult 
 pronunciation. Some of them, though almost impossi- 
 ble to be expressed in European characters, may be imi- 
 tated by the sounds Hrom, Shrim, Shram. Sometimes 
 the magician employs his Mantras in a humble and sup - 
 plicatory style, conciliating the god whom he invokes ; 
 but he soon assumes an imperious tone, and exclaims 
 in a vehement and impassioned key : “ Seize, grasp ! 
 
 “ If thou dost, it is well : if not, I command thee, in 
 “ the name of God, and in the name and for the feet of 
 “ my Guru!” Such awful invocations enforce the ready 
 compliance of the god. 
 
 The ingredients employed by the magician, in his 
 magical operations, are without number. A specimen 
 of them will here suffice. 
 
 In some direful acts of fascination, it is necessary to 
 use the bones of various animals ; those, for example, 
 of the elephant, of a black dog, of a scorpion, a tyger, 
 a black cat, a bear ; of a man born on a Sunday when it 
 falls on the new moon, of a woman born on Friday ; the 
 foot bones of a European, of a Mahometan, and of a 
 Pariah, and several others ; to the amount in all of sixty- — 
 four species of bones of diflerent sorts. 
 
 This osseous compound, after due charms and incanta- 
 tion by Mantras and sacrifices, has the potency to slay 
 whomsoever it is directed against. This effect will sure- 
 ly follow, if, when a certain star is in the ascendant, a 
 portion is buried in the house of one’s enemy. 
 
MAGIC. 
 
 89 
 
 Equipped with these relics, tlie magician has only to 
 advance to a hostile army, in the silence and darkness of 
 the night, and to bury the bones at the four cardinal 
 points of the camp. He then retires to some distance, 
 and one hundred times denounces the Mantram of des- 
 truction against the army ; and, within seven days, it 
 will either disband itself, or perish to the last man. 
 
 Thirty-two W'eapons, consecrated by the sacrifice of a 
 human victim, will scatter such dismay amongst a besieg- 
 ing army, that a hundred of their opponents will appear, 
 in their sight, as a thousand. 
 
 A quantity of mud is collected from sixty-four of the 
 filthiest and nastiest places, and moulded into small fi- 
 gures ; on the breasts of which they write the names of 
 the persons whom they mean to annoy. When incantation 
 is made over them, and sacrifice performed, the Planets 
 or the Elements environ the parties so represented, and 
 inflict upon them a thousand pangs. Sometimes they 
 pierce the images with thorns, or multilate them, so as 
 to communicate a corresponding injury to the person re- 
 presented. 
 
 Sixty-four roots of different plants have a similar effi- 
 cacy in producing evil, when duly prepared with Man- 
 tras and sacrifice. 
 
 This variety of sorcery and spells calls to our recollec- 
 tion the similar apparatus of the Canidia and Sagana of 
 Horace ; when the explosion of Priapus terrified the 
 hags into a hobbling retreat, leaving behind them their 
 enchanted relics and clothes. 
 
 Z- 
 
 _ -V 
 
 ax ? 
 
 « At illx currere in urbem. 
 
 “ Canidise dentes, altum Sagan$ caliendrum 
 ‘‘ Excidere, atque herbas, atque incantata lacerlis 
 “ Vincula, cum magno risuque jocoque videres.” 
 
 VoL. II. M 
 
90 
 
 MAGIC. 
 
 Thus ends the small specimen we have selected out of 
 the great depositery of Indian jugglery. 
 
 The next thing to be considered is the risk of danger 
 which the magician himself incurs in the exercise of his 
 profession. Tliis is great and imminent, on account of 
 the reluctance of the gods to be so controled by his 
 Mantras. Often do they take vengeance upon him for 
 this compulsory obedience. He cannot err in the slight- 
 est ceremony, nor make the smallest mistake, without 
 exposing himself to their fury. The rites he is oblig- 
 ed to perform are without number ; and the omission of 
 any one of them, however minute, tlirough inadverten- 
 cy or any other cause, would instantly make the whole 
 mischief he was preparing for others revert upon his oini 
 head. 
 
 But it is from rivals, who exercise the same trade, 
 that the conjuror has most to dread. These do what 
 they can to counteract his projects, and to make the ef- 
 fects of his own wicked contrivances fall upon himself, 
 by employing spells of still greater efficacy. This bemg 
 the case, they bear a mortal hatred towards each other, 
 or at least pretend to do so. When they meet, their 
 mutual dislike breaks out into loud defiance, calling on 
 those within their reach to decide as judges between 
 them, and pronounce which of the two is most skilful. 
 The contest begins. The problem perhaps is, to lift a 
 straw from the ground, or a piece of money, without 
 touching it. Both advance ; but they stop one another’s 
 progress by flinging enchanted cinders, or by reciting 
 Mantras. They both feel, at the same instant, an in- 
 visible but irresistible force which repulses and drives 
 them back. They again approach, redoubling their ef- 
 forts. The sweat exudes in drops ; blood is discharg- 
 
MAGIC. 
 
 91 
 
 ed from their mouths. One of them, in the scramble, 
 gets hold of the piece of money or the straw, and he is 
 clamorously proclaimed the victor. 
 
 Sometimes one of the combatants is violently precipi- 
 tated upon the ground by the force of the Mantras of 
 his antagonist. In this state he remains for a long while 
 stretched at his whole length, breathless and (as he makes 
 it appear) deprived of sensation. At length he gets up, 
 covered with shame and confusion, hangs his head, re- 
 tires to bed, and affects to be very ill for several days. 
 
 It will readily be supposed that I attribute such dis- 
 putes and their consequences to a premeditated under- 
 standing between the quacks ; but, through all India, the 
 people are firmly persuaded that these processes result 
 from magical secrets known only to the initiated few, 
 who by their means, produce such wonderful effects. 
 And it must be owned that effects are occasionally pro- 
 duced by them, of which it would not be easy to divine 
 the cause. 
 
92 
 
 STATE OF SAXKYASI. 
 
 CHAl*. XXXVII. 
 
 O/' 6'annyasiy the Fourth State of the Brahmans : the 
 manner of Inauguration and the Rules. 
 
 THE fourth degree to which a Brahman can attain, 
 is that of Sannyasi ; a state so sublime, as the Hindu 
 books declare, that it imparts, in a single generation, a 
 larger stock of merits than ten thousand could produce, 
 in any other sphere of life. They add, that, as soon as 
 a Sannyasi dies, he passes straightway to the w'orld of 
 Brahma, or to that of Vishnu ; exempt, for ever, from 
 the penalty of being re-born upon earth, and of revolv- 
 ing from generation to generation. 
 
 The Sannyasi Brahman takes precedence of the Van- 
 aprastha, inasmuch as the latter does not absolutely re- 
 nounce the world, being in some degree connected with 
 it by his wife and children ; whilst the true Sannyasi is 
 obliged to sacrifice all those connections, and at the same 
 time to assume the most rigid of the rites of the Vana- 
 prasthas. He takes the profession also of mendicity ; 
 and, from the moment of his installation into that lofty 
 order, he must live solely upon alms. 
 
 But, before embracing this holy profession, they must 
 devote several years to the state of Grihastha, or a mar- 
 ried life ; in which they may have children, and so ac- 
 quit the debt they owe to their forefathers : which con- 
 
STATE OF SANNYASI. 
 
 93 
 
 sists, as the Brahmans hold, in perpetuating the succes- 
 sion of their race. Their manner of thinking in this 
 particular, does not differ from what was professed by 
 those who existed immediately after the flood ; who act- 
 ed upon the memorable precept impressed upon our 
 first parents, as soon as they were created, and after- 
 wards solemnly renewed to Noah after the Deluge ; 
 “ Increase and multiply, and replenish the earth.” 
 
 There are, however, examples in the Hindu books, 
 of Sannyasis, who embraced that state from their infan- 
 cy, and before being married. Something of that sort 
 is still to be met with. But such varieties are not to be 
 found in the class of the Brahmans. 
 
 It must not be from humour nor any temporary fit of 
 zeal that a Brahman resolves to assume this rank. His 
 resolution must be the fruit of mature reflection, and 
 must be founded on a true and sincere separation from 
 the spurious enjoyments and all the pleasures of this 
 world ; which he must heartily renounce, in order to 
 aspire after a more perfect existence. In this renuncia- 
 tion of the world, he must so thoroughly detach him- 
 self from whatsoever pertains to fortune, pleasure, and 
 honours, as no longer to have any hankering after such 
 distinctions. If he wilfully encouraged, in his heart, the 
 slightest longing after any thing that other men most 
 ardently pursue, such a swerving towards earthly vani- 
 ties would alone suffice to deprit^e him of all the fruits 
 of his penitence. 
 
 When a Brahman, therefore, has well considered the 
 bent of his own disposition, and has finally made up his 
 mind to that high calling, he convenes tlie principal 
 Brahmans of his district ; and, having communicated to 
 them the resolution he has formed, he intreats them .to 
 
94 
 
 STATE OF SANNYASI. 
 
 instal him in the situation which he feels himself destin- 
 ed to fill. A matter of such importance, however, can- 
 not be transacted without abundance of ceremonies. 
 
 The first care is to select a proper da)”^ ; one, in short, 
 to which there can be no objection. This having arrived, 
 the aspirant, in his way to the place of the ceremonies, 
 undergoes the purification of bathing. He takes with 
 him ten pieces of cloth, such as are frequently worn in 
 India, somewhat like our bed quilts, and envelopes his 
 whole body in them. Four of these cloths must be dyed 
 of ccwy colour, which is a deep yellow approaching to red. 
 It is the established colour w'om by the penitents, and, 
 in imitation of them, by the Musalman Fakirs. These 
 four are for his own use ; and the other six are to be 
 given as presents to individuals of the cast. 
 
 He must also provide himself with a long bamboo 
 cane with seven knots, a gourd scooped and dried, an 
 antelope’s skin, some small pieces of silver and copper 
 money, Flowers, Akshata, Sandal wood ; but above all, 
 a quantity of Panchakaryam. To this liquor he sacri- 
 fices, and divides it into five earthen pots, afterwards 
 pouring it all back into one vessel. He then mixes it 
 well, and quaffs a portion of the disgusting preparation. 
 Taking up what is left of it, together with the other arti- 
 cles that form his stock of materials, he proceeds to the 
 to the place appointed for the ceremonies. 
 
 The Guru who presides and directs, whispers in his 
 ear some Mantras, accompanied wnth a few instructions 
 relative to the new’ state which he has embraced ; after 
 which, he orders him to dress himself in one of the cloths 
 of a yellow colour which he has brought with him, to 
 cut the Triple Cord, as a token of his renunciation of 
 the cast itself, and to shave off the lock of hair which 
 
STATE OP SANNYASI. 
 
 95 
 
 the Brahmans and other Hindus allow to grow on the 
 crown of the head. 
 
 All this being accomplished, betakes the seven knot- 
 ted cane in one hand, the gourd filled with water in the 
 other, and an antelope’s skin under his arm. The whole 
 equipage of a Sannyasi consists in tliese three articles. 
 
 Lastly, he drinks thrice of the water in the pitcher 
 which he carries in his hand, he recites the Mantras 
 Avhich had been taught him by the Guru ; and thus he 
 is constituted a Sannyasi. There are no other ceremo- 
 nies required at his installation ; which is completed by 
 the distribution of the cloth, the pieces of money, and 
 the other materials among the persons present. 
 
 The new Sannyasi must conform strictly to the in- 
 structions given him by his Guru, and must follow the 
 rules prescribed to those who assume this profession. 
 I here subjoin such of them as have to come to my 
 knowledge, with necessary remarks. 
 
 1. A Sannyasi, every morning, after his bathing, must 
 
 rub his whole body with ashes. 
 
 The difference here between the Sannyasi and other 
 Hindus, all of whom make this use of ashes, is, that 
 they apply them only to the forehead. The reason for 
 his spreading them over the whole body is to conceal his 
 lineaments and beauty from those who come to visit 
 him, and to shew that he has renounced the pleasures 
 of life and the decoration of his person. 
 
 2. He must restrict himself to a single meal every day. 
 
 The Hindus as we have elsewhere observed, are not 
 
 supposed to be making a meal unless when they sit 
 dotvn regularly to their boiled rice, with its ordinary ac- 
 
96 
 
 STATE OF SANNYASI. 
 
 companiinents. At other times they may sip milk, and 
 eat fruit or other raw substances, without any breach of 
 their fast. The Sannyasi may likewise avail himself of 
 the same indulgence. 
 
 3. He must give up the use of Betel. 
 
 It is generally known that this is the leaf of a creeping 
 plant of a poignant taste, which the Hindus incessantly 
 chew. It is even a greater mortification to them to ab- 
 stain from this luxury than it would be for a European 
 to renounce his tobacco when most habituated to it. 
 
 4. Not only must he shun the company of women, 
 
 but he must even avoid looking at them. 
 
 5. Once every month he must shave his beard, his 
 
 mustaches, and his whole head. 
 
 " 6. He must wear on his feet only wooden clogs. 
 
 This species of shoe is extremely convenient, being 
 no otherwise fastened to the foot than by a peg, the ex- 
 tremity of which passes between the great toe and the 
 second. It is on account of cleanness that the Sanny- 
 asis adopt this custom ; for they would be defiled either 
 by going barefooted, or in leather shoes. 
 
 7. When a Sann}-asi travels, he must caiTy in one 
 
 hand his seven knotted staft', in the other his 
 
 gourd, and the antelope skin under his arm. 
 
 The use of the gourd is to carry water for his drink, 
 and the skin makes a com enient seat when he has occa- 
 sion to sit down. 
 
 8. He must live only upon alms, and he can demand 
 
 them of risjht. 
 
 C 
 
STATE OF SANNYASI. 
 
 97 
 
 In this way, some Sannyasis become extremely rich. 
 But on the other hand they are bound to bestow the 
 wealth so acquired in alms or other charitable acts. Some 
 lay tliem out in the construction of public works, such 
 as houses for travellers, temples, tanks and other reser- 
 voirs for containing water. They are likewise hospita- 
 ble to passengers and persons who come to visit them. 
 
 9. He must erect a Hermitage on the bank of a river 
 or lake. 
 
 This regulation has in view the greater facility of bath- 
 ing ; a practice strongly recommended to the Sannyasi. 
 The habitation itself must be very plain : a mere shed, 
 open on all sides. 
 
 There are, no doubt, many other rules appertaining to 
 this class of individuals ; but I have confined myself to 
 such as have fallen under my own knowledge. 
 
 VoL. H 
 
 N 
 
96 
 
 DUTIES OF THE SANXYASI. 
 
 CHAP. XXXVIll. 
 
 The F arious Duties of the Sajmyasi, particularly Con- 
 templation. 
 
 THE primary and chief care of a Sannyasi ought to 
 be to divest himself entirely of any lingering attachment 
 to the world that may adhere to him. It is a feeling 
 that will always be shooting out afresh, if it be not com- 
 pletely eradicated. 
 
 A wife, children, relations and friends, a cast, a bias to 
 sensual pleasure, indulgence of the palate; and, in short, 
 all the passions envelope the soul in the same manner as 
 the integuments in which some insects involve them- 
 selves, composed of threads or straws, from which they 
 can never extricate themselves any more. Or they may 
 be compared to the wind, which agitates the surface of 
 the water, and prevents it from reflecting the true image 
 of the sun. 
 
 Comparisons such as these abound in the Hindu urit- 
 ings, by which they endeavour to impress on the mind 
 the interruptions which the passions and other stimu- 
 lants of sense occasion to the perfect re-union of the soul 
 to the Divinity ; a consummation which ought to be the 
 sole object of solicitude with a Vanaprastha Brahman, 
 and still more with a Sannyasi. 
 
 He has shaken off the chains which bind other men to 
 the earth, by a voluntary renunciation of the world, and 
 
DUTIES OF THE SANNYASI. 
 
 99 
 
 the abandonment of all he there held dear. Any slight 
 hankering after terrestrial things, that might still insensi- 
 bly adhere, is washed away by continual ablutions, by 
 the Panchakaiy^am, of which he often drinks, by his dai- 
 ly sacrifices, and the various ceremonies which accom- 
 pany them ; by the devout life w'hich he leads ; and, 
 above all, by the habitual exercise of Contemplation. 
 
 This operation of the mind is so striking a quality 
 amongst an idolatrous people that it merits particular at- 
 tention if we are desirous to know how far the spirit of fa- 
 naticism and superstition can mislead men; especially 
 when it is nourished by vanity and self-love, or the wish 
 to be distinguished and to acquire a name. 
 
 Contemplation, in this sense, is termed Yogam by the 
 Hindus ; from which is derived the name of Yoghi which 
 is given to some amongst the Devotees, who are suppos- 
 ed, though perhaps wrongfully, to be more addicted to 
 this virtue than others of the same profession. Accord- 
 ing to the Hindu doctrine, the exercise of the Yogam 
 spiritualizes the Sannyasi, and renders him absolutely 
 faultless, by conducting him through four stages, each 
 more perfect than another. 
 
 The first of these degrees, and lowest of all, is called 
 Sa-lokyam, or Unity of place. In this state, the soul 
 perceives itself in some measure to be in the same place 
 with God, and as it were in his presence. Thence it 
 passes to the second stage, called Samipyan, proximity ; 
 meaning, as I understand it, that by the exercise of con- 
 templation and the advance beyond sublunary things, 
 the notion and conception of God become more familiar, 
 and the contemplative Sannyasi is brought more nearly 
 into his presence. The third degree is called Sa-rupy- 
 am, resemblance ; because, in this state, the soul attains 
 
100 
 
 DUTIES OF THE SANNYASI. 
 
 a likeness to the Divinity, and acquires in a degree some 
 of his principal attributes. This leads to the fourth and 
 highest state, called Sa-yugyam, in which a perfect trans- 
 formation into the divine nature is effected, and an inti- 
 mate re-union with it. 
 
 I am disposed to think that, upon a candid considera- 
 tion of what we have now before us, our mystical teach- 
 ers, and such of us as devote ourselves to a contempla- 
 tive life, ought not to be scandalized with such doctrine. 
 At any rate, it shews that the ancient devotees of India 
 reflected more profoundly than is commonly understood 
 on spiritual concerns. 
 
 More pure, undoubtedly, and more rational, before 
 the introduction of foul idolatry, this spirituality was af- 
 terwards contaminated, and existed no farther than to in- 
 flame the pride of the devotees. They pretended that 
 they had at length arrived at that intimate re-union 
 with Para Brahma, by which they become one essence ; 
 while the rest of mankind, whom they looked down up- 
 on with sovereign contempt, were crawling in the mire 
 of materiality and passion. 
 
 But whence did those pretended penitents derive this 
 habitual contemplation so much boasted of? 
 
 Before the prevalence of idolatry in India, and while 
 the traditions transmitted from the patriarens who were 
 near the period of the flood, inculcating religious purity, 
 external and internal, and such worship as the primitive 
 generations paid to the Supreme Being, were not yet 
 forgotten ; perhaps the spirit of contemplation might 
 have still possessed energy sufficient to keep up the feel- 
 ings of piety and devotion towards God. But this must 
 have been confined to ancient times. At present a vain 
 phantom only remains. 
 
DUTIES OF THE SANNYASl, 
 
 101 
 
 I cannot better represent the sort of contemplation that 
 exists among the present spurious devotees of India, than 
 by giving a brief account of a conversation I once had 
 with two Hindus who were aspiring to the contempla- 
 tive life, and had for a long time studied under eminent 
 Sannyasis, in whose houses they had been placed. 
 
 “ I was a novice,” said the first, “ under a celebrated 
 “ Sannyasi, who had fixed his hermitage in a remote 
 “ situation near Bellaburam. As he prescribed, I devo- 
 “ ted great part of the night to watchfulness, and to en- 
 “ deavours to expel from my mind every thought what- 
 “ ever. Agreeably to other instructions, daily repeated 
 “ to me by my master, I exerted all my might to res* 
 “ train my breathing as long as it could be possibly en- 
 “ dured. I persisted in thus containing myself, contin- 
 “ ually, till I was ready to faint away. Such violent ef- 
 “ forts brougth on the most profuse perspiration from all 
 “ parts of my body. At length, one day while I was 
 “ practising as usual, I imagined I saw before me the full 
 “ moon, very bright, but tremulous. At another time, 
 “ I was led to fancy, in broad day, that I was plunged 
 “ into thick darkness. My spiritual guide, who had of- 
 “ ten predicted to me that the practice of penitence and 
 “ contemplation would disclose to me very wonderful 
 “ appearances, was quite delighted with my spiritual pro- 
 “ gress when I related to him what I had experienced, 
 “ He then set me some new tasks, equally difficult, to 
 “join to those I had been employed in ; and told me that 
 “ the time was not far distant when I should find still 
 “ more surprising effects from my penitence. 
 
 “Wearied out at last with these tiresome follies, I 
 “ gave them up, fearing they would altogether discom- 
 
105 
 
 DUTIES OF THE SANNYASI. 
 
 “ pose my brain ; and I again betook myself to my old 
 “ employment of a labourer.” 
 
 The second, who, though rather advanced in years, 
 was of a shrewd intellect, gave me the following account 
 of his studies. 
 
 “ My master,” quoth he, “ who was a Sannyasi of 
 “ more than ordinary reputation, and with whom I ser- 
 “ ved as a novice five or six months, had fixed his re- 
 “ sidencc in a desert place, at some distance from Xama 
 “ Kallu. After making me go through some preparatory 
 “exercises of no great difficulty, he prescribed me others 
 “ according to the progress I was making, rather more 
 “ severe. He ordered me, amongst other things, to 
 “ look steadily at the sky, with my head elevated, and 
 “ without winking. I was obliged to repeat this exer- 
 “ cise several times every day ; and my organs of sight 
 “ soon became inflamed in an extraordinary degree, which 
 “ occasioned me violent head-achs. Sometimes I fan- 
 “ cied I saw sparks, and sometimes globes of fire in the 
 “ air. The Sannyasi, whose disciple I was, appeared 
 “ highly satisfied with my proficiency in my studies. He 
 “ was blind of one eye, and I learned that he had lost it 
 “ by the same experiment which he imposed upon me, 
 “ as quite indispensable to conduct the mind to spiritua- 
 “ lity. Being afraid at length that his schemes would 
 “ end in the total loss of my sight, I resolved to leave 
 “ him and his contemplation also. 
 
 “ I had likewise made trial of another sort of exer- 
 “ cise not less painful than the former. The great 
 “ hinge on which spirituality turns, as my master told 
 “ me, is to keep all the orifices of the body so closely 
 “ shut that none of the winds from within should escape. 
 “ For this purpose, it was necessary to stop the ears 
 
DOTIES OF THE SANNYASl, 
 
 103 
 
 “ with the two thumbs. The little finger and the ring 
 “ finger were brought together, and held the lips close. 
 “ Each fore-finger blocked up an eye, and each middle 
 “ finger pressed upon a nostril. In order to secure the 
 “ lower aperture, the penitent sat accurately upon the 
 “ end of his heel. In this position,” continued he, “ I 
 “ shut one of my nostrils with one of my middle-fingers, 
 “ and drew in as long a breath as I could through the 
 “ other ; which I then closed, and allowed the breath to 
 “ escape gradually through the first. This I managed 
 “ for a long time, only taking care never to inhale and 
 “ respire by the same nostril.” 
 
 As I had some difficulty in comprehending the trick 
 which the novice had described to me ; I desired him to 
 place himself before me in the attitude he alluded to. 
 This he most readily did ; and never, surely, was there 
 seen any thing more laughable than the posture he put 
 himself into for a few moments ; but which he was soon 
 obliged to quit, in order to give way to the bursts of 
 laughter which the remembrance of his past follies still 
 provoked. 
 
 There are several other postures,still more irksome and 
 ludicrous than this, in which these pretended contempla- 
 tists put themselves, to help their meditations. One of 
 them is to stand upright on one foot, till the leg swells, 
 suppurates, and breaks out in ulcers. Some will reverse 
 the position, and continue, great part of a day, with their 
 head on the ground and their feet in the air. Some 
 hold their arms crosswise over their heads, until the mus- 
 cles, by continued tension, assume the new direction 
 given them, as if it were natural, and can never recover 
 their original position. 
 
 It w’ould be useless to describe the other various modes 
 
104 < 
 
 DUTIES OF THE SANNYASI. 
 
 of doing penance, every one of which seems more pain- 
 ful than another. They reckon eighteen different kinds : 
 but the specimen we have given will be sufficient to 
 shew the nature of their usages, and the extravagant fol- 
 lies to which superstition, fanaticism, and delusion will 
 lead, when supported by a feeling of vanity and pride. 
 
 The Hindu authors, however, speak in high terms 
 of this contemplation, and of the admirable effects 
 it produces. They mention one horrible instance of it, 
 to which forsooth they attach the highest degree of 
 merit. It consists in subduing all sensation, and retain- 
 ing the breath with such determined perseverance, tliat 
 the soul, abandoning the body, bursts through the crown 
 of the head, and flies to re-unite itself with the great 
 Being, with Para-Brahma. 
 
 In the present times, the great body of contemplatists 
 do not go such lengtlis, though some are still met with 
 who practise these extravagancies. Most of them con- 
 tent themselves with holding their heads immoveable, 
 their arms across, and their eyes closed ; excluding 
 from their minds, by this posture, all manner of thought. 
 Others, again, keep tlieir nostrils constantly shut, by 
 squeezing the nose between the fore-finger and thumb, 
 bending the head forward, and keeping the eyes stedfast- 
 ly fixed to the ground, without raising them to notice 
 any of the objects ai'ound, or even the persons w’ho may 
 be addressing them. 
 
 I know that the practice of one of those modern Con- 
 templators, who was for some time a neighbour of 
 mine, consisted in representing vividly to his own im- 
 agination an image or idol of Vishnu, to which he men- 
 tally offered garments, jewels, flowers, and different kinds 
 of viands. He then fancied that he was addressing va- 
 
DUTIES OF THE SANNYASI. 
 
 105 
 
 rious petitions to the god ; all of which were granted. 
 He passed an hour and a half, dail}% in this exercise ; 
 though I did not find that he became richer by it. 
 
 It is not a matter of doubt that those who, after the 
 flood, preserved the precious deposit of the knowledge 
 of the only true God, and of the worship which all rea- 
 sonable beings owe to Him, must have often turned 
 their attention to meditation, and to the contemplation of 
 his infinite perfections ; by which they would be animat- 
 ed to serve Him with greater sincerity. It was in imita- 
 tion of his father Abraham, no doubt, that “ Isaac went 
 “ out to meditate in the field at the even-tide.’* Gen. 
 xxiv. 63. Moses commanded the Israelites to com- 
 memorate without ceasing the obligations they were un- 
 der to love God with all their hearts : “ And thou 
 “ shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt 
 “ talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and 
 “ when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest 
 “ down, and when thou risest up.” Deut. vi. David, 
 who knew the importance of this exercise of the mind, 
 from his own experienee, recommends the practice of it 
 in almost all the Psalms. To his son Solomon it had 
 been less requisite ; but he nevertheless joins in its 
 praise. It thus passed down from age to age, from the 
 period of the deluge, till the establishment of the Chris- 
 tian religion, which enjoins this meditation of the law of 
 God as an indispensable duty. 
 
 The original founders of the nations which peopled 
 India, the sons or grandsons of Noah, when they sepa- 
 rated themselves from the rest of mankind, carried with 
 them not only the knowledge of the true God, but a per- 
 suasion of the necessity of reflecting unremittingly upon 
 
 VoL. II. O 
 
106 
 
 DUTIES OF THE SANNYASI. 
 
 his greatness, lest they should sink into complete forget- 
 fulness of that mighty Being, and of what they owed to 
 him, as his creatures. But these recollections, soon cor- 
 rupted by evil passions and the spirit of idolatry, degen- 
 erated into numberless excesses and ridiculous rites. 
 
 To the first true Contemplators in India, who dedi- 
 cated a portion of each day to tranquil reflection, in the 
 presence of him whose perfections and benefits they 
 meditated upon, a race succeeded of foolish and extra- 
 vagant bigots, who, retaining nothing of their predeces- 
 sors blit part of the external shew, gave the reins to their 
 enthusiasm, and sought no middle course in their ob- 
 servances. But we have often had occasion to remark 
 that it is the natural disposition of the Hindus neither to 
 embrace nor to follow up any thing that does not border 
 upon the wonderful. 
 
FUNERALS. 
 
 lor 
 
 CHAP. XXXIX. 
 
 Of the Funerals of the Sannyasi Brahmans. 
 
 THE ceremonies at the Obsequies of Sannyasi Brah- 
 mans differ in several particulars from what are used in 
 the case of ordinary Brahmans, and even from the Vana* 
 prasthas. The bodies of all these are burned after death. 
 The Sannyasis, on the other hand, are all interred, even 
 such of them as have attached themselves during their 
 life to the sect of Vishnu. The bodies of the devotees 
 of the last sect, when they die, we have seen, are burned 
 on a funeral pile, in the same manner as those who arc 
 attaclied to no particular sect ; whereas, by the custom 
 of the country, all who have in their lifetime professed 
 the worship of Siva, and wear the Lingam, are buried 
 when they die. The number of the last is exceedingly 
 great in the western provinces of the peninsula. 
 
 In the interment of a Sannyasi, his son, if he had one 
 before he assumed his profession, takes the lead. If 
 there be none, it is conceded to some Brahman, who 
 voluntarily takes it on himself, at his own expence. 
 There are never wanting persons who offer themselves 
 for this generous service. It is considered to stand in 
 the highest class of good works. 
 
 After washing the body, it is again invested with two 
 pieces of cloth stained with the cavy yellow. The whole 
 corpse is rubbed over with ashes of cow-dung, so as to 
 
108 
 
 FUNERALS 
 
 give it a thick coating. The necklace is then put on, 
 which they call Rudraksha^ meaning the eyes of Rudra, 
 or Siva, from whose tears the beads are supposed to 
 have been crystallized. All the while, some of the Brah- 
 mans are rattling a sort of castanets of brass, common in 
 that country, which make a piercing sound. 
 
 After these preparatory ceremonies are over, the body 
 is placed in a sitting posture, cross-legged, in a large 
 basket; which is suspended with straw ropes upon a 
 strong pole of bamboo, and carried by four Brahmans. 
 They proceed, without noise or tumult, to the trench 
 w'hich has been prepared on the bank of the river, if 
 there be one in the neighbourhood. It is dug so as to 
 resemble a well, about six feet in depth, and is filled 
 about one half with salt, on which the body is placed, in 
 the posture that has been described. It is then covered 
 up to the neck with the salt, which they press closely all 
 round, so as to keep the head immoveable. This is suc- 
 ceeded by the strange ceremony of breaking cocoa-nuts 
 upon the head of the deeeased, which is continued till 
 the skull be quite shattered ; after which, more salt is 
 thrown into the pit, and the head covered out of sight. 
 
 Earth is then accumulated over the trench, to the 
 height of several feet ; and upon the heap so raised a 
 Lingam is erected, about three hands breadth high, 
 which is immediately consecrated by the Brahmans with 
 mantras ; and an offering is made of lamps lighted, of 
 fruits, flowers, incense, and, above all, of the Prama- 
 nyam. This is a dish which the Brahmans use often, 
 and are very fond of ; consisting of boiled rice, cocoa, 
 and sugar. All the offerings are accompanied wdth 
 hymns, or rather obscene songs, which they all join in 
 chanting to the honour of Vishnu. 
 
FUNERALS. 
 
 109 
 
 As soon as they have ended the uproar, for their sing- 
 ing deserves no other name, every one bawling in a note 
 of his own ; the president of the ceremonies paces round 
 the Lingam three times ; after which, he makes a pro- 
 found obeisance, with his hands clasped, and offers at 
 the same time prayers for the deceased : that, “ through 
 “ the sacrifice made to the Lingam he may be com- 
 “ pletely blessed ; and may it please Siva and Brahma 
 “ to receive him into their world, that he may not have 
 “ to live any more in this.” 
 
 After finishing his prayer, he pours out upon the 
 ground a little water and rice, and then collects all the 
 bits of the cocoa-nuts which were broken on the head of 
 the deceased, and distributes them among those present ; 
 who eat them as a sacred and well -boding morsel. 
 
 The Pramanyam is distributed among such as are 
 without children, as this sacred food is supposed to be 
 efficacious in rendering barren women fruitful. The 
 ceremonies of the day end with the bath : not that this is 
 necessary for the purpose of purification on the present 
 occasion ; for no impurity can be contracted when assist- 
 ing at the funeral of a Sannyasi ; but merely as one of 
 the three regular ablutions which a Brahman makes 
 ever}' day. 
 
 For ten days after the funeral, the person who presided 
 appears every ..morning at the tomb, accompanied by 
 several other Brahmans, and offers sacrifices as before to 
 the Lingam, which still remains over the grave. These 
 are repeated also on the anniversary of the funeral ; but 
 %vith this variation, that after entertaining those who assist 
 at the ceremony with a suitable repast, he walks round, 
 .saluting each, and takes leave of them all without offer- 
 
110 
 
 FUNERALS. 
 
 ing any presents. The company, as they retire, compli- 
 ment him on the good work which he has performed. 
 
 Some tombs of Sannyasis have become famous, and 
 are visited by crowds of pilgrims, who come from afar 
 with offerings and sacrifice. They seem to be considered 
 as a part of the divinities whom the people adore. 
 
 The ceremony of battering the head of the corpse, 
 strange as it appears, is intended merely as a species of 
 sacrifice, instead of an injury. Where stones are set up 
 to represent Lingas, they generally assail them in the 
 same manner, as they pass them on the highway. 
 
 The prayers and vows offered up for the Sannyasis, 
 after their death, with the ceremonies wliich accompany 
 and follow their obsequies, seem to indicate that all their 
 faults are not considered to have been expiated, or their 
 state of felicity to be beyond all doubt. But this is not 
 the only point on u hich Paganism is at variance A\*ith 
 itself. 
 
 Some aged or infirm Brahmans, when concious that 
 they have not long to live, become Sannyasis towards 
 the end of their days. This conversion, though tardy, 
 and probably not very sincere, never fails to obtain for 
 them after death the same distinction thev would have 
 received if they had passed the best part of their lives in 
 all the austerities of the profession. I may also remark, 
 in passing, that what I have had occasion to mention 
 respecting the clothing of the real Sannyasi and Vana- 
 prastha Brahmans, shews that ancient authors were under 
 a mistake when they gave them the name of Gyimioso- 
 phists or naked philsophers. 
 
 Some modern authors are no less mistaken in giving 
 the appellation of Sannyasi Brahmans to some pre- 
 
FUNERALS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 tended penitents, who live secluded in hermitages, or 
 sometimes even in a kind of convent, spacious and con- 
 venient. The last sort is the most common, and ex- 
 tends to all the casts. They do not in general adhere 
 to the rule of the Sannyasi Brahmans, which requires 
 that, before embracing the profession, they should have 
 entered into wedlock, and propagated children. Many 
 of those here alluded to have never been married, al- 
 though I would not warrant their having lived in a state 
 of exact continency, as they have generally a licence to 
 keep several women in the quality of servants, some of 
 whom have the superintendance over a set of runners, 
 whom they send abroad in every direction to collect alms 
 and offerings, which are in some Avay shared amongst 
 them. 
 
 The appellation of Sann} asi is still more improperly 
 applied to a vast number of \’agabonds who scour the 
 country with no settled place of abode, and usurp that 
 venerable title, to impose on the people. Many cheats 
 of this kind are to be met with ; but the most common 
 are the pretended penitents called Vairagis, who some- 
 times make excursions in great bodies, and live on alms ; 
 which they always demand with great importunity and 
 insolence, as a thing absolutely due to them. The Vai- 
 ragis belong entirely to the sect of Siva : yet they do 
 not wear the Lingam, the ordinary badge of the devo- 
 tees of that god. But, in token of their special devotion 
 to his worship, they are continually blackened over with 
 ashes, and they profess a life of celibacy ; although those 
 who are acquainted with their habits best know how- 
 scrupulous they are on the point of chastity. 
 
 The Vairagist in the sect of Siva, resemble verj" close- 
 ly the Dasani in that of Vishnu, as far as regards their 
 
112 
 
 FONERALS. 
 
 wickedness. In that, neither yields to the other. There 
 is visible between them the same aversion and hatred 
 towards each other, and the same intolerance towards 
 others, which are observable in all sects who permit 
 themselves to be swayed by the impulse of superstition 
 and fanaticism; and upon that ground, it is impossible 
 but that, even in modern times, religious wars must have 
 prevailed in India, and that the Vairagi and Dasaru must 
 have been mutually engaged in sanguinary contests. 
 
 Happily for the honour of human nature and the com- 
 fort of our race, those contests, under the names of rival 
 gods adored by the vulgar, have passed away. The 
 bigotted partisans who stirred them up have at last seen 
 more clearly ; and, by reflecting better upon the evil 
 consequences which ensued, they saw that nothing could 
 be more pernicious to religion, and that nothing so 
 strongly tended to its ruin, as the contests which were 
 stirred up for its support. 
 
A 
 
 DESCRIPTION 
 
 OF 
 
 THE PEOPLE OF INDIA. 
 
 PART m. 
 
 RELIGION. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 The origin of the Trimurti, and the Primitive Idolatry 
 of the Hindus. 
 
 THE Hindus understand by the word Trimurti^ the 
 three principal divinities whom they acknowledge; namely, 
 Brahma, Vishnu, and Sivah. It signifies three powers^ 
 because the three essential energies of Creation^ Preser- 
 vation, and Destruction, severally pertain to these three 
 gods. The first is the leading attribute of Brahma, by 
 whom all things were- created. The second belongs to 
 Vishnu, the preserver of all that exists : the last to Siva, 
 the destroyer of what Brahma creates, and Vishnu pre- 
 serves. 
 
 These three deities are sometimes represented singly, 
 with their peculiar attributes ; and sometimes as blended 
 into one body with three heads. It is in this last state 
 that they obtain the name of Trimurti, or three powers. 
 It appears also that this union of persons may have been 
 intended to denote, that existence cannot be produced 
 and reproduced, without the combination of the three- 
 fold power of creation, conservation, and destruction. 
 V0L.,II. P 
 
114 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. 
 
 The 7"rimurti is acknowledged and adored by all 
 Hindus, excepting the tribe of Jainas, or Bauddhists. 
 And in general it may be remarked that although some 
 casts attach themselves, in a special manner, and almost 
 exclusively, to the sect of Vishnu, or that of Siva ; yet 
 when these gods are united with Brahma, and form but 
 one body, they pay undivided worship to all three, with- 
 out regard to the particular doctrines which distinguish 
 the special followers of the different deities. 
 
 The difficulty of tracing the origin of the Trimurti is 
 increased by the disagreement ot the Hindu authori- 
 ties with each other on this subject. In some Puranas, 
 it is declared to have sprung from a woman called j4di- 
 saktif or Original Power, who brought forth the three 
 gods ; and the fable adds that, after ha\ ing brought them 
 into the world, she became desperately in love with them, 
 and took her three sons for husbands. 
 
 In other Puranas, the origin of the Trimurti is differ- 
 ently accounted for. In the Bhagavata, in particular, it 
 is mentioned that a flower of Tavari, or lily of the lakes, 
 grew out of the n.avel of Vishnu, and that Brahma 
 sprung from the flower. 
 
 In some, the Trimurti is stated to have originated 
 i'rom Adi-sakti, x\\q first Power ; who produced a seed 
 from which Siva sprung, who was the father of V'ishnu. 
 
 But it must be allowed that the fable of the Trimurti, 
 or of the three principal deities being united in one bo- 
 dy, is less consistently supported than any other doctrines 
 in the Hindu books. All that they contain on tlie sub- 
 ject is a mass of absurdities, which do not even agree 
 with each other. The point which the whole of them 
 discuss the most diffuselv, is what relates to the debauch- 
 
ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. 
 
 115 
 
 cries and abominable amours of the three deities in their 
 combined form. 
 
 But, great as the power of the Trimurti is, it is fre- 
 quently compelled to endure the superiority of some vir- 
 tuous personages, with the dreadful effects of their male- 
 diction and wrath. Shocked at the sight of the infamous 
 proceedings of the three deities, those purer minds attain 
 the power of punishing and of fully subduing them 
 by the irresistible potency of their Mantras. In this 
 high rank, the virgin Anasmja was conspicuous, a wo- 
 man as much renowned for inviolable chastity and piety 
 towards the gods, as for tender compassion towards the 
 unfortunate. 
 
 The Trimurti having heard the praises of this virtuous 
 woman, became enamoured, and resolved to deprive her 
 of w’hat she had till then so rigidly preserved : her vir- 
 ginity. For that purpose, the three gods, disguised as 
 mendicants, went to ask her for alms. She readily com- 
 plied, and made a liberal distribution amongst them. 
 The pretended beggars, having thus partaken of her 
 bounty, told her they had still another favour to beg, and 
 they proceed to unfold their ivicked intentions. 
 
 Anasuya, amazed and terrified at language to which 
 she had been so little accustomed, took vengeance by 
 pronouncing certain Mantras over the seducers, and 
 sprinkling them with a holy water of such efficacy as to 
 convert the Trimurti into a calf. The transformation of 
 the gods being complete, she yielded to the tenderness 
 of her nature, and nourished the fading with her own 
 milk. 
 
 The Trimurti remained in this humiliating state of 
 servitude, till the female deities, apprehending some un- 
 pleasant accidents from the absence of the three princi- 
 
116 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. 
 
 pal gods, consulted each other, and determined upon 
 employing all the means in their power to relieve them- 
 selves from the degraded condition into which they had 
 fallen. They went therefore in a body, in quest of Ana- 
 suya, whom they humbly besought to give up the Tri- 
 murti, and restore the three gods to their accustomed 
 splendour. This petition of the goddesses was granted, 
 with great difficulty, and only upon the hardest of all 
 conditions. But they chose rather to lose their honour 
 than their gods. They discharged the penalty (to whom 
 or by what means the story says not), and the virgin res- 
 tored the Trimurti to their original state, and allowed 
 them to return to their ancient residence. 
 
 The Hindu books abound in abominable stories of 
 this kind respecting the Trimurti. What we have re- 
 lated is one of the least indecent amongst them. 
 
 But the obscure, and, in many respects, contradictory, 
 manner in which they describe the origin of the Trimur- 
 ti, and the extreme confusion w'hich pervades all the fa- 
 bles relating to it, have convinced me that the three chief 
 divinities who compose it are something wholly different 
 from what they are represented to be. 
 
 At the commencement of their idolatry, the Hindus, 
 confining their worship to sensible objects, such as the 
 sun, the moon, stars, and elements, never resorted to 
 images of stone or other materials ; because the objects 
 of their adoration were always present and continually 
 in their view. But, when the spirit of idolatry had made 
 progress, and the people of India had deified their heroes 
 or other mortals, they began then, and not before, to have 
 recourse to statues and images to preserve the memory 
 of such illustrious beings, and transmit it to posterity. 
 By degrees they assigned a bodily form to all the objects 
 
ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. 117 
 
 of their worship, believing it to be the only means of 
 fixing durable impressions of them in the minds of a 
 people nearly insensible to every thing that did not di- 
 rectly affect the senses. 
 
 It is from this period, I presume, that the true origin 
 of the Trimurti is to be taken, being long posterior to 
 the establishment of idolatr}* in India. The three poxvers 
 contained in the etymology of the word, appear to shew 
 tliiit, under the representation of three divine persons in 
 one body, the ancient Hindus intended the three great 
 powers of nature ; namely the earth, the water, and the 
 fire. In course of time this original notion would gra- 
 dually vanish ; and an ignorant race, directed solely by 
 the impressions of the senses, gradually converted what 
 at first was a simple allegory, into tliree distinct god- 
 heads. 
 
 Before pushing our inquiries farther, it will be proper 
 to make some remarks on the origin which the learned 
 of Europe, in modern times, have assigned to this triple 
 god of the Hindus. They resolve it into the three prin- 
 cipal deities of the Greeks and Romans under different 
 names, and according to them, Brahma is no other than 
 Jupiter, Vishnu is the same as Neptune, and Siva as 
 Pluto. 
 
 Jupiter, in Greek Mythology, is the author and crea- 
 tor of all things ; the father, master, king of men and 
 gods. But all these attributes pertain no less to the 
 Hindu Brahma. All men w’ere ereated by him and is- 
 sued from various parts of his body. The universe is 
 his work, and belongs to him. It is called the Egg of 
 Brahma ; and when it was laid, according to the Hindu 
 expression, he hatched it. 
 
118 
 
 OKIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. 
 
 He also more particularly resembles Jupiter in his 
 scandalous amours. Jove had his own sister Juno for 
 liis wife. Brahma is both the father and the husband of 
 Saraswati. Many other points of resemblance might be 
 pointed out between these two divinities, sufficient to 
 induce the belief that the one was derived from the 
 other. 
 
 I find the resemblance equally striking between Nep- 
 tune and Vishnu. The former makes the waters his 
 abode. The sea is his empire. There he holds sov- 
 ereign sway, armed with his formidable trident. The 
 cheerful tritons accompany him, sounding their conch 
 shells all around. 
 
 Vishnu is distinguished by attributes nearly the same. 
 The name by which he is principally invoked is that of 
 \arayanay which signifies one that sojouriis in the roo- 
 ters. He is represented as quietly asleep on the bo- 
 som of the wide ocean, if no accident occur to awake 
 him ; with no trident in his hand, indeed, nor tritons 
 around him. But the symbol of the trident is borne by 
 his devotees on their foreheads, represented by the mark 
 called Kama; and some remembrance of the tritons 
 may be suggested by their blowing of the sea-horn, the 
 figure of which they likewise represent with hot iron on 
 the shoulders. 
 
 But as to Pluto, the grim monarch of hell, king of the 
 dead, ruler over the regions of desolation ; is he not the 
 exact model on which Siva is formed ? To Siva belongs 
 the power of destruction. He reduces all things to dust. 
 Where carcasses are burnt, there he delights to dwell ; 
 there he raises his bowlings and his cries. Rudra is his 
 name, the cause of lamentation. 
 
ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI, 
 
 119 
 
 Pluto, finding no female willing to accompany him to 
 his dismal abode, carried off Proserpine by force, and 
 concealed her so well that she escaped for a long time 
 the search of her mother Ceres. It was by roaming in 
 unfrequented places, and wdth infinite difficulty, that 
 Siva also found a wife. Having long failed in his search, 
 he obtained one at last by applying to the mountain Par- 
 vatUy who gave him his daughter Parvati, in considera- 
 tion of his long and rigid penitence in the deserts. And 
 to prevent her escape, he constantly carries her on his 
 head enveloped in the enormous folds of his bushy hair. 
 
 But when a resemblance is found between the fabu- 
 lous deities of different nations, is that sufficient to justi- 
 fy the conclusion that they are in reality the same, 
 though under different names ? If it were so, I could 
 exhibit Jupiter in Vishnu and in Siva, as well as in 
 Brahma ; for those two gods have a coincidence of cha- 
 racter, as much as Brahma himself, with the chief deity 
 of the Greeks and Romans. 
 
 It was Vishnu, in fact, who purged the earth from a 
 race of giants by whom it was over- run, and who far ex- 
 ceeded in stature, as well as in strength and power, the 
 Enceladuses and Briareuscs that w^ere subdued by Ju- 
 piter. 
 
 The Roman deity rode upon an eagle. Vishnu was 
 also mounted on a fine bird of prey, of the species of 
 eagles. It was called Gartida, and though originally of 
 little size, it became enormously large, and fit to bear the 
 Master of the f For Id: for by this high title was Vishnu, 
 as well as Jupiter recognized. 
 
 Other points of resemblance, not less striking, exist 
 between the other gods of India and of Greece. Juno, 
 the wife of Jupiter, is the goddess of wealth. And so is 
 
120 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. 
 
 Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu, whose name denotes 
 Riches. But there is a greater similitude between these 
 illustrious females in their jealousy, for which they are 
 equally conspicuous, arising in both from the perpetual 
 infidelities of their husbands, and producing the same 
 dissension and domestic quarrels. 
 
 The Romans, in their public spectacles, exhibited in 
 honour of their gods, chiefly introduced Jupiter and Juno 
 on the stage. The Hindus have the same practice in 
 respect to Vishnu and Lakshmi. 
 
 There is still another high deity in India who bears no 
 small resemblance to Jupiter in several particulars : I 
 mean Indra or Devendra. The word signifies King of 
 the Gods; and he who bears this name is monarch of the 
 sky. The world which he inhabits is called Swarga or 
 the place of sensual delight. Devendra reigns here over 
 a great number of inferior deities, who enjoy, in his para- 
 dise, all the pleasures of carnal voluptuousness. He dis- 
 tributes amongst them the Amrita, a liquid^ which may 
 be well compared to the Ambrosia of the Greeks. Thun- 
 der is the armour of Devendra ; and he, as well as the 
 son of Saturn, launches it against the giants. But, 
 amongst the points of resemblance between them, there 
 is this essential difference, that Devendra, with all his 
 high titles, is but of an inferior class in the order of the 
 gods, and that his authority is but of a subordinate kind. 
 
 The same parallel which I have drawn, between Ju- 
 piter on one side, and Brahma, Vishnu, and Devendra 
 
 * Mrita is a Sanscrit word signifying Dead, and Jmrita is the 
 reverse, or Immortal. The liquor Amrita, which is said to re- 
 semble milk, has been already mentioned as having been pro- 
 duced when the srods churned the sea of milk with the mountain 
 
 o 
 
 Mundiira. 
 
ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. 
 
 121 
 
 on the other, I could equally apply to several others of 
 the Grecian and Hindu gods ; and by that means shew 
 that the one class has not been copied from the other, 
 as from a model. Indeed whatever resemblance may 
 be traced between the objects of idolatry in different 
 countries, it will scarcely afford sufficient grounds to 
 infer that the whole ivas originally the same, or tlie one 
 borrowed from the other. 
 
 But if it was not from abroad that the Hindus received 
 their three principal divinities, whence can they have 
 originated ? This will require explication. But let us 
 first attend to an essential article in which the Hindu 
 idolatry differed widely from the European paganism, 
 as it anciently flourished at Athens and in Rome. It 
 tvas not the Sea they w'orshipped there, but its monarch, 
 the god Neptune, who presided over it. His attendants, 
 the Nereids and Tritons, had a share in his worship. 
 It was not to fountains and forests that sacrifices were 
 offered, but to the Naiads and Fauns who ruled, and 
 had their dwellings there. 
 
 The idolatry of India is of a grosser kind, at least in 
 many circumstances. It is the water itself which they 
 worship ; it is the fire, men, or animals ; it is the plant, 
 or other inanimate object. In short, they are led to the 
 adoration of things, from the consideration of their being 
 useful or deleterious to them. A woman adores the 
 basket, which serves to bring or to hold her necessaries, 
 and offers sacrifices to it ; as well as to the rice-mill, 
 and other implements that assist her in household la- 
 bours. A carpenter does the like homage to his hatchet, 
 his adze, and other tools ; and likewise offers sacrifices 
 to them. A Brahman does so to the style with which 
 he is going to write ; a soldier to the arms he is to use 
 VoL. II. Q 
 
122 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. 
 
 in the field ; a mason to his trowel, and a labourer to 
 his plough. 
 
 It is true, there is another species of idolatry much 
 less rude than this, which relates to idols of distinction. 
 These are withheld from public adoration, until the di- 
 vinity they represent has been invoked and inserted by 
 the Mantras of the Brahmans ; and in this instance, 
 therefore, we must allow that it is the god who resides 
 in the idol that is the object of worship, rather than the 
 image itself. But this last species of idolatry, though 
 of later origin than the preceding, I conceive, is by no 
 means opposed to it. Both kinds are followed and ap- 
 proved, although the first be undoubtedly the most com- 
 mon ; and indeed it is founded on a maxim universally 
 admitted amongst them, that honour is due to whatso- 
 ever may be the cause of good or of evil, whether it be 
 living or inanimate. 
 
 “ My God !” exclaimed one day to me a person of 
 some consideration amongst them, “ what vast evil or 
 “ good the man has it in his power to do me, who is at 
 “ the head of the husbandmen, who cultivate my grounds 
 “ under his orders !’’ 
 
 I have somewhere read a conversation between the 
 wives of the seven famous penitents of India, in which 
 they all agreed in the principle that a woman’s chief god 
 is her husband, by reason of the good or evil which he 
 can bring upon her. 
 
 It was upon the same principle that the Hindus in 
 ancient times, rendered divine honours to certain grand 
 penitents, from the strong conviction they felt of the 
 mischief that might result from their maledictions, or 
 the good that would flow from their blessing. 
 
 Nor is it from a dissimilar feeling, that at the present 
 
ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. 
 
 123 
 
 day, they so readily prostitute the name of God by ap- 
 plying it to any mere mortal whom they have reason to 
 view with fear or hope. 
 
 But the poor Hindus are not the only people that 
 have degraded themselves by sueh humiliation and sacri- 
 legious flattery. The Romans scrupled not to follow 
 the same course ; and Virgil was not the only adulator 
 who dishonoured religion, in venturing to burn incense 
 upon altars dedicated to his benefactor Augustus, then 
 living, and to bedew them with the blood of the best 
 lambs of his flock. 
 
 The principle amongst the Hindus of deifying what- 
 soever is useful, has extended to the mountains and the 
 forests. In such sequestered places, casts of persons 
 are found who lead a vagabond and savage life, acknow- 
 ledging none of the gods of the country ; but they have 
 one of their own institution, a thick and long Root, which 
 these wild men are fond of, and make the principal part 
 of their food. They adore it, and in its presence they 
 celebrate their marriages and take their oaths and vows. 
 They know of nothing that can be more useful to them ; 
 and therefore they have assumed it for their god. 
 
 The same idea gave birth to the apotheosis of the 
 three principal deities of India ; for I am persuaded that 
 they were originally, in the Hindu idolatry, nothing else 
 than the three most obvious elements of the Earth, the 
 Water, and the Fire. These were the real gods whom 
 they originally worshipped ; and we shall soon find that 
 the same worship, though not so visible, still subsists at 
 the present day. 
 
 Earth is the element from which all the productions 
 most necessary to man proceed. From her bosom are 
 collected the grain and the plants which serve for his 
 
124 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. 
 
 nourishment. She is the universal mother of all living 
 creatures. She is therefore the first of the Gods : she is 
 Brahma, 
 
 But, without the seasonable visitation of the Rain and 
 the Dew, in a land hot and without water, the labours 
 of the husbandman would be fruidess, and the soil, now 
 so exuberant in its increase, w ould become barren and 
 deserted. Water is the great preserver of whatever the 
 earth engenders, or makes to germinate with life. Wa- 
 ter, wdth all its blessings, has therefore become the se- 
 cond God of the Hindus, and holds the honours of 
 Vishnu. 
 
 But w hat could tlie sluggish earth, even with the aid 
 of the water, so ungenial and cold in its own nature, 
 have eftected, in their sterile union, but for the Tore, 
 the principle of w'armth, which came to vivify and 
 quicken the mass ? Without this enlivening element, the, 
 chilled plants would have refused to sliew their gay at- 
 tire, or to acquire the maturity necessary to constitute a 
 fit aliment for man. But fire not only invigorates all 
 animated nature, and developes every thing to its utmost 
 perfection ; but it also accelerates dissolution and decay ; 
 a process not less necessary, because, from corruption, 
 nature is restored, and germinates afresh. Fire, there- 
 fore, has contributed as much as the other elements, 
 and equally deserves the general adoration and worship, 
 w'hich have bestowed on it the title and the honours of 
 Swa. 
 
 What I have here proposed is not a system gratui- 
 tously invented, for the purpose of expla'ming the original 
 idolatry of the Hindus. It is their own doctrine, re- 
 duced into daily practice ; and the direct w'orship of the 
 
ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. 
 
 125 
 
 KlementSy though less observable now than it was in 
 former times, is still maintained in vigour. “ Hail ! 
 “ Earth, mother most mighty !” are the words of the 
 Yajur-veda; or, as they are afterwards explained, “Healtli 
 “ to her, from whom we derive the blessing of nourish- 
 “ ment.” In the same Veda the following words are 
 also found : “ Health to thee, O Fire ! God that thou 
 “ art.” And, in other respects, nothing more strongly in- 
 dicates the divinity that was ascribed to this element, 
 than the sacrifice of the Homam, so much used by the 
 Brahmans, and that of the Yajna formerly described ; 
 both of which seem evidently an offering to Fire. In 
 presence of that element, the Hindus take their most 
 solemn oaths. It is also adjured as tlie witness of what- 
 ever they assert and affirm ; and a perjury committed, 
 under such circumstances, could not fail to draw down 
 the dreadful vengeance of the God. 
 
 The divinity of Water is recognized by all the people 
 of India. It is the object of the prayers and of the ado- 
 rations of the Brahmans, while they perform their ablu- 
 tions. On that holy occasion, they particularly invoke 
 the sacred rivers ; and above all the Ganges, whose ven- 
 erable waters they adore. 
 
 On many occasions the Brahmans and other Hindus 
 offer to the Water oblations of money, by casting into 
 the rivers and tanks, in the places chieffy where they 
 bathe, small pieces of gold, silver, and copper, and some- 
 times pearls and ornaments of value. 
 
 Sailors, fishermen, and others who frequent the sea 
 and the rivers, never fail, upon stated oceasions, or as 
 circumstances require, to hold a solemnity on the bank, 
 where they sacrifice a ram, or other suitable offering. 
 But, to whom do they offer this worship? “To tJiat 
 
126 
 
 OHIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. 
 
 “God,” they will answer, pointing to the water of the 
 sea, or of the river or pond near which they stand. 
 
 If, after a long drought, a plenteous shower descends 
 to renovate the hopes of the despairing husbandman, 
 filling the great tanks or reservoirs that contain the wa- 
 ter collected for the irrigation of the fields of rice ; in- 
 stantly the population of Brahmans and Sudras assemble 
 on the brink, with loud exclamations of the “ Lady'^ 
 being arrived. Every one joins in congratulation. Every 
 one clasps his hands, and makes a deep obeisance, in 
 sign of gratitude to the TFater^ which replenishes their 
 cisterns. The sacrifice of a Ram is also made, from 
 time to time, at the brink of the water. 
 
 At the season of the great inundations of the Cavery, 
 which generally take place in the middle of July, the 
 inhabitants of that part of the peninsula make a solemn 
 pilgrimage to its banks, many of them coming from a 
 great distance, so tliat, in some places, the concourse 
 is altogether innumerable. Their object is to congra- 
 tulate the Lady or the Flood, on her arrival, and to of- 
 fer sacrifices of rejoicing. 
 
 When I had occasion to speak of the Triple Prayer 
 of the Brahmans, I mentioned that they place a copper 
 vessel filled with water on the ground, and make several 
 prostrations and other signs of reverence before it. From 
 this, one might be led to conclude, that the vessel, and 
 the water it contains, are placed in honour of Vishnu, 
 and that the signs of adoration are addressed to that God. 
 But my reason for thinking that the worship is directed 
 exclusively to the Water in the vessel, is, that the same 
 practice exists among the Brahmans, whether belonging 
 to the sect of Vishnu or not. 
 
ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. 
 
 127 
 
 The homage and worship which the Brahmans offer 
 directly to the Elements, may be remarked in several of 
 their daily rites. When, for example, they commence 
 reading in the Vedas ; on coming to the Yajur-veda 
 and Atharvena-veday they must offer a prayer to Wa- 
 ter ; but if it be the Rik-veda and Sama-veduy the sup- 
 plication must be addressed to Fire. 
 
 The worship of the Elements among the Hindus was, 
 no doubt, in ancient times, consecrated by temples erect- 
 ed to their service. I have never been able to discover 
 that any vestiges of such buildings remain ; but if we 
 give credit to Abraham Rogers, and the Brahman who 
 was his authority, there was a temple standing, in his 
 time, in a district bordering on the coast of Coromandel, 
 which was built in honour of the Five Elements. 
 
 It may be said, perhaps, that the Hindus are not the 
 only people that have paid adoration directly to the ob- 
 ject, without regard to the Gods who were ultimately 
 considered as the inherent Kings and Rulers ; and that, 
 in almost all countries, the Elements have been wor- 
 shipped. The Persians, in particular, as we learn from 
 Herodotus, offered them sacrifices. This serves to con- 
 firm what I have advanced concerning the Hmdu wor- 
 ship of them ; nor is it wonderful that they should have 
 fallen into a practice, so gross and absurd, in imitation 
 of all other ancient nations. 
 
 From those three elements were formed the three gods, 
 Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, or the Trimurti ; which 
 bears the double meaning of three bodies^iXid three powers. 
 The Hindu writers affect allegory above all things ; and 
 the simple readers, being easily misled, take the whole 
 in a literal sense, and worship the image instead of what 
 it signifies. 
 
1S8 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI, 
 
 The mode of explanation by allegory, is so familiar to 
 the Hindu poets, that they usually refer to their three 
 chief gods under the symbolical attribute of each. In 
 regard to the human race, they find three distinct cha- 
 racters or dispositions, which they call Guna ; namely, 
 the Tama Guna^ or serious and grave ; the Satwa Gu~ 
 na, or the gent/e and insinuating ; and the Raja Guna^ 
 or the choleric and ardent. These qualities they have 
 transferred to the three gods ; making the first apply to 
 Brahma, the second to Vishnu, and the third to Siva. 
 
 , , I 
 
 The agreement is no less exact when applied to the 
 three elements combined in the Trimurti ; the Earth, 
 represented by Brahma, having solidity for its charac- 
 teristic ; the Water, under the appellation of Vishnu, 
 with its insinuating qualities ; and the Fire, with the' 
 semblance of Siva, containing the power of destruction. 
 
 The TamOy or grave character attributed to Brahma, 
 is so suitable to the nature of tlie earth, which is dis- 
 tinguished by ponderosity and density, that the Hindu 
 authors confound it frequently with the earth itself. 
 Thus, in a lunar eclipse, when the opacity of the earth 
 intercepts the rays of the sun in their way to illuminate 
 the moon, they use the w'ord Tama, and say that the 
 Tama Bimbamy or disk of the earth, obscures that of 
 the moon with its shadow. 
 
 The Raja Gunuy or ardent disposition, is no less indi- 
 cative of Siva. The appellation is therefore frequently 
 given liim by the poets. And though his usual name 
 of Siva signifies Joy, yet he often passes under others 
 tvhich denote Fire only. Such is that of Jvoalay under 
 which he is known, derived from the word Jwalam, 
 which signifies c Jtame. 
 
ORIGIN or THE TRIMURTI. 
 
 129 
 
 I may here allude to a custom, which supports my 
 opinion respecting the Trimurti. The Hindus, some- 
 times imagining that the god Siva has waxed extremely 
 wroth, and fearing, during periods of excessive heat, 
 that every thing will be set on fire by the burning ar- 
 dour that inflames him, place over the head of his idol a ves- 
 sel filled with water, in which a little hole has been pierced, 
 to let drop after drop fall down, to refresh him and 
 check the vehemence of the fire which consumes him. 
 
 The Sata GunOy or gentle and insinuating temper., is 
 no doubt expressive of the water, which filters and in- 
 sinuates itself into the earth, and renders it fertile. The 
 word Vishnu means, that which thoroughly penetrates ; 
 which perfectly agrees with the quality of water, which 
 is emblematical of him. Indeed the name by which he 
 is chiefly known by many of his devotees is that of ^p 
 or JVater. 
 
 What I have here attempted to prove respecting the 
 three principal deities of India as being nothing else than 
 the three principal elements of earth, water, and fire, is 
 an article of doctrine well understood by many Brah- 
 mans belonging to the sect of Vishnu. I have con- 
 versed with several of them, who have informed me that 
 their opinion on the subject was not difierent from mine, 
 and have even furnished me with some of the arguments 
 I have made use of. They told me, farther, that they 
 themselves treated all that is commonly taught concern- 
 ijig the mystery of the Trimurti as fabulous or allegorical. 
 But as their mode of thinking visibly tended to the over- 
 throw of the established religion of the country, and, at 
 the same time, not only to dry up the principal source of 
 their emoluments, but actually expose them to public 
 detestation ; they preferred to keep their opinions pri- 
 
 VoL. II. ’ R 
 
130 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. 
 
 vate, or at least to communicate them only to one another, 
 or in company where they were confident they should 
 be safe. 
 
 Taking for granted the reality of the metamorphosis 
 of the three elements into the three principal deities of 
 India, it will be easy to give a very simple and natural 
 explication of certoin expressions to be found in the 
 Hindu writings, which might lead many persons to be- 
 lieve that the people of that region possessed, from the 
 earliest times, some knowledge of the mystery of the 
 Trinity. “ These three gods,’’ it is there said, “ make 
 but one only. It is a lamp with three lights;” with ma- 
 ny other expressions seeming to import one God in 
 three persons. 
 
 If it were true that the primitive Hindus had it in their 
 contemplation to transmit an idea of the Trinity under 
 the form and attributes of the 'I'rimuiti, it must be own- 
 ed that they have most wofully disfigured that august 
 mystery. But it does not appear to me that we are autho- 
 rised to draw such consequences from the expressions 
 we have alluded to, and others of the same kind; for the 
 reunion of their three elements into one body, relates 
 only to that natural admixture of three substances, no 
 two of which, without the third, could possibly produce 
 what is necessary for the wants of man, but must remain 
 barren and unfruitful. 
 
 The fathers of the first ages of the church, such as 
 Justin Martyr, St. Clement, Theodoret, St. Augustin, 
 established the Wuth of the Trinity by the authority of 
 the ancient Greek philosophers, and particularly by that 
 of Plato, or of his principal scholars Plotinus and Por- 
 phyry ; and they successfully availed themselves of these 
 authorities, in tliose times, against the Pagans, amongst 
 
OIUGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. 
 
 131 
 
 whom they preached the Christian religion. The fathers 
 found, in the works of the authors alluded to, the worda 
 of Father^ Son, and Spiritual fVord: the Father com- 
 prehending what was perfect in goodness ; the Son alto- 
 gether resembling the Father ; and the Word, by whom 
 all things were created ; and these three hypostases made 
 but one God. 
 
 These were not idle words, casually escaping from 
 those philosophers. They were the foundation of the 
 system of Plato, who could not venture to make them 
 public amongst a people attached to polytlieism, lest he 
 should be treated with the same cruelt}* as bcfel the vir- 
 tuous Socrates. But I strongly suspect that those vencr 
 rable fathers of the chUrch would not have chosen to re- 
 sort to the authority of those philosophers, had tliey not 
 found in their works expressions more decided, more 
 consistent, and more spiritual, than what can be found in 
 Hindu writings. 
 
 I might subjoin to what I have said respecting the 
 change of the three principal elements into the divine 
 nature, a similar transformation of the other two, the air 
 and the xvind. The latter, which the Hindus have cre- 
 ated their fifth element, appears to be the god Indra or 
 Devendra, the greatest of the subordinate deities, and 
 king of \h&Air, in which he dwells. His name signifies 
 Air ; and it is in that region that the winds have the 
 strongest power. 
 
 In the Indra Parana, these words are found : “ Indra 
 “ is nothing else than the Wind, and the Wind is no- 
 “ thing but Indra. The wind, by condensing the clouds, 
 “ occasions the thunder ; which has been given to De- 
 “ vendra as his weapon.” He is frequently represented 
 as having w^arred against the Giants, sometimes victori- 
 
132 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. 
 
 ous and sometimes overcome. The Clouds, which often 
 resemble giants in their sliape, sometimes arrest the pro- 
 gress of the wind ; while the wind, more frequently, 
 purges the air of the clouds. 
 
 It has happened to the poets of India, as well as those 
 of other nations, in early times, that their fables and fic- 
 tions were originally mere allegories, which were after- 
 wards taken as real by a rude people. Succeeding poets 
 preserved some part of the allegories of their predeces- 
 sors ; but they more frequently give reins to the mad 
 enthusiasm of a wild imagination, and fabricated new 
 fables, often incongruous with the others, and still more 
 remote from credibility. Thus in searching after the 
 origin of the gods of the Pagans, recourse must be had 
 to something behind the chaos of ill-digested and ab- 
 surd fables, which obscure the view. 
 
FESTIVALS. 
 
 13a 
 
 CHAP. U. 
 
 The principal Festivals of the Hindus^ particularly that 
 of the Pongol or Sankranti. 
 
 BESIDES tlie Feasts peculiar to each district and 
 temple, which return several times in the course of a 
 year, and are celebrated by the inhabitants of the neigh- 
 bourhood, the Hindus have a great many more, which 
 are held but once a year, and are commonly observed 
 through the whole country. It would be a useless la- 
 bour to enter into a particular detail of these numerous 
 festivals, with the object and ceremonies of each. But 
 we may remark that all of them are occasions of joy and 
 diversion. On such days, the people quit their servile 
 employments. Friends and relations unite in family 
 parties, in their best apparel ; decorate their houses as 
 finely as they are able, and give entertainments more or 
 less splendid, according to their means. Innocent pas- 
 times arc intermixed, and every other method of testify- 
 ing their happiness. 
 
 They reckon eighteen principal Festivals in the course 
 of the year ; and no month passes without one or more 
 of general observance. Some, however, are of so much 
 more celebrity than the rest, as to demand particular 
 notice. 
 
 In this number we must place the first day of their 
 year, called Agrasya^ which falls on the new moon in 
 
134 
 
 FESTIVALS. 
 
 March. At that period, the Hindus make rejoicings 
 for three days ; exhibiting fire- works, letting off cham- 
 bers or guns, and shewing their joy in every other way. 
 
 The festival of Gauri, which is held in the beginning 
 of September, and which lasts several days, is also to be 
 commemorated, as one of the most solemn. The name 
 of Gauri is one of the appellations of Parvati, the wife 
 of Siva, and it appears to be principally in honour of 
 this goddess. It is likewise held to be in honour of the 
 gods of the household, who are not tlie same in this in- 
 stance as the P mates formerly mentioned. 
 
 At this time, every artisan, every labourer, all the 
 world, in short, offer sacrifices and supplications to the 
 tools and implements which they use in the exercise of 
 their various professions. The labourer brings his 
 plough, hoe, and other instruments which he uses in 
 his work. He piles them together and offers to them a 
 sacrifice consisting of incense, flowers, fruits, rice, and 
 other similar articles ; after which he prostrates himself 
 before them at all his length, and then returns them to 
 their places. 
 
 The mason offers the same adoration and sacrifice to 
 his trowel, his rule, and other instruments. The carpen- 
 ter is no less pious with regard to his hatchet, his adze, 
 and his plane. The barber, too, collects his razors in a 
 heap, and adores them ivith similar rites. 
 
 The writing-master sacrifices to the iron pencil or 
 style with which he writes ; the taylor to his needles ; 
 the weaver to his loom ; the butcher to his cleaver. 
 
 'Phe women, on this day, heap together their baskets, 
 the rice-mill, the wooden cylinder with which they 
 bruise the rice, and the otlier household implements ; 
 and fall down before them, after having offered the 
 
FESTIVALS. 
 
 135 
 
 sacrifices we have described. Every person, in sliort, 
 in this solemnity, sanctifies and adores the instrument 
 or tool which he principally uses in gaining his liveli- 
 hood. The tools are now considered as so many deities ; 
 to whom they present their supplications, that they 
 would continue propitious, and furnish them still with 
 the means of living. So unix ersal is the feeling among 
 the Hindus to deify and honour whatever can be useful 
 or pernicious, whether animate or inanimate ! 
 
 The festival of Gauri is concluded by erecting a shape- 
 less statue in each village, composed of paste from 
 grain. It is intended to represent the Goddess Gauri or 
 Parvati ; and, being placed under a sort of canopy, it is 
 carried about through the streets with great pomp, and 
 receives the homage of the inhabitants, w ho flock to ren- 
 der it their adorations. 
 
 Another festival, of equal celebrity, is called by the 
 Hindus Maha- Navami, which is destined principally to 
 the honour of deceased ancestors. It is celebrated in the 
 month of October, during a period of three days ; and 
 is so religiously kept that it has become a proverbial 
 saying, that those who have not the means of celebrat- 
 ing it should sell one of their children to procure them. 
 
 When the day of the festival arrives, all Hindus, each 
 for himself, make oft'erings of boiled rice and other food 
 to their departed ancestors, that they may be well regal- 
 ed on that day. They afterwards offer sacrifices of burn- 
 ing lamps, of fruits and flowers ; and to these they add 
 new articles of dress for men and women, that their an- 
 cestors of both sexes may be fresh clothed. 
 
 This festival, w'hich lasts several days, is selected by 
 the princes and those wflio follow the profession of arms, 
 to offer up sacrifices to the accoutrements used in the 
 
136 
 
 FESTIVALS. 
 
 field, in order to obtain success in war. On the appoint- 
 ed day, all the arms, ofiensive and defensive, are col- 
 lected together. A Brahman Purohita is called, who 
 sprinkles them with his holy water, and pronounces 
 mantras over them ; by virtue of which tlie whole are 
 deified. The ceremony, W'hich is conducted with great 
 solemnity, finishes, by sacrificing a ram to the armour. 
 It is called the ceremony of Ayaudha-Puja, or Sacrifice 
 to the Anns, and is celebrated in all parts by the military 
 with the utmost animation. 
 
 On the same day, the princes give public shews, with 
 a distribution of prizes. The spectacle consists chiefly 
 in fights of wild beasts wdth each other, or with men ; 
 and also in combats of pugilists, some of whom come 
 from a great distance to contend for the prize which it 
 is customary to assign to the victor. This species of 
 contest, which much resembles the shew' of gladiators 
 among the Romans and other ancient nations, is entirely 
 committed to a particular cast of Hindus, called Yati. 
 The members consist of youths selected from their in- 
 fancy, and trained to this kind of sport : and their prin- 
 cipal employment is to mangle each other with blows in 
 the presence of those who choose to pay for the enjoy- 
 ment of so barbarous a spectacle ; w’hich is nevertheless 
 one of the principal amusements of the Hindu princes. 
 
 Before entering the lists, the pugilists, as if the blows 
 with fists which they discharge upon each other were 
 not sufficient to satisfy the barbarous appetite of the mul- 
 titude, arm their fingers with a sort of iron cases or fer- 
 rules. Thus equipped, they commence by words of 
 defiance and threatening gestures ; and then setting on 
 with signs of fury, they assail each other with terrible 
 blow's from their armed hands. "I'hen, struggling, they 
 
FESTIVALS. 
 
 137 
 
 throw each other down ; and when they get upon their 
 legs again, with their heads and bodies streaming with 
 blood, they recover their breath, and engage in the com- 
 bat anew, till one is declared the victor ; unless indeed 
 when the strength of both is equally exhausted, and the 
 humane umpire of the sport separates them, to make 
 room for another pair. The dismissed combatants re- 
 tire, bathed in blood, and often with broken bones ; and 
 yield the arena to the new set, who repeat the horrid 
 spectacle. When it is over, the Prince grants prizes 
 and other rewards, both to the victors and the vanquish- 
 ed, in proportion to the savage ferocity with which they 
 liave belaboured each other. 
 
 When the shew is ended, the bruised combatants are 
 attended by persons of their cast, who come provided 
 with plasters for their wounds, or with skill to set their 
 dislocated bones. In operations of this sort the Yatis or 
 Jatij have the reputation of being expert. 
 
 In the month of November, another feast is celebrat- 
 ed, which is called DivuUgay, and which does not yield 
 in solemnity to the preceding. It is instituted in me- 
 mory of the two celebrated giants, one of whom bore 
 the name of Bala-chakravartly and the other that of Aa- 
 rak-asura. The latter had become the scourge of the 
 human race, and infested the earth with his crimes. 
 Vishnu at length delivered both gods and men from the 
 terror of this monster, whom he slew after a dreadful 
 combat. The contest ended but with the day. Thus 
 \'^ishnu, not having it in his power to make his diurnal 
 ablutions before the setting of the sun, was under the 
 necessity of performing them, contrary to all rules, in 
 the night. The Brahmans, in commemoration of this 
 
 VoL. II. S 
 
138 
 
 FESTIVALS. 
 
 great event, when that day returns, put off their ablu- 
 tions to the night; and this is the only occasion, in the 
 course of the year, in which they can transgress the or- 
 dinance of never bathing after sunset. But this excep- 
 tion, of the nocturnal bathing, possesses the highest de- 
 gree of merit ; and it is therefore conducted with par- 
 ticular solemnity. 
 
 But the word Diviiligay signifies the Feast of Lamps; 
 and I therefore suppose it must have been instituted in 
 honour of fire ; and, at this season, the Hindus actually 
 light a great number of lamps round the doors of their 
 houses. They make paper lanterns, also, which they 
 hang in the streets with a burning lamp in each ; which, 
 in many places, gives this festival the name of the Feast 
 of Lanterns. 
 
 The husbandmen celebrate this festival of Divuligay 
 in a dift'erent w'ay. Bdng then the harvest time for grain, 
 they assemble with much pomp at the corn fields, and 
 offer their supplications and sacrifices. 
 
 In many places they also offer sacrifice, on this day, 
 to the DunghHl, which is afterwards to enrich the 
 ground. In the villages, every one has his particular 
 heap, to which he makes his own offering, consisting of 
 burning lamps, fruits, flowers, and other matters, which 
 are deposited on the mass of ordure. 
 
 There is another festival, of great celebrity amongst 
 the Lingamites, called Siva-ratri, or Night of Siva. It 
 is celebrated towards the end of February or beginning 
 of March, when the votaries of that god purify their 
 Lingas, and cover themselves with a new garment. Af- 
 ter various sacrifices, they must pass the night in watch- 
 fulness, employing the time in reading some puranas 
 
FESTIVALS. 
 
 139 
 
 relating to Siva, or in visits to their Jangama, but with- 
 out defiling themselves with any servile work. 
 
 The feast called Naga Panchami is also one of the 
 eighteen annual festivals, and one of the most solemn. 
 It takes place in the month of December, and is institut- 
 ed in honour of the Serpents. 
 
 All these festivals are celebrated as family rites, and 
 are not to be confounded with those that are carried on 
 in the pagodas or temples, to which multitudes of people 
 resort, and where all the rules of decency and modesty 
 are violated without shame or remorse. 
 
 But, of all festivals, the most famous, at least in most 
 countries, is that which is called Pongol, celebrated in 
 the end of December, or the winter solstice. It lasts 
 three days; during which time the Hindus employ 
 themselves in mutual visits and compliments, something 
 in the same manner as the Europeans do on the first day 
 of the year. 
 
 This portion of Hindu Paganism is too remarkable to 
 be passed over without a short description of the principal 
 circumstances which attend it. The feast of the Pongol 
 is a season of rejoicing, for two special reasons. The 
 first is, that the month of Magha or December, every 
 day in which is unlucky, is about to expire ; and the 
 other, that it is to be succeeded by a month, each day of 
 which is fortunate. 
 
 For the purpose of averting the evil effects of this bale- 
 ful month of Magha, about four o’clock in the morning, a 
 sort of Sannyasis go from door to door of every hou.se, 
 beating on a plate of iron or copper, which produces a 
 piercing sound. All w^ho sleep, being thus roused, are 
 counselled to take wise precautions, and to guard against 
 the evil prestiges of the month, by expiatory offerings, 
 
140 
 
 FESTIVALS. 
 
 and sacrifices to Siva, who presides over it. With this 
 view, every morning, the women scour a space of about 
 two feet square before the door of the house, upon 
 which they draw several white lines with flour. Upon 
 these they place several little balls of cow-dung, sticking 
 in each a citron blossom. 
 
 I have no doubt that the little balls are designed to 
 represent the idol of Puliyar or Vighneswara, the god of 
 obstacles^ whom they desire to appease with the flower ; 
 but I know not why the blossoms of the citron are cho- 
 sen above all others. Each day these little lumps of cow- 
 dung, with their flowers, are picked up and preserved in 
 a private place, till the last day of the month Magha ; 
 and when that comes, the women, who are alone charged 
 with this ceremony, put the whole in a basket, and 
 march from the house, with musical instruments before 
 them, clapping their hands, till they reach the tank or 
 other waste place where they dispose of the relics. 
 
 The first day of this festival is called Ragi Pongol^ or 
 the Pongol of Rejoicings and it is kept by inviting the 
 near relations to an entertainment, which passes off with 
 liilarity and mirth. 
 
 The second day is called Surya Pongol, or Pongol of 
 the Sun, and is set apart for the honour of that lumi- 
 nary. Married women, after purifying themselves by 
 bathing, which they perform by plunging themselves 
 into the water, without taking off their clothes, and 
 coming out all dripping with wet, set about boiling rice 
 in the open air, and not under any cover. They use 
 milk in the operation ; and when it begins to simmer, 
 the)' make a loud cry, all at once, repeating the words, 
 Pongol, 0 Pongol! The vessel is then lifted off the fire, 
 and set before the idol of Vighneswara, which is placed 
 
FESTIVALS. 
 
 141 
 
 close by. Part of the mess of rice is offered to the image ; 
 and, after standing there for some time, it is given to the 
 cow ; and the remainder of the rice is then distributed 
 among tlie people. 
 
 This is the great day of V’isits among the Hindus. 
 The salutation begins by the question, “Has the milk 
 boiled ?” to which the answer is, “ It has boiled.” From 
 this the festival takes its name of Pongol ; which is de- 
 rived from the verb Ponghedi in Taluga, and Pongra- 
 dam in Tamul, both of which signify “ to boil.” 
 
 I’he third day, not less solemn than the preceding, is 
 consecrated with ceremonies still more absurd, and is 
 called the Pongol of Cows. 
 
 In a great vessel, filled with tvater, they put some 
 saffron, the seeds of the tree Parati and leaves of the 
 tree Vepii. After being well mixed, they go round all 
 the cows and oxen belonging to the house, several times, 
 sprinkling them with the water, as they turn to the four 
 cardinal points. The Sashtangam, or prostration of the 
 eight members, is made before them four times. Men 
 only perform this ceremony, the women staying away. 
 
 The COW’S are then all dressed out, their horns being 
 painted w'ith various colours, and garlands of flowers and 
 foliage put round their necks and over their backs. They 
 likewise add strings of cocoa-nuts and other fruits, wliich 
 are soon shaken off by the brisk motion of the animal 
 which these trappings occasion, and are picked up b}- 
 children and others, who follow the cattle on purpose, 
 and greedily eat what they gather, as something sacred. 
 They are then driven, in herd, through the villages, and 
 made to scamper about from side to side by the jan'ing 
 noise of many sounding instruments. The remainder 
 of the day, they are allow’ed to feed at large w ithout a 
 
142 
 
 FESTIVALS. 
 
 keeper ; and whatever trespasses they commit are suffer- 
 ed to pass without notice or restraint. 
 
 At last the festival concludes by taking the idols from 
 the temples, and carrying them in pomp to the place 
 where the cattle have been again collected. The girls 
 of pleasure, or dancers, who are found at all ceremonies, 
 are not wanting here. They march at the head of a 
 great concourse of people ; now and then making a pause 
 to exhibit their wanton movements and charm the audi- 
 dience with their lascivious songs. 
 
 The whole terminates with a piece of diversion, which 
 appears to be w aggishness rather than any part of the ce- 
 remony. 4"he numerous rabble who are present form 
 themselves into a ring, and a live hare is let go in the 
 midst of it. Poor puss, finding no outlet by which it 
 can escape, flies to one side and the other, sometimes 
 making a spring over the heads of the throng, which 
 produces incredible mirth in the crowd, till the creature 
 is at length worn out and caught. The idols are then re- 
 conducted to the temples, with the same pomp as when 
 they were brought away. And thus closes the festival 
 of the Pongol; the most celebrated, undoubtedly, of all 
 the rites which are performed during the course of the 
 year. 
 
 Thus have we given an abridgment of the extrava- 
 gant absurdities to which the Hindus give themselves 
 up, in the celebration of their festivals ; and such is the 
 excess of folly to which the human mind can surrender 
 itself, in matters of religion, when it has no other light to 
 guide its steps than its own, or when it takes the dreary- 
 road of superstition. 
 
 If reasonable men, being convinced by the testimony 
 of their conscience and that of the whole universe, that 
 
FESTIVALS. 
 
 143 
 
 there is an Invisible Being, Almighty, Lord of all, and 
 Ruler over all, were to unite in offering adoration and 
 sacrifice to Him whom they acknowledge as the Author 
 of all things, whatever his nature may be; if they 
 were to join in exultation and rejoicing, as if to fe- 
 licitate each other on the blessings which they all re- 
 ceived from that Invisible Being ; there would be no- 
 thing in all that, but what is commendable and worthy 
 of imitation. But, when we behold a cultivated race, 
 one that stands the earliest in the order of civilization, 
 delivering itself, without scruple or shame, to extrava- 
 gancies so monstrous as those we have described, and to 
 others perhaps more absurd, which we have still to enu- 
 merate ; ought we to attribute all these excesses to the 
 mere weakness of the human mind ? Or ought we not 
 rather to admit the agency and subornation of an evil 
 spirit, seeking to seduce men by the vain shew of super- 
 stitious rites ? They would undoubtedly be considered 
 acts of fatuity, if committed by individuals ; and why 
 should they be held less insane because they are practis- 
 ed by whole nations ? 
 
 The grossness of the idolatry which universally pre- 
 vails in' India is such, that persons, educated in a way al- 
 together dissimilar, find it difficult to comprehend how 
 an intelligent people should be attached to so absurd a 
 worship, and should never have attempted to emerge 
 from the gloom of darkness into which they have been 
 plunged ; just as if it were possible to reason wisely on 
 the subject of religion, and to form a rational system, 
 when the human understanding has God no longer for 
 its ruler, nor revelation for its guide. 
 
 Besides, humanly speaking, we feel less surprize in 
 this respect, when, upon attentive examination, we clear- 
 
144 
 
 FESTIVALS. 
 
 ly perceive that the laws and customs, both civil and re- 
 ligious, of this people, are so closely combined together, 
 that any infringement of the one is sure to break down 
 the other. Education, prejudice, and national bias have, 
 in all times, led them to consider the two principal pil- 
 lars of civilization, religion and civil rule, to be indisso- 
 lubly connected ; and they are persuaded that neither can 
 be touched withour inducing the reign of barbarism, or 
 at least without exciting the most savage anarchy in the' 
 state. 
 
 The very extravagance, also, of the Hindu idolatry, 
 the whole ritual of which is nothing less than the sub- 
 version of common sense, serves to give it a deeper root 
 in the hearts of a people, sensual, enthusiastic, and fond 
 of the marvellous. They cannot see, in all the world, a 
 religion preferable to their own ; and, infatuated with 
 their idols, they shut their ears to the voice of nature, 
 which cries so loudly against it. 
 
 But the Hindus are still more irresistibly attached to 
 the species of idolatry which they have embraced, by their 
 uniform pride, sensuality, and licentiousness. Whatever 
 their religion sets before them tends to encourage these 
 vices ; and, consequently, all their senses, passions, and 
 interests are leagued in its favour. It is made up of di- 
 version and amusement. Dances, shews, and lewdness, 
 accompan)^ it, and form a part of the divine worship. 
 Their festivals are nothing but sports ; and, on no occa- 
 sion of life, are modesty and decorum more carefully ex- 
 cluded than during the celebration of their religious mys- 
 teries. How can a people, ignorant of all enjoyment but 
 that of sensual gratification, fail to be attached to a reli- 
 gion so indulgent to its peculiar passions ? 
 
FESTIVALS. 
 
 145 
 
 Interest, also, that powerful engine, which puts in 
 motion all human things, is a principal support of the 
 edifice of Hindu idolatry. Those who are at the head 
 of this extravagant worship, most of them quite con- 
 scious of its absurdity, are the most zealous in promot- 
 ing its diffusion, because it affords them the means of 
 living. Such impostors will suffer no opportunity to 
 escape by which they may more deeply infatuate the 
 people with the idolatry and superstition in which they 
 have been bred. Well acquainted with the sway which 
 their senses maintain over them, they take care to ac- 
 company the public rites and ceremonies with all the 
 pomp and splendour which can impose upon their fancy. 
 
 These artifices are employed, above ail, in some cele- 
 brated Pagodas. The persons who preside there, who 
 live the year round, in voluptuous indolence, upon the 
 abundant offerings brought to them on the anniversary 
 of their festival, spare no pains to gratify the superstition 
 which animates their votaries. Triumphal cars, superb- 
 ly decorated in the Hindu fashion, on which the idols 
 are placed in all their splendid finer)', are exposed to 
 public veneration. Songs, dancing, shews, fire-works, 
 and an unceasing round of diversions ; the sight of an 
 immense assembly, where numbers of the wealthy con- 
 tend with each other for the palm of luxurious extrava- 
 gance and shew ; and, above all, the extreme licence 
 which prevails through all classes, and the facility with 
 which every individual can humour the bent of his de- 
 sires : all these things are infinitely delightful to a people 
 who have no relish for any pleasure but that of the senses. 
 They fly to these festivals, therefore, from all quarters. 
 Even the poor husbandman, to whom, with a numerous 
 family, the scanty crop scarcely affords subsistence 
 
 VoL. II. T 
 
146 
 
 FESTIVALS. 
 
 through the course of the year, forgetful of his future 
 wants, sells a part of his stock for a contribution to this 
 ridiculous worship, and for offerings to the impostors 
 who thus entertain them at the expence of the public 
 credulity. 
 
 The places where these festivals are held are famous 
 all around, and are considered as holy and consecrated 
 spots ; in order to keep up the delusion and increase the 
 confidence of the people. The Brahmans, who have the 
 charge of the temples, besides the pomp and splendour 
 with which they dazzle the multitude, have recourse to 
 another species of imposture, not less powerful, amongst 
 a race credulous in the extreme, and lovers of the mar- 
 vellous. They preserve a long list of miracles, which 
 they pretend to have been wrought by the God of stone 
 who resides in their temple, in behalf of those who have 
 brought him rich offerings and trusted in him. Some- 
 times it is a barren woman whom he has blessed with 
 fertility ; sometimes one blind whom he has restored to 
 sight ; sometimes lepers who have been cured, or crip- 
 ples who have recovered the use of their limbs. The 
 sil’y Hindu swallows the bait, and never dreams of the 
 designs of the impostors. 
 
 This digression has insensibly led me too far out of 
 my course ; my intention having been merely to shew, 
 by the way, that the very extravagance of the ceremonies 
 I have been describing, so far from rendering them ri- 
 diculous or contemptible, is the strongest aid to the 
 progress of superstition and idolatry among the Hindus. 
 
 If one adds to this the prodigious antiquity from which 
 they draw their fabulous religion ; the wonderful and 
 astonishing incidents in the lives' of their Gods, Giants, 
 
FESTIVALS. 
 
 147 
 
 and early Kings ; the enchantments, true or imaginary, 
 effected by their philosophers ; the austere seclusion of 
 their ascetics ; the rigid abstinence from animal food, of 
 all the nobler part of the nation ; their daily and scru- 
 pulous purification ; and, finally, their prayers and vain 
 contemplation : all this may at least serve to excuse the 
 excess of their superstition ; and, at the same time, by 
 shewing us the monstrous aberrations to which tlie hu- 
 man mind is subject in regard to religion, may lead those 
 amongst ourselves, who are conscious of clearer views 
 and sounder information, on that important subject, to 
 be thanklul to the Father of Mercies ; who, by the bless- 
 ing of the shining light of revelation, has relieved us from 
 the thick darkness of idolatry, in which, for some secret 
 purpose known only to Himself, and which it is not law- 
 ful for us to scrutinize. He has permitted so many na- 
 tions to grope ; some of which, perhaps, might have 
 turned to a better account than we have done, that ines- 
 timable blessing, which, being a free and unmerited gift, 
 is the more to be prized. 
 
148 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 CHAP. HI. 
 
 Of the Temples of the Hindus, and the Ceremonies there 
 practised, 
 
 THERE is not, perhaps, in the whole world, a land 
 in which the Buildings destined for religious uses are 
 so numerous as in India ; and there are few in which 
 the popular credulity and superstition have better an- 
 swered the purposes of the founders of the false reli- 
 gions which have been there established. 
 
 One hardly sees a village, however small, in which 
 there is not a Pagoda, or building set apart to the wor- 
 ship of the divinities whom they adore. It has become 
 proverbial amongst them, that a man should not live 
 where there is no temple ; and they are satisfied that, 
 sooner or later, some mischief must befal those who 
 disregard this maxim. 
 
 Of the good works recommended to the rich, one of the 
 most honourable and most meritorious is to lay out a part 
 of their fortune in erecting buildings for religious wor- 
 ship, and endowing them ^vith a suitable revenue. Such 
 works of merit never fail to draw down upon those who 
 practise them the protection of the gods, the remission 
 of sin, and a happy world after death. 
 
 Yet it happens that the greater number of those who 
 ruin themselves by these works of merit, generally un- 
 dertake them from motives of vanity and ostentation, 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 149 
 
 rather than of devotion. These are the predominant 
 vices amongst the Hindus ; and in this case, above all 
 others, the desire of renown, and of obtaining the praises 
 of men has, assuredly, more influence on their conduct 
 than any expectation of meriting the protection of the 
 gods, in honour of whom they incur those foolish ex- 
 jKnses. 
 
 Besides the Temples of Idols that are seen in all the 
 villages, we meet with many in places insulated, and re- 
 mote from all habitation ; in woods, on the banks, and 
 in the middle of rivers, near great lakes and other 
 places ; but, above all, on mountains and even the 
 steepest rocks. 
 
 This propensity for erecting temples and other reli- 
 gious houses, on mountains and other elevated situa- 
 tions, is observable throughout India, in such a degree, 
 that scarcely a summit is to be seen that is not sur- 
 mounted with some building of this nature. 
 
 This propensity I have thought worthy of remark ; 
 and I cannot attribute it solely to the desire of exhibiting 
 their temples to greater advantage, or of rendering the 
 glory of the founders more conspicuous in the eyes of 
 posterity, but to other motives. Indeed, the conduct 
 of the Hindus, in this instance, is by no means peculiar. 
 The Holy Scripture informs us that the same feeling 
 existed, not only among the ancient idolatrous nations, 
 but also extended to the chosen people of God. The 
 Israelites were accustomed to choose a mountain, when 
 they offered their supplications and sacrifices to the Lord. 
 Solomon himself, before the building of the Temple of 
 Jerusalem, religiously conformed to this practice, by 
 selecting Mount Gibeon, the highest eminence in his 
 neighbourhood, on which to sacrifice his burnt-oflerings. 
 
150 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 And when the ten tribes separated themselves, in the 
 reign of Jeroboam, they erected their sacrilegious altars 
 on the mountain of Samaria. 
 
 When God prescribed to the Israelites the conduct 
 'they were to pursue, in taking possession of the land of 
 Canaan ; he commanded them, above all things, to de- 
 molish the temples of idols, which the nations who in- 
 habited that country had erected on the mountains, and 
 other “ high places to break the images in pieces, 
 and to destroy the “ Groves” which they had planted, 
 and under the cover of which they probably hid (as the 
 Hindus do at the present day) the objects of their idola- 
 trous worship. 
 
 But whence can have arisen this custom, still subsist- 
 ing in India, and so common in all other ancient nations, 
 of erecting their places of w'orship on those lofty sum- 
 mits? 
 
 When the universal deluge abated, the ark of Noah 
 grounded on the highest mountains of Armenia; and 
 there he offered to God the first sacrifice of thanks. 
 Mount Ararat, probably, long continued to be held 
 sacred by the Patriarch and his descendants ; and was, 
 no doubt, frequently visited as the scene of their deliver- 
 ance ; and for the purpose of testifying their gratitude 
 to the Lord, on the spot where his divine mercy had 
 been so conspicuous ; as well as to renew from time to 
 time the expression of their thankfulness, and to repeat 
 the sacrifices which Noah ofi'ered on the day when he 
 descended from the ark. It is probably from that period, 
 and from that event, that the custom has arisen among 
 so many ancient nations, and still continues, of selecting 
 high elevations for their places of worship ; as if to 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 151 
 
 approach more nearly to the sublime throne of the 
 Divinity. 
 
 Besides the temples of the idols, there are to be seen, 
 in all parts of India, objects of the popular worship, repre- 
 sented by statues of stone or of baked earth, but most 
 commonly sculptured in blocks of granite. Many of 
 these are met with near the high roads ; at the entrance 
 into villages ; on the banks of the lakes ; but, above all, 
 under bushy trees of that kind, chiefly, which arc held 
 sacred by the superstition of the country. Such are 
 the Aruli-maram, Ali-maram, Bevina-maram, and other 
 trees; and under the shadow of their branches the Hin- 
 dus delight to deposit the gods whom they adore. Of 
 the infinite number of images of stone, that are scattered 
 all over the country, some are placed under niches, but 
 the greater number are exposed in the open air. 
 
 The most of the Hindu temples have a most miser- 
 able appearance, and resemble ovens rather than places 
 designed for the residence of gods. Some of them like- 
 wise answer the purpose of a court of justice, a town 
 hall, or a choultry for the reception of travellers, as well 
 as a temple for religious worship. But there are some 
 also, which, from a distant view, have a majestic appear- 
 ance, and which, by the taste of their architecture, some- 
 times excite the admiration of the traveller, and recal those 
 times of antiquity when artists laboured for posterity as 
 well as for contemporary fame, by erecting solid and 
 durable works, which outlast the flimsy, though more 
 elegant erections of others. 
 
 The form of the larger temples, both ancient and 
 modern, is always the same. The Hindus are attached 
 in all things to the ancient customs of their ancestors ; 
 and they have not departed from them in the style of 
 their public edifices. For this reason, their architecture 
 
152 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 most probably exhibits a more faithful model of tl)C 
 manner of building used by the first civilized nations 
 than that of the Egyptians or the Greeks can do. 
 
 The gate of entrance of their great pagodas is ciit 
 through a huge pyramid, which gradually becomes nar- 
 rower, and almost always finishes at the top in a cres- 
 cent. This pyramid fronts the east, towards which the 
 gate of every temple small or great is turned. 
 
 In pagodas of the first order, beyond the pyramid, 
 there is commonly a large court ; at the end of which 
 another gate appears, cut, like the former, through a 
 second pyramid, massy, but not so lofty as the first. 
 This being passed through, there is another court ; at 
 the end of which the temple for the residence of the idol 
 is built. 
 
 Opposite to the gate of the temple, and in the middle 
 of the second court, there is placed, upon a large pedes- 
 tal, or in a kind of niche, supported by four pillars, and 
 open on all sides, a grotesque figure, representing a cow 
 or bull, lying flat on its belly. Sometimes it represents 
 the Lingam, sometimes the god Vighneswara, Hanu- 
 man, the serpent Capella, or some other of the principal 
 objects of their idolatry. The divinity, situated in this 
 niche, is the first object to which the votaries present 
 tlieir homage. They adore it by making the Sashtan- 
 gam before it ; at the same time, touching the pavement 
 n ith both corners of their forehead. Some, less ardent, 
 instead of the Sashtangam, content themselves with the 
 Namaskaram, by joining their hands together, and rais- 
 ing them to their forehead, thumping their cheeks with 
 the right hand. After this homage to the exterior object 
 of worship, they are allowed to enter into the interior of 
 the temple. 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 153 
 
 The door is generally narrow and low, although it be 
 the only aperture through which air and the light of day 
 can enter, the use of windows being wholly unknown to 
 the Hindus. The building is divided into two, and 
 sometimes into three parts, all on a level. One of these 
 divisions is very large, to accommodate all persons of 
 good cast who chuse to enter. This may be called the 
 Nave ; and the smaller one, which we may call the Sanc- 
 tuary, is separated from the other, communicating only 
 by a door, which can be opened by nobody but him who 
 holds the office of sacrificer and chief functionary of the 
 temple. He only, and a few of his attendants by his 
 leave, can enter into this sacred place to dress the idol, 
 to wash it, to offer it flowers, incense, lighted lamps, 
 fruits, betel, butter, milk, rich apparel, ornaments of 
 gold and silver, and a thousand other articles of which 
 their sacrifice and offering consist. 
 
 The nave of the temple is sometimes arched with 
 brick, but generally with a ceiling constructed of large 
 and massy blocks, supported by pillars of hewn stone 
 rising from the floor, the capitals of which are compo- 
 sed of two other solid stones, which cross each other 
 and support rafters of the same materials, which also 
 extend crosswise through the whole length and breadth 
 of the ceiling. Upon these rafters are placed other hewn 
 stones, flatter and broader, with which the temple is 
 roofed. The chinks are stopped with good cement to 
 keep out the water. 
 
 The scarcity of timber in India may probably ac- 
 count for its being never used in the construction of 
 their temples. Perhaps also the ambition of having solid 
 and durable edifices has determined them to use only 
 
 VoL. II. U 
 
151 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 brick and stone. But, it is certain that wood is no where 
 employed in a Hindu temple but for the doors. 
 
 The sanctuary or receptable of the idols is generally 
 constructed with a dome. The whole building is low, 
 no doubt from the difficulty of finding stones adapted 
 to the length of column necessary for the support of the 
 roof. The proper proportion of height is therefore defi- 
 cient in the Hindu temples ; which, being added to the 
 want of circulation of air, by the narrowness of the 
 doors, often occasions unpleasant consequences to those 
 who frequent them. 
 
 If we combine with these horrors, the infectious efflu- 
 via arising from the smell of decayed flowers, burning 
 lamps, libations of oil and melted butter, added to the 
 nink perspiration of a multitude squeezed together in 
 such a place, we may form some idea of the stench 
 which exhales from the shrines of the deities of India. 
 
 The horrid filth, too, in which these divinities are 
 kept, cannot fail to be disgusting to unpractised eyes. 
 It would be difficult to imagine any thing more hideous 
 than their appearance. They are generally represented 
 in frightful or ridiculous attitudes ; but no distinguish- 
 ing feature can be perceived, on account of the dark hue 
 they contract by being perpetually daubed with oil and 
 melted butter, mixed with other ingredients. They have 
 the same custom of blackening the triumphal cars, which 
 are every where seen transporting the idols through the 
 streets, in their processions ; but this dingy and filthy 
 appearance is admired, as proceeding from the frequent 
 oblations of butter and oil, to which they give the name 
 of Xivetiam or consecration. Without this, objects of 
 worship could not be consecrated ; for no statue or image 
 can be exhibited to public adoration until the Purohita 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 155 
 
 Brahman has invoked into it the Divinity, by virtue of 
 his mantras, and has imbued it with the Nivetiam by 
 drenching it with oil and liquid butter. 
 
 Something analogous to this practice may be observ- 
 ed in the Holy Scripture. Thus Jacob, after his dream, 
 “ rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that 
 “ he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, 
 “ and poured oil upon the top of it*.” And afterwards, 
 in alluding to it, the angel says to him : “ I am the God 
 “ of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where 
 “ thou vowedst a vow unto mef.” Libations of oil 
 were employed in the same manner, by many ancient 
 nations, in the consecration of living and inanimate ob- 
 jects. 
 
 But to return to the Hindu temples. Besides the idols 
 in the interior or sanctuary, other objects of worship are 
 set up in different parts, sculptured on the pillars which 
 support the building ; and on the walls. 
 
 In the outer court, the niches, in which the images of 
 men or animals are set, have the front filled with figures 
 bearing allusion to their fables, or with the most mon- 
 strous obscenities. The principal walls without, which 
 are of strength proportioned to the rest of the building, 
 are likewise covered with them, in some instances, all 
 around. 
 
 Some of these idols, and in particular the principal 
 one which resides in the sanctuary, are clothed with va- 
 luable garments, and adorned with jewels of great price. 
 A golden or silver crown is never w^anting, or rays of 
 glory of the same metal, for their heads. In the great 
 temples these oraments are enriched with precious stones, 
 
 * Gen. xxviii. 18 . 
 
 t Gen. xxxi. 13. 
 
156 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 encreasing their value to many thousand pagoda coins. 
 But all this finery, lavished on such hideous forms, tends 
 only to make them more horrid ; and what still increases 
 their deformity, is the eyes, mouth, nose, and ears of 
 gold and silver, which are frequently stuck upon their 
 sooty heads. 
 
 On the outside of the temple, opposite to the door of 
 entrance and at a small disUince, there is commonly a 
 pillar of granite erected, of an octagonal shape, cut from 
 a single block, sometimes forty or fifty feet in height. 
 It is inserted in a huge pedestal, formed of one or more 
 pieces of free- stone. Its base is square, and has seve- 
 ral figures sculptured on it. The capital of the column 
 terminates in a square, from the corners of which small 
 bells are commonly hung. On the middle of this square, 
 at the summit of the column, there is a sort of grate on 
 which incense is sometimes burned ; but they, more 
 commonly, have lighted lamps. 
 
 High columns of this kind are frequently met with 
 on the- highvA^ays ; and where they stand, in desert places, 
 the devotees in the neighbourhood keep the lamps occa- 
 sionally burning on the tops. 
 
 I am led to believe that these lofty pillars, which are 
 always placed towards the east, are erected in honour of 
 fire, or rather of the sun, the brightest emblem of that 
 element. In the festival of Divuligav, formerly descri- 
 bed, which appears to be instituted in honour of the fire, 
 many lamps are lighted on the tops of the pillars, as long 
 as the festival continues. Sometimes they are wholly in 
 a blaze, by wrapping many pieces of new cloth round 
 the column, and setting them on fire. 
 
 I'here are some celebrated temples, whose income is 
 sufficient to maintain several thousand persons, emplo}'ed 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 157 
 
 in the various functions of idolatrous worship. These 
 are of various casts, tliough the greater number are 
 Brahmans. 
 
 Of these various ministers of the temples, the sacri- 
 ficers occupy the first rank. They may be either Brah- 
 mans, or of any other cast ; for, in some temples, under 
 certain circumstances, even Pariahs assume the office of 
 sacrificers. This I know to be the case in a celebrated 
 temple in the Mysore, called Melcota, at a solemn festi- 
 val celebrated there every year. The Pariahs, on that 
 occasion, are the first to enter into the sanctuary of the 
 temple, with offerings to the idol ; and the Brahmans do 
 not begin till they have ended. 
 
 The oblations or sacrifices offered in most of the Hin- 
 du temples consist of the simple productions of nature, 
 such as boiled rice, flowers, fruits, and the like, but 
 above all of lamps, of which many thousands are some- 
 times seen burning in the temple. They feed them with 
 butter, in preference to oil. 
 
 The Hindu priests regularly offer up sacrifice twice 
 every day, evening and morning. They always begin 
 the ceremony by washing the idol that is the object of 
 it. The water used is brought from the river or tank, 
 with processional pomp and state. In some great pago- 
 das, it is brought on the backs of elephants, escorted by 
 many of the Brahmans and other ministers of the temple, 
 preceded by the musicians and dancers belonging to it. 
 
 In smaller temples, the Brahmans themselves bring it 
 morning and evening, on their heads, in copper pitchers, 
 attended by the music, the dancing girls, and other as- 
 sistants. I'he water, so set apart for washing the idols, 
 is called Tirtham, or holy water. 
 
158 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 When the sacrificer has washed the images, he offers 
 up the sacrifice ; the material of which is generally- 
 brought by the votaries. 
 
 Two things are indispensably necessary to the sacri- 
 ficer in performing the ceremony : several lighted lamps, 
 and a bell, which he holds in his left hand during the 
 whole time, W'hile, with his right hand, he offers his ob- 
 lation to the gods, and adorns them with flowers ; im- 
 printing on their foreheads, and various parts of their 
 bodies, some of the marks which the Hindus are accus- 
 tomed to apply to themselves, with sandal wood and cow- 
 dung ashes. The followers of Vishnu, in this case, im- 
 press on their idols the figure of the jVama. All the 
 sacrifices are accompanied with mantras suited to the 
 circumstances, and with innumerable bows and gesticu- 
 lations, the most of which would appear exceedingly ri- 
 diculous to a European. 
 
 During the actual performance of the sacrifice, the 
 priest is quite alone in the sanctuary, the door of which 
 he closes. The unholy multitude remain in the nave, 
 silently waiting till he has done. What he does they 
 cannot know, only hearing the sound of his bell. The 
 whole ceremony is performed with the utmost rapidity, 
 and with no signs of reverence or awe. 
 
 When it is over, he comes out, and distributes part 
 of the articles which had been offered to the idols. This 
 is received as something holy, and is eaten immediately, 
 if it be fruit, rice, or any article of food. If flowers, they 
 stick them in their turbans ; and the girls entwine them 
 in their hair. Last of all, the priest takes some of the 
 Tirtham, or holy water, in the hollow of his hand, which 
 is drank bv those who can reach it ; after which the as- 
 sembly breaks up. 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 159 
 
 Next to the Sacrificers, the most important persons 
 obout the temples are the dancing girls, who call them- 
 selves Deva-dasi^ servants or slaves of the gods ; but 
 they are known to the public by the coarser name of 
 strumpets. Their profession, indeed, requires of them 
 to be open to the embraces of persons of all casts ; and, 
 although originally they appear to have been intended 
 for the gratification of the Brahmans only, they are now 
 obliged to extend their favours to all who solicit them. 
 
 Such are the loose females who are consecrated in a 
 special manner to the worship of the gods of India. 
 Every temple, according to its size, entertains a band of 
 them, to the number of eight, twelve, or more. The 
 service they perform consists of dancing and singing. 
 The first they execute with grace, though with lascivi- 
 ous attitudes and motions. Their chanting is generally 
 confined to the obscene songs which relate to some cir- 
 cumstance or other of the licentious lives of their gods. 
 
 They perform their religious duties at the temple to 
 which they belong, twice a-day, morning and evening. 
 They are also obliged to assist at ail the public ceremo- 
 nies, which they enliven with their dance and merry 
 song. As soon as their public business is over, they 
 open their cells of infamy, « and frequently convert the 
 temple itself into a stew. 
 
 They are bred to this profligate life from their infancy. 
 They are taken from any cast, and are frequently of re- 
 spectable birth. It is nothing uncommon to hear of 
 pregnant women, in the belief that it will tend to their 
 happy delivery, making a vow, with the consent of their 
 husbands, to devote the child then in the womb, if it 
 should turn out a girl, to the service of the Pagoda. 
 And, in doing so, they imagine they are performing a 
 
160 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 meritorious duty. The infamous life to which the daugh- 
 ter is destined brings no disgrace on the family. 
 
 These prostitutes are the only females in India who 
 may learn to read, to sing, and to dance. Such accom- 
 plishments belong to them exclusively, and are, for that 
 reason, held by the rest of the sex in such abhorrence, 
 that every virtuous woman would consider the mention 
 of them as an affront. 
 
 These performers are supported out of the revenues 
 of the temple, of which they receive a considerable share. 
 But their dissolute profession is still more productive. 
 In order to stimulate more briskly the passion which 
 their lewd employment is intended to gratify, they have 
 recourse to the same ai'tifices as are used by persons of 
 their sex and calling in other countries. Perfumes, ele- 
 gant and attractive attire, particularly of the head, sweet- 
 scented flowers intertwined with exquisite art about their 
 beautiful hair, multitudes of ornamental trinkets adapt- 
 ed with infinite taste to the different parts of the body, a 
 graceful carriage and measured step, indicating luxurious 
 delight ; such are the allurements and the charms which 
 these enchanting syrens display to accomplish their se- 
 ductive designs. 
 
 From infancy they are instructed in the various modes 
 of kindling the fire of voluptuousness in the coldest 
 hearts ; and they well know how to vary their arts, and 
 adapt them to the particular disposition of those whom 
 they wish to seduce. 
 
 At the same time, notwithstanding their alluring de- 
 meanor, they cannot be accused of those gross inde- 
 cencies which are often publicly exhibited by women of 
 their stamp in Europe ; particularly the exposure of the 
 person, and the lascivious airs which one would think 
 
TEMPLBS. 
 
 161 
 
 capable of inspiring the most determined libertine with 
 disgust ; on the eontrary, of all the women in India, the 
 common girls, and particularly the dancers at the tem- 
 ples, are the most decently clothed. They are so nice 
 in covering every part of the body, as to have the ap- 
 pearance of being aft'ectedly precise, or as if they intend- 
 ed, by the contrast with, the more open attire of other 
 dames, to excite more strongly the passion which they 
 wished to inspire, by carefully veiling a part of the 
 charms which it covets. 
 
 Neither can they be reproached with that impudent 
 assurance exhibited in public by the Messalinas of Eu- 
 rope. Shameless as the dancing girls of India appear 
 to be, they will not venture, upon any occasion, to stop 
 a man in the streets, or to take any indecent liberty in 
 public. And, on the other hand, a man who would take 
 such liberties, even with a prostitute, so far from being 
 applauded, or joked with, by the spectators, as happens 
 in some other countries, would be obliged to hide his 
 head for shame, and would be treated with marks of in- 
 dignation. 
 
 Relaxed as the manners of the Hindus are, they know 
 how to observe, in public, that decorum which every 
 class of people owes to another, in the intercourse of 
 life ; and which are never violated, with impunity, but 
 in nations arrived at the last degree of corruption. 
 
 After the Dancing Women, the next order of per- 
 sons employed in the service of the temples is that of 
 the Players on Musical Instruments. Every Pagoda, 
 of any note, has a band of Musicians ; who, as well as 
 the dancers, are obliged to attend at the temple twice 
 every day, to make it ring witli their discordant sounds 
 
 VoL. II. X 
 
162 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 and inharmonious airs. They are also obliged to iTSsisc 
 at all public ceremonies and festivals, to enliv^en them 
 with their music ; and they, likewise, are paid from the 
 revenue of the temple. 
 
 Their band generally consists of wind instruments, 
 resembling clarionets and hautboys ; to which they add 
 cymbals and several kinds of drums. They produce, 
 out of these instruments, a confusion of sharp and pierc- 
 ing sounds, little suited to please a European ear. They 
 are acquainted, however, with music in two parts. In- 
 termixed w'ith the instruments, they have always a bass 
 and a high counter; the first of w^hich is produced by 
 blowing into a kind of tube, widened below, and 
 yielding an uninterrupted and uniform stream of sound 
 resembling the braying of a wade horn. 
 
 Part of the musicians execute the vocal part, and 
 sing hymns in honour of the gods. The Brahmans, 
 and other devotees, sometimes join in the chorus, and 
 sometimes sing, separately, airs or other sacred pieces 
 of their own composition. 
 
 The Dancing Women, the Singers, and the Instru- 
 mental Performers relieve one another, by taking up 
 their several parts, in rotation, to the close of the cere- 
 mony ; which is often terminated by a procession around 
 the temple ; whilst, night and morning, the jovial girls 
 fail not to perform the Arati over the idols of the tem- 
 ple, for the purpose of averting the fatal influence of the 
 looks and glances of envious or evil-minded persons ; 
 the gods themselves not being exempt from tliat species 
 of incantation. 
 
 In the band of musicians belonging to each temple, 
 the most conspicuous performer of all is the Nahtuva 
 or iSahtuva^ who beats time. He does it by tapping wi,th 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 1€3 
 
 his fingers On each side of a sort of drum tightly braced. 
 As he beats, his head, shoulders, arms, and every mus- 
 cle of his frame, are in motion. He rouses the musi- 
 cians with his voice, and animates them with his ges- 
 tures ; and, at times, he appears agitated with violent 
 convulsions. 
 
 To a European ear, as we have already remarked, 
 the vocal and instrumental music of the Hindus would 
 appear equally contemptible. Yet they have a Gamut 
 like ours, composed of seven notes ; and they are taught 
 music methodically. They a^e likewise expert in keep- 
 ing time, and they have also our variety of keys. 
 
 In their Vocal Music, a monotonous dulness prevails; 
 and, in the Instrumental, they produce nothing but harsh, 
 shaq), and piercing sounds, which would shock the least 
 delicate ear. 
 
 But, although the Hindu music, when compared with 
 the European, does not deserve the name, I conceive 
 that we have degraded it beneath its humble deserts. 
 European ears and musicians are by no means impartial 
 judges. To appreciate their music rightly, we ought to 
 go back two or three thousand years, and place ourselves 
 in those remote ages when the Druids and other leaders 
 of the popular belief in the greater part of Europe, used, 
 in their rites, nothing but dismal and horrid shrieks, and 
 had no instrumental music but what was produced by 
 clashing one plate of metal against another, by beat- 
 ing on a stretched skin, or raising a dull and dron- 
 ing sound from a horn or a rude instrument of twisted 
 bark. 
 
 Wc ought to recollect that the Hindus have never 
 had the thought of bringing any thing to perfection ; and 
 that, in science, arts, and manufactures, they have re- 
 
164 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 niained stationary at the point where they were two or 
 three thousand years ago. Their musicians, in those 
 remote ages, were as skilful as those of the present time. 
 But if we compare the Hindu music, as we now hear 
 it, with that of Europe, as it was two or three thousand 
 years ago, 1 have no doubt tliat the former would take- 
 high precedence over all others in a similar stage of so- 
 ciety. 
 
 The Gamut has been known to the Hindus from the 
 earliest times ; and it is probable that it has been bor- 
 rowed from them by the other nations who now use it. 
 It is but in modern times that it has been introduced in- 
 to Europe by the Benedictine Monk Guido Aretino, 
 who adapted it to the seven signs, ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, 
 sa, which are the first syllables of some words contained 
 in the first strophe of the Latin liymn composed in ho- 
 nour of St. John the Baptist, which runs thus : 
 
 1 i 
 
 “ Ut queant laxis resonare fibris 
 
 3 4 
 
 “ Mira gestorum famuli tuorum, 
 
 5 6 
 
 “ Solve polluii labii reatum, 
 
 7 
 
 “ Sancte Joannes 1” 
 
 The gamut of the Hindus is exactly the same as ours, 
 being composed of the same number of notes, and ar- 
 ranged in the same way. It is expressed by the signs 
 or syllables following : 
 
 Sa, 
 
 Ri, 
 
 Ga, 
 
 Ma, 
 
 Pa, 
 
 Da, 
 
 .V/, 
 
 Sa ; 
 
 Ut, 
 
 re. 
 
 mi, 
 
 fa. 
 
 sol, 
 
 la. 
 
 si, 
 
 ut. 
 
 and also Sa, 
 
 M, 
 
 Da, 
 
 Pa, 
 
 Ma, 
 
 Ga, 
 
 Ri, 
 
 Sa ; 
 
 ut, 
 
 si, 
 
 la, 
 
 sol, 
 
 fa, 
 
 mi. 
 
 re. 
 
 ut: 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 165 
 
 The musicians of India have no more than three and thirty 
 tunes ; each of which has its particular name. Yet, though 
 their whole musical knowledge is limited to these thirty- 
 three airs, there are few that know them all ; and the 
 greater number are not capable of playing one half of 
 them. 
 
 All the musicians belonging to the temples are taken 
 from the east of Barbers, one of the lowest among the 
 Sudras. The department of wind-instaiments belongs, 
 almost exclusively, to this cast, or to others of a rank 
 equally lo^v : and, so degraded has the employment be- 
 come in the eyes of the Hindu people, that no individual 
 of a respectable cast would condescend to put a wind- 
 instrument to his mouth. But the Brahmans themselves 
 disdain not to practice upon stringed instruments : a pre- 
 ference which will be afterwards accounted for. 
 
 The expense of the idolatrous worship of the Hindus 
 being very considerable, the several Pagodas have, ne- 
 cessarily, resources for defraying it. In several districts 
 they draw a sort of tithe out of the produce of the harvest. 
 In other parts, they have the absolute property of ex- 
 tensive lands, exempted from all taxation ; the produce 
 of which is exclusively assigned to those who perform 
 the rites of the temple. Besides, the humblest Pagoda 
 is not without great numbers of votaries and devotees ; 
 who bring in considerable offerings, in money, trinkets, 
 cattle, provisions, and other articles ; all which are divi- 
 ded amongst the functionaries of the temple, according 
 to their dignity and rank. 
 
 Sometimes the revenues of a temple, arising from such 
 offerings, have been large enough to tempt the cupidity 
 of some of the Princes, particularly of the Moorish race. 
 These considerate rulers have sometimes found it con- 
 
■166 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 venient to lay hold of more than one half of the income 
 proceeding from the offerings made to the temple by the 
 devotees ; which they represented to be but a fair in- 
 demnification for their trouble in protecting the religion 
 of the country. 
 
 In the several Pagodas, the Brahmans, who are the 
 principal ministers, omit no sort of imposture to keep 
 up the popular credulity, and to allure votaries to the 
 worship of that deity by which they live. For this pur- 
 pose, they resort to various rheans ; amongst which may 
 be enumerated the Oracles, which they ascribe to their 
 deities, and the Miracles which they perform. The or- 
 acles are managed by some expert Brahmans, who un- 
 derstand this sort of roguery, and contrive to introduce 
 some person within the images, which are generally hol- 
 low, or conceal themselves hard by so as not to be ob- 
 served, and, from tliat concealment, harangue the mul- 
 titude ; all of whom firmly believe that it is the image 
 itself that speaks, and therefore listen to the oracular ad- 
 monition with awful silence. The impostors who carr\' 
 on this deception, sometimes take upon themselves to 
 predict future events, but in so obscure and ambiguous 
 a M^ay, that, however the issue may turn out, they may 
 always have it in their power to make it accord with 
 their predictions. 
 
 But the most successful artifice is generally in causing 
 complaints to be made to the idol, that the number of 
 his votaries and the value of their offerings are decreas- 
 ing. They represent him as saying, in reply, that if the 
 zeal of the people does not wax warmer, and the offer- 
 ings increase, instead of falling off, he will quit the 
 temple, abandon a people so ungrateful for his protec- 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 161 
 
 tion, and retire into some other country where he will 
 be better received. 
 
 At other times the priests put the idols in irons, chain- 
 ing their hands and feet. They exhibit them to the 
 people in this humiliating state, into which they tell them 
 they have been brought by rigorous creditors, from 
 whom their gods had been obliged, in times of trouble, 
 to borrow money to supply their wants. They declare 
 that the inexorable creditors refuse to set the god at li- 
 berty until the whole sum, with interest, shall have been 
 paid. The people come forward, alarmed at the sight 
 of their divinity in irons ; and, thinking it the most me- 
 ritorious of all good works to contribute to his deliver- 
 -ance, they raise the sum required by the Brahmans for 
 that purpose ; and this being settled, the chains are soon 
 dissolved and the idol restored to liberty. 
 
 In some famous temples, such as that of Tirupatiy 
 they make use of silver chains, instead of iron, when it 
 is necessary to put the idol under restraint. 
 
 Another sort of imposture is often practised by the 
 Brahmans in many parts ; which consists in announcing 
 to the people, and making them believe, that the idol is 
 afflicted with a dreadful malady, brought on by the vex- 
 ation of perceiving the devotion of the people and their 
 former confidence abating from day to day. In such 
 cases, the idol is sometimes taken down from the pedes- 
 tal, and placed at the door of the pagoda, where they 
 rub his forehead and temples with various drugs. They 
 set before him all sorts of potions and medicines, shew- 
 ing the most earnest endeavours to cure him by these 
 ordinary means : but all the resources of art proving 
 useless, while the disorder continues to increase, the 
 Brahmans send out their emissaries to all parts to spread 
 
16S 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 the afflicting news. An ignorant and stupid people im- 
 plicitly believes in the ridiculous imposture, and hastens 
 with gifts and offerings. The deity, beholding such 
 proofs of reviving piety and confidence, feels himself in- 
 stantly relieved from his melancholy, and resumes his 
 station. 
 
 The Brahmans who direct the public worship, fre- 
 quently resort to another species of trick, equally gross 
 as the former, for the purpose of inspiring a salutary fear 
 of the idol, and of attracting ample donations to his 
 temple. This is effected by representing their god as 
 enraged against certain individuals who have offended 
 him, into whose bodies he has sent a Pisaclia or demon, 
 to avenge his insulted honour upon them by every spe- 
 cies of torment. 
 
 Persons accordingly appear, wandering about in all 
 parts of the country, exhibiting, by dreadful convulsions 
 and contortions, every symptom of being possessed by 
 the e\ il spirit. Well instructed in their art, they tell a 
 marvellous story, wherever they go, of some god or 
 other, to whom they are obnoxious, having sent a fiend 
 to dwell within them and to torment them. To prove 
 that it is really a wicked demon that haunts them, they 
 babble in various languages, of which they have had a 
 previous smattering, but which now appears to be the 
 immediate inspiration of the demon who resides within 
 them. They publicly devour all sorts of meat, drink 
 inebriating liquors, and openly violate the most sacred 
 rules of their cast. All these transgressions are laid to 
 the charge of the devil that possesses them ; and no 
 blame attaches to the unwilling instrument. The peo- 
 ple, before whom these impostures are exhibited, unsus- 
 picious of the fraud, are filled with dismay ; and pros- 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 169 
 
 trate themselves before the evil spirit, with sacrifice 
 and oblations, to render him innoxious. Whatever he 
 asks they bring. They give him to eat and to drink 
 abundantly ; and, when he leaves them, they accompany 
 him with pomp and with the sound of instruments, till 
 he arrives at some other place, where he plays the same 
 game, and finds as silly dupes. In the lucid moments, 
 which he can easily command, he exhorts the crowds 
 of spectators to profit by the awful example before them, 
 to ha\e more regular confidence in that god by whom 
 he himself has been so grievously punished, to conciliate 
 his friendship by offerings and gifts, that they may not 
 be subject to the same severe punishments which have 
 befallen him for his defects in piety and faith. 
 
 Another contrivance of the Brahmans, employed with 
 no less success, consists in the public testimony they 
 give to a vast number of pretended miracles wrought by 
 the god of their temple, in favour of numerous votaries, 
 who have shewn their faith in him, and brought him 
 abundant offerings. These miracles comprehend the 
 cure of all sorts of disease ; of the blind who have re- 
 gained their sight ; the lame who have recovered their 
 limbs ; and the dead who have been raised. 
 
 But the miracle which takes precedence of all others, 
 and is always listened to with the highest delight and 
 admiration, is the fecundity conferred on numbers of 
 women, who remained in a barren state, till their prayers 
 and their offerings obtained from their divinity the gift 
 of children. We have seen that sterility in India is 
 accounted a curse, and that a childless woman is always 
 despised. 
 
 In fact, there is no country on earth where population 
 is so much encouraged as amongst the Hindus. Their 
 
 VoL. IL Y 
 
170 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 domestic institutions are in this respect pre-eminent over 
 those of other nations, who are vaunted as at the very 
 summit of civilization, although they have, in reality, 
 sunk to the lowest degree of vice, by the love of luxury, 
 the thirst after distinction and wealth, or other propensi- 
 ties not less despicable .in the eyes of the philosopher; 
 which have driven a vast number of their most distin- 
 guished members to the horrid necessity of resisting 
 nature in the most general, most invariable, and also the 
 sweetest of her inspirations ; by opposing meditated 
 obstaeles to her principle of propagation, and sometimes 
 even by means which cannot be alluded to without dis- 
 gust. 
 
 The Hindus, on the other hand, consider a man to be 
 rich only in proportion to the number of his children. 
 However numerous a man’s family may be, he ceases 
 not to offer prayers for its increase. A fruitful wife is 
 the highest blessing, in the eyes of a Hindu ; and no 
 misery can be compared with that of a barren bed. 
 
 The children become useful at an early age. At five 
 or six years old they tend the smaller animals. Those 
 that are stouter, or a little more advanced, take care of 
 the cows and oxen ; whilst the adult assist their fathers 
 in agricultural labour, or in any other way in which they 
 can afford Comfort to the authors of their being. 
 
 Superstition has a powerful influenee in keeping up 
 this vehement desire of having children, which prevails 
 among the Hindus ; for, according to their maxims, the 
 greatest misery that can betide any man is to be destitute 
 of a son, or a grandson, to take charge of his obsequies. 
 In such a state he cannot look for a happy world here- 
 after. 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 471 
 
 in pursuance of this system, we see their barren women 
 continually running from temple to temple, ruining 
 themselves frequently by the extravagance of their dona- 
 tions to obtain from the ruling divinities the object of 
 their ardent desires. The Brahmans have turned the 
 popular credulity on this point to good account ; and 
 there is no considerable temple, whose residing deity does 
 not, amongst many other miracles, excel in that of cur- 
 ing barrenness in women. 
 
 There are some temples, however, of greater celebrity 
 than others in this way, to which women in that state 
 resort in preference. Such is that famous one of Tiru- 
 pati in the Carnatic. Sterile women frequent it, in 
 crow'ds, to obtain children from the God Vencata Ra- 
 mana who presides there. On their arrival, they apply, 
 first of all, to the Brahmans, to whom they disclose the 
 nature of their pilgrimage and the object of their vows. 
 The Brahmans prescribe to the credulous women to 
 pass the night in the temple, in expectation that, by their 
 faith and piety, the resident god may visit them and 
 render them prolific. In the silence and darkness of 
 the night, the Brahmans, as the vicegerents of the god, 
 visit the women, and in proper time disappear. In the 
 morning, after due inquiries, they congratulate them on 
 the benignant reception they have met with from the 
 god ; and, upon receiving the gifts which they have 
 brought, take leave of them, wdth many assurances that 
 the object of their vow^s will speedily be accomplished. 
 
 The women, having no suspicion of the roguerj' of the 
 Brahmans, go home in the full persuasion that they have 
 had intercourse w ith the divinity of the temple, and that 
 the god who has deigned to visit them must have re- 
 moved all impediments to their breeding. 
 
172 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 There are many other excesses, still more extrava- 
 gant, to which the credulity and superstitious bias of 
 the Hindus have led theni, in this particular. Among 
 many examples of this kind which I could mention, I 
 shall take notice of one only ; which some of my readers 
 will find as much difficulty in believing as I do in re- 
 lating it : so repugnant it is to all decency and modesty ; 
 though I know it to be true. • 
 
 At about ten leagues to the southward of Seringapa- 
 tarn, there is a village called Nanjanagud, where there is 
 a temple, famous over all the Mysore. Amongst the 
 numbers of votaries, of every cast, who resort to it, a 
 great proportion consists of barren women, who bring 
 offerings to the god of the place, and pray for the gift of 
 fruitfulness in return. But the object is not to be ac- 
 complished by the offerings and prayers alone, the dis- 
 gusting part of the ceremony being still to follow. On 
 retiring from the temple, the woman and her husband 
 repair to the common sewer, to which all the pilgrims 
 resort in obedience to the calls of nature. There, the 
 husband and wife collect, with their hands, a quanti- 
 ty of the ordure ; which they set apart, with a mark 
 upon it, that it may not be touched by any one else; and 
 with their fingers in this condition, they take of the wa- 
 ter of the sewer in the hollow of their hands, and drink 
 it. Then they perform ablution, and retire. 
 
 In two or three days, they return to the place of filth, 
 to visit the mass of ordure wffiich they left. They turn 
 it over with their hands, break it, and examine it in every 
 possible way ; and, if they find that any insects or ver- 
 min are engendered in it, they consider it a favouraisle 
 prognostic for the woman. But, if no symptoms of ani- 
 mation are observed in the mass, they depart, disappoint.- 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 173 
 
 cd and sorrowful, being convinced that the cause of bar- 
 renness has not been removed. 
 
 But these abominable practices, detestable as they ap- 
 pear, are not the worst that the inordinate desire of hav- 
 ing posterity gives rise to in India. There are some, so 
 enormously wicked, that every thing recorded in history 
 of the debauchery and obscenities that were practised 
 among the Greeks in the temple of Venus, by the cour- 
 tesans consecrated to that goddess, sinks to nothing in 
 the comparison. 
 
 There are temples, in some solitary places, where the 
 divinity requires to be honoured with the most unbound- 
 ed licentiousness. He promises children to the barren 
 women who will lay aside the most inviolable rules of 
 decency and shame, and, in honour of him, submit to 
 indiscriminate embraces. 
 
 An annual festival is held, in the month of January, 
 at those infamous sinks of debauchery ; where, I need 
 not say, great numbers of the libertines of both sexes 
 assemble, from all quarters. Besides barren wives, who 
 come in quest of issue, by exposing their persons, some 
 of them having bound themselves by a vow to grant 
 their favours to numbers, many other dissolute women 
 alsp attend, to do honour to the infamous deity, by pros- 
 tituting themselves, openly and without shame, before 
 the gates of his temple. 
 
 There is an abominable rendezvous of debauchery of 
 this sort at the distance of four or five leagues ffiom the 
 place where I am now' writing these pages It is on the 
 banks of the Cavery, in a desert place c.A\\&dLJunjinagati. 
 There is a mean-looking Pagoda there, in which one of 
 these detestable idols resides who require to be honour- 
 ed by the grossest abominations. The January festival is 
 
174 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 regularly celebrated there by great crowds of both sexes, 
 with all their ceremonies and vows. 
 
 In the district of Coimbetur, near a village called Kari- 
 madai^ I have seen a temple of this description ; and it 
 was pointed out to me that such places of debauchery 
 were always situated in desert places, far removed from 
 all habitations. 
 
 We learn from ancient history, that a practice some- 
 what similar prevailed among the Assyrians and Baby- 
 lonians ; with whom, according to Herodotus and Stra- 
 bo, every woman was obliged to make an offering of her 
 person, once in her life, in the temple of Mylitta ; the 
 same as the Venus of the Greeks. But the practice seems 
 so horrid, and so revolting to the feelings of our nature, 
 that some modem authors deny that it ever existed. Vol- 
 taire, with others, rejects it as incredible and absurd. What 
 would lie have said, then, had he lieen told of the festival 
 celebrated every year at Junjinagati and other places in 
 India? Does the spirit of superstition admit of any' 
 bounds? Or rather is there an excess of any kind to 
 which it is not prone ? The actual conduct of the Hin- 
 dus, with regard to religious ceremonies, is a living ex- 
 ample of the monstrous aberrations to which human rea- 
 son is subject, when left to its own information, or wiien 
 urged by the passions ; and affords a direct confirmation 
 of the truth of all that ancient history has reported, in its 
 most daring and incredible flights, respecting the super- 
 stitious practices of the idolatrous nations of antiquity. 
 
 I shall, next, take notice of another sort of Vows, very 
 common amongst the Hindus ; which are absolved by' 
 suffering mutilation in various ways, or by enduring bo- 
 dily torments. They are generally undertaken on oc- 
 casions of disease, or any other danger, from which they 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 175 
 
 suppose tliey can be delivered by their efficacy. One 
 of the most common consists in stamping, upon the 
 shoulders, chest, and other parts of the body, with a red- 
 hot iron, certain marks, to represent the armour of their 
 gods ; the impressions of which are never effaced, but 
 are accounted sacred, and are ostentatiously displayed as 
 marks of distinction. 
 
 A practice very common among the devotees con- 
 sists in laying themselves at their whole length on the 
 ground, and rolling in that posture all round the tem- 
 ples, or before the ears on which the idols are placed in 
 solemn processions. On such occasions, it is curious 
 to sec the number of enthusiasts who roll in that man- 
 ner before the car, over the roads and streets, during the 
 whole of the procession, regardless of the stones, thorns, 
 and other impediments w'hich they encounter in their 
 progress, and by which they are mangled all over. It is 
 in this class of enthusiasts that some individuals are 
 found so completely inspired by the demon of a barbarous 
 fanaticism, or seduced by the first incitements of a deli- 
 rious glow, that they roll themselves under the car on 
 which the idols are drawn, and are voluntarily crushed 
 under the wdieels. The surrounding crowd of enthusi- 
 asts, so far from trying to prevent this act of devotion, 
 loudly applaud the zeiil of the victims, and exalt them 
 amongst the Gods. 
 
 One of the sev'erest tests to which the devotees of In- 
 dia are accustomed to expose themselves, is that tvhich 
 they call in many places Chidi Mari. The name arises 
 from this species of self- infliction being generally prac- 
 tised in honour of the goddess Mari-amma (or Marima) 
 one of the most wicked and sanguinary of all that are 
 adored m India. At many temples, consecrated to this 
 
176 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 cruel divinity, a sort of gibbet is erected, with a pulley 
 at the arm, through which a line passes with a sharp 
 hook at the end. Those who have vowed to undergo 
 the rough trial of Chidi Mari, place themselves under 
 the gibbet, from which the rope and iron hook are let 
 dotvn. Then, after benumbing the flesh of the middle 
 of the back of the votary by rubbing it very roughly, 
 they fix the hook into it ; and, giving play to the 
 other end of the string, they hoist up to the top of the 
 gibbet, the wretch, thus suspended by tlie muscles of the 
 back. After swinging in the air for two or three min- 
 utes, he is let down again ; and the hook being unfixed, 
 he is dressed with proper medicines for his wound, and 
 is dismissed in triumph. 
 
 Another well known proof of devotion, to which many 
 oblige themselves, by vow, in cases of illness or other 
 troubles, consists in walking or rather running over burn- 
 ing coals. When this is to be performed, they begin 
 by kindling a blazing fire, and when the flames expire 
 and all the fuel is reduced to cinders, the votaries com- 
 mence their race, from the midst of a puddle of earth and 
 water, which has been previously prepared for the pur- 
 pose ; running quickly, over the glowing embers, till they 
 reach another puddle of the same kind on the other side 
 of the fire. But notwithstanding this precaution, those 
 who have a tender skin cannot fail to be grievously burnt. 
 
 Others, who are unfit for the race, in place of going 
 through the fire, take a cloth well moistened with water 
 which they put over their head and shoulders, and lift 
 up a chafing-dish filled with live embers, which they 
 discharge over their heads. This is called the Fire Bath. 
 
 Another species of torture submitted to, in the fulfil- 
 ment of vows, is to pierce the cheeks, through and 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 177 
 
 through, with a wire of silver, or other metal, fixed in 
 such a manner that the mouth cannot be opened without 
 extreme pain. This operation is called locking the 
 mouth, and is often protracted through the whole day. 
 While under this discipline, the votary repairs to the 
 temple which he has come to visit, and pays homage to 
 the god ; or w alks about, with ostentation, amongst the 
 admiring throng. There are several temples frequented 
 by this species of votaries, in preference to the Pagoda 
 of Nanjanagud, before mentioned ; and numbers of de- 
 votees, of both sexes, are there seen, with their jaws thus 
 perforated through the teeth, and their mouths com- 
 pletely locked. 
 
 I once met a fanatic of this sort, in the streets, who 
 had both lips pierced through and through with two long 
 nails, which crossed each other, so that the point of the 
 one reached to the right eye, and that of the other to the 
 left. He had just undergone this cruel operation at the 
 gate of a temple, consecrated to the goddess Mari-amma ; 
 and, when I saw^ him, the blood was still trickling from 
 the wounds. He walked in that state for a long time, 
 in the streets, surrounded by a crowd of admirers, many 
 of whom brought him alms, in money or goods, which 
 were received by the persons who attended him. 
 
 There are a great many other sorts of tortures and 
 bodily pains thus volunLwily inflicted by the Hindus, 
 with the view of rendering their gods propitious. Each 
 devotee chuses the sort which is suggested by an ima- 
 gination heated with barbarous fanaticism ; and, still 
 more frequently, by the desire of acquiring a name, and 
 becoming conspicuous amongst the people. 
 
 Some make a vow to cut out their tongues, and ac- 
 quit themselves of their vow by coolly executing it with 
 VoL. II. Z 
 
178 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 their OM n hands. The custom is, when they have se- 
 parated the half, or any other portion of that organ, at 
 the door of the temple, to put it on a cocoa shell, and 
 offer it, on their knees, at the shrine of the deity. 
 
 This disposition of the Hindus to bind themselves by 
 vows to painful or costly u orks, in honour of their gods, 
 is visible in all unpleasant circumstances that befal them ; 
 but particularly in disease. There is hardly a Hindu 
 who, in that case, does not take a vow to perform some- 
 thing or other when he recovers. The rich make vows 
 to celebrate festivals at certain temples. Those less 
 opulent offer, at the Pagoda, a cow, a buffalo, pieces of 
 cloth, or trinkets of gold and silver. Those who are 
 affected with any disorder of the eyes, mouth, ears, or 
 any other outward organ, vow to their idols a correspon- 
 ding resemblance of it in silver or gold. 
 
 Amongst the innumerable sorts of vows practised by 
 either sex, the following, which is very common in all 
 parts of the peninsula, appears to me so curious as to de- 
 serve notice. It consists in the offering of their hair and 
 their nails to the idol. 
 
 It is well known that the men in India have the cus- 
 tom of frequently shaving the head, and allowing only a 
 single tuft to grow on the crown. Those who have 
 taxen the vow suffer their hair and nails to grow for a 
 long space of time ; and, when the day of fulfilment ar- 
 rives, they go to the Pagoda, have their head shaved and 
 their nails pared, which they offer up to the divinity 
 whom they worship. This practice is nearly peculiar 
 to men, and is held to be one of the most acceptable 
 of all others to the gods. 
 
 Before concluding our remarks on the vows of the 
 Hindus, it may be proper to observe, that all such as 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 179 
 
 relate to painful operations of the nature above describ- 
 ed, M ith many others that are attended with bodily suf- 
 lering, are always declined by the Brahmans, who leave 
 the merit of them to the Sudras ; and those of the latter 
 elass who practise them are for the most part fanatical 
 sectaries of Vishnu or Siva, particularly of Vishnu, 
 who aspire by that method to the public admiration, ra- 
 ther than to do honour to the gods, by such barbarous 
 and ridiculous n orks. 
 
 Besides the practices already mentioned, which are 
 carried on in almost every temple of any note, there are 
 many others, not less revolting, which are confined to 
 some particular pagodas of great renown, where the con- 
 course of pilgrims, and other devotees, is not to be num- 
 bered. 
 
 The most celebrated of the Hindu temples, in the 
 south of the peninsula, is that of Tirupati in the north 
 of the Carnatic. It is dedicated to the god Vencata Ra- 
 mana. Crowds of pilgrims resort to it, from all parts 
 of India, chiefly from amongst the followers of Vishnu. 
 Those who are indifferent about casts also attend in great 
 numbers ; but the disciples of Siva never appear. The 
 infinite number of enthusiasts, who are continually jour- 
 neying to this holy station, pour into it such abundance 
 of offerings, of all sorts, in goods, grain, gold, silver, 
 jewels, precious stuff’s, horses, cows, and other cattle, 
 and in all other articles of value ; that its revenue serves 
 to maintain several thousands of persons, who are em- 
 ployed in the various functions of the idolatrous worship, 
 which is there conducted with extraordinary pomp. 
 
 Amongst the great number of ceremonies practised 
 at this celebrated place, that of the Ravishment of Wo- 
 men is too remarkable to be passed over. It generally 
 
180 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 takes place at the time of the grand procession of the 
 image of the god drawn through the streets, in a trium- 
 phal car, when curiosity to see the august spectacle at- 
 tracts an inconceivable throng. 
 
 While the procession is going forward, the Brahmans 
 who preside over the ceremony disperse themselves 
 among the erowd, selecting the most beautiful women 
 they can find, and begging them of their friends, for the 
 use of the god Venagata Ramana, for whose service the 
 choice is declared to be made. Some persons, more 
 intelligent, or at least less stupid than the rest, and who 
 are so well acquainted with the knavery of the Brahmans 
 as to know that it is not for a god of marble that their 
 wives are solicited ; resist them, with violent reproaches, 
 and publicly expose their impostures. Their own wives 
 they will not deliver up ; but they look on, while other 
 more credulous husbands give up theirs ; not only v/ith- 
 out repugnance, but glorying in the honour, that a per- 
 son of their family should have been ehosen by their 
 deity for a wife. 
 
 When a woman, thus obtained, and kept in the tem- 
 ples, by the Brahmans, in the name of the god, is de- 
 clared too old for his purposes, or when he has taken 
 any dislike to her, they make a mark on her breast, 
 representing the arms of the Venagata Ramana, and give 
 her a patent, which certifies that she has served a certain 
 number of years as one of the waves of the god of Tri- 
 pathi, who is now tired of her, and therefore recommend- 
 ing her to the charity of the public. Thus they are all 
 dismissed in their turn ; and under the appellation of 
 Kali-yugam Lakshmi, or the Lakshmi* of the Kali- 
 
 * Lakshmi was the wife of Vishnu. 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 181 
 
 jiigam, they go about respected ; and, wherever they 
 appear, they are suffered to want for nothing. 
 
 This constupration of women, on the pretence of de- 
 voting them to the idols which are venerated by the 
 HiPidus, is not wholly confined to the temple of Tripathi, 
 but extends to other famous pagodas, such as that of 
 the Jagannath and some others. 
 
 The temple of Jagannath is scarcely less famous than 
 that of Tripathi. The religious ceremonies are con- 
 ducted there with the greatest magnificence. It is situ- 
 ated on the north of the coast of Orissa. Its principal 
 divinity is represented under a monstrous shape, without 
 arms or legs. 
 
 One thing peculiar to this pagoda is, tliat it appears 
 to be the Temple of Peace, and the centre of union 
 among the Hindus. The distinction of sects and casts 
 is here unknomi. Every individual whatever is admit- 
 ted, and allowed to pay his homage, in person, to the 
 divinity. Accordingly, a great number of pilgrims fre- 
 quent it from all quarters of India. The disciples of 
 Vishnu and those of Siva attend, wuth equal zeal. The 
 Vairagis, the Dasaru, the Jangama, and every variety of 
 religious fanatics, when they approach this temple, lay 
 down their animosity ; and it is perhaps the only spot 
 in India where they suspend their hatred and conten- 
 tion. Whilst sojourning here, they seem to compose 
 but one community of brothers. 
 
 Several thousands of functionaries, chiefly Brahmans, 
 are engaged in the performance of the ceremonies of 
 religious worship in this Temple of Concord. The 
 crowd of votaries never abates. Those of the south, 
 w'ho undertake the holy pilgrimage to Kasi or Benares, 
 never omit the Temple of Jagannath in their w^ay ; and 
 
182 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 those from the nortli, in their holy journey to Cape Co- 
 morin, always visit it, as they pass, to offer their adora- 
 tions to its presiding deity. 
 
 There are also many temples in the various provinces 
 of the peninsula, as well as other sacred places, which 
 are famed for some particular advantage or other, or for 
 some singularity in their worship. 
 
 At Combaconam (Kumbhaconam) in Tanjore, there 
 is a consecrated pond, which possesses the virtue, at in- 
 tervals of twelve years, to cleanse all who bathe in it, 
 from spiritual and corporal impurities, though accumu- 
 lated for many generations. When that moment of ple- 
 nary indulgence arrives, one beholds innumerable swarms 
 of both sexes, many of whom have come from the re- 
 motest provinces of the north of the peninsula. 
 
 At Madura, there is a very famous temple, in a place ■ 
 called Pahlany, consecrated to the god Vellaijadah^ to 
 whom the devotees bring offerings of a singular kind. 
 They consist of large leathern shoes, of the shape of those 
 which the Hindus wear on their feet, but much bigger 
 and more ornamented. This god being addicted to 
 hunting, these shoes are intended for his use when he 
 traverses the deserts in the chace. 
 
 It is unnecessary to carry much farther the detail of 
 the ceremonies and rites, general and particular, which 
 are exercised in the temples of India. What I have al- 
 ready stated, I hope, will give insight into the religious 
 worship of the people. I will conclude, therefore, with 
 a few words concerning their Processions, and the Cars 
 of triumph on w hich they exhibit their gods, in proces- 
 sion, through the streets. 
 
TEMPLE^6. 
 
 183 
 
 rherc are no temples from which Processions of great 
 magnificence and splendour do not take place, once in 
 the year, or oft ner. On those occasions the idols are 
 taken out of their sanetuaries, and raised on high tri- 
 umphal earriages eonstructed for the purpose. They are 
 upon four wheels of great strength ; not composed, like 
 ours, with spokes within a rim, but of three or four thick 
 pieces of wood, rounded and fitted into each other. 
 The w hole being compacted of solid timber, supports an 
 erection of sometimes not less than fifty feet in height. 
 The boards of which it is composed are carved with 
 images of men and women, in the most abominable at- 
 titudes ; most of them representing the grossest obscen- 
 ities. Over this first elevation, composed of solid tim- 
 bers, they raise several stories of slighter materials ; the 
 whole contracting and narrowing into a pyramidal form ; 
 resembling the shape of the temples, as we have de- 
 scribed them. 
 
 On the days of procession the cars are adorned with 
 precious stuffs, painted doth, garlands of flowers, and 
 green foliage. Under a niche, in the centre, the idol is 
 placed, in glittering attire, to attract the admiration of 
 the people. 
 
 Having fastened ropes to the enormous vehicle, they 
 set thousands of people to w’ork, who draw it slowly 
 along, accompanied with the awful roaring of their voices. 
 At certain periods they make a pause ; at which the im- 
 mense crowd, collected from all parts, to witness the 
 ceremony, set up one universal shout, or rather yell, in 
 proof of their exultation and joy. This, joined to the 
 piercing and dissonant sounds of their instruments, and 
 of the numerous drums which rattle amongst the disor- 
 derly throng, produces a confusion and uproar surpas- 
 
184 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 sing all imagination. Sometimes, as may be easily sup- 
 posed, the cumbrous car gets into embarrassment, and 
 sometimes to a total stand, in the crowded and narrow 
 streets, by unforeseen accidents ; and then the tumult 
 and the clamorous roar redouble. 
 
 It may be easily imagined, that, in such a chaos of 
 confusion, where men and women are indiscriminately 
 blended in the crowd, and their conduct wholly unob- 
 served, many irregularities must take place. And, in 
 fact, these consequences do arise from the processions ; 
 because every individual may, without constraint, follow 
 the immediate impulse ot desire. For this reason, it is 
 generally the rendezvous of debauchees, and, also, of 
 young persons of both sexes, who, having conceived a 
 mutual attachment for each other, in secret, and being 
 afraid, or unable, to gratify it in any other way, with- 
 out exposure, chuse the day of procession to accomplish 
 their desires without restraint. 
 
 Such is the outline of the religious ceremonies of the 
 Hindus, and such the spirit of idolatry which prevails 
 amona: them. A religion more shameful or indecent has 
 never existed amongst a civilized people. At the same 
 time, I am far from believing that the present worship 
 of the Hindus corresponds with that of their first legis- 
 lators ; but, rather, that it is a corruption by the Brah- 
 mans, who invented, in after-times, the monstrous wor- 
 ship w’hich now prevails ; for the greater number of the 
 shocking fables, mentioned in this chapter, and the pre- 
 ceding one, appear to be modern inventions. 
 
 The Brahmans, being resolved to make tlie popular 
 religion a mere machine for advancing- their temporal in- 
 terests and gratifying their passions, gradually urged on 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 185 
 
 the Hindu people from one error to another, from a deep 
 to a deeper pit in that chaos in which we now see them 
 ingulfed. 
 
 The object they aimed at was greatly facilitated 
 by the art which they had previously acquired of diving 
 into the natural projjensitics of the people, so as to con- 
 struct them a religion suited to their character and genius. 
 They saw that the Hindu could not be gratified but by 
 the extravagant ; and, therefore, they compounded for 
 him a religion that exceeds all bounds, in the theory as 
 well as in the practice. 
 
 Seriously speaking, the turn and bent of the imagina- 
 tion of the people of India are such, that they can in no 
 wise be excited but by- what is monstrous. Ordinary 
 occurrences make no impression upon them at all. Their 
 attention cannot be gained without the introduction of 
 giants or of pigmies. The Brahmans, therefore, having 
 studied this propensity, availed themselves of it to in- 
 vent a religious worship, which they artfully interwove 
 with their own private interests. 
 
 This passion of the Hindus for the extraordinary and 
 the wonderful, must have been remarked by every one 
 who has ever so little studied their character. It conti- 
 nually leads to the observation I have so frequently re- 
 peated, that as often as it was necessary to move their 
 gross imagination, some circumstance, altogether extra- 
 vagant, but coloured with the hue of truth, was requir- 
 ed to be added to the simplicity of narrative or fact. 
 
 To give them any idea of the marvellous, something 
 must be invented that will overturn, or at least alter the 
 whole order of nature. The miracles of the Christian 
 religion, however extraordinary they must appear to a 
 common understanding, are by no means so to the Hin- 
 
 VoL. II. 2 A 
 
186 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 dus. Upon them they have no effect. The exploits of 
 Joshua and of his army, and the prodigies they effected by 
 the interposition of God, in the conquest of the land of 
 Canaan, seem to them unworthy of notice, when com- 
 pared with the achievement of their own Rama, and the 
 miracles which attended his progress when he subjected 
 Ce} Ion to his yoke. The mighty strength of Sampson 
 dwindles into nothing, when opposed to the overwhelm- 
 ing energy of Bali, of Ravana and the giants. The re- 
 surrection of Lazarus itself is, in their eyes, an ordinary 
 event ; of w’hich they see frequent examples in the Vish- 
 nu ceremonies of the Pahvahdam. 
 
 I particularize these examples, because they have been 
 actually opposed to me more than once by Brahmans, in 
 my disputations with them on religion. 
 
 But it is certain that the irrational worship which no^v 
 prevails amongst Hindus of all classes, should be receiv- 
 ed by us as a striking lesson of the utter incapacity of 
 the human mind to invent a reasonable s} stem of religion, 
 and of the extravagant aberrations to which man is ex- 
 posed when he has not God Himself for his guide. 
 
 The Divine Author of Revelation, in enabling us to 
 perceive the absurdity of the notions which the most an- 
 ciently civilized people at present in existence entertain 
 respecting the Divinity; and to examine the brutish 
 worship practised by whole nations to whom, for reasons 
 concealed from us, and which Ave must not attempt to 
 unveil. He has not vouchsafed to manifest Himself ; has 
 admonished us of the exceedingly great obligations we 
 are under to Him, in our being born in a religion sent 
 down from heaven. No other can give us pure concep- 
 tions of its founder, and of his infinite perfections. And 
 had not God Himself condescended to impart to us 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 187 
 
 the knowledge of his attributes, and of the worship that 
 is pleasing to Him, never could our limited understand- 
 ing, warped as it is by passion and prejudice, have ari- 
 sen to just notions on the subject ; and we must have 
 been still groping in the thick darkness of idolatry, in 
 which our ancestors were plunged, and in which so 
 many other nations still live, who have not yet been bles- 
 sed with the guidance of their Maker. 
 
 The modern Deists of Europe, I know, will not agree 
 with these sentiments. They presumptuously maintain 
 that human reason, when purged from the prejudices of 
 I education, is of itself sufficient to form just notions of 
 the Divinity ; and, arrogantly, attribute those which they 
 themselves entertain to the vigour of their own genius ; 
 while it is easy to see that they are only the fruit of the 
 Christian education which they have received, and for 
 which they are indebted solely to the high privilege of 
 having been born in a country where the revealed reli- 
 gion alone is professed. 
 
 But where are the philosophers, in ancient or modem 
 times, who have arrived, without the assistance of reve- 
 lation, at just ideas of the Deity, and a worship worthy 
 of Him, and wholly divested of the superstitions of Pa- 
 ganism ? Socrates, the wisest and most renowned of all, 
 although he has spoken of the Supreme Being in a man- 
 ner worthy of Him, was not able completely to shake off 
 the fetters of superstition. For after he had taken the 
 hemlock, surrounded by friends, who were cheering him 
 with the prospects of a better life, he felt inward remorse, 
 and whispered to his disciple Crito that he had vowed 
 the sacrifice of a cock to Esculapius ; which he entreat- 
 ed his friend, most earnestly, to offer in his name. 
 
 1 
 
188 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 In like manner, the ancient philosopiiers of India, 
 although they had atteined to sublime notions concern- 
 ing the Deity, as we have already shewn, failed to ap- 
 pl} them to their proper use ; sometimes directing 
 them to the Supreme Existence, and sometimes to infe- 
 rior gods, represented under a human shape. This error 
 still prevails a.mongst the v. isest of the Brahmans ; and 
 that is evidently the most pernicious error of superstition, 
 serving to confound inferior natures with the Almighty, 
 by yielding the same honours to all. 
 
 The Revealed Religion alone has communicated pure 
 ideas on this subject, which only are worthy of their 
 Author ; and the history of all mankind shews us that 
 God has never been truly known or worshipped but by 
 nations who have had Him for their only Lord. 
 
 But, absurd as the worship of the Hindus is, their 
 attachment to the species of idolatry which they have 
 embraced is so powerful, that none of the great revolu- 
 tions that have taken place in their country, in modern 
 times, have inspired them whh the slightest idea of re- 
 nouncing tlie foolish rites of Paganism, and assuming 
 the more rational religion of their conquerors. The 
 Christians and Muhammadans have, equally, laboured 
 to introduce their respective religions amongst them ; 
 and the latter, no doubt, have made many proselytes, 
 but only in t!ie way which they have pursued every 
 where else, of violence and compulsion. But, after all, 
 their doctrines have never taken root, nor become pre- 
 dominant, in any of the provinces of India. Yet, in 
 many of them, persecutions of every sort have been 
 exercised against the Pagan inhabitants ; and the Moslem 
 Princes have also tried every other method of persuasion, 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 189 
 
 by putting wealth and honours within the reach of those 
 who should renounce the worship of idols for the faith 
 of their Prophet. 
 
 The religion of Christ, v\hich oft’ers itself only in the 
 way of gentleness and persuasion, that holy and benevo- 
 lent faith, which would seem so well adapted to sweeten 
 and cheer the life of a people subdued to misery and 
 oppression ; that religion from God, whose penetrating 
 truths have softened the rugged hearts of so many bar- 
 barous nations, has been announced to the Hindus for 
 more than three hundred years ; but with no remarka- 
 ble success. It even sensibly loses the little ground it 
 had gained against a thousand obstacles, through the 
 zeal and persevering efforts of the ministers who first 
 preached it there. The prejudice against it unhap- 
 pily increases every day. The conduct of those who, 
 though born in countries where Christianity alone is 
 professed, are now spread over all India, is often so un- 
 worthy of their faith, as to increase the prejudices and 
 dislike which the natives entertain for every foreign re- 
 ligion, and for that above all others. 
 
 It is unnecessary to remind the reader that the man- 
 ners of a people who have adopted religious customs so 
 indecorous as the Hindus have done, must necessarily 
 be very dissolute. Accordingly, licentiousness prevails 
 almost universally, without shame or remorse. Every' 
 excess of debauchery or libertinism is countenanced by' 
 the irregular lives of their gods, and by the rites which 
 their worship prescribes. This connexion illustrates the 
 truth of the remark of Montesquieu, that, “ in a coun- 
 “ try which has the misfortune to possess a religion that 
 “ does not proceed from God, it necessarily falls in with 
 “ the morals which prevail, because even a false reli- 
 
190 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 “ gion is the best guarantee that men can have for the 
 “ honesty of men.” 
 
 On the other hand, however gross and evidently ab- 
 surd the worship and doctrines of the Hindus are, their 
 religion appears to me, under its worst aspect, to be j^re- 
 ferable to Atheism. I would much rather be an adorer 
 of the Triinurti than an associate of the class that denies 
 a God ; and I would far rather believe in the doctrine of 
 the Maru Jehna, the metempsychosis of the Hindus, than 
 in that which teaches that death is an eternal sleep, or, in 
 other • ords, that the crimes of the wicked are buried 
 with them for ever in the grave. 
 
 Several points of the Hindu faith, such as the Me- 
 tempsychosis, the Naraka, and their places of bliss, might 
 be very beneficial to society, if they were properly in- 
 culcated on the minds of the people. And, undoubted- 
 ly, the dread of an evil regeneration after the present life, 
 or of the pains of Naraka, must be a pou'erful curb to 
 restrain the wicked within the bounds of duty ; W'hilst the 
 desire and expectation of a happy new birth, or that of 
 a blessed abode after death, must tend to the encourage- 
 ment of purity and virtue. But the evil is, that these 
 fundamental articles of the Hindu faith have been utter- 
 ly perverted by the Brahmans, who have sought only to 
 turn them to their own advantage, by threatening with 
 an evil regeneration, or with the torments of Naraka, not 
 those whose lives have been stained with every crime, 
 but those who have injured them in their worldly con- 
 cerns, or who have let slip the occasions of doing them a 
 service ; whilst they have no difficulty in promising the 
 happiest of renovations, or endless felicity after death, 
 not to such as have led a truly virtuous life, but to such 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 191 
 
 as practise imaginary virtues, or who promote their in- 
 terests by benefactions and alms. 
 
 I remember to have read a Hindu book which treats 
 of the doctrine of the Maru Jelma or transmigration into 
 a good or evil futurity, where the author, apparently of 
 the high cast, declares, amongst other things, that he who 
 breaks his word with a Brahman, or who occasions him 
 any detriment, directly or indirectly, in his temporal con- 
 cerns, will be condemned, for such an offence, to become, 
 in his second birth, a devil. He will not be permitted to 
 dwell on the earth nor to live in the air, but will be 
 obliged to take up his abode in the midst of a thick for- 
 est, amongst the branches of a bushy tree ; where he shall 
 never cease to groan by night and by day, cursing his 
 unhappy lot, and deprived of all aliment but stinking 
 toddy, mixed with the slaver of a dog, which he shall 
 drink out of the skull of a death’s-head. 
 
 It is in this way that offences, imaginary, or of small 
 account, are menaced with endless punishment, after 
 death, by the directors of the popular faith ; whilst adul- 
 terers, perjurers, robbers, and other real offenders, are 
 absolved by the Brahmans of their actual crimes for self- 
 ish objects ; and assured of a recompence, after death, 
 which should pertain exclusively to virtue. 
 
 But in spite of all the trappings and the many corrup- 
 tions which the Brahmans have added to the religious 
 worship, and the belief of the Hindus, I do not hesitate 
 to repeat, that it appears to me to be infinitely preferable 
 to Atheism ; and I venture to affirm that every good po- 
 litical reasoner, every man who comprehends the feelings 
 and movements of the human heart, will be of the same 
 opinion. But any thing I could add on this subject will 
 be much better supplied by a passage which I shall quote 
 
19S 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 from one of the greatest men of the last age, already re- 
 ferred to, and indeed one of the finest in the “ Spirit of 
 Laws,” entitled “ Bayle’s Paradox*.” 
 
 “ Mr Bayle has endeavoured to prove that it is bet- 
 “ ter to be an atheist than an idolater ; or, in other 
 words, that it is less dangerous to have no religion 
 “ whatever than a false one. ‘ I would rather,’ he says, 
 “ ‘ have it said of me that I do not at all exist, than that 
 “ I am a wicked man.’ This is a mere sophism, 
 “ founded on this ; that it is of no utility to the human 
 “ race to have it believed that a certain man exists, in 
 “ place of saying it is very useful to have it believed 
 “ that there is a God. From the idea that there is none, 
 “ that of our independency flows; or, if we cannot en- 
 “ tertain that idea, that of our revolt. To say that reli- 
 “ gion is not a restraining motive, because it does not 
 “ always restrain, is tlie same as to say that neither have 
 “ civil laws a restraining influence. It is not reasoning 
 “ fair with religion to collect, in a large volume, a cata- 
 logue of the ills it has occasioned, if we do not also 
 “ enumerate its benefits. If I were to recount all the 
 “ evils the world has sustained from civil laws, monar- 
 “ chy, and republican government, I should speak terri- 
 “ ble things. If it were useless for subjects to have a 
 “religion, it would be no less so for rulers to have any, 
 “ who might then whiten with foam the only curb which 
 “ those who fear not human laws can feel. 
 
 “ A Prince who loves religion and who fears it, is a lion 
 “ that stoops to the hand that strokes him or the soothing 
 “ voice. He who fears religion and who hates it, is like 
 “ the wild beasts which gnaw’ the chains that hinder them 
 
 De I’Esprit des Lois, xsiv. 2. 
 
TEMPLES. 
 
 193 
 
 “ from flying on the passers-by. He who has no reli- 
 “ gion, is that terrible animal whieh feels not its liberty 
 “ but when it tears in pieces and devours. 
 
 “ The question is not to determine whether it rvould 
 “ be better that a certain individual should be without 
 “ religion altogether, than that he should abuse that 
 “ which he has ; but to decide which is the smaller evil, 
 “ the occasional abuse of religion, or that it should not 
 “ exist at all amongst men. 
 
 “ In order to diminish the abhorrence of atheism, ido- 
 “ latry is overloaded. It is not true that when the an- 
 “ cients erected altars to any vice, they shewed that they 
 “ loved that vice; but on the contrary that they hated it. 
 “ When the Lacedemonians built an edifice to Fear, it 
 “ was no proof that the heroic nation wished it to cling 
 “ to the hearts of the Lacedemonians. There were some 
 “ deities who were besought, not to inspire crimes, and 
 “ others who were entreated to avert them.” 
 
 Thus has the paradox of Bayle been demolished by an 
 author who will not be suspected of an unreasonable par- 
 tiality to religion. 
 
 “ Such,” says Voltaire*, “ is the weakness of human 
 “ nature, and such its perverseness, that it is better that 
 “ it should be under the dominion of all possible super- 
 “ stitions, than to be wholly without religion. Men have 
 “ always stood in need of the rein ; and though it was 
 “ ridiculous to sacrifice to Fauns, Satyrs, and Naiads, 
 “ it was more rational and more useful to adore those 
 “ fantastic emblems of the Divinity than to deliver them- 
 “ selves up to atheism. An atheist, turned reasoner, if 
 “ impetuous and powerful, would be as woful a scourge 
 
 * Traite cle la Tolerance, chap. 20. 
 
 2 B 
 
 VoL. II. 
 
194 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 “ as a sanguinary fanatic. When men have not true no- 
 “ tions of the Divinity, false ones supply their place, as 
 “ in times of distress men traffic with bad coin when 
 “ there is none good to be found. The Pagan was 
 “ afraid to commit a crime lest he should be punished 
 “ by his false gods. The Malabarian dreads that he may 
 “ be punished by his pagoda. Wherever society is es- 
 “ tablished, religion is necessar}\ The laws watch over 
 “ public crimes, and religion over those that are secret.” 
 
THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 
 
 199 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 0/' the Principal Divinities of India. 
 
 IT would be a work of volumes to enter into a de- 
 tail of the fables that relate to the different deities which 
 the commonalty adores ; for there is scarcely an object 
 in nature, living or inanimate, to which the Hindus do 
 not offer worship. But they acknowledge three princi- 
 pal gods whom they specially venerate, under the names 
 of Brahma^ Vtshnu, and Siva. When worshipped, in 
 union, they form, as we have already seen, the Trimur- 
 ti ; and they arc also separately adored with peculiar 
 rites. These three have given birth to an infinite num- 
 ber besides ; and the Hindus, in all things extravagant, 
 have shewn this disposition no where more conspicu- 
 ously than in the number of the divinities they have 
 formed. They have gone far beyond all other idolatrous 
 nations in this particular ; as they reckon no less than 
 thirty-three koti of gods, each koti being equal to ten 
 millions, so that the whole number amounts to three 
 hundred and thirty millions. 
 
 I shall confine myself to a short description of the 
 principal ones that are universally acknowledged through 
 the whole country. The full detail would be quite in- 
 supportable. We have already spoken of the Trimurti, 
 or three principal gods united in one person, and W'e 
 
196 
 
 THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 
 
 shall now proceed to a short view of the leading attri- 
 butes of each. 
 
 Brahma. 
 
 Brahma occupies the highest place among the Hindu 
 divinities. He is fabled to have been born with fiie 
 heads ; but he is represented with four only, because he 
 lost one in a violent contest with Siva, whose wife Par- 
 vati he had ravished ; and the indignant husband could 
 not be appeased till he had cut oft’ one of the heads of 
 the adulterer. 
 
 His wife, it is said, was his own daughter, Saraswati, 
 whom he keeps always in his moutli. Having concei- 
 ved for her an incestuous passion, he durst not gratify 
 it in the human shape which he bore ; and therefore he 
 converted himself into a stag, and changed his daughter 
 into a bitch. Under this form, he gratified his unnatu- 
 ral desires ; and it is because he violated the most sacred 
 laws of nature, as many believe, that he is without wor- 
 ship, without temples or sacrifices ; that no one, in short, 
 performs any exterior ceremony of religion in honour of 
 Brahma. 
 
 Others affirm that the sort of neglect into which this 
 god has fallen, so as to be unworshipped, proceeds from 
 a curse launched against him by a certain penitent called 
 Brumuny, to whom Brahma ivas deficient in respect 
 when the holy man entered the regions of bliss. 
 
 Three important energies, in the nature of attributes, 
 are ascribed to this deity. The first is that of being au- 
 thor and creator of all things. The second makes him 
 the giver of all gifts and of blessings ; and the third as- 
 signs to him the controul over the destinies of all men. 
 
THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 
 
 197 
 
 Ever}' individual bears his mark, impressed on the fore- 
 head, by the finger of the deity himself. He also pos- 
 sesses the power of granting the gift of immortality to 
 whomsoever he pleases ; and it is to him that many fa- 
 bulous personages are indebted for it ; such as the Giants 
 Havana, Haramja, and several others. 
 
 Being the author of all things, he is consequently the 
 creator of men. The four great casts, of which the world 
 consists, namely, the Brahmans, the Rajas, the merchants, 
 and the agriculturists, were formed and instituted by 
 him. The first and noblest sprung from his head, the 
 second from his shoulders, the third from his belly, and 
 the last from his feet. 
 
 This is the story of the creation of man most gene- 
 rally adopted, although some give it a different turn. 
 I'hey say that Brahma, in his first essay to create a hu- 
 man being, made him with only one foot ; which not an- 
 swering, he destroyed the work, and formed the next 
 with three ; but the third foot being more an incum- 
 brance than a help, he destroyed this model also, and 
 finally resolved upon the two legs. 
 
 Vishnu. 
 
 Next after Brahma, comes Vishnu, also called Peru- 
 mahl. His worship extends far and wide ; and of all 
 the gods he seems to have the greatest number of followers. 
 They are divided into several classes or sects, known by 
 the general appellation of Malam. Each Malam has its 
 secrets, its sacrifices, its mantras, and particular signs. 
 The most numerous of all is that whose members bear 
 the mark of the Nama, or three perpendicular lines, im- 
 
198 
 
 THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 
 
 printed on their foreheads, as a particular symbol of their 
 extreme devotion for that divinity. 
 
 The particular titles and attributes of Vishnu are those 
 of Redeemer and Preserver of all things. The other 
 gods, without excepting Brahma himself, have often 
 stood in need of his assistance ; and, but for his power- 
 ful help, must, on many arduous occasions, have fallen 
 into perdition. 
 
 His title of Preserver of all things, has made it neces- 
 sary for him, on various occasions, to assume different 
 forms, which the Hindus call Avataras, a word which 
 may be rendered into Metamorphoses. Ten of these arc 
 enumerated, namely : 
 
 Matya-avatara, or transformation into a P'lsh. 
 
 Kurma-cwatara, that into a Tortoise. 
 
 Varaha-avatara, or Boar. 
 
 Narasingha-avatara, change into half man and half 
 lion. 
 
 Vamana-avatara, that into a dwarf Brahman. 
 
 Paraswarama-avatara, the change into the god of that 
 name. 
 
 Rama-avatara, or Vishnu representing that hero. 
 
 Krishna-avatara, change into that god’s form. 
 
 Bhadra-avatara, or metamorphosis into the tree Ravi 
 or Aruli ; and 
 
 Kalki-avatara, or change into a Horse. 
 
 A few words will suffice on each Avatara, the detailed 
 account of which would occupy the largest volumes. 
 
 The first Avatara, or metamorphosis into a Fish, takes 
 its rise from the following accident, reported, at great 
 length, in the Bhagavata. Brahma, one day being over- 
 
THE PUIXCIPAL DIVINITIES. 
 
 199 
 
 powered with fatigue, fell asleep. The four books called 
 Vedas, which had been assigned to his particular care, 
 seeing their guardian completely sunk in somnolency, 
 took advantage of it, and made their escape. All un- 
 protected, they were met on the road, in their flight, by 
 a Giant called Hayagriva, who laid hold of them ; and, 
 in order to secure so precious a treasure, swallowed 
 them, and put them next his heart. But, to avoid all 
 danger of detection, he concealed himself in the midst 
 of the waters of the great ocean. Vishnu, when he 
 heard of the loss that Brahma had sustained, and that 
 the Giant was the robber, departed from his abode and 
 followed his enemy into the waters, under the form of a 
 fish. After a long search, he found him at last in the 
 deepest abyss of the sea, and there, attacking him with 
 fur)-, he overcame him, and, penetrating into his bow- 
 els, there found the Vedas, and restored them to Brah- 
 ma their keeper. 
 
 The second Avatara was into a Tortoise, and was 
 brought about in this manner. Whilst the Gods and 
 the Giants w^ere at open \var, the Giants, with the mighty 
 Bali at their head, were victorious over the Celestials, 
 whom they treated with the greatest severity. In this 
 disastrous state the gods were satisfied to obtain peace 
 on any terms that their enemies might propose. Having 
 thus concluded a treaty, they lived in apparent amity ; 
 but the Gods w-ere, all the while, secretly invoking Vish- 
 nu to protect them from the power of their dangerous 
 enemies. He granted their prayers, and at the same 
 time ordered them to pull up the mountain Mandara 
 Parvata, and cast it into the sea. In executing this 
 task, some of them were so much fatigued as to be in- 
 capable of proceeding, w hich Vishnu perceiving, flew to 
 
200 
 
 THE PRINCIPAL DITINITIES. 
 
 their aid, on the wings of the bird Garuda, his ordinary 
 vehicle, and fixed the mountain in the sea of curdled 
 milk. Afterwards, the gods being desirous to navigate 
 the sea, made a ship of Mount Mandara ; and, having 
 taken a serpent for a rope, they fastened one end of it 
 to the head of one of the stoutest of their number, and 
 the other end to the right arm of a second. While they 
 were thus towing Mount Mandara as a ship, the gods, 
 who were in it began to perceive that it was sinking ; 
 upon which they put up their fervent supplications to 
 \ ishnu, the preserver, to rescue them from the immin- 
 ent danger to which they were exposed. Vishnu flew 
 again to their relief, and seeing them all about to perish, 
 he metamorphosed himself into a tortoise ; plunged into 
 the sea, and supported the sinking mountain on his solid 
 back. 
 
 The third Avatara was his transformation into a Hog. 
 Vishnu, being in pursuit of the Giant Hiranyakshana, 
 a monster of whom he wished to rid the world, disco- 
 vered that he was concealed in Patala, which is the low- 
 est of the seven inferior worlds ; and, being determined, 
 at all hazards, to reach him, he converted himself into a 
 large Hog, and dug a passage through the earth with 
 his snout, continuing his pursuit till he caught and slew 
 this enemy of the human race. 
 
 The fourth Avatara is called .Xarasingha. The three 
 preceding were changes into the forms of animals. This 
 was a mixture of Man and Lion. It took its rise from 
 the following adventure. The younger brother of the 
 Giant Hiranyakshana, hearing that his brother had been 
 slain by Vishnu, resolved to be avenged ; and, with that 
 design, he attacked the god in his abode of felicity, the 
 Vaikuntha. Vishnu, apprehensive of a contest with so 
 
THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 
 
 201 
 
 powerful an enemy, avoided him, and hid himself. The 
 Giant being unable to find him, sought to avenge him- 
 self on the other gods who lived in the same residence 
 with his enemy, and treated them with cruelty. The 
 son of the Giant, who was one of those gods, interced- 
 ed for them with his father, and endeavoured to appease 
 his wrath. But, so far from listening to these entreaties, 
 on finding that his son was a supporter of Vishnu, he 
 determined to put him to death. That god, seeing the 
 danger that his votary was in, burst from beneath a caul- 
 dron, in the double shape of man and lion. He had 
 still a long and bitter contest to sustain with the Giant ; 
 but, at last, having proved victorious, he seized his 
 enemy, laid him across his thigh, tore his belly open 
 with his lion’s claws, sucked his blood, and extracted 
 his bowels, which he afterwards twisted round his neck 
 as a trophy of his victory. 
 
 The fifth Avatara, was the change into a Brahman 
 Dwarf. The Giant Bali, always terrible in his v/ars 
 with the gods, had already subdued three worlds, and 
 reduced the gods he found there into the hardest subjec- 
 tion. Vishnu, being desirous of delivering so many 
 gods and mortals from their savage enemy, metamor- 
 phosed himself into a dwarfish Brahman, and visited Bali 
 under that disguise, soliciting a bit of ground no bigger 
 than three prints of his little feet, which he required to 
 offer sacrifices upon. The request appeared ludicrous 
 to the Giant, and he granted it without scruple. Vish- 
 nu immediately resumed his godlike form, and with one 
 footstep covered the whole earth. With another, ele- 
 vated in air, he overshadowed the whole space between 
 the earth and firmament, and nothing being left to re- 
 ceive the third impression of his foot, he trod upon the 
 
 VoL. II. 2C 
 
202 
 
 THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 
 
 Giant’s head, and hurled him down to the infernal Pa- 
 tald. 
 
 The sixth Avatara, was the transformation into the 
 person of Parasu Rama, by wiiich Vishnu became the 
 ^ son of Jamadagni and Rennki. The Giant Kirtaviry- 
 anarjana, having conquered and reduced under his do- 
 minion, the father and mother of Parasu-Raina ; he, or 
 Vishnu in his shape, resolved to revenge the insult of- 
 fered to the family. He attacked the Giant, slew him, 
 and brought the carcase to liis father Jamadagni. The 
 sons of the Giant, desirous of vengeance, in their turn, 
 went in search of Jamadagni ; found him, and cut off 
 his head. Parasu-Rama, incensed at the cruelty, and 
 being resolved to inflict adequate punishment on the 
 murderer of his father, attacked not only those who com- 
 mitted the crime, but many other Kings who had leagued 
 with them. Twenty-one assaults were sustained ; but, 
 in the last he gained the possession of their persons, and 
 put them all to death. 
 
 The seventh Avatara is the metamorphosis of Vishnu 
 into the hero called Rama. It is described, in a very 
 prolix and tedious way, in the Ramayana, a book well 
 known and read by all Hindus. It has raked together, 
 in the history of Rama, a collection of all the fables and 
 paganism of the country. It commences with the mo- 
 ment of the conception of its hero. The principal ad- 
 ventures in his liie, which would require a folio volume 
 to describe, were, in the first place, his journey into the 
 desert for the purpose of soliciting Swomitra to give him 
 his only daugl.ter Sita in marriage ; next, his pilgrim- 
 age to the city of Ayodhya, and the war which it led 
 him into with Parasu-Rama, the same person with him- 
 self, in reality, being only different forms of Vishnu, 
 
THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 
 
 203 
 
 which for a long time unfortunately they did not disco- 
 ver ; then the abduction of Sita by the Giant Havana ; 
 the grief and despair of Rama on this event ; the con- 
 solation and advice given him under such circumstances 
 by his brother Lakshman, and the mode he points out 
 for the recovery of his wife Sita ; an army of Apes, 
 commanded by the great Ape Hanumnn, who met him 
 while searching for Sita, and informed him where she 
 dwelt, with her ravisher Havana, and the manner of life 
 which she led ; how Rama, at the news, inrolled the ar- 
 my of Apes in his service, to help him to fight Havana; 
 and, being ignorant of war, received instruction from the 
 Apes, who taught him to build bridges, to draw up an 
 army in array, and to surprize the enemy ; how he con- 
 quered the Isle Lanka, or Ceylon, where his enemies 
 had rendezvoused, and which he assaulted with his Ape 
 auxiliaries, by means of a bridge from the main land ; 
 and how, lastly, after a long and cruel war, in which the 
 hero gained victories, and suffered defeats, he was join- 
 ed by Vishnu, the brother and enemy of the Giant Ha- 
 vana, who taught Rama the certain means of subduing 
 his enemy ; how his advice is pursued ; and how Rama, 
 having gained a decisive victory over Havana and the 
 united Giants, at length regains his beloved Sita. 
 
 The eighth Avatara, in which he is transformed into 
 the person of Bala-Rama, exhibits Vishnu so disguis- 
 ed for the purpose of making war against an Army of 
 Giants, who were desolating the earth. He took lor his 
 weapon a Serpent of enormous size, and, by its means, 
 soon succeeded in destroying all the Giants against whom 
 he had taken arms. 
 
 The ninth Avatara is the transformation into the tree 
 Ravi or Aruli. Vislinu having entertained impure de- 
 
204 
 
 THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 
 
 sires towards the daughter of a Giant, a beauty renown- 
 ed for her virtues, employed all manner of artifices to 
 gain her. This modest female having resolutely reject- 
 ed his illicit solicitations, he at last made a desperate ef- 
 fort for the gratification of his wicked design ; and find- 
 ing it impracticable, under an animal form, he assumed 
 that of the tree Ravi ; in which semblance he succeed- 
 ed in satisfying his passion. This metamorphosis is, 
 no doubt, the cause why this tree is so famous and so 
 much venerated by the Hindus. 
 
 The tenth Avatara is the transformation into nx Horse, 
 This last Avatara has not yet taken effect ; but the Hin- 
 dus trust that it will be realized. They expect it with 
 the same ardour as the Jews look forw^ard to their Mes- 
 siah. This tenth Avatara is to be the most beneficial 
 and the most wonderful of all. The books which an- 
 nounce it do not assign the period when it will arrive, 
 nor how it will be brought to pass, but the Hindus con- 
 fide that it will restore the Satya-yuga or Age of Happi- 
 ness. 
 
 Krishna. 
 
 Besides the Ten Avataras of Vishnu, the Hindus re- 
 cognize another, which is that of his change into the per- 
 son of Krishna. This metamorphosis, and all the fa- 
 bles that accompany it, are contained in the book called 
 Bhagavata, which is scarcely less famous than the Ra- 
 mayana. 
 
 Krishna, at his birth, w’as obliged to be concealed, in 
 order to avoid the attack of a Giant who sought his life. 
 He escaped his enemy under the disguise of a beggar. 
 He was reared by persons of that cast, and soon exhib- 
 
THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 
 
 205 
 
 ited marks of the most unbridled libertinism. Plunder 
 and rape were familiar to him from his tender years. It 
 Was his chief pleasure to go every morning to the place 
 where the women bathe, and, in concealment, to take 
 advantage of their unguarded exposure. Then he rush- 
 ed amongst them, took possession of their clothes, and 
 gave a loose to the indecencies of language and of ges- 
 ture. He maintained sixteen wives, who had the title of 
 queens, and sixteen thousand concubines. All these 
 women bore children almost without number ; but 
 Krishna, fearing they would league against him and de- 
 prive him of his power, murdered them all. He had 
 long and cruel wars with the Giants, w’ltli various suc- 
 cess. At last his infamous conduct drew upon him the 
 curse of a virtuous woman called Ganghary ; the effects 
 of which were soon apparent, in a wound, of which he 
 died. 
 
 In obscenity, there is nothing that can be compared 
 with the Bhagavata. It is nevertheless the delight of the 
 Hindus, and the first book they put into the hands of 
 their children, when learning to read ; as if they delib- 
 erately intended to lay the basis of a dissolute educa- 
 tion. 
 
 Siva. 
 
 This God has likewise the names of Iswara^ Rudra^ 
 Sadasiva, and Raramesrvoara. He is generally represent- 
 ed under a terrible shape, to shew, by a menacing ex- 
 terior, the power which he possesses of destroying all 
 things. To aggravate the horrors of his appearance, he 
 is represented with his body all covered with ashes. His 
 long hair is plaited and curled in the most whimsical 
 
20b 
 
 THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES, 
 
 way. His eyes, unnaturally large, give him the appear- 
 ance of being in a perpetual rage. Instead of jewels, 
 they adorn his ears with great serpents. He holds in 
 his hand a w eapon called Sula. I have sometimes seen 
 idols of Siva, of gigantic proportions, admirably con- 
 trived to inspire terror. 
 
 The principal attribute of this God, as we have men- 
 tioned, is the power of Universal Destruction : although 
 some authors also give him that of Creation, in common 
 with Brahma. 
 
 His fabulous history, like that of all the other Hindu 
 Gods, is nothing but a tissue of absurd and extravagant 
 adventures, invented, as it would seem, for the mere 
 purpose of exhibiting tlie extremes of the two most pow- 
 erful passions which tyrannize over man. Luxury and 
 Ambition. They relate to the wars which he maintained 
 against the Giants ; to his enmity and jealousy in oppo- 
 sitioli to the other Gods; and, above all, to his infa- 
 mous amours. 
 
 It is related that, in one of his wars, being desirous of 
 completing the destruction of the Giants, and of obtain- 
 ing possession of Tripura, the country which they inha- 
 bited, he cleft the n orld in tw'ain, and took one half of 
 it for his armour. He made Brahma the general of his 
 army. The four. Vedas were his horses. Vishnu was 
 his arrow. The mountain Mandara Parvata was used 
 for his bow, and a mighty serpent supplied the place of 
 the string. Thus accoutred, the terrible Siva led his 
 army to the abode of the tyrants of the earth, took the 
 three fortresses they had constructed, and demolished 
 them in a moment. This, and other stories of Siva, are 
 given at great length in the Bhagavata. 
 
 Siva had great difficulty in obtaining a wife; but 
 having made a long and austere penitence at the Moun- 
 
THE PIUNCIPAL DIVINITIES. 
 
 207 
 
 tain Parvata, that lofty eminence was so affected by it 
 as to consent at last to give him his daughter in mar- 
 riage. 
 
 T/ie Lmgam. 
 
 The abomination of the Lingam takes its origin from 
 Siva. This idol, which is spread all over India, is gene- 
 rally inclosed in a little box of silver, which all the 
 votaries of that god wear suspended at their necks. It 
 represents the sexual organs of man, sometimes alone, 
 and sometimes accompanied. The long account given 
 of the origin of this mystery in the Linga-Purana may 
 be thus abbrevi'ted. 
 
 Siva having one day, in the presence of the seven 
 famous penitents, exhibited himself in a state of nature, 
 began to play several indecent vagaries before them. 
 He persisted till the penitents, being no longer able to 
 tolerate his indecency, imprecated their curse upon it. 
 The denunciation took immediate effect, and from that 
 moment Siva was emasculated. Parvata, having heard 
 of the misfortune of her husband, came to comfort him ; 
 — but I have not the courage to return to the pages 
 w hich contain the topics of consolation which she used, 
 or the methods she cmploj-^ed to repair his loss. 
 
 In the mean time, the penitents having more coolly 
 considered the disproportion of the punishment to the 
 offence,, and wishing to make all the reparation in their 
 power to the unhappy Siva, decreed that all his wor- 
 shippers should thenceforth address their prayers, ado- 
 ration, and sacrifices to what the imprecation had depriv- 
 ed him of. 
 
 Such is the infamous origin of the Lingam, which is 
 not only openly represented in the temples, on the high- 
 ways, and in other public situations, but is worn by the 
 
208 
 
 THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 
 
 votaries of Siva as the most precious relic, hung at their 
 necks, or fastened to their arms and hair, and receiving 
 from them sacrifices and adoration. 
 
 Tlie Lingam is the ordinary symbol of all the follow- 
 ers of Siva. That sect spreads over the whole of India, 
 but particularly in the west of the peninsula, where the 
 Lingamites compose, in many districts, the chief part 
 of the population. The particular customs of the sect 
 have been before noticed ; the most remarkable of which 
 are their abstinence from whatever has had the principle 
 of life, and the practice of interring their dead in place 
 of burning them, as most other Hindus do. 
 
 We know to what excess the spirit of idolatry may 
 lead the ignorant ; but it is incredible, it even seems im- 
 possible, that the Lingam could have originated in the 
 direct and literal worship of w'hat it represents ; but ra- 
 ther that it was an allegorical allusion of a striking kind, 
 to typify the procreative and regenerating powers of na- 
 ture, by which all kinds of being aie reproduced and 
 maintained in the wide universe. It was, no doubt, to 
 tliis fecundating and reproductive energy of nature, that 
 the early idolaters of India paid their adoration ; while 
 their successors, from the propensity to embody every 
 thing abstract into sensible images, transfeiTed it to the 
 gross emblem ; and, forgetting by little and little the 
 ideas of their ancestors, came at length to adore the abo- 
 mination itself, and to rank it amongst their principal 
 divinities. From the same principle, as far as w'e can 
 perceive, arose the u-orship of the Phallus among the 
 Greeks, that of Priapus among the Romans, and proba- 
 bly that of Baal-peor mentioned in Scripture : objects of 
 worship amongst other ancient idolatrous nations, which 
 differed but little from that of' the Lingam, and were 
 equally abominable. 
 
THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 
 
 209 
 
 Vighneswara. 
 
 The god Vighneswara is likewise known by the 
 names of Puliyar, Ganesa^ and Vinayaka. He is one of 
 the most universally adored deities. His image is every 
 where to be seen ; in the temples, in the choultries, in 
 places of public resort, in the streets, in forts, by the side 
 of streams and tanks, on the highways, and generally in 
 all frequented places. He is taken into the houses ; and 
 in all public ceremonies he is worshipped the first of all. 
 We have already spoken of him as the God of Obsta- 
 cles, and mentioned that the honours he received pro- 
 ceed from the apprehension that he would otherwise cast 
 difficulties and impediments before tliem, in the ordinary 
 occurrences of life. 
 
 He derived his birth from the excrement of Parvati. 
 His mother made him her guard and door-keeper. In 
 this situation, the god Kumara, who had long entertain- 
 ed a grudge against him, finding him alone one day, cut 
 off his head. Siva was much arrieved when he heard of 
 the misfortune ; and, being desirous to repair it, he 
 made a vow that he would cut off the head of the first 
 living creature he should find lying down with its crown 
 towards the north, and unite it to the trunk of Vighnes- 
 wara. In setting out on this design, the first animal he 
 met with, lying in that position, was an elephant ; the 
 head of which he cut off, and set it on the neck of Vigh- 
 neswara, and thus restored him to life. Parvati was ter- 
 rified when she first saw her son in this condition : but, 
 by degrees, she became reconciled to the frightful 
 change, and gaily asked him one day what sort of a wife 
 he would wish to marry. The son, who had for a long 
 time looked wdth an incestuous eye on his mother, replied 
 VoL. II. 2D* 
 
J810 
 
 THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 
 
 that he would like one altogether the same as she was. 
 Alarmed at his answer, she exclaimed, in her wrath : “ a 
 “ wife like me ! go then and seek for her, and never j 
 “ mayest thou marry until thou findest exactly such an 
 “ one.” From that time, though Vighneswara has dili- j 
 gently visited all places frequented by women, he has j 
 never found one to suit the condition in the curse ; 
 or rather, no woman will unite with so unseemly a 
 husband. 
 
 Indra or Devendra. 
 
 This God, as we have before stated, is King of the In- 
 ferior Deities, who sojourn with him in his paradise call- 
 ed Swarga, or seat of Sensual Pleasures ; for in this vo- 
 luptuous abode, no other are known. All who are ad- 
 mitted into it have a supply of women equal to the 
 most inordinate concupiscence ; and their vigour is so 
 increased as to render them capable of perpetual fruition. 
 
 It will be naturally supposed that tlie history of a god, 
 who rules over a society like this, must be disgusting, and 
 filled with nauseous obscenity ; and it certainly w'ould be 
 a cruel task to be obliged to submit to the perusal of 
 what the Hindu books contain on the subject of Deven- 
 dra, and of the detestable gratifications in w hich the vota- 
 ries who are admitted into his paradise indulge. But 
 that I may not omit an opportunity of exposing the 
 genius of the Hindu mythology, and that of the abomi- 
 nable books from which the natives imbibe their earliest 
 principles, I am compelled once more to incur the risk 
 of offending modesty, by tracing an outline of a single 
 adventure of this god of the heathens. 
 
THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 
 
 211 
 
 Having conceived a violent passion for the wife of 
 the penitent Gautama, and after meditating long upon 
 the means of gratifying it, he bethought himsell of as- 
 suming the appearance of a dunghill cock. In the shape 
 of this domestic fowl, he took his station close by the 
 house of Gautama ; and in the middle of the night he 
 began to crow, and counterfeited so well that the peni- 
 tent, who happened to be awake, supposing that the dawn 
 was approaching, got out of bed, and went to make his 
 usual ablutions in the river. As soon as Galitama had 
 gone forth, Devendra entered the house, and occupied 
 his place by the side of his wife Ahilya. The husband, 
 when he returned, understood what had taken place in 
 his absence, and in a transport of rage poured out his 
 curses upon both, imprecating that his wife might be 
 transformed into stone, and that her gallant should be 
 withered up, and deprived of the marks of virility. 
 
 The malediction was instantly effectual against both. 
 But the gods and the goddesses of Swarga, having heard 
 , of the mishap of their King, and indeed having ocular 
 testimony of his misfortune, occasioned by the curse of 
 Gautama, after much consultation, found out the means 
 \ of restoring him to his pristine vigour and integrity, by 
 borrowing from a he-goat which they caught. 
 
 This is but a brief, and, I trust, rather a delicate abridg- 
 ment of the adventure ; which is given at full length, in 
 the purana called Indra-purana. 
 
 It makes me blush even to allude to such obscenities ; 
 and the shame they occasion restrains me from entering 
 into an enlarged detail of the fables relating to the divini- 
 ties of India; which are replete with allusions equally 
 abhorrent to modesty and reason. 
 
 The god Devendra rides an elephant, and has a cutting 
 
213 
 
 THE PRINCIPAL HIVINITIES. 
 
 instrument called the Vajra for his weapon of oflence. 
 The colour of his garment is red. 
 
 Those who seek to establish a connection or resem- 
 blance between the false gods of the different idolatrous 
 nations of antiquity, will find several points of approxi- 
 mation, in comparing the divinities of India with those 
 of Greece and Rome. The short account we have given 
 of the history of some of the principal ones ivould serve 
 to establish this congruity. At the same time I do not 
 consider it sufficient to justify, in its full extent, the 
 conclusions drawm from those marks of similitude, by 
 some modem writers, who are desirous of tracing the 
 Indian and Grecian gods from a common origin. 
 
 The metamorphoses of Jupiter ; at one time into a 
 satyr, in the rape of Antiope, at another into a 
 bull, when he carried Eurojia away ; then into a swan, 
 for the purpose of abusing Leda, or into a shower of 
 gold for the corruption of Danae ; and many other 
 changes, for facilitating his amours, have a great resem- 
 blance to the adventures of Brahma and of Vishnu. 
 Nor does the Lingam of the Hindus, as we have shewn, 
 differ widely from the Phallus of the Greeks and the 
 Priapus of the Latins. 
 
 But there is another particular in which the gods of 
 these different nations seem to bear a more striking analo- 
 gy to each other than in any other yet mentioned ; and 
 that is the arms or weapons which they respectively bore. 
 The gods of Greece w^ere always represented armed ; 
 as the Hindu gods are also. 
 
 The Greeks armed Saturn wnth a scythe, Jupiter with 
 the thunder, Neptune with the trident, and Pluto with 
 his tw'o pronged fork. They assigned a club to Her- 
 cules, a thyrsis to Bacchus ; to Minerva a shield or 
 Egi s, and to Diana the bow' and arrow's. 
 
THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 
 
 213 
 
 Tlie Hindus, in like manner, have put arms in the 
 hands of each of their principal deities, with the excep- 
 tion of Brahma ; who, as we have seen, neither wears 
 arms, nor rides ; wlio has no temple, nor sacrifice, nor 
 any other w'orship whatever. 
 
 Tlie various weapons which the Hindus assign to their 
 several gods, and which appear to be such as were an- 
 ciently used by that people in war, are thirty-two in 
 number. Of these, some are missile, such as the arrow ; 
 the vana, composed of combustible materials, and the 
 chakramy which will be afterwards mentioned. Some 
 are defensive, as tlie shield ; but the chief part are offen- 
 sive. It is not easy to describe, in a European tongue, 
 the form of the different sorts of arms that w ere anciently 
 used by the Hindus in battle, and which are still to be 
 seen in tlie hands of their idols. No just idea of them 
 can be communicated without a drawing. Of the wea- 
 pons, not missile, some are used to stab, some to hack, 
 and some to fell. Others seem intended for grappling, 
 and some for w arding off. 
 
 Five w'eapons are given to Vishnu, called in the ag- 
 gregate Panchayudha, and which he severally used, ac- 
 cording to the various characters which he assumed. 
 Their names are Sankha, Chakratriy Khadga^ Gada, Sa- 
 ranga. The two principal, with w'hich he is most com- 
 monly equipped, are the sankha, which he w'ields in his 
 left hand, and the chakram, W'hich he bears in the right. 
 
 Siva has tw’o W’eapons, the trisula and the damru ; and 
 every other principal deity lias his peculiar instrument, 
 with which he is always represented. 
 
 Another point of resemblance between the Hindu 
 gods and those of ancient Greece consists in the manner 
 in which they were mounted. The Greeks and Romans 
 
214 
 
 THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 
 
 represented Jupiter as seated on an eagle, Neptune in a 
 chariot drawn by two sea-horses, Pluto in one drawn by 
 four black horses. Mars mounted on a cock, Bacchus 
 with a team of tigers, Juno with her peacocks, and Pallas 
 with the solemn owl. 
 
 The Hindus have, in like manner, assigned to each of 
 their chief gods their peculiar vehicle, Brahma alone be- 
 ing excepted. Vishnu generally rode on the bird Garu- 
 da, and Siva on the bull. 
 
 Following up this subject, we shall give a brief ac- 
 count of the equipage and arms of the other leading 
 deities, as well as of the eight gods who are known by 
 the appellation of Ashta-dik pala-guru, or those who pre- 
 side over the eight principal points of the compass. For 
 each portion of the world has a god, who specially pre- 
 sides over it, and favours it u'ith his protection. The 
 names of these gods, with their appropriate vehicle, arms, 
 habiliment, and the quarter of the earth to which they 
 severally belong, are briefly expressed in the following 
 table. 
 
 The Ashta-dik-pala-guru, or gods who preside over 
 the eight principal divisions of the world. 
 
 Quarters over 
 
 Names, which they preside. Howmounted. Weapons. Colour of Clothing. 
 I.Ikdra - East The Elephant Vajra Red. 
 
 2. Agni - South-East The Ram Sikhi Violet. 
 
 3. Yama - South - The Buffalo Danda Bright-yellow. 
 
 4. Nirut South-west Man - Cookah Deep-yellow. 
 
 5. Varuna West The Crocodile Pasa White. 
 
 6. Vayu - North-west.The Antelope Dwaja Blue or Indigo. 
 
 7. Kuvera North The Horse KhadgaRose colour. 
 
 8. IsANA North-east The Bull Trisula Grey. 
 
WORSHIP OF ANIMALS. 
 
 215 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Of the Worship of Animals., and that of the Butam or 
 Malpjolent Beings. 
 
 OF all kinds of superstition by which the human in- 
 tellect has been clogged, degraded, and debased, the 
 worship of Brute Animals seems to be the most humili- 
 ating to our species. If we, did not attend to the origin 
 and the predisposing causes, we could hardly credit that 
 rational beings should descend so far beneath the digni- 
 ty of their nature as to stoop to the adoration of brutes. 
 But it may be suggested, as some apology forthi^ mon- 
 strous aberration of human reason, that, in all ages, the 
 superstitious bias has received an impulse, through the 
 channel of Religion, from motives of fear or interest ; and 
 that it has been a natural impression amongst all idola- 
 trous nations to pay adoration to whatever can be detri- 
 mental or useful. 
 
 It is sufficiently known that animal worship was es- 
 tablished and universally observed amongst the Egyp- 
 tians. The noxious kinds, and the useful, shared alike 
 in their adoration. They erected altars and offered in- 
 cense to the Bull Apis, the Bird Ibis, to the Kite, the 
 Crocodile, and a vast variety of other animals. 
 
 The Egyptians, however, limited their religious adora- 
 tion of animals to a small number of sorts, the most 
 beneficial or the most dangerous ; while the Hindus, in 
 
216 
 
 WORSHIP OF ANIMALS. 
 
 all things extravagant, pay honour and worship, less or 
 more solemn, to almost every living creature, whether 
 quadruped, bird, or reptile. The Ape, the Tiger, the ' 
 Elephant, the Horse, the Ox, the Stag, the Sheep, the 
 Hog, the Dog, the Cat, the Rat, the Peacock, the 
 Eagle, the Cock, the Hawk, the Serpent, the Cameleon, 
 the Lizard, the Tortoise, all kinds of amphibious crea- 
 tures, Fi'ihes, and even Insects, have been consecrated 
 by Hindu folly. Every living creature that can be sup- 
 posed capable of effecting good or evil in the smallest 
 degree, has become a sort of divinity, and is entitled to 
 adoration and sacrifice. 
 
 But, amidst the variety of animals, some have been 
 more interesting than others, and have consequently re- 
 ceived higher honours ; either on account of their supe- 
 rior utility, or the greater dread they inspire. Here we 
 may rank the Cow, the Ox, the Ape, the bird of prey 
 known there under the name of Garuda^ and the serpent 
 Capella. We shall add a few words concerning each ol' 
 these four species, whose images are represented in eve- 
 JT quarter. 
 
 The Ape^ known by the name of Hanuman. 
 
 The motive which induced the early idolaters of In- 
 dia to make the Ape one of their principal divinities was, 
 in all probability, founded on the striking resemblance 
 which they remarked between that animal and man, in 
 exterior appearance and physical relations. They con- 
 sidered it as holding the first rank in the order of brutes, 
 and consequently as the king of the animals ; and, 
 after deifying it, they chose to perpetuate its honours by 
 
THE WORSHIP OF ANIMALS. 
 
 217 
 
 inventing the infinite collection of fables with which their 
 books are filled. 
 
 It was with an army of Apes that their great hero Rama 
 conquered Lanka, or Ceylon ; and the achievements of 
 -this host of satyrs, under the command of the great Ape 
 Hanuman, occupies the greater part of the Ramayana, 
 the most celebrated of their historical works. The worship 
 of this leader extends over all the territory of India, and 
 especially amongst the followers of Vishnu, but the 
 sect of Siva does not admit of his claim. 
 
 His idol is every where seen in the temples, choultries, 
 and other places frequented by the people ; and it is also fre- 
 quently found in the woods, and under thick trees in desert 
 places. But particularly where the Vishnuvites abound, 
 one meets almost every where with the favourite idol of 
 Hanuman. The sacrifices offered to it consist of the 
 simplest productions of nature. 
 
 In parts frequented by apes, devotees are often seen to 
 make it their duty to give them part of their food j and 
 they consider it as a very meritorious act. 
 
 Basnva or The Bull. 
 
 The Bull is the favourite God of the worshippers of 
 Siva. They constantly represent the God as its rider, 
 and as performing all his journies on its back. The 
 w orship of this animal, as well as of the Cow, is well 
 know n to have prevailed in many ancient nations ; and 
 the superstitious reverence of the Egj’ptians for their 
 God Apis was carried to the utmost excess. 
 
 Bryant, in his Treatise of Mythology, seems to be of 
 opinion that the first origin of the worship of these sa- 
 cred animals, so universal among ancient nations, pro- 
 VoL. II. 2 E 
 
21S 
 
 THE WOKSllIP OF ANIMALS. 
 
 eeedeci from the respect in \\ hich the first men long con- 
 tinued to hold the Ark of Noah, of which they consider- 
 ed the Cow as the symbol. I am surprized that the 
 iearneei writer should have proposed so improbable a so- 
 huion, when a natural and reasonable one occurs to every 
 mind that attends to the genius of idolatry : that the 
 worship and reverence so universally paid to this species 
 of animals proceeded from their great utility and the in- 
 dispensable services they render to society. These ser- 
 vices are so essential to the Hindus, that we may boldly 
 assert that, without the help of the ox and the supplies 
 from the cow', they would be unable to exist. They saw 
 no other animal so useful, and they naturally regarded it 
 as a beneficent God, and one of the most sacred objects 
 of w'orship. 
 
 The image of it is seen in almost every temple, and in 
 most other places frequented by the people. 
 
 But among all the worshippers of this animal, the sect 
 of Siva pay it the most particular devotion ; and, in the 
 districts where they predominate, nothing is to be seen 
 but the representation of their favourite idol Basvva, or 
 the Bull, on a pedestal, lying flat on his belly. 
 
 Monday in every week, as before hinted, is set apart 
 to the honour of Baswa. On that day, the Sivites give 
 repose to their cattle, and release them from labour. 
 
 The B rd Garuda. 
 
 The Garuda is of the nature of a bird of prey, and is 
 held in the highest veneration by the Hindus, and par- 
 ticularly by the tribe of Vishnu. It is the ordinary ve- 
 hicle on which that God performs his joumies. The 
 Vishnuvite Brahmans, every morning after ablution,^ 
 
THE WORSHIP OF ANIMALS. 
 
 219 
 
 wait for the appearance of one of those birds, in order to 
 pay it adoration. 
 
 It is every where to be seen about the villages. It is 
 bigger than our falcon, but much smaller than the least 
 of our eagles. Its plumage is handsome. The feathers 
 of the head, neck, and breast, are of a very bright and 
 glossy white; and those of the back, wings, and tail, 
 form a sort of mantle of a beautiful brown. But when 
 it approaches near, it becomes offensive, from its un- 
 pleasant odour. Its ordinary cry is a kind of kree* 
 kree! uttered with a hoarse and croaking scream, pro- 
 longing the sound at the end in a very disagreeable 
 way. 
 
 Although it appears a vigorous bird ; and it actually 
 possesses great advantages in its strong hooked bill and 
 powerful talons ; yet it never attacks other birds that 
 can oppose the least resistance. It by no means has the 
 courage of the hawk. Its timid and indolent nature 
 would rather rank it with the buzzard or raven ; though 
 it does not, like them, pounce upon carrion. Its ordi- 
 nary food is the lizards, mice, and, above all, the snakes, 
 which it carries up alive in its claws to a great height, 
 and there lets them fall upon the ground. It descends 
 after them, and, if it does not find them dead after one 
 fall, it gives them a second, and then quietly retires to 
 some neighbouring tree to devour them. 
 
 It is probably the service which it does to society, in 
 destroying noxious reptiles and other disgusting animals, 
 that has been the means of protecting it, and raising it 
 to the rank of a principal divinity. It w'as the same mo- 
 tive that prompted the Egyptians to consecrate the Ibis, 
 and pay it homage. 
 
220 
 
 THE WORSHIP OF ANIMALS. 
 
 The Garuda also devours frogs and little fishes, which 
 it catches with its claws in shallow waters. It is also a 
 dangerous enemy to the poultry yard ; but it is so 
 cowardly that an angry hen can put it to flight ; and it 
 can only venture on some unguarded chicken. 
 
 I have entered into these details, because the bird 
 seems but little known to our European ornithologists. 
 Being under the protection of superstition, it approaches 
 a man without fear, and is seen every where about the 
 villages, from which it seldom strays. It is of heavy 
 flight, and never mounts high in the air. 
 
 Sunday is the day particularly set apart for the worship 
 of this sacred fowl. Troops of people are then seen 
 uniting in their adoration and sacrifice ; after which, they 
 call the birds, and throw bits of meat in the air, which 
 they nimbly catch with their talons. 
 
 It would be held as heinous an offence, particularly 
 among the followers of Vishnu, to kill one of these fowls 
 as to commit manslaughter ; and when they find one 
 dead, they bury it ceremoniously, and crowds of people 
 attend, with instruments of music, and with every de- 
 monstration of deep affliction. 
 
 They observe the same practice on the death of an 
 ape or of a Capella serpent, and use many ceremonies 
 for the purpose of expiating the destruction of tliose sa- 
 cred creatures. 
 
 The Serpent. 
 
 Of all noxious animals found in India, there are none 
 that occasion more frequent or more fatal evils than the 
 serpents. Those inflicted by tlic tiger, though very 
 
THE WORSHIP OF ANIMALS. 
 
 221 
 
 frightful also, more seldom occur and are less univer- 
 sally felt than what proceed from the venom of these 
 dangerous reptiles. During my whole residence in In- 
 dia, hardly a month has passed without some person in 
 my neighbourhood suffering sudden death by the bite of 
 a serpent. 
 
 One of the commonest, and at the same time the most 
 venomous, as its bite sometimes occasions instant death, 
 is what in Europe is generally called the Capella. It is 
 met with, unfortunately, every where ; and it is for that 
 reason that the Hindus offer sacrifice and adoration to it, 
 above all others. It is more venerated than the rest of 
 the pernicious creatures, because it is the most dreaded 
 of any. Fear of the dreadful and frequent evils which it 
 occasions, has indeed made it the most sacred of animals, 
 upon the same principle that the Egyptians pay divine 
 honours to the crocodile. 
 
 In order to impress more strongly on the mind, the 
 danger of this baleful agent, and the necessity for wor- 
 shipping it, so as to render it propitious, the Hindus 
 have filled their books with tales concerning so active an 
 enemy of the human race ; and, on the other hand, 
 figures of them are represented in most of the temples 
 and on the other public monuments and buildings. 
 They seek out their holes, which are generally excavated 
 in the hillocks of earth thrown up by the kariah or white 
 ants ; and when they find one, they go from time to time, 
 and offer to it oblations of milk, bananas, and other arti- 
 cles for nourishment. 
 
 When one of these dangerous guests intrudes himself 
 into their houses, so far from turning him out, many of 
 them will rather make sacrifices to him, and give him 
 food every day. Some instances are known where Ca- 
 
222 
 
 THE WORSHIP OF ANIMALS. 
 
 pclIa serpents have been entertained in houses, in this 
 manner, for several years ; but in no case are they ever 
 injured, and it would be a heinous crime to kill them. 
 
 One of the eighteen annual festivals of the Hindus is 
 especially consecrated to the worship of the serpent Ca. 
 pella, which is celebrated on the fifth day of the moon in 
 December, called for that reason JVaga Panchami ; naga 
 being the Hindu name for this serpent. 
 
 Temples are also erected to them in many places, of 
 which there is one of great celebrity in the west of the 
 Mysore, at a place called Subrahmanya; a name derived 
 from the great serpent Subraya, which is renowned in 
 Hindu fable, and the principal deity honoured at this 
 pagoda. 
 
 When the festival comes round, a vast crowd of peo- 
 ple assembles to offer sacrifices to the creeping gods, in 
 their sacred dome. Many serpents, both of the Capella 
 and other species, have taken up their residence within 
 it, in holes made for the purpose. They are kept and 
 well fed by the presiding Brahmans with milk, butter, 
 and bananas. By the protection they here enjoy they 
 multiply exceedingly, and may be seen swarming from 
 every eranny in the temple : and a terrible sacrilege it 
 would be to injure or molest them. 
 
 But the Hindu superstition is so inexhaustible, that 
 Other kinds of animals, besides those we have enumera- 
 ted,* come in for a share of their adoration. Even fishes 
 are not excluded. Devout Brahmans are often seen 
 casting rice into the waters to feed them ; and, in many 
 places, all fishing is prohibited. In times before the Pa- 
 gan Prinees ceased to rule in the Mysore, they made it 
 their constant practice to throw a quantity of boiled rice 
 into the Cavery for the sustenance of the fishes. 
 
MALEVOLENT FIENDS. 
 
 223 
 
 The Bhuta or Malevolent Fiends. 
 
 All nations of the earth, civilized or barbarous, have 
 acknowledged the existence of certain evil spirits, whose 
 nature and constant employment it is to injure men in 
 various ways. Revealed religion alone gives just and ra- 
 tional views of the subject. Superstition, on the other 
 hand, engendered by fear and nourished by ignorance, 
 has conjured up a thousand absurd and ridiculous fa- 
 bles, on a subject so well suited to them. People, who 
 have not surmounted their crude notions concerning the 
 general dispensation of Providence, when they find them- 
 selves unable to discover the causes of the cross acci- 
 dents, however common, which befal them in the ordi- 
 nary course of nature, cannot help ascribing them to the 
 agency of invisible and wicked beings, who delight in 
 bringing upon men the various ills and miseries to which 
 they are exposed. The next step is to seek to propi- 
 tiate the fiend by prayers, adoration, and sacrifice. 
 
 We have seen, in the course of this work, to what 
 pitch the Hindus carry their credulity in this particular. 
 The worship of demons is universally established and 
 practised amongst them. They call them Bhuta^ which 
 also signifies Element ; as if the elements were in fact 
 nothing else but wicked spirits personified, from whose 
 wrath and fury all the disturbances of nature arise. Ma- 
 lign spirits are also called by the generic names of Pisa- 
 cha (or Pishashu) and Daitya. 
 
 In many parts we meet with temples specially devoted 
 to the worship of wicked spirits. There are districts 
 also in which it almost exclusively predominates. Such 
 is that long chain of mountains which extend on the 
 
224 
 
 MALEVOLENT FIENDS. 
 
 west of the Mysore, w'here the greater part of the in- 
 habitants practise no other worship but that of the devil. 
 Every house and each family has its own particular Bhu- 
 ta, who stands for its tutelary god ; and to whom daily 
 prayers and propitiatory sacrifices are offered, not only 
 to incline him to withhold his own machinations, but to 
 defend them from the evils which the Bhutas of their 
 neighbours or enemies might inflict. In those parts, the 
 image of the demon is every where seen, represented in 
 a hideous form, and often by a shapeless stone. Each 
 of these fiends has his particular name ; and some, who 
 are more powerful and atrocious than others, are prefer- 
 red in the same proportion. 
 
 All evil demons love bloody offerings ; and therefore 
 their ardent worshippers sacrifice living victims, such 
 as buffaloes, hogs, rams, cocks, and the like. When 
 rice is offered, it must be tinged with blood ; and they 
 are also soothed with inebriating drinks. In offerings 
 of flowers, the red only are presented to them. 
 
 The worship of the Bhutas and the manner of con- 
 ducting it are explained in the fourth veda of the Hindus 
 called Atharvana-veda ; and it is on that account very 
 carefully concealed by the Brahmans. 
 
 I have very generally found that the direct worship of 
 demons is most prevalent in deserts, solitary places, and 
 mountainous tracts ; the reason of which is that in such 
 parts the people are less civilized than those of the plains, 
 more ignorant and timid, and therefore more prone to 
 superstition. They are therefore more easily led to at- 
 tribute all their misadventures and afflictions to the dis- 
 pleasure of their demon. 
 
 Many hordes of savages, w'ho are scattered amongst 
 fhe forests on the coast of Malabar, and in the woods 
 
AIALEVOLENT FIENDS. 
 
 225 
 
 and mountains of the Carnatic, who are known by the 
 names of Kadu, Kuruberu, Soligueru, and Iruler, ac- 
 knowledge no other deity but the Bhutas. 
 
 The nature of the Hindus is so much disposed to 
 idolatry^ that all visible objects are adored, whether ani- 
 mated or inanimate. Of the latter class, the vegetable 
 race affords them several subjects of particular adoration. 
 
 The feast of Divuligay, formerly described, is the oc- 
 casion generally taken to pay special reverence to plants, 
 by offering them sacrifices. The farmers repeat them 
 many times in the course of the year. 
 
 Among the trees there are some which the Hindu su- 
 perstition has distinguished with particular honours, on 
 account of the good or evil they are capable of pro- 
 ducing. Of the mischievous kind, there is a prickly 
 shrub, the points of which are venomous ; to avert the 
 effect of which they offer a sacrifice of a particular na- 
 ture. It consists in sticking rags on its branches, with 
 which it is sometimes wholly covered. Those who have 
 travelled in the southern provinces must have observed 
 many examples of this. 
 
 Amongst the useful trees which are worshipped with 
 particular reverence, less regard is shewn to those which 
 excel in fruit, than to such as afford the coolest shade by 
 the thickness of their foliage. The principal of these 
 are the ^ru/i or ^ras Maram^ V epan or Bevina Maraviy 
 Alimaram^ and some others which yield a grateful shel- 
 ter from the burning climate. 
 
 But the most celebrated of all is that which goes by 
 the name of Alimaram. The branches of this tree ex- 
 tend sometimes to the distance of more than a quarter of 
 a league. It darts roots from its branches, which hang_^ 
 like a tissue of fibre;s, till they reach the ground, into 
 
 VoL. II. 2 F 
 
226 
 
 MALEVOLENT FIENDS. 
 
 which they gradually make their way; each creating,. in 
 a short time, a new trunk, M'^hich invigorates the branch 
 it descended from, and shoots out new ones ; which, af- 
 ter a while, eject young fibres in their turn, to produce 
 fresh trunks to the tree ; which thus continues to expand, 
 as long as it finds an appropriate soil, or meets with no 
 insuperable obstruction^ 
 
 I 
 
INF£RkOR CASTS. 
 
 827 
 
 i 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Oj' the Pariahs and other Inferior Casts of Hindus. 
 
 AFTER having so long dwelt upon the Brahmans, 
 in particular, and the otlier casts of Hindus, in general ; 
 I am called upon to say something concerning certain 
 tribes, who, from tlicir inferiority of rank, and the con- 
 tempt in which they are held, are considered as a sepa- 
 rate race, cut off from the great family of society. The 
 best known and the most numerous of these is the tribe 
 of the Pareyer, as they are called in the Tamul tongue, 
 from which is corrupted the Euro^iean term Pariah. 
 The cast is found every where, and I compute that it 
 must include at least a fifth of the whole population of 
 the peninsula. It is divided, like the other subordinate 
 tribes, into several classes, each of which disputes with 
 the rest for superiority ; but they are all held in equal 
 contempt by the generality of the other classes. 
 
 What I have to report concerning this cast will form 
 a decided contrast with what I have remarked relative to 
 the Brahmans, and will afford an additional proof of what 
 I have so often repeated, that the Hindus are unable, un- 
 der any circumstances, to preserve a middle course. It 
 M'ill be now shewn that they are not less vehement in 
 the contempt and distance with which they treat the per- 
 .sons here alluded to, than in the honours which they ac- 
 
2?8 
 
 INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 cumulate on such of them as are elevated above the rest 
 by having acquired a sacred character. 
 
 In all districts of the peninsula, the Pariahs are entire- 
 ly subjected to the other casts, and rigorously treated by 
 them all. In general, they even have not permission to 
 cultivate the ground for their own use, but are compel- 
 led to hire themselves to other casts ; for whom, for a 
 small allowance, they are obliged to undergo the most se- 
 vere labours, and to submit to be beaten at pleasure ; 
 and, in truth, the Pariahs of India 'are not to be consi- 
 dered in any other light than as the bom slaves of the 
 other tribes. At least there is as great a distance be- 
 tween them and the other casts as subsists in our colo- 
 nies between the planters and their slaves. These lead 
 not a harder life than the Pariahs, and the usage of both 
 is equally severe. 
 
 The distance and aversion which the other casts, and 
 the Brahmans in particular, manifest for the Pariahs are 
 carried so far that, in many places, their very approach 
 is sufficient to pollute the whole neighbourhood. They 
 are not permitted to enter the street where the Brahmans 
 live. If they venture to transgress, those superior be- 
 ings W'ould have the right, not to assault them them- 
 selves, because it would be pollution to touch them even 
 with the end of a long pole, but they w’ould be entitled 
 to give them a sound beating by the hands of others ; 
 or even to m.ake an end of them, which has often hap- 
 pened, by the orders of the native Princes, without dis- 
 pute or inquiry. 
 
 He who is touched, even without l^eing conscious of 
 it, by a Pariah, is defiled, and cannot be purified from 
 the stain, or communicate with any individual, without 
 undergoing a ^'ariety of ceremonies, more or less diffi- 
 
INFERIOK CASTS. 
 
 229 
 
 cult according to the rank of the individual and the cus- 
 tom of the cast to which he belongs. 
 
 Any person who, from whatever accident, has eaten 
 with Pariahs, or of food provided by them ; or even 
 drank of the water which they have drawn, or which 
 was contained in earthen vessels which they had handled ; 
 any one who has set his foot in their houses or permit- 
 ted them to enter his own, would be proscribed, without 
 pity, from his cast, and would never be restored with- 
 out a number of troublesome ceremonies and great ex- 
 pence. And if he were known to join in carnal inter- 
 course with a female of the tribe, he would be treated 
 with equal severity. 
 
 This extreme detestation of the Pariahs by other casts, 
 is not carried to the same extent in all districts. It pre- 
 vails chiefly in the southern parts of the peninsula, and 
 becomes less apparent in the north. In that quarter of 
 the Mysore, where I am now writing these pages, the 
 higher casts endure the approach of the Pariahs ; for 
 they suffer them to enter that part of the house tvhich 
 shelters the cows ; and in some cases they have been 
 permitted to shew their head, and one foot, in the apart- 
 ment of the master of the house. I have been informed 
 that this wide distinction between these casts becomes 
 less apparent as you go northward, till at last it almost 
 totally disappears. 
 
 But the distinction itself appears to be of very old 
 standing, being particularly referred to in several of the 
 ancient Puranas ; and it is more than probable that this 
 despised tribe was originally created by the union of in- 
 dividuals of all casts who were expelled for bad conduct 
 and transgression of the rules of their order ; and who 
 had nothing to look to or fear after this absolute exclu- 
 
230 
 
 INFEKIOR CASTS. 
 
 sion from the society of honourable men. They would 
 naturally be led to give themselves up to every excess, 
 without restraint. In that abandoned course of life they 
 still continue ; and all tlie other casts would probably 
 have fallen into it also, or, if it were possible, into a 
 worse, if it had not been for the wholesome restraint ol' 
 private duty and domestic discipline. The distance, 
 however, which exists between the Pariahs and the other 
 tribes does not appear to have been so great, at the first, 
 as it is at present. Although the lowest of the casts, it 
 is ranked, nevertheless, with that of the Sudras ; and 
 they are considered to have derived their origion from 
 the same source. Even at the present time, they pass 
 for the descendants of tlie first cast among the Cultiva- 
 tors ; who do not disdain to call them their children. 
 But we must also observe, that if the better class of the 
 Sudras considers the Pariahs to be sprung from the same 
 stock with themselves, and represents them, in specula- 
 tion, as their children, they are very far from reducing 
 their theory to practice. In no instance, indeed, can 
 the Hindus have shewn a wider difierence between their 
 professions and practice. 
 
 The European inhabitants are under the necessity of 
 employing Pariahs for servants, because a great part of 
 their work could not be done by persons of any other 
 cast. There is, for example, no member of a Sudra 
 tribe that would submit to brush the shoes of his mas- 
 ter, or to draw off his boots to clean them ; but far less 
 could any such person be induced, by any reward, to 
 be his cook ; because the Europeans make no secret of 
 violating the prejudices of the people amongst whom 
 they live, by commanding beef to be prepared for their 
 tables. They have no other choice, therefore, but to 
 
INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 231 
 
 make use of tlie unscrupulous Pariah in that depart- 
 ment of their household. And it may well be imagin- 
 ed, that if Europeans are detested by the superstitious 
 Hindus, on account of the nature of their food, this sen- 
 timent will not be weakened by considering what de- 
 graded beings are necessarily employed in preparing it. 
 For the prejudices of the country will not permit that 
 any one but a Pariah shall eat what has been dressed by 
 a Pariah. 
 
 It cannot be questioned that the want of delicacy on 
 the part of the Europeans, in admitting Pariahs into 
 their menial service, gives more offence and occasions 
 more disgust to the Hindus, than any thing besides, and 
 is the principal cause of preventing persons of a decent 
 cast from serving them in that capacity. They are ex- 
 posed, therefore, to faithless domestics, in whom they 
 cannot confide. And if, at any time, one sees in the 
 houses of the Europeans any others besides Pariahs, 
 they are generally found to be infamous and unprincipled 
 fellows, driven from their casts and from all society, 
 and compelled to take refuge in the most degrading ser- 
 vitude. It is unquestionable that the worst of the whole 
 race, and the most vicious, are such as follow this course 
 of life ; for no reputable or well-behaved man amongst 
 them would endure to be thus confounded with the 
 Pariahs. 
 
 Another consideration, which creates a dislike to serve 
 Europeans, is the great distance at which they keep their 
 domestics, and the indignities and bad treatment which 
 they frequently make them submit to, but above all the 
 kick of a foot covered with the pollution of a leathern 
 slioe or a boot. " 
 
23S 
 
 INFEUIOK CASTS. 
 
 The Pariahs, who are aecustomed to servile treatment 
 from their infancy, patiently endure all these indignities; 
 but it is far otherwise with the other casts, who are by 
 nature high-spirited and proud. Besides, the condition 
 of a servant in India is by no means degrading. The 
 footman eats with his master, the maid- servant with her 
 mistress, and they all go on side by side, in the inter- 
 course of life. The conduct of the European settlers 
 being so opposite in this respect, it is no wonder that 
 their service should be held in dislike by all persons of 
 decent sentiments and habits, and be left entirely to the 
 refuse of all casts. 
 
 But, if the cast of the Pariahs be held in low and vile 
 repute, it must be admitted that it deserves to be so, by 
 the conduct of the individuals, and the sort of life which 
 they lead. The most of them sell themselves, with 
 their wives and children, for slaves to the farmers; who 
 make them undergo the hardest labours of agriculture, 
 and treat them with the utmost severity. They are like- 
 wise the scavengers of the villages, their business being 
 to keep the thoroughfares clean, and to remove all the 
 filth as it collects in the houses. Yet these, notwith- 
 standing the meanness of their employment, are general- 
 ly better treated than the others ; because there is super- 
 added to the disgusting employment we have mentioned 
 the cleanlier duty of distributing the waters of the tanks 
 and eanals for irrigating the rice plantations of the inhabi- 
 tants of the village ; who, for that reason, cannot avoid 
 feeling some kindness in their behalf. 
 
 Some of them, who do not live in this state of servi- 
 tude, are employed to take care of the horses of individu- 
 als, or of the army, or of elephants and oxen. They are 
 
INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 238 
 
 also the porters, and run upon errands and messages. 
 In some parts they are permitted to cul ixate the lands,’ 
 for their own benefit ; and in others they can exercise 
 the profession of weavers. Of late, they h..ve occasion- 
 ally been admitted into the European armies, and those 
 of the native Princes, in which they have sometimes at- 
 tained considerable distinction. In point of courage, 
 they are not inferior to any other Hindu cast ; but the 
 education they receive deprives them of all the other 
 qualities of a soldier. It is difiicult to imbue them with 
 militarv discipline ; and, on the other hand, they are en- 
 tirely devoid of every principle of honour. Knowing that 
 they have nothing to lose in the esteem of the other 
 casts, they give themselves up without shame or scruple 
 to all sorts of vice ; and the greatest irregularities reign 
 amongst them, without affecting them with the slightest 
 remorse. 
 
 The vices of the Pariahs lean to sensuality, as those of 
 the Brahmans do to knavcr}% There is a coarseness 
 about them which excites abhorrence. Their harsh and 
 rugged features betray their inward character; yet it 
 may be truly said, that the grossness of their manners 
 and demeanour exceeds that of their external figure. 
 They are exceedingly addicted to drunkenness ; a vice 
 much abhorred by all other Hindus. The liquor w hich 
 they most enjoy is the juice of the palm, which they 
 commonly drink wdien in a state of fermentation ; and, 
 though it then stinks abominably, they seem to take it 
 for nectar. Their intemperance not only occasions fre- 
 quent quarrels amongst them, but leads to the cruel treat- 
 ment of their wives. In that condition, they often fall 
 upon them with blows, even xvhen in a state of pregnan- 
 cy; and we may ascribe in a gi'eat degree to the barbarous 
 ' VoL. II. 2 G 
 
234 
 
 INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 treatment they experience from their drunken husbands 
 ■ the greater frequency of abortion among the Pariah wo- 
 men than in any of the other casts. 
 
 But that which renders them most odious to the other 
 Hindus is the abominable food with which they gorge 
 thc'r appetites. Attracted by the stench of a rotten car- 
 cass, they fly in crow’ds to dispute the infectious carrion 
 with the dogs, the ravens, and other birds of prey. They 
 share the mass of corruption, and retire to their dens to 
 devour it without rice, seasoning, or any other accompani- 
 ment. Little do they care of what disease the animal 
 may have died ; for they make no scruple to poison se- 
 cretly their neighbour’s oxen and cows, to provide a 
 savage repast for their ravenous appetites. All animals 
 that die, in any place, belong of right to the bailiff 
 of, the village ; who disposes of the carcasses, at a 
 low price, to the Pariahs in the neighbourhood. What 
 they do not immediately consume they dry in the sun, 
 to be laid up for a future occasion. In almost all their 
 houses, lumps of carrion, strung together, are seen hang- 
 ing on the wall. The infectious odour is not regarded 
 by the inhabitants, but it is quickly perceived by a travel- 
 ler passing through the village, who is at no loss to de- 
 termine what cast he is amongst. To this horrible food 
 may be attributed many of the contagious diseases w'hich 
 prevail constantly in their habitations, from which the 
 other casts in the neighbourhood are wholly exempt. 
 
 After this description, is it to be wondered at that the 
 Pariahs are held in abhorrence by the other casts ? Arc 
 these to be blamed for refusing all connection with such 
 wretches, and obliging them to live apart, and in villages 
 wholly detached from the rest of the population ? 
 
INFERIOR CASTS, 
 
 236 
 
 Besides the cast of Pariahs, ‘wiiich is spread over all 
 the provinces of the peninsula, there are some others, 
 peculiar to certain districts, which equal, or even sur- 
 pass it, in brutality of sentiment, irregularity of life, and 
 also in the abhorrence in which they are held. Such is 
 the cast of the Fallisy which is little known but in the 
 kingdom of Madura and other parts bordering on Cape 
 Comorin. They boast a superiority over the Pariahs, 
 because they do not eat the flesh of the cow or ox ; but 
 the Pariahs hold them to be far beneath themselves, as be- 
 longing to the left-handy of which they are the dregs ; 
 whilst they themselves pertain to the right handy of 
 which they account themselves the firmest support. The 
 history of the two hands we have already given ; and 
 we failed not to commemorate the eflfectual aid which 
 the Pariahs are accustomed to lend in turning the tide of 
 battle against the heresy of the left-hand. 
 
 In the mountainous tract of the Malabar Coast there 
 is to be seen a cast still more low and depressed than any 
 we have yet mentioned. They are called Pulias ; who 
 are considered to be far beneath the beasts who traverse 
 their forests, and equally share the dominion in them. It 
 is not permitted to them to erect a house, but only a sort 
 of shed, supported on four bamboos, and open on all 
 sides. It shelters them from the rain, but not from the 
 injuries of the weather. They dare not walk on the 
 common road, as their steps would defile it. When 
 they see any person coming at a distance, they must give 
 him notice, by a loud cry, and make a great circuit to 
 let him pass. The least distance they are permitted to 
 keep from persons of a different cast, is about a hundred 
 paces. 
 
236 
 
 INFEKIOR CASTS. 
 
 In all the province* of the peninsula, the cast of the 
 Shoemakers is held to be very infamous, and as belou^ 
 the Pariahs. They are inferior to them, from the base- 
 ness of their sentiments, and the total want of honour and 
 of all feeling of shame. Their manners are also more 
 gross, and they are more addicted to gluttony and in- 
 temperance. I'hey get meny towards the evenings; 
 and it is not long before the villages resound with the cries 
 and quarrels occasioned by their cups. They are all 
 wretchedly poor ; even beneath the level of the Pariahs. 
 These, though rarely, enjoy a temporary abundance, but 
 the wretched Chakili, or coblers, exist in absolute indi- 
 gence. But they can the less complain, as their misery 
 arises chiefly out of their ebriety ; a privilege which is 
 nearly peculiar to themsCives. They will never work 
 W'hile they have any thing to drink, and they never re- 
 turn to their work till their purse is exhausted ; passing 
 in this manner, alternately from labour to drunkenness, 
 and from drunkenness to labour. Their women do not 
 allow themselves to be surpassed by their husbands in 
 any vicious habit, and particularly in that of intemper- 
 ance. And nothing more need be said of their morals 
 or beha^’io’ar. 
 
 Among the Pariahs, there is one sort greatly elevated 
 above the rest; uith whom they form no alliance, but 
 consider themselves as their Gurus or Faluversy as they 
 are called. They are likewise named, in derision, the 
 Brahmans of the Panahs; in allusion, no doubt, to their 
 conducting the marriage-rites and otlier ceremonies of 
 that people. They likewise publish a part of the lies 
 contained in the almanac ; such as the good and evil 
 days, the favourable and unfavourable moments for com- 
 mencing an enterprize ; and other follies. But they are 
 
INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 237 
 
 not allo^v’cd to be editors of the astronomical part of the 
 publication, relating to the eclipses, new and full moon, 
 and such important matters ; which entirely belong to 
 the Brahmans. 
 
 Besides those low and despised sects, there are many 
 others, which, though greatly above them, are still re- 
 garded with contempt by the generality of Hindus, and 
 held to occupy tlie lowest rank of all the kinds of Sudras. 
 These tribes have sunk in the public opinion by living 
 in a sort of vassalage beneath the other casts, or by exer- 
 cising trades which frequently expose them to pollution ; 
 or, in many instances, because they lead a wandering 
 and roving life, which involves them in frequent breaches 
 of the most revered and established customs. 
 
 Of the vulgar casts, two of the lowest are the Barbers 
 and the Whitsters. One or more families belonging to 
 each of these casts, exercise their respective trades in 
 every village ; from which they must not pass into a 
 neighbouring village to work, withcu': leave. These 
 two trades descend from father to son, from one genera- 
 tion to another ; and those who exercise them form two 
 distinct tribes. The Barber is obliged to shave and to 
 cut the hair and nails of all the inhabitants of the village. 
 In many districts, the custom is to be shaved in every 
 part of the body where hair grows ; and this eustom is 
 very generally observed, particularly by the Brahmans, 
 on their marriage day and other solemn occasions. 
 
 As to the Whitster, he is bound to wash not only all 
 the clothing w'hich men and women wear, but also the 
 filthiest rags that have been used in keeping the children 
 in decent order, or even for more disgusting purposes. 
 These two professions reduce those that practise them to 
 a state of dependence, which does not admit of their de- 
 
238 
 
 INFERIOR CASTS, 
 
 dining to do any thing at all connected with their trade. 
 They are paid by the inhabitants, in kind, once a year, 
 after the grain is got in. Their servile condition, and 
 the filthy nature of their employment, naturally produce 
 the general contempt in which they are held by all the 
 casts, who look upon them merely as their slaves. 
 
 The cast of Potiers and that of Utarans, whose princi- 
 pal employment consists in building walls of earth, dig- 
 ging tanks, and keeping their banks in repair, are like- 
 wise considered as low tribes, by the Sudras. The 
 education ol’ these people corresponds to the meanness of 
 their origin. Their mind is as uncultivated as their 
 mannt rs ; and every thing seems to justify the small es- 
 teem in which they are held. 
 
 The tribe of Mushiers, or workers in the skins of 
 animals, used in dress, though not so much despised as 
 the preceding, yet possess no degree of consideration. 
 They are not admitted, by the other casts, into any 
 familiarity, or to eat or drink out of the same vessels with 
 them. This is accounted for by the filth they are ex- 
 posed to in handling the skins. 
 
 The other working casts, such as carpenters, black- 
 smiths, goldsmiths, founders, and in general all who 
 exercise handicraft trades, enjoy no great degree of con- 
 sideration among the other casts of the Sudras. 
 
 The ornamental arts, such as painting, instrumental 
 music, and the like, are extremely low in estimation. 
 Hardly any but the low tribe of the Mushiers exercise 
 the first of these ; and music is nearly confined to the 
 Barbers and Pariahs : instrumental music wholly so. 
 
INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 239 
 
 The small encouragement these two arts receive is, no 
 doubt, owing to the little progress they have made. In 
 painting, nothing can be seen but mere daubing, set off 
 with bright colours and extravagant glare. And, al- 
 though all Hindus are great lovers of music, introducing 
 it into all their civil and religious ceremonies, yet I can 
 vouch that it is still in its infancy ; and probably they 
 have made no progress in it for three thousand years. 
 In their festivals, and on other occasions, it is not the 
 concord of sweet sounds that they require from their 
 musicians. Confusion and obstreperous noise is more 
 agreeable to their untutored senses, with sounds so 
 harsh and piercing as would almost rend the drum of a 
 European ear. And it must be owned that their taste in 
 this respect is fully gratified by their performers. 
 
 But, harsh and discordant as their music is, it pleases 
 them infinitely more than ours. This I have often ex- 
 perienced. Of our instruments they love only the drum. 
 The sound of our sweetest instruments, producing a 
 melody which soothes and delights our perceptions, and 
 excites the most pleasant emotions, has no effect what- 
 ever on ears so perpetually stunned with loud and jar- 
 ring dissonance. 
 
 Their vocal music is almost as little adapted to delight 
 a European ear. An insipid monotony pervades their 
 singing ; and, although they have a gamut, composed of 
 seven notes, like ours, they have never applied it to create 
 the diversity, proportion, and combination which have 
 so many charms for us. 
 
 The contempt in w'hich players on wind instruments 
 are held, I believe, arises chiefly from the defilement 
 w^hich is supposed to be contracted by applying the 
 
240 
 
 INFERlOn CASTS. 
 
 mouth to apertures so often polluted with spittle. 
 Stringed instruments being free from this objection, the 
 highest casts, even the Brahmans themselves, do not dis- 
 dain to make an accompaniment to their own voices, by 
 touching a small harp called Vuny or Vma^ which is 
 used ijll over India. Its notes are so far from lacerating 
 the ear, like those of their wind instruments, that, on the 
 contrary, they may be listened to with pleasure by a 
 European ; though they would gi\e greater pleasure if 
 they were more diversified. The Brahmans almost ex- 
 (dusively practise on this instrument. 
 
 7'he use of the Vina is t'ery ancient among the Hin- 
 dus. Its name is mentioned in almost all their early 
 writings, as an instrument in favour with the great. 
 Brahmans, Kings, Princes, and the Gods themselves, 
 learn to strike it ; and many of them are extolled for 
 their proficiency. 
 
 It appears to me A ery probable that the Vina of the 
 Brahmans is the same as the Cithara, or the Hebrew 
 Harp, so often mentioned in the sacred writings ; on 
 which the holy King David so much excelled, and from 
 which he drew' sounds that could tame the fury of his 
 unfortunate master Saul, w’hcn forsaken of God and agi- 
 tated by all the passions. 
 
 The Harp appears to have been the instrument of the 
 upper ranks amongst the Hebrews, as the Vina is 
 amongst the Hindus. We have observed that the Brah- 
 mans alone are proficients on this instrument ; but truly 
 they pay dear for the distinction, and their time of prp- 
 bation is very tedious. It is a great deal if the scholar 
 is able to play the tw o and thirty Hindu airs after four or 
 five years of practice. 
 
INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 241 
 
 Besides the Vina, they have a stringed instrument 
 called Kinnara, a sort of guit4\r, which is also in great 
 esteem. 
 
 The strings of their instruments are never made, as 
 ours often are, of the guts of animals, but always of metal 
 wires. The purity of the Brahman could not possibly 
 finger the catgut. 
 
 ’ A second description of men of degraded rank, in the 
 eyes of the Hindus, consists of those who are addicted to 
 a vagrant and wandering life, udiich leads them into a 
 continual violation of the received practices, and makes 
 them suspected characters. There are several casts of 
 this sort, W'ho have no permanent abode, but are in con- 
 tinual migration. Such are the Kiiravers or Kurumeru, 
 the Lambady or Sukaters, and many others ; some of 
 whom we shall briefly point out. 
 
 The vagrants called Kuravers or Kurumeru are di- 
 vided into three branches. One of these is chiefly engaged 
 in the traffic of Salt, wffiich they go, in bands, to the 
 coasts to procure, and carry it to the interior of the 
 country on the backs of asses, which they have in great 
 droves ; and when they have disposed of their cargoes, 
 they reload the beasts with the sort of grain in greatest 
 request on the coast ; to w'hich they return without loss 
 of time. Thus their w'hole lives are passed in tran- 
 sit, without a place of settlement in any part of the land. 
 
 The trade of another branch of the Kurumeru is the 
 manufacture of osier panniers, wicker baskets, and other 
 household utensils of that sort, or bamboo mats. This 
 class, like the preceding, are compelled to traverse the 
 whole country, from place to place, in quest of employ- 
 VoL. II. ' 2 H 
 
24S 
 
 INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 ment. All of them live under little tents, constructed of 
 woven bamboos, three feet high, four or five broad, and 
 five or six in length ; in which they squat, man, wife, 
 and children, and shelter themselves from the wea- 
 ther. When they find no more work in the district, 
 they fold up their tents and remove to the next popu- 
 lation. 
 
 These vagabonds never think of saving any thing for 
 future wants, but spend every day all they earn, and 
 sometimes more. They must therefore live in grievous 
 poverty ; and, when their work fails them, they have no 
 resource but in begging alms. 
 
 The third species of Kuriimeru is generally known 
 under the name of Kalla-Bantru, or Robbers ; and indeed 
 those who compose this cast are generally thieves or 
 sharpers, by profession and right of birth. The distinc- 
 tion of expertness in filching belongs to this tribe ; the 
 individuals of which it consists having been trained to 
 knavery from their infancy. They are instructed in no 
 other learning, and the only art they communicate to 
 their children is that of stealing adroitly ; unless we ex- 
 cept that of being prepared with a round lie, and with a 
 determined resolution to endure every sort of torture 
 rather than to confess the robberies which are laid to their 
 charge. 
 
 Far from being ashamed of their infamous profession, 
 they openly glory in it ; and when they have nothing to 
 fear, they publicly boast, with the greatest self-compla- 
 cency, of the dextrous robberies they have committed, 
 at various times, during their career. Some who have 
 been caught and wounded in the act, or have had their 
 nose and ears, or perhaps their hand, cut off for the of- 
 
INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 24^ 
 
 fence, exhibit their loss with ostentation, as a mark of 
 their intrepidity ; and these are the men who are gene- 
 rally chosen to be the chiefs of the cast. 
 
 It is commonly in the dead of the night that they 
 commit their depredations. Then they enter the villages 
 silently, leaving sentinels at the avenues, while others seek 
 out the houses that may be attacked with the least dan- 
 ger of detection, and so make good their entry and pil- 
 lage them. This they effect, without attempting to 
 force open the door, which would be a noisy operation ; 
 but by quietly cutting through the mud wall with a 
 sharp instrument, so as to make an opening sufficiently 
 large to pass through. The Kalabantru are so expert 
 in this species of robbery, tliat, in less than half an hour, 
 they will carry off a rich lading of plunder, without being 
 heard or suspected till day-light discloses the villany. 
 
 In the countries that are under the yoke of Moorish 
 Princes, these thieves are autliorized by tlie govern- 
 ment ; w ho give them a licence to rob, in consideration 
 of a certain tribute which they require for the privilege, 
 or on condition of their paying to the public receiver one 
 half of tlie booty tliey acquire. But as, in a civilized 
 country, for die credit of the police, such a contract 
 must be kept secret ; so the culprit can seek no redress 
 from the magistrate for the wounds and mutilations which 
 he is exposed to, when he happens to be surprized. On 
 the other hand, the magistrate must shield from punish- 
 ment the rogues with whom they are in partnership. 
 
 The Princes have always in their service a great num- 
 ber of Kallabantru, whom they employ in their calling ; 
 which is that of plundering for their master’s profit. 
 The last Musalman Prince who reigned in the Mysore 
 
INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 had a regular battalion of them on service, in time of war ; 
 not for the purpose of fighting in the field, but to prowl 
 and infest the enemy’s camp in the night, stealing away 
 the horses and other necessaries of the officers, spiking 
 the cannon, and acting as spies. They were rewarded 
 in proportion to the dexterity they displayed in these 
 achievements ; and in time of peace they were dispatch- 
 ed into the various states of neighbouring Princes, to 
 rob, for the benefit of their master ; besides discharging 
 their ordinary duty of spies. 
 
 The Polygars, n ho are ehiefs of particular districts, 
 have in their pay several of these rascals, who are sent 
 from place to place to steal, or to do any other similar 
 service, in the manner of the Kalabantru. 
 
 In the provinces where they are tolerated by the Gov- 
 ernment, the poor inhabitants, having no other means of 
 escaping from pillage, pay them a yearly subsidy of a 
 quarter of a rupee and a fowl for each house ; the chief 
 of the gang agreeing to take them under his protection, 
 and to be answerable for every robbery that shall be 
 committed. 
 
 The cast of Kalabantru is spread over all the Mysore ; 
 where they are also infested with another sort, under the 
 name of Jumoji, who are equally formidable. 
 
 But, of all the vagrant casts, the best known, and also 
 the most detested, is that of the Lambadis or Sukaters . . 
 Their origin is not well understood, as they are different 
 in manners, customs, and language, from all the other 
 casts of Hindus. They appear to have more affinity 
 with the Mahrattas than any other nation ; and, I be- 
 lieve, it is from that marauding race that we must trace 
 their descent. It is certain that it is in their armies that 
 
INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 246 
 
 they are trained to that course of pillage and rapine which 
 has obliterated all notions of property, when they feel 
 themselves the strongest, or when they are out of the 
 reach of justice. At the same time, the exemplary pun- 
 ishments which the police has inflicted on them in seve- 
 ral places, of late, has made them somewhat more cir- 
 cumspect, aad they no longer dare to plunder openly. 
 But, woe to the traveller whom they meet alone in a 
 solitary place, especially if they think him a prize. 
 
 Their rendezvous, in times of war, is with some 
 army ; and generally with the most undisciplined one, 
 about which they swarm in great crowds, to take ad- 
 vantage of the disorder and confusion which they ex- 
 pect to find, and which serve as a cloak to their depre- 
 dations. They make themselves useful by supplying 
 the markets with provisions, which they have foraged 
 in all quarters. And they also make a trade of lending 
 out to the side that will best pay them their numerous 
 herds of bullocks to carry necessaries for the supply of 
 the armies. It was thus that, in the last war with the 
 Sultan of the Mysore, the English took into their pay 
 many thousands of them for transporting their provisions. 
 How^ever, they had soon reason to repent their connec- 
 tion with such faithless wretches, devoid of all honour 
 and discipline, when they saw them laying waste the 
 country over which they passed, and causing more dam- 
 age than the whole army of the enemy would have done. 
 The frequent punishments inflicted on their chiefs 
 had no effect on that horde of robbers, whom the scent 
 of plunder allured more powerfully than even their ex- 
 travagant perquisites and hire. 
 
 In times of peace, these banditti return to their trade 
 in corn, which they carry from one place to another. 
 
846 
 
 INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 Their rude and uncultivated manners, with their coarse 
 and deformed features, both in the men and the women, 
 at once betray the character and disposition of their 
 minds. In all parts of India they have justly become 
 the objects of the watchfulness and suspicion of the po- 
 lice ; for, in no circumstances, can any reliance be plac- 
 ed on them. 
 
 Their women are every wliere held to be most disso- 
 lute. -Their lewdness has almost universally passed into 
 a proverb ; and it is even said that they often go out in 
 a body and compel such men as they meet to gratify 
 their wishes. 
 
 The Lambadis or Sukaters form a cast entirely dis- 
 tinct from the rest of the Hindus, with whom they have 
 but iTry little intercourse ; being wholly different from 
 them in religion, language, manners, and customs. All 
 other casts treat them with distant and thorough con- 
 tempt. 
 
 There is yet another tribe of vagrants, who are also a 
 separate sect, and live universally despised. They are 
 the class of mountebanks, buffoons, posture-makers, 
 tumblers, dancers, and the like ; who form various par- 
 ties, to exhibit their several arts and tricks, in all places 
 where admirers and dupes are to be found. The most 
 dissolute body is that of the Dumbars or Dumbaru. It 
 is not surprizing that, in a country wdiere the love of all 
 that approaches to the marvellous reigns with unbounded 
 sway, such sorts of jugglers should prevail. Neverthe- 
 less, tlie casts wdio follow these professions are vilified, 
 and univerally looked down upon, though the practi- 
 tioners are, at the same time, considered as expert magi- 
 cians, initiated in all occult and necromantic arts, who 
 
INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 S47 
 
 are to be feared as well as distrusted. They may be 
 compared, indeed, to the mountebank order in Europe ; 
 but they are more universally and cordially despised. 
 Yet I have seen them perform tricks and feats which put 
 them at least on a level with their brethren in Europe. 
 
 The most usual exhibition is that of the keepers of 
 serpents, who have them taught to dance to the sound of 
 a kind of flute. They perform various tricks with 
 them; which, though apparently terrible, are not very 
 dangerous, as they always take the precaution to deprive 
 them of their fangs, and to extract the vesicle in which 
 the venom is contained. They are believed to have the 
 power of charming those dangerous reptiles, and of 
 commanding them to approach and surrender themselves, 
 at the sound of their flute. The same art appears to 
 have been laid claim to in other ancient nations, as 
 appears from the allegory of the prophet, where he com- 
 pares the obstinacy of an obdurate sinner to a serpent 
 that shuts its ear against the voice of the charmer*. 
 Without dwelling on the literal accuracy of this striking 
 passage of Holy Writ, I may confidently assert, that 
 the skill which the pretenders to enchantment, in India, 
 claim in this particular, is rank imposture. The trick is 
 to put a snake, which they had tamed and accustomed 
 to their music, into some remote place, and they man- 
 age it so, that, in appearing to go casually in that direc- 
 tion, and beginning to play, the snake comes forward 
 at the accustomed sound. When they enter into an 
 
 • “ Their poison is like the poison of a serpent ; they are like 
 “ the deaf adder that stoppeih her ear ; which will not hearken to 
 “ the voice of charmers, charming never so w isely.’’ Psalm Iviii. 4. 
 
 “ For behold I will send serpents, cockatrices among you 
 
 which will not be charmed.” Jerem. viii. 17, 
 
248 
 
 INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 agreement with any simpleton, who fancies that his 
 house is infested with serpents, a notion which they 
 sometimes contrive to infuse into his brain, they 
 artfully introduce into some crevice of the house 
 one of their tame snakes, which comes up to its 
 master, as soon as it hears his flute. The potent en- 
 chanter instantly whips it up into his pannier, takes his 
 fee, and gravely presents himself at the next house, to 
 renew his offers of assistance to similar dupes. 
 
 Another race of vagrants live at the public expense, 
 by exhibiting a kind of comedies, or rather farces, of the 
 indecent kind both in the characters and the dialogue. 
 They likewise exhibit puppet shews, mixed with gross 
 obscenity and absurdity, but well adapted to the stu- 
 pid multitude that gaze and admire. They know they 
 could not gain the attention, far less the laugh of such 
 people, without sacrificing decency, modesty, and com- 
 mon sense. 
 
 In the Mysore and the Telinga countT} , there is ano- 
 ther distinct cast of wanderers, more peaceable and in- 
 nocent than any of the former. They are called Pa 
 natij, and speak the Telinga. They were originally na- 
 tives of that country, and were employed in agriculture. 
 They belonged to the tribe of Goalaru or shepherds. It 
 is now a hundred and fifty years since they first took up 
 their present vagrant and wandering life ; to which they 
 are groum so much accustomed, that it would be im- 
 possible to reclaim them to any fixed or sedentary ha- 
 bits. The cause of their detaching themselves origi- 
 nally from society arose from some severe ti'catment 
 which the governor of the province m here they lived 
 was going to inflict upon some of their favourite chiefs. 
 To avert this insult, and to be revenged against their 
 
INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 249 
 
 rulers, they took the resolution of quitting their villages 
 and abandoning their agricultural labours ; and they 
 have never since entertained a thought of resuming their 
 ancient course of life. They sojourn in the open fields, 
 under small tents of bamboo, and wander from place to 
 place, as humour dictates. 
 
 Some of their chiefs, with whom I have conversed, 
 have informed me, that they amount in all to seven or 
 eight thousand individuals. Part wander in the Telin- 
 ga country and part in Kanara. They are divided into 
 different tribes, the heads of which assemble, from time 
 to time, to decide any disputes that may have arisen, and 
 to watch over the general good order of the cast. They 
 are under an exceedingly good police ; and, though al- 
 ways roving in bands through the country, they main- 
 tain a great respect for property, and no instance of pillage 
 is ever heard of among them. 
 
 They all live in the most wretched condition. The 
 wealthiest among them have nothing beyond a few buffa- 
 loes or cows, whose milk they sell. They are mostly all 
 herbarists ; and, wherever they roam, they are careful to 
 collect the various plants and roots which serve for medi- 
 cal purposes, or which are used in dyeing, or as physic 
 for horses and cows. They sell these simples to the 
 dealers in spices ; and by this traffic they partly maintain 
 themselves, and make up for what is wanting by hunt- 
 ing, fishing, or begging. 
 
 Among the vices which are the reproach of the vari- 
 ous wandering tribes, intemperance, and the want of de- 
 licacy in the choice of food, are chiefly complained of ; 
 and these are, at the same time, the most odious and de- 
 grading of any, in the eyes of the other casts. Drunken- 
 ness pervades them all ; the material of which is the 
 
 VoL. II. 2 I 
 
250 
 
 INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 Toddy, or juice of the palm ; to which men and women 
 are equally addicted. 
 
 As to food, every thing is alike to them ; and, with 
 the exception of the flesh of the cow, they put up with 
 any other sort of victuals, however oft'ensive. Tiger’s 
 flesh, that of the fox, the cat, the crocodile, the serpent, 
 lizard, crow, and of many other creatures, equally re- 
 volting to the generality of Hindus, constitute the princi- 
 pal nourishment of all the diflerent wandering hordes we 
 have described. 
 
 Each cast of vagrants forms a little republic in itself, 
 governed by its own laws and usages. They have but 
 little to do with social duties, or even with authority. 
 W'andering continually from place to place, they pay no 
 tribute ; and, being saircely possessed of any thing, 
 they have no occasion for the prelection of the Prince to 
 enable them to live unmolested : neither do they impor- 
 tune the magistrate for justice or favour. Each little 
 community has chiefs of its own, elected or deposed by 
 a majority of voices ; and who, as long as their authority 
 continues, are invested with power to enforce their rules, 
 to inflict punishment and fines on those who violate 
 them, and to terminate all disputes that arise. 
 
 The whole of these w'anderers, in going from place 
 to place, take with them not only their wicker tents and 
 all their goods, which indeed are no great matter, but 
 also die provisions necessary for their subsistence dur- 
 ing several days, and the utensils requisite for preparing 
 and cooking their food. When they have beasts of bur- 
 den, they load them with part of their furniture ; but, 
 when witliout that accommodation, they are sometimes 
 in great straits. I have frequently seen poor creatures, 
 of tills kind, carrying on their heads and shoulders eve- 
 
INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 251 
 
 ry thing they possessed in the world, with what was ne- 
 cessary for their present subsistence. The husband 
 took the burden of the tent, the provisions, and some 
 earthen vessels for boiling them ; while the wife, with 
 half of her body left bare, in order to spare a part of her 
 garment to wrap the child that dangled at her back, car- 
 ried on her head the little millstone which they use for 
 grinding the corn that makes a part of their food, and 
 held, under one arm, the pestle for pounding the rice, 
 and the mortar under the other. Such is the touching 
 spectacle I have often seen, with feelings of tender sym- 
 pathy and compassion ; and such is the kind of exist- 
 ence that thousands of Hindus are doomed to abide ; 
 and which they endure without a murmur, and without 
 envying those who enjoy the real blessings of life. And 
 never does it come into their thoughts to improve 
 their condition, by entering into the bosom of society, 
 and engaging in some employment more I'eputable and 
 easy. 
 
 There are still a great many other detached casts in the 
 southern parts of India besides those we have mention- 
 ed ; all living in a state of degradation and contempt. 
 Amongst others, there is that of the Kurumbars or Ku- 
 rubaru. The baseness of their nature and their total 
 want of instruction seem to justify the detestation in 
 which they are held by the superior casts of Sudras* 
 Their occupation is that of Shepherds ; but they are not 
 to be confounded with the cast of Herdsmen called Ide- 
 yirs and Goalam, who are one of the highest casts among 
 the Sudras, and have the cows and goats under their 
 care, while the others are confined entirely to sheep, of 
 which they have considerable flocks. The meanness of 
 their employment seems to spread its influence over their 
 
252 
 
 INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 manners. Being confined to the society of their woolly 
 charge, they seem to have contracted the stupid nature of 
 the animal ; and from the rudeness of their nature, they 
 are as much beneath the other casts of Hindus, as the 
 sheep, by their simplicity and imperfect instinct, are be- 
 neath the other quadrupeds. The stupidity of the Ku- 
 rubarus is become proverbial ; and when a person of 
 another cast does any thing thoughtless and foolish, he 
 is said to be as stupid as a Kurubaru. This sect pre- 
 vails in the countries of Canara, Talugu, and Tamul, 
 but chiefly in the first, from which it appears to have 
 originated, and where they are still found in great num- 
 bers in every district. 
 
 I have already mentioned the casts of Savages met 
 with in the forests and on the mountains of the southern 
 parts of the peninsula. They are divided into various 
 tribes, each of which is subdivided into separate hordes. 
 I’hey seldom quit their haunts, and are not often visited 
 there, on account of the dread they are held in as reputed 
 sorcerers or magicians, whose malice would occasion 
 disease or misfortune. And, indeed, when any of the 
 neighbouring casts are affected with any calamity which 
 they suspect to have proceeded from their machinations, 
 they fall upon them with severity, and sometimes re- 
 venge themselves by their death. 
 
 Many of these savages spare themselves the trouble of 
 building houses ; although, by living in the midst of a 
 wood, they might have abundant materials. In the rainy 
 season, they shelter themselves in caverns, hollow trees, 
 and clefts of the rocks ; and, in fine weather, they keep the 
 open fields. In the night every horde collects in a bo- 
 dy ; and each lights large fires, all around, to keep them 
 
INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 25S 
 
 warm and to scare the wild beasts, while they sleep in 
 the centre, in a promiscuous heap. They are almost en- 
 tirely naked. The women wear nothing to conceal their 
 nakedness but some leaves of trees stitched together, and 
 bound round their waists. 
 
 They think it too great a hardship to perform agricul- 
 tural labour ; and therefore they never engage in it but 
 when urged by extreme necessity. Knowing nothing 
 beyond the absolute demands of hunger, they find 
 enough in their forests to assuage it. Roots and other 
 spontaneous productions of nature ; reptiles, and ani- 
 mals which they entrap in snares or kill in the chace ; 
 and honey, which they find in abundance within the 
 chinks of the rocks, or on the trees, among the branches 
 of which they skip with the agility of monkeys, afford 
 all that is necessary to appease the cravings of nature. 
 
 More stupid than the African savage, he of India is 
 ignorant even of the use of the bow. 
 
 The inhabitants of the plains apply to them, when 
 they have occasion for timber for building their houses, 
 or for any other works of magnitude ; and, for a matter 
 of small value, such as some copper rings, a few glass 
 beads, or a little corn, the savages will cut them as much 
 wood as they want. 
 
 They are always considered, by the other inhabitants, 
 to have the power, through the means of incantation and 
 magic, to charm the tigers, the elephants, and the veno- 
 mous reptiles which share with them in their forests, so 
 that they have nothing to fear from their attacks. 
 
 They train up their children, from their earliest infan- 
 cy, lo the hard life that nature seems to have intended 
 for them. The day after lying-in, the woman is obliged 
 
254 
 
 INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 to scour the woods for food. Before setting out, she 
 suckles the new-born infant, digs a little trench in the 
 ground for a cradle, where she deposits the naked babe, 
 upon the bare earth ; and, trusting to the care of Provi- 
 dence, goes with her husband and the rest of the family, 
 in quest of wherewithal to supply their wants for the 
 day. This is not quickly obtained ; and it is evening 
 before they return. From three days old they accustom 
 the child to solid food ; and, in order to inure it betimes 
 to tlie rigour of the seasons, they wash it every day in 
 dew collected from the plants ; and, until the infant is 
 able to accompany or follow the mother, it remains in 
 this manner, from morning to night, in the recesses of 
 the wood, exposed to the rain, the sun, and all the in- 
 clemency of the weather, stretched out uncovered in the 
 little tomb, which is its only cradle. 
 
 It appears that the only religion of these savages con- 
 sists in the worship of the Bhuta or Demons, which they 
 exclusively adore, paying no acknowledgment to the di- 
 vinities of the nation. 
 
 These are, in the greatest number, in the forests of 
 Malabar ; but there is also a different species of savages 
 in various parts of the Carnatic, roaming in the woods of 
 that province, and known under the name of Irulirsy and 
 sometimes of SoUgaru. Like the Kurubaru, they lead 
 a savage life, and have scarcely any communication with 
 the more polished people of the plain. Their principal 
 means of living are roots and honey, which they find in 
 the woods. They barter the last, and its wax, with the 
 inhabitants of the neighbourhood, for such articles as 
 they have to spare. In other particulars they scarcely 
 differ in any thing from the preceding class, fuid arc 
 
INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 255 
 
 equally dreaded for enchantments and sorcery by their 
 jealous neighbours of the plains. 
 
 The savage cast of Malay Kudiaru has been already 
 noticed. Though living in the woods, they have made 
 some approach to the social state. Their occupation is 
 to extract the juice or Kallu from the palm trees, selling 
 a part and drinking the remainder. It is the women that 
 ascend the trees ; and they do it with great agility. The 
 husbands go to market with the liquor. 
 
 This tribe is hardly found beyond the district of Cur* 
 ga. Here there is also another tribe, known by the ap- 
 }>ellation of Yeruvaru. It consists of several hordes dis- 
 persed through the woods. Being without the resources 
 for subsistence which the others possess, they are com- 
 pelled to provide for their wants by making themselves 
 useful in society. For this purpose they quit their 
 cabins, and repair to the habitations of their more polish- 
 ed neighbours ; who, for a small allowance of grain, ob- 
 tain the services of the savages in the most toilsome la- 
 bours of husbandry. But, such is their improvidence 
 and indolence, that, as long as a single morsel of rice re- 
 mains in their huts, they obstinately refuse to renew their 
 labour. Their employers, however, are obliged to put 
 up with their humour, because they cannot otherwise 
 exempt tliemselves from drudgery ; and, if they should 
 offend a single individual amongst them, by ill treatment, 
 or in any other way, the w'hole horde would resent the 
 affront, and, in a body, desert their accustomed abodes 
 for the hidden recesses of the forests. There they would 
 sulkily remain, till tlieir superiors, being at a loss for 
 their assistance, were reduced to the necessity of making 
 
256 
 
 INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 the first advances, by an apology for the injury, or such 
 indemnification as the savages might require. 
 
 All the various savage tribes, having much difficulty 
 in procuring the absolute necessaries of life, have no 
 means whatever of attaining to the petty luxuries which 
 arc within the reach of the lowest orders of the other 
 casts. Betel, tobacco, oil for rubbing the head and 
 body, and some other indulgences which habit has ren- 
 dered necessary to the ordinary Hindus, are quite un- 
 known to the savage tribes, and do not even seem to be 
 coveted by them. They think it quite sufficient to be 
 favoured by strangers with a little salt and pepper to sea- 
 son the roots and insipid vegetables which form their 
 principal nourishment. 
 
 All these savages are of an inoffensive and quiet dis- 
 position. The sight even of a stranger is enough to put 
 a whole horde of them to flight. Their indolent and 
 lazy habits result from the climate. Far different from 
 the Cannibals of America, or those which people an ex- 
 tensive region of Africa, they know not the meaning of 
 war ; and they seem to be ignorant of the practice of re- 
 paying evil with evil. Buried in the thick forests where 
 they were bom, or in the deep grottoes of the rocks 
 which they inhabit, there is nodiing they are more afraid 
 of than the approach or appearance of a civilized man ; 
 and, so far from envying him the boasted happiness of 
 social life, they shun all intercourse with him, out of fear 
 that he designs to strip them of their independence and 
 liberty, and reduce them to the bondage of society. 
 
 They preserve, however, some of the leading preju- 
 dices of their countrvmen. Thev never eat cows flesh. 
 • ¥ 
 
INFERIOR CASTS. 
 
 257 
 
 They have the same notions concerning cleanness and 
 impurity, and they observe, in the principal occurrences 
 of life, several otlier rules which are in common use in 
 the country. 
 
 VoL. II. 
 
 2K 
 
258 
 
 THE METEMPSYCHOSIS, 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Of the Metempsychosis. The Hindus the inventors oj 
 of the Doctrine. Causes and number of the trans- 
 migrations. Of the Pains of Hell and their duration. 
 Abodes of Bliss. 
 
 SEVERAL writers, both ancient and modern, have 
 been of opinion that Pythagoras was the author of the 
 system of the Metempsychosis, called by the Hindus 
 Punva Janmay or regeneration, and that it was commu- 
 nicated by that philosopher to the sages of India, when 
 he visited their country. But all who are acquainted with 
 the spirit and education of the Brahmans, both ancient 
 and modern, will be easily satisfied of the contrary, and 
 will be convinced that, so far from receiving lessons from 
 Pythagoras, they were his masters in this respect. The 
 desire of learning something new, and of attaining per- 
 fection in the sciences, induced that philosopher to pene- 
 trate into every country where they had begun to flourish 
 in those remote ages ; and, having heard of the renown 
 of the philosophers of India, which long afterwards 
 spread into Europe, he undertook a long voyage to see 
 them, and to profit by their doctrines. 
 
 What makes it more probable that it was from them 
 that he derived his system of the transmigration of the 
 soul of one body into another, is that he did not publish 
 it till after his return from India ; and no circumstance 
 
THE METEMPSYCHOSIS. 
 
 259 
 
 of his life shows that he had any notion of it before his 
 journey. 
 
 Is it at all to be imagined that the Brahmans would 
 consent to borrow a system so abstracted and extraordi- 
 nary from a stranger ? Those who know their pride and 
 arrogant presumption, will find great difficulty in believ- 
 ing it. Never can a Brahman be persuaded that scien- 
 ces, which he is ignorant of, can be lodged in the mind 
 of a man of any other cast, far less of a foreigner ; and 
 never would he lend an ear to an}" individual who should 
 pretend to be acquainted with any new science or useful 
 discovery, of which he himself would not assume to be 
 the inventor. 
 
 We have before had occasion to remark, that this cast 
 of persons has been regarded, in all times, as the univer- 
 sal and exclusive heir of every art and science. They 
 are all educated in the belief that no man can possibly 
 know what they are ignorant of. Such is the funda- 
 mental principle in w'hich they have been nurtured, in 
 ancient and modern times : a principle which their long 
 intercourse with nations far beyond them in every branch 
 of science has never been able to shake. 
 
 Their books, which appear to be more ancient than 
 Pythagoras, are filled with the doctrine of the Purwa 
 Janma or Metempsychosis, and treat of it as a system 
 coeval with their most ancient institutions, civil and re- 
 ligious, and established beyond all controversy. 
 
 But, whoever he was that was the original inventor of 
 that absurd system, which some modern authors have 
 called sublime, Greece and the other countries into which 
 it was introduced by Pythagoras and his disciples, do 
 not appear to have derived much benefit from the dis- 
 covery. It appears wonderful tliat Empedocles, Socra- 
 tes, and Plato, philosophers otherwise so enlightened, 
 
260 
 
 THE METEMPSYCHOSIS. 
 
 should have adopted it, without examination. Aristo- 
 tle and the whole Peripatetic school justly rejected it. 
 But it continues to this day to be the universal belief of 
 every Hindu. 
 
 Pythagoras drew from it a very natural inference, 
 when he asserted that they ought to abstain from eating 
 the flesh of any living creature, lest the son might pos- 
 sibly feed on the body of his father, whose soul had per- 
 adventure, passed into the substance of a fowl or sheep ; 
 so that the horrid feast of Thyestes might be often re- 
 peated. Several of the disciples of that philosopher, to 
 act consistently with his doctrines, confined themselves 
 to live entirely upon liquids. They even rejected the 
 bean from their meals, as the Brahmans have rejected 
 the onion and some other simple productions of the same 
 nature. But these rigoroin precepts of the strict disci- 
 ples of the Greek philosopher were less follow'ed than 
 their doctrines, and the people never relinquished the use 
 of flesh. 
 
 The Hindu philosophers, in all probability, gave 
 birth to this notion of Pythagoras, when he adopted 
 their system of the Purwa Janma. He saw their ab- 
 horrence of the murder of animals. He likewise saw 
 that the Brahmans and all the cultivated people of India 
 most religiously abstained from eating whatsoever had 
 been alive ; and his conclusion would naturally be that 
 their extreme abstinence in that respect must have arisen 
 from the apprehension they were in of slaying an ances- 
 tor, perhaps, in the creature which was served up for 
 their food. 
 
 If this was the inference which that philosopher drew 
 from the custom of the Hindus, and their mode of 
 living, I have no difficulty in saying it was a false one. 
 
THE METEMPSYCHOStS. 
 
 261 
 
 The abstinence from meat amongst the Hindus, is 
 founded upon two principles, very different from those 
 which were assumed by the Pythagoreans ; and the 
 practice appears to be foreign to the doctrine of Metem- 
 psychosis. The first principle is the dread of being de- 
 filed by the use of animal nutriment ; and the second is 
 the abhorrence of the murder which must have been 
 committed before they could enjoy such a feast. In 
 consequence of the former principle, of shunning all 
 defilement, the nobler part of the nation is restricted to 
 the use of liquids only, and of the simple produciions of 
 nature, for their aliment. The Brahmans could use no- 
 thing that proceeded from an animal, with the exception 
 of milk, which constituted the most substantial ai d de- 
 licious portion of their food. The horror which a dead 
 body generally inspires ; the fetid stench which it ex- 
 hales, from the moment almost of dissolution, are widely 
 different from the decay of vegetables, which rot without 
 putridity. The revolting idea of being obliged to grati- 
 fy the appetite by loading the table wdth carcasses of 
 slaughtered animals, and a thousand other considerations 
 not less reasonable, concerning the nature of what is 
 pure and what is impure, have determined the opinions 
 of the Hindus on this subject. They have been in- 
 stilled by education, and so deeply rooted in the mind, 
 that those who have once imbibed the prejudice have 
 not even a thought of ever departing from it, under any 
 circumstances that can befal them through life. 
 
 The second motive which influenced their conduct, 
 in this particular, was the dread and horror of murder, 
 which it was necessary to commit as often as they might 
 have recourse to this diet ; a dread, which by many is 
 carried so far, as even to induce them to spare the most 
 
262 
 
 THE METEMPSYCIlOSIb. 
 
 vile and troublesome inseets ; sueh as never fail to dis- 
 turb the repose of men and brutes. This is more con- 
 gruous and consistent than the conduct of the disciples 
 of Pythagoras. The Hindus believe that no difference 
 exists between the souls of men and of animals ; and 
 that the sins of human beings in one generation are the 
 cause of their being degraded to the condition of a beast 
 in another. Hence they conclude, that it is equally 
 wicked to slay a beast or an insect as to murder one of 
 their own species. 
 
 But, with the exception of the Brahmans, the Kshatri- 
 ya, and the Vaisya, the greater number of the Sudras 
 kill animals and eat their flesh. They have amongst 
 them butchers and hunters by profession. The cast of 
 the Baiders or Baideru, who generally live in the moun- 
 tains and forests, have scarcely any other occupation 
 than the chace. I have read somewhere, in an Indian 
 book, that one of the ancient penitents, who were al- 
 most entirely Brahmans, and who never tasted of any 
 creature that had lived, amused his leisure with the di- 
 version of hunting serpents, which were common in 
 the woods where he exercised his penitence, and killed 
 all he could find; although this reptile is particularly 
 reverenced by the Hindus, and placed in the number of 
 such as the vulgar adores. But this is not the only par- 
 ticular in Avhich the Hindu paganism is found to be in- 
 consistent with itself. 
 
 The Pythagoreans were neither so steady nor so con- 
 sistent as the Hindus, in their opinions on the same sub- 
 ject; for they reproach them for rendering the transmigra- 
 tion of souls common and promiscuous amongst all 
 living creatures ; for thus, they say, the soul of a King 
 might pass into the body of an ape, and of a Queen into 
 
THE METEMPSYCHOSIS. 
 
 263 
 
 tliat of a grasshopper. In order to escape the ridicule 
 to which such a system was exposed, certain philoso- 
 phers of that sect, such as Plotinus and Porphyry, en- 
 deavoured, though too late, to limit the transmigration of 
 the souls of men to human bodies, and those of brutes 
 to their own species ; and they would fain have passed 
 these inventions for the doctrine of the original founders 
 of their sect. But the testimony of all the ancient wri- 
 ters is too direct and conclusive, on this topic, to admit 
 of any faith being paid to the tardy retractation pf their 
 disciples. 
 
 The Hindus recognize two principal causes of the 
 transmigration of souls ; and their system of Purw'a 
 Janma seems to have been invented to justify, under a 
 gross allegory, the administration of Providence in dis- 
 pensing rewards and punishments. The first cause 
 which they assign is common to them with the Pythago- 
 reans. Transgression must be punished, and virtue re- 
 warded. This does not take place in the present life ; 
 for we often see vice triumphant, and virtue beaten 
 down. As a remedy for this great irregularity, the 
 Gods, who hold in their hands the destinies of men, have 
 decreed that he who, during his life, was a wicked man, 
 a robber or homicide, shall in requital of his crimes, be 
 regenerated after his present life, and become a Pariah, 
 some voracious animal, or a creeping insect, or be bom 
 blind or crooked ; so that, according to this doctrine, 
 lowness of birth or bodily defects, are an incontestable 
 proof of the perverseness that reigned in a preceding ex- 
 istence. On the contrary, to have been bom beautiful, 
 handsome, rich, powerful, a Brahman, or even a cow ; 
 every circumstance of that nature, is a clear proof of the 
 pure and virtuous life which had distinguished the fortu- 
 
264 
 
 THE METEMPSYCHOSIS. 
 
 nate object in the preceding generation. Such is the 
 feeling of all the people of India, and, as it appears, of all 
 the Asiatics ; and such was very nearly that of the early 
 P}’thagoreans. 
 
 But, independently of this first cause of transmigra- 
 tions, the Hindus assign another, which is peculiar to 
 them. As their notions concerning defilement and pu- 
 rity must be combined with every thing else, they pre- 
 tend that a soul, after death, must retain something of the 
 dispositions and stains which it had contracted in a prece- 
 ding generation, just as an earthen vessel retains for a 
 long time the odour of some strong liquor which was 
 put into it when new. They strengthen this com- 
 parison by the instance of a woman, tvho had been a 
 fish in her preceding generation ; and who, though, in 
 the present, a real woman, still retained the fishy odour. 
 It is necessary, therefore, that a long succession of gene- 
 rations shall cleanse the impurities of the past ; which 
 must be followed by a vast number more, if, in place of 
 purifying themselves from ancient stains, they contract 
 new ones, by a dissolute life. 
 
 When the Hindus are interrogated on the number of 
 these transmigrations which must take effect, and from 
 what epoch they commence ; they answer, that they 
 take their beginning from the period when the earth be- 
 gan to be populous, and vice had begun to reign in it. 
 As to their duration, it has been, and will continue to 
 be, commensurate with the various Yugas or ages of the 
 world. As to the number of transmigrations, the poets 
 have exceedingly exaggerated or extenuated them, ac- 
 cording as their extravagant imagination impelled. But 
 the most rational of their philosophers agree that the 
 number cannot be fixed, as it must be proportioned to 
 
THE METEMPSYCHOSIS. 
 
 265 
 
 the measure of virtue or vice predominant in each indi- 
 vidual, which must require a greater or less succession 
 of new births before arriving at that sublime state of 
 purity which at last puts a period to this transition of 
 the soul from body to body, and inseparably reunites it to 
 the great Being, to Para-Brahma. 
 
 On this point, the philosophers of India appear to me 
 to be wiser and less empirical than the divine Plato him- 
 self ; since that great philosopher scruples not to deter- 
 mine the period for which a soul shall continue to pass 
 from one body to another. He fixes it at three thou- 
 sand years for some, and at ten thousand for others. He 
 likewise ventures to pronounce upon the sort of trans- 
 migration which some famous individuals have sustained. 
 Thus the soul of Agamemnon he holds to have passed 
 into an eagle, and that of Thersites into the body of an 
 ape ; just as if, by the multiplication of lies, he could 
 render his system of the Metempsychosis more probable 
 or less absurd. 
 
 One point in which the Hindu system may probably 
 appear defective and inferior to that of the Greeks, is that 
 of consciousness. How can it happen, it is asked, that 
 one should have no remembrance of what passed in the 
 preceding generation ? The Grecian poets had fabled the 
 river Lethe, whose waters had the power of creating an 
 oblivion of all that had been done or learned before death. 
 Some chosen souls, however, were exempted from the 
 general rule, and preserved distinctly the memory of the 
 sort of life which they formerly passed. Of this num- 
 ber was Pythagoras himself, who, in order to enhance the 
 credit of his new system, had the hardiness to declare 
 that he was originally iLthalides, the reputed son of Mer- 
 cury ; afterwards Euphorbus, who was wounded by 
 
 VoL. II. 2 L 
 
266 
 
 HELL. 
 
 Menelaus at the siege of Troy ; then Hennotymus ; and 
 then a fisherman of Delos, called Pyrrhus ; and last of all 
 Pythagoras. 
 
 The Hindus confer that privilege upon but aver}' small 
 number of virtuous souls ; but, as to the bulk of man- 
 kind, they afiirm that the mere circumstance of regene- 
 ration is sufficient to obliterate all memory of what they 
 formerly saw, and all knowledge of former events. A 
 child under two years of age, they observe, cannot re- 
 member to clay what he did yesterday ; and much less 
 likely is it that he should recollect what took place be- 
 fore his new birth. Is this explanation less satisfactory 
 than that of the river Lethe ? 
 
 Of Hell. 
 
 The Fiirwa Janma, or Metempsychosis, being de- 
 signed, perhaps, as a vindication of the system of Provi- 
 dence, by establishing a balance between virtue and vice, 
 in r^varding the one and punishing the other, did not 
 require the addition of places of torment and felicity af- 
 ter death. As far as punishment was concerned, it was 
 sufficient to renew for several times an evil regeneration 
 to the wicked, while the righteous were, with less delay, 
 reunited to the Divinity, that universal soul of the world 
 from which they were originally detached. But no civi- 
 lized nation has ever held these abstract and general no- 
 tions in religion ; the offspring of some exalted and en- 
 thusiastic spirits. But there are fundamental truths, so 
 deeply engraven on the heart of man by the Author of 
 his being, tliat neither the vain sophistry of false philo- 
 phy, nor the madness of an overbearing idolatry, shall 
 ever succeed in wholly obliterating their impression. 
 
HBLL. 
 
 267 
 
 The Hindus, above all nations, strictly preserved, in 
 the midst of the thick darkness of a gross idolatry, the 
 remembrance of the principal truths of natural religion, 
 as they existed amongst the earliest men ; and of those, 
 in particular, which relate to the rewards and punish- 
 ments reserved for mankind in another life. 
 
 These precious doctrines, with many others not less 
 important, were unfortunately corrupted and disfigured 
 by innumerable fables such as this of the metempsycho- 
 sis. The Hindus also invented a king of the infernal 
 regions, who had under his orders judges of the dead, 
 and messengers to execute their awards. 
 
 In this infernal kingdom, which they call Naraka 
 and sometimes Patala^ they acknowledge a God or sove- 
 reign Judge, to whom they give the name of Yama. This 
 chief of the council of hell consults his records formed 
 by the agency of scribes and others under his authority, 
 who keep an exact account of all the good and all the 
 evil which take place on the earth. They lay their re- 
 port before their master, who decides on each case ; and 
 tile punishment, proportioned to the sins of the dead, 
 immediately follows. Executioners, cruel and in- 
 exorable, are appointed to torment the guilty, without 
 respite, by means of steel, of fire, and a thousand other 
 ways, which their cruelty suggests. In the detail which 
 the Hindu books give of these varied punishments of 
 hell, I have been struck with one as somewhat remark- 
 able, and not less disgusting. It is related that some 
 very guilty souls are plunged several times a day into a 
 lake of mucus. I should not have so much marvelled if 
 they had chosen to drench the culprits in a lake of spit- 
 tle ; for that is the fluid on which the Hindu looks 
 more aghast than on any other excrement or secretion of 
 the body. 
 
268 
 
 HELL. 
 
 But Yama is not the only god that is continually on 
 the watch to seize upon the souls of mortals when they 
 die. Other deities, and above all Siva and Vishnu, 
 have likewise their invisible emissaries on earth, who 
 know the votaries of their respective masters ; and the 
 death of such persons is often the subject of a sharp con- 
 test between the imps of those divinities and the servants 
 of Yama ; each of them striving to bear aivay the de- 
 parted soul to his own master. But the attachment to 
 Vishnu or Siva, however moderate it may hav^e been, is 
 so full of merit, that their emissaries generally have the 
 advantage, in the disputes for dominion over the souls of 
 the dead, w hile those of the god of Naraka arc compel- 
 led to a disorderly retreat. 
 
 The duration of the punishment of the sinners con- 
 demned by Yama, is in proportion to the heinousness 
 and number of their crimes. The Hindus admit that 
 the retribution is severe and long, but by no means 
 eternal. They hold that, at the end of every age, a univer- 
 sal revolution of all nature takes place, and a new order of 
 things commences. Unconnected with past times, we 
 now live in the last age ot Kaliyuga ; and we have else- 
 where related how much of it has elapsed, and how long 
 it has yet to run. When it ends, all souls shall be re- 
 united to the divine essence from which they were origi- 
 nally taken ; and the world being dissolved, the pains of 
 the damned shall terminate also. 
 
 The Greeks, less presumptuous than the Hindus, did 
 not venture to fix the period when their iron age was to 
 expire. Neither did they attempt to assign limits to the 
 thirst of Tantalus, or to predict the moment when Ix- 
 ion’s wheel should stop. Probably they believed that 
 these torments were everlasting. Plato admitted the 
 
ABODES OF HAPPINESS. 
 
 269 
 
 eternity of punishment for some enormous crimes, for 
 which the guilty were hurled to Erebus. It is not im- 
 probable that he may have had some knowledge of the 
 doctrines of the Holy Scriptures on this point, by com- 
 municating with learned Jews, from whom he might 
 draw many things which it is scarcely possible to disco- 
 ver but by means of the Divine revelation. 
 
 The Abodes of Happiness. 
 
 The Hindus have invented several places of enjoyment 
 for those who have expiated their faults by repeated 
 transmigrations and the torments they have suffered from 
 Yama in Naraka ; but there are four of particular celebrity. 
 One is called Vaikuntha^ the residence of Vishnu, into 
 which, besides his own devotees, are admitted those of 
 Brahma and Siva, and all others, without distinction of 
 cast or person. The same report is given of the KailasOy 
 or world of Siva, into which his votaries are received after 
 death. These seats of happiness are represented by 
 some Hindu writers to be vast mountains on the north 
 of India ; the Kailasa being a mountain of silver. 
 
 The Swarga, another blissful residence, is situated in 
 the air, and has Devendra for its king, although a god of 
 lower rank than Siva and Vishnu. His paradise, not- 
 \vithstanding, is more celebrated tlian theirs. Music, 
 dancing, sensual enjoyment, and carnal voluptuousness 
 are amongst the delights which it affords. There is no 
 reason, however, to suppose that the other places of bliss 
 are destitute of such enjoyments ; for the presiding deities 
 of them all, according to the Hindu fables, were equally 
 celebrated for all excesses of sensual indulgence, ^ while 
 they sojourned on this earth. 
 
270 
 
 ABODES OF HAPPINESS. 
 
 The paradise of Brahma is called Satyalokuy or the 
 World of Truth. It is elevated fer higher than the rest, 
 and is more pure than any. It is watered by the Ganges ; 
 a stream which never flowed out of that sacred land, until 
 the fervent and rigorous devotion of an illustrious peni- 
 tent prevailed to draw down its hallowed current up- 
 on earth. With such an origin, we cannot wonder at 
 the high virtues ascribed by all true Hindus to this 
 mighty river. 
 
 Brahmans, almost exclusively, are admitted in the Sa- 
 tyaloka, when they have concluded a life truly virtuous 
 upon earth. But they are not irrevocably stationed 
 there ; for neitlier they, nor those who have been ad- 
 mitted into the other seats of beatitude, are exempt from 
 the necessity of being again born upon earth, and with 
 repeated transmigrations. This shews how limited and 
 imperfect their scheme of celestial happiness must be. 
 This renewed and protracted purification seems contra- 
 dictory to their system ; and paradise, witli them, forms 
 no security for its possessor. 
 
 But, at last, when these repeated new births, joined 
 to the practice of virtue and repentance, have completely 
 purified the soul, and have corrected its slightest bias 
 towards terrestrial objects ; then, and not till then, does 
 it re-unite with the divine Para-Brahma, to that un- 
 bounded spirit, as drops of water return to the ocean, 
 from whence they were exhaled. This is the complete 
 and glorious beatitude of the Hindus ; to which they 
 give the appellation of Mokshaniy which signifies de- 
 liverance. 
 
 Idolatry, the natural tendency of which is to con’upt 
 all things, by absurd and ridiculous fables, has never- 
 theless respected certain fundamental truths which are 
 
HUMAN SACRIFICES. 
 
 271 
 
 engraven on the hearts of all men ; the knowledge of which 
 appears indispensably necessary to the stability o.’ all 
 civilized society. The people of India, though im- 
 mersed in the thick darkness of the grossest idolatry, 
 have yet preserved the knowledge of a Supreme Being, 
 his providence, bounty, and justice; and of the immor- 
 tality and spiritual nature of the soul. They have ad- 
 mitted the necessary existence of a future life, accom- 
 panied with rewards and punishments. What are we 
 to conclude, then, from their persuasion respecting these 
 fundamental articles of the popular faith? This, surely ; 
 that the sacred truths, which are born, as it were, with 
 man, and remain imprinted on his heart, during the 
 whole course of his existence, can never be effaced from 
 the memory of our species. The Atheist and Material- 
 ist may resort to the sophisms of a false philosophy, to 
 obliterate the memory of truths which press them hard ; 
 they may exhaust the faculties of a mind perverted by 
 the passions, and endeavour to interpose a cloud to pre- 
 vent their light, which shines like the sun, from reach- 
 ing the hearts of other men. All their efforts shall be 
 ineffectual. The vivid brightness of those eternal and 
 unchangeable truths shall continue to penetrate athwart 
 the thin vapour, which the unbeliever endeavours to 
 raise, for the purpose of intercepting their splendour. 
 The testimony of conscience shall triumph over the vain 
 sophisms of a false philosophy ; and be relied on, while 
 reasonable men exist upon earth. 
 
 Of Human sacrifices offered by the Hindus. 
 
 The histor}’^ of the world teaches us that the different 
 nations by which it is peopled, have, in ancient times, 
 
S72 
 
 HUMAN SACRIFICES. 
 
 made the sacrifice of human victims a part of the wor- 
 ship which they rendered to their divinities. Man, en- 
 vironed on all hands with evils, and in all cases conscious 
 of his own guilt, imagined, after the spirit of idolatry 
 had biassed his understanding, that the best means of 
 appeasing the gods, and of rendering them propitious, 
 was to offer to them the noblest and most valuable vic- 
 tims which the earth could afford ; thinking it lawful, for 
 their gratification, to pour human blood, as well as that 
 of beasts, upon their altars. 
 
 I believe there are few nations, civilized or barbarous, 
 in the world, who may not be justly reproached with 
 that horrid kind of sacrifice ; and, though some modem 
 authors have questioned the fact of the Hindus having, 
 in common with other ancient nations, spilt tlie blood of 
 their fellows, in the sanctuaries of the deities whom they 
 adore, and have sought to acquit that people of so 
 abominable a crime ; yet it has never appeared a matter 
 of doubt to me. On the contrary^, I believe it is quite 
 certain that the various nations of India have immolated 
 human victims to their gods, both in ancient and modem 
 times. 
 
 Incontestable evidence of the fact has been given in 
 several parts of this work. On the subject of magic, we 
 related that, when any very extraordinary effect was in- 
 tended, the magician could not depend upon a certain 
 result without offering the sacrifice of a young girl to 
 the demons of mischief ; and also that w hen people in 
 authority come to a magician for information on ant- 
 great event, this barbarous sacrifice is generally the pre- 
 lude to the ceremonies. It appears, therefore, that the 
 Athanmna-veda^ or that book of the four sacred volumes 
 
HUMAN SACRIFICES. 
 
 273 
 
 which teaches the magical art, recognises this horrible 
 ceremon}'. 
 
 In the sacrifice also of the Yajna, where the noblest 
 victim is required to be oft'ered, although it was more 
 usual to take an elephant or horse, as the most valuable 
 of animals, for the purpose ; yet it is not without exam- 
 ple that a man has been chosen, as a creature still more 
 noble. 
 
 Indeed, we may easily convince ourselves that no na- 
 tion can have less repugnance to human sacrifices than 
 the Hindus, if we examine the conduct which they ex- 
 hibit at the present time. In many provinces, the na- 
 tives still can trace, and actually point out to the curious 
 traveller, the ground and situation where their Rajas sa- 
 crificed to their idols the prisoners whom they had taken 
 in war. The object of the awful rite was to render their 
 divinities more placable, and to obtain their favourable 
 aid in battle. I have visited some of those abominable 
 places, which are commonly in the mountains or other 
 unfrequented parts ; as if those awful beings who de- 
 lighted to see their altars moistened with human gore, 
 and their sanctuaries strewed with -the carcasses, were 
 themselves conscious of the enormity of the crime, and 
 therefore desired to veil the horrid spectacle from the 
 eyes of men. In the secret places where these detestable 
 sacrifices were performed of old, a little temple of mean 
 appearance is generally found, and sometimes but a sim- 
 ple niche, in which the idol is preserved, to obtain whose 
 favour so horrid a price is paid. The victim was im- 
 molated by decapitation, and the head was left exposed 
 for a time in the presence of the idol. 
 
 I have been conducted to see several of those sad char- 
 nel dens, in various districts. One of them is not far from 
 
 VoL. II. 2 M 
 
274 
 
 HUMAN SACRIFICES. 
 
 Seringapatam, on the hill near which the fort of Mysore 
 is built*. On the top of that mountain, the pagoda 
 may still be observed, where the Rajas were accustomed 
 to sacrifice their prisoners of war, or state delinquents. 
 
 Sometimes they were satisfied with mutilating their 
 victims, by cutting off their hands, nose, and ears ; which 
 they offered up, fresh and bloody, at the shrine of the idol, 
 or hung them up, exposed on the gate of the temple. 
 
 But I have also conversed with several old men, who 
 have entered familiarly into the object and circumstances 
 of these sacrifices, and spoke of them to me as events of 
 their own days, and as publickly known. 
 
 It appears, indeed, that this practice of sacrificing pri- 
 soners taken in war, amongst the pagan Princes, was not 
 in opposition to our notions of the law of nations, being 
 reciprocal, and acknowledged as the legitimate reprisals 
 of one sovereign upon another. The people look on, 
 without horror, or even surprize. They still speak of it, 
 without emotion, as a thing just and regular, and as 
 being fitly appropriate to the state of war.'" 
 
 Of late, the intercourse of the Hindus with the Eu- 
 ropeans and Musalmans, and the just horror which these 
 invaders have expressed of such atrocious crimes, have 
 nearly effected their total abolition : nearly, I say, because 
 I cannot answer with confidence for what may have 
 taken place, under some petty native Princes, who have 
 preserved a precarious independence up to the present 
 day. Neither would I like to risk the falling into their 
 
 * From the name of this fort, which is but of modern date, the 
 whole province has been called Maisur or Mysore, though vcry 
 improperly. The natives usually cal! it the Carimtic, of which 
 it forms the principal part. 
 
IIUMAX SACRIFICES. 
 
 - 275 
 
 bands, as an enemy or prisoner of war. What I have 
 heard of some of the petty Mahratta Princes, confirms 
 my suspicions that human sacrifices are not yet wholly 
 renounced. 
 
 It cannot therefore be reasonably doubted that in India 
 men have been oflPered up as holocausts, both in ancient 
 and in modem times, upon the altars of the idols, who 
 are supposed to be gratified by seeing their shrines in- 
 undated with human blood. Still, in many places, they 
 keep up the remembrance of these horrible sacrifices ; 
 and, although they are no longer permitted to shed the 
 blood of their fellow-creatures, in honour of the gods, 
 they have thought it necessary to supply the deficiency, 
 and in some degree, at least, to satisfy the taste of several 
 of their deities for this horrid sacrifice, by forming a 
 human figure of flour-paste, or clay, which they carry 
 into the temples, and there cut off its head or mutilate it, 
 in various ways, in presence of the idols. 
 
 This species of unbloody sacrifice, plainly represent- 
 ing the human victims anciently offered up to the same 
 gods of the country, is seen in many places. In the 
 kingdom of Tanjore there is a village called Tirushan- 
 katam Kudi, where a solemn festival is celebrated every 
 jxar, at which great multitudes of people assemble ; 
 each votary bringing with him one of those little images 
 of dough, into the temple, dedicated to Vishnu, and 
 there cutting oft' the head in honour of that god. 
 
 This ceremony, which is annually performed with 
 great solemnity, was instituted in commemoration of a 
 famous event which happened in that village. T wo vir- 
 tuous persons lived there, Sirutunden and his wife Fana- 
 S^ata-anangUj whose faith and piety Vishnu was desirous 
 
276 
 
 HUMAN SACRIFICES. 
 
 to prove. He appeared to them, accordingly, in a hu- 
 man form, and demanded no other service of them but 
 that of sacrificing, with their own hands, their only and 
 much-beloved son Siralen, and serving up his flesh for 
 a repast. The parents, with heroic courage, surmount- 
 ing the sentiments and chidings of nature, obeyed with- 
 out hesitation, and submitted to the pleasure of the god. 
 So illustrious an act of devotion is held worthy of this 
 annual commemoration, at which the sacrifice is emble- 
 matically renewed. The same barbarous custom is 
 preserved in many parts of India ; and the ardour witl; 
 which the people engage in it leaves room to suspect 
 that they still regret the times when they would have 
 been at liberty to offer up to their sanguinary gods, the 
 reality, instead of the symbol. 
 
 If farther evidence were wanting that such sacrifices 
 were actually in existence among, the Hindus, and that 
 they were, thought acceptable to the divinities whom 
 the people adore, we should find it in the Kahka-Pura- 
 Tia, a work written under the direction of Siva. In 
 this book, one of tiie most esteemed of any, w e find the 
 most minute detail of the mode, the ceremonies, and 
 the advantage of sacrificing human and other living vic- 
 tims. The nicest distinction is also laid dow n concern- 
 ing the species of animals, amongst the quadrupeds, 
 
 , birds, and fishes, which might serve for an offering, 
 and to which of the gods those sacrifices were pleasing. 
 Of these the chief were Bahira, Yama, Dharmaraja, 
 Kali, Alarima, and several other of the infernal and ma- 
 lignant demons ; most of w hom are the progeny or near 
 relations of Siva the god of destruction. 
 
 All these are delighted with human sacrifice, but, 
 
HUMAN SACRiriCES. 
 
 277 
 
 above all, Kali^ a female divinity, and the most wicked 
 of all. Such an offering gives her a gleam of pleasure 
 that endures a thousand years ; and the sacrifice of three 
 men together, would prolong her ecstacy for a thousand 
 centuries. 
 
 In the abominable book from which I am quoting, 
 human sacrifices are held to be a right inherent in the 
 Princes ; to whom they are the source of wealth, the 
 cause of victory, and other temporal blessings ; none of 
 which can be enjoyed by any other man without their 
 consent. 
 
 The work describes, at great length, the qualities which 
 the victim, whether human or bestial, must possess. 
 
 A woman cannot be offered, nor a she animal ; nei- 
 ther Brahman nor Prince. 
 
 If it be a human victim that is offered, he must be 
 free from corporal defect, and unstained with great 
 crimes. If it be an animal, it must have exceeded its 
 third year, and be without blemish or disease. 
 
 In the same Purana, we find a description of the va- 
 rious instruments, such as the kind of knife and axe, 
 with which the several victims are to be slain. It also 
 contains a minute account of the favourable and un- 
 lucky omens to be drawn from the sacrifice, according 
 to the side on which it falls, the manner in which the 
 blood gushes, or the convulsions and cries which attend 
 its last moments. 
 
 The same volume assures us that the gods who take 
 delight in bloody sacrifices, are not less pleased with of- 
 ferings of strong liquors and inebriating drugs, such as 
 arrack, toddy, and opium. 
 
 But though such bloody and murderous sacrifices are 
 permitted, and even recommended, to Princes and others 
 
S78 
 
 HUMAN SACRIFICES. 
 
 of high rank, as the means of acquiring the protection of 
 the gods, and success in their entei-prises ; they are 
 nevertheless expressly prohibited to the Brahmans, who 
 are not allowed even to assist at them. 
 
CIVIL AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. 
 
 379 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Exercise of Justice, Civil and Criminal, 
 
 WITHOUT any of the judicial forms invented by 
 the spirit of chicanery in Europe ; with no advocates, 
 solicitors, or other blood-suckers, now become necessa- 
 ry adjuncts of a court of justice in Europe; unen- 
 cumbered with the endless proceedings, the expence 
 of which often exceeds the value of the subject in dis- 
 pute ; the Hindus determine the greater part of their 
 suits of law by the arbitration of friends or of the heads 
 of the cast ; or, in cases of the very highest importance, 
 by reference to the chiefs of the whole casts of the dis- 
 trict assembled to discuss the matters in controversy. 
 
 In ordinary questions, they generally apply to the chief 
 of the place, who takes upon himself the office of justice 
 of the peace, and accommodates the matter between the 
 parties. When he thinks it more fit, he sends them be- 
 fore their kindred, or arbitrators whom he appoints. He 
 generally follows this last course when the complainants 
 are Brahmans, because persons out of their cast are not 
 supposed capable of properly deciding differences be- 
 tween them. 
 
 When these methods have been ineft'ectual to recon- 
 cile the parties, or when they refuse to submit to the 
 decision of the arbitrators, they must apply to the magis- 
 
280 
 
 CIVIL AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. 
 
 trates of the district, who decide the controversy, without 
 any appeal. 
 
 The authority of the Hindu Princes, as well as that 
 of the vile emissaries whom they keep in the several pro- 
 vinces of their country^, for the purpose of harassing 
 and oppressing them, in their name, being altogether 
 despotic, and knowing no otlicr rule but their ow’n arbi- 
 trary will ; there is nothing in India that resembles a 
 court of justice. Neither is there a shadow of public 
 right, nor any code of laws by which those who admin- 
 ister justice may be guided. 
 
 The civil power and the judicial are generally united, 
 and exercised in each district by the collector or receiv- 
 er of the imposts. There is one in every district, and 
 he is commonly the only magistrate to be found. His 
 powers are very ample, and he is accountable to the 
 Prince only for his actions, or to his chief ministers, 
 or governor of the province in which he resides. 
 This sort of "public magistrates are generally knowm 
 under the name of Havildar or Thasildar^ and the 
 places wdiere they hold their public sittings, under that 
 of Arumani. They are generally Brahmans ; and they 
 have also a certain number of Brahman writers under 
 them, who act as their assessors or advisers, and assist 
 them in forming a council for the district. 
 
 This tribunal, chiefly intended for the collection of the 
 taxes, takes cognizance also of all aflairs civil and crimi- 
 nal within its bounds, and determines upon all causes. 
 Those which are most eagerly taken up by these tribu- 
 nals are cases of debt, or where fines are to be levied. 
 In the last instance, the whole sum recovered goes into 
 the pocket of the judge ; and when it is a question of 
 debt to be exacted, he withholds three fourths of the 
 
CIVIL AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. 
 
 281 
 
 amount, as an indemnity to the Prince, or as a mark of 
 gratitude to himself for his gratuitous assistance in 
 calling in their money. 
 
 When the process turns on ordinary subjects, or when 
 nothing is to be gained by taking cognizance of it, the dis- 
 trict judges, to save themselves from trouble of that kind, 
 remit the matter to arbitrators, whom they appoint, and 
 whose decisions they support, by enforcing the obe- 
 dience of the parties concerned. 
 
 To supply the deficiency of a code of laws, they take 
 for their guides certain natural maxims of justice and 
 equity, known and acknowledged by all reasonable men, 
 and admitted by all civilized nations. Besides the cus- 
 toms and usages peculiar to each cast, which have a dif- 
 ferent shade in each country, it would be desirable that 
 the rules of natural equity should be always strictly fol- 
 lowed ; but, as we have had occasion more than once to 
 remark, the arts of collusion, practised so successfully 
 in other countries, are unfortunately still more efficacious 
 in India. Secret presents, prejudices, private affection 
 for one of the parties, and a thousand other motives of 
 that nature, too often dictate the awards of the judges, 
 and even of the arbitrators. With them, the rich most 
 frequently gain their cause ; and powerful offenders gene- 
 rally find means to make the balance, in which the Hin- 
 dus poise the claims of justice, to incline in their own 
 favour. 
 
 Often, also, the parties may inspire an equal interest ; 
 and then he who makes the loudest clamour, or is most 
 fertile in abuse of his adversary, is likely to gain his cause; 
 for in their courts, there is much vociferation, and the 
 pleaders spare no invective. 
 
 yVlthough the Hindus recognise no code of public law, 
 
 ^ OL. II. 2 N 
 
282 
 
 CIVIL AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. 
 
 yet, in some of their books very rational rules of equity 
 are to be found, which might form a veiy tolerable foun- 
 dation for a right administration of justice. Amongst 
 these law books, there is one known by the name of 
 Dharma Sastra or Niti Sastra, in which are contained 
 excellent rules of civil and criminal jurisprudence, with 
 decisions reported, which shew the mode of their ap- 
 plication. It is pity, that the tenour of this w'ork, like 
 that of all other Hindu books, should be infected with 
 the follies and superstitions of the country ; and, though 
 composed on a subject so grave and serious, should 
 nevertheless be replete with cases both absurd and mo- 
 rally impossible. Besides, these books are written in a 
 learned tongue, understood but by a small number ; and 
 when the cause comes to be decided, they are fain to 
 follow the principles and rules which we have just de- 
 scribed. 
 
 In questions relating to inheritance, debts, real property, 
 and so forth, the Hindus do not admit of the rule of pre- 
 scription ; and creditors, and others, having a proper 
 claim, or their representatives, may prosecute another 
 party, although he and his ancestors may have been pos- 
 sessed of the property in dispute for more than a century. 
 Causes of tliis kind frequently arise, and bring distress 
 upon families and individuals. A person in quiet pos- 
 session of lands, regularly transmitted by his ancestors, 
 or enjoying a fortune, law’fully acquired by the sweat of 
 his own brow% finds himself arrested and attacked, by 
 some person, who produces a bond for a large sum lent 
 to one of his ancestors, generations before, by one of the 
 forefathers of the claimant ; w’ho probably adds to his 
 demand the interest for a hundred vears. 
 
 Some mitigation, how'ever, is occasionally found ne- 
 
CIVIL AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. 
 
 283 
 
 cessary, even in the case of a debt indubitably proved, 
 when it has become antiquated, and cannot be enforced 
 without creating distress and ruin. In such cases, the 
 arbitrators take upon themselves to moderate the claim, 
 and settle the business in an amicable way. 
 
 Of all the contracts entered into among the Hindus, 
 that of money lent would appear the most iniquitous to 
 those who are ignorant of the risk to which the lender 
 is exposed, and the opportunities which the borrower 
 has of evading the claims of his creditor. The most 
 moderate interest, and that which is taken by persons of 
 honesty and scrupulous conscience, or what is called 
 dharma vadi, just interest, is the charge of twenty in the 
 hundred on the principal sum. Many usurers exact 
 fifty, and some even one hundred per centum. Yet the 
 usurious lender rarely becomes rich by his iniquitous 
 trade. The people are generally without substance ; 
 and the borrower has rarely any thing to give in mort- 
 gage for the debt. Both principal and interest are there- 
 fore often lost. And if, by dint of legal process, they 
 get a judgment in their favour, they are often obliged to 
 content themselves with the bare sum, and to sacrifice 
 the whole or the greater part of the interest. The credi- 
 tor has still one resource remaining, that if the descen- 
 dants of his insolvent debtor become wealthy his claim 
 on them never abates. 
 
 Creditors can have no hold on the real estate of their 
 debtors, because the Hindus have no property in the soil. 
 The lands which they cultivate are the domain of the 
 Prince, who is the sole proprietor. He can resume them 
 at his pleasure, and give them to another to cultivate. 
 Even the huts in which they live, built of mud, and 
 covered with thatch, are not their own. All belongs to 
 
284 
 
 CIVIL AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. 
 
 the Prince ; and if a man, for any reason whatever, 
 quits his habitation in the village, he can by no means 
 dispose of it to another, although it were constructed by 
 his own hands. The only property they possess is 
 their few cows and buffaloes ; and upon these no credi- 
 tor is allowed to lay his hands ; because, if deprived of 
 his cattle, he would be unable to cultivate the land ; 
 whence an injury would accrue to the Prince. 
 
 When an action is necessary to be brought against any 
 one ; instead of sending a writ by the hands of an offi- 
 cer, the arrest is made by abj uring the party in the name 
 of the Prince, or of the governor of the province, or any 
 other person high in authority. The instant the com- 
 plainant accosts his adversary, “ I arrest thee, in the name 
 of” such a one ; the latter must lay aside all other busi- 
 ness, till he has answered to the charges preferred against 
 him, and until both parties are agreed on terms for set- 
 tling the matter in dispute. 
 
 In all cases, the evidence is brought forward by wit- 
 nesses upon oath. There are several ways of adminis- 
 tering this ceremony ; but the most usual is for the 
 person examined to lay his hand on the head of one 
 of the idols, calling it to witness the veracity of his tes- 
 timony. 
 
 There is no country, however, on earth, in which the 
 sanction of an oath is less respected, and particularly 
 among the Brahmans. That high cast is not ashamed to 
 encourage falsehood, and even perjury, under certain 
 circumstances, and to justify them openly ; as vices no 
 doubt, when used for ordinary purposes, but as virtuous 
 in the highest degree, when employed for the advantage 
 of the cast. 
 
 The small regard, the Hindus have for an oath makes 
 
CIVIL AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. 
 
 285 
 
 tliem seek, in difficult cases, a variety of tests and or- 
 deals, by which they affect to try if a suspected person 
 is really innocent or guilty. They admit nine or ten 
 sorts of the ordeal ; the most of which are the same as 
 those anciently used in Europe, and elsewhere, under 
 similar circumstances. Amongst the Hindus, the most 
 frequent appeal is to fire ; by compelling the suspected 
 persons to walk bare-footed over burning coals, or to hold 
 a bar of red hot iron a considerable while in their hands. 
 Sometimes it was enjoined them to plunge their hands 
 for a time in boiling oil. If the party under trial goes 
 through the experiment of the fire, without wincing, or 
 receiving hurt, he is declared innocent of the crime im- 
 puted to him ; but if he receives injury from the test, 
 he is held to be convicted on clear evidence, and re- 
 ceives the punishment applicable to the crime of v hich 
 he has thus been found guilty. 
 
 Another sort of ordeal is often resorted to, which con- 
 sists in shutting up a venomous snake in a vessel or bas- 
 ket, inclosing with it a bit of coin, or a trinket. The 
 suspected person is brought forward, and blindfolded by 
 tying a handkerchief over his eyes ; and is then directed 
 to put his hand into the vessel, or basket, where the ser- 
 pent is imprisoned, and to grope for the bit of money, 
 and take it out. If the serpent permits him to do so 
 with impunity, he is declared innocent ; but if he is 
 stung, there is no longer any doubt of his guilt. 
 
 In some countries and casts, the ordeJ consists in 
 forcing the accused to swallow water, cup after cup, un- 
 til it discharges itself at mouth and nose. 
 
 Persons who are really guilty of a secret crime, when 
 called upon to exculpate themselves, rarely abide the ter- 
 rible test of the ordeal ; but avoid it bv confession. So 
 
286 
 
 CIVIL AXD CRIMINAL JUSTICE. 
 
 far it is well. But a ‘^erious evil often arises out of the 
 cruel and deceitful proof ; for those who are really inno- 
 cent, being conscious of their innocence, boldly rely on 
 the result of the ordeal ; and, in their honest confidence, 
 are betrayed to infamy and ruin. 
 
 The ordeal is not confined to magistrates and other 
 public officers, for procuring evidence in doubtful cases ; 
 but is universally employed by individuals through all 
 the country, ivhen similar evidence is sought with re- 
 gard to the members of a family. A jealous husband 
 also frequently resorts to the ordeal of fire or boiling oil, 
 to settle his doubts of the fidelity of his spouse. The 
 father of a family, who has been robbed, resorts to the 
 same mode of trying his children and servants, to detect 
 the perpetrator of the crime. 
 
 This barbarous custom appears to be of old standing 
 among the Hindus ; and it cannot be doubted that it 
 must have originated from the little regard they have 
 in all times shewn for the sanctity of an oath, and their 
 total indifference respecting the crime of perjury. 
 
 The administration of criminal justice among the 
 Hindus differs in many respects from that of the civil ; 
 and the proceedings are wholly different. 
 
 In certain crimes, such as that of adultery, some casts 
 inflict the punishment of death upon the adulteress. But, 
 in such cases, it is neither the relations nor the heads of 
 the tribes that preside at the execution of the sentence. 
 The husband alone has that authority. 
 
 But this extreme punishment, for such an offence, is 
 not permitted but in countries under the native govern- 
 ors. In the provinces under the Muhammadan yoke, a 
 pecuniary punishment is always preferred. 
 
 Young women or widows, not belonging to the class 
 of prostitutes, who are convicted of leading an abandon- 
 
CIVIL AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. 
 
 287 
 
 eel life, especially if pregnancy ensues, are condemned 
 to pay a fine far beyond their ability ; and the seducer is 
 still more severely mulcted. And, if tlieir own means 
 are not sufficient, their relations must come forward to 
 their assistance. 
 
 Any striking violation of the usages of the cast are 
 punished in the same manner. The money arising from 
 the fines is collected by the chief administrators of the 
 district ; and, alter payment, the culprit is generally 
 obliged to give an entertainment to all the heads of his 
 cast ; which brings about a perfect reconciliation. 
 
 In each canton there is a Farmer of Offences : that is, 
 a person who pays to the government a fixed sum of 
 money, in lieu of the whole of the ordinary transgres- 
 sions that shall take place within the district, in the 
 course of the following year. The profit and the loss 
 being wholly on his own account, he takes good care 
 to let no misdemeanor go free. 
 
 In regard to crimes against the peace of the citizens 
 and public order, such as robberies, homicide, and the 
 like ; they fall under the cognizance of the governors 
 of the provinces. Thieves are commonly let go, upon 
 restoring what they have stolen, and more particularly if 
 they are in good circumstances. The owner gets back 
 a small share of his own property, and the larger portion 
 falls to the persons in authority, in consideration of their 
 trouble. 
 
 But the highwaymen are often punished, by cutting 
 off a hand, or their nose and ears. Sometimes, they are 
 put in irons, and eondemned to the public works. 
 
 There are scarcely any but state criminals, or traitors 
 to their king and country, who are eapitalh’ punished. 
 It is but seldom that death is inflicted on homicides ; 
 especially if they are rich and able to make presents to 
 
288 
 
 CIVIL AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. 
 
 the governor of the province, who is never at a loss for 
 a pretence to palliate or excuse tlie crime. When com- 
 mitted by a person of no consideration, it is generally 
 thought sufficient to strip him of all he has, and to banish 
 him, with his family, out of the province. 
 
 It is thus that real crimes are sometimes encourasred 
 
 o 
 
 amongst the Hindus ; while capital punishment is reserv- 
 ed for imaginary guilt. I well remember an unhappy 
 Pariah, some years ago, who resided in the Tanjore while 
 it was under its native Princes, being condemned to 
 death for having killed a bull that had been devoted to a 
 Pagoda of Siva, and was accustomed to make terrible 
 ravages in the rice fields in the neighbourhood. 
 
 Shooting, beheading, and hanging, are the ordinary 
 modes of carrying the sentence of death into execution. 
 Banishment from the country, after confiscation of their 
 property ; the Chabuk^ or application of whips or rods ; 
 rolling the body over flints or pebbles become hot by 
 the influence of the sun ; a large stone set upon the 
 head or shoulders for many hours together : piqueting, 
 Muth the whole weight resting on one foot upon a sharp 
 point. Sometimes the feet and hands are confined with 
 bolts which are screwed till the bones are nearly disloca- 
 ted, and sometimes needles are thrust between their nails 
 and flesh. The acrid and corrosive juice of pepper is 
 likewise poured into their eyes and nostrils ; or they are 
 compelled to lie down for several hours together in the 
 burning heat of the sun, with their heads and bodies ex- 
 posed bare to its intensity. 
 
 It is not, however, so much against thieves and mur- 
 derers tliat they employ these tortures, as against public 
 functionaries, who have committed malversations and 
 embezzlement with regard to the public monies ; or 
 those who are possessed of w'ealth, tvhich they desire to 
 
CIVIL AND CKIMINAL JUSTICE. 
 
 389 
 
 lay hold of. For, as we have already mentioned, no 
 man in India can be called the master of his own wealth, 
 however hnvfully acquired. As soon as the Princes, 
 whether Musalman or Pagan, but particularly the for- 
 mer, suspect that one of their subjects has acquired 
 riches sufficient to tempt their cupidity, they have him 
 immediately taken up and sent to prison. If this first 
 step is not sufficient to extort his whole property for the 
 public treasury, the tortures we have mentioned are 
 then employed. The Muhammadans do not spare the 
 Brahmans themselves, who have employments under 
 them ; and, it must be owned, that they partly deserve 
 this cruel treatment, for they manifest a character more 
 stern and unmerciful than that even of the Moors, in 
 exacting, for their own use, the money of their poor la- 
 bourers. 
 
 When imprisonment or the rack has extorted the sum 
 that was expected from their victim, they make him a 
 present, in return, of a turban or piece of cloth ; or add 
 insult to injury, by making all sorts of apologies for the 
 injustice he has suffered. They are, forsooth, very sor- 
 ry that he allowed matters to go so far ; which he cer- 
 tainly might have prevented, had he listened to their 
 reasonable proposals at the outset. They fail not to 
 conclude w ith promises of helping him to repair the 
 breach made in his fortune, and assuring him that they 
 w’ill never molest him any more, how’ever rich he may 
 become. But all Hindus too well know the character of 
 the tyrants, under whose iron oke they groan, to be 
 misled in such cases by their hi pocritical professions. 
 
 None of the punishments we have mentioned, not 
 even that of death, brings any stain of infamy whatever 
 on the person so punished ; far less upon his family. 
 
 VoL. II. 2 
 
290 
 
 HINDU FABLES. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Of the Hindu Fables. 
 
 THE particular taste of the Hindus for poetry and 
 fiction has given rise to an incredible number of Fabu- 
 lous Stories which are current among them. In their 
 books we often meet with apologues of an instructive 
 nature and well adapted to the subject in hand ; and 
 they are much accustomed to relate similar stories in 
 conversation. Some of these popular tales are well 
 imagined and contain a good moral. Out of a great 
 number of this sort I have selected the following, whieh 
 is very generally known, and which I have seen inserted 
 in many of their books ; and I have likewise heard it re- 
 lated in familiar conversation by persons of good under- 
 standing among them. 
 
 The Tale. 
 
 “ A Traveller, having missed his way, was overtaken 
 “ by darkness in the midst of a thick forest. Being 
 “ apprehensive that such a wood must naturalfv be the 
 “ receptacle of wild beasts, he determined to keep out 
 “ of their way by mounting into a tree. He therefore 
 “ chose the thickest he could find, and having climbed 
 “ up, he fell fast asleep, and so continued until theligh’t 
 “ of the morning awoke him, and admonished him that 
 “ it was time to continue his journey. In preparing to 
 “ descend, he cast fiis eyes downtvards, and beheld, at 
 
HINDU FABLES. 
 
 291 
 
 “ the foot of tree, a huge tiger sitting on his rump, and 
 “ eagerly on the watch, as if impatient for the appear- 
 “ ance of some prey, which he was ready to tear in pieces 
 “ and devour. Struck with terror at the sight of the 
 “ monster, the traveller continued for a long while im- 
 “ moveably fixed to the spot where he sat. At length, 
 “ recovering himself a little, and looking all around him, 
 “ he observed that the tree on which he was, had many 
 “ others contiguous to it, with their branches so inter- 
 “ mixed, that he could gradually pass from one to ano- 
 “ ther, until at last he might get out of the reach of dan- 
 “ ger. He was on the point of putting his design in 
 “ execution, when, raising his eyes, he saw a monstrous 
 “ serpent, suspended by the tail to the branch imme- 
 “ diately over him, and its head nearly reaching his own. 
 “ The monster appeared, indeed, to be asleep in that 
 “ posture ; but the slightest motion might wake it and 
 “ expose him to its fury. At the sight of the extreme 
 “ danger which environed him on all sides; a frightful 
 “ serpent above, and a devouring tiger beneath, the tra- 
 “ veller lost all courage : and being unable, from fear, to 
 “ support himself longer on his legs, he was on the point 
 “ of falling into the jaws of the tiger, who stood ready 
 “ gaping to receive him. In awful consternation, he re- 
 “ mained motionless ; having nothing before him but 
 “ the image of death, and believing every moment to be 
 “ his last. He had yielded to despair ; when, once more 
 “ raising his head, he saw a honey-comb upon the top of 
 “ the highest branches of the tree. The comb distilled 
 “ its sweets, drop by drop, close by the side of the tra- 
 “ veller. He stretched forward his head, and put out 
 “ his tongue, to catch the honey as it fell ; and, in the 
 “ delicious enjoyment, thought no more of the awful 
 “ dangers w'hich environed him.” 
 
29S 
 
 HINDU FABLES. 
 
 Besides detached fables, which are quoted ia books, 
 and often brought forward in conversation, the Hindus 
 have a regular systematical collection of them called 
 Pancha-tantra, which is circulated in every district, and 
 translated into all languages. They are very old, and 
 worthy of deep attention. I understand they ha\ e been 
 translated into several European languages ; and there- 
 fore it would be superfluous to enter into a more mi- 
 nute account of them here. What I have seen in some 
 European books are indeed but meagre extracts ; but, as 
 they may be better known than I am aware of, I shall add 
 but a few words on the subject. 
 
 In the extracts I have alluded to, they represent the 
 author to have been a Brahman Gymnosophist or Philo- 
 sopher, called Filpay or Bidpay. He is supposed to 
 have been governor of a province of India, and counsel- 
 lor of the King of Dabshelim. In the manuscripts, 
 which 1 have read in the original, the name of the author 
 and of the Prince to whom they were inscribed, difltr so 
 materially from the European extract, that I shall be ex- 
 cused for giving some account, at least of the introduc- 
 tion to the Pancha-tantra. 
 
 In the city of Fatal putra, King Sudarsana reigned. 
 He had ti ree adult sons, who seemed to vie with each 
 other in coarseness of disposition and manners. The 
 good Prince, in great affliction, at length communicated 
 the subject of his grief to his council. The Brahman 
 Somajanma, one of the number, offered his services to 
 the King, being willing to undertake the reformation of 
 the three Princes, by correcting the errors of their form- 
 er education. The King accepted his offer with joy, 
 and put his sons under his care. The Brahman, with 
 great patience and toil, succeeded at length in his enter- 
 
HINDU FABLES. 
 
 293 
 
 prize, and subdued the dispositions, habits, and morals 
 of his disciples, by frequently inculcating five principal 
 fables, each embracing a great number of subordinate 
 ones. 
 
 These fables compose the Pancha-tantra, or five points 
 of industry. They are five little romances, which are 
 entitled “ instructive,” although their morality be not 
 very sound, sometimes conducting to what is evil, rather 
 than teaching the means of avoiding it. 
 
 The first story explains how dextrous knaves contrive 
 to sow divisions between the best friends. The second 
 teaches the advantage of true friends, and how they should 
 be selected. The third explains how one is to destroy 
 his adversary by artifice when he cannot succeed by 
 force. I'he fourth shews how a man loses his property 
 by misconduct ; and the last exhibits the bad effects of 
 thoughtlessness and precipitate decision. 
 
 The first fable appears to teach false morality, in 
 shewing how a breach of the most intimate friendship 
 may be effected, and how a faithful minister may be 
 ruined in the good opinion of his Prince ; unless the in- 
 tention of the Brahman, in instructing his pupils how 
 the fox undermined the faithful bull in the favour of the 
 lion, was not rather to caution them against the syco- 
 phants that haunt the palaces of Kings, and by false in- 
 sinuations carry poison to the royal ear, and ruin the 
 credit of the most meritorious servants. The following 
 is a short abstract of this fable, which I think superior 
 to the rest. 
 
 A Bull, who had been left by its owner in the midst 
 of a forest, became at first the friend, and afterwards the 
 confidant, of the Lion, who ruled there. A Fox, who 
 had till then enjoyed the entire confidence of the king of 
 
HINDU FABLES). 
 
 soo- 
 the woods, had introduced the Bull, and recommended 
 him to the Lion, verj* much against the opinion and ad- 
 vice of another aged Fox, his friend, who endeavoured, 
 by many apologues, to dissuade him from so dangerous 
 a step. These were answered, by relating other fables ; 
 and the advice was rejected. It turned out, however, 
 that the old Fox was right. The upstart Bull conduct- 
 ed himself with so much gentleness, candour and good 
 faith, that he soon acquired the unbounded confidence of 
 the Lion, became his first minister, and, without arti- 
 fice, supplanted the Fox that introduced him. Thus 
 degraded, and neglected by his sovereign, after having 
 so long directed his councils, the Fox now strove to un- 
 do his own work, and to pull down the minister whom 
 he had elevated to that dignity. For this purpose, he 
 employed every art and all sorts of duplicity, and man- 
 aged so well, by innumerable fables which he invented 
 and recited to the Lion, every day, that a deep distrust 
 of the faithful animal was engendered in his royal mind ; 
 and being led to suspect, at last, that the Bull was about 
 to dethrone him and usurp the dominion of the forest, 
 he fell upon him and tore him in pieces. 
 
 The author of the Pancha-tantra has taken occasion to 
 introduce into his work a great number of fables, in 
 which animals are the speakers. They are very much 
 the same with those of Esop, though far more prolix. 
 They are so constructed, that one fable, before it is fin- 
 islied, gives rise to another, from one of the attending 
 beasts, and so on to a third. There is some ingenuity in 
 this method ;’but by thus involving one tale within ano- 
 ther, we are in danger of losing sight of that which was 
 first-commenced. The author returns to it, no doubt; 
 
HINDU FABLES. 
 
 295 
 
 but a reader of fable does not willingly submit to the 
 fatigue and trouble of so intricate an arrangement. 
 
 In the last of the four fables that follow, the dialogue 
 is not confined to beasts. The principal subject of this 
 fable is a tame Stork, which a Brahman had carefully 
 reared in his house. Seeing it one day coming out all 
 bloody from the apartment where his infant child slept, 
 he imagined it to be the blood of the child who had 
 been devoured by the Stork. Struck with horror at the 
 thought, in a moment of rage, he slew the fowl. But 
 what was his regret and despair, when he saw the infant 
 in tranquil slumber, and an enormous serpent stretched 
 out dead by the side of the cradle, and immersed in its 
 own blood ? At once he perceived that the faithful Stork 
 had saved the life of the babe, by flying upon the ser- 
 pent when in the act of stifling it. 
 
 It is impossible to determine the age of these fables, 
 iTO authentic document of their era being now extant. 
 The Hindus rank them with their oldest productions ; 
 and the estimation in which they are held through all 
 India, is a proof of their antiquity. They are at least as 
 old as those of Esop ; who probably derived his taste 
 from this source, as in many passages of his writings 
 there is a strong resemblance to the Pancha-tantra. 
 
 But to take the question in another light : could the 
 Brahman Somajanma have had any knowledge of the 
 stories of the Grecian fabulists, so as to have drawn his 
 ideas from them ? This will appear rather improbable, 
 when we consider the contempt which the Brahmans 
 have, in all ages, entertained for literary productions of 
 which they were not themselves the inventors ; and the 
 impossibility of their adopting them. W e also know 
 that ancient sages sometimes travelled from Europe into 
 
296 
 
 HINDU FABLES. 
 
 India, to receive lessons of wisdom from its piiiloso- 
 phers and Brahmans. Some Greek philosophers under- 
 took this journey, long before the birth of Esop ; and 
 at a time when their country passed for the most cul- 
 tivated, wisest, and best regulated country in the uni- 
 verse. 
 
 It is uncertain whether these fables were originally 
 composed in verse or prose. They were most probably 
 in verse, as that was the most ancient mode of composi- 
 tion in India. It is certain at least that they have them 
 in Sanscrit verse. Thence they may have been translat- 
 ed into prose, for the convenience of those to whom the 
 poetic language was not familiar. They have passed, in 
 this way, into the Tamul, Canara, and Telinga languages. 
 The style, in prose, as far I have seen, is extremely or- 
 namented, and of a poetic strain ; which would naturally 
 be derived from the original poetry. 
 
 The five principal fables, together, form a considera- 
 ble volume, on account of the great number of interlocu- 
 tory tales that are interwoven with them. If closely 
 translated, they would compose two duodecimo vol- 
 umes, pf three or four hundred pages each. 
 
 It is not surprising, that such a work should have an 
 extensive circulation among a people like the Hindus, 
 prone to fiction and the marvellous. This natural dis- 
 position lays them open to the craft of innumerable ad- 
 venturers, who make it their profession to ramble over 
 the hole land, with fables and stories utterly devoid of 
 
 reason or sense. 
 
HINDU TALES. 
 
 397 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Hindu Tales. 
 
 THE subject of this chapter will perhaps appear to 
 some readers unworthy of any attention. But there are 
 also many to whom nothing is without interest that be- 
 longs to tlie manners and dispositions of an ancient peo- 
 ple ; and for their sake I will transgress a little on this 
 subject. 
 
 Among the tales which are current in the country, 
 some are ^vritten and known to many ; while others are 
 local, and can be considered only as old women’s stories, 
 or the traditions of the district. Both are equally devoid 
 of sense, and fit onlv to amuse children. 
 
 Of the written tales which I have seen, the three fol- 
 lowing may be taken as a specimen, fit to amuse an idle 
 reader, and at the same time, as characteristical of the 
 general taste that pervades them ail. 
 
 Tale of the Four Deaf Men. 
 
 A deaf shepherd was, one day, tending his fiock, near 
 his own village ; and though it was almost noon, his wife 
 had not yet brought him his breakfast. He was afraid 
 to leave his sheep, to go in quest of it, lest some acci- 
 dent should befal them. But his hunger could not be 
 appeased ; and upon looking round, he spied a Talai- 
 yari, or village hind, who had come to cut grass for his 
 cow near a neighbouring spring. He went to call him, 
 
 VoL. II. 2 P 
 
298 
 
 HINDU TALES. 
 
 though very reluctantly, because he knew that, though 
 those servants of the village are set as watchmen to pre- 
 vent theft, yet they are great thieves themselves. He 
 hailed him, however, and requested him just to give an 
 eve to his flock for the short time he should be absent, 
 and that he would not forget him when he returned from 
 breakfast. 
 
 But the man w^as as deaf as himself ; and, mistaking 
 his intentions, he angrily asked the shepherd : “ What 
 “ right have you to take this grass, which I have had 
 “ the trouble to cut ? Is my cow to starve, that your 
 “ sheep may fatten ? Go about thy business, and let me 
 “alone!” The deaf shepherd observed the repulsive 
 gesture of the hind, which he took for a signal of ac- 
 quiescence in his request, and therefore briskly run to- 
 wards the village, fully determined to give his wife a 
 good lesson for her negleet. But, when he approached 
 his house, he saw’ her before the door, rolling in the 
 pains of a violent colic, brought on by eating over night 
 too great a quantity of raw green pease. Her sad con- 
 dition, and the necessity he w'as under to provide break- 
 fast for himself, detained the shepherd longer tlian he 
 wished ; w hile the small confidence he had in the per- 
 son with whom he left his sheep, accelerated his return 
 to the utmost. 
 
 O verjoyed to see his flock peaceably feeding near the 
 spot where he left them, he counted them over ; and, 
 finding that there was not a single sheep missing : “ he 
 “ is an honest fellow,” quoth he, “this Talaiyari ; the 
 “ ven' jewel of his race ! I promised him a reward, and 
 “ he shall have it.” There was a lame beast in the flock, 
 well enough in other respects, w hich he hoisted on his 
 shoulders, and carried to the place w’here the hind was. 
 
HINDU TALES. 
 
 299 
 
 and courteously offered him the mutton, saying, “ you 
 “ have taken great care of my sheep during my absence. 
 
 Take this one for your trouble.” 
 
 “ I !” says the deaf hind, “ I break your sheep’s leg I 
 “ I’ll be hanged if I went near your flock since you have 
 “ been gone, or stirred from the place where I now am.” 
 “ Yes,” says the shepherd, “ it is good and fat mutton, 
 “ and will be a treat to you and your family or friends.” 
 “ Have I not told thee,” replied the Talaiyari in a rage, 
 “ that I never went near thy sheep ; and yet thou wilt 
 “ accuse me of breaking that one’s leg. Get about thy 
 “ business, or I will give thee a good beating !” And, 
 by his gestures, he seemed determined to put his threats 
 in execution. The astonished shepherd got into a pas- 
 sion also, and assumed a posture of defiance. They 
 were just proceeding to blows, when a man on horse- 
 back came up. To him they both appealed, to decide 
 the dispute between them ; and the shepherd, laying 
 hold of the bridle, requested the horseman to light, just 
 for a moment, and to settle the difference between him 
 and the beggarly Talaiyari. “ I have offered him a present 
 of a sheep,” says he, “ because I thought he had done 
 me a service; and, in requital, he will knock me down.” 
 The villager was at the same time preferring his com- 
 plaint, that the shepherd would accuse him of breaking 
 the leg of his sheep, when he had never been near his 
 flock. 
 
 The horseman, to whom they both appealed, happen- 
 ed to be as deaf as they ; and did not understand a word 
 that either of them said. But, seeing them both ad- 
 dressing him with vehemence, he made a sign to them 
 to listen to him, and then frankly told them that he 
 confessed the horse he rode was not his own. “ It was 
 
300 
 
 HINDU TALES. 
 
 “ a stray that I found on the road,’’ quoth he, “ and Ix:- 
 “ ing at a loss, I mounted him for the sake of expedition. 
 “ If he be your’s, take him. If not, pray let me pro- 
 “ ceed, as I am really in great haste.” 
 
 The shepherd and the village hind, each imagining 
 that tl',e hoiseman had decided in favour of the other, 
 became more violent tkin ever ; both cursing him, whom 
 they had taken for their judge, and accusing him of par- 
 tiality. 
 
 At this crisis, there happened to come up an aged 
 Brahman. Instantly they all crowded round him ; shep- 
 herd, Talaiyari, and horseman ; each claiming his inter- 
 position, and a decision in bis favour. All spoke to-, 
 gether ; every one telling his own tale. But the Brah- 
 man had lost his hearing also. “ I know,” said he, 
 “ you u ant to compel me to return home to her” (mean- 
 ing his wife) ; “ but do you know her character ? In all 
 “ the legions of the devils, I defy you to find one that 
 “ is her equal in wickedness. Since the time I first 
 “ bought her, she has made me commit more sin than 
 “ it will be in my power to expiate in thirty generations. 
 “ I am going on a pilgrimage to Kasi (Benares), where 
 “ I will wash njyself from the innumerable crimes I 
 “ hiive been led into from tlie hour in which 1 had tlie 
 misfortune to make her my wife. Then will I wear 
 “ out the rest of my days, on alms in a strange land.” 
 WhiiC they were all four venting their exclamations, 
 without hearing a word ; the horse-stealer perceived 
 some people advancing towards them with great speed. 
 Fearing they might be the owners of the beast, he dis- 
 inoun.ed and took to his heels. The shepherd, seeing 
 k was growing late, w-ent to look after his flock, pour- 
 ing out curses, as he trudged, against all arbitrators, and 
 
HINDU TALES. 
 
 301 
 
 bitterly complaining that all justice had departed from 
 the earth. Then he bethought himself of a snake that 
 crossed his path in the morning, as he came out of the 
 sheepfold, and which might account for the troubles he 
 had that day experienced. The Talaiyari returned to 
 his load of grass ; and finding the lame sheep there, he 
 took It on his shoulder, to punish the shepherd for the 
 vexation he had given him; and the aged Brahman 
 pursued his course to a choultry that was not far off. 
 A quiet night and sound sleep soothed his anger in part ; 
 and, earl}- in the morning, several Brahmans, his neigh- 
 bours and relations, who had traced him out, persuaded 
 him to return home, promising to engage his wife to be 
 more obedient and less quarrelsome in future. 
 
 Tale of the Four simple Brahmans. 
 
 In a certain district, proclamation had been made of 
 a Samaradanam being about to be held. This is one 
 of the public festivals given by pious people, and some- 
 times by those in power, to the Brahmans ; who, on 
 such occasions, assemble in great numbers from all 
 quarters. Four individuals of the cast, from different 
 villages, all going thither, fell in upon the road ; and, 
 finding that they were all upon the same errand, they 
 agreed to walk in company. A soldier happening to 
 meet them, saluted them in the usual way by touching 
 hands and pronouncing the words, always applied on 
 such occasions to Brahmans, of dandam^arija, or health 
 to my lord. The four travellers made the usual return, 
 each ot them pronouncing the customary benediction of 
 asirvadam; and, going on, they came to a well, where 
 they quenched their thirst, and reposed themselves in 
 the shade of some trees. Sitting there, and finding no 
 
SOS 
 
 HINDU TALES. 
 
 better subject of conversation, one of them asked the 
 rest, whether they did not remark how particularly the 
 soldier had distinguished him by his polite salutation. 
 “ You !”’ says another, “ it was not you that he saluted, 
 but me.” “ You are both mistaken,” says a third, 
 “ for you may remember that, when the soldier said 
 dandam-ar)'a, he cast his eyes upon me.” “ Not at all,” 
 replied the fourth, “ it was me only he saluted ; other- 
 wise should I have answered him as I did, by saying 
 asirvadam 
 
 Each maintained his argument obstinately ; and, as 
 none of them would yield, the dispute had nearly come 
 to blows, when the least stupid of the four, seeing what 
 was iikely to happen, put an end to the brawd by the 
 following advice : ” How’ foolish it is in us,” says he, 
 
 thus to put ourselves in a passion ! After we have 
 said all the ill of one another that w'e can invent, nay 
 after going stoutly to fisticuffs, like Sudra rabble, should 
 we be at ail nearer to the decision of our difference ? 
 The fittest person to determine the controversy, I think, 
 would be the man who occasioned it. The soldier, who 
 chose to salute one or other of us, cannot be yet far offi 
 Let us therefore run after him as quickly^ as we can, and 
 w e shall soon know for which of us he intended his salu- 
 tation.” 
 
 The advice appeared wise to them all, and was imme- 
 diately adopted. The w hole of them set off in pursuit of 
 the soldier ; and at last overtook him, after running a 
 league, and all out of breath. As soon as they came in 
 sight of him, they cried out to him to stop ; and, before 
 they had well approached him, they had put him in full 
 possession of the nature of their dispute, and prayed him 
 to terminate it by saying, to which of them he had di- 
 
HINDU TALES. 
 
 303 
 
 '*''1 
 
 * 
 
 reeled his salutation. The soldier, instantly perceiving 
 the nature of the people he had to do with, and being 
 willing to amuse himself a little at their expense, coolly 
 replied, that he intended his salutation for the greatest 
 fool of all the four ; and then, turning on his heel, he 
 continued his journey. 
 
 The Brahmans, confounded with this answer, turned 
 back in silence. But all of them had deeply at heart the 
 distinction of the salutation of the soldier, and the dis- 
 pute was gradually renewed. Even the awkward deci- 
 sion of the warrior could not prevent each of them from 
 arrogating to himself the pre-eminence of being noticed 
 by him, to the exclusion of the others. The contention 
 therefore now became, which of the four was the stupid- 
 est ; and, strange as it was, it grew as warm as ever, 
 and must have come to blows, had not the person who 
 gave the former advice, to follow the soldier, interposed 
 again with his wisdom, and spoken as follows. 
 
 “ I think myself the greatest fool of you all. Each 
 of you thinks the same thing of himself. And, after a 
 “fight, shall we be a bit nearer the decision of the ques- 
 “ tion ? Let us therefore have a little patience. We are 
 “ within a short disUince of Dharmapuri, where there is a 
 “ choultry, at which all little causes are tried by the heads 
 “ of the village ; and let ours be judged among the rest.^^’ 
 
 All agreed in the soundness of the advice ; and having 
 arrived at the village, they eagerly entered the choultry, 
 to have their business settled by the arbitrators. 
 
 They could not have come at a better season. The 
 chiefs of the district. Brahmans and others, had already 
 met in the choultry ; and no other cause offering itself, 
 they proceeded immediately to that of the Brahmans. 
 All the four advanced into the middle of the court, and 
 
804 
 
 HINDU TALES. 
 
 Stated, that a sharji contest having arisen among them, 
 they were come to have it decided with I'airness and im- 
 partiality. The couri desired them to proceed and ex- 
 plain the grounds of their controversy. 
 
 Upon this, one of them stood forward, and related to 
 the assembly all that had happened, from their meeting 
 w ith the soldier to the present state of the quarrel ; which 
 rested on the superior degree of stupidity of some one 
 of them Qver the otliers. 
 
 The detail created a universal shout of laughter. 
 The president, who w^as of a gay disposition, was de- 
 lighted beyond measure to have fallen in with so divert- 
 ing an incident. But he put on a grave face, and laid it 
 dow'n, as the peculiarity of the cause, that it could not 
 be determined on the testimony of witnesses, and that 
 in fact there was no other way of satisfying the minds of 
 the judges, than by each, in his turn, relating some parti- 
 cular occurrence of his life, on which he could best es- 
 tablish his claim to superior folly. He clearly shewed that 
 there could be no other means of determining to which 
 of them the salutation of the soldier could with justice 
 be awarded. The Brahmans assented, and upon a sign 
 being made to one of them to begin, and to the rest to 
 keep silence, the first thus commenced his oration. 
 
 “ I am poorly provided with clothing as you see ; and 
 it is not to-day only that I have been covered with rags. 
 A rich and very charitable Brahman merchant once made 
 me a present of tw’o pieces of cloth to attire me ; the 
 finest that had ever been seen in our Agragrama* . I 
 shewed tliem to the other Brahmans of the village, w^ho 
 all congratulated me on so fortunate an acquisition. 
 
 Village inhabited by Brahmans. 
 
HINDU TALES. 
 
 305 
 
 They told me it must be the fruit of some good deeds 
 that I had done in a preceding generation. Before I put 
 them on, I washed them, according to the custom, in 
 order to purify them from the soil of the weaver’s touch ; 
 and hung them up to dr)-, w ith the ends fastened to two 
 branches of a tree. A dog dien happening to come that 
 way, run under them, and I could not discern whether 
 he was high enough to touch the clothes or not. I asked 
 my children, who were present ; but they said they w’ere 
 not quite certain. How then was I to discover the fact ? 
 I put myself upon all fours, so as to be of the height of 
 the dog ; and, in that posture, I crawled under.the cloth- 
 ing. Did I touch it ? said 1 to the children who were 
 observing me. They answered ‘No:’ and I was filled 
 with joy at the new's. But after reflecting awhile, I 
 recollected that the dog had a turned- up tail ; and that, 
 by elevating it above the rest of his body, it might well 
 have reached my cloth. To ascertain that, I fixed a leaf 
 to my rump, turning upwards ; and then, creeping again 
 on all fours, I passed a second time under the clothing. 
 The children immediately cried out that the point of the 
 leaf on my back had touched the cloth. This proved 
 to me that the point of the dog’s tail must have done 
 so too, and that my garment w^as therefore polluted. In 
 my rage, I pulled dowm the beautiful raiment, and tore 
 it in a thousand pieces, loading with curses both the dog 
 and his master. 
 
 When this foolish act was known, I became the 
 laughing stock of all the world ; and I was univer- 
 sally treated as a madman. ‘ Even if the dog,’ they all 
 said : ‘ had touched the cloth, and so brought defilement 
 upon it, might not you have washed it a second time, 
 and so have removed the stain ? Or might you not have 
 
 VoL. II. 2 Q ' 
 
306 
 
 HINDU TALES. 
 
 given it to some poor Sudra rather than tear it in pieces ? 
 After such egregious lolly, who will give \ ou clothes 
 another time V This was all true ; for ever since, when 
 I have begged clothing of any one, the constant answer 
 has been, that no doubt I wanted a piece of cloth to pull 
 to pieces.” 
 
 He was going on, when a bystander interrupted him 
 by remarking that he seemed to understand going on all 
 fours. “ Exceedingly well,” says he, “ as you shall 
 see and off he shuffled in that posture, amidst the 
 unbounded laughter of the spectators. 
 
 “ Enough, enough!” said the president. “ What 
 we have both heard and seen goes a great way in his 
 favour. But let us now hear what the next of you 
 has to say for himself, in proof of his stupidity.” The 
 second accordingly began, by expressing his confidence, 
 that, if what they had just heard appeared to them to be 
 deserving of the salutation of the soldier, what he had to 
 say would change that opinion. 
 
 “ Having got my hair and beard shaven one day,” he 
 continued, “ in order to appear decent at a public festival 
 of the Brahmans (the Samaradanam), which had been 
 proclaimed through all the district, I desired my wife to 
 give the barber a penny for his trouble. She heedlessly 
 gave him a couple. 1 asked of him to give me one of 
 them back ; but he refused. Upon tiiat we quarrelled, 
 and began to abuse each other ; but the barber at length 
 pacified me, by offering, in consideration of the double 
 fee, to shave my wife also. I thought this a fair way of 
 settling the difference between us. But my wife, hearing 
 the proposal, and seeing the barber in earnest, tried to 
 make her escape by flight. I took hold of her and forc- 
 ed her to sit down, while he shaved her poll in the same 
 
HINDU TALES. 
 
 ' : 307 
 
 manner as they serve widows. During the operation, 
 she cried out bitterly ; but I was inexorable, thinking 
 it less hard that my wife should be close shaven than 
 that my penny should be given away for nothing. When 
 the barber had finished, I let her go, and she retired im- 
 mediately to a place of concealment, pouring down 
 curses on me and the barber. He took his departure ; 
 and meeting my mother in his way, told her what he had 
 (lone ; which made her hasten to the house, to inquire into 
 the outrage ; and when she saw with her own eyes that it 
 was all true, she also loaded me with invectives. 
 
 “ The barber published every where what had hap- 
 pened at our house ; and the villain added to the story, 
 that I had caught her with another man, which was 
 the cause of my having her shaved ; and people were 
 no doubt expecting, according to our custom in such a 
 case, to see her mounted on the ass, with her face tunied 
 towards the tail. They came running to my dwelling 
 from all quarters, and actually brought an ass to make 
 the usual exhibition in the streets. The report soon 
 reached my father-in-law, who lived at a distance of ten 
 or twelve leagues, and he, with his wife, came also to in- 
 quire into the afiair. Seeing their poor daughter in that 
 degraded state, and being apprised of the only reason, 
 they reproached me most bitterly ; which I patiently en- 
 dured, being conscious that I was in the wrong. They 
 persisted, however, to take her with them, and kept her 
 carefully concealed from every eye for four whole years j 
 when at length they restored her to me. 
 
 “ This little accident made me lose the Samaradanam, 
 for which I had been preparing by a fast of three days ; 
 and it was a great mortification to me to be excluded 
 from it, as I understood that it was a most splendid en- 
 
308 
 
 HINDU TALES. 
 
 tertainment. Another Samaradanam was announced to 
 be held ten days afterwards, at which I expected to make 
 up for my loss. But I was received with the hisses of 
 six hundred Brahmans, who seized my person, and in- 
 sisted on my giving up the accomplice of my wife, that 
 he might be prosecuted and punished, according to the 
 severe rules of the cast. 
 
 “ I solemnly attested her innocence, and told the real 
 cause of the shaving of her hair; when a universal burst 
 of surprise took place ; every one exclaiming, how mon- 
 strous it was that a mairied woman should be so degra- 
 ded, without having committed the crime of adultery ! 
 Either this man, they said, must be a liar, or he is the 
 greatest fool on the face of the earth ! Such I dare say, 
 gentlemen, you will think me ; and I am sure you will 
 consider my folly,” (looking here with great disdain 
 on the first speaker) “ as being far superior to that of 
 the render of body clothing. 
 
 The court agreed that the speaker had put in a ver}' 
 strong case ; but justice required that the other two 
 should also be heard. The third claimant was indeed 
 burning with impatience for his turn ; and as soon as he 
 had permission, he thus began. 
 
 “ JVly name was originally Anantya. Now, all the 
 world call me Betel Anantya ; and I will tell you how 
 this nickname arose. 
 
 “ My wife, having been long detained at her father’s 
 house, on account of her youth, had cohabited with me 
 but about a month ; when, going to bed one evening, I 
 happened to say, carelessly I believe, that all women 
 were prattlers. She retorted, that she knew men who 
 were not less prattlers than women. I perceived at once 
 that she alluded to myself ; and being somewhat piqued 
 
HtNDU TALES. 
 
 309 
 
 •at the sharpness of her retort, I said, Now let us see 
 which of us shall speak first. ‘ Agreed,’ quot’n she ; 
 
 ‘ but what shall the loser forfeit?’ A leaf of betel, said 
 I ; and our wager being thus agreed, we both addres- 
 sed ourselves to sleep without speaking another word. 
 
 “ Next morning, as we did not appear at our usual 
 hour, after some interval, they called us but got no 
 answer. They again called, and then roared stoutly at 
 the door ; but w’ith no success. The alarm began to 
 spread in the house. They began to fear that we had 
 died suddenly. The carpenter was called with his tools. 
 The door of our room was forced open ; and when they 
 got in, they were not a little surprised to find both of us 
 broad awake, in good health, and at our ease, though 
 without the faculty of speech. My mother was greatly 
 alarmed, and gave loud vent to her grief. All the Brah- 
 mans in the village, of both sexes, assembled to the num- 
 ber of one hundred ; and, after close examination, every 
 one drew his own conclusion on the accident which was 
 supposed to have befallen us. The greater number were 
 of opinion, that it could have arisen only from the male- 
 volence of some enemy, w^ho had availed himself of magi- 
 cal incantations to injure us. For this reason a famous 
 magician was called, to counteract the effects of the witch- 
 craft, and to remove it. As soon as he came, after sted- 
 fastly contemplating us forPsome time, he began to try our 
 pulses, by putting his finger on our wrists, on our tem- 
 ples, on the heart, and on various other parts of the body ; 
 and, after a great variety of grimaces, the remembrance 
 of which excites my laughter, as often as I think of him, 
 he decided that our malady arose wholly from the effect 
 of malevolence. He even gave the name of the parti- 
 cular devil that possessed my wife and me, and render- 
 
310 
 
 HINDU TALES. 
 
 ed US dumb. He added that this devil was very stub- 
 born and difficult to lay ; and that it would cost three or 
 four pagodas, for the expense of the offerings necessary 
 for compelling him to fly. 
 
 “ My relations, who were not very opulent, were as- 
 tonished at the grievous imposition which the magician 
 had laid on. Yet, rather than we should continue dumb, 
 they consented to give him whatsoever should be neces- 
 sary for the expense of his sacrifice ; and they farther 
 promised, that they would reward him for his trouble, 
 as soon as the demon by whom we were possessed should 
 be expelled. 
 
 “ He was on the point of commencing his magical 
 operations, when a Brahman, one of our friends, who was 
 present, maintained, in opposition to the opinion of the 
 magician and his assistants, that our malady w'as not at 
 all the effect of witchcraft, but arose from some simple 
 and ordinary cause ; of which he had seen several in- 
 stances ; and he undertook to cure us without any ex- 
 pense. 
 
 “ He took a chafing dish filled with burning charcoal, 
 and heated a small bar of gold very hot. This he took 
 up with pincers, and applied to the soles of my feet, then 
 to my elbows, and the crown of my head. I endured 
 these cruel operations, without shewing the least symp- 
 tom of pain, or making any complaint ; being deter- 
 mined to bear any thing, and to die, if necessary, rather 
 tlian lose the w'ager I had laid. 
 
 “ Let us try the effect on the woman,’ said the doctor, 
 astonished at my resolution and apparent insensibilit}’’. 
 And immediately, taking the bit of gold, wtII heated, 
 he applied it to the sole of her foot. She was not able 
 to endure the pain for a moment, but instantly screamed 
 
HINDU TALES. 
 
 311 
 
 out : ‘ Appa, enough !’ and, turning to me, ‘ I have 
 lost my wager,’ she said ; ‘ there is your leaf of betel.’ 
 Did I not tell you, said I, taking the leaf, that you would 
 be the first to speak out, and that you would prove by 
 your own conduct that I was right in saying yesterday, 
 when we went to bed, that women are babblers ? 
 
 “ Every one was surprized at the whole proceeding ; 
 nor could any of them comprehend the meaning of what 
 was passing between my wife and me ; until I explained 
 the kind of wager we had made overnight, before going 
 to sleep. ‘ What ! ’ they exclaimed, ‘ was it for a leaf of 
 betel that you have spread this alarm through your own 
 house, and the whole village? for a leaf of betel, tliat 
 you shewed such constancy, and suffered burning from 
 the feet to the head upwards ? Never in the world was 
 there seen such folly !’ And from that time I have been 
 constantly known by the name of Betel Anantya.” 
 
 The narrative being finished, the Court were of opin- 
 ion that so transcendant a piece of folly gave him high 
 pretensions in the depending suit ; but it was necessary, 
 first, to hear the fourth and last of the suitors ; who thus 
 addressed them : 
 
 “ The maiden to whom I was betrothed, having re- 
 mained six or seven years at her father’s house, on ac- 
 count of her youth, we were at last apprized that she was 
 become marriageable ; and her parents informed mine 
 that she was in a situation to fulfil all the duties 
 of a wife, and might therefore join her husband. 
 My mother, being at that time sick, and the house 
 of my father in-law being at the distance of five or 
 six leagues from ours, she was not able to undertake 
 the journey. She therefore committed to myself the 
 
312 
 
 HINDU TALES. 
 
 duty of bringing home my wife, and counselled me so 
 to conduct myself, in words and actions, that they might 
 not see that I was only a brute. ‘ Knowing thee as I do,’ 
 said my mother, as I took leave of her, ‘ I am very dis- 
 trustful of thee.’ But I promised to be on my good be- 
 haviour ; and so I departed. 
 
 “ I was well received by my father-in-law, who gave 
 a great feast to all the Brahmans of the village on the oc- 
 casion. He made me stay three days, during which 
 there was nothing but festivity. At length, the time of 
 our departure having arrived, he suffered my wife and 
 myself to leave him, after pouring out blessings on us 
 both, and wishing us a long and happy life, enrictied with 
 a numerous posterity. When we took leave of him, he 
 shed abundance of tears, as if he had foreseen the misery 
 that awaited us. 
 
 “ It was then the summer solstice, and the day was 
 excessively hot. We had to cross a sandy plain of more 
 than two leagues ; and the sand, being heated by the 
 burning sun, scorched the feet of my young wife, who 
 being brought up too tenderly in her father’s house, was 
 not accustomed to such severe trials. She fell a crying, 
 and being unable to go on, she lay dowm on the ground, 
 saying she wished to die there. 
 
 “ I was in dreadful trouble, and knew not what step 
 to take ; when a merchant came up, travelling the con- 
 trary way. He had a train of fifty bullocks, loaded with 
 various merchandize. I ran to meet him, and told him 
 the cause of my anxiety with tears in my eyes ; and en- 
 treated him to aid me with his good advice, in the dis- 
 tressing circumstances in which 1 w'as placed. He im- 
 mediately answered, that a young and delicate woman, 
 
HINDU TALES. 
 
 313 
 
 such as my wife was, could neither remain where she 
 lay, nor proceed in her journey, under so hot a sun, 
 without being exposed to certain death. Rather than 
 that I should see her perish, and run the hazard of l^eing 
 suspected of having killed her myself, and be held guilty 
 of one of the five crimes which the Brahmans esteem 
 the most heinous, he advised me to give her to him, and 
 then he W’ould mount her on one of his cattle, and take 
 her along with him. That I should be a loser, he ad- 
 mitted ; but all things considered, it was better to lose 
 her, with the merit of having saved her life, than equally 
 to lose her, under the suspicion of being her murderer. 
 ‘ Her trinkets,’ he said, ‘ may be worth fifteen pagodas. 
 Take these twenty, and give me your wife.’ 
 
 “ The merchant’s arguments appeared unanswerable : 
 so I yielded to them, and delivered to him my wife, 
 whom he placed on one of his best oxen, and continued 
 his journey without delay. I continued mine, also, and 
 got home in the evening, exhausted with hunger and fa- 
 tigue, and with my feet almost roasted with the burning 
 sand, over which I had walked the greater part of the 
 day. 
 
 “ Frightened to see me alone, ‘ Where is your wife ?’ 
 cried my mother. I gave her a full account of every 
 thing that had happened from the time I left her. 1 spoke 
 of the agreeable and courteous manner in which my fa- 
 ther-in-law had received me, and how, by some delay, we 
 had been overtaken by the scorching heat of the sun at 
 noon, so as that my wife must have been suflbcated, and 
 myself suspected of her murder, had we proceeded ; and 
 that I had preferred to sell her to a merchant who met us, 
 for twenty pagodas. And I shewed my mother the mo- 
 ney. 
 
 VoL. II. 
 
 2R 
 
S14 
 
 HINDU TALES. 
 
 “ When I had done, my mother fell into an ecstacy of 
 fuiy. She lifted up her voice against me with cries of 
 rage, and overwhelmed me with imprecations and awful 
 curses. Having given way to these first emotions of 
 despair, she sunk into a more moderate tone. 
 
 “ ‘ What hast thou done, wretch !’ said she, ‘ what hast 
 thou done ! sold thy wife, hast thou ! delivered her to 
 another man ! A Brahmanari has become the concubine 
 of a vile merehont ! Ah ! what will her kind ■ and 
 ours say w'hen they hear the tale of this brutish stupidity, 
 of folly so unexampled and degrading ! ’ 
 
 “ The relations of my wife were soon informed of the 
 sad adventure that had befallen their unhappy girl. They 
 came over to attack me, and would certainly have mur- 
 dered me, and my innocent mother, if we had not both 
 made a sudden escape. Having no direct object to 
 wreak their vengeance upon, they brought the matter be- 
 fore the chiefs of the cast, who unanimously fined me in 
 two hundred pagodas, as a reparation to my father-in- 
 law, and issued a prohibition against so great a fool be- 
 ing ever allowed to take another wife ; denouncing the 
 penalty of expulsion from the cast, against any one who 
 should assist me in such an attempt. I was therefore 
 condemned to remain a widower all my life, and to pay 
 dear for my folly. Indeed, I should have been excluded 
 for ever from my cast, but for the high consideration in 
 which the memory of my late father is still held, he hav- 
 ing lived respected by all the world. 
 
 “ Now that you have heard one specimen of the many 
 follies of my life, I hope you will not consider me as 
 beneath those who have spoken before me ; nor my pre- 
 tensions altogether undeserving of the salutation of the 
 soldier.’’ 
 
HIXDU TALES. 
 
 315 
 
 The heads of the assembly, several of whom were con- 
 vulsed with laughter while the Brahmans were telling 
 their histories, decided, after hearing them all, that each 
 had given such absolute proofs of folly as to be entitled, 
 in justice, to a superiority in his own way ; that each of 
 them therefore should be at liberty to call himself the 
 greatest fool of all, and to attribute to himself the salu- 
 tation of the soldier. Each of them having thus gained 
 his suit, it was recommended to them all to continue 
 their journey, if it were possible, in amity. The delight- 
 cd Brahmans rushed out of court, each exclaiming that 
 he had gained his cause. 
 
 Tale of jipajiy Prime Minister of King Krishnaraya. 
 
 Although the composition I am now about to des- 
 cribe be placed in the list of tales, yet it is believed to be 
 founded on historical truth ; the memory of the good 
 King Krishnaraya, and his faithful minister Apaji, being 
 still held in reverence among the Hindus. They flour- 
 ished a short time anterior to the first invasion of the 
 countr}' by the Muhammadans ; and their sole ambition 
 was to make their subjects happy. But, whether history 
 or tale, the narrative affords a good illustration of the 
 customs and usages of the people. 
 
 In the happy times, when the race of Hindus was go- 
 verned by native Princes, one of their monarchs, called 
 Krishnaraya, bore rule over one of the most extensive 
 and richest provinces of that vast countr\\ His only 
 study was to gain the respect and love of his people, by 
 rendering them happy ; and, with that view, he was par- 
 ticularly solicitous to admit none into his service or 
 counsels but men whose experience and prudence would 
 
316 
 
 HINDU TALES. 
 
 insure a wise administration of the state. His prime 
 minister Apaji, stood highest in his confidence, because, 
 with many other excellent qualities, he possessed the 
 liappy talent of displaying truth in entertaining and stri- 
 king allegories. 
 
 One day, when at the court of his master, nothing of 
 greater importance being under consideration, the King 
 proposed to him the following question. 
 
 “ I have often heard it said, Apaji, that men in their 
 civil and religious usages, only follow a beaten track ; 
 and that the foim of worship, or of other customs, being 
 once established, continues to be blindly acted upon by 
 the undiscerning multitude, however absurd and ridicu- 
 lous it may be. I desire that you will prove to me the 
 truth of that opinion, and shew me the justice of the trite 
 adage so constantly employed through the whole coun- 
 trv', * Jana Marulu, Jalra Marulu,’ the meaning of which 
 1 take to be : Is it the men or their customs that are 
 ridiculous ?” 
 
 Apaji, with his U%ual modesty, promised the King 
 to apply himself to the solution of that proverbial ques- 
 tion, and to giv'e his answer in a few days. 
 
 After the King had dismissed his council, Apaji, 
 wholly occupied with the question which his master liad 
 given him to resolve, went home, taking with him the 
 shepherd who had the care of the King’s flock ; a man 
 of a gross and rough nature, as those of his profession 
 generally are. He thus addressed him : “ Hear me, 
 Kuruba ; you must instantly lay aside your shepherd’s 
 clothing, and put on that of a Sannyasi or Penitent, 
 whom you are to represent for a certain time. You will 
 begin by rubbing your whole body with ashes. You 
 w’ill then take in one hand, a bamboo rod with seven 
 
HINDU TALES. 
 
 317 
 
 knots, and, in the other, the pitcher, in which a penitent 
 always carries his water. Under your arm, you will 
 take the antelope skin, on which persons of that profes- 
 sion must always sit. This being done, go without 
 delay to the mountain nearest to this town, and enter the 
 cavern in the middle of the hill, which every one knows. 
 Going to the farther end of it, you will spread the ante- 
 lope skin on the ground, and sit down upon it, in the 
 manner of a penitent. Your eyes must be fixed on the 
 ground, while one hand keeps your nostrils shut, and 
 the other is resting on the crown of your head. But 
 be careful to perform your part well, and see that you 
 do not betray me. It may happen that the King him- 
 self, with all his retinue, and vast multitudes of people, 
 may go to see you ; but, whether I, or even the King 
 himself, shall be there, you must remain immoveable in 
 the posture which I have described. And, whatever 
 pain you may suffer, even if they shall pluck up all your 
 hairs one by one, you must appear to feel as little as if 
 you were dead ; complaining of nothing, attending to 
 nothing; looking at nobody, speaking to nobody. There, 
 shepherd ! I’hat is what I demand of thee. And if thou 
 transgress my orders, in the slightest degree, thy life 
 shall answer fork; but if on the contrary thou shall 
 execute them as I expect, thou shalt be most liberally 
 rewarded.” 
 
 The poor shepherd, having been all his life accus- 
 tomed only to feed his sheep, had no ambition to change 
 his employment for that of a Sannyasi ; but his master’s 
 commands were uttered in so determined a tone, that 
 he saw any attempt of his to alter them to be altogether 
 useless, and therefore prepared to play the part of the 
 Penitent. Every thing being in order, he betook him- 
 
318 
 
 HINDU TALES. 
 
 self to the cave appointed, with the resolution of execut- 
 ing the orders of his master. 
 
 Apaji, in the mean time, went to the palace, where he 
 found the King already surrounded by his courtiers. 
 Having approached him, he addressed him to this effect : 
 
 “ Great King ! while you are occupied in the midst 
 of your wise counsellors with the means of making your 
 subjects happy, I am under the necessity of interrupting 
 you, by announcing to you the most happy’^ news, and 
 that the day is arrived when the gods, delighted with 
 your virtues, have c hosen to give you a signal proof of 
 their protection and favour. At the time I am now 
 speaking, a great wonder is exhibited’ in your kingdom, 
 and very' near your own palace. In the middle of the 
 mountain, which is but at a short distance from your 
 capital, there is a cave, in which a holy penitent, de- 
 scended without doubt from the dwelling place of the 
 great Vishnu, has taken up his abode. In profound 
 meditation on the perfections of Para- Brahma, he is 
 wholly insensible to all terrestrial objects. He has no 
 other nourishment than the air which he breathes, and 
 none of the objects that affect the five senses make the 
 slightest impression on him. In a word, it may be 
 truly said, that the body alone of this great personage 
 resides in this lower world, whilst his soul, his thoughts, 
 and all his affections, are closely united to the divinity. 
 I have no doubt that the gods, in sending him to visit 
 your kingdom, have deigned to give you an unequivocal 
 proof of their favour and kindness to you and your 
 people.” 
 
 The King and all his court listened, with earnest at- 
 tention, and remained for some time looking at each 
 other in deep amazement. At last the King, w ith their 
 
HINDU TALES. 
 
 319 
 
 unanimous concurrence, determined to visit the illustri- 
 ous stranger, and inijdore his blessing. He went accord- 
 ingly, in magnificent procession, with his court and 
 troops attending. The royal trumpets sounded in all 
 parts, to announce the object of his visit, and invite all 
 persons whatever to attend. As they came near the 
 mountain, the numbers encreased ; and, never before, 
 had such an assembly been seen. Every face was cheer- 
 ful, and every heart rejoiced to have lived to see so 
 distinguished a personage upon earth. 
 
 The King and the splendid throng had ascended the 
 the mountain, and approached the cave where the pre- 
 tended Sannyasi lived, in deep seclusion from the world, 
 and in intimate union with the deity. The King, al- 
 ready penetrated with religious awe, entered the holy 
 retreat, with marks of submission and reverence in his 
 demeanour. 7'here he saw the object of his respect, in 
 a remote corner. He paused a while, and gazed at him 
 in silence. It was a human form he saw, sitting on the 
 skin of an antelope, with a pitcher of water on one side, 
 and a seven knotted bamboo rod on the other. Its head 
 hung down, and its eyes were fixed on the ground. 
 One hand kept the nostrils shut, and the other rested on 
 its head. Its body seemed as motionless as the rock on 
 which it lay. 
 
 The King was struck wnth reverential dread. He 
 drew near to the penitent ; and thrice he prostrated him- 
 self at his feet, and then addressed him in these terms : 
 
 “ Mighty Penitent ! Blessed be my destiny which 
 has prolonged my existence to this day, when I have 
 have the inexpressible felicity of seeing your holy feet. 
 What I now behold, w'ith mine own eyes, infinitely ex- 
 ceeds the public renown w’hich emblazons your virtues. 
 
320 
 
 HINDU TALES. 
 
 The happiness of this hour, I know not whence it comes. 
 The few good deeds I have performed, in the present 
 generation, are surely inadequate to so distinguished a 
 favour ; and I can attribute it only to the merits of my 
 ancestors, or to some signal work which I may have been 
 enabled to perform in a preceding generation, the me- 
 mory of which I no longer retain. But, however that 
 may be, the hour in which I now first see your hallow, 
 cd feet, is far the happiest of my life. Henceforth, I can 
 have nothing to wish for in this world. It is enough 
 for any mortal to have seen those sacred feet ; for, so 
 beatific a vision will blot out all the sins I have commit- 
 ted in this and all preceding generations. Now am I as 
 pure as the sacred stream of the Ganges, and I liave no- 
 thing more to wish for on earth.” 
 
 The counterfeit j>enitent received the flattering speech 
 of the monarch without emotion, and inflexibly main- 
 tained his posture. The numerous spectators were 
 amazed, and could only whisper to each other, what a 
 great being that must be, who could hear the submis- 
 sive addresses of such a King, without deigning to cast 
 a glance of approbation towards him. Well might it be 
 said, they thought, that the body only of the holy peni- 
 tent remained upon the earth, while his thoughts, his 
 sentiments, and his soul, had been reunited to Para- 
 Brahma. 
 
 King Krishnaraya continued to gaze with admiration, 
 and tried, by farther flattering and compliment, to gain 
 but a single look of the Sannyasi ; but the penitent con- 
 tinued absorbed in thought. 
 
 The King was then about to take his leave ; but the 
 minister Apaji interposed. “ Great Monarch,” he said, 
 ” having come so far to visit this holy personage, who 
 
HINDU TALES. 
 
 3S1 
 
 will henceforth be the object of public veneration, and 
 not having yet received his benediction, it would be de- 
 sirable, at least, to have some memorial of him, to pre- 
 serve as a precious relic ; if it were no more than one of 
 the hairs, which grow so profusely on his body.” 
 
 The King approved the advice of his minister, and 
 immediately advanced, and neatly plucked a hair from 
 the shaggy breast of the Sannyasi. He put it to his lips 
 and kissed it. “I shall enshrine it,” said he, “ in a 
 box of gold, which I shall always wear suspended to my 
 neck, as the most precious of my ornaments. It shall 
 be my talisman against all accidents, and the source of 
 perpetual good.” 
 
 The ministers, and other courtiers, who were about 
 the King, followed his example ; and each plucked a 
 a hair from the breast of the penitent, to be preserved as 
 , a holy relic. The innumerable multitude, who were 
 spread over the mountain, gradually learned what was 
 going on in the cave. Every one burned with desire 
 to be possessed of so precious a memorial. Each pluck- 
 ed his relie, till the tortured shepherd had not a hair kft 
 on his body. But he endured his sufferings with heroic 
 fortitude ; and never winced, nor altered his stedfast 
 look. 
 
 On his return to the palace, the King informed his 
 wives of all that had passed, and shewed them the relic 
 he had brought from the breast of the Sannyasi. They 
 heard and looked with curiosity and w’onder, and sorely 
 Limentcd that the rigorous rules prescribed to the sex, 
 had not permitted them to accompany their husband to 
 the cave, and to share in the general happiness and joy, 
 by visiting the holy man. But the King might, as the 
 greatest of favours, graciously permit the famous peni- 
 
 VoL. II. 2 S 
 
33S 
 
 HINDU TALES. 
 
 tent to be brought to the palace, that they also might 
 have the happiness of seeing him, and of selecting a hair 
 from his body with their own hands. 
 
 The King made many difficulties, but at last consent- 
 ed to indulge the wishes of his wives ; and, being de- 
 sirous, at the same time, to do honour to the Sannyasi, 
 he ordered out his whole court, with his troops of horse 
 and foot, to serve for an escort. On arriving at the cave, 
 which was still surrounded by a part of the multitude, 
 who had not yet got their hairs, the four chiefs of the 
 cavalcade went up to him, and having unfolded the na- 
 ture of their mission, they took up the motionless peni- 
 tent in their arms, and placed him in a superb new pa- 
 lanquin, in the same posture in which they found him 
 in the cave. 
 
 The shepherd sat immoveable in the palanquin, still 
 keeping up the appearance of a Sannyasi in contempla- 
 tion, and was conducted in state through the streets of 
 the city, in the midst of an immense concourse of peo- 
 ple, who made the air resound with their rejoicings. 
 The poor shepherd, in the mean time, who had eaten 
 nothing for two days, during which his whole skin had 
 been lacerated and torn by the perpetual plucking of the 
 hairs, felt but little enjoyment from the triumph, and 
 would have betrayed the plot, but for the dread of his 
 master’s anger. “ Why should I,” he would say to 
 himself, “ carry on a trick like this in the midst of tor- 
 ment and pain ? I w'ould be in the company of my sheep, 
 and hear tigers roaring in the woods, rather than be 
 deafened v\ ith the noise of their acclamations. Had I 
 been v^’ith my flock, 1 should have had three good meals 
 before now ; whereas, after two days of fasting, I know 
 not when I may be relieved.” 
 
HINDU TALES. 
 
 823 
 
 While such thoughts were passing in his mind, they 
 arrived at the palace, and he was immediately introduced 
 into a superb apartment, where hi- received a visit from 
 the Princesses. They prostrated themselves, one by one, 
 at his feet ; and, after a pause of silent admiration, each 
 of them would have a hair also, to be enshrined, like 
 their husband’s, in a box of gold, and to be worn con- 
 tinually, as the most precious ornament. It may be 
 supposed that, after so much pincing and plucking, it 
 would be no easy matter to find any thing remaining on 
 the hide of the poor shepherd ; and in fact it was not 
 without carefully exploring various creases and folds, 
 that each lady could be accommodated with a relic. 
 At last, they concluded their devout visit, and retired ; 
 leaving the shepherd still maintaining his inflexible atti- 
 tude of contemplation ; from which he was at length re- 
 lieved by the King giving orders, that the Sannyasi 
 should be left alone ail night, in order to enjoy repose, 
 after so much fatigue and suffering. 
 
 But Apaji found a secret entrance by which he intro- 
 duced himself in the night to the hungry and smarting 
 shepherd ; and thus he addressed him in soothing accents : 
 “ Kurubu ! the period of your probation is accomplish- 
 ed. You have well performed the part I set down for 
 you, and _vou have fulfilled my expectations. I promis- 
 ed you a recompence, and you shall not be disappoint- 
 ed. In the mean time, put off that dress, and resume 
 your coarse woollen cambali. Get something to eat, and 
 go to bed, as you have need ; and, in the morning, go 
 out as usual with your sheep.” 
 
 The shepherd did not wait a second bidding, but 
 quickly got into the fields, resolved not to act the Sannyasi 
 any more. 
 
321 < 
 
 HINDU TALES. 
 
 Early next morning, the King went vvith his retinue 
 to renew his humble salutations to the holy penitent. 
 They found him not, and they remained astonished for 
 a while. But, on reflection, their veneration was aug- 
 mented, for they could not doubt that it was some divi- 
 nity, under a human form, who had come amongst them, 
 on a temporary visit, to convince them of his being 
 their protector ; and had returned, in the night, to his 
 heavenly abode. The advent and departure of this 
 wonder were the only subject of conversation in eourt, 
 town, and countr}", for several days. Then it gradually 
 grew stale, and at last was but occasionally remembered, 
 like any other antiquated miracle. 
 
 A good while afterwards, when Apaji was one day at 
 court, the King put him in mind of the old proverb of 
 Jana Marulu, Jatra Marulu, and asked him whether 
 he still thought that a people followed a particular track, 
 merely because it happened to be laid down for them, 
 and that, however ridiculous the ceremony and usages 
 of a nation might be, those who practised them w ere 
 still more ridiculous. 
 
 Apaji, who waited only for an opportunity like this, to 
 enter on his favourite speculation ; and having obtained 
 permission to express himself without reserve, thus ad- 
 dressed the King : 
 
 “ Great King ! your own conduct some days ago 
 decided this question, when you condescended to visit the 
 cave in the mountain, and the pretended Sannyasi who 
 was there. You have allowed me to speak without eon- 
 straint, and I will therefore confess that the venerable 
 penitent was no other than the shepherd, who has been 
 all his life employed in keeping my sheep ; a being so 
 rough and uncultivated as to approach nearly to utter 
 
HINDU TALES. 
 
 325 
 
 stupidity. Such is the personage whom you and your 
 court, upon my sole testimony, have treated with ho- 
 nours, almost divine, and have elevated to the rank of a 
 deity. The multitude, without examination, have blindly 
 followed your example, and, without any knowledge of 
 the object of its adoration, run with you into the excess of 
 fanatical zeal, in favour of a keeper of sheep, a low-born 
 man, uneducated, and almost a fool. From this striking 
 instance, you must be satisfied, that public institutions 
 are matters of example and habit, and that we ought to 
 direct our ridicule of the absurd usages of a country, not 
 so much against the usages themselves, as against those 
 who practise them.’’ 
 
 The King, like a wise sovereign, took in good part 
 the strenuous efforts which his minister had boldlv 
 adopted to enlighten him on matters so important and 
 abstruse, and eontinued to repose upon him as his most 
 faithful subject and friend. 
 
3S6 
 
 MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 Of the Military System of India. 
 
 I OUGHT perhaps, in prudence, to close my de- 
 scription of the Hindu people and their customs, with 
 the last chapter. My profession will justly appear to 
 disqualify me from giving a full or satisfactory account 
 of what relates to the subject of war. At the same time, 
 as almost the whole of their public monuments, religious 
 and profane, represent the image of war, and all their 
 histories are filled with military details, a few remarks 
 on that subject will not be deemed inconsistent with 
 the nature of my work. 
 
 The cast of Kshatriya, or Kings, and that of Rajapu- 
 traSf or descendants of Kings, were at one time the ex- 
 clusive possessors of authority and government in the 
 various countries of India ; and to them the trade of war 
 exclusively belonged. No others had a right to enrol 
 themselves in the profession of arms. 
 
 The Hindu customs have undergone a great change 
 in this particular. The ambition of conquerors has 
 overstepped and subverted those primitive rules of their 
 institution. At present, there are few Kings to be seen 
 of that cast, from which, in right of birth, they ought all 
 
 r 
 
MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 327 
 
 to spring. In India, as we ll as every where else, territo- 
 ry beeoines the inheritanee of the strongest, and in most 
 of the provinees Princes of base extraction have, by 
 boldness or cunning, raised themselves to the throne. 
 
 The right of bearing arms, which, in early times, be- 
 longed only to the R japutras, is now universal ; and all 
 casts, from the Brahmans down to the Pariahs, may now 
 become soldiers. Sometimes, Brahmans are found com- 
 manding armies, and sometimes, particularly in the Mah- 
 rata service, standing in the ranks. 
 
 Although the rules and practices followed by the 
 Hindus seem to have been intended to enervate the 
 natural courage, and to oppose insurmountable obsta- 
 cles to the other qualities of a good soldier, yet the art 
 of war amongst them appears as old as any other of 
 their institutions ; and, as a profession, it originally had 
 with them the preference which it merited. In the scale 
 of society, it had the second rank, and stood immedi- 
 ately after the priesthood, who had the pre-eminence due 
 to those functions which place them between god and 
 the human race. 
 
 Next to the Brahmans, the soldiers enjoyed the 
 highest privileges of any other citizens. Some of those 
 privileges were common to them with the Brahmans ; 
 such as the high distinction of being permitted to read 
 the Vedas, the right of being invested with the triple 
 cord, and some others which the Brahmans conceded 
 to them, in consideration, no doubt, of the great benefits 
 which they, as well as the society at large, derived from 
 their services. 
 
 But although the profession of arms was known and 
 honoured among the Hindus of ancient times, and al- 
 
328 
 
 MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 though the history of no country furnishes so many 
 examples of wars, conquests, sieges, battles, victories, 
 and defeats, as that of India, in old though fabulous pe- 
 riods ; yet it must be admitted that there is probably no 
 nation on earth where, though less honoured, the art was 
 not cultivated with greater advantage and success. 
 
 Until the era of the modern invasions, by those fierce 
 and sanguinary conquerors, who, at the head of their 
 warlike and barbarous hordes, passed the mountains of 
 the north to lay waste the fertile and peaceful provinces of 
 India, inundating them with the innocent blood of a hiirm- 
 less race, whose undefended territories they usurped as 
 lawful spoil ; until then, the art of war was but in its in- 
 fimey in India, and the same as it had been for three 
 thousand years. The feeble resistance they made to 
 those ferocious conquerors who so unworthily used the 
 right of the sword, and who (a thousand times worse 
 than the swarms of locusts which frequently spread dis- 
 may over the land by devouring the sources of existence) 
 carried desolation and death wherever they directed their 
 course, sufficiently proves the inferiority of the Hindu in 
 discipline and courage. 
 
 Their wars are of three sorts : those of fabulous 
 times, those of the ancient Kings, and those of modem 
 date. In speaking of the last, I must premise, that I 
 profess to treat only of such as were carried on by the 
 Princes of the countiy with each other, before the ex- 
 perience of European tactics and skill had induced 
 them to admit foreigners into their armies, for the 
 purpose of being trained and disciplined by their su- 
 perior abilities. This arose from their ambition, or 
 rather from their narrow comprehension and dim 
 
MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 S29 
 
 perception of their own true interests, which hindered 
 them from seeing the dangers which, sooner or later, 
 must result from admitting such dangerous auxiliaries 
 into their service. What I shall observe upon is ante- 
 cedent to that epoch ; which, I believe, does not go back 
 more than sixty or seventy years. 
 
 I do not at all touch upon the fabled wars of their 
 gods, with each other, or against the giants, which are 
 so tediously given in their books ; because they are en- 
 titled to no more attention than a sick person in a fit of 
 delirium- They would introduce us to armies of giants, 
 whose heads reached the stars, riding on elephants, of a 
 size adequate to their high stature. One of them will 
 appear putting his shoulders under the firmament and 
 lifting it up. Then, with awful concussion, he over- 
 turns the gods w'ho dw'ell there, and shews what he is 
 capable of doing, and what they have to fear. In the 
 same style, a god goes forth to combat a giant, makes 
 the earth bis chariot, the rainbow his bow, and Vishnu 
 his arrow. He discharges this tremendous shaft, and, 
 at one stroke, utterly overwhelms an immense city, in 
 which the giants, his enemies, were intrenched, and are 
 now all buried in the ruins. 
 
 It would be easy for me to bring forward a thousand 
 fooleries of this sort ; which I have read in Hindu books ; 
 but they could answer no other purpose than to disgust 
 the reader, and to prove that their poets are the most 
 senseless of mortals. 
 
 The history of the wars of the ancient Kings of India 
 is scarcely less extravagant than the other, and deserves 
 no greater attention. It is not composed, in sober prose 
 by historians, but by wild poets in enthusiastic verse ; 
 who, in this, and in every thing besides, follow the bias 
 
 VoL. II. 2 T 
 
330 
 
 MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 of their disordered imagination. What truth can be de- 
 scried through the thick veil of their fable ? The mil- 
 ion of soldiers whom Xerxes conducted for the over- 
 throw of Greece, are but a handful, when compared with 
 the almost innumerable hosts of warriors that composed 
 the armies of the ancient Princes of India. But there is 
 nothing wonderful in such impostures, when we advert 
 to the incurable tendency of the Hindus to every kind 
 of extravagance, whether in their narration, in conversa- 
 tion, in civil affairs, in religious opinions, or in any other 
 circumstance of life. 
 
 But there is one thing connected with this subject, 
 that is not fabulous ; which is, that their armies were 
 made up of four arms, which the Hindus express by 
 the word Chatur-angam. These four were elephants, 
 chariots, cavalry, and infantry. United, they composed 
 a complete army. 
 
 This mode of constructing an Indian army, subsisted 
 at the time of the invasion of Alexander the Great. It 
 was followed in the army of Porus, who was subdued 
 and taken prisoner by that great conqueror. Quintus 
 Curtius remarks, that, in the line of battle, there were ar- 
 ranged eighty-iive elephants, three hundred chariots, and 
 thirty thousand infantry. He does not enumerate the 
 cavalry of the Indian King, but he afterwards alludes to 
 it in his narrative. 
 
 What we have said of the four divisions of the ancient 
 Indian armies, may serve to fix the origin of the game 
 of chess, which has been the subject of so many dis- 
 putes and researches, as well as to reform the mode of 
 playing it in Europe ; at least, as far as regards the 
 chess-men. I believe it is generally admitted to be a 
 military game. Castles, knights, pawns, and other terms 
 
MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 331 
 
 justify that idea. But is it not ridiculous, in the Euro- 
 jiean way of playiii" it, to see castles marching about ; 
 a queen in every part of the battle, and stoutly fighting; 
 bishops at the side of the King, maintaining a conspicu- 
 ous share in the combat ; and the like ? 
 
 The Hindus, who play this game as we do, with some 
 slight variations, call it Chatur-ang-am, an army of four 
 arms. At the two opposite sides of the chess-board they 
 plant the elephants, which were formerly surmounted 
 with small towers. We have substituted in their place, 
 thick solid castles, with regular battlements all round, 
 and we make those great masses fly nimbly about in all 
 directions. 
 
 Instead of the bishops we employ, the Hindus make 
 use of carSj representing the vehicle anciently used in 
 their armies. In place of our queen, w'hom we make 
 very active in the battle, rather unsuitably to her sex, 
 they bring forward what they call Mantri, or minister of 
 state, a leader who changes from place to place during 
 the fight, and sometimes strikes a blow, as he passes. 
 All this, we think, sufficiently demonstrates that the Hin- 
 dus were the original inventors of chess. 
 
 The field of battle is called Pura- Sthalam, or place 
 of combat. From this word is probably derived the 
 name of Porus, which the ancient Greeks give to the 
 King whom Alexander conquered on the banks of the 
 Indus. They probably confounded the name of the 
 place of the battle with that of the Prince who fought. 
 This, probably, is not the only error into which the au- 
 thors w'ould fall who give such erroneous accounts of 
 India, and its inhabitants. But it is time to return from 
 this digression to the constituent parts of the armies of 
 the ancient Kings of India, beginning with the elephants. 
 
332 
 
 MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 All the ancient authors speak of towers, supported by 
 these animals, filled with combatants, in the armies of 
 the Asiatic Princes. But 1 believe we shall not form 
 correct ideas on the subject, without making great al- 
 lowances for the imagination of those writers. If these 
 turrets were at all high, the motion of the animal, 
 which, from its manner of walking, is more jolting than 
 that of any other, would necessarily make it lose its bal- 
 ance and tumble down. For the elephant docs not move 
 like other quadrupeds, advancing the legs alternately, but 
 brings forward the two legs of one side together. If 
 they were constructed with much solidity, they would 
 be too heavy for the animal, which, though the strongest 
 of any, does not support a weight proportioned to his 
 size. For, powerful as he is, they can scarcely venture 
 a heavier load on his back than twelve hundred weight ; 
 and they must take some pains to reconcile him even to 
 that. 
 
 Of all that has been written, therefore, of castles filled 
 with armed men, on the backs of elephants, a great 
 deal must have been borrowed from indistinct observers, 
 unacquainted with the nature of the animal, who, being 
 astonished at its enormous bulk, fancied its strength to 
 be equally great. Towers such as have been described 
 are therefore plainly absurd. At the same time, I do not 
 assert that the elephant has not been used, to great ad- 
 vantage, in war. The soldiers on his back w'cre furnish- 
 ed with numbers of arrows, or other missile weapons, 
 which they could employ with great effect against an 
 enemy’s army. The elephant himself, when accoutred 
 ibr the combat, was still more terrible than his riders, 
 and wonderfully contributed to spread terror and confu- 
 
MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 333 
 
 sion amongst enemies unaccustomed to that species of 
 warfare. 
 
 These extraordinary creatures, even at this day, are 
 of great use in the armies of tiie Indian Princes. But 
 they serve more for parade than for war. It belongs to 
 the dignity of generals, and other chiefs, to be mounted 
 on elephants, superbly harnessed ; and, when they take 
 the field, they are armed with the bow, with fire-arms, 
 and often with a long s^iear ; which they change in bat- 
 tle according to circumstances. 
 
 The elephant, by nature, has a great dread of fire ; and 
 they are obliged to train him by practice to endure it ; 
 and even habituate him to actual burnings, that he may 
 not in battle be terrified and rendered unmanageable by 
 the fire- works which are thrown amongst them. In 
 sieges they are of great use, in forcing the gates of for- 
 tified places. And, to increase their efficiency, they are 
 sometimes equipped with strong points of iron of great 
 strength. 
 
 In the Mogul armies, an elephant always led the way 
 in a march, having a long pole fixed on his head, with a 
 great fiag hoisted on its top. Another elephant gene- 
 rally followed, who carried on his back a small casket set 
 
 •I ' 
 
 in a niche, inclosing some relics, precious to the Mu- 
 hammadans ; sometimes, even, a true or pretended hair 
 of the beard of the Prophet. 
 
 The only unequivocal service which the elephant 
 renders is in the transport of artillery. When the bul- 
 locks w hich draw the cannon are stopped by a slough or 
 a ditch, or any similar impediment, one elephant or more 
 are brought, who raise up the carriages with their trunks, 
 and greatly assist in carrying them through bad roads. 
 In passing rivers and canals, where there are no fords, 
 
3^4 
 
 MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 the people and heavy baggage are transported on their 
 backs. But these advantages, and otheis which might 
 be mentioned, are greatly overbalanced by the expence 
 of their keeping. 
 
 The chariots are the next department of the ancient 
 armies of India. They appear to have been very nu- 
 merous and of vast size. All the principal officers rode 
 in them, and that of the King was particularly splendid. 
 When two Princes were at war with each other, they 
 still kept up the forms of politeness, and never com- 
 menced a battle without saluting each other from their 
 chariots ; concluding with mutual defiance. We read in 
 one of their books that one of those Kings, when he rode 
 up to give battle to his enemy, first shot an arrow of 
 compliment, which dropped at the foot of his chariot. 
 The other returned the civility in the same way, and 
 then the combat began. 
 
 I have never seen a minute description of those vehi- 
 cles ; but the books in which they are mentioned des- 
 cribe them as being large, and drawn by five horses. In 
 one book, I remember to have read of some Prince, who, 
 in preparing for war, got a troop of devils for a team ; 
 so that he could not fail to drive at a good pace. It was 
 a regular appendage to all chariots, to be hung round with 
 large bells, which would create a fine clangor in the field 
 of battle, and serve to spread terror and dismay through 
 the enemy’s ranks. 
 
 Perhaps, it is in imitation of those ancient chariots of 
 war, that the Hindus of the present day decorate their 
 carriages with many bells, the tinkling of which announ- 
 ces their approach from afar. But the cars, in which the 
 Hindus now sometimes travel, are of modern taste, and 
 bear no analogy to the ancient war chariots. 
 
MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 335 
 
 Cavalry formed the third division of the Hindu army. 
 Their strength, however, did not consist in that arm, 
 their whole dependence being on the foot. This is now 
 wholly changed in modern times, when the infantry are 
 almost entirely laid aside, with the exception of a few 
 undisciplined bands of freebooters, whose principal and 
 indeed only business, is, not to fight, but to spread them- 
 selves about in the defenceless villages ; to pillage, ravage, 
 burn, and destroy whatever comes in their way ; and to 
 scatter havoc and desolation through the whole territory 
 of the enemy. 
 
 The Moguls and Mahratas, who, till lately, were the 
 two principal pow'ers who disputed the mastery, in ma- 
 ny long, obstinate, and bloody wars, sometimes brought, 
 on each side, upwards of a hundred thousand horse into 
 the field. The Mahrata Princes, if united, could make 
 a muster of three hundred thousand. 
 
 But they have never been able to bring forward any 
 thing like this immense number of combatants ; because 
 they knew scarcely any thing of the military art. The 
 severe lessons which the Europeans have continually af- 
 forded them, for more than three hundred years, since 
 they have had a footing there, have scarcely yet opened 
 their eyes to the defects of their ancient system of tac- 
 tics, and the great superiority of those of their opponents. 
 They have never yet known what the severity of disci- 
 pline in an army may effect, or the advantage of the ar- 
 rangement of the troops, the order of marching, and en- 
 campment. They are wholly devoid of the skill by 
 which large masses of men are moved, without confusion 
 •or trouble ; and they think they have done every thing 
 when they have got together an immense and indiscrimi- 
 
336 
 
 MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 nate multitude, without order, and acting in the field 
 from individual impulse and at random. 
 
 The General has under him a great number of chiefs, 
 M'ho command such horse troops as they can raise upon 
 pay. Each man brings his own horse, and receives cer- 
 tain wages for himself and beast, which he keeps at his 
 own expence ; and when it dies or is lost, he also is dis- 
 missed from the service. 
 
 This method of recruiting their armies is extremely 
 prejudicial to the enterprize of the soldier ; because the 
 great object of his care being to preserve the horse, upon 
 the safety of which his own bread depends, he is always 
 ready to make his escajie, when any real danger appears. 
 
 In these armies, desertion is very frequent ; nor are 
 the deserters either strictly sought after or severely pun- 
 ished. What they chiefly depend upon as a preventative, 
 is to keep up a good arrear of pay ; which compels the 
 soldier to remain at his colours, or to relinquish what he 
 has earned.. Sometimes, indeed, they mutiny in such 
 cases, and arrest their General, or threaten him with the 
 sabre : all which he is obliged to put up with, without 
 blaming, far less punishing, the agitators. He reconciles 
 them, in the best way he is able, by giving them acknow- 
 ledgemnts at least of the debt ; and tlie same slippery 
 service is renewed. 
 
 Troops so undisciplined and mercenary cannot be ex- 
 pected to be very courageous ; but marks of valour are 
 often seen in their leaders, particularly among the Moors. 
 They never fly in battle, though over-matched, while 
 any of their people support them; and the point of 
 honour is more concerned amongst them, in submitting 
 to a retreat, than amongst us. 
 
MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 337 
 
 'I'he privates in the Moorish and Mahrata cavalry arc 
 in general very poorly mounted. Parties of them some- 
 times make excursions, and burst into a district where 
 they were not at all expected. It is not that good horses 
 are not to be found in India, particularly in the northern 
 states ; but they are sold so high that private individuals 
 cannot afford to buy them. The chiefs, however, take 
 none but the best ; and they are at great pains to find 
 them. They decorate them in various wai^s, and often 
 paint them over with different colours. They dress 
 them also with infinite neatness, and mount them with 
 perfect grace. 
 
 The Mahratas accustom their steeds to stop when a 
 certain cr}’ is given. The horseman dismounts, and the 
 horse stands still as if he were tied. I knew a late in- 
 stance of a robber who, seeing a horse thus standing still, 
 
 , got upon his back to fly beyond the reach of his pursu- 
 ers, and had got the animal into a gallop, when the 
 owner perceived him, and instantly gave the accustomed 
 cry to halt. The docile creature obeyed its master’s call, 
 perceived its error, and suddenly stopped. The robber 
 tried all means to spur him on, but they were ineffectual ; 
 and he v\^s fain to dismount and make his escape on his 
 own legs. 
 
 The Moorish and Mahrata cavalry are armed with 
 lances and arrows ; to which some of them add the 
 musquet. Many have a wretehed sabre, and a great 
 number carry cataris or daggers. Several have no other 
 armour than the whip or rod, with which they push on 
 their steed. Each individual provides his own horse 
 and arms; and there is nothing like uniformity in their 
 weapons or accoutrements. 
 
 VoL. II. 2U 
 
3B8 
 
 MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 They scarcely understand marching in a line, nor are 
 they exercised in the evolutions of cavalry ; which is in- 
 deed less necessary, as a general engagement is a thing 
 almost unheard of amongst them. In their first wars 
 there was nothing beyond skirmishes, or sudden sur- 
 prizes by one party upon another, which generally ended 
 with little bloodshed. The operations of an undisciplined 
 army must always have consisted, as they do to this day 
 in India, in burning and laving waste the enemy’s coun- 
 try, in pillaging the poor defenceless inhabitants and put- 
 ting them to the torture, to force them to disclose their 
 concealed treasures. It is not therefore to be wondered 
 at that small detachments of European cavalry or infan- 
 try should haA’e been recently found to rout ten times 
 their number of such a miserable host. 
 
 The infantry force was still more wretched before the 
 present practice began, of permitting their troops to en- 
 ter into the service of the Europeans, for the puqiose of 
 giving them discipline. Till then, foot soldiers were lit- 
 tle known in the Mogul and Mahrata armies. 
 
 Infantry, however, were more esteemed among the 
 Kings of antiquity ; then forming the fourth order of 
 their military establishment. It was then the most nu- 
 merous part, and what was most relied on in their bat- 
 tles. And still it constitutes to this day the only strength 
 of the little Princes of tlie country known commonly 
 under the name of Poligars. 
 
 These Poligars, who may be compared, in several re- 
 spects, with the Barons of France and England during 
 the thirteenth century, who from their lofty castles and 
 towers could brave and insult the royal authority, which 
 they often found means to bridle and subdue, are very 
 numerous in various provinces of India ; and were 
 
MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 339 
 
 Still more so, before the great European power, which 
 of late has extended its rule or influence over the coun- 
 try, had diminished the number of those privileged rob- 
 bers Their defences are thick forests, or steep moun- 
 tains, where they can set at defiance those who rule over 
 the countries which enclose them. The higher power, 
 finding it impossible to reduce them without much la- 
 bour ; and fearing at the same time, by unnecessary vio- 
 lence, to rouse them to acts of pillage and devastation, 
 is contented to live with them in the best manner it may. 
 
 The confined and barren territory, possessed by the 
 Poligars, not being adequate to their maintenance and 
 that ol' their horde, they keep a great number of robbers 
 and plunderers in their employment, whom they send out, 
 from time to time, in the night, to the neighbouring eoun- 
 try ; from which they return with their booty, and share 
 it with their masters. 
 
 The English, however, after experiencing some loss, 
 have, by perseverance, almost wholly eradicated this evil ; 
 and have shewn the robbers, to their cost, what military 
 discipline and vigour can accomplish, in the most diffi- 
 cult enterprises. 
 
 The arms of these chiefs, and of those they have in 
 their service, are bows and arrows, spears, and match- 
 lock guns. They are utterly ignorant of regular battle 
 or of maintaining a contest in the open field ; but, when 
 pursued, they betake themselves to their thick woods or 
 steep rocks, where they endeavour to decoy the en- 
 emy into some narrow defile, suited to their active and 
 desultory attacks. It was not without penetrating into 
 the heart of their forests, and after great labour and loss, 
 that the English succeeded in laying hold of their lead- 
 
340 
 
 MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 trs, and establishing in their teiritory a state of order and 
 tranquillity, which they had never known before. 
 
 Castrametation is as little understood by the Hindu 
 Generals as the order of fighting. In their march, and 
 encampment, there is the utmost confusion. When it 
 is necessary for the army to halt, the great object attend- 
 ed to is the facility of obtaining water. A large supply 
 is not every where to be found, particularly at certain 
 times of the year : and whole armies have been seen re- 
 duced to the utmost extremity of distress by being de- 
 prived, even for a short time, of an article of such indis- 
 pensable necessity in a burning climate. 
 
 A great flag, which goes first, and is raised very high, 
 marks the place where the army is to halt. Every divi- 
 sion takes up its ground beyond the standard, without 
 regularit}' or order. The cliief pitches his tent in the 
 midst of his party, and hoists his flag upon it ; every 
 leader having one appropriate for himself, u Inch may be 
 distinguished by his own party. Thus every thing is 
 in confusion, with the exception of a small space about 
 the* tent of the General, wliere some degree of order is 
 observed ; and likewise in the market place, where a 
 very good police is kept up. Here all sorts of goods are 
 to be seen, and various kinds of merchandise, in abun- 
 dance, which are chiefly supplied from the plunder of 
 the country through which the army has marched. For 
 no Hindu army has any respect for property. \\'herever 
 they spread, rape, conflagTation, pillage, devastation, and 
 every sort of t xcess accompany their progress. 
 
 The wasteful Hindus scarcely know what it is to form 
 a magazine, or to have convoys of provisions ; trusting 
 wholly to their foraging panics to supply their wants. 
 And, so e.flectually is this done, that numbers of pur- 
 
MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 341 
 
 vcyors follow the armies, buying at a cheap rate, from 
 the soldiers, the goods and property pillaged in the 
 march, which they bring regularly to the market. On 
 tlie other hand, when their march lies through a country 
 already laid waste, these dealers follow with their oxen 
 laden with provisions. 
 
 The most abominable profligacy exists in all their 
 armies, but particularly among the Moors. The per- 
 sons, who so devote themselves, have separate quarters 
 tvhich are perfectly well known, and not less frequented. 
 The General makes them an object of revenue. 
 
 Among the followers of the camp there are numbers 
 of mountebanks, all sorts of magicians, soothsayers, and 
 fortune-tellers, rope-dancers, slight of hand men, sharp- 
 ers, thieves, faquirs, blind beggars, and in short so many 
 useless mouths that they out-number the effective sol- 
 diers. Besides, every soldier is accompanied by his 
 whole family ; so that an army of twenty or five and 
 twenty thousand soldiers, is attended by a train of two 
 or three hundred thousand other individuals, whose 
 chief employment it is to take advantage of the confu- 
 sion which reigns in a camp, and to addict themselves 
 to plunder and every other sort of licence. The Mahra- 
 tas are not so subject to this evil, because it is not so 
 easy to keep uj) with them in the forced marches they 
 are accustomed to make. 
 
 The tents of the chiefs, particularly amongst the 
 Moors, are large and commodious, suited to the taste 
 for luxury and voluptuousness which cliaracterises the 
 Asiatic Princes. They are filled W’ith superb and use- 
 less finery, and divided into several apartments, of which 
 some are for their wives or concubines, by w-hom they 
 arc always attended. In the midst of the tuimdt of 
 
343 
 
 MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 camps, a Hindu Prince never forgets any thing that can 
 administer to his appetites or enervate his courage. 
 
 To take an army of this sort by surprise, is no diffi- 
 cult operation ; for they keep no outposts. Their spies 
 in the enemy’s camp, in some measure, make up for 
 the defect, by apprizing their friends, when they per- 
 ceive any extraordinary movement of the enemy, and so 
 putting them on their guard. 
 
 Assaults by night are but rare, the parties being more 
 disposed to enjoy their own slumber than to disturb 
 that of their enemies, at unseasonable hours. 
 
 The art of besieging towns was also, till of late, but 
 little understood. Famine or capitulation were, in gene- 
 ral, the only means resorted to for gaining possession 
 of any place of strength. To attempt to take a town 
 by storm, would have been considered an undertaking 
 of desperation and madness : and it has often happened 
 that places, surrounded only with old earthen W’alls, and 
 defended by a few hundred of the neighbouring peasan- 
 try, with no arms but a few matchlock musquets, have 
 been defended for a long time, against considerable 
 armies ; who, being fatigued and worn out by the con- 
 tinued repulses of the besieged, have been obliged to 
 retire from the place, with the disgrace of having made 
 no impression upon it whatever. 
 
 The state of safety in which the governor of a town, 
 so besieged, considers himself to be, against all the 
 efforts of a beleaguering army, is carried to a degree of 
 confidence so unconquerable, that, even in these days, 
 when they have had experience of what European cou- 
 rage and conduct can do, and have seen the awful conse- 
 quences of a successful siege, followed up by an assault, 
 they still retain their obstinacy. Instances have lately 
 
MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 343 
 
 occurred of the commanders of these paltry earthen forts 
 refusing to surrender, at the summons of a European 
 army, defying it with insolence, and demeaning them- 
 selves, at the moment of the assault, as if they were only 
 attacked by some undisciplined hordes. 
 
 In general, it is held a point of honour in the com- 
 mander of a town, never to surrender at the 6rst sum- 
 mons, however inconsiderable and defenceless the place 
 may be, and however powerful the army that attacks it ; 
 let the terms proposed for capitulation be ever so rea- 
 sonable. To surrender under such circumstances, 
 would , bring public disgrace upon the sovereign ; and all 
 the world would consider it an act of treason on the part 
 of the governor. 
 
 The use of trenches has been long known to the Hin- 
 dus, and they have been accustomed to make their ap- 
 proaches by that means to the places they besiege. When 
 the two parties thus get near to each other, they fall to 
 mutual defiance and reproaches. “ If you cannot take 
 “ this place,” say the besieged Pagans to the Muham- 
 madan aggressors, “ you will look as queer as if you 
 “ had been eating pork.” “ Veiy true,” reply the Mu- 
 salmans, “ but if we do take it, it will be as pleasant to 
 “ you, as if you had eaten up a cow.” Bravery is a 
 virtue laid claim to by all nations, even by the most 
 indolent and timid ; and when people of that stamp, 
 amongst whom we cannot refuse the Hindus the very 
 highest rank, feel themselves out of the reach of danger, 
 they are the most apt to give a loose to vain glory and 
 gasconade. 
 
 One method of taking a fortress, very much practis- 
 ed, is that of incantation. The besiegers employ magi- 
 cians and sorcerers, who exert all the power of their 
 
344 
 
 MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 wicked arts to paralyze the exertions of the besieged, 
 and to make their leader fail. He, again, puts contrary 
 spells in operation, fit to counteract these machinations, 
 or even, of so potent a nature, as to dim at the total de- 
 struction of the besieging army. 1 know that, since I 
 have been in India, all this has been practised : with 
 what advantage to either party, I leave to the reader 
 to imagine. 
 
 The fortifications of places of the first order formerly 
 consisted, and, in many parts, still consist, in one or two 
 thick walls, flanked with round or triangular towers ; 
 upon which some pieces of cannon, but poorly supplied, 
 are commonly mounted. A wide and deep ditch is on 
 the outside ; but, as the Hindus are unskilful in the 
 construction of bridges, they always leave a causeway 
 from the gate of the town over the ditch, which is gene- 
 rally masked by a wall, that conceals it from w'ithout. 
 
 But, since the Europeans have introduced themseh'es 
 among the Hindus, as their masters in homicide ; since 
 they have made them the fatal present of their destruc- 
 tive tactics, and have taught them to cut each others 
 throats with more method and effect, according to the 
 refinements of military art ; since, in furnishing them 
 with engines more murderous than their own, they have 
 had the abhorred distinction of teaching them by rule, 
 the dreadful uses to which those instruments can be 
 turned, for the destruction of the species ; since that 
 epoch, which they have for ever to deplore, the Hindus 
 have changed their modes of warfare, in the camp and 
 field, as well as in the fortress. 
 
 The most considerable of their ancient jflaces of 
 strength are the castles, built on mountains of steep rock ; 
 rhany of which appear impregnable. They are called 
 
MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 345 
 
 Diirgas, and are seen in great numbers in that part of 
 India which is most hilly. We find in Quintus Curtius* 
 a description of one of these Durgas called Aornus^ on 
 the banks of the Indus, which stood out against Alex- 
 * ander, and which he was unable to tiikc until abandon- 
 ed by the giurison. 
 
 The Durgas that liave a great elevation, have the in- 
 convenience of a cold and humid atmosphere ; while, in 
 the valley, or at the foot of the rock, the air is mild, and 
 sometimes hot. For this reason, those who are station- 
 ed in these high forts are unhealthy, and are subject to 
 fevers, which are very difficult to cure. 
 
 I shall conclude this branch of my subject with a few 
 Words on the Arms of the country. The Hindus have 
 thirty two different kinds of weapons, each of which has 
 a particular name and description in their books. Mo- 
 dels of them are also to be seen in the hands of the images 
 of their principal gods. Each of the thirty- two gods has 
 his own peculiar weapon. It would be difficult to give, 
 in writing, any tolerable description of them, as hardly 
 one of them bears the smallest resemblance to such as 
 are known in Europe. All that can be said in general, 
 is, that some are edged for hacking, some pointed for 
 the thrust, and others obtuse and weighty for the pur- 
 pose of contusion. Among the defensive, are the hel- 
 met and the shield. The latter , is the more common, 
 and is made of leather, studded with nails, with large 
 round heads ; and is generally about two feet in diame- 
 ter. 
 
 Some Hindu soldiers, instead of a cuirass, wear a kind 
 of thick and quilted jackets ; a sort of armour greatly in 
 
 VoL. II. 
 
 * Lib. viii. c. 1 1. 
 
 2 X 
 
346 
 
 MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 use amonejst the Hebrews of old, and other ancient peo- 
 ple. They were made with great art, and could ward 
 off the blows of cutting instruments ; and the same ad- 
 vantge is attributed to those of the Hindus : but they 
 certainly are not impenetrable to musket shot ; and I 
 cannot imagine that any advantage they afford can be at 
 all equivalent to the inconvenience they occasion in sul- 
 try climates. 
 
 The most common weapon of offence, in ancient times, 
 was the bow and arrow. It is still practised with skill 
 and effect. Their arrows are small, not being more than 
 two or two and a half feet long. The bows do not ex- 
 ceed that length, although theu* fables make those of 
 their gods to be of a prodigious sweep. It is stated that 
 the bow of Rama was carried, u'ith difficulty, by fifty 
 thousand men. 
 
 The favourite tveapon of Vishnu is the Chakram; 
 which is a round or circular machine, of which many 
 devotees of the god bear the emblem, imprinted on their 
 shoulders with hot iron. It is still used in some places, 
 and is nothing more than a large circular plate of iron, 
 the outer edge of which is made very sharp. Through 
 the centre a shaft passes, by means of which a rotatory 
 motion is given to the plate, which whirls with great 
 rapidity, and cuts ^vhatevcr it approaches. I am inclin- 
 ed to believe, that neither this, nor several other weapons 
 that I have seen represented in the hands of the idols, 
 are at all usee, in any other nation. 
 
 Another species, very much in use among all the 
 Hindu Princes, is a sort of large rocket, hooped with 
 iron, and eight or ten inches long. They fire it in a 
 horizontal position, and employ it chiefly in spreading 
 confusion and disorder amongst the cavalry. They 
 
MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 347 
 
 wound whatever they approach ; and some emit a cres- 
 cent of fire, which makes them exceedingly dangerous. 
 In general they do not make so loud a report as our 
 hand-grenades, but they have a more extensive range. 
 
 From the Hindu books, it appears that the use of these 
 fire-works, which are called Vana or Bana^ is very an- 
 cient. Mention is made in the Ramayana of the Vana, 
 or Rocket of Rama, as one of his principal missiles. 
 The Vana is also one of the thirty- two species of arms 
 enumerated by the ancient Hindus ; which is a proof 
 that the use of gunpowder was not unknown to them, 
 at an early period ; for, without that material, it would 
 be impossible to charge the rockets, which, from the 
 oldest times to the present day, have been employed by 
 this people. 
 
 Besides, the knowledge and practice of the various 
 sorts of fire- works known in Europe, must have been 
 of ancient date amongst the Hindus ; since there are 
 some casts, whose ordinary, and sometimes only occu- 
 pation, has always been the making of such preparations 
 of gunpowder. It is probable that the Europeans have 
 borrowed the art from them. But it is certain that they 
 possessed it before the period of the modern invasions 
 of the Christian and Muhammadan powers ; which evi- 
 dently establishes the invention of gunpowder, among 
 them, to have preceded its discovery in Europe by many 
 centuries. 
 
 At the same time, it appears that the Hindus were 
 not formerly acquainted wnth the destructive effects of 
 this powerful agent, when strongly compressed in metal- 
 lic tubes. It was reserved to the Europeans to instruct 
 them in this deplorable and pernicious science. For, 
 till the invasions from Europe, the people of India made 
 
S48 
 
 MILITARY BYSTBM. 
 
 no use of gunpowder, but for pleasure and amusement. 
 Their invaders taught them its murderous qualities. 
 
 Besides several of the ancient instruments peculiar to 
 the nation, the Hindus have lately adopted the lance, 
 the dagger, and the sabre. The last is now their fa- 
 vourite weapon. They have masters of defence who 
 teach the art ; and they practise it very gracefully. But 
 these arms are not often stained with the blood of an 
 enemy. 
 
 The musket has also become a favourite amongst 
 them, although, in their hands, it is not very fatal. Till 
 lately, they had only matchlocks, and their powder has 
 been always very bad. 
 
 The Hindu armies are never exercised in firing. Their 
 Princes think it a useless expence to waste powder in 
 any other way than in the field of battle. 
 
 Of late, the Europeans have provided them with pieces 
 of cannon, of brass and cast iron. They had iron ones 
 before, but they were composed of separate bars, fas- 
 tened together, and of an enormous calibre ; and, with 
 this miserable artillery^ they shot stone balls of more 
 than a foot in diameter. They did not understand any 
 way of pointing them but horizontally. I'heir ignor- 
 ance of the European mode of serving the artillery was 
 often the cause of many of them losing their lives. I 
 have read, in a manuscript written here about sixty years 
 ago, that, about that time, the Raja of Tanjore, for some 
 grudge, having declared war against the Dutch, sent a 
 eonsiderable body of troops to take the fort of Negapa- 
 tam. Some cannon shots were fired upon them from 
 thence without taking effect. The King’s troops, re- 
 marking that the bullets went high over their heads, ad- 
 vanced to the glacis, thinking they had nothing to fejir 
 
MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 349 
 
 from the artillery of their enemies. But the Dutch, 
 taking the opportunity of their near approach, loaded 
 their guns with grape-shot, and, taking a good aim, 
 threw the whole army into disorder, and taught them, 
 to their cost, how easy it was to change the direction of a 
 a cannon. 
 
 The author, from whom I quote^ adds, that, on the 
 same occasion, a Brahman, in the service of the Raja, 
 having gone too near the fort, his palanquin was struck 
 with a cannon-shot, and shivered in pieces. He himself 
 was unhurt, having cautiously quitted it a little before ; 
 but his fear was so excessive that he fled, with the utmost 
 precipitation ; swearing, from time to time, by the three 
 hundred and thirty millions of gods, that he would never 
 again, while he lived, go within ten leagues of any colo- 
 ny inliabited by European dogs. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 ON THE SECT OF THE JAINAS, AND THE PRINCIPAL DIFFERENCES 
 BETWEEN THEM AND THE BRAHMANS. 
 
 1 HE details which I propose to give on the sect of the Jainasf^ 
 their doctrines and particular customs, have been communicated 
 to me by several learned persons, belonging to that sect, in various 
 districts, and at different times. But, as my instructors did not 
 agree in all points, I have thought it most prudent to avoid all un- 
 certainty, by omitting every thing on which there was a diversity 
 of opinion, and to admit that only on which they were all agreed I 
 have likewise taken pains to ascertain the authenticity of great 
 part of what follows, by consulting several Jaina books, which were 
 for some time in my possession, and from which many of the par- 
 ticulars here given are abridged. So that I can venture to vouch 
 for the accuracy of what I report. And I may be permitted here 
 to say that it has been my constant rule, while I have been medi- 
 tating this work, in all cases to which my personal observation did 
 not extend, or where I had not the authority of books, to reject 
 whatever I had taken from one mouth, if I found it contradicted by 
 others, during the whole range of my excursions in the different 
 provinces of India. 
 
 The name of Jaina is composed of two words Ji and Aa, signi- 
 fying a person that has renounced the ordinary modes of thinking 
 and living among mankind. For a true Jaina is bound to this sepa- 
 ration from society, by his religion, which prescribes it, and also 
 
JAINAS. 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 351 
 
 that he may avoid the scorn and sneers which the due perform- 
 ance of his sacred duties would there bring upon him ; and by that 
 firm belief in holy things which he must hold inviolable to his 
 dying hour. Yea, his religion is the only true one upon earth ; the 
 primitive faith of all mankind. 
 
 In the progress of time, the true religion was gradually abused 
 in different essential points ; and abominations, corruptions, and 
 superstitions of every kind have usurped its place. The Brah- 
 mans who gained the ascendant, swerved from all the old religious 
 maxims of their Hindu ancestors, laying aside the venerable tra- 
 ditions of their masters, and substituting in their place a mon- 
 strous combination in which there cannot be seen a trace of the 
 primitive doctrines. 
 
 The Brahmans are undoubtedly the inventors of the Vedas, the 
 eighteen Puranas, the Trimurti, and the extravagant fables of the 
 Avataras of Vishnu, the infamy of the Lingam, the worship of the 
 Cow and other Animals, and of sensible objects, the sacrifice of 
 the Yajna, and many other absurdities not less reprehensible. The 
 whole of these are rejected hy the Jainas, who hold them to be a 
 mass of abominations, innovations, and corruptions of the true and 
 primitive religion. 
 
 These depravations of the Brahmans were not indeed introduced 
 suddenly and at once, but insensibly and little by little. The Jainas, 
 who then formed, with the Brahmans, a part of the same general 
 body of Hindus, all possessing the same common religion, were 
 unwilling to come to an open rupture, but never ceased, from the 
 outset, to oppose with all their might the dangerous innovations 
 and changes which that proud body were introducing into the pure 
 system which every class of Indians had professed from the re- 
 motest times. 
 
 But the sound believers at that period, perceiving that all their 
 endeavours to preserve the true religion pure and unspotted, were 
 unavailing, and that the Brahmans were continually advancing in 
 apostacy with rapid strides, and seemed determined to bring mat- 
 ters to a crisis by drawing over the thoughtless multitude into the 
 torrent on which they themselves had embarked, were forced into 
 the unpleasant necessity of an open rupture. This became abso- 
 lutely unavoidable when, after so many other innovations, the Brah- 
 mans introduced the dangerous novelty of the sacrifice of Yajna, 
 
JAINAS. 
 
 352 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 in which a living oR’ering, generally a ram, is sacrificed, in contra- 
 diction to the most sacred and inviolable principles of the Hindus, 
 that uniformly and rigorously interdicted every species of slaugh- 
 ter, which, in its most innocent form, no necessity could justify. 
 
 After that detestable innovation, matters came to an extremity. 
 The Jainas assumed that appellation, which sufficiently denoted 
 the course they were to pursue. They kept no longer any terms, 
 but declared themselves in a state of open insurrection against the 
 corrupters of the true primitive religion. They withdrew from 
 the Brahmans and all their adherents, and formed the body of 
 Jainas such as it now exists, and composed of some faithful Brah- 
 mans, of Kshatriya or Soldiers, of Vaisya or Merchants, and of 
 Sudras or Cultivators. These four divisions now compose the 
 posterity of the Hindus of every cast who united together, in early 
 times, to oppose the innovations of the Brahmans, and who have 
 preserved in purity the pristine religion of the country. 
 
 After this rupture, the Jainas, or true believers, never desisted, 
 during a long course of time, to oppose the progress of the Brah- 
 mans, and to reproach them with their apostacy and impious con- 
 duct. The points on wliich they differed had been till then the 
 subjects merely of learned controversy, but now afforded grounds 
 for a long and bloody war, in which the Jainas held up for a long 
 time against their adversaries. But the wicked innovations of the 
 Brahmans having gradually been adopted by most of the Kshatriya 
 or Rajas, and the great majority of the other tribes, they became 
 the more powerful party, and succeeded at last in beating down 
 the Jainas, and reducing them to a state of abject submission ; 
 every where demolisning the places and objects of their worship, 
 depriving them of their religious and civil liberty, excluding them 
 from all places and employments, and reducing them to such ab- 
 solute distress that in many provinces of India there does not re- 
 main the slightest vestige of the Jainas or their worship. 
 
 This persecution and religious war, the commencement of 
 which cannot be exactly ascertained, as, according to all appear- 
 ances, it must have begun at a very remote period, seems to have 
 continued to modern times ; as we are assured that kings and other 
 Jaina princes exercised their government in many countries of the 
 peninsula within these four or five hundred years; and it is as- 
 serted that it was under their protection, and by their assistance, 
 
JAINAS. 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 353 
 
 that several of the temples and other public monuments were 
 erected, which are at present held by that sect, and are to be found 
 in the different provinces. 
 
 The Brahmans are now universally predominant. The Jainas 
 no where possess the land nor even confidential employments ; but 
 conform themselves in all places to the ordinary life of other Hin- 
 dus, addicting themselves, like the rest, to agriculture and trade. 
 The tribe of Vaisya, the most numerous of any, is almost ex- 
 clusively engaged in traffic, and chiefly in that of vessels of cop- 
 per and other metals used by the Hindus in their kitchens. 
 
 The Brahmans intermixed with the Jainas are not numerous. 
 I have been informed, however, that in the south of the Mysore, 
 at the distance of three or four days journey from the place where 
 I am now writing, there are fifty or sixty families of Brahman- 
 Jainas who have a temple for their own special use, with a Brah- 
 man Guru of their sect, who officiates in it, at a village called 
 Mahleyore. 
 
 In the principal temples pertaining to the sect, those for exam- 
 ple of Balagola, Madhu-giri, and others, the Gurus or priests who 
 perform the sacred functions, are taken from the tribe of Vaisya 
 or Merchants, and not from that of Brahmans. This usurpation 
 on the part of the Vaisya, added to the reproach they lie under 
 of having corrupted or altered the true religion of the Jainas, 
 by mixing it with several superstitious practices of their oppo- 
 nents, has excited against them the jealousy and distrust of the 
 Brahmans of the sect, who treat them as Patila or heretics. But 
 the differences between them have never broken out into an open 
 rupture. 
 
 The body of Jainas is divided into two principal sects, one of 
 which bears the name of Jaina-Basru, and the other Kashta-Chan- 
 da-Swetambari. According to the system of the latter, there is no 
 other Moksha or Mukti ; that is to say, there is no other supreme 
 felicity or object of mankind, but the carnal enjoyment of the sexes. 
 This article forms the distinguishing feature of their system, al- 
 though they differ in several other ^points from the Jaina-Basru. 
 This last sect is more numerous than the other, and we offer this 
 short abridgement of the doctrines which they teach. 
 
 VoL. II. 2 Y 
 
354 
 
 JAINAS. 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 Religious System of the Jamas. 
 
 They acknowledge but one Supreme Being, one God only, to 
 whom they give the appellations of Jainesrjara, Para-matmu, Par- 
 afiara-vastu, and several others, all expressive of his infinite na- 
 ture. 
 
 To this Being alone men ought to offer up their adoration and 
 sacrifices. 
 
 The adoration and other marks of respect which the Jainas fre- 
 quently offer to their Tirthuru, their Cbakravartis, and to several 
 other objects of worship held sacred among them, and represented 
 under a human shape, naturally refer to the Supreme Being alone ; 
 for those holy personages, in taking possession after death of the 
 Moksha or Mukti, the supreme felicity, have become intimately 
 united and inseparably incorporated with the Divinity. 
 
 The Supreme Being is one and indivisible, spiritual, and without 
 parts or extension. His four principal attributes are as follows : 
 
 1. Ananta Gnanam : — Wisdom infinite. 
 
 2. Ananta Darsanam : — Intuition infinite ; or knowing all things, 
 and being every where present. 
 
 3. Ananta Viryam ; — Infinite pow’er. 
 
 4. Ananta Sukham : — Infinite happiness. 
 
 This great Omnipotent is wholly absorbed in the contemplation 
 of his own infinite perfections, and in the enjoyment of his own 
 blessedness. 
 
 He concerns not himself at all with earthly things, and inter- 
 meddles not with the order and government of this great universe. 
 
 The virtue and vice, the good and evil which prevail in the 
 world are equally indifferent to him. 
 
 Virtue, being just and good in its own nature ; those who prac- 
 tise it in this world, shall find an unbounded reward in another life, 
 in a happy regeneration, or in immediate introduction to the 
 S^varga. 
 
 Vice, being unjust and wicked in its nature, the vicious shall 
 find a suitable punishment in an evil resurrection, or in descend- 
 ing straight into the infernal .Vai a/ra, there to expiate their crimes. 
 But, in neither case, does the divinity interfere. He takes no con- 
 
JAINAS. 
 
 355 
 
 Appendix* 
 
 cern in their actions here, nor in their rewards or punishments in 
 a future state. 
 
 Matter is eternal, and independent of the Divinity. Whatever 
 exists now, has always existed, and will continue for ever. 
 
 Not only is matter eternal, but the order also that prevails in the 
 universe, such as the fixed and uniform motion of the stars, the 
 separation of light from darkness, the succession and renovation 
 of the seasons, the production, and reproduction of animal and 
 vegetable life. In short, whatsoever is visible is also everlasting ; 
 and whatsoever is shall endure without considerable alteration. 
 
 Metemfisychosis. 
 
 The most prominent dogma of the religion of the Jainas is that 
 of the transmigration of the soul of one body into another after 
 death. The transition is from the body of one man into that of 
 another man, or into that of a brute : and a soul is either elevated 
 or degraded in this way, according to the previous virtue or vice 
 of the possessor. 
 
 The Jainas attempt to explain their system of future retribution 
 in the following way. 
 
 Although a man may not have to reproach himself with great 
 crimes, yet still the slightest tinge of vice discolours the genuine 
 hue of virtue, and the offender must suffer transmigration into the 
 body of an insect, a reptile, a bird, or a quadruped, and is degraded 
 in this respect, less or more, according to the degree of his 
 offences. 
 
 When the balance of virtue and vice stands nearly equal, and 
 still more when the good outweighs the evil, the soul removes into 
 the body of a rational creature, and regains a new existence, more 
 or less happy in proportion to the degree of virtue which it pre- 
 served in the other world. The noblest transmigration of all is 
 into a Brahman or into a cow. 
 
 When an individual has led a life eminently virtuous, he passes 
 directly after his disease to Swarga. 
 
 When a wicked man dies, he goes headlong into Naraka. 
 
 In these several particulars, the system of the Jainas differs very 
 little from that of their enemies the Brahmans ; but they differ 
 
356 
 
 JAINAS. 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 more wirlely in their opinions concerning the Lokaa or worlds. For 
 the Jainas entirely reject the fourteen Lokas of the Brahmans, and 
 also their three principal abodes of happiness, the Satya-loka, Vai- 
 kuntha, and Kailasa, the paradises of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. 
 
 The Jainas admit but of three worlds, which they express by 
 the generic name of ./a^a/-/rzya. It comprises the Urddhwa-loka, 
 the paradise, which is the highest of all ; the Adha-loka^ hell, and 
 sometimes called Patala, the lowest of all ; and the Madhya-loka, 
 or middle world, the earth, the abode of mortals. 
 
 1. The Urddhwa-loka or Swarga. 
 
 That world, the first of the Jagat-triya, has Devendra for its king, 
 and has for its inhabitants only the virtuousTew. There are sixteen 
 mansions in the Swarga, in which a higher and a higher degree of 
 happiness is enjoyed in proportion to the degree of virtue. The 
 first and best of the sixteen, in which the highest felicity is found, 
 is called Sadhu-dharma, and is attainable only by the eminently holy, 
 who will here enjoy uninterrupted bliss for a period of thirty-three 
 thousand years. The last and lowest of the sixteen abodes is called 
 Achuda Karjia^ where the moderately virtuous are admitted and 
 enjoy happiness for a thousand years. In the intermediate places 
 a degree of enjoyment greater or less is inherited ; and every vir- 
 tuous soul has its mansion assigned according to its rank in merit. 
 
 The chief happiness enjoyed in these abodes arises from the 
 company of many women of exquisite beauty, from whose society 
 the blessed draw the purest delight, by indulging the senses of 
 sight and hearing alone, and without animal gratification. They 
 are ravished to ecstacy by the continual view of those enchanting 
 creatures, whose melodious voices fill them with transports of de- 
 light infinitely beyond what cainal pleasures can bestow. 
 
 But this life does not continue for ever. After enjoying it for a 
 fixed number of years, in a state of less or greater intensity of hap- 
 piness according to the elevation of their respective merits, they 
 are all doomed, each at his own prescribed period, to revisit the 
 earth, where their souls renew the transmigration from body to 
 body. 
 
Appendix. 
 
 JAINAS. 
 
 357 
 
 Adha~loka or .Yaraka : Hell. 
 
 The Second World of the Jagat-triya is called Adha~loka or Aa- 
 raka, and sometimes Patala. This is the lowest world of all, 
 where those who had led the most wicked lives on earth, whose 
 sins were too numerous and flagrant to be expiated by the vilest 
 possible state of transformation, are doomed to linger in some one 
 of the seven dungeons, each more hideous than another. 
 
 The first abode, or least terrible, is called Retna-firavai. The 
 sinners w’ho are relegated thither suffer torments for a thousand 
 years. The second, or Sarkana-firavai, is destined for those who 
 are subjected to the torment of three thousand years. The third 
 is called Vahluka-firavai, where the punishment extends to seven 
 thousand years. The fourth, named Panka-firavai detains its 
 prisoners ten thousand years. Then follow Dhuma-firavai and 
 Tama-jiravai, the sixth and seventh, where the lengthened suffer- 
 ings are for periods of seventeen and twenty-two thousands of 
 years. But in the last and most dreadful of all, the Maha-damaij- 
 pravai., the prison of the most obdurate and outrageous sinners, 
 the torture is prolonged during a space of three and thirty thou- 
 sand years. The souls of women, however guilty, being less 
 capable of enduring the extremity of pain, are never doomed to 
 the unutterable woes of this last region of the damned. 
 
 Sinners of all classes have thus their assigned periods, places, 
 and degrees of punishment ; and even in this ultimate place of 
 horrors, the retribution is suited to the relative excess of wicked- 
 ness and crime. One of the punishments, to which great criminals 
 are there exposed, is to place them between two mountains, the 
 sides of which are made to approach, and, by collapsing, flatten 
 the bodies of the culprits, braying their bones to pow'der, and 
 spreading their substance over the whole face of the mountains 
 like a thin leaf of a tree. The mountains re-open and recede, 
 and again unite with a shock, disclosing the unhappy wretch and 
 crushing him again by turns. Nor does time bring relief, by end- 
 ing his existence or deadening his sensibility to pain, until the long 
 period revolves and returns him again to the earth, to animate in 
 rotation a new scries of bodies. 
 
358 jAixXAS. Appendix* 
 
 In no region of the Xaraka is the punishment perpetual ; never 
 exceeding three and thirty thousand years, nor falling short of a 
 thousand. 
 
 The Madhya-loka. 
 
 The Tliird World of the Jagat-triya, is the Madhya-loka, the 
 intermediate state, or world which men inhabit ; the abode of virtue 
 and vice. 
 
 This hoka is a Reju in extent, or the space which is traversed 
 by the sun in half his yearly course. But Jambu-dwijia, the earth 
 in which we live, is but a small part of the Madhya-loka, and is 
 no more than a vast continent, environed on all s^es by a wide 
 ocean. It contains a lake, extending a lak of Yojana in length, or 
 about four hundred thousand leagues ; in the midst of which the 
 fan)ou3 mountain of Maha-meru raises its summit. 
 
 The Jambu-dwipa is divided into four parts ; Purva-videha, 
 
 • 1/iara-videha, Bharata-kshetra (in w'hich India is situated), and 
 Ahi-vratta, These are situated on the east, west, south, and 
 north of the Maha-meru, respectively. They are likewise divided 
 from each other by boundaries consisting of six enormous moun- 
 tains, called Himavat, Maha-himavat*, Xishadha, Xila, Ahrumani, 
 Sikaris : the three firs’ situated to the north of the lake, and the 
 others to the south. 
 
 All these mountains stretch in one direction from east to west, 
 and cross the whole Jambu-dwipa from sea to sea. 
 
 In the space which intervenes between one mountain and ano- 
 ther, immense plains are situated, where the trees, the shrubs, 
 and the fruits are of a crimson hue. Children of either sex, born 
 in those regions, are fit for propagation forty-eight hours after 
 their birth. Men there are exempt from pain and disease. Ever 
 happy and contented, they feast on the succulent plants and deli- 
 cious fruits which the unsolicited earth yields them spontaneous- 
 ly : and placid even in their death, which translates them into the 
 elysium of Sivarga. 
 
 On the sumiiiit of Mount MahaAiimavat, a mighty fountain 
 springs, from which the Ganges and Indus, with twelve other 
 
 May not these be the greater and lesser Imaus ? 
 
Appendix. jainas. 359 
 
 great rivers, take their origin. These fourteen streams preserve 
 a regular and unintermitting flow. Unlike the spurious Indus and 
 ' Ganges of the Brahmans, they are always unfordable, and subject 
 neither to flooding nor desiccation, to ebbing or flowing ; but keep 
 their even course through the boundless plain, till they mingle 
 their waves with the ocean. 
 
 The Jaina names for these fourteen rivers are, Ganga, Sindu, 
 Rohita-toya, Rohita, Harita-toya, Harikantha, Sitha, Sit’oda, Nari, 
 Narikantha, Swarna-kula, Rupya-kula, Riktha, Rikth’oda. 
 
 The sea which encircles the Jambu-dwipa is two laks of yojana 
 in breadth, or eight hundred thousand leagues. Beyond this great 
 expanse of waters there is another Jamdu-dwifia, or continent 
 called Maha-lavani. It has also a race of inhabitants, with its 
 own Maha mcru, and sacred rivers intersecting its ample plains. 
 This Jambu-dwipa is two laks of yojana in extent, and is surround- 
 ed with a sea four laks of yojana across. 
 
 Beyond this sea there is another Jambu-dnvifia, called Dahata- 
 kishendah, which is double the extent of the preceding, and has 
 two Maha-meru mountains. It is inhabited by human beings also, 
 and has its holy fountains and rivers. The sea is here eight laks 
 of yojana across. 
 
 On the other side of this ocean a fourth Jambu-dwipa is situat- 
 ed, with the imposing appellation of Puskara-vratta-dwifia, which 
 again doubles the preceding in all its proportions ; has its two 
 Mount Maha-merus, its streams, and its surrounding ocean. 
 
 On the farther shores of this utmost sea, at a distance of sixteen 
 laks of yojana, a mountain rears its bead, with the name of Ma- 
 nush’otra-parvata, forming the Thermopylae of the human race, 
 beyond which no earthly being has ever passed. The islands in 
 that extreme ocean have never been visited by man. 
 
 In each of the four Jambu-dwipas, there are several Tirthuru, 
 Chakravarti, Ta«w-rfeua/a, and other holy persons. The numbers 
 of each class vary, but there are not less than twenty of any one, 
 nor n.ore than eighty. 
 
 Succession and Division of Time. 
 
 The duration of Time is divided into six periods, which have 
 been succeeding each other without interruption from all eternity. 
 
JAINAS. 
 
 360 
 
 Appendix, 
 
 At the close of each, a general and total revolution takes place 
 through all nature ; and the world is renewed. 
 
 The first and longest of these periods is called Pratama~kala, 
 and endures four koti of koti, or forty millions of millions of 
 years. 
 
 The second, Diuitiya-kala, lasts thirty millions of millions. 
 
 Tretiya-kala, the third, diminishes to twenty millions of mil- 
 lions. 
 
 Chaturta-kala, the fourth, comes down to ten millions of mil- 
 lions, bating forty-two thousand years. 
 
 The fifth period, called Panchama-kala, or time of inconstancy 
 and change, is the very age in which we now live, and will last 
 twenty one thousand years. This present year of the Christian 
 aera, 1807, is the two thousand four hundred and fiftieth year of 
 the Panchama-kala of the Jainas. 
 
 The recency of the commencement of this period, going back 
 only 2450 years, strikes me as something remarkable, and inclines 
 me to believe that it takes its origin from the epoch of their open 
 rupture with the Brahmans, and their separation from the other 
 Hindus. So famous an event might well give rise to a new sera. 
 If this point could be well ascertained, it would enable us to fix 
 with more probability than we can do now, the origin and antiqui- 
 ty of the greater number of Hindu tales ; because it was the in- 
 vention, as it is thought, and the introduction of these fables into 
 the religious system of the Hindus, that created the schism which 
 still subsists between the Brahmans and Jainas. 
 
 The sixth and last of the periods is called Shashta-kala^ and will 
 continue a thousand years. When it arrives, the element of fire 
 shall disappear from the earth, and those who are then alive shall 
 feed on unwholesome reptiles and such roots and herbs as they 
 can find in their precarious search. 
 
 In that last age there will be in the earth neither division nor 
 abolition of casts, no public nor private property, no form of 
 government, no kings nor laws. Men shall then have passed into 
 a savage state. 
 
 The period will close with a Pralayam^ a flood which shall 
 inundate all the earth except the mountain Vidyartha^ which is of 
 silver, and will alone remain unburied by the waters. 
 
Appendix. jainas. 361 
 
 The flood will be occasioned by unceasing rain of forty-seven 
 days, attended with a mixture and confusion of the elements. 
 
 Some persons living near the mountain of silver will take refuge 
 in the caves that are about it, and shall be saved from the universal 
 ruin. When the flood retires, they will come forth from the moun- 
 tain and replenish the earth. The six periods will commence 
 again in their regular order, and succeed one another as before. 
 
 Knowledge and Learning of the Jainas. 
 
 The learning and science of the Jainas is wholly deposited in 
 four Vedas., twenty-four Puranas, and sixty-four Sastras. 
 
 The names of the Puranas are the same with those of the twen- 
 ty-four Tirthurus formerly mentioned, there being a Purana de- 
 voted to each Tirthuru and containing his history. 
 
 The names of the four Vedas are Pratamani-yoga, Charanani- 
 yoga, Karanani-yoga, Dravyani-yoga. They were written by 
 Ad'eswaroy the most ancient and famous personage known among 
 the Jainas. He flourished before the twenty-four Tirthurus, and 
 burst upon this world from the Swarga. Assuming our nature, 
 he underwent the life of a Brahman, a penitent, and a Nirvani. 
 He lived a whole Purva Koti or a hundred million of millions of 
 years. He is not only the author of the Vedas, which he wrote 
 with his own hand ; but he also divided men into different casts, 
 laid down the rules by which they were to be directed, their form 
 of government, and all the ordinances which still unite the Jainas 
 to one another. Ad’eswara, in short, is in every respect to the 
 Jainas what Brahma is to the Brahmans, and probably both are 
 formed from the same model. 
 
 The Shalaka Purusha. 
 
 Besides Ad’eswara, who is considered as the most perfect of 
 beings who ever appeared on our earth in human shape, the Jainas 
 acknowledge sixty-three other famous personages whom they de- 
 nominate by the generic appellation of Shalaka Purusha ; and 
 their history is found recorded in the first of the Vedas, called 
 Pratamani-yoga, and also in the twenty-four Puranas. Of these 
 sixty-three holy personages, twenty-four are Tirthurus, twelve 
 Chakravartis, nine Vasu-devatas, nine Bala-vasu-devatas, and nine 
 Bala-ramas. 
 
 The twenty-four Tirthurus are the most celebrated of these 
 holy personages. Their condition was the most elevated that any 
 VoL. II. 2 Z 
 
^62 JAIN A3. Appendix, 
 
 human being can attain. They all lived in the most absolute state 
 of J\/7rvani or naked penitents. They were subject to no human 
 infirmity, weakness, or want, not even to mortality. After sojourn- 
 ing long upon earth in purity and holiness, they chose at last to 
 depart, and by slow degrees their physical frame dissolved, yield- 
 ing up to the five elements the particles belonging to each, which 
 were gradually attracted to the Aloksha, the abode of the divinity, 
 and united to his nature for ever. 
 
 I’he Tirthurus descended from the Swarga and assumed the 
 human form in the tribe of Kshatriya or Rajas. They afterwards 
 became Brahmans, having been initiated into that tribe by the 
 ceremony of Dakshina. During their lives they gave an example 
 of all the virtues, exhorting men to conform to the precepts and 
 rules enjoined by Ad’eswara, and devoted themselves to the prac- 
 tice of penitence and contemplation. Several of them lived very 
 long. The first existed some millions of years. The lives of the 
 rest gradually diminished, and the last of all lived no more than 
 eighty years. They flourished in the age called Chaturta Kala, 
 which immediately preceded that of our own times, and lasted a 
 ko*i of kotis, or ten millions of millions of years. 
 
 Some of them had been married before they became penitents, 
 but after wards renounced their wives in order to devote themselves 
 to a contemplative and ascetic life. Others were penitents from 
 their youth up. Their names are as follow; Vrishabha, Adita, 
 Sambhava, Abhlnandana, Sumati, Padma-prabha, Subh’arshava, 
 Chandra-prabha, Pushpa-danti, Sitala, Sryansga, Vasu-pujya, Vi- 
 mala, Atlanta, Dhaima, Santi, Kuntu, Ara, Malla, Muni-suvratta, 
 Mahny, Mihuny, Parasiva, Vardhamana. 
 
 There are no Tirthurus at present in this division of the Jambu- 
 dwipa, which those holy persons have disappeared from, several 
 thousand years ago ; although they will return in future ages. 
 
 Besides the twenty-four Tirthurus, the Jainas reckon also twelve 
 Chakra-vartis in the number of their sixty-three Shalaka Purusha. 
 These Chakra-vartis were a sort of emperors who had divided 
 amongst them the dominion of the Jambu-dwipa. They were con- 
 temporary with the 'I'irthurus, and bore the following names ; 
 Bharata, Sagara, Maghava, Sanatkumara, Santi, Kuntu, Kara, 
 Subama, Arasayana, Jaya-sena, Sur’endrata, Biahmadata. 
 
 These twelve Chakra-vartis descended also from Swarga, and 
 in the human form joined the tribes of Rajas. From thence some 
 
Appendix. 
 
 JAIXAS. 
 
 363 
 
 of them being adopted into the cast of Brahmans became peni- 
 tents, and were ultimately received into the state of endless feli- 
 city at their death. Others returned again to Swarga from which 
 they had descended ; and the remaining part having led a dissolute 
 life while in this world have been sent at their death to expiate 
 their new crimes in Naraka. 
 
 The twelve Chakra-vartis or emperors were frequently at war 
 with each other. They were also frequently opposed by the nine 
 Bala vasu-devas, the nine Vasu-devatas, the nine Bala-ranias* ; 
 these seven and twenty being a sort of half Chakra-vartis and reck- 
 oned amongst the sixty-three Shalaka-purushei u ; and their his- 
 tory is written in the first of the Vedas called Pratamani-yoga, and 
 also in the twenty-four Puranas and other sacred compositions. 
 
 The second Veda of the Jainas has the name of Charanavi-yoga, 
 and describes at length the rules of the casts of the various ranks 
 and conditions in society, and several other matters of that kind. 
 
 The third Veda, called Karanani-yoga, describes the nature, 
 order, and composition of the Jagat-triya or three worlds. 
 
 The fourth Veda, Dravyani-yoga, teaches the philosophy, in- 
 cluding the metaphysical systems of the Jainas, described under 
 the titles of six Dravya, five Panchashti Kaya, seven Tatva, and 
 nine Padartha ; being twenty-seven in all, and comprising all that 
 is extant on the philosophical institutions of the Jainas. 
 
 Rank of Sannyasi JVirvani, among the Jamas. 
 
 The highest station to which a human being can attain is that 
 of Sannyasi JTirvani or naked penitent. A person in this situation 
 is no longer a man, but becomes a part of the divinity, to whom he 
 is in some measure assimilated by his devotions. When he has 
 arrived at the highest possible degree in this profession, he volun- 
 tarily lays it down, and, without dying, his earthly frame is atte- 
 nuated, and he obtains the Moksha by absorption into the god- 
 head. 
 
 No true Nirvani penitent now exists in this division of Jagat- 
 triya ; and consequently no mortal is now capable of obtaining the 
 
 • The Rama of the Brahmans is found among the nine Bala-ramas of 
 the Jainas, as Krishna is one of their nine Vasu-devata. The Brahmans 
 have usurped these two names in order to complete the Avataras of their 
 Vishnu. But they were not allowed to pass amongst the gods of the Brah- 
 m ms until they had died and suffered the pains of Naraka, as the Jair.as 
 affirm. 
 
364 
 
 JAINAS. 
 
 Appendix, 
 
 Moksha or supreme felicity; because, to be qualified for that dis- 
 tinction, a man must have been a Brahman born, and must also 
 pass through the state of a Nirvani penitent. 
 
 Women never having aspired at anytime to this rank, it follows 
 that in no age, can persons of that sex have been qualified to re- 
 ceive the Moksha. 
 
 After many millions of years and several millions of transmi- 
 grations from body to body, all men ultimately attain to the state 
 of Nirvani penitent, and terminate their course by reunion with 
 the divinity through the blessing of Moksha. 
 
 But, before arriving at this sublime condition, it is requisite to 
 pass through eleven inferior degrees of contemplation, forming a 
 noviciate or course of preparation for the degree of Nirvani, dur- 
 ing wnich the penitent is gradually acquiring advancement in 
 purity until he arrives at ultimate perfection. 
 
 These eleven degrees are: Darsanaka, Vrataka, Samayika, 
 Prasadhava-vachi, Sach-chitta-vrata, Ratri-vakta, Bramachari, Ara- 
 nia-vrata, Parijna-vrata, Anuman-vrata, Utachti-vrata, and Nir- 
 vani. 
 
 When he has reached this lofty summit, the penitent is no 
 longer of this world, but becomes wholly insensible to earthly con- 
 cerns. He sees, with equal indifference, the good and the evil, 
 the virtue and the vice which prevail amongst men. He is entire- 
 ly exempted from human passions and their effects, and neither 
 loves nor hates. He is beyond the wants of nature, and can bear 
 all sorts of privations without pain. Hunger and thirst are no 
 longer felt, and he can pass weeks or months without sustenance. 
 When he submits to food, he takes indiscriminately whatever 
 nourishment, either animal or vegetable, comes in his way. An 
 excrement, if it comes the readiest, is not rejected. He knows not 
 the shelter of a roof, the bare plain or shady forest being his only 
 alternative. Having no wants, he lives in absolute independence 
 and in total estrangement from other men. Though quite naked, 
 he is utterly regardless of wind or rain, of heat or cold. He is ex- 
 empt from disease and infirmity. He has a lofty contempt for all 
 men, let their rank or condition in life be ever so high. Whether 
 they do right or wrong he cares not. He casts not a look away on 
 any man, nor receives any visit. He suffers no thought, nor af- 
 fection, nor inclination, to wander from the Deity ; of whose 
 essence he already considers himself to be a part. Absorbed in 
 
Appendix. 
 
 JAINAS. 
 
 365 
 
 the contemplation of the divine perfections, what consideration has 
 he to bestow on the world and all its vanities ? 
 
 But a life of abstinence, hardship and contemplation, during 
 the eleven stages which have been enumerated, must gradually 
 impair the bodily frame of the devotee. It wastes away like ATar« 
 pura, the Indian camphire, in the furnace. The five principles 
 of which it consists are imperceptibly dissipated ; the earth, the 
 water, the fire, the wind, and the air, rejoining their kindred and 
 native elements; till nothing but a shadow or phantom of the Nir- 
 vani remains. 
 
 Arrived at this incomparable state of perfection, he quits this 
 sublunary world, and goes to unite himself inseparably with the 
 deity, and to enjoy in his bosom spiritual happiness, complete and 
 everlasting. 
 
 Civil rules of conduct among the Jainas. 
 
 Their civil ordinances are in many respects the same as those 
 of other casts of Hindus, and particularly those of the Brahmans. 
 Their scrupulosity respecting purity and impurity is nearly as 
 great, and they follow nearly the same modes of purification from 
 external and internal pollution. For this purpose, the ablutions of 
 the Jainas are not less frequent than those of any other tribe, and 
 they are accompanied also with Mantras and other ceremonies. 
 The customs of the Brahmans respecting the Triple Cord, Mar- 
 riage, Mourning, Funerals, and the other affairs of life, are also 
 observed in substance by the Jainas. 
 
 But they have some usages peculiar to themselves, such as the 
 following. 
 
 All casts and ranks amongst them wear the Triple Cord, which 
 they are invested with when very young by the Gurus with much 
 pomp and ceremony. 
 
 They are not permitted to take any solid food before sunrise or 
 after sunset. All meals are therefore served up while the great 
 luminary is above the horizon ; and no circumstance of life can 
 occur in which this rule may be dispensed with. 
 
 They have no Tirhi, or days appointed for celebrating the me- 
 mory of the dead ; which is one of the most prominent institutions 
 among the Brahmans. With the Jainas, the dead are forgotten al- 
 most as soon as they are buried ; and in three days after the fune- 
 ral, there is no farther mention of them. 
 
JAINAS. 
 
 366 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 They do not, like most other Hindus, rub their foreheads with 
 the ashes of cow -dung. But as, in India, it would appear rude to 
 show the bare skin of the whole forehead, they take the decoction 
 of sandal wood and imprint upon it the little circular mark called 
 Pota, or merely a straight line. Some of them exhibit the Pota, in 
 form of a cross, on the head, neck, stomach, and each shoulder, 
 in honour of their five principal Tirthurus. 
 
 They are still more rigid than the Brahmans with regard to 
 food. They scrupulously abstain not only from all inebriating drink 
 and from all animal matter, but they also reject for nourishment 
 some of the simple vegetable productions, such as the onion and 
 garlic, and those sorts which are in general use in the country and 
 known by the name of Katri-Kayi and Pudelenkayi, with other 
 simples on which the Brahmans subsist. 
 
 Their motive for this extreme reserve is the dread of commit- 
 ting murder by destroying the insects which abound in such plants. 
 So that the principal and almost the sole article of food which re- 
 mains to the Jainas, besides rice and milk, are the different species 
 of peas and beans that grow in the country. 
 
 They have a particular abhorrence of assa foetida, which the 
 Brahmans, on the contrary, are so excessively fond of that it has 
 become an indispensable article in their kitchens. 
 
 The Jainas eat no honey, not even as a medicine in sickness. 
 
 Their dread of committing murder is so excessive, that the 
 women, in cleaning their houses, when they come to scour the 
 floors with cow-dung, according to the general Hindu custom, 
 commence with lightly sweeping the surface, to remove the in- 
 sects which are hopping about, lest any of them should fall a vic- 
 tim to the scrubbing brush. 
 
 For the like reason, when they are preparing to cook, they 
 carefully examine every article and ingredient they are to use, and 
 tenderly shake off all the creeping creatures they find. Indeed, 
 being of opinion that it is as great a crime to kill an insect as 
 a man, the Jainas will not maltreat even those that seem formed 
 by nature for the sole purpose of tormenting human repose. When 
 a bug is very teasing, they will remove him softly and put him on 
 the ground without injury. 
 
 Being afraid, for the same reason, of swallowing animated be- 
 ings in the water which they drink, when they go to the tank or 
 well to draw it, they carefully cover the mouth of the pitcher with 
 
367 
 
 Appendix. j a in as. 
 
 a bit of gauze to exclude the insects from entering with the water. 
 A thirsty traveller, in the same manner, when he wants to drink 
 on his way, stoops down to the stream, and puts a cloth over his 
 mouth, through which he sucks the water, and so avoids the dan- 
 ger of committing murder. 
 
 Notwithstanding these peculiarities of customs and opinions, the 
 Jainas enjoy a very extensive toleration iu most parts of the penin- 
 sula. They have many elegant temples in various districts, where 
 they perform their ceremonies, without interruption, and with 
 abundance of pomp and splendour. 
 
 There is a celebrated temple of this sect, in the Mysore, in a 
 village called Sravana-Balagola, at some distance from the fort of 
 Seringapatam. Vast numbers of pilgrims of this sect, from va- 
 rious provinces of the peninsula, are daily flocking to this sacred 
 place to perform their vows. Of late years, however, it has lost 
 much of its celebrity, on account of the frequent visits of Europeans 
 from curiosity ; which, in the eyes of the devout natives, injure the 
 sanctity of the place. I have been informed that the Guru or pon- 
 tifif of the sect, who formerly resided at this temple, felt himself 
 so greatly insulted by these frequent and inquisitive intrusions of 
 European strangers, which he had no means of preventing, and 
 so deeply affected with the grievous pollution which the very pre- 
 sence of this sort of people, followed by their Pariah servants and 
 dogs, brought upon the temple, that he quitted it in despair four 
 years ago, and sought a refuge on the Malabar coast, where he 
 might avoid such importunate guests. 
 
 Examples of this kind should be a lesson to Europeans, and 
 teach them that they should be a little more circumspect in their 
 intercourse with the Hindus ; that they should have some respect 
 and tenderness for inveterate prejudices, and spare the timid de- 
 votees the pain and disgust which their presence cannot fail to 
 excite. 
 
 The village of Sravana Balagola is surrounded with three little 
 hills, and it is in the bason which they form that this celebrated 
 Jaina temple is erected. 
 
 At the top of one of those hills there is hewn out of the rock 
 a gigantic image sixty or seventy feet high ; which may be seen 
 at a distance of several leagues. It must have been a work of 
 great labour to cut out so enormous a figure to such a depth in the 
 rock. It may be taken as a sample of the Hindu style of sculp- 
 
368 JAINAS. Appendix. 
 
 ture ; and it has appeared to many European travellers who have 
 visited it not to be devoid of proportion. It represents a celebrated 
 ancient Nirvani penitent, called Gautama, a younger son of their 
 great Adiswara. It is in a standing posture and altogether naked. 
 
 The same figure is represented in the interior of the temple at 
 the foot of the mountain, also naked, but sitting cross-legged On 
 the outside of the walls there are niches containing images of the 
 twenty-four Tirthurus and several other objects of Jaina worship. 
 
 It appears deserving of notice that the principal objects of vene- 
 ration to be met with in the greater part of the large temples of 
 the Jainas are represented of a gigantic size, and all naked ; which 
 proves that they have generally been intended to commemorate 
 some of their Nirvani penitents. 
 
 The Jainas meddle not at all with the ceremonies of the Brah- 
 mans; nor will they on any account suffer their own to be touched 
 by them ; showing upon all occasions the utmost jealousy of any 
 attempts at superiority on the part of that sect, to whom they never 
 yield the smallest mark of attention or deference. 
 
 So strongly does this sentiment prevail on both sides, that the 
 two sects cannot possibly live together or agree in any one point. 
 A perpetual distrust keeps them asunder; andif self interest leads 
 them at any time to a good understanding and familiar intercourse 
 with each other, it is altogether insincere and hollow, their secret 
 hatred and abhorrence being generally the greatest when they ap- 
 pear to be the most in union. It is said that some casts of Brah- 
 mans introduce into their daily prayers a malediction against the 
 Jainas ; who, by way of reprisal, every morning, as soon as they 
 are awake, pronounce these words : “ Brahma Kshayam” Let the 
 Brahmans perish ! 
 
 The decided hatred that subsists between the two sects is out- 
 wardly manifested in their conduct to each other under all cir- 
 cumstances of life. In the countries where the Brahmans have 
 the ascendant, they exclude the Jainas from all employments, and 
 where the latter are the strongest they lose no occasion of morti- 
 fying the Brahmans, of humbling their pride, and making them 
 feel that they have not yet forgotten the injuries and persecutions 
 of every kind which their ancestors had to endure from the Brah- 
 mans of formeriimes. 
 
 TUE EVD. 
 

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DATE DUE 
 
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