*?

 
 DISSERTATIONS 
 
 AND ' 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS PIECES 
 
 RELATING TO THE 
 
 HISTORY AND ANTIQJUITIES, 
 
 THE 
 
 ARTS, SCIENCES, AND LITERATURE 
 
 OF 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 V O L. L
 
 t
 
 ^^^: A^^^r^^^^ 
 
 DISSERTATIONS 
 
 AND 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS PIECES 
 
 RELATING TO THE 
 
 HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 THE 
 
 ARTS, SCIENCES, and LITERATURE, 
 
 O F 
 
 A S I A^ 
 
 BY 
 
 SIR W. JONES, V J. RAWLINS, ESq^ 
 
 W. CHAMBERS, ESQ^ \ J. SHORE, ESQ^ 
 
 W. HASTINGS, ESq, •) J. WILLIAMS, ESQ^ 
 
 GEN. CARNAC, \ ARCH. KEIR, ES(^ 
 
 H. VANSITTART, ESQ. '5 COL. PEARSE, 
 
 C. WILKINS, ESQi ^^ LIEUT. CoL. POLIEK. ; 
 
 AND OTHERS. 
 
 T N T W O VOLUMES, 
 VOLUME THE FIRST, 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 DISSERTATIONS by Sir W. JONES, 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 fRTNTED FOR G. NICOL, BOOKSELLER TO HIS MAJESTY, 
 
 PALL-MALL J J. WALTER, CHARING-CROSS ; AND 
 
 J. SEWELL, CORNHILLo 
 
 M DCC XCI I. 
 
 » 5 J »
 
 t c
 
 i 
 
 r> 
 
 
 
 
 
 :s» 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IT is a confideration which cannot 
 ^ but afford the utmoft pleafure to a 
 
 refleding mind, that the Arts and 
 Sciences, which are rapidly advancing 
 towards a ftate of perfed:ion in 
 Europe, are not confined to that quarter 
 of the globe. la the Eaft, where 
 Learning feemed to be extinguiflied, 
 and Civilization nearly loft, amidft the 
 contention of avarice and defpotifm, a 
 ©i fpirit of enquiry hath gone forth, 
 
 A3 which. 
 
 
 \
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 which, aided' by the ardour of Philo- 
 fophy, promifes to diflipate the gloom 
 of ignorance, and to fpread the adv^an- 
 tages of knowledge through a region 
 where its effeds may be expefled to 
 be mofi: favourable to the general in- 
 terefts of fociety. 
 
 To the exertions of one Gentleman, 
 whofe various excellencies panegyric 
 might difplay in the warmeft terms, 
 without being charged with extrava- 
 gance, the English fettlements in the 
 East Indies are indebted for an inffitu- 
 tion which has already exhibited fpeci- 
 mens of profound refearch, of bold in- 
 veftigation, and of happy illuftration, 
 in various fubjedls of literature; — fub- 
 jccfts which, until the prefent times, 
 
 ^' "'" had
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 had not excrcifed the faculties of 
 Europeans; but which, being produced 
 to pubhck notice, will enlarge the 
 bounds of knowledge, increafe the 
 flock of information^ and furnifh ma- 
 terials for future Philofophers, Biogra- 
 phers, and Hiflorians. 
 
 That fo much has been already at- 
 chieved by an infant Society, will be a 
 fubjedt of fur prize to thofe who have 
 not coriidered the powers of genius and 
 induflry to overcome obftacles. From 
 what has already appeared at Calcutta, 
 a judgment may be formed of what may 
 hereafter be expeded. The fcores of 
 Oriental Literature being now accef- 
 fible to thofe who have ability to 
 make a proper ufe of them, intelli- 
 gence
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 gence hitherto locked up, it may be 
 hoped, will delight and inform the en- 
 quirers after the Hifiiory, Antiquities, 
 Arts, Sciences, and Literature of Asia, 
 
 Two Volumes of the Society's Tranf- 
 aftions have been already pubHflied ; 
 but thefe have been fo fparingly diftri- 
 butcd in Great Britain that few have 
 had the opportunity of being informed 
 of their contents, or of judging of their 
 value. This circumftance has induced 
 the Editor to feledl the contents of the 
 prefent volumes from them and the 
 Aiiatic Mifceilany, for the amufement 
 and inftrudion of the publick. They 
 are fuch as vvill confer honour on their 
 authors, and afford entertainment to 
 their readers. They contain a noble 
 
 fpecimen
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 fpecimen of the talents of our coun- 
 trymen inhabiting a diflant quarter of 
 the glooe, employing themfclves fedu- 
 loufly and honourably in extending the 
 credit and eflablifliing the reputation 
 of Britons in new and unexplored re- 
 gions of Science and Literature. 
 
 I' H 
 
 r-r^ TJ r^<
 
 MB W i ' -M- L]iiM " -m* »a 
 
 THE 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 DPage 
 ISSERTATION on the Gods of Greece, Italy, 
 
 and India - w - I 
 
 II. On the Literature of JJIa, » -^ 8i 
 
 III. On the Hindus f - - - 95 
 
 IV. On the y/ri7^j, -> - - li8 
 
 V. On the Tartars, - - - 142 
 
 VI. On the Pcrfians, - - 175 
 
 VII. On the Chinefe, - - - 209 
 
 VIII. On the Ifland of Hinzuan, or Johanna 235 
 
 IX. On the Chronology of the Hindus, - 279 
 
 X. A Supplement to the Eflay on Indian Chronology, 325 
 
 XI. On
 
 THE CONTENT S6 
 
 !>age 
 XI. Oil the Indian Game of Chcfs^ - . 346 
 
 X 
 
 II. On the Second Claffical Book of the Chlnefe^ 357 
 
 XIII. On the Antiquity of the Indian Zodiack, 369 
 
 XIV. On the Plants of /;7<^/(7 - - 391 
 
 XV. On the Spikenard of the Ancients, * 403
 
 DISSERTATIONS 
 
 O N T H E 
 
 HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 THE 
 
 ARTS, SCIENCES, and LITERATURE, 
 
 OF 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 ON THE 
 
 GODS OF GREECE, ITALY, and INDIA; 
 
 WRITTTEN IN MDCCLXXXIV. 
 
 WE cannot juftly conclude, by arguments 
 preceding the proof of f .6I5, that one 
 idolatrous people muft have borrowed their 
 deities, rites, and tenets from another ; fince 
 Gods of all fhapes and dimenfions maj be framed 
 by the boundlefs powers of imagination, or by 
 the frauds and follies of men, in countries never 
 connected ; but when features of refemblance, 
 too ftrong to have been accidental, aie obferv- 
 able ill different fyftems of polytheifm, with- 
 out fancy or prejudice to colour them and im- 
 
 B prove
 
 2 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 prove the likenefs, we can fcarce help believ- 
 ing, that feme conne6lion has immemorially 
 fubfifted between the feveral nations who have 
 adopted them : it is nny defign in this effay to 
 point out Inch a refemblance between the po- 
 pular worfhip of the old Greeks and Italians and 
 that of the Hindus ; nor can there be room to 
 doubt of a great fimilarity between their Grange 
 religions and that of Egypt, China, Ferjia, 
 Phrygia, Phanice^ Syria ; to which, perhaps, 
 we naay fafely add fome of the fouthern king- 
 doms and even iflands of America ; while the 
 Gothick fyftem, which prevailed in the northern 
 regions of JLurope, was not merely {im.ilar to 
 thofe of Greece and Italv, but almofl: the fame 
 in another drefs with an embroidery of images 
 apparently Jfiatick. From all this, if it be fa- 
 tisfaftcrily proved, we may infer a general union 
 or affinity between the mofl: diflinguifhed in- 
 habitants of the primitive world at the tim.e 
 when they deviated, as they did too early de- 
 viate, from the rational adoration of the only 
 true God. 
 
 There feem to have been four principal fources 
 of all mythology. I. Hiflorical, or natural, truth 
 has been perverted into fable by ignorance, ima- 
 gination, flattery, or ftupidity ; as a king of 
 Crete, whofe tomb had been difcovered in that 
 ifland, was conceived to have been the God of 
 
 Olyjnpus^
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 3 
 
 Olympus, and Minos, a legiflator of that coun- 
 try, to have been his fon, and to hold a fu- 
 preme appellate jurifdidion over departed fouls : 
 hence too probably flowed the tale of Cadmus, 
 as BocHART learnedly traces it ; hence beacons 
 or volcanos became one-eyed giants and mon- 
 gers vomiting flames; and two rocks, from 
 their appearance to mariners in certain pofi- 
 tions, were fuppofed to crulh all veflels attempt- 
 ing to pafs between them ; of which idle fic- 
 tions many other inftances might be coUeded 
 from the Odyjfcy and the various ArgGnautick 
 poems. The lefs we fay of Julian ftars, deifi- 
 cations of princes or warriors, altars raifed, with 
 thofe of Apollo, to the bafefl: of men, and 
 divine titles beftowed on fuch wretches as 
 Caius Oct AVI anus, the lefs we fhall expofe 
 the infamy of grave fenators and fine poets, or 
 the brutal folly of the low multitude : but we 
 may be aflured, that the mad apotheofis of truly 
 great men, or of little men falfely called great, 
 has been the orio-in of 2;rofs idolatrous errors in 
 every part of the pagan world. IL The next 
 fource of them appears to have been a wild ad- 
 miration of the heavenly bodies, and, after a 
 time, the fyftems and calculations of aftrono- 
 mers : hence came a confiderable portion of 
 'Egyptian and Grecian fable ; the Sahian wor- 
 Ihip in Arabia ; the Perjlan types and emblems 
 
 E 2 ' of
 
 4 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 of Mihr or the fun, and the fir-extended adora- 
 tion of the elements and the powers of nature ; 
 and hence perhaps all the artificial Chronology 
 of the Ch'inefe and Indians^ with the invention 
 of demigods and heroes to fill the vacant niches 
 in their extrav^agant and imaginary periods. 
 ]II. Numberlefs divinities have been created 
 folely by the magic of poetry ; whofc eflentiai 
 bufmefs it is to perfonify the mofl: abflrail no- 
 tions, and to place a nymph or a genius in 
 every grove and almoft in every flower : hence 
 Hygiela and 'Jafo^ health and remedy, are the 
 poetical daughters of ^sculapius, who was 
 either a diftinguifhed phyfician, or medical ikill 
 perfonified ; and hence Ch'oris^ or verdure, is 
 married to the Zephyr. IV. The metaphors 
 and allegories of moralifls and metaphyllcians 
 have been alfo very fertile in Deities ; of which 
 a thoufand examples might be adduced from 
 Plato, Cicero, and the inventive commen- 
 tators on PIoMER in their pedigrees of the 
 Gods, and their fabulous leflbns of morality : 
 the richeft and noblefl flream from this abun- 
 dant fountain is the charming philofophical tale 
 of Psyche, or the Progrejs of the Soul; than 
 which, to my tafte, a more beautiful, fublime, 
 and well- fupported allegory was nev.er produced 
 by the wifdom and ingenuity of man. PJence 
 alfo the Indian Ma'ya', or, as the word is ex- 
 plained
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 5 
 
 plained by fome Hindu fcholars, " the firft in- 
 *' clination of the Godhead to diverfify himfelf 
 *' (fuch is their phrafe) by creating worlds/* 
 is feigned to be the mother of univerfal nature, 
 and of all the inferior Gods ; as a CafJmiinaJi 
 informed me when I a{ked him, why Ca'ma, 
 or Love^ was reprefented as her fon ; but the 
 word Ma'ya^, or delujion^ has a more fubtile 
 and recondite fenfe in the Vcdanta philofophy, 
 where it fignifi-'s the fyftem of percept'ons, 
 whether of fecondary or of primary qualities, 
 which the Deity was believed by Epichar- 
 Mus, Plato, and many truly pious men, to 
 raife by his omniprefent fpirit in the mmds of 
 his creatures, but which had not, in their opi- 
 nion, any exiftence independent of mind. 
 
 In drawing a parallel between the Gods of 
 the Indian and European heathens, from what- 
 ever fource they were derived, I fliail remem- 
 ber, that nothing is lefs favourable to inquiries 
 after truth than a fyftematical fpirit, and (hall 
 call to mind the faying of a Hindu writer, 
 " that whoever obftinately adheres to any f?t 
 " of opinions, may bring himfelf to believe 
 *' that the frefheft fandal-wood is a flame of 
 *' fire :" this will effectually prevent me from 
 infiftins: that fuch a God of India was the 
 Jupiter of Greece ; fuch, the Apollo ; fuch, 
 f/je Mercury : in fuft, fuice all the caufes of 
 
 B 3 poly-
 
 6 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 polytheifm contributed largely to the allem- 
 blage of Grecian divinities (though Bacon re- 
 duces them all to refined allegories, and New- 
 ton to a poetical difguife of true hiftory), we 
 find many Joves, many Apollos, many Mer- 
 curies, with diftindl attributes and capacities; 
 nor ihall I prefume to fuggeft more, than that, 
 in one capacity or another, there exifts a flrik- 
 ing nmilitude between the chief objedls of wor- 
 ihip in ancient Greece or Italy and in the very 
 interefting country which we now inhabit. 
 
 The comparifon which I proceed to lay 
 before you, mufl: needs be very fuperficial, 
 partly froni my fliort refidence in Hinduflan, 
 partly from rny want of complete leifure for 
 literary amufements, but principally becaufe I 
 have no European book to refrefli my memory 
 of old fable^, except the conceited, though not 
 unlearned, work of Pomey, entitled The Pan- 
 theon, and that fo miferably tranflated, that it 
 can hardly be read with patience. A thoufand 
 more ftroke? of refemblance rnight, I am fure, 
 be coUeded by any who fhould with that view 
 perufe Hesiod, Hyginus, Cornutus, and 
 the other mythologies ; or, which would be 
 a fhorter and a pleafanter way, fhould be fa^ 
 tisfied with the very elegant Syntagmata of 
 
 LlLIUS GiRALDUS. 
 
 Disv
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA, 7 
 
 I 
 
 DisoiTisiTioNS concerning the manners and 
 condud of our Ipecies in early times, or indeed 
 at any time, are always curious at leafl: and 
 amufing ; but they are highly interefting to 
 fuch as can fay of themfelves with Chremes 
 in the play, " We are men, and take an inte- 
 " reft in all that relates to mankind :'* They 
 may even be of folid importance in an age when 
 fome intelligent and virtuous perfons are in- 
 clined to doubt the authenticity of the accounts, 
 delivered by Moses, concerning the primitive 
 world ; ilnce no modes or fources of reafoning 
 can be unimportant v/hich have a tendency to 
 remove fuch doubts. Either the firfl eleven 
 chapters of Genejis, all due allowances being 
 made for a figurative Eaftern ftyle, are true, 
 or the whole fabrick of our national religion is 
 falfe ; a conclufion which none of us, I truft, 
 would wifh to be drawn. I, who cannot help 
 believing the divinity of the Messiah, from 
 the undifputed antiquity and manifefl comple- 
 tion of many prophefics, cfpecially thofe of 
 Isaiah, in the only perfon recorded by hiftory 
 to whom they are applicable, am obliged of 
 courfe to believe the fandity of the venerable 
 books, to which that facred perfon refers as 
 genuine : but it is not the truth of our national 
 religion, as fuch, that 1 have at heart ; it is 
 truth itfelf ; and if any cool unbiafled reafoner 
 
 B 4 vviU
 
 8 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 will clearly convince me that Moses drew his 
 narrative through Egyptian conduits from the 
 primeval fountains of Indian literature, I fhall 
 efleem him as a friend for having weeded my 
 mind from a capital error, and promife to (land 
 among the foren:;ofl: in nffifting to circ late the 
 truth, which he has afcertained. After fuch a 
 declaration, I cannot but perfuade myfelf, that 
 no candid man will be dii plea led if, in the 
 courfe of my work, I make as free with any 
 arguments that he may have advanced, as I 
 fliould really de(ire him to do with any of mine 
 that he may be difpofed to controvert. ''> aving 
 no fyftem of my own to maintain, I fhall not 
 purfiie a very regular method*, but iliall take 
 all the Gods, of whom 1 difcourfe, as they hap- 
 pen to pref'^nt themfelves ; beginning, how- 
 ever, like the Roma?js and the Hindus^ with 
 Janis or Gane'sa. 
 
 The titles and attributes of this old Italian 
 deity are fully pomprifed in two chcriambick 
 verfes of Sulpii lus ; and a farther account of 
 him from Ovid would here be fuperfiuous : 
 
 Jane -pater^ Jane tuens^ dive h'lceps^ hifor?niSy 
 O Cute reruni Jatofj O principium deorum ! 
 
 " Father Janu?, all-beholding Janus, thou divinity with 
 « tvo heads, and with two forms; O fagacious planter of 
 *' all things, and leader of deities!" 
 
 He
 
 > ITALY, AND INDIA. 9 
 
 He was the God, we fee, onVifdom ; whence 
 he is reprefented on coins with two, and on the 
 Hetrufcan image found at FaUjci with four 
 faces ; emblems of prudence and circumfpec-   
 tion : thus is Gane'sa, the God of JVlfdom in 
 Hindujian, painted with an Ekphanfs head, 
 the fjmbol of fagacious difcernment, and at- 
 tended by a favourite rat^ which the Indians 
 consider as a wife and provident animal. His 
 next great chara(5ler (the plentiful fource of 
 many fuperditious ufages) was that, from 
 which he is emphatically ftiled the father, and 
 which the fecond verfe before cited more fully 
 expreffes, the origin and founder of all things: 
 whence this notion arofe, unlefs from a tradi- 
 tion that he firft built fnrines, raifed altarsj 
 and inftituted facrlfices, it is not eaiy to con- 
 jecture ; hence it c -me, however, -that his 
 name was invoked before any other God ; that, 
 in the old facrcd rites, corn and wine, and, in 
 later times, incenfe alfo, were firfl offered tq 
 Janus ; that the doors or entrances to private 
 houfes were called Januce, and any pervious 
 paflage or thoroughfare, in the plural number, 
 fani, or with two beginnings -, that he was re- 
 prefer; ted holding a rod, as guardian of ways, 
 and a key, as opening, not gates only, but all 
 important works and affairs of mankind; that 
 he was thought to prefide over the morning, or 
 
 beginning
 
 lO ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 beginning of day ; that, although the Roman 
 year began regularly with March, yet the 
 eleventh month, named Januarius^ was con- 
 iidered ^sfrjt of the twelve, whence the whole 
 year was fuppofed to be under his guidance, 
 and opened with great Iblemnity by the confuls 
 inaugurated in his fane, Vv^here his ftatue was 
 decorated on that occafion with frefh laurel ; 
 and, for the fame reafon, a folemn denunci- 
 ation of war, than which there can hardly be a 
 more momentous national a6l, was made by 
 the military conful's opening the gates of his 
 temple with all the pomp of his magiftracy. 
 The twelve altars and twelve chapels of Janus 
 might either denote, according to the general 
 opinion, that he leads and governs twelve 
 months, or that, as he fays of himfelf in Ovid, 
 all entrance and accefs muft be made through 
 him to the principal Gods, who were, to a 
 proverb, of the fame number. We may add, 
 that Janus was imagined to preiide over in- 
 fants at their birth, or the beginning of life. 
 
 The Indian divinity has precifely the fame 
 character : all facrifices and religious ceremo- 
 pies, all addreffes even to fuperior Gods, all fe- 
 rious compofitions in writing, and all w^orldly 
 affairs of moment, are begun by pious Hindus 
 with an invocation of Gane'sa ; a word com^ 
 pofcd of ifa, the governor or leader^ and gan'a^ 
 
 or
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. II 
 
 or a company of deities, nine of which compa- 
 nies are enumerated in the A^narcofi, Inftances 
 of opening bufinefs aufpicioufly by an ejacula- 
 tion to the Janus ci India (if the hnes of re- 
 femblance here traced will jnftify me in fo call- 
 ing him) might be multiplied with eafe. Few 
 books are begun without the w or As falut at ion to 
 Gane^s, and he is firft invoked by the Brah- 
 mans, who condu6i: the trial by ordeal, or per- 
 form the ceremony of the homa, or facrifice to 
 fire. M. Sonn'erat reprefents him as highly 
 revered on the coaft of Coromandel\ " where 
 the Indians (he fays) would not on any ac- 
 count build a hcufe without having placed 
 '* on the ground an image of this deity, whictj 
 they fprinkle with oil and adorn. every day 
 with flowers ; they fet up his figure in all 
 their temples, in the flreets, in the high 
 roads, and in open plains at the foot of fome 
 " tree ; fo that perfons of all ranks may inr 
 "' voke him before they undertake any bulinefs, 
 " and travellers worfhip him before they pro- 
 *' ceed on their journey.'* To this I may add, 
 from my own obfervation, that in the commo- 
 dious and ufeful town which now rifes at 
 Dhanndranya or Gayd^ under the aufpices of 
 the a6tive and benevolent Thomas Law, Efq. 
 coUeftor of Rotas, every new-built houfe, a- 
 greeably to an immemorial ufagc of the Hindus, 
 
 haq 
 
 <( 
 
 a 
 
 ii.
 
 12 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 has the name of Gane'sa fuperfcribed on its 
 door; and, in the old town, his image is placed 
 over the gates of the temples. 
 
 We come now to Saturn, the oldeft of 
 the pagan Gods, of whofe office and actions 
 much is recorded. The iar2;on of his beiticr the 
 
 JO o 
 
 fon of Earth and of Heaven, who was the fon 
 of the Sky and the Day, is purely a confeffipn 
 of ignorance who were his parents or who his 
 predeceflbrs ; and there appears more fenfe in 
 the tradition faid to be mentioned by the inqui- 
 litive and well-informed Plato, " that both 
 " Saturn, or Time^ and his confort Cybele, 
 *' or the Earth., together with their attend- 
 *' ants, were the children of Ocejfi and The* 
 *' Tis, or, in lefs poetical language, fprang 
 *' from the waters of the great deep.*' Ceres, 
 the goddefs of harvefts, was, it feems, their 
 daughter; and Virgil defcribes "the mo- 
 ♦* ther and nurfe of all as crowned with tur- 
 ^' rets, in a car drawn by lions, and exults 
 ** ing in her hundred grand-fons, all divine, 
 ^' all inhabiting fplendid celeflial manfions *' 
 As the God of time, or rather as l'i?ne itfelf 
 perfonified, Saturn was ufuallv painted bv 
 the heathens holding a fcythe in one hand, and 
 in the other a fnake vvith its tail in its mouth, 
 the fymbol of perpetual cycles and revolutions 
 p^ ages : he was often reprefented in the a61: of 
 
 devour^
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. I3 
 
 devouring years, in the form of children, and, 
 fometimes, ncircled by the feafons appearing 
 like boys and girls. By the Latins he was 
 named Satunnus ; and the moft ingenious ety- 
 mology of that word is given by Festus the 
 grammarian; who traces it, by a learned ana- 
 logy to many fimilar names, a fatu, from 
 planting, becanfe^ when he reigned in Italy^ 
 he introduced and improved agriculture : but 
 his diflinguifhing charader, which explains, 
 indeed, all his other titles and fun6lions, was 
 exprelfed allegoricaily by the ftern of a fhip or 
 galley on the rf.verfe of his ancient coins ; for 
 which Ovid ailigns a very unfatisfaftory rea- 
 fon, " becaufe the divine ftranger arrived in a 
 '* fhip on the Italian coaft ;" as if he could have 
 been expecled on horfe-back, or hovering 
 through the air. 
 
 The account, quoted by Pomky from Alex- 
 ander PoLYHisToR, calls a clearer light, if 
 it really came from genuine antiquity, on the 
 whole tale of Saturn ; " that he predided an 
 *' exti aordinary fall of rain, and ordered the con- 
 " ftrudion of a vellel, in which it was necef- 
 ** fary to fecure men, beads, birds, and rep- 
 *' tiles from a general inundation." 
 
 Now it feems not eaiy to take a cool re- 
 view of all thefe tefl:iraonies concernina; the 
 
 birth,
 
 14 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 birth, kindred, offspring, chara£ler, occupa- 
 tions, and entire life of Saturn, without af- 
 fenting to the opinion of Bochart, or admit- 
 ting it at leaft to be highly probable, that the 
 fable was railed on the true hiftory of Noah ; 
 from whofe flood a new period of. time was 
 computed, and a new feries of ages may be 
 faid to have fprung ; who rofe freih, and, as 
 it were, newly born from the waves ; whofe wife 
 was in fa^l the univerfal mother, and, that the 
 earth might foon be repeorled, was early blefled 
 W'ith numerous and flourifliins; defcendants : if 
 we produce, therefore, an Indian king of di- 
 vine birth, eminent for his piety and bene- 
 ficence, whofe {lory feems evidently to be that 
 of Noah difguifed by jifiatick fidtion, we may 
 fafely offer a conjeilure, that he was alfo the 
 fame perfonage with Saturn. This was 
 IV'Ienu, or Satyavrata, whofe patronymick 
 name was Vaivaswata, or Child of the 
 Sun ; and whom the Indians believe to have 
 reigned over the whole world in the earlieft age 
 of their chronolo2;v, but to have refided in the 
 country oiDravira^ on the coaft of the Eaftera 
 Indian Peninfula : the following narrative t)f the 
 principal event in his life I have literally tranf- 
 latcd from the Bhdgavat ; and it is the fubject 
 of the firft Pur ana, entitled that of the Maifya, 
 
 or Fijh, 
 
 ' De-
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. , . I5 
 
 ' Desiring the prefervatlon of herds, and 
 
 * of Brahmans, of genii and virtuous men, of 
 ' the Vcdas, of law, and of precious things, 
 ' the lord of the univerfe alTumes many bodily 
 
 * Ihapes ; but, though he pervades, Hke the 
 *■ air, a variety of beings, yet he is himfelf 
 ' unvaried, fmce he has no quaUty fubje6l to 
 ' change. At the c\q(q of the laft Calpa^ 
 
 * there was a general deftru^lion occafioned by 
 ' the fleep of Brahma' ; whence his creatures 
 ' in different worlds were drowned in a vaft 
 
 * ocean. Brahma', being inclined to flum- 
 
 * ber, defiring repofe after a lapfe of ages, the 
 
 * flrong demon Hayagri'va came near him, 
 ' and ftole the Fedas^ which had flowed from 
 ' his lips. When Heri, the preferver of the 
 
 * univerfe, difcovered this deed of the Prince 
 
 * of Danavas, he took the fhape of a minute 
 ' fifh, called fap'har). A holy king, named 
 
 * Satyavrata, then reigned; a fervant of 
 ' the fpirit, which moved on the waves, and 
 ' fo devout, that water was his only fufte- 
 ' nance. He was the child of the Sun, and, in 
 ' the prefent Calpa^ is invefted by Nara'yan 
 
 * in the office of Menu, by the name of 
 
 * Sra'ddhadeVa, or the God of Obfequies. 
 
 * One day, as he was making a libation in the 
 ' river Critamdla, and held water in the palm 
 
 * of his hand, he perceived a fmall fifh moving 
 
 ' in
 
 l6 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 * in it. The king of Dravira immediately 
 
 * dropped the fi/h into the river togethep with 
 
 * the water, which he had taken from it; 
 
 * when the fap'han thus pathetically addrefied 
 
 * the benevolent monarch : *' How canftthou^ 
 " O king, who fliowefl: affection to the op- 
 " preffed, leave me in this river-water, where 
 " I am too weak to refift the monfters of the 
 " dream, who fill me with dread ?" He, not 
 
 * knowins: who had affumed the form of a fifh, 
 
 * applied his mind to the prefervation of the 
 
 * fafhari, both from good-nature and from re- 
 ' gard to his ov/n foul ; and, having heard its 
 ' very fuppliant addrefs, he kindly placed it 
 
 * under his protedion in a fmall vafe full of 
 
 * water ; but, in a fingle night, its bulk was 
 ' fo increafed, that it could not be contained in 
 
 * the jar, and thus again addrefied the illuf- 
 
 * trious Prince: *' I am not pleafed with living 
 ** miferably in this little vafe ; make me a large 
 *' manfion, where I may dwell in comfort." 
 ' The king, removing it thence, placed it in 
 
 * the water of a ciflern ; but it grew three cu- 
 
 * bits in lefs than fifty minutes, and faid : 
 *' O king, it pleafes me not to ilay vainly in 
 *' this narrow ciftern : lince thou haft granted 
 *' me an afylum, give me a fpacious habita- 
 " tion." He then removed it, and placed it 
 
 ' in
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. I7 
 
 in a pool, where, having ample fpace around 
 
 its body, it became a hfh of conliderable 
 
 fize. " This abode, O king, is not conve- 
 
 ' nient for me, who muff: fwim at large in the 
 
 ' waters : exert thyfelf for my fafety, and re- 
 
 ' move me to a deep lake." Thus addreiied, 
 
 the pious monarch threw the fuppliant into a 
 
 lake, and when it grew of equal bulk with 
 
 that piece of water, he caft the vafi: fifh into 
 
 the lea. When the fifh was thrown into the 
 
 waves, he thus again fpoke to Satyavra- 
 
 TA : ** Here the horned Iharks, and other 
 
 ' monfters of great ftrength will devour me ; 
 
 * thou fliouldft not, O valiant man, leave me 
 
 * in this ocean.'* Thus repeatedly deluded by 
 the fifli, who had addrelTcd him with gentle 
 Words, the king laid : " Who art thou, that 
 
 * beguileft me in that aiTumed fhape ? Never 
 
 * before have I feen or heard of fo prodigious 
 
 * an inhabitant of the waters, who, like thee, 
 
 * has filled up, in a lingle day, a lake an hun- 
 
 * dred leagues in circumference. Surely, thou 
 
 * art Bhagavat, who appeareft before me ; 
 
 * the great FJeri, whofe dwelling was on the 
 
 * waves ; and who now, in compaffion to thy 
 ' fervants, beareft the form of the natives of 
 ' the deep. Salutation and praife to thee, O 
 ' firll male, the lord of creation, of pre- 
 
 * fervation, of dertrudion ! Thou art the 
 
 C " highcft
 
 <c 
 
 iS ON THE GODS OV GREECE, 
 
 *' highefl: objecl, O fnprcme ruler, of vi$ 
 ** thy adorers, who pioufly feek thee. All 
 '' thy delulive defcents in this world give 
 " exidence to various beings : yet I am anxious 
 to know, for what caufe that fhape has been 
 aOumed by thee. Let me not, O lotos- 
 eyed, approach in vain the' feet of a deit}^ 
 whofe perfe6l benevolence has been extended 
 ** to all ; when thou hail fliown us to our amaze- 
 *' ment the appearance of other bodies, not in 
 '* reality exilling, but fucceffively exhibited." 
 
 * The lord of the univerfe, loving the pious 
 
 * man who thus implored him, and intend- 
 
 * ing to preferve him from the fea of deftruc- 
 *■ tion, caufed by the depravity of the age, thus 
 ' told him how he was to act. " In feven 
 
 days from the prefent time, O thou tamer 
 of enemies, the three Vv^orids will be plunged 
 
 " in an ocean of death ; but, in the midft of 
 the delh-oying waves, a large veflel, fent by 
 me for thy ufe, fhall ftand before thee. 
 
 " Then fhalt thou take all medicinal herbs, all 
 the variety of feeds, and, accompanied by 
 feven faints, encircled by pairs of all brute 
 animals, thou flialt enter the fpacious ark, 
 and continue in it, fecure from the flood, on 
 one immenfe ocean without light, except 
 the radiance of thy holy companions. When 
 
 " the fhip {hall be agitated by an impetuous 
 
 " w^ind, 
 
 4( 
 
 
 it 
 
 i6
 
 (4 
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. I9 
 
 ** wind, thou fhalt faflren It with a laro-e fea- 
 *' ferpent on my horn ; for I will be near thee: 
 ** drawing the vefTel, with thee and thy attend- 
 *' ants, I will remain on the oce::n, O chief of 
 " men, until a night of Brahma^ fhall be com- 
 pletely ended. Thou fhalt then know my true 
 greatnefs, rightly named the fupl'eme God- 
 '^ head ; by my favour, all thy quellions Ihall 
 *' be anfwered, and thy mind abundantly in- 
 *' ftrudled." Heri, having thus aireded the 
 ' monarch, difippeared ; and Satyavrata 
 ' humbly waited for the time, which the ruler 
 ' of our fenfes had appointed. The pious 
 
 * king, having fcattered toward the Eall: the 
 ' pointed blades of the grafs darhha^ and turn- 
 ^ ing his face toward the North, fat medlta- 
 
 * ting on the feet of the God, who had borne 
 ' the form of a fi{h. The fea overwhelming 
 ' its fhores, deluged the whole earth ; and it 
 '^ was foon perceived to be augmented by 
 
 * fhowers from Immenfe clouds. He, flill 
 ' meditating on the command of Bhagavat, 
 
 * faw the veflel advancing, and entered it with 
 
 * the chiefs of Brahmans^ having carried into 
 ' it the medicinal creepers, and conformed to 
 
 * the dlreclionsof Heri. The faints thus ad- 
 
 * drefied him : " O king, meditate on Ce'- 
 '^ SAVA ; who will, furely, deliver us from 
 *' this "danger, and grant us profperity." The 
 
 C 2 ' God,
 
 20 . ON THE GODS OF GRKECE, 
 
 God, being invoked by the monarch, ap- 
 peared again diltindlly on the vaft o^ean in the 
 form of a fiih, blazino; Hke gold, extending a 
 milhon of leagues, with one ftupendous horn ; 
 on which the king, as he had before been 
 commanded by Heri, tied the lliip with a 
 cable made of a vafl ferpent, and happy in 
 his prefervation, ftood praifing the deflroyer 
 of Madhu. When the monarch had finifhed 
 his hymn, the primeval male, Bhagavat, 
 who watched for his fafety on the great ex- 
 panfe of water, fpoke aloud to his own di- 
 vine effence, pronouncing a facred Purana, 
 which contained the rules of the SdncV.ya 
 philofophy : but it was an infinite myftery, to 
 be concealed within the breaft of Satya- 
 VRATA ; who, fitting in the veflel with the 
 faints, heard the principle of the foul, the 
 Eternal Being, proclaimed by the preferving 
 power. Then Heri, rifing together with 
 Bra'hma from the deflruclive delusre, which 
 was abat«d, flew the demon HayagriVa, 
 arid recovered the facred books. Satya- 
 vrata, inflrudled in all divine and human 
 knowledge, was appointed in the prefent 
 Ca'pa, by the favour of Vishki;, thefeventh 
 Mlnu, furnamed Vaivaswata : but the- 
 appearance of a horned fiih to the religious 
 monarch was Maya, or delufion ; and he. 
 
 ' who
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 21 
 
 * who fKall devoutly hear this Important alle- 
 
 * gorical narrative, will be delivered from the 
 
 * bonda2:e of fin.* 
 
 This epitome of the firft Ind'an Hiflory that 
 is now extant, appears to me very curious and 
 very important ; for the flory, though whim- 
 lically drefled up in the form of an allegory, 
 feems to prove a primeval tradition in this 
 country of the u iverfal deluge defcribed by 
 Moses, and fixes conlequently the tinic, when 
 the genuine Hindu Chronology aclually begins. 
 We find, it is true, in the Pu?'dn, trom which 
 the narrative is Qxixiditdi^a?iother deluge, which 
 happened towards the clofe of the third age, 
 when Yudhishth'ir was labourinsr under the 
 perfecution of his inveterate foe Duryho'dan, 
 and when Chrishna, who had recently be- 
 come incarnate for the purpofe of fuccouring 
 the pious and of deftroying the wicked, was 
 performing wonders in the country of yiat^bura ; 
 but the fecond flood was merely local, and in- 
 tended only to at^Cvfl the p-^ople of Fraja : they, 
 it feems, had offended I ndr a, the C^v d of tlie 
 firmament, by their enthufiaftic adoration of 
 the wonderful child, " who lifted up the 
 " mountain Goverdhena as if it had been a 
 *' flower, and by (lieltering all the herdfmen 
 ** and fiiepherdefiles from the ftorm, convinced 
 ♦* Jndra of his fupremacy.'* That the aSWji'^, 
 
 C ^ or
 
 22 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 or (if we may venture fo to call it) the Safur- 
 nian^ age was in truth the age of the general 
 flood, v/ill appear from a q\o{q examination of 
 the ten Avatars, or Defcents, of the deity in 
 his capacity of preferver ; fince of the four, 
 which are declared to have happened in the 
 Satyaytig, the three jirji apparently relate to 
 fome flupendous convulfion of our globe from 
 the fountains of the deep, and the fourth exhi- 
 bits the miraculous punifliment of pride and 
 impiety. Firil:, as we have Ihown, there was, 
 in the opinion of the Hindus, an intcrpolition of 
 Providence to preferve a devout perion and his 
 family (for all the Pandits agree, that his wife, 
 though not named, mud: be underflood to have 
 been faved with him) from an inundation, by 
 which all tjie wicked vvcre deftroyed ; next, the 
 poweriOf)the deity defcends in the form of a 
 Boar^ thq fy;mbol of ftrength, to draw up and 
 fupport on his tuiks the whole earth, which 
 had been fui>k beneath the ocean ; thirdly, the 
 fame power is reprefented as a torioifc fuftaining 
 the globe, which had been convulfed by the 
 violent allaults of demons, while the Gods 
 churned the fea with the mountain ih'Iandar, 
 and foresee} it; to difgorge the facred things and 
 animals, together with the water of life, which 
 it had Ivval levied. Thefe three (lories relate, I 
 think, to the lame event, fhadowed by a mo- 
 ral.
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 23 
 
 ral, a metaphyfical, and an aftronomical alle- 
 gory ; and all three feem connected with the hi- 
 erogliphical fciilptures of the old Egyptians. The 
 fourth Avatar was a Ho?i iflbing from a burft- 
 ing column of marble to devour a blafpheming 
 monarch, who would otherwife have flain his 
 religious fon ; and of the remaining fix, not 
 one has the leafl: relation to a deluge : the three, 
 which are afcribed to the Tretaxug, when ty- 
 ranny and irreligion are faid to have been in- 
 troduced, were ordained for the overthrow of 
 tyrants, or, their natural types, giants with a 
 thoufand arms formed for the mofl: extenfive 
 oppreflion ; and, in the Dwnparyug^ the in- 
 carnation of Crishna was partly for a iimilar 
 purpofe, and partly with a view to thin the 
 world of unjufl: and impious men, who had 
 multiplied in that age, and began to fwarm on 
 the approach of the Calyug^ or the age of co?!- 
 tention and bafenefs. As to Buddha, he feems 
 to have been a reformer of the cloftrines con- 
 tained in the Vecias ; and thous,h his g-ood-na- 
 ture led him to cenfure thofe antlent books, 
 becaufe they enjoined lacrifices of cattle, yet 
 he is admitted as the ninth Avatar even by the 
 Brahmans of C/is), and his praifes are fung by 
 the poet JayadeVa : his character is in many 
 refpedls very extraordinary ; but as an account 
 of it belonGjs rather to Hiflorv than to Ivlvtho- 
 
 C 4 logy,
 
 24- ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 logy, it is reCerved for another Differtation. 
 The tenth Avatar^ we are told, is yet to come, 
 and is expelled to appear mounted (hke the 
 crowned conqueror in the ApocaJyps) on a white 
 horib, with a cimeter blazing hke a comet to 
 mow down all incorrigible and impenitent of- 
 fenders, who fhall then be on earth. 
 
 These four Tugs have fo apparent an affi- 
 nity with the Grecian and Roman ages, that 
 one origin may be naturally aiiigned to both 
 fyflems : the firfl: in both is difliinguiflied as 
 abounding in gohiy though Satya mean truth 
 znd probity, which were found, if ever, in the 
 times immediately following fo tremendous an 
 exertion of the divine pmver as the deftrudion 
 of mankind by a general deluge ; the next is 
 charaiflerlfed hyjiiver, and the third by copper \ 
 though their ulual name? allude to proportions 
 imagined in each between vice and virtue : the 
 prefent, or earthen,, age feems more properly 
 difcriminated than by iron, as in antient Europe \ 
 fmce that metal is not bafer or lefs uleful, 
 though more common in our times, and con- 
 fequently lefs precious than copper ; while mere 
 earth conveys an idea of the lowed degradation. 
 We may here obierve, that the true fliftory of 
 the V\ orld feems obvioufly divifible \mo four 
 ag' s or periods ; which may be called, firfl:, 
 the Diluvian or purefl: age ; namely, the times 
 
 preced-
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 2$ 
 
 preceding the deluge, and thofe fiicceeding it 
 till the mad introdu6lion of idolatry at Babel i 
 next, the Patriarchal, or pure age ; in which, 
 indeed, there were mighty hunters of beafts 
 and of m,en, from the rife of patriarchs in the 
 family of Sem, to the fmiultaneous eftabHfh- 
 ment of great empires by the defcendants of his 
 brother Ha'm ; thirdly, the Mofa'ick, or lefs 
 pure age, from the legation of Moses, and 
 durins: the time w4ien his ordinances were 
 comparatively well obferved and uncorrupted ; 
 laftly, the Prophetical, or impure, age, begin- 
 ning with the vehement warnings given by the 
 Prophets to apoflate Kings and degenerate na- 
 tions, but ftill fubliil:ing and to lubfift, until 
 all genuine propheiies Ihall be f dly accom- 
 plifhed. The duration of the hiftorical ages 
 muft needs be very unequal and diiproportion- 
 ate ; while that of the Indian Tugs is dllpofed 
 fb regularly and artificially, that it cannot be 
 admitted as natural or probable : men do not 
 become reprobate in a geomictrical progreffion, 
 or at the termination of regular p.riods; yet fb 
 w^ell proportioned are the Tugs^ that even the 
 length of human life is diminifhed, as they ad- 
 vance, from an hundred thoufand years in a 
 fubdecuple ratio ; and as the number of princi- 
 pal Avatars in each decreai=5 arithmetically 
 from four, fo the number of years in each de- 
 
 crcafcs
 
 25 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 creafes geometfically, and all together conflltute 
 the extravagant fum of four million three hun- 
 dred and twenty thoufand years ; which aggre- 
 gate, multiplied by feventy-one, is the period 
 in which every IVIenu is believed to prefide 
 over the vvorld. Such a period, one might 
 conceive, would have latisfied Archytas, the 
 meafurcroffea and earthy and the tiumherer of their 
 fandsy or Archimedes, Vvho invented a nota- 
 tion that wac capable of expreffing the number 
 of them ; but the comprehenfive mind of an 
 Indian chronologifl has no Hmits ; and the 
 reigns of fourteen Menus are only a lingle day 
 of Brahma', fifty of which days have elapfed, 
 accordino; to the Hindus, from the time of the 
 Creation. That all this pueriUty, as it feems at 
 firft view, may be only an aftronomical riddle, 
 and allude to the apparent revolution of the 
 fixed flars, of which the Brahmans made a 
 myfliery, I readily admit, and am even inclined 
 to believe ; but lo technical an arrangement 
 excludes all idea of ferious Hiftory. I am {^w- 
 fible how much thefe remarks will offend the 
 warm advocates for Indian antiquity ; but we 
 muft not facrifice truth to a bafe fear of giving 
 offence. That the Vi;d.a5 were actually written 
 before the flood I ihall never believe ; nor can 
 we infer from the preceding flory, that the 
 Jearned Hindus believf ir ; for the allegorical 
 
 {lum^
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. J7 
 
 llumber of Brahma' and the theft of the fa- 
 cred books mean only, in fimpler language, 
 that the human race was become corrupt ; but 
 that the Vedas are very antient, and far older 
 than other Sanfcrit compofitions, I will ven- 
 ture to affert from my own examination of 
 them, and a comparifon of their ftyle with that 
 of the Purdns and the Dherma Sdjlra. A fimi- 
 lar comparifon juftities me in pronouncing, that 
 the excellent law-book afcribed to SwaVamb- 
 HUVA Menu, though not even pretended to 
 have been written by him, is more antient than 
 the Bha^gavat ; but that it was compofed in 
 the firft a2:e of the world, the Brdhmans would 
 find it hard to perfuaoe me ; and the date, 
 which has been affigned to it, does not appear 
 in either of the two copies which I poflefs, or 
 in anv other that has been collated for me : in 
 fact, the fuppofed date is comprifed in a verfe 
 which flatly contradicts the work itfelf ; for it 
 was not Menu who compofed the fyftem of law, 
 by the command of his father Brahma', but 
 a holy perfonage or demigod, named Bhrigu, 
 who revealed to men what Menu had delivered 
 at the requeft of him and other faints or patri- 
 archs. In the Mdnava Scjira, to conclude this 
 digrefilon, the meafure is fo uniform and me- 
 lodious, and the ftvle fo perfeclly Sanfirit or 
 Folipcdy that the book muft be more modern 
 
 th.aj^
 
 i8 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 than the fcriptnres of Moses, in which the 
 fimphcity, or rather nakcdnels, oi thQ Hebrew 
 dialect, metre, and ftyle, mufl: convince every 
 unbiaffed man of their fuperior antiquity. 
 
 I LEAVE etymologifts, who decide every 
 thing, to d cide whether the word Menu, or, 
 in the iiominative cafe. Menus, has any con- 
 nection v^'ith Minos, the Lawgiver, and fup- 
 pr.fed fon of Jove : the Cretans, according to 
 DioDORUs of Sicily, ufed to feign, that moft 
 of the great men who had been deified in re- 
 turn for the benefits which they had conferred 
 on mankind, were born in their ifland ; and 
 hence a doubt may be raifed, whether Minos 
 was really a Cretan. The Indian legiflator 
 was the firfl:, not the feventh Menu, or Sa^ 
 TYAVRATA, whom I fuppofe to be the 
 Saturn of Italy: part of Saturn's charac- 
 ter, indeed was that of a great lawgiver, 
 
 ^d genus indocile ac d'lfpcrfum montlhus altl^ 
 Compafuit^ legefque dedit j 
 
 and we may fufpeft, that all the fonrteeu 
 Menus are reducible to one, who v/as called 
 KuH by the Jrabs, and probably by the He^ 
 brews, though we have difguifed his name by 
 an improper pronunciation of it. Some near re- 
 lation between the feventh Menu and the Gre- 
 fian MjNOS may l^e mfa^ti ftpm ;he hngular 
 
 charade^
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA, 2^ 
 
 character of the Hindu God Yam a, who was 
 alfo a child of the Sun, and thence nanmed Vai- 
 vaswata : he had too the fannc title with his 
 brother Sra'ddhadeVa ; another of his titles 
 was Dhermara'ja, or Kmg of Jufice-, and 
 a third, Pitripeti, or Lord of the Patriarchs', 
 but he is chiefly diftinguilhed as judge of de- 
 parted fouls ; for the Hindus believe, that when 
 a foul leaves its body, it immediately repairs to 
 Tamapur^ or the cicy of Yam a, where it re- 
 ceives ajuft fentence from him, and either af- 
 cends to Szverga, or the firfl: heaven, or is dri- 
 ven down to NaraCt the region of lerpents, or 
 affumes on earth the form of Ibme animal, nn- 
 lefs its offence had been fuch, that it ouglit to 
 be condemned to a vegetable, or even to a 
 mineral, prifon. Another of his names is very 
 remarkable: I mean that of Ca'la, or time, 
 the idea of which is intimately blended with 
 the chara<fl:ers of Saturn and of Noah ; for 
 the name Cronos has a manifed: affinity with 
 the word chronos ; and a learned follower of Ze- 
 RA^TusHT allures me, that in the books which 
 the Behdins hold facred, mention is made of an 
 nniverfal immdatioHy there named the deluge of 
 Time. 
 
 It having been occafionally obferved, that 
 Ceres was the poetical daughter of Saturn, 
 we cannot clofe this head without adding, that 
 
 the
 
 ^O OF THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 the Eindus alfo have their Goddefs nf Ahimdance^ 
 whom they ufually call Lacshmi', and whom 
 they confider as the daughter (not of Menu^ 
 but) of Bhrigu, by whom the firft Code of 
 facred ordinances was promulgated : flie is alfo 
 named Pedma' and Camala' from the facred 
 Lotos or Nymph^ea \ but her mod: remarkable 
 name is Sri', or, in the firfh cafe, Sri's ; which 
 has a refemblance totheL<2//?2,and means/or/z/;z^ 
 or profperky. It may be contended, that, al- 
 though Lacshmi' may be figuratively called 
 the Ceres of Hrndujian^ yet any two or more 
 idolatrous nations, who fubfifted by agriculture, 
 might naturally conceive a Deity to prefide over 
 their labours, without having the leafl inter- 
 courfe with each other ; but no reafon appears, 
 why two nations fhould concur in fuppofing 
 that Deity to be a female : one at leaft of them 
 would be more likely to imagine, that the 
 "Earth was a Goddefs, and that the God of 
 abundance rendered her fertile. Beiides, in 
 very ancient temples near Gdya, we fee im.ages 
 of Lacshmi', with full breafb and a cord 
 twifted under her arm like a born of pknfy, 
 which look very much like the old Grecian and 
 Roman fi2:ures of Ceres. 
 
 The fable of Saturn having been thus 
 analyfed, let us proceed to his defcendants ; 
 and begin, as the Poet advifes, with Jupiter, 
 
 whofe
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 3I 
 
 whofe fupremacy, thunder, and libertinlfm, 
 every boy learns from Ovid ; while his great 
 offices of Creator, Preferver, and Deftroyer, 
 are not generally confidered in the fyftems of 
 European mythology. The Romans had, as 
 we have before obferved, many Jup iters, 
 one of whom was only the Firmament perforii- 
 fied, as Ennius clearly exprefles it : 
 
 AjYice hoc fubllme candem-y quern imvocant omnes Jovem. 
 
 This Jupiter or Diespiter, is the Indian. 
 God of the vifible heavens, called Indra, or 
 the A7>?o-, and Divespetir, or Lord of ths 
 Skv^ who has alfo the characler of the Koman 
 Genius, or Chief of the good fpirits ; but 
 mofl of his epithets in Sanfcrit are the fame 
 with thofeof the Ennian Jove. His confortis 
 named Sack i'; his celeftial city, Amaruvati'; 
 his palace, Vaijayanta\ his garden, Na7tdana\ 
 his chief elephant, Airavat ; his charioteer, 
 Mata'li ; and his weapon, Vajra^ or the 
 thunderbolt : he is the regent of winds and 
 fhowers, and, though the Eaft is peculiarly 
 under his care, yet his Olympus is MJru, or the 
 north pole aliegorically reprefented as a moun- 
 tain of gold and gems. With all his power 
 he is confiv'ered as a fubordinate Deity, and far 
 inferior to the Indian TnaJ, Brahma'', Vish- 
 nu.
 
 32 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 Ku, and Maha'deva or Siva, who arc three 
 forms of one and the fame Godhead : thus the 
 principal divinity of the Greeks and Latians^ 
 whom they called Zeus and Jupiter with Ir- 
 regular inflexions Dios and Jovis, was not 
 merely Fulmmator^ the Thunderer, hut, like 
 the deflroying power of hid'ia^ Magnus Di- 
 vus, Ultor, Genitor ; like the preferving 
 power. Conservator, Soter, Opitulus, 
 Altor, Ruminus ; and like the creating power, 
 the Giver of Ufe ; an attribute, which I men- 
 tion here on the authority of Cornutus, a 
 confummate mafler of mythological learning. 
 We are advlfed by Plato himfelf to fearch 
 for the roots of Greek words in fome barbarous, 
 that is, foreign foil ; but, fince I look upon 
 etymological conjectures as a weak balls for 
 hiflorical enquiries, I hardly dare fuggeft, that 
 Zev, Siv, and Jov, are the fame fyllable diffe- 
 rently pronounced : it muft, however be ad- 
 mitted, that the Greeks having no palatial ^^- 
 ma^ like that of the Indians, might have ex- 
 prefled it by their %eta, and that the initial let- 
 ters of zugon and jugiim are (as the inftance 
 proves) eafily interchangeable. 
 
 Let us now defcend, from thefe general 
 and introdudlory remarks, to fome particular 
 obfervations on the refemblance of Zeus or 
 
 Jupiter
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 33 
 
 Jupiter to the triple divinity Vishn^t, Siva, 
 Brahma' ; for that is the orJer in which they 
 are exprefled by the letters A, U, and M, 
 which coaiefce and form the myftical word 
 O'M ; a word which never efcapes the lips of a 
 pious Hindu^ who meditates on it in liience : 
 whether the Egyptian ON, which is commonly 
 fiippofed to mean the Sun, be the Sanfcrit mo- 
 nofyllable, I leave others to determine. It 
 inuft always be remembered, that the learned 
 Indians, as they are inftrudted by their own 
 books, in truth acknowledge only Or.e Su- 
 preme Being, whom they call Brahme, or 
 THE GREAT ONE, in the neuter gender : they 
 believe his Eii'ence to be infinitely removed 
 from the comprehenfion of any mind but his 
 own ; and they fuppofe him to manifeU: his 
 power by the operation of his divine fpirit, 
 whom they name Vishnu, the Pervader, and 
 Na'kaVan, or Moving on the ijvaters, both in 
 the mafculine gender, whence he is often de- 
 nominated the Firji Male ; and by this power 
 they believe, that the whole order of nature is 
 preferved and fupported ; but the Vcdlmtisj 
 unable to form a diftind; idea of brute matter 
 independent of mind, or to conceive that the 
 work of Supreme Goodnefs was left a moment 
 to itfelf, imagine that the Deity is everprefent to 
 
 D hi^
 
 34 OTSr THE GODS OF GREECE^ 
 
 his work, and conflantly fupports a feries of 
 perceptions, which, in one fenfe, they call 
 illujory, though they cannot but admit the r^- 
 al'ity of all created forms, as far as the hap- 
 pinefs of creatures can be afFe61:ed by them. 
 When they confider the divine power exerted 
 mcreatwg^ or in giving exiftence to that which 
 exifted not before, they call the Deity Brah- 
 ma' in the mafculine gender alfo ; and when 
 they view him in the light of Defiroycr, or 
 rather Changer of forms, they give him a thou- 
 fand names, of which Siva, i'sa or i'swara, 
 RuDRA, Hara, Sambhu, and Maha^deVa 
 or M.aHe^sa, are the moil; common. Thefirft 
 operations of thefe three Powers are varioufly 
 defcribed in the different Puranas by a num- 
 ber of allegories, and from them we may de- 
 duce the Ionian Philofophy of primeval water y 
 the doclrine of the Mundane Egg, and the 
 veneration paid to the Ny?nphcea^ or Lotos, 
 which Vv^as anciently revered in Egypt, as it is 
 ^f^rt^tiMm Hindiifian, Tibet, zwA Nepal : the 
 ^ihetians are faid to embcUifh their temples and 
 altars with it, and a native of Nepal made? 
 proiirations before it on entering my fludy, 
 where the fine plant and beautiful flowers lay 
 for examination. Mr. HolwelL, in explain- 
 ing: his iirft plate, fuppofes Brahma' to be 
 floating on a leaf of betel in the midft of the 
 
 abyfj ;
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 35 
 
 •zhyfs ; but it was manifeftly Intended by a bad 
 painter for a lotos- leaf or for that of the /zj- 
 d/'an fig-tree ; nor is the fpecles of pepper, 
 known in Bengal by the name of TambJla^ and 
 on the coait of Malabar by tha^ of Betel, held 
 facred, as he aflerts, by the Hindus, or necef- 
 farily cultivated under the infpe(£lion of Brah- 
 inans ; though as the vines are tender, all the 
 plantations of them are carefully fecured, and 
 ought to be cultivated by a particular tribe of 
 Siidras ^ who are thence called 'T(.mbid?s. 
 
 That irater was the primitive element and 
 lirft work of the Creative Power, is the uni- 
 form opinion Oi t\\Q Indian Philofophers ; but, as 
 they give fo particular an account of the general 
 deluge and of the Creation, it can never be 
 admitted, that their whole fyftem arofe from 
 traditions concernins; the Flood onlv, and muil 
 appear indubitable, that their dodrine is In part 
 borrowed from the opening of Birds)t or Ge^ 
 nefs, than which a fublimer paflage. from the 
 firft word to the laft, never flovvxd or will flow 
 from any human pen : *^ In the beginning God 
 " created the heaven- and the earth. — y^ndthe 
 ^^ earth was void and wafte, and darknefs was 
 *' on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of 
 *' God moved upon the face of the waters ; and 
 '^ God faid : I^et light be — and Light was.^* 
 Thefublimityof this paffage isconfiderably dimi- 
 
 D 2 iiifhed
 
 36 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 niflicd by the Indian paraphrafe of it, with which 
 ]V1enu, the Ton of Brahma', begins his addrefs 
 to the fages, who confulted him on the formation 
 of the univerfe: " This world," fliyshe, *'wa3 
 ** alldarknefs, undifcernible, undifhinguifhable, 
 *' altogether as in a profound deep ; till the felf- 
 *' exiflent invifible God, making it manifeft 
 " with five elements and other glorious foims, 
 perfeftly difpeJled the gloom. He, defiring 
 to raife up various creatures by an emanation 
 from his own glory, firll: created the waters^ 
 and imprefled them with a power of mo- 
 tion : by that power was produced a golden 
 " ^^^y blazing like a thoufand funs, in which 
 *' was born Brahma', felf-exifting, the great 
 *' parent of all rational Beings. The waters 
 " are called nara^ fince they are the offspring 
 *' of Nera (or i'swara) ; and thence was 
 ** Na'ra'yana named, becaufehisfirft ^^;/(3, 
 *' ox moving^ was on them. 
 
 *' That which is, the invifible caufe, eter- 
 nal, felf-exifting, but unperceived, becom- 
 ing mafculine from neuter^ is celebrated 
 among all creatures by the name of Brah- 
 *' ma'. That God, having dwelled in the 
 *' Egg, through revolving years, Himfelf me- 
 *' ditatingon Himfelf, divided it into two equal 
 " parts ; and from thofe halves formed the 
 " heavens and the earth, placing in the midft 
 

 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 37 
 
 *' the fubtilc ether, the eight points of the 
 '* world, and the permanent receptacle cf 
 *' waters." 
 
 . To this curious defcription, with which the 
 Manava Safra begins, I cannot refrain from 
 fubjoining the four verfes, w^hich are the text of 
 the Bh^gavat^ and arc believed to have been 
 pronounced by the Supreme Being to Brah- 
 ma': the following verlion is moft fcrupulouflj 
 literal. 
 
 " Even I was even at firfl, not anv other 
 " thing; that, which exifts, unperceived ; fu-r 
 '' preme : afterwards I am that which is; 
 '* and he, who mufl remain, am I. 
 
 " Except the First Cause, whatever 
 ** may appear, and may not appear, in the 
 *' mind, know that to be the mind's Ma'ya', 
 *' (ov DehiJicTi) as light, as darknefs. 
 
 " As the great elements are in various be- 
 ings, entering, yet not entering (that is, 
 pervading, not defiroying), thus am I in 
 *' them, yet not in them. 
 
 *' Even thus far may enquiry be made by 
 ** him., who feeks to know the principle of 
 *' mind, in union and feparation, which mufl 
 " be every where always." 
 
 Wild and obfcure as thefe ancient verfes 
 muft appear in a naked verbal tranflation, it 
 
 D 3 will 

 
 3$ ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 will perhaps be thought by many, that the 
 poetry or mythology of Greece or Italy afford 
 no conceptions m. re awfully ma^niificent : yet 
 the brevity aid fimplicity of the iVf^/c diftiou 
 are unequalled. 
 
 As to the creation of the world, in the opi-? 
 nion of the Romans^ Cv d, who m.ight na- 
 turally have been expelled to defcribe it with 
 learning and elegance, leaves us wholly in the 
 dark, which of the Gods was the a5ior in it i 
 other Mythologifls are more explicit ; and we 
 may rely on the authority of Cornutus, that 
 the old European heathens confidered Jove (not 
 the fon of Saturn, but of the Ether, that is, 
 of an unknown parent) as the great Life-giver-, 
 and Eather of Gods and Men ; to which may be 
 added the Orphean doctrine, preferved by Pro- 
 CLus, that " the abyfs and empyreum, the earth 
 *' and Tea, the Gods and Goddeffes, were pro- 
 *' duced by Zeus or Jupiter." In this cha- 
 racter he correfponds with Brahma' ; and, 
 perhaps, with that God of the Babylonians (if 
 we can rely on the accounts of their ancient re- 
 ligion), who, like Brahma', reduce i the uni- 
 verfe to order, and like Bi^ahma'', loft his head^ 
 with the blood of which new animals were in- 
 flantly formed : I allude to the common ftory, 
 the meaning of which I cannot difcover, that 
 
 Brahma'
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 39 
 
 Brahma' had five heads till one of them was 
 cut off by Na'raSv/n. 
 
 That, in another capacity, Jove was the 
 Helper and Supporter of all, we may coUe^fl 
 from his old Lj^/;^ epithets, and from CicsRo, 
 who informs us, that his uiuai name is a con- 
 tra£lion of j/^t;(^?^j" Pater ; an etymology, which 
 fhews the idea entertained of his charafler, 
 thous;h we may have iome doubts of its accu- 
 racy. Callimachus, we know, addreffes 
 him as the bef.ower of all good ^ and of fecurity 
 from grief; and, fince neither wealth without 
 virtue, nor virtue without wealth, give complete 
 happinefs, he prays, like a wife poet, for both. 
 An Indian prayer for riches would be directed to 
 Lacshmi^, the wife of V i shnu, fince the Hindu 
 goddeiles are believed to be the powers of their 
 refpedive lords : as to Cuve'ra, the Indian 
 Plutus, one of whofe names in Faulaflya, he 
 is revered, indeed, as a magnificent Deity, re- 
 fiding in the palace of Alaca, or borne through 
 the fky in a fplendid car named Fufpaca, but 
 is manifeftly fubordinate, like the other {(t\'^\\ 
 Genii, to the three principal Gods, or rather 
 to the principal God confidered in three capa- 
 cities. As the foul of the world, or the per- 
 vading mind, fo fmely defcribed by Virgil, 
 we fee Jove reprefented by feveral Roman 
 
 D 4 poets ;
 
 40 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 poets; and vvi h great fublimlty by Lucan in 
 the known fpeech of Cato concerning the Am- 
 moman oracle, " Ji piter is, wherever we 
 look, wherever we move." This is precifely 
 the Indian idea of Vishnu, according to the 
 four verfes above exhibited ; not that the Brah- 
 mans imagine their male Divinity to be the di- 
 vine KJfence of (he great one, which they de- 
 clare to be wholly incomprehenfible ; but, fince 
 the power o^ preferving created things by a fu- 
 perintending Frovidc-nce, belongs eminently to 
 the Godhead, they hold that power to exift 
 tranfcendently in the preferving member of the 
 Triad, Vv'hom they fuppofe to be every where 
 ALWAYS, not in fubflance, but in fpirit and 
 energy : here, however, I fpeak of the Vaifo" 
 navas ; for the Saivas afcribe a fort of pre- 
 eminence to Si v A, whofe attributes are now to 
 be concifeiv examined. 
 
 It was in the capacity of Avenger and De- 
 ftroyer, that Jove encountered and overthrew 
 the lilans and Gia ts, whom Typhon, Bria- 
 REis, TiryiJs, and the reft of their fraterr.ity, 
 led againil" the God cf Olympus ; to whom an 
 Eagle brou2;ht :i^htninP:-AV\^ thunderbolts during^ 
 th-" warfare : thus, in aiimihr contef^ between 
 Siva and the Daityus^ or children of Diti, 
 who frequently rebelled againft heaven, Brah- 
 ma^
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 4 1 
 
 MA' is believed to have prefented the God of 
 Deftru6lion wixhferyfiafts. One of the many 
 poems entitled Rdmdyan, the lad book of 
 which has been tranflated into Italian, contains 
 «n extraordinarv dialo2;iie between the crow 
 Bhufiimda, and a rational Eagle, named Ga- 
 KUDA, who is often painted with the face of a 
 beautiful youth and the body of an imaginary 
 bird ; and one of the eighteen Purdnas bears his 
 name and comprizes his whole hiftoi-y. M, 
 SoNNERAT informs us, that Vishnu is repre- 
 fented in fom.e places riding on the Garuda, 
 which he fuppofes to be the Pondicheri Eagle of 
 Brisson, efpecially as the Br.ihmans of the Coaft 
 highly venerate that clafsof bird>, and provide 
 food for numbers of them at ftated hours : I ra- 
 ther conceive the Garuda to be a fabulo-is bird, 
 but agree with him, that the Hindu God, who 
 rides on it, refembles ihe ancient J pite \ la 
 the old temples at Gayn, Vishnu is either 
 mounted on this poetical bird, or attended by it, 
 together with a little page ; but, left an etvmo- 
 logift fhould find Ganymi.d in Garud, 1 mufl 
 obferve, that the Sanfcrit word is pronounced 
 Garura ; though I admit, that the Grecian and 
 Indian ilories of the celeftial bird and the page 
 appear to have fome refemblance. As the 
 Olympan JiiViTE-R. fixed his court and held his 
 
 councils
 
 42 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 councils on a lofty and brilliant mountain, fq 
 the appropriated feat of Maha'deVa, whom 
 the Sahas conlider as the Chief of the Deities, 
 was mount Cailafa^ every fplinter of whofe 
 Tocks was an ineftimable gem : his terreflrial 
 haunts are the fnowy hills oi Himalaya^ or that 
 branch of them to the Eaft of the Brahmaputra^ 
 which has the name of Chandrafic hara^ or the 
 Mountain of the Moan. When, after all thefe 
 circumflances, we learn that Siva is believed 
 to have three eyes, whence he is named alfo 
 Trilo'chan, and know from Pausanias, 
 not only that Trtophthahnos v/as an epithet of 
 Zeus, but that a ftatue of him had been found 
 {o early as the taking of 'Troy with a third eye- 
 in his forehead, as we ice him reprefented by 
 the Hindus, we muft conclude, that the identity 
 of the two Gods falls little fhort of being de- 
 ^lon ft rated. 
 
 In the character nf De,^royer alfo we mav look 
 upon this Indian Deity as correfpondijig with 
 the Stygian Jovr, or Plhto ; cibccially iince 
 Ca^'li', or Time in the feminine gender, is a 
 name of his coniort, who will appear hereafter to 
 be Prosekpine : indeed, if we can rely on a 
 Perfa?i tranfiation of the Bhagavat (for the 
 original is not yet \\\ my polieffion), the fove- 
 reign of Pcitcda, or the Infernal Regions., is the 
 ]\ing of Serpents, named Se^'shana^ga ; for 
 
 Crishna
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 43 
 
 Cristtna is there fliid to have defcended with 
 his favourite Arjun to the feat of that formi-? 
 dable divinity, from whom he inftantly ob^ 
 tained the favour w^iich he requeued, that the 
 fouls of a Erabman^s fix fons, who had been 
 llain in battle, might reanimate their refprftive 
 bodies; and S^/shana^ga is thus defcribed : 
 ^' He had a gorgeous appearance, with a thou- 
 '' fand heads, and on each of them a crown 
 *' fet with refplendent gems, one of which w^as 
 " larger and brighter than the reft ; his eyes 
 ^' gleamed like flaming torches ; but his neck, 
 '* his tongues, and his body w^ere black ; the 
 1' fkirts of his habiliment were yellowy and a 
 ^^ fparkling jewel hung in every one of his 
 ^' ears ; his arms were extended, and adorned 
 *' with rich bracelets, and his hands bore the 
 ^' holy fhell, the radiated weapon, the mace 
 '* for v/ar, and the lotos." Thus Pluto was 
 often exhibited in painting and fculpture with a 
 diadem and fceptre ; but himfelf and his equi- 
 page were of the blackefl (liade. 
 
 There is yet another attribute of Maha''- 
 DE Va, by which he is too vifibly diflinguifhed 
 in the dravv^ings and temples of Bengal. To 
 deftroy, according to the Vedanti s of India, the 
 Suji^s of Pe?'Jia, and many Philofophers of our 
 European fchools, is only io generate and repro- 
 duce in another form : hence the God of De- 
 
 JiruSiion
 
 ,44 ON THE GODS OF GREECE 
 
 ? 
 
 jlrtiBion is holden in this country to prefide 
 over Generation ; as a fymbol of which he rides 
 ,on a white bull. Can we doubt that the loves 
 and feats of Ji'PiTER Genitor (not forgetting 
 •the 'white bull o^ Eur op a) and his extraordi- 
 nary title of Lapis, for which no fatisfidiory 
 reafon is comn:ionly given, have a connedlion 
 with the Indian Philofophy and Mythology ? 
 As to the deity of hampfacus^ he was originally 
 a mere fcarecrow% and ought not to have a 
 place in any mythological fyftem ; and in re- 
 gard to Bacchus, the God Oi Vintage (between 
 whole acls and thofe of Ji'Piter vv-e find, as 
 Baco\ obferves, a wonderful affinity), his 
 IthyphalUck images, meafures, and ceremonies 
 alluded probably to the iuppofed relation of 
 Love and Wine ; unlefs we believe them to 
 have belonged originally to Siva, one of whofe 
 Dames is Vagis or Ba'ci^s, and to have been 
 afterwards improperly applied. Though, in aii 
 Eflay on the Gods of India^ w^hcre the Brlih- 
 mans are politively forbidden to taile fermented 
 liquors, we can have little to do with Bacchus, 
 as God of Wine, v/ho was probably no more 
 than the imaginary prefident over the vintage 
 in Itah^ Greece^ and the Lower Afia^ yet we 
 muft not omit Sura'di/v/, the Goddefs of 
 Wine, who arofe, fay the Hindus., from the 
 ocean, when it was churned with the mountaiti 
 
 Mandari
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA^ 45 
 
 Mandar : and this fable leems to indicate, that 
 the Indiajis came fronri a country in which wine 
 was antiently made and confidered as a bleffing ; 
 though the dangerous efFeds of intemperance 
 induced their early legiflators ta prohibit the 
 ufe of all fpiriruous liquors ; and it were much 
 to be wifhed that fo wife a law had never been 
 violated. 
 
 Here may be introduced the Jupiter Ma- 
 rJnus, or Nf.pt une, of the Romans^ as re- 
 femblins: Maha'deVa in his generative cha- 
 ra£ler ; efpecially as the Hindu God is the huf- 
 band of Bhava'ni', whofe relation to the iva- 
 ters is evidently marked bv her ima2;e beins; re- 
 ilored to them at the conclufion of her great 
 feftival called Dui-gotfava : fhe is known alio to 
 have attributes exa6tlv fimilar to thofe of 
 Venus Marina, whofe birth from the lea-foam 
 and fplendid rife from the Conch, in which 
 file had been cradled, have afforded fo many 
 charming fubjeds to antlent and modern artiflis; 
 and it is very remarkable, that the Rembha' 
 of Ikdra's court, who feems to correfpond 
 with the popular Venus, or Goddefs of Beauty, 
 was produced, according to the Indian Fabulifts, 
 from the froth of the churned ocean. The 
 identity of the trifula and the trident^ the wea- 
 pon of Siva and of Neptune, leems to efla- 
 blifh this analogy ; and the veneration paid all 
 
 over
 
 46 ON THE GODS OF GREECE 
 
 9 
 
 over Itid'ia to the large bucciniim, efpecially 
 when it can be found with the Ipiral line and 
 mouth turned from left to right, brings in- 
 ftantly to our mind the mullc of Triton. 
 The ^enius of Water is Varuna ; but he^ 
 like the reft, is far inferior to Mahe'sa^, and 
 even to Ind: a, who is the Prince of the be- 
 neficent genii. 
 
 This way of confidering the Gods as indi- 
 vidual fubftances, but as diftinct perfons in di- 
 ftinfl: chara6lers, is common to the European 
 and Ind'um lyftems ; as \vell as the cuftom of 
 givins: the hirheft of them the g;reateft number 
 of names : hence, not to repeat what has been 
 faid of jiJPiTFR, came the triple capacity of 
 Diana ; and hence her petition in Calli- 
 MACHUS, that ^^ might be polyonymous or 
 many-titled. The confort of Siva is more emi- 
 nentlv marked by thefe diftin-flions than thofe 
 of Brahma' or Vishnu: fhe refembles the 
 Isis Mvr/onvmos, to whom an antient marble, 
 defcribed by Gi^ute,^, is dedicated; but her 
 leadi':g names and characters are Fa'kvati', 
 Durga', Bhava'n/. 
 
 As \.\\Q Mountain-born Goddefs, orPA^R vati", 
 nie has many properties of the Olympian Juno : 
 her majeftic deportment, high fpirit, and ge- 
 neral attributes are the fame ; and we find her, 
 both on Mount Callafa^ and at the banquets 
 
 of
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 4J 
 
 of the Deities, uniformly the companion of her 
 hiiibanci. One circumftance in the parallel is 
 extremely lingular : flie is ufnally attended by 
 her ion Ca^rtice'ya, who rides on z peacock i 
 and, in fome drawings, his own robe feems to 
 be fpangled with eyes ; to which muil: be add- 
 ed that, in fome of her temples, a peacock,, 
 without a rider, ftands near her ima2;e. I'houoh 
 Ca'rtice'ya, with his fix faces and numerous 
 eyes, bears fome refemblance. to Akgus, whom 
 Juno employed as her principal wardour, yet, 
 as he is a Deity of the fecond clafs, and the 
 Commander of celeftial Armies, he feems clearly 
 to be the Orus of 'Egypt and the Mars of Italy: 
 his name Scanda, by which he is celebrated 
 in one of the Pur anas ,^ has a conneclion, I 
 am perfuaded, with the old Secander of 
 Perjia^ whom the poets ridiculoufly confound 
 with the Maccdojiian. 
 
 The attributes of Durga^, or d'lfflcult of 
 accefs, are alfo confpicuous in the feflival above- 
 mentioned, which is called by her name ; and 
 in this characrer i'aQ refembles Minerva, 
 not the peaceful inventrefs of the fine and ufe- 
 ful arts, but Pallas, armed with a helmet and 
 fpear : both reprefent heroic Virtue^ or Valour 
 united with Wifdom ; both (lew Demons and 
 Giants v/ith their own hands ; and both pro- 
 ted:ed the v»ile and virtuous Vv4io paid them 
 
 due
 
 4^ ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 due adoration. As Pallas ^^^^y %'> takes 
 her name from vibratijig a lance, and ufually 
 appears in complete armour, thus Curis, the 
 old Latianwoxd forafpear, xvas one of Juno's 
 titles; and fb, if GiRALDUs be correal, was 
 HoPLosMiA, which at Elh, it feems, meant a 
 female dreffed in panoply or complete accoutre- 
 ments. The unarmed Minerva of the Ro- 
 mans appa'ently correfponds, as patronefs of 
 Science and Genius, with Sereswati', the 
 wife of Brahma', and the emblem of his prin- 
 cipal Creative Pozver : both goddeffes have 
 given their names to celebrated grammatical 
 works ; but the Sarefwata ot Saru'pa'cha'- 
 RYA is far more concife as well as more ufeful 
 and agreeable than the Minerva of Sangtius, 
 TheMiNERVA of Italy invented the fiute', and 
 Seres wATi' prelides over melody : the protec- 
 trefs o^ Athens was even, on the fame account, 
 furnamed Musice^ 
 
 Many learned Mvtholodfts, with Giral- 
 Dus at their head, confider the peaceful 
 Mi nek v A as the Isis o{ Egypt; from whofe 
 temple at Sais a wonderful infcription is quoted 
 by Plutarch, which has a refemblance to the 
 four Sanfcrit verfes above exhibited as the text 
 of tht Bhi'jgavat : " I am all, that hath been, 
 *' and is, and fliall be ; and my veil no mortal 
 *' hath ever removed." For my part I have no 
 
 doubt.
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 49 
 
 doubt, that the i'swara and I'si' of the Bindus 
 are the Osir;s and Isis of the Egyptians-, 
 though a diftinft eflay in the manner of Plu- 
 tarch would be requifite m order to demon- 
 ftrate their identity : they mean, I conceive, 
 the Powers of Natwe ccnfidered as Male and 
 Female ; and Isis, like the other goddeiles, 
 reprefents the a6live power of her lord, whofe 
 eight forms, under which he becomes vifible to 
 man, were thus enumerated by Ca''lida'sa 
 near two thoufand years ago : *' Water was the 
 firft work of the Creator ; and Fire receives 
 the oblation of clarified butter, as the law 
 ordains ; the Sacrifice is performed with fo- 
 lemnity ; the two Lights of heaven diftin- 
 guifhtime; the fubtile £//6^r, which is the 
 vehicle of found, pervades the univerfe ; 
 the Earth Is the natural parent of all in- 
 creafe ; and by Jir all things breathing are 
 animated: may i'sa, the /oiy^r propitioufly 
 apparent in thefe eight forms, blefs and fuf- 
 tain you !" Thtfive elements therefore, as 
 well as the Sun and Moon, are confidered as I's A 
 or the Ruler, from which word I'si^ maybe re- 
 gularly formed, though i'sa^m' be the ufual 
 name of his a^ive Pozver, adored as the God- 
 defs of Nature. 1 have not yet found in San- 
 y^r// the wild, though poetical, tale of lo ; but 
 am perfuaded, that, by means of the Puranas, 
 
 E ' we
 
 <0 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 we {hall in time difcover all the learnuig of thft 
 Egypt iuus without decyphering their hierogly- 
 phics : the bull of i'swara feems to be Apis 
 or Ap, as he is more corre£lly named in the true 
 reading of a paffagein Jeremiah ; and if the 
 veneration fhewn both in Tibet and hidia to fo 
 amiable and ufeful a quadruped as the Cow, to- 
 gether with x\it regeneration of the Lama him- 
 ielf, have not fome affinity with the religion of 
 Egypt and the idolatry of Ifi-a'il, we mull at 
 leafl allow that circumfiances have wonderfully 
 coincided. Bhava'ni' now demands our at- 
 tention ; and in this character I fuppofe the 
 wife of Maha'deva' to be as well the Juno 
 Cinxia or Luc in A of the Romans (called alfo 
 by them Diana Sohizona^ and by the Greek i: 
 IlitiiyIx^) as Venus herfelf ; not the Idalian 
 queen of laughter and jollity, who, with her 
 Nymphs and Graces, was the beautiful child 
 of poetical imagination, and anfv/ers to the In- 
 dian Rembha' with her celeftial train of Ap- 
 faras^ or damlcls of paradife ; but Venus 
 Urania^ fo luxuriantly painted by LucRETiuSy 
 and fo properly invoked by him at the opening 
 of a poem on nature ; Venus, prefiding over 
 generation^ and, on that account, exhibited 
 fometimes of both fexes, (an union very com- 
 mori in the Indian fculptures) as in her bearded 
 ftatue at Rnme, in the images perhaps called 
 
 Hermathena,
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 5 1 
 
 Heniiatheha, and in thofe figure^ of her which 
 had the form of a conical marble % " for the 
 *' reafon o'i which figure we are left," fays 
 Tacitus, " in the dark :" the reafon appears 
 too clearly in the temples and paintings q{ Hln- 
 dujlan\ where it never feems to have entered 
 the heads of the legiilators or people that any 
 thing natural could be ofFenflvely obfcene ; a 
 fingularity, which pervades all their writings 
 and converfation, but is i.o proof of depravity 
 in their morals. Both Plato and Cicero 
 fpeak of Eros, or the heavenly Cupid, as the 
 foil of Venus and Jlipiter; which proves, 
 that the monarch of Olympus and the Goddefs 
 'of Fecundity were connedled as Maha'de'- 
 va and Bhava'ni : the God Ca'ma, indeed, 
 had Ma'ya' and Casyapa, or Ut'amis^ for 
 his parents, at lead: according to the Mytholo- 
 gies of Cajl'mir ; but, ia mofl: refpe6ls, he 
 feems the twin- brother of Cupid with richer 
 and more lively appendages. One of his 
 many epithets is D'lpaca, \hQ InfLimer^ whxh 
 is erroneouily written D'lpuc \ and I am novv 
 Convinced, that the ibrt of refemblance which 
 has been oblerv^ed between his Latin and Saji- 
 fcrit names, is accidental : in each name the 
 three firil; letters are the root, and between 
 them there is no affinitv. Whether any Mv- 
 tholo'i-ical connection fubiifted between the 
 
 E 2 amaracus^
 
 52 ON THE GODS OF GREfiCE, 
 
 mnaracus^ with the fragrant leaves of vvhicli 
 Hymen bound his tennples, and the tuJasi of 
 India, muft be left undeternained ; the bota- 
 nical relation of the two plants (if amaracus. 
 be properly tranflated marjorani) is extremely 
 near. 
 
 One of the mofl: remarkable ceremonies in 
 the feftival of th.^ Indian Goddefs is that before- 
 mentioned of cafring her image i^ito the river : 
 the Pandits, of whom I inquired concerning 
 its origin and import, anfwered, " that it was 
 " prefcribed by the Veda, they knew not 
 " why;" but this cu {lorn has, I conceive, a 
 relation to the doctrine, that water is -nform of 
 I'swARA, and confequently of I'sA^Ni', who is 
 even reprefented by fome as the patronefs of 
 that element, to which her figure is reftored, 
 after having received all due honours on earth., 
 which is confidcred as another^/ir?w of the God 
 of Nature, though fubfequent, in the order of 
 Creation, to the primeval fluid. There feeros 
 no decifive proof of one original fyflem among 
 idolatrous nations in the worfliip of river- gcds 
 and river-goddefles, nor in the homage paid to 
 their ftreams, and the ideas of purification an- 
 nexed to them ; fince Greeks, Italians, Egyp- 
 tians, and Hindus might (without any com- 
 munication with each other) have adored the 
 feveral divinities of their g-reat rivers, from 
 
 which
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 5^ 
 
 which they derived pleafure, health, and 
 abundance. The notion of Do£lor Musgrave, 
 that large rivers were luppofed, from their 
 ilrengthand rapidity, to be conduced by Gods, 
 while rivulets only were protected by female 
 deities, is, like moft other notions of Gram- 
 jnarians on the genders of nouns, overthrown 
 by fa6ts. Mofl: of the great Indian rivers are 
 feminine ; and the three goddefles of the wa- 
 ters whom the Hmdus chiefly venerate, are 
 Ganga', who fprang, like armed Pallas, 
 from the head of the Indian Jove ; Yamuna', 
 daughter of the Sun, and Sereswati' : all 
 three meet at Prayaga^ thence called Triven'i, or 
 the three plaited locks ; but Sereswati', ac- 
 cording to the popular belief, links under 
 ground, and rifes at another Triveni, near 
 Hugli, where fhe rejoins her beloved Gang a'. 
 The Bramaputra is, indeed, a male river ; and 
 as his name fignifies the fon of Brahma', I 
 thence took occafion to feign that he was mar- 
 ried to Ganga', though I have not yet i^^w 
 any mention of him, as a God, in the Safifcrit 
 books. 
 
 Two incarnate deities of the firft rank, 
 RA'MAand Crishna, muft now be introduced, 
 and their feveral attri^butes diftindly explained. 
 The firft of them, I believe, was the Dyony- 
 gos of the Greeks^ whom they named Brqmius, 
 
 ]^ 3 ' without
 
 54 ^ ON THE GODS OF GIIEFCE, 
 
 without knowing why, and Eugenes, when 
 they repreiented him horned^ as well as Lyaios 
 and Eleutherios, the Deliverer, and Tri~ 
 AMBOS or DiTHYRAMBOS, the Triun^phant : 
 moll of thofe titles were adopted by the Ro~ 
 mans^ by whom he was called Bruma, Tau- 
 RiFORMis, Liber, 'Jriumphus; and both 
 nations had records or traditionary accounts of 
 his giving laws to men and deciding their con- 
 tefts, of his improving navigation and com- 
 merce, and, v/hat may appear yet more obferv- 
 able, of his conquering India and other countries 
 with an army of Satyrs^ commanded by no 
 lefs a peif na2;e than Pan ; whom Lilius 
 GiRALDUs, on what authority I know not^ aflerts 
 to have refided in loeria, *' when he had re- 
 *' turned," fays thelearnedMythologlfr, '*from 
 ** the Indian war, in which he accompanied 
 *' Bacchus." It were fuperfluous, in a mere 
 effay, to run any length in the parallel between 
 this European God and the fovereign of Ayod- 
 hya^ whom the Hindus believe to have been au 
 appearance on earth of the Preferving Pozver ; 
 to have been a Conqueror of the highefh re- 
 nown, and the Deliverer of nations from ty- 
 rants, as well as of his confort Si'rA'' from the 
 giant RA" an, king of Lanca, and to have 
 commanded in chier a numerous and intrepid 
 race of thofe large Monkeys, which our natu- 
 ral ills.
 
 ITALY, AKD INDIA, 55 
 
 ralifts, or fome of them, have denominated 
 Indian Satyrs : his General, the Prince of Satyrs, 
 was named Hanumat, or with high cheek- 
 bones ; and, with workmen of fuch agiUty, he 
 foon raifed a bridge of rocks over the fea, part 
 of which, lay the Hindus, yet remains ; arid 
 it is, probably, the ferics of rocks, to which 
 the Mufelmans or the Portuguefe have given the 
 foohili name of i\DAM's (it Ihould be called 
 Raima's) bridge. Might not this army of 
 S^atyrs have been only a race of mountaineers, 
 whom Ra'ma', if fuch a monarch ever ex- 
 ited, had civilized ? However that may be, 
 the large breed of Indian Apes is at this mo- 
 ment held in high veneration bv the Hindus, 
 and fed with devotion by the Brabmans, who 
 feem, in two or three places on the banks of 
 the Ganges, to have a regular endowment for 
 the fupport of them : they live in tribes of 
 three or four hundred, are wonderfully gentle 
 (I fpeak as an eye-vvitnefs), and appear to have 
 fome kind of order and fubordination in their 
 little fylvan polity. We muft not omit, that 
 the father of Hanumat was the God of Wind, 
 named Pavan, one of tiic eight Genii ; and 
 as Pan improved the pipe by adding lix reeds, 
 and " played exquiiitely on the cithern a few 
 *' moments after his birth," fo one of the 
 four lyflems of Indian mufic bears the name of 
 
 E 4 Ha-
 
 5^ ON THE GODS OF GRET-CE, 
 
 Hanumat, or Hanuma^n in the nominative, 
 as its inventor, and is now in general efti- 
 mation. 
 
 The war of La?ica is dram'tically rep re- 
 fented at the feftival of R a^ma on the ninth day 
 of the new moon of Chaitra ; and the drama 
 concludes (fays Holwell, who had often 
 feen it) with an exhibition of the fire-ordeal, 
 by which the viO:or's wife S/ta^ gave proof of 
 her connubial fidelity : " the dialogue,'* he 
 add?, " is taken from one of the Eighteen holy 
 " books," meaning, I fuppofe, the Puranas ; 
 but the Hindus have a srreat number of recrular 
 dramas at lead two thoufand years old, and 
 among them are feveral very fine ones on 
 the ftory of Ra'pvIA. The firft poet of the 
 limdiis was the great Va'lmi^c, and his 
 Rdmayan is an Epic Poem on the fame fubje(fl, 
 which, in unity of a6lion, magnificence of 
 imagery, and elegance of ftyle, far furpafles 
 the learned and elaborate work of Nonnus, 
 entitled Dionyjiaca^ half of which, or twenty- 
 four books, I peril fed with great eagernefs, 
 when I was very young, and fliould have tra- 
 velled to the conclufion of it, if other purfuits 
 had not engaged me. 1 fliall never have leifure 
 to compare the Dionyjiacks with the Ramayan, 
 but am confident, that an accurate comparifon 
 of the two poems would prove DiOiNYsos and 
 
 Ra'ma
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. K'J 
 
 Ka'ma to have been the fame perfon ; and I iin 
 cHneto think, that he was Ra^ma, the fon of 
 Cu'sH, who might have eilabhflied the firft re-^ 
 gular government in this part of j^JIa. I had 
 almofl forgotten, that Meros is faid by the 
 Greeks to have been a mountain of India^ on 
 which their Dionysos was born, and that 
 Meru, though it generally means the north 
 pole in the hidlan geography, is alfoa moun- 
 tain near the city of Naijlmda or Nyfa^ called 
 by the Grecian geographers DionyfopoJis, and 
 univerfally celebrated in the Sanjcrk poems ; 
 though the birth-place of Ra'ma is fuppofed to 
 have been Ayodhya or yludb. That ancienC 
 pity extended, if we believe the Erahmans^ 
 over a line of ten Tojans^ or about forty miles, 
 and the prefent city of hachnau^ pronoupxed 
 Luc?tow. was onlv a lodse for one of its spates 
 called LacJJjmanadwara, or the gate of Lacsh- 
 MAN, a brother of Ra'ma. M. Sonni.rat 
 fuppofes Ayodhya, to have been ^iam ; a raoft 
 erroneous and unfounded fuppoft on ! which 
 would have been of little confequence, if he 
 had not grounded an argument on it, that 
 Ra'ma was the fame perfon with Biddha, 
 who mufl hav^e appeared many centuries after 
 the conqneft of Latica. 
 
 The feconJ great divinity, Crishna, pafTcd 
 a life, according to the Ifidians, of a mofl: ex- 
 traordinary
 
 5^ ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 traordinary and incomprehenfible nature. He 
 was the fon of De'vaci' by Vasud'eva ; but 
 his birth was concealed through fear of the ty- 
 rant Cansa, to whom it had been predidted, 
 that a child born at that time in that family 
 would ceflroy him : he was foftered, there- 
 fore, mMafhura by an honefh herdfman, fur- 
 named Ananda, or Happy, and his amiable 
 wife Yaso'da', who, like another Pales, was 
 conftnntly occupied in her paflures and her 
 dairy. In their family were a multitude of 
 youne Go-has or cowherds, and beautiful GgP?s. 
 or milkmaids, who were his play-fellows during 
 h-s infancy; and, in his early youth, he fe- 
 Icfled nine damlels as his fav^ourites, with whom 
 he pafled his gay hours in dancing, fporting, 
 and playing on his flute. For the remarkable 
 num.ber ol^ his Gcp?s I have no authority but a 
 whimfical pi6lure, where nine girls are grouped 
 in the form of an elephant, on which he lits 
 and pipes; and, unfortunately, the word «^^'« 
 fignifies both nine and fiew or young ; fo that, 
 in the following franza, it may admit of two 
 interpretations : 
 
 taranijupulhu; navahallavi 
 pcr'ijadafaha ceUcutuhalat 
 ilrutavilafnwitacharuviharinain 
 herimaham hrldayena facia vahL 
 
 ^^ I beas"
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 59 
 
 *■' I BEAR in my bofom continually that God, 
 ** who, for fportive recreation, v/ith a train 
 ^' of 7i'ine (young) dai-y- maids, dances gracc- 
 ^' fully, now quick now flow, on the fands 
 ^' juit left by the Daughter of the Sun.'' 
 
 Both he and the three Ra'mas are defcribed 
 as youths of perfect beauty; b;,t the princef- 
 fes of HinJuJIdn, as well as the damlels of 
 Nanda's farm, were pafiionately in love Vvith 
 Cri--hna, who continues to this hour the dar- 
 ling God of the 7;^ ^//^/;z women. 7 be fe6l of 
 Hindus^ who adore him with cnthuiiai'.ic, 
 and almoft exclufive, devotion, hav^ broached 
 a doctrine, which they maintain with eage-nefs, 
 and which feems general in thefe provinces, that 
 he was diftin£l from iill the Ava urs, who had 
 only&n anja, or portion of his divinity ; while 
 Crishna was the per/on of Vishnu himifelf in 
 ahpman form: hence they confi er the third 
 Ra'ma, hib elder brother, as the eighth Ava^ 
 ^^r inveiled with an emanation of his divine ra- 
 diance ; and, in the principal Sojifcrit die* 
 tionary, compiled about two thoufand years ago 
 Crishna, Va'sade'va, GoVinda, and other 
 names of the Shepherd God, are intermixed 
 with epithets of Na'raVan, or the Divine 
 Spirit. All the Avatars are painted with gem- 
 med Ethiopian, or Parthian, coronets ; with 
 rays encircling their heads ; jewels in their 
 ears ; two necklaces, one ftraight and one 
 
 pendciita
 
 Co ON TPIE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 pendent, on their bofoms with dropping gems * 
 garlands of vvell-difpofed many- coloured flow-^ 
 crs, or collars of pearls, hanging down below 
 their waifts ; looie mantles of golden tiffue or 
 dyed filk, embroidered on their hems with 
 flowers, elegantly thrown over one fhoulder, 
 and fulded, like ribbands, acrofs the breads 
 with bracelets too on one arm, and on each 
 wrift : they are naked to the waifts, and uni- 
 formly with dark azure JieJI?^ in allufion, pro- 
 bably, to the tint of that primordial fluid, on 
 which Na'ra'y AN moved in the beG-inning of 
 time ; but their ikirts are brightyellow, the colour 
 pf the curious pericarpium in the centre of the 
 water-lily, where Nature, as Dr. Murray ob- 
 ferves, in fome degree dlfclofes berfecrets, ed.ch{eed 
 containing, before it germinates, a (cw perfect 
 leaves : they are ibmetimes drawn with that 
 flower in one hand ; a radiated elliptical ring, 
 tifed as a miffile weapon, in a fecond ; the fa- 
 cred fhell, or left-handed buccinum, in a third ; 
 and a mace or battie-ax, in a fourth : but 
 Crishna, wben he appears, as he fometimes 
 does appear, among the ^vaii'rs, is more 
 fplendidly decorated than any, and wears a rich 
 garland of ly Ivan flowers, whence he is named 
 Vanama'li, as low as hi^ ankles, which are 
 adorned with firings of pearls. Dark blue, 
 approaching to l^/ack, which is the meaning of 
 \he word CriJImay is believed to hayc been hi$ 
 
 conx-
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. €t 
 
 Complexion ; and hence the large bee of that 
 colour is confecrated to him, and is often drawn 
 fluttering over his head : that azure tint, which 
 approaches to blacknefs, is peculiar, as we have 
 already remarked, to Vishnu; and hence, in. 
 the great refervoir or cidern at Catmlindu the 
 capital of Nepal, there is placed in a recumbent 
 pofture a large well-proportioned image of bluf: 
 marble, reprefenting Na'ra^y an floating on 
 the waters. But let us return to the actions of 
 Crishna; who w^as not lefs heroic than 
 lovely, and, Vv^hen a boy, flew the terrible fer- 
 pent Cal'iya with a number of giants and mon- 
 ilers : at a more advanced age, he put to death. 
 his cruel enemy Cansa ; and, having taken 
 under his prote6lion the king Yudhisht'hir 
 and the other Pcmdus^ who had been grievoufly 
 opprelTed by the Cums, and their tyrannical 
 chief, he kindled the war defcribed in the great 
 Epic Poem, entitled the Mahahharaty at the 
 profperous conclufion of which he returned to 
 his heavenly feat in Vakonfha, having left the 
 inftrudlions comprized in the G'tta w^ith his dif- 
 confolate friend Arjun, whofe grandfbn be- 
 came fovereign of India. 
 
 Jn this pidture it is impoffible not to difcover, 
 at the firft glance, the features of Apollo, 
 furnamed JSJomios, or the Pafioral, in Greece^ 
 and Opifer, in Italy ; who fed the herds of 
 Admetus, and flew the ferpent Python ; a 
 
 God,
 
 62 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 God, amorous, beautiful, and warlike : th^ 
 word Gtfomda may be literally tranflated Nomios^ 
 as Cejava is Cr'mitus, or with fine hair ; but 
 whether GopLla^ or the herjfman, has any rela- 
 tio 1 to Apollo^ let our Etymologilis determine^ 
 Colonel Vallancey, whofe learned enqui- 
 ries into the ancient literature of Ireland are 
 highly interefting, afilires me, that Crifi.ma iii 
 IriJJo means the Sun ; and we find Apollo and 
 Sol confidered by the Roman poets as the fame 
 deity. I am inclined, indeed, to believe, that 
 not only Crishna or Visfinu, but even 
 Brahma^ and Siva, when united, and ex- 
 prefled by the myftical word O'M, were de- 
 ligned by the firil: idolaters to reprefent the 
 Solar fire ; but Pfioeeus, or the orb of the Sun 
 perfonified, is adored by the Indians as the God 
 Su'rya ; whence the feci who pay him parti- 
 cular adoration, are called Sauras : their poets 
 and painters defcribe his car as drawn by feveii 
 green horfes, preceded by Arun, or the 
 Dawn, who ads as his charioteer, and fol- 
 lowed by thoufands of Genii worshipping him 
 and modulating his praift:s. He has a multi- 
 tude of names, and among them twelve epi- 
 thets or titles, which denote his did'md: powers 
 in each of the twelve months : thofe powers ai'Q 
 CdWed Jdityas, or fons of Aditi byCAsYAPA^ 
 the Indian Uranus ; and one of them has, 
 according to fome authorities, the name of 
 
 Vishnu
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 63 
 
 Vishnu, or Pervader, Su'pxYA is believed to 
 have defceiided frequently from his car in a hu- 
 man fhape, and to have left a race on earth, 
 who are equally renowned in the Indian 
 ftories with the Heliadai o^ Greece: it is very 
 lino-ular, that his two Tons called Asvy^nau or 
 Aswini'cuma'rau, in the dual, fliould be 
 confidered as twin-brothers, and painted like 
 Castor and Pollux ; but they have each the 
 characler of ^^sculapius among the Gods, 
 and are believed to have been born of a nymph, 
 who, in the form of a mare, was impregnated 
 with fun-beams. I fufpeft the whole fable of 
 Casyapa and his progeny to be aftronomicai; 
 and cannot but imagine, that the Greek name 
 Cassiopeia has a relation to it. Another great 
 Indian family are called the Children of the 
 Moon, or Chandra ; who is a male Deity, 
 and confequently not to be compared with 
 Artemis or Diana ; nor have I yet found a 
 parallel in India for the Goddefs of the Chafe, 
 who feems to have been the daughter of an 
 TLuropean fancy, and very naturally created by 
 the invention of Bucolick and Georgick poets : 
 yet, iince the Moon is 2. form of i'swara, the 
 God of Nature, according to the verfeof CA^Li- 
 DA^sAjandimcc i'sa'ni has been (hewn to be his 
 confort or power, we may confider her, in one of 
 her charadlers, as Luna ; efpecially as we fliall 
 
 foOQ
 
 ON THE GOPS OF GRi^ECE, 
 
 foon be convinced, that, In the fhades belovv^ 
 file correiponds with the Hecate of Ez/rop^?. 
 
 The worlhip of Solar, or Veflal, Fire mav 
 be afcribeJ, like that of Osiris and Isis^ tothe 
 fecond fonrce of mythology, or an enthuliaftic 
 admiration of Nature's wonderful powers; 
 and it feems, as far as I can yet underfliand the 
 Vedas, to be the principal worfliip recom-^ 
 mended in them. We have fecn, that Maha^» 
 deVa himfclf is perfonated by Fire ; but^ 
 fubordinate to him, is the God Agni, often 
 called PaVaca, or the Furijier^ who anfwers 
 to the Vulcan of Egypf^ where he was a 
 Deity of high rank -, and his wife Swa^ha^ 
 refembles the younger Vesta, or VestiAj 
 as the EoHans pronounced the Greek word for a 
 hearth: Bhava'ni, or Venus, is the con fort 
 of the Supreme Defl:ru6live and Generative 
 Power ; but the Greeks and Kornans^ whofe 
 lyftem is lefs regular than that of the Indians^ 
 married her to their divine artiji, whom thej 
 alfo named Hephaistos and Vulcan, and 
 w^ho feems to be the Indian Viswacarman^ 
 the forger of arms f^r the Gods, and inventor 
 of the agnyajlra^ or fiery fijaft^ in the war be- 
 tween them and the Daily as or Titans. It is 
 not eafy here to refrain from obferving (and, if 
 the obfervation give offence In England, it is 
 contrary to my intention) that the newly dif- 
 Govered planet (hould unquefl:ionably be named 
 
 Vulcan :
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 49 
 
 Vulcan ; fince the confufion of analo?v in 
 the names of the planets is inelegant, vinicho- 
 iarly, and unphilofophical : the name Uranus 
 is appropriated to the firmament ; but Vulcan, 
 the flow eft of the Gods, and, according to the 
 Egyptian priefts, the oldeft of them, agrees ad- 
 mirably with an orb which muft perform its 
 revolution in a very long period; and, by giv- 
 ing it this denomination, w^e fliall have kvtw 
 primary planets with the nam.es of as many 
 Rofjian Deities, Mercury, Venus, Tellus, 
 Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Vulcan. 
 
 It has already been intimated, that the 
 Muses and Nymphs are the Go'pya of 
 MathUira, and of Giver dhan^ the ParnajJ'us of 
 the Hindus ; and the lyric poems of jay adl'va 
 will fully juflify this opinion ; but the Nyjuphs 
 .q( Mujick are the thirty Ra'gini's or Fe,nak 
 Paffions, whofe various functions and properties 
 are fo richly delineated by the Indian pair.ters, 
 and fo finely defcribed by the poets : but 1 will 
 not anticipate what will require a ieparate Eftay, 
 by enlarging here on the beautiful allegories of 
 the Hindus in their fyftem of mufical modes, 
 w^hich they call Ra'ga's, or Pa/Jions, and fup- 
 pofe to be Genii or Demigods. A very diftin- 
 guifhed fon of Brahma', named Ka'red, 
 whofe aftions are the fubjed of a Purcina^ 
 bears a ftrong refemblance to Hermes or Mer- 
 cury ; he was a wife legiflator, great in arts 
 
 F and
 
 50 ON THE GODS CF GREECE, 
 
 and in srms, an eloquent mefTengcr of the 
 Gods, either co one ancther or to fiwoured mor- 
 tals, and a nriufician of exquifite fkill ; his in- 
 vention of the Vma^ or Indian lute, is thus de- 
 fcribed in the poem entitled Mdgha: *' Na'red 
 " fat watching from time to time his large 
 *' Vinii^ which, by the im.pulfe of the breeze, 
 *' yielded notes that pierced fucceffively the re- 
 '* gions of his ear, and proceeded by mulical in- 
 " tervals." The law trad, fuppofed to have 
 been revealed by INa^red, is at this hour cited 
 by ths Pandits ; and we cannot, therefore, be- 
 lieve him to have been the patron of Thieves ■; 
 though an innocent theft of Crishna's cattle^ 
 by way of putting his divinity to a proof, be 
 ftrangely imputed, in the Bhagavat, to his fa- 
 ther Brahma^ 
 
 The lafl of the G?'eek or Italian divinities, 
 for vi^hom we find a parallel in the Pantheon of 
 India, I'ilht Stygian or Taiirick Diana,' other- 
 wife named FIecate, and often confounded 
 with Proserpine ; and there can be no doubt 
 of her identitv with Ca'li', or the wife of 
 Siva in his charader of the Stygian Jove. 
 To this black Goddefs, with a collar of golden 
 fkuUs, as we fee her exhibited in all her prin- 
 cipal temples, human facrificcs were antiently 
 offered, as the Vedas enjoined ; but, in- the pre- 
 fent age, they are abfolutely prohibited, as are 
 alfo the lacriiices of bulls and horfes : kids are 
 
 lliU
 
 ITALY, AND IND^A. 5 I 
 
 ftill ofrered to her ; and, to p'alliat'? the cruelty 
 of the {laughter, which gave fuch offence to 
 Buddha, the Er'hmans inculcate a belief, that 
 the p^or vi£lims rife in the heaven of Indra, 
 tvhere they becorhe ihe muliciat'is bf bis band. 
 Inftead of the obfolete, and now illegal, facri- 
 ilces of a man, a bull, and a horfe, called 
 Neramedha^ Gomedha, and As\vamedha^ the 
 powers of nature are thought to be propitiated 
 by the lefs bloody ceremonies at the eiid of au- 
 tumn, when the feflivals of Ca'li' and Lacsh- 
 Mi' are folemnized nearly at the fame time ; 
 ROW, if it be afked how the Goddefs of Death 
 came to be united with the mild patronefs of 
 Abundance, I muft propofe another queftion. 
 How came Proserpine to be reprefented 
 in the European fyftem as the daughter of 
 Ceres ?'* Perhaps both queftions may be 
 anfwcred by the propofition of natural philofo- 
 phers, that *' the apparent defl:ru6lion of a fub- 
 fiance is the production of it in a different 
 form." The wild mulic of Ca'li''s priefts 
 at one of her feftivals, brought inftantly to my 
 recollection the Scythian meafures of Diana's 
 adorers in the fplendid opera of Iphigenia in 
 TaurtSy which Gluck exhibited at Paris with 
 lefs genius, indeed, than art, but with every 
 advantage that an orcheftra could fupply. 
 
 That we may not difmifs this allcmblage 
 of European and AJlatic divinities with a fub- 
 
 F 2 jcCt 
 
 &( 
 (« 
 «« 
 
 66 
 Si
 
 52 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 jedt To horrid as thealtars of Hecate and Ca'li'^ 
 let us conclude with two remarks, which pro- 
 perly, indeed, belong to the /«^/^;^.Philofophy, 
 A'ith which we are not at prefent concerned. 
 
 First, Elyjiujn (not the place, but the 
 bhfs enjoyed there, in which fenfe Milton" 
 ufes the word) cannot but appear, as defcribed 
 by the poets, a very tedious and infipid kind 
 of enjoyment : it is, however, more exalted 
 than the temporary Elyftum in the court of 
 Indra, where the plealures, as in Muham- 
 Med's paradife, are wholly fenfual ; but the 
 Mu^ij or Elyjiaji happinefs of the Vcdanta 
 fchool, is far more fublime ; for they reprefent 
 it as a total abforption, though not fuch as to 
 deftroy confcioufnels, in the divine effence ; 
 but, for the reafon before fuggef}:ed, I fay no 
 more of this idea of beatitude, and forbear 
 touching on the doftrine of tranfmigration, and 
 the iimiiarity of the Vedunta to the Sicilian^ 
 Italicky and old Acadernkk fchools. 
 
 Secondly, In the myftlcal and elevated 
 charader of Pan, as a perfonification of the 
 Un'iverfe^ according to the notion of lord BacoNj 
 there arifes a fort of limiHtude between him 
 and Crishna confidered as Na'ra'yan. The 
 Grecian God plays divinely on his reed, to ex- 
 prefs, we are told, ethereal harmony ; he has 
 his attendant Nymphs of the paflures and the 
 dairy ; his face is as radiant as the Iky, and his 
 
 head
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. ^^ 
 
 head illumined with the horns of a crefcent ; 
 whiiil his lower extremities are deformed and 
 fhaggy, as a fymbol of the vegetables which 
 the earth produces, and of the beafts who roam 
 over the face of it. Now we may compare 
 this portrait, partly with the general charaifler 
 of Crishna, the Shepherd God, and partly 
 with the defcription in the Bhagavat of the di- 
 vine Tpirit exhibited in the form of this Univerfal 
 F/orld; to which we may add the following 
 ilory from the fame extraordinary poem. The 
 Nymphs had complained to Yaso'da', that the 
 child Crishna had been drinking their curds 
 and milk ; on being reproved by his fofter- 
 mother for this indifcretion, he requefted her 
 to examine his mouth ; in which, to her jufh 
 amazement, flie beheld the njohoje univcrfe in 
 all its plenitude of magnificence. 
 
 We mufl: not be lurprlfed at finding, on a 
 clofe examination, that the chara£lers of all the 
 Pagan deities, male and female, melt into each 
 other, and at laft into one or two ; for it feems 
 a well-founded opinion, that the whole croud 
 of Gods and G.>ddefles in antient Kome^ and 
 modern Var lines ^ mean only the powers of na- 
 ture, and principally thofe of the jUN, ex- 
 preffed in a variety of ways and by a multitude 
 of fanciful names. 
 
 Thus have I attempted to trace, imperfe(5lly 
 gt prefent for want of ampler materials, but 
 
 F 3 with
 
 54 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 with a confidence continually increafing as I 
 sdvancc^d, a parallel between the Gods adored 
 in th ee very different nations, Greece, Italy ^ 
 and India ; but which was the original fyftem, 
 and which the copy, I will not prefunae to 
 decide ; nor are we likely, 1 believe, to be foon 
 furniilied with fufficient grounds for a decifion : 
 the fundamental rule, xhitnaturdl- andnioji hu- 
 man operations proceed from thejimple to the com- 
 pound, will afford no aflifl:ance on this point ; 
 lince neither the j^Jiatic nor European fyflem 
 has any fimplicity in it ; and both are fo com- 
 plex, net to fay abfurd, however intermixed 
 with the beautiful and the fublirne, that the 
 honour, fuch as it is, of the invention cannot 
 be allo'-ted to either with tolerable certainty. 
 
 Since Egypt appears to have been the grand 
 fource of knowledge for the wcjiern, and India 
 for the more eaflern, parts of the globe, it may 
 feem a material queftion, whether the Egyp'ians 
 commAinlcated iheir Mythology and Philoibphy 
 to the HnduSy or converfely ? But what the 
 learned of Memphis wrote or faid concerning 
 India no mc^rtal knows ; and what the learned 
 of Vurcnes have afl'erted, if any thing, concern- 
 ing ^gypt^ can give us little fatisfadion : fuch 
 circumfrantial evidence on this queftion as I 
 hav° been able to colled, ihall, neverthelefs, be 
 ftnted ; becaufe, unlatisfaOory as it is, there 
 m^ty be fomething in it not wholly unworthy 
 
 of
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. ^^ 
 
 of notice ; though after all, whatever colonies 
 may have come froiii the Nik to the Ga^iges^ 
 we {hall, perhaps, agree at lad: with Mr. 
 Bryant, that Egyptians, hidians^ Greeks and 
 Italians, proceeded originally from one central. 
 place, and that the fame people carried their 
 religion and fciences into China and Japan : may 
 we not add even to Mexico and Peru f 
 
 Every one knows that the true name of 
 Egypt is Mis'r, fpeiled with a palatial fibilant 
 both in Hebrew and Arabick: it feems in 
 Hebrew to have been the proper name of the firft 
 fettler in it ; and when the Arabs ufe the word 
 for a great city, they probably mean a city 
 like the capital of Kgypt Father Marco, a 
 Roman Miillonary, who, though not a icholar 
 of the firft rate, is incapable, I am perfuaded, of 
 deliberate faifehood, lent me the laft book of a 
 Ramayan, which he had tranflated through the 
 Hindi into his native language, and with it a 
 ihort vocabulary of Mythological and Hiftorical 
 names, wdiich had been explained to him by 
 the Pandits of Betyd, where he had long re- 
 fided : one of the articles in his little dictionary 
 was, " 'Jirut, a town and province in which 
 ** the priefts from Egypt lettled ;" and when 
 I alked him what name Egypt bore among the 
 Hindus, he faid Mis'r, but obferved, that they 
 fometimes confounded it with Aby/Jinia, I per- 
 ^eiv^d that his memory of what he had written 
 
 F 4 was
 
 56 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 was correct ; for Mis'r was another word la 
 his index, *' from which country, he faid, came 
 " the Egyptian prieils who fettled in T^irut,^' 
 I fufpec'led immediately that his intelligence 
 flowed from the Mujehnansy who call fugar- 
 candy M'lfri or Kgyptian ; but when I examined 
 him clolely, and earneftly defired him to re- 
 colle6t from who'Ti he had received his infor- 
 mation, he repeatedly and pofitively declared, 
 that " it had been given him by feveral Hindus^ 
 *' and particularly by a 'Brahman^ his intimate 
 *' friend, who was reputed a conliderable Pan- 
 *' dit^ and had lived three years near his houfe." 
 We then conceived that the feat of his Egyptian 
 colony muft have been Tirohit, commonly pro- 
 nounced liiriit^ and antiently called Mifhila^ 
 the principal town of Jafiacadesa, or north 
 Bahar ', but Mahe'sa Pandit, who was born 
 ii> .hat very diftrid, and who fubmitted pa- 
 tiently to a long examination concerning Misr, 
 ov^rfet all our conclufions : he denied that the 
 Brahmans of his country were generally fur- 
 named MisR, as we had been informed, and 
 faid, that the addition of Misra to the name 
 of Va'chespeti, and other learned authors, 
 was a title formerly conferred on the writers 
 of mijcellanies or compilers of various trails on 
 religion or icience, the word being derived 
 from a root fignifying to mix. Being afked, 
 
 where
 
 ITALYj AND INDIA. ^J 
 
 where the country of M/s'r was, ** There are 
 ^' two, he anfwered, of that name ; one of 
 ^' them in the wejf^ under the domuiion of 
 ** Mufehndns, and another which all the Saflras 
 ** and Fur anas mention, in a mountainous re- 
 " gion to the north oi Ayodhya'''' It is evident, 
 that by the firil: he meant Egypt ; but what he 
 meant by the fecond, it is not eafy to afcertain. 
 A country, called -Tlruhnt by our geographers, 
 appears in the maps b;:twecn the north-eafleni 
 frontier o'i Audh and the mountains of Nepal; 
 but whether that was the T'mit mentioned to 
 father Marco by his friend of Betya, I cannot 
 decide. This only I know with certainty, that 
 Mifra is an epithet of two Brahmans in the 
 drama of Sacontala^ which was written 
 near a century before the birth of Christ ; 
 that fome of the greateft lawyers, and two of 
 the finefl: dramatic poets, of Inelia have the 
 iame title ; that we hear it frequently in court 
 added to the names of Hhidu parties ; and that 
 none of the Pandits, whom I have fince con- 
 fulted, pretend to know the true meaning of 
 the word, as a proper name, or to give any 
 other explanation of it than that it is a [urncmie 
 of Brahmaus m the weji. On the account 
 given to Colonel Kyd by the old R-^ja of CriJJj- 
 nanagar^ ^' concerning traditi.ns amonsf the 
 *' Hindus, that fome Egyptians had fettled in. 
 
 " this
 
 58 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 *' this country," I cannot rely ; becaufe I <vn 
 credibly informed, by fome of the R/ijas own 
 family, that he was not a man of folid learning, 
 though he polTefled curious book?, and had 
 been attentive to the converfacion of learned 
 men : befides, I know that his fon and moft 
 of his kinlmen have been dabblers in Perjian 
 literature, and believe them very likely, by 
 confoundinsf one iource of information with 
 another, to puzzle themlelves and miflead thofe 
 with whom they converfe. The word Mis'r, 
 Ipelled alfo in Sanfcrit with a palatial fibilant, 
 is very remarkable ; and, as far as Etymology 
 can help us, we may fafely derive Nilus from 
 the Sanfcrit word n'lla, or b!uc; iince DlONY- 
 Sius exprefsly calls the v.'aters of that river 
 *' an azure flream ;" and, if u^e can depend on 
 Makco's Italian veriion of the Rlimayafi, the 
 name of N'la is given to a lofty and facred 
 inountani with a fummit of pure gold, from 
 which flowed <« river of clear ^ fweet^ andfrcJJ) 
 water. M. Sonnerat refers to a diflertation 
 by Mr. ScHMiT, which gained a prize at the 
 Academy of Infcriptions, *' On an Egyptian 
 <•' Colony eflablifhed in India i^"* it would be 
 worth while to examine his authorities, and 
 either to overturn or verify them by fuch higher 
 authorities as are now acceffible in thefe pro- 
 vinces. I ftrongly incline to think him right, 
 z\\(\ to believe that hgyptian prieAs have a<?:ually 
 
 com©
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 59 
 
 come from the Nik to the Ganga and Tamuna^ 
 which the Brahmans mofl: aifiiredly would ner 
 ver have left : thej might indeed have come 
 either to be in'^ruded or to in{l:ru61: ; but it 
 feems more probable that they viiited the Sar^ 
 mam of India as the fages of Greece vifited them, 
 rather to acquire than to impart knowledge; 
 nor is it likely that the felf-fufiicient Brahmans 
 would have received tnem as their preceptors. 
 
 Be all this as it may, I am perfuaded that a 
 conne6lion lubfifted between the old idolatrous 
 nations of Egypt, Ind'ia, Greece, and Italy, long 
 before they migrated to theii feveral fettlcments, 
 and confequently before the birth of IVIoses; 
 but the proof of this propolition will in :io de- 
 gree affeifl the truth and fanftity of the Mofaick 
 Jiiflory, which, if confirmation were neceflarv, 
 it would rather tend to confirm. The Divide 
 Legate, educated by the daughter of a king, 
 and in all refpecfts highly accompliflied, could 
 not but know the mythological iyftem of I gvpt ; 
 but he priuft have condemned t!ie fuperfiitions 
 of that people, and defpifed the fpeculative ab- 
 furdities of theiu priefts ; though fome of their 
 traditions concerrano- the Creation and the Flood 
 were grounded on truth. Who was better ac- 
 quainted with the mythology of Athens than 
 Socrates? Who more accuratelv vcrfed in 
 the Rabbinical do£lrines than Paul ? Who 
 pofiefied clearer ideas of allantient aftrono-^ ic?|l 
 
 fyftems
 
 6o ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 fyftems than Newton, or of fcholaftic meta-* 
 phyficks than Locke ? In whom could the 
 ]R.omi/h Church have had a more formidable op- 
 ponent than in Ckillingv/orth, whofe deep 
 knowledge of its tenets rendered him fo com^ 
 petent to diipute them ? In a word, who more 
 exactly knew the abominable rites and (hockine 
 idolatry of Canaan than Moses himfelf ? Yet 
 the learning of thofe great men only incited 
 them to feek other fources of truth, piety, and 
 virtue, than thofe in which they had long been 
 immerfed. There is no fhadow then of a 
 foundation for an opinion that Moses borrowed 
 the drd nine or ten chapters of Genejis from the 
 literature of Egypt: flill lefs can the adaman-. 
 tine p; 11a IS of our LhnjVian faith be moved by 
 the relult of any debates on the comparative 
 antiquity of the Hindus and Egypia?is, or of 
 9ny inquiries into the Indian Theology. Very 
 refpe(5lahle natives hav; aflbred me, that one 
 or two miffionaries have been abfurd enough, 
 in their zeal for the converfion of the Gt utiles, 
 to urge, " that the Hindus were even now al- 
 '' mofl: Chrijiians^ becaufe their Br.h.ma^, 
 *' VispiNu, and Mahe'sa, were no other than 
 *' the Chrijlian Trinity ;'' a fentence in which 
 we can only doubt whether folly, ignorance, 
 or impiety predominates. The three powers 
 Crea'rue^ Prefsrjative, and De/iruuiive, which 
 the Hindus exprefs by the triliteral word OA/, 
 
 . were
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 6l 
 
 were grofsly afcribed by the firft laolaters to 
 the beaty light, and fajue of their miftakeu 
 divinicy the Sun ; and their wifer I'ucceffors in 
 the Eaft, who oerceived that the Sun was onlv 
 a created thing, applied thofe powers to its 
 creator ; hut the hid'mn Triad, and that of 
 Plato, which he calls the Supreme Good, the 
 Reafon, and the Soul, are infinitely removed 
 from the holinefs ard fublimity of the dodlrine 
 which pious Chr'ijl'ums have deduced from te5its 
 in the Gofpel, though other Chnjiians^ as pious, 
 openly profefs their dillent from them. Each 
 fe6l muft be juftified by its own faith and good 
 intentions : this only 1 mean to inculcate, that 
 the tenet of our Church cannot without pro- 
 fanenefs be compared with that of the //;'.. iui^ 
 which has only an apparent refemblance to it, 
 but a very different meaning. One (inp-ular 
 fadl, how^ever, mufl: not be lufFered to pafs 
 unnoticed. That the name of Crishna, and 
 the ojeneral outline of his florv, w^ere lonsf an- 
 terior to the birth of our Saviour, and proba- 
 bly to the time of Homer, we know very cer- 
 tainly ; yet the celebrated poem entitled hhd- 
 gavat, which contains a prolix account of his 
 life, is filled with narratives of a mod extra- 
 ordinary kind, but ftrangely variegated and in- 
 termixed with poetical decorations : the incar- 
 nate deity of the Sanfcrif romance was cradled, 
 as it informs us, among Herdfmcn, but it aidds, 
 
 that
 
 6i ON THE GODS OF GREECE, 
 
 ? 
 
 that he was educated among them, and palTecJ 
 his youth in playing with a party of milkmaids i 
 a tyrant, at the time cf his birth, ordered all 
 new-born males to be (lain ; yet this wonderfui 
 babe was preferved by biting the bread inftead 
 of lucking the poifond nipple of a nuife com- 
 miffioned to kill him ; he performed amazing^ 
 but ridiculous, miracles in his infancy, and, at 
 the age of {even years, held up a mountain on 
 the tip of his little finger ; he faved multitudes 
 partly by his arms and partly by his miraculous 
 powers ; he raifed the dead by defceilding for 
 that purpofe to the lowefl: regions ; he was th6 
 meekeft and beft-tempered of beings, wafhed 
 the feet of the Brahmans, and preached very 
 iiobly, indeed, and fublimely, but always in 
 their favour ; he was pure and chafte in reality, 
 but exhibited an appearance of exceffive liber» 
 tinifm, and had wives or miftrefles too nume- 
 rous to be counted ; laftly, he was benevolent 
 and tender, yet fomented and conduced a tet- 
 rible war. This motley ftory milfl induce an 
 opinion that the fpurious Gofpeis, which 
 abounded in the firfl: age of Chrijiiantty^ had 
 been brought to India, and the wildeft parts of 
 them repeated to the Hindus, who ingrafted 
 them on the old fable of Ce'sava, the Apoll6 
 of Greece, 
 
 As to the general extenfion of our pure faith 
 in Hindtijian, there are at prefent many fad ob- 
 
 ftacles
 
 ITALY, AND INDIA. 6^ 
 
 ftacles to It. The Mufelmlms are already a fort 
 of heterodox Cy6r//?/W7i ; they are Chrijiians^ if 
 Locke reafons juftly, becaufe they firmly be- 
 liev^e the immaculate conception, divine cha- 
 radler, and miracles of the Messiah ; but they 
 are heterodox in denying vehemently his cha- 
 ra£ler of Son, and his equality, as God, with 
 the Father, of whofe unity and attributes they 
 entertain and exprefs the moil awful ideas ; 
 while they confider our doctrine as perfed blaf- 
 phemy, and infifl that our copies of the Scrip- 
 tures have been corrupted both by Jews and 
 Chr'ijiians. It will be inexpreffibly difficult to 
 luideceive them, and fcarce poffible to diminifii 
 their veneration for Mohammed and Ali, who 
 were both very extraordinary men, and the fe- 
 cond a man of unexceptionable morals : the 
 Koran fhines, indeed, with a borrowed light, 
 fince mod: of its beauties are taken from our 
 Scriptures ; but it has great beauties, and the 
 Miijelm.ns will not he convinced that they w^ere 
 borrowed. The Hindus, on the other hand, 
 would readily a^'niit the truth of the Gofpel ; 
 but they contend, that it is perfectly confident 
 with their SaJIras : the Deity, they fay, has 
 • appeared innumerable tim.es, in many parts of 
 this world and of all worlds, for the falvatiou 
 of his creatures ; and though we adore him in 
 one appearance, and they in others, yet we 
 
 adore,
 
 64 ON THE GODS OF GREECE, SzC. 
 
 adore, they lav, the fame God, to whom oitr 
 leveral vvorfhips, though different in form, are 
 equally acceptable, if they be iiiicere in fiib-* 
 ftance. We may afl'ure ourfelves, that neither 
 Mufclmans nor Hindus will ever be converted 
 by any miffion from the Cliurch of Rome, or 
 from any other Church ; and the only human 
 * mode, perhaps, of cauling fo great a revolu- 
 tion will be to tranilate into Sanfcr'it and Pcr- 
 Jtan fuch chapters of the Prophets, particularly 
 of Isaiah, as are indifputably Evangelical, to- 
 gether with one of the Gofpels, and a plain 
 prefatory difcourfe contaiinng full evidence of 
 the very diftant ages, in which the predictions 
 themfeives, and the hiftory of the divine per- 
 lon predicted, were fe'verally made public; and 
 then quietly to difperfe the work among the 
 well-educated natives ; Vv-ith whom if in due 
 time it failed of producing very falutarv fruit 
 by its natural influence, we could only lament 
 more than ever the flrength of prejudice and the 
 weaknefs of unafiifled reafon. 
 
 DIS-
 
 ( 8i ) 
 DISSERTATION IL 
 
 ON TH E 
 
 LITERATURE of ASIA. 
 
 BEING THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY DISCOURSE 
 DELIVERED TO THE SOCIETY FEB. I785. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, 
 
 IF the Deity of the Hmdus^ by whom all 
 their jull; requefts are believed to be granted 
 with fmgular indulgence, had propofed laft 
 year to gratify my warmeft wifhes, I could 
 have defired nothing more ardently than the 
 fuccefs of your inftitution ; becaufel can defire 
 nothing in preference to the general good, 
 which your plan feems calculated to promote, 
 by bringing to light many ufeful and interefting 
 tra61:s, which, being too fhort for feparate 
 publication, might lie many years concealed, 
 or, perhaps, irrecoverably perifh : my wiflies 
 are accompli(hed, without an invocation to 
 Ca'madhe'nu; and your Society, having al- 
 ready palled its infant ftate, is advancing to 
 
 G maturity
 
 82 ON THE LITERATURE OF ASIA. 
 
 maturity with every mark of a healthy and ro^ 
 buft conftitution. When I refleft, indeed, on 
 the variety of fubje£ls, which have been dif- 
 cufl'ed before yon, concerning the hiftory, laws, 
 manners, arts, and antiquities of AJla^ I am 
 imable to decide whether my pleafure or my 
 furprife be the greater ; for I will not dif- 
 femble, that your progrefs has far exceeded my 
 expe£lations : and though we mufl ferioufly de- 
 plore the lofs of thofe excellent men, who have 
 lately departed from this capital, yet there is a 
 prorpe(^ ftill of large contributions to your 
 ftock of JfiaUch learning, which, I am per- 
 fuaded, will continually increafe. ' My late 
 jourirey to Benares has enabled me to affure 
 you, that many of your members, who refide 
 at a diftance, employ a part of their leifure in 
 preparing additions to your archives ; and, 
 unlefs I am too fanguine, y(;u will foon receive 
 light from them on feveral topicks entirely new 
 in the republic of letters. 
 
 It was principally with a defign to open 
 fources of fuch information, that I long had 
 meditated an expedition up the Ganges during 
 the fuipenfion of my bufniefs ; but, although I 
 had the fatlsfadlion of vifiting two ancient feats 
 of Hindu fuperftition and literature, yet, ill- 
 nefs having detained me a confiderable time in 
 the way, it was not in my power to continue 
 
 in
 
 ON THE LITERATURE OF ASTA. S^ 
 
 in them long enough to purdie ray inquiries ; 
 iand I left them, as ^.\eaS is feigned to have 
 left the fhades, when his guide m.ade him re- 
 bolle»5t t be fiv iff fight of irrevorab'e time, with 
 a curiofitj raifed to the height, and a regret 
 hot eafy to be defcribed. 
 
 Whoever travels in A/ia efDecIally if he 
 be converfant with the literature of the coun- 
 tries through which he pafies, muft naturally 
 remark the fuperiority oi Rurxjpean talents : the 
 obfervation, indeed, is at leafl: as old as Alex- 
 ander ; and though we canno^ agree with 
 the fage preceptor of that ambitious Prince, 
 that " the AJiaticks are born to be flaves," yet 
 the Athenian poet leems perfedly in the right, 
 when he reprefents Et^rope as a fovereign Prin- 
 tefs, and A/ia as her Handmaid: but if the 
 mifirefs be tranfcendantly majeftick, it cannot 
 be denied that the attendant has many beauties, 
 and fome advantages peculiar to herfeK. The 
 ancients were accuflomed to pronounce pane- 
 gy?'icks on their own countrvmen at thetxpence 
 of all other nations, with a political viev/, per- 
 haps, of Simulating them by praife, and ex- 
 citing them to Hill greater exertions; but fuch 
 arts are liere unnecellary ; nor would they, in- 
 deed, become a Society who feek nothing but 
 truth unadorned by rhetorick ; and although 
 we muft be confcious of our fuperior advance- 
 ment in all kinds of ufeful knowledge, yet we 
 
 G 2 ought
 
 84 ON THE LITERATURE OF ASIA. 
 
 ought not therefore to contemn the people of* 
 Afia^ from whofe refearches into nature, works 
 of art, and inventions of fancy, many valu- 
 able hints may be derived for our own improve- 
 ment and advantage. If that, indeed, w^ere 
 not the principal objed of your inftitution, little 
 elfe could arife from it but the mere o-ratifica- 
 tion of curio fity ; and I fhould not receive fo 
 much delight from the humble (hare which 
 you have allowed me to take in promoting it. 
 
 To form an exa6l parallel between th=e works 
 and a£lions of the Weflern and Eaftern worlds, 
 would require a tradl of no inconiiderable 
 length ; but we may decide on the whole, that 
 reafon and tafte are the grand prerogatives of 
 European minds, while the JifiaUch have 
 foared to loftier heights in the fphere of ima- 
 gination. The civil hiflory of their vaft em- 
 pires, and of Jndla in particular, muft be 
 highly interefting to our common country; 
 but we have a ftill nearer intereft in knowing 
 all former modes of ruling thefc mejlimable pro- 
 vinces^ on the profperity of which fb much of 
 Our national welfare, and individual benefit, 
 feems to depend. Kvciv^wlt geographic al^wow- 
 ledge, not only of Bengal and Bahar, but, for 
 evident rcafons, of ^// the kingdoms bordering on 
 ihem, is clofelv connedted with an account of 
 their many revolutions : but the natural pro- 
 dudions of thefe territories, efpecially in the 
 
 vegetable
 
 ON THE LITERATURE OF ASIA. S5 
 
 ^vegetable and mineral fyflems, are momentous 
 objeds of refearch not only to an imperial, 
 but, which is a characler o[ equal dignity, a 
 commercial people. 
 
 If Botafiy may be cefcilbcd by metaphors 
 drawn from the fcience itfelf, we may julfly 
 pronounce a minute acquaintance with plants, 
 their c/afft's, orders, kinds, zwdifpecies, to be its 
 fiowers, which can only produce fruit by an 
 application of that knowledge to the purpofes 
 of life, particularly to diet, by which difeafes 
 may be avoided, and to medicine, by which 
 they may be remedied : for the improvement 
 of the lad mentioned art, than which none 
 furely can be more beneficial to mankind, the 
 virtues of minerals alfo iliould be accurately 
 known. So highly has medical ikill been prized 
 by the ancient Indians, that one of the fourteen 
 Ketnd s, or precious things, which their Gods 
 are believed to have produced by churning the 
 ocean with the mountain Mandara, was a 
 learned phyfician. What their old books con- 
 tain on this fubje^t we ought certainly to dif- 
 cover, and that without lofs of time ; left the 
 venerable but abltrufe language in which they 
 are compofed, fhould ceafe to be perfectly in- 
 telligible, even to the befh educated natives, 
 through a want of powerful invitation to ftudy it. 
 Bernier, whowas himfelfof the Faculty, men- 
 dons approved medical books in Sa?ifcrit, and 
 
 G 3 cites
 
 S6 ON THE LITERATURE OF ASIA. 
 
 cites a few aphorifms, which appear judicious 
 and rational ; but we can expe£l nothing fo im^ 
 portant irom the works of Hindu or Mufelman 
 phyficiuiis, as the knowledge, which experience 
 mull: have giyen them, oi fimpk rnedicines. I 
 have ieen an Indian prefcription of fifty-four^ 
 and another oi Jixty-fix, ingredients ; but fuch 
 compofitions are always to be fufpe6led, fince 
 the efFe6t of one ingred'ent may deftroy that of 
 another ; and it were better to find certain ac- 
 count> of a lingle leaf or berry, than to be ac- 
 quainted with the mod elaborate compounds, 
 unlels they too have been proved by a multi- 
 tude of fuccefsful experiments. The noble 
 deobflruent oil, extraded from the TLranda nut, 
 the V. hole family of BaJfims, the incompa- • 
 rable flomach.ck root from Coluvibo^ the fine 
 aftringent ridiculoufly called Japan earth, but 
 in truth produced by the decodion of an In- 
 dian plant, have long been ufed in Afia ; and 
 who can foretel what glorious dilcoveries of 
 other oils, roots, and falutary juices, may be 
 made by your Society ? If it be doubtful 
 whether the ^^erinnan bark be always effica- 
 cious in this country, its place may, perhaps, 
 be iupolied by fome indigenous vegetable equally 
 antifept'ck, and more congenial to the climate. 
 Whether any treatifeson Agriculture have been 
 written by experienced natives of thefe pro« 
 
 vinceSj
 
 ON THE LITERATURE OF ASIA, B7 
 
 vlnces, I am not yet informed ; but fince the 
 court of Spain expe(5l to find ufeful remarks in 
 an /irahkk tra6t preferved in the Efcurial, on 
 the culthat'on of land in that kingdom^ we fhould 
 inquire for fimilar compofitions, and examine 
 the contents of fuch as we can procure. 
 
 The fublime fcienceof Chymifliry, which I 
 was on the point of calling divine, muft be 
 added, as a key to the richeft treafuries of na- 
 ture ; and it is impoflible to forefee how greatly 
 it may improve our maniifadtures, elpecially if it 
 can fix thofe brilliant dyes, which want nothing 
 o£ p'erfe6t beauty but a longer continuance of 
 their fplendour ; or how far it may lead to new 
 methods of fluxing and compounding metals, 
 which the Indians, as well as the Chinefe, are 
 thought to have pra(5lifed in higher perfection 
 than ourfelves. 
 
 In thofe elegant arts which are called fine 
 and liberal, though of lefs general utility than 
 the labours of the mechanic, it is really won- 
 derful how much a iingle nation has excelled 
 the whole world : I mean the ancient Greeh, 
 whofe Sculpture, of which we have exquilite 
 remains both on gems and in marble, no mo- 
 dern tool can equal ; whofe ArchiteEiure we 
 can only imitate at a fervile diflance, but are 
 unable to make one addition to it^ without de- 
 ffroying its graceful iimplicity ; whofe I'oetry 
 itill delights us in youth, and amufes u> at a 
 
 G 4 matu^ar
 
 88 ON THE LITERATURE OF ASIA. 
 
 matnrerage ; and of wh fe Painting and Mufick 
 we h ive the concurrent relations of fo many 
 grave authors, that it would be ftrange incre- 
 dulity to doi'bt their excellence. Paintings as an 
 art belonging to the powers of the imagination, 
 or what is commonly called Getiius^ appears to 
 be yet in its infancy among the people of the 
 Eafl: : but the Uitidu lyftem o^ tniijick has, I ber 
 lieve, been formed on truer principles than oui; 
 own ; and all the ikill of the native compofers 
 is directed to the great obje£t of their art, the 
 natural expreffion of Jirong pajjions, to which 
 melody^ indeed, is often facrificed ; though feme 
 of their tunes are pleafing even to an E.urGpea,j 
 ear. Nearly the fame may be truly averted of 
 the Arabian or Perjian lyflem ; and, by a cor- 
 rect expl uiation of the beft books on that fub- 
 je6l, much of the old Grecian theory may pro- 
 bablv be recovered. 
 
 Tpie poetical works of the Arabs and Per- 
 Jians^ which differ furpriiingly in their ftyle 
 and form, are here pretty generally known ; 
 and though tafles, concerning which there can 
 be no difputing, are divided in regard to their 
 merit, yet we may falely fay of them, what 
 Abulfazl, pronounces of the Mahahh'-rat^ 
 that, " although they abound with extravagant 
 ** images and defcriptions, they are in the 
 ^* hic^heft degree entertaining and iqftruc- 
 
 '* tive.''.
 
 A 
 
 ON THE LITERATURE OF ASIA, 89 
 
 f' tive.'* Poets of the greateft genius, Pindar, 
 ,/EscHYLus, Dante, Petrarca, Shake- 
 speare, Spenser, have moft abounded in 
 images not far from the brnik of abfurdity ; 
 but if their luxuriant fancies, or thofe of 
 Abulola, Firdausi, Niza'mi, were pruned 
 away at the hazard of their flrength and ma- 
 jefty, we fhould lofe many pleafures by the 
 amputation. If we may form a juft opinion of 
 the Sanfcrit poetry from the fpecimens ah'eady 
 exhibited, (though we can only judge perfeftly 
 by confulting the originals), we cannot but 
 thirft for the whole work of Vya'sa, with 
 which a member of our Society, whofe pre- 
 fence deters me from faying m re of him, will 
 in due time gratify the public. The poetry of 
 Mathura, which is the FarnaJJian land of ;he 
 H'mchis, has a fofter and leis elevated ftrain ; 
 but, fince the inhabita:its of the diftricls near 
 jigra^ and principally of the Duab, are find 
 tofurpafs all pther Indians in eloquence, and to 
 have compofed many agreeable tales and love- 
 fongs, which are iiill extant, the Bij^Jci, or 
 vernacular idiom of Vraja, in which they are 
 written, fhould not be negle£ted. No fpeci- 
 mens of genuine Oratory can be expected from 
 nations, am.ong whom the form of government 
 precludes even the idea of popilar eUquence ; 
 
 but
 
 go ON THE JLITERATURE OF ASIA. 
 
 but the art of writing, in elegant and modulated 
 periods, has been cuhivated in y^J;a from the 
 eariieft ages : the Fe'^as, as well as the jilkoran^ 
 are written in meafured profe ; and the compo- 
 iitions of Isocrates are not more highly po- 
 liihed than thofe of the beft Arabian and Ferfian 
 authors. 
 
 Of the Hindu and Mufelman architecture 
 there are yet many noble remains in Bahar^ 
 and fome in the vicinity of Malaa ; nor am I 
 •unwilling to believe, that even thofe ruins, of 
 which you will, I trul>., be prefented with 
 corred delineations, may furnifh our own ar- 
 chitects with new ideas of beauty and fuh-? 
 limity. 
 
 Permit me now to add a few words on the 
 Sciences, properly fo named ; in which it muH 
 be admitted, that the A/ialicks, if compared 
 with our Weftern nations, are mere children. 
 One of the mofr figacious men in this age, 
 who continues, I hope, to improve and adorn 
 it, Samuel Johnson, remarked in my hear- 
 ing, that '' if Newton had flourifheu in 
 " ancient Greece^ he would have been wor- 
 *' fliipped as a divinity f how zealoufly then 
 would he be adored in HinduJIa?i, if his in- 
 comparable writings could bp read and compre- 
 hended by the Pandits of Capmr or Benares I 
 I have itzw a mathematical book in Sqnjcrit of 
 
 the
 
 ON THE LITERATURE OF ASIA. p| 
 
 the higheft antiquity ; but foon perceived from 
 the diagrams, that it contained only limple ele- 
 ments : there may, indeed, have been, in the 
 favourable atmofphere of jljia^ fome diligent 
 pbfervers of the celeftial bodies, and fuch ob- 
 fervations as are recorded, fhould indifputably 
 be madepiiblick ; but let us not exped any new 
 methods^ or the anal v lis of new curves^ from 
 the geometricians of Iran^ Ttirkifian, or India, 
 Could the works of Archimedes, the Nev/- 
 TON of Sicily^ be refrored to their genuine 
 purity by the help o^ Arahkk verlions, we 
 might then have reafon to triumph on the 
 fuccefs of our fcientitical inquiries; or could 
 the fuccefiive improvements and various rules 
 of Ahebra be traced throu2:h Arah'um channels, 
 to which Cardan boafied that he had accefs, 
 the modern Hiftory of Mathematicks would re- 
 ceive confiderable ilkillration. 
 
 The Jurifprudence of the Hindus and Mu- 
 Jelmans will produce more immediate advan- 
 tage ; and if fome flandard law tracts were 
 accurately tranflated from the Sanfcrit and 
 Arabick, we might hope in time to fee fo com- 
 plete a Digeft of Indian Laws, that all difputes 
 among; the natives misrht be decided with- 
 out uncertainty^ which is in truth a difgrace, 
 though fatirically called a glory ^ to the fo- 
 renfick fcience. 
 
 All
 
 92 ON THE LITERATURE OF ASIA. 
 
 All thefe objetls of inquiry miifl: appear to 
 you, Gentlemen, in fo ftronga light, that bare 
 intimations of them will be fufficient ; nor is 
 it neceffiry to make ufe of emulation as an in- 
 centive to an ardent purfuit of them : yet I 
 cannot forbear expreffing a vvifli, that the ac- 
 tivity of th French in the lame purfuits may 
 not be fiperior to ours, and that the refearches 
 of M. SoNjJERAT, whom the court of Ver- 
 failles employed for {qw^w years in thefe cli- 
 jmates, merely to colle(5l fuch materials as we 
 are feeking, may kindle, in (lead of abating, 
 our own curiofity and zeal. If you aflent, as 
 j flatter myfelf you do, to thefe opinions, you 
 will aUb concur in promoting the obje6l of 
 them ; and a few ideas having prefented them- 
 fdvcs to mv mind, 1 prefume to lay them be- 
 fore you, with ail entire iubmiirion to your 
 judgment. 
 
 No cont.ibutions, except thofe of the literary 
 kind, will be requifite for the fupport of the 
 Society; but if each of us were occafionally 
 to contribute a fuccind defcription of fuch ma- 
 nufcripts as he had perufcd or infjjecled, v/ith 
 their dates and the names of their owners, and 
 to propofe for folution fuch queftwns as had oc- 
 curred to him concerniiig^-^^/zV/^ Art, Science, 
 f^nd iJidory, natural or civil, we (hould pol^efs 
 without labour, and almoft by imperceptible 
 
 degrees^
 
 ON THE LITERATURE OF ASIA. pj 
 
 decrees, a fuller catalo2:vie of Oriental books 
 than has hitherto been exhibited, and our cor- 
 refpondents would be apprifed of thofe points^ 
 to which we chiefly direct our inveftigations. 
 Much may, I am confident, be expefted from 
 the communications of /?^r;Z(?(^;^<2/r<?j, whether 
 lawyers, phylicians, or private fcholars, who 
 would easrerlv, on the firfl: invitation, fend us 
 their Mekamat and Rifalahs on a variety of 
 fubjeds ; fome for the lake of advancing ge- 
 neral knowledge, but mofi: of them from a 
 defire, neither uncommon nor unreafonable, 
 of attracting notice, and recommending them- 
 lelves to favour. With a view to avail our- 
 felves of this difpofition, and to bring their 
 latent fcience under our infpeclion, it might 
 be advifeable to print and circulate a fliort me- 
 morial, in -Ferjian and Hindi., fetting forth, in a 
 ilyle accommodated to their own habits and pre- 
 judices, the defign of our inftitution ; nor would 
 it be impoflible hereafter to give a medal an- 
 ^ nually, with infcriptions, in P erf an on one 
 lide, and on the reverfe in Sanfcrit, as the 
 prize of merit, to the w'riter of the befl: eflay 
 or diflertation. To inftrud others is the pre- 
 fcribed duty of \Q2in\ed Brdhmans, and, if they 
 be men of fubftance, %vithout reward ; but 
 they would all be flattered with an honorary 
 mark of diftindion ; and the Mahomedans have 
 
 not
 
 94 ON THE LITERATURE OF ASIA. 
 
 not only the perrr.Iffion, but the pofitive com- 
 tnand, of their law-giver, to fearch for karn^ 
 ing even in the remofejt parts of tide globe. It 
 were fuperfiuous to luggell:, with how much 
 corredtneis and facility their i ompofitions 
 might be trauHated for our ule, fmce their 
 languages are now more generally and perfe6liy 
 underilood than they have ever been by any 
 nation of Europe. 
 
 DISSEli-
 
 ( 95 ) 
 
 ISSERTATION III 
 
 ON THE 
 
 H I N D U'S, 
 
 BEING THE THIRD ANNIVERSARY DISCOURSE 
 DELIVERED TO THE SOCIETY FEB. 2, I786. 
 
 jF all the works which have been publifhed 
 in our own age, or, perhaps, in any other, 
 on the Hiftory of the Ancient World, and the fir fi 
 population of this habitable globe, that of Mr. 
 Jacob Bryant, whom I name with reverence 
 and affedtion, has the beft claim to the praife of 
 dee}) erudition ingenioafly applied, and new 
 theories happily ilhiftrated by an aflemblage of 
 Dumberlefs converging rays from a moll: exten- 
 live circumference: it falls, neverthelefs, as 
 every human work muft fall, {hort of psr- 
 fedtion ; and the leaft fatisfaclory part of it 
 feems to be that which relates to the deri- 
 vation of words from JJlatick languages. Ety- 
 mology h^s, no doubt, fome ufe in hiftorical 
 refearches ; but it is a medium of proof fo very 
 
 fallacious.
 
 96 ON THE LITERATURE OF ASIA, 
 
 fallacious, that, where it elucidates one fadj, 
 it obfcures a thouland, and more frequently 
 borders on the ridiculous than leads to any 
 folid concluliori : it rarely carries with it any 
 i7iternal power of convi6>ion from a refemblance 
 of founds or iimilarity of letters ; yet often, 
 where it is wholly unaffifted by thofe advan- 
 tages, it may be indilputably proved hy extriti/ick 
 evidence. Wc know a pofierwri, that both 
 
 Jitz and hijo^ by the nature of two feveral 
 dialei5ls, are derived from fiUus^ that uncle 
 comes from avus^ and Jfrcmger from extra ; 
 that jour is deducible, through the Italian^ 
 from dies ; and rojjignol from iufcinia, or the 
 
 Jlnger in groves ; that fciuro^ ecureu'il^ and 
 
 fquirrel, are compounded of tw^o Greek words 
 defcriptivc of the animal ; which etymologies, 
 though they could not have been demonilrated 
 cL priori^ might ferve to confirm, if any fucli 
 confirm.atlon were neceffary, the proofs of a 
 conne6lIon between the members of one srfeat 
 Empire; but, when we derive our hanger^ or 
 
 Jldort pendent /word, from the Ferjtan, becaufe 
 ignorant travellers thus mis-fpell the word 
 khanjar, which in truth means a different w^ea- 
 pon, or fandcd-wood from the Greek, becaufe 
 we fuppofe that fandals were fometimes made 
 of it, we gain no ground in proving the affinity 
 of nations, and only weaken arguments, which 
 
 might
 
 ON THE HINDU^S. (^^ 
 
 might otlierwlfe be firmly fupported* That 
 Cu's then, or, as it certainly is written in one 
 ancient dialect, Cu't, and in others^ probably, 
 Ca^s, enters into the compoiition of many pro- 
 per names, we may very rcafonably believe ; 
 and that Aigeziras takes its name from the 
 Arabic k word for an ijland, cannot be doubted : 
 but when we are told from Europe, that 
 places and provinces in India were clearly de- 
 nominated from thofe words, we cannot but 
 obferve, in the firft inftance, that the town, 
 in which we now are affembled, is properly 
 written and pronounced Calicatd ; that both 
 Cata and Cut unqucftionably mean places of 
 Jlrength, or, in general, any inclofures ; and 
 that Gujarat is at leafl as remote from Jezirah 
 in found as it is in fituatic n. 
 
 Another exception (and a third could 
 hardly be difcovered by any candid criticifm) to 
 the Analyjis of Ancient Mythology,, is, that the 
 method of reafoning and arrangement of to- 
 picks adopted in that learned work are not quite 
 agreeable to the title, but almofl wholly fyn- 
 thetical; and, though Jynthejis may be the 
 better mode in pure fcience, where the prin- 
 ciples are undeniable, yet it feems lefs calcu- 
 lated to give complete fatisfadtion in hiftorical 
 difquifitions, where every poftulatum will per- 
 haps be refufed, and every defmition contro- 
 
 H verted :
 
 9^ ON THE Hindu's. 
 
 verted : this may feem a flight obje6lion, but 
 the fubjed is in itfelt lb interefting, and the 
 full convi<5tion of all reafonable men fo de- 
 firable, that it may not be loft labour to difcufs 
 the fame or a fimilar theory in a method purely 
 analytical ; and, after beginning with fads of 
 general notoriety or undifputed evidence, to in- 
 veftigate fuch truths as are at firfl unknown or 
 very imperfeclly difcerned. 
 
 The Jive principal nations, who have in dif- 
 ferent ages divided among themfelves, as a kind 
 of inheritance, the vaft continent oi AJia^ with 
 the many iflands depending on it, are the In- 
 d'uins^ the Chineje, the Tartars, the Arabs ^ and 
 the Pcrjimis : who they feverally were, whence 
 and when they came, where they now are 
 fettled, and what advantage a more perfect 
 knowledc-e of them all may brinsf to our Em- 
 ropean world, will be fhewn, I truft, in fve 
 diftinct eflays ; the lall of which will demon- 
 ftrate the connexion or diverfity between them, 
 and folve the great problem, whether they had 
 any common origin, and whether that origin 
 was the fa??ie which we generally afcribe to 
 them. 
 
 1 BEGIN with India, not becaiifel find reafon 
 to believe it the true centre of population or of 
 knowledge, but, becaufe it is the country 
 which we now inhabit, and from which we 
 
 may
 
 bN THE Hindu's. 99 
 
 tiiay oefl furvey the regions around us ; as, in 
 l^opular language, we fpeak of the rijing {un^ 
 and of his prog?'efs through the Zodiac k^ al- 
 though it had Ions: ^2:0 been ima2;ined, and is 
 how demonftrated, that he is himfelf the centre 
 of our planetary fyftem. Let me here pre- 
 mife, that, in ^11 thefe inquiries concerning 
 the hiftory of Ind'ia^ I fhall confine my re- 
 fearches downwards to the Mohammedan con- 
 queflisat the beginning of the eleventh z^iViwxy j 
 but extend them upwards, as high as poffible, 
 to the earliefl authentic records of the human 
 fpecies. ' • 
 
 India then, on its moft ' enlarged fcale, in 
 which the ancients appear to have underflood 
 it, comprifes an area of near forty degrees on 
 each fide, including a fpace almofl as large 
 as all Europe-, being divided on the weft 
 from Pcr/ia by the Arachofian mountains, li- 
 mited on the eaft by the Ch'mefe part of the 
 farther peninfula, connned on the north by the 
 wilds of Tartary, and extending to the fouth 
 as far as the ides of Java. This trapezium, 
 therefore, comprehends the ftupendous hills of 
 Poty id or 'Tibet ^ the beautiful valley of Cajhmr^ 
 and all the domains of the old IndofcythianSy 
 the countries of Nepal and Bufant, Cam?~iip or 
 Afam^ together with Siam^ Ava, Racan^ and 
 the borderins; kin2:doms, as far as the Cbma of 
 
 H 2 the
 
 ICO ON THE Hindu's. 
 
 the Hindus or S'ln of the Arabian Geographers ; 
 not to mention the whole weftern peninfula 
 with the celebrated ifland of S'mhala, or Lion- 
 like men, at its fouthern extremity. By India, 
 in fhort, I mean that whole extent of country 
 in which the primitive religion and languages of 
 the Hindus prevail at this day with more or lefs 
 of their ancient purity, and in which the Nd- 
 gari letters are ftill ufed with more or lefs de- 
 viation from their original form. 
 
 The Hindus themfelves believe their own 
 country, to which they give the vain epithets 
 qI Medhyama^ or Ce?itral, and Punyabhumi, or 
 the Land of Virtues, to have been the portion of 
 Bharat, one of nine brothers, whofe father 
 had the dominion of the whole earth ; and they 
 reprefent the mountains of Himalaya as lying 
 to the north, and, to the weft, thofe of 
 Vindhya, called alfo Findian by the Greeks ; 
 beyond which the Sindbu runs in feveral 
 branches to the fea, and meets fit nearly op- 
 pofite to the point of Dzvliraca, the celebrated 
 feat of their Shepherd God : in the fouth-eajl 
 they place the great river Saravatya ; by which 
 they probably mean that oi Ava^ called alfo 
 Airdvati, in part of its courfe, and giving 
 perhaps its ancient name to the gulf of Sabara, 
 This domain of Bharat they confider as the 
 middle of the Jamhudzv'ipa, which the libetians 
 alfo call the Land of Za?nbu ; and the appella- 
 tion
 
 ON THE Hindu's. ioi 
 
 tlon Is extfemely remarkable ; for jfamhu is the 
 Sanfcnt name of a delicate fruit called "J avian 
 by the Mufelmans^ and by us rofe-apple ; but 
 the largeft and richefl: fort is named Amrita^ 
 or Immortal', and the Mythologifls of Thibet 
 apply the fame word to a celeftial tree bearing 
 nmbrojtal fruit, and adjoining lofour vaft rocks, 
 from which as many facred rivers derive their 
 feveral flreams. 
 
 The inhabitants of this extenfive tra£l are 
 defcribed by Mr. Lord with great exa6lnefs, 
 and with a pidurefque elegance peculiar to our 
 ancient language : "A people," fays he, " pre- 
 fented themfelvcs to mine eyes, clothed in 
 linen garments fomewhat low defcending, 
 of a gefture and garb, as I may fay, maid- 
 enly, and well nigh effeminate, of a coun- 
 tenance fhy and fomewhat eftranged, vet 
 fmiling out a glozed and bafhful familiarity." 
 Mr. Or ME, the Hill orian oi India ^ w^ho unites 
 an exquilite tafte for every fine art with an ac- 
 curate knowledge of /Ijmtick manners, ob- 
 ferves, in his elegant preliminary Difleitation, 
 that this ** country has been inhabited from 
 *' the earlieft antiquity by a people, who have 
 " no refemblance, either in their figure or 
 " manners, with any of the nations contiguous 
 to them ;" and that, '* although conquerors 
 ** have eflabliihed themfelves at different times 
 
 H 3 *^ ill 
 
 
 (,(,
 
 102 ON THE Hindu's. 
 
 " in different parts of India, yet the original 
 *' inhabitants have loft very little of their ori« 
 " ginal charafter." The ancients, in fa£l:, give 
 a defcription of them, which our early travel- 
 lers confirmed, and our own perfonal know- 
 ledge of them nearly verifies ; as you will per- 
 ceive from a pafikge in the Geographical Poerri 
 of DioNYSius, which the Analyft of Ancient 
 Mythology has tranfiated with great fpirit : 
 
 *' To th' eaft a lovely country wide extends, 
 " India, whofe borders the wide ocean bounds j 
 " On this the fun, new rifing from the main, 
 ^^ Smiles pleas'd, and fheds his early orient beams. 
 " Th' inhabitants are i'wart, and in their looks 
 ** Betray the tints of the dark hyacinth. 
 " Various their functions ; fome the rock explore^ 
 " And from the mine extract the latent gold ; 
 ** Some labour at the woof with cunning (kill, 
 *■ And manufacture litien J others fhape 
 *'- And polifli iv'ry with the niceft care ; 
 ** Many retire to rivers fhoal, and plunge 
 ** To feek the beryl flaming in its bed, 
 *' Or glitt'ring diamond. Oft the jalj^er's found 
 " Green, but diaphanous; the topaz too, 
 " Of ray ferene and pleaftng ; laft of all, 
 " The lovely arjiethyil, in which combine 
 ** All the mild fhades of {)urple. The rich foil, 
 ** Wafli'd by a thoufand rivers, from all fides 
 ** Pours on the natives wealth v/ithout control. 
 
 Their fjurces of wealth are flill abundant, 
 even after fo many revolutions and conquefts ; 
 
 in
 
 ON THE Hindu's. 103 
 
 In their manufa6liires of cotton they flill fur- 
 pafs all the world ; and their features have, mofi: 
 probably, remained unaltered fince the time of 
 DioNYSius ; nor can we reafonably doubt, 
 how des:enerate and aba fed foever the Hitidus 
 may now appear, that in fome early age they 
 \vere fplendid in arts and arms, happy in go- 
 vernment, wife in legillation, and eminer-t in 
 various knowledge : but, lince their civil hif- 
 tory beyond tlie middle of the ?ihietcenth cen- 
 tury from the prefent time is involved in a 
 cloud of fables, v/e feem to pofiefs only frjur 
 general media cf fatisfying our curioiity con- 
 cerning it ; namely, firfl, their Languages and 
 Letters ; fecondjy, their Phlkfophy and Reli- 
 gion ; thirdly, the adual remains of their old 
 Sculpture and ArchiteSiure ; and fourthly, the 
 written memorials of their Sciences and Arts. 
 
 I. It is much to be lamented, that neither 
 the Greeks who attended Alexander into 
 India, nor thofe who were long connecled with 
 it under the Ba^rian Princes, have left us any 
 means of knowing with accuracy, what ver- 
 nacular languages they found on their arrival in 
 this Empire. The Mohammedans, we know, 
 beard the people of proper Hindu if an, or India 
 on a limited fcale, fpeaking a Bhc.fhd, or living 
 tongue, of a very fingular conftruclion, the 
 pureft dialedl of which was current in the 
   II 4 diflrias
 
 104 ^N THE HINDU S, 
 
 difl;ri£ls round ^Igra, and chiefly on the poetical 
 ground of Mafhura ; and this is commonly 
 called the idiom of Vraja, Five words in fix, 
 perhaps, of this language were derived from 
 the Sanfcrit, in which books of religion and 
 fcience were compofed, and v^'hich appears to 
 have been formed by an cxquhite grammatical 
 arrangement ^ as the name itfelf implies, from 
 fome unpolifhed idiom ; but the bafis of the 
 H'mdufani, particularly the inflexions and re- 
 gimen of verbs, differed as widely from both 
 thofe tongues, as Arahick differs from Perjtan^ 
 or German from Greek. Now the general eife£t 
 of conqneft is to leave the current language of 
 the conquered people unchanged, or very httle 
 altered, in its ground-work, but to blend with 
 it a confiderable number of exotick names both 
 for things and for actions ; as it has happened 
 in every country, that 1 can recolle^l, where 
 the conquerors have not preferved their own 
 tongue unmixed with that of the natives, like 
 the 'Itirks in Greece^ and the Saxojis in Britain % 
 and this analogy might induce us to believe, 
 that the pure Hind) whether of Tartarian or 
 Chaldean ou'^wi, was primeval in Upper India , 
 into which the Sanfcrii was introduced by con- 
 querors from other kingdoms in fome very re- 
 mote age ; for we cannot doubt that the lan- 
 guage of the Vedds was ufed in the great extent 
 
 pf
 
 ON THE HINDU S. IO5 
 
 of country which has before been delineated, 
 jislong as the rehgion of Brahma has prevailed 
 
 in it. 
 
 The Sanfcrit language, whatever be its anti- 
 quity, is of a wonderful ftrudure ; more per- 
 fe£t than the Greek, more copious than the 
 Latin, and more exquifitely refined than either, 
 yet bearing to both of them a ftronger affinity, 
 both in the roots of verbs and in the forms of 
 grammar, than could pofiibly have been pro- 
 duced by accident ; fo flrong indeed, that no 
 philologer could examine them all three, without 
 believing them to have fprung from fome com- 
 mon fource, which, perhaps, no longer exifts : 
 there is a iimilar reafon, though not quite fo 
 forcible, for fuppofing that both the Gothick and 
 the Cehick, though blended with a very dif- 
 ferent idiom, had the fame origin with the 
 Sanfcrit ; and the old Perjtan m.ight be added to 
 the fame family, if this were the place for 
 difcuffuig any queftion concerning the anti- 
 quities of Perjia, 
 
 The charadiers, in which the lanojua2:es of 
 India were originally written, are called Ni'.gari, 
 fromNagar, a City, with the word Deva fome- 
 times prefixed, becaufe they are believed to have 
 been taught by the Divinity himfelf, who pre- 
 fcribed the artificial order of them in a voice from 
 heaven, Thefe letters, with no greater varia^ 
 
 tioa
 
 iq6 on the Hindu's. 
 
 tlon in their form by the change of flraight lines 
 to curves, or converfely, than the Cujtck alphabet 
 has received in its way to Ind'ia^ are ftill adopted 
 jn more than twenty kingdoms and Hates, from 
 the borders of CaJJjgar and Khoten, to Ratnas 
 J:)ridge, and from the S'nidhu to the river of 
 Siam\ nor can I help beUeving, although the 
 polifhed and elegant Devanugar'i may not be 
 fo ancient as the monumental characlers in the 
 cavern§ of Jarafandha, that the fquare Cbal^ 
 daick letters, in which moft Hebrew books are 
 popied, were originally the fame, or derived 
 from the fame prototype, both with the Indiait 
 and Arabian charader? : that the Phenician, 
 ' from which the Gree^ and Roman alphabets 
 were formed by various changes and inveriions, 
 )iad a iimilar origin, there can be little doubt 5 
 and the infcriptions ^t Canarah, of which you 
 now poflefs a mod accurate copy, feem to be 
 compounded of Nligari and Ethiopick letters, 
 which bear a c\o{q relation to each other, both 
 in the mode of writing iVom the left hand, and 
 in the lingular manner of cpnncding the vowels 
 with the confonaiits. Theie remarks may fa- 
 vour an opinion entertained by many, that all 
 the fymbols of /2?2if//^/, which at firft, probably, 
 were only rude outlines of the different organs 
 of fpeech, had a common origin : the lymbpls 
 of ideas now uf^d in China and Japan^ an;^ 
 
 formerly
 
 ON THE HINDU^S, IQJ 
 
 formerly, perhaps, in Egypt and Mexico, are 
 quite of a diftind nature ; but it is very re- 
 markable, that the order of founds in the Chi- 
 nefe grammars correfponds nearly with that 
 obferved in Thibet, and hardly differs from that 
 which the Hindus confider as the invention of 
 their Gods. 
 
 II. Of the Indian Religion and Philofophy, 
 I fliall here fay but little ; becaufe a full account 
 of each would require a feparate volume : it 
 will be fufficient in this Diliertation to affume, 
 what might be proved beyond controverfy, that 
 >ve now live among the adorers of thofe very 
 deities, who were worflilpped under different 
 I7>ames in old Greece and Italy, and among the 
 profeffors of thofe philofophical tenets, which 
 the lonick and Att'ick writers illuHirated with all 
 the beauties of their melodious language. Oa 
 one hand we fee the trident of Neptune, the 
 eagle of Jupiter, the fatyrs of Bacchus, 
 the bow of Cupid, and the chariot of the 
 Sun ; on another we hear the cymbals of Rhea, 
 the fongsof the MufcSy and the paftoral tales of 
 Apollo NoMTUS. In more retired fcenes, in 
 groves, and in feminaries of learning, we may 
 perceive the Brahmans and the Sarmancs, men- 
 tioned by Clemens, difputing in the forms of 
 logkk, or difcourfing on the vanity of human 
 pnjoyments, on the immortality of the foul, 
 
 , ' her
 
 io8 ON THE Hindu's. 
 
 her emanation from the eternal mind, her de- 
 bafement, wandermgs, and final union with 
 her fource. The ftx philofophical fchools, 
 ivhofe principles are explained in the Dcrfana 
 Saftra, comprife all the metaphyficks of the old 
 Academy^ the Stoa^ the Lyceum ; nor is it pof- 
 fible to read the Vedanta, or the many fine com- 
 pofitions in ilkiftration of it, without believing, 
 that Pythagoras and Plato derived their 
 fublime theories from the fame fountain with 
 the fages of hidia. The Scythian and Hyper- 
 horean .(lodinwQ^ and mythology may alfo be 
 traced in every part of thefe eaftern regions ; 
 nor can we doubt, thatWoD or Oden, whofe 
 reho-ion, as the northern hiftorians admit, was 
 introduced into Scandinavia by a foreign race, 
 was the fame with Buddha, whofe rites were 
 probably imported into India nearly at the fame 
 time, though received much later by the Chi- 
 nefc, who foften his name into FO'. 
 
 This may be a proper place to afcertain an 
 important point in the Chronology of the 
 Hindus ; for the priefts of Buddha left in Tibet 
 and China the precife epoch of his appearance, 
 real or imagined, in this empire ; and their in- 
 formation, which had been preferved in writing, 
 was compared by the Chrifiian Miffionaries and 
 fcholars with our own era. Couplet, De 
 GuiGNES, GioRGi, and Bailly, differ a little 
 
 in.
 
 ON THE HINDU S. I09 
 
 la their accounts of this epoch, but that of 
 Couplet fcems the moft corre<£l : on taking, how- 
 ever, the mediuna of the four feveral dates, we 
 may fix the time of Buddha, or the ninth great 
 incarnation of Vishnu, in the year one thou^ 
 [and and fourteen before the birth of Christ, 
 or two thoufand /even hundred and ninety-nine 
 years ago. Now the CciJJjmirians, who boaft 
 of his defcent in their kingdom, aflert that he 
 appeared on earth about two centuries after 
 Crishna, the Indian Apollo, who took fo 
 decided a part in the war of the Mahabhiirat ; 
 and, if an Etymologlft were to fuppofe that 
 the Athenians had embeUiflied their poetical 
 hiftory of Pandion's expulfion and the reftora- 
 tion of tEgeus with the AJiatick tale of the 
 Pa'ndus and Yudhishth'ir, neither of which 
 words they could have articulated, I fhould 
 not haftily deride his conjecture : certain it is, 
 that Pdndumandel is called by the Greeks the 
 country of Pandion. We have therefore de- 
 termined another interefting epoch, by fixing 
 the age of Crishna near the three thoufandth 
 year from the prefent time ; and as the three 
 firfl Avatars^ or defcents of Vishnu, relate no 
 lefs clearly to an Univerfal Deluge, in which 
 eight perfons only were faved, than \.\\q fourth 
 ^wAffth do to \\\t punifment of impiety and the 
 humiliation of the projid, we may for the pre- 
 fent
 
 lib ON THE Hindu's; 
 
 ferit affnme, that the fecond, or Jihe}\ age of 
 the Bindus was fubfequent to the difperfion 
 from Babel ', fo that we have only a dark in- 
 terval of about a thoufcmd years, which were 
 employed in the fettlement of nations, the 
 foundstion of dates or empires, and the culti- 
 vation of civil fociety. The great incarnate 
 Gods of this intermediate age are both named 
 Ra'ma, but with different epithets ; one of 
 i^4iom bears a wonderful refemblance to the 
 Indian Bacchus, and his wars are the fubje6t 
 of feveral heroick poems. He is reprefented as 
 a defcendant from Su'rya, or the Sun, as the 
 hu{band of Si'ta^, and the fon of a princefs 
 named Cau'selya': it is very remarkable, that 
 the Peruvians, whofe Incas boafted of the fame 
 defcent, ftyled their greateft feftival R.amaJitoa% 
 whence we may fuppofe, that South America 
 was peopled by the fame race, who imported 
 into the fartheil: parts of Afia the rites and fa- 
 bulous hiftory of Ra^ma. Thefe rites and this 
 hiftory are extremely curious ; and although I 
 cannot believe with Newton, that antient 
 mythology was nothing but hilforical truth in 
 a poetical drefs, nor, v/ith Bacon, that it con- 
 fided folely of moral and metaphyseal allego* 
 ries, nor, with Bryant, that all the heathen 
 divinities are only different attributes and re- 
 prefentations of the Sun or of deceafed proge- 
 nitors, but conceive that the whole fyftem of 
 
 religi'
 
 ON THE HINDUV. Ill 
 
 rello-ious fables rofe, like the Ni!e, from feve- 
 ral diftinft fources, yet I cannot but agree, that 
 one great fpring and fountain of all idolatry in 
 the four quarters of the globe, was the vene- 
 ration paid by men to the vaft body of fire 
 which " looks from his fole dominion like the 
 ** God of this world-/* and another, the im- 
 moderate refpedt fhewn to the memory of pow- 
 erful or virtuous anceftors, efpec rally the foun- 
 ders of kingdoms, legiflators, and warriors, of 
 whom the Sun or the Moofi were v,dldly fup- 
 pofed to be the parents. 
 
 III. The remains of architculure and fculp" 
 iure in India, which I mention here as mere 
 monuments of antiquity, not as ipecimens of 
 ancient art, feem to prove an early connection 
 between this country and Africa: the pyra- 
 mids of Egypt, the coloflal ftatues defcribed by 
 PAUSANIAS and others, the fphinx, and the 
 Hermes Canis, which lafl bears a great refem- 
 blance to the Farahavatar, or the incarnation 
 of Vishnu in the form of a Boar, indicate the 
 ilyle and mythology of the fam.e indefatigable 
 workmen who formed the vaft excavations of 
 Canhrah, the various temples and images of 
 Buddha, and the idols which are continually 
 dug up at Gay a, or in its vicinity. The let- 
 'ters on many of thofe monuments appear, as I 
 have before intimated, partly of Indian, and 
 
 partly
 
 112 ON THE Hindu's. 
 
 partly of Ahvffmian or Ethlop'ick^ origin ; and 
 all thefe indubitable fa6ls may induce no ill- 
 grounded opinion, that Ethiopia and HindufLuu 
 were peopled or colonized by the fame extra- 
 ordinary race ; in confirmation of which it 
 may be added, that the mountaineers of Bengal 
 and Bahar can hardly be diftinguifhed in fome 
 of their features, particularly their lips and 
 nofes, from the modern Ahvjfinians^ whom the 
 Arabs call the children of Cu'sh : and the an- 
 tient Hindus^ according to Strabo, differed in 
 nothing from the Africans but in the ftraightnefs 
 and fmoothnefs of their hair, while that of the 
 others was crifp or woolly ; a difference proceed- 
 ing chiefly, if not entirely, from the refpeclive 
 humidity or drynefs of their atmofpheres : 
 hence the people who received the Jirjl light of 
 the rifng fun, according to the limited know- 
 ledge of the antients, are faid by Apuleius to 
 be the Arii and Ethiopians^ by which he clearly 
 meant certain nations of India ; where we fre- 
 quently fee figures of Buddha with curled hair, 
 apparently defigned for a reprefentation of it in 
 its natural flate. 
 
 IV. It is unfortunate, that the Silpi Saftra, 
 jor Collettion of Treatifs on Arts and ManifaC" 
 iures, which mull: have contained a trea- 
 fure of ufeful information on dyeing, painting, 
 and metaUiirg-j, has been fo long neglected, 
 
 that
 
 ON THE Hindu's. ii:? 
 
 that few, if any, traces of it are to be found; 
 but the labours of the Indian loom and needle 
 have been univerfaliy celebrated ; and^;^*? linen 
 is not improbably fuppofed to have been called 
 Sindon^ from the name of the river near which 
 it was wrough't ij^ the higheft perfe£lion : the 
 people of Colchis were alfo famed for this ma- 
 nufacture, and the Egyptians yet more, as we 
 learn from feveral pafTages in fcripture, and par- 
 ticularly from a beautiful chapter in Ezekiel, 
 containing the mofl: authentic delineation of 
 antient commerce, of which Tyre had been the 
 principal mart. Silk was fabricated immemo- 
 rially by the Indians, though commonly iaf- 
 cribed to the people of Serica or Tanciit, among 
 whom probably the word Ser, which the Greciks 
 applied to i\\q filk-wbrm, fignified ^o/J; a fenfe 
 which it now bears in Ti'bet. That the Hitidus 
 were in early ages a commercial people, we have 
 many reafons to believe ; and in the firfl of 
 their facred law-tra6ls, which they fuppofe to 
 have been revealed by Menu many millions of 
 years ago, we find a curious paflage oh the 
 legal iritereji of ilioney, and the limited rate of 
 it in different cafes, with an exception in re- 
 gard to advenUires at fea \ an exception which 
 the fenle of mankind approves, and which com- 
 merce abfolutely requires, though it was not 
 before the reign of Charles I. that our own 
 
 I jurif-
 
 i 14 ON THE Hindu's* 
 
 jurifprudence fully admitted it in fefpe^l or 
 maritime contra els. 
 
 We are told by the Grecian writers, that the 
 Indians were the wifefl of nations ; and in 
 moral wifdom they were certainly eminent : 
 their Niti Sajlra^ or Syjiem of Ethicks^ is yet 
 preferved, and the Fables of Vishnusep.mam, 
 whom we ridiculoufly call Pilpay, are the moft 
 beautiful, if not the moft ancient, coUeclion of 
 apologues in the world : they were firfl tran- 
 flated from the Sanfcrit in the jlxlh century, by 
 the order of Buzerchumihr, or Bright as the 
 Sun, the chief phylician, and afterwards Fez/r of 
 the great Anu'shireva'n, and are extant under 
 various names in more than twenty languages ; 
 but their original title is Hitopadefa^ or Jlmica- 
 hie InJiru5iion ; and as the very exigence of 
 Esop, whom the Arabs believe to have been 
 an Ahyjfmian^ appears rather doubtful, I am 
 not difuiclined to fuppofe, that the iiifl moral 
 fables which appeared in Europe, were of 
 Indian or Ethiopian origin. 
 
 The Hindus are faid to have boafled of fhred 
 inventions, all of which, indeed, are admirable, 
 the method of inftructing by apologues, the 
 decimal fc ale adopted now by all civilized na- 
 tions, and the game of Chefs, on which they 
 have fome curious treatifes; but if their nu- 
 merous works on Grammar, Logick, Rheto- 
 
 rick.
 
 ON THE Hindu's. 115 
 
 rick, Miifick, all which are extant and accef- 
 fible, were explained in fome language gene- 
 rally known, it would be found that they had 
 yet higher preteniions to the praife of a fertile 
 'and inventive genius. Their lighter poems are 
 lively and elegant ; their Epick, nriagnificent 
 and fublime in the higheft degree ; their Pu- 
 7- anas comprife a feries of mythological Hillo- 
 ries in blank verfe from the Creation to the fup- 
 pofed incarnation of Buddha ; and their Vedas^ 
 as far as we can judge from that compendium 
 of them which is called JJpan'iJlmt^ abound 
 with noble fpeculations in metaphyficks, and 
 fme difcourfes on the being and attributes of 
 God. Their mod ancient medical book, en- 
 titled Chereca, is believed to be the work of 
 Siva ; for each of the divinities in their Triad 
 has at leaft one facred compofition afcribed to 
 him ; but, as to mere human works on Hiftory 
 and Geography, though they are i^\id to be ex- 
 tant in Cafhm'ir, it has not been yet in my 
 power to procure them. What their ajlrono- 
 m'lcal and raathematical writings contain, will 
 not, I truft, remain long a fecret : they are 
 caiily procured, and their importance cannot 
 be doubted. The philofopher whofe works 
 are faid to include a fyflem of the univerfe 
 founded on the principle of AttraSlion and the 
 0«/r^/ pofition of the fun, is named Yavan 
 
 I 2 Ac ha'-
 
 Il6 ON THE HINDU^S. 
 
 Acha'rya, becaufe he had travellecl, we arc 
 told, into Ionia : if this be true, he might have 
 been one of thofe who converfed with Pytha- 
 goras ; this at leafl is undeniable, that a book 
 on aftronomy in Sanfcrit bears the title of 
 Tavana Jatica, which may fignify the lonick 
 SeSl ; nor is it improbable, that the names of 
 the planets and Zodiacal flars, which the Arabs 
 borrowed from the Greeks^ but which we find 
 in the oldeft Indian records, were originally 
 devifed by the fame ingenious and enterprifing 
 race, from whom both Greece and India were 
 peopled ; the race, who, as Dionysius de- 
 fcribes them, 
 
 -' firft aflayed the deep, 
 
 * And wafted merchandize to coaits unknown, * 
 ' Thofe, who digefted firft the ftarry choir, 
 , * Their motions mark'd, and cail'd them by their names." 
 
 Of thefe curfory obfervations on the Hindus^ 
 which it would require volumes to expand and 
 illuftrate, this is the refult : that they had an 
 immemorial affinity with the old Perjians^ 
 Ethiopians, and Egyptians, the Pbenlclans, 
 Greeks, and 'Tufcans, the Scythians or Goths, 
 and Celts, the Chinefe, Japaneje and Peruvians ; 
 whence, as no reafon appears for believing* 
 that they were a colony from any one of thofe 
 nations, or any of thofe nations from them, we 
 may fairly conclude that they all proceeded 
 
   from
 
 ON THE HINDtr S. 11^ 
 
 from fome deiitral country, to inveftigate which 
 will be the object of my future Difcourfes ; 
 and I have a fanguine hope, that your collec- 
 tions during the prefent year will bring to light 
 many ufeful difcoveries ; although the departure 
 for Europe of a very ingenious member, who 
 firft opened the ineftimable mine of Sanfcrit li- 
 terature, will often deprive us of accurate and 
 folid information concerning the languages and 
 antiquities of ///^y/^. 
 
 I 2 DIS«
 
 ( ^i8 ) 
 
 DISSERTATION IV. 
 
 ON T II E 
 
 ARAB 
 
 BEING TKEFOURTH ANNIVERSARY DISCOURSJ?; 
 DELIVERED TO THE SOCIETY FEB. I5, 1787c. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, 
 
 I HAD the honour lafl year of opening to you 
 my intention, to difcourfe at our »jjnniial 
 meetings on the jive principal nations who 
 have peopled the continent and iflands o'i yifia % 
 fo as to trace, by an hiilorical and philological 
 analylis, the niinaber of ancient flems from 
 which thofe f^ve branches have feverally 
 fprurg, and the centrr.l region from which 
 they appear to have proceeded : yon may, 
 therefore, expeft, that, having fubmitted to your 
 confideration a fe\v general remarks on the old 
 inhabitants oi India., I Ihould now offer my {tii- 
 timents on fome other nation, who, from a 
 fimilarity of language^ religion^ arts and man- 
 ners^ may be fuppofcd to have had an early 
 - .4 conne£lioa
 
 ON THE ARABS. II9 
 
 conne6lIon with the Hindus ; but, fince we 
 find fome Afuitick nations totally diffimilar to 
 them in all or mod of thofe particulars, and 
 iince the difference will ftrike you more forcibly 
 -by an immediate and clofe comparifon, I deiign 
 at prefent to give a (hort account of a wonderful 
 people, who feem in every refpe(£t fo ftrongly 
 contrafted to the original natives of this coun- 
 try, that they muft have been for ages a 
 diilinft and feparate race. 
 
 For the purpofe of thefe Difcourfes, I con- 
 lidered India on its largcfl: fcale, defcribing it 
 as lying between Perfui and China, Tartary 
 and Java ; and for the fame purpofe, I now 
 apply the name of Arabia, as the Arabian 
 Geographers often apply it, to that extenlive 
 peninfula, which the Red Sea divides from 
 Africa, the great AJjyrian river from Iran, and 
 of which the B,rythrean Sea waihes the bafe ; 
 without excluding any part of its weftern fide, 
 which would be completely maritime, if no 
 ifthmus intervened between the Mediterranean 
 and the Sea of Kolzom : that country, in fhort, 
 I call Arabia, in which the Arabick lan- 
 guage and letters, or fuch as have a near 
 affinity to them, have been immemorially 
 current. 
 
 Arabia, thus divided from 7;^^'"^ bv a vaft 
 ocean, or at leaft by a broad bay, could hardly 
 liave been conne(51:ed in any degree with this 
 
 I 4 country,
 
 I20 ON THE ARABS. 
 
 country, until navigation and commerce had 
 been confiderably improved : yet, as the Hindus 
 and the people of Temen were both commercial 
 nations in a very early age, they were probably 
 the firil: inftruments of conveying to the wei^ern 
 world the gold, ivory, and perfumes of India^ 
 as well as the fragrant wood, called alluwwa 
 in Aj-ablck and aguru in Sanfcrit, which grows 
 in the greateft perfe(^ion in Anam or Cochin- 
 china. It is poffible too, that a part of the 
 Arabian idolatry might have been derived from 
 the fame fource with that of the Hindus ; but 
 fuch an intercourfe may be conlidered as partial 
 and accidental only ; nor am I more convinced, 
 than I was fifteen years ago, when I took the 
 liberty to animadvert on a pafiage in the Hif- 
 tory of Prince Cantemiry that the Turks have 
 any juft reafon for holding the coafl- of Temen 
 to be a part of India, and calling its inhabitants 
 Yellow Indians. 
 
 The Arabs have never been entirely fub- 
 dued ; nor has any impreffon been made on 
 them, except on their borders ; where, indeed 
 the Phenicians^ Perftans, Ethiopians ^ EgyptiafiSy 
 and, in modern times, the Othman lartarsy 
 have feverally acquired feitlements ; but, wit^ 
 thefe exceptions, the natives, of Hejaz and 
 Temen have pr^ferved for ages the fole dominion 
 of their deferts and paJfi?ures, their mountains 
 
 and
 
 ON THE ARABS. 12^ 
 
 ami fertile vallies : thus, apart from the reft of 
 mankind, this extraordinary people have retained 
 their primitive manners and language, features 
 and chara(3:er, as long and as remarkably as the 
 Hindus themfelves. All the genuiney^r^^j of ^Sy- 
 ria, whom I knew in Eu7'ope, thofe of Temen, 
 whom I faw in the idand of Hinzuan, whither 
 many had come from Majhat for the purpofe of 
 trade, and thofe of Hejaz, whom I have met ia 
 Bengal, form a ftriking contrail to the H'mdu 
 inhabitants of thefe provinces : their eyes are 
 full of vivacity, their fpeech voluble and ar- 
 ticulate, their deportment manly and dignified, 
 their apprehenfion quick, their minds always 
 prefent and attentive; with a fpirit of inde- 
 pendence appearing in the countenances even 
 of the loweft among them. Men will always 
 differ in their ideas of civilization, each mea- 
 furing it by the habits and prejudices of his own 
 country ; but if courtefy and urbanity, a love 
 of poetry and eloquence, and the pradice of 
 exalted virtues, be a jufter meafure of perfect 
 fociety, we have certain proof, that the people 
 of Arabia, both on plains and in cities, in re- 
 publican and monarchical ftates, were eminently 
 civilized for many ages before their conqueft of 
 Ferjia. 
 
 It is deplorable, that the ancient hiftory of 
 this majeflick race fliould be as little known in 
 
 detail
 
 3 22 OK THE ARABS. 
 
 detail before the time of Dhi'i fezen, as that of 
 the Hindus before Vicramaditya ; for, although 
 the vail hiftorical work of Alnuwa'in and the 
 Murujuldhahab , or Golden Meadows, of Alma" 
 Jtlud), contain chapters on the kings of Htmyar^ 
 Ghajan^ and U'lrah, with lifts of them and 
 iketches of their feveral reigns, and although ge- 
 nealogical tables, from which chronology might 
 be better afcertained, are prefixed to many 
 compofitions of the old Arabian Poets, yet moft 
 manufcripts are fo incorrect, and fo many con- 
 tradidions are found in the bed of them, that 
 we can fcarce lean upon tradition with fecurity, 
 and muft have recourfe to the fame media for 
 invefti gating the hiftory of the Arabs ^ that \ 
 before adopted in regard to that of the Indians ; 
 namely, their language, tetters^ and religion^ 
 ^heir ancient monuments, and the certain re- 
 mains of their arts ; on each of which heads I 
 il-iall touch very concifely, having premifed, 
 that my obfervations will in general be confined 
 to the fcate of Arabia before that fmgular re- 
 volution at the beginning of the feve?ith ceur: 
 tury, the effecrs of v/hich we feel at this day, 
 from the Fyrenean mountains and \\\e Danube^ 
 to the farthed: parts of the Indian E?npre, and 
 even to the Eafiern lilands. 
 
 I. For the knowledge which any European^ 
 who pleaies, may attain of the Arabian lan- 
 guage, we are principally indebted to the uni- 
 
 vcrfitj
 
 ON THE ARABS. %2^ 
 
 yerfity of Lcvden ; for, though feveral Italiani 
 jiave affiduoiilly laboured in the fame wide field, 
 yet the fruit of their labours has been rendered 
 alnaofh ufelefs by more commodious and more 
 accurate works printed in Holla7id\ aud, though 
 PococK certainly accompliihed much, and 
 was able to accomplifh any thing, yet the 
 Academical eafe which he enjoyed, and his 
 theological purfuits, induced him to leave un- 
 finifhed the valuable work of Maidhit, which 
 he had prepared for publication ; nor, even if 
 that rich mine of Arabian philology had {&ti\ 
 the light, would it have borne any comparifon 
 with the fifty differtations oi Hanri^ which the 
 firfl Albert Schultens tranflared and ex- 
 plained, though he fent abroad but few of 
 them, and has left his worthy grandfon, fi'orn 
 whom, perhaps, Maidan'i alfo may be expe^ed, 
 the honour of publifhing the reft : but the 
 palm of glory in this branch of literature is 
 due to GoLius, whofe works are equally pro- 
 found and elegant ; fo perfpicuous in method, 
 that they may always be confulted without 
 fatigue, and read without languor, yet fo 
 abundant in matter, that any man, who fhall 
 begin with his noble edition of the Grammar, 
 compiled by his mafcer Ebpenius, and pro- 
 ceed, with the help of his incomparable dic- 
 tionary, to fludy his Hifl:ory of Taimur, by 
 Ibni Arabjhdh, and fhall make himfelf com- 
 plete mader of that lublime workj v/ill under- 
 
 fland
 
 124 ON THE ARABS. 
 
 ftand the learned Arabkk better than the deepeft 
 fcholar at Conjiantinople or at Mecca. The 
 Arabkk language, therefore, is almofl: wholly 
 in our power ; and as it is unqueftionably one 
 of the niofl antient in the world, fo it yields 
 to none ever fpoken by mortals in the number 
 of its words and the precifion of its phrafes; 
 but it is equally true and wonderful, that it 
 bears not the lead refemblance, either in words 
 or the firufture of them, to the Sanjcrit^ or 
 great parent of the Indian diale6:s ; of which 
 diflimilarity I will mention two remarkable in- 
 {lances : the Sanfcrit^ like the Greeks Perjian, 
 and German^ delights in compounds, but in a 
 much higher degree, and indeed to fuch excefs, 
 that I could produce w^ords of more than twenty 
 fyllables, not formed hidlcroufly, like that by 
 %vhich the buffoon in Aristophanes defcribes 
 a feaft, but with perfed ferioufnefs, on the 
 moft folemn occafions, and in the mofl: ele- 
 gant works; \v\i\\q xh& Ai'abtck^ on the other 
 hand, and all its fifter dialeds, abhor the com- 
 pofition of words, and invariably exprefs very 
 complex ideas by circumlocution ; fo that if a 
 compound word be found in any genuine 
 language of the Arabian Peninfula (%c7imerdah 
 for indance, which occurs in the Hamiifah), 
 it may at once be pronounced an exotick. 
 Again; it is the genius of the Sanfcnt^ and 
 other languages of the fame flock, that the 
 3:oots of verbs be almofl; iiniverfelly biliteral^ fo 
 
 that
 
 ON THE ARABS, 125 
 
 that jive and twenty hundred fuch roots might 
 be formed by the compofitioii of the fifty Indian 
 letters ; but the Arabick roots are as uni- 
 verfally trlliteraly fo that the compofition of 
 the twenty-eight Arabian letters would give 
 near two and twenty thoufand elements of the 
 language : and this will demonftrate the fur- 
 prifing extent of it ; for although great num- 
 bers of its roots are confeiTedly lod, and fomc, 
 perhaps, were never in ufe, yet if we fuppofe 
 ten thoufand of them (without reckoning 
 quadriUterah) to exift, and each of them to 
 admit only fi''oe variations, one with another, 
 in forming derivative nouns, even then a perfed: 
 Arabick di(5lionary ought to contain ffty thou- 
 fand words, each of which may receive a mul- 
 titude of chan2:es bv the rules of tn-ammar. 
 The derivatives in Sanjait arc confiderably 
 more numerous : but a farther comparilbn be- 
 tween the two languages is here unneceflary ; 
 fuice, in whatever light we view them, they 
 ieem totally diftind, and muft have been in- 
 vented by two different races of men ; nor do I 
 recollect a finde word in common between them, 
 except *S>/r^*, the plural oiSlraj^ m.eaning both a 
 lamp and the Jlun^ the Sanfcrlt name of which 
 is, in Bengal, pronounced Surja ; and even, 
 this refemblance may be purely accidental. 
 We may eafily believe with the Hindus , that 
 not even Indra hlmfelf and his heavenly bands ^ 
 much lefs any mortal, ever comprehended In his 
 
 mind
 
 126 ON THE ARABS. 
 
 •'■* 
 
 7nind fuch afi ocean of 'Words as their f acred lat^ 
 giiage contahis ; and with the Arabs^ that no 
 man uninfplred was ever a complete maOer of 
 Arabic k : m fa 61, no perfon, I believe, now 
 living in Europe or Afia, can read without 
 ftndy an hundred couplets together in any col- 
 Ie6lion of ancient Arabian poems ; and we are 
 told, that the great author of the Klimils learnecl 
 by accident from the mouth of a child, in a 
 village of Arabia^ the meaning of three words, 
 which he had long fought in vain from gram- 
 rnarians, and from books, of the higheft re- 
 putation. It is bv approximation alone, that a 
 knowledo-e of thefe two venerable Ian2^ua2:es 
 can be acquired ; and, with moderate attention 5 
 enough of them both may be known, to de- 
 light and inflruft us in an infinite degree. I 
 conclude this head with remarking, that the 
 nature of the Eth'opick dialect feems to prove 
 an early ertablifhment of the Arabs m part of 
 Ethiopia, from which they were afterwards 
 expelled, and attacked even in their own coun- 
 try by the Abyjfmians, who had been invited 
 over as auxiliaries againfl: the tyrant of Tcfjien, 
 about a century before the birth of Muhammcd. 
 Of the characters in which the old compo- 
 fitions of Arabia were written, v/e know but 
 little ; except that the Koran originally ap- 
 peared in thole of Cz^y6, from which the modern 
 Arabian letters, with all their elegant variations, 
 
 were
 
 ON THE ARABS. I 2 ;^ 
 
 were derived, and which unqueflionably had a 
 common origin with the Hl brew or Chaldaiclz ; 
 but as to the Himyarkk letters, or thofe which 
 we fee mentioned by the name of Ahmifnady 
 we are ftill in total darknefs ; the traveller 
 Niebuhr having been unfortunately prevented 
 from vifiting fome ancient monuments in 
 Temen, which are faid to have infcriptions on 
 them: if thofe letters bear a ftrong refem- 
 blance to the Nagan, and if a ftory current in 
 India be true, that fome Hindu merchants 
 heard the Sa?ifcrit language fpoken in Arabia 
 the Happy J we might be confirmed in our opi- 
 nion, thatanintercourfe fDrmeriy fubiifted be- 
 tween the two nations of oppofite coafts, but 
 ihould have no reafon to believe, that they 
 fprans; from the lame immediate flock. The 
 firll: lyllable of Hamyar, as many Europeans 
 write it, might perhaps induce an Etymologiit 
 to derive the Arabs of Tenien from the great an- 
 ' ceftor of the Indians ; but we mufl: obferve, 
 that Hemyar is the proper appellation of thofe 
 Arabs ; and many reafons concur to prove, 
 that the word is purely Arabick : the iimilarity 
 fome proper names on the borders of hidia to 
 thofe of Arabia, as the river Arabius, a place 
 icalled Araba, a people named Aribes or Ara- 
 hies, and another called Sabai, is indeed re- 
 markable, and may hereafter furnhh me with 
 obfervations of fome importance, but not at all 
 inconfiftent with my prcfcnt ideas. 
 
 IL It
 
 i2^ oh THE AIRLAbV. 
 
 ir. It is generally aflerted, that the old re« 
 ligion of the Arabs was entirely Sabian ; but I 
 can offer fo little accurate information concern- 
 in ^ the Sabian faith, or even the meanino; of the 
 word, that I dare not yet fpeak on the fubjeift 
 with confidence. This at lead is certain, that the 
 people of Temen very foon fell into the cona- 
 mon, but fatal error of adoring the Sun and 
 the Firmament ; for even the third in defcent 
 from YccKTAN, who was confequently as old 
 as Nahor, took the furname of Abdushams,, 
 or Servant of the Sim ; and his family, we are 
 affured, paid particular honours to that lumi- 
 nary : other tribes worfhipped the planets and 
 fixed {liars ; but the religion of the poets at leaft 
 feems to have been pure Theifm ; and this wc 
 know with certainty, bec?aile we have Arabian 
 verfes of unfufpefted antiquity, which contain 
 pious and elevated featiments on the goodnefs 
 and juftice, the power and omniprefence, of 
 Allah, or the God. If an infcription, faid 
 to have been found on marble in Temen, be 
 authentlck, the ancient inhabitants of that 
 country preferved the religion of Eber,' and 
 profeiTed a belief In miracles and a future Jlate. 
 
 We are alfo told, that a ftrong refemblancc 
 may be found between the religions of the' 
 pagan Arabs and the Hindus ; but though this 
 may be true, yet an agreement in worfhipping 
 the fun and ftars will not prove an affinity be- 
 tween
 
 CN THE AKABS. 129 
 
 tween the two nations : the powers of God 
 reprefented as female deities, the adoration ot 
 jlones^ and the name of. the Idol Wudd, may 
 lead us indeed to 'fufpeifl, that fome of the 
 H'mdu fuperftitions had foiuid their way into 
 Arabia ; and though we have no traces in 
 Arabian Hlflory of fuch a conqueror or legifla- 
 tor as the great Sesac, who is Hiid to have 
 raifcd pillars in Yemen as well as at the mouth 
 of the Ganges^ yet fince we know, that 
 Sa'cya is a title of Buddha, whom I fuppofe to 
 be Woden, fince Buddha was not a native of 
 India, and (ince the age of Sesac perfedlly agrees 
 with that of Sa'cya, we may form a plaii- 
 iible conje6lure that they were in facl the fame 
 perfon w^ho travelled eafUvard from Ethiopia, ei- 
 ther as a warrior or as a law-giver, about a thou- 
 fand years before Christ, and whofe rites we 
 now fee extended as far as the country of Nifcn, 
 or, as the Chtnefe call it, "Japuen, both words 
 fignifying the Rifing Sun. Sa'cya may be 
 derived from a word meaning power, or from 
 another denoting vegetable food \ lb that this 
 epithet will not determine whether he was a 
 hero or a philofopher ; but the tide Buddha, 
 or wife, may induce us to believe that he was 
 rather a benefadlor than a dellroycr of his fpe- 
 cies : if his religion, however, was really in- 
 troduced into any part of Arabia, i: could not 
 
 K have
 
 1^0 ON THE ARABS. 
 
 have been general in that country ; and we 
 may fafely pronounce, that before the Moham- 
 medcm revokition, the noble and learned Arabs 
 were 'Theijts, but that a flupid idolatry pre- 
 vailed among the lower orders of the people. 
 
 I FIND no trace among them, till their emi- 
 gration, of any philofophy but Ethicks ; and 
 even their fyflem of morals, generous and en- 
 larged as it feems to have been in the minds of 
 a few illuftrious chieftains, was on the whole 
 miferably depraved for a century at leafl: before 
 Muhammed : the didinsiuifhino; virtues which 
 they boafled of inculcating and pra<5liiing, were 
 a contempt of riches, and even of death ; but, 
 in the age of the Seven Poets, their liberality 
 had deviated into mad profufion, their courage 
 into ferocity, and their patience into an obfli- 
 nate foirit of encounterinsr fruitlefs dano;ers : 
 but I forbear to expatiate on the manners of 
 the Arabs in that age, becaufe the poems en- 
 titled Almodllakat, which have appeared in our 
 own language, exhibit an exa6t pi6lure of their 
 virtues and their vices, their wifdom and their 
 folly ; and fhew what may be conflantly ex- 
 peded from men of open hearts and boiling 
 paffions, with no law to control, and little re- 
 ligion to reftrain them. 
 
 III. Few monuments of antiquity are pre- 
 ferved in Arabia^ and of thofe few the befl: ac- 
 
 . counts
 
 ON THE ARABS. 131 
 
 counts are very iincertairi ; but we are afTured, 
 that infcriptions on rocks and mountains are 
 ftill feen in various parts of the Peninfula ; 
 which, if they are in any known language, 
 and if correal copies of them can be procured, 
 may be decyphered by eafy and intallible rules. 
 The firft Albert Schultens has pre- 
 ferred in his Antient Memorials of Arabia, the 
 moil: pleafmg of all his works, two little poems 
 in an elegiack ftrain, which are fjid to have 
 been found, about the middle of the feventh 
 century, on fome fragments of ruined edifices 
 in Hadramut near Aden^ and are fuppofed to 
 be of an indefinite, but very remote, age. It 
 may naturally be alked. In what characlers 
 were they written ? Who decyphered them ? 
 Why were not the original letters preferved in 
 the book where the verfes are cited? What 
 became of the marbles, which Abdurrahman^ 
 then governor of Yemen ^ mofl: probabl7 fent to 
 the Khal'ifah at Bagdad? If they be genuine, 
 they prove the people of Yemen to have been 
 " herdfmen and warriors, inhabiting a fertile 
 *' and well-watered country full of game, and 
 ** near a fine fea abounding with fifh, under a 
 *' monarchical government, and drefled in 
 *' green filk or vefl:s of needlework,'* either of 
 their own manufacture, or imported from India, 
 The meafure of thefe verfes is perfedly regular, 
 and the dialed undiftinguifhable, at leafl by me, 
 
 K 2 from
 
 1^2 ON THE ARABS. 
 
 from that of Kuraijlj ; fo that if the Arah'ia'A 
 writers were much adclided to literary impof- 
 tures, I fliould ftrongly fufped them to be 
 modern compofitions on the inftability of hu- 
 inan greatnefs, and the confequences of irre- 
 ligion, illuflrated by the example of the H'tm- 
 yarick princes ; and the fame may be fufpc6led 
 of the firil: poem quoted by Schultens, which 
 he afcribes to an Arab in the age of Solomon. 
 
 The fuppofed houfes of the people called 
 Thamud 2ir& alfo ftill to be {ttu. in excavations 
 of rocks ; and, in the time of Tabrizi, the 
 grammarian, a caftle was extant in Temen^ 
 which bore the name of Aladbat, an old 
 bard and warrior, who firlf, we are told, 
 formed his army, thence called alkhamh^ in 
 Jive parts, by which arrangement he defeated 
 the troops of Hhnyar in an expedition againfl 
 oanaa. 
 
 Of pillars erecled by Sesac, after his inva- 
 iion of Tenien^ we find no mention in Arabian 
 hiftories ; and, perhaps, the flory has no more 
 foundation than another told by the Greeks 
 and adopted by Newton, that the Arabs wor- 
 shipped Urania, and even Bacchus byname, 
 which, they fay, means great in Arahick ; but 
 where they found fuch a word we cannot dif~ 
 cover : it is true, that Bcccah lignifies a great 
 and tumultuous croud, and, in this fenfe, is one 
 name of the facred city commonly called Meccah, 
 
 Thb
 
 ON THE ARAB?. 1 33 
 
 The Cdbabf or quaclrangubr edifice at 
 Meccah^ is indifputably fo antient, that its ori- 
 ginal life, and the name of its builder, are lofl 
 ill a cloud of idle traditions. An jlrab told me 
 gravely, thnt it *\vas ralfed by Abraham, who, 
 as I affured him,- was never there : others al- 
 cribe it, with more probability, to Ismail, or 
 one of his immediate defcendants ; but whether 
 it was built as a place of divine w^orfhip, as a 
 fortrefs, as a fepulchre, or as a monument of 
 the treaty between the old polIe(ibrs of Arabia 
 and the fons of Kedak, antiquaries may dii- 
 pute, but no mortal can determine. It is 
 thought by Reland to have been the mafifon 
 of fomc antient Patriarch, and revered on that 
 account by his pojieritv ; but the room, in which 
 we now are aflembled, w^ould contain the whole 
 Arabian edifice; and if it were laro;e enough 
 for the dwelling-houfe of a Patriarchal family, 
 it would feem ill adapted to the pafLoral man- 
 ners of the Kedarites : a Perfan author infifts, 
 that the true name of Meccah is Mahcadah, or 
 the I'emple of the Moon ; but, although we may 
 fmile at his etymology, we cannot but think it 
 probable that the Cdbah was originally defigned 
 for religious purpofes. Three couplets are 
 cited in an. Arabick Hiflory of this building, 
 w^hich, from their extreme fimplicity, have leis 
 appearance of impoflure than other verfes of the 
 
 K ^ ' fame
 
 134 ON THE ARABS. 
 
 fame kind : they are afcribed to A sad, a Tobbdy 
 or king by fuccejfton, who is generally allowed 
 to have reigned in l^cmen an hundred and 
 tweuty-eight years before Christ's birth, and 
 they commemoraie, without any poetical 
 inriagery, the magnificence of the prince in 
 covering the holy temple with jiriped cloth mid 
 fine Unen^ and in making keys for its gate. This 
 temple, however, the fanclity of which was 
 reftored by Muhammed, had been ftrangely 
 profaned at the time of his birth, when it was 
 ufual to decorate its walls with poems on all 
 fubjeds, and often on the triumphs of Jlrabian 
 gallantry and the praifes of Grecian wine, which 
 the merchants of Syria brought for file into 
 the deferts. 
 
 From the want of m.ateriais on the fubje£t 
 of ^r^^/^?z antiquity, \ye find it very difficult 
 to iiY. the Chronology of the ifmailites with 
 accuracy beyond the time of Adnan, from 
 whom the impoftor w^as defcended in the 
 twenty -fir fi ^it^xtt ; and although we have 
 genealogies of Alkamah and other Himyarick 
 bards as high as the thirtieth degree, or for a 
 period of nine hundred years at leaft, yet we 
 can hardly depend on them fo far as to eftablifh 
 a complete chronological fyflem : by reafoning 
 downwards, however, we may afcertain fome 
 points of confiderable importance. The uni- 
 
 verfal
 
 ON THE ARABS. 
 
 ^35 
 
 verfal tradition of 7^emen is, that Yoktan, the 
 foil of Eber, firfh fettled his family in that 
 country ; which fettlement, by the computation 
 admitted in Europe^ muft have been above three 
 thoufand fix hundred years ago, and nearly at 
 the time when the Hindus, under the condu6l 
 of Rama, were fubduing the firft inhabitants 
 of thefe regions, and extending the Indian em- 
 pire from AyLdhyjy or Aiidh^ as far as the ifle 
 oi Sinhal ox Silcin. According to this calcula- 
 tion, NuuMAN, king of Temen, m the nifith 
 generation from Eber, was contemporary with 
 Joseph ; and if a verfe compofed by that prince, 
 and quoted by Abulfeda, was really prelerved, 
 as it might eafily have been by oral tradition, it 
 proves the great antiquity of the yfr^Z-zW language 
 and metre. This is a literal veriion of the cou- 
 plet : ' When thou, who art in power, con- 
 ' du6lefi: affairs with courtefy, thou attainefl the 
 ' hisih honours of thofe who are moil: exalted, 
 ^ and whofe mandates are obeyed.' We are told, 
 that from an elegant verb in this diftich the 
 royal poet acquired the furname oi Almudafer^ 
 or the courteous. Now the reafons for believ- 
 ing this verfe genuine, are its brevity, which 
 made it eafy to be remembered, and the good 
 fenfe conprifed in it, which made it become 
 proverbial ; to which we may add, that the 
 diale6l is apparently old, and differs in three 
 
 K 4 words
 
 136 ON THE ARABS. 
 
 words from the idiom of Hejaz. The reafons 
 for doubting are, that fentences and verfes of 
 indefinite antiquity are fometimes afcribed by 
 the Arabs to particular perfons of eminence ; 
 and they even go fo far as to cite a pathetick 
 elegy of Adam himfelf on the death of Abel, 
 but in very good Arablck and correct meafure. 
 Such are the doubts which neceffarily muft 
 arife on fuch a fubjedl, yet we have no need of 
 ancient monuments or traditions to prove all 
 that our analvfis requires ; namely, that the 
 Arabs, both of Hejdz and Yemen, fprang from 
 a flock entirely different from that of the Hindus^ 
 and that their firft eftablifhments in the re- 
 l'pe6live countries where we now find them, 
 were nearly coeval. 
 
 I cannot finifh this article without obferv- 
 jng, that when the king of Demnark''?', mini- 
 fters inflrucced the DaniftJ travellers to collect 
 hijiorical books in Arabic k, but not to bufy 
 themfelves with procuring Arabian foems, they 
 certainly were ignorant that the only monu- 
 ments of old Arabian Hiftory are coUeSions of 
 poetical pieces, and the commentaries on them; 
 that all memorable traniaclions in Ai-.ahla were 
 recorded in verfe ; and that more certain fa£ls 
 may be known by reading the Hamafah, the 
 Diwan of Hudhail, and the valuable work of 
 ObaiduIIah, than by turning over a hundred 
 
 volunacs
 
 ON THE ARABS. I37 
 
 volumes in profe, unlefs indeed thofe poems are 
 cited by the hiftorians as their authorities. 
 
 IV. The manners of the Hejaz) Arabs, which 
 have continued we know from the time of 
 Solomon to the prefent age, were by no means 
 favourable to the cultivation of arts ; and as to 
 fciences, we have no reafon to believe that they 
 were acquainted w^th any ; for the mere amufe- 
 ment of giving names to ftars, wdiich were 
 iifeful to them in their pafroral or predatory 
 rambles throusih the deferts, and in their obfer- 
 vations on the weather, can hardly be con- 
 fidered as a material part of aftronomy. The 
 only arts in which they pretended to excellence 
 (I except horfemanfliip and military accom- 
 plifhments), were poetry and rhetor'ick: that 
 we have none of their compofitions in profe 
 before the Koran, may be afcribed, perhaps, 
 to the little (kill which they feem to have had 
 in writing ; to their prediiedtion in favour of 
 poetical meafure, and to the facility with which 
 verfes are committed to memory ; but all their 
 flories prove that they were eloquent in a high 
 degree, and pofiefled wonderful powers of 
 fpeaking without preparation in flowing and 
 forcible periods. I have never been able to 
 difcover what was meaned by their book called 
 Rawhhn, but fuppofe that they were collec- 
 tions of their common or cuflomary law. 
 
 Writing
 
 iqS ON THE ARABS.. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Writing was fo little pra6tlfecl among them^ 
 that their old poems, which are now accefiible 
 to us, may almoft be conlidered as originally 
 ■unwritten ; and I am inclined to think, that 
 Samuel Johnson's reafoning on the extreme 
 imperfection of unwritten languages, was too 
 general ; fince a language that is only fpoken 
 may neverthelefs be highly poliflied by a peo- 
 ple who, like the ancient Arabs, make the 
 improvement of their idiom a national concern, 
 appoint folemn allemblies for the purpofe of dif- 
 playing their poetical talents, and hold it a duty 
 to exercife their children in getting by heart 
 their mofi: approved comipoiitions. 
 
 The people of Tcmen had pofiibly more me- 
 chanical arts, and, perhaps, roore Jcz en ce ; but 
 although their ports mufl: have been the em- 
 pona of conliderable commerce between Egypi 
 and India, or part of Per/ia, yet we have no 
 certain proofs of their proiiciency in navigation 
 or even in manufaclures. That the Arabs of 
 the Defert had mufical inftruments, and names 
 for the ditTerent notes, and that they were 
 greatly delighted with melody, wc know from 
 themfeives \ but their lutes and pipes were 
 probably very limple, and their raufick, I fuf- 
 pe£t, was little more than a natural and tune- 
 ful recitation of their elegiack verfes and love- 
 fongs. The fingular property of their lan- 
 guage in fliunnipg compound words, may be 
 
 urgedj
 
 ON THE ARABS. 1391 
 
 urged, according to Bacon's idea, as a proof 
 that they had made no progrefs in arts^ * which 
 ' require, fays he, a variety of combinations to 
 
 * exprefs the complex notions arifing frorn. 
 
 * them ;' but the fmgularity may perhaps be 
 imputed wholly to the genius of the language, 
 and the tafte of thofe who fpoke it ; fmce the 
 old Germans^ v/ho knew no art, appear to have 
 delighted in compound words, which poetry 
 and oratory, one w'ould conceive, might re- 
 quire as much as any meaner art whatfoever. 
 
 So great on the whole was the ftrength of 
 parts or capacity, either natural or acquired 
 from habit, for which the Arabs were ever dil- 
 tinguiilied, that we cannot be furprifed wheri 
 we fee that blaze of genius which they dif? 
 played as fir as their arms extended ; when 
 they burft, like their own dyke of Arim, 
 through their ancient limits, and fpread, like 
 an inundation, over the great empire of Iran, 
 That a race of I'azis, or Courfers, as the Per- 
 jians call them, ' who drank the milk of ca- 
 
 * mels and fed on lizards^ fhould entertain a 
 ' thought of fubduing the kingdom of Fe- 
 
 * RiDUN,* was confidered by the general of 
 Yezdegird's armv as the ftronoeft inftance of 
 fortune's levity and mutability ; but Flrdauji 
 a complete mailer of AJiat'ick manners, and 
 fingularly impartial, reprefents tlie Arabs y even 
 
 in
 
 140 ON THE ARABS. 
 
 in the age of Feridun, as ' difclaiming any 
 
 * kind of dependance on that monarch, ex- 
 ' ultlng in their liberty, dehghtlng in elo- 
 
 * quence, a61:s of liberality, and martial at- 
 
 * chievements ; and thus making the whole 
 ^ earth, fays the poet, red as wine with the 
 ^ blood of their foes, and the air like a foreft of 
 ^ canes with their tall fpears.' With fuch a 
 ehara(fter they were likely to conquer any 
 country that they could invade ; and if Alex- 
 ander had invaded their dominions, they 
 would, uriqueflionably, have made an obftinate, 
 and probably a fuccefsful, refiftance. 
 
 But I have detained you too long, Gentle- 
 men, with a nation who have ever been my fa- 
 vourites, and hope, at oiu' next anniverfary 
 meeting, to travel with you over a part of ^fta, 
 which exhibits a race of men diftincl both from 
 the Hindus and from the Arabs.- In the mean 
 time it fhall be my care to fuperintend the 
 publication of your Tranfa6lions ; in which, if 
 the learned in Europe have not raifed their ex- 
 pedations too high, they will not, I believe, 
 be difappointed : my own imperfecl eflays I 
 always except ; but, though my other en- 
 gagements have prevented my attendance on 
 your Society for the greatefl: part of laft year, 
 and I have fet an 'example of that freedorn 
 from reftraint, without which no Society cau 
 
 flourifli^.
 
 ON THE ARABS. I41 
 
 flonrifli, yet as my few hours of lelfure will 
 now be devoted to Sa7ifcnt literature, I cannot 
 but hope, though my chief object be a know- 
 ledge of Hindu law, to make fome difcovery in 
 other fciences, which I fhall impart with hu- 
 mility, and which you will, I doubt not, re- 
 ceive with indulgence. 
 
 DIS-
 
 ( M2 ) 
 
 DISSERTATION V, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 TARTARS. 
 
 ^^EING THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY DISCOURSE 
 DELIVERED TO THE SOCIETY FEB. 21, I 788; 
 
 AT the clofe of my laft addrefs to yoii^ 
 Gentlemen, I declared my delign of in- 
 troducing to your notice a people oi Afia^ who 
 feemed as different in mofh refpeds from the 
 Hindus and Arahs^ as thofe two nations had 
 been fhewn to differ from each other ; I mean 
 the people whom we call Tartars: but I 
 enter with extreme diffidence on my prefent 
 fubje^l, becaufe I have little knowledge of the 
 Tartarian diale6ls ; and the srrofs errors of Hii- 
 ropean writers on Afiatick literature have long- 
 convinced me, that no fatisfadory account can 
 be given of any nation, with whofe language 
 we are not perfectly acquainted. Such evi- 
 dence, however, as I have procured by attentive 
 
 readins:
 
 ON THE TARTARS. lAj 
 
 leading and fcrupuloiis inquiries, I will now 
 lay before you, interfperfing fuch rennarks as I 
 could not but make on that evidence, and fub- 
 mittingthe whole to your impartial decifion. 
 
 Conformably to the method before adopted 
 in defcribing Arabia and India, I confider Tar^ 
 tarv alfo, for the purpofe of this difcourfe, on 
 its moft exteniive fcale, and requefl your at- 
 tention, whilil: I trace the larged: boundaries 
 that are aflignable to it. Conceive a line drawn 
 from the m.outa of the Ohy to that of the 
 Dnieper, and, bringing it back eaflward crofs 
 the Euxine, fo as to include the peninfula of 
 Krim, extend it along the foot of Caucafus, by 
 the rivers Cur and AraSy to the Cafpia?i lake, 
 from the oppofite fliore of which, follow the 
 courfe of the Jaihun and the chain of Cciu- 
 cajian hills as far as thofe of Imaus ; whence 
 continue the line beyond the Chinefe' \W2\\ to the 
 White Mountain and the country of Teifo ; 
 Ikirting the borders of P^r/?^, India, China, Corea, 
 but including part of Kujjla, with all the dif- 
 tri6ls which lie between the Glacial fea and 
 xk\2X o{ 'Japan. M. De Guignes, whofe great 
 work on the Hum abounds more in folid learn- 
 ing than in rhetorical ornaments, prefents us, 
 however, with a ma2;nificent imag-e of this 
 wide region ; defcribing it as a ftupendous edi- 
 fice, the beams and pillars of which are many 
 
 ranges
 
 J44 ^N '^"■^ TARTARS^ 
 
 ranges of lofty hills, and the dome, one pro* 
 digbus mountain, to which the Chhlefe glv^ 
 the epithet of cckjlial^ with a confiderabk 
 number of broad rivers flowing down its fide?. 
 If the manfion be fo amazingly fublime, the 
 land around it is proportlonably extended, but 
 more wonderfally diverfified ; for fome parts of 
 it are incrufted with ice, others parched with 
 inflamed air, and covered with a kind of lava; 
 here we meet with immenfe trails of fandy de- 
 ferts and forefh almoft impenetrable ; there, 
 with gardens, groves, and meadows, perfumed 
 with mulks, watered by numberlefs rivulets, 
 and abounding in fruits and flowers ; and from 
 call: to weft lie many conflderabie province?, 
 which appear as v^aiieys in comparifon of the 
 hills towering above them, but in truth are the 
 flat fummits of the higheft mountains in the 
 world, or at leaft the higheft in Afia. Near one 
 fourth in latitude of this extraordinary region is 
 in the fame charming climate with Gr^^^r^, Italy ^ 
 and Frovence ; and another fourth in that of £;2^- 
 land^ Germany^ and the northern parts oiFrance ; 
 but the Hyperborean countries can have few 
 beauties to recommend them, at leaft in the pre- 
 fent ftate of the earth's tem.peratu re : to the fouth, 
 on the frontiers of Ircji are the beautiful vales 
 o^ So^hd. with the celebrated cities oi Samarkand 
 TiwA Bokhara •, on thofe of T/^^/ arc the territories 
 
 of
 
 , dN THE TARTARS. ' I45 
 
 Xyi'Cnpghar^KhGte'n.ChegiU^w^Khath^ all famed 
 forpeifames, and for the beauty of their inha- 
 bitants ; and on thofe of China lies the country 
 of Ch'm^ anciently a powerful kingdom ; which 
 ilame, like that of Khata^ has in modern times 
 been given to the whole Chinefe empire, where 
 fuch an appellation would be thought an infult. 
 We muft not omit the fine territory of Tancut^ 
 which was known to the Greeks by the name of 
 Suica, and confidered by them as the fartheft 
 eaflern extremity of the habitable globe. 
 
 ScYTHiA feems to be the general name 
 which the ancient Europeafis gave to as much 
 as they knew of the country thus bounded and 
 defcribed ; but, whether that word be derived, 
 as Pliny feems to intimate, from Sacai, a 
 people known by a fimilar name to the G?~eeks 
 and Terfians \ or, as Bryant imagines, from 
 Cuthia ; or, as Colonel Vallancey believes,, 
 from w^ords denoting ;z^zr/g"^//57r, or, as it mighc 
 have been fuppofed, from a Greek root imply- 
 ing wrath and ferocity ; this at lead: is certain, 
 that as India, China^ Perfa, Japan, are not 
 appellations of 'thofe countries in the languages 
 of the nations who inhabit them, fo neither 
 Scythia nor Tartary are names by which the 
 inhabitants of the country now under our con- 
 fideration have ever diftinsjuifhed themfelves. 
 'Tatarijii'in is, indeed, a word ufed by the Per- 
 
 L ' Jians
 
 146 ON THE TARTARS. 
 
 Jians for the fbuth-vveflern part of Scythld^ 
 where the mulk-deer is faid to be common ; and 
 the name I'atar is by fome confidered as that 
 of a particular tribe ; by others, as that of 
 a fmali river only ; while T'uran, as oppofed to 
 Ja7//, feems to mean the ancient dominion of 
 Afroftah to the north and eaft of the Oxus. 
 There is nothing more idle than a debate con- 
 cerning the names, which after all are of little 
 confequence, when our ideas are diftiniSb with- 
 out them. Having given, therefore, a correct 
 notion of the country which I propofe to ex- 
 amine, I Ihall not fcmple to call it by the ge- 
 neral name of Tartary\ though I am confcious 
 of ufmg a term equally improper in the pro- 
 nunciation and the application of it. 
 
 Tartar Y then, which contained, accord- 
 ing to Pliny, an innumerable multitude of 
 nations, by whom the reft oi AJla and all Ett- 
 rope has in different ages been over-run, is 
 denominated, as various images have prefented 
 themfelves to various fancies, the great hive of 
 the northern fwarms, the nurfery of irrefiftible 
 legions, and, by a ftronger metaphor, the 
 foundery of the human race ; but M. Bailly, 
 a wonderfully ingenious man, and a very lively 
 writer, feems firfl: to have confidered it as the 
 ci'adle of our fpecies, and to have fupported am 
 opinion, that the whole ancient world was en- 
 lightened
 
 ON THE TARTARS. 14^ 
 
 lightened bj fciences brought from the moft 
 northern parts of Scythuiy particularly from 
 the banks of the Jenifea, or from the Hype?-- 
 horean regions : all the fables of old Greece^ 
 Italy ^ Per/ta, India^ he derives from the north ; 
 and it mufl: be owned, that he maintains his 
 paradox with acutenefs and learning. Great 
 learning and great acutenefs, together with the 
 charms of a moft engaging flyle, were indeed 
 neceffary to render even tolerable a fyftem 
 which places an earthly paradife, the gardens 
 of Hefpo'us, the iflaiids of the Macares^ the 
 groves of Elyjium if not of Ede?i, the heaven 
 of India, the Ferijian^ or fairy-land, of the 
 Perftan poets, with its city of diamonds and 
 its country of Shadcam, fo named from Plea- 
 fure and hove^ not in any climate which the 
 common fenfe of mankind confiders as the leat 
 of delights, but beyond the mouth of the Ohy 
 in the Frozen Sea, in a region equalled only by 
 that, where the wild imagination of Dante 
 led him to fix the worft of criminals in a flate 
 of punifhment after death, and of which he 
 could not, he fays, even think without fhiver- 
 ing. A very curious paflage in a tra61: of Plu- 
 tarch on the figure in the moon's orb, na- 
 turally induced M. Bailly to place Oo-j^'o-/^ in 
 the north, and he concludes that ifland, as 
 others have concluded rather falbcioufly, to be 
 
 L 3 the
 
 3 4^ CN THE TARTARS. 
 
 the Atlantis of Plato, but is at a lofs to de-* 
 terminc, whether it was Iceland or Greenland^ 
 Spitzbcrg or New Zcmhla. Among fo manj 
 charms, It was difficult, indeed, to give a pre- 
 ference ; but our philofopher, though as much 
 perplexed by an option of beauties as the (liep- 
 herd of Ida, feems, on the whole, to think 
 Zemhla the moft worthy of the golden fruit ; 
 becaufe it is indifputably an ifland, and lits 
 oppofiCe to a gulph near the Continent, from 
 which a 2;reat number of rivers dcfcend into 
 the ocean. 
 
 He appears equally diftreiTed among five na- 
 tions, real and imaginary, to fix upon that 
 which the Greeks named Atlantes ; and his con- 
 clufion in both cafes muft remind us of the 
 Showman at VAo'n^ who, having pointed out 
 in his box all the crowned heads of the world, 
 and being alked by the fchool-boys, who 
 looked through the glafs, which was the Em- 
 peror, which the Popi^, which the Sultan, and 
 which the Great Mogul, anfwered eagerly, 
 *' Which you pleafe, young gentlemen, which 
 *' you pleafe." Hii letters, however, to Vol- 
 taire, in which he unfolds his new fyftem to 
 his friend, whom he had not been able to con- 
 vince, are by no means to be derided ; and his 
 general propofition, that arts and fciences had 
 their fource in T^artary^ deferves a longer exa- 
 mination than can be given to it in this Dif- 
 
 courfe :
 
 ON THE TARTARS. 149 
 
 courfe : I Ihall, neverthelefs, with your per- 
 mlffion,. fliortly difcufs the queftion under the 
 Icveral heads that will prefent themfelves in 
 order. 
 
 Although we niay naturally fuppofe, 
 that the numberlefs conr.munities of Tartars, 
 fome of whonn are eflabliihed in great cities, 
 and fome encan:iped on plains in ambulatory 
 manfions, which they remove from pafture to 
 pafture, muft be as different in their features as 
 in their dialects, yet among thole who have not 
 emierated into another country, and mixed 
 with another nation, we m,ay dilbcrn a family 
 likenefs, efpecially in their eyes and counte- 
 nance, and in that configuration (;f lineaments 
 which we generally call a Tartar face ; but, 
 without making anxious inquiries, whether all 
 the inhabitants of the vafl: region before de- 
 fcribed have fimilar features, we may conclude, 
 from thofe whom we havefeen, and from the 
 original portraits of Tai^mu'r and his dcfcend- 
 ants, that the Tartars, m general, differ wholly 
 in complexion and countenance from the Hin- 
 dus and from the ylrabs ; an obfervation, which 
 tends in fome degree to confirm the account 
 given by modern Tartars themfeUes, of their 
 defcent from a common ancefror. Unhappily 
 their lineage cannot be proved by autbentick 
 .pedigrees or hiftorical monuments ; for all their 
 writings extant, even thofc in the Mogul dia- 
 
 L 3 lea,
 
 15^ C>N THE TARTARS. 
 
 le£l, are long fubfeqnent to the time of 
 MuHAMMED ; nor is it poflible to diftinguiili 
 their genuine traditions from thofe of the Arahs^ 
 whofe reHgious opinions they have in general 
 adopted. At the beginning of the fourteenth 
 century, Khwajah, furnamed Fad'Lu^llah, a 
 native of iiT^^ziv';/, compiled his account of the 
 Tartars and Mongals from the papers of one 
 Pu'la*d, whom the great-grandfon of Hol acu^ 
 had fent into 'Tatnrijidn for the fole pur- 
 pofe of collefting hiflorical information ; and 
 the commiffion itfelf flievvs, how little the 
 Tartarian Princes really knew of their own 
 origin. From this work of Rashi^d, and from 
 other materials, Abu'lgha'zi', King o^ Khwa-r 
 rezfn^ compofed in tlie Mogul language his 
 Genealogical Hifiory, which having betn pur- 
 chafed from a merchant at Bokhara by fomo 
 SwediJId officers, prifoners of war in Siberia^ 
 has found its way into feveral European tongues : 
 it contains much valuable matter, but, like all 
 Muhammeijan hiftories, exhibits tribes orna- 
 tions as individual fovereigns ; and if Baron 
 De Tott had not ftrangely negle^ed to pro- 
 cure a copy of the Tartarian hiilory, for the 
 orklnal of which he unnecefiarilv offered a 
 large fum, v/e fhould probably have found, that 
 it begins with an account of the Deluge, taken 
 from the Koran, and proceeds to rank Turc,
 
 ON THE TARTARS. I _5 I 
 
 ChiV, Tata'r, and Mongal, among the 
 fons of Ya'fet. The genuine traditional hif- 
 tory of the Tartars^ in all the hooks that I 
 have infpe(5led, feems to begin with Oghu^z, 
 as that of the H'maiis does with Ra'ma : they 
 place their miraculous Flero and Patriarch four 
 thoufand years before Chengiz Kha'n, who 
 was born in the year 1164, and with whofe 
 reign their hiftorical period com^mences. It is 
 rather furprifuig, that M. Bailly, who 
 makes frequent appeals to Etymological argu- 
 ments, has not derived Ogyges from Oghu'z, 
 and Atlas from Altai, or the Golden Moun- 
 tain of Taf'tarv : the Greek terminations mieht 
 have been reje^led from both words ; and a 
 mere tranfpofition of letters is no difficulty 
 with an Etymologifl. 
 
 My remarks in this addrefs, Gentlemen, 
 will be confined to the period preceding 
 Chengiz ; and althou2;h the learned labours 
 of M. De GuiGNEs, and the Fathers Visde- 
 Lou, Demailla, and Gaubil, who have 
 made an incomparable ufe of their Chhiefe lite' 
 rature, exhibit probable accounts of the Tar^ 
 tars from a very early age, yet the old hifto- 
 rians of China were not only foreign, but ge- 
 nerally hoftile, to them ; and for both thofe 
 reafons, either through ignorance or malignity, 
 may be fufpefted of mifreprefenting their tran- 
 fadlions : if they fpeak truth, the ancient hiflory 
 
 L 4 of
 
 152 ON THE TARTiMlS, 
 
 of the Tartars prefents us, like moft other hif? 
 torieF, with a leries of affaflinations, plots, 
 treafons, mafiacres, and all the natural fruitsi 
 of fclfilh ambition. I fhould have no inclina- 
 tion to give you a fketch of fuch horrors, evea 
 if the occailon called for it ; and will barely ob- 
 ferve, that the firft King pf the Byhu-min^ or 
 Huns, began his reign, according to V'isdelou, 
 about three thoufand five hundred and fixty 
 years ago, not long after the rime fixed in my 
 former Difcourfes for thefirfl: regular eftabliih- 
 raent of the Hindus and Arabs in their feveraj 
 countries. 
 
 I. Our firfl: inquiry, concerning the lan^ 
 guages and letters of the Tartars^ prefents ug 
 with a deplorable void, or with a profpe(5l as 
 barren and dieary as that of their deferts. The 
 Tartars, in general, had no literature (in this 
 point all authorities appear to concur) -, the Turcs 
 had no letters; the Buns, according to Proco- 
 pius, had not even heard of them ; the mag- 
 nificent Cheng !Z, whofe empire included aa 
 area of near eighty fquare degrees, could finti 
 none of his own Mongai.s, as the bell: authors 
 inform us, able to write his difpatches ; and 
 Tai'mu'r, a favage of ftrong natural parts, 
 and paflionatcly fond of hearing hiilories read to 
 him, could himfelf neither write nor read. It 
 is true, that Ibnu Arabsha'h mentions a fet of 
 chara6lers, called Dilbcrjm, which were ufed in 
 
 Khata :
 
 ON THE TARTARS, . I5] 
 
 Khaih: " he had {qqu. them/* he fays, " and 
 ^* found them to confift of forty-one letters, 
 ?' a diftui6l fymbol being appropriated to each 
 *' long and fhort vowel, and to each confonaat 
 ^'' hard or foft, or otherwife varied in pronun- 
 *' ciation :" but Khata was in fouthern Tar^ 
 tary^ on the confines of hidia ; and, from his 
 defcription of the chara6lers there in ufe, we 
 cannot but fufpecl them to have been thofe of 
 Tibet, which are manifeftly India?!, bearing a 
 greater refemblance to thofe of Bengal than ta 
 Tiivanagari. The learned and eloquent Jlrah 
 adds, " that the Tatars of Khata write 
 ^' in the DUberj'm letters all their tales and hiA 
 ^' tories ; their journals, poems, and mifcel- 
 ^' lanies ; their diplomas, records of ftate and 
 '' juftice, the laws of Chengiz, their publick 
 *' regifters, and their compofitions of every 
 ^' fpecies.'* if this be true, the people of 
 Khata mufl have been a polifhed and even a 
 lettered nation ; and it may be true, without 
 afFe61:ing the general poiition, that the Tartars 
 were illiterate; but Ibmu Arabsha'h was a 
 profeffed rhetorician, and it is impoffible to read 
 the original paflage, without full convicflion 
 that his object in writing it was to difplay his 
 power of words in a flov/ing and modulated 
 period. He fays further, that in Jaghatde, the 
 people of O'ghur, as he calk them, have a 
 
 fyftem
 
 154 ^^ 'r^^E TARTARS. 
 
 fyftem of fourteen letters only, denominated 
 from themfelves 0'ighiir\\ and thofe are thecha- 
 raclers which the Mongals are fuppofed, by 
 fome authors, to have borrowed. Abid^ha%i 
 tells us only, that Chengiz employed the na- 
 tives of £/^/6//r as excellent penmen, but the 
 Chinefe affert that he was forced to employ 
 them, becaule he had no writers at all amone 
 his natural born fubje'5s ; and we are affured 
 by many, that KublaikhaV ordered letters 
 to be invented for his nation by a Tihetian, 
 whom he rewarded with the dignity of Chief 
 Lama. The fmall number of EWMn letters 
 might induce us to believe, that they were 
 Zend or Pahiav), which mufl have been cur- 
 rent in that country, when it was governed by 
 the fons of Feeidu^n ; and if the alphabet 
 afcribed to the Etghurians by M. Des Hau- 
 TESRAYEs be corrctl, we may fafely decide, 
 that in many of its letters it refembles both the 
 Ze?id and the Syriack, with a remarkable dif- 
 ference in the mode of conne6ling them ; bur, 
 as we can fcarce hope to fee a genuine fpecimen 
 of them., our doubt mud: remain in regard to 
 their form and origin. The page exhibited by 
 Hyde as Khatavan writing, is evidently a 
 fort of broken Cu'sick ; and the fne m.anu-p 
 fcript at O^^/d/r^/, from vvhieh it was taken, is 
 fQore probably a Mendsan work on fome re^- 
 
 lij^ious
 
 ON THE TARTAHS. I55 
 
 }igious fubje6l, than, as he imagined, a code of 
 Tartarian laws. That very learned man ap- 
 pears to have made a worfe miilake in givi'^g 
 us for Mongal chara£lers a page of writing, 
 which has the appearance cf Japafiefe or mu- 
 tilated Chinefe letters. 
 
 If the T^artars in general, as we have every 
 reafon to believe, had no written memorials, it 
 cannot be thought wonderful, that their lan- 
 o-uao-es, like thofe of America^ fliould have 
 been in perpetual flu6luation, and that more than 
 fifty dialeds, as Hyde had been credibly in- 
 formed, fhould be fpoken between Mofcow and 
 Ch'ma, by the many kindred tribes, or their fe- 
 veral branches, which are enumerated by 
 Abu'lghV^i'. What thofe dialeds are, and 
 whether they really fprang from a commoi> 
 flock, we fliall probably learn from Mr, 
 Pallas, and other indefatigable men employed 
 by the Ruffian Court ; and it is from \.\\<t Rufians 
 that we muft exped the mofl accurate in- 
 formation concerning their Afiatick fubjecls. I 
 perfuade myfelf, that if their inquiries be ju- 
 dicioufiy made and faithfully reported, the re- 
 fuhof them will prove, that all the languages 
 properly Tartar ia?i arofe from one common 
 fource ; excepting always the jargons of luch 
 wanderers or mountaineers, as, having long 
 been divided from the main body of the nation, 
 
 mufl
 
 Ij;6 ON THE TARTARS. 
 
 mufl in a courfe of ages have framed feparate 
 idioms for themfelves. The only Tartarian 
 language of which I have any knowledge is, 
 the Turkijfj of Conjiantinople^ which is, how- 
 ever, fo copious, that whoever (hail know it 
 perfectly, will eafily iinderftand, as we are 
 afllired by intelligent authors, the diale(51:s of 
 fTatarijidn % and we may collect from Abu'l- 
 GHA^zi', that he would find little difficulty ir» 
 the Calmac and the Mogul. I will not offend 
 your ears by a dry catalogue of fimilar words in 
 thofe different languages ; but a careful invefti- 
 gation has convinced me, that as the hi- 
 dian and Arabian tongues are feverally de- 
 fcended from a common parent, fo thofe of 
 *Tartary might be traced to one ancient flcm, 
 efientially differing from the two others. It 
 appears indeed, from a ftory told by Abu'lgha'- 
 ^i', that the Firats and the Mongals could not 
 vinderftand each other ; but no m.ore can the 
 Danes and the Englifi, yet their dialects, be- 
 yond a doubt, are branches of the fame Gothic k 
 tree. The dialect of the Moguh, in which 
 fome hiftories of Tai^mu'r and his defcendants 
 were originally compofed, is called in India y 
 where a learned native fet me right when I 
 u fed another word, 7ura', not that it is pre- 
 eifely the fame with the TurkiJJj of the 0th- 
 f^atilus, but the two idioms differ, perhaps,
 
 ON THE TARTARS. 
 
 157 
 
 lefs than SwediJJo and German^ or Spantfn and 
 Fortuguefe, and certainly lefs than /^^ and 
 /r//Z'. In hope of afcertainingthis point, I hav^e 
 Ions: fearched in vain for the ori spinal works 
 afcribed to Tai'mu'r and Ba'ber ; but all the 
 Moguls with whom I have converfed in this 
 country, refemble the crow in one of their 
 popular fables, who, having long afl-eded to 
 walk hke a pheafant, was unable after all to 
 acquire the gracefulnefs of that elegant bird, 
 and in the mean time unlearned his own na- 
 tural gait : they have not learned the dialecl of 
 Perjta, but have wholly forgotten that of their 
 anceftors. 
 
 A VERY confiderable part of the old Tarta-- 
 rian language, which in Afia would probably 
 have been loft, is happily preferved in Europe ; 
 and if the ground-work of the Weftern 
 Turki/h^ when feparated from the Perjian and 
 Arahkk^ with which it is embelliflied, be a 
 branch of the loft Oghuzian tongue, I can afiert 
 with confidence, that it has not the leaft re- 
 fern blance either to Arabic k or Sanfcrit, and 
 muft have been invented by a race of men 
 wholly drftindt from the Arabs or Hindus, 
 This fa6l alone overfets the fyftem of M, 
 Bailly, whoconftdersth Sanfcrii^ of which he 
 gives in feveral places a moft erroneous account, 
 as a hae monument of his primeval Srjhians, 
 
 the
 
 158 ON THE TARTARS. 
 
 the preceptors of mankind, and planters of i 
 fublime philofophy even in Imiia ; for he 
 holds it an inconteflible truth, that a lanofuaee 
 which is dead, fuppofes a nation which is de- 
 flroyed ; and he fecms to think fuch reafoning 
 perfectly decifive of the qiieltion, without hav- 
 ing Tecourfe to agronomical arguments, or 
 the fpirit of ancient inftitutions : for my part^ 
 I defire no better proof than that which the 
 language of the Bra^hmans affords, of an 
 immemorial and total difference beween the 
 Savages of the mountains, as the old Chinefe 
 jufliy called the Tartars^ and the iludious, 
 placid, contemplative inhabitants of thefe 
 Indian plains. 
 
 II. The geographical reafoning of M. Bailly 
 may, perhaps, be thought equally fnallow^ 
 if not inconfiftent in lome degree with itfelfi 
 " An adoration of the Sun and of the Fire,"" 
 fays he, " mud neceflarily have arifenin a cold 
 " region ; therefore, it mufl have been foreign 
 *' to India^ Perjia^ Arabia -y therefore it mufl 
 *' have been derived from Tartary,'*' No 
 man, I believe, who has travelled in winter 
 through Bahar^ or has even pafied a cold fea- 
 fon at Calcutta^ within the tropick, can doubt 
 that the folar warmth is often defirable by all, 
 and might haVe been confidered as adorable by 
 the ignorant, in thefe climates ; or that the re- 
 turn
 
 ON TliE TARTARS. IJ^ 
 
 turnof fpringdeferves all the falutations which 
 it receives from the Perjtan and Indian poets ; 
 not to rely ou certain hiftorical evidence, that 
 AntARAH, a celebrated warriour and bard, 
 actually periihed with cold on a mountain of 
 Arabia. To meet, however, an obje6lion, 
 which might naturally be made to the volun- 
 tary fettlement, and amazing population, of 
 his primitive race in the icy regions of the 
 north, he takes refuge in the hypotheiis of 
 M. BuFFON, who imagines that our whole 
 slobe was at firfl of a white heat, and has been 
 gradually cooling from the poles to the equa- 
 tor ; fo that the Hyperborean countries had once 
 a delightful temperature, and Siberia itfelf was 
 even hotter than the climate of our temperate 
 zones, that is, was in too hot a clim^ate, by his 
 firft proportion, for the primary worinip of the 
 fun. That the tem.perature of countries has 
 not fuftained a change in the iapfe of ages, I 
 will by no means inliil ; but we can hardly 
 reafon concluiively from a variation of tempe- 
 rature to the cultivation and diffufion of fcience. 
 If as many female elephants and tygreffes as 
 we now find in Bengal had formerly littered 
 in the Siberian foreils, and if their young, as 
 the earth cooled, had fought a genial warmtk 
 in the climates of the fouth, it vvould not fol- 
 low that other fava2:es, w^ho mi2:rated m the 
 
 fame
 
 l6o ^ ON THE TAfiTAivS', 
 
 fame cIlre<flion, and on the fanne accoirnt^' 
 brought rehgion and philofophy, language and 
 writing, art and fcienccj into the fouthera 
 latitudes. 
 
 We are told by Abu*lgha'zi^ that the pri- 
 mitive religion of human creatures, or the pure 
 adoration of One Creator, prevailed in Tartary 
 during the firft generations from Ya'fet, but 
 was extin6: before the birth of Oghu'z, who 
 rellored it in his dominions ; that, fome ages 
 after him, the Mongah and the Turcs relapfed 
 into grofs idolatry ; but that Cheng jz was a 
 Theill, and, in a converfation with the Mu- 
 hammedan Dodlors, admitted their arguments 
 for the being and attributes of the Deity to be 
 tinanfvverable, while he contefled the evidence 
 of their Prophet's legation. From old Grecian 
 authorities we learn, that the MujJ'agetce wor- 
 fhipped the Sun ; and the narrative of an em- 
 bally from Justin to the Khaka'n, or Em- 
 peror, who then redded in a fine vale near the 
 fource of the Irtijh, mentions the Tartarian 
 ceremony of purifying t\\Q Roman Aiiibajfadors^ 
 by condu6ling them between two fires. 1 he 
 Tartars of chat asie are reprefented as adorers of 
 the four elements, and believers in an invifible 
 fpirit, to whom they facrificed bulls and rams. 
 Modern travellers relate, that, in the feftivals 
 of fome Tartarian tribes, they pour a few drops 
 
 of
 
 ON THE TARTARS, l6l 
 
 of a confecrated liquor on the ftatues of their 
 'Gods ; after which an attendant fprinkles a 
 little of what renaains three times towards the 
 Touth in honour of fire, towards the weft and 
 eaft in honour of water and air, and as often 
 towards the north in honour of the earth, 
 •which containe ; the reliques of their deceafed 
 anceftors : now all this may be very true, 
 without proving a national affinity between the 
 Tartars and Hindus ; for the Arabs adored the 
 planets and the pov/ers of nature ; the Arabs 
 had carved images, and made libations on a 
 black ftone ; the Arabs turned in prayer to dif- 
 ferent quarters of the heavens ; yet we know 
 with certainty, that the Arabs are a diiiintfl 
 race from the Tartars ; and we might as well 
 infer, that they were the f\me people, becaufe 
 they had each his Nomades, or wanderers for 
 pafture ; and becaufe the lurcmans, defcribed 
 bylsNU Arabsha'h, and by him called Tatars, 
 are like muft. Arabian tribes, paftoral and war- 
 like, hofpitable and generous, wintering and 
 fummering on different plains, and rich in 
 herds and flocks, horfes and camels ; but this 
 agreement in manners proceeds from the fimi- 
 lar nature of their feveral deferts, and their limi- 
 lar choice of a free rambling life, without 
 evincing a community of origin, which they 
 could fcarce have had without preferving fome 
 remnant at leaft of a common language. 
 
 M Many
 
 l62 ON THE TARTARS. 
 
 Many Lamas, we are affured, or Priefls 
 of Buddha, have been found fettled in Siberia ; 
 but it can hardly be doubted, that the Lamas 
 had travelled thither from Tibet, whence it is 
 more than probable, that the reUgion of the 
 Buddha's was imported into Southern Chinefe 
 I'arlary ; fince we know, that rolls of 'Tibeiian 
 writing have been brought even from the bor- 
 ders of the Cafpian. The complexion of 
 Buddha himfelf, which, according to the Htn- 
 dus, was between white and ruddy, w^ould per- 
 haps have convinced M. Bailly, had he 
 known the Indian tradition, that thelaft great 
 legiflator and God of the Eaft was a Tartar ; 
 but the Chinefe confidcr him as a native of 
 India \ the Brahmins infift, that he was born in 
 a foreft near Gay a ; and many reafons may lead 
 us to fufpecl, that his religion was carried from 
 the weft and the fouth to thofe eaftern and 
 northern countries, in which it prevails. On 
 the whole, we meet with f^w or no traces in 
 Scythia of Indian rites and fuperilitions, or of 
 that poetical mythology with which the xS"^;?- 
 fcrit poems are decorated ; and we may allow 
 the Tartars to have adored the Sun with more 
 reafon than any fouthern people, without ad- 
 mittino; them to have been the fole ori2;inal in- 
 ventors of that univerfal folly : w^e may even 
 -doubt the originality of their veneration for the 
 four elements, which forms a principal part of the 
 
 ritual
 
 ON THE TARTARS. 163 
 
 ritual introduced by Zera'tusht, a native of 
 Rat in Perjta, born in the reiga of Gushtasf, 
 whofe fon Pashu^ten is believed by the P.'^rfi^s 
 to have refided long in T^artary^ at a place called 
 Cangidir^ where a magnificent palace is faid to 
 have been built by the father of Cyrus, and 
 where the Perjia7i prince, who was a zealot in 
 the new faith, would naturally have diiiemi- 
 nated its tenets among the n'eighbouring Tar- 
 tars. 
 
 Of any philofophy, except natural ethicks, 
 which the rudeft fociety requires and experience 
 teaches, we find no more veftiges in j^fiatkk 
 ^artary and Scythia, than in ancient Arabia -, 
 nor would the name of a philofopher and a 
 Scythian have been ever connecled, if Aiincharjis 
 had not vifited Athens and Lydia for that in- 
 fl:ru61:ion which his birth-place could not have 
 afforded him. But Anacharsis was the fon 
 of a Grecian woman, who had taught him her 
 language, and he foon learned to defpife his 
 own. He was unqueftionably a man of a found 
 luiderftanding and fine parts ; and among the 
 lively fayings which gained him the reputa- 
 tion of a wit even in Greece, it is related by 
 Diogenes Laertius, that when an Athenian 
 reproached him with being a Scythian, he an- 
 fwered, * My country is indeed a difgrace to 
 ' me, but thou art a dilgrace to thy country.^ 
 What his country was in regard to manners and 
 
 M z civil
 
 164 ON THE TARTARS. 
 
 civil duties, we may learn from his fate in it 5 
 for when, on his return from Athens, he at- 
 tempted to reform it hy intruding the wife 
 laws of his friend Solon, he was killed in a 
 hunting party with an arrow fhot by his own 
 brother, a Scythian chieftain. Such was the 
 philofophy of M. Bailly's Atlantes, the 
 iirft and moft enlightened of nations ! We are 
 aflured, however, by the learned author of the 
 t)ahijlan^ that the Tartars under Chengiz and 
 his deicendants were lovers of truth ; and 
 would not even preferve their lives by a viola- 
 tion of it. De Guignes afcribes the fame ve- 
 racity, the parent of all virtues, to the Huns ; 
 and Strabo, who might only mean to lafh 
 the Greeks by praifing Barbarians as Horace 
 extolled the wandering Scythians, merely to 
 fatirize his luxurious countrymen, informs us, 
 that the nations of Scythia deferved the praife 
 due to wifdom, heroick friendfliip, and juftice ; 
 and this praife we may readily allow them on 
 his authority, without fuppofing them to have 
 been the preceptors of mankind. 
 
 As to the laws of Zamolxis, concerninsf 
 whom we know as little as of the Scythiayi 
 Deucalion, or of Abaris the Hyperborean^ 
 and to whofe ftorv even Herodotus eave no 
 credit, I lament, for many reafons, that if 
 ever they exifted they have not been preferved : 
 it is certain that a fyflem of laws, called Tafdc, 
 
 has
 
 ON THE TARTARS. 1 65 
 
 has been celebrated in Tariary fince the time of 
 Chengiz, who is faid to have repubUlhed 
 them in his empire, as his inilitutions were 
 afterwards adopted and enforced by Taimu'r ; 
 but they feem to have been a common or tra- 
 ditionary law, and were probably not reduced 
 into writing till Chengiz had conquered a 
 nation who were able to write. 
 
 III. Had the religious opinions and allegorical 
 fables of the Hindus been a61:ually borrowed 
 from Scythia, travellers mud have difcovered 
 in that country fome antient monuments of 
 them, fuch as pieces of grotefque fculpture, 
 images of the Gods and Avatars, and infcrip- 
 tions on pillars or in caverns, analogous to thofe 
 which remain in every part of the weftern pe- 
 ninfula, or to thofe which many of us have 
 feen in Bahar and at Banaras ; but (except a 
 few detached idols) the only great monuments 
 of Tartarian antiquity are a line of ramparts 
 on the weft and eaft of the Cafpian, afcribed 
 indeed by ignorant Mufelmans to Ya'ju'j and 
 MajuJ, or Gog and Magog, that is to the Scy- 
 thians, but manifeftly raifed by a very dif- 
 ferent nation, in order to ftop their predatory 
 inroads through the paffes of Caucafus. The 
 Cbineje wall was built or finished on a iimilar 
 conftruiflion, and for a Iimilar purpofe, by an 
 Emperor who died only two hundred and ten 
 years before the begin nnig of our era ; and the 
 
 M 3 other
 
 l66 ON THE TARTARS. 
 
 Other mounds were very probably conftrucled 
 by the olei Pe Jlans^ though, hke many works of 
 unknown or gin, they are given to Secander ; 
 not the Macedonian^ but a more ancient hero, 
 fuppofed by fome to have been Jemifj'/d. It is 
 related, that pyramids and tombs hive been 
 found in Tatlirifilm, or V/eftern Scyihia, and 
 fbme remnaiits o( edifices in the lake Saifan ; 
 that veftiges of a deferted city have been re- 
 cently difcovered by the KuJJlam near the 
 Cafpian fea, and the Mountahi of Eagles ; and 
 that golden ornaments and uteniiis, figures of 
 elks and other quadrupeds in metal, weapons of 
 various kinds, and even implements for mining, 
 but made oi copper inflead of iron, have been 
 dug up in the country of the Tfimdes ; whence 
 M. Bailly infers, with great reafon, the 
 high antiquity of that people : but the high an- 
 tiquity of the -lartars, and their eflabUfliment 
 in that country near four thoufand years ago, 
 no man difputcs ; we are enquiring into their 
 ancient religion ainl pliilofcphy, which neither 
 ornaments of gold, nor tools of copper, will 
 prove to have had an affinity v/ith the religious 
 rites and the fciences of India, The golden 
 uteniiis might poifibly have been fabricated by 
 the Tartars i\i^ix\(t\vt?>\ but it is poffible too 
 that they were carried from Rome or from 
 China^ \vhence occafional embaffies were fent 
 
 to 
 
 /
 
 ON THE TARTARS. 167 
 
 to the Kings of Eighur. Towards the end of 
 the tenth century, the Chinefe Emperor dif- 
 patched an ambaflador to a prince named 
 Ersla'n, which, in the Turk'ifi of ConJianU- 
 7iople, fignlfies a hon, who refided near the 
 Golden Mountain, in the fame ftation, perhaps, 
 where the Romans had been received in the 
 middle of the fixth century. The Chinefe on his 
 return home reported the Eighuns to be a 
 o-rave people, with fifir complexions, diligent 
 workmen, and ingenious artificers, not only 
 in gold, filver, and iron, but in jafper and fine 
 ftones ; and the Romans had before defcribed 
 their magnificent reception in a rich palace 
 adorned with Chinefe manufadures : but thefe 
 times were comparatively modern ; and even 
 if we fhould admit that the Eiglm')s, who are 
 faid to have been governed for a period of two 
 .thoufand years by an Vdecut, or fovereign of 
 their own race, were, in fome very early age, 
 a literary and polilhed nation, it would prove 
 nothing in favour of the Huns, Turcs, Mo?igals, 
 and other favages to the north of Pekin, who 
 feem in all ages, before Mu hammed, to have 
 been equally ferocious and illiterate. 
 
 Without a6i:ual infpeftion of the manu- 
 fcripts that have been found near the Cafpian^ 
 it would be impofiible to give a correal opinion 
 concerning; them ; but one of them, defcribed 
 
 M 4 33
 
 I 68 ON THE TARTARS. 
 
 as written on blue filky paper in letters of gold 
 and filver, not unlike Hebrew^ was probably a 
 Tibetian compofition of the fame kind with that 
 which lay near the fource of the IrtJJJj^ and of 
 which CossiANO, I believe, made the firft 
 accurate verfion. Another, if we may judge 
 from the defcription of it, was probably modern 
 Turkijh ; and none of them coula have been of 
 great antiquity. 
 
 IV. From ancient monuments, therefore, we 
 have no proof that the Tartars were themfelves 
 well inftrucled, much lefs that they intruded 
 the world ; nor have we any Wronger reafon to 
 conclude from their general manners and cha- 
 racter, that they had made an early proficiency 
 in arts and fciences : even of poetry, the mofl 
 univerfal and moft natural of the fine arts, we 
 find no genuine fpecimens afcribed to them, 
 except lume honible war-fongs, exprelfed in 
 Ferf,a7i by Ali of Yezd, and poffibly in- 
 vented by him. After the conqueft of Pt'^^ 
 by the Mongals^ their princes, indeed, encou- 
 raged learning, and even made aftrc^nomical, ob- 
 fervations at Samarkand ; and, as the Tiirks^ be- 
 came pplifhed by mixing with the Ftrfians and 
 Arabs, thoMgh their very nature, as one of 
 their own writers confefles, had before been 
 like an incurable diflemper, and their minds 
 clouded with ignorance. Thus alfo the Man- 
 
 ch 
 
 eu.
 
 ON THE TARTARS. 
 
 cheii monarchs of China have been patrons of 
 the learned and ingenious ; and the Emperor 
 TiENLONG is, if he be now living, a fine 
 Lh'inefe poet. In all thefe inftances the Tartars 
 have refembled the Komans ; who, before they 
 had fubdued Greece^ were little better than 
 tigers in war, and Fauns pr Sy Ivans ir^ fcience 
 and art. 
 
 Before I left Europe, I had infilled, in con- 
 verfation, that the Tu%uc^ tranflated by Major 
 Davy, was never written by Taimu'r himfeif, 
 at leaft not as C^s ar wrote his Commentaries, 
 for one very plain reafon, That no Tartarian 
 king of his age could write at all; and in fup- 
 port of my opinion I had cited Ibnu Arabsh a'h, 
 who, though juftly hoftile to the favage by 
 whom his native city Damafcus had been ruined, 
 yet praifes his talents and the real greatnefs of 
 his mind, but adds, " He was wholly illiterate ; 
 he neither read nor wrote any thing ; and he 
 knew nothing of Arahick, though q{ Perjtan, 
 Turkijhj and the AjOgul dialecl he knew as 
 ?' much as was fufficient for his purpofe, and 
 f' no more : he iifcd with pleafure to hear hif- 
 ** tories read to him, and fo frequently heard 
 " the fame book, that he was able by memory 
 ** to corre<5l an inaccurate reader." This pal- 
 fage had no effed on the tranflator, whom great 
 and learned men in India had afllired, it feems, 
 that the work was authentic ; by which he 
 
 means 
 
 ft
 
 lyo ON THE TARTARS. 
 
 means compofed by the conqueror hlmfelf : but 
 the great in this country might have been un- 
 learned, or the learned might not have been great 
 enough to anfvver any leading queftion in a man- 
 ner that oppofed the declared inclination of a 
 Brit'ijh inquirer ; and in either cafe, fnice no 
 witnefles are named, fo general a reference to 
 them v/ill hardly be thought conclufive evi- 
 dence. On my part I will name a Mufelman, 
 "whom we all know, and who has enough both of 
 greatnefs and of learning to decide the queftion 
 both impartially and fatisfaftorily : the Nainj- 
 wab vlozuFFER Jung informed me of his own 
 accord, that no man of fenfe in Windujlan be- 
 lieved the work to have been compoied by 
 Taimu^r, but that his favourite, furnamed 
 Hindu Sha'h, was known to have written 
 that book and others afcribed to his patron, 
 after many confidential difcourfes with the Etiiir, 
 and perhaps nearly in the Prince's words as 
 well as in his perfon ; a ftory which i^Li of 
 Yezd, who attended the court of Taimu'r, 
 and has given us a flowery panegyrick inftead 
 of a hiftory, renders highly probable, by con- 
 firming the latter part of the Arabian account, 
 and by total {ilence as to the literary productions 
 of his mafter. It is true, that a very ingenious, 
 but indigent, native, whom Davy fupported, 
 has given me a written memorial on the fub- 
 jed, in which he mentions Taimu'r as the 
 
 author
 
 ON THE TARTARS. I7I 
 
 author of two works in Turkish ; but the 
 credit of his information is overlet by a ftrange 
 apocryphal ilory of a king of Temen who in- 
 vaded, he fays, the £;///r's dominions, and in 
 whofe library the manufcript was afterwards 
 found, and tranflated by Oider of Al'ijlw, firfl 
 minifter of Taimu'r's grandfon ; and Major 
 Davy himfelf, before he departed from Bengal^ 
 told me, that he was greatly perplexed by 
 finding in a very accurate and old copy of the 
 T^u'zuc, which he defigned to republiih with 
 confiderable additions, a particular account 
 written, unqueftionably, by Taimu'r of his 
 own death. No evidence, therefore, has beeri 
 adduced to {hake my opinion, that the Moguls 
 and Tl'artars, before their conqueft oi India and 
 Perjia., w^ere wholly unlettered ; although it 
 may be poflible that, even without art or fci- 
 ence, they had, like the Hmis^ both warriors 
 and law-givers in their own country fome cen- 
 turies before the birth of Christ. 
 
 If learning was ever anciently cultivated in 
 the regions to the north of Indla^ the feats of 
 }t, I have reafon to fufpe£l, mufl: have been 
 JE'igbur, CaJI?ghar, Kbatci, Ch'm, Tancut, and 
 other countries of Chinefe fartary, which lie 
 between the thirty-fifth and forty-fifth degrees 
 of northern latitude ; but I fhall, in another 
 Difcourfe, produce my reafons for fuppofing 
 
 that
 
 172 ON THE TARTARS. 
 
 that thofe very countries were peopled by a racq 
 allied to the Hindus^ or eiilighcened at leaft by 
 their vicinity to Itidla and China ; yet in Tancut^ 
 which by fome is annexed to Tibet ^ and even 
 among its old inhabitants, the Seres y we have 
 no certain accounts of uncommon talents or 
 great improvements : they were famed, indeed, 
 for the faithful difcharge of moral duties, for 
 a pacifick difpolition, and for that longevit7 
 which is often the reward of patient virtues and 
 a calm temper ; but they are faid to have been 
 wholly indifferent, in former ages, to the ele- 
 gant arts, and even to commerce ; though 
 Fadlu'llah had been informed, that, near 
 the clofe of the thirteenth century, many 
 branches of natural philofophy were culti- 
 vated in Cam-chew, then the metropolis of 
 Ser'ica, 
 
 We may readily believe thofe who aflure 
 tis that fome tribes of wanderins: Tartars had 
 real fkill in applying herbs and minerals to the 
 purpofes of medicine, and pretended to ikill in 
 magic ; but the general character of their na- 
 tion feems to have been this : they were pro- 
 fefled hunters or fifhers, dwelling ori that ac- 
 count in forefts or near great rivers, under huts 
 or rude tents, or in waggons drawn by their 
 cattle from ftation to (lation ; they were dex- 
 trous archers, excellent horfemen, bold comba^ 
 
 tants.4
 
 ON THE TARTARS. I7j[ 
 
 tants, appearing often to flee in dlforder for the 
 fake of renewing their attack with advantage 5 
 •drinking the milk of mares and eating the flefh 
 of colts ; and thus in many refpefls refembhng 
 the old Arahs^ but in nothing more than in 
 their love of intoxicating liquors, and in no- 
 thing lefs than in a tafte for poetry and the im- 
 provement of their language. 
 
 Thus has it been proved, and, in my hum- 
 ble opinion, beyond controverfy, that the far 
 greater part of Afia has been peopled, and im- 
 memorially poffeffed, by three confiderable na- 
 tions, whom, for want of better names, we 
 may call Hindus^ Arabs, and 'Tartars ; each 
 of them divided and fubdivided ir.to an infi- 
 nite number of branches, and all of them fb 
 different in form and features, language, mian- 
 ners, and religion, that if they fprang origi- 
 nally from a common root, they muil: have 
 been feparated for ages : whether more than 
 three primitive ftocks can be found, or, in 
 other words, whether the Ch'mefe^ Japaneje^ 
 and Perjians, are entirely difriri6l from them, 
 or formed by their intermixture, I Ihall here- 
 after, if your indulgence to me continue, di- 
 ligently inquire. To what conclufions thofe 
 inquiries will lead, I cannot yet clearly dif- 
 cern ; but if they lead to truth, we (hall not 
 regret our journey through this dark region 
 of ancient hiftory,. In whish, while we pro- 
 ceed.
 
 174 ^N THE TARTARS. 
 
 Ceed ftep by ftep, and follow every glimmer- 
 ing of certain light that prefents itfelf, we 
 muil: beware of thofe falfe rays and luminous 
 vapours which miflead Afiatick travellers by an 
 appearance of water, but are found, on a near 
 approach, to be deferts of fand. 
 
 DIS"
 
 ( ^7S ) 
 
 ISSERTATION VI. 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 BEING THE SIXTH ANNIVERSARY DISCOURSE 
 DELIVERED TO THE SOCIETY FEB. I9, I789. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, 
 
 1TURN with delight from the vafl moun- 
 tains and barren deferts of 'Turan, over- 
 which we travelled lafl: year Vv^Ith no perfect 
 knowledge of our courfe, and requeft you now 
 to accompany me on a literary journey through 
 one of the moft celebrated and mod beautiful 
 countries in the world ; a country, the hiftory 
 and languages of which, both ancient and mo- 
 dern, 1 have long attentively fludied, and on 
 which I may without arrogance promife you 
 more pofitive information, t,han I could poffibly 
 procure on a nation fo difiinited and fo unlettered 
 as the Tartars : I mean that which Europeans 
 improperly call Per/la, the name of a iingle 
 province being applied to the whole Empire of 
 
 Ira^i,
 
 376 ON THE PERSIANS. 
 
 Iran J as it is corre£lly denominated by the pfe^ 
 fent natives of it, and by all the learned Mufei- 
 mans who refide in thefe BritiJJo territories. 
 To give you an idea of its largeft boundaries, 
 agreeably to my former mode of defc ribing 
 Ind'ia^ Arabia, and Tartary, between which it 
 lies, let us begin with the fource of the great 
 jijjyrian fcream Euphrates^ (as the Greeks^ ac- 
 cording to their cuftom, were pleafed to mif- 
 call the Forat) and thence defcend to its mouth 
 in the Green Sea, or Perfian Gulf, including 
 in our line Ibme confiderablediflrifts and towns 
 on both fides of the river ; then coafling 
 Pcrfia properly fo named, and other Ira- 
 nian provinces, we come to the Delta of 
 the S'mdhu or Indus ; whence afcending %o 
 the mountains of CaJJjghar^ we difcover its 
 fountains and thofe of the y<2//&/)//, down which 
 we are conducted to the Cafpian^ which for- 
 merly perhaps it entered, though it lofe itfelf 
 now in the fands and lakes of Khwarezm : we 
 next are led from the fea of Khozar, by the 
 banks of the Cur, or Cyrus, and along the 
 Caucafean ridges, to the fliore of the Euxine^ 
 and thence by the feveral Grecian feas, to the 
 point, whence we took our departure, at no 
 confiderable diftance from the Mediterranean, 
 We cannot but include the Lower ^^<^ within this 
 outline, becaufe it was unqueftionably a part 
 of the Perjian, if not of the old Ajfjyrian 
 
 Empire ;
 
 ON THE PERSIANS. I JJ 
 
 Empire ; for we know that it was under the 
 dominion of Caikhousrau ; and Diodorus, 
 we, find, aflerts, that the kingdom of l^roas 
 was dependent on Afjyriay lince Priam im- 
 plored and obtained fuccours from his Emperor 
 Teutames, vvhofe name approaches neaier to 
 Tahmu'ras, than to that of any other y^ljjyrjan 
 Monarch. Thus may we look on Iran as the 
 iiobleU: ifland (for fo the Greeks and the Arabs 
 would have called it), or at leaft as the nobleft 
 peninfula, on this habitable globe ; and if M. 
 Bailly had fixed on it as the Atlantis of 
 Plato, he might have lupported his opinion 
 with far flronger arguments than any that he 
 has adduced in favour of New Zemhla. If the 
 account, indeed, of the Atlantes be not purely 
 an Egyptian or an Utopian fable, I fhould 
 be more inclined to place them in Irony than 
 in any region with which I am acquainted. 
 
 It may feem flrange, that the ancient hiftory 
 of fo diflinguiflied an Empire fhould be yet fo 
 imperfe6l:ly known ; but very fatisfadory reafons 
 may be afligned for our ignorance of it : the 
 principal of ihem are, the fuperficial knowledge 
 of the Greeks and Jews, and the lofs of Perjian 
 archives or hiflorical compofitions. That the 
 Grecian writers, before Xenophon, had no 
 acquaintance with Perfia, and that all their 
 accounts of it are wholly fabulous, is a p-^radox 
 too extravagant to be ferioufly maintained ; but 
 
 N their
 
 178 ON THE PERSIANS. 
 
 their connedlion with it in war or peace had, 
 indeed, been generally confined to bordering 
 kingdoms, under feudatory princes ; and the 
 iiril: Pcrfan Emperor whole life and character 
 they feem to have known with tolerable ac- 
 curacy, was the great Cyrus, whom 1 call, 
 without fear of contradidion, Caikhosrau; 
 for I fhall then only doubt thattheKnosRAU of 
 FiRDAUsi' was the Cyrus of the firfl: Greek 
 hiftorian, and the Hero of the oldeft political 
 and moral romance, when I doubt that Louis 
 QuATORzE and Lewis the Fourteenth were 
 one and the lame French King : it is utterly 
 incredible, that two different Princes o{ Perf,a 
 Ihould each have been born in a foreign and 
 hoflile territory ; fhould each have been doomed 
 to death in his infancy by his maternal grand- 
 father, in confequence of portentous dreams, 
 real or invented ; fhould each have been 
 faved by the remorfe of his deftined murderer ; 
 and fhould each, after a fimilar education 
 among herdfmen, as the fon of a herdfman, 
 have found means to revifit his paternal king- 
 dom, and have delivered it, after a long and 
 triumphant war, fiom the tyrant who had 
 invaded it ; fhould have reftored it to the lum- 
 mit of power and miagnificence. Whether fo 
 romantic a ftory, which is the fubjeft of an 
 Epic Poem as m'ajeftick and entire as the Iliad, 
 
 bs
 
 ON THE PERSIANS. 1 79 
 
 be hiftorically true, we may feel perhaps an 
 inclination to doubt ; but it cannot with reafon 
 be denied, that the outhne of it related to a 
 fingle Hero, whom the AJtatich^ conv^erfing 
 with the Father of Europea?i hiftory, defcribed 
 according to their popular traditions by his true 
 name, which the Greek alphabet could not ex- 
 prefs : nor will a diiference of names affe^l the 
 queftion ; fince the Greeks had little regard for 
 truth, which they facrihced willingly to the 
 graces of their language, and the nicety of 
 their ears ; and, if they could render foreign 
 Words ilielodious, they were never lolicitous 
 to make them exadl. Hence they probably 
 formed .Cambyses from Ca'mbakhsh, or 
 Granting Dejires, a title rather than a name; and 
 Xerxf.s from Shi'ru'vi, a Prince and War- 
 rior in the Shlihnamah, or from Shi'rsha'h, 
 which might alfo have been a title ; for the 
 Jljlatkk Princes have conftantly afiumed new 
 titles or epithets at different periods of their 
 lives, or on ditFereiit occafions ; a cuftom, 
 which we have feen prevalent in our own times 
 both in Iran and Hindujian, and v/hich has 
 been a fource of great confufion even in the 
 fcriptural accounts of Eabyloman occurrences. 
 Bo th Gri?^/{' J and y^Te; J- have^ in fad", accommodated 
 Perjian names to their own articuhition ; and 
 both feem to have difregarded the native litera- 
 
 N 2 ture
 
 iSo ON THE PERSIANS, 
 
 . ture of Iran, without which they could at moil: 
 attain a general and imperfe6t knowledge of the 
 country. As to the Perjians themfelves, who 
 wtTQ^ contemporary with the Jews and Greeks, 
 they mull: have been acquainted w^th the hif- 
 tory of their own times, and with the tradi* 
 tiona] accounts of pall: ages ; but, for a reafon 
 which will prefently appear, they chofe to con- 
 fider Cayu'mers as the founder of their em- 
 pire ; and, in the numerous diil:rad:ion3 which 
 tollowed the overthrow of Da'ra', efpecially 
 in the sreat revolution on the defeat of Yezde- 
 GIRD, their civil hiftories were loft, as thofe 
 oi India have unhappily been, from the folici- 
 tudeof the priefts, the only depofitarics of their 
 learning, to prelerve their books of law and 
 religion at the expence of all others : hence it 
 has happened, that nothing remains of genuine 
 Ferftcm hiftory before the dynafty of Sa'sa'n, 
 except a few ruftick traditions and fables, which 
 furnifhed materials for the Shahnlunah, and 
 which are ftill fuppofed to exifl: in the Pahlavi 
 language. The annals of the P'/JJjdad'i on A/jy- 
 rlan race mufl: be confidered as dark and fibu- 
 lous; and thofe of the Caylmt family, or the 
 Medes and Perfa?is, as heroick and poetical ; 
 though the lunar eclipfes, faid to be mentioned 
 by Ptolemy, fix the time of Gushtasp, the 
 Prince by whom Zera'tusiit was proteifled. 
 Of the Partbia7i Kings defcended from Arshac 
 
 or
 
 ON THE PERSIANS. l8l 
 
 or Arsaces, we kiow little more than the 
 names ; but the Safnii had lo long an inter- 
 courfe with the iimperors of Rome ^nd Byzan- 
 tium, that the period of their dominion may 
 be called an hiftorical age. 
 
 In attempting to afcertain the beginning 
 of the AJfyriafi Empire, we are deluded, 
 as in a thoufand inftances, by names ar- 
 bitrarily impofed. It had been fettled by 
 chronologers, that the firft monarchy efta- 
 blifhed in PerJIa was the Jffyrian ; and N i w- 
 TON, finding fome of opinion, that it rofe in 
 the firft century after the Flood, but unable by 
 his own calculations to extend it farther back 
 than feven hundred and ninety years before 
 Christ, rejeded part of the old fy flem and 
 .adopted the reft of it; concluding, that the 
 Affynan Monarch s began to reign about two 
 hundred years after Solomon, and that in all 
 preceding ages, the government of Iran had 
 been divided into feveral petty Statcj; and Prin- 
 cipalities, Of this opinion I confefs myfelf to 
 have been; when, difregarding the wild chro- 
 nology of the Mufehmns and Gahrs, I had al- 
 lowed the utmoft natural duration to the reigns 
 of eleven F'ljlodadt Kings, without being able to 
 add more than a hundred vears to Newton*s 
 computation. It feems, indeed, unaccountably 
 ftrange, that, although Abraham had found 
 ^ regular monarchy in Egyft ; although the 
 M ^ :_„ Icitio-don^
 
 l83 ON THE PERSIANS. 
 
 kingdom of Teme?t had juft pretenfions to very 
 high antiquity ; although the Chinefe in the 
 twelfth century before our era had made ap- 
 proaches at lead to the prefent form of their 
 exienfive dominions; and ahhough we can 
 harc^ly fuppofe the iirfl Indian Monarchs to 
 have reigned lefs than three thoufand years ago ; 
 yet Perjza, the mod dehghtful, the moft com-, 
 pad, the moil: defirable country of them all, 
 fliould have remained for fo many ages un-r 
 fettled and difunited. A fortunate difcoverv, 
 f^r which I was firft hidebted to Mi'r 
 MuHAMMED HusATN, One of the mof!: intel- 
 ligent Mufelmuns in India^ has at once difhpated 
 the cloud, and cafl a gleam of light on the pri- 
 meval hiftory of Iran^ and of the human race, 
 of which I had long defpaired, and which 
 could hardly have dawned from any other 
 quarter. 
 
 The rare and intereding traft on twelve dif- 
 ferent religions, entitled 'The Dabijian, and 
 compofed by a Mohammcdcm traveller, a native 
 of CaJJjm)r., namied Mohsan, but diilinguiflied 
 by the afiumed furname oF Fa'ni', or PeriJJj- 
 able^ begins with a v/onderfully curious chapter 
 on the religion of Hu'shang, which was long 
 anterior to that of Zera'tusht, but had con- 
 tinued to be fecretly profeffed by many learned 
 P^"r/?^;?j even to the author's time ; and feveral 
 
 o
 
 ON THE PERSIANS. 1 83 
 
 of the moll: eminent of them, diflenting ][i 
 many points from the Gabrs, and perfecuted by 
 the ruUng powers of their country, had re- 
 tired to India, where they compiled a number 
 of books, now extrernely fcarce, which Muh- 
 SAN had peruled, and with the writers of 
 which, or with many of them, he had con- 
 tracted an intimate frienofhip. From them he 
 learned, that a powerful monarchy had been 
 eftablifiied forages in Iran j before the accellion 
 of Cayi/mers ; that it was called iheMahaba- 
 dian dynafty, for a reafon which will foon be 
 mentioned ; and that many Princes, of whom 
 feven or eight only are named in The Dabifian, 
 and among them Mahbul, or Ma ha' Beli, 
 had raifed their Empire to the zenith of human 
 sJory, If we can rely on this evidence, which 
 to me appears unexceptionable, the Iranian 
 Monarchy muf!: have been the oldeil: in the 
 world ; but it will remain dubious, to which 
 of the three flocks, Hindu, Arabian, or Tar- 
 tar, the firfl Kines of Iran belon2;ed ; or whe- 
 ther they fprang from a fourth race diflincl 
 from any of the others : and thefe are queftions 
 which we fhall be able, I imap-ine, to anfwer 
 precifely, when we have carefully inquired into 
 the languages and letters, religion and philo- 
 fophy, and incidentally into the arts and 
 fciences, of the ancient Perjians^ 
 
 N 4 L In
 
 184 ON THE PERSIANS. 
 
 I. In the new and important remarks whieh 
 I am s^oinsf to offer on the ancient lano;ua2;es 
 and charadlers of Iran, I am ienfible, that you 
 muft give me credit for many afiertions, which 
 on this occafion it is impofiible to prove ; for I 
 fliould ill deferve your indulgent attention, if I 
 were to abufe it by repeating a dry lift of de- 
 tached words, and prefenting you with a voca- 
 bulary inftead of a diflertation ; but, fmce I 
 have no fyflem to maintain, and have not fuf- 
 fered imagination to delude my judgement; 
 iince I have habituated myfelf toform opinions 
 of men and things from evidence, which is 
 the only folid bafis of civil, as experiment is of 
 natural, knowledge; and fince I have maturely 
 confidered the queilions which I mean to dif- 
 cufs ; you will not, 1 am periuaded, fufoe6t 
 my teflimony, or think that 1 go too far, v^^hen 
 I afiure you, that I will .iflert nothing pofitively, 
 which I am not able fatisfadorily to demon- 
 ftrate When Muhammed was born, and 
 Anu'shi'rava'n, wh m he calls the Jujl 
 King, lat on the throne of rerfia^ two lan- 
 guages appear to have been generally prevaleiU 
 in the great Empire of /r:/?/ ; that of the Court, 
 • thence named Deri^ which was only a refined 
 and elee-nt dialect of the Farsi, fo called from 
 the province of which Sh'iraz is now the capi- 
 tal ; and that of the Learned, in which moil 
 
 bojks
 
 ON THE PERSIANS. 185 
 
 books were compofed, and which had the name 
 of Pahlav), either from the Heroes who fpoke 
 it in former times, or from Pahlu, a tra6l of 
 land, which included, we are told, fome con- 
 fiderable cities of Irak. The ruder dialers of 
 both were, and I believe fl:ill are, fpoken by 
 the rufticks in fcveral provinces ; and in many 
 of them, as Herat ^ Zabul^ S't/iati, and others, 
 diftincfl idioms were vernacular, as it happens 
 in every kingdom of great extent. Belides 
 the Pars) and Pahlav), a very ancient and ab- 
 ftrufe ton2;ue was known to the Priefts and 
 Philofophers, called the language of the Zend„ 
 becaufe a book on religious and moral du ies, 
 which they held facred, and which bore that 
 nam.e, had been written in it ; while the Pa- 
 %end^ or Comment on that work, was com- 
 pofed in Pahlavi, as a more popular idiom ; but 
 a learned follower of Zera'tusht, named 
 Bahman, who lately died at Calcutta, where 
 he had lived with me as a Perjian reader about 
 three years, allured me, that the letters of his 
 Prophet's book were properly called Zend, and 
 the language, Avejla, as the words of the Vedas 
 are Sanfcrit, and the charatlers, Nagari ; or 
 as the old Sagas and poems of IfelandwtxQ ex- 
 preffed in Runick letters. Let us however, in 
 compliance with caOom, give the name of 
 Zend to the facred language of Perfia, unt.l we 
 
 can
 
 l86 ON THE PERSIANS. 
 
 can find, as we fnall very loon, a fitter appel- 
 lation for it. The Zend and the old Pahlcwi 
 are aln:iofl extinct in Irm ; for among fix or 
 feven thoufand Gahrs who reiide chiefly at 
 T'ezd^ and in C'lrman there are very {^\n who 
 can read Pahictvi, and fcarce any who even 
 boaft of knowing the Zend; while the Pars\ 
 which remains almofl pure in the Shdhnamah^ 
 has now become, by the intermixture of num- 
 berlefs Arah'ick words, and many imperceptible 
 changes, a new language, exquifitely polillied 
 by a feries of fine writers in profe and verfe, 
 and analogous to the different idioms gradually 
 formed in Europe after the fubverfion of the 
 Roman Empire : but with modern Ferfians wc 
 have no concern in our prefent enquiry, which 
 I confine to the ages that preceded "The Moham- 
 tncdan conqueft. 
 
 tlAviNG twice read the works of Firdausi' 
 with ereat attention, fince I applied mylelf 
 To the ftudy of old Indian literature, I can 
 afiiure you, with confidence, that hundreds 
 of Plirsi nouns are pure Sanfcrit, with no. 
 other change than inch as may be oblerved 
 in the numerous Chaflhis^ or vernacular dia- 
 lecls, of India ; that very many imperatives 
 are the roots of Sanfcrit verbs ; and that even 
 the moods and tenfes of the Perfian verb fiab- 
 flantive, which is the model of all the refl:, 
 are deducible from the Sanfcrit by an eaJy and 
 
 clear
 
 ON THE PERSIANS, l^y 
 
 t 
 
 clear analogy. We may hence conclude, that 
 the Pars) was derived, like the various Indian 
 dialects, from the language of the Brahmans ; 
 and I muft add, that in the pure Perjhn I faid 
 no trace of any Arabian tongue, except what 
 proceeded from the known intercourfe between 
 the Perjians and Arabs, efpecially in the time 
 of Bahra^m, who was educated in Arabia^ and 
 w^hofe Arabick verfes are ftill extant, together 
 with his heroick line in Deri, which many 
 fuppofe to be the firft attempt at Perjian verfi- 
 fication in Arabian mtlxt. But, without hav- 
 ing recourfe to other arguments, the compojitioii 
 f words, in which the genius o1 \}i\^ Perjian 
 delights, and which that of the Arabick ab- 
 hors, is a decifive proof, that the Pars) fprang 
 from an Indian, and not from an Arabian iiock. 
 Coniiderins: lansuagres as mere inftruments of 
 knowledge, and having flrong reafon to doubt the 
 exiftence of o;enuine books iw^heZendoxPahlaih 
 (efpecially fince the well-informed author of The 
 T>abijla7i affirms the work of Zera'tusht to 
 have been lofl:, and its place lupplied by a re- 
 cent compilation), I had no inducement, though 
 I had an opportunity, to learn what remains of 
 thofe ancient languages ; but I often converfed 
 on them with my friend Bahman, and both of 
 us were convinced, after full coniideration, 
 that the T^end bore a ftrong refemblance to Sanf- 
 criiy and the Pahlavi to Arabick. He had at 
 
 my
 
 i8S 
 
 ON THE PERSIANS. 
 
 my reqnefl tranflated into Pahlav) the fine in<»- 
 fcription, exhibited in the Gu/ijicjn, on the diadem 
 of Cyrus ; and I had the patience to read thehil: 
 of words from the Pazend^ m the Appendix to 
 the Farhangtjehimg'ir'i. This examination gave 
 me perfect convi6lion, that the Pahlavt was a 
 dialect of the Chaldakk ; and of this curious 
 fa6l I will exhibit a fhort proof. 
 
 By the nature of the Chaldean tong-ue moil 
 words ended in the firil: long vowel XAs.^ Jhemia^ 
 Heaven ; and that very \vord, unaltered in a fingle 
 letter, we find in the Pazcnd, together with iaiHa, 
 night, ?/Zd^«, water, n'lrci, fire, matra^ rain, and a 
 inukitude of others, all uirab'ick or Hebrew^ 
 with a Chaldean termination. So zamar. bva 
 beautiful metaphor from pruning trees^ means 
 ill Hebrew to compofc verfes ; and thence, by an 
 eafy tranfition, to fitg them : and in Pah lav), 
 we fee the verb zamrunrten^ to /ing, with its 
 forms zamrimemi, I iing, and zamri'm'/d, he 
 fjing ; the verbal terminations of the Perftan 
 being added to the Chahia'ick root. Now all 
 thofe words are integral parts of the lans^uage, 
 not adventitious to it, like the Arabick nouns 
 and verbals engrafted on modern Perjian ; and 
 this diftinftion convinces me, that the dialect 
 of the Gabrs, which they pretend to be that of 
 Zf.raVusht, and of which Bahman gave 
 me a variety of written fpecimens, is a late 
 
 invention
 
 ON THE PERSIANS. l8^ 
 
 invention of their Priefts, or fubfequent at 
 leaft to the Mtifehnan invalion. For, although 
 it may be poffible, that a few of their facred 
 books were preferved, as he ufed to affert, in 
 (heets of lead or copper at the bottom of wells, 
 near Tezd, yet as the conquerors had not 
 only a fpiritual but a political interefl in 
 perfecuting a warlike, robuft, and indignant 
 race of irreconcileable conquered fubjedls, a long 
 time mull: have elapfed before the hidden 
 fcriptures could have been fafely brought to 
 light ; and few who could perfectly under- 
 iland them, mud: then have remained : but, as 
 they continued to profeis among themfelves the 
 religion of their forefathers, it became expe- 
 dient for the Miibeds to fupply the loil: or muti- 
 lated works of their legiflator by new compo- 
 fitions, partly from their imperfe^i; recolleftiori, 
 and partly from fuch moral and religious know- 
 ledge as they gleaned, mofl: probably, among 
 the Chri/iiafis^ with whom they had an inter- 
 courfc. One rule we may fairly eftabliih in 
 deciding the queftion, Whether the books of 
 the modern Gahrs were anterior to the invafion 
 of the .Arabs ? When an Arabkk noun occurs 
 in them, changed only by the fpirit of the 
 Chaldean idiom, as ijcerta for werd^ a rofe ; 
 daha for dhahab, gold, or demchi for %eman^ 
 time, We may allow it to have been ancient 
 
 FahlwSi ;
 
 IpO ON THE PERSIANS. 
 
 Pahlav) ; but when we meet with verbal nouns 
 or infinitives evidently formed by the rules of 
 Arabian grammar, we may be fure, that the 
 phrafes in which they occur are compara- 
 ratively modern ; and not a finglc pafiage 
 which Bah MAN produced from the books of 
 his religion would abide this tefl. 
 
 We come now to the language of the Zend. 
 And here I mull impart a difcovery which I 
 lately made, and from which we may draw the 
 moH: interefting confequences. M. Anquetil, 
 who had the merit of undertaking a Voyage to 
 India, in his earlieft youth, with no other 
 view than to recover the writino-s of Ze- 
 Ra'tusht, and who would have acquired a 
 brilliant reputation in France, if he had not 
 fullied it by his immoderate vanity and viru- 
 lence of temper, which alienated the p-ood- 
 will even of his own countrymen, has ex- 
 hibited in his work, entitled Zcndavejia, two 
 vocabularies in Zend and PahlaVt, which he 
 had found in an approved colleftion oiRawdyat^ 
 or T^raditional Pieces, in modern Perfian. ' Of 
 his PahlaiSiwo more needs be faid, than that it 
 ftrongly confirms my opinion concerning the 
 Chaldaick origin of that language ; but when 
 I perufed the Zend gloifary, 1 was inexprefhbly 
 furprifed to find, that fix or feven words in ten 
 were pure Sanfcrit, and even fome of their in- 
 flexions
 
 ON THE PERSIANS. ipi 
 
 flexions formed by the rules of the Vy'icaran ; 
 as yujijmacam, the genitive plural of yujiomad. 
 Now M. Anquetil moft certainly, and the 
 Perfian compiler moft probably, had no know- 
 ledge of Sanfcrit ; and could not, therefore, 
 have invented a lift of Sanfcrit w^ords : it is, 
 therefore, an authentick lift of Zend words 
 which had been preierved in books or by tra- 
 dition ; and it follows, that the language of the 
 Zend was at leaft a dialect of the Sanfcrit, ap- 
 proaching perhaps as nearly to it as the Prcxrit^ 
 or other popular idioms, which we know to 
 have been fpoken in India two thoufand years 
 agro. 
 
 From all thefe f^i61:s it is a neceff",ry con- 
 fequence, that the oldeftdifcoverable languages 
 of Perjia were Chaldaick and Sanfcrit ; and 
 that, when they had ceafed to be vernacular, 
 the Pahlav\'SL\\di ZendwQYt deduced from them 
 refpe6lively ; and the Pars} cither from the 
 Ze7id, or immediately from the dialcdl of the 
 Brahmans : but all had, perhaps, a mixture of 
 Tartarian ; for the beft lexicographers aflert, 
 that injmberlefs words in ancient Perfian are 
 taken from the lano-uac-eof the Cimmerians, or 
 the T^artars of Ripchak : fo that the tbree fa- 
 milies, whofe lineage we have examined in 
 former Difcourfes, had left vifible traces of 
 themfelves in Iran, long before the Tartars 
 and yJrabs had ruflied from their deferts, and 
 
 returned
 
 192 ON THE PERSIANS. 
 
 returned to that very country from which in- 
 all probabiUty they originally proceeded, and 
 which the Hindus had abandoned in an earlier 
 age, with pofitive commands from their le- 
 gifiators to reviiit it no more. 
 
 I CLOSE this head with obferving, that no fup- 
 pofition of a mere political or commercial inter- 
 courfe between the different nations will account 
 for the Sanfcrit and Chaldaick words which w^e 
 lind in the old Perjian tongues; becaufe they are, 
 in the firft place, too numerous to have been in- 
 troduced by fuch means, and, fecondly, are not 
 the names of exotick animals, commodities, or 
 arts, but thofe of material elements, parts of 
 the body, natural objcftsand relations, affedions 
 of the mind, and other ideas common to the 
 whole race of man. 
 
 If a nation of Hindus^ it may be urged, 
 ever poliefied or governed the country of Jran^ 
 we fhould find in the very ancient ruins of the 
 temple or palace now called the throne of 
 Jemshi'd, fome infcriptions in Di'vanagar), or 
 at leafl in the characters on the ftones at Ele- 
 phanta^ where the fculpture is unqueftionably 
 Indian^ or in thofe on the Staff of F/ru'z 
 Sha'ii, which exill: in the heart of India-, and 
 fuch infcriptions we probably fhould have 
 found, if that edifice had not been ereClcd after 
 the migration of the Brahmans from Iran, and 
 
 the
 
 OK THE PERSIANS. I93 
 
 the violent fchifm in the Perjian religion, of 
 which we (hall prefently fpeak : for, although 
 the popular name of the building at JJIakhr^ or 
 Perfepolis^ be no certain proof that* it was 
 raifed in the time of Jemshi'd, yet fuch a fa£): 
 might eafily have been preferved by tradition ; 
 and we fhall foon have abundant evidence, that 
 the temple was pofterior to the reign of the 
 Hindu Monarchs. The cyprejfcsy indeed, which 
 are reprefented with the figures in proceffion^ 
 might induce a reader of the Shmamah to be- 
 lieve, that the fculpturcs related to the new 
 faith introduced by Zera^tusht ; but as a 
 cyprefs is a beautiful ornament, and as many of 
 the figures appear inconfiftcnt with the re- 
 formed adoration of fire, we muft have recourfe 
 toflronger proofs, that the Takhti Jemshi'd 
 was ere6led after Cayu^mers. The buildino: 
 has lately been vifited, and the characters on it 
 examined, by Mr. Franklin ; from whom 
 we learn, that Niebuhr has delineated them 
 with great accuracy : but without fuch tefti- 
 mony 1 fhould have fufpefted the corrednefs of 
 the delineation ; becaufe the DaniJJj traveller 
 has exhibited two infcriptions in modern 
 Terfian^ and one of them from the fame place, 
 which cannot have been exa6Vly tranfcribed. 
 They are very elegant verfes of Ni'za'mi' and 
 Sadi', on the hiflabifity of human great nefs ', but 
 fo ill engraved, or fo ill copied, that if I had 
 
 O not
 
 194 ON THE PERSIANS. 
 
 /^v 
 
 not had them nearly by^art, I fhoulcl not 
 have been able to read them ; and M. Rous- 
 seau of Isfahan^ who tranflated them with 
 fhameful inaccuracy, mud have been de- 
 ceived by the badnefs of the copy, or he never 
 would have created a new King VVakam, by 
 forming one word of Jim, and the particle 
 prefixed to it. Affumiiig, however, that we 
 may reafon as conclufively on the charadlers 
 publiflied by Niebuhr as we might on the 
 monuments themfelves, were they now before 
 us, we may begin with obferving, as Chardin 
 had obferved on the very fpot, that they bear 
 no refemblance whatever to the letters ufed by 
 the Gabrs in their copies of the Vendidad. This 
 I once urged, in an amicable debate with 
 Bahman, as a proof, that the Zend letters 
 were a modern invention ; but he feemed to 
 hear me without furprife ; and inlifted that the 
 letters to which I alluded, and which he had 
 often feen, were monumental chara6lers never 
 ufed in books, and intended either to conceal 
 fome religious myfteries from the vulgar, or to 
 difplay the art of the Sculptor, like the embel- 
 iillied Cujick and Nagan in feveral Arabian and 
 Indian monuments. He wondered, that any 
 man could ferioufly doubt the antiquity of the 
 Tahlavi letters; and, in truth, the infcription 
 behind the horfe of Riijlaniy which Niebuhr 
 
 has
 
 'ON THE PERSIANS. I95 
 
 has alfo given lis, is apparently Pahlav), and 
 might with fome pains be decyphered. That 
 eharacfler was extremely rude, and fcems to 
 have been written, like the Rornafi and the 
 Arahick^ in a variety of hands ; for I remem- 
 ber to have examined a rare colledion of old 
 Perjtan coins in the Mufeum of the great Ana- 
 tomifl: William Hunter, and though I be- 
 lieve the legends to be Pahlav), and had no 
 doubt that they were coins of Parthian Kings, 
 yet I could n,ot read the infcriptions without 
 w'afting more time than 1 had then at com- 
 mand, in comparing the letters, andafcertaining 
 the proportions in which they feverally oc- 
 turred. The grofs Pahlavi was improved by 
 Zera'tusht^ or his difciples, into an elegant 
 and perfpicuous charader, in which the Zenda- 
 vejia was copied; and both were written from 
 the right hand to the left like other Chaldakk 
 alphabets, for they are manifeftly both of ChaU 
 dean origin ; but the Zend has the fmgular ad- 
 vantap-e of exDrefnno; all the lona; and fhort 
 vowels, by diilindl marks, in the body of each 
 Word, and all the words are diftinguilhed by 
 full- points between them ; fo that if modern 
 Perjiafi were unmixed with Arablclz, it might 
 be wTitten in Zend with the greateA conve- 
 nience, as anyone may perceive by cv-ving in 
 that chara£ler a few pages of the Shd7iamah» 
 
 O 2" As
 
 !g6 ON THE PERSIANS. 
 
 As to the unknown infcriptions in the palace of 
 Jemshi'd, it may reafonably be doubted, 
 whether they contain a fyftem of letters which 
 any nation ever adopted. In^"j^ of them, the 
 letters, which are feparated by points, may be 
 ^"educed to forty, at leaft I can diftinguifh no 
 more effentially ditferent ; and they all feem to 
 be regular variations and compofuions of a 
 ftraio-ht line and an ano'ular fissure like the head 
 of a javelin, or a leaf (to ule the language of 
 hotanifts) hearted and laiiccd. Many of the 
 Rutiick letters appear to have been formed of 
 iimilar elements ; and it has been obferved, 
 that the writings at Perfepolis bear a ftrong 
 refemblance to that which the Irijh call Ogham. 
 The w^ord ylgajn, in Sanjcrh^ means inyjler'wus 
 kiio'iplcdge ; but I dare not affirm, that the two 
 words had a common origin ; and only mean 
 to fuggeft, that if the characters in queflioa 
 be really alphabetical, they were probably fee ret 
 and facerdotal ; or a mere cypher, perhaps, of 
 which the priefts only had a key. They 
 might, I imagine, be decyphered, if the lan- 
 guage were certainly known ; but in all the 
 other infcriptions of the fame fort, the cha- 
 racters are too complex, and the variations of 
 them too numerous, to admit an opinion, that 
 they could be fymbols of articulate found ; for 
 even the A^c/^^nfyflem, which has more diflinct 
 
 letters
 
 ON THE PERSIANS. I97 
 
 letters than any known alphabet, confifts only 
 of forty-nine fimple characlers, two of which 
 are mere fubftitutions, and four of little ufe ia 
 Sa?ifcrit, or in any other language ; while the 
 more complicated figures, exhibited by Nie- 
 nuHR, mufl: be as numerous at lead: as the 
 Chhiefe keys, which are the ligns of ideas only, 
 and fome of which refemble the old Pcrjian 
 letters at IJlakhr : the DaniJJj traveller was con- 
 vinced, from his own obfervation, that they 
 were written from the left hand, like all the 
 chara<flers ufed by Hindu nations. But I mud 
 leave this dark fubject, which 1 cannot illu- 
 minate, with a remark formerly made by my- 
 felf, that the fquare Chaldaick letters, a few of 
 which are found in the Ferfian ruins, appear to 
 have been originally the fame with the Devd- 
 nagar), before the latter were enclofed, as we 
 now fee them, in angular frames. 
 
 II. The primeval religion of Iran, if we rely 
 on the authorities adduced by Mohsani Fa'ni', 
 was that which Newton calls the oldefi: (and 
 it may juftly be called the noblefl) of all reli- 
 gions ; *' a firm belief that one Supreme God 
 ** made the world by his power, and con- 
 *' tinually governed it by his providence ; a 
 ♦* pious fear, love, and adoration of him ; a 
 *' due reverence for parents and aged perfons ; 
 ** a fraternal affedion for the whole human 
 ^' fpecies ; and a compaffionate tendernefs even 
 
 O J ♦' for
 
 ipS ON THE PERSIANS. 
 
 *' for the brute creation." A fyftem of devor 
 tion lb pure and fublime could hardly, among 
 mortals, be of long duration ; and we learn 
 from Tbe Da^ifian, that the popular woriliip of 
 the Iranians, under Hu'shang, was purely 
 Sabian ; a word of which I cinnot offer any 
 certain etymology, but which has been deduced 
 by grammarians from Saba, a hojl, and particu- 
 larly the hojl of heaven, or the celeftial bodies, 
 in the adoration of which the Sabian ritual is 
 believed to have confifted. There is a defcrip- 
 tion in the learned work jufl: mentioned of the 
 feveral Perfan temples dedicated to the fun and 
 planets, of the images adored in them, and of 
 the magnificent proceflions to them en pre- 
 fcrihed feflivals, one of which is probably re- 
 prefented by fculpture in the ruined city of 
 Jemshi'd. But the planetary worfhip in Pe?jm 
 feems only a part of a far more complicated 
 religion which we now find in thefe IrJian 
 provinces ; for Mohsan affures us, that, in 
 the opinion of the heft informed Per/tans who 
 profefled the faith of Hu'shang, diftinguiflied 
 from that of Zera'tusht, the firfl monarch 
 of Iran and of the whole earth was Maha'j^a'd, 
 a word apparently Sanfcrit, who divided the 
 p-ople into four orders, the religious, the mili- 
 tary., the commercial y and \\\^fervile\ to which 
 he afligned names unqueflionably the fame in 
 their origin vvith thofe now applied to the four 
 
 primary
 
 ON TH2 PERSIANS. ipp 
 
 primary claffes of the Hindus. They added, 
 that he received from the Creator, and promul- 
 gated among men, a f acred book in a heavenly Ian' 
 guage, to which the Mitfclman author gives the 
 Arabick title oi Dcp.t'ir, or Regulations, but the 
 original name of which he has not mentioned ; 
 and xhdiX. fourteen iViAPiA''BA''Ds had appeared or 
 would appear in human fliapes for the govern- 
 ment of this world. Now when we know that 
 the Hindus believe in fourteen Menu's, or ce- 
 leftial perfonages with fimilar functions, the 
 firfl: of whom left a book o^ regulations y or divine 
 ordinances, which they hold equal to the Fcda^ 
 and the language of which they believe to be 
 that of the Gods, we can hardly doubt, that 
 the firft corruption of the pureft and oldeft re- 
 ligion was the fyftem of Indian theology in- 
 vented by the Brahmans, and prevalent in thofe 
 territories where the book of Maha'ba'd, or 
 Menu, is at this hour the ftandard of all religious 
 and moral duties. The acceflion of CayVmers 
 to the throne of Perjia, in the eighth or ninth 
 century before Christ, feems to have been 
 accompanied by a confiderable revolution both 
 in government and religion . He was mofl: pro- 
 bably of a different race from the Mahnbddiajis, 
 who preceded him, and began perhaps the new 
 fyftem of national faith which Hu'shang, whofe 
 iiame it bears, completed ; but the reformation 
 
 O 4 was
 
 10O ON THE PERSIANS. 
 
 was partial ; for, while they reje<Sled the com-r 
 plex polytheifm of their predecellbrs, they re- 
 tained the laws of Maha'ba b with a fuperAi- 
 tious veneration for the fun, the planets, and 
 fire ; thus refembling the Hindu fefts called 
 Sauras and Sagnicas ; the fecond of which is 
 very numerous at Banares, where many agni- 
 hotras are continually blazing; and where the 
 Sagnicas, when they enter on their facerdot^l 
 office, kindle, with two pieces of the hard 
 wood Sem'h a fire which they keep lighted 
 through their lives for their nuptial ceremony, 
 the performance of folemn facrifices, the obfc- 
 quies of departed anceftors, and their own fu- 
 neral pile. 1 his remarkable rite was conti- 
 nued bv Zera'tusht ; who reformed the old 
 religion by the addition of genii, or angels, pre- 
 fiding over months and days ; of new ceremo- 
 nies in the veneration fhewn to fire ; of a new 
 work which he pretended to have received from 
 heaven ; and, above all, by eOabli(hing the ac- 
 tual adoration of One Supreme Being. He was 
 born, according to Mohsan, in the diftric^ of 
 Kal ; and it was he, not, as Ammianu^s afferts, 
 his protetflor Gushtasb, who travelled into 
 India, that he might receive informatio;i from 
 the BrcJ.mans in theology and ethicks. It is 
 barely pofiible that Pythagoras knew him in 
 the capital of Irak j but the Grecian fage miifl 
 
 then
 
 ON THE PERSIANS. 20I 
 
 then have been far advanced in years, and we 
 have no certain evidence of an intercourfe be- 
 tween the two philofophers. The reformed reli- 
 gion of Perjta continued in force till that country 
 was fubdued by the Mufelmans ; and, without 
 ftudying the "Zend, we have ample information 
 concerning it in the modern Perfian writings 
 offeveral who profeded it. Bahman always 
 named Zera'tusht with reverence; but he 
 was in truth a pure Theift, and ftrongly dif- 
 claimed any adoration of the fire or other ele- 
 ments : he denied that the do6lrine of two co- 
 eval principles, fupremely good and fupremxiy 
 bad, formed any part of his faith ; and he often 
 repeated with emphafis the verfes of Firdausi 
 on the proftration of Cyrus and his paternal 
 grandfather before the blazing altar : " Think 
 *' not that they were adorers of fire, for that 
 *' element was only an exalted obje61:, on the 
 ^' luftre of which they fixed their eyes; they 
 ^' humbled themfelves a whole week before 
 " God; and, if thy underflanding be ever fo 
 *' little exerted, thou muft acknowledge thy 
 *' dependence on the Being fupremely pure.'* 
 In a (lory, Sadi, near the clofe of his beautiful 
 Bujian, concerning the idol of So'MANA'T'ii, 
 or Maha'deVa, confounds the religion of the 
 Hindus with that of the Gabrs, calling the 
 Brabmafis not only Mogbs (which might be 
 juflified by a paflage in the Alepiav}'), but even 
 
 readers
 
 202 ON THE PERSIANS. 
 
 readers of the Zend 2,\\^ P/izejid. Now, whe-» 
 ther this confuiion proceeded from real or pre- 
 jtended ignorance, 1 cannot decide ; but am as 
 £rmly convinced that the doilrines of the Zend 
 were difl:in6i: from thofe of the Feda^ as I am 
 that the rehgion of the Brdhmans^ with whom 
 we converfe every day, prevailed in Perjia before 
 the acceffion of Cayu'mers, whom the Parsts^ 
 from refped to his memory, confider as thefirfl: 
 of men, although they believe in an univerjal 
 deluge before his reign. 
 
 With the religion of the old Perfans their 
 fhilofophy (or as much as we know of i{:) was 
 intimately connected ; for they were affiduous 
 obfervers of the luminaries, which they adored 
 and eftablifhed, according to Mohsan, who 
 confirms, in fome deg^ree, the frasrm.ents of 
 Berosus, a number of artificial cycles with 
 diftind: names, which feem to indicate a know- 
 ledge of the period in which the equinoxes ap- 
 pear to revolve : they are faid aifo to have 
 known the moft wonderful powers of nature, 
 and thence to have acquired the fame of majri- 
 cians and enchanters. But I will only detain 
 you with a few remarks on that metaphyiical 
 theology which has been profefied immemo- 
 rially by a numerous fed: of Perfians and Hindus^ 
 was carried in part into Greece, and prevails 
 pven now among the learned Mufehiiafis, wdio 
 
 fqmcT
 
 ON THE PERSIANS. 20^ 
 
 fometimes avow it without referve. The mo- 
 dern phllofophers of this perfiiaiion are called 
 Sufis, either from the Greek word for ^fige^ or 
 from the 'woollen mantle which they ufed to 
 wear in fome provinces of Perjta. Their funda- 
 mental tenets are, That nothing exifls abfolutely 
 but God ; that the human foul is an emanation 
 from his efience, and, though divided for a 
 time from its heavenly fource, will be finally 
 re-united with it ; that the higheft poffible hap- 
 pinefs will arife from its re- union; and that the 
 chief good of mankind, in this traniitoiy world, 
 conlifts in as perfe£l; an union with the Eternal 
 Spirit as the incumbrances of a mor^al frame 
 will allow ; that, for this purpofe, they fliould 
 break all connexion (or tadlluk, as they call it) 
 with extriiifick objeds, and pafs through life 
 without attachments, as a fwimmer in the ocean, 
 ftrlkes freely withoutlhe impediment of cloihes ; 
 that they fhould be flraight and free as the cy- 
 prefs, whofe fruit is hardly perceptible, and 
 not {ink under a load like fruit-trees attached to 
 a trellis ; that if mere earthly charms have 
 power to influence the foul, the Idea of celeftial 
 beauty muft overwhelm it in extatick delight; 
 that, for want of apt words to exprefs the di- 
 vine perfedions and the ardour of devotion, we 
 mufl borrow fuch expreffions as approach the 
 iiearefl to our ideas, and fpeak of Beauty and 
 
 hove.
 
 304 ON THE PERSIANS. 
 
 JLove in a tranfcendant and myflical fenfe ; that, 
 like a reed torn from its native bank, like wax 
 feparated from its delicious honey, the foul of 
 man bewails its difunion with melancholy mujickj 
 and fiieds burning tears, like the lighted taper, 
 waiting paffionately for the moment of its ex- 
 tinction, as a difengagement from earthly tram- 
 mels, and the means of returning to its Only 
 Beloved. Such in part (for I omit the minuter 
 and more fubtile metaphyficks of the Sufis^ 
 which are mentioned in The Dabijlati) is the 
 wild and enthufiaftick religion of the modern 
 Perjian poets, efpecially of the fweet Ha*fiz 
 and the great Maidavi: fuch is the fyftem of 
 the Vedant'i philofophers and bell: lyrick poets of 
 India ; and as it was a fyilem of the higheft an- 
 tiquity in both nations, it may be added to the 
 many other proofs of an immemorial affinity 
 between them. 
 
 III. On the ancient monuments of Perftan. 
 fculpture and architedlure, we have already 
 made fuch obfervations as were fufficient for 
 our purpofe ; nor will you be furprifed at the 
 diverfity between the figures at Elephanta, 
 which are manifeftly Hindu, and thofe at Per- 
 fepolis, which are merely Sabian, if you con- 
 cur with me in believine;, that the Takhti 
 j^tv/z/i'/y was creeled after the time of Ca y'umers, 
 
 when the Brahmans had mis;rated from Iran. 
 
 .. ^ . . . , J
 
 ON THE PERSIANS. 205 
 
 and when their intricate mythology had been fu- 
 perfeded by the fimpler adoration of the planets 
 and of fire. 
 
 IV. As to the fciences or artsof the old Per- 
 Jiansy I have little to fay ; and no complete evi- 
 dence of them is found to exift. Mohsan fpeaks 
 more than once of ancient verfes in the Pahlavl 
 language; and Bahman affured me, that fome 
 fcanty remains of them had been preferved. 
 Their mulic and painting, which Naza^mi ce- 
 lebrated, have irrecoverably perillied ; and in 
 regard to Ma'ni', the painter and impoftor, 
 whofebook of drawings called Artang^whioh he 
 pretended to be divine, is fuppofed to have been 
 deftroyed by the Cbinefe, in whofe dominions 
 he had fought refug-e, the whole tale is too mo- 
 dern to throw any light on the queftions before 
 ns concernino; the orig-in of nations and the in- 
 habitants of the primiciv^e world. 
 
 Thus has it been proved, by clear evidence 
 and plain reafoning, that a powerful monarchy 
 was eftablifhed in Iran long before the A[]yriany 
 or P'.JJjddd)., government ; that it was in truth 
 a Hindu monarchy, though if any chufe to call 
 it Cufian^ Cafdea?i, or Scythian, we fhall not 
 enter into a debate on mere names ; that it fub- 
 iifted many centuries ; and that its hiftory has 
 been ingrafted on that of the Hindus^ who 
 tounded the monarchies of Ayodhya and Indra* 
 
 prejlba ;
 
 106 ON THE PERSlAlvl 
 
 preftha ; that the language of the firft Perjtafi 
 empire was the mother of the Sanfcrit, and con- 
 fequently of the Ze/id and Par ft, as well as of 
 Greeks Latin, and Gothick ; that the language 
 of x\\QJfJyrians was the-parentof Chaldakk and. 
 Pahlavi ; and that the primary Tartarian lan- 
 guage alfo had been current in tiie fame empire ; 
 although, as the Tartarsh^^ no books, or even 
 letters, we cannot with certainty trace their un- 
 polifhed and variable idioms. We difcover 
 therefore in Perfta, at the earl i eft dawn of hif- 
 tory, the three diftind races of men, whorri 
 I delcribed on former occalions as poffefibrs of 
 India, Arabia, Tartary ; and whether they 
 were colle6lcd in Iran from diftant regions, or 
 diverged from it, as fi-om a common center, we 
 ihall eafiiy determine by the following confidera- 
 tions. 
 
 Let us obferve in the firfl place the cen- 
 tral pofition of Iran, which is bounded hj Ara- 
 bia, by Tartary, and by India ; whiift Arabia 
 lies contiguous to Iran only, but is remote from 
 Tartar"^, and divided even from the ikirts of In- 
 dia by a confiderable gulf ; no country, there- 
 fore, but Perjia feems likely to have fent forth 
 its colonies to all the kingdoms of Afta. The 
 Brdhniam could never have migrated from In^ 
 
 dia to Iran, becaufe they are expfefsly forbid- 
 den by their oldefl exifting laws to leave the re- 
 gion which they inhabit at this day ; the 
 
 Arabs
 
 ON THE PERSIANS. 207 
 
 Arabs have not even a tradition of an emigra- 
 tion into Perfia before Mohammed, nor had 
 they indeed any inducement to quit their beauti- 
 ful and extenfive domains : and as to the TartarSy 
 we have no trace in hillory of their departure 
 from their plains and forefts till the invalion of 
 the Medes, who, according to etymologifts, 
 were the fons of Madai ; and even they were 
 condu61:ed by princes of an AJfyrian family. 
 1 he three races therefore, whom we have al- 
 ready mentioned (and more than three we 
 have not yet found), migrated from Iran^ as from 
 their common country. And thus the Saxon 
 chronicle, I prefume from good authority, 
 brings the firfl: inhabitants of Britain from 
 Armenia ; w4iile a late very learned writer con- 
 cludes, after all his laborious refearches, that 
 the Goths or Scythians came fi'om Perfia ; and 
 another contends vi^ith great force, that both 
 the Irifi and old Britons proceeded feverally 
 from the borders of the Cajpian ; a coincidence 
 of conclufions from different media, by perfons 
 W'holly unconnected, which could fcarce have 
 happened, if they were not grounded oil folid 
 principles. We may therefore hold this propo- 
 rtion firmly eftablifhed, 1 hat Iran, or Fcrfa in 
 its largeft fenfe, was the true center of popu- 
 lation, of knowledge, of languages, and of arts; 
 which, inftead of travelling weftward only, as 
 it has been fancifully fuppoied, or eaftward, as 
 
 m!2;ht 
 
 o
 
 208 ON THE PERSIANS* 
 
 mip"ht with equal reafon have been afferted, 
 were expanded in all dire6lIons to all the regions 
 of the world in which the Hindu race had fet- 
 tled under various denominations. But, whe- 
 ther udjta has not produced other races of men 
 diflind from the Hindus^ the Arabs, or the Tar^ 
 tars, or Vv'hether any apparent diverfity may not 
 have fprungfrom an intermixtureofthofe three 
 in different proportions, mufl be the fubje6b of 
 a future enquiry. 
 
 DIS-
 
 ( 209 ) 
 
 DISSERTATION VIL 
 
 ON THE 
 
 CHINESE. 
 
 BEING THE SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY DISCOURSE 
 DELIVERED TO THE SOCIETY FEB. 25, I 79O. 
 
 •GENTLEMEN, 
 
 ALTHOUGH we are at this moment con- 
 liderably nearer to the frontier of China 
 than to the fartheft limit of the Britijh domi- 
 nions in Hindujlan, yet the firft flep that we 
 Ihall take in the philofophical journey which 
 Ipropofe for your entertainment at the prefent 
 meeting, will carry us to the utmofl verge of 
 the habitable globe known to the beft geogra- 
 phers of old Greece and Egypt-, beyond the 
 boundary of whofe knowledge we fhall difcern, 
 from the heights of the northern mountains, an 
 Empire nearly equal in furface to a fquare of 
 hfteea degrees ; an Empire, of which I do not 
 
 P mean
 
 2IO ON THE CHINES^. 
 
 mean to aflign the precife limits, but which we 
 may confider, for the purpofe of this Differ- 
 tation, as embraced on two fides by Tartar/ 
 and India, while the ocean feparates its other 
 iides from various Afmtick ifles of great im- 
 portance in the commercial fyfiiem of Europe: 
 annexed to that immenfe tra6l of land is the 
 peninfula of Corea, which a vaft oval bafon di- 
 vides from Islifon or Japan ; a celebrated and 
 imperial ifland, bearing in arts and in arms, in 
 advanta2;e of iituation, but not in felicitv of 2;o- 
 vernment, a pre-eminence among eaflern king- 
 doms analo2:ou3 to that of Britain amons; the 
 nations of the weft. So many climates are in- 
 cluded in fo prodigious an area, that while the 
 principal emporium of China lies nearly under 
 the tropiek, its metropolis enjoys the tempera- 
 ture of Samarkand : fuch too is the diveriity of 
 foil in its fifteen provinces, that, while fome 
 of them are exquifitely fertile, richly culti- 
 vated, and extremely populous, others arc 
 barren and rocky, dry and unfruitful, with 
 plains as wild or mountains as rugged as any in 
 Scythia ; and thofe either wholly deferted, of 
 peopled by favagc hordes, who, if they be not 
 flill independent, have been vmy lately fubdued 
 by the perfidy, rather than the valour, of a 
 monarch, who has perpetuated his own breach 
 of faith in a Chinefe poem, of which I have feeii 
 a tranflation. 
 
 The
 
 ON THE CHINESE. 211 
 
 The word China, concerning which I fhall 
 offer fome new remarks, is well known to the 
 people whom we call the Ch'mefe ; but they 
 never apply it (I fpeak of the learned among 
 them) to themfclVes, or to their country : 
 themielves, according to Father Visdelou, 
 they defcribe as t\\Q people of Han, or of fome 
 other illuflrious family, by the memory ofwhofe 
 actions they flatter their national pride ; and 
 their country they call thmi-cue, or the Central 
 Kingdom^ reprefenting it in their fymbolical 
 charadters by a parallelogram exa6lly bifeded : 
 at other times they diftinguifh it by the words 
 Tien-hia, or JVbat is under Heaven, meaning 
 ^il that is valuable on Earth. Since they never 
 name themfelvxs wath moderation, they would 
 have no right to complain, if they knew that 
 European authors have ever fpoken of them in 
 the extremes of applaufe or of cenfure : by 
 fome they have been extolled as the oldeft and 
 the wifeft, as the moil learned and moll inge- 
 nious, of nations ; whilfl others have derided 
 their pretenfions to antiquity, condemned their 
 government as abominable, and arraigned their 
 manners as inhuman, without allowing them 
 an element of fcience, or a fingle art, for which 
 they have not been indebted to fome more an- 
 cient and more civilized race of men. The 
 truth perhaps lies, where we iifually find it, 
 
 between
 
 tI2 ON THE CHINESE. 
 
 between the extremes ; but it is not my defign to 
 accufe or to defend the Chinefe^ to deprefs or to 
 aororrandlze them : I (hall confine mvfelf to the 
 difcuffion of a queftion connected with my 
 former Difcourfes, and far lefs eafy to be folved 
 than any hitherto ftarted : *' Whence came 
 *' the lingular people, who long had governed 
 '* Cbina, before they were conquered by the 
 " Tartars .^'* On this problem, the folution 
 of which has no concern, indeed, with our 
 political or commercial interefts, but a very 
 material connection, if I miflake not, with in- 
 terefts of a higher nature, four opinions have 
 been advanced, and all rather peremptorily 
 aflerted, than fupported by argument and evi- 
 dence. By a few writers it has been urged, 
 that the Chine fe are an original race, who have 
 dwelled for ages, if not from eternity, in the 
 land which they now poiTefs : by others, and 
 chiefly by the mifllonaries, it is aflerted,that they 
 fprang from the fame flock with the Uehrews 
 and Arabs : a third aflertion is, that of the^r^a^j- 
 themfelves, and of M. Pauw, who hold it in- 
 dubitable that they were originally Tartars 
 defcending in wild clans from the fleeps of 
 Imaus : and a fourth, at leaft as dogmatically 
 pronounced as any of the preceding, is that of 
 the Brcihfnans, who decide, without allowing 
 any appeal from their decifion, that the Ch'mas 
 
 (for
 
 ON TPIE CHINESE. 213 
 
 (for fo they are named in Sanfcrit) were 
 Hindus of the Cfiatriya^ or military, clafs, 
 who, abandoning the privileges of their tribe, 
 rambled in different bodies to the north-eafl: of 
 Bengal', and forgetting by degrees the rites 
 and religion of their anceftors, eftablifhed fe- 
 parate principalities, which were afterwards 
 united in the plains and valleys which arc 
 now poffeffed by them. If any one of the three 
 lafl opinions be juft, thefirfl: of them mufl; ne- 
 ceffarily be relinquifned ; but of thofe three, 
 the firfl: cannot poffibly be fuftained ; becaufe 
 it refts on no firmer fupport than afoolifli re- 
 mark, whether true or falfe, that Sem, in Chi- 
 nefe^ mcd.ns /i/e ^nd procreation ; and becaufe a 
 tea- plant is not more different from a palm, 
 than a Chinefe from an Arab : they are men, 
 indeed, as the tea and the palm are vegetables ; 
 but human fagacity could not, I believe, dif- 
 cover any other trace of refemblance between 
 them. One of the Arabs, indeed, an acccunt 
 of whofe voyage to India and China has been 
 tranflated by Renaudot, thought the Chinefe 
 not only handfomer (according to his ideas of 
 beauty) than the Hindus, but even more like 
 his own countrymen in features, habiliments, 
 carriages, manners and ceremonies; and this 
 may be true, without proving an actual re-, 
 iemblance between the Chinefe and Arabs, ex- 
 
 P 3 cept
 
 114 ON THE CHINESE. 
 
 cept in drefs and complexion. The next op'^- 
 nion is more con nefted with that of the Brab- 
 mans than M. Pauw, probably, imagined; 
 for though he tells us exprefsly, that by Scy- 
 thram he meant the lurks or Tartars^ yet the 
 dragon on the ftandard, and fome other pecu- 
 liarities, from which he would infer a clear 
 •affinity between the old Tartars and the Chi^ 
 nefe^ belonged indubitably to thofe Scythians 
 who are known to have been Goihs ; and the 
 Goths had man ife illy a common lineage with 
 the Hindus^ if his own argument, in the Pre- 
 face to his Refearches, on the fmilarity of 
 languap-e be, as all men aeree it is, irrefra- 
 gable. That the Chinefe were anciently of a 
 l^artarian flock, is a piopofuion, which I can- 
 not other wife difprove for the prefent, than by 
 infifring on the total diffimilarity of thetwo races 
 in manners and arts, particularly in the fine arts 
 of imap-ination, which the Tartars, by their 
 own account, never cultivated : but if we mew 
 ftions: o-rounds for beiievins; that the firftC/^/- 
 nefe were aftually of an Indian race, it will fol- 
 low, that M. PAUwandthe^r^/^jaremiftaken : 
 it i^ to the difcuffonof this new, and, in my 
 opinion, very interefting point, that I ihall con- 
 fine the remainder of my Difcourfe. 
 
 In the Sanjcrit Inftitutes of Civil and Reli- 
 gious Duties, revealed, as the Hindus believe, 
 
 by
 
 ON THE CHINESE. aij 
 
 by Menu, the fon of Brahma', we find the 
 followmg curious paflage : " Many families of 
 the mihtary clafs, having gradually aban- 
 doned the ordinances of the Feda^ and 
 the company of Brahmans, lived in a ftate 
 of degradation ; as the people of Pundraca 
 and Odra, thofe of Drav/ra and Gz;?z- 
 hoja, the Tavajias and Sacas, the Paradas 
 and Pahlavas, the Chinas and fome other 
 *' nations." A full comment on this text 
 would here be fuperfluous ; but fince the tef- 
 timop.y of the Indian author, who, though 
 certainly not a divine perlonage, was as cer- 
 tainly a very ancient lawyer, moraliil:, and hif- 
 tofian, is direct and pohtive, dihnterefted and 
 unfufpe£led, it would, I think, decide the 
 queftion before us, if we could be fure that 
 the word Ch'na fignified a Ch'inefe^ as all the 
 Pandits^ whom 1 have feparately confulted, 
 afiert with one voice : they aflure me, that 
 the Chinas of Menu fettled in a fine country 
 to the north-eaft of Gaur, and to the eaft of 
 Camarup and Nepal \ that they have long been, 
 and frill are, filmed as ingenious artificers ; and 
 that they had themfelves feen old Chlnefe idols, 
 which bore a manifeft relation to the primitive 
 religion of India^ before Buddha's appear- 
 ance in it. A wellrinform.ed Panddt fnewed 
 me a Sanfcrii book io Cajlmiirian letters, which, 
 
 P 4 he
 
 2l6 ON THE CHINESE. 
 
 he faid, was revealed by Siva hlmfeif, and 
 entitled SaSl'ifangama : he read to me a whole 
 chapter of it on the heterodox opinions of the 
 Chinas^ who were divided, fays the author, 
 into near two hundred clans. I then laid before 
 him a map of Afia ; and when I pointed to 
 Cajhm'ir^ his own country, he inftantly placed 
 his finger on the north-weftern provinces of 
 China, where the Chinas^ he faid, firft efla- 
 blifhed themfelves ; but he added, that Maha- 
 ch'ina, which was alfo mentioned in his book, 
 extended to the eaflern and fouthern oceans, 
 I believe, neverthelefs, that the Chineje Em- 
 pire, as we now pall it, was not formed when 
 the laws of Menu were colleded ; and for this 
 belief, fo repugnant to the general opinion, I 
 am bound to offer my heft reafons. If the 
 outline of hiftory and chronology for the laft 
 two thoufand years be corredly traced, (and 
 we mufl: be hardy fcepticks to doubt it) the 
 poems of Ca'li'da's were compofed before the 
 beginning of our era : now it is clear from in- 
 ternal and external evidence, that the Rlimayan 
 and Mahabharat were confiderably older than 
 the productions of that poet ; and it appears 
 from the ftyle and metre of the Dhenna Siifra, 
 revealed by Menu, that it was reduced to 
 writing long before the age of Va'lmic or 
 Vya'sa, the fecond of whom names it with 
 
 applaufe :
 
 ON THE CHINESE. 21^ 
 
 ^pplaufe : we fhall not, therefore, be thought 
 extravagant, if we place the compiler of thofe 
 laws between a thoufand and fifteen hundred 
 years before Christ ; efpecially as Buddha, 
 whofe age is pretty well afcertained, is not 
 jTientioned in them ; but in the twelfth cen- 
 tury before our era, the Chine fc Empire was at 
 leafl in its cradle. This fad it is qeceffary to 
 prove ; and my firft witnefs is Confucius 
 himfelf. I know to vvhat keen fatire I fhall 
 expofe myfelf by citing that philofopher, after 
 the bitter farcafms of M. Pauw againfl him 
 and agaiaft the tranflators of his mutilated, but 
 valuable, works ; yet I quote, without icruple, 
 the book entitled Lu'n Yu', of which I pofiefs 
 the original with a verbal tranflation, and which 
 1 know to be fufficiently authentick for my 
 prefent purpofe : in the fecond part of it 
 CoN-FU-Tsu declares, that " although he, 
 ^' like other men, could relate, as mere leflons 
 " of morality, the hiftories of the firft and 
 " fecond imperial houfes, yet, for want ofevi- 
 " dence, he could give no certain account of 
 *' them.'* Now, if the Chlnefe themfelves 
 do not even pretend, that any hiflorical mo- 
 nument exifted, in the age of Confucius, 
 preceding the rife of their third dynafty about 
 eleven hundred years before the Chri/iian epoch, 
 we may juftly conclude, that the reign of 
 VuVam was in the infancy of their Empire, 
 
 which
 
 21 8 ON THE CHINESE. 
 
 which hardly grew to maturity till fome ages af- 
 ter that prince ; and it has been afferted by very 
 learned Europeans^ that even of the third dv- 
 nafty, which he has the fame of having rai fed, no 
 unfulpeded mem.orial can now be produced. 
 
 It was not till the eighth century before the 
 birth of Our Saviour, that a fmall kingdom was 
 erected in the province of Shen-st, the capital 
 of which ftood nearly in the thirty -Jifth degree 
 of northern latitude, and about ^tv^ degrees to 
 the w^ft of Si-gan : both the country and its 
 metropolis were called Ch'm^ and the dominiou 
 o^ its princes was gradually extended to the eafl 
 and weft. A king of Ch'n, who makes a figure in 
 iht Shahnama among the allies of Afra'siya'b, 
 was, I prefume, a fovereign of the country 
 juft mentioned ; and the river of Chit?., which 
 the poet frequently names as the limit of his 
 eaftern geography, feems to have been ih^Tellow. 
 River, which the Chificfe introduce at the be- 
 ginning of their fabulous annals, I fhould be 
 tempted to expatiate on fo curious a fubjeft ; 
 but the prefent occalion allows nothing fuper- 
 fluous, and permits me only to add, that Man- 
 gukha'n died in the middle of the thirteenth 
 century, before the city of Chin, which was 
 afterwards taken by Kublai ; and that the poets 
 of Iran perpetually allude to the diftrifts around 
 it which they celebrate, with Chegil and Kha-
 
 ON THE CHINESE. 21^ 
 
 fen, for a number of mufk-aiiimals roving on 
 their hills. The territory of Chrnf fo called 
 by the old Hindus, by the Perjians, and by the 
 Chine fe (while the Greeks and Arabs were 
 obliged, by their defective articulation, to mif- 
 call it Shi)^ gave its name to a race of Emperors, 
 whofe tyranny made their memory fo unpopu- 
 lar, that the modern inhabitants of China hold 
 the word in abhorrence, and fpeak of them- 
 felves as the people of a milder and more vir- 
 tuous dynafty ; but it is highly probable that 
 the whole nation defcended from the Ch'jias of 
 Menu, and mixing with the Tartars^ by 
 whom the plains of Honan and the more 
 fouthern provinces were thinly inhabited, 
 formed by degrees the race of men whom we 
 now fee in pofieffion of the nobJefl empire in 
 AJia. 
 
 In fupport of an opinion, which I offer as the 
 refult of long and anxious inquiries, I fliould 
 regularly proceed to examine the language and 
 letters, religion and phllofophy, of the prefent 
 Chinefe^ and fubjoin fome remarks on their an- 
 cient monuments, on their fcience, and on their 
 arts, both liberal and mechanical : but their 
 fpoken language^ not having been preferved by 
 the ufual fymbols of articulate founds rnufh 
 have been for many ages in a continual flux ; 
 their letters^ if we may fb call them, are 
 merely the fymbols of ideas ; their popular 
 
 religion
 
 220 ON THE CHINESE. 
 
 religion was imported from India in an age 
 comparatively modern ; and their phllofophy 
 feems yet in fo rude a ftate, as hardly to delerve 
 the appellation : they have no ancient monuments^ 
 from vv^hich their origin can be traced even by 
 plaufible conjedure ; their fciences are wholly 
 ^xotick, and their mechanical arts have nothing 
 \n. them chnra^leriftic of a particular family ; 
 nothing \vhich any fet of men, in a country 1q 
 highly favoured by nature, might not have dif- 
 covered and improved. They have, indeed, 
 both national mulic and national poetry, and 
 both of them beautifully pathetick ; but of 
 painting, fculpture, or architefture, as arts of 
 imagination, they feem (like other Jljtaticksy 
 to have no idea. Inftead, therefore, of enlarg- 
 ing feparately on ^ach of thofe heads, I fhall 
 briefly enquire, how far the literature and re- 
 ligious practices of China confirm or oppofe the 
 propoiition which I have advanced. 
 
 The declared and fixed opinion of M. de 
 GuiGNEs, on the fubjecl before us, is nearly 
 connected with that of the Brahmam : he main« 
 tains, that the Chinefe. were emicrrants from 
 'Egypt ; and the 'Egyptians^ or Ethiopians (for 
 they were clearly the fame people), had indubi- 
 tably a common origin with the old natives of 
 India, as the affinity of their languages, and of 
 iheir inftniftlons, both religious and pohtical, 
 fully evinces ; but that China was peopled a few 
 
 centuries
 
 ON THE CHINESE. 221 
 
 centuries before our era by a colony from the 
 banks of the Nile, though neither Perfans nor 
 Arabs, Tartars nor Hindus, ever heard of fuch 
 an emigration, is a paradox, which the bare 
 authority even of fo learned a man cannot fup- 
 port ; and fince reafon grounded on fafts can 
 alone decide fuch a queftion, we have a right to 
 demand clearer evidence and ftronger arguments 
 than any that he has adduced. The hierogly- 
 phicks of Egypt bear, indeed, a ftrong refem- 
 blance to the mythological fculptures and paint- 
 ings of Ind'ia^ but feem wholly diflimilar to 
 the fymbolical fyftem of the Chine fe^ which 
 might eaiily have been invented (as they afiert) 
 by an individual, and might very naturally have 
 been contrived by the firH: Chinas, or out-caft 
 Hindus, who either never knew, or had for- 
 gotten, the alphabetical characters of their 
 wifer anceftors. As to the table and buft of 
 I SIS, they feem to be given up as modern 
 forgeries ; but, if they wxre indifputably ge- 
 nuine, they would be nothing to the purpofe ; 
 for the letters on the buft appear to have been 
 deiigned as alphabetical ; and the fabricator of 
 them (if they really were fabricated in 'Europe) 
 was uncommonly happy, lince two or three of 
 them are exadly the fame with thole on a metal 
 pillar yet {landing in the north of India, In 
 Egypt, if we can rely on the tcftimony of the 
 Greeks, who ftudied no language but their own, 
 
 there
 
 122, ON THE CHINESE. 
 
 there were two fcrs of alphabetical characters i 
 the one popular, like the various letters nfed in 
 cur Indian provinces ; and the oxh^r facer dotal, 
 like the Dtvanogari^ efpeci'ally that form of it 
 which we fee in the Feda : befides which, they 
 had two forts of /acred Jculpture ; the one lim- 
 ple, like the figures of Buddha and the three 
 Ra'mas ; and the other allegorical, like the 
 images of Gane'sa, or Divine Wifdom, and 
 Isa'ni'', or Nature, with all their emblematical 
 accompaniments : but xht real char a5fer of the 
 Chinefe appears wholly diflind from any EgyP" ' 
 lian writing, either myfterious or popular ; and 
 as to the fancy of M. de Guignes, that the 
 complicated fymlx)ls of China were at firfl no 
 more than Pke?tician monograms, let us hope, 
 that he has abandoned lb wild a conceit, which 
 he ftarted probably with no other view than to 
 difplay his ingenuity and learning. 
 
 We have ocular proof, that the few radical 
 chara6lers of the Chinefe were originally (like 
 our aftronomical and chymical fymbols) the 
 pictures orout-Hnes of viiible objeCls, or figu- 
 rative ligns for fimple ideas, which they have 
 multiplied by the mod: ingenious combinations 
 and the livdiefl; metaphors ; but as the fyftem 
 is peculiar, I believe, to themfelvesand the Ja- 
 pancfe, it would be idle and oilentatious to enlarge 
 on it at prefcnt ; and, for the reafons already 
 intimated, it neither corroborates nor weakens 
 
 the
 
 ON THE CHINESE. 223 
 
 the opinion which I endeavour to fupport. 
 Tiie fan:ie may as truly be Hiid of their Jpokcn 
 language ; for, independently of its conflant 
 fluctuation during a feries of ages, it has the 
 peculiarity of excluding four or five founds 
 which other nations articulate, and is clipped 
 into monofvllables, even when the ideas ex^ 
 prefled by them, and the wTitten fymbols for 
 thofe ideas, are very complex. This hasarifen, 
 I fuppofe, from the lingular habits of the peo- 
 ple ; for though their common tongue be fo 
 mufically accented as to form a kind of recitative, 
 yet it wants thofe grammatical accents, with- 
 out which all human tongues w^ould appear n:io- 
 Bcfyllabick : thus Amir a, with an accent on 
 the firfl: fyllable, means, in the Sanfcrit lan- 
 guage, immeafurable ; and the natives of Ben- 
 gal pronounce it Omito ; but when the reli- 
 gion of Buddha, the fbn of Muya^ was carried 
 hence into China, the people of that country, 
 unable to pronounce the name of their new 
 God, called him Foe, the ion of N-oye, and 
 divided his epithet Amita into three IvHables 
 O-Mi-To, annexing to them certain ideas of 
 their own, and exprefling them in writing by 
 three diftin61: fymbols. We may judge from 
 this in fiance, whether a comparifon of their 
 fpoken tongue with the dialeds of other na- 
 tions can lead to any certain conclufion as to 
 their origin ; yet the inflance which I have 
 
 given
 
 224 ^N THE CHINESE. 
 
 given fupplies me with an argument from 
 analogy, which I produce as conjedural only, 
 but which appears more plaufible the oftener I 
 confiderit. The Buddha of the Hindus is un- 
 queftionably the Foe of China ; but the great 
 progenitor of the Chine fe is alfo named by them 
 Fo-Hi, where the fecond monofyllable fignifies. 
 it feems, a Fiairn : now the anceflor of that 
 military tribe whom the Hindus call the Chan- 
 Jra'Oanfa, or children of the Moon, was, ac- 
 cording to their Purdnas or legends, Buddha^ 
 or the genius of the planet Mercury^ froni 
 whom, in \he Jifth degree, defcended a prince 
 named Druhya ; whom his father Yaya'ti 
 fent in exile to the eafl: of Hinduftdn, with this 
 imprecation, *' May thy progeny be ignorant of 
 '* the VedaV The name of the banifhed prince 
 could not be pronounced by the modern Chi- 
 neje ; and though I dare not conje6lure, that 
 the lad fyllable of it has been changed inta 
 Yao, I may neverthelefs obferve, that Yao 
 was xhcjifth in defcent from Fo-Hi, or at leaft 
 the fifth mortal in the fird: imperial dynafly ; 
 that all Chinefe hiftory before him is confidered, 
 by the (^/6/«f/^ themfelves, as poetical or fabu- 
 lous; that his father Ti- CO, like the 7;^^/^;^ king 
 Yaya'ti, was the firil: prince who married fe- 
 veral women ; and that Fo-Hi, the head of 
 their race, appeared, fay the Chinefe^ in a pro- 
 vince of the wefl, and held his court in the ter- 
 ritory
 
 6^r TH^ CHINESE. 2^j 
 
 rkory of Chk, where the rovers mentioned 
 by the India legiflator are fuppofed to have 
 fettled. Another circumftance in the parallel 
 is very remarkable : according to Father De 
 pREMARE, in his Tra6lon Chinefe Mythology, 
 the mother of Fo-hi was the daughter of 
 Heaven^ furnamed Flower-loving ; and as the 
 nymph was v/aiking alone on the bank of a 
 river with a fimilar name, fhe found herfeif on 
 a fudden encircled by a rainbow ; foon after 
 which flie became pregnant, and at the end of 
 twelve years was delivered of a fon radiant as 
 herfeif, who, among other titles, had that of 
 Su'i, or Star of the Tear . Now, in the my- " 
 thological fyftem of the Hindus^ the nymph 
 Ro'hini', who prefides over the fourth lunar 
 manfion, was the favourite miflrefs of So'ma, 
 or the Moon, among whofe numerous epithets^ 
 we find Cumudandyacd, or delighting in a fpe- 
 cies of water-flower, that bloflbms at night ; 
 and their ofl^spring was Budha, regent of a 
 planet, and called alfo, from the names of his 
 parents, Rauhinl^ya or Saumya. It is true, 
 that the learned Miffionary explains the word 
 Su'i by Jupiter ; but an exacTt refemblance 
 between two fuch fi\bles could not have been 
 expected ; and it is fufxirient for my purpofe 
 that they feem to have a fimilv likencfs. The 
 God BuDHA, {^y the Indians, married Ila^, 
 
 Q^ . whofe
 
 226 OxV THE CHINESE. 
 
 whofe fluher was prefervcd in a miraculous ark 
 from ail univerfal deluge : now, although I 
 cannot infift with conHdence, that the rain- 
 how in the Ch'inefe fable alludes to the Mofaick 
 narrative of the Flood, nor build any folid ar- 
 gument on the divine perfonage Niu-VA, of 
 w^iofe character, and even of whofe fex, the 
 hiftorians of China fpeak very doubtfully ; I 
 may, neverthelefs, allure you, after full en- 
 quiry and confideration, that the Chinefe, like 
 the Hi?idus, believe this earth to have been 
 wholly covered with water, which, in works 
 of undifputed authenticity, they defcribe as 
 Jlowing abundantly, then fuhji dingy and fepa- 
 - rating the higher from the lower age of mankind', 
 that the divifion of time^ from which their poe^ 
 tical hiftory begins, jufl: preceded the appear- 
 ance of Fo-Hi on the mountains of Ch'My but 
 that the great inundation, in the reign of Yao, 
 was either confined to the low-lands of his 
 kin2;dom, if the whole account of it be not a 
 fable, or if it contain any allufion to the Flood 
 of Noah, has been ignorantly mifplaced by 
 the Chine fe Annalifts. 
 
 The importation of a new religion into 
 China, in the firfl century of our Era, rnufl 
 lead us to fuppofe, that the former fyftem, 
 whatever it was, had been found inadequate to 
 the purpofe of reftraining the great body of the 
 people from thole offences againfl confcience 
 
 and
 
 CN THE CHINESE; 22 ^ 
 
 and virtue which the civil power could not 
 reach ; and it is hardly poflible that, without 
 fuch reftri£lions, any government could long 
 have fubfifted with felicity ; for ho government 
 tan long fubiiiT: without equal juftice, and juf- 
 tice cannot be adminiftered without the fan6lion3 
 of religion. Of the religious opinions enter- 
 tained by Confucius and his followers we 
 rnay glean a general notion from the fragments 
 of their w^orks tranflated by Couplet : they 
 prdfefl'ed a firm belief in the Supreme God, 
 and gave a demonftration of his Being, and of 
 his Providence, from the exquifite beauty and 
 perfection of the celeftial bodies, and the won- 
 derful order of nature in the whole fabrick of 
 the vifible world. From, this belief thev de- 
 duceda fyftem of Ethicks, which the philofo- 
 pher fums up in a few words at the clofe of the 
 Lunyii: *' He," fays Confucius, " who 
 •' (hall be fully perfuaded, that the Lord of 
 *' Heaven governs the Univerfe, who Ihall in 
 *' all things chufe moderation, who ihall pcr- 
 *' fe£lly know his own fpecies, and fo a6t 
 among them, that his life and manners may 
 conform to his knowledge of God and Man, 
 may be truly faid to difjharge all the duties of 
 a fage, and to be far exalted above the com- 
 " mon herd of the human race.'* But fuch 
 a religion and fuch morality coul4 never have 
 
 Q^ 2 been 
 
 6(
 
 228 ON^IIE CHINESE. 
 
 been general ; and we find, that the people of 
 China had an ancient fyftenn of ceremonies and 
 fuperflitions, which the government ' and the 
 philofophers appear to have encouraged, and 
 which has an apparent affinity with fome parts 
 of the oldefl: Indian worfhip : thej beHeve in 
 the agency of genii, or tutelary fpirits, pre- 
 liding over the flars and the clouds, over lakes 
 and rivers, mountains, valleys, and Vv'oods, over 
 certain regions and towns, overall the elements 
 (of v\/hich, like the Hindus^ they reckon^\;^)^ 
 and particularly over fre, the moft brilliant of 
 them : to thofe deities they offered victims on 
 high places ; and the following paffage from 
 the Sh't-cin, or Book of Odes, is very much in 
 the flyle of the Brdhmans : " Even they who 
 perform a facrifice with due reverence can- 
 not perfectly affure themfelves, that the di- 
 vine fpirits accept their oblations ; and far 
 *' lefs can they vv^ho adore the Gods with lan- 
 guor and ofcitancy clearly perceive their 
 lacred illapfes." 
 These are imperfect traces indeed, but they 
 are traces of an affinity between the religion of 
 AIenu and that of the Chinas, whom he names 
 among the apofiates from it. M. Le Gen- 
 til, obferved, he fays, a flrong refemblancc 
 between the funeral rites of the Chinefe 
 and the Sraddha of the Hindus ; and M. 
 BaillYj after a learned inveftigation, 
 ' " • " ' concludes 
 

 
 ON THE CHINESE. 229 
 
 concludes, that " even the puerile and abfurd 
 " ftories of the Chinefe fabulifts contain a renn- 
 *' nantof ancient Indian hiftory, with a faint 
 '* Iketch of the firfl: Hindu ages." 
 
 As the Batiddhas^ indeed, were Hindus, it 
 may naturally be imagined, that they carried 
 into CJoina many ceremonies pradifed in their 
 own country; h\iXt\\Q Bauddhas pofuively for- 
 bad the immolation of cattle; yet we know, 
 that various animals, even bulls and men, wxre 
 anciently facrihced by the Chirtcfe ; befides 
 which we difcover many fingular marks of re- 
 lation between them and the old Hindus : as in 
 the remarkable period of four hundred and 
 thirty-two thonjand, and the cycle of fixty\ 
 years ; in the predile£lion for the myflical num- 
 ber nine ; in many fimilar falls and great 
 feftivals, efpecially at the folllices and equi- 
 noxes ; in the juft micntioned obfequies, con- 
 fiding of rice and fruits, offered to the manes 
 of their anceil:ors ; in the dread of dying child- 
 lefs, left fuch offering fhould be intermitted ; 
 and, perhaps, in their common abhorrence of 
 r^^objefts, which the Indians carried fo fiir, 
 that Menu himfelf, where he allows a Brah- 
 man to trade, if he cannot otherwife fupport 
 life, abfolutely forbids '* his trafficking in any 
 " fort of red cloths, whether linen or w^ooUen, 
 '^' or made of woven bark." 
 
 0.3 All
 
 230 ON THE CHINESE. 
 
 All the circumftances which have been 
 mentioned uiider the two heads of literature. 
 snd religion feem colleclivelv to prove (as far as 
 fuch a queftion admits proof) that the Chinefe, 
 raid Hindus were originally the fame people ; but 
 having been feparated near four thou fan d years, 
 have retained few ftrong features of their an- 
 cient confanguinity, efpecially as the Hindus- 
 have preferved their old language and ritual, 
 while the Chinefe very foon loft both ; and the 
 Hindus have conilantlv intermarried among 
 themfelves, while the Chinefe,, by a mixture 
 pf Tartarian blood from the time of their frfl 
 eftablifhment, have at length form.ed a race 
 ^liflin6l in appearance both from Indians and 
 'Tartars. 
 
 A SIMILAR div^erfity has arifen, I believe, 
 from fimilar caufes, between the people of 
 China and fapan ; in the fecond of which na- 
 tions we have now, or foon fhall have, as cor- 
 rect: and as ample inilruftion as can poffibly be 
 obtained without a perfedl: acquaiRtance with 
 the 0/)/;^^^^ characlers. 
 
 Kfmfffr has taken from M. Titsingh the 
 honour of being the firft, and he from Kemp- 
 FER that of being the only European^ who, 
 by a long refidence in Japan, and a familiar in- 
 tercourle with the principal natives of it, has 
 been able to collect authentic materials for the 
 
 natural
 
 ON THE CHINESE. 23I 
 
 natural and civil hiflory of a comMxy fecluded, 
 as the Romans u fed to fay of our own Ifland, 
 from the rejl of the World, The works of 
 thofe illuflrious travellers will confirm and em^ 
 bellidi each other; and w^hen M. Titsikgh 
 fliall have acquired a knowledge of Chincfe^ to 
 which a part of his leifure in Java will be de- 
 voted, his precious collection of books in that 
 lansuasre, on the laws and revolutions, the na- 
 tural productions, the arts, manufa6tures, and 
 fciences, of Japan, will be in his hands an 
 inexhauftible mine of new and important in- 
 formation. Both he and his predeceHbr aflert 
 with confidence, and I doubt not with truth, 
 that the Japanefe would refent, as an infult on 
 their dignity, the bare fuggeftion of their de- 
 fcent from the Chinefe, whom they furpafs in 
 feveral of the mechanical arts, and, what is of 
 greater confequence, in military fpirit ; but 
 they do not, I underhand, mean to deny, that 
 they are a branch of the fune ancient ftem with 
 the people of China ; and, were that fa6l ever 
 fo warmly contefted by them, it might be 
 proved by an invincible argument, if the pre- 
 ceding part of this Difcourfe, on J;he origin of 
 the Chinefe, be thought to contain juft reafoning. 
 In the firfl place, it fcems inconceivable, 
 that the Japanefe, who never appear to have 
 been conquerors or conquered, fhould have 
 
 0^4 ^^dopted
 
 ^33 ON THE CHINESE, 
 
 adopted the whole lyflem of Chlnefe literature 
 with all its inconveniences and intricacies, if an 
 immemorial connexion had not fubfifted be- 
 tween the two nations ; or, in other words, if 
 the bold and ingenious race who peopled Japan 
 in the middle of the thirteenth century before 
 Christ, and about fix hundred years after- 
 wards eftabliflied their monarchy, had not 
 carried with them the letters and learnino- 
 which they and the thinefe had poflefled iu 
 common ; but my principal argument is, that 
 the Hindu or Egyptia?i idolatry has prevailed 
 in Japan from the earliefl: ages ; and among tjie 
 idols worflnipped, according to Kempfer, in 
 that country before the innovations of Sa'cya 
 or Buddha, whom the Japanefe alfo call 
 Amida, we find many of thofe which we fee 
 everyday in the temples oi Bengal; particu- 
 larly the Goddejs with many arms, reprefentino- 
 the powers of nature, in Egypt named Isis, 
 and here Isa'ni^ or Isi', whofe image, as it is 
 exhibited by the German traveller, all the Brahr 
 mans to whom I fiiewed it immediately recoe- 
 nized with a mixture of pleafureand cnthufiafm^ 
 'it is very true, that the Chincfe differ v/idely from 
 the natives of Japan in their vernacular dia- 
 lecls, in external manners, and perhaps in the 
 ftrength of their mental faculties ; but as wide 
 a difference is obfervable among all the nations 
 
 of
 
 ON THE CHINESE. 
 
 233 
 
 of the Gothic family ; and we might accouat 
 even for a greater diiiimilarity, by coniidering 
 the number of ages during which the feveral 
 fvvarms have been feparated from the great 
 Indian hive, to which they primarily belonged. 
 
 The modern Japanefe gave Kempfer the 
 idea of polifhed tartan ; and it is reafonable 
 to believe, that the people of Japan, who were 
 originally Hindus of the martial clafs, and ad- 
 vanced farther eaftward than the Ch'/nas, have, 
 like them, infeniibiy changed their features 
 and characlers by intermarriages with various 
 Tartarian tribes, whom they found loofely 
 fcattered over their iiles, or who afterwards 
 fixed their abode in them. 
 
 Having now {hewn, in five Difcourfes, that 
 the Arabs and Tartars were originally aifi:in£t 
 races, while the Hindus^ Chinefe, and Japanefe^ 
 proceeded from another ancient ftem, and that 
 all the three ftems may be traced to Iran, as to 
 a common centre, from which it is highlv pro- 
 bable, that they diverged in various dire(£tions . 
 about four thoufand years ago, I may feem to 
 have accomplilhed mv defign of inveftieatinsr 
 the origin of the Aftatick nations ; but the 
 queftions which I undertook to difcufs are not 
 yet ripe for a fi:ri5: analytical arguoient ; and it 
 will fird be neceff^ry to examine with fcrupu- 
 lous attention all the detached or infulated races 
 
 of
 
 ^^4- ^^ '^^2 CHINESH. 
 
 of men, who cither inhabit the borders of 
 Jndia, j^rabia, Tartary^ Perjia^ and China, of 
 are interfperfed in the mountainons and uncul- 
 tivated parts of thofe extenfive regions. 
 
 To this examination I fhall, at our next An- 
 nual Meeting, allot an entire Difcourfe ; and 
 if, after all our inquiries, no more than three 
 primitive races can be found, it will be a fubfe- 
 queut confideration, whether thofe three ftocks 
 had one common root, and, if they had, by 
 what means that root was preferved amid the 
 violent fhocks which our whole globe appears 
 evidently to have fuflained, , ' • 
 
 4^ 
 
 DIS. 

 
 ( ^3S ) 
 DISSERTATION VIIL 
 
 REMARKS. 
 
 ON THE 
 
 ISLAND 
 
 F 
 
 HINZUAN OR JOHANNA, 
 
 JJ^IN Z V' AN {jx name which has been gra- 
 dually corrupted into Anzuame^ Aiijuan^ 
 "Juanny, and Johanpa) has been governed about 
 two centuries by a (Colony of ^^r^^j, and exhibits 
 acurious inflance of ••he flow approaches towards 
 civilization which are made by a fmall commu- 
 nity, with many natural advantages but with 
 few means of improving them. An account of 
 this African ifland, in which we hear the 
 language and fee the manners of Arabia, may 
 neither be uninterefling in itfelf, nor foreign to 
 the objeds of enquiry propofed at the inftitutiou 
 of pur Society. ^ 
 
   . On
 
 236 REMARKS ON THE ISLAND OF 
 
 On Monday the 28th of July 1783, after 
 a voyage in the Crocodile of ten weeks and 
 two days from the rugged iflands of Cape Verd^ 
 our eyes were delighted with a profpe£l fo 
 beautiful, that neither a painter nor a poet could 
 perfedly reprefent it, and fo cheering to us, 
 that it can juftly be conceived by fuch only as 
 have been in our preceding iituation. It was 
 the fun rifing in full fplendour on the ifle of 
 Mayata (as the feamen called ir.), which we 
 had joyfully diftinguidied the preceding after- 
 noon by the height of its peak, and which now 
 appeared at no great diftance from the windows 
 of our cabin ; while Hinzuan^ for which we 
 bad fo long panted, was plainly difcernible 
 a-head, where its high lands prefented them- 
 ielves with remarkable boldnefs. The weather 
 was fair ; the water fmooth ; and a gentle 
 breeze drove us eafily beforp dinner-time round 
 a rock, on which the Brilliant fl:ruck jufl a year 
 before, into a commodious road *, where we 
 dropped our anchor early in the evening : we 
 had feen Moh'ila^ another fifler illand, in the 
 courfe of the day. 
 
 The frigate was prefently furrounded with 
 canoes, and the deck foon crowded with na- 
 tives of all ranks, from the high-born chiefs 
 who waflied linen, to the half-naked flave,, 
 
 * Lat. 120. 10'. 47". S. Long. 44". 25' 5". E. by the 
 Mafter. , 
 
 • who
 
 HINZUAN OR JOHANNA. 237 
 
 who only paddled. Moft of them had letters 
 of recommendation from EfigHJImien, which 
 none of them were ahie to read, though they 
 fpoke EngUJJj intelligibly ; and fome appeared 
 vain of titles which our countrymen had 
 given them in play, according to their fup- 
 pofed ftations ; we had lords, dukes, and 
 princes on board, foliciting our cuftom, and 
 importuning us for prefenrs. In fa6l, they were 
 too fenfible to be proud of empty founds, but 
 juftly imagined, that thofe ridiculous titles 
 would ferve as marks of diftindlion, and, by 
 attracting notice, procure for them fomething 
 fubftantial. The only men of real confequence 
 in the ifland, whom we law before we landed, 
 were the Governor Abdullah, fecond coufiii 
 to the King, and his brother Alwi', Vv'ith their 
 feveralfons; all of whom will again be parti- 
 cularly mentioned : they underftood Arahick^ 
 feemed zealots in the Mohammedan faith, and 
 admired my copies of the Alkoran ; fome verfes 
 of which they read, whilft Alv/i' perufed the 
 opening of another Arabian manufcript, and 
 explained it in EngUfo more accurately than 
 could have been expeded. 
 
 The next morning fhewed us the ifland in 
 all its beauty ; and the fcene was fo diverfified, 
 that a diftincl view of it could hardly have been 
 exhibited by the beft pencil : you mufl, there- 
 fore, be fatisfied wtth a mere defcription, writ- 
 ten
 
 %^% REMARKS ON THE ISLAND OF 
 
 ten on the very fpiDt, and compared attentively 
 with the natural landfcape. We were at an- 
 chor in a fine bay, and before us was a vaft am- 
 phitheatre, of which you may form a general 
 notion by picturing in your minds a multitude 
 of hills infinitely varied in fize and figure, and 
 then fuppofing them to be thrown together, 
 with a kind of artlefs fymmetry, in all imagi- 
 nable pofitionsi The back ground was a feries 
 of mountains, one of which is pointed, near 
 half a mile }-erpendicularly high from the level 
 of the lea, and little more than three miles 
 from the (hore : all of them were richly clothed 
 with wood, chiefly fruit-trees, of an exquifite 
 verdure. I had {ten manv a mountain of a 
 flupendous height in Wales and Sw^Jferland, 
 but never faw one before, round the bofom of 
 which the clouds were almoft continually rol- 
 lins;,while its 2:reenfummitrofefiourilhino; above 
 them, and received from them an additional 
 brightnefs. Next to this diftant ran'2;e of hills 
 was another tier, part of which appeared 
 charmingly verdant, and part rather barren ; 
 but the contrafl: of colours changed even this 
 nakednefs into a beauty : nearer fliill were in- 
 numerable m.ountains, or rather cliffs, which 
 brought down their verdure and fertility quite 
 to the beach ; fo that every fhade of green, the 
 fweeteft of colours, was difplayed at one view 
 
 by
 
 HIN2UAN OR JOHANNA. l^t) 
 
 by land and by water. But nothing conduced 
 more to the variety of this enchanting profpe^t 
 than the many rows of palm-trees, efpecially 
 the tall and graceful Areca's, on the fhores, in 
 the valleys, and on the ridges of hills, where 
 one might almofl fuppofe them to have been 
 planted regularly by delign. A more beautiful 
 appearance can fcarce be conceived, than fuch 
 a number of elegant palms in fuch a fituation, 
 with luxuriant tops, like verdant plumes, placed 
 at juil: intervals, and fhewing between them 
 part of the remoter landfcape, while they left 
 the refl to be fupplied by the beholder* s imagi- 
 nation. The town of Matfaniudo lay on our 
 left, remarkable at a diftance for the tower of 
 the principal Mofque, which was built by 
 Hali'mah, a Queen of theifland, from whom 
 the prefent King is defcended : a little on our 
 right was a fmall town, called Bantiini, Neither 
 the territory of Nlce^ with its olives, date- 
 trees, and cypreflcs, nor the ifles of Hicres, 
 with their delightful orange-groves, appeared 
 fo charming to me as the view from the road of 
 H'lnzuan ; which, never thelefs, is far furpaffed, 
 as the Captain of the Crocodile alTured us, by 
 many of the iflands in the fouthern ocean. If life 
 were not too fliort for the complete difcharge of 
 all our refpedllve duties, publick and private, 
 and for the acqulfition even of necefTary know- 
 ledge
 
 240 REMARKS ON THE ISLAND OF 
 
 ledge in any degree of perfetlion, with hoW 
 much pleafiire and improvement might a great 
 part of it be fpent in admiring the beauties of 
 this wonderful orb, and contemplating the na- 
 ture of man in all its varieties ! 
 
 Wf, haftened to tread on firm land, to which 
 we had been fo long difufed, and went on fhore, 
 after breakfafl, to fee the town, and return the 
 Governor's viiit. As we walked, attended by a 
 crowd of natives, I furprized them by reading 
 aloud an /^r.z^/Vi infcription over the gate of a 
 Mofque, and ftill more, when I entered it, by 
 explaining four fentences, which were written 
 very diftinclly on the wall, fignifying, " that 
 " the world was sjiven us for our own edifica- 
 ** tion, not for the purpofe of raifing fump- 
 *' tuous buildings ; life, for the difcharge of* 
 *' moral and religious duties, not for plealurable 
 " indulgences ; wealth, to be liberally be- 
 *' fcowed, not avaricioufly hoarded ; andlearn- 
 *' ing to produce good a61:ions, not empty dif-* 
 *' putes." We could not but refpe61: the 
 temple even of a falfe prophet, in which we 
 found fuch excellent morality : we faw nothing 
 better among the Romijh trumpery in the 
 church at Mddera. 
 
 When we came to Abdullah's houfe^ 
 we were conduced through a fmall court-yard 
 into an open room, on each fide of which was 
 
 a la roe
 
 lilNZUAN OR JOHANNA. 24I 
 
 a large and convenient fofa, and above It a high 
 bed- place in a dark recefs, over which a chintz 
 counterpane hung down from the ceiHng : this 
 is the f^eneral form of the heft rooms in the 
 ifland ; and moft of the tolerable houfes have a 
 fimllar apartment on the oppolite fide of the 
 court, that there may be at all hours a place in 
 the fhade for dinner or for repofe. We were 
 entertained with ripe dates from Icemen, and 
 the milk of cocoa-nuts ; but the heat of the 
 room, which feem.ed accefhble to all who chofe 
 to enter it, and the fcent of muik or civet, 
 with which it was perfumed, foon made us de- 
 firous of breathing a purer air ; nor could I be 
 detained long by the Arabic k manufcripts 
 w^hich the Governor produced, but which ap- 
 peared of little ufe, and coniequently of no 
 value, except to fuch as love mere curiofities : 
 one of them, indeed, relating to the penal law 
 of the Mohammedans^ I would gladly have 
 purchafed at a jufl price ; but he knew not what 
 to afk, and I knew that better books on that fub- 
 jed: might be procured in Befigal. He then 
 offered me a black boy for one of my Alkorans, 
 and prefled me to barter an hidian drefs, which 
 he had feen on board the flilp, for a cow and calf; 
 the golden flippers attradled him moff, fincehis 
 wife, he laid, would like to wear them ; and 
 for that reafon I made him a prefent of them ; 
 
 R but
 
 242 REMARKS ON THE ISLAND OF 
 
 but had deflined the book and the robe for his 
 fuperior. No high opinion could be formed of 
 Sayyad Abdullah, who feemed very eager 
 for gain, and very fervile where he expeOed it. 
 
 Our next vifit was to Shaikh Sa'lim, the 
 King's eldefl fon ; and if we had feen him firft, 
 the ftate of civihzation in Hinzuan would have 
 appeared at its loweft ebb ; the worft Englijh 
 hackney in the worft ftable is better lodged, 
 and looks more princely than this heir ap- 
 parent ; but though his mien and apparel were 
 extremely favage, yet allowance ihould have 
 been made for his illnefs, which, as we after- 
 wards learned, was an abfcefs in the fpleen, a 
 diforder not uncommon in that country, and 
 frequently cured, agreeably to the Arabian 
 pra£lice, by the a6lual cautery. He was iii- 
 ceflantly chewing pieces of the Areca-mit with 
 fhell-lim.e ; a cuftom borrovv'ed, I fuppofe, from 
 the Indians^ who greatly improve the com- 
 pofition with fpices and betel-leaves, to which 
 they formerly added camphor : all the natives 
 of rank chewed it, but not, 1 think, to fo great 
 an excefs. Prince Sa'lim from time to time 
 gazed at himfelf with complacency in a piece 
 of broken looking-glafs, which was glued on a 
 fri.all board, a fpccimen of wretchednefs which 
 we obferved in no other houfe ; but many cir- 
 cumftauces convinced us that the apparently 
 
 low
 
 HINZUAN OR JOHANNA. 243 
 
 low condition of his Royal Highnefs, who 
 was not on bad terms with his father, and 
 Teemed not to want authority, proceeded wholly 
 from his avarice. His brother Hamdullah, 
 who generally relides in the town of Dofnoni^ 
 has a very different charatfter, being efteemed a 
 man of worth, good fenfe, and learning : he 
 had come the day before to Matfamitdoy on hear- 
 ing that an EngUJh frigate was in the road ; and 
 1 havino; g-one out for a iQw minutes to read aa 
 Arabick infcription, found him on my return 
 devouring a manufcript, which I had left with 
 fome of the company. He is a Klid't or Mo- 
 hammedan judge ; and as he feemed to have 
 more knowledge than his countrymen, I was 
 extremely concerned that I had fo little conver- 
 fation with him. The King, Shaikh Armed, 
 has a younger fon, named Abdullah, whofe 
 ufual reiidence is in the town of Warn, which 
 he feldom leaves, as the ftate of his health is 
 very infirm. Since the fucCeffion to the title 
 and authority of Sultan is not unaltet-ably fixed 
 in one line, but requires confirmation by the 
 Chiefs of the iflandj it is not improbable that 
 they may hereafter be conferred on Prince 
 Hamdullah. 
 
 A LITTLE beyond the hole in which Sa'lim 
 received us, was his Haram^ or the apartment 
 of his women, which he permitted us all to fee, 
 
 R 2 not
 
 244 REMARKS ON THE ISLAND OF 
 
 not through politenefs to Grangers, as we 
 believed at firft, but, as I learned afterwards 
 from his own lips, in expe£lation of a prefent : 
 we faw only two or three m.iferable creatures 
 with their heads covered, while the favourite, 
 as we fuppofed, ftood behind a coarfe curtain, 
 and fhewed her ankles under it loaded with 
 filver rings ; which, if fhe was capable of re- 
 flecflion, fhe muft hav^e conlidered as sflitterine 
 fetters rather than ornaments ; bur a rational 
 being would have preferred the condition of a 
 wild beaft, expofed to perils and hunger in a 
 forell:, to the fplendid mifery of being wife or 
 miftrefs to Sa'lim. 
 
 Before we returned, Alwi' was defirous of 
 fhewing me his books ; but the day was too 
 far advanced, and I promifed to vifit him fome 
 other morning. The Governor, however, pre- 
 vailed on us to fee his place in the countrv, 
 where he invited us to dine the next day : the 
 walk was extremely pleafant from the town to 
 the fide of a rivulet, which formed in one part 
 a fmall pool very convenient for bathing, and 
 thence, through groves and alleys, to the foot 
 of a hill ; but the dining-room was little better 
 than an open barn, and was recommended only 
 by the coohiefs of its fliade. Abdullah would 
 accompany us on our return to the fhip, toge- 
 ther w^ith two Mufti s^ who fpoke Arahick in- 
   - ' ' • ' ... differently.
 
 HINZUAN OR JOHANNA, j 245 
 
 dlfFerendy, and leemed eager to fee all my ma- 
 nufcripts ; but they were very moderately 
 learned, and gazed with llupid wonder on a fine 
 copy of the Hamafah and on other collections 
 of ancient poetry. 
 
 Early the next morning a black meffenger, 
 with a tawney lad as his interpreter, came from 
 Prince Sa^lim ; who, having broken his per- 
 fpeclive-glafs, wiihed to procure another by 
 purchafe or barter : a polite anfwer was re- 
 turned, and fteps taken to gratify his wifhes. 
 As we on our part exprelTed a defire to vifit the 
 King at Domon':, the Prince's meilenger told us, 
 that his mafter would, no doubt, lend us pa- 
 lanquins (for there was not an horfe in the 
 ifland), and order a fufficient number of his 
 vaflals to carry us, whom we might pay for 
 their trouble, as we thought juft : we com- 
 miffioned him, therefore, to alk that favour, 
 and begged that all might be ready for our ex- 
 curlion before fun- rife, that we might efcape 
 the heat of the noon, which, though it was 
 the middle of winter, we had found exceffive. 
 The boy, whofc name was Combo Madi' 
 ftaid with us longer than his companion : there 
 Vv^as fomething in his look fo ingenuous, and iix 
 his broken Englifi fo fimple, that we en- 
 couraged him to continue his innocent prattle. 
 He wrote and read Arahick tolerably well, and 
 
 R 3 ' fet
 
 REMARKS ON THE ISLAND OF 
 
 fet down at my deiire the names of feveral towns 
 in the ifland, which, Hefirft told me, was prOf 
 perly called Htnzuan. The fi\ult of begging 
 for whatever he liked, he had in common with 
 the Governor and other nobles ; but hardly in ^ 
 greater degree : his firfl petition for fome laven- 
 der-water was readily granted ; andafmall bottle 
 of it was fo acceptable to him, that, if we ha4 
 fuffered him, he would have kiifed our feet : 
 but it was not for himfelf that he rejoiced fo 
 extravagantly ; he told us, with tears ftarting 
 from his eyes, that his mother would be pleafed 
 with it, and the idea of her pleafure feemed to 
 fill him with rapture : never did I fee filial af- 
 fedion more warmly felt, or more tenderly 
 and, in my opinion, unaffededly exprefled 5 
 yet this boy was not a favourite of the officers, 
 who thought him artful. His mother's name, 
 he faid, was Fa^tima ; and he impor- 
 tuned us to vilit her ; conceiving, I fuppofe, 
 that all mankind muft love and admire her ; 
 wcpromifed to gratify him ; and, haying made 
 him feveral prefents, permitted him to return. 
 As he reminded me of Aladdin in the Ara- 
 bian tale, 1 deligned to give him that name in a 
 recommendatory letter, which he prefled me 
 to write, inftead of St. Domingo, as fome 
 European vilitor had ridiculoufly called him ; 
 but, fi^e the allu^Qn would not have been ge-t 
 
 nerally
 
 HINZUAN OR JOHANNA, 247 
 
 nerally known, and fince the title of Aiau^ldm, 
 or Eminence in Faith, might have offended his 
 fuperiors, I thought it advifeable for him to 
 keep his yffrican name. 
 
 A VERY indifferent dinner was prepared for 
 us at the houfe of the Governor, whom we did 
 not fee the whole dav, as it was the besfinnine 
 of Ramadan, the Mohammedan Lenty and he 
 was engaged in his devotions, or made them 
 his excufe ; but his eldeH: fon fat by us, while 
 we dined, together with Mu'sa, who was em- 
 ployed, jointly with his brother Husain, as 
 purveyor to the Captain of the frigate. 
 
 Having obferved a very elegant fhrub, that 
 grew about fix feet high in the court-yard, but 
 was not then in flower, I learned with pleafure, 
 that it was hifind, of which I had read fo much 
 in Arabian poems, and which European bota- 
 nifts have ridiculoufly named JL^ieyow/^. Mu'sa 
 bruifed fome of the leaves, and, having moift- 
 ened them with water, applied them to our 
 nails, and the tips of our fingers, which in a 
 Ihort time became of a dark orange-fcarlet. I 
 had before conceived a different idea of this 
 dye, and imagined, that it was uled by the 
 Arahi to imitate the natural rednefs of thofe 
 parts in young and healthy perfons, which in 
 all countries mufl be confidered as a beauty : 
 perhaps a lefs quantity of hinna, or the fame 
 
 R 4 differently
 
 248 REMARKS ON THE ISLAND OF 
 
 differently prepared, might have produced that 
 effe6t. The old men iiiy^r^/^/^ufed the famedye 
 to conceal their gray hair, while their daugh- 
 ters were dyeing their lips and gums black, to let 
 off the whitenefs of their teeth ; fo univerfal 
 in all nations and ages are perlbnal vanity, and 
 a love of difguiiing truth ; though in all cafes, 
 the farther our fpecies recede frcm nature, the 
 farther they depart from true beauty ; and men 
 at leaft fliould difdain to ufe artifice or deceit 
 for any purpofe or on any occafion : if the wo- 
 men of rank at Paris, or thofe in Lofidon who 
 wifh to imitate them, be inclined to call the 
 Arabs barbarians, let them view their own 
 head-dreffes and cheeks in a glafs, and, if they 
 have left no room for blufhes, be inwardly at 
 leaft aftiamed of their cenfure. . - • 
 
 In the afternoon I walked a long way up the 
 mountains in a winding path amid plants and 
 trees no lefs new than beautiful, and regretted 
 exceedingly that very few of them were in 
 bloflbm, as I fliould then have had leifure to ex- 
 amine them. Curiofity led me from hill to hill ; 
 and I came at laft to the fources of a rivulet, 
 which we had paffed near the fhcre, and from 
 which the Ihip was to be fupplied with excellent 
 water. I faw no birds on the mountains but 
 Guinea-fowl, which might have been eallly 
 caught : no infects were troublefome to me but 
 
 ofquitos \
 
 HINZUAN OR JOHANNA. 249 
 
 rnofquitos ; and I had no fear of venomous rep- 
 tiles, having been affured that the air was too 
 pure for any to exift in it ; but I was often un- 
 willingly the caufe of fear to the gentle and 
 harmlefs lizard, who ran among the fhrubs. 
 On my return I miffed the path by which I 
 had afcended ; but having met fom.e blacks laden 
 with yams and plantains, I was by them di- 
 reded to another, which led me round, through 
 a charmino; 9:rove of cocoa-trees, to the Gover- 
 nor's country-feat, where our entertainment 
 was clofed by a fillabub, which the EriQ-li/Jj had 
 taught the Mufehnans to make for them. 
 
 We received no anfwer from Sa'lim ; nor, 
 indeed, expe6led one, fince we took for granted 
 that he could not but approve our intention of 
 vifiting his father; and we went on Ihore be- 
 fore fun- rife, in full expectation of a plealant 
 excurfion to Dojnoni, but we were happily dif- 
 appointed. 1 he fervants at the Prince's door 
 told us coolly, that their mafter was indifpofed, 
 and, as they believed, afieep; that he had given 
 them no orders concerning his palanquins, and 
 that they durft not difturb him. Alwi' fuon 
 came to pay us his compliments, and was fol- 
 lowed by his eldeil fon Ahmed, with whom we 
 walked to the Sfardens of the two Princes Sa'lim 
 and Hamdullah ; the fituation was naturally 
 good but wild and defolate; and in Sa'lim's 
 
 garden.
 
 %^0 REMARKS ON THE ISLAND OF 
 
 garden, which we entered through a miferable 
 hovel, we f^iw a convenient bathing-place, well 
 built with ftone, but then in great diforder ; 
 -and a fhed by way of fummer-houfe, like that 
 inider which we dined at the Governor's, but 
 fmaller, and lefs neat. On the ground lay a 
 kind of cradle, about fix feet long, and little 
 more than one foot ia breadth, made of cords 
 twifted in a fort of clumfy net-work, with a 
 long thick bamboo fixed to each fide of it : this 
 we heard with furprizc was a royal palanquin, 
 and one of the vehicles in which we were to 
 have been rocked on men's fhoulders over the 
 mountains. I had much converfation with 
 Ahmed, whom I found intelligent and com- 
 municative, He told me, that feveral of his 
 countrymen compofed fongs and tunes ; that 
 he was himfelf a paflionate lover of poetry and 
 mufic, and that if we would dine at his houfe 
 he would play and fing to us. We declined his 
 invitation to dinner, as we had made a condi- 
 tional promife if ever we pafled a day at Matja^ 
 miido to at our currv with Ba'na' Gibu, an 
 honefl: man, of whom w^e purchafed eggs and 
 vegetables, and to whom fome TLngUJlomen \\^A 
 given the title of Lord, which made him ex- 
 tremely vain ; we could therefore make Say- 
 YAD Ahmed only a morning vifit. He fung a 
 hymn or tvv'o in Arab'ick^ and accompanied his 
 di;.wling tho'igh pathetic pfalmody with a kind 
 
 of
 
 HINZUAN OR JOHANNA. 25 1 
 
 pf mandoline, which he touched with an awk- 
 ward quill : the inftrument was very imperfect, 
 but feemed to give him delight. '1 he names 
 of the ftring-s were written on it in Arabian or 
 Indian figures, fimple and compounded ; but I 
 could not think them worth copying. He gave 
 Captain Williamson, who wiflied to preient 
 fome literary curiofities to the library at Dublin, 
 a fmall roll, containing a hymn in Arabick let- 
 ters, but in the language of Mombaza^ which 
 was mixed with Arabick ; but it hardly deferved 
 examination, fincethe il:udy ofl nguages hasHt- 
 tle Intrinfic value, and is only uieful as the inrtru- 
 ment of real knowledge, which we can 
 fcarce expe6l from the poets of Mozambique, 
 Ahmed would, I believe, have heard our E^ro- 
 fean airs (I always except French melody) with 
 rapture ; for his favourite tune was a common 
 JriJIo jig, with which he feemed wonderfully 
 afFe6led. 
 
 On our return to the beach I thought of vi- 
 fiting old Alwi', according to my promife, and 
 Prince Sa'lie.!, whofe character I had not then 
 discovered. I refolved for that purpofe to ftay 
 on fhore alone, our dinner with Gibu having 
 been fixed at an early hour. h'Lwx' fliewed me 
 his manufcripts, which chiefly related to the ce- 
 remonies and ordinances of his own religion ; 
 and one of them, which I had formerly (ttn in 
 
 Europe y
 
 252 REMARKS ON THE ISLAND OF 
 
 Europe, was a colledioii of fublime and elegant 
 hymns inpraifeof Mohammed, with explana- 
 tory notes in the margin. I requefted him to 
 read one of them after the manner of the Arabs^ 
 and he chaunted it in a ftrain by i\o means un- 
 pleafing ; but I am perfuaded that he underftood 
 it very imperfeclly. The room, which was 
 open to the ftreet, was prefently crowded with 
 vifitors, moft of whom were Mufti's, or ex- 
 pounders of the law ; and Alwi', defirous, per- 
 haps, to difplay his zeal before them at the ex- 
 pence of good -breeding, dircfted my attention 
 to a paiTage in a Commentary on the Kora'n, 
 which I found levelled at the Chr'ifiians. The 
 commentator, having related with fome addi- 
 tions (but, on the whole, not inaccurately) the 
 circumftancesof the temptation, puts this fpeech 
 into the mouth of the tempter : " Though I am 
 " unable to delude thee, yet I will miflead by thy 
 *' means more human creatures than thou wilt 
 " fet right," " Nor was this menace vain,'* fays 
 the Mohammedan writer, " for the inhabitants 
 ** of a region many thoufand leagues in extent, 
 " are flill fo deluded by the devil, that they im- 
 *' oufly call TfcA thcfon of God. Heaven pre- 
 " ferve us," he adds, " from blafphemingChri- 
 " flians, as wellas blafpheming Jews!" Altho' a 
 religious difpute with thofe obflinate zealots 
 would have been unieafonable and fruitlefs, yet 
 they deferved, I thought, a flight reprehenfion, 
 as the attack feemed to be concerted among 
 
 them.
 
 IIINZUAN OR JOHANNA. 25^ 
 
 them. " The commentator," laid I, " was 
 " much to blame for paffing fo indiicrimiiiate 
 '* and hafty a cenfure : the title which gave your 
 *• legiflator, and gives you luch offence, was of- 
 " ten applied in Judea, by a bold figure, agree- 
 *' able to the Hebi^ew idiom, though unufual in 
 ** Arabic k^ to angels, to holy men, and even to ail. 
 *' mankind, who are commanded to call God 
 " their fat her ; and in this large {qi\(q rhQ^pojlIi; 
 *' to the Romans calls the eled: the children of 
 '* God, and the Messiah t\\e fir fi -born among 
 ** 7nany brethren ; but the words only -begot ten 
 *' are applied tranfcendently and incomparably 
 '* to him alone * ; and as for me, who believe 
 '* the fcriptures, which you alfo profefs to be- 
 *' lieve, though you afiert without proof that 
 " we have altered them, I cannot refufe him an 
 *' appellation, though far furpaffing our reafon, 
 " by which he is diftinguifhed in the Gofpel ; 
 " and the believers in Muhammed, who ex- 
 " prefsly names him the Messiah, and pro- 
 " nounces him to have been born of a vir2;in, 
 " which alone might fully juilify the phrafe 
 " condemned by this author, are themfelves 
 *' condemnable for cavilling at words, when 
 *' they cannot object to the fubftance of our faith 
 " confidently with their own.'* The Mufel- 
 mans had nothing to fw in reply ; and the 
 converlation was changed. 
 
 *Rom.viu.29. See i.Johnjiii. i, 2. Barrow, 231, 232,251. 
 ^     * I WAS
 
 254 REMARKS ON THE ISLAND OI^ 
 
 I WAS aftoiiiflied at the queilions which Al« 
 wi'put to me concerning the late peace and the 
 independence of America ; the feveral powers 
 and refources of Britain and France^ Spain and 
 Holland \ the character and fuppofed views of 
 the Emperor ; the comparative ftrength of the 
 RuJJlan Iinperuii^ and Othman armies, and their 
 refpe6live modes of bringing their forces to ac- 
 tion. 1 anfwered him without referve, except on 
 the ftate of our poffeflions in India ; nor werd 
 my anfwers loft ; for I cbferved that all the com^ 
 pany were variouily affected by them, generally 
 with amazement, often with concern ; efpe- 
 ciallv when I defcribedto them the great force 
 and admirable difcipline of the Aujlrlan army^ 
 and the ftupid prejudices of the ^nrh, whom 
 norhing can induce to abandon their old Tarta- 
 rian habits, and expofed the weaknefs of their 
 empire in /frlca^ and even in the more diftant 
 provinces of Afia. In return he gave me clear 
 but general information concerning; the Q:overn- 
 mentand commerce of his ifland : '' his coun- 
 *' try," he faid, *' WTispoor, and produced few ar- 
 " tides of trade ; but if they could get monev, 
 *' which they now preferred to play -things ^'^ 
 thefe were his words, " they might eaiily,'* 
 he added, " procure foreign commodities, and 
 " exchange them advantaeeouily with their 
 " neighbours in the iilands and on the continent : 
 *' thus with a little money," faid he, " w^e 
 *' purchafe mulketc, powder, balls, cutlafTes, 
 
 ** knives.
 
 HiNZUAN OR JOHANNA. 255 
 
 knives, cloths, raw cotton, and other articles 
 brought from Bombay, and with thofe we 
 trade to Madagafcar for the natural produce 
 of the country or for dollars, with which the 
 French buy cattle, honey, butter, and fo forth, 
 in that ifland. With gold, which we receive 
 from your (hips, we can procure elephants 
 teeth from the natives of Mozambique, who 
 barter them alfo for ammunition and bars of 
 iron ; and the Portuguefe in that country give 
 us cloths of various kinds in exchange for oar 
 commodities : thofe cloths we difpofe of lu- 
 cratively in the three neighbouring iflands ; 
 whence we bring rice, cattle, a kind of bread- 
 fruit which grows in Comara, and (laves, 
 which we buy alfo at other places to which 
 we trade ; and we carry on this traffic in our 
 own veffels.'* 
 Here I could not help exprefling my abhor- 
 rence of their Slave Trade, and alked him by 
 what law thev claimed a property in rational be» 
 ings, lince our Creator had given our fpecies 
 a dominion, to be moderately exercifed, over 
 the beafts of the field and the fowls of the air, 
 but none to man over man. " By no law, an» 
 fweredhe, *« unlefs neceffity be a law." There 
 " are nations in Madagafcar and in Africa who 
 " know neither God nor his Prophet, nor 
 *« Moses, nor David, nor tlie Messiah : 
 <* thofe nations are in perpetual war, and take 
 
 " manv
 
 :l^6 REMARKS ON THE ISLAND OF* 
 
 many captives, whom, if they could not fellj 
 they would certainly kill. Individuals among 
 them are in extreme poverty, and have num- 
 bers of children, w^ho, if they cannot be dif- 
 pofed of, muft perifh through hunger, toge- 
 ther with their miferable parents. By purchaf- 
 ing thefe wretches we preferve their lives, 
 and, perhaps, thofe of many others, whom 
 our money relieves. The fum of the argu- 
 ment is this : If we buy them, they will live 
 — if they become valuable fervants, they will 
 live comfortably ; but if they are not fold, they 
 muft die miferably." " There may be," faid 
 I, " fuch cafes, but you fallacioufly draw a ge- 
 neral conclufion from a few particular in- 
 llances ; and thi<^ is the very fallacy which, 
 on a thoufand other occafions, deludes man- 
 kind. It is not to be doubted that a conflant 
 and gainful traffic in human creatures foments 
 war, in which captives are alwavs made, and 
 keeps up that perpetual enmity which you 
 pretend to be the cdufe of a practice in itfelf 
 reprehenfible, while in truth it is its eff'eSl. 
 The fame traffic encourages lazinefs in Ibme 
 parents, who might in general fupport their 
 families by proper induflry, and feduces 
 others to fcifle their natural feelings. At moft, 
 your redemption of thofe unhappy children 
 can amount only to a perfonal contrail, im- 
 plied between you, for gratitude and reafon- 
 
 ^'able
 
 tllNZUAN OR JOHANNAi ^^^ 
 
 ** able fervice on their part— for klndiiefs and 
 *' humanity on your's ; but can you think your 
 " part performed by difpofingof them againft 
 "' their wills, with as much indifference as if 
 ** you were felling cattle ; efpecially as they 
 " might become readers of the Kora'n, and 
 *' pillars of your Faith ?" " The law," faid he, 
 ^' forbids our felling them, when they are be- 
 " lievers in the Prophet ; and little children 
 *• only are fold, nor they often, or by all maf- 
 " ters." " You who believe in Muhammed,'* 
 faid I, '* are bound by the fpirit and letter of his 
 *' laws to take pains that they alfo may believ^e 
 *' in him ; and if you negle6l fo important a 
 *' duty for fordid gain, I do not fee how you 
 *' can hope for profperity in this v/orld, or for 
 *' happlnefs in the next.'* My old friend and 
 the Muftis aflented, and muttered a few 
 prayers, but probably forgot my preaching be- 
 fore many minutes had paiTed. 
 
 So much time had flipped away in this con- 
 verfation, that 1 could make but a fl^iort vifit to 
 Prince Sa'lim : my view in vifiting him way to 
 fix the time of our journey to T)om'jni as early as 
 poflible on the next morning. His appearance 
 was more favage than ever, and I found him in 
 adifpofition to complain bitterly of the Englifli. 
 " No acknowledgement," he faid, ' had been 
 ** made for the kind attentions of himfclf and 
 *' the chief men in his country to the officers 
 *' and people of the Brillia?it, though a whole 
 
 S *' vear-
 
 2^8 REMARKS ON THE ISLAND OF 
 
 J 
 
 *' year had elapfed (ince the wreck." I really 
 wondered at the forgerfulnefs to which alone 
 llich a negle£t could be imputed ; and aflured 
 hin:i, that I would exprefs my opinion both in 
 Bengal and in letters to JLngland. *' We have 
 ^' little," faid he, " to hope from letters, for 
 *' when we have been paid with them inflead 
 '^ of money, and have (hewn them on board 
 *' your fliipSj we have commonly been treated 
 *' with difdain, and often with imprecations," 
 I allured him, that either thofe letters muft 
 have been written coldly and by very oblcure 
 perfons, or fhewn to very ill bred m.en, of 
 whom there were too many in all nations, but 
 that a few inflances of rudenefs ought not to 
 give him a general prejudice againfl our national 
 charafter. " But you," faid he, *' are a wealthy 
 " nation, and we are indigent ; yet though all 
 *' our groves of cocoa-trees, our fruits, and 
 " our cattle are ever at your fervice, you al- 
 " ways try to make hard bargains with us for 
 " what you chufe to dilpofe of, and frequently 
 " will neither fell nor give thofe things which 
 " we principally want." " To form," faid I, 
 *' a jufl: opinion of EngliJJjmen, you muft 
 " vifit us in our ovv'n ifland, or at leaft in India ; 
 " here we are flrangers and travellers : many 
 " of us have no defign to trade in any coun- 
 *' try, and none of us think of trading in 
 '" H'lnzUiin^ where we flop only for refrefh- 
 ' *' ment. The clothes, arms, or inftruments 
 
 ** which
 
 tllNZtJAN OR JOHANNA. ^59 
 
 ** which you may want are commonly 
 ^' neceflary or convenient to us ; but if Say- 
 ^' YAD Al\Vi' or his fons were to be ftrans^ers 
 *' in our country, you (houldhave no reafon to 
 *' boaft of fuperiorhofpitality." He then ihewed 
 me a fecond time a part of an old filk veft, with 
 the ftar of the Order of the Thifile, and begged 
 me to explain the motto ; expreffinga wifh that 
 the Order might be conferred on him by the 
 King of England in return for his good offices 
 to the Englijh. I reprefented to him the im- 
 poffibility of his being gratified, and took occa- 
 iion to fay, that there was more true dignity in 
 their own native titles than in thofe of Prince, 
 Duke and Lord, which had been idly given 
 them, but had no conformity to their manners 
 or the conftitution of their Government. 
 
 This converfation being agreeable to neither 
 of us, 1 changed it by deliring that the palan- 
 quins and bearers might be I'eady next morning 
 as early as poffible : he anfwered, that his pa- 
 lanquins were at our fervice for nothing, but 
 that we mud pay him ten dollars for each fet of 
 bearers ; that it was the flated price, and that 
 Mr. Hastings had paid it when he went to 
 viiit the King. This, as I learned afterwards, 
 was falfe ; but in all events I knew that he would 
 keep the dollars himfelf, and give nothing to the 
 bearers, who deferved them better, and whom 
 
 S 2 he
 
 26o REMARKS ON THE ISLAND OP 
 
 he would compel to leave their cottages and toll 
 for his profit. " Can you imagine, I replied, 
 that we would employ four and twenty men 
 to bear us fo far on their flioulders without 
 rewarding them amply ? But iince they are 
 free men (fo he had ailiired me), and not 
 your flaves, we will pay them in proportion 
 to their diligence and good behaviour ; and 
 it becomes neither your dignity nor ours to 
 make a previous bargain.'* 1 {hewed him an 
 elegant copy of the Koran, which 1 deftined 
 for his father, and defcribed the reft of my 
 prefent ; but he coldly alked, if that was all. 
 Had he been King, a purfe of dry dollars 
 would have given him more pleafure than the 
 fineft or holieft manufcript. Finding him, in 
 converfing on a variety of fubjedts, utterly void 
 of intelligence or principle, I took my leave, 
 and faw him no more, but promifcd to let him 
 know for certain whether wc fhould make our 
 intended excurfion. . - .- 
 
 We dined in tolerable comfort, andhadocca- 
 fion, in the courfe of the day, to obferve the 
 manners of the natives in the middle rank, who 
 
 are called Ba''nas, and all of whom have flaves 
 conftantly at work for them. We vhited the mo- 
 ther of Comboma'de, whofeemedinaftationbut 
 little raifed above indigence ; and her hufband, 
 who was a mariner, bartered an Jrabick Treatife 
 on Aftronomy andNavigation,whichhehad read, 
 for afea-compafs, of which he well knew the ufe. 
 
 In
 
 HINZUAN OPx JOHANNA. 261 
 
 In the morning I had converfed with two 
 very old Arabs of Yemen, who had brought 
 fome articles of trade to Hinzuan ; and in the 
 afternoon I met another who had come froni 
 Majhat (where at that time there was a civil 
 war) to purchafe, if he could, an hundred ftand 
 of arms. I told them all, that I loved their na- 
 tion, and they returned my compliments with 
 great Vvarmth, efpecially the two old men, who 
 were near fourfcore, and reminded me of 
 ZoHAiR and Ha'reth. 
 
 So bad an account had been given me of 
 the road over the mountains, that I diiTuaded 
 my companions from thinking of the journey, 
 to which the Captain became rather difin- 
 - clined ; but as I wifhed to be fully acquainted 
 with a country which I might never fee again, 
 . I wrote the next day to Sa'lim, requefting 
 ' him to lend me one palanquin, and to order a 
 fufficient number of men ; he fent me no writ- 
 ten anfwer, which I afcribed rather to his in^ 
 capacity than to rudenefs : but the Governor, 
 with Alwi' and two of his fons, came on board 
 in the evening, and faid, that they had feeii 
 my letters ; that all fhould be ready ; but that 
 I could not pay lefs for the men than ten dollars. 
 I faid, I would pay more, but it fhould be to 
 the men themfelves, according to their beha- 
 viour. They returned fomewhat diflatisfied, 
 after I had played at chefs with Alwi's younger 
 
 S 3 fon.
 
 262 REMARKS ON THE ISLAND OF 
 
 fon, in whofe manner and addrefs there was 
 fomething remarkably pleafing. 
 
 Before fun-rile, on the 2d of Auguft^ I 
 went alone on fhore, with a fmall balket of 
 fuch provifions as I might want in the courfe 
 of the day, and with fome cuihions to make 
 the Prince's palanquin at leafi a tolerable ve- 
 hicle ; but the Prince was refoived to receive 
 the dollars to which his men were entitled ; 
 and he knew that, as I was eager for the jour- 
 ney, he could prefcribe his own terms. Old 
 Alwi' met me on the beach, and brought ex-, 
 cufes from Sa'lim, who, he faid, was in- 
 diipofed. He coiiduded me to his houfe ; and 
 feemed rather defirous of pcrfuading me to 
 abandon my delign of vifiting the King ; but I 
 afured him, that if the Prince would not fup- 
 ply me with proper attendants, I would walk 
 to Donioni \m\.h. my own lervantsanda guide. 
 
 " Shaikh Sa'lim,'* he faid, " was mifcr- 
 ^'- ably avaritious ; that he was afhamed of a 
 ** klijfman with fuch a difpofition ; but that 
 " he was no lefs obftinate than covetous, and 
 " that without ten dollars paid in hand it would 
 '' be impoffible to procure bearers." I then 
 o-ave him three guineas, which he carried or 
 pretended to carry to Sa'lim, but returned 
 without the change, aliedging that he had no 
 iilver, and promiling to give me on niy return 
 the few dollars that remained. In about an 
 hour the ridiculous vehicle was brought by 
 
 ■!\in^
 
 
 HINZUAN OR JOHANNA. 263 
 
 nine Aurdy blacks, who could not fpeak a word 
 of Arab'ick\ fo that I expected no information 
 concerning the country through which I was 
 to travel ; but Alwi' aflifted nrie in a point of 
 the utmoil: confequence. '* You cannot go," 
 faid he, *' without an interpreter ; for the King 
 fpeaks only the language of this ifland ; but 
 1 have a Icrvant whofe name is Tumu'ni, a 
 feniible and worthy man, who underftands 
 EngliJJj, and is much efteemed by the King : 
 " he is known and valued all over H'mzuan. 
 *' This man f!iall attend vou ; and vou will 
 *' foon be fenfible of his w^orth." 
 
 Tumu'ni defu'ed to carry my bafket, and 
 we let outw^ith a profpe6l of fine weather, but 
 fome hours later than I had intended. I w^alked 
 by the gardens of the two Princes to the Ikirts 
 of the town, and came to a little village con- 
 fiding of feveral very neat nuts made chiefly 
 with the leaves of the cocoa<-tree ; but the road 
 a little farther w\as fo flony, that I fat in the 
 palanquin, and was borne with perfect fafety 
 over fome rocks. I then defired my guide to 
 aflure the men, that I would pay them liberal- 
 ly i but the poor peafiuits, who had been 
 brought from their farrns on the hills, were not 
 perfedly acquainted with the ufe of money, 
 and treated my promife with indifference. 
 
 About five miles from Matfamudo lies the 
 town of V/i'im, where Shaikh Abdullah, who 
 has already been mentioned, ufually refides. I 
 
 S 4 iaw
 
 Ii64 REMARKS ON THE ISLAND OF ' 
 
 faw it at a diftance, and it feemed to be agree- 
 ably lituatcd. Wherj I had pafled the rocky 
 part of the road I came to a ftony beach, where 
 the fea appeared to have loft fome ground, fince 
 there was a fine fand to the left, and beyond it a 
 beautiful bay, which refembled that of JVey-^ 
 mouthy and feemed equally convenient for bath- 
 ing ; but it did not appear to me, that the ftonesi 
 over which I w^as carried had been recently co- 
 vered with water. Here I faw the frigate, and 
 taking leave of it for tv\^o days, turned from the 
 coaft into a fine country very neatly cultivated, 
 and confining partly of hillocks exquiiitely green, 
 partly of plains w^iich w^ere then in a gaudy 
 dreis of rich yejlow blofioms : my guide \\\~ 
 formed me that they were plantations of a kind 
 of VLtch which was eaten by the natives. Cot- 
 tages and fiirms w^ere interfperfed all over this 
 gay champaign, and "the whole fcene was de- 
 lightful ; but it was foon changed for beauties 
 of a different fort. AVe defcended into a cool 
 valley, through which ran a rivulet of perfe£lly 
 clear water; and there finding my vehicle un- 
 eafv, thousfh from the lauduer and merriment 
 pf my bearers I concluded ihem to be quite at 
 their eafe, I bade them fet me down, and 
 walked before them all the reft of the w^ay. 
 Mountains clothed with fine trees and flovvering 
 fnriibs prefented themfelves on our afcent from 
 the vale, and we proceeded for half an hour 
 through pleafant wood-walks, w^here i regret- 
 ted
 
 HINZUAN OR JOHANNA. 265 
 
 ted the impoffibility of loitering a while to ex- 
 amine the variety of new blofioms, which fuc- 
 ceeded one another at every ftep, and the vir- 
 tues as well as names of which feemed fami- 
 liar toTuMu'ra. At length we defcended into 
 a valley of greater extent than the former ; a 
 river or large wintry torrent ran through it, and 
 fell down a fteep decliviiy at the end of it, 
 w4iere it ieemed to be loft among rocks. Cat- 
 tle were grazing on the banks of ihe river, and 
 the huts of the owners appeared on the hills : 
 a more agreeable fpot I had not before feen even 
 in Swijferland or MerlonethJlAre ; but it was 
 followed bv an aflem.blage of natural beauties, 
 which 1 hardly expe6led to hnd in a little ifland 
 twelve degrees to the fouth of the Line. 1 was 
 not fufficiently pleafed with my (blitary jour- 
 ney to difcover charms which had not actual 
 exiftence, and the firfl: effecl of the contraft be- 
 tween St. yago and Hinziian had ceafed. But, 
 without any difpofition to give the landfcape a 
 high colouring, I may truly fay what I thought 
 at the time, that the whole country which 
 next prefented itfelf as far furpafled Ermenonville 
 or Blenheim, or any other imitations of nature 
 which 1 had feen in France or England, as the 
 fineft bay furpafi'es an artificial piece of water. 
 
 Two very high mountains covered to the 
 fummit with the richeft verdure, were at fome 
 diftance on my right hand, and feparated from 
 me by meadows diverlified with cottages and 
 
 herds.
 
 266 REMARKS ON THE ISLAND OP 
 
 herds, or by vallies refonnding with torrents 
 and water-falls : on my left was the fea, to 
 which there were beautiful openings from the 
 hills and woods ; and the road was a fmooth 
 path, naturally w^inding through a forefl of fpicy 
 {hrubs, fruit-trees, and palms. Some high 
 trees were fpano;led with white bloflbms equal in 
 fi-agrance to orange flowers : my guide called 
 them M(mo7igQ%^ but the day was declining fo 
 fafl: that it was impoffible to examine them. The 
 variety of fruits, flowers, and birds, of which 
 I had a rranfient view in this magnificent gar- 
 den, would have fupplied a naturalift with 
 amufement for a month ; but I faw no remark- 
 able infe£l, and no reptile of any kind. The 
 w^oodland was diverfified by a few plealant 
 glades, and new profpe6ts were continually 
 opened ; at length a noble view of the fea burPc 
 upon me unexpectedly, and having pafled a hill 
 or two we came to the beach, beyond which 
 were feveral hills and cottages. We turned 
 from the fliore, and on the next eminence I faw 
 the town of Domoni ^at a little diflance below 
 us : I was met by a number of natives, a few 
 of whom fpoke Arabick, and thinking it a con- 
 venient place for repofe, 1 {qwI my guide to ap- 
 prize the King of my intended vilit. He re- 
 turned in half an hour v/ith a polite meilage ; 
 and I walked into the town, which feemed 
 large and populous. A great crowd accompa- 
 nied me, and 1 was coududed to a houfe built 
 
 on
 
 HINZUAN OR JOHANNA. 267 
 
 pn the fame plan with the befl: hoiifes at MaU 
 famtido. In the middle of the court yard itood a 
 large Monongo tree, which perfumed the air : the 
 apartment on the left was empty ; and in that 
 on the rig-ht fat the Kino- on a fofa or bench 
 
 o o 
 
 covered with an ordinary carpet. He rofe when 
 I entered, anc*, grafping my hands, placed me 
 near hirn on the right ; but as he could fpeak 
 only the language of H/;z'2 «<;?;?, I had recourfe 
 to my friend TuMuVi, than whom a readier or 
 more accurate interpreter could not have been 
 found. I prefenteJ the King with a very hand- 
 fome Indian drefs of blue filk with golden 
 flowers, which had been \vorn only at one mal- 
 querade, and with a beautiful copy of the 
 KoRA^N, from which 1 reada few verfes to him: 
 he took them with great complacency, and faid, 
 *' he wiflied I had come by fea, that he might 
 . " have loaded one of my boats with fruit and 
 " fome of his fined cattle. He had {^tw 
 *' me,'- he faid, " on board the frigate, where 
 *' he had been according to his cullom in dif- 
 " suife, and had heard of me from his fon 
 *' Shaik Hamdullah." I gave him an ac- 
 / count of my journey, and extolled the beauties 
 of his country : he put many queftions con- 
 cerning mine, and profelled great regard for my 
 nation. " But I hear,'- faid he, " that you are 
 *' a magiftrate, and confequently profefs peace ; 
 *« why are you armed with a broad-fword f •' 
 \^ I was a man," I faid, " before I was a ma- 
 
 *' giftrate \
 
 263 REMARKS ON THE ISLAND OF 
 
 *' giilrate ; and if it (hould ever happen that law 
 *' conld not proted: me, I mufl protect my- 
 *' {di\' He feemed about fixty years old, had 
 a very cheerful countenance, and a great appear- 
 ance of goodnature mixed with a certain dip-- 
 jiity which diftinguiflied him from the croud of 
 miniflers and officers who attended him. Our 
 converfation was interrupted by notice, that it 
 was the time for evening prayer ; and when he 
 arofe he faid, *' This houfeis yours, and I will 
 " vifit you in it after you have taken fome re- 
 ^' frefhment.*' Soon after his fervants brought 
 a roaH: fowl, a rice pudding, and fome other 
 diihes, with papayas and very good pomegra- 
 nates : my own badiet fupplied the reft of the 
 iupper. The room was hung with old red 
 cloth, and decorated with pieces of porcelain 
 and feftoons of Engliih bottles : the lamps 
 were placed on the ground in large fea fhells ; 
 and the bed-place was a recefs, concealed by a 
 chintz hanging, oppofite to the fofa on which 
 he had been fitting. Though it was not a place 
 that invited repofe, and the gnats were inex- 
 predibly troublefome, yet the fatigues of the 
 day procured me a comfortable fiumber. I was 
 waked by the return of the King and his train ; 
 fome of whom were Arabs^ for 1 heard one 
 fay, '' H^joarlikid^'' or, '* he isfleeping :** there 
 was an immediate hlence, and I pafled the night 
 with little diilurbance except from the unwel- 
 come
 
 HINZUAN OR JOHANNA. z(i^ 
 
 come longs of the mufcpitos. In the morn- 
 ing I was equally filent and folitary ; the houle 
 appeared to be deferted, and I began to 
 wonder what was become of Tumu'ni : he 
 came at lens^th, with a concern on his conn- 
 tenance, and told me, that the bearers had 
 run away in the night ; but that the King^ 
 who wifhed to fee me in another of his houfes, 
 would fupply me with bearers, if he could not 
 prevail on me to fray till a boat could be fent 
 for. I went immediately to the King, who I 
 found fitting on a raifed fofa in a large room., the 
 walls of which were adorned w4th fen fences 
 from the Kora'n in very legible charaders : 
 about fifty of his fubjedts were feated on the 
 ground in a femicircle before him, and my inter- 
 preter took his place in the midft of them. The 
 s:ood old Kinc^lau2;hed heartily when he heard 
 the adventure of the night, and faid, " You 
 " will now be my guefl: for a w^eek, I hope ; 
 " but ferioufly, if you muft return foon, I will 
 *' fend into the country for fome peafants to 
 ** carry you." He then apologifed for the 
 behaviour of Skaik Sa'lim, which he had 
 
 r 
 
 heard from Tumu'ni, who told me afrervv\ards 
 he was much difpleafed with it, and v/ould 
 not fail to exprefs his difpleafure : he con- 
 cluded with a Ions: harano;ue on the advanta2;es 
 which the EnglrjJj might derive from fendiriga 
 
 fhip
 
 2^D REMARKS ON THE ISLAND OP 
 
 r 
 
 fliip every year from Bombay to trade vvItK 
 his fubjed:s, and on the wonderful cheap- 
 iiefs cf their commodities, efpecially of their 
 cowries. Ridiculuus as the idea may feem, it 
 fhowed an enlargement of the mind, a defire to' 
 promote th. intereft of his people, and a fenfe 
 of the benefits arifmg from trade, which could 
 only have been expelled from a petty African 
 chief, and which if he had been fovereign of 
 Yemen might have been expanded into rational 
 proje6ls, proportioned to the extent of his do- 
 minions. I anfwered, that I was imperfe(5lly 
 acquainted with the commerce of hidia ; but 
 that 1 would report the fubftance of his conver- 
 iluion, and would ever bear teflimony of his 
 noble zeal for the good of his country, and to 
 the mildnefs with which he governed it. As I 
 had no inclination to pafs a fecond night in the 
 ifland, I requefted leave to return without wait- 
 ing for bearers : he feemed very fincere in pref- 
 hng m.e to lengthen my vlfit, but had too much 
 Arabia)! politencfs to be importunate We 
 there ore parted ; and at the requefl of 
 '1 umu'ni, who allured me that little time would 
 be lofl in ihevving attention to one of the wor- 
 thiefl men in hinzuan, 1 made a vifit to the 
 Goveriior of the town, whofe name was' 
 Mu TCKKA : his manners were very pleafing, and 
 he (hewed me iome letters from the officers of the 
 
 Br Hit ant i
 
 HINZUAN OR JOHANNA; i'jt 
 
 Brilliant, which appeared to flow warm from 
 the heart, and contained the llrongeft eloge of 
 his courtefy and liberahty. He inlifled on fil- 
 ling my balkets with fome of the fineil: pome- 
 granates I had ever ^etn ; and I left the town 
 imprelicd with a very favourable opinion of the 
 King and his Governor. When I reafcended the' 
 hill attended by many of the natives, one of 
 them told me in Arahick^ that I was going to re- 
 ceive the higheft mark of diftincflion that it was 
 in the King's power to fhew me ; and he had 
 fcarce ended, when I heard the report of a 
 lingle gun : Shaikh Ahmed had faluted me 
 with the whole of his ordnance. I waved my 
 hat, and faid, '* Allah Achar.^'' The people 
 fhouted, and I continued my journey, not with- 
 out fear of inconvenience from exceliive heat 
 and the fatigue of climbing the i-ocks. The 
 walk, however, was not on the whole unplea- 
 fanr. I fbmetimes refied in the valleys, and 
 forded all the rivulets, which refrefhed me with 
 their coolnefs, and fupplied me with exquiiice 
 water to mix with the juice of my pomegranates, 
 and occalionally with brandy. We were over- 
 taken by fome peafmts, who came from the 
 hills by a nearer way, and brought the King's 
 prefent of a cow with her calf, and a ihe-goat 
 with two kids : they had apparently been fc- 
 le6led for their beauty, and w^ere brought fafe to 
 
 BejigaL The proipects which had fo greatly de- 
 lighted
 
 272 HEMARKS ON THE ISLAND OP 
 
 lighted me the preceding day had not yet lof! 
 their charms, though they wanted the recom- 
 mendation af novelty ; but I muH: confefs, that 
 the moil dehghtful objed in that day's walk of 
 near ten miles wa.s the black frigate, which I 
 difcernedat fun-fet from a rock near the Prince's 
 gardens. Clofe to the town I was met by a na- 
 tive, who, perceiving me to be weary, opened 
 a fine cocoa-nut, which afforded me a delicious 
 draught : he informed me, that one of his 
 countrymen had been punifhed that afternoon 
 for a theft on board the Crocodile ; and added, 
 that in his opinion the punifhment was no lefs 
 juft, than the offence was difgraceful to his 
 country. The offender, as I afterwards learned^ 
 was a youth of a good family who had married 
 a daughter of old Aiwi' ; but being left alone 
 for a moment in the cabin, and feeing a pair of 
 blue morocco flippers, could not r-fift the 
 temptation, and concealed them, fo ill under his 
 gown that he was detec5led with the mainer; 
 This proves that no princi} le of honour is in- 
 IHlled by education into the gentry of this 
 iiland : even Alwi', when he had obfcrved, that 
 *' in the month of Ramadhi it was not lawful to 
 *' paint with h'lnna or to tell lies,'" and when I 
 afked, whether both were lawful all the reft of 
 the year, anfwered, that '* lies were innocent, 
 " if no man Vv^as injured by them." Tt/MuVi 
 took his leave, as well fatisfied as myfelf with our 
 
 excurfion :^
 
 HINZUAN OR JOHANNA. 273 
 
 fexcurfion : 1 told him before his mafler, that I 
 transferred alfo to him the dollars which were 
 due to me out of the three guineas ; and that if 
 ever they fhould part, I fliould be very glad to 
 receive him into my fervice in Inda. 
 
 Ms. Roberts, the mafler of the fhip, had 
 palled the day with Sayyad Ahmed ; and had 
 learned from him a few curious circumftances 
 boncernlne the government of Hinzuan. which 
 he found to be a monarchy limited by an ariflo- 
 bracy. The King, he was told, had no power 
 of making war by his own authority; but if the 
 afiembly of nobles, who were from time to time 
 Convened by him, refolvedon a war with any of 
 the neighbouring iflands, they defrayed the 
 charges of it by voluntary contributions, in re- 
 turn for which they claimed as their own, all 
 the booty aiid captives that might be taken. 
 The hope of gain or the warit of flaves is 
 iifually the real motive for fuch enterprizes, and 
 bftenfibie pretexts are ealily found : at that very 
 time, he underflood, they meditated a war, be- 
 fcaufe they wanted hands for the following har- 
 veH:. Their fleet confifted of fixteen or feven- 
 ictw fmall veilels, which they manned witlj. 
 about two thoufuid five hundred iflanders, 
 armed with mulkets and cutlafies, or with bows 
 and arrows. Near two years before they had 
 poflelTed themfelves of two towns in Maycita^ 
 which they flill kept and garrifoned. The or- 
 
 T diuary
 
 274- REMARKS ON THE ISLAND OP 
 
 dinary expences of the government were de- 
 frayed by a tax from two hundred villages ; but 
 the three principal towns were exempt from all 
 taxes, except that they paid annually to the 
 chief Mufti, a fortieth part of the value of all 
 their moveable property, and from that payment 
 neither the king nor the nobles claimed an ex- 
 emption. The kingly authority, by the prin- 
 ciples of their conftitution, was confidered as 
 eledive, though the line of fucceflion had not 
 in fa6l been altered iince the firfl: election of a 
 Sultan. He was informed, that a wander- 
 ing Arab, who had fettled in theifland, had, by 
 his intrepidity in feveral wars, acquired the rank 
 of a chieftain, and afterwards of a king, with 
 limited powers ; and that he was the grand- 
 father of Shaikh Ahmed : 1 had been aflured 
 that queen Hali'mah was his grandmother % 
 and that he was ihtfiXth king ; but it mufl: be 
 remarked, that the words jeJd and jeddah m 
 Arah'ick are ufed for a male and female a7tceJlor 
 indefinitely ; and, without a correct pedigree 
 of Ahmed's family, which I expelled to pro- 
 cure but was dilappointed, it would fcarce be 
 poffible to afcertain the time when his fore- 
 father obtained the higheft rank in the govern- 
 ment. In the year 1600, Captain John Davis, 
 who wrote an account of his voyage, found 
 Mayata governed by a king, and Anfuame, or 
 Hmzuan^ by a queen, who lliewed him great 
 
 marks
 
 HINZUAN OR JOHANNA. 275 
 
 marks of friendfhip : he anchored before the 
 town of Demos (does he mean Domonif) which 
 was as large, he fays, as Flymouth ; and he 
 concludes from the ruins around it, that it had 
 once been a place of flrength and grandeur. I 
 can only fay, that I obferved no fuch ruins. 
 Fifteen years after, Captain Peyton and Sir 
 Thomas Roe touched at the Comara iflands ; 
 and from their feveral accounts it appears, that, 
 an old Sultanefsthenrefided in Hrnzuan, but had 
 a dominion paramount over all the iiles, three 
 of her fons governing Moh'da in her name. If 
 this be true, Sghaili' and the fuccelTors of Ha- 
 li'M/\h mufl; have lofl their influence over the 
 Other iflands ; and, by renewing their dormant 
 claim as it fiiits their convenience, they may al- 
 ways be furnilhed with a pretence for hoftilities. 
 Five o-enerations of eideft fons would account 
 for an hundred and feventy of the years which 
 have elapfed fince Davis and Peyton found 
 Hinzuan ruled by aSultanefs ; and Ahmed was 
 of fuch an age, that his reign may be reckoned 
 equal to a generation : it is probable, on the 
 whole, that Hali'mah was the widow of the 
 firil: Arabian king, and that her mofque has been 
 continued in repair by his defcendants ; fo that 
 we may reafonably fuppofe two centuries to 
 have pafled, iince a fingle Arab had the courage 
 and addrefs to eftablifli in that beautiful ifland a 
 form of government, which, though bad enough 
 
 T 2 in
 
 276 REMARKS ON THE ISLAND Ot' 
 
 in itfelf, appears to have been adminiflcred 
 with advantacre to the original inhabitants. We 
 have lately heard of civil commotions in Hmzuan^ 
 which we may venture topronounce,werenot ex- 
 cited by any cruelty or violence of Ahmed, but 
 were probably occaiioned by the infolence of an 
 oligarchy naturally hoflile to king and people. 
 That the mountains in the Comara iflands con- 
 tain diamonds, and the precious metal?, which 
 are ftudioufly concealed by the policy of the fe- 
 veral governments, may be true, though I have 
 no reafon to believe it, and have only heard it 
 aflerted without evidence ; but I hope that 
 neither an expeOation of fuch treafures, nor of 
 any other advantaoe, will ever induce an Eio'o- 
 pean power to violate the firft principles of juf- 
 tice, by aiuiming the fovereignty of H'uizjian^ 
 which cannot anfwer a better purpofe than that 
 of fupplying our fleets with feafonable refrefh- 
 ment : and althouo;h the natives have an interefl 
 in receiving us with apparent cordiality, yet, 
 if we wiih their attachment to be unfeis;ned 
 and their dealings juft, we muft fet them an 
 example of Ariel honeily in the performance of 
 our engagements. In truth, our nation is not 
 cordially loved by tlie inhabitants of Hifiztuin^ 
 W'ho, as it commonly happens, form a general 
 opinion from a few inftances of violence or 
 breach of faith. Not many years ago an Euro-
 
 HINZUAN OR JOHANNA. 277 
 
 ■pean, who had been hofpitably received and li- 
 berally fupported at Nhtfamudo^ behaved rudely 
 to a young married woman, who, being of low 
 degree, was w^alking veiled through a flreet in 
 the evening : her hufband ran to protect her, 
 and refented the rudenefs, probably wnth me- 
 naces, poilibly with a6lual force ; and the Eu- 
 ropean isfaid to have given him a mortaHvound 
 with a knife or bayonet, which he brought, af- 
 ter the fcuffie, from his lodging. This foul 
 murder, which the law of nature w^ould have 
 juftified the magiftrate in punching w'wh. death, 
 was reported to the king, who told the Gover- 
 nor (I ufe the very words of Alwi') that " it 
 " would be wiferto hufh it up. "Alwi'' men- 
 tioned a civil cafe of his own, wdiich ought not 
 to be concealed. When he was on the coafl: of 
 Africa in the dominions of a very favage prince, 
 a fmall European vefid was wrecked ; and the 
 prince not only feized all that could be faved 
 from the wTeck, but claimed the Captain and 
 the crew as his flaves, and treated them with 
 ferocious infolence. Alw'i aflured me, that 
 when he heard of the accident, he haftened to 
 the prince, fell proftrate before him, and by 
 tears and importunity prevailed on him to give 
 the Ejuropeans their liberty ; that he fupported 
 them at his own expence, enabled them to build 
 another vefTel, in which they failed to Hinzuan, 
 and departed thence for Europe or hdia : he 
 
 T 3 ihewed
 
 278 REMARKS ON THE ISLAND, &:c. 
 
 ftiewed me the Captain's promiflbry notes for 
 funfis which to an Afr'icmi trader muH: be a 
 coniiderable object, but which were no price 
 for hberty, fafety, and perhaps hfe, which 
 his good, though difinterefttd, offices had 
 procured. 1 lamented, that, in my fituation, 
 it was wholly out of my power to affift Alwi' 
 in obtaining juftice ; but he urged me to deliver 
 an Arahick letter from him, inclofing the notes, 
 to the Governor-General, who, as he faid, 
 knew him well ; and I complied with his re- 
 quefl. Since it is poffible that a fubftantial de- 
 fence may be made by the perfon thus accufed 
 of injufiice, I will not name either him or the 
 veflel which he had commanded ; but if he 
 be living, and if this paper ihould fall into his 
 hands, he may be induced to refledl how highly 
 it imports our national honour, that a people 
 whom we call favage, but who adminifter to 
 our convenience, m.ay have no juft caufe to re~ 
 proach us with a violation of our contradls. 
 
 DIS- 
 
 r
 
 ( 279 ) 
 DISSERTATION IX. 
 
 ON THE 
 
 CHRONOLOGY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 t 
 
 HINDUS, 
 
 WRITTEN IN JANUARY I 788. 
 
 TH E great antiquity of the Hindus is be- 
 lieved fo firmly by themfelves, and has 
 been the fubjeft of fo much converfation among 
 'Europeans, that a fhort view of their chrono- 
 loo-ical fyftem, w^hich has not yet been ex- 
 hibited from certain authorities, may be ac- 
 ceptable to thofe who feek truth without par- 
 tiality to received opinions, and without re- 
 garding any confequences that may refult from 
 their inquiries : the confequences, indeed, of 
 truth cannot but be defirable, and no reafon- 
 able man will apprehend any danger to fociety 
 from a general diffufion of its light ; but we 
 muft not fuffer ourfelves to be dazzled by a fldfe 
 
 T 4 gl^re,
 
 280 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 
 
 glare, nor mldake enigmas and allegories for 
 hiftoric 1 verity. Attached to no fyflem, and 
 as much difpofed to reje6^ the Mofaick hiilory, 
 if it be proved erroneous, as to believe it if it 
 be confirmed by found reaf^ning from indubi- 
 table evidence, 1 propofe to lay before you a 
 concife account of Indian chronology, ex- 
 traded from Sanfcrit books, or colletled from 
 converfations with Pandits, and to fubjoin ^ 
 few remarks on their fyftem, without attempt- 
 ing to decide a queftion, which 1 (hall venture 
 to il:art, " Whether it is not in facl the fame 
 " with our own, but embeHiflied and obfcured 
 f by the fancy of their poets and the riddles 
 f of their aflronomers ?*' 
 
 One of the moil curious books in Sanfcrit^ 
 and one of the oldefl: alter the Fedas, is a traft 
 On Rel'igious and Civil Duties^ taken, as it is be- 
 lieved, from the oral inftruclions of Menu, fon 
 of Brahma', to the firft inhabitants of the 
 earth A weli-coliated copy of this intereiling 
 law traft is now before me ; and 1 begin my 
 difi'ertation with a few couplets from tlie firft 
 chapter of it ; *' The fun caufes the divilion 
 *' of day and night, which are of two forts, 
 *' thofe of men and thole of the Gods ; the 
 *' day for the labour of all creatures in their 
 *' levera] employments ; the night for their 
 *' flumber. A month is a day and night of the 
 *' Patriarchs, and it is divided into two parts ; 
 
 the
 
 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 281 
 
 *.' the bright half is their day for laborious ex- 
 .^' ertions, the dark half their night for fieep, 
 ** A year is a day and night of the Gods, and 
 ** that is aifo divided into two halves ; the day 
 f is when the {vi\\ moves toward the noithj 
 '' the night when it moves toward the fouth. 
 f Learn now the duration of a night and day 
 '^' of Brahma', with that of the ages refpec- 
 *' tively and in order. Four thoufmd years of the. 
 f Gods they call the Cr\ta {ox Sat yd) age; and 
 ^' its limits at the beginning and at the end are^ 
 f^ in like manner, as many hundreds. In the 
 " three fucceflive ages, together with their limits 
 ^' at the beginninG; and end of them, are thou- 
 f fands and hundreds diminifhcd by one. This 
 ^' aggregate of four ages, amounting to twelve 
 ** thoufand divine years, is called an age of 
 " the Gods ; and a thoufand luch divine i^ges 
 f added together, mufl; be confidered as a day 
 *' of Brahma': his night has alfo the fame 
 ** duration. The before-mentioned age oi thq 
 *' Gods, or tv^'elve thoufand of their years 
 f* multiplied by feventy-one, form what is 
 ** named here below a Manwantara. There 
 'f are alternate creations and deftru^tions of 
 f* worlds through innumerable Manipjantaras : 
 ** the Being fuprem^iy dehrable performs all 
 '* this again and again." 
 
 Such is the arrangement of infinite time, 
 v/hich the Hhidus believe to have been revealed 
 
 from
 
 282 ONTHE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 
 
 from Heaven, and which they generally uiu 
 derftand in a literal fenfe : it feems to have in» 
 triniick marks of being purely agronomical ; 
 but I will not appropriate the obfervations of 
 others, nor anticipate thofe in particular which 
 have been made by two or three of our Mem- 
 bers, and which they will, 1 hope, communi- 
 cate to the Society. A conjedure, however, 
 of Mr. Paterson has fo much ingenuity in it, 
 that I cannot forbear mentioning it here, eipe- 
 cially as it fecms to be confirmed by one of 
 the couplets juil: cited : he fuppofes, that as a 
 month of mortals is a day and night of the Fa- 
 triarchs from the analogy of its bright and 
 dark halves, fo, by the fanie analogv, a day 
 and nic'ht of mortals mieht have been con- 
 fidered by the ancient Hindus as a month of the 
 lower world ; and then a year of fuch months 
 will confifl only of twelve days and nights, and 
 thirty fuch years will compofe a lunar year of 
 mortals ; whence he fnrmifes, that the four 
 million three hundred and twe?ity thotifand years, 
 of which the four Indian ages are fuppofed to 
 confift, mean only years of twelve days ; and, 
 in fa^l, that fum divided by thirty, is reduced 
 Xo an hundred and forty-four thoufand: now, a. 
 thoufand four hundred and forty years are one 
 pada^ a period in the Hindu afironomy ; and that 
 fum multiplied by eighteen, amounts precifelv to 
 ^wenty-fve thoufand nine hyjidred and twefity^ 
 
 thQ
 
 ONTHECHRONOLOGYOFTHEHINDUS, 28^ 
 
 the number of years in which the fixed flars 
 " appear to perform their long revolution eaft- 
 ward. The laft-mentioned fum is the product 
 alfo of an hundred and forty -four ^ which, ac- 
 cording to M. Bailly, was an old Indian 
 cycle, into ai} hundred and eighty, or the Tarta- 
 rian period, called Van^ and of two thoufafid 
 eight hundred and eighty into nine, which is not 
 only one of the lunar cycles, but coniidered by 
 the Hindus as a myfterious number and an 
 emblem of Divinity ; becaufe, if it be multi- 
 plied by any other whole number, the fum of 
 the figures in the different produ<fls remains al- 
 ways nine, as the Deity, who appears in many 
 'forms, continuQS' one immutable effence. The 
 important period oi twenty -five thoufand nine 
 hundred and twenty years is well known to 
 arife from the multiplication of three hundred 
 andfixty mto feventy~two, the number of years 
 in which a fixed fiar feems to move throuo-h. 
 a degree of a great circle ; and although M. Le 
 Gentil aflures us, that the modern Hindus be- 
 lieve a complete revolution of the ftars to be 
 made in twejity-four thou fand yQ?iX:s, ^^ fifty -four 
 feconds of a degree to be pafled in one year, 
 yet we may have reafon to think, that the old 
 Indian aftronomers had made a more accurate 
 calculation, but concealed their knowledge from 
 the people under the veil oifourtee7i Manwan- 
 TARAS, feventy-one divine ages, compound 
 
 - cycles.
 
 284 ON THE CHROiVOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 
 
 cycles, and years of different forts from thofe 
 of Brahma' to thofe o^ PairJa^ or the mfemal 
 regions. ]f we tollow the analogy fuggefted by 
 Menu, and fuppofe only a day and night to 
 be called -a year ^ we may divide the number of 
 jears in a divine age by three hundred and Jtxty, 
 and the quotient will be i-zvehe thoufand^ or 
 the number of his divine years in one age : 
 but, conjecture apart, we need only compare 
 the two periods 4,320,000 and 25,920, and 
 :we fhall find that, among their common divifors, 
 are 6, 9, 12, &c. 18, 36, 72, 144, &c, 
 which numbers, with their feveral multiples, 
 efpcciaJly in a decuple progreffion, conftitutc 
 fome of the moft celebrated periods of the 
 Chaldeans, Greeks, 'Tartars, and even of the 
 Indians. We cannot fiil to obferve, that the 
 number 432, which appears to be the bafis of 
 the Indian fyftem, is a 60th part of 25,920, 
 and, by continuing the comparifon, we might 
 probably folve the whole enigma. In the pre- 
 face to a Vurdnes almanack, I find the follow- 
 ing wild ftanza : " A thoufand '2Jt2X ages are a 
 *' day of Brahma ; a thoiifand fuch days arc 
 *' ?n Indian hour of Vishnu \ Jix hundred thou- 
 '^' fand lucii hours make a period of Rudra ; 
 *' and a million o^ Rudrd"?, (or two quadrillions^ 
 " j-ve hundred end ninety-tivo thou [and trillions. 
 ^' of lunar years') arc but a fecond to the Su- 
 
 '' prems;
 
 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 285 
 
 " preme Being." The Hindu theologians de« 
 ny the conclufion of the flanza to be orthodox : 
 time, they fay, exijls not at all with God ; 
 and they advife the aftronomers to mind their 
 own biifinefs without meddhng with theology. 
 The aftronomical verfe, however, will anfwer 
 our prefent purpofe ; for it Ihews, in the firft 
 place, that cyphers are added at pleafure to fwell 
 the period*; and if we take ten cyphers from 
 a Rudra, or divide by ten thoufand millions,   
 we fhall have a period of 259,200,000 years ; 
 which, divided by 60 (the ufual divifor of 
 time among the Hindus), will give 4,320,000, 
 or a sreat ao:e, which v/e find fubdivided in 
 the proportion of 4, 3, 2, i, from the notion 
 oi virtue decreafing arithmetically in the golden, 
 filver, copper, and earthen ages. But fhould it 
 be thought improbable that the Indian aftrono- 
 mers in very early times bad made more ac- 
 curate obfervations than thofe of Alexandria^ 
 Bagdad, or Maraghah, and flill more impro- 
 bable that they (hould have relapfed without 
 apparent caufc into error, we may fuppofe, 
 that they formed their divine age by an arbi- 
 trary multiplication of 24,000 by 180, accord- 
 ing to M.Le Gentil, or of 2i,6co by 200, ac- 
 cording to the comment on the Surya Siddhanta, 
 Now, as it is hardly pollible that fuch coinci- 
 dences fliould be accidental, we may hold it 
 
 nearly, 
 
 ^ _..:^..._.. . t ...
 
 286 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS, 
 
 nea7-ly demo nfl rated, that the period of a divine 
 age was at firft merely aftronornical, and may 
 confequently reje6l it from our prefent enqiiirv 
 into the hiftorical or civil chronology of India* 
 Let us however proceed to the avowed opinions 
 of the Hindus, and fee, w^hen we have afcer- 
 tained their fyfiem, w^h ether we can reconcile 
 it to the courfe of nature and the common fenfe 
 of mankinds 
 
 The aggregate of their four ages they call a 
 divine age, and believe that in evtry thoufand 
 fuch ages, or in every day of Brahma^ yoz/r- 
 ieen Menus are fucceffively invefted by him 
 with the fovereignty of the earth : each Menu, 
 they fuppofe, tranfmits his empire to his fons 
 and grand fons during a period of feventy-one 
 divine ages ; and fuch a period they name a 
 Manwantara i but lince fourteen multiplied by 
 feventy-one are not quite a thoifind, we muft 
 conclude, that fx divine ages are allowed for 
 intervals between the Manwantaras, or for the 
 twihght of Brahman's day. Thirty fuch days, 
 .or Calpas, conftitute, in their opinion, a month of 
 Brahma' ; twelve fuch months one of his years ; 
 and an hundred fuch years his <^^^; of which age 
 ihey aflcrt that fifty years have elapfed. We are 
 jnov/ then, according to the Hindus, in the firft 
 day, or Culpa, of the firft month of the fifty-firfl 
 year of Br ahma' 's age, and in the twenty-eighth^ 
 
 divine-
 
 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 287 
 
 divine age of the feventh Manwantara ; of 
 which divine age the three jirji human ages 
 have paded, zi\^ four thoufand eight hundred and 
 eighty-eight of the fourth. 
 
 In the prefent day of Brahma' the fird 
 Menu was furnamed Swa'yambhuva, of Son 
 of the Self-exifient ; and it is He by whom the 
 Injiitiites of Religious and Civil Duties are fup- 
 pofed to have been dehvered : in his time the 
 Deity defcended at a Sacrifice^ and by his Vv^ife 
 Sataru'pa' he had two diftinguifhed fons and 
 three daughters. This pair was created, for 
 the multiplication of the human fpecies, after 
 that new creation of the v»orld which the 
 Brahmans call Pa'dmacalpi'ya, or the hotos 
 creation. 
 
 If it were worth while to calculate the aere 
 
 o 
 
 of Menu's Inflitutcs accordins; to the Br ah- 
 mans^ we muft multiply four million three 
 hundred and twenty thoufand by fix times 
 feventy-one, and add to the produ6t the num- 
 ber of years already paft in the feventh Man" 
 tvantara. Of the five Menu's who fucceeded 
 him^ I have feen little more than the nam.es ; 
 but the Hindu writings are very difFufe on the 
 life and poflerity of the fevenih Menu, fur- 
 jiamed Vaivaswata, or Child of the Sun. He 
 is fuppofed to have had ten fons, of whom the 
 iQldefl was Icshvva'cu, and to have been 
 
 accom^
 
 2§8 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HIls^DUS; 
 
 accompanied bv feven R.ijhis^ or holy per= 
 fons, whofe names were, CasYapa, Atri, 
 Vasishtha, Viswa'mitra, Gautama,' 
 JamadAgni, and Bharadwa'ja ; an ac- 
 count which explains the opening of the fourth, 
 chapter of the G'-ita: '' This immutable fyftemi 
 *' of devotion," fays CrishnA, *' I revealed td 
 *' VivAswAT, or the Suji ; Vivaswat de- 
 '* clared it r.o his Son Menu ; Menu explained 
 " it to Icshwa'cu : thus the Chief i?//7j/j know 
 " this fublime docirhie delivered from oile t(5 
 *^ another/* 
 
 In the reign of this Sun-born Monarch, the 
 Hindus believe the Vv'hole earth to have been 
 drowned, and the whole human race deftroyed 
 by a flood, except the pious Prince himielf, 
 the feven R'lfbis^ and their feverai wives ; for 
 theyfuppofe his children to have been bom 
 after the Deluge. This general pra^aya, or de- 
 fl:ru61;ion, is the fubje61: of the firft Purana, or 
 Sacred Poem, which coniifrs of fourteen 
 thoufand ftanzas; and the ftory is concifelyj, 
 but clearly and elegantly told in the eighth 
 book of the Bhiigawafa, from which I have 
 extracted the whole, and tranllated it with great 
 care, but will only prefent you here with an 
 abridc-ement of it. "The demon HAYAGRI^^A 
 " having purloined the Fcdas frorh the cuftodj*- 
 ** of Brahma', while he was repofing at th^ 
 
 *' clofe
 
 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 289 
 
 *'' clofe of the fixth Mdmvantara, the whole 
 ^' race of men became corrupt, except the 
 *' {even Ri/hPs, and Satyavrata, who then 
 *' reigned in Dravira, a maritime region to 
 *' the foLith of Carnata t this Prince was per- 
 " forming his ablutions in the river Critam'Ha, 
 *' when Vishnu appeared to him in the fhape 
 *' of a fmall fifh, and, after feveral augmen- 
 *' tations of bulk in different waters, was 
 *' placed by Satyavrata in the ocean, where 
 he thus addreffed his am.azed votary : *' In 
 * /even days all creatures who have offended 
 me fhall be deftroyed by a deluge ; but thou 
 fhalt be fee u red in a capacious veffel, mira- 
 culoufly formed ; take therefore all kinds of 
 *' medicinal herbs and efculent grain for food, 
 *' and, together with the feven holy men, your 
 *' refpe61:ive wives, and pairs of all animals, 
 *' enter the ark without fear ; then flialt thou 
 *' know God face to face, and all thy quef- 
 *' tions fhall be anfwered." Saying this, he 
 ** difappeared ; and after feven days the ocean 
 *' began to overflovv^ the coails, and the earth to 
 *' be flooded by conftant fhowers, when 
 *' Satyavrata, meditating on the Deity, 
 " favv^ a large veilel moving on the waters: he 
 ** entered it, having in all refpe^ls conformed 
 *' to the inftru6lions of Vishnu, who, in the 
 *' form of a vafl fifh, fuffered the veflel to be 
 
 U " tied 
 
 (S 
 
 «(
 
 t^O ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS, 
 
 tied with a great fea ferpent, as with a cable, 
 to his meafurelefs horn. When the delu2;e 
 had ceafed, Vishnu flew the demon and re- 
 covered the Vedus, infl:rud:ed Satyavrata 
 in divineknowledge,and appointed him the fe- 
 venth Menu bythe name of Vaivasw^ata.'* 
 Let us compare the two Indian accounts of 
 the Creation ciiid the Deluge with thofe dehvered 
 by Moses. It is not made a queftion in this 
 imdc. Whether the firil: chapters of Gene/Is are 
 to be underflood in a Uteral, or merely in an al- 
 legorical fenfe ? The only points before us are. 
 Whether the creation defcribed by the Jirji 
 Menu, which the Brah?nans call that of the 
 Lotos, be not the fame with that recorded in 
 our Scripture ; and whether the ftory of the fe- 
 venth Menu be not one and the fame with that 
 of Noah ? I propofe the queftions, but affirm 
 nothing ; leaving others to fettle their opinions, 
 whether Adam be derived from lidim, which 
 in Sanfcrit means the JirJi, or Menu from 
 NuH, the true name of the Patriarch ; whe- 
 ther the Sacrifice at which God is believed 
 to have dcfcended, allude to the offering of 
 Abel ; and, on the whole, whether the two 
 Menu's can mean any other perfons than the 
 great Progenitor, and the Reftorer of our fpecies. 
 On a fuppofition that Vaivaswata, or 
 Sun-born, was the Noah of Scripture, let us 
 proceed to the Indian account of his pofterity, 
 
 which
 
 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 29I 
 
 which I extraft from The Ftiranart' paprccc.fd^ or 
 ne Furanas Explained, a work lately compofed 
 in Sanfcrit by Ra'dha'ca'nta Sarman, a 
 Pandit of exteniive learning and great fame 
 among the Hindus of this province. Before we 
 examine the genealogies of kings which he has 
 colle£ted from the PuranaSy it wdll be necef- 
 fary to give a general idea of the Avataras, or 
 Defcents, of the Deity : the Hindus believe in- 
 numerable fuch defcents or fpecial interpofitions 
 of Providence in the affairs of mankind, but 
 they reckon ten principal Avatdras in the cur- 
 rent period of four ages ; and all of them are 
 defcribed, in order as they are fuppofed to occur, 
 in the following Ode of JayadeVa, the great 
 Lyrick Poet of India, 
 
 I. *' Thou recovered the Veda in the water 
 of the Ocean of Dellruftion, placitig it joy- 
 fully in the bofom of an ark fabricated by 
 thee, O Ce'sava, aflliming the body of ^jijlz 
 Be vidlorious, O HeRi, Lord of the Uni- 
 
 te 
 
 <c 
 
 ve 
 
 rfe ! 
 
 1, '* The earth flands firm on thy im- 
 ** menfely broad back, which grows larger 
 *' from the callus occafioned by bearing that 
 ** vail: burthen, O Ce'sava, afliimins: the bodv 
 *' of a tortoife t Be vi(5lorious, O Heri, Lord 
 *'* of theUniverfe ! 
 
 3. " The earth, placed on the point of thy 
 ** tufk, remains fixed like the fisrure of a black 
 
 U 2 *' antelope
 
 
 6i 
 
 292 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 
 
 *' antelope on the moon, O Ce'sava, afilim- 
 " ing the form of a l?oar : Be vidorious, O 
 *' Heri, Lord of the Univerfe ! 
 
 4. " The claw with a ftupendous point, on 
 *' the exquifite lotos of thy lion's paw, is the 
 '' black bee that flung the body of the em- ' 
 
 bowelled Hiranyacasipu, O Ce^sava, af- 
 fuming the form of a man-lion : Be vidlorious, 
 " O Heri, Lord of the Univerfe ! 
 
 5. "By thy power thou beguilefl: Bali, 
 O thou miraculous dwarf, thou purifier of 
 men with the water (^of Ganga) fpringing 
 
 " from thy feet, O Ce'sava, afluming the 
 *' form o^ 2. dwarf I Be vidorious, O Heri, 
 ** Lord of the Univerfe ! 
 
 6. ** Thou bathefl in pure water, conlifling 
 *' of the blood oi CjJjatriyas, the world, whofe 
 " offences are removed, and who are relieved 
 "from the pain of other births, O Ce'sava, 
 " affuminsf the form of Paras^u-Ra^ma : Be 
 ** vi(5loriou3, O Heri, Lord of the Univerfe I 
 
 7. "With eafe to thyfelf, with delight to 
 *' the Genii of the eight regions, thou fcat- 
 *' tereft on all fides in the plain of combat the 
 " demon with ten heads, O Ce'sava, aflummg 
 " the form of Ra'ma Chandra : Be vi<Slo- 
 *' rious, O Heri, Lord of the Univerfe ! 
 
 8. " Thou weareft on thy bright body a 
 " mantle fhininglikea blue cloud, or like the 
 *' w^ater of Tamuna tripping towards thee 
 
 *' throueh
 
 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 293 
 
 *' through fear of thy furrowing phngh-fiare^ 
 " O Ce'sava, affuming the forai of Pala- 
 " Ra'ma : Bevidlorlous, O Heri, Lord of the 
 " Univerfe ! 
 
 9. *' Thou blameil: (oh wonderful !) the 
 *' whole V^duy when thou feeft, O khid-hearted, 
 " the (laughter of cattle prefcribed for facrifice, 
 *' O Ce'sava, afTumingthe body of Buddha: 
 ** Be victorious, O Heri, Lord of the Uni- 
 " verfe ! 
 
 10. " For the deflru^lion of all the impure, 
 " thou draweft thy cimeter like a blazing co- 
 '* met (how tremendous !) O Ce^sava, af- 
 *' fuming the body of Calci : Be vidoriouSj 
 " O Heri, Lord of the Univerfe ! 
 
 These ten Avatar as are by fome arranged 
 according to the thoufands of divine years in 
 each of the four ages, or in an arithmetical pro- 
 portion from four to one, and if fuch an ar- 
 rangement were univerfally received, we fhould 
 be able to afcertain a very material point in the 
 Hindu chronology ; I mean the birth of Bud- 
 dha, concerning which the different P andits 
 whom I have confulted, and the fame Pandits 
 at different times, have exprefled a ftrange diver- 
 fity of opinion. They all agree that Calci is 
 yet to come, and that Buddha was the laft con- 
 iiderable incarnation of the Deity ; but the 
 Aflronomers at Varanes place him in the third 
 age, and Ra'dha'ca'nt infills, that he ap- 
 
 U 3 peared
 
 294 f>N THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 
 
 pearedafte> thGthoufaficItb ye^r o{ xh^ fourth : th© 
 Jearned and accurate ai thor of the iabtfin^ 
 whofe information concerning the lihJus is 
 wonderfully correct, mentions an opinion of the 
 T audits with whom he had converfer., that 
 Buddha began his career ten years before the 
 clofe of the third age ; and Gl/verdhana of 
 CaJJ.miir, who had once iiiformed me, that 
 Ckishna delcen ed two centuries before Bud- 
 dha, affured me lately, that the Cafim'r'ians 
 admitted an interval of twenty-four year$ 
 (others allow only twelve^ between thofe two 
 divme perfons. The beft authority, after all, 
 is the Bhdgawat itfelf, in the firfl: chapter of 
 which it is exprefsly declared, that " Buddha, 
 ** the fon of Jina, would appear at Ckata^ 
 ■*' for the purpofe of confounding the demons, 
 *' jiifi at the beginning of the Caliyug.'*' I have 
 long been convinced, that, on thefe fubjects, 
 we can only reafon fatisfadorily from written 
 evidence, and that our forenfick rule miifl: be 
 invariably applied, to take the declarations of 
 the Bra'hmans moji Jirongly againjl thcmfelves, 
 that is, againjl their pretenjions to antiquity % 
 io that on the whoie we mav fafely place Bud- 
 -DUAJuJi at the begin7iing of the prefent age : but 
 4' . what is the begifining of it ? When this quef- 
 tion was propofed to Ra'dha'ca'nt, he an- 
 iwpred : *' Of a period comprifmg more than 
 ^^ four h;indred thoufond years, the lirft two 
 
 «^ 01^
 
 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 295 
 
 < 
 
 ' or three thoufand may reafonably be called the 
 beginning.''^ On my demanding wr/V/^« evi- 
 dence, he produced a book of feme authority, 
 compofed by a learned Gojwdm'i^ and entitled 
 Bhagawatiwinta, or, The A'i?(S'<7r of the Bhliga- 
 *Dat^ on which it is a metrical comment ; and 
 the couplet which he read from it deferves to be 
 cited : after the jufl: mentioned account of Bud- 
 dha in the text, the commentator fays, 
 
 *' Afau vya(5l:ah calerabdafahafi'adwitaye gate, 
 
 *' Murtih patalaverniiTya dwibhuja chicurujj'hita. 
 
 *' He became vilible, the-thoufand-and-fe- 
 *' cond-year-of-the-Cali-^^^ being pafl: ; his 
 
 ** body of-a-colour-between-white-and-ruddy, 
 
 *' with-two-arm.s, without-hair on his JdeadJ*^ 
 
 Ctcata, named in the text as the birth-place 
 of Buddha, the Gofwami fuppofes to have been 
 Dhermliranya^ a wood near Gaya, where a co- 
 loflal image of that ancient Deity ftill remains : 
 it leemed to me of black {lone ; but, as I faw 
 it by torch-light, I cannot be politive as to its 
 colour, which may, indeed, have been changed 
 by time. 
 
 The Brahmans univerfally fpeak of the 
 Bauddhas with all the malignity of an into- 
 lerant Ipirit ; yet the mofl orthodox among 
 them conlider Buddha himfelf as an incarna- 
 tion of Vishnu : this is a contradidion hard to 
 be reconciled, unlefs we cut the knot inftead of 
 
 U 4 untying
 
 296 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS* 
 
 untying it, by fuppofing with Giorgi, that 
 there were two Buddhas, the younger of 
 whom eftabUlhed the new rehgion, which gave 
 fo great oftence in India, and was introduced 
 into China in the firfl: century of our era. The 
 CaJJjfnirian, before mentioned, afierted this fii6t, 
 without being led to it by any queil:ion that 
 imphcd it ; and we may have reafon to fup- 
 pofe, that Buddha is in truth only a general 
 word for a FhUofopher, The author of a cele- 
 brated Sanfcrit Di£lionary, entitled from his 
 name Amaracnffja, who v/as himfelf a Bauddha^ 
 ?.nd flourifhed in the firft century before 
 Christ, begins his vocabulary with nine 
 words that lignify Heaven, and proceeds to 
 thofe which mean a Deity in general', after 
 which come different clajfes of Gods, Demi- 
 gods, and Demons, all by generick names ; and 
 they are followed by two very rem.arkable 
 heads : firfl, (j\ottht ge?ier a! najnes of Buddha, 
 but) the nam.es of a Buddba-in-general, o{ which 
 he gives us eighteen, fuch as* Muni, Sajiri^ 
 Munmdra, Vinayaca, Sajnantabhadra, Dherfna- 
 raja, Sugata, and the like, mofl: of them fig- 
 nificative of excellence, wifdom, virtue y and 
 JanBiiy ; fecondly, the names of a particular 
 ^W<^y6i:?-/^/2//;/-who-defcended-in-the-family-of- 
 Sa'cya (thofe are the very words of the ori- 
 ginal), and his titles are, Sacyamuni, Sacya- 
 
 jinhd-i
 
 ONTHE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 297 
 
 iinha, Servdrfhajtddha, Saudhodani^ Gaulama^ 
 Arcahandhu^ or Kinfman of -the Sun, and Md-^ 
 yadevifuta, or Child of Maya : thence the au- 
 thor paiTes to the different epithets of particular 
 Hindu Deities. When I pointed out this curious 
 paflage to R a'd H a'c a'n t , he contended, that the 
 firH: eighteen names were general epithets, and 
 the following feven, proper names, ox patrony- 
 micks of one and the fame perfon ; but Ra'ma- 
 Lo^CHAN, my own teacher, who, though not 
 a Brahman, is an excellent fcholar and a very 
 fenfible unprejudiced man, afflired me, that 
 Buddha was a generic k word, like Diva, and 
 that the learned author, having exhibited the 
 names of a Devatd in general, proceeded to 
 thofe of a Buddha in general, before he came 
 to particulars : he added, that Buddha might 
 mean a Sage or a Philofopher, though Buddha 
 was the word commonly ufed for a mere wife 
 man without fupernatnral powers. 
 
 It feems highly probable, on the whole, 
 that the Buddha, whom JayadeVa cele- 
 brates in his Hymn, was the Sacyafnha, or 
 laion of Sa^cy A, who, though lie forbad the 
 facrifices of cattle, which the Vedas enjoin, 
 was believed to be Vishnu himfelf in a human 
 form, and that another Buddha, one perhaps of 
 his followers in a later age, aflliming his name 
 and charadler, attempted to overfet the whole 
 
 fyftem
 
 298 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 
 
 fyflem of the Brahmans, and was the caufe of 
 that perfecution, from which the B auddha'i zx^ 
 known to have fled into very diftant regions. 
 May we not reconcile ih lingular difference of 
 opinion among the Hindus as to the time of 
 Buddha's appearance, by fuppofing that they 
 have confounded the Two Buddha s, the firil of 
 whom was born a few years before the clofe of 
 the laft age, and the fecond, when above a 
 thoufand years of the prefent age had elapfed ? 
 We know, from better authorities, and with as 
 iTiiich certainty as can juftly be expelled on fb 
 doubtful a fubje6l, the real time, compared with 
 our own era, when the ancient Buddha began 
 to diftinguiih himfelf; and it is for this 
 reafon principally, that I have dwelled with 
 minute anxiety on the fubjecl of the laft 
 Avatar, 
 
 The Brahmans, who affifted Abu'lfazl in 
 his curious but fuperficial account of his mal^ 
 ter's empire, informed him, if the figures in the 
 Ayini Achan be corredly written, that a pe- 
 riod of 2962 years had elapfed from the birth 
 of Buddha to the 40th year of Acbar's reign, 
 which computation will place his birth in the 
 ijj6th year before that of Our Saviour ; but 
 when the Chinefe government admitted a new 
 religion from India in the firft century of our 
 era, they made particular inquiries concerning 
 the age of tlie old India Buddha, whofe birth, 
 
 according
 
 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS, 299 
 
 according to Couplet, they plice in the 4ifl 
 year of their ...8th cycle, or 1036 years before 
 Christ, and they call him, fays he, Foe the 
 fon of MoYE or MaS'a^ ; but M. De Guig- 
 NEs, on the authority of four Chincfe Hiftori- 
 ans, afferts, that Fo was born about the year 
 before Christ 1027, in the kingdom of Cafn- 
 m'lr : Giorgi, or rather Cassiano, from 
 whofe papers his work was compiled, alT'ures 
 us, that, by the calculation of the Tibetians^ he 
 appeared only 959 years before the Chrijlian 
 epoch ; and M. Bailly, with fomehefitation, 
 places him 1031 years before it, but inclines to 
 think him far more ancient, confounding him, 
 as I have done in a former tra£l, with the jirjl 
 BuDHA, or Mercury, whom the Go//6i called 
 Woden, and of whom I fhall prefently take 
 particular notice. Now, whether we affume 
 the medium of the four lafl mentioned dates, or 
 implicitly rely on the authorities quoted by De 
 GuiGNES, we may conclude, that Buddha was 
 firft diftinguifhed in this country ahouf^ a thou- 
 Jandytzx^ before the beginning of our era ; and 
 whoever, in fo early an age, experts a certain 
 epoch unqualified with about or nearly^ will be 
 greatly difappointed. Hence it is clear, that, 
 whether the fourth age of the Hindus be- 
 gan about one thoufand years before Christ, 
 accordinsf to Goverdiian's account of Bud- 
 PHa's birth, or two thoufand according to 
 
 that
 
 goo ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 
 
 that of Ra'dha'ca'nt, the common opiiiionj 
 that 4888 years of it are now elapfed, is erro- 
 neous. And here, for the prefent, we leave 
 Buddha, with an intention of returning to 
 him in due time; obferving only, that if 
 the learned Indians differ fo widely in their ac- 
 counts of the age when their ninth Avatar 
 appeared in their country, we may be allured, 
 that they have no certain chronology before 
 him, and may fufpecl the certainty of all the 
 relations concerning even his appearance. 
 
 The received Chronology of the Hindus 
 begins with an abfurdity fo monftrous, as to 
 overthrow the whole fyftem ; for, having efta- 
 blifhed their "^tKioAol feventy-one divine ages as. 
 the reign of each Menu, yet thinking it in- 
 congruous to place a holy perfonage in times of 
 Imjjuriiy, they iniifl:, that the M^;^// reigns only 
 in every golden age, and difappears in the thret 
 human ages that follow it, continuing to dive 
 and emerge like a water-fowl, till the clofe of 
 his Ivlanwantar a. The learned author of the 
 Puraniirt'hapracdfa, which I will now follow^ 
 flep by fl:ep, mentioned this ridiculous opinion 
 with a ferious face ; but as he has not in- 
 ferted it in his work, we may take his account 
 of the feventh Menu accordins; to its ob- 
 vious and rational meaning, and fuppofe, that 
 Vaivaswata, the fon of Su^rya, the fon of 
 Casyapa, or C^rj;/?^j the fon of Mari'chi, or 
 Light, the fon of Brahma, which is clearly an 
 . .. alle«'
 
 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 30I 
 
 allegorieal pedigree, reigned in the lafl: golden 
 age, or, according to the Hindus, three mil- 
 lion eight hundred and ninety-two thoufand 
 eight hundred and eighty-eight j^ears ago. Bui 
 they contend, that he a£lually reigned on earth 
 one million /even hundred and twenty-eight thou- 
 fand years of mortals, or four thoufand eight 
 hundred jt^xs of the Gods ; and this opinion is 
 another monfler fo repugnant to the courfe of 
 nature and to human reafon, that it muft be 
 rejected as wholly fabulous, and taken as a 
 proof, that the Indians know nothing of their 
 Sunborn Menu, but his name and the principal 
 event of his life ; I mean the univerfal deluge^ 
 of which the three firfl Avatars are merely al- 
 legorical reprefentations, with a mixture, ^fy^^ 
 cially in \hefecond, of aftronoraical mythology. 
 From this Menu the whole race of men is 
 believed to have defcended ; for the Hcyqvl 
 Rift's, who w^ere preferved with him in the 
 ark, are not mentioned as fathers of human fa- 
 milies ; but fince his daughter I la'' was mar- 
 ried, as the hidians tell us, to the firft 
 Budha, or Mercury, the fon of Chandra, 
 or the Moon, a male Deity, whofe father was 
 Atri, fon of Brahma' (where again we meet 
 tvith an allegory purely aftronomical or poeti- 
 cal), his poderity are divided into two great 
 branches, called the Children of the Sun from 
 his own fuppofed father, and the Children of the 
 Moon from the parent of his daughter's huf- 
 
 band :
 
 ^02 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDtJS. 
 
 band : the lineal male defcendants in both tliefc 
 families are fuppofed to have reigned in the ci- 
 ties of Ayodhya, or Audh^ and PratiJJjfhana^ 
 or Vitora, refpe£lively, till the thoiifandth year of 
 the prefent age-, and the names of all the princes 
 in both lines having been diligently coUeded by 
 Ra'dha'ca'nt from feveral Puranas, i exhi- 
 bit them in two columns arranged by myfelf 
 with 2:reat attention. 
 
 SECOND AGE, 
 
 CHILDREN OF THE 
 
 SUN. 
 
 Icshwa'cu, 
 
 Vicucjhi, 
 
 Cucutfl'ha, 
 
 Anenas, 
 5. Prit'hu, 
 
 Vifwagandhi, 
 
 Chandra, 
 
 Yuvanafwa, 
 
 Srava, 
 io. Vrihadafwa, 
 
 Dhundhumara, 
 
 Drid'hafvva, 
 
 Heryafwa, 
 
 Nicumbha, 
 \ 5 . Crifafvva, 
 
 Senajit, 
 
 Yuvanafwa, 
 
 MOON. 
 
 BUDHA, 
 
 Pururava^f 
 
 Ayufh, 
 
 Nahuftia, 
 
 Taydti, 5* 
 
 Ptiru, 
 
 Janamejaya, 
 
 Prachinwat, 
 
 Pravira, 
 
 Menafyu, lo« 
 
 Charupada, 
 
 Sudyu, 
 
 Bahugava, 
 
 Sanyati, 
 
 Ahanyati, 15, 
 
 Raudrafwa, 
 
 Riteyufh, 
 
 Mandhatri,
 
 ON THE CHRONOI 
 
 SUN. 
 
 Mandhatri, 
 
 Purucutfa, 
 20. Trafadasyu, 
 
 Anaranya, 
 
 Heryafwa, 
 
 Praruna, 
 
 Trivindhana, 
 aj.Satyavrata, 
 
 Trifancii, 
 
 Harifchandra, 
 
 Rohita, 
 
 Harita, 
 30. Champa, 
 
 Sudeva, 
 
 Vijaya, 
 
 Bharuca, 
 
 Vrica, 
 35. Bahuca, 
 
 Sagara, 
 
 Afamanjas, 
 
 Anfumat, 
 
 B bag' rat'' ha, 
 40. Sruta, 
 
 Nabha, 
 
 Sindhudwipa, 
 
 Ayutayufli, 
 
 Ritaperna, 
 45. Saudafa, 
 
 Almaca, 
 
 OGY OF THE HINDUS. 303 
 
 MOO N. 
 Rantinava, 
 
 Sumati, 
 
 Aid, 20. 
 
 DuJJimianfa, 
 
 Bharata, * 
 
 (Vitat'ha, 
 
 Mauyu, 
 
 Vrihatcfhetra, 25. 
 
 Haftin, 
 
 Ajamid'ha, 
 
 Ricflia, 
 
 Samwarana, 
 
 CurUf 30, 
 
 Jahnu, 
 
 Surat'ha, 
 
 Vidurat'ha, 
 
 Sarvabhauma, 
 
 Jayatfena, ^S* 
 
 Radhica, 
 
 Ayutayufh, 
 
 Acrodhana, 
 
 Devatit'hi, 
 
 Ricfha, 40. 
 
 Dil'ipa, 
 
 Pratipa, 
 
 Santanu, 
 
 Vich'itrav\rya, 
 
 Pandu, 45. 
 
 Yudhlfifhir), 
 
 Mulaca,
 
 304. OM THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE UlNDVii 
 
 SUN. 
 
 Miilaca, 
 
 Dafarat'ha^ 
 
 Aidabidi, 
 50. Vifwafaha, 
 
 C'hatw'anga^ 
 
 Dirghabahu, 
 
 Rag/ju, 
 
 Aja, 
 ^^. Da far a f ha, 
 
 Ra'ma. 
 It is as:reed amon"; all the Pandits that Ra™- 
 MA, xh-Qir /event h incarnate divinity, appeared a? 
 "king of Ayodhya in the interval between the 
 Jilver and the brazen ages ; and, if we fuppofe 
 him to have begun his reign at the very begin- 
 ning of that interval, flill three thoujand three 
 hundredytzr^ of the Gods, or a million ojie hun- 
 dred a7id eighty -eight thoufand lunar years of 
 mortals will remain in the Jilver age, during 
 which the ffty-Jive princes between Vaivas- 
 WATA and Ra'MA muft have governed the 
 world ; but, reckoning thirty years for a ge- 
 neration, which is rather too much for a long 
 fucceiiion oi eldefl fons^ as they are faid to have 
 been, we cannot, by the courfe of nature, ex- 
 tend the fecond age of the Hindus beyondy/^;- 
 teen hundred and fifty folar years : if we fup- 
 pofe them not to have been eldeft fons, and 
 even to have lived longer than modern princes 
 
 in
 
 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 305 
 
 in a diflblute age, we fliall jBnd only a period of 
 two thoufand years ; and if we remove the 
 difficulty by admitting miracles, we mufl ceafe 
 to reafon, and may as well believe at once what- 
 ever the Brahmans chufe to tell us. 
 
 In the Lunar pedigree we meet with another 
 abfurdity equally fatal to the credit of the Hin- 
 du lyflem : as far as the twenty- fecond degree 
 of defcent from Vaivaswata, the iyn- 
 chronifm of the two families appears tolerably 
 regular, except that the children of the Moon 
 were not all elde/i fons ; for king Yaya'ti ap- 
 pointed the youngeft of his five fons to fucceed 
 h-imin/i^^/W, and allotted inferior kingdoms to the 
 Other four, who had offended him ; part of the 
 DacJIjin ov ih.Q South' loY Ajyv^ the anceftor of 
 Crishna ; the North, toANU; the Eaft, to 
 Druhya ; and the Weft, to Turvasu, from 
 whom the Pandits believe, or pretend to l?elieve, 
 in compliment to our nation, that we are de- 
 fcended. But of the fubfequent degrees in the 
 lunar line they know fo little, that, unable to 
 fupply a confiderable interval between Bha- 
 RAT and Vitat'ha, whom they call his fon 
 and fuccelTor, they are under a neceffity of af- 
 ferting, that the great anceflor of YuDFiisHT"- 
 HiP, a6lually xtigp^eA /even tuid twenty thoufand 
 years ; a fable of the fame clafs with that of his 
 wonderful birth, which is the fubje(fl of a beau- 
 tiful Indian drama : now, if we fuppofe his life 
 
 X to
 
 306 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS, 
 
 to have lafled no longer than that of other mor* 
 tals, and admit Vitat'ha and the reft to have 
 been his regular fuccefibrs, we ihall fall into 
 another abfurdity ; for then, if the generations 
 in both hnes were nearly equal, as they would 
 naturally have been, we fhall find Yudhisht''* 
 iiiR, who reigned confeftedly at the clofe of the 
 bra%en age, nine generations older than Ra'ma, 
 before whofe birth xhe filver age is allowed to 
 have ended. After the name of Bharat, 
 therefore, I have fet an afterilk to denote a con^-. 
 {iderable chafm in the Indian Hiftory, and have 
 inferted between brackets, as out of their places, 
 his twenty-four fuccefibrs, who reigned, if at 
 all, in the following age immediately before 
 the war of the Mahabharat, The fourth Ava-^ 
 idr, which is placed in the interval between the 
 Jirjl 2ii\^fecond ages, and the fifth, which foon 
 followed it, appear to be moral fables grounded 
 on hiftorical fa6ls : the fourth was the punifh^ 
 ment of an impious monarch by the Deity him* 
 felf burfrng from a marble colunin in the fliape 
 of a Hon ; and the fifth was the* humiliation of 
 an arrogant Prince, by fo contemptible z\\ 
 agent as a mendicant dwarf. After thcfe, and 
 immediately before Buddha, come three great 
 warriors all named Ra'ma ; but it may jufily 
 be made a queftion, whether they are not three 
 reprefentations oi one perfon, or three different 
 ways of relating the fam? hiftory : the firft and 
 
 fecon4
 
 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 307 
 
 fecond Ra'xMas are faid to have been contem- 
 porary ; but whether all or any of thein mean 
 Rama the fon of Cu'sh, I leave others to de- 
 termine. The mother of the fecond Rama 
 was named Cau'shalya', which is a derivative 
 of CusHALA, and though his father be diftin- 
 guiflied by the title or epithet of Da'sarat'ha, 
 Signifying, that his war-chariot bore him to all 
 quarters of the worlds yet the name of Cush, 
 as the Cafiimrians pronounce it^ is preferved en- 
 tire in that of his fon and fucceflbr, and fha- 
 dowed in that of his anceftor Vicucshi ; 
 nor can a jufl: objedlion be made to this opinion 
 from the nafal Arabian vowel in the word Rd. 
 mah mentioned by Moses, fince the very 
 word Arab be2;ins with the fame letter which 
 the Greeks and Indians could not pronounce, 
 and they v/ere obliged, therefore, to exprefs it 
 by the vowel which moft refembled it. On 
 this queflion, however, I alTert nothing ; nor 
 on another, which might be propofed : '* Whe- 
 *' therthe fourth and fifth Avatars be not al- 
 *' legorical ftories of the two prefumptuous 
 " monaichSjNiMRODandBELUs ?'*The hypo- 
 \S\%^i^^^X\'iX. government was firft eftablifhed, laws 
 enafted, and agriculture encouraged in India bv 
 Rama, about three thoufand e'gkt hundred ytzx'^ 
 a^ro, ao;rees with the received account of 
 Noah*s death, and the previous fettlement of 
 his immediate defcendants. 
 
 X 2 THIRD
 
 308 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS, 
 
 THIRD AGE. 
 
 CHILDREN OF THE 
 
 SUN. 
 
 CuJIja, 
 
 Atit'hi, 
 
 NiJJdadha^ 
 
 Nabhas, 
 5. Pun'darica, 
 
 Cfliemadhanwas, 
 
 Devanica, 
 
 Ahin'agu, 
 
 Paripacra, 
 10. Ranach'hala, 
 
 Vajranabha, 
 
 Area, 
 
 Sugana, 
 
 Vidhrlti, 
 15. Hiranyanabha, 
 
 Pufhva, 
 
 Dhruvafandhi, 
 
 Suderfana, 
 
 Agiiiverna, 
 JO. Sighra, 
 
 Maru, fuppofed to 
 
 flill alive. 
 Prafufruta, 
 SandhI, 
 Amerfana, 
 25. Mahafwat, 
 
 MO N. 
 
 be? 
 
 Vitat*ha, 
 Manyu, 
 Vrihatcfhetra, 
 Haflin, 
 
 Ajamid'ha, 5, 
 
 Ricfha, 
 Samwarana, 
 CurUy 
 yahfiUy 
 
 Surat'ha, 10. 
 
 Vidurat'ha, 
 Sarvabhauma, 
 Jayatfena, 
 Radhica, 
 Ayutayufh, 15, 
 
 rAcrodhana, 
 
 Devatit'hi, 
 Ricdia, 
 Dilipa, 
 
 Pratipa, 20. 
 
 / Vifwabahu,
 
 t)N THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 3C9 
 
 S UN. MO N. 
 
 Vifwabhahu, Santanu, 
 
 Prafenajit, Vichitraviiya, 
 
 Tacfliaca, Pandu, 
 
 Vrihadbala, TudhiJJjf hira, 
 
 30. Vrihadraiia, Y. B. C.?p ,^. 
 
 3100. J «/ -^ 
 
 Here we have only n'me-and-twenty Princes 
 of the Solar line between Ra^ma and Vrihad- 
 RANA exclulively ; and their reigns, during 
 the whole brazen age, are fuppofed to have 
 lafted near eight hundred zwdjixty-four thoufand 
 years, a fuppoiition evidently ygainft nature; 
 the uniform courfe of which allows only a pe- 
 . riod oi eight hundred p.ndfeventy, or at the very 
 utmofl:, of a thoufond yQ3.TS for twenty-nine ge- 
 nerations. Pari'cshit, the great nephew and 
 fucceflbr of Yudhisht'hir, who had recovered 
 the throne from Duryo^dhan, is allowed with- 
 out controverfy to have reigned in the interval 
 between the brazen and earthen ao;es, and to 
 have died at the fetting-in of the Caliyug ; fo 
 that if the Pandits of Cafmiir and Varanes have 
 made a right calculation of Buddha's ap- 
 pearance, the prefent, o^ fourth^ age muil have 
 begun about a thoufand years before the birth 
 of Christ, and confequently the reign of 
 IcsiiwA^cu could not have been earlier than 
 four thoufand years before that great epoch ; 
 and even that date will peiiiaps appear, when 
 
 X 3 it
 
 310 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE ttlKCtJS. 
 
 it fTiall bs ftridly examined, to be near two 
 thoufafidyt^vs earlier than the truth. I cannot 
 leave the third Indian age, in which the virtues 
 and vices of mankind are faid to have been 
 equal, v^ithout obferving, that even the clofe of 
 it is manifeflly fabulous and poetical, with hardly- 
 more appearance of hiftorical truth than the 
 tale of Troy, or of the Argonauts ; for 
 Yudhisht'hir, it feems, was the fon of 
 Dherma, the Genius of Jtijiice j Bhi'ma of 
 Pavan, or the God of Wind; Arjun of 
 Indra, or the Firmament : Nacul and 
 SahadeVa, of the two Cuma'rs, the Castor 
 and Pollux oi India ; and Bhi'shma, their re- 
 puted great uncle, was the child of Ganga', 
 or the Ganges, by Sa'ntanu, whofe bro- 
 ther DeVa'pi is fuppofed to be ftill alive in the 
 city of Calapa; all which fidions may be 
 charming embellifhments of an heroick poem, 
 but arejuft as abfurd in civil hiftory, as the de- 
 fcent of two royal families from the Sun and the 
 Mo en. 
 
 FOURTH AGE. 
 
 CHILDREN OF THE 
 
 SUN. MOON. 
 
 Urucriya, Janamejayay 
 
 Vatfavriddha, Satlinica^ 
 
 Prativyoma, Sahafranica, 
 
 Bhanu,
 
 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS, git 
 
 MOON. 
 
 Aswamedhaja, 
 Asimacriflina, 5. 
 Nemichacra, 
 
 SUN. 
 Bhanu, 
 5. Dcvaca, 
 Sahad6va, 
 VIra, 
 
 Vrihadafwa^ 
 Bhanumat, 
 10. Praticaswa, 
 Supratica, 
 Marudeva, 
 Suiiacfliatra^ 
 Pufhcara, 
 15. Antaricfhaj 
 Sutapas^ 
 Amitrajit, 
 Vrihadraja, 
 Barhi, 
 to. Critanjay^,'. 
 Rananjaya^ 
 Sanjaya, 
 Slocya, 
 Suddhoda, 
 a5.Langaladaj 
 Prafenajit, 
 Cfhudraca, 
 
 Upta, 
 
 Chitrarat'h^^ 
 Suchirat'ha, 
 Dhritimatj io» 
 Sufhena, 
 Sunit*ha, 
 Nrichacfhuh, 
 Suc'hinala, 
 Parlplava, 15, 
 
 Sunaya, 
 Medhavin, 
 Nrlpanjaya, 
 Derva, 
 
 Timi, 20« 
 
 Vrihadrat*ha, 
 Sudafa, 
 Satanica, 
 Durmadana, 
 Rahinara, 25 
 
 Dandapani, 
 Nimi, 
 
 Sumitra, Y.B. C. 2100. Cfhemaca. 
 
 In both families, we fee thirty generations 
 are reckoned from Yudhisht*hir, and from 
 
 X 4 VRIHADIiALA
 
 5 12 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OP 1 HE HINDUS. 
 
 VriHadbala his contemporary (who was 
 killed, in the war of ^/'cfri?/, by Abhimanyu, 
 fon of Arjun, and father of Pari'cshit), to 
 the time when the Solar and Lunar dynaflies 
 are believed to have become extin£l in the pre- 
 fent divine a?-e ; and for thefe o-enerations the 
 Hindus allot a period of one thoujand years 
 only, or a hundred years for three generations ; 
 which calculation, though probably too large, 
 is yet moderate enough, compared with their 
 abfurd accounts of the preceding ages : but they 
 reckon exadliy the fam.e number of years for 
 twenty generations only in the family of 
 Jara^sandha, whofe fon was contemporary 
 with Yudhisht'hir, and founded a new 
 dynafty of Princes in Magadha^ or Bahar ; 
 and this exa<fl coincidence of the time, in which 
 the three racesare fuppoiedto have been extind", 
 has the appearance of an artificial chronology, 
 formed rather from imagination than from 
 hiflorical evidence ; efpecially as twenty kings, 
 in an age comparatively modern, could not have 
 reigned a thou land years. 
 
 I, NEVERTHELESS, exhibit the lift of them 
 as a curiofity ; but am far from being con- 
 vinced, that all of them ever exifted : that, if 
 they did exift, , they could not have reigned 
 more thany^i;^;^ hundred yQzrs, I am fully per- 
 fuaded by the courfe of nature and the concur- 
 rent opinion of mankind. 
 
 Kings
 
 ©KTHECHRONOLOGYOFTHEHINDUS. 313 
 
 KINGS OF 
 
 MAGADHA. 
 
 Sahadcva, 
 
 Suchi, 
 
 Marjari, 
 
 Cfhema, 
 
 Srutafravas, 
 
 Siivrata, 
 
 Ayiitayufh, 
 
 Dhermafutra, 
 
 5. Niramitra, 
 
 Srama, 
 
 Sunacfhatra, 
 
 Drid'hafena, 
 
 Vrihetfena, 
 
 Sumati, 
 
 Carmajit, 
 
 Subala, 
 
 Srntanjaya, 
 
 Sunita, 
 
 10. Vipra, 
 
 Satjajit, 
 
 IS- 
 
 PuRANjAYA, fon of the twentieth king, 
 wzs put to death by his nainifter Sunaca, wk« 
 placed his own fon Pradyo'ta on the throne 
 of his mafter ; and this revolution conftitutes 
 an epoch of the highefl importance in our pre- 
 fent inquiry ; firft, becaufe it happened ac- 
 cording to the Bhagawatlimrita, two years ex- 
 av^ily before Buddha's appearance in the fame 
 kingdom ; next, becaufe it is believed by the 
 Hindus to have taken place three thoufand eight 
 hundred and eighty-eight years ago, or two 
 thoufand one hundred years before Christ ; 
 and, laftly, becaufe a regular chronology, ac- 
 cording to the number of years in each dynafly, 
 has been eftabliihed from the acceffion of 
 Pradyo'ta to the fubverfion of the genuine 
 Hindu government ; and that chronology I will 
 
 now
 
 314 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS* 
 
 now lay before yon, after obferving only, that 
 Ra'dha ca'nt himfelf fays nothing of Buddh A 
 in this part of his work, though he particularly 
 mentions the two preceding Avataras in theif 
 proper places. 
 
 KINGS OF MAGADHA. 
 
 Y. B. C, 
 
 Pradyota^ 2ioo 
 
 Palaca, 
 
 Vifac*hayupa, 
 
 Rajaca, 
 
 Nandiverdhana, 5 reigns— i^%y eats ^ 
 
 Sifunaga, 196a 
 
 Cacaverna, 
 
 Cfhemadherman, 
 
 Cftietrajnya, 
 
 Vidhilara, 5* 
 
 Ajatafatru, 
 
 Darbhaca, ' 
 
 Ajaya, 
 
 Is^andiverdhana, 
 
 Mahanandi, 10 r 3: ^(^o y* 
 
 Nanda, 160^ 
 
 This prince, of whom frequent mention is 
 made in xh.^ Sanfcrit books, is faid to have been 
 murdered, after a reign of a hundred years, 
 by a very learned and ingenious, but paflionate 
 
 and
 
 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 315 
 
 and vindi£live, Brahman^ whofe name was 
 Cha'nacya, and who raifed to the throne a 
 man of the Maury a race, named Chandra- 
 Gupta : by the death of Nanda, and his 
 fens, the Cfiatriya family of Pradyo'ta be- 
 came extin(^. 
 
 MAURYA KINGS, 
 
 Y. B. C, 
 
 Chandragupta, 1502 
 
 Varifara, 
 
 Afocaverdhana, 
 
 Suyafas, 
 
 Defarat'ha, 5. 
 
 Sangata, 
 
 Salifuca, 
 
 Soma farm an, 
 
 Satadhanwas, 
 
 Vrihadrat'ha, 10 r rz I37_>^ 
 
 On the death of the tenth Maury a king, 
 his place was alTumed by his Commander in 
 Chief, Pushpamitra, of the Sunga nation or 
 family. 
 
 SUNGA KINGS. 
 
 Y. B. C. 
 
 Pufhpamitra, 1365 
 
 Agnimitra, 
 
 Sujy^fht'ha,
 
 3l6 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS* 
 
 SUNDA KINGS. 
 
 Y. B. C« 
 
 Sujyefiit^ha, 1365 
 
 Vafumitraj 
 
 Abhadraca, 5, 
 
 Pulinda, 
 
 Ghofha, 
 
 Vajramitra, 
 
 Bhagavata, 
 
 Devabhuti, 10 r r: 112 f. 
 
 The laft prince was killed by his miniflei' 
 Vasude Va, of the Canna race, who ufurped 
 the throne of Magadha^ 
 
 CANNA KINGS.- 
 
 
 
 
 s • B» C^» 
 
 Vafudeva, 
 
 
 
 1253 
 
 Bhumitra, 
 
 
 
 
 Narayana, 
 
 
 
 
 Sufarman, 
 
 \r- 
 
 345 y- 
 
 
 A Siidra, of the Andhra family, having muf* 
 dered his mafter Susarman, and feized the 
 government, founded a new dynafty of 
 
 ANDHRA KINGS, 
 
 Y. B.C. 
 
 Balln, 908 
 
 Crifhna, 
 
 Srifantacarua,
 
 0N THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS, 317 
 
 ANDHRA KINGS. 
 
 Y» B. C9 
 
 Srifantacarna, ^c8 
 
 Paurnamafa, 
 
 Lambodara, 5, 
 
 Vivilaca, 
 
 Meghafwata, 
 
 Vatamana, 
 
 Talaca, 
 
 Sivafwati, 10. 
 
 Purifliabhcru, 
 
 Sunandana, 
 
 Chacoraca, 
 
 Bataca, 
 
 Gomatin, 15. 
 
 Purimat, 
 
 Medafiras, 
 
 Sirafcand'ha, 
 
 Yajnyafri, 
 
 Vijaya, 20. 
 
 Chandrabija, 21 r — 456/. 
 
 After the deathof Chandrabi'ja, which 
 happened, according to the Hindus, 396 years 
 before Vicrama'ditya, or 452 B. C. we hear 
 no more of Magadha as an independent king- 
 dom ; but Ra'dha^ca'nt has exhibited the 
 names oi fevcn dynafties, in which /even ty-Jix 
 princes are laid to have reigned oiie thoufand 
 
 three
 
 JlS ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 
 
 three hundred and ninety-nine yt'Axs, in Avabhriti, 
 a town of the DacJIj'm, or South, which we 
 commonly call Decan : the names of the feven 
 dynaflies, or of the families who eftablifhed 
 them, are, AbMra, Gardahhin^ Cajica, Tavana, 
 "Turiificara, Bhurunda, Mciula ; of which the 
 Tavana i, areby fome, not generally, fuppofed to 
 have been Io?2ia?2s, or Greeks, but the TuruJJj- 
 caras and Mania s are univerfally believed 
 to have been T^urcs and Moguls ; yet Ra'dha'- 
 ga'nt adds : " when the Maula race was ex- 
 ** tin^L, five Princes, named Bhimanda, Bangira, 
 *' Sifunandi, Tasonandi^zwd. Prav'iraca, reigned 
 ** an hundred and Jlx years (or till the year 
 *' 1053) ^^^ ^^^ ^^^y ^^ Cilacila,^'' which, he 
 tells me, he underftands to be in the country of 
 the Maharafitrdz, ox Mahratd s : and here ends 
 his Indian Chronology ; for ** after Pra- 
 " vi'raca,'* fays he, '* this Empire was 
 " divided among MlecFhas, or Infidels." 
 
 This account of the fevcn modern dynajlics 
 appcriTs very doubtful in itfelf, and has no re- 
 lation to our prefent enquiry ; for their domi- 
 nion feems confined to the T)ecan, without 
 extending to Magadba ; nor have we any reafon 
 to believe, that a race of Grecian Princes ever 
 eftablifhed a kingdom in either of thofe coun- 
 tries : as to the Moguls, their dynafly flill 
 iubfiils, at leall nominally j uulefs that of 
 
 Chengiz
 
 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OFTHE HINDUS. 319 
 
 Chengiz be meant, and his fuccelTors could not 
 have reigued in any part of hdia for the period 
 of three hundred years, v/hich is affigned to 
 the Maulas ; nor is it probable, that the word 
 Turc^ which an Indian could have easily pro* 
 nounced and clearly exprelTed in the Nagaj^ 
 letters, ihould have been corrupted into ^u^ 
 rtijfjcara. On the whole, we may fafely clofe 
 the mofl: authentick fyftem of Hindu Chrono- 
 logy, that I have yet been able to procure, 
 with the death of Chandrabi'ja. Should any 
 farther information be attainable, we fhall, 
 perhaps, in due time attain it, either from books 
 or infcriptions in the Sanfcrit language ; but 
 from the materials with which we are at prefent 
 fupplied, we may eftablifh as indubitable the 
 two following proportions ; that the three jirjl 
 ages of the Hindus are chiefly mythological^ 
 whether their mythology was founded on the 
 dark enismas of their aftronomers or on the 
 heroick fidions of their poets ; and, that the 
 fourth^ or hijiorical^ age cannot be carried farther 
 back than about two thoufand years before 
 Christ. Even in the hiftory of the prefent 
 3ge, the generations of men and the reigns of 
 kings are extended beyond the courfe of nature, 
 and beyond the average refulting from the ac- 
 counts of the Brahmans themfelves ; for they 
 gffign to an hundred and forty-t-ivo modern 
 
 rci2:ns
 
 320 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 
 
 reigns a period of three thoufand one hundred and 
 fifty-three years, or about twenty-two years to a 
 reign, one with another ; yet they reprefent 
 only four Canna Princes on the throne of Ma^ 
 gadha for a period of three hundred cLud forty- 
 five years ; now it is even more improbable, that 
 four fucceilive kings fliould have reigned eighty- 
 fix years and four months each, than that N and a 
 fhould have been king an hundred years, and 
 murdered at lafl:. Neither account can be cre- 
 dited ; but, that we may aiiow the higheft 
 probable antiquity to the Hindu government, 
 let us grant, that three generations o^ men were 
 equal on an average to an hundred years, and 
 that Indian Princes have reigned, one with 
 another, two and twenty ; then reckoning 
 thirty generations from Arjun, the brother of 
 Yudhisht'hira, to the extin6lion of his race, 
 and taking the Chinefe account of Buddha's 
 birth from M. De Guignes, as the moil: au- 
 thentic medium between Abu'lfazl and the 
 ^ibetians, we may arrange the correcled Hindu 
 Chronology according to the following table, 
 fnpplying the word about or nearly (iince per- 
 fed accuracy cannot be attained and ought not 
 to be required), before every date. 
 
 y. B. c. 
 
 Abhimanyu, yo;/ o/* Arjun, 2029 
 
 Fradyota, ^— — 1029 
 
 Buddha,
 
 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 321 
 
 Y. B. C. 
 feuDDHA, ' 1027 
 
 Nanda, — — 699 
 
 Balin, —   — • 149 
 
 Vicrama'ditya • 56 
 
 DeVapa'la, king o/'Gaiir, 23 
 
 If we take the date of Buddha's appearance 
 from Abu'lfazl, we mult place Abhimanyu 
 2368 years before Christ, unlefs we calculate 
 from the twenty kings of Magadha^ and allow 
 /even hundred y&2.Ys, inftead of a thoufand, be- 
 tween Arjun and Pradyo'ta, which will 
 bring us again very nearly to the date exhibited 
 in the table; and, perhaps, we can hardly ap- 
 proach nearer to the truth. As to R/ja 
 Nanda, if he really fat on the throne a whole 
 century, we muft bring down the Andhra 
 dynafty to the age of Vicrama^ditya, who 
 with his feudatories had probably obtained fo 
 much power during the reign of thofe princes, 
 that they had little more than a nominal fo- 
 vereignty, which ended with Chandrabi'ja, 
 in t\\Q third o'c fourth century of the ChriJJian 
 era ; having, no doubt, been long reduced to 
 infignificance by the kings of Gaur, defcended 
 from Go^pa'la. But, if the author of the 
 'Dabtjian be warranted in fi:-.ing the birth of 
 Buddha ten years before the Ca/iyug, \^e muft 
 thus correal the Chronological Table : 
 
 Y Buddha,
 
 322 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDtJ. 
 
 Y. B. C. 
 
 Buddha, — 1027 
 
 Paricfliit, — 10 17 
 
 Pradyota, freckonincr 20 or 7 
 
 ^ ^ • N^ }.Qi7ori7 
 
 30 generations,) j 
 
 Y. A. C. 
 
 Nanda, — — 1 3 or 313 
 
 This corre£l'ion would oblige us to place 
 ViCR AM a'ditya before Nanda, to whom, as 
 all the Pandits agree, he was long pofterior ; 
 and, if this be an hiflorical fa6l, it feems to 
 confirm the Bhagawaidmrit a^ which fixes the 
 beginning of the Callyug about a thoufand ytSirs 
 before Buddha : befides that, Balin would then 
 be brouo-ht down at leaft to the fixth and 
 Chandrabi'ja to the tenth century after 
 Christ, without leaving room for the fubfe- 
 quent dynafties, if they reigned fucceflively. 
 
 Thus have v/e given a iketch of Indian Hif- 
 tory through the longeil period fairly aflignable 
 to it, and have traced the foundation of the 
 Indian empire above three thoufand eight hun- 
 dred years from the prefent time ; but, on a 
 fubje6lin itfelf fo obfcurev and fo much clouded 
 by the fidlions of the Brdhmans^ who, to ag- 
 grandize themfclves, have defignedly raifed 
 their antiquity beyond the truth, we muft be 
 fatisfied with probable conjedlure and juft rea- 
 
 foning
 
 ..:/- ^ 
 
 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDtTS. 323 
 
 foning from the bed: attainable data ; nor can 
 we hope for a fyftem of Indian Chronology to 
 which no objection can be made, imlefs the 
 aftronomical books in Smifcr'it fhall clearly 
 afcertain the places of the colures in fbme pre- " 
 cife years of the hiftorical age ; not by loofe 
 traditions, like that of a coarfe obfervation bv 
 Chiron, who poffibly never exiilied, for " he 
 " lived, fays Newton, in the golden age,'* , 
 which muft long have preceded the Argonautick 
 expedition) but by fuch evidence as our own , 
 
 aftronomers and fcholars fhall allow to be 
 unexceptionable. 
 
 y 2 A CHRO-
 
 324 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HINDUS. 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 
 
 according to one of the Hypotheses intimated 
 in the preceding TraSf. 
 
 Christian 
 
 FTrMnTr, 
 
 Tearsfromi']%% 
 
 <2«^ MUSELMAN. 
 
 of our era. 
 
 Adam, 
 
 Menu I. Age T. 
 
 5794 
 
 Noah, 
 
 Menu II. 
 
 4737 
 
 Deluge, 
 
 
 4138 
 
 hlimrodj 
 
 Biranyacajipu. Age 
 
 IT. 4006 
 
 Bel, 
 
 Bali, • 
 
 3892 
 
 Rama, 
 
 Rama. Age III. 
 
 3817 
 
 Noah's death. 
 
 31^ 
 
 
 Pradyota, 
 
 2817 
 
 
 Buddha. Age IV. 
 
 2S15 
 
 
 Nanda, 
 
 2487 
 
 
 Balin, 
 
 1937 
 
 
 Vacramaditya, 
 
 1844 
 
 
 Devapala, 
 
 1811 
 
 Christ, 
 
 ' 
 
 1787 
 
 
 Narayanpala, 
 
 1721 
 
 
 Sacuy 
 
 1709 
 
 mnd. 
 
 
 1080 
 
 Mah?nud, 
 
 
 786 
 
 Chengiz, 
 
 
 548 
 
 Taimury 
 
 
 39^ 
 
 Babur, 
 
 
 276 
 
 Niidirjhdb^ 
 
 
 49 
 
 DIS.
 
 ( 2^5 ) 
 DISSERTATION X. 
 
 SUPPLEMENT 
 
 TO THE 
 
 ESSAY ON INDIAN CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 ,UR ingenious afibciatc Mr. Samuel 
 Davis, whom I name with refpec^ and 
 applaufe, and who will foon, I trufl-, convince 
 M. Bailly, that it is very poflible for an 
 Europea?i to tranflate and explain the Surya 
 Siddhlinta, favoured me lately with a copy, taken 
 by his Pandit, of the original pafTage men- 
 tioned in his paper on the Aftronomical Compu- 
 tations of the Hindus, concerning the places 
 of the colures in the time of Vaka'ha, com- 
 pared with their pcfition in the age of a certain 
 Muni, or ancient Indian philofopher ; and the 
 paflage appears to afford evidence of two actual 
 obfervations, which will afcertain the chrono- 
 logy of the Hindus, if not by rigorous demon- 
 flration, at leafl by a near approach to it. 
 
 The copy of the Varah'-fanhita, from which 
 the three pages, received by me, had been tran- 
 fcribed, is unhappily fo incorredl (if the tran- 
 
 Y 3 icript
 
 326 A SUPPLEMENT TO THE 
 
 fcript itfelf was not haflily made) that every 
 line of it muil be disfigured by feme grofs er- 
 ror ; and my P<7;z(^//, who examined the'paf- 
 fage carefully at his own houle, gave it up as 
 inexplicable ; fo that, if I had not (ludied the 
 iyffem of 5"^;//^'/ profody, I fhould have laid it 
 afide in defpair : but though it was written as 
 profe, without any fort of diltindion or punc- 
 tuation, yet, when 1 read it aloud, my ear 
 caught in fome fentences the cadence of verfe, 
 and of a particular metre, called A'rya^ which 
 is regulated (not by- the number of lylla'oles, like 
 other /;z^//<2;/ mealures, but) by the proportion 
 of times ^ ox fyllabick motnents^ in the four divi- 
 iions, of which evevy flanza confifts. By 
 numbering thoie nioments and fixing their pro- 
 portion, 1 was enabled to reflore the text of 
 Vara'ha, with the perfe(?c aflent of the learned 
 Brahmen who attends me ; and, with his af- 
 ilflance, I alfb corredted the comment v^-ritten 
 by Bhat'i o'tpala, who, it feems, was a fon 
 of the author, together with three curious paf-i 
 faees which are cited in it. Another Pa?idit 
 afterwards brought me a copy of the whole ori- 
 ginal work, which confiri^rcd my conje6lural 
 emendations, except in two immaterial fylla- 
 bies, a-^.^ except, that the fir ft of the fix cou- 
 plets in the text is quCed in the commentary 
 from a different work entitled P anchajiddhlmtica : 
 five of them w^ere compofed by Vara^ha hlm- 
 
 felf,
 
 ESSAY ON INDIAN CHRONOLOGY. 327 
 
 felf, and the third chapter of his treatife begins 
 with them. 
 
 Before I produce the original verfes, it may 
 be ufeful to give you an idea of the Aryo. mea- 
 fure, which will appear more diftindtly in La- 
 tin than in any modern language of Europe : 
 
 Tigridas, apros, thoas, tyrannos, peffima monftra, venemur ; 
 Die hinnulus, die lepus male quid egerint graminivori. 
 
 The couplet might be fo arranged, as to begin 
 and end with the cadence of an hexameter and 
 pentameter, fix moments being interpofed in the 
 middle of the long, and {qwcw in that of the 
 {hort, hemiflich : 
 
 Thoas, apros, tigridas nos venemnr-f pejorefque tyrannos ; 
 Die tibi cerva, lepus tibi die ?nale quid egerit herbivorus. 
 
 Since the A'rya meafure, however, may be al- 
 moft infinitely varied, the couplet would have 
 a form completely Roman, if the proportion of 
 Jyllahkk injlants, in the long and fhort verfes, 
 were twenty -four to twenty^ inftead of thirty to 
 twenty-feven ; 
 
 Venor apros tigridafque, et, peflima monftra, tyrannos : 
 Cerva mali quid agunt herbivorufque lepus ? 
 
 I now exhibit the five flanzas of Vara'ha 
 in European c\\?i.x2i&.QVs. 
 
 Aflefhardhaddac(hinamuttaramayanan raverdhanifht'hadyan 
 Niinan eadachidasidyen66lan purva faftreftiu. 
 Sampratamayanan favituh earcatacadyan mrigaditafchanyat : 
 Ui^hibhave vicritih praty'aefhaperfcflianair vyaclih. 
 P uraft'hachihnavedyadudaye'ftamaye'piva fahafranfoh, 
 
 Y 4 Ch'h-^-
 
 
 328 A SUPPLEMENT TO THE 
 
 Ch'hayapravefanirgamachihnairva mandale mahati. 
 Aprapya macaramarco vinivrittp hanti faparan yamyan, 
 CarcatacainaHinprapto vinivrittafchottaran faindri'n. 
 Uttaramayanamatitya vyavrittah cfnemafafya vriddhicarah, 
 Pracritiil'hafchapyevan vicritigatir bhayacriduHinanfuh. 
 
 Of the five couplets thus exhibited, the fol- 
 lowing tranflation is mnfl fcrupuloufly literal : 
 *' Certainly the fonthern folftice was 
 once in the middle of yf/IeJlM, the northern 
 in the firft degree o^ DhanifJjt^ha, by what is 
 recorded in former Saffras. At prefent one 
 •* folflice is in the firft degree of Carcaia^ and 
 *' the other in the firll: oiAiacara : that which 
 is recorded not appearing, a change mufi 
 have happened ; and the proof arifes from 
 ocular demonftrations ; that is, by obferving 
 ** the remote objeft and its marks at the rifing 
 or fettingof the fun, or by the marks, in a 
 large graduated cjrcle, of the fliadow's in- 
 ** grefs and egrefs. The fun, by turning back 
 " without having reached Mjicara, defiiroys the 
 ** fouth and the weft ; by turning back with- 
 *' out havincr reached Carcata. the north and 
 ** eafl. By returning, when he has juft 
 ** pafled the winter follHtial point, he makes 
 ^' wealth fccure and gr lin abundant, fince he 
 ** moves thus according to nature ; but the fun, 
 ** by moving unnaturally, excites terrour." 
 
 Now the Hi?tdu Aflronomers agjree, that 
 the I ft January 1790 was in the year 4891 of 
 
 the 
 
 t ( 

 
 CSSAY ON INDIAN CHI^ONOLOGY. 359 
 
 the Caliyuga, ox xhtxx fourth peri-d, at the be- 
 ginning of which, they fay, the equinoclial 
 points were in the firil degrees of Mejlm and 
 ^ula ; but they are alfo of opinion, that the 
 vernal equinox ofcillates from the third of 
 Mma to the tweilty-feventh of Mejha and back 
 again in 7200 years, which they divide into four 
 piidas, and coniequently that it moves, in the two 
 intermediate plidas, from the firH: to the twenty- 
 feventh of Mefia and back again in 3600 years; 
 the colure cutting their echptick in the firft of 
 JVJeJha, which coincides with the firll: o^Afwini^ 
 at the beginning of every fuch ofcillatory pe- 
 riod. VARA'HA,furnamedMiHiRA, or the Sun, 
 from his knowledge of aftronomy, and ufualiy 
 diftinguidied by the title of Achiirya^ or teacher 
 of the Vcda^ lived confefledly when the Cali- 
 yuga was far advanced ; and, lince by a6lual ob- 
 fervation he found the folftitial points in the firft 
 degrees of C areata and Macara, the equinoc- 
 tial points were at the fame time in the firft of 
 Me/ha and I'ula : he lived, therefore, in the 
 year 3600 of the fourth India?i ^Qnod, or 1291 
 years before ift January 1790, that is, about 
 the year 409 of our era. This date correfponds 
 with the ayananfa, or preceliion, calculated by 
 the rule of the Suryajiddhanta ; for 19° 2 1' 54'' 
 would be the preceffion of the equinox in 1291 
 years, according to the Hindu computation of 
 54'' annually, which gives us the origin of 
 
 the
 
 53^ A SUPPXEMENT TO THE 
 
 the Indian Zodiack nearly ; but, by New- 
 ton's demonflrations, which agree as well 
 with the phenomena, as the varying denfity of 
 our earth will admit, the equinox recedes 
 about 50'' every year, and has receded 1 7* 5 9' 50'' 
 fince the time of Vara'ha, which gives 
 MS more nearly in our own fphere the firft de- 
 ^YQt of M{flja in that of the Hindus. By 
 the obfervation recorded in older Scifiras^ 
 the equinox had gone back 22" 20', or about 
 i&8o years had intervened, between the age of 
 the Muni and that of the modern aftronomer: 
 the former obfervation, therefore, muft have 
 been made about 2971 years before ift Ja^ 
 nuary 1790, that is 1181 before Christ. 
 
 We come now to the commentary, which 
 contains information of the greatefl importance. 
 By former Sajlras are meant, fays Bhatto'p- 
 TALA, the books of Para'sara and of other 
 Munis\ and he then cites from the Pdrafara 
 Sanhita the following paiTage, which is in modu- 
 lated profe, and in a ftylc much refembling that 
 of the Vedas, 
 
 Sravishta'dya^t paufim'ardhantan charah 
 fi'siro J vafantah paufhnardhat rohinyantan ; 
 faum.yadyadafltlhardhantan grifhmah ; pravri- 
 daflelhardhat haftantan ; chitradyat jyefh't'hard- 
 hantan sarat ; hemanto jyeih't'hardhat vaifh-' 
 n'avantan. 
 
 *' The
 
 / 
 
 6i 
 
 ESSAY ON INDIAN CHRONOLOGY. ^^^ 
 
 " The feafon of S?/ira is from the flrft of 
 jyhanijht' ha to the middle of Revat) ; that of 
 Vafanta from the middle of Revat) to the 
 end Q){Kohini\ that of GnJlJma from the be- 
 ginning of Mngriijiras to the middle of 
 yjjle/jja ; that of Verpa from the middle of 
 *' Afidpa to the end of Hajl.a\ that of Sarad 
 ^' from the firft of Chitrd to the middle of 
 " 'Jy^fii'ha ; that of Hemanta from the middle 
 '' oi Jyefifha to the end of Sravana.'' 
 
 This account of the fix Indian leafons, each 
 of which is co-extenlive with twoligns,or four 
 lunar flations and a half, places the folfli- 
 tial points, as Vara'ha has allerted, in the 
 firfi degree of D/janiJIjt'ha, and the middle, 
 or 6° 40', of Afttpciy while the equinoctial 
 points were in the te!f2tb degree of Bharan) 
 and 3° 20' of Visac^ha ; but, in the time of 
 Vara'ha, the folflitial colure pafled through 
 the 10th degree of Punarvafu and 3" 20' of 
 Uttarafiara^ while the equino<5lial colure cut 
 the Hindu ecliptick in the firft of Jfwin^ 
 and 6° 40' of Chitra, or the Toga and only ftar 
 of that manfion, which, bv the wav, is in- 
 dubitablv the Spike of the Virgin, from the 
 known longitude of which all other points in 
 the Indian Zodiack may be computed. It can- 
 not efcape notice, that Para'sara does not ufe 
 in this paflage the phrafe at prefent, which oc- 
 curs
 
 2^2 A SUPPLEMENT TO THE 
 
 curs In the rext of Vara^ha ; fo that the places 
 of the colures might have been afcertained h- 
 fore his time, and a confiderable chanee mio-hr 
 have happened in their true pofition without 
 any change in the phrafes by which thefeafons 
 were diflinguifhed ; as our popular language in 
 aftronomv remains unaltered, though the Zo- 
 diacal aileriims are now removed a whole iisrn 
 from the places where they have left their 
 names : it is manifeft, neverthelefs, that Pa- 
 ra'saka mud have written within twelve cen^ 
 tur'ies before the beginning of our era, and that 
 jingle fa£t, as we fhall prelently iliow, leads to 
 very momentous conlequences in regard to the 
 lyflem of hidian hiftory and literature. 
 
 On the comparifon, which might eafily be 
 made, between the colures of Para'sara and 
 thofe afcribed by Eudoxus to Chiron, the 
 fuppofcd affill:.;nt and inilru£lor of the Argo- 
 nauts^ I fhall {-Aj very little ; becaufe the whole 
 Argonautkk ilory (which neither was, ac- 
 cording to Herodotus, nor, indeed, could 
 have been, originally Grecian) appears, even 
 when ftripped of its poetical and fabulous or- 
 naments, extremely difputable ; and, whether 
 it was foiuided on a league of the Helladlan 
 princes and dates for the purpofe of checking, 
 on a favourable opportunity, the overgrown 
 power of F.gypt, or with a view to fecure the 
 
 commerce^
 
 ESSAY ON INDIAN CHRONOLOGY. ^33 
 
 commerce of the Euxine and appropriate the 
 wealth of Colchis, or, as I am difpofed to be- 
 lieve, on an emigration from Africa and Afia 
 of that adventurous race who had firfl: been 
 eftablifhed in Chaldea ; whatever, in fhort, 
 gave rife to the fable, w^hich the old poets have 
 fo richly embL-Uiflied, and the old hillorians 
 have fo inconliderately adopted, it feems to me 
 very clear, even on the principles of Newton, 
 and on the fame authorities to which he refers, 
 that the voyage of the Argonauts mufl have 
 preceded the year in which his calculations 
 led him to place it. Battus built Cyrene, 
 lays our great philofopher, on the fite of 
 Irafa, the city of Ant^us, in the year 
 (^2,3 before Christ ; yet he foon after calls 
 EuRiPYLUS, with whom the Argonauts had 
 a conference, king of Cyrcne, and in both 
 paflages he cites Pindar, whom I acknow^- 
 ledge to have been the moft learned, as 
 well as the fublimeil:, of poets. Now, if I 
 underftand Pindar (which I will not af- 
 fert, and I neither poiTefs nor remember at 
 prefent the Scholia, which I formerly peru fed) 
 the fourth Pythian Ode begins with a fhort pa- 
 negyrick on Arcesilas of Cjj/r^;/^: " Where, 
 " fays the bard, the prieftefs, who fat near 
 " the golden eagles of Jove, prophefied of 
 " old, when Apollo was not abfent from his 
 
 " manfion,
 
 <i 
 
 334 A SUPPLEMENT TO THE 
 
 manfion, that Battus, the colonizer of* 
 fruitful hybia^ having juft left the fa- 
 cred iile ('J her a), fhould build a city 
 excelling in cars, on the fplendid breaft of • 
 earth, and, with the feventeenth generation^ 
 fhould refer to hirnfelf the Therean pre- 
 didion of Medea, which that princefs of 
 the Colchians, that impetuous daughter of 
 vEetes, breathed from her immortal mouth, 
 " and thus delivered to the half-divine ma- 
 " riners of the warriour Jason.'* From this 
 introduction to the nobleft and mod animated of 
 the Argo7iauiick poems, it appears, that fifteen 
 complete generations had intervened between the 
 voyage of Jason and the emigration of 
 Battus; fo that confidering //t;rf^ generations 
 as equal to an hundred o\- an hundred and twenty 
 years, which Newton admits to be the Grecian 
 mode of computing them, we muft place that 
 voyage at lead yfe ox fix huftdr ed yezr?, before ' 
 the time fixed by Newton hirnfelf, according 
 to his own computation, for the building of 
 Cyrene \ that is, eleven or tzvehe hundred and 
 thirty-three years before Christ; an ao-e very 
 near on a medium to that of Para'sara. If 
 the poet means afterwards to fav, as I under- ' 
 ftand him, that Arcf.silas, his contemporary, 
 was the eighth in defcent from Battus, wx 
 fl:iall draw nearly the fame conclufion, without 
 
 bavin 2:
 
 ESSAY ON INDIAN CHRONOLOGY. ^^^ 
 
 having recourfe to the unnatural reckoning of 
 thirty-three or forty years to a generation ; for 
 Pindar was forty, years old, when the Pcr- 
 Jtans^ having crofled the Helkfpont^ were nobly 
 reiifted at Thermopylc^e, and glorioufly defeated 
 2X.Salams: he was born, therefore, about the 
 lixty-fifth Olympiad^ or five hundred and twenty 
 years before our era ; fo that, by allowing 
 more naturally fix or feven hundred years to 
 twenty-three generations, we may at a medium 
 place the voyage of Jason about one thoufand 
 one hundred and feventy years before Our 
 Saviour, or about forty five years before the 
 beginning of the Newtonian chronology. . 
 
 The defcription of the old colures by 
 EuDoxus, if we implicitly rely on his tefli- 
 mony and on that of Hipparchu?, who was, 
 indifputably, a great aftronomer for the age in 
 which he lived, affords, I allow, fuixicient evi- 
 dence of fome rude obfervation about 937 years 
 before the Chrlfiian epoch ; and, if the cardinal 
 points had receded from thofe colures 36° 29' 
 \o" at the beginning of the year 1690, and 
 37° 52^ 30" on the firft oifanuary in the pre- 
 fent year, they muft have gone back 3" 23' 20'' 
 between the obfervation implied by Para'sar 
 and that recorded by Eudoxus ; or, in other 
 words, 244 years muil: have elapfed between 
 the two obfervations : but, this difquifiiioir 
 
 having
 
 ^^6 A supplement' to the 
 
 having little relation to our principal fiibje^l, f 
 proceed to the laft couplets ot our Indian aftro- 
 iionncr Vara'ha Mihtra : which, though 
 merely aftrological and confequently abfurd, 
 will siv'C occafion to remarks of no fmall im- 
 portance. They imply, that, when the fol- 
 flices are not in the firft degrees of Carcata and 
 Macara, the motion of the fun is contrary to 
 nature, and being caufed, as the commentator 
 intimates, by fome utpata^ or preternatural 
 agency, mud: neceflarily be produ6live of mif- 
 fortune ; and this vain idea feems to indicate 
 a very fuperficial knowledge even of the 
 fydem which Varaha undertook to explain ;■ 
 but he might have adopted it folely as a religi- 
 ous tenet, on the authority of Garga, a priefl 
 of eminent fandity, who exprefles the fame 
 wild notion in the following couplet : 
 
 Yada nivertate'praptah fravlflitamuttarayane, 
 Afleihandacfhine'praptaftadavidyaumahadbhayan. 
 
 *' When the7?/« returns, not having reached 
 " Dha?ufJjfha in the northern folftice, or nothav- 
 ** ing reached Jfl-cjha in the fouthern, then 
 *' let a ??2^?« feel great apprehenfion of danger." 
 
 Para'sara himfelf entertained afimilar opi-- 
 nion, that any irregularity in the folfliices would 
 indicate approaching calamity ', Tadaprafto 
 ^aijhnavantani, fays he, tidanmarge prepadyate, 
 dacjhim^ ajlcplim va mahab hayaya^ that is, 
 ** When having reached thp end of Sravana^ 
 
 in
 
 E5SAY ON INDIAN CHRONOLOGY. 3J7 . 
 
 *' in the northern path, or half of Jijlepii in 
 *' the fouthern, he ftill advances, it is a caiife . 
 " of great fear." This notion poffibly had its 
 rife before he regular preceffion of the cardi- 
 nal points had been obferved ; but we may alfo 
 remark, that fome of the lunar manfions were 
 conlidered as inaufpicious, and others as fortu- 
 nate : thus Menu, the firfl: hidian lawgiver, 
 ordains, that certain rites ihall be performed 
 under the influence of a happy NacJJjatra ; and 
 where he forbids any female name to be taken 
 from a eonflellation^ the mofl learned commen- 
 tator gives y^Vi/ra and Revafi as examples of ill- 
 omened nafnes, appearing by delign to flcip over 
 others that muft firil: have occurred to him. 
 Whether Dhan'iflH''ha and Ajl'Jhcl were inaufpi- ' 
 , cious or profperous I have not learned ; but, 
 whatever mis^ht be the s;round of Vara'ha's 
 aftrological irule, we may called: from his 
 aftronomy, which was grounded on obfervatlon,^ 
 that the folftice had receded at ledji 23^ 20'. be- 
 tween his time and that of Para'sara ; for 
 though he refers its pofltion to \he.fgns^ inftead 
 of the lunar manfiojts^ yet all the Pandits with 
 whom I have eonverfed on the fubjecfl, unani- 
 moufly afiert, that the firft degrees of Mejljd 
 and Jljhviiii are coincident,. Since the two an- 
 cient fages name only the lunar ailerifms, It i 
 probable, that the folar divilion oi the zodiack 
 int(.' twelve figns was not generally ufed in their 
 
 Z days ^ 
 
 J .
 
 33^ A SUPPLEMENT TO THE 
 
 days ; and we know, from the comment on the 
 Surya Siddhanta, that the lunar month, by 
 which all religious ceremonies are fiill regulated, 
 was in ufe before the folar. When M. Bailly 
 ail^:s, " Why the Hindus eflablifhed the begin- 
 " ning of the preceffion, according to their 
 " ideas of it, in the year of Christ 499 ?*' to 
 which his calculations alfo had led him, we 
 anfvver, Becaufe in that year the vernal equinox 
 was found by obfervation in the oridn of their 
 ecliptick ; and {ince they were of opinion, that 
 it muft have had the fame polition in the firft 
 year of the Caliyiiga^ they were induced by 
 their erroneous theory to fix the beginning of 
 their fc irth period 3600 years before the time of 
 VARA'HA,and to account forPARA'sARA*s ob- 
 fervation by fjppoling an utpata, ox pj'odlgy. 
 
 To what purpofe, it may be alked, have we 
 afcertained the age of the Muni's ? Who was 
 Para'sara ? Who was Garga ? W^ith 
 whom were they contemporary, or with whofe 
 age may their' s be compared ? What light will 
 thefe inquiries throw on the hiftory of India or 
 of mankind ? I am btppy in being able to an- 
 
 fwer thofe quellions with confidence and pre- 
 cilion. 
 
 All the Brdhmens agree, that only one Pa- 
 
 ra'sara is nam.ed in their lac red records ; that 
 
 he compofed the aftronomical book before cited, 
 
 gnd a law tra^l, which is now in my poflefiion ; 
 
 that
 
 ESSAY ON INDIAN CHRONOLOGY. 339 
 
 that he was the graudfon of Vasisht'ha, an- 
 other aftronomer and leglflator, whofe works 
 are ftill extant, and who was the preceptor of 
 Ra'ma, king of Ayodhyciy that he was the 
 father of Vya'sa, by whom the Vcdas were 
 arranged in the form which they now bear, 
 and whom Crishna himfelf names with ex- 
 alted praife in the G'lta ; fo that, by the admif- 
 iion of the Pandits themfelves, we find only 
 three generations between two of the Ra'mas, 
 whom chey confider as incarnate j6<?;//o;^j- of the 
 divinity ; and Para'sara might have lived till 
 the beginning of the Cal'iyuga^ which the mif- 
 taken do£lrine of an ofcillation in the cardinal 
 points has compelled the Hindus to place 1920 
 years too early. This error, added to their fan- 
 ciful arrangement of the four ages, has been the 
 fource of many abfurdities ; for they infifl:, that 
 Va'lmic, whom they cannot but allow to have 
 been contemporary with Ra^machandra, 
 lived in the age of Vya'sa, who confulted him 
 on the compofition of the Mahabhdrat^ and 
 who wasperfonally knowntoBALARA^MA, the 
 brother of Crishna. When a very learned 
 Brahmen had repeated to me an agreeable flory 
 of a converfation between VaYmic and 
 Vya'sa, I expreffed my furprize at an inter- 
 view between two bards, whofe ages were fe- 
 parated by a period of 864,000 years ; but he 
 
 Z 2. fooR
 
 34^ -A. SUPPLEMENT TO THE 
 
 foon reconciled himfelf to fo monftrous an ana-* 
 chronilm, by obferving, that the longevity of 
 the Munis was preternatural, and that no limit 
 could be fetto divine power. By the fame re- 
 courfe to niiracles or to prophecy, he would 
 have anfvvered another objeclion equally fatal to 
 his chronological fyflem : it is agreed by ?.ll, 
 that the lawyerYA'oYAWALCYA was an attend- 
 ant on the court of Janaca, whofe daughter 
 Si'ta' was the conftant, but unfortunate wife 
 of the great Ra'ma, the hero of Va'lmic's 
 poem ; but that lawyer himfelf, at the very 
 opening of his work, which now lies before me, 
 names both Paba'sara and Vya'sa among; 
 twenty authors, whofe tradls form the body 
 of original J7idja?i law. By the way, fince 
 Vasisiit'ha is more than once named in the 
 Manuv'/fanhita, we may be certain, that the 
 laws afcribed to Menu, in whatever age they 
 might have been frft promulgated, could not 
 have received the form in wliich we now fee 
 them above three thoufand years ago. 
 
 Thf age and funflions of Gap.g A lead to con- 
 feauences vet more intereHino- : he wasconfef- 
 {edly the piirohita^ or officiating prieft, of 
 Crishna himfelf, who, when only a herdfman's 
 boy at Mat^hurci, revealed his divine charader to 
 Garga, bv runnins: to him with more than 
 mortal benignity on his countenance, when the 
 prieft had invoked Na'ra'yan. His daughter 
 
   - was
 
 (4 
 
 ESSAY ON INDIAN CHRONOLOGY. 341 
 
 was eminent for her piety and her learning, and 
 the Brlihnans admit, without coniiJering the 
 confequence of their admifhon, that Ihe is thus 
 addrefled in the Veda itfelf : Tata vrdhwan no 
 Vii fa?nopi, Ga'rgi, ejha dd'ityo dyamurdhiinan 
 iapait, dyciva bhuwtn tapati, bhlimya fuhhran ta- 
 pati^ Iccan tapat'i^ antaran tapatyancvntaran fa- 
 pati; or, " That Sun, O daughter of Garga, 
 than which nothing- is higher, to which no- 
 thing is equal, enlightens the fummit of the 
 ** Ikv ; with the ikv enli2:htens the earth : 
 ** with the earth enlightens the lower worlds ; 
 *' enliglitens the higher worlds ; enlightens 
 *■' other \\orlds ; it enlightens the hreafl:, 
 " enlightens all hefides the breaft." From 
 thefe fads, which the Brahina?u cannot 
 deny, and from thefe concefiions, which they 
 iinanimoufly make, we may reafonably infer, 
 that if Vya'sa was not the compofer of the 
 Vedas, he added at leaft lomething of his own 
 to the fcattered frag-ments of a m.ore ancient 
 work, or Dcrhaps to the looie traditions Vvhich 
 he had colleded ; but whatever be the compa- 
 rative antiquity of the Hindu fcriptures, we 
 may fafely conclude, that the Mofaick and Indian 
 chronologies are perfedlly confident ; that 
 Menu, fon of Bi^aiima', was the ^-^'^w^, or 
 frfi-, created mortal, and confeq-jentlv our 
 Adam ; that . Menu, child of the Sun, uas 
 preferved \N\^\-\fcven others^ in a bahitra^ or ca- 
 
 Z ^ p:\cious
 
 342 A SUPPLEMENT TO THE 
 
 pacioiis ark, from an luuverfal deluge, and mud 
 therefore be our Noah ; that HiRANYACAr 
 sipu, the giant with a golden axe^ and Vali 
 or Bali., were impious r.nd arrogant monarchs, 
 and, moft probably, our Nimrod and Belus ; 
 that the three Ra'mas, two of whom were in- 
 vincible warriors, and the third, not only va- 
 liant in war, but the patron of agriculture and 
 wine^ which derives an epithet from his name, 
 were different reprefentations oi the Grecian 
 Bacchus., and either the Ra'ma of fcripture, or 
 his colony perfonified, or the Sun, firft adored 
 by his idolatrous family ; that a confiderable 
 emigration from Chaldea into Greece .^ Italy, and 
 /W/^,happened about /w^/i;^ centuries before the 
 birth of Our Saviour ; that Sa'cya, or Si's a k, 
 about two hundred years after Vya'sa, either 
 in perfon or by a colony from 'Egypt imported 
 into this country the mild herefy of the ancient 
 Bauddhas ; and that the dawn of true Indian. 
 hiftory appears only three or four centuries be-- 
 fore the Chriflian era, the preceding ages be- 
 ing clouded by allegory or fable. 
 
 As a fpecimcn of that fabling and allego- 
 rizing fpirit which has ever induced the Brah^ 
 mens to difguife their whole fyftem of hidory, 
 philofophy, and religion, I produce a paflage 
 from the Bhdgavat, which, however ftrange 
 and ridiculous, is very curious in itfelf, and 
 clofely connected with the fubjed of this Eflay ; 
 
 it"
 
 ESSAY ON INDIAN CHRONOLOGY. 343 
 
 it is taken from the fifth Scandha, or Se6lion, 
 which is written in modulated profe. *' There 
 are fome," fays the Ind'ian author, *' who, for 
 the purpofe of meditating intenfely on the 
 holy fon of VasudeVa, imagine yon ce- 
 leflial fphere to reprefent the figure of that 
 aquatick animal which we call Sh'timlira ; its 
 head being turned downwards, and its body 
 bent in a circle, they conceive Dhruva, or 
 *' the pole ftar, to be fixed on the point of its 
 tail ; on the middle part of the tail they fee 
 four ftars, Prejdpaii, Agn't^ Inclra, Dhernia^ 
 ^' and on its bafe two others, Dhatri and V^id' 
 *' hixtri I on its rump are the SeptarJJjis^ or 
 '* (tYcn flars of the Sacata^ or Wain ; on its 
 back the path of the Sun, called Ajavtt'h), or 
 the Series of Kids ; on its belly the Ga?iga of 
 the Iky : Punarvafu and Pufiya gleam re- 
 *' fpeclively on its right and left haunches ; 
 *' Ardra and AJlcpa on its right and left feet or 
 " fins ; Abhijit and Uttarafiad^ha in its right 
 «' and left noftrils ; Sravana and PurvafJ/ad''ha 
 *' in its right and left eyes; Dhanififha and 
 " Mula on its right and left ears. Fight con- 
 " ftellations, belonging to the fummer Solftice, 
 *' Magha, Pw'vapbalgun), Uttarafhalgtin\'Haf- 
 " ta, Chitra, Swat), Vifacha, Anuradha, 
 *' may be conceived in the ribs of its left fide ; 
 ** and as many ailerifms, connected with the 
 
 X j^ '* winter 
 
 *( 
 <( 
 
 
 (( 
 (( 
 ((
 
 it 
 
 ii 
 ii 
 ii 
 ti 
 ti 
 
 6i 
 
   i( 
 ii 
 
 344 A SUPPLEMENT TO THE , 
 
 ^' winter Solftice, Mrigasiras, Rohin), Cnttlca^ 
 ** Bharam, Afwinl, Revafi, Uttarabhadrapada, 
 " Piirvahhadra'pada^ may be iiTiagined on the 
 " ribs of its right fide in an inverfe order : let 
 *' Satabhijka w\6. Jyefl.fhah^ placed on its right 
 *' and left fhoukers. In its upper jaw is 
 Jgajiyaj in its lower Tama ; in its mouth the 
 planet MangaJa ; in its part of generation, 
 Sanaijchqra ; on its hump, Vr'ihafpati ; in 
 its breafl:, the Sun ; in its heart, Narayan ; 
 in its front, the Moon ; in its navel, Usanas ; 
 on its two nipples, the two Afw'inas ; in its 
 afcending and defcending breaths, Budha\ 
 on its throat, Rahu ; in all its limbs, Cetus, 
 or comets ; and in its hairs, or briftles, the 
 *' whole multitude of Stars.*' 
 
 It is necefiary to remark, that, although 
 the fisuuiara be generally defcribed as the fea- 
 hog or por pot fe, which we frequently have feen 
 placing in the Ganges, yttfiifmar, which feerns 
 derived from the Sanfcr'u, means in Perftan a 
 large lizard: the pafiagejuft exhibited may ne- 
 verthelels relate to an animal of the cetaceous- 
 order, and poffibly to the dolphin of the an- 
 cients. 
 
 Before I leave the fphere of the H'tn- 
 dtiSy I cannot help mentioning a iingular fa6t : 
 ill the Sanfcrit language, i^/r/7j^ means d^confiei- 
 latmi and a bear, fo that Maharcjha may denote 
 either a great hear, or a great af.erifm. Etymo- 
 
 logiiU
 
 ESSAY ON INDIAN CHRONOLOGY. 345 
 
 iogifls may, perhaps, derive the Megas ArSfos of 
 the Greeks from an Indian compound ill un- 
 derftood; but I will only obferve, with the 
 wild American, that a bear ivith a very lojig 
 //z/7 could never have occurred to the imagination 
 of any one who had feen the animal. I may 
 be permitted to add, on the fubje6l of the Indian 
 Zodiack, that, if I have erred in a former 
 Effay, where the longitude of the lunar man- 
 ■fions is computed from the firft ftar in our con- 
 flellation of the Ram, I have been led into 
 error by the very learned and ingenious M. 
 Bailly, who relied, I prefume, on the au- 
 thority of M. Le Gentil : the origin of the 
 Hindu Zodiack, according to the Siirya Sidd- 
 bi'mta, mufh be nearly r I9^ 21'. 54". in our 
 fphere, and the longitude of Chitra, or the 
 Spike, mull of courle be 199°. 21', 54'^ from 
 the vernal equinox; but, hnce it is difficult by 
 that computation to arrange the twenty-feven 
 manfions and their feveral ftars, as they are de- 
 lineated and enumerated in the KeUiamala, I 
 muft for the prefent fuppofe, with M. Bailly, 
 that the Zodiack of the Hindus had two origins, 
 , one conftant and tlie other variable ; and a far- 
 ther inquiry into the fubje6l muft be referved 
 for a feafoa of retirement and leifure. 
 
 pis-
 
 ( 3+6 ) 
 
 DISSERTATION XI. 
 
 ON THE 
 
 INDIAN GAME OF CHESS, 
 
 IF evidence be required to prove that Chefs 
 was invented by the Hindus, we may be fa- 
 tisfied with the teflimony of the Perjtansi 
 who, though as much inchned as other nations 
 to appropriate the ingenious inventions of a fo- 
 reign people, unanimoufly agree, that the game 
 was imported from the weft of India, together 
 with the charming fables of Vishnusarman,, 
 in the fixth century of our era. It fecms to have 
 been immemorlally known in Hmdiijlan by the 
 name of Chaturanga, that is, the four angas, 
 or members J of an army, which are faid in the 
 Amaracoflm to be haflyaswaraf haplidatam, or 
 elephants, horfes, chariots, and foot-foldiers ; 
 and in this itnic the word is frequently ufed 
 
 by
 
 ON THE INDIAN GAME OF CHESS. 34^ 
 
 by Epick poets in their defcriptions of real 
 armies. By a natural corruption of the pure 
 Sanfcrit word, it was changed by the old Per- 
 Jians into Chatrang ; but the Arabs, who foon 
 after took pofleliion of their country, had nei- 
 ther the initial nor final letter of that word ii^ 
 their alphabet, and confeqiietitly altered it fur- 
 ther into Shairanj^ which found its way pre- 
 fently into the modern Perjian, and at length 
 into the dialers of India^ where the true deri- 
 vation of the name is known only to the 
 learned. Thus has a very lignificant word in the 
 facred language of the Brahmans been tranf- 
 formed by fucceflive changes into axcdrcz^ 
 Jcacchi^ echecs, chefsy and, by a whimfical con- 
 currence of circumfrances, given birth to the 
 Englifi word check, and even a name to the 
 Jixcheqiier of Great Britain, The beautiful 
 iimplicity and extreme perfection of the gamcj 
 as it is commonly played in Europe and AJia^ 
 convince me, that it was invented by one effort 
 of fome great genius ; not completed by gra- 
 dual improvements, but formed, to ufe the 
 phrafc of Italian criticks, by the fir Jl intention : 
 yet of this iimple game, fo exquilitely con- 
 trived, and fo certainly invented in India, I 
 cannot find any account in the claflical writings 
 of the Brahmans, It is, indeed, confidently 
 aflerted, that Sanfcrit books on Chefs exift in 
 
 this
 
 348 ON THE INDIAN GAME OF CHESS. 
 
 this country, and, if they can be procured at 
 Banares^ they will afluredJy be lent to us: at 
 prefent I can only exhibit a defcription of a very 
 ancient Indian game of the fame kind ; but 
 more complex, and, in my opinion, more mo- 
 dern, than the fimple Chefs of the Per/lam^ 
 This game is alfo called Chaturanga, but more 
 frequently Chaturap^ or the four Khigs, fince 
 it is played by four perfons reprefenting as many 
 princes, two allied armies combating on each 
 iide : the defcription is taken from the Bba- 
 wip:ya Purdn, in which Yudhisht'hir is re- 
 prefented converfing with Vva'sa, who ex- 
 plains at the king's requefl: the form of the fic- 
 titious warfare, and the principal rules of it : 
 *' Having marked cigbl: fquares on all fides," favs 
 the Sage, ** place the rf^army to the eail, the 
 *' green to the louth, the yellow to the weft, 
 *' and the black to the north : let the elephant 
 ^' Hand on the left of the king ; next to him the 
 '^ horfe ; then x\\e boat ; and, before them all, 
 *' four foot'foldiers ; but the boat muft be placed 
 *' in the angle o\^ the board." From this paf- 
 fage it clearly appears, that an army, with 
 its four anQ-a\s, mull be placed on each fide of 
 the board, fince an elephant could not fland, in 
 ?^.ny other pofition, on the left hand of each 
 king', and IIa^dma'ca'nt informed me, that 
 t[ie board ccnfifted, like our;?, of fxty-fom 
 
 fquareSj
 
 ON THE INDIAN GAME OF CHESS. 349 
 
 fquares, halt of them occupied by the forces, 
 and half vacant : he added, that this game is 
 mentioned in the oldeft law-books, and that it 
 was invented by the wife of RaVan, King of 
 Lancci^ in order to amufe him with an image of 
 war, while his metropolis was clofely befieged by 
 Ra'ma in the fecond age of the world. He had 
 not heard the iliory told by Firdausi near the 
 clofe of the Shahnamah, and it was probably 
 carried into Fcrjia from Ciuiyacuvja by Borzu, 
 the favourite phvjician, thence called Faidya- 
 priya^ of the great Anu'shirava'n ; but he 
 faid, that the Brahmans of Gaur^ or Bengal, 
 were once celebrated for fuperior fkill in the 
 game, and that his father, together with his 
 fpiritual preceptor, Jaganna't'h, now living an 
 'Tribeniy had inftru6led two young Brahmans in 
 all the rules of it, and had fent them to Jaya- 
 nagar at the requeft of the late Raja^ who had 
 liberally rewarded them. A yZ'//, or boat^ is 
 fubftituted, we lee, in this complex game for 
 the rafh, or armed chariot^ which the Beyiga- 
 bfe pronounce rofh^ and which the Ferjiam 
 changed into rokh, whence came the rook of 
 fome Europeaji nations ; as the v'lerge and fol 
 of the French 2XQ fuppofed to be corruptions of 
 • fer% and //, the prime minijier and elcphnnt of 
 the Per/urns and Arabs, It were vain to fcek an 
 €tymology of the word rook in the modei-n Fer- 
 
 Jtan
 
 c i 
 66 
 
 ^SO ON TllE INDIAN GAME OF CHESS. 
 
 fan language ; for, in all the paiTages extra^VccI 
 from FiRDAUsi and Ja'mi, where rokb is con- 
 ceived to mean a hero, or a fabulous hird^ it 
 fignifles, I believe, no more than a cheek or a 
 face : as in the following defcription of a pro- 
 ceffion in Egypt: " when a thoiifand youths, 
 *' likecyprefles, box-trees, and firs, with locks 
 *' as fragrant, cheeks as fair, and bofoms as 
 delicate, as lilies of the valley, were march- 
 ing gracefully along, thou wouldft have faid» 
 that the new fpring was turning his face 
 (not as Hyde tranflates the words, carriect 
 on rokhs) from ftation to flation ;" and, as to 
 the battle of the duwazdch rokh^ w^hich 
 D'Herbelot fuppofes to mean douze preux 
 chevaliers^ I am ftrongly inclined to think, 
 that the phrafe only fignifies a combat of twelve 
 ferfons face to face ^ or fix on a fide, I cannot! 
 agree with my friend Ra^dha^ca'nt, that Siflp 
 is properly introduced in this imaginary warfare 
 inflead of a chariot^ in which the old Indian 
 warriours conftantly fought ; for though the 
 king might be fuppofed to fit in a car^ io that 
 the four angd's would be complete, and though 
 it may often be neceflary in a real campaign to 
 pafs rivers or lakes, yet no river is marked on 
 the Indian, as it is on the Chinefe chefs-board, 
 and the intermixture of ihips with horfes, ele- 
 phants, and infantry embattled on a plain, is 
 
 an
 
 ON THE INDIAN GAME OF CHESS. 35I 
 
 an abfurdity not to be defended. The iife of dice 
 may, perhaps, be juftified in a reprefentation 
 of war, in vjhich. for tune has unqueftionably a 
 great fhare, but it feems to exclude Chefs from 
 the rank which has been affigned to it among 
 the fciences, and to give the game before us the. 
 appearance of whijl, except that pieces are ufed 
 openly, inftead of cards which are held con- 
 cealed : neverthelefs we find, that the moves 
 in the game defcribed by Vya^sa were to a 
 certain degree regulated by chance ; for he 
 proceeds to tell his royal pupil, that " if 
 *' cinque be thrown, the king or a pawn muft 
 *' be moved ; if qtiatre, the elephant ; if trois, 
 " the horfe ; and if deux^ the boat.'"* 
 
 He then proceeds to the moves : " the king 
 ** pafles freely on all fides but over one fquare 
 '' only ; and w-ith the faj^ limitation the 
 " pawn moves, but he advances fl:ra:ght for- 
 «' ward, and kills his enemy through an angle ; 
 " the elephant marches in all directions, as far 
 " as his driver pleafes ; the horfe runs obliquely 
 " traverfing three fquares; and the Pdip goes 
 " over two fquares diagonally." The elephant, 
 we fmd, has the powers of our queen ^ as we 
 are pleafed to call the jnini/ier^ or general^ of 
 the Perfa7is ; and &.Qfip has the motion of the 
 piece to w-hich we give the unaccountable ap- 
 pellation of hifiop., but with a reflriclicn which 
 
 muft greatly lefTen his value. 
 
 The
 
 
 353 ON THE INDIAN GAME OF CHESJ. 
 
 The bard next exhibits a few sreneral rule# 
 and fuperficial diredlions for the condudlofthe 
 game : ** the pawns and the jl'tp both kill' and 
 " may be voluntarily killed ; while the k'lngy 
 the elephant y and the horfe may flay the foey 
 but cannot expole themfelv^es to be flainv 
 *' Let each player preferve his own forces with 
 •' extreme care, fecuring his king above ally 
 *' and not facrificing a luperior, to keep an in- 
 *' ferlor, piece." Here the commentator on 
 the Furan obferves, that the horfe^ who has 
 the choice of eight moves from any cenn-al po-* 
 iition, mufl be preferred to the fiip^ who has 
 only the choice oi four \ but this argument 
 would not have equal weight in the common 
 game, where the b'ljhop and tower command a 
 whole line, and where a biiQ-ht is alwavs of lefs 
 value than a towciHn acllon.orthe biJJjop of that 
 fide on which the attack is begun, *' it is by 
 the overbearing pov/er of the elephant, that 
 X.]\tkwg fights boldly ; let the whole army, 
 ** therefore, be abandoned, in order to fecure 
 xh^ elephant : the /vV;^ mufl: never place one 
 elephant before another, according to the rule 
 *' of Go't AMA, unlefi he be compelled by want 
 ** of room, for he would thus commit a dan- 
 « gerous fault ; and if he can flay one of two 
 *' hoflile clepha?JtSy he mufl: deftroy that on his 
 " left hand." The lafl: rule is extremely ob- 
 
 fcurc ; 
 
 cc 
 <c 
 
 cc
 
 ON THE INDIAN GAME OF CHESS. ^fj 
 
 fcure ; but, as Go'tama was an illuftrioiis 
 lawyer and philoibpher, Vie would act have 
 condefcended to leave direftions for the gan^e of 
 C/jaturanga, if it had not been held in great 
 eftimation by the ancient Sages of hidia. 
 
 All that remains of the paflage, which wa?. 
 copied for me by Ra'dha'ca''nt and explained 
 by him, relates to the feveral modes in which 
 a partial fuccefs or complete victory may be ob- 
 tained by any one of the four players ; for we 
 ihall fee, that, as if a difpute had arifen between 
 two allies, one of the ki?igs may aflijme the 
 command of all the forces, and aim at feparate 
 conquefl:. Firft ; *' When any one king has 
 ** placed himfelf on the fquare of another a:/;/^, 
 *' which advantage is called Smhafana^ or the 
 ** throne^ he wins a flake ; which is doubled, 
 *' if he kill the adverfe monarch, when he 
 ** feizes his place ; and, if he can feat him- 
 ** felf on the throne of his ally, he takes the 
 ** command of the whole armv." Second- 
 ly ; " If he can occupy fucceffively the 
 thrones of all the three princes, he obtains 
 the victory, which is named Cbaturaj), and 
 " the flake is doubled, if he kill the lafl of the 
 ** three, jufl before he takes pofleffion of his 
 ** throne, but if he kill him on his throne* 
 *' the flake is quadrupled.** Thus, as the com- 
 mentator remarks, in a real warfare, a king 
 
 A a may 
 
 4f 
 
 (C
 
 ti 
 
 6( 
 
 354 ON THE INDIAN GAME OF CHESS. 
 
 may be confidered as viclonous, when he felzes 
 the metropolis oi his adverfary ; but if he can 
 deftroy his foe, he difplays greater heroifm, and 
 reheves his people from any further folicitude. 
 Both in gaining the S'nihafatia and the Cha- 
 tiirap, fays Vya'sa, the king mufl: be fup- 
 ported by the elephants or by all the forces 
 united." Thirdly; " When one player has 
 his own king on the board, but the king of 
 his partner has been taken, he may re- 
 '' place his captive ally, if he can feize both 
 ** the adverfe k/ngs; or, if he cannot effed: 
 ** their capture, he may exchange his king for 
 one of them, againll the general rule, and thus 
 redeem the allied^r;V/a', who will fupply his 
 plicc.'* Tliis advantage has the name of 
 iSripcJcy-iffjtci, or, rcc-ccred by the king ; and the 
 Naucacjijhta fccms to be analogous to it, but 
 confined to the cafe o'i f:ips. Fourthly ; " If 
 ■" 2i pawn can march to any Iquare on the op- 
 ** pofite extremity of the board, except that 
 ** of \.\\Q king, or that of the yZv/), he afTumes 
 *"* whatever power belonged to that fquare ; 
 '* and this promotion is called Shatpada, or 
 *' the Jix /hides.''' Here we find the rule, 
 with a lingular exception, concerning the ad- 
 vancement of pa'vcm, which often occafions 
 a mod intereiling llrugglc at our common 
 chefs, and which ha> furniHied the poets and 
 
 moralifts 
 
 &( 
 <( 
 <(
 
 6n the INDIAN GAME OF CHESS. 355 
 
 rnoralifts of Arabia arid Perjia with many lively 
 i'efledlions ori Human life. It appear^, that 
 *' this privilege of Shat'pada was dot allowable, 
 •* in the opinion of Go'tamA, when a player 
 *' had three pawns on the board ; but, when 
 *' only one fawn and one JJiip remained, the 
 *' pawn might advance even to the fquare of a 
 *' kmg or a fi'ip-, and alTume the power of 
 ** either." Fifthly; *' According to the 7^j<:- 
 ** jl:)a[as^ or giants (that is, the people of 
 *' Lancc^.^ where the game was invented), there 
 ** could be neither vi6lory nor defeat, if a king 
 *' were left on the plain without force : a 
 *' iituation which they named CcicataJJ^fba.^'* 
 Sixthly ; *' If threeyZ'//>j- happen to meet, and the 
 *' fourth yZ*/^ can be brought up to them in the 
 ** remaining angle, this has the unmeof Tribafr- 
 *' 7/auca ; and the player of the fourth feizcs ail 
 *' the others." Twoor three of the remainlno- 
 couplets are i'o dark, either from an error in the 
 manufcrlpt or from the antiquity of the lan- 
 guage, that I could not underftand the Pan- 
 dit^s explanation of them, and fufpect that they 
 ^ave even him very indlilinCl: ideas ; but it 
 would be eafy, if it were worth while, to play 
 at the game by the preceding rules ; and a little 
 pra6tice would, perhaps, make the whole in- 
 telligible. One circumrtance, in this extract: 
 trom the Furv.n^ feems very furprizing: all 
 
 A a 2 gunes
 
 35^ ON THE INDIAN GAME OF CHESS. 
 
 games of hazard are pofitively forbidden by 
 Menu, yet the game of Chattiranga^ in which 
 dice are ufed, is taught by the great Vya'sa 
 himfelf, whofe law-tra<ft appears with that of 
 Go'tama among the eighteen books which 
 form l\\Q Dherinafaftra \ but as Ra'diia'ca'nt 
 and his preceptor Jaganna't'h are both em- 
 ployed by Government in compiling a Digefl: of 
 Indian laws, and as both of them, cfpecially 
 the venerable Sage of Tnbciii^ iinderfland the 
 game, they are able, I prelume, to affign rea- 
 fons, whv it fhould have been excepted from 
 the general prohibition, and even openly taught 
 by ancient and modern Brdbmam, 
 
 DIS-
 
 [ ■'6S1 3' ' 
 
 « 
 
 DISSE RTATION XII. 
 
 O N T H E 
 
 SECOND CLASSICAL BOOK 
 
 OF T II E r 
 I 
 
 CHINES E. 
 
 ^l~^HE vicinity of China to our Indian ter_ 
 X ritories, from the capital of which there 
 are not more than Jhc hundred miles to the pro- 
 vince of Yu'na'n, mufi: necefiarily draw our 
 attentioii to that moft ancient and wonderful 
 Empire, even if we had no commer<!r;l inter- 
 courfe with its more diftant and maritime 
 provinces ; and the benefits that might be de- 
 rived from a more intimate connexion with a 
 nation long famed for their uleful arcs and for 
 the valuable productions of ilicir country, arc 
 too apparent to require uiv proof or ill ufhra- 
 tion. My own inclinations and the courfe of 
 mv fludies lead me rather to ::onfider at prelent 
 their laws^ politicks, and morals^ Vv-ith v/'uch 
 their general literature is clofely blended, than 
 
 A a 3 theif
 
 35? ON THE SECpND CLASSICAL 
 
 their manufactures and trade ; nor will I fpare 
 c ther pains or expence to procure tranflatipns 
 of their rnoft approved law-traBs^ that I may 
 return to Europe with diltintl ideas, drawn 
 from the fountain-head, of the wifeft Jifiatick 
 legillation. It will probably be a long time be- 
 fore accurate returns can be made to my in- 
 quiries concerning the Chinefe Laws ; and, in 
 the interval, the Society will not, perhaps, be 
 difpleafed to know, that a tranOation of a mod 
 venerable and excellent work may be expelled 
 from Canton through the kind afhllance of au 
 ineftimable correfpondent. 
 
 According to a Chine fs Writer, named Li 
 Yang Ping, ' the ancient characters ufed in 
 
 * his country were the outlines of vifible ob- 
 
 * jects earthly and celeftial ; but, as things 
 
 * merely intelle£lual could not be expreiled by 
 f thofe figures, the grammarians of China 
 ' contrived to reprelL^nt the various operations 
 
 * of the mind by metaphors drawn from the 
 ' produclions of nature : thus the idea of 
 
 * roughnefs and of rotundity, of motion and 
 
 * reft, were conveyed to the eye by ligns re- 
 
 * prcfeL*'ing a mountain, the flcy, a river and 
 
 * the earth ; the figures of the fun, the moon, 
 
 * and the ftars, different! v combined, flood for 
 
 * fmoothnefs and fplendour, for any thing art- 
 
 * fully wrought, or woven with delicate work^ 
 
 ' manihip ;
 
 BOOK OF THE CHINESE. 359 
 
 manfhip; extenlion, growth, increafe, and 
 many other qualities, were painted in cha- 
 racters taken from clouds, from the firma- 
 *" ment, and from the vegetahle part of the 
 creation ; the different ways of moving, agi- 
 lity and flowneis, idlenefs and diligence, 
 were exprefTed by various infects, birds, fifh, 
 and quadrupeds : in this manner paffions 
 and lentiments were traced by the pencil, 
 and ideas not fubjecft to any fenfe were exhi- 
 bited to the li2;ht ; until bv desirees new com- 
 binations were invented, new expreliions ad- 
 ded ; the characters deviated imperceptibly 
 from their primitive iliape, and the Chincfe 
 language became not only clear and forcible, 
 but rich and ele2;ant in the hisiheft deorce.' 
 In this language, fo ancient and fo wonder- 
 fully compofed, are a multitude of books 
 abounding in ufcful, as well as agreeable, know- 
 ledg^e ; but the higheft clafs confifts of Five 
 works ; one of which, at lead, every Ch'tnefe 
 wiio aipires to literary honours muft read 
 igain and again, until he pol^efs it perfectly. 
 
 TV'.'^firJi is ^\iYt\y Hijiorical ^ contaiiiing annals 
 of the iimpire from the two thoufcuid-three bun- 
 drcd-ihh'ly fevi-'-b year before Christ : it is 
 entitled Shi' King, and a vcriion of ithas been 
 publiflied in France ; w!^ich cou.ntry vvc ara 
 indebted for the mod auchenticK. and moflvalu- 
 
 A a 4 abl
 
 360 ON THE SECOND CLASSICAL 
 
 able fpecimens of Chinefe Hiftory and LItera« 
 ture, froiTi the compolitions which preceded 
 thoie of HoMtR, to the poetical works of the 
 prefenc Emperor, who feems to be a man of 
 the brighteil: genius and the ixiod amiable affec- 
 tions. We may fmile, if we pleafe, at the levity 
 of the French, as they laugh without fcruple 
 at our ferioufnefs ; but let us not fo far under- 
 value our rivals jn arts and in arms, as to deny 
 them their juft commendation, or to relax 
 our efforts in that noble ftruggle, by which 
 alone we can preferve cur own em^inence. 
 
 The Second Claffical work of the Chinefe 
 contains //^rf^ hujidred O^^.^^ or fliort Poems, 
 inpraifeof ancient foyereigns and legiflators, 
 or defcriptive of ancient manners, and recom- 
 mendiiig an imitation pf them in the difcharge 
 of all pul'hck and domeftick duties : they 
 abound in wife, maxims, ar^d excellent precepts, 
 ' their v\ hole dodlrine, according to Cun-fur-tfu, 
 *■ in the L'j'nyu' or I'oral Difcourjes, being 
 ' reducible to th's grand ride., that we fliould 
 * not even entertain a thought of any thing 
 bafe or culpable ;' but the copies of the 
 Shi' King, for that is the title of the book, 
 are fuppofed to have been much disfigured, 
 fince the time of that great Philolopher, 
 by ipiiiious pallages and exceprionable interpo- 
 lations ; and the llyle of the Poems is in fome 
 
 parts
 
 V -^ 
 
 BOOK OF THE CHINESE. ' ^dl 
 
 parts too metaphorical, while the brevity of 
 other parts renders them obfcure ; though 
 many think even this obfcurity fublime and ve- 
 nerable, like that of ancient cloyfters and tem- 
 ples, ' JJjedding^ as Milton exprefles it, a 
 *" dim religious light.'' There is another paflage 
 in the Lu'nyu^, which deferves to be fet down 
 at lens;th: ' Why, my fons, do you not 
 ^ ftudy the book of Odes ? If we creep on 
 ' the ground, if we lie ufelefs and inglorious, 
 
 * thofe poems w'ill raife us to true glory : in 
 ^ them we fee, as in a mirror, what may befl 
 ^ become us, and what will be unbecomlns: • 
 
 * by their influence we fhall be made focial, 
 ' affable, benevolent ; for, as mufick combines 
 
 * founds in juft melody, fo the ancient Doetry 
 
 * tempers and compofes our paffions : the Odes 
 
 * teach us our duty to our parents at home 
 
 * and abroad to our prince; they infl:ru(5l us 
 ' alfo delightfully in the various productions of 
 ' nature.' * Haft thou ftudied, fetid the Phi- 
 ' lofopher to his fon Peyu, the firft of the 
 ' three hundred Odes on the nuptials of Prince 
 
 * Ve'nva^m and the virtuous Tai Su ? He 
 ^ who ftudies them not, refembles a man with 
 ' his face af^ainfl: a wall, unable to advance a 
 ' Hep in virtue and wifdom.* Moft of thofe 
 Odes are near three thoufand years old, and 
 forne, if we give credit to the Chincfc annals, 
 
 confider^blv
 
 362 ON THE SECOND CI.ASSICAL 
 
 O 
 
 confiderably older ; but others arc fomevvhat 
 more recent, having been compofed under the 
 later Emperors of the third family, called 
 Shf.u. The work is printed 'mfiur volumes ; 
 and, towards the f-nd of iXiq firj}^ we find the 
 Ode, which Couplet has accurately tranflated 
 at the beginning of tlie Ta'hio, or Great 
 Science^ where it is finely amplified by the 
 philofopher : I produce the original from the 
 Shi' Ki:>g itfelf, and from the book, in which 
 it is cited, together with a double verfion, one 
 verbal and another metrical ; the only method 
 of doing juftice to the poetical compofitions of 
 the JJiaticks. It is a panegyrick on Vucu'n, 
 prince o^ Guey in the province oi Honang, who 
 died, near a century old, in the th'irtce^itfd year 
 of the Emperor Pingvang, feven hundred and 
 ffty-fix years before the birth of Christ, or 
 one hundred y,nd forly-eight, according to Sir • 
 Isaac Newton, after the taking of iroy \ fo 
 that the Ch'inefe. Poet might have been con- 
 temporary with Hesiod and Homer, or at 
 Jcaft muft have written the Ode before the 
 JUad and Odyjft^y were carried ituo Greece by 
 
 l^YCUKGUS. 
 
 The verbal tranflntiqn of the thirty-two orir» 
 ginal characlers is this : 
 
 " 1 a 4 3^ .1 
 
 * Behold yon reach of the r'wer Ki j 
 
 567 3 _ 
 
 ^ It? green reeis how luxuriant ! how luxuri^t ! 
 
 ' Thus
 
 BOOK OF THE CHINESE? J^J 
 
 9111s 10 
 
 f Thus is our Prince adorned with virtues j 
 
 .* As a carver, as a filer, of ivory, , - 
 
 17 18 19 aa 
 
 'Asa cutter as a polifher, of geais, 
 
 SI 22 
 
 f O how elate and fugacious ! O how dauntlefs and compofed i 
 
 * H»w worthy of fame I How worthy of reverence! •"'': 
 25 27 28 26 ■/ 
 
 .* We have a Prince adorned with virtues, 
 
 .* Whom to the end of time we can not forget.' 
 
 THE PARAPHRASE, 
 
 Behold, where yon b!ue riv'Iet gUdes 
 
 Alon2; the lauo;hin:i dale ; . ' 
 
 Light reeds bedeck its verdant fides, 
 
 And frolick in the gale : 
 
 So fhines our Prince ! In bright array ,, 
 
 The Virtues round him wait ; . . 
 
 And fweetly finilc th' aufpicious day. 
 That rais'd Him o'er our State. 
 
 As pliant hands in fhapes rcfin'd 
 
 Rich iv'ry carve and fmoothe. 
 His Laws thus mould each ductile mind, 
 
 And every pafTion foothe. 
 
 As gems are taught by patient art 
 
 In fparkling ranks to beam, 
 With ^]</(r7//«t'ri thus he forms the heart, 
 
 And fpreads a gen'ral gleam. 
 
 What foft, yet awful dignity ! 
 
 What meek, yet manly, grace! '\ 
 What fvvectntfs dances in his eye. 
 
 And bloilbms in his face I ' 
 
 Se
 
 364 ON THE SECOND CLASSICAL 
 
 So fhines our Prince ! A fky- born crowd 
 
 Of Virtues round hiir. blaze : 
 Ne'er ^hall Oblivion's murky cloud 
 
 Obfcure his deathlefs praife. ', . 
 
 The prediclion of the Poet has hltherro been 
 accomplifhed ; but he httle imagined, that his 
 compolition would be admired, and his Prince 
 celebrated in a language not then formed, and 
 by the natives of regions fo remote from his 
 own. 
 
 In the tenth leaf of the Ta' Hio a beautiful 
 comparifon is quoted from another Ode in the 
 Shi' King, which deferves to be exhibited in 
 the fame form with the preceding : 
 
 I 2 3 
 
 « Ths peach-tree, how fair ! how graceful f 
 
 4 5 6 _ 7 
 
 ' Its leaves, how blooming ! how pleafant ! , 
 8 9 10 11 
 
 * Such is a bride, when fhe enters her bridegroom's houfe, 
 
 i- ^ 1,3 14 15 , , 
 
 * And pay,-, due attention to her whole family.* .. 
 
 The funile may thus be rendered : 
 
 Gay child of Spring, the garden's queen. 
 Yon peach-tree charms the roving fight : ^ 
 
 Its fragrant leaves how richly green ! 
 Its blofibms how divinely bright !   
 
 So foftly fmiles the blooming bride 
 
 By love and confcious Virtue led 
 O'er her new maniion ro preilde, 
 
 Ap-d placid joys around her fpread, 
 
 ©^ 
 
 TilE
 
 BOOK OF THE CHINESE. 365 
 
 The next leaf exhibits a comparifon of a dif- 
 ferent nature, rather fublime than agreeable, 
 and conveying rather cenfure than praife : 
 
 » 23 4   
 
 O how horridly impends yon fouthern mountain ! 
 
 56 ' 78 
 
 Its rocks In how vaft, how rude a heap ! % 
 
 q 10 11 12 
 
 ThusloftiJy thou fitteft, O minlfter of YNj ^ . ' 
 All the people loolc up to thee with dread. „ ,, 
 
 Which may be thus paraphrafed : 
 
 See, where yon crag's imperious height 
 
 The funny highland crowns, 
 And, hideous as the brow of night, 
 
 Above the torrent frowns ! 
 
 So fcowls the Chief, whofe will Is law, ' ; . 
 
 Regardlefs of our ftate \ 
 While millions gaze with painful awe. 
 
 With fear alUed to hate. ' 
 
 It was a very ancient pra6lice in Chtna to 
 paint or engrave moral fentences and approved 
 verfes on velTels in conftant life ; as the v^ords 
 Renew Thyself Daily were infcribed on 
 the bafon of the Emperor Tang, and the poem 
 of KiEN Long, who is now on the throne, in 
 praife of tea, has been publifhed on afet of por- 
 celain Clips ; and, if the defcription juft cited 
 of a felfifh and infolent flatefman were, in the 
 fame manner, conflantly prefented to the eyes 
 and attention of rulers, it might produce fome 
 
 benefit
 
 366 ON THE SECOND CLASSICAL 
 
 benefit to their fubje6ls and to themfelves j 
 cfpecially if the comment of Tsem Tsu, who 
 may be called the Xenophon, as Cun Ftr' 
 Tsu' was the Socrates, and Mem Tsu the 
 Plato^ of Chinay were added to illuftratti 
 and enforce it. 
 
 If the reft of the three hwulred Odes be limi- 
 lar to the fpecimens adduced by thofe great mo* 
 rahfts in their works, which the Frtncb have 
 made pubhck, 1 lliould be very folicitous to 
 procure our nation the honour of brinofine to 
 light the fecmd claflical book of the Cbifiefe. 
 The third, called Yeking, or the book of 
 Changes, believed to have been written by Fo, 
 the Hermes of the EafI:, and confiftins; of risrht 
 lines varioufly difpofed, is hardly intelligible to 
 the mod learned Mandarnis ; and Cun Fu'' 
 Tsu' himfelf, who was prevented by death from 
 accomplifhing his defign of elucidating it, was- 
 diflatisfied with all the interpretations of the 
 
 "earlieft commentators. As to xhtjifth, or Liki, 
 which that excellent man compiled fronh^ 
 old monuments, it confifls chiefly of the Chi^ 
 nefe ritual, and of traftson Moral Duties ; but 
 
 •ih-t fourth, entitled Chung Cieu, or Sprjng and 
 Autumn, by which the fime incon^parable 
 
 •writer raeancd xhtfouriJJjing ilate of an Enipire 
 
 . vnder a virtuous monarch, and the /'cdl of king- 
 
 ItU^.J^
 
 BOOK OF THE CHINESE. 367 
 
 doms under bad governors, mufl: bean Intereft- 
 ing work in every nation. The powers, how- 
 ever, of an Individual are fo limited, and the 
 field of knowledge is fo vafl, that I dare not 
 promife more, than to procure, if any exer- 
 tions of mine will avail, a complete tranflation 
 of the Shi' King, together with an authentick 
 iibridgement of the Chi7ieft' laws, civil and cri- 
 minal. A native of Canton, whom I knew 
 fome years ago in E?ig!and, and who pafied his 
 firfl examinations with credit in his way to li- 
 terary dillindions, but was afterwards allured 
 from the purfuit of learning by a profped of 
 fuccefs in trade, has favoured me with the 
 Three Hundred Odes in the original, toeether 
 with the Lu'nyu', a futhftd verfion of which 
 was publifhed at Paris near a centurv ae:o ; but 
 he feems to think, that it would require three 
 or four years to complete a tranflation of them ; 
 and Mr. Cox informs me, that none of the 
 Chineje, to w^hom he has accefs, poffefe leifurt. 
 and per fever ancc enough for fuch a tafh ; vet he 
 hopes, with the ailiflanceof Whang Atong, 
 to fend me next feafon fome of the poems 
 Cranilated into Englifi. A Httle encouragement 
 would induce this young Chhiefe to vifit Indla^ 
 arid fome of his countrymen would, perhans 
 accompany him ; but, though confiderable ad- 
 vantage
 
 268 ON THE SECOND CLASSICAL, &C. 
 
 vantage to the public, as well as to letters, 
 snight be reaped from the knowledge and inge- 
 nuity of fuch emigrants, yet we muft w^ait for 
 a time of greater national wealth and profperity* 
 before fuch a meafure can be formally recom- 
 mended by us to our patrons at the helm of 
 covernment, .- - 
 
 
 D I S-
 
 [ ?,h ] 
 
 DISSERTATION XIII, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 A N T I Q^U 1 T Y 
 
 OF THE 
 
 INDIAN ZODIAC K. 
 
 I ENGAGE to fupport an opinion (which the 
 learned and induftrious M, Montucla 
 feems to treat with extreme contempt), that the 
 Lid an divifion of the Zodiack was not borrowed 
 from the Greeks or Arabs, but, having been 
 known in this country from time immemorial, 
 and being the fame in part with that ufed by 
 other nations of the old Hindu race, was pro- 
 bably invented by the firft progenitors of that 
 race before their difperfion. " The Indians, he 
 " fays, have twodivifions of the Zodiack; one, 
 ** like that of the Arabs, relating to the moon, 
 *' and confiding oi twenty- [even equal parts, by 
 *' which they can tell very nearly the hour of 
 '* the night ; another relating to the fun, and, 
 ^' like ours, containing twelve figns^ to which 
 
 B b *' they
 
 
 370 ON THE ANTIQUITY 
 
 ** they have given as many names, correfpond- 
 ^* ins with thofe v/hich we have borrowed 
 ** from the Greeks.** All that is true ; but he 
 ;idds : " It is highly probable that they received 
 *' them at Ibme time or another by the inter- 
 '' ventioii of the ^rSs ; for no man, furely, 
 '•' can perfuade himfelf, that it is the ancient 
 " divilion of the Zodiack formed, according 
 to fome authors, by the forefathers of man- 
 kind, and Aill pre ferved among the Hindus.**' 
 Now I undertake to prove, that the Indian Zo- 
 diack was nor. borrowed mediately or diredly 
 from the Arabs-QX Greeks ; and fince the folar 
 divifion of it in India is the fame in fubftance 
 with that ufed in Greece^ we m,ay reafonably 
 conclude, that both Greeks and Hindus received 
 it from an older nation, who firll gave names to 
 the luminaries of heaven, and from whom both 
 Greeks and Hindus^ as their fimilarity in lan- 
 guage and religion fully evinces, had a common 
 defcent. 
 
 The fame writer afterwards intimates, that 
 ** the time when Indian Aftronomy received 
 its mofl: confiderable improvement, from 
 which it has now, as he imagines, wholly 
 ** declined, was either the age when the 
 Arabs ^ who eflabliihed themfelves in Per/ia 
 and SoQ-diana, had a 2;reat intercourfe with 
 the Hindus, or that when the fucceflbrs of 
 
 " Chengi'z 
 

 
 OF THE INDIAN ZODIACK. 371 
 
 " CiiENGi'z united both Arabs and Hindus un- 
 *' der one vafi: dominioti." It is not the object 
 of this effay to correcl: the hiftorical errors in 
 the paffage laft cited, nor to defend the aflro- 
 nonaers of India from the charge of grofs igno- 
 rance in regard to the figure of the eartli and the 
 diftances of the heavenly bodies ; a charge, 
 which MoNTUCT-A very boldly makes on the 
 authority, I believe, of Father Souciet : 1 will 
 only remark, that, in our converfations with 
 the Pandits^ we mud: never confound the {y{- 
 tem of the Jyautijhiciis, or mathematical aftro- 
 nomers, w^ith that of the Patirdnicas^ or poe- 
 tical fabulifts ; for to fuch a confuiion alone 
 muft we impute the many miftakes of Euro- 
 pcans on the fubjedt of Indian fcience. A ve- 
 nerable mathematician of this province, named 
 P.a'machandra, now in his eigrhtieth vear, 
 viiited me lately at CriJJmanagar^ and part of 
 his difcourfe was fo applicable to the inquiries 
 which I was then making, that, as foon as he 
 left rne, I committed it to \\'riring. *' The 
 " Paurimics, he faid, will tell you, that our earth 
 *' is a plane figure ftuddcd with eight moun- 
 '* tains, and furroundedby feven feas of milk, 
 ** neclar, and other fluids ; that the part which 
 *' we inhabit, is one of feven iflands, to which 
 *' eleven fmaller ides are fubordinate ; that a 
 ♦' God, riding on a huge elephant, gu:irds each 
 ♦^ of the eight regions ; and that a mountain of 
 
 B b 2 '' gold
 
 37^ ^N THE ANTIQUITY ; 
 
 *' gold rifes and gleams in the centre ; but wc 
 ** believe the earth to be ftiaped likea CW^;«^<2: 
 " fruit, or Ipheroidal, and admit only four 
 *' oceans of fait water, all which we name from 
 *' the four cardinal points, and in which arc 
 many great peninfulas with innumerable 
 iflands : they will tell you, that a dragon's 
 ** head fwallows the mqon, and thus caufes an 
 *' eclipfe ; but we know, that the fuppofed 
 *' head and tail of the dragon mean only the 
 nodes, or points formed by interfedlions of the 
 ecliptick and the moon's orbit ; in fliort, 
 they have imagined a fyftem which exiil:^ 
 only in their fancy ; but we confider nothing 
 '* as true without fuch evidence as cannot be 
 *' queftioned." I could not perfc£lly undcr^ 
 ll:and the old Gymnofophiii, when he told me, 
 that the R/ifchdcra, or Circle of Sigr/s (for fo he 
 called the Zodiack), was like a I) hujiur a ^owes; 
 meaning the Da/ura, to which the Sanfcrit 
 name has been foftened, and the flower of 
 which is conical, or fhaped like a funnel : at firft 
 I thought, thot he alluded to a piojeftionof the 
 hemifpbere on the plane of the colure, and to 
 the angle formed by the ecliptick and equator ; 
 but a yovuiger ailronomer named VinaS'ACa, 
 who came afterwards to fee me, aflurcd me 
 that they meant only the circular mouth of 
 the funnel, or the bale of the cone, and that it 
 
 was 
 
 (6 

 
 OF THE INDIAN ZODIACK. ^y^ 
 
 was iifual among their ancient writers to bor- 
 row from fruits and flowers their appellations of 
 feveral plane and folid figures. 
 
 From the two Br libmans whom I have juft 
 named, 1 learned the following curious particu- 
 lars ; and you may depend on my accuracy in 
 repeating them, fince I wrote them in their prc- 
 fcnce, and corrected what I had written, till 
 they pronounced it perfefl:. 
 
 They divide a great circle, as we do, into 
 three hundred and fixty degrees, called by 
 them anfas or portions ; of which they, like 
 us, allot thirty to each of the twelve ligns in 
 this order : „ , 
 
 Alejloa, the Ram. Tulc:-, tlie Balance. 
 
 Vrljlia^ the Bull. 8. Vrijhch'ica^ the Scorpion. '' 
 
 Mii'hima^ the Pair. DhanuSy the Bow.   '■■ 
 
 4. Carcata^ the Crab. Macara, the Sea-Monfler. 
 
 S.'nhaj the Lion. Ciunbha^ the Ewer. 
 
 Canyay the Virgin. 12. Mina^ the Fifh. ' 
 
 The hgures of the twelve allerifms, thus de- 
 nominated with refpert to the fun, are fpeci- 
 fied bySRi'pETi, author of the Reinatnala, in 
 Sanfcnt verfes ; which T product-, as my 
 vouchers, in the original, with a verbal tranfla- 
 tion : . ' 
 
 Mefliiidayo nlma samrinnrupi, ' ! 
 
 Vinagadadhyam mit'hunam nriyugmam, 
 
 Pradipa?asye dadhati carabhyam 
 
 Navi st'liitii varini canyacaivn. •   ' 
 
 Tula tuliibhrit pretimannpanir 
 
 Dhanur dhanushman ha-.awat paningah, 
 
 B b :? Mrlijananah
 
 374 o^ THE A:<iriQi!irr ^ . 
 
 Mrigananah syan macaro't'ha cumbhuh .■ .' , 
 Scandhe ncro riftagha'tam dadhanah, 
   Axiyanyapuchch'habhimuc'ho hi minali 
 
 JVIatsyadwayamfwast'lialacharinomi. 
 
 *' The rd?}i, bull^ crab, lion, and fcorpion^ 
 *' have the figures of thofe five animals refpec- 
 .*' tively : the pair are a damfel playing on a 
 ** Kmci and a youth wielding a mace : the vh'- 
 *' gin ftands on a boat in water, holding in one 
 " hand a lamp, in the other an ear of ricecorn : 
 " the halance is held by a weigher with a 
 "•' w^ieht in one hand : the how, by an archer, 
 *' whofe hinder parts are like thofe of a horle : 
 " the jea-monjlcr has the face of an antelope -.. 
 *' the ewer is a waterpot borne on the.fhoulder 
 '' of a man, who empties it : thtfi/Jj are two, 
 " with their heads turned to each other's tails ; 
 *•' and all thefe are fuppofed to be in fuch places 
 *' as fuit their feveral natures.** 
 
 To each of the twenty-fcven lunar flations, 
 which they call naejlatras, they allow thirteen 
 anfas and one third, or thirteen degrees twenty 
 minutes ; and their names appear iii the order of 
 the iigns, but without any regard to the figures 
 or them : 
 
   1 il ■;■■■ V (■'-:* r ^     >     
 
 Aswim. Ardra. Purva p'halgum. 
 
 Bharani. Punarvafu. \}\.x:AX'\p'halguTn. 
 
 Crttka, r-'-i-v ;-^^-A^* Hafta. 
 
 Rohini. ' 9. Aslefha. Chitra, 
 
 Mrv'afiras. ALigha. Swati.
 
 OF THE INDIAN ZODIACIC. 375 
 
 Fifac'ha. VdxYaflja'dha. Satabhiflia. "' 
 
 Anuradha. Uttarafliddha* ' ^ Purva bhadropada. 
 
 iS. Jyejhfha Sravana. Uttarabhadrapada. 
 
 Mvila. Dhanishta. 27. Rcvati. 
 
 Between the twenty-firfl and twenty-fe- 
 tond conftellations, we hud in the plate three 
 ilars called Abhijit ; but they are the iafl quar- 
 ter of the afterifm immediately preceding, or the 
 latter Afiar^ as the word is commonly pro- 
 nounced. A complete revolution of the moon, 
 with refpc£l to the ftars, being made in twenty- 
 feven days, odd hours, minutes, and feconds, 
 and perfect exadnefs being either not attained by 
 the Hindus^ or not required by them, they fixed 
 on the number twenty-feven, and inferted Ah- 
 hij'it for fome aflrological purpofe in their nup- 
 tial ceremonies. The drawing, from which the 
 plate was engraved *, feems intended to reprefent 
 the figures of the twenty-feven conftellations, 
 together with Abh^jit, as they are defcribed in 
 three ftanzasby the author of the Bxtnamala : . 
 
 1. Turagamiic'hafadricfl-iam yonirupam cfliurabham, 
 Saca'tafamam at'hainaiycktamange'ia tulyam, 
 Manigrihasara chaciabhani salupamam bham, 
 Sayanafadrisamanyachchatra paryancarupam. 
 
 2. Haftacarayutam cha mau(£licaramam 
 
 chanyat pravalopamam, . 
 
 Dhrifliyam torana fanuibharn ballnibliam, 
 iatcundalabhain parain ; ^ 
 
 * The different compartments of the plate alhided to, 
 
 are lb nminutely defcribed in the fubfequenc page, that 
 it is thought uunecefTary to annex it. 
 
 B b 4 Crud-
 
 it 
 
 ^y6 ON THE ANTIQUITY 
 
 Crudhyatcefarivicramena f<idrisam,   
 
 sayyafamanam param, 
 Anyad dentlvilafavat irhitamatah 
 
 sringatacavyadi bham. 
 3. Trivicraiiiabhani cha mridangarupam, 
 Vrittam tatonyadyamalabhwayabham, 
 Paryancarupam murajanucaram, 
 Ityevam aswadibhachacrarupain. 
 
 ' *' A horse's head iyoni or bhaga ; a razor % 
 a wheeled carriage ; the head of an antelope ; 
 a gem ; a houfe ; an arrow ; a wheel ; an- 
 " other houfe ; a bedftead ; another bcdftead ; 
 '* a hand ; a pearl ; a piece of coral ; a k^- 
 *' toon of leaves ; an oblation to the Gods ; a 
 " rich ear-ring ; the tail of a fierce lion ; a 
 ** couch ; the tooth of a wanton elephant, 
 *' near which is the kernel of the sr'mgataca 
 *' nut ; the three footfteps of Vishnu ; a ta- 
 *' bor ; a circular jewel ; a two-faced image ; 
 " another couch ; and a fmaller fort of tabor : 
 *' fuch are the figures o'i Afwhit and the refliii 
 *' the circle of lunar conflellations." ^' ' 
 
 The Hi?idu draughtfman has v^ery ill repre- 
 fented mod of the figures ; and he has tranf- 
 pofed the two /ifnaras as well as the two Bha- 
 ilrapads ; but his figure q>{ Abhtjlt^ which looks 
 like our ace of hearts, has a refemblance to the 
 kernel of the trapa^ a curious water-plant de- 
 fcribed in a feparate efiay. In another Satifcrit 
 book the figures of the fame conflcUations are 
 
 thus varied : 
 
 A horfe's
 
 OP tHE INDIAN ZoblAck. ' ^f? 
 
 A horfe's hend. A ftraight tail. A conch. 
 
 I'oni or bhaga. Two ftars S. to N. A winnowing fan. 
 
 Aflame. Two, N. to S. Another. 
 
 A waggon. A hand. An arrow. 
 
 A cat's paw. A pearl. • . ^ A tabor. 
 
 One bright ftar. Red faftVon. A circle of ftafs, 
 
 A bow. A feftoon. A ftaff for burdens. 
 
 A child's pencil. A fnake. The beam of a balance 
 
 9. A dog's tail. 18. A boar's head. 27. A fifh. 
 .;■•-, . ■• ./ 
 
 From twelve of the aflerifmsju ft enume- 
 rated are derived the names of the tu^lve/w- 
 dian months in the ufual form of patronymicks ; 
 .for the Pauranics, who reduce all nature to a 
 fyftem of emblematical mythology, fuppofe a 
 celeilial nymph to prelide over each of the con- 
 fteliations, ai^d feign that the God So'ma, or 
 Lunus, having wedded twelve of them, became 
 the father of twelve Genii, or months, who arc 
 named after their feveral mothers ; but the 
 JyautJJJ.'kas aflert, that, when their lunar year 
 was arranged by former aftronomers, the moon 
 was at the full in each month on the very day 
 when it entered the 7iacpatra^ from which that 
 month is denominated. The manner in which 
 the derivatives are formed, will befl: appear by 
 a comparifon of the months with their feveral 
 conftellations : 
 
 
 A'swina. 
 
 4. Pauiha. ^ -■ '• " 
 
 "..,, 1 
 
 Cartica. " •• 
 
 Magha.- '■•'■>'' 
 
 
 Mar^asirfha* • 
 
 P'haiguni. ' '* 
 
 
 1 
 
 Chaitra,'
 
 3/8 ON THE ANTiQUIT"^ ; 
 
 Chaitra. A'fliara.- 
 
 8. Vaifac*ha. Sravana. 
 
 Jyai{ht*ha, 12. Bhadra. 
 
 The third month Is alio called A'grahayand 
 (whence the common word^^r^// is corrupted) 
 from another name of Mrigasiras. 
 
 Nothing can be more ingenious than the 
 memorial verfes, in which the Hindus have a 
 cuftom of linking together a number of ideas 
 otherwife uhconnedled, and of chaining, as it 
 \^'ere, the memory by a regular meafure : thus 
 by putting teeth for thirty-two, Rudra for* 
 eleven, feafon for fix, arrow or element for five, 
 ocean, Feda, 01c age, for four, Ra'm±\, Jire, ot 
 quality, for three, eye, or Cuma'ra, for two, 
 and earf/j or ??ioQn for one, they have compofed 
 four lines, which exprefs the number of ftars^^ 
 in each of the twenty-fcven aflcrifms ; 
 
   Vahni tri ritvvifliu guiiendu critagnibhuta, : 
 Banaswinetra sara bhucu'yugabdhiramah,   
 ■"'" Rudrabdhiramagunavedasata dvviyugma, 
 -   Denta budhairabhihitah cramaso bhatarah^ 
 
 That is : *' three, three, fix ; five, threC;, 
 •* one ; four, three, five ; five, two, two ; 
 " five, one, one ; four, four, three ; eleven, 
 '' four and three ; three, four, a hundred ; two, 
 *' two, thirty-tw^o : thus have the ftars of the 
 *' lunar conftellatlons, in order as they appear, 
 ** been numbered bv the wife." 
 
 Il
 
 OF THE INDIAN ZODIACK. 379 
 
 If the flanza was correctly repeated to me, 
 the two JJha?-as are confidered as one afterifm, 
 and Abhijit as three feparate flars ; but I fufpedt 
 an error in the third line, becaufe dwlhana^ or 
 two 2X\^jive^ would fuit the metre as well as . 
 hahlrama ; and becaufe there were only three 
 Vedas in the early age, when, it is probable* 
 the flars were enumerated and the technical ; 
 verfe compofed. 
 
 Two lunar ftations, or manjions, and a quar- ., 
 ter are co-extenfive, we fee, with one iign; 
 and nine ftations correfpond with four ligns : 
 by counting, therefore, thirteen degrees and 
 twenty minutes from the firlt ftar in the head of 
 the Ram, inclufively, we find the whole ex- 
 tent of AJw'ini^ and fhall be able to afcertain 
 the other ftars with fufficient accuracy : but 
 firft let us exhibit a comparative table of both 
 Zodiac ks, denoting the manfions, as in the Va-^ 
 ranes almanack, by the firfl letters or lyllables. 
 cf their names : 
 
 Months.
 
 386 
 
 ON THE ANlTQUlTr 
 
 n- Solar 
 
 Months. Asterisms. 
 
 ATwiQ '^ Mcfli 
 Gartic Vrifh 
 
 A'grahayan i Mit'hun 
 Paufh J Carcat 4. 
 
 Magh 
 
 JaifiiVh 
 A'ihar 
 
 Sravan 
 Bhadr'"- 
 
 SInh 
 
 > 
 
 P'halgnii Canya 
 
 Chaitr 
 
 Vailac'h 
 
 Tula ^ 
 Vrifchic 8. 
 
 Mansions. 
 r A + bh + _£_ 
 
 ] IT 4- 1-6 + Jl 
 T- + a + ^ 
 
 4 -f p -}- Sl. 9; 
 
 ni + PU -f iL 
 
 ^ + h + '•^ 
 ' t "^ 
 
 + a -f j 18. 
 
 < ^ 
 
 Dhan 
 Macar . 
 Cumbh 
 
 L 4 
 
 mu 4- pu + " ' 
 
 -11 + S + iL 
 
 lT" "^ ^ +1.27. 
 
 Hence ^ve may readily know the ftars hi 
 each maniion, as they follow in order : 
 
 Lunar Solaa 
 
 Mansions, Asterisms. 
 
 Afwinf. 
 
 Ram 
 
 Bharani. 
 
 — — 
 
 Critica, 
 
 Bull. 
 
 Rohini. 
 
 — - 
 
 A-Irigafinis. 
 
 Pair. 
 
 A'ldra. 
 
 J 
 
 Stars. 
 
 Three^ in and near the head. 
 
 Three^ in the tail. 
 
 S'lx^ of the Pleiads. 
 
 F'lve^ in the head and neck. 
 f Three^ in or near. the feet, 
 ( perhaps in the Galaxy. 
 
 One^ on the knee. 
 
 :; :::V: 
 
 Lunar
 
 CF THE INDIAN ZODIACK. 
 
 38? 
 
 Lunar 
 
 Solar 
 
 Stars. 
 
 Mansions, 
 
 AsTERISMS. 
 
 Punarvafa, 
 
 
 5 Fou>\ in theheadsjbreaft,an(l 
 t fhouider. 
 
 Pufhya. 
 
 Crab 
 
 Three^ in the body and claws. 
 
 Aslefha. 
 
 Lion 
 
 Five^ in the face and mane. 
 
 Magha. 
 
 
 Five^ in the leg and haunch. 
 
 Purvap'halguni. 
 Uttarap'haiguni. 
 
 
 Two ; one in the tail. 
 Tvjo^ on the arm and zone. 
 
 Virgin 
 
 Hafta. 
 
 
 Five., near the hand. 
 
 Chitra. 
 
 — — 
 
 One., in the fpike. 
 
 Swati. 
 
 Balance 
 
 Ow, in the N. Scale. ' 
 
 Visac'ha. 
 
 
 Four.) beyond it. 
 
 Anuradha. 
 
 Scorpion 
 
 Fout\ in the bod V. 
 
 Jyeflil'ha. 
 
 — — 
 
 Three., in the tail. 
 
 Miila. 
 
 Bow 
 
 [\ Eleven., to the point of the 
 \ arroiv. 
 
 Purvafhara. 
 U.ttarafh£ra. 
 
 
 Two^ in the leg. 
 er. Two., in the horn. ' 
 
 Sea-monfl: 
 
 Sravana. 
 
 — 
 
 Three, in the tail. 
 
 Dhauifht'a. 
 
 Ewer 
 
 Four, in the arm.. 
 
 Satabhifhii. 
 
 
 
 Many, in the ftream. 
 
 Purvabhadrapada. 
 
 Fifh 
 
 Two, in the firft hfli. 
 
 Uttarabhadrapada 
 
 . 
 
 Two, in the cord. 
 
 Revati. 
 
 — r- 
 
 ^ Thirty-two, in the fecond 
 1 fllh and cord. 
 
 Wherever the Indian dravv'1112: ditTers from 
 the memorial verfe In the Retnamala, I have pre- 
 ferred the authority of the writer to that of the 
 painter, who has drawn fome terreflrlal things 
 with fo little limilltude, that we nnift not im- 
 plicitly rely on his reprefentatlon of obje6ls 
 merely celeftial : he feems particularly to have 
 erred in the flars of DhaniJJjfa, 
 
 For
 
 ■2S2 ON tHE ANTIQUITY 
 
 J 
 
 For the alliftance of thofe who may be in- 
 clined to re-examine the twenty- feven conftel- 
 iations with a chart before them, I lubjoin a 
 table of the degree? to which the nacjhatras 
 extend refoe£livelv, from the firfl ftar in the 
 aflerifm of juries, which we now fee near the 
 beginning of the fign Taurus^ as it was placed 
 in the ancient fphere. 
 
 N. 
 
 n. 
 
 M. 
 
 N. 
 
 D. 
 
 M. 
 
 N. 
 
 D. 
 
 M. 
 
 I. 
 
 ^f- 
 
 20'. 
 
 X. 
 
 133°- 
 
 20' 
 
 XIX. 
 
 25a''- 
 
 20'. 
 
 II. 
 
 260. 
 
 40'. 
 
 xr. 
 
 146°. 
 
 40'. 
 
 XX. 
 
 266». 
 
 40'. 
 
 111. 
 
 4uO. 
 
 0'. 
 
 XII. 
 
 160°. 
 
 0'. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 280". 
 
 0'. 
 
 IV. 
 
 53"- 
 
 20'. 
 
 XUI. 
 
 173?. 
 
 20'. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 393°- 
 
 ao'. 
 
 V. 
 
 66". 
 
 40'. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 i85°. 
 
 40'. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 3o6<?. 
 
 40'. 
 
 VI. 
 
 So«>. 
 
 0'. 
 
 XV. 
 
 900°. 
 
 0'. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 320° 
 
 0', 
 
 VII. 
 
 93'. 
 
 20'. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 J.3''. 
 
 20'. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 333"- 
 
 2'/. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 106°. 
 
 40'. 
 
 XV I(. 
 
 2260. 
 
 40'. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 346^ 
 
 40', 
 
 JX. 
 
 120?. 
 
 
 
 XV HI. 
 
 7,y)'\ 
 
 0'. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 y6o°. 
 
 0'. 
 
 The afterifms of the JirJI column are in the 
 figns of Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo ; thofe 
 of the Jecond, in Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagii^ 
 tarius ; and thofe of the third, in CapricornuSy 
 Aquarius, Pi fees, Aries: we cannot err much, 
 therefore, in any feries of three conftellations ; 
 for, by counting 13" 20' forwards and back- 
 wards, we find the fpaces occupied by the 
 two extremes, and the intermediite fpace be- 
 longs of courfe to the middle-mofl:. It is not 
 meaned, that the divifion of the Hindu Zodiack 
 into fuch fpaces is exa6l to a minute, or that 
 €very fiar of each afterifm miiit neceflarily be 
 
 found
 
 DF THE INDIAN ZODIACK. 3^3 
 
 found in the fpaceto which it belongs ; but the 
 computation will be accurate enough for our 
 purpofe, and no lunar manlion can be very re-, 
 mote from the path of the moon : how Father 
 SouciET could dream, that Vijacha vvas in the 
 Northern Crown, I can hardly comprehend; 
 but it furpafies all comprchenlion, that M. 
 ,Bailly fhould copy his dream, and give rea- 
 ibns to fupport it-, efpecially as four ftars, ar- 
 ranged pretty much like thofe in the Indian 
 ngure, prefent themfelves obvioufly near tho 
 Balance or the Scorpion. I have not the bold- 
 nefs to exhibit the individual flars in each 
 maniion, diflinguiflied in Bayer's method by 
 Greek letters ; becaufe, though 1 have little 
 doubt, that the five {\zxsoi /IJleJJja, in the form 
 of a wheel, are „, 7,^,/*, i, oithe Lion, and thofe 
 of Mula^ y> i, ^, ^, 9, t, <7, v, 0, «> t, of the Sagittary^ 
 and though I think many of the others equally 
 clear, yet, where the number of ftars in a 
 manfion is lefs than three, or even than four, 
 it is not eafy to fix on them with confidence ; 
 and I muil wait, until fome young Hindu aftro- 
 nomer, with a good memory and good eyes, 
 can attend my leifure on ferene nights at the 
 proper feafons, to point out in the firmament 
 itfelf the feveral fiars of all the confi-ellations, 
 for which he can find names in the Scmfrrit 
 language: the only ftars, except thofe in the 
 
 Zodiac!:^
 
 SH 
 
 ON THE ANTIQUITY 
 
 Zodlack, that have yet been diftin6lly named to 
 mef arc the Scptarfin^ Dhruva^ Arundhat)^ Vijl:-* 
 Tiupad^ MdirimandeU and, in the fouthern hemi- 
 fphcre, /igiify^'i or Canopus. The twenty-feven 
 Toga fiars, indeed, have particular names, in the 
 order of the jiacjhatras, to which they belong : 
 and (niQQ we learn, that the Hindtcs have de- 
 termined the latitude., longitude^ and right 
 ^fcenfton of eachy it might be ufeful to exhibit 
 the lift of them ; but at prefent I can only fub- 
 join the names of tvventy-feveu Togas, or din 
 vifions of the Ecliptick. 
 
 Vifhcambha. 
 
 Pnti. 
 
 Ganda. 
 Vriddhi, 
 
 Parigha^ 
 
 Siva. 
 
 A'yujl^mat, 
 
 JDhruva. 
 
 Siddha,^ 
 
 Sauhhdgya, 
 Scbhana, 
 
 Vyaghata. 
 . HerJJjana, 
 
 Sadhya, 
 Subha. y 
 
 Ati ganda. 
 
 Fajra. 
 
 Sucra. 
 
 Sticarmnjt. 
 Dhriti, 
 
 Vyatipata. 
 
 Brahman, 
 Indra. 
 
 Sula. 
 
 Var'iyas. 
 
 Vaidhriti. 
 
 Having fiiown in what manner the Hindus 
 arrange the Zodiacal ftars with refpe<51: to the 
 iun and moon, let us proceed to our principal 
 liibje6t, the antiquity of that double arrangement. 
 In thefirft place, the Brahnianswtvt always too 
 proud to borrow their fcience from the Greeks^ 
 Arabs, Moguls, or any nation of Micchch'has, 
 
 as
 
 OF Tlir: INDIAN ZODIACK. 385 
 
 as they call thofe who are ignorant of the 
 Vedas, and have not ftudied the language of the 
 Gods : they have often repeated to me the frag- 
 ment of an old verfe, which they now life pro- 
 verbially, na nicho vavanatparah, or ;/o hafc 
 creature can be lower than a Tavan ; by which 
 name they formerly meant an Ionian or Greek^ 
 and now mean a Moguls or, generally, a Mti- 
 felman. When I mentioned to different Pandits y 
 at feveral times and in feveral places, the opi- 
 nion of MoNTUCLA, they could not prevail on 
 themfelves to oppofe it by ferious argument ; 
 but fome laughed heartily ; others, with a far- 
 cafiick fmile, faid it was z p leaf ant imagination ; 
 and all feemed to think it a notion borderins; on 
 phrenfy. In fa6l, although the figures of the 
 twelve Indian Signs bear a wonderful refem- 
 blance to thofe of the Grecian, yet they are too 
 much varied for a mere copy, and the nature of 
 the variation proves them to be original ; nor is 
 the refemblance more extraordinary than that 
 which has often been obferved between our 
 Cotbick days of the week and thofe of the 
 - Hindus, which are dedicated to the fame lu- 
 minaries, and (what is yet more fin gular) re- 
 • volve in the fame order : Ravi, the Sun ; Soma, 
 (the Moon; Mangaia, Tuifco ; Budha, Wo- 
   den ; Vrihaspati, Thor ; Sucra, Freya ; Sani, 
 S^ter ; yet no man ever imagined, that the 
 
 C c Indian's
 
 586 
 
 ON THE ANTIQJJITY 
 
 JntJians borrowed Co remarkable an arrangement 
 from the Goths or Germans. On the planets I 
 will only obferve, that Sucra, the regent of 
 Fenus, is, like all the reft, a mak deity, named 
 alfo Us AN AS, and believed to be a fage of in- 
 finite learning; biitZoHRAH, the Na'hi'd of 
 the Per/ians, is a goddefs like the Freya of 
 our Saxon progenitors : the drawing, therefore, 
 of the planets -.vhich was brought into Bengal 
 by Mr. Johnson, relates to the Perfan fyftem^ 
 and reprefents the Genii fuppofed to prefide 
 over them, exactly as they are defcribed by the 
 poet Ha'tifi' : " He bedecked the firmament 
 with ftars, and ennobled this earth with tlic 
 race of men ; he gently turned the aufpi-^ 
 cious new moon of the feilival, like a bright 
 jewel, round the ancle of th-e fky ; he placed 
 the Hrrhlu Saturn on the feat of that refrive 
 elephant, the revolving fphere, and put the 
 rainbow into his hand, as a hook to coerce 
 the intoxicated beaft ; he made filken ftrin^s 
 of fun-b^ams for the lute of Venus ; and 
 prefented Jupiter, who faw the felicity of 
 true relijilion, with a rofarv of clufterincr 
 Pleiads. '"Ihe bow^ of the fky became that 
 of Mars, when be was honoured with the 
 command of the celeflial hofl ; for God 
 conferred fovereignty on the Sun, and fqua- 
 drons of ftars were his army." 
 
 \ The
 
 OP THE INDIAN ZODIACK. 387 
 
 The names and forms of the lunar conflel- 
 Jations, efpecially of Bharam and Abhljit^ in- 
 dicate a fimpliciry of manners peculiar to an 
 ancient people ; and they differ entirely from 
 thofe of the Arabian fyftem, in which the very 
 firft afterifm appears in the dual number, be- 
 caufe it confifts only of two flars. Menzii^ or 
 the place of aUghthig^ properly (ignlfies ^Jiation 
 or JiagCy and thence is ufed for an ordinary 
 <\?Ly*s journey ; and that idea feems better ap- 
 plied than manjion to fo inceflant a traveller as 
 the Moon. The ?ne?idzilu'* I kamar^ or lunar 
 Jiages, of the Arabs have twenty-eight names 
 in the following order, the particle al being 
 luiderflood before every word : 
 
 Sharatan. Nathrah. Ghafr. Dhabih. 
 
 Bu'tain. 
 
 Tarf. 
 
 Zubaniy. 
 
 ih. 
 
 Bulaa. 
 
 Thurayya. 
 
 Jabhah. 
 
 icin. 
 
 
 Suiid. 
 
 Debaran. 
 
 Zubrah. 
 
 Kalb. 
 
 
 Akhbiya. 
 
 Hakaah. 
 
 Sarfah. 
 
 Shaulah. 
 
 
 Mukdim. 
 
 Hanaah. 
 
 Awwa. 
 
 Naaiin. 
 
 
 Milkhir. 
 
 Dhiraa. 
 
 14. Si mac. 
 
 21. Beldah, 
 
 28. 
 
 Rifha. 
 
 Now, if we can truft the Arabian lexico- 
 graphers, the number of ftars in their feveral 
 menzih rarely agrees with thofe of the Indians ; 
 and two fuch nations rauft naturally have ob- 
 ferved, and m.ight naturally have named, the 
 principal liars, near which the moon pailes in 
 che courfeof each day, without any communis 
 
 C c 2 catiop
 
 qSB .ON THE ANTIQUITY 
 
 :> 
 
 cation on the fubje6t : there is no evidence, 
 indeed, of a communication between the Hindus 
 and Arabs on any fubjeft of literature or fcience ; 
 for though we have reafon to beUeve, that a 
 commercial intercourfe fubfifted in very early 
 times between Temen and the weftern coaft of 
 India, yet the Brdhmans, who alone are permit- 
 ted to read the fix Vedangas, one of which is the 
 aftronomical Safiruy were not then commercial, 
 and, moil: probably, neither could nor would have 
 converfed with Arabian merchants. The hoftile 
 irruptionof they/r^^j- into Hindujlan, in the eighth 
 century, and that of the Aib^z^/r under Chen- 
 Gi'z, in the thirteenth, were not likely to 
 change the agronomical fyftem of the Hindus ; 
 ' but the fuppofed confequences of modern revo- 
 lutions are out of the queftion ; for, if any 
 hillorlcal records be true, we know with as 
 pofitive certainty, that Amarsinh and Ca'li- 
 DA^s compofed their works before the birth of 
 Christ, as that Menander and Terence 
 wrote before that important epoch : now the 
 twelve Jigns and twenty-feven manjions are 
 mentioned, by the feveral names before exhi- 
 bited, in a Sanfcrit vocabulary by the firft of 
 thofe Indian authors, and the fecond of them 
 frequently alludes to Rohim and the reft by 
 name in his Fatal Ring, his Children oftheSun-i 
 and his Birth o/'Cuma'ra ; from which poem 
 
 I pro-
 
 OF THE INDIAN ZODIACIC. 38^ 
 
 I produce two lines, that my evidence may 
 not feem to be collected from mere conver- 
 fation : 
 
 Maitre muhurte sasalanch'hanena, 
 Yogam gatafuttarap'halganifliu. 
 
 
 When the ftars of Uttarafhalgun had 
 joined in a fortunate hour the faun-fpotted 
 
 (6 
 
 moon . 
 
 >» 
 
 This teftimony being decifive againft the 
 conje6ture of M. Montucla, I need not urge 
 the great antiquity of Menu's Inftitutes, in 
 which the twenty-feven afterifms are called the 
 dausfhters of Dacsha and the conforts of 
 So^MA, or the Moon, nor rely on the tefti- 
 mony of the Brahinans^ who afliue me with 
 one voice, that the names of the Zodiacal ftars 
 occur in the Vedas ; three of which I firmly 
 believe, from internal and external evidence, to 
 be more than three thoufand years old. 
 
 Having therefore proved what I engaged to 
 prove, I will clofe my eflay with a general obfer- 
 vation. The refultof Newton's refearchcs into 
 the hiftory of the primitive fphere was, *' that 
 the practice of obferving the ftars began in 
 Egypt in the days of Ammon, and was 
 propagated thence by conqueil in the reign 
 of his fon Si SAC, into Afric^ 'Europe and 
 JJta ; fince which time Atlas formed the 
 
 it 
 
 c 3 '•' fphen
 
 ^go ON THE ANTIQniTY, CZC, 
 
 ** fphcre of the Lybians ; Chiron that of the 
 *' Greeks-, and the Chaldeans a fphere of their 
 '' own." Now I hope, on fome other oc- 
 cafions, to fatisfy the pubUck, as I have per* 
 fedlly fatisfied myfelf, that " the practice of 
 *' obferving the ftars began, with the rudi- 
 *' ments of civil fociety, in the country o^ 
 " thofe whom we call Chaldeans ; from which 
 *' it v/as propagated into £^/p/, hidia^ Greece^ 
 <* Italy ^ and Scandinavia, before the reign of 
 •'' SiSAC or Sa'cya, who by conqueft fpread a 
 " new fyftem of religion and philofophy from 
 ■*' the Nile to the Ganges, about a thoufand 
 *' years before Christ ; but that Chiron and 
 ** Atlas were allegorical or mythological 
 •' perfonages, and ought to have no place in 
 *' the ferious hidory of our fpecies." 
 
 :'I 
 
 ':.y^.. •'■ ■■'■ : •'
 
 [ 391 ] - ■; 
 
 DISSERTATION XIV. 
 
 THE ' . 
 
 DESIGN OF A TREATISE ' 
 
 O N T H E 
 
 PLANTS OF INDIA. 
 
 r |-^^HEgreateft, if not the only, obftacle to 
 X the progrefs of knowledge In thefe pro- 
 vinces, except in thofe branches of it which 
 belong immediately to our feveral profeffions, 
 is our want of leifure for general refearches; 
 and, as Archimedes, who was happily maftci- 
 of his time, had not fpace enough to move the 
 greatefl: weight with the fmalleft force, thus 
 we, who have ample fpace for our inquiries, 
 really want time for the purfuit of them. 
 *' Give me a place to lland on, faid the great 
 *' mathematician, and I will move the whole 
 *' earth :'* Give us t'wje, we may fay, for our 
 mvejl'igations^ and we will transfer to Europe 
 all the fciences, arts^ and literature of K{\2i* 
 *' Not to have defpaired," however, was 
 
 C c 4 _ thought
 
 3^2 THE DESIGN OF A TREATISE 
 
 thought a degree of merit in the Roman general, 
 even though he was defeated ; and, having 
 fome hope, that others may occafionally find 
 more leifure, than it will ever, at lead in this 
 country, be my lot to enjoy, I take the liberty 
 to propofe a work, from which very curious in- 
 formation, and pollibly very folid advantage, 
 may be derived. 
 
 Some hundreds of plants, which are yet im- 
 perfeOly known to Kuropean botanifts, and 
 with the virtues of which they are wholly un- 
 acquainted, grovv^ wildon the plains and in the 
 forefls of Ind'ia : the AuiarcoJJj^ an excellent 
 vocabulary of the -S'.'/;/^/^r// language, contains in. 
 one chapter the names of about three hundred 
 medicinal vegetables ; the MeJitu may comprife 
 many more ; and the Dravyr-hiridhima^ or D'lC' 
 tionary of Natural ProduufJons, includes, I be- 
 lieve, a far greater number ; the properties of 
 which are diftindly related in medical tra£l& 
 of approved authority. "Now the firfl: flep, in 
 compiling a treatife on the plants of Ind'iay 
 Ihould be to write their true names in Roman 
 letters, according to the mofl: accurate ortho- 
 • graphy, and in Sanfcr'it preferably to any vulgar 
 dialed ; becaufe a learned language is fixed in 
   books, while popular idioms are in confl:ant 
 fluctuation, and will not, perhaps, be under- 
 ftood a century hence by the inhabitants of 
 
 thefc
 
 ON THE PLANTS OF INDIA. 393 
 
 thefe Indian territories, whom future botanifts 
 may confult on the common appellations of 
 trees and flowers. The childifh denominations 
 of plants from the perfons who firfh defcribed 
 them, ought wholly to be rejected ; for Cham, 
 paca and Hinna feem to me not only more 
 elegant, but far properer, defignations of an. 
 Indian and an Arabian plant, than Michelia and 
 Lawfonia ; nor can I fee without pain, that 
 the great SwediJJj botanid coniidered it as the 
 Jiipreme and only reward of labour in this part of 
 natural hiftory, to preferve a name by hanging 
 k on a blolfom, and that he declared this mode 
 of promoting and adorning botany worthy of 
 being continued with holy reverence ; though fo 
 high an honour, he fays, ought to be con- 
 ferred with chajie referve, and not projlittited 
 for the purpofe of conciliating the good will, or 
 eternizing the memory, of any but his chofen fol- 
 lowers ; no, not even of faints. His lift of an 
 hundred and fifty fuch names clearly (hews, 
 . that his excellent works are the true bafis of 
 his juft celebrity, which would have been 
 feebly fupported by the ftalk of the Unncca, 
 From what proper name the Plantain is called 
 Mufa, I do not know ; but it feems to be the 
 Dutch pronunciation of the jlrabick word for 
 that vegetable, and ought not, therefore, to 
 have appeared in his lifl, though, in my opi- 
 nion.
 
 394 THE DESIGN OF A TREATISS 
 
 nion, it is the only rational name in the mufler- 
 roU. As to the lyftem of LiNN^us, it is the 
 iyften:! of Nature, fubordiaate indeed to the 
 beautiful arrangement of natural orders^ of 
 which he has given a rough Iketch, and which 
 may hereafter, perhaps, be completed : but the 
 diflribution of vegetables into claffes, according 
 to the number, length, and pofition of the lla- 
 mens and piftils, and of thofe clajjes into kind^ 
 ^.ndifpec'ies, according to certain marks of dif- 
 crimination, will ever be found the clearefl: and 
 rooft convenient of methods, and fhould there- 
 fore be fliudioufly obferved in the work which 
 I now fuffeeft. But I muil: be forg-iven, if I 
 propofe to rejecL the Lin?ia:an appellations of the 
 twenty-four claffes, becaufe, although they ap- 
 pear to be Greek (and, if they really were 
 fo, that alone might be thought a fufficient ob- 
 jedion), yet in truth they are not Greek, nor 
 even formed by analogy to the language of 
 Grec'imis ; for Polygafjios, Monandros, and the 
 reft of that form, are both mafculine and fe- 
 minine ; Folyandria^ in the abftra<^, never 
 occurs, and Polyandrion means a publick ceme- 
 tery ; Dicecta and Dicecus are not found in books 
 of authority ; nor, if they were, would they 
 be derived from dis, but from diay which would 
 include the Tr/W/Vz: let me add, that the twelfth 
 and thirteenth clalies are ill diftinguilhed by 
 .^».'i their
 
 ON THE PLANTS OF INDIA. 395 
 
 their appellations, independently of other ex- 
 ceptions to them, lince the real diftinilion be- 
 tween them coniifts not fo much in the number 
 of their ftamens, as in the place where they 
 areinferted; and that \k\^. fourteenth andy^- 
 teenth are not more accurately difcriminated by 
 two words formed in defiance of grammatical 
 analogy, lince there are but two powers, oc 
 two d'lverfitles of lengthy in each of thofe clafles^ 
 Calvcopolyajidros might, perhaps, not inaccu- 
 rately denote a flower of the twelfth clafs ; buv 
 fucha compound would ftill ilwour of barbarifm 
 or pedantry ; and the beft way to amend fuch a 
 fyftem of words is to efface it, and fupply 
 its place by a more fimple nomenclature, which 
 may eafily be found. Numerals may be ufed 
 for the eleven firil clafles, the former of two 
 numbers being always appropriated to the /?^- 
 iTiens, and the latter to t\\Q pijlils : (liort phrafes, 
 as, on the calyx or callce. In the receptacle, twa 
 long^ four long, frotn one bafe, from tivo^ or 
 many, bafes, with anthers con7ie^ed, on thg 
 pifils^ in two flowers, in two difindi plants^ 
 mixed, concealed, or the like, will anfwer every 
 purpofe of difcrimination ; but I do not offer 
 this as a perfe6l fubftitute for the words which 
 1 condemn. The allegory of [exes and nuptials^ 
 even if it were complete, ought, I think, to 
 be difcarded, as unbecoming the gravity of 
 '- men.
 
 39^ THE DESIGN OF A TREATISE 
 
 men, who, while they fearch for truth, h^ive 
 no bulinefs to Inflame their imaginations ; and, 
 while they profefs to give defcriptions, have 
 nothing to do with metaphors : few paflages in 
 Alojfa^ the moft impudent book ever compofed 
 by man, are more wantonly indecent than the 
 hundred-forty -iixth number of the Botanical 
 Philofophy, and the broad comment of its grave 
 author, who dares, like Octavius in his epi- 
 gram, to fpeak whh V^omm-iJimpUcity, nor can 
 the LJn?2a:a?t defcription of the Arum, and many 
 other plants, be read in EngliJJj without ex- 
 citing ideas, which the occafion does not re- 
 quire. Hence it is, that no well-born and 
 well-educated woman can be advifed to amufe 
 herfelf with botany, as it is now explained, 
 though a more elegant and delightful fludy, or 
 one more likely to affift and embellifli other 
 
 female accomplifhments, could not poffibly be 
 recommended. 
 
 When the Sa?ifcrit names of the Indian 
 plants have been correOly written in a large 
 paper-book, one page being appropriated to 
 each, the frefh plants themfelves, procured in 
 their refpecSlive feafons, muft be concifely, but 
 accurately, clafj'ed and defcribed -, after which 
 their feveral ufes in medicine, diet, or manu- 
 fa^lures, may be colle6led, with the affiftance 
 of /i/Wz/ phyficians, from the medical books in 
 ^ San ferity
 
 ON THE PLANTS OF INDIA. 397 
 
 ^anfcrit, and their accounts either difproved or 
 eftablifhed by repeated experiments, as fafl as 
 they can be made with exadnefs. 
 
 By way of example, 1 annex the defcriptions 
 of five Indian plants, but am unable, at this 
 feafon, to . re-examine them, and wholly de- 
 fpair of leifure to exhibit others, of which I 
 have coUeded the names, and mofi: of which I 
 Jiave feen in bloiTom. 
 
 I. M U C H U C U N D A.   
 
 Twenty, from One Bafe. 
 
 Cal. Five-parted, thick ; leaflets, oblong. 
 
 Cor, Five petals, oblong. 
 
 Stain, From twelve to fifteen, rather long, 
 fertile ; five fhorter, flerile. In fome flowers, 
 the unproUfick flamens, longer. . , . ' 
 
 Pifi. Style cylindrick. 
 
 Perk. A capfule, with five cells, many- 
 feeded. 
 
 Seeds: Roundifh, compreiTcd, winged. 
 
 Leaves: Of many different fliapes. 
 
 Ufes: The quality, refrigerant. 
 
 One flower, fteeped a whole night in a glafs 
 pf water, forms a cooling mucilage of ufe in 
 virulent gonorrhoeas. The Muchucutida, called 
 alfo Fichiica^ is exquifitely fragrant : its calyx 
 is covered with an odoriferous dufl; and the 
 
 dried
 
 59 THE DESIGN OF A TREATISE 
 
 dried flowers in fiae powder, taken like fniifF, 
 are faid, in a Sanfcrit book, alinoft iiiftanra- 
 neoufly to remove a nervous head-ach. 
 
 NotCy This plant differs a little from the 
 
 Tentapetes o^ \j\^\^:&\ji, 
 
 II, BILVA OR MA'LU^RA. 
 
 Many on the Receptacle, and One. 
 
 CaL Four, or five, cleft, beneath. 
 
 Cor> Four, or five, petals ; moflly reflex. 
 
 Stam» Forty, to forty-eight, filaments ; 
 anthers, moflly ere61:. 
 
 P'ljl. G^r;;z, round ifli ; .S/)'/i^, fmooth, fhort; 
 Stigma^ clubbed.   .• 
 
 Peric. A fpheroidal berry, very large ; m-any* 
 leeded. 
 
 Seeds : Toward the furface, ovate, in a pel- 
 lucid mucus. 
 
 Leaves : Ternatc ; common petiole, long ; 
 leaflets, fubovate ; obtufely notched, with (hort 
 petioles ; fome almofc lanced. 
 
 Stem: Armed with (harp thorns. .- 
 
 ZJJes : The fruit nutritious, warm, cathar- 
 tick ; in tafte, delicious ; in fragrance, ex qui- 
 fite : its aperient and deterfive quality, and its 
 eflicacy in removing habitual coftivenefs, have 
 been proved by conftant experience. The 
 muclTsof the feed is, for fome purpofes, a very 
 good cement.
 
 ON THE PLANTS OF INDIA. 39'^ 
 
 Note, This fruit Is called Sr'fhala^ becaufe 
 it fprang, fay the Indian poets, fron the milk 
 of i'r}, the o-oddefs of abundance, who beftowed 
 it on mankind at the requeft of Iswara, whence 
 he alone wears a chaplet of Bllva flowers ; to 
 him only the Hindus offer them ; and, when 
 they fee any of them fallen on the ground, 
 they take them up with reverence, and carry 
 them to his temple. From the firfl bloflbm of 
 this plant that I could infpe6t, i had imagined 
 that it belon2:ed to tlie fame clafs with the 
 Durio, becaufe the filaments appeared to be 
 diftributed in five fets ; but in all that I have 
 fuice examined, they are perfectly diftinct. ^ 
 
 III. S R I N G A' T A C A. 
 
 Four and One. 
 
 CfJ, Four-cleft, with a long peduncle, 
 above. 
 
 Cor. Four petals. 
 
 Stam. Anthers, kidney-fhaped. 
 
 FJJi. Germ, roundiili ; Style, long as the 
 filaments ; Stigma, clubbed. 
 
 Seed: A Nut with four oppofite angles (two 
 of them JJjarp thorns') formed by the Calyx. 
 
 heaves : Thofe which float on the water, 
 arc rhomboidal ; the two upper fides unequally 
 notched ; the two lower, right lines. Their 
 
 petioles.
 
 400 THE DESIGN OF A TREATISE 
 
 petioles, buoyed up by Iplndle-fhaped fpongy 
 fubftances, not bladders. 
 
 Root : Knotty, like coral. 
 
 Ufes : The frefh kernel, in fweetnefs and 
 delicacy, equals that of the filberd. A mucus, 
 fecreted by minute glands, covers the wet 
 leaves, which are confidered as coolinof. , 
 
 Note, It feems to be the floating Trafa of 
 
 J^INNJCUS. 
 
 IV. P U' T I C A R A J A, 
 Ten and One. 
 
 C^L Five-cleft. 
 
 Cor. Five equal petals. 
 
 Perk. A thorny legumen ; two feeds. 
 
 Leaves: Oval, pinnated. 
 
 Stem : Armed. 
 
 Ufes : The feeds are very bitter, and, per- 
 haps, tonick ; fince one of them briiifed nnd 
 given in two dofes, will, as the Hindus aflerta 
 cure an intermittent fever, 
 
 V. M A D HU C A. 
 
 Many, ?7o/ on the Receptacle, and One. 
 
 Cal. Periant/j four, or five, leaved. 
 Cor. One-petaled. TA inflated, flefhy, 
 BorJermue, or ten, parted. 
 
 Shim.
 
 OF THE PLANTS OF INDIA. 4OI 
 
 St am. Anthers from twelve to twenty- 
 ■sight, creel, acute, iubviilous. 
 
 P//?. Germy rouLidifh ; Style, lo"gj ^wl- 
 fliaped. 
 
 Perk. A Drupe, witli two or three Nuts. - 
 
 Leaves : Oval, fomewhat pointed. 
 
 Ufes : The tubes, efculent, nutritious ; yield- 
 ing, by diflillation, an inebriating Ipirit, v^^hich, 
 if the lale of it Vv-eie duly retrained by law, 
 might be applied to good purpofes. A ufeful 
 oil is exprefl'ed from the feed. 
 
 Note, It refembles the Bajpa of Koenig. 
 
 Such would be the method of the work 
 which I recommend ; but even the fpecimen 
 which I exhibit might, in ikiiful handsj have 
 been more accurate. EnG;ravin2;s of the plants 
 may be annexed ; but 1 have more than once 
 experienced, that the befl anatomical and bota- 
 nical prints give a very inadequate, and fome- 
 times a very falfe, notion of the obje^ls which 
 they were intended to reprefent. As w-e learn 
 a new language, by reading approved compo- 
 iitions in it with the aid of a Grammar and 
 Dictionary, {q wc can only iliidy v. ith erFe6t 
 the natural hiftory of vegetables by analyllng 
 the plants themfelves wich the Pljilofophia Bo- 
 tanica, w^hich is the Grammar, and the Genera 
 st Species Plantarwn, \'vhich may be coniid:;red[ 
 *is the P)ictionar\', tf that beautiful ian<>;ua2-e, 
 
 D d iii
 
 402 THE DESIGN OP A TREATISE, &C. 
 
 in which nature would leach us what plants wo 
 muft avoid as noxious, and what we muft cul- 
 tivate as lalutary ; for that the qualities of plants 
 are in fome degree conne6led with the naiurai 
 orders and claffes of them, a number of in"" 
 ilances would abundantly prove. 
 
 BIS.
 
 [ 403 3 
 
 DISSERTATION XV, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 SPIKENARD 
 
 O F T H E ' 
 
 ANCIENTS. 
 
 IT is painful to meet perpetually with words 
 . that convey no diflin6l ideas : and a natural 
 defireof avoiding that pain excites us often to 
 make inquiries, the refult of which can have no 
 other ufe than to give us clear conceptions. 
 Ignorance is to the mind what extreme darknefs 
 is to the nerves : both caufe an uneaiy fenfa- 
 tion ; and we naturally love knowledge, as we 
 love light, even when we have no defign of ap- 
 plying either to a purpofe effentially ufeful.This 
 is intended as an apology for the pains which 
 have been taken to procure a determinate anfvver 
 to a queftion of no apparent utility, but which 
 ought to be readily anfwercd in Itidia, " What 
 ** is Indian Spikenard ?" All agree, that it is an 
 odoriferous plant, the befl: fort of which, ac- 
 cording to Ptolemy, grew about Rangamri^ 
 tica Qi Rangamliti^ and on the borders of the 
 
 D d a country
 
 404 ON THE SPIKENARD 
 
 country now called Butan : it is mentioned by 
 DioscoRiDEs, v/ho{« work I have not in my 
 pofleffion ; but his defcription of it miift be 
 very imperfeft, iince neither Linn^us nor any 
 of his difciples pretend to clals it with certainty, 
 and, in the lated botanical work that we have 
 received from Europe, it is marked as unknown. 
 I had no doubt, before I was perfoiially ac- 
 quainted with KoENiG, that he had afcertained 
 it ; but he afilired me, that he knew not what 
 the Greek writers meant by the nard of India ; 
 be had found, indeed, and defcribed a fixth 
 fpecies of the nardus, which is called Indian in 
   the Supplement to Linna.-us ; but ihe nardus is 
 I a grafs, which, though it bear a Spile, no 
 . mAn ever luppoled to be the true Spikenard, 
 . which the great Botanical Philofopher himfelf 
 was inclined to think a ipecics of Andropo- 
 ; gon, and places, in his Materia Medica, but 
 . with an ex predion of doubt, among his polyga- 
 mous plants. Since the death of Koenig I 
 . have confulted every botanilf and phylician 
 . with whom I was acquainted, on the hibje6l 
 before us ; but all have contcfled without re- 
 ferve, thou9.;h not without fome regret, that 
 they were ignorant what was meant by the In^ 
 dian Spikenard. 
 
 In Older to procure information from the 
 
 learned natives, it was necelTary to know the 
 
   •.■ ^'^ nam$ 
 
 i M-T . ^ :. '■: '':
 
 OF THE ANCIENTS. 405 
 
 n^tne of tVie plant in feme Afiatick language. 
 The very word nard occurs in the Song of So- 
 lomon ; but the name and the thing were both 
 bxotick : the Hebrew lexicographers imagine 
 both to be Ind'mn ; but the word is in truth 
 Verfian, and occurs in the following diftich of 
 ?.n old poet : 
 
 A'n chu bikheft, in chu nardcft, an chu fhakhc{^, in chu bar, 
 A'nchubilchi pfiyidarcft, in chu uardl payidar. 
 
 It is not eafy to determine in this couplet, 
 whether nard mean x\\(t jiem^ or, as Anju' ex- 
 plains it, the pith ; but it is manifeflly a part 
 of a vegetable, and neither the root^ \.\\c fruit, 
 nor the branch, which are all feparately named : 
 the Arabs have borrowed the word nard, but 
 in the fenfe, as we learn from the Kdmus, of a 
 co7npound medicinal unguent. Whatever it fig- 
 liified in old Pcrfian, the Arabick wox^fumbul, 
 which, \\\iQ fmnbalah, means an ear ov fpike, 
 has Ions: been fubftitutcd for it ; and there caix 
 be no doubt, that by the fumbul of India the 
 Mufelmam underftand the fame plant with the 
 nard of Ptolemy and the NardoJIachys, or 
 Spikenard, of Galen ; who, by the way, v/as 
 deceived by the dry fpecimens which he had 
 feen, and miftook them for roots. 
 
 A SINGULAR defcription of the fumbul hf 
 Abu'lfazl, who frequently mentions it as an 
 
 D d 3 ingredient
 
 406 ON THE SPIKENArB 
 
 ingredient in Indian per fumes, had for ibme tim^ 
 almoll: convinced me, that the true Spikenard Vi2.i 
 the Ceiaca, or Pafidatitts of our hotanifts : hig- 
 words are, Sumhtil pan] berg dared, ceh dirdznan 
 dah angoJJjteJlu pahndi seh : or, ** Thefumbul ha^ 
 *' five leaves, ten fingers long, and three 
 ** broad." Now I well knew, that the mini- 
 ster of AcBAR was not a botanifl:, and might 
 eafily have miftaken a thyrfus for a fmgle 
 flower: 1 had feen no blollbm,' or afiemblage 
 of bloflbms, of fuch dimenfions, except the 
 male Cetaca ; and though the Perjtan write? 
 defcribes the female as a different plant, by the 
 vulgar name Cycra, yet fuch a miftake might 
 naturally have been expected in fuch a work \ 
 but what mofl: confirmed my opinion, was the 
 exquif te fragrance of the Cetaca flower, which 
 to my fenfe fiir furpafled the richefl perfumes of 
 Europe or /Ijui. Scarce a doubt remained, 
 when I met with a defcription of the Cetaca by 
 FoRSKOHL, whofe words are fo perfeftly appli- 
 cable to the general idea which we are apt to 
 form ot Spi,(:efiayd, that! give you a literal trani-. 
 ationof them r *'The Pandanus is an incom- 
 *' parable plant, and cultivated for its odour, 
 *' which it breathes fo richly, tha-t one or two 
 " Spikes, in a fituation rather humid, would 
 " be fuliicient to diffufe an odoriferous air for 
 *'' a long time tliiough a ipacious apartment ;- 
 
 '' fo
 
 OF THE ANCIENTS. 407 
 
 ^' fo that the natives in general are not folicit- 
 '* ous about the living plants, but purchafe the 
 *' Spikes at a great priced I learned alfo, that 
 a fragrant efiential oil was extracted from the 
 flowers ; and I procured from Banlires a large 
 phial of it, which was adulterated with fandal ; 
 but the very adulteration convinced me, that 
 the crcnuine effence mull: be valuable, from the 
 great number of thyrfi that muft be required 
 in preparing a fmall quantity of it. Thus had 
 I nearly perfuaded myfelf, that the true nard 
 was to be found on the banks of the Ganges^ 
 "ivhere the Hindu women roll up its flowers in 
 their long black hair after bathing in the holy- 
 river ; and I imagined, that the precious ala-i 
 bajier box mentioned in the Scripture, and the 
 fmall onyx^ in exchange for which the poet of- 
 fers to entertain his friend with a cajk of old 
 kvine, contained an edence of the fame kind, 
 though differing in its degree of purity, with 
 the nard which I had procured : but an y^rab^ 
 bf Meccuy who faw in my ftudy fome flowers of 
 the Cciaca, informed me, that the plant was 
 extremely common in Arabia, where it was 
 named Clidh) \ and feveral Mahomedans of rank 
 and learning have fince afllired me, that the 
 true name of the Indian Sumbul was not Cetacay 
 but f atamans). This was important informa- 
 tion ; finding therefore, that the P^«J<^;///j was 
 
 D d 4 not
 
 463 ON THE SPIiilENAKD ' 
 
 not peculiar to Hindufidn, and confidering that 
 the Sumbul of Abu'lfazl differed from it in the. 
 precife number of leaves on the thyrfus, in the 
 colour, and in the feafon of flowering, though 
 thelengthand breadth correfponded very nearly, 
 1 abandoned my firft opinion, and began to in- 
 quire eagerly for the j'^<;z/ri;7;tiV/j), which grew, 1 
 was told, in the garden of a learned and inge- 
 nious friend, and fortunately was then in blof- 
 fom. A frelh plant was very foon brought to 
 me : it appeared on infpe6lion to be a mofl: ele- 
 gant Cypirus with a poliflied three-lided culm, 
 an umbella with three or four enfiform leaflets 
 minutely ferrated, naked proliferous peduncles, 
 crowded fpikes, expanded daggers ; and its 
 branchv root had a pungent tafte with a faint 
 aromatick odour ; but no part of it bore the 
 leail refemblance to the drug known in Europs 
 by the appellation of Spikenard ; and a MufeU 
 man phyiician from Dehl'i afilired me poiitively, 
 that the plant was not Jatamans), but Sudj as it 
 is named in Arabick^ which the author of the 
 Tohfafu'I Munienin particularly diftinguiflies 
 from the Indian Sumbul. He produced on the 
 next day an extraft from the Dictionary of Na- 
 tural Hiftory, to which he had referred ; and 
 I prefent you with a tranllation of all that is 
 material in it. 
 
 '^' r. SuD has a roundiili olive-fhaped root ; 
 '* externally black, but white internally, and 
 
 *'fQ
 
 
 OF THE ANCIENTS. . 409 
 
 <* fo fragrant as to have obtained in Terjta the 
 " name of Subterranean Mujk : its leaf hag 
 *' fome refemblance to that, of a leek, but is 
 *' loncrer and narrov/er, flrong, fomewhat 
 rough at the edges, and tapering to a point. 
 2. SuMBUL means a fpike or ear^ and was 
 *' called nard by the Greeks. There are three 
 "= fores of Sumbul or Nardm ; but, when the 
 ** word ftands alone, it means the Sumbul of 
 '* India, which is an herb without flower or 
 *' fruit (he fpeaks of the drug only), like the 
 tail of an ermine, or of a fmall weafel, buC 
 not quite fo thick, and about the length of a 
 finger- It is darki/li, inclining to yellow, 
 and very fragrant : it is brought from Hin- 
 dujlcin^ and its medicinal virtue lails three 
 years." It was eafy to procure the dry 'fa^ 
 tamans)y which correfponded perfectly with the 
 defcription o'i xh^ Sumbul ; and though a native^ 
 Mufeiman afterwards gave nie a Perjian paper, 
 written by himfelf, in which he reprefents the 
 Sumbul of Bidla, the Sweet Sumbul^ and the Ja- 
 tam.ins) as three different plants, yet the autho- 
 rity of the 1'ohfatul Mmienm is dccilive, that 
 the fiveet Sumbul is only another denomination 
 of nard, and the phyfician, who produced that 
 authority, brought, as a fpecimen of Sumbul^ 
 the very fame drug, which ray Pandit, who 
 is alfo a phyfician, brought as a fpecimen of the 
 
 Jaiamam) : 

 
 4IO ON THE SPIKENARD 
 
 y atamans): a Brahmen of eminent learning gavd 
 me a parcel of the fame fort, and told me that 
 it was ufed in their facrifices ; that, when frefh^ 
 it was exquilitely fweet, and added much to 
 the fcent of rich eflenccs, in which it was a 
 principal ingredient ; that the merchants 
 brought it from the mountainous country to tho 
 north-eafl of Bengal ; that it was the entire 
 plant, not a part of it, and received its Sanfcrit 
 names from its rcfemblance to locks of hair ; as 
 it is called Splke?iard^ I fuppofe, from its refem- 
 blance to a Spike, when it is dried, and not 
 from the configuration of its flowers, which the 
 Greeks y probably, never examined. The Fer- 
 Jian author defcribes the whole plant as refem- 
 bling the tail of an ermine ; and the yatcwk'ins\ 
 which is manifeflly the Spiknard oi our drug' 
 gifts, has precifely that form, confiiiing of* 
 withered ftalks and ribs of leaves, cohering in 
 a bundle of yellow ifh brown capillary fibres, 
 and conflituting a fpike about the fize of a 
 fmall finger. We may on the whole bealTuredj,- 
 that the nardus of Ptolemy, the Indian Sum* 
 bul of the Perfians and Arabs^ the Jatamans) of 
 the Hindus, znd the Spikenard of our fliops, are 
 one and the fame plant ; but to what clafsand 
 genus it belongs in the Li?ina.'an fyflem, can 
 only be afcertained by an infpetlion of the frefli 
 UuffomS'; Dr. Patrick Russel, who al- 
 ways
 
 OF THE ANCIENTS. 4IX 
 
 ways communicates with obliging facility his 
 cxtenfive and accurate knowledge, informed 
 me by letter, that *' Spikenard is carried over the 
 " Defert (from India I prefume) to Aleppo ^ 
 " where it is ufed in fubftance, mixed with 
 *' other perfumes, and worn in fmall bags, or 
 *' in the form of eflcnce, and kept in little boxes. 
 *' or phials, like dtar of rofes." He is per- 
 fuaded, and fo am I, that the Indian nard of 
 the ancients, and that of our fhops, is one and 
 the fame vegetable. 
 
 Though dilis-ent refearches have been made 
 at my requeft on the borders of Bengal zudi Be- 
 har^ yet the jatamans) has not been found 
 growing in any part of the Brltijh territories. 
 Mr. Saunders, who met with it in Biiian^ 
 where, as he was informed, it is rery common, 
 and whenceit is brought in a dry ftate ioRafigpur, 
 has no heiitation in pronouncing it a fpecies of 
 the Baccharis ; and fince it is not poffible that 
 he could miftake the natural order and ejfential 
 eharaSler of the plant, which he examined, I 
 had no doubt that the Jatamans) was compofit 
 and corymbiferous, with flamens connected by 
 .the anthers, and with female prolifick florets 
 intermixed with hermaphrodites : the word 
 Spike was not ufed by the ancients with botanr. 
 cal precifion, and the St achy s ittfelf is verticil- 
 hted, with onjy two fpecies out of fifteen, that 
 
 could
 
 41 3i ON THE SPIKENARD ; - 
 
 eould juflify its generick appellation. I there-^ 
 fore concluded, that the true Spikenard was a 
 Baccharis, and that, while the philofopher had 
 been fearching for it to no purpofe,- 
 
   ■" the dull fwain 
 
 Trod on it daily with his clouted flioon; 
 
 for the Baccharis^ it feems, as well as i\\t 
 Conyza, is called by our gardeners, Ploug/j- 
 tnafi's Spikenard. I fufpeded, neverthelefs, that 
 the plant which Mr. Saunders defcribed 
 was not yatamans), becaufe I knew that the 
 people of Butan had no fuch name for it, but 
 diftinguiflied it by very different nannes in dif- 
 ferent parts of their hilly country : I knew al- 
 fo, that the Biit'ias^ who fet a greater value on 
 the drug than it feems, asaperfumiC, to merit, 
 were extremely referved in giving information 
 concerning it, and might be tempted, by the 
 narrow fpirit of monopoly, to miflead an 
 inquirer for the frefn plant. The friendly 
 zeal of Mr. Purling will probably procure it 
 in a Hate of vegetation ; for, when he had the- 
 kindnefs, at my defire, to make inquiries for 
 it among the Butan merchants, they aflbred 
 him, that the living plants could not be ob- 
 tained without an order from their fovereign the 
 Dtvaraja^ to whom he immediately difpatched 
 a meilenger with an earueH: requeft, that eight 
 
 or
 
 OF THE ANCIENTS. . 4J3 
 
 or ten of the growing plants might be fent to 
 him at Rangpiir : fliould the Devarajd comply 
 with that requefl:, and flioiild the vegetable 
 fiourifh in the plain of Bengal, we lliall have 
 ocular proof of its clafs, order, genus, and 
 fpecies ; and, if it prove the fame with the 
 yatam/ms) of Nepal, which 1 now miift intro- 
 duce to your acquaintance, the queftion, w^ith 
 which I began this eflay, will be fatisfaclorily 
 anfvvered. 
 
 Having traced the /W/^?^ Spikenard, by the 
 name of yatdmans), to the mountains of Nepal, 
 I requeued my friend Mr. Law, who then re- 
 iided at Gayd, to procure fome of the recent 
 plants by the means of the Ne'pa'cfe pilgrims ; 
 who being orthodox Hindus, andpoffefling many 
 rare books in xhtSanfci'it language, were more 
 likely than the Butlas to know the true Jatd- 
 manst, by which name they generally diftin- 
 guifli it : many young plants w^re accordingly 
 fent to Gayd, with a Ferftan letter fpecifically 
 naming them, and apparently written by a man 
 of rank and literature ; {o that no fufpicion of 
 • deception or of error can bejuftly entertained. 
 By a mifliake of the gardener, they were all 
 planted at Gavd, where they have bloflbmed, 
 and at firft feemed to flourifh : I muft, there- 
 fore, defcribe the Jatdfndns) from the report of 
 Mr. Burt, who favoured me with a drawing 
 
 of
 
 4-14 <=>N THE SPIKENARD 
 
 of it, and in whofe accuracy we may pcrfeclly 
 confide ; but, before I produce thedefcription, 
 I muft endeavour to remove a prejudice, in re- 
 gard to the natural order of the fpikenard, 
 which they, who are addi6led to fwear by every 
 word of their mafler Linnjeus, will hardly 
 abandon, and which I, who love truth better 
 than him, have abandoned with fome reludance. 
 Nard has been generally fuppofed to be a grafs ; 
 and the word Jiachys or fp'ikc^ which agrees 
 with the habit of that natural order, gave rife, 
 perhaps, to the fuppofition. There is a plant 
 in 'java^ which moll travellers and fome phy- 
 ficians call fpikenard ; and the Governor of 
 Chinfura^ who is kindly endeavouring to pro- 
 cure it thence in a fjate fit for examination, 
 writes me word, that *' a Butch author pro-- 
 nounces it 2l grajs like the Cypirus^ but infifts 
 that what we call the /^/;^^ is the fibrous part 
 " above the root, as long as a man's little fin- 
 •' ger, of a brownifh hue inclining to red or 
 *' yellow, rather fragrant, and with a pungent, 
 ** but aromatick, fcent.'* This istooflovenly 
 a defcription to have been written by a bota- 
 Jiift ; yet I believe the latter part of it to be 
 tolerably correal:, and fhould imagine that the 
 plant was the fame with our Jatdm/im\ if it 
 were not commonly aflerted, that the Jaruaft 
 fpikenard was ufed as a condiment, and if a 
 
 wxXU 

 
 OF THE ANCIENTS. 415 
 
 well-informed man, who had feen it in the 
 idand, had not affured me, that it was a fort 
 of Pimento, and confequently a fpecies of 
 Myrtle^ and of the order now called He/per ian. 
 The refemblance before mentioned between the 
 Indian Sumbuizn'^ the Arabian Siid, or CvpiruSy 
 had led me to fufpecl, that the true nard was a 
 grafs 01' a reed; and as this country abounds. 
 in odoriferous graffes, I began to colled them 
 from all quarters. Colonel Kyd obligingly 
 fent me two plants with fweet-fm.elling roots ; 
 and as they were known to the Pandits, I foon 
 found their names in a Sanfcrit dictionary : one 
 of theia is called gandhasaf Bi, and ufed by the 
 Hindus to fcent the red powder of Sapan or 
 Bakkam wood, which they fcatter in the fefti- 
 val of the vernal feafon \ the other has many 
 names, and, among them, nagaramafiac and 
 gonarda, the fecond of which means rujlling 
 in the water ; for all the Pandits infifl:, that 
 nard is never ufed as a noun in Satifcrit, and 
 lignifies, as the root of a verb, tofoundoxto ruf- 
 fle. Soon after, Mr. Burrow brought me, 
 from the banks of the Ganges near Heridwary 
 a very fragrant grafs, which in fome places cO' 
 vers whole acres, and difFufes, when crufhed, 
 fo ftrong an odour, that a perfon, he fays, 
 might eafily have fmelt it, as Alexander is 
 reported to have fmelt the nard of Gedrofiay 
 from the back of an elephant : its bloflbms 
 
 wesG
 
 4l6 ON THE SPIKENARD 
 
 were not preferved, and it cannot, therefore, 
 "be defcribed. From Mr. Blane of Lucnow 
 I received a frefli plant, which has not flowered 
 at Calcutta ; but I rely imphcitly on his autho- 
 rity, and have no doubt that it is a fpecies of 
 Jindropogon : it has rather a rank aromatick 
 odour, and, from the virtue afcribed to it of 
 curing intermittent fevers, is known by the 
 Sanjcrit name of jwan'mcusa, which literally 
 means a fever-hook^ and alludes to the iron- 
 hook with which elephants are managed. Lailly, 
 Dr. Anderson of Madras^ who delights in 
 ufeful purfuits and in affifting the purfuits of 
 others, favoured me with a complete fpeclmen 
 of the Andropogon Nardus^ oiiC of the moll: 
 common graiies on the Coaft, and flourishing 
 mofl: luxuriantly on the mountains, never eaten 
 by cattle, but extremely grateful to bees, and 
 containing an eilential oil, which, he under- 
 ftands, is extracted from it in many parts of 
 Hindufio-n^ and ufed as an cit(ir or perfume. Ke 
 adds a very curious philological remark, that, 
 in the Tamtil dictionary, moil words beginning 
 with nar have fome relation to fragrance ; a.s 
 nlirukeradu to yield an odour, nartum pillu, 
 lemon- grafs, fU'.rtei^ citron, nl'.rta inanum^ the 
 wild orange- tree, narumpanei, the Indian Jaf 
 fn'in^ ndrwn alleriy c\ ftrong fmeUing flower, 
 and nlirtu^ which is put for 7iard in the T^amul 
 
 i-'ji
 
 OF THE ANCIENTS. 417 
 
 verfion of our Scriptures : fo that not only the 
 nard oi the Hebrews 2ivA Greeks, but even the 
 copia narium of Horace, may be derived from 
 an Indian root : to this I can only fay, that I 
 have not met with any fuch root in Sanfcr't, the 
 oldeO: poliflied language of hid'ta^ and that in 
 Ferfian, which has a manifefl affinity with it, 
 nlir means a pomegranate^ and nirgd (a v\ord 
 originally Sanfcrit) a cocoa-nut, neitiier of 
 which has any remarkable fragrance. 
 
 Such is the evidence in fupport of the opi- 
 nion, given by the great 6'u'.''^//Z)naturali{l:, that 
 the true nard was a gramineous plant and a 
 Ipecies of Andropogon ; but {\nzt no grafs, 
 that I have yet feen, bears any refembl ;nce to 
 the yatamans), which I conceive to be the iiar- 
 dus of the ancients, I beg leave to exprels my 
 diflent, with fome confidence as a philologer, 
 though wdth humble diffidence as a fbudeat in 
 botany. 1 am not, indeed, of opinion, that 
 the nardum of the Ro?nansv^2i's> merely the efien- 
 tlal oil of the plant, from which it was dei-o- 
 minated, but am ftrongly inclined to believe, 
 that it was a p-ejierick word, meaning; what we 
 now call atar, and either the afar of rofes from 
 CaJIm.r and Perjia, that of Celaca, or Panda- 
 nus, from the weflern coafl: of India, or that 
 of yJguru, or aloe- wood," from ^/dm or Cochin- 
 china, the procefs of obtaining which is de- 
 Icribed by Abu'lfazl, or the mixed perfume' 
 called ^/Ar, of which the principal ii;igredients 
 
 Vol. I, E e were
 
 4l8 ON THE SPIKENARD 
 
 were yellow fandal, violets, orange-flowers, 
 wood of aloes, role-water, mufk, and true 
 fpikenard : all thofe eilences and com pofit ions 
 werecoflly ; and moil: of them being fold by 
 the hidlans to the Perjlans and Arabs, from 
 whom, in the times of Cctavius, they were 
 received by the Syrians and Romans, they muft 
 have been extremely dear at Jerufalem and at 
 Rome. There might alfo have been a pure nar- 
 dine cil, as AtheNtEUS calls it ; but nardum 
 piobably meant (and Koenig was of the fame 
 opinion) an Indian eflence In general, taking 
 its name from that ingredient which had, or 
 was commonly thought to have, the moft ex- 
 quiiite fcent. But I have been drawn by a 
 pleaiing fubjecl to a greater length than I ex- 
 pelled, and proceed to the promiled defcription 
 of the true nard, or yat-Unansi, which, by the 
 way, has other names in the Jlmarcojh, the 
 imootheft of which -s^xt jat'Ad and I'miafa, both 
 ^derived from words meaning ha'tr. Mr. Burt, 
 after a modefl apology for his imperfe6t ac- 
 quaintance with the language of bctanifts, has 
 favoured me widi an account of the plant, on 
 the corre(5lnefs of which I have a perfect reli- 
 ance, and from which i colled: the following 
 natural characters : 
 
 Aggregate, 
 
 Cal. Scarce zi^y^ Margin, hardly dif- 
 cernible. ^ 
 
 Cor*
 
 OF THE ANCIENTS. 41^ 
 
 Cor, One petal, ^ube fomewhat gibbous. 
 border five cleft. 
 
 Stam. Three Anthers. 
 
 Fiji. Germ beneath. One Style erecl. 
 
 Seed Solitary, crowned with a pappus. 
 
 Koot Fibrous. 
 
 heaves Hearted, fourfold ; radical leaves 
 petioled. 
 
 It appears, therefore, to be the Protean 
 plant Valerian, a fifter of the Mountain 
 and Celtick Nard, and of a fpecies which I 
 fhould defcribe in the L'mnean ftyle, Vale- 
 riana Jata'ma'nsi Jloiibiis triandr'is foliis 
 cordat'ts quaternis, radlcaUbus petiolatis. The 
 radical leaves, rifmg from the ground and en- 
 folding the young (Vem, are plucked up with a 
 part of the root, and, being dried in the fun, 
 or by an artificial heat, are fold as a drug, 
 which from its appearance has been calLdy^/^d'- 
 nard ; though, as the Ptrfan writer obierves, 
 it might be compared more properly to the tad 
 of an ermine : w^hen nothing remains but the 
 dry fibres of the leaves, which retain their ori- 
 ginal form, they have lom.e refemblance to a 
 lock of hair ^ from which xhe Sa?fcrlt name, it 
 feems, is derived. Two mercantile agents 
 from Btitan on the part of the Dcvaraja were 
 examined, at my requeft, by Mr. Harington, 
 and Informed him, that the drug which the 
 Bengalefe call Jatcmans), " grew erccl above 
 . " the
 
 420 ON THE SPIKENARD, &C. 
 
 ** the furface of the ground, refembhog in 
 *' colour an ear of green wheat ; that, when 
 *' recent, it had a faint odour, which was 
 " greatly increafed by the funple procefs of 
 *' drying it ; that it abounded on the hills, and 
 *' even on the plains, of Butatiy where it was 
 *' collected and prepared for medicinal pur- 
 *' pofes." What its virtues are, experience 
 alone can afcertain ; but, as far as botanical ana- 
 logy can juftify a conje£lure, we may fuppofe 
 them to be antifpafmodick ; and in our pro- 
 vinces, efpecially in Bebar, the plant will pro- 
 bably flourlfh ; fo that we may always procure 
 it in a ftate Ht for experiment. On the propofed 
 enquiry into the virtues of this celebrated plant, 
 I mull be permitted to fay, that although, many 
 botanifts may have waflied their time in enu- 
 merating the qualities of vegetables, without 
 having afcertained them by repeated and fiitis- 
 fiiclory experiments, and although mere bota7iy 
 <-rocs no farther than technical arrangement and 
 defcription, yet it feems indubitable, that the 
 great end cind aim of a botanical philoibpher is, 
 to diicovcr and prove tlie feveral ufes of the 
 veo-etable ivllen), and, while he admits with 
 Hippocrates the jallncioiijneji of experietice^ 
 to rely on experiment alone as the baiis of his 
 
 knowledge, 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUMF.
 
 . ^K,iA AT UOS ANGELES 
 
 OCT 2 
 
 University of California 
 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 
 
 Return this material to the library 
 
 from which it was borrowed. 
 
 Form L-u 
 
 '10*
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 AA 000 340 825 9 3 1158 
 
 00202 1185
 
 (iw«5^!Pi*^ 
 
 V