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'^''^ ^OFCAllF0fî4> AOfCAlIFOfî^ 6^.^ "^^CAavaani^^ "^ >'CAUTU.„,.. "'%. J IIJMT OUI AMEUNIVERÎ/a .vWSANCELfx^ O %aaAiNn]WV^ <^ILIBRARY(?/: :x3 \\\E UNIVERS/^ .^WEUNIVERiy/v ~- — *-* ^lOSANCElfj> ■^/ia^AINd^WV ^OFCA1IFOR<^ ^OFCA1IFO%^ ^(?AavaaiH^ '^'&Aavaaiii'>;^ ^ 9 =f *JJi]3iWso;^-- vlf.llBDADV/-). vC MODADV/-1- ^Jt.llkllN/CDr/ . inc.Akirci r,< , r linn Anu^ jiiv: avaai ■IJMIVt 30NVS UN'IVF mm •CAllFi .avaaii IJNIVFI I'Nivri DESCRIPTION OF THE CHARACTER, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE OF INPIA; AND OF THEIR INSTITUTIONS, RELIGIOUS AND CIVIL. By THE Abbe' J.A.DUBOIS, MISSIONARY IN THE MYSORE. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH MANUSCRIPT. LONDON: PRINTED FOK LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PJ TERNOSTER-RO W. I8I7. / f I *; tih *' ''■ Primed l>y A. Sliahan, Ne*-Street-Squ. 21 In order to form a proper idea of what the Hindus are capable of, in arts and manufactures, if their natural industry were properly en- couraged, it is only necessary to go into the work-shop of one of their weavers, or painters on cloth, and to attend minutely to the humble machinery with which they execute those beautiful muslins and match- less cloths which are every where admired, and constitute the finery of Europe. In performing those ingenious labours, the workman em- ploys his feet as much as his hands. On the other hand, the weaving loom, the whole apparatus for spinning the thread before it is woven, and all the utensils necessary for his trade, are so few and simple, that altogether they form no heavy load for a man to carry ; and it is no uncommon thing to see one of those artisans who manufacture the splendid works we have mentioned, moving from one village to another, bearing on his back every thing that is necessary for commencing his work the moment he arrives. Their paintings on cloth, which are not less admired than their works of the loom, are performed with means as little complicated. Three or four bamboos to stretch the cloth, two or three pencils to apply the colours, a few bits of a broken dish to hold the paints, and a piece of stone to grind them, are the only implements of the cloth painter. I will now venture one political reflection on the advantages produced by the division into casts. In India, paternal authority is but little respected ; and the parents, partaking of the indolence so prevalent over all the country, are at little pains to inspire into their children that filial reverence which is the greatest blessing in a family, by j)re- serving the subordination necessary for domestic peace and tranquillity. The affection and attachment between brothers and sisters, never very ardent, almost entirely disappears as soon as they are married. After that event, they scarcely ever meet, unless it be to quarrel. The ties of blood and relationship are thus too feeble to afford that strict imion, and that feeling of mutual support which are required in a civilized state. It became necessary therefore to unite them into great corporations, where the members have a common interest in supporting and defending one another. And, to make 22 ADVANTAGES RESULTING FROM this system effectual, it was requisite that the connection which bound them together, should be so intimate and strong as that nothing can possibly dissolve it. This is precisely the object which the ancient legislators of India have attained by the establishment of the different casts. They have thus acquired a title to glory without example in the annals of the world ; for their work has endured even to our days, for thousands of years, and has remained almost without change through the succession of ages and the revolutions of empires. Often have the Hindus sub- mitted to a foreign yoke, and have been subdued by people of different manners and customs. But the endeavours of their conquerors to impose upon them their own modes have uniformly failed, and have scarcely left the slightest trace behind them. The authority maintained by the casts has every where preserved their duration. This authority in some cases is very large, extend- ing, as we have already observed, to the punishment of death. A few years ago, in a district through which I was passing, a man of the tribe of Rajaputras, put his own daughter to death, with the approbation of the people of his cast, and the chief men of the place where he resided. His son would have shared the same fate if he had not made his escape ; but no person imputed any blame to the Rajaputra. There are several other offences, real or imaginary, which the casts have the power of punishing capitally. A Pariah who should disguise his real cast, and, mixing with the Brahmans or even with the Sudras, should dare to eat with them or touch their food, would be in danger of losing his life. He would be overwhelmed with blows on the spot, if he were discovered. But a capital punishment, inflicted under such circumstances, would not be considered as a judicial act, but rather as proceeding from an imme- diate feeling of indignation, as a burst of zeal or noble fanaticism ; of which we have some examples in the history of the .Jews. But, though the punishment of death is authorised in certain cases by some of the casts, it is inflicted but seldom. Ignominious punish- ments are more common ; such as shaving the heads of lewd women. THE DIVISION OF CASTS. 23 Sometimes the criminals are forced to stand for several hours in presence of the chiefs of the cast assembled, with a basket on their heads filled with earth ; sometimes they are set upon an ass with their face towards the tail. On some occasions their faces are smeared with cowdung ; or the cord is stripped from those who have the right to wear it. At times they are expelled from the tribe ; or some other mark of ignominy is inflicted. ( 24 ) CHAP. III. EXPULSION FROM THE CAST. Of all sorts of punishment, the most severe to a Hindu is that df being cut off and excluded from his cast. The right of inflicting it belongs to the Giirus of whom we shall afterwards speak ; or, where there are none, it is assumed by the chiefs belonging to the body. These may generally be found in every district of moderate extent, and recourse is had to them in all cases relating to the police of the cast. They are assisted in their office by the elders or principal men of the place where they are consulted. Expulsion from the cast, which is the penalty inflicted on those who are guilty of infringing the accustomed rules, or of any other offence which would bring disgrace on the tribe, if it remained unavenged, is in truth an insupportable punishment. It is a kind of civil excommu- nication, which debars the unhappy object of it from all intercourse whatever with his fellow creatures. He is a man, as it were, dead to the world. He is no longer in the society of men. By losing his cast, the Hindu is bereft of friends and relations, and often of wife and children, who will rather forsake him than share in his miserable lot. No one dares to eat with him, or even to pour him out a drop of water. If he has marriageable daughters they are shunned. No other girls can be approached by his sons. Wherever he appears, he is scorned and pointed at as an outcast. If he sinks under the grievous curse, his body is suffered to rot on the place where he dies. Even if, in losing his cast, he could ilescend into an inferior one, the evil would be less. lîut he has no such resource. A Sudra, little scrupulous as he is about honour or delicacy, would scorn to give his II EXPULSION FROM THE CAST. - ^5 (laughter in marriage even to a Brahman thus degraded. If he cannot re-establish himself in his own cast, he must sink into the infamous tribe of the Pariah, or mix with persons whose cast is equivocal. Of this sort there is no scarcity wherever the Europeans abound. But, unhappy is he who trusts to this resource. A Hindu of cast may be dishonest and a cheat ; but a Hindu without cast has always the re- putation of a rogue. The exclusion from the cast is frequently put in force without much ceremony ; sometimes even out of hatred or caprice. These cases happen when individuals, from whatever motive, refuse, in whole or for the greater part, to assist at the marriages or funerals of any one of their relations or friends, or to invite, on such occasions of their own, those that have a right to be present. Persons excluded in this way never fail to commence proceedings against those who have offered them the insult, demanding reparation for their wounded honour. Such instances are commonly terminated by arbitration, and in that case the exclusion is not attended with the hateful and ruinous consequences before de- scribed. It is not necessary that offences against the usages of the cast should be either intentional or of great magnitude. It happened to my know- ledge not long ago that some Brahmans who live in my neighbourhood, having been convicted of eating at a public entertainment with a Sudra, disguised as a Brahman, were all ejected from the cast, and did not re- gain admission into it without imdergoing an infinite number of cere- monies both troublesome and expensive. I witnessed an example of this kind more unpleasant than what I have alluded to. In the cast of the Ideyars, the parents of two families had met and determined on the union of a young man and girl of their number. The usual presents were offered to the young woman, and other ceremonies performed which are equivalent to betrothing among us. After these proceedings, the young man died, before the time ap- pointed for accomplishing the marriage. After his death, the parents of the girl, who was still very young, married her to another. This was against the rules of the cast, which condemn the betrothed girl to remain in a state of widowhood, although the husband for whom she £ 2g EXPULSION FROM THE CAST. was destined dies before marriage. Accordingly all who had assisted at the ceremony or who had been present at it, were cut off from the cast, and no one would afterwards form any connection with them. Long after this happened, I have seen some of the individuals, ad- vanced in age, who remained in a solitary state for this reason alone. Another incident of this kind occurs to me, which was rather of a more serious complexion than the preceding. Eleven Brahmans, in travelling, having passed through a country desolated by war, arrived at length, exhausted by hunger and fatigue, at a village, which, contrary to their expectation, they found deserted. They had brought with them a small jiortion of rice, but they could find nothing to boil it in but the vessels that were in the house of the washer-man of the village. To Brahinans, even to touch them would have been a defilement almost impossible to efface. But being pressed with hunger they bound one another to secrecy by an oath, and then boiled their rice in one of the pots, which they had previously washed a hundred times. One of them alone abstained from the repast, and as soon as they reached their home, he accused the other ten before the chief Brahmans of the town. The rumour quickly spread. An assembly is held. The delinquents are summoned, and compelled to appear. They had been already ap- prised of the difficulty in which they were likely to be involved ; and when called upon to answer the charge, they unanimously pro- tested, as they had previously concerted, that it was the accuser only that was guilty of the fault which he had laid to their charge. Which side was to be believed ? Was the testimony of one man to be taken against that often? The result was, that the ten Brahmans were declared innocent, and the accuser, being found guilty, was expelled with igno- miny from the tribe by the chiefs, who though they could scarcely doubt of his innocence, yet could not help being offended with the dis- closure he made. From what has been said, it will no longer be surprising that the Hindus should be as much attached to their casts as the gentry of Eu- rope are to their rank. Prone to abusive altercation, they use the most unmeasured language to each other, and instantly forget it : but if one EXPULSION FROM THE CAST. 27 should say of another that he was a man out of cast, it would be an in- jury that could admit of no pardon. From this attachment to cast arises that which they entertain for their customs, which may be said to constitute their whole police. It is an attachment which is often more powerful than the desire of life ; and in certain cases death would appear the lighter evil ; as, for ex- ample, in eating food dressed by the Pariahs. I have seen examples of this feeling; and if I have met with still more instances of the contrary, these were at least concealed. Upon the same principle, we are to account for the hatred and con- tempt which the Hindus bear to all other nations and particularly the Europeans. These from being but little acquainted with the usages of the natives, or out of carelessness, openly violate them upon all occa- sions. They never shew the smallest desire to conciliate the regard of the people among whom they live, by making any sacrifice to their pre- judices. But what the Hindu conceives to be the greatest indignity is their taking Pariahs for their servants, or keeping women of that abo- minable cast. The proud Hindu, on observing this, immediately concludes, as his habits and education lead him to do, that master and servant, husband and wife are all of one tribe, and that all Euro- peans are of the vile cast of the Pariah ; because, according to their notions, Pariahs alone would edmit other Pariahs into their service. Their principles, however, do not hinder them, upon this point, to act with the lowest submission when their interest requires it. E 2 ( 28 ) CHAP. IV. RESTORATION TO THE CAST. xxFTER exclusion from the cast, the individual may be reinstated, in several cases. When the exclusion has proceeded from his relations, the culprit, after gaining the principal members, prostrates himself in a humble posture before his kindred assembled on the occasion. He then submits to the severe rebukes which they seldom fail to admini- ster, or to the blows and other corporal chastisement to which he is sometimes exposed, or discharges the fine to which he may be con- demned ; and, after shedding tears of contrition, and making solemn promises to efface, by his future good conduct, the infamous stain of his expulsion from the cast, he makes the SasJ/fangam, or prostration of the eight members, before the assembly. This being completed, he is declared fit to be reinstated in his tribe. As we shall often have occasion to make mention of the Sashtangam in the course of this work, it is now proper to give a definition of the word. It signifies literal^ willi the eight members of the body; because when it is performed, tlie I'eet, the knees, the belly, the stomach, the head, and the arms mn^t touch the ground. This is the greatest mark of reverence that can be given. It is used nowhere but in the presence of those to whom an absolute and unlimited deference is due. This reverence is made only before the highest ])crsonages, such as kings, gurus, and others of lofty rank. A child occasionally performs it before its father ; and it is common to see it practised by various casts of Hindus in presence of the lirahmans. This simi of reverence is not confined to the Hindus, but is common to several other nations of Asia ; which is confirmed by the most ancient 1 1 RESTORATION TO THE CAST. 29 of all books, the Bible, where this extraordinary mark of reverence is called by the name of adoration, even when it is applied to mere mortals. It is said in the book of Genesis that Abraham ran to meet them from the tent-door, " and bowed himself toward the ground*." Lot also, " rose up, and bowed himself with his face toward the ground f." In the in- terview with his brother Esau, Jacob " bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother |." In the history of Joseph the same obeisance is more than once described §. There are many other passages in scripture where this salutation is alluded to, from which it appears that this extraordinary degree of respect was em- ployed amongst the Chaldeans, Egyptians, and other ancient people commemorated in the sacred writings, under circumstances and for purposes exactly similar to those in which it is still employed to this day in India. Wlien a man is expelled from his cast for reasons of great moment, they sometimes slightly burn his tongue with a piece of gold made hot. They likewise apply to different parts of the body iron stamps, heated to redness, which impress indelible marks upon the skin. In other parts they compel the culprit to walk on burning embers ; and, last of all, to complete the purification, he must drink the Panchakaryam; a word which literally signifies Ûxejive things; which are so many substances thatproceedfromthebody of thecow, namely, milk, butter, curd, dung, and urine, all mixed together. This is a term not to be forgotten, as it will frequently occur in the course of this work. The last of the five things, namely the urine of the cow, is held to be the most efficacious of any for purifying all imaginable uncleanness. I have often seen the super- stitious Hindu accompanying these animals when in the pasture, and watchino; the moment for receiving the urine as it fell, in vessels which he load brought for that purpose to carry it home in a fresh state ; or catching it in the hollow of his hand to bedew his face and all his body. When so used it removes all external impurity ; and when taken internally, which is very common, it cleanses all within. * Gen. chap, xviii. 2. f Gen. chap. xix. 1. % Gen. chap, xxxiii. 3. § Gen. chap. xlii. 6. chap. xhii. 26. chap. 1. 1 8. 30 RESTORATION TO THE CAST. The ceremony of the Panchakaryam being closed, the person who had been expelled must give a grand entertainment. If he be a Brah- man he gives it to the Brahmans, who flock to it from all parts ; or if he belong to another cast, those that belong to it are his guests. This finishes the whole ceremonj-, and he is then restored to all his privileges. There are certain offences, however, so heinous in the eyes of Hindus as to leave no hope of restoration to those who have been excluded from their cast for committing them. Such would be the crime of a Brahman who had publicly married a woman of the detested tribe of the Pariah. If the woman were of any tribe less base, it is possible that, after repudiating her, and disclaiming all his children by her, many acts of purification and a large expence might at length procure his restoration. But very different would be the case of one who should be so abandoned as to eat of the flesh of a cow, supposing the idea of such enormous wickedness to enter into the heart of a Brahman or any other Hindu of respectable cast. If such a portentous crime were by any possibility committed, even by compulsion, the abhorred perpetrator would be beyond all hope of redemption. Wlien the last Musalman prince reigned in Mysore, and formed the ambitious desire of extending his religion over all the peninsula of India, he seized a great number of Brahmans and had them circumcised. Afterwards he made them eat cows' flesh, in token of renouncing their cast and their customs. After the war which liberated that people from the yoke of the tyrant, I kno^v that not a few of those who had been forced to become Musalmans, made every effort, by offering large sums of money, to be re-admitted into their cast, which they had not abandoned but through force. Assemblies were held in different parts for examinino; into this business, and the heads of the cast out of which they were formed decided unanimously that, after many ceremonies and expensive purifications, those who petitioned for re-admission might be cleansed from the complicated pollution contracted in their commu- nication with the Moors. But when it was ascertained that those who were circumcised had been also under the necessity of eating cows' flesh, it was decided with one voice, in all their assemblies, that a pol- RESTORATION TO THE CAST. 32 lution of that nature and such a prominent crime could by no means admit of forgiveness ; that it could not be obliterated by presents, nor by fine, nor by the Panchakaryam. This decision was not confined to the cast of the Brahman s ; for I know well that many Sudras in the same situation had no better success, and were all obliged to continue Musalmans. The Rajaputras, as well as the good casts among the Sudras, are still more difficult than the Brahmans in receivino; back those who have been expelled. Amongst the former, indeed, this degrading punishment is not inflicted but upon grave offences ; whereas among the latter it is the punishment of slight breaches of their customs. But whatever the cast may be from which one has been expelled, much cost and many ceremonies are required to reinstate him. Even when he has regained his place, he never overcomes the scandal. The blot continually remains ; and in any altercation he may fall into, his former misfortune is sure to be commemorated. ( 32 ) CHAP. V. ANTIQUITY AND ORIGIN OF THE CASTS. JNI OTHING in the world appears to be of greater antiquity than the casts of the Hindus and the customs which pertain to them. The an- cient Greek and Latin authors who have made mention of India, speak of those institutions as the groundwork of Hindu civilization established from time immemorial. The inviolable attachment of that people to their customs is a strong evidence of their antiquity. They are bred in the principle of invariably clinging to their customs, so that any new- habit is a thing unheard of among them ; any man attempting to in- troduce one would rouse the whole nation and would be proscribed as a dangerous innovator. So difficult would it be, that I believe it has never yet entered into the imagination of any intelligent Hindu. Every thing relating to their customs proceeds evenly, and is transacted with inflexible uniformity, and the minutest particulars are treated as of the utmost importance ; because they have been taught that it is by the strict nicety with which small matters are attended to that the most rnomentous concerns are sustained. Accordingly there is no na- tion on the earth that can boast of having kept up for so long a time its domestic rules and customs without any perceptible change. Some modern philosophical writers among them, such as Vemana, who has written his performance in the language of Telingana ; and Tiruvaluvcn who has written his in the Tamul, are distinguished highly, and have made the Hindu customs the subject of their satire, throwing tlie sharpest ridicule upon the religion and habits of the country. But while these authors are exercising all their skill and raillery in ridicul- ing the religious ceremonies established in the nation, they never fail ANTIQUITY AND ORIGIN OF THE CASTS. 33 to recommend the practice of them, and are strictly attentive to it them- selves. The works of the two authors I have named are always read and quoted with delight by all intelligent Hindus, although there be not a page in their writings that does not contain satirical reflections aimed at their gods and the worship and rites of the country. One of the most artful contrivances made use of by the early Hindus for preserving their customs, has been that of clothing them with cere- monies, which make a strong impression on the senses, and communi- cate something holy to the practice. These ceremonies are rigorously observed. It is never permitted to any one to treat them as matters of form which may be practised or omitted at pleasure. The omission of any, even of the least important, would not be allowed to pass unpu- nished. Some of their most important tenets are not peculiar to them, but are common to all ancient nations. The rule of marrying within the family is of this sort. We find in the holy Scripture that Abraham married his niece ; and it is probable that it was a general custom among the Chaldeans. Farther, he sent to a far country to bring a kinswoman for his son Isaac. Rebecca could not pardon her' son Esau for giving her strangers for her daughters-in-law, that is to say Canaanites ; and she sent her best beloved son Jacob to marry in their own family, distant as it was. It had passed into a custom therefore, with them, as well as with the Hindus, to intermarry with their own kindred. Of the latter people, when settled in a strange country, it is the usual practice to send perhaps upwards of a hundred leagues to the place of their nativity for wives and husbands to their sons and daugh- ters. As to the distinction of casts, Moses introduced it among the Israelites, as we have elsewhere remarked. Besides having the com- mand of God, he must have seen this division of the people into tribes while he sojourned in Egypt. He was educated there, and must have perceived the advantage which that system produced in maintaining good order; and therefore, in legislating for the people of God and establishing amongst them the division into tribes, he adopted and improved the political system of the Egyptians and Arabians. 34 ANTIQUITY AND ORIGIN OF THE CASTS. But the origin of the casts amongst the Hindus goes back to a much higher asra than that of any other people, if credit be given to their ancient books, in which it is written that the whole was the work of the God Brahma, when he replenished the earth with inhabitants. From his head sprung the Brahmans ; the Kshatriya or Rajas, from his shoulders ; the Vaisya or merchants from his belly ; and the Sudras or farmers from his feet. It is easy to perceive that this tale is a pure allegory, alluding not only to the rank which the casts maintain in relation to each other, but also to the different functions of those who compose them. The Brah- mans, no doubt, being generally engaged in the spiritual concerns of life, must have burst from the head of the Creator. Power being the attribute of the Rajas who were ordained to the arduous duties of war ; from whence could their origin be derived but from the shoulders and arms of Brahma? The Merchants, solely occupied in providing food, clothing and other necessaries of life, were no less appropriately drawn from the belly of the god : and the plodding Sudras, doomed to the humble drudgery of the field, were shaken out of his feet. Dropping this fabulous origin of the casts, which is familiar to every Hindu, their writers give countenance to another, which refers that es- tablishment to the remote sera of the subsiding of the universal deluge : for this awful event, which made a new world, was almost as distinctly known to the Hindus as to Moses. We will revert to this subject hereafter ; but in the meantime we may observe that a famous personage, distinguished by the Hindus under the name of Manu was saved from the flood by the aid of a bird, together with the seven famous penitents who will be mentioned in the next chapter. After the flood, this new renovator of the human race, discriminated men, as Hindu authors say, into the different casts which still prevail in India. Tlie name Manu deserves notice. Whatever may be the etymology of the word, the similarity of sound seems to point out Manu to be the same as the Menés of the ancient Egyptians, and the great Noah, of the Scripture, who stands the highest in consideration and the most venerable of mankind after Adam. ( 35 ) CHAP. VI. THE FABULOUS ORIGIN OF THE BRAHMANS. ON THEIR NAME AND ORIGINAL FOUNDERS. CONJECTURES ON THEIR REAL ORIGIN. A HE true origin of the Brahmans, as well as that of the other Hindu tribes, is not distinctly known ; and we are therefore reduced to fables or mere conjecture. The fabulous tradition which is most current amone; them is that which derives them from the head of Brahma ; and they draw their name from his. The other casts, having sprung from the same stem, M^ould seem entitled to bear the same appellation. But the Brahmans being the first, and emanating from the noblest part of their common father, consider themselves exclusively entitled to that sacred name. They also produce other claims to establish their sole right to this venerable title. The Brahmans, they say, were the first to comprehend Brahma in perfection ; and having the clearest conception of this great being, it pertains to them only to explain his nature and attributes to the other tribes. They alone have the distinguished privilege of perusing the books that treat of this divinity ; and, for these and many other reasons not less conclusive, they assume the name of Brahmans. But, however well founded their pretensions may be to this great distinction, certain it is, that they derive it from the word Brahma, In the scientific languages of the country, they are called Brahmana from which the name Bracmanes used by the Latin authors is undoubt- edly derived. • A Bralmian is in a very different situation from a Raja, a Vaisi/a, or a Sudra. These are born in the condition in which they continue to live. But a Brahman becomes such only by the ceremony of the F 2 3Q FABULOUS ORIGIN OF THE BRAHIVIANS. Cord, which will be afterwards fully explained. He is till then only a Sudra; and by birth he possesses nothing that raises him above the level of other men. It is after this rite that he is called Dxvija (twice born). The first birth admits him to the common rank of mortals ; the second, which he owes to the ceremony of the triple cord, exalts him to the lofty rank of the tribe to which he belongs. The seven casts of the Brahmans have for their special origin the seven famous Rishis or penitents. Two of these were not originally of that rank ; but they practised so long and so severe a penance, that they obtained the remarkable favour of being raised to it by the ceremony of the cord. From penitent Rajas they became penitent Brahmans ; and their rise was from a still lower rank, if we believe what is sung upon the subject by the philosophical poet Vemanah. These seven Rishis or penitents, of whom frequent mention will be hereafter made, are highly celebrated in the annals of the country. They are the holiest and most venerated personages that the Hindus acknowledge. Their names are held sacred and are invoked by all the people. They are inculcated on their children ; and are as follows : Kasyapa, Atri, Bharadwaja, Gautama, Visivamitra, Jamadagni, Va~ sishta. It was Vasishta and Viswaniitra that were considered worthy, from the rigour of their penance, to be admitted into the cast of the Brahmans. It is cei'tain that these seven Rishis were of great antiquity, since they must have existed prior to tlie Vedas, which make mention of them in many passages. They were favoured by the gods, and particularly by Vishnu, who preserved them at the time of the flood from the universal destruction, by making them and their wives embark in a ship in which he himself acted as the pilot. Some of the o;ods have suffered not a little from incurrins their displeasure; for even against them the wrath of the Rishis would pursue evil conduct and infamous debaucliery. The seven penitents, after giving an example on earth of all the virtues, were translated into heaven, where they still hold their place amonff the most brilliant of the stars. Tliose who have a desire to -see them, have only to look up to the seven stars in the great bear : FABULOUS ORIGIN OF THE BRAHMANS. 37 tor these are no other than the seven famous Rishis themselves ; not emblematically, but in strict reality. And it is believed that, without ceasing to sparkle in the firmament, they can descend, and actually do pay an occasional visit to the earth to know what is going on. If the fabulous stories which are told of the origin of certain great families in Europe shed a lustre upon them by proving their anti(|uity ; how much more reason has the Brahman to vaunt his noble pedigree? and if the honour of being sprung from an illustrious family, some- times leads its descendants to look down with contempt upon the lower ranks, we cannot surely wonder at the arrogance and haughtiness of the Brahman, and the high disdain which he shews to every cast but his own. The idea of preserving the memory of their great men and of making them immortal, by assigning them a place among the con- stellations which shine in the sky, appears to be common to all ancient tribes. The worship of the stars accordingly seems to have been uni- versally and most religiously observed amongst all idolatrous nations ancient and modern. This species of idolatry being the least un- reasonable of any, and of the longest duration, the lawgivers of antiquity and the founders of false religions, perceiving the powerful hold which it had already acquired over the human mind, made use of it as the most efficacious means of perpetuating the memory of their heroes and other great men : for, by thus transforming them into stars, they set them up as objects always to be seen, and alwavs to strike the observer. It was in this way that the Greeks and Romans con- secrated their chief divinities and most celebrated heroes ; and it was for the same purpose that the Hindus placed their seven famous Rishis in the brightest zone of the starry sphere ; being sure that this was the infallible method of keeping up their memory amongst a people in- sensible to all objects but those that strike vividly on their senses. But there is at least one thing which is not fanciful in this question ; which is that in the countries situated to the north-east of Bengal, beyond the Ganges, there were neither casts nor Brahmans till within these four or five hundred years. The people who inhabited those provinces, beginning then to see that it would be of advantage to them gg CONJECTURES ON THE to adopt the customs of their neighbours, demanded to have Brahmans. The order was soon created by selecting and setting apart a number of their youths, who were trained up in the manners of that cast ; into which they were duly embodied by the ceremony of the cord. From that period, they have been considered as true Brahmans, and hold equal rank with those who are of a far more ancient order. In the southern countries they do not like to be reminded of this anecdote, although they are obliged to admit its authenticity, as well as that of the two penitents who were at first only Rajas. There is a puzzling objection frequently urged against the Brahmans. If it be the ceremony of the cord, it is asked, that creates you Brahmans, how come your wives, who do not undergo that ceremony, to be any thing but Sudras ? You are therefore married to wives not belonging to your cast ; a principle held sacred and inviolable amongst all Hindus. Their solution of this difficulty is an answer that has been con- tinually made to all their antagonists ; namely, that they are guided in this particular by the usage of the cast from time immemorial. After reporting what the fables of India afford respecting the origin of the Brahmans, I wish to offer, with deference, what appears to me no improbable suggestion. What I am going to say may perhaps appear of little weight to most of my readers : but I give my opinion without arrogance, or tiie vain pretension of forming a connected system, where all the documents that can be had, are founded only on the most extravagant fables. My view of it may be tolerated by those who in the midst of the thick darkness in which the origin of nations is obscured, would rejoice in one spark that might serve to guide their steps, and assist them in discovering what at least approaches most nearly to truth. It a])pears tolerably certain, that India has been peopled from the earliest times, and not long aitcr the deluge, which converted the earth into a vast desert. It is close to the plains of Shiiiar, where the descendants of Noah remained fixed for a long time. Its happy climate and fertile soil would naturally retain the wanderers who settled there. I need say nothing of the subsequent conquests of Hercules, II REAL ORIGIN OF THE BRAHMANS. 39 Bacchus, and Osiris. The best authorities hold them to be entirely fabulous, though some are inclined to admit their history to be fun- damentally true, and content themselves with rejecting its extravagant embellishments. The history of Sesostris, though also abounding in fable, is evidently more connected and better founded. The few monumnts of antiquity that have descended to us, represent this celebrated hero as the greatest, and indeed the only warrior that pacific Egypt can boast of during its long career as an independent nation, extending to more than sixteen hundred years. He is also described as the most extensive conqueror that ever existed on earth ; for the bovmdaries of his empire embraced the enormous sweep between the Danube and all the nations which then inhabited the provinces of India ; but his conquests there turned out to be neither more secure nor more permanent than those that were made, long after, by his competitor in glory, Alexander the Great. The establishments which were made by the Arabians in India, as they are represented by some modern writers, appear more plausible to superficial minds. The restless disposition of that people, the wandering life whicli they have always led, together with their vicinity to India, would seem to give a colour of probability to this opinion. Nay, its supporters may even add that it is from the Arabs that the Hindus derive their division into casts, and that it still subsists among the people of Arabia. But, in order to give weight to the supposition, it would be necessary to prove that the division into casts has not existed amongst all ancient nations, and equally to the Arab and the Hindu. It is not therefore through the channel of Egypt or Arabia that I am inclined to introduce the Brahmans into India. I do not conceive them to be the descendants of Shem, but of Japhet. I think it sup- posable that they penetrated into the country by the north or the north- west, and that we must seek for their origin in the long chain of mountains, known in Europe by the name of Mount Caucasus. Their books make frequent mention of two celebrated mountains situated in the middle of Jambudviipih (which is their name also for the 40 CONJECTURES ON THE habitable world,) remotely situated beyond the most northern bounda- ries of India. One of these mountains is designated by the name of Malm Meru., or Great Meru, and the other by that of JNIount Man- dara. Frequent allusions to these two mountains, or, as I conceive, to the same under different names, are made in the prayers of the Brahmans, in their religious and civil ceremonies, and in the principal occurrences of life. According to them and their books, this mountain is situated in the remotest quarter of the north, and from its bosom they still agree that their ancestors took their origin. This country, they tell us, is so far distant, that its precise situation is unknown to the modern Brahmans ; and that is not very surprizing in a country whose inhabitants have so little knowledge of practical geography, that the utmost reach of it extends only to the countries between Kasi and Cape Comorin. It is in these retired regions of the north that they fix the residence of the seven famous penitents of whom we have spoken, whom they consider as the first of their ancestors ; and from them proceeded those descendants who gradually penetrated into the southern provinces of India. This notion of the first origin of the Brahmans deduced from the Hindu books, and kept up to this day by the members of that cast, is confirmed by the manner in which they treat one another. Those of the north of India consider themselves to be more noble and of higher distinction than those of the south ; on the ground of their being less distant from their original seat, and consequently their descent from the great fountain being less dubious. The Seven Penitents, or Philosophers of the north, from whom they spring, may have been the seven sons of Japhet, who, with their father at their head, at the time of the dispersion of men, carried with them the third part of the human race towards the west. The whole of that family did not go over to Europe. Many of them liaving a})proached its boundaries, turned towards the north, under the direction of Magog, the second son of .Taphet, and advancing through Tartary as far as Mount Caucasus, formed considerable, colonies in that wide region. REAL ORIGIN OF THE BRAHMANS. 41 I am stating nothing here that is not conformable to the sense of Scripture and the interpretation of judicious commentators ; out of whose works it would be an easy matter to I'aisc a vast pile of erudition. Indeed I should have occasion to go no farther than to what Bochart and Cal m et have written on the subject. The name of Magog may be traced among the Seven Penitents, from whom the Brahmans say they are descended. It seems to arise from that of Gauta Maha. Ma or Maha signifies great, and Gauta is the same as Got or Gog, the a before a vowel and the final a being both elided in Sanscrit words : so that Gauta Maha, signifies the great Got or Magog, Magoth. O O' The history of other ancient people would supply me with conjec- tures for supporting the opinion I have embraced on the origin and antiquity of the Brahmans. The learned acknowledge several Prome- theuses. The most famous was the Prometheus of Greece, whom they consider to be the son of Japhet. He formed men from the soil, in imitation of the gods, and animated them with the fire which he stole from heaven. This boldness irritated Jupiter, who bound him to Mount Caucasus, where a vulture constantly devoured his liver as it grew. This grievous punishment continued till Hercules slew the vulture, and so delivered the son of Japhet. Was not Brahma the same as Prometheus ? The Indian god is also called Brahma, and Prume in some dialects. These names well accord with the Prometheus of the Greeks. That is to say the god Prome or Prume is the same as Brahma. The latter as well as the former, is re- garded as the author of the creation of men, who sprung from various parts of his body. He was their lawgiver, by the Vedas which he wrote with his own hand. He had more than once occasion for the aid of Vishnu, as Prometheus had for that of Hercules, in order to be de- livered from his enemies. This claim of the Indian Prometheus to be recognized as the creator of men and as a god, has descended, at least in part, to the Brahmans, his eldest born. They denominate themselves without ceremony, and take the title, without any offence to their modesty, of the Gods Brah- 42 CONJECTURES ON THE 7nans, the Gods of the Earth ; and on certain occasions they receive the homage of being adored on bended knees, like deities. Moreover, many learned authors, sacred and profane, have supposed that Prometheus, who wished to be accounted the creator of men, was no other than Magog himself It is scarcely credible that at a period so near to the flood, the oblivion of the true God should have been so complete, as that the grandson of Noah should desire to pass for a god, but there is nothing improbable in supposing that his descendants might give him that title when idolatry had spread over the earth. It was Magog that went to Tartary to establish himself there with such as chose to accompany him, when he had separated from the other sons of Japhet. From thence, he or his sons, extended not only to India, but to other countries which were the inheritance of Shem and his poste- rity. Thus was accomplished the prophecy of Noah, when he announced to Japhet that his posterity should be the most numerous, and that he should establish himself in the territory of Shem. " God shall enlarge Japhet, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem." Gen. ix. 27. But, granting that the original natal soil of the Brahmans was Tar- tary, or the environs of JNIount Caucasus, it will not be easy to determine the exact epoch of their establishment in India. It appears, however, that they were there, and in a flourishing condition, more than nine hundred years before the Christian sera ; for it is recorded that, about that time, Lycurgus went to visit them. The high reputation they had already acquired for learning, and particularly their skill in the occult sciences, had spread even into Europe, and appears to have at that distance de- termined one of the wisest and most profound philosophers that anti- quity boasts of, to undertake a voyage into India to profit by the lessons and the example of those wise Brahmans, who had been settled there for ages. It is pretty clear that such a personage as Lycurgus was not likely to risk so painful and tedious a voyage if the reputation of the philosophers whom he went to consult had not been established long before. The Brahmans of those remote ages were indeed very different in their principles. and conduct from those of modern days. The former are represented in the Hindu books chiefly (if not exclusively) in the REAI^ ORIGIN OF 1 HE BRAHMANS. 43 light of penitents or philosophers, devoted wholly to the culture ol sciences, or to a life of contemplation and the practice of the moral vir- tues. They did not at that time form a tribe wholly intolerant and exclusive, like the hermits of the present days. Neither could peni- tents of a different origin become Brahmans, and be initiated into their cast, by the ceremony of the Dakshina, or the investment of the triple cord: of which various proofs may be shewn in the Hindu books. The simple and innocent manners of those early Brahmans, their contempt of honours and wealth, their moral virtues, and above all their temperance, raised them into respect amongst kings and people. Foi', even the monarch did not conceive himself degraded by paying such homage to them as he would not have exacted from his own subjects for himself Those philosophers, secluded as they were, had wives, and multiplied exceedingly. The Brahmans of our days are their descendants. The present race, though altogether degenerate from the virtues of their ancestors, still preserve a great deal of their character and habits ; inas- much as they shew to the present day a predilection for retirement and seclusion from the bustle of the world, selecting for their residence vil- lages quite retired, into which they permit no person of any other cast to enter. Those villaoes, inhabited by none but Brahmans, are in great numbers in the present different divisions of the peninsula, and are generally described under the name of the Agragrama or superior villages. The modern Brahmans approach nearer to the manners of their ances- tors, by their frequent feasts, their daily ablutions, and the manner, nature, and subject of their sacrifices ; and above all their scrupulous abstinence not only from meat, aiîd all food that has ever had the prin- ciple of life, but also from many other productions of nature to which their prejudices and superstition have attached some idea of impurity. The religious system of the modern Brahmans, and the irrational theo- logy which they have introduced into India, appear to me to be the parti- culars in which they have chiefly departed from the rules and precepts of their primitive founders. I am far from believing that the wise legislators who prescribed laws for the Hindus could ever have formed G 2 44 CONJECTURES ON THE an idea of introducing among them a species of worship so abominable and so ridiculously absurd as that which we see in use amongst them at the present time. Their mythology and the external objects of their worship were at first mere allegories, represented under visible shapes, for the purpose of engraving them more vividly on the memory of a people who appeared quite insensible to all objects that did not make an immediate im- pression on the senses. But men of a gross, indolent, careless, and superstitious disposition would naturally soon forget what the worship signified, and attach themselves exclusively to the material objects re- presented in corporeal shape ; so that all perception of a latent meaning would gradually vanish. But I shall have occasion to return t former stcite, and the cause for which I have been degraded into this." The silly Hindu gives such a story his implicit faith ; and the wily Brahman knows well how to profit by his credulity. Another privilege which tîiey very generally enjoy is an exemption- from the taxes imposed on houses. They are. also free from the tolls levied upon goods in the districts which are subject to the princes. p IQQ RIGHTS OF THE BRAHMACHARI. And they are rarely subjected to any corporal punishment, however atrocious their offences may be. The murder of a Brahman for any cause whatever, is one of the five great crimes acknowledged by the Hindus, which would without doubt draw down some signal and awful calamity over the whole land where it should be committed. It is thought quite sufficient to condemn a Brahman to restitution and heavy fines, when he happens to be guilty of malversation in office and embezzles the public money ; which frequently occurs. However, under the dominion of the Europeans and Mahometans, where their sacred and inviolable character is not so much respected, they must undergo, like other Hindus, the punishments due to their crimes. The Moors sometimes have them cudgelled to death, unless they redeem themselves at a large price in money, of which their op- pressors are still more covetous than of blood. But the Brahmans are so attached to their wealth, or rather they are so well acquainted with the character and disposition of those who desire to rob them of it, and know so well that if they once were seen to yield to any torture in the smallest degree they would never be free from it, while any property remained to them ; that they prefer to suffer patiently whatever can be inflicted rather than submit to the smallest exactions. I know from good authority that the last Musalman prince who reigned in the Mysore, being very desirous to seize upon the wealth which certain Brahmans of his country possessed, a measure which was very customary with him wherever he suspected a man to be rich ; those men set all his cruelty at defiance for the space of eighteen months, in which time he was unable to extract any thing from them. Yet during that whole period he had employed threats, imprisonment, chains, and every kind of bodily punishment which the agents of his cruelty were able to invent. But all was unavailing. They bore all those savage trials with the most heroic firmness. At length, their per- secutors were obliged to yield, and to let them go, with the shame of having tortured men for no cause, and without the gain of one farthing, although it was afterwards ascertained that they had considerable wealth. RIGHTS OF THE BRAHMACHARI. 107 When the Brahmans find themselves involved in troubles like these, there is no falsehood or perjury which they will not employ for the pur- pose of extricating themselves. Nor is this to be wondered at, since they are not ashamed to declare openly that untruth and false swearing are virtuous and meritorious deeds when they tend to their own advan- tage. Wlien such horrible morality is taught by the theologians of India, is it to be wondered at that falsehood should be so predominant among the people ? p 2 ( i08 ) CHAR III. OF THE EXACTNESS WITH WHICH A YOUNG BRAHMAN MUST SHUN EXTERNAL DEFILEMENT, AND THE DIFFERENT PRACTICES IN THIS RESPECT. x\.LL Hindus, in general, pay the most scrupulous attention and care to avoid whatever can, in their imagination, defile their person or appa- rel. It is more than probable that the Brahmans have communicated to them these habits, being themselves more deeply tinctured with them than the Hindus belonging to other casts. In their conduct and the whole intercourse of life, the Brahmans have nothing so much at heart as Cleanliness ; and as it is this quality, influencing their whole manners, that gives them in a great measure the superiority which they assert over the other tribes, I shall treat of it fully in this chapter ; more espe- cially as it is one of the principal objects of a Brahmachari to cultivate at an early age those habits which in their estimation form a part of good education. A human dead body inspires horror in every country. It cannot be touched but with the greatest repugnance ; and it excites some feeling of uncleanness afterwards. But the Hindus feel this sensation if they have but assisted at a funeral. When the cerem.ony is over they in- stantly immerse themselves in water, and no person can return home from such a duty until he be purified in that manner from the unclean- ness which he is thus supposed to have contracted. Even the news of the death of a relation, though at a hundred leagues distance, has the same effect ; and a person hearing such tidings would be con- sidered impure by all around him until he had bathed ; although EXTERNAL DEFILEMENT. 109 It is the near relations only and not strangers that would be so conta- minated. * Agreeably to the same feeling, a Hindu is no sooner dead than they hasten to inter the body ; and until it is carried away, neither those in the house nor any in the neighbourhood can either eat or drink or go on with their occupations. I have seen the ceremonies at a temple where many were assisting, stopped suddenly and suspended until a corpse in the same street should be buried. It is not thought sufficient to perfume merely the apartment in which a person has died. A Purohita Brahman must necessarily purify the house and remove the stain by means of the Mantram and his holy water ; and until this is accomplished no person must enter. Child-birth and periodical changes render a woman unclean. For a month after lying-in she must touch none of the earthen vessels of the house nor the clothes of any one ; far less their persons. When the period expires, she washes herself by plunging into the river, if there be one near ; or more commonly by having water poured over her body and head. To efface the periodical stain, they wash themselves in the same man- ner on the third day, when they return to their home, from which they were excluded for the three days of their uncleanness. Houses of moderate convenience have places separate and distinct, for their re- ception during that period ; but the poor, who have not this advantage, turn their women into the street, to a little corner set apart for that purpose, where they stay the time allotted, without communication with any one. In the two cases we have mentioned, it would by no means be suffi- cient to wash in plain water the clothing which the woman then wore ; but it is necessary to send it to the bleacher to be scoured. Even when brought home from this last operation, the Brahmans are not satisfied till they have again passed it through water. This last * This sort of defilement, occasioned by the death of any one, was recognized among the Israelites. Numbers, ix. 6, 7, and 1 0. and xix. 1 1 and 1 8. Their manner of purifying themselves from the stain occasioned by a dead body was very nearly the same as among the Hindus. jjQ EXTERNAL DEFILEMENT. practice, which they always follow even when they provide them- selves with new clothes, arises from the consideration that the bleacher and weaver being Sudras, will necessarily have affected them with a stain which the use of water is necessary to remove. The wives of the sect of Siva, under like circumstances, have a practice quite peculiar to themselves, and on that account deserving notice ; for they think they sufficiently efface a periodical uncleanness by rubbing their foreheads with ashes ; after which easy ceremony they are held to be pure. They call it Bhashmasnanam or the bath of ashes. Thus it has happened that, in the one party, frivolous and excessive attentions have degenerated into superstition ; and in the other, super- stition has occasioned the neglect of a practice perhaps necessary in a hot climate. It is not, as many authors seem to believe; a prejudice quite con- fined to the Hindus, to consider an earthen vessel as much more sus- ceptible of pollution than one of copper or any other metal. The latter may be purified merely by washing it, while the former becomes quite unserviceable and must be broken in pieces. The same rule is pre- scribed to the Israelites in Leviticus, ii. 32, S3. Among the Hindus, while the earthen vessels are new, and in the hands of the vender, any person may handle them ; but from the moment they have been put in water, they can serve the person only who has employed them or those with whom he can eat according to the rules of his cast. The Brahmans carry their nicety and delicacy on this point so far as not to permit Sudras and other strangers to enter their kitchen, or to have any other means of seeing their earthen vessels. A look from them would defile them, and make it necessary to break them. This custom, I imagine, may proceed from the earthen vessels in India being unglazed, which leaves them with open pores, and may lead to tlie conclusion that they easily attract what is unclean. *-sIt is the same with clothes as with dishes ; some being susceptible of being soiled, and others not. Of the latter kind are stuffs made of silk, and clothes of certain vegetable substances. It was on this account that all the ancient Brahmans of the solitary order, were always clothed with the last mentioned fabrics, and many of the EXTERNAL DEFILEMENT. m Brahmans of the present time clothe themselves in the former, in many cases, particularly at their meals. Some physicians of their cast will not feel the pulse of a sick Sudra but through a shred of silk to prevent immediate contact with his skin. With regard to Cotton, it is unfor- tunately subject to contract impurity from the touch of persons of an inferior cast, and particularly by that of Pariahs or Europeans. A Brahman who piques himself on his delicacy, shews, in a case of this kind, a thousand squeamish tricks, and in the intercourse of life is obliged to move under perpetual constraint. Finding it utterly im- possible, in towns and other frequented places, to avoid an accidental contact with people of all degrees, the very delicate Brahmans shun such places and retire into the villages. But those amongst them in whom self-interest predominates over the desire of acquiring the fame of a zealous observance of their rules, relax a little in this observance, and get off by shifting their clothes as soon as they get home. They tumble what they take off into the water, and thus the whole unclean- ness is got rid of. Leather and every kind of skin, except those of the tyger and the antelope, are held to be very impure. They must never touch with their hands the pantoufles and sandals which they wear on their feet. A person who rides on horseback must have some stuff to cover the saddle, the bridle and stirrup leathers, to avoid all contact with skin. The most disagreeable of all European fashions in their eyes is that of boots and gloves ; and they hold a man to be extremely un- refined who does not shrink to touch the slough of a carcase. A Brahman who is particular in his delicacy must attend also to what he treads upon. It would cost him a washing if he should touch a bone with his foot, or a broken pot, a bit of rag, or a leaf from which one had been eating. He must likewise be careful where he sits down. Some devotees always carry their seat with them, that is a tyger or antelope's skin, which are always held pure. Some are con- tented with a mat : the rich take a carpet ; but one may even squat on the ground without defilement, provided it be newly rubbed over with cow-dung. This last specific is also used as a daily purification of the Hindu houses from the defilement occasioned by comers and goers. 112 EXTERNAL DEFILEMENT. When thus appHed, diluted with water, it has the farther advantage of destroying the insects which would otherwise annoy them. Their mode of eating their meals also requires much circumspection and gravity. However numerous the company may be, it would be unpolite to address conversation to any person during dinner. They eat in silence, and no conversation begins till they have ended the repast and washed their hands and mouths. The left hand, on this occasion, as we noticed when speaking of the Grihastha Brahmans, must not be employed, unless to hold the vessel of water from which they drink. This last operation is performed not by applying the vessel to the lips, but by pouring the water from on high into the mouth. This is the Hindu practice universally ; and it would be con- sidered a piece of gross impropriety to drink as we do by touching the vessel with our lips. In eating, great care must be taken that nothing drops upon the plate, or on the leaf when one is eating apart. If a single grain of rice should fall, his meal would be at an end ; else he must cast away the plate so defiled, and bring another, with a fresh supply of food, in its place. The reason of this extreme fastidiousness is founded on the Hindu notion that the saliva is the most filthy and impure secretion that pro- ceeds from the body, and consequently held in the utmost horror. It is therefore never permitted to any one to spit within doors. If he has occasion, he must go out. The fragments of the repast are given neither to the domestics nor to the poor, (unless they be Pariahs, who accommodate themselves to any thing,) but are cast to the crows or dogs. The poor are served with alms of boiled rice in a proper state, imtouched by any one. But they who follow the usages of their cast, and who must not eat with those who give them the alins, receive it raw ; and it is in this state only that Brahmans will take it from persons of another cast. They rarely eat their food from plates ; and when they do so, it is only at home. It would be indecorous to use them elsewhere in public. The rice and other articles are served on bits of Banana leaf or some other leaves sewed very neatly together. They serve but once, and when they have done eating they take them to a distant place and EXTERNAL DEFILEMENT. 113 throw them away. To offer a Brahman any thing to eat on a metal or porcelahi plate which others had used, however well it may have been washed, would be considered as the grossest affront. With the same feeling, they will use neither spoon nor fork when they eat; and they are astonished how any one, after having once applied them to their mouths and infected them with saliva, should venture to repeat it a second time. When they eat any thing dry, they throw it into their mouth, so as that the fingers may not approach the lips. A European once gave a letter of introduction to a Brahman who had come from a great distance to receive it ; and having sealed it with a wafer, which he moistened by putting it on his tongue, the Brahman who observed this, would not touch the letter, and chose rather to forego any advantage he could derive from the recommendation than to carry a thing so polluted. The touch of most animals, particularly that of a dog, is a stain to the person of a Brahman. It is amusing to see the methods they take to shun the touch of one, when they see it approaching. If the dog should actually come in contact with them, they would be obliged instantly to plunge into the water and wash all their clothes in order to get free of such a stain. The dog, nevertheless, is one of the divinities that the Hindus pay honour to, under the name of Vahira or Bhairava ; and the image of it may be seen in several of their temples. There are a thousand other ways by which a Brahman may receive an outward stain ; but what we have already stated is sufficient to shew their feelings in that particular. It is principally for the purpose of purification from all such uncleanness that the bath is so common amongst them. There are certain rivers and ponds which are esteemed to have a particular virtue of this kind, and all the Brahmans of the neighbourhood repair thither regularly every day to bathe. Those who, by residing too far from such privileged places, are out of the reach of such an advantage, must content themselves with the tank or well of their own village. In many parts, the other casts are not admitted either to bathe or draw water from the places set apart for Q 114 EXTERNAL DEFILEMENT. the ablutions of the Brahmans. If they should trespass, their audacity would bring down a prosecution upon them. But, in places where they are not absolute masters, they are obliged to be somewhat more for- bearing. A Brahman rarely passes a day without bathing ; and such as desire to attract the particular regard and esteem of the public, by the strict observance of their customs, practise it three times every day. It is the general practice of the Indians to rub their head and body well with oil before they bathe ; and they remove the grease by applying the juice of certain plants, and then having warm water poured over all their body. This last ceremony is never omitted with regard to the dead, before they are taken to the grave or the pile; and it belongs to the nearest relations to perform it. ( 115 ) CHAP. IV. OF THE INTERIOR DEFILEMENT OF THE BODY ; OF THE ABSTINENCE OF THE BRAHMANS, AND THE PARTICULAR HORROR OF THE HINDUS FOR THE FLESH OF THE COW. iJESIDES the external pollution which goes no deeper than the skin, the Brahmans and the greater part of the Hindus admit another sort which penetrates into the body, and exists there until it is removed by some remedy adequate to that effect. It is difficult to dispute that there is some foundation for their notions on this subject of inward uncleanness. The excessive perspiration of some, and the sort of dis- eases which many others are i Tected with, appear distinctly to shew- that, from some cause inherent in warm climates, or in tlie nature of the bodies of those that inhabit them, the blood of most of them is impure. Tlie Brahmans, setting out upon this principle, have restricted themselves to certain practices by which they pretend that the body is defended from impurities, many of which are caught by infection. The atten- tion to be paid to this consideration is therefore not without foundation, although they have strayed beyond it in an infinite number of silly ob- servances which common sense derides. Water is the ordinary drink of the Brahmans. It must be drawn and carried with care, and by none but persons of the cast. To drink what had been drawn or carried by Sudras would be considered an ex- traordinary offence, and would cause an internal taint, requiring much time and many ceremonies to purge. Yet in many cases the Brahmans and Sudras are obliged to draw their water from the same well. They must be careful, however, that the pitcher of the one does not touch that of the other ; for if they should come into contact, the Brahman Q 2 116 INTERNAL DEFILEMENT. would infallibly be obliged to break his, if an earthen one, or if made of metal, to have it well scom-ed with sand and water. To avoid this inconvenience, the Brahmans, wherever they are supported, interdict the Sudras from approaching their wells. This prohibition is still more strongly enforced on the Pariahs, who, when hard pressed for water, are seen bringing their pitchers half way and entreating the Sudras to give them a supply. Wliere the Mahometans bear sway, indeed, it is common to see Brahman, Sudra, and Pariah all drawing from the same well, regardless of all distinctions. Nor are they much better ob- served in some European provinces, though I myself can bear witness to an insurrection occasioned by a Pariah woman who irregularly ven- tured to draw water at the common well. There is a kind of beverage very prevalent and in great request in India, M'hich is a preparation of curds beat down in water. It is thought to be a wholesome and refreshing drink even although the makers and venders are Sudras, and that it is often no better than water with a slight dash of white. The Brahmans drink it greedily, and when re- proached for swallowing, without scruple, water brought by Sudras, they assert in their vindication that tl ^ mixture of curd, the product of the cow, purifies the whole. Thus, where their convenience is con- cerned, they are at no loss to discover a justification. But they have a great aversion to a liquor called Callu in Tamul, which is drawn by incision from the cocoa, palm, and some other spe- cies of trees. It is sweet and refreshing when newly extracted from the tree, but when drank to excess it inebriates. By distillation, it is converted into a sort of brandy, which is no less prohibited by the Brahmans and all other ffood casts than the Callu itself All intoxi- eating liquors occasion internal uncleanness whicli requires a great number of ceremonies to efface. Drunkenness is in general very much detested among the Hindus. A notorious drunkard cannot escape with a gentler punishment than the degrading infamy of being expelled from his cast. There are scarcely any but the vile Pariahs who drink such liquors openly ; and their conduct in this only adds to the universal contempt in which they are held. Some Brahmans, however, it must be confessed, especially INTERNAL DEFILEMENT. II7 in the European establishments, exceed a little on this score ; but they take all possible precautions to keep secret so enormous a breach of their customs. The air one breathes may also communicate inward unclcanness in certain cases. This would decidedly happen if some whiffs of smoke should reach a Brahman from a funeral pile where a body is con- suming. In some districts the Paiùahs are obliged to make a long circuit when they perceive any Brahmans in the way, that their breath may not in- fect them or even their shadow fall upon them as they pass. The Su- dras are obliged to keep at a certain distance when they speak to them, and even then they are bound in good manners to hold their hands over their mouths to prevent their breath from being offensive. The horror of a Pariah, which has been inspired into them from their infancy, is so great, and the defilement from touching them is so much dreaded, that an instance seldom occurs of youthful passion impelling a Brahman to an intercourse with women of that vile cast. It is to be wished, for the honour of the Sudras, that as much could be said for them. But the most striking example of the pains taken by the Brahmans to avoid internal defilement, is the abstinence from Meat, which they all profess. This is to be understood not as relating to all living crea- tures merely, but to whatever has had the animating principle, such as eggs of all kinds, from which they are as much restricted as from flesh. They have also retrenched from their vegetable food, which is the great fund of their subsistence, all roots which form a head or bulb m the ground, such as onions ; and those also which assume the same shape above ground, like mushrooms and some others. Or, are we to sup- pose, that they had discovered something unwholesome in the one spe- cies, and proscribed the other on account of its fetid smell ? This I cannot decide, all the information I have ever obtained from those amongst them whom I have consulted on the reasons of their absti- nence from them, being, that it is customary to avoid such articles, to- gether with all those that have had the germ of the living principle. This is what is called in India, to eat becomingly. Such as use the pro- 118 ABSTINENCE FROM ANIMAL FOOD. hibited articles cannot boast of their bodies being pure, according to the estimate of the Brahmans. I am aware that, amongst these also, some secret infractions of the rule have occurred ; but the secrecy with which it is violated proves that it is generally observed ; and it may be fairly assumed that the great body of the Brahmans rigidly abstain from all sorts of animal food, as well as from whatever has had the principle of vitality. The history of the world furnishes no* example of abstinence so long persisted in as in the case of the Brahmans, and so religiously and universally observed. This practice, followed by the noblest part of a great nation, by people living in this manner with their wives and children, without ever forming a thought of departing from it in the most grievous diseases, has probably endured amongst them several thousands of years, affording in my judgment a convincing proof of their great antiquity. I conceive it to be the continuation of the life which men led before the flood ; in those times when the juices of the earth had not yet suffered any change, and the nourishing herbs and suc- culent fruits yielded all the nourishment that v/as required. Men, in that era, even after their corruption, still gave proofs of some remains of their pristine innocence and of the gentleness of their original nature, by the horror which they so long kept up at the shedding of blood. And, in all probability it was the forbearance from every living thing, and the sim- ple use of the vegetable productions, that contributed in part to the long life of the primitive patriarchs. It was not till after the flood, that men, grown more cruel and voracious, or perhaps no longer finding in the fruits of the earth the same nourishing properties they had for- merly possessed, fell into the habit of shedding blood, committing murder, and covering their tables with dead carcases. Tlie Brahmans, or those rather from whom they derive their origin, separating in good time from tlie rest of the original descendants of Noah, before the practice of eating flesh had become conmion, adhered to the first practice of their fathers, and transmitted to their posterity that dread of the effusion of blood which was common to all men be- fore the deluge, and which the Brahmans alone have kept up unaltered even to our times. Is it their nature that has degenerated, or is it ours ? ABSTINENCE FROM ANIMAL FOOD. Hg So far from our having any reason to believe that this rigorous absti- nence of the Brahmans has declined or is falling into disuse, we see that, even amongst the Sudras, the better classes follow the same cus- tom ; and the observance of it raises them in the estimation of the public. It is said of persons, when one intends to do them honour, that they are peo/j/c zvho abstain from meat; and those who aspire, through this practice, to inward purity, are also remai'ked to become more at- tentive to their exterior cleanliness by more frequently bathing and wearing more decent attire. This abstinence, universal among the Brahmans, and which has for its constituent principle interior purity, is still maintained, as we have already remarked, by those Hindus who are particularly addicted to the worship of Siva. No person who wears the Lingam must eat any thing that has had vitality. But as, with all this care about inward purity, the Lingamites are remarked for external slovenliness, they lose on one side what they gain on the other, and their abstinence does not raise them above the other Hindus who eat meat without scruple. It is a particular reproach to the Lingamites that they allow their women to remain within their houses and to go about their ordinary affiiirs at the time of periodical uncleanness ; that they do not compel them to wash when it is over ; and even that they do not enforce proper precautions when they are in child-bed, which in warm climates are no less condu- cive to health than to purity. The practice of eating as is becoming, as the Hindus express it, by abstaining from whatever has had life, imparts to those who observe it a sensibility of smell by which they can distinguish the fetid odour of persons who have ate flesh four-and-twenty hours before. This is a fact which I have often witnessed, and which may probably be owing in part to the great perspiration which the heat of the climate produces. In some casts, they make a curious distinction with regard to absti- nence from animal food, by permitting it to the men and denying it to the women. It is owing in a great measure to the notion of considering as impure those who eat of animal food, that the separation between the Pariahs and the other casts has become so extremely wide. They will eat not II 12Q ABSTINENCE FROM ANIMAL FOOD. only animals killed on purpose, but also such as die naturally. Oxen and buffaloes which perish from old age or disease belong to them of right, and they carry home and greedily devour the tainted carrion which they find on the highways and in the fields. To kill an ox or a cow is considered by the Hindus as an inexpiable crime, and to eat their flesh as a taint that can never be effaced. The disgust which they all have for such a species of food is so great that the mere proposal of such a thing would excite many to sickness ; and there is absolutely no instance of a native of any cast, except the Pari- ahs, who has ever shewn the desire to taste it. This rigorous prohibition to kill cows, oxen, and buffaloes, and to feed on their flesh, may proceed in a great degree from superstition, on the idea that all these animals, particularly the cow, are divinities. I believe, however, that its true origin is a motive more powerful in its influence upon the human mind than any that flow from religion itself, I mean interest. The early legislators well knew the extreme value of those animals, in a country where every thing they yielded, even to the dung, serves for the use of man ; where there is no other resource for the labours of agriculture, for the carriage of goods and other merchan- dise from one place to another, and for many other services indispens- able to civilized life. But, on the other hand, what would become of the poor inhabitants, who feed only on insipid vegetables, if they were deprived of the rich and wholesome nourishment derived from the teats of the cow? Wliat then might happen if the number of these animals, in other respects so difficult to keep up in the country, should be daily diminished by putting their lives at the discretion of a race which, in all its actions, conducts itself uniformly without reflection, and never thinks of any thing beyond its immediate wants and desires ; a people reo-ardless of any evils to which tliey may be subject to-morrow by the abuse of what they enjoyed to-day ? Anotlier motive not less powerful than those we have mentioned, and which no doubt has also contributed to proscribe this species of food, is the desire of preserving health. It is certain that beef is an aliment too rich and heavy in warm chmates, especially for the feeble Btomachs of the natives. The custom of eating it would speedily have ABSTINENCE FROM ANIMAL FOOD. 121 ruined their health. I know Europeans who, having been accustomed to make it the chief part of their food when in Europe, abstained from it wholly when they came to India, from observing that as often as they fed upon it they were tormented with indigestion. These observations, and perhaps many more of the same nature, pro- bably occurred to the penetration of those who gave laws to India. On the other hand they knew too well the character of the people to whose discretion they committed the life of the most useful, of the most pre- cious of animals. They knew further that a prohibition would soon be forgotten or violated unless founded on supernatural authority ; and so many motives concurring to require their preservation, they made them deities, that a man who slew them might be held as a sacrilegious mon- ster, and he who ate of their flesh should be tainted with pollution not to be effaced. To kill a cow is a crime which the Hindu laws punish with death. The Pariahs can eat only of the flesh of such of those animals as die naturally. This is not visited upon them as a crime, but they are con- sidered to be wretches as filthy and disgusting as their food is revolting. Indeed the virtuous feeling of indignation is carried to excess against them : but it is the natural disposition of the Hindus to do nothing of any sort in moderation. There are, however, some epidemic maladies, chiefly cutaneous, which I have often seen affecting the Pariahs exclu- sively, while their neighbours the Sudras were exemjit from them ; which seems to corroborate the opinion that the blood of the former is corrupted by the unwholesome and disgusting food which they use ; and this justifies in some degree the treatment which they receive from the other tribes. What has contributed to render the European name hateful to the Hindus, and indeed to sink it in their private thoughts beneath the Pariahs themselves, is the use which they undisguisedly make of the flesh of the cow to satiate their gluttony. I am not at all surprised that the first European invaders who penetrated into India should have shewn so little regard for the most sacred and most universally estab- lished prejudices of that people, because they were not then aware of their origin and motive. But I am really astonished that the behaviour 122 ABSTINENCE FROM ANIMAL FOOD. of the Europeans, when, upon first setting their feet on the boundary of India, they began to slaughter the oxen and the cows, did not excite an universal insurrection, or that one single man of the sacrilegious in- vaders escaped the indignation which must have burned in the breasts of the Hindus, on the murder of those sacred creatui'es, whom they rank in the number of their principal divinities. So enormous a sacrilege, such positive deicide, would have been ample motive with any other nation to exterminate every individual who was concerned in it, and to render for ever execrable the memory of a people that would thus sport with the lives of creatures who stand amongst the dearest objects of their worship. The forbearance and patience of the Hindus, who have seen, for upwards of three hundred years, a handful of Europeans established amongst them, sacrificing every day to their voracious appetites the divinities whom they adore, will paint the gentle, the soft, the lenient character of these people more vividly than the pencil of the most eloquent historian. The Egyptians and many other ancient nations have not been so patient under similar circumstances. The principal reason that the people of God had, when captives in Egypt, for soliciting permission from Pharaoh to retire far into the desert in order to offer their sacrifices to the Lord without restraint, was undoubtedly the fear of being all massacred or stoned to death if they had dared to celebrate them, according to the invitation of Pharaoh, on the spot where they dwelt. This was in the midst of the idolatrous «" people of Egypt, who paid adoration to some of the animals which must have been used by the Israelites as burnt offerings. " And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. And Moses said, it is not meet so to do ; for we shall sacrifice the abominatifln of the Egyptians to the I^ord our God : Lo, shall we mcrifice ilic abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone usf" Exodus, viii. 25, 26. Cambyses rendered himself more detestable to the people of Egypt by slaying the bull Apis, than he had done by the innumerable cruelties and all the acts of tyranny which he had exercised upon them. Amongst that people, to kill, even unintentionally, one of the animals ABSTINENCE FROM ANIMAL FOOD. 12,J held sacred, was the greatest of crimes. The culprits could not be redeemed from death. A Roman soldier was torn in pieces , by the people, notwithstanding the terror of the Roman name, for accidentally killing a cat. Diodorus who relates this fact, adds that, during a famine, the Egyptians, rather than eat these animals, devoured one another. The Hindus follow the same course. To whatever extremities they might be reduced, the greater part of them would much rather suifer themselves to perish with hunger than support their lives by slaying and eating the flesh of the cow. The Europeans, who commit both of these enormities without re- morse, have by that means rendered their name for ever hateful to the Hindus ; and if their conduct has not stirred up a universal insurrection amongst that people, it must, as we have ah'eady said, be imputed to the soft and timid character of the natives, as much as to the far spread terror of the European name. The feeble Hindus content themselves with silently weeping over this sacrilegious abuse and horrible violation of their most sacred customs ; the trampling down of which they bitterly deplore in secret. In those parts where idolatrous princes still reign with absolute sway, the murder of a cow would on no pretext whatever be pardoned. An act so foul and execrable in the eyes of the Hindus could never be tolerated or endured but in the provinces where Europeans or Mahometans are the rulers. To purify the body from all internal defilement which it can have contracted, no remedy is accounted more efficacious than the pancJia- kari/am, or five substances which proceed from the cow, and have been already mentioned. This remedy would be of indispensable necessity for one that had fallen under the last degree of uncleanness ; as if, for example, a Rrahman, under any circumstances that could exist, had drank water that had been drawn by a Sudra. As to ordinary stains, from which no care can at all times defend the most wary, there are many modes of removing them, which I shall by and by describe ; and if they have the virtue to purify the soul, how much more efficacious must they be when applied to the stains of the body ? B 2 ( 124 ) CHAP. V. ox THE DEFILEMENT OF THE SOUL, AND THE REMEDIES USED TO EFFACE IT. IT is a doctrine taught in Hindu books, maintained by the philo- sophers of that nation, and even sometimes promulgated by the Brah- mans, that the principal, and indeed the only pollution of the soul proceeds from Sin ; and that it is the perverseness of the Will that is the cause of it. One of their poets, Vemana, expresses himself in this manner : " it is the water that brings the mud ; and it is the water that washes it away : the will is the cause of sin ; and the will alone must remove it." Such a doctrine as this, however badly followed up in practice, proves at least that the Hindus are not ignorant that the change of the will is an essential condition for obtaining the remission of sins and purifying the soul. But the lights of nature which reason will never suffer to be wholly extinguished, even in the thickest darkness of gross idolatry, have been much obscured by the passions to which the Brahmans have become enslaved. These have persuaded them that, without renouncing sin and giving it up from the heart, there is a way of purifying the soul by divers remedies, which, from their extreme facility, arc calculated only to diminish the abhorrence of it, and to lull the guilty in fatal security. The Panclutharijam, which we have already noticed, serves for the " remimon of all sins cominiltcd id: h a ])crfcc/ /iHuicledge." These are the express words of a Brahman author. The remedy would appear to us to be of a disgusting nature ; but the Hindus think other- wise, and both recommend and practise the frequent use of it, without shewing any repugnance. DEFILEMENT OF THE SOUL. ^25 As they consider sin under the notion of an impurity of the soul, it is not wonderful that they should have thought bathing the jjroper means of purifying it. There are certain places of bathing which have the most complete efficacy. Those who wash tiieir bodies in the Gano-es, the Indus, the Cavery, the Krishna, and some other rivers, whose waters are sanctified by superstition, restore the soul and the body from all sins and corruptions which they may have contracted. Even the distance of those rivers may be obviated, and their benefits obtained without stirring from home ; it being quite enough to direct your ima- gination to their waters, and to think of them while you are performing your purifying ablutions. There are also a great many springs and pools consecrated by super- stition, and much renowned for the spiritual effects which they com- municate to those who bathe in them. In some of them it is only every twelve years that remission of sin can be found. Such is the case with the lake of KumbJiakiim in the Tanjore. Some have this virtue every third year. Of this kind is the stream that runs from the moun- tain of Tirtlia-7nalay in the Carnatic. There are still many other privileged spots which possess a periodical virtue for purifying soul and body from uncleanness. When the year and the day arrive for bathing in those sacred waters, a crowd of people almost without number, who have been previously apprised of it by messengers sent to all parts by the Brahmans, who are interested in propagating the superstition, assemble as pilgrims, and arrange themselves all round the water at the happy time. They wait for the favourable hour and moment of the day ; and on the instant of the astrologer's announcing it, all — men, women, children, plunge into the water at once, and with an uproar that is not to be imagined. In the midst of the confusion some are drowned, some suffocated, and still more meet with dislocated limbs. But the fate of those who lose their lives is rather envied than deplored. Thev are considered as martyrs of their zeal ; and this happy death lets them pass immediately into the abode of bliss, without being obliged to mi- dergo another life upon earth. 125 DEFILEMENT OF THE SOUL. The period of an Eclipse is also a privileged time for washing away the impurity of the soul. Wherever the bathing takes place, it is effec- tual at that time ; but particularly when made in the sea. When per- formed at the solstices, or the equinox, on the eleventh day of the moon, and some other particular epochs, the virtue is also great. The disemboguement of one river, or the confluence of two are likewise considered very favourable situations. But it would be altogether end- less to pursue this subject. The Mantras, the mere sight of great men, particularly of Gurus, the thinking upon Vishnu, are not less effectual than bathings for cleansing the soul. Pilgrimage to certain temples or other places, become famous by the superstition of the country, the mere view of the summit of very high mountains, will procure the pardon of sin. One of these privileged mountains exists in the district of Coimbetur in the Carna- tic, called Nilagiri-vialay, which is supposed to be the loftiest in the province ; and, upon that ground alone, the Hindus, whose principle it is to deify whatever is extraordinary in nature, have converted it into a sacred place. The access to the summit being very difficult, the mere sight of it, which may be had at a great distance, is sufficient to effect the forgiveness of sins in those who visit it with the intention of obtaining this favour. And the visits to it are therefore not unfrequent. A Brahman once, after pursuing a dog four times round a temple of Siva, killed him with one stroke of his cudgel at the gate of., the tem- pie; and for this achievement he obtained the pardon of all' his sins, and tlie distinguished honours of being transported to the Kailasa or Paradise of Siva. Admission into the Vaikuntha or Paradise of Vishnu, was granted to a great sinner for pronouncing, though in a blasphemous way, the name oi' Narajjan a, one of tlie appellations of Vishnu. All these anecdotes are taken from Indian books. But, even throucrh the thick darkness with which idolatry has overspi'ead the mind of the Hindus, we may discern a ray distinctly pointing to the fall and cor- ruption of human nature, and the necessity of some remedy for repairing its errors and restoring; it to its original state. Besides the sins committed in his present life, which a Brahman has to atone for as far as he is able, he must also attend to the expiation of DEFILEMENT OF THE SOUL. ] 27 those whicli he had committed in preceding hves. To be born a Brah- man is no doubt the most blessed of all regenerations, and is bestowed only on the accumulated merit of a long course of good deeds performed in preceding states of existence. But a new birth is itself a proof that some faults remained unexpiated, else the soul would have been trans- ported at once to the residence of bliss, and delivered from the punish- ment of revolving from one generation to another. Good works, such as giving alms to the Brahmans, erecting places of hospitality on the highways, building temples, contributing to the ex- pences of worship, digging tanks, and many other meritorious acts of charity, when united to the various remedies already described, greatly enhance their efficacy, and contribute exceedingly to the cleansing of the soul from recent stains, as well as from those which have adhered to it from its former existence. I will not say any thing here of the obstacles which the soul continu- ally experiences in its progress towards purification, from its family connection, its cast, perverse disposition, and many other sources of sin which occur in the course of life : but I will return to the subject hereafter. ( 128 ) CHAP. VI. CONJECTURES RESPECTING THE ORIGIN OF THE RITES OF THE BRAHMANS CONCERNING UNCLEANNESS AND PURITY. JL HE conduct and the manner of thinking of the Hindus respecting uncleanness and the means of purification, are so different from any thing to be seen in other nations, that it would be very desirable if we could discover some evidence to enable us to discern with certainty what has given rise to those rules of conduct which they so invariably pursue. Something approaching to their customs is perceivable in several parts of the books of the Old Testament ; in the conduct of Jacob, for example, who, in pi'oceeding to offer sacrifice to God, at Bethel, commanded his family to " be clean and change their gar- ments*;" in the aversion of the Egyptians for shepherds f, in their hatred of strangers ; and above all in the law prescribed to the children of Israel, through Moses, which directs them in the course to be followed with regard to several real and formal impurities:):. The rules on this subject, minutely laid down in Leviticus, are in many respects the same with those which are now in full vigour among the Brahmans. The learned, I believe, agree almost unanimously that Moses, in pre- scribing laws on this subject to the people of God, did no more than to regulate and fix the notions of the Jews on many points already estab- lished and observed. I suspect, even, that by the rules which he laid down on the subject ol' different sorts of uncleanness, he sought to moderate the excess which they ran into in such matters in ]']gypt, as well as in most parts of Asia. In after times the Israelites did not confine themselves to the instructions laid down by their holy legisla- * Gen. XXXV. 2. f Gen. xlvi. S*. '% Levil. v. xi. xii. xiii. xiv. xv. tnSICLEANNESS AND PURITY. 129 tor ; but, as far as appears, exceeded his rules ; and pi'obably it is from their extreme eagerness in this respect, acquired in Egypt, that many of the practices of the Jews of the present day have been deduced, for which there is no authority in their own ancient law. Although, in comparing the rules of the one with those of the other, many of the Jewish rites correspond with those of the Brahmans ; yet, in many others, the difference and even the opposition is so striking, as to make it impossible that the one could have proceeded from the other by any communication. And as I have never seen any thing in the history of the Egyptians and Jews that could induce me to believe that either of these nations or any other on the face of the earth, have been established earlier than the Hindus and particularly the Brahmans; so I cannot be induced to believe that the latter have drawn their rites from foreign nations. On the contrary, I infer that they have drawn them from an original source of their own. Whoever knows any thing of the spirit and character of the Brahmans, their stateliness, their pride and extreme vanity, their distance, and sovereign contempt for every thing that is foreign, and of which they cannot boast to have been the inventors, will agree with me that such a people cannot have con- sented to draw their customs and rules of conduct from an alien country. But if it is not by communication with other nations, as old as them- selves, that the Hindus have acquired customs and rules which subsist among them to the present day, and unite them indissolubly in a na- tional mass, from what source do they derive them ? On so obscure a subject we can only offer conjectures ; and mine, I hope, will not be wide of probability. Even before the flood, men distinguished, in the sacrifices which they offered to God, between clean animals and unclean ; things that were pure and things that were impure. The Lord approved that distinc- tion, and commanded Noah and his children to observe it when they introduced the various living creatures into the ark. (Gen. chap, vii.) And, although God, after the deluge, authorised the human race, who had been, up to that epoch, nourished by the simple productions of the soil, to use thenceforth more solid food, by substituting the flesh of s 230 UNCLEANNESS AND PURITY. animals, which were then solemnly submitted to the dominion of man (Gen. chap, ix.) ; it is nevertheless probable that this distinction between clean and unclean animals, and things pure and impure, remained long engraven on the minds of the first men who lived after the flood. Their impressions on this subject were probably deepened by the or- dinance of God which allowed them to eat the flesh of the living crea- tures, but forbade them expressly to taste their blood. (Gen. chap. ix. 4.) At any rate, it appears beyond all doubt that the notions about defile- ' ment, founded on the distinction between things clean and unclean, existed before the deluge. It is probable, therefore, that the practices of the Hindus upon pollution and purity proceed from that original source, and that their tenets on this subject were transmitted to them, at least in part, by their first legislators, who lived soon after the flood. , It is well known that many other ancient nations, in common with the Hindus, entertain those opinions respecting bodily and spiritual uncleanness, and, like them, have recourse to water or fire, and some- times to both, for purification. While the people of India were con- secrating the memory of the Ganges and the Indus, the Waters of the Phasis were also regarded as having the virtue to purify the body and the soul from all uncleanness, not only by the inhabitants of Colchis or Mingrelia, but by all who sailed to the mouth of that river ; and the Egyptians attributed the same quality to the Nile. When the Flood was but lately gone by, and mankind still formed but one people, they would naturally turn their attention to the means of preserving health. Cleanliness would at once strike them as ser- viceable in this respect ; and as they could not then procure it by a frequent change of clothing, they would have recourse to the constant use of the bath. In spite of this, diseases would be more common than they had ever been before the deluge, as every thing in nature had degenerated. It would be remarked that many of those diseases were occasioned by the improper food which they took. This would ac- cordingly l)e proscribed as impure. JMany remarks on the subject would occur, some good and others bad, which would spread, and lead to con- clusions respecting what was useful andwhat j)crnicious,and to distinctions between the clean and the unclean. Nevertheless, in such times, when UNCLEANNESS AND I'UUITY. 131 medicine, like every other science, was in its cradle, it is probable that cleanliness and the bath would long continue to be the universal re- medy for all evil, and every species of corporeal impurity. But, being compelled to separate, and to spread population over the various countries of the earth, they carried with them, under their dif- ferent leaders, the arts necessary for society, with the customs already established with a view to the preservation of health. The warmth of the climate of India, which probably was one of the first countries in- habited, would incline its original colonists to make strict regulations for the exact observance of the necessary practices. Among the new race, or their immediate successors, men would arise, having authority, but superstitious and extravagant in their notions, who would carry much farther than their ancestors had done, the notions respecting filth and purity. Observing, at the same time, that in the country which had fallen to their lot, every thing tended to carelessness and hurtful indifference, they established severe laws upon the minutest observances. But in their wish to promote the good of the people and prevent a fatal decline, they plunged them into an abyss of error, which has been rendered impassable by the absurd imaginations of their poets. At the same time, if we have good reason to i-eproach the Brahmans- with their outrageous strictness in point of purity ; are they to be con- demned, on the other hand, for manifesting horror at the excessive beastliness of many of the Europeans who come in their way ? Wliat ought they to think on seeing the disgusting appearance of those who compose the crews of our ships, or when they observe our soldiers, when not on duty, drunk perhaps, and deprived of reason, rolling in the dirt in presence of the multitude, and scarcely retaining the ap- pearance of men ? ( 132 ) CHAP. VIL OF MARRIAGE AMONG THE BRAHMANS. IVlARRIAGE is to an Hindu the great, the most essential of all ob- jects ; that of which he speaks the most and looks forward to from the remotest distance. A man who is not married is considered to be a person without establishment, and almost as a useless member of society. Until he arrives at this state he is consulted on no great affairs, nor employed on any important trust. In short, he is looked upon as a man out of the pale of nature. A Brahman who becomes a widower is likewise held to have fallen from his station ; and nothing is more urgent upon him than to resume the marriage state. The case is quite different with respect to Widows. It never enters into their view to procure a new establishment, even when they lose their husbands at the age of six or seven : for it is not rare to see widows no older, particularly among the Brahmans (as has been already mentioned) where an old man of sixty or upwards takes for his second wife a child of that tender age. Their prejudices, however, on this subject, have taken such firm root in their minds, that the bare men- tion of remarrying these young widows would be considered by their relations and by themselves as the greatest of insults. Yet they are despised through all India. The very name of widow is a reproach ; and the greatest possible calamity that can befal a woman is to survive her husband ; although to marry with another would be held a thou- sand times more to be dreaded. From that moment she would be hunted out of society, and no decent person would venture at any time to have the slightest intercourse with her. Though Marriage be considered the natural condition of man, yet Celibacy is not unknown in India. It is even a state respected ; and OF MAllKUGE. 133 those of their Sannyâsis who are known to lead their hves in perfect celibacy, receive, on that account, marks of distinguished honour and respect. But this condition cannot be embraced excepting by those who devote themselves to a life of seclusion from the world, and of perpetual contemplation, such as that class of enthusiasts do; or by such as are bound by their profession to discharge the duties of religion to- wards their neighbours, such as the Gurus. The Hindus seem to have felt that the duties of Penitent and Guru were incompatible with those of the master of a family, and that a man ought to be free from the em- barrassment and anxiety of one of these stations to be fully able to ac- quit himself properly of the other. This was perhaps the chief reason for allowing the Sannyâsis and the greater part of the Gurus to live in a single state. The greater number, however, are bachelors only in name. No vir- tue is less familiar to them than chastity. It is publicly known that they keep women, and commit breaches of that virtue which they pro- fess, that would disgrace the most profane. But their sacred title of Sannyâsi or Guru raises them above the attacks of the wicked ; and such human failings, if not carried to great excess, scarcely diminish the outward reverence and respect which they receive from the silly vulgar. At the same time, I cannot but believe that the small number of real Sannyâsis or Penitents who are still found living in woods and deserts, wholly retired from the world, and who, through vanity or fanaticism, con- demn themselves to all sorts of privations, and inure their bodies to the harshest austerities, actually live in celibacy and altogether unconnected with women. The severe life which they lead scarcely allows the body to war against the spirit. But, as far as concerns the Gurus and Sannyâsis, who scour the country to live on the public credulity, or those who shut themselves up in a sort of monasteries and lead a lazy and volup- tuous life, with no other occupation than that of receiving the presents and offerings which their numerous votaries, deceived by their false re- putation for sanctity, bring to them from all quarters ; such men are to be considered as mere impostors, or knaves, who abuse the credulous populace, under the guise of celibacy, while they are revelling in every II 134 OF MARRIAGE. species of luxury. All that I have heard from various persons who have lived in their service as domestics, and have been admitted to familiar intercourse with them, confirms me in the opinion which I have always entertained, that nothing is more foreign to them than that virtue which they chiefly affect. Although the state of celibacy be allowed to those who devote them- selves to a life of contemplation, it is not so with regard to any class of women. They cannot profess virginity, however much they may be attached to that condition. In ancient times, however, it seems to have been known among the Hindus ; as frequent mention is made in their books of the Jive celebrated Virgins, who are almost as famous as the seven celebrated Rishi. The Hindu authors speak in lofty terms of commendation of the care with which they preserved themselves spot- less, and of the inflexible firmness with which they resisted the solicit- ations of some powerful seducers, who used every means to overcome them. Even the most powerful of the gods tried to corrupt them, and were foiled. Many other particulars of these five virgins may be found in the Bhagavata and some other Hindu books. Now, however, it is not permitted to women to embrace this holy profession. The state of subjection and servitude in which they are held in India cannot admit of their following any employment which would make them independent and place them beyond the power of the men. It is an established national rule that women are designed for no other end than to be subservient to the wants and pleasures of the males. Accordingly, all females without exception, are obliged to marry when husbands can be found for them. They always try to bring it about before they become really marriageable ; and those who arrive at that period without finding a husband, seldom preserve their innocence long. Constant experience proves that Hindu girls have neither sufficient firmness nor discretion to resist, for any length of time, the solicitations of a seducer ; which is no doubt a strong reason for disposing of them in marriage so soon. Those who cannot find a husband fall into the state of concubinage with those who chuse to keep them, or secretly indulge in those enjoy- ments which, if known, would expose them to shame. OF MARRIAGE. I35 r have taken great pains to learn what is the real spirit of Hindu jurisprudence on the subject of Polygamy, and the indissolubility of marriage ; and although 1 have not arrived at any absolute certainty, all that I have observed appears to demonstrate that the former is pro- hibited and the latter established. Persons well acquainted with the usages of the country have confirmed me in this conclusion, and have assured me that if there be many instances of polygamy, particularly among the great, who are suffered to have a plurality of wives, yet it is really an abuse and an open violation of the customs of the Hindus, amongst whom marriage has been always confined to couples ; though in all places the powerful will set themselves above the law. The custom or law in India which limits marriage to one pair has been followed by the principal divinities whom the Hindus acknow- ledge. They were married but to one lawful wife. They have given Saraszi'ati only, to Brahma ; Lakshmi to Vishnu ; and Parvati to Siva. Sita-devi, the wife of Rama, having proved unfaithful to him, was carried off by the giant Ravana; but he did not repudiate her on that account, nor marry another wife. He went in pursuit of the ravisher, and commenced a long war against him, in which, after sus- taining defeats and gaining victories, he at last subdued his enemy and regained his consort. All these stories, and many more of the same kind which I could adduce, seem to prove that a plurality of legitimate wives was in ancient times unknown and rejected. It is clear that conjugal fidelity was not one of the attributes of those fabulous gods ; but it is no less certain that they never assign to them more than one woman under the appellation of wife. Even in modern times polygamy is not tolerated ; although, as we have already remarked, kings and persons of high rank are permitted to take two wives, sometimes three, and in some instances as many as five. Still, this is considered an abuse, although it is not safe to complain against authority. Where persons in private life are seen to live with several women, they are only concubines ; one only being married to him and bearing the title of wife. The children from her alone are considered legiti- 136 OF MARRIAGE. mate. The rest are bastards ; whom the law would exclude from any share of their father's property, if he died without a will. I know of one case only where a man already married may lawfully espouse a second wife ; which is, when the first, after long cohabitation, is pronounced barren. But even in this case, the consent of the first wife is necessary, and she always continues to be considered as the man's principal wife, and as superior to the second. Neither is this second marriage conducted with half the ceremony as the former. It was for this reason, and for the purpose of raising up a progeny, that Abraham espoused Hagar, in the life-time and with the consent of his first wife Sarah. The troubles which were brought upon this holy patriarch by bringing two legitimate wives into his house are recorded in the sacred Scriptures (Gen. xxi.) The same inconveniences and still worse occur amongst the Hindus who marry two women. It is not therefore an enviable privilege ; and the greater number of those who have barren spouses, choose rather to abandon the hopes of children than to be obliged to live with two wives. The indissoluble nature of marriage is also, as far as I can judge, equally well established among the Hindus as that of the marriage of a couple of persons. A man cannot divorce his wife on any ground whatever. If there are any examples of an opposite kind, it is only amongst people of the lowest casts, or of disreputable lives ; or be- cause the previous marriage had been attended by such impediments as to render it invalid by the laws of the country. But marriages legally solemnized can never be dissolved amongst persons of a re- putable cast, particularly amongst the Brahmans. If the husband insists on a separation from his wife on account of adidtery, it can only be effected, as with us, quoad mcnsam cf forum; and the marriage is not dissolved by it. The woman, after being so discarded, continues to wear the fa/ili or symbol of marriage, and is not treated otherwise than as the lawful wife of the man from whom she is separated. He also is obliged to support her as long as she lives ; and, during that time, he can have no other woman but as a concubine. OF MARRIAGE. 137 After these general remarks upon the marriage state, let us now attend to the ceremonies and pageantry which the Hindus employ in the celebration of this solemn contract, which elevates both parties into their proper sphere, and, by connecting them with sacred and indissoluble bands, keeps up the renovation of the world. But, of the great variety of ceremonies which precede and accompany the celebration of marriage, the most important and solemn circumstance in life, we shall content ourselves with tracing the most prominent. The father of a young Brahmanari, if he be rich and liberal, takes upon himself all the expence of the marriage of his daughter. Some divide the burthen with the father of the intended husband ; but in general they take from him a considerable sum of money in return for having given him their daughter, and oblige him besides to bear the whole charge of the marriage. To marry, or to buy a wife, are synonymous terms in this country. Almost every parent makes his daughter an article of traffic, obstinately refusing to give her up to her lawful husband until he has rigorously paid down the sum of money which he was bound for, according to the custom of the cast. This practice of purchasing the young women whom they are to marry, is the inexhaustible source of disputes and litigation, particularly amongst the poorer people. These, after the marriage is solemnized, not finding it convenient to pay the stipulated sum, the father in-law commences an action, or more commonly recalls his daughter home, in the expectation that the desire of getting her back may stimulate the son-in-law to procure the money. This sometimes succeeds ; but if the young man is incapable of satisfying the avarice of his father-in-law, he is obliged to leave his wife with him in pledge. Now, there is time for reflection ; and the father-in-law, finding that the sum cannot be raised, and that his daughter from her youth is exposed to great temptations which might lead to the disgrace of all his family, relaxes a little, and takes what the son-in-law is able to pay. A reconciliation is thus effected, and the young man conducts his wife quietly home. Men of distinction do not appropriate to their common purposes the money thus acquired by giving their daughters in marriage, but lay T 138 ^^ MARRIAGE; it out in jewels, which they present to the lady on the wedding day. These are her private property as long as she lives, and on no account can be disposed of by her husband. In negociating a marriage, the inclinations of the future spouses are never attended to. Indeed it would be ridiculous to consult girls of that age ; and accordingly the choice entirely devolves upon the parents. Those of the husband attend principally to the purity of the cast ; while those of the wife are more solicitous about the fortune of the young man, and the disposition of the intended mother-in-law of their daughter. When a man, with this view, casts his eyes on a young girl, he begins by satisfying himself through some friend, concerning the incli- nations of her kindred. When he has ascertained that he is not likely to suffer the affront of a refusal, he selects a fortunate day to visit them, and to solicit her in form, carrying with him a piece of new cloth for women, a cocoa nut, five bananas, some saffron, and other articles of that nature. If he should meet upon his way any object of evil omen ; if a cat, for example, or a fox, or a serpent should cross the road before him, so as to intercept his progress, he would instantly return home, and postpone the journey to a more fortunate day. All the Hindus have their minds so filled with these silly super- stitions, that, however necessary any expedition or journey may be, they will surely defer it, if at the first outset they should be crossed by any of the creatures above mentioned. I have repeatedly seen labourers take back their cattle to their stalls, and spend the whole day in idle- ness, because, in setting out in the morning, they found that a serpent had crossed their road. After the young man's father has solicited the girl, and offered the presents he takes with him, her own father defers his answer until one of those little lizards, which creep on the wall, making now and then a small shrill cry, gives a favourable augury by one of its chirps. As soon as the lizard has spoken (as the superstitious Hindus express themselves) and given a favourable prognostic by its assent, the father of the girl declares that he will voluntarily bestow her in marriage on the son of him who asks her ; after which a great number OF MARRIAGE. 139 of ceremonies are performed, answering to our betrothment, and com- municating to the future husband a right to the girl, which prevents her from being given to any other. These ceremonies are followed by an entertainment ; after which a fortunate month and day are selected for the marriage, upon due consultation with the astrologer or the Purohita. There are, properly, but four months in the year in which marriage can be celebrated : namely, March, April, May, and June. Nuptials for the second time, may indeed be solemnized in the months of November and February ; but, in these two months, so much attention must be given to the signs of the zodiac and many other matters, each more trifling than another, that it is not easy to find a day in which all the favourable circumstances combine. The custom of restricting marriages to those four months, arises, like almost all the other customs of the Hindus, from superstition. But I conceive that the principal motive which originally induced them to fix on those four months as a fortunate time for marrying was, that the country labours being then all closed or suspended, on account of the excessive heat, and the preceding harvest furnishing the means of sup- plying what the ceremony requires, they look upon that period as af- fording more leisure and better resources for this important concern than any other season of the year. The ceremony of marriage lasts five days. In the course of it, all those rites are exhibited which have been described in speaking of the ceremony of the triple cincture. These we need not repeat ; and such as are peculiar to the wedding festival, not being in a better taste, we shall content ourselves with mentioning the most important of them. The bridegroom and bride are first of all placed under the Pandal, or alcove with twelve pillars, as formerly described. This is a common and very useful appendage to the principal houses in India, being erected before the principal door, and covered with boughs of trees, so as to shelter the house from the heat of the sun, and at the same time to afford a convenient recess for strangers who come upon any business with the owner of the house, when perhaps it is not convenient, nor even admissible, for him to enter into the dwelling. T 2 ;^40 ^^ MARRIAGE. The Pandal, being on this occasion decorated in the most superb manner, the young couple are seated under it upon the little mound of earth, with their faces turned towards the east. The married women then advance, performing before them the rites of the Arati, as they have been already described. It being desirable to render all the gods, and even the lowest of them, propitious, the whole of them are invited to the wedding, and they are besought to remain there during the whole entertainment of five days. The same prayer is preferred to the Gods' ancestors ; and the grandfathers, whom they have seen, are entreated to seek and bring with them their more ancient progenitors, whom they themselves could not have known. A particular sacrifice is then offered to BraJutia ; which is the more remarkable that this god, in consequence of ,a curse denounced against him by some penitents of former times, has no temple and no regular worship in any part of India. I ought not to omit that, before any thing is undertaken, they take care to place under the Pandal Vighncsxi'ara, the god of obstacles. He is greatly honoured, as has been mentioned, because he is greatly feared. And although the extreme ugliness of his appearance has hitherto kept him without a wife, they never fail to pay him the utmost atten- tion in all public ceremonies, lest his displeasure should cast some im- pediment in the way of their happy accomplishment ; which is the more to be apprehended from his being so prone to take offence. As it is necessary, in circumstances so important, that the bridegroom should be pure and exempt from all sin, he is called upon to offer a free gift, on the second day, of fourteen flags to one of the Brahmans, in expiation of the faults he has committed since his investiture with the Cord. This act of charity is followed by a sort of interlude, which appears very absurd alter the progress they have made. The bridegroom shams an eager desire to quit the country, uj)on a })ilgrimage to Benares, to wash himself there in the sacred waters of the Ganges. He ecjuips himself as a traveller, and being supplied with some provisions for the journey, he departs with instruments of music sounding before him, and II OF MARRI AGE. 141 accompanied by several of his relations and friends, in the same man- ner as when a person is really proceeding on that holy adventure. But no sooner has he got out of the village than, upon turning towards the east, he meets his future father-in-law, who finding the object of his expedition, stops him, and offers him his daughter in marriage, if he will desist from his journey. The pilgrim readily accepts the conditions, and they return together to the house. After many other ceremonies, the recital of which would be tedious, they fasten on the right wrist of the young man and on the left of the girl, the Kankanam, which is merely a bit of saffron ; and this particu- lar ceremony is conducted with more state and solemnity than any other during the whole course of the festival. It is succeeded by an- other not less remarkable. The young man being seated, with his face turned towards the east, his future father-in-law approaches, and look- ing steadily on his countenance, fancies that he beholds in him the great Vishnu. With this impression, he offers to him a sacrifice ; and then, making him put both his feet in a new dish filled with cow-dung, he first washes them with water, then with milk, and again with water ; accompanying the whole with suitable Mantras. This being finished, he must direct his fixed attention and thought to all the gods united ; then name each of them separately, one after another, as flir as his memory can serve. To this invocation of the gods, he subjoins that of the seven famous penitents, the five virgins, the ancestor gods, the seven mountains, the woods, the seas, the eight cardinal points, the fourteen worlds, the year, the season, the month, the day, the minute, and many other particulars which must likewise be named and invoked. He then takes the hand of his daughter and puts it into that of his son-in-law, and pours water over them in honour of the great Vishnu. This is the most solemn of all the ceremonies of the festival, being the symbol of his resigning his daughter to the authority of the young man. She must be accomjjanied with three gifts ; namely, with a present of one or more cows, with some property in land, and finally with a Sala- grama, which consists of some little amulet stones in high esteem among the Brahmans, worn by them as talismans and dignified even with the homage of sacrifices. 142 OF MARRL\GE. This ceremony which appears to be the foundation of the marriage, is succeeded by another but Httle less in importance. All married wo- men in India wear at their necks a small ornament of gold called Tahly, which is the sign of their being actually in the state of marriage. When they become widows, this ornament is removed with great form, as will be afterwards described. There is engraved upon it the figure of Vigh- neswara or Lakshmi, or of some other divinity in estimation with the cast ; and it is fastened by a short string dyed yellow with saffron, com- posed of one hundred and eight threads of great fineness. Before tying it round the neck of the bride, she is made to sit down by the side of her husband ; and, after some slight preliminary ceremonies, ten Brahmans make a partition with a curtain of silk, which they extend, from one to another, between them and the wedded pair, whilst the rest are reciting the jMantras, and invoking Brahma with Saraswati, Vishnu with Lakshmi, Siva with Parvati ; and several more ; always coupling each god with his consort. The ornament is now brought in to be fas- tened to the neck of the bride. It is presented on a salver neatly decked and garnished with sweet smelling flowers. Incense is offered to it, and it is presented to the assistants, each of whom touches it and invokes blessings upon it. The bride then turning towards the east, the bridegroom takes the Tahly, and, I'eciting a mantram aloud, binds it round her neck. Fire is then brought in, upon which the bridegroom offers up the sacrifice of the Homam; and, taking his bride by the hand, they walk thrice round the fire while the incense is blazing. Last of all, he lays hold of her ankle with his right hand, and brings it into contact with a little stone which he holds in his left, and which is called the stone of Sandal, doubtless because it is a kind of paste formed out of that odoriferous wood. In going through this ceremony, the bridegroom must have his thoughts fixed on the Great Mountain of the North, the native place of the ancestors of the Brahmans. The meaning of the ceremony we have described is not difficult to divine. By the preceding one, we see the surrender of the girl to her intended husl)and by her father. Here, the acceptance of her is signi- fied by the bridegroom binding the tahly round the neck of the bride. OF MARllIAGE. 143 The Homam and the three circuits which the young couple make around the fire, indicate the ratification of a mutual engagement between them, as there is nothing more solemn than what is transacted over this element ; which, among the Hindus, is the most pure of the deities, and therefore the fittest of all others to ratify the solemn oaths of which it is the most faithful memorial. We have now gone through the principal ceremonials appertaining to marriage, with the omission of not a few of smaller importance. But perhaps we ought to subjoin the following one, which is considered by some to rank as high as the preceding. Two baskets, made of bamboo, are placed close together; this species of wood being preferred, on account of its being thought more pure and less subject to be defiled by handling. The new married pair go each into one of^the baskets, standing upright. Two other baskets are brought, filled with ground rice. The husband takes up one with both hands and pours what it contains over the head of his spouse. She does the like to him in her turn. They repeat this till they are weary, or till they are admonished that it is enough. In other casts, it is the assistants that sprinkle the heads of the new married couple ; and perhaps it signifies only the abundance of temporal blessings which are implored on their behalf It was practised in other nations with corn ; and it still, in some measure, exists among the Jews. In the marriage of great princes, pearls are sometimes used in place of rice or corn. On the evening of the third day, when the constellations appear, the Purohita, or astrologer, points out to the new married pair a very small star, close to the middle one in the tail of Ursa Major, and directs them both to pay it obeisance ; for it is Arundhati, he says, the wife of Va- sutha, one of the seven famous Penitents. Next day, before dinner, the bride rubs the legs of her husband with saffron water ; and then he rubs hers in the same manner. I know not the meaning of this ceremony, or indeed whether it has any. Ceremo- nies of some kind the Brahmans must have ; and they appear to have found nothing more serious than this to fill up the present interval. 144 OF ]VL\IIRIAGE. Wliile the assembled guests are dining, the bridegroom and bride also partake, and eat together from the same plate. This is a token of the closest union ; and two persons the most intimately connected cannot shew a more evident mark of their friendship than this. Well may the woman now continue to eat what her husband leaves, and after he has done ; for they will never sit down again to a meal together. That is never permitted but at the wedding feast. On the last day, a ceremony is practised remarkable for its singular- ity. Wlien the husband offers the sacrifice of the Hoviam, and when, in the usual form, he is casting into the fire the boiled rice sprinkled with melted butter, the bride approaches and does the same on her part with rice that has been parched. This is the only instance that I know where a woman may take part in this sacrifice, which is the most sacred and solemn of all, excepting the Yajna. All these ceremonies, with many others which it would be tedious to detail, being concluded, a procession is made through the streets of the village. It commonly takes place in the night, by the light of torches and fire-works. The new married pair are seated in one palanquin, with their faces towards each other. They are both highly dressed out ; but the bride in particular is generally covered over with jewels and precious stones, partly the gifts of her father and father-in-law ; but the greater part are borrowed for the occasion. The procession moves slowly; and their relations and friends come out of their houses, as they pass ; the women hailing the new married parties with the ceremony of the Arati, and the men with presents of silver, fruits, sugar, and betel. Those who receive such presents are obliged, under the like circumstances, to repay them in their turn. I have sometimes seen these marriage processions truly magnificent, though in a style so extremely remote from ours. Thus ends the solemnity of marriage among the Hindus. The pomp which attends their elevation to this state shews the importance which they attach to it, and also the respect which they entertain, or at least once entertained, for the sacred bands which inseparably unite the husband and the wife. OF MARRIAGK. 145 I will say nothing of the entertainments mutually given by the rela- tions of the two parties after their marriage. Those by whom they are given, and the ceremonies which accompany them, differ so little from what I have already described, in speaking of the admission to the Triple Cord, that I forbear to repeat them. But there is one thing well deserving of remark ; that, amongst the almost infinite variety of cere- monies made use of on the occasion of marriage, there is not one that borders on indecency, or has the slightest allusion to an immodest thought. This is particularly to be noticed amongst a people, who in all other circumstances of life, where feasts and shews occur, make a merit of openly and unreservedly violating the rules of modesty and decorum. The marriage festival being over, the young spouse is taken back to her father's house, which continues to be her principal abode until she has grown up into a state fit to discharge all the duties of matrimony. This epoch is a new occasion for joy and feasting. The relations attend to celebrate it in the same manner as the marriage, and the greater part of the ceremonies then practised are now i-epeated. It is notified to the father and mother of the young man that their daughter-in-law has now become a woman, and is qualified to live with her husband. Then, after completing the ceremonies to which this occasion gives rise, she is conducted in triumph to the house of her father-in-law, where she is detained for a while to accustom her to the society of her husband ; and after a month or two her own parents return and take her home with them. The residence of the young woman is thus, for the first and even the second year, divided between the house of her husband and that of her father. This is accounted a mark of good understanding subsisting among them. It is, however, a concord, which most probably, alas ! will too soon be dissolved ; when this same young wife, beaten by her husband and harrassed by her mother-in-law, who treats her as a slave, shall find no remedy for ill usage but in flying to her father's house. She will be recalled by fair promises of kinder treatment. They will break their word ; and she will have recourse to the same remedy. But at last, the children which she brings into the world, and other u 146 OF MARRIAGE. circumstances, will compel her to do her best, by remaining in her husband's house, with the shew of being contented with her lot. In general, ccihcord, the union of minds, and sincere mutual friend- ship are rarely found in Hindu families. The extreme distance kept lip between the two sexes, which makes the women absolutely passive in society, and subject to the will and even the caprices of the men, has accustomed these lords of their destiny to regard them as slaves, and to treat them on all occasions with severity and contempt. It is there- fore in vain to expect, between husband and wife, that reciprocal con- fidence and kindness which constitute the happiness of a family. The object for which a Hindu marries is not to gain a companion to aid him in enduring the evils of life, but a slave to bear children and be subservient to his rule. ( 147 ) CHAP. VIII. OF THE SECOND DEGREE OF BRAHMANS ; THAT OF GRIHASTHA, AND THE DUTIES WHICH IT IMPOSES. name given X HE second state of a Brahman is that of Grihastlia ; a to those only who are married and have children. A young Brahman, upon his marriage, ceases indeed to be a Brahmachari ; but neither is he considered to be a true Grihastha, while his wife, on account of tender age, remains with her parents. The Grihasthas compose the body of the cast, maintain its rights, and settle the disputes which arise. It belongs to them also to watch over the observance of the Brahmanical rules, and to recommend the practice of them by their precept and example. A Grihastha Brahman should rise in the morning an hour and a half before the sun. On getting up, his first thoughts should be di- rected to Vishnu. About an hour before sun-rise, he walks out of the village, intent upon a business of great importance to a man of this cast, that of attending to the calls of nature. The place is chosen with great circumspection, and decency requires of him to put off his clothes and slippers. The demands of nature being discharged, he washes himself with his left hand ; which, on account of this impure use of it, is never employed in eating, nor allowed to touch the food. The number of times they must wash, and what particular parts of the body, with the kind of water and earth which they must use in purifying, and many other observances which decency prevents me from enumerating, are detailed in the ritual of the Brahmans. One of their devotees, called Vashista, has drawn up a digest of the rules to be" followed on the occasion, long enough to fill half a dozen pages. Amongst bis ad- u 2 148 DEGREE OF GRIHASÏHA. mirers, the great King of Lippa is spoken of as one of the most zealous. In alhiding to the indispensable use of water to remove the im- purities of nature, it may be remarked that, of all the customs of the Europeans so opposite to theirs, there is none that appears to the Brahmans so abominable as their use of paper for that purpose. They never speak of it among themselves but with horror, and with ex- pressions of the utmost contempt for those who use it. Many of them indeed are unwilling to believe that even a European could be guilty of an act so abominable. Next in degree, they hold the other European practice of blowing the nose, and stuffing the filth, as the Hindus say, into their pockets. I must not omit to notice a particular ceremony, which is never forgotten by a Brahman, on the occasion alluded to ; namely, that of putting the Cord over his right ear, which is supposed to have the virtue of purifying from corporeal stains. According to the principles laid down in their writings, the water, the Vedas, the sun, the moon, and the air, are all contained in the ears of the Brahmans ; and it is upon this notion, that in discharging the function alluded to, they put the cord over the ear, as a means of purification. By the same rule, after sneezing, spitting, blowing the nose ; after sleep, or being in tears, and in many similar cases, they seldom fail to touch the right ear in order to purify themselves from the uncleanness which these acts occasion. We have before observed that exterior cleanness of the body, kept up in the Hindu way, is a higher recommendation than any other quality whatever. Greatness and dignity are supposed to exist wherever it is conspicuous. This feeling has led to the study and invention of a thousand minute and trifling practices, which are more systematically pursued by the Brahmans than by the other casts : and it is upon this superiority that they chiefly plume themselves, and think themselves entitled to look with contempt on all that neglect it. After obeying the mandate of nature, the next care of the Grihastha Brahman is to wash his mouth. This is no trifling matter to him. The care with which he must select thie little bit of wood with which DEGREE OF GRIHASTHA, j^g he rubs his teeth, the choice of the tree he must cut it from, the prayer he must address to the deities of the woods for permission, and many other ceremonies prescribed for the occasion, make a part of the education of the Brahmans, and are described at great lengtli in their books of ceremonies. The scrupulous attention with which they perform this operation every morning, with a piece of wood ahvays fresh cut from the tree, leads them to make a comparison very unfavourable to the Europeans, many of whom altogether neglect the practice ; and those who most regularly adopt it, add to the horror of the Hindu, when he sees them rubbing their teeth and gimis with brushes made of the hair of animals, and using them again and again, after being soiled with the pollution of the mouth and the saliva, Happy is he who, after the cleansing of his mouth, can wash him- self in a running stream. It is more salutary to the soul and the body than the water he could find at home, or in a standing pool. An affair of so great importance is necessarily accompanied with many rites, as frivolous in our eyes as they are indispensable in theirs. One of the most essential is to think at that moment of the Ganges, the Indus, the Krishna, the Cavery, or any other of the rivers whose sacred waters possess the virtue to efface sin ; and then to implore the gods that the bath they use may be no less available to their souls than one of those nobler streams would be. While in the water, it is necessary to keep their thoughts fixed stedfastly upon Vishnu and Brahma ; and the bathing ends by three times taking up handfuls of water and, with their faces towards the sun, pouring it out in libations to that luminary. When he comes out of the water, the Grihastha Bi-ahman puts on his clothing ; which consists of one piece of cloth, uncut, of about a yard in width and three yards in length. It has been already soaked in the water, and thus made pure from all the stains it had contracted. He then completes his dress by rubbing his forehead with a little of the ashes of cow-dung or with the paste made of sandal wood. He then drinks a small quantity of the water which he has taken out of the river ; and the remainder he sprinkles around, three times, in honour of all the 150 DEGREE OF GRIHASTHA. gods, mentioning several of them by name, with the addition of the earth, the fire, and the deities who preside over the eight cardinal points ; and he concludes tlie whole by a profound reverence to the whole circle of the gods. It would be tedious to describe the variety of gestures and move- ments which the Brahman exhibits in such cases. But we may select one particular, namely the signs of the cross, which he distinctly makes as a salutation to his head, his belly, his right and left shoulders. For, after saluting all external things he commences with the particular sa- lutation of himself in detail. Every member has its particular salut- ation. Even the fingers are not forgotten, as he touches each of them all round with his thumb. All these actions are accompanied with prayers or the Mantras, of which we shall speak in tiie following chapter. It would now seem to be time for the Brahman to go home, after his leisure has been so long occupied with ceremonies ; but he has still a prayer to offer to the tree Ravi, consecrated to Vishnu. He implores the tree to grant him remission of his sins, and then walks round it seven or fourteen or twenty-one times, always increasing by seven. In going home, he always takes with him a little pitcher of water and some flowers, both of which are necessary for the sacrifice which he is obliged to offer soon after his return to his house. When he enters, he must read some of the Puranas, or hear them read. He then makes the Homam ; after which lie may attend to his private affairs. He orders dinner about mid-day. This is provided by the women ; though the ordinary Brahmans value themselves on their skill in cook- ery. The great object here is absolute cleanness in the preparation. Many precautions are necessary for this. The clothes of the women employed must be newly washed, their vessels fresh scoured. The place must be neat, and free from dust ; and the eyes of strangers must not pervade it. While dinner is preparing, the Brahman returns a second time to the river. He bathes again, repeating almost all the ceremonies in the same order as in the morning;. But the anxious care is in returniny would have received if they had passed the best part of their lives in all the austerities of the profession. I may also remark, in passing, that what I have had occasion to mention respecting the clothing of the real r FUNERALS. ,%'5 Sannyâsi and Vanaprastha Brahmans, shews that ancient authors were under a mistake when they gave them the name of Gymnosoiilmts or naJced philosophers. Some modern authors are no less mistaken in giving the appellation of Sannyâsi Brahmans to some pretended penitents, who live secluded in hermitages, or sometimes even in a kind of convent, spacious and convenient. The last sort is the most common, and extends to all the casts. They do not in general adhere to the rule of the Sannyâsi Brahmans, which requires that, before embracing the profession, they should have entered into wedlock, and propagated children. Many of those here alluded to have never been married, although I would not warrant their having lived in a state of exact continency, as they have generally a licence to keep several women in the quality of servants, some of whom have the superintendence over a set of runners whom they send abroad in every direction to collect alms and offerings, which are in some way shared amongst them. The appellation of Sannyâsi is still more improperly applied to a vast number of vagabonds who scour the country, with no settled place of abode, and usurp that venerable title, to impose on the people. Many cheats of this kind are to be met with ; but the most common are the pretended penitents called Vairagis, who sometimes make excursions in great bodies, and live on alms ; which they always demand with great importunity and insolence, as a thing absolutely due to them. The Vairagis belong entirely to the sect of Siva : yet they do not wear the Lingam, the ordinary badge of the devotees of that god. But, in token of their special devotion to his worship, they are continually blackened over with ashes, and they profess a life of celibacy ; although those who are acquainted with their habits best know how scrupulous they are on the point of chastity. The Vairagis, in the sect of Siva, resemble very closely the Dasaru in that of Vishnu, as far as regards their wickedness. In that, neither yields to the other. There is visible between them the same aversion and hatred towards each other, and the same intolerance towards others, which are observable in all sects who permit them- selves to be swayed by the impulse of superstition and fanaticism ; 366 FUNERALS. and, upon that ground, it is impossible but that even in modern times, relioious wars must have prevailed in India, and that the Vairagi and Dasaru must have been mutually engaged in sanguinary contests. Happily for the honour of human nature and the comfort of our race, those contests, under the names of rival gods adored by the vulvar have passed away. The bigotted partisans who stirred them up have at last seen more clearly ; and, by reflecting better upon the evil consequences which ensued, they saw that nothing could be more pernicious to religion, and that nothing so strongly tended to its ruin, as the contests which were stirred up for its support. A DESCRIPTION OF THE PEOPLE OF INDIA. PART III. RELIGION. CHAP. I. THE ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI, AND THE PIIIMITIVE IDOLATRY OF THE HINDUS. J. HE Hindus understand by the word TrbnuHi, the three principal divinities whom they acknowledge ; namely, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. It signifies three pozcers, because the three essential energies of Creation, Preservation, and Dedruction, severally pertain to these three gods. The first is the leading attribute of Brahma, by whom all things were created. The second belongs to Vishnu, the preserver of all that exists : the last to Siva, the destroyer of what Brahma creates, and Vishnu preserves. These three deities are sometimes represented singly, with their peculiar attributes ; and sometimes as blended into one body with three heads. It is in this last state that they obtain the name of Trimurti, or three powers. It appears also that this union of persons may have been intended to denote, that existence cannot be produced and reproduced, without the combination of the three-fold power of creation, conservation, and destruction. 368 ORIGIN OF THE ÏRIMURT1. The Trimurti is acknowledged and adored by all Hindus, excepting the tribe ol" Ja'inas or Bauddhists. And in general it may be remarked that although some casts attach themselves, in a special manner, and almost exclusively, to the sect of Vishnu, or that of Siva ; yet when these gods are united with Brahma, and form but one body, they pay undivided worship to all three, without regard to the particular doctrines which distinguish the special followers of the different deities. The difficulty of tracing the origin of the Trimurti is increased by the disagreement of the Hindu authorities with each other on this sub- ject. In some Puranas, it is declared to have sprung from a woman called Adi-sakti, or Original Pon-er, who brought forth the three gods ; and the fable adds that, after having brought them into the world, she became desperately in love with them, and took her three sons for husbands. In other I'uranas, the origin of the Trimurti is differently accounted for. In the Bhagavata, in particular, it is mentioned that a flower of Tavari, or lily of the lakes, grew out of the navel of Vishnu, and that Brahma sprung from the flower. In some, the Trimurti is stated to have originated from Adi-sakti, the ^rst jjower ; who produced a seed from which Siva sprung, who was the father of Vishnu. But it must be allowed that the fable of the Trimurti, or of the three principal deities being vmited in one body, is less consistently supported than any other doctrines in the Hindu books. All that they contain on the subject is a mass of absurdities, which do not even agree with each other. The point which the whole of them discuss the most diffusely, is what relates to the debaucheries and abominable amours of the three deities in their combined form.^ But, great as the power of the Trimurti is, it is frequently compelled to endure the superiority of some virtuous personages, with the dread- ful effects of their malediction and wrath. Shocked at the sight of the infamous proceedings of the three deities, those purer minds attain the power of punishing and of fully subduing them by the irresistible po- tency of their Mantras. In this high rank, the virgin Anamya was ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. 3g9 " conspicuous, a woman as much renowned for inviolable chastity and piety towards the gods, as for tender compassion towards the unfortu- nate. The Trimurti having heard the praises of this virtuous woman, be- came enamoured, and resolved to deprive her of what she had till then so rigidly preserved ; her virginity. For that purpose, the three gods, disguised as mendicants, went to ask her for alms. She readily complied, and made a liberal distribution amongst them. The pretended beggars, having thus partaken of her bounty^ told her they had still another favour to beg, and they proceeded to unfold their wicked intentions. Anasuya, amazed and terrified at language to which she had been so little accustomed, took vengeance, by pronouncing certain Mantras over the seducers, and sprinkling them with a holy water of such effi- cacy as to convert the Trimurti into a calf.- The transformation of the gods being complete, she yielded to the tenderness of her nature, and nourished the fatling with her own milk. The Trimurti remained in this humiliating state of servitude, till the female deities, apprehending some unpleasant accidents from the ab- sence of their three principal gods, consulted with each other, and de- termined upon employing all the means in their power to relieve them- selves from the degraded condition into which they had fallen. They went therefore in a body, in quest of Anasuya, whom they humbly besought to give up the Trimurti, and restore the three gods to their accustomed splendour. This petition of the goddesses was granted, with great difficulty, and only upon the hardest of all conditions. But they chose rather to lose their honour than their gods. They discharged the penalty (to whom or by what means the story says not), and the virgin restored the Trimurti to their original state, and allowed them to return to their ancient residence. The Hindu books abound in abominable stories of this kind respect- ing the Trimurti. What we have related is one of the least indecent amongst them. But the obscure, and, in many respects, contradictory, manner in which they describe the origin of the Trimurti, and the extreme con- fusion which pervades all the fables relating to it, have convinced me 3 B 370 ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. that the three chief divinities who compose it are something wholly different from what they are there represented to be. At the commencement of their idolatry, the Hindus, confining their worship to sensible objects, such as the sun, the moon, stars and ele- ments, never resorted to images of stone or other materials ; because the objects of their adoration were always present and continually in their view. But, when' the spirit of idolatry had made progress, and the people of India had deified their heroes or other mortals, they be- gan then, and not before, to have recourse to statues and images to preserve the memory of such illustrious beings, and transmit it to posterity. By degrees they assigned a bodily form to all the objects of their worship, believing it to be the only means of fixing durable im- pressions of them in the minds of a people nearly insensible to evei'y thing that did not directly affect the senses. It is from this period, I presume, that the true origin of the Tri- raurti is to be taken, being long posterior to the establishment of ido- latry in India. The three poiaers contained in the etymology of the word, ajjpear to shew that, under the representation of three divine persons in one body, the ancient Hindus intended the three great powers of nature ; namely the earth, the water, and the fire. In course of time this original notion would gradually vanish ; and an ignorant race, directed solely by the impressions of the senses, gradually con- verted what at first was a simple allegory, into three distinct godheads. Before pushing our inquiries farther, it will be proper to make some remarks on the origin which the learned of Europe, in modern times, have assigned to this triple god of the Hindus. They resolve it into, the three principal deities of the Greeks and Romans under different names, and according to them, Brahma is no other than Jupiter, V^ishnu is the same as Neptune ; and Siva is Fluto. Jupiter, in (ireek Mythology, is the author and creator of all things ; the father, master, king of men and gods. But all these attributes pertain no less to the Hindu Brahma. All men were created by him and issued from various parts of his body. The universe is his work, ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTl. 37I and belongs to him. It is called the Egg of Bralima ; and when it was laid, according to the Hindu expression, he hatched it. He also more particularly resembles Jupiter in his scandalous amours. Jove had his own sister Juno for his wife. Brahma is both the father and the husband of Saraswati. Many other points of resemblance might be pointed out between these two divinities, sufficient to induce the belief that the one was derived from the other. I find the resemblance equally striking between Neptune and Vishnu. The former makes the waters his abode. The sea is his empire. There he holds sovereign sway, armed with his formidable trident. The cheerful tritons accompany him, sounding their conch shells all around. Vishnu is distinguished by attributes nearly the same. The name by which he is principally invoked is that of Narayana, which signifies one that sojourns in the waters. He is represented as quietly asleep on the bosom of the wide ocean, if no accident occur to awake him ; with Î10 trident in his hand, indeed, nor tritons around him. But the sym- bol of the trident is borne by his devotees on their foreheads, repre- sented by the mark called Nama ; and some remembrance of the tri- tons may be suggested by their blowing of the sea-horn, the figure of which they likewise represent with hot iron on tlie shoulders. But as to Pluto, the grim monarch of hell, king of the dead, ruler over the regions of desolation ; is he not the exact model on which Siva is formed ? To Siva belongs the power of destruction. He reduces all things to dust. Where carcasses are burnt, there he delights to dwell ; there he raises his bowlings and his cries. Rudra is his name, the cause of lamentation. Pluto, finding no female willing to accompany him to his dismal abode, carried off Proserpine by force, and concealed her so well that she escaped for a long time the search of her mother Ceres. It ^ was by roaming in unfrequented places, and with infinite difficulty, that Siva also found a wife. Having long failed in his search, he ob- tained one at last by applying to the mountain Parvata, who gave him his daughter Parvati, in consideration of his long and rigid peni- tence in the deserts. And to prevent her escape, he constantly carries her on his head enveloped in the enormous folds of his bushy hair. 3b 2 372 ORJGi:^ OF THE TRIMURTI. But when a resemblance is found between the fabulous deities of different nations, is that sufficient to justify the conclusion that they are in reality the same, though under different names ? If it were so, I could exhibit Jupiter in Vishnu and in Siva, as well as in Brahma ; for those two gods, have a coincidence of character, as much as Brahma himself, with the chief deity of the Greeks and Romans. It was Vishnu, in fact, who purged the earth from a race of giants by whom it was over-run, and who far exceeded in stature, as well as in strength and power, the Enceladuses and Briareuses that were sub- dued by Jupiter. The Roman deity rode upon an eagle. Vishnu was also mounted on a fine bird of prey, of the species of eagles. It was called Ga- ruda, and though originally of little size, it became enormously large, and fit to bear the Master of the World : for by this high title was Vishnu, as well as Jupiter recognized. Other points of resemblance, not less striking, exist between the other gods of India and of Greece. Juno, the wife of Jupiter, is the goddess of wealth. x\nd so is Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu, whose name denotes Riches. But there is a greater similitude between these illustrious females in their jealousy, for which they are equally con- spicuous, arising in both from the perpetual infidelities of their husbands, and producing the same dissension and domestic quarrels. The Romans, in their public spectacles, exhibited in honour of their gods, chiefly introduced Jupiter and ,Iuno on the stage. The Hindus liave the same practice in respect to Vishnu and Lakshmi. There is still another high deity in India who bears no small re- semblance to Jupiter in several particulars : I mean Indra or Dcvendra. The word signifies King of the Gods ; and he who bears this name is monarch of the skij. The world which he inhabits is called Sxcarga or the jdacc of sensual delight. Devendra reigns here over a great number of inferior deities, who enjoy, in his paradise, all the pleasures of carnal voluptuousness. He distributes amongst them the Amrita, u licpiid* which may be well compared to the Amh'osia of the Greeks. • Mvita is a Sanscrit word signifying Dead, and Annita is tlic reverse, or Immor- ful. The liquor Amrita, which is said to resemble milk, has been already incntiojied as having been jjroduccd when the gods churned the sea of milk with the mountain Maiidnra. ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTT. - ' 373 Thunder is the armour of Devendra ; and he, as well as the son of Saturn, launches it against the giants. But, amongst the points of re- semblance between them, there is this essential difference, that Deven- dra, with all his high titles, is but of an inferior class in the order of the gods, and that his authority is but of a subordinate kind. The same parallel which I have drawn, between Jupiter on one side, and Brahma, Vishnu, and Devendra on the other, I could equally apply to several others of the Grecian and Hindu gods ; and by that means shew that the one class has not been copied from the other, -as from a model. Indeed whatever resemblance may be traced between the objects of idolatry in different countries, it will scarcely afford sufficient grounds to infer that the whole was originally the same, or the one borrowed from the other. But if it was not from abroad that the Hindus received their three principal divinities, whence can they have originated ? This will require explication. But let us first attend to an essential article in which the Hindu idolatry differed widely from the European paganism, as it anciently flourished at Athens and in Rome. It was not the Sea they worshipped there, but its monarch, the god Neptune who presided over it. His attendants, the Nereids and Tritons, had a share in his worship. It was not to fountains and forests that sacrifices were offered, but to the Naiads and Fauns who ruled and had their dwellings there. The idolatry of India is of a grosser kind, at least in many circum- stances. It is the water itself which they worship ; it is the five, men, or animals ; it is the plant, or other inanimate object. In short they are led to the adoration of things, from the consideration of their being useful or deleterious to them. A woman adores the basket, which serves to bring or to hold her necessaries, and offers sacrifices to it ; as well as to the rice-mill, and other implements that assist her in household labours. A carpenter does the like homage to his hatchet, his adze, and other tools ; and likewise offers sacrifices to them. A Brahman does so to the style with which he is going to write ; a soldier to the arms he is to use in the field ; a mason to his trowel, and a labourer to his plough. 374 ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. It is true, there is another species of idolatry much less rude than this, which relates to idols of distinction. These are withheld from public adoration until the divinity they represent has been invoked and inserted by the Mantras of the Brahmans ; and in this instance, therefore, we must allow that it is the god who resides in the idol that is the object of worship, rather than the image itself But this last species of idolatry, though of later origin than the preceding, I con- ceive, is by no means opposed to it. Both kinds are followed and approved, although the first be undoubtedly the most common ; and indeed it is founded on a maxim universally admitted amongst them, that honour is due to whatsoever may be the cause of good or of evil, whether it be living or inanimate. " My God !" exclaimed one day to me a person of some consider- ation amongst them, " what vast evil or good the man has it in his " power to do me, who is at the head of the husbandmen, who culti- " vate my grounds under his orders !" I have somewhere read a conversation between the wives of the seven famous penitents of India, in which they all agreed in the principle that a woman's chief god is her husband, by reason of the good or evil which he can bring upon her. It was upon the same principle that the Hindus in ancient times, rendered divine honours to certain grand penitents, from the strong conviction they felt of the mischief that might result from their maledictions, or the good that would flow from their blessing. Nor is it from a dissimilar feeling, that at the present day, they so readily prostitute the name of God by applying it to any mere mortal whom they have reason to view with fear or hope. But the poor Hindus are not the only people that have degraded themselves by such humiliation and. sacrilegious flattery. The Romans scrupled not to follow the same coiu'se ; and Virgil was not the only adulator who dishonoured religion, in venturing to burn incense upon altars dedicated to his benefactor Augustus, then living, and to bedew them with the blood of the best lambs of his flock. The principle amongst the Hindus of deifying whatsoever is useful, has extended to the mountains and the forests. In such sequestered ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. 375 places, casts of persons are found who lead a vagabond and savage life, acknowledging none of the gods of the country ; but they have one of their own institution, a thick and long Root, which these wild men are fond of, and make the principal part of their food. They adore it, and in its presence they celebrate their marriages and take their oaths and vows. They know of nothing that can be more useful to them ; and therefore they have assumed it for their god. The same idea gave birth to the apotheosis of the three principal deities of India ; for I am persuaded that they were originally, in the Hindu idolatry, nothing else than the three most obvious elements of the Earth, the Water, and the Fire. These were the real gods whom they originally worshipped ; and we shall soon find that the same wor- ship, though not so visible, still subsists at the present day. Earth is the element from which all the productions most necessary to man proceed. From her bosom are collected the grain and the plants which serve for his nourishment. She is the universal mother of all living creatures. She is therefore the first of the Gods : she is Brahma. But, without the seasonable visitation of the Rain and the Dew, in a land hot and without water, the labom-s of the husbandman would be fruitless, and the soil, now so exuberant in its increase, would become barren and deserted. Water is the great preserver of whatever the earth engenders, or makes to germinate with life. Water, with all its bless- ings, has therefore become the second God of the Hindus, and holds the honours of Vishnu. But what could the sluggish earth, even with the aid of the water, so ungenial and cold in its own nature, have effected, in their sterile union, but for the Fire, the principle of warmth, Avhich came to vivify and quicken the mass ? Without this enlivening element, the chilled plants would have refused to shew their gay attire, or to acquire the maturity necessary to constitute a fit aliment for man. But fire not only invigo- rates all animated nature, and developes every thing to its utmost perfec- tion ; but it also accelerates dissolution and decay ; a process not less necessary, because, from corruption, nature is restored, and germinates afresh. Fire, therefore, has contributed as much as the other elements, 376 ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI, and equally deserves the general adoration and worship, which have be- stowed on it the title and the honours of Siva. A^^iat I have here proposed is not a system gratuitously invented, for the purpose of explaining the original idolatry of the Hindus. It is their own doctrine, reduced into daily practice ; and the direct worship of the Elements, though less observable now than it was in former times, is still maintained in vigour. " Hail ! Earth, mother most " mighty!" are the words of the Yajur-veda; or, as they are afterwards explained, " Health to her, from whom we derive the blessing of " nourishment." In the same Veda the following words are also found : " Health to thee, O Fire ! God that thou art." And, in other respects, nothing more strongly indicates the divinity that was ascribed to this element, than the sacrifice of the Homam, so much used by the Brahmans, and that of the Yajna formerly described ; both of which seem evidently an offering to Fire. In presence of that element, the Hindus take their most solemn oaths. It is also adjured as the witness of whatever they assert and affirm ; and a perjury committed, under such circumstances, could not fail to draw down the dreadful vengeance of the God. The divinity of Water is recognized by all the people of India. It is the object of the prayers and of the adorations of the Brahmans, while they perform their ablutions. On that holy occasion, they parti- cularly invoke the sacred rivers ; and above all the Ganges, whose venerable waters they adore. On many occasions the Brahmans and other Hindus offer to the Water oblations of money, by casting into the rivers and tanks, in the places chiefly where they bathe, small pieces of gold, silvex", and copper, and sometimes pearls and ornaments of value. Sailors, fishermen, and others who frequent the sea and the rivers, never fail, upon stated occasions, or as cii-cumstances require, to hold a solemnity on the bank, where they sacrifice a ram, or other suitable offering. But, to whom do they offer this worship ? " To that God," they will answer, pointing to the water of the sea, or of the river or pond near which they stand. ORIGIN OP THE TKIMURTI. 377 If, after a long drought, a plenteous shower descends to renovate the hopes of the despairing husbandman, filling the great tanks or reservoirs that contain the water collected for the irrigation of the fields of rice ; instantly the population of Brahmans and Sudras assemble on the brink, with loud exclamations of the " Lady' being arrived. Every one joins in congratulation. Every one clasps his hands, and makes a deep obeisance, in sign of gratitude to the Water, which replenishes their cisterns. The sacrifice of a Ram is also made, from time to time, at the brink of the water. At the season of the great inundations of the Cavery, which generally take place in the middle of July, the inhabitants of that part of the peninsula make a solemn pilgrimage to its banks, many of them coming from a great distance, so that, in some places, the concourse is altogether innumerable. Their object is to congratulate the Lady or tJie Flood on her arrival, and to offer sacrifices of rejoicing. When I had occasion to speak of the Triple Prayer of the Brahmans, I mentioned that they place a copper vessel filled with water on the ground, and make several prostrations and other signs of reverence before it. From this, one might be led to conclude, that the vessel, and the water it contains, are placed in honour of Vishnu, and that the signs of adoration are addressed to that God. But my reason for think- ing that the worship is directed exclusively to the Water in the vessel, is, that the same practice exists among the Brahmans, whether belong- ing to the sect of Vishnu or not. The homage and worship which the Brahmans offer directly to the Elements, may be remarked in several of their daily rites. When, for example, they commence reading in the Vedas ; on coming to the Yajur-veda and Atharvena-veda, they must offer a prayer to Water ; but if it be the Rik-veda and Sama-veda, the supplication must be ad- dressed to Fire. The worship of the Elements among the Hindus was, no doubt, in ancient times, consecrated by temples erected to their service. I have never been able to discover that any vestiges of such buildings remain ; but if we give credit to Abraham Rogers, and the Brahman who was his authority, there was a temple standing, in his time, in a district 3 c 378 ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. bordering on the coast of Coromandel, which was built in honour of the Five Elements. It mav be said, perhaps, that the Hindus are not the only people that have paid adoration directly to the object, without regard to the Gods who were ultimately considered as the inherent Kings and Rulers ; and that, in almost all countries, the Elements have been worshipped. The Persians, in particular, as we learn from Herodotus, offered them sacri- fices. This serves to confirm what I have advanced concerning the Hindu worship of them ; nor is it wonderful that they should have fallen into a practice, so gross and absurd, in imitation of all other ancient nations. From those three elements were formed the three gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, or the Trimurti ; which bears the double meaning of three bodies and three j^ower-s. The Hindu writers affect allegory above all things ; and the simple readers, being easily misled, take the whole in a literal sense, and worship the image instead of what it sig- nifies. The mode of explanation by allegory, is so familiar to the Hindu poets, that they usually refer to their three chief gods under the sym- bolical attribute of each. In regard to the human race, they find three distinct characters or dispositions, which they call Guna ; namely, the Tama Guna, or serious and grave ; the Satxca Guna, or the gentle and insinuating; and the Raja Guna, or the choleric and ardent. These qualities they have transferred to the three gods ; making the first apply to Brahma, the second to Vishnu, and the third to Siva. The agreement is no less exact when applied to the three elements combined in the Trimurti ; the Earth, represented by Brahma, having solidity for its characteristic ; the Water, under the appellation of Vishnu, with its insinuating qualities ; and the Fire, with the semblance of Siva, containing the power of destruction. The Tama, or grave character attributed to Brahma, is so suitable to the nature of the earth, which is distinguished by ponderosity and density, that the Hindu authors confound it frequently with the earth itself Thus, in a lunar eclipse, when the opacity of the earth inter- cepts the rays of the sun in their way to illuminate the moon, they ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. 379 use the v/ord Tama, and say that the Tama Bimbam, or disk of the earth, obscures that of the moon with its shadow. The Raja Guna, or ardent disposition, is no less indicative of Siva. The appellation is therefore frequently given him by the poets. And though his usual name of Siva signifies Joy, yet he often passes under others which denote Fire only. Such is that of Jwala, under which he is known, derived from the word Jwalam, which signifies a jlame. I may here allude to a custom, which supports my opinion respecting the Trimurti. The Hindus, sometimes imagining that the god Siva has waxed extremely wroth, and fearing, during periods of excessive heat, that every thing will be set on fire by the burning ardour that inflames him, place over the head of his idol a vessel filled with water, in which a little hole has been pierced, to let drop after drop fall down, to refresh him and check the vehemence of the fire which consumes him. The Sata Guna, or gentle and insinuating temper, is no doubt ex- pressive of the water, which filters and insinuates itself into the earth, and renders it fertile. The word Vishnu means, that which thoroughly penetrates; which perfectly agrees with the quality of water, which is emblematical of him. Indeed the name by which he is chiefly known by many of his devotees is that of Ap or Water. What I have here attempted to prove respecting the three principal deities of India as being nothing else than the three principal elements of earth, water, and fire, is an article of doctrine well understood by many Brahmans belonging to the sect of Vishnu. I have conversed with se- veral of them, who have informed me that their opinion on the subject was not different from mine, and have even furnished me with some of the arguments I have made use of They told me farther, that they themselves treated all that is commonly taught concerning the mystery of the Trimurti as fabulous or allegorical. But as their mode of thinking visibly tended to the overthrow of the established religion of the country, and at the same time, not only to dry up the principal source of their emoluments, but actually expose them to public detest- ation ; they preferred to keep their opinions private, or at least to 3 c '2 380 ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. communicate them only to one another, or in company where they were confident they should be safe. Taking for granted the reality of the metamorphosis of the three elements into the three principal deities of India, it will be easy to give a very simple and natural explication of certain expressions to be found in the Hindu writings, which might lead many persons to believe that the people of that region possessed, from the earliest times, some knowledge of the mystery of the Trinity. " These three gods," it is there said, " make but one only. It is a lamp with three lights ;" with many other expressions seeming to import one God in three persons. If it were true that the primitive Hindus had it in their contempla- tion to transmit an idea of the Trinity under the form and attributes of the Trimurti, it must be owned that they have most wofully disfigured that auo-ust mystery. But it does not appear to me that we are autho- rised to draw such consequences from the expressions we have alluded to, and others of the same kind ; for the reunion of their three ele- ments into one body, relates only to that natural admixture of three substances, no two of which, without the third, could possibly produce what is necessary for the wants of man, but must remain barren and un^ fruitful. The fathers of the first ages of the church, such as Justin Martyr, St. Clement, Theodoret, St. Augustin, established the truth of the Trinity by the authority of the ancient Greek philosophers, and par- ticularly by that of Plato, or of his principal scholars Plotinus and Poqihyry ; and they successfully availed themselves of these authorities, in those times, against the Pagans, amongst whom they preached the Christian relio'ion. The fathers found, in the works of the authors alluded to, the words of Father, Son, and Spiritual Word : the Father comprehending what was perfect in goodness ; the Son altogether re- sembling the Father ; and the Word, by whom all things were created ; and these three hypostases made but one God. These were not idle words, casually escaping from those philosophers. 'J'hey were the foundation of the system of Plato, who could not ven- ture to make them public amongst a people attached to polytheism, lest he should be treated with the same cruelty as befel the virtuous ORIGIN OF THE TRIMURTI. ggl Socrates. But I strongly suspect that those venerable fathers of the church would not have chosen to resort to the authority of those philo- sophers, had they not found in their works expressions more decided, more consistent, and more spiritual, than what can be found in Hindu writings. I might subjoin to what I have said respecting the change of the three principal elements into the divine nature, a similar transform- ation of the other two, the av' and the xcind. The latter, which the Hindus have created their fifth element, appears to be the god Indra or Devendra, the greatest of the subordinate deities, and king of the Air, in which he dwells. His name signifies yUr ; and it is in that region that the winds have the strongest power. In the Indra Purana, these words are found : " Indra is nothing else " than the Wind, and the Wind is nothing but Indra. The wind, by " condensing the clouds occasions the thunder ; which has been given " to Devendra as his weapon." He is frequently represented as having warred against the Giants, sometimes victorious and sometimes overcome. The Clouds, which often resemble giants in their shape, sometimes arrest the progress of the wind; while the wind, more frequently, purges the air of the clouds. It has happened to the poets of India, as well as those of other na- tions, in early times, that their fables and fictions were originally mere allegories, which were afterwards taken as real by a rude people. Suc- ceeding poets preserved some part of the allegories of their predeces- sors ; but they more frequently gave reins to the mad enthusiasm of a wild imagination, and fabricated new fables, often incongruous with the others, and still more remote from credibility. Thus in searching after the origin of the gods of the Pagans, recourse must be had to something behind the chaos of ill digested and absurd fables, which obscure the view. ( 382 ) CHAP. IL THE PEINCIPAL FESTIVALS OF THE HINDUS, PARTICULARLY THAT OF THE PONOOL OR SANKRANTI. JjESIDES the Feasts peculiar to each district and temple, which re- turn several times in the course of a year, and are celebrated by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, the Hindus have a great many more, which are held but once a year, and are commonly observed through the whole country. It would be a useless labour to enter into a particu- lar detail of these numerous festivals, with the object and ceremonies of each. But we may remark that all of them are occasions of joy and diversion. On such days, the people quit their servile employments. Friends and relations unite in family parties, in their best apparel ; de- corate their houses as finely as they are able, and give entertainments more or less splendid, according to their means. Innocent pastimes are intermixed, and every other method of testifying their happiness. They reckon eighteen principal Festivals in the course of the year ; and no month passes without one or more of general observance. Some, however, are of so much more celebrity than the rest, as to demand particular notice. In this number we must place the first day of their year, called Agrasi/a, which falls on the new moon in March. At that period, the Hindus make rejoicings for three days ; exhibiting fire-works, letting ofFcliambers or guns, and shewing their joy in every other way. The iestival of Gauri, which is held in the beginning of September, and which lasts several days, is also to be connnemorated, as one of the most solemn. The name of Gauri is one of the appellations of Par- vati, the wife of Siva, and it appears to be principally in honour of this II FESTIVALS. 383 goddess. It is likewise held to be in honour of the gods of the house- hold, who are not the same in this instance as the Penates formerly mentioned. At this time, every artisan, every labourer, all the world, in short, offer sacrifices and supplications to the Tools and Implements which they use in the exercise of their various professions. The labourer brings his plough, hoe, and other instruments which he uses in his work. He piles them together and offers to them a sacrifice consisting of in- cense, flowers, fruits, rice, and other similar articles ; after which he prostrates himself before them at all his length, and then returns them to their places. The mason offers the same adoration and sacrifice to his trowel, his rule, and other instruments. The carpenter is no less pious with re- gard to his hatchet, his adze, and his plane. The barber, too, collects his razors in a heap, and adores them with similar rites. The writing-master sacrifices to the iron pencil or style with which he writes ; the taylor to his needles ; the weaver to his loom ; the butcher to his cleaver. The women, on this day, heap together their baskets, the rice-mill, the wooden cylinder with which they bruise the rice, and the other household implements ; and fall down before them, after having offered the sacrifices we have described. Every person, in short, in this solem- nity, sanctifies and adores the instrument or tool which he principally uses in gaining his livelihood. The tools are now considered as so many deities; to whom they present their supplications, that they would continue propitious, and furnish them still with the means of living. So universal is the feeling among the Hindus to deify and honour what- ever can be useful or pernicious, whether animate or inanimate ! The festival of Gauri is concluded by erecting a shapeless statue in each village, composed of paste from grain. It is intended to represent the Goddess Gauri or Parvati ; and, being placed imder a sort of canopy, it is carried about through the streets with great pomp, and re- ceives the homage of the inhabitants, who flock to render it their adorations. 384 FESTIVALS. Another festival, of equal celebrity, is called by the Hindus Maha^ Navami, which is destined principally to the honour of deceased ancestors. It is celebrated in the month of October, during a period of three days ; and is so religiously kept that it has become a proverbial saying, that those who have not the means of celebrating it should sell one of their children to procure them. When the day of the festival arrives, all Hindus, each for himself, make offerings of boiled rice and other food to their departed ancestors, that they may be well regaled on that day. They afterwards offer sacrifices of burning lamps, of fruits and flowers ; and to these they add new articles of dress for men and women, that their ancestors of both sexes may be fresh clothed. This festival, which lasts several days, is selected by the Princes and those who follow the profession of arms, to offer up sacrifices to the accoutrements used in the field, in order to obtain success in war. On the appointed day, all the arms, offensive and defensive, are collected together. A Brahman Purohita is called, who sprinkles them with his holy water, and pronounces mantras over them ; by virtue of which the whole are deified. The ceremony, which is conducted with great solem- nity, finishes, by sacrificing a Ram to the armour. It is called the cere- mony of Ayudha-Puja, or Sacrifice to the Arms, and is celebrated in all parts by the military with the utmost animation. On the same day, the Princes give public shews, with a distribution of prizes. The spectacle consists chiefly in fights of wild beasts with each other, or with men ; and also in combats of pugilists, some of whom come from a great distance to contend for the prize which it is customary to assign to the victor. This species of contest, which much resembles the shew of gladiators among the Romans and other ancient nations, is entirely committed to a particular cast of Plindus, called Yati. The members consist of youths selected from tiieir infancy, and trained to this kind of sport: and their princi])al employment is to mangle each other with blows in the presence of those who chuse to pay for the enjoyment of so barbarous a spectacle ; which is neverthe- less one of the principal amusements of the Hindu Princes. FESTIVALS. 3J^(5 Before entering the lists, the pugiHsts, as if the blows with fists whicli they discharge upon each other were not sufficient to satisfy the barbar- ous appetite of the multitude, arm their fingers with a sort of iron cases or ferrules. Thus equipped, they commence by words of defiance and threatening gestures ; and then setting on with signs of fury, they assail each other with terrible blows from their armed hands. Then, struir- gling, they throw each other down ; and when they get upon their legs again, with their heads and bodies streaming with blood, they re- cover their breath, and engage in the combat anew, till one is declared the victor ; unless indeed when the strength of both is equally exhausted, and the humane umpire of the sport separates them, to make room for another pair. The dismissed combatants retire, bathed in blood, and often with broken bones ; and yield the arena to the new set, who repeat the horrid spectacle. When it is over, the Prince grants prizes and other rewards, both to the victors and the vanquished, in proportion to the savage ferocity with which they have belaboured each other. When the shew is ended, the bruised combatants are attended by persons of their cast, who come provided with plasters for their wounds, or with skill to set their dislocated bones. In operations of this sort the Yatis or Jatu have the reputation of being expert. In the month of November, another feast is celebrated, which is called Divuligay, and whicli does not yield in solemnity to the preced- ing. It is instituted in memory of the two celebrated giants, one of whom bore the name of Bala-chakravarti, and the other that of Narak-asura. The latter had become the scourge of the human race, and infested the earth with his crimes. Vishnu at lenath delivered both gods and men from the terror of this monster, whom he slew after a dreadful combat. The contest ended but with the day. Thus Vishnu, not having it in his power to make his diurnal ablutions before the set- ting of the sun, was under the necessity of performing them, contrary to all rules, in the night. The Brahmans, in commemoration of this great event, when that day returns, put off their ablutions to the night ; and this is the only occasion, in the course of the year, in which they can transgress the ordinance of never bathing after sunset. But this 3d 386 FESTIVALS. exception, of the nocturnal bathing, possesses the highest degree of merit ; and it is therefore conducted with particular solemnity. But the word Divuligay signifies the Feast of Lamps ; and I there- fore suppose it must have been instituted in honor of fire ; and, at this season, the Hindus actually light a great number of lamps round the doors of their houses. They make paper lanterns, also, which they hang in the streets with a burning lamp in each ; which in many places sives this festival the name of the Feast of Lanterns. The husbandmen celebrate this festival of Divuligay in a different way. Being then the harvest time for grain, they assemble with much pomp at the corn fields, and offer their supplications and sacrifices. In many places they also offer sacrifice, on this day, to the Dunghill, which is afterwards to enrich the ground. In the villages, every one has his particular heap, to which he makes his own offering, consisting of burning lamps, fruits, flowers and other matters, which are deposited on the mass of ordure. There is another festival, of great celebrity amongst the Lingamites called Siva-ratri, or Night of Siva. It is celebrated towards the end of February or beginning of March, when the votaries of that god pu- rify their liingas, and cover themselves with a new garment. After va- rious sacrifices, they must pass the night in watchfulness, employing the time in reading some puranas relating to Siva, or in visits to their Jangama, but without defiling themselves with any servile work. The feast called Naga Panchami is also one of the eighteen an- i^mal festivals, and one of the most solemn. It takes place in the month of December, and is instituted in honour of the Serpents. All these festivals are celebrated as family rites, and are not to be confounded with those that are carried on in the pagodas or temples, to whicïi multitudes of people resort, and where all the rules of decency and modesty ai'e violated without shame or remorse. But, of all festivals, the most famous, at least in most countries, is that which is called Pongol, celebrated in the end of December or the winter solstice. It lasts three days ; during which time the Hindus employ themselves in mutual visits and compliments, something in the •same manner as the Europeans do on the first day of the year. FESTIVALS. 387 This portion of Hindu Paganism is too remarkable to be passed over without a short description of the principal circumstances which attend it. The feast of the Pongol is a season of rejoicing, for two special rea- sons. The first is, that the month of Magha or December, every day in which is unlucky, is about to expire ; and the other, that it is to be succeeded by a month, each day of which is fortunate. For the purpose of averting the evil effects of this baleful month of Magha, about four o'clock in the morning, a sort of Sannyfisis go from door to door of every house, beating on a plate of iron or copper, which produces a piercing sound. All who sleep, being thus roused, are counselled to take wise precautions, and to guard against the evil pre- sages of the month, by expiatory offerings, and sacrifices to Siva, who presides over it. With this view, every morning, the women scour a space of about two feet square before the door of the house, upon which they draw several white lines with flour. Upon these they place several little balls of cow-duno;, sticking in each a citron blossom. 1 have no doubt that the little balls are designed to represent the idol of Puliyar or Vighneswara, the god of obstacles, whom they desire to appease with the flower ; but I know not why the blossoms of the citron are chosen above all others. Each day these little lumps of cow dung, with their flowers, are picked up and preserved in a private place, till the last day of the month Magha ; and when that comes, the women, who are alone charged with this ceremony, put the whole in a basket, and march from the house, with musical instruments before them, clap- ping their hands, till they reach the tank or other waste place where they dispose of the relics. The first day of this festival is called Ragi Pongol, or the Pongol of Rejoicing, and it is kept by inviting the near relations to an entertain- ment, which passes off with hilarity and mirth. The second day is called Siwija Pongol, or Pongol of the Sun, and is set apart for the honour of that luminary. Married women after purifying themselves by bathing, which they perform by plunging into the water, without taking off their clothes, and coming out all dripping with wet, set about boiling rice in the open air, and not under any cover. They use milk in the operation ; and when it begins to simmer, 3 D 2 388 FESTIVALS. they make a loud cry, all at once, repeating the words, Pongol, Pon- gol ! The vessel is then lifted off the fire, and set before the idol of Vighneswara, which is placed close by. Part of the mess of rice is of- fered to the image ; and, after standing there for some time, it is given to the cow ; and the remainder of the rice is then distributed among the people. This is the great day of Visits among the Hindus. The salutation begins by the question, " Has the milk boiled?" to which the answer is " It has boiled." From this the festival takes its name of Pongol ; which is derived from the verb Ponghedi in Talagu, and Pongradam in Tamvd, both of which signify " to boil." The third day, not less solemn than the preceding, is consecrated with ceremonies still more absurd, and is called the Pongol of Cows. In a great vessel, filled with water, they put some saffron, the seeds of the tree Parati and leaves of the tree Vepu. After being well mixed, they go round all the cows and oxen belonging to the house, several times, sprinkling them with the water, as they turn to the four cardinal points. The Sashtangam, or prostration of the eight members, is made before them four times. Men only perform this ceremony, the women staying away. The cows are then all dressed out, their horns being painted with various colours, and garlands of flowers and foliage put round their necks and over their backs. They likewise add strings of cocoa-nuts and other fruits, which are soon shaken off by the brisk motion of the animal which these trappings occasion, and are picked up by children and others, who follow the cattle on purpose, and greedily eat what they gather, as something sacred. They are then driven, in herd, through the villages, and made to scamper about from side to side by the jarring noise of many sounding instruments. The remainder of the day, they are allowed to feed at large without a keeper ; and whatever trespasses they commit are suffered to pass without notice or restraint. At last the festival concludes by taking the idols from the temples, and carrying them in pomp to the place where the cattle have been again collected. The girls of pleasure, or dancers, who are found at all ceremonies, are not wanting here. They march at the head of a great FESTIVALS. 389 concourse of people ; now and then making a pause to exhibit their wanton movements and charm the audience with their lascivious songs. The whole terminates with a piece of diversion, which a|)pears to be waggishness rather than any part of the ceremony. The numerous rabble who are present form themselves into a ring, and a live hare is let go in the midst of it. Poor puss, finding no outlet by which it can escape, flies to one side and the other, sometimes making a spring over the heads of the throng, which produces incredible mirth in the crowd, till the creature is at length worn out and caught. The idols are then recon- ducted to the temples, with the same pomp as when they were brought away. And thus closes the festival of the Pongol; the most celebrated, undoubtedly, of all the rites which are performed during the course of the year. Thus have we given an abridgement of the extravagant absurdities to which the Hindus give themselves up, in the celebration of their festi- vals ; and such is the excess of folly to which the human mind can surrender itself, in matters of religion, when it has no other light to guide its steps than its own, or when it takes the dreary road of super- stition. If reasonable men, being convinced by the testimony of their con- science. and that of the whole universe, that there is an Invisible Being, Almighty, Lord of all, and Ruler over all, were to unite in offering adoration and sacrifice to Him whom they acknowledge as the Author of all things, whatever his nature may be ; if they were to join in exultation and rejoicing, as if to felicitate each other on the blessings which they all received from that Invisible Being ; there would be nothing in all that, but what is commendable and worthy of imitation. But, when we behold a cultivated race, one that stands the earliest in the order of civilization, delivering itself, without scruple or shame, to extravagancies so monstrous as those we have described, and to others perhaps more absurd, which we have still to enumerate ; ought we to attribute all these excesses to the mere weakness of the human mind ? Or ought we not rather to admit the agency and subornation of an evil spirit, seeking to seduce men by the vain shew of superstitious rites ? They would undoubtedly be considered acts of fatuity, if committed by II 590 FESTIVALS. individuals ; and why should they be held less insane because they are practised by whole nations ? The grossness of the idolatry which universally prevails in India is such, that persons, educated in a way altogether dissimilar, find it diffi- cult to comprehend how an intelligent people should be attached to so absurd a worship, and should never have attempted to emerge from the gloom of darkness into which they have been plunged : just as if it were possible to reason wisely on the subject of religion, and to form a rational system, when the human understanding has God no longer for its ruler, nor revelation for its guide. Besides, humanly speaking, v/e feel less surprize in this respect, when, upon attentive examination, we clearly perceive that the laws and cus- toms, both civil and religious, of this people, are so closely combined together, that any infringement of the one is sure to break down the other. Education, prejudice, and national bias have, in all times, led them to consider the two principal pillars of civilization, religion and civil rule, to be indissolubly connected ; and they are persuaded that neither can be touched without inducing the reign of barbarism, or at least without exciting the most savage anarchy in the state. The very extravagance, also, of the Hindu idolatry, the whole ritual of which is nothing less than the subversion of common sense, serves to give it a deeper root in the hearts of a people, sensual, enthusiastic, and fond of the marvellous. They cannot see, in all the world, a religion preferable to their own ; and, inftituated with their idols, they shut their ears to the voice of nature, which cries so loudly against it. But the Hindus are still more irresistibly attached to the species of idolatry which they have embraced, by their uniform pride, sensuality, and licentiousness. Whatever their religion sets before them tends to encourage these vices ; and, consequently, all their senses, passions, and interests are leagued in its favour. It is made up of diversion and amusement. Dances, shews, and lewdness, accompany it, and form a part of the divine worship. Their festivals are nothing but sports ; and, on no occasion of life, are modesty and decorum more carefully excluded than during the celebration of their religious mysteries. How can a people, ignorant of ail enjoyment but that of sensual gratifica- FESTIVALS. 391 tion, fail to be attached to a religion so indulgent to its peculiar passions ? Interest, also, that powerful engine, which puts in motion all human things, is a principal support of the edifice of Hindu idolatry. Those who are at the head of this extravagant worship, most of them quite conscious of its absurdity, are the inost zealous in promoting its diffu- sion, because it affords them the means of living. Such impostors will suffer no opportunity to escape by which they may more deeply infatu- ate the people with the idolatry and superstition in which they have been bred. Well acquainted with the sway which their senses maintain over them, they take care to accompany the public rites and ceremonies with all the pomp and splendour which can impose upon their fancy. These artifices are employed, above all, in some celebrated Pagodas. The persons who preside there, who live the year round, in voluptuous indolence, upon the abundant offerings brought to them on the anniver- sary of their festival, spare no ])ains to gratify the superstition which animates their votaries. Triumphal cars, super])ly decorated in the Hindu fashion, on which the idols are placed in all their splendid finery, are exposed to public veneration. Songs, dancing, shews, fire-works, and an unceasing round of diversions ; the sight of an immense assem- bly, where numbers of the wealthy contend with each other tor the palm of luxurious extravagance and shew ; and above all, the extreme licence which prevails through all classes, and the facility witii which every individual can humour the bent of his desires : all these things are infinitely delightful to a people who have no relish for any pleasure but that of the senses. They fly to these festivals, therefore, from all quarters. Even the poor husbandman, to whom, with a numerous fami- ly, the scanty crop scarcely affords subsistence through the course of the year, forgetful of his future wants, sells a part of his stock for a contri- bution to this ridiculous worship, and for offerings to the impostors who thus entertain them at the expence of the public credulity. The places where these festivals are held are famous all around, and are considered as holy and consecrated spots ; in order to keep up the delusion and increase the confidence of the people. The Brahmans, who have the charge of the temples, besides the pomp and splendour 392 FESTIVALS. with which they dazzle the multitude, have recourse to another species of imposture, not less powerful, amongst a race credulous in the extreme, and lovers of the marvellous. They preserve a long list of miracles, which they pretend to have been wrought by the God of stone who resides in their temple, in behalf of those who have brought him rich offerings and trusted in him. Sometimes it is a barren woman whom he has blessed with fertility ; sometimes one blind whom he has re- stored to sight ; sometimes lepers who have been cured, or cripples who have recovered the use of their limbs. The silly Hindu swallows the bait, and never dreams of the designs of the impostors. This digression has insensibly led me too far out of my course ; my intention having been merely to shew, by the way, that the very extra- vagance of the ceremonies I have been describing, so far from rendering them ridiculous or contemptible, is the strongest aid to the progress of superstition and idolatry among the Hindus. If one adds to this the prodigious antiquity from which they draw their fabulous religion ; the wonderful and astonishing incidents in the lives of their Gods, Giants, and early Kings ; the enchantments, ti*ue or imaginary, effected by their philosophers ; the austere seclusion of their ascetics ; the rigid abstinence from animal food of all the nobler part of the nation ; their daily and scrupulous purification ; and, finally, their prayers and vain contemplation : all this may at least serve to excuse the excess of their superstition ; and, at the same time, by shewing us the monstrous aberrations to which the human mind is subject in regard to religion, may lead those amongst ourselves, who are conscious of clearer views and sounder information on that important subject, to be thankful to the Father of Mercies ; who, by the blessing of the shining light of revelation, has relieved us from the thick darkness of idolatry, in which, for some secret purpose known only to Himself, and which it is not lawful for us to scrutinize, He has permitted so many nations to grope; some of which, perha|)s, might have turned to a better account than we have done, that inestimable blessing, which, being a free and unmerited gift, is the more to be prized. ( 393 ) CHAP. III. OF THE TEMPLES OF THE HINDUS AND THE CEREMONIES THERE PRACTISED. X HERE is not, perhaps, in the whole world, a land in which the Buildings destined for religious uses are so numerous as in India ; and there are few in which the popular credulity and superstition have better answered the purposes of the founders of the false religions which have been there established. One hardly sees a village, however small, in which there is not a Pagoda, or building set apart to the worship of the divinities whom they adore. It has become proverbial amongst them, that a man should not live where there is no temple ; and they are satisfied that, sooner or later, some mischief must befal those who disregard this maxim. Of the good works recommended to the rich, one of the most honourable and most meritorious is to lay out a part of their fortune in erecting buildings for religious worship, and endowing them with a suit- able revenue. Such works of merit never fail to draw down upon those who practise them the protection of the gods, the remission of sin, and a happy world after death. Yet it happens that the greater number of those who ruin themselves by these works of merit, generally undertake them from motives of vanity and ostentation rather than of devotion. These are the predo- minant vices amongst the Hindus ; and in this case, above all others, the desire of renown and of obtaining the praises of men has, assured- ly, more influence on their conduct than any expectation of meriting the protection of the gods, in honour of whom they incur those foolish expences. 3e 394 TEMPLES. Besides the Temples of Idols that are seen in all the villages, we meet with many in places insulated, and remote from all habitation ; in woods, on the banks and in the middle of rivers, near great lakes and other places ; but, above all, on mountains and even the steepest rocks. This propensity for erecting temples and other religious houses, on mountains and other elevated situations, is observable throughout India, in such a degree, that scarcely a summit is to be seen that is not sur- mounted with some building of this nature. This propensity I have thought worthy of remark ; and I cannot at- tribute it solely to the desire of exhibiting their temples to greater advantage, or of rendering the glory of the founders more conspicuous in the eyes of posterity, but to other motives. Indeed, the conduct of the Hindus, in this instance, is by no means peculiar. The Holy Scripture informs us that the same feeling existed, not only among the ancient idolatrous nations, but also extended to the chosen people of God. The Israelites were accustomed to chuse a mountain, when they offered their supplications and sacrifices to the Lord. Solomon himself, before the building of the Temple of Jerusalem, religiously conformed to this practice, by selecting Mount Gibeon, the highest eminence in his neighbourhood, on which to sacrifice his burnt-offerings. And when the ten tribes separated themselves, in the reign of Jeroboam, they erected their sacrilegious altars on the mountain of Samaria. When God prescribed to the Israelites the conduct they were to pur- sue, in taking possession of the land of Canaan ; he commanded them, above all things, to demolish the temples of idols, which the nations who inhabited that country had erected on the mountains, and other •' high places ;" to break the images in pieces, and to destroy the " Groves" which they had planted, and under the cover of which they probably hid (as the Hindus do at the present day) the objects of their idolatrous worship. But whence can have arisen this custom, still subsisting in India, and so common in all other ancient nations, of erecting their places of wor- ship on those lofty summits ? TEMPLES. 395 When the universal deluge abated, the ark ol* Noah grounded on the highest mountains of Armenia ^ and there he offered to God the first sacrifice of thanks. Mount Ararat, probably, long continued to be held sacred by the Patriarch and his descendants ; and was, no doubt, frequently visited as the scene of their deliverance ; and, for the purpose of testifying their gratitude to the Lord, on the spot vi'here his divine mercy had been so conspicuous ; as well as to renew from time to time the expression of their thankfulness, and to repeat the sacrifices which Noah offered on the day when he descended from the ark. It is probably from that period, and from that event, that the custom has arisen among so many ancient nations, and still continues, of selecting high elevations for their places of worship ; as if to approach more nearly to the sublime throne of the Divinity. Besides the temples of the idols, there are to be seen in all parts of [ndia, objects of the popular worship, represented by statues of stone or of baked earth, but most commonly sculptured in blocks of granite. Many of these are met with near the high roads ; at the entrance into villages ; on the banks of the lakes ; but, above all, under bushy trees of that kind, chiefly, which are held sacred by the superstition of the country. Such are the Aruli-marojn, Ali-maram, Bevina-maram, and other trees ; and under the shadow of their branches the Hindus delight to deposit the gods whom they adore. Of the infinite number of images of stone, that are scattered all over the country, some are placed under niches, but the greater number are exposed in the open air. The most of the Hindu temples have a most miserable ap- pearance, and resemble ovens rather than places designed for the residence of gods. Some of them likewise answer the purpose of a court of justice, a town hall, or a choultry for the reception of travellers, as well as a temple for religious worship. But there are some also, which, from a distant view, have a majestic appearance, and which, by the taste of their architecture, sometimes excite the admiration of the traveller, and recal those times of antiquity when artists laboured for posterity as well as for contemporary fame, by 3e 2 396 TEMPLES. erecting solid and durable works, which outlast the flimsy, though more elegant erections of others. The form of the larger temples, both ancient and modern, is always the same. The Hindus are attached in all things to the ancient customs of their ancestors ; and they have not departed from them in the style of their public edifices. For this reason, their architecture most probably exhibits a more faithful model of the manner of building used by the first civilized nations than that of the Egyptians or the Greeks can do. The gate of entrance of their great pagodas is cut through a huge pyramid, which gradually becomes narrower, and almost always finishes at the top in a crescent. This pyramid fronts the east, towards which the gate of every templesm all or great is turned. In pagodas of the first order, beyond the pyramid, there is com- monly a large court ; at the end of which another gate appears, cut like the former, through a second pyramid, massy, but not so lofty as the first. This being passed through, there is another court ; at the end of which the temple for the residence of the idol is built. Opposite to the gate of the temple, and in the middle of the second court, there is placed, upon a large pedestal, or in a kind of niche, supported by four pillars, and open on all sides, a grotescjue figure, representing a cow or bull, lying flat on its belly. Sometimes it re- presents the Lingam, sometimes the god Vighneswara, Hanuman, the serpent Capelia, or some other of the principal objects of their idolatry. The divinity, situated in this niche, is the first object to which the votaries present their homage. They adore it by making the Sashtangam before it ; at the same time, touching the pavement with both corners of their forehead. Some, less ardent, instead of the Sashtangam, content themselves with the Namaskaram, by joining their hands together, and raising them to their forehead, thumping their cheeks with the right liand. After this homage to the exterior object of worship, they are allowed to enter into the interior of the temple. The door is generally narrow and low, although it be the only aperture through which air and the light of day can enter, the use of 1 1 TEMPLES. 397 windows being wholly unknown to the Hindus. The building is divided into two, and sometimes into three parts ; all on a level. One of these divisions is very large, to accommodate all persons of good cast who chuse to enter. This may be called the Nave ; and the smaller one, which we may call the Sanctuary, is separated from the other, communicating only by a door, which can be opened by nobody but him who holds the office of sacrificer and chief functionary of the temple. He only, and a few of his attendants by his leave, can enter into this sacred place to dress the idol, to wash itj to offer it flowers, incense, lighted lamps, fruits, betel, butter, milk, rich apparel, ornaments of gold and silver, and a thousand other articles of which their sacrifice and offering consist. The nave of the temple is sometimes arched with brick, but generally with a ceiling constructed of large and massy blocks, sup- ported by pillars of hewn stone rising from the floor, the capitals of which are composed of two other solid stones, which cross each other and support rafters of the same material, which also extend cross- wise through the whole length and breadth of the ceiling. Upon these rafters are placed other hewn stones, flatter and broader, with which the temple is roofed. The chinks are stopped with good cement to keep out the watei*. The scarcity of timber in India may probably account for its being never used in the construction of their temples. Perhaps also the am- bition of having solid and durable edifices has determined them to use only brick and stone. Rut, it is certain that wood is no where em- ployed in a Hindu temple but for the doors. The sanctuary or receptacle of the idols is generally constructed with a dome. The whole building is low, no doubt from the difficulty of finding stones adapted to the length of column necessary for the support of the roof The proper proportion of height is therefore deficient in the Hindu temples ; which, being added to the want of circulation of air, by the narrowness of the doors, often occasions un- pleasant consequences to those v\ i o frequent them. If we combine with these horrors, the infectious effluvia arising from the smell of decayed flowers, burning lamps, libations of oil and melted oQg TEMPLES. butter, added to the rank perspiration of a multitude squeezed together in such a place, we may form some idea of the stench which exhales from the shrines of the deities of India. The horrid filth, too, in which these divinities are kept, cannot fail to be disgusting to unpractised eyes. It would be difficult to imagine any thing more hideous than their appearance. They are generally re- presented in frightful or ridiculous attitudes ; but no distinguishing feature can be perceived, on account of the dark hue they contract by being perpetually daubed with oil and melted butter, mixed with other ingredients. They have the same custom of blackening the triumphal cars, which are every where seen transporting the idols through the streets, in their processions ; but this dingy and filthy appearance is ad- mired, as proceeding from the frequent oblations of butter and oil, to which they give the name of Nivetiam or consecration. Without this, objects of worship could not be consecrated ; for no statue or image can be exhibited to public adoration until the Purohita Brahman has invoked into it the Divinity, by virtue of his mantras, and has imbued it with the Nivetiam by drenching it with oil and liquid butter. Something analogous to this practice may be observed in the Holy Scripture. Thus Jacob, after his dream, " rose up early in the morn- " ing, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for " a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it*." And afterwards, in alluding to it, the angel says to him : " I am the God of Bethel, where " thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst avow unto mef." Libations of oil were employed in the same manner, by many ancient nations, in the consecration of living and inanimate objects. But to return to the Hindu temples. Besides the idols in the inte- rior or sanctuary, other objects of worship are set up in different parts, sculptured on the pillars which support the building; and on the walls. In the outer court, the niches, in which the images of men or ani- mals are set, have the front filled with figui'es bearing allusion to their fables, or with the most monstrous obscenities. The princij)al walls with- out, which are of strength proportioned to the rest of the building, are likewise covered with them, in some instances, all round. * Gen. xxviii. 18. ' t Gen. xxxi. 13; TEMPLES. 399 Some of these idols, and in particular the principal one which resides in the sanctuary, are clothed with valuable garments, and adorned with jewels of great price. A golden or silver crown is never wanting, or rays of glory of the same metal, for their heads. In the great temples these ornaments are enriched with precious stones, encreasing their value to many thousand pagoda coins. But all this finery, lavished on such hideous forms, tends only to make them more horrid ; and, what still increases their deformity, is the eyes, mouth, nose and ears of gold and silver, which are frequently stuck upon their sooty heads. On the outside of the temple, opposite to the door of entrance and . at a small distance, there is commonly a pillar of granite erected, of an octagonal shape, cut from a single block, sometimes forty or fifty feet in height. It is inserted in a huge pedestal, formed of one or more pieces of freestone. Its base is square, and has several figures sculp- tured on it. The capital of the column terminates in a square, from the corners of which small bells are commonly hung. On the middle of this square, at the summit of the column, there is a sort of grate on which incense is sometimes burned; but they, more commonly, have lighted lamps. High columns of this kind are frequently met with on the highways j and where they stand, in desert places, the devotees in the neighbour- hood keep the lamps occasionally burning on the tops. I am led to believe that these lofty pillars, which are always placed towards the east, are erected in honour of fire, or rather of the sun, the brightest emblem of that element. In the festival of Divuligay formerly described, which appears to be instituted in honour of the fire, many lamps are lighted on the tops of the pillars, as long as the festival continues. Sometimes they are wholly in a blaze, by wrap- ping many pieces of new cloth round the column, and setting them on fire. There are some celebrated temples, whose income is sufficient to TOiaintain several thousand persons, employed in the various functions of idolatrous worship. These are of various casts, though the greater number are Brahmans. 400 TEMPLES. Of these various ministers of the temples, the sacvificers occupy the first rank. They may be either Brahmans, or of any other cast ; for, in some temples, under certain circumstances, even Pariahs assume the office of sacrificers. This I know to be the case in a celebrated temple in the Mysore, called Melcota, at a solemn festival celebrated there every year. The Pariahs, on that occasion, are the first to enter into the sanctuary of the temple, with offerings to the idol ; and the Brah- mans do not begin till they have ended. / The oblations or sacrifices offered in most of the Hindu temples consist of the simple productions of nature, such as boiled rice, flow- ers, fruits, and the like, but above all of lamps, of which many thou- sands are sometimes seen burning in the temple. They feed them with butter, in preference to oil. The Hindu priests regularly offer up sacrifice twice every day, even- ing and morning. They always begin the ceremony by washing the idol that is the object of it. The water used is brought from the river or tank, with processional pomp and state. In some great pagodas, it is brought on the backs of elephants, escorted by many of the Brah- mans and other ministers of the temple, preceded by the musicians and dancers belonging; to it. In smaller temples, the Brahmans themselves bring it morning and evening, on their heads, in copper pitchers, attended by the music, the dancing girls and other assistants. The water, so set apait for washing the idols, is called Tiriham, or holy water. When the sacrificer has washed the images, he offers up the sacri- fice ; the material of which is generally brought by the votaries. Two things are indispensably necessary to the sacrificer in performing the ceremony : several lighted lamps, and a bell, which he holds in his left hand during the whole time, while, with his right hand, he offers his oblation to the gods, and adorns them with flowers ; imprinting on their foreheads, and various parts of their bodies, some of the marks which the Hindus are accustomed to apply to themselves, witli sandal wood and cow-dung ashes. The followers of Vishnu in this case, im- press on their idols the figure of the Nainci. All the sacrifices are ac- companied with mantras suited to the circumstances, and with innu- TEMPLES. 401 merable bows and gesticulations, the most of which would appear ex- ceedingly ridiculous to an European. During the actual performance of the sacrifice, the priest is quite alone in the sanctuary, the door of which he closes. The unholy mul- titude remain in the nave, silently waiting till he Ixiis done. What he does they cannot know, only hearing the sound of his bell. The whole ceremony is performed with the utmost rapidity, and with no signs of reverence or awe. When it is over, he comes out, and distributes part of the articles which had been offered to the idols. This is received as something holy, and is eaten immediately, if it be fruit, rice, or any article of food. If flowers, they stick them in their turbans ; and the girls entwine them in their hair. Last of all, the priest takes some of the Tirtham or holy water in the hollow of his hand, which is di-ank by those who can reach it ; after which the assembly breaks up. Next to the Sacrificers, the most important persons about the tem- ples are the dancing girls, who call themselves Deva-dasi, servants or slaves of the gods ; but they are known to the public by the coarser name of strumpets. Their profession, indeed, requires of them to be open to the embraces of persons of all casts; and, although originally they appear to have been intended for the gratification of the Brahmans only, they are now obliged to extend their favours to all who solicit them. Such are the loose females who are consecrated in a special manner to the worship of the gods of India. Every temple, according to its size, entertains a band of them, to the number of eight, twelve, or more. The service they perform consists of dancing and singing. The first they execute with grace, though with lascivious attitudes and motions. Their chanting is generally confined to the obscene songs which relate to some circumstance or other of the licentious lives of their gods. They perform their religious duties at the temple to which they be- long twice a-day, morning and evening. They are also obliged to assist at all the public ceremonies, which they enliven with their dance and merry song. As soon as their public business is over, they open 3 r 4Q2 TEMPLES. their cells of infamy, and frequently convert the temple itself into a stew. They are bred to this profligate life from their infancy. They are taken from any cast, and are frequently of respectable birth. It is nothing uncommon to hear of pregnant women, in the belief that it will tend to their happy delivery, making a vow, with the consent of their husbands, to devote the child then in the womb, if it should turn out a girl, to the service of the Pagoda. And, in doing so, they imagine they are performing a meritorious duty. The infamous life to which the daughter is destined brings no disgrace on the family. These prostitutes are the only females in India who may learn to read, to sing, and to dance. Such accomplishments belong to them exclusively, and are, for that reason, held by the rest of the sex in such abhorrence, that every virtuous woman would consider the mention of them as an affront. These performers are supported out of the revenues of the temple, of which they receive a considerable share. But their dissolute profession is still more productive. In order to stimulate more briskly the passion which their lewd employment is intended to gratify, they have recourse to the same artifices as are used by persons of their sex and calling in other countries. Perfumes, elegant and attractive attire, particularly of I the head, sweet-scented flowers intertwined with exquisite art about I their beautiful hair, multitudes of ornamental trinkets adapted with in- finite taste to the different parts of the body, a graceful carriage and measured step, indicating luxurious delight ; such are the allurements and the charms which these enchanting syrens display to accomplish their seductive designs. From infancy they are instructed in the various modes of kindling the fire of voluptuousness in the coldest hearts ; and they well know how to vary their arts and adapt them to the particular disposition of those whom they wish to seduce. At the same time, notwithstanding their aUuring demeanor, they cannot be accused of those gross indecencies which are often publicly exhibited by women of their stamp in Euro[)e; particularly the exposure of the person and the lascivious airs which one would think capable of TEMPLES. 4Qy inspiring the most determined libertine with disgust : on the contrary, of all the women in India, the common girls, and particularly the dancers at the temples, are the most decently clothed. They are so nice in covering every part of the body, as to have the appearance of being affectedly precise, or as if they intended, by the contrast with the more open attire of other dames, to excite more strongly the passion which they wished to inspire, by carefully veiling a part of the charms which it covets. Neither can they be reproached with that impudent assurance exhi- bited in public by the Messalinas of Europe. Shameless as the dancing girls of India appear to be, they will not venture, upon any occasion, to stop a man in the streets, or to take any indecent liberty in public. And, on the other hand, a man who would take such liberties, even with a prostitute, so far from being applauded, or joked with, by the spectators, as happens in some other countries, would be obliged to hide his head for shame, and would be treated with marks of indignation. Relaxed as the manners of the Hindus are, they know how to observe, in public, that decorum which every class of people owes to another, in the intercourse of life ; and which are never violated, with impunity, but in nations arrived at the last degree of corruption. After the Dancing Women, the next order of persons employed in the service of the temples is that of the Players on Musical Instruments. Every Pagoda, of any note, has a band of Musicians ; who, as well as the dancers, are obliged to attend at the temple twice every day, to make it ring with their discordant sounds and inharmonious airs. They are also obliged to assist at all public ceremonies and festivals, to en- liven them with their music; and they, likewise, are paid from the revenue of the temple. Their band generally consists of wind instruments, resembling clario- nets and hautboys ; to which they add cymbals and several kinds of drums. They produce, out of these instruments, a confusion of sharp and piercing sounds, little suited to please an European ear. They are acquainted, however, with music in two parts. Intermixed with the instruments, they have always a bass and a high counter ; the first of 3 F 2 404 TEMPLES. which is produced by blowing into a kind of tube, widened below, and yielding an uninterrupted and uniform stream of sound resembling the braying of a wide horn. Part of the musicians execute the vocal part, and sing hymns in honour of the gods. The Brahmans, and other devotees, sometimes join in the chorus, and sometimes sing, separately, airs or other sacred pieces of their own composition. The Dancing Women, the Singers, and the Instrumental Performers relieve one another, by taking up their several parts, in rotation, to the close of the ceremony; which is often terminated by a procession around the temple ; whilst, night and morning, the jovial girls fail not to per- form the Arati over the idols of the temple, for the purpose of averting the fatal influence of the looks and glances of envious or evil-minded persons ; the gods themselves not being exempt from that species of incantation. In the band of musicians belonging to each temple, the most conspi- cuous performer of all is the Nahtuva or Sahtuva, who beats time. He does it by tapping with his fingers on each side of a sort of drum tightly braced. As he beats, his head, shoulders, arms, and every muscle of his frame, are in motion. He rouses the musicians with his voice, and animates them with his gestures ; and, at times, he appears agitated with violent convulsions. To an European ear, as we have already remarked, the vocal and in- strumental music of the Hindus would appear equally contemptible. Yet they have a Gamvit like ours, composed of seven notes ; and they are taught music methodically. They are likewise expert in keeping time, and they have also our variety of keys. In their Vocal JNIusic, a monotonous dulncss prevails ; and, in the Instrumental, they produce nothing but harsh, sharp, and piercing sounds, which would shock the least delicate ear. But, although the Hindu music, when compared with the European, does not deserve the name, I conceive that we have degraded it beneath its humble deserts. European ears and musicians are by no means im- partial judges. To appretiate their music rightly, we ought to go back two or three thousand years, and plaCc ourselves in those remote ages TEMPLES. 405 when the Druids and other leaders of the popular belief in the greater part of Europe, used, in their rites, nothing but dismal and horrid shrieks, and had no instrumental music but what was produced by clashing one plate of metal against another, by beating on a stretched skin, or raising a dull and droning sound from a horn or a rude instru- ment of twisted bark. We ouo'ht to recollect that the Hindus have never had the thought of bringing any thing to perfection ; and that, in science, arts, and manufactures, they have remained stationary at the point where they were two or three thousand years ago. Their musicians, in those remote ages, were as skilful as those of the present time. But if we compare the Hindu music, as we now hear it, with that of Europe, as it was two or three thousand years ago, I have no doubt that the former would take high precedence over all others in a similar stage of society. The Gamut has been known to the Hindus from the earliest times ; and it is probable that it has been borrowed from them by the other nations who now use it. It is but in modern times that it has been in- troduced into Europe by the Benedictine Monk Guido Aretino, who adapted it to the seven signs, td, re, mi, fa, sol, la, sa, which are the first syllables of some words contained in the first strophe of the Latin hymn composed in honour of St. John the Baptist, which runs thus : 1 2 " Ut qiieant Iaxis resonare fibris 3 4 " Mira gestorum famuli tuorum, s 6 " Solve polluti labii reatum, " Sancte Joannes !" The gamut of the Hindus is exactly the same as ours, being com- posed of the same number of notes, and arranged in the same way. It is expressed by the signs or syllables following : or Sa, m. Ga, Ma, Pa, Da, Ni, Sa; lit, re, mi, la, sol, la, si, ut. and also Sa, Ni, Da, Pa, Ma, Ga, Bi, Sa ; or ut, si, la, sol, fa, nii, re, ut. 406 TEAFPLES. Tlie musicians of India have no more than three and thirty tunes ; each of wliich has its particular name. Yet, though their whole musical knowledge is limited to these thirty-three airs, there are few that know them all ; and the greater number are not capable of playing one half of them. All the musicians belonging to the temples are taken from the cast of Barbers, one of the lowest among the Sudras. The department of wind-instruments belongs, almost exclusively, to this cast, or to others of a rank equally low ; and, so degraded has the employment become in the eyes of the Hindu people, that no individual of a respectable cast would condescend to put a wind-instrument to his mouth. But the Brahmans themselves disdain not to practise upon stringed instru- ments : a preference which will be afterwards accounted for. The expence of the idolatrous worship of the Hindus being very consi- derable, the several Pagodas have, necessarily, resources for defraying it. In several districts they draw a sort of tithe out of the produce of the harvest. In other parts, they have the absolute property of exten- sive lands, exempted from all taxation ; the produce of which is exclu- sively assigned to those who perform the rites of the temple. Besides, the humblest Pagoda is not without great numbers of votaries and de- votees ; who bring in considerable offerings, in money, trinkets, cattle, provisions, and other articles ; all which are divided amongst the func- tionaries of the temple, according to their dignity and rank. Sometimes the revenues of a temple, arising from such offerings, have been large enough to tempt the cupidity of some of the Princes, particularly of the Moorish race. These considerate rulers have some- times found it convenient to lay hold of more than one half of the income proceeding from the offerings made to the temple by the devo- tees ; which they represented to be but a fair indemnification for their trouble in protecting the religion of the country. In the several Pagodas, the Brahmans, who are the principal minis- ters, omit no sort of imposture to keep up the popular credulity, and to allure votaries to the worship of that deity by which they live. For this purpose, they resort to various means ; amongst which may be TEMPLES. 407 enumerated the Oracles, which they ascribe to their deities, and the Miracles which they perform. The oracles are managed by some ex- pert Rrahmans, who understand this sort of roguery, and contrive to introduce some person within the images, which are generally hollow, or conceal themselves hard by so as not to be observed, and, from that concealment, harangue the multitude ; all of whom firmly believe that it is the image itself that speaks, and therefore listen to the oracular admonition with awful silence. The impostors who carry on this de- ception, sometimes take upon themselves to predict future events, but in so obscure and ambiguous a way, that, however the issue may turn out, they may always have it in their power to make it accord with their predictions. But the most successful artifice is generally in causing complaints to be made to the idol, that tlie number of his votaries and the value of their offerings are decreasing. Tliey represent him as saying, in reply, that if the zeal of the people does not wax warmer, and the offerings increase, instead of falling off", he will quit the temple, abandon a people so ungrateful for his protection, and retire into some other country where he will be better received. At other times the priests put the idols in irons, chaining their hands and feet. They exhibit them to the people in this humiliating state, into which they tell them they have been brought by rigorous cre- ditors, from whom their gods had been obliged, in times of trouble, to borrow money to supply their wants. They declare that the inex- orable creditors refuse to set the god at liberty until the v/hole sum, with interest, shall have been paid. The people come forward, alarmed at the sight of their divinity in irons ; and, thinking it the most meri- torious of all good works to contribute to his deliverance, they raise the sum required by the Brahmans for that purpose ; and this being settled, the chains are soon dissolved and the idol restored to liberty. In some famous temples, such as that of Tirupati, they make use of silver chains, instead of iron, when it is necessary to jnit the idol under restraint. Another sort of imposture is often practised by the Brahmans in many parts ; which consists in announcing to the people, and making them II 408 TEMPLES, believe, that the idol is afflicted with a dreadful malady, brought on by the vexation of perceiving the devotion of the people and their former confidence abating from day to day. In such cases, the idol is some- times taken down from the pedestal, and placed at the door of the pa- goda, where they rub his forehead and temples with various drugs. They set before him all sorts of potions and medicines, shewing the most earnest endeavours to cure him by these ordinary means : but all the resources of art proving useless, while the disorder continues to in- crease, the Brahmans send out their emissaries to all parts to spread the afflicting news. An ignorant and stupid people implicitly believes in the ridiculous imposture, and hastens with gifts and offerings. The deity beholding such proofs of reviving piety and confidence, feels him- self instantly relieved from his melancholy, and resumes his station. The Brahmans who direct the public worship, frequently resort to another species of trick, equally gross as the former, for the purpose of inspiring a salutary fear of the idol, and of attracting ample donations to his temple. This is effected by representing their god as .enraged against certain individuals who have offended him, into whose bodies he has sent a Pisac/ia or demon, to avenge his insulted honour upon them by every species of torment. Persons accordingly appear, wandering about in all parts of the country, exhibiting, by dreadful convulsions and contortions, every symptom of being possessed by the evil spirit. Well instructed in their art they tell a marvellous story, wherever they go, of some god or other, to whom they are obnoxious, liaving sent a fiend to dwell within them and to torment them. To prove that it is really a wicked demon that haunts them, they babble in various languages, of which they have had a previous smattering, but which now appears to be the immediate inspiration of the demon who resides within them. They publicly devour all sorts of meat, drink inebriating liquors, and openly violate the most sacred rules of their cast. All these trans- gressions are laid to the charge of the devil that possesses them ; and no blame attaches to the unwilling instrument. The people, before whom these impostures are exhibited, unsuspicious of tiie fraud, are filled with dismay ; and prostrate thiemselves before the evil spirit, TEMPLES. 409 with sacrifice and oblations, to render him innoxious. Wliatever he asks they bring. They give him to eat and to drink abundantly ; and, when he leaves them, they accompany him with pomp and with the sound of instruments, till he arrives at some other place, where he plays the same game, and finds as silly dupes. In the lucid moments, which he can easily command, he exhorts the crowds of spectators to profit by the awful example before them, to have more regular confidence in that god by whom he himself has been so grievously punished, to con- ciliate his friendship by offerings and gifts, that they may not be subject to the same severe punishments which have befallen him for his defects in piety and faith. Another contrivance of the Brahmans, employed with no less suc- cess, consists in the public testimony they give to a vast number of pretended Miracles wrought by the god of their temple, in favour of numei'ous votaries, who have shewn their faith in him, and brought him abundant offerings. These miracles comprehend the cure of all sorts of disease ; of the blind who have regained their sight ; the lame who have recovered their limbs ; and the dead who have been raised. But the miracle which takes precedence of all others, and is always listened to with the highest delight and admiration, is the fecundity conferred on numbers of women, who remained in a barren state, till their prayers and their offerings obtained from their divinity the gift of children. We have seen that sterility in India is accounted a curse, and that a childless woman is always despised. In fact, there is no country on earth where population is so much encouraged as amongst the Hindus. Their domestic institutions are in this respect pre-eminent over those of other nations, who are vaunted as at the very summit of civilization, although they have, in reality, sunk to the lowest degree of vice, by the love of luxury, the thirst after distinction and wealth, or other propensities not less despicab\e in the eyes of the philosopher ; which have driven a vast number of their most distinguished members to the horrid necessity of resisting nature in the most general, most invariable, and also the sweetest of her inspirations ; by opposing meditated obstacles to lier principle of pro- 3 G 410 TEMPLES. pagation, and sometimes even by means which cannot be alhided to without disgust. The Hindus, on the other hand, consider a man to be rich only in proportion to the number of his children. However numerous a man's family may be, he ceases not to offer prayers for its increase. A fruit- ful wife is the highest blessing, in the eyes of a Hindu ; and no misery can be compared with that of a barren bed. The children become useful at an early age. At five or six years old they tend the smaller animals. Those that are stouter, or a little more advanced, take care of the cows and oxen ; whilst the adult assist their fathers in agricultural labour, or in any other way in which they can afford comfort to the authors of their being. Superstition has a powerful influence in keeping up this vehement desire of having children, which prevails among the Hindus ; for, according to their maxims, the greatest misery that can betide any man is to be destitute of a son, or a grandson, to take charge of his obsequies. In such a state he cannot look for a happy world hereafter. In pursuance of this system, we see their barren women continually running from temple to temple, ruining themselves frequently by the extravaoance of their donations to obtain from the ruling divinities the object of their ardent desires. The Brahmans have turned the popular credulity on this point to good account ; and there is no considerable temple, whose residing deity does not, amongst many other miracles, excel in that of curing barrenness in women. There are some temples, however, of greater celebrity than others in this way, to which women in that state resort in preference. Such is that famous one of Tirupati in the Carnatic. Sterile women frequent it, in crowds, to obtain children from the God Vencata Ramana who presides there. On their arrival, they apply, first of all, to the Brahmans, to whom they disclose the nature of their pilgrimage and the object of their vows. The Brahmans prescribe to the credulous women to pass the night in the temple, in expectation that, by their faith and piety, the resident god may visit them and render them prolific. In the silence and darkness of the night, the Brahmans, as the vicegerents of the god, visit the women, and in proper time disai)pcar. In the morning, after TEMPLES. 411 due inquiries, they congratulate them on the benignant reception they have met with from the god ; and, upon receiving the gifts which they have brought, take leave of them, with many assurances that the object of their vows will speedily be accomplished. The women, having no suspicion of the roguery of the Brahmans, go home in the full persuasion that they have had intercourse with the divinity of the temple, and that the god who has deigned to visit them must have removed all impediments to their breeding. There are many other excesses, still more extravagant, to which the credulity and superstitious bias of the Hindus have led them, in this particular. Among many examples of this kind which I could mention, I shall take notice of one only ; which some of my readers will find as much difficulty in believing as I do in relating it : so repugnant it is to all decency and modesty ; though I know it to be true. At about ten leagues to the southward of Seringapatam, there is a vil- lage called Nanjanagud, where there is a temple, famous over all the Mysore. Amongst the numbers of votaries, of every cast, who resoit to it, a great proportion consists of barren women, who bring ofFerino-s to the god of the place, and pray for the gift of fruitfulness in return. But the object is not to be accomplished by the offerings and prayers alone, the disgusting part of the ceremony being still to follow. On retirincr from the temple, the woman and her husband repair to the common sewer, to which all the pilgrinis resort in obedience to the calls of nature. There, the husband and wife collect, with their hands, a quantity of the ordure ; which they set apart, with a mark upon it, that it may not be touched by any one else ; and with their fingers in this condition, they take of the water of the sewer in the hollow of their hands, and drink it. Then they perform ablution, and retire. In two or three days, they return to the place of filth, to visit the mass of ordure which they left. They turn it over with their hands, break it, and examine it in every possible way ; and, if they find that any insects or vermin are engendered in it, they consider it a favour- able prognostic for the woman. But, if no symptoms of animation are observed in the mass, they depart, disappointed and sorrowful, being convinced that the cause of barrenness has not been removed. 3 G 2 412 TEMPLES. But these abominable pi-actices, detestable as they appear, are not the worst that the inordinate desire of having posterity gives rise to in India. There are some, so enormously wicked, that every thing recorded in history of the debauchery and obscenities that were practised among the Greeks in the temple of Venus, by the courtesans consecrated to that goddess, sinks to nothing in the comparison. There are temples, in some solitary places, where the divinity requires to be honoured with the most unbounded licentiousness. He promises children to the barren women who will lay aside the most inviolable rules of decency and shame, and, in honour of him, submit to indiscri- minate embraces. An annual festival is held, in the month of January, at those infamous sinks of debauchery ; where, I need not say, great numbers of the libertines of both sexes assemble, from all quarters. Besides barren wives, who come in quest of issue, by exposing their persons, some of them having bound themselves by a vow to grant their favours to num- bers, many other dissolute women also attend, to do honour to the infamous deity, by prostituting themselves, openly and without shame, before the gates of his temple. There is an abominable rendezvous of debauchery of this sort at the distance of four or five leagues from the place where I am now writing these pages. It is on the banks of the Cavery, in a desert place called Junjinagafi. There is a mean-looking Pagoda there, in which one of those detestable idols resides who require to be honoured by the grossest abominations. The January lestival is regularly celebrated there by great crowds of both sexes, with all their ceremonies and vows. In the district of Coimbetur, near a village called Kari-madai, I have seen a temple of this description ; and it was pointed out to me that such places of debauchery were always situated in desert places, far removed from all hal)itations. We learn from ancient history, that a practice somewhat similar pre- vailed among the Assyrians and Babylonians ; with whom, according to Herodotus and Strabo, every woman was obliged to make an offeringof her person, once in her hie, in the temple of MyHtta ; tlie same as the Venus of the Greeks. But the practice seems so horrid, and so revolting to II TEMPLES. 413 the feelings of our nature, that some modern authors deny that it ever existed. Voltaire, with others, rejects it as incredible and absurd. What would he have said, then, had he been told of the festival cele- brated every year at Junjinagati and other places in India? Does the spirit of superstition admit of any bounds ? Or, rather, is there an excess of any kind to which it is not prone ? The actual conduct of the Hindus, with regard to religious ceremonies, is a living example of the monstrous aberrations to which human reason is subject, when left to its own infor- mation, or when urged by the passions^; and affords a direct confirmation of the truth of all that ancient history has reported, in its most daring and incredible flights, respecting the superstitious practices of the idola- trous nations of antiquity. I shall, next, take notice of another sort of Vows, very common amongst the Hindus ; which are absolved by suffering mutilation in various ways, or by enduring bodily torments. They are generally undertaken on occasions of disease, or any other danger, from which they suppose they can be delivered by their efficacy. One of the most common consists in stamping, upon the shoulders, chestj and other parts of the body, with a red-hot iron, certain marks, to represent the armour of their gods ; the impressions of which are never effaced, but are accounted sacred, and are ostentatiously displayed as marks of distinction. A practice very common among the devotees consists in laying them- selves at their whole length on the ground, and rolling in that posture all round the temples, or before the cars on which the idols are placed in solemn processions. On such occasions, it is curious to see the num- bers of enthusiasts who roll in that manner before the car, over the roads and streets, during the whole of the procession, regardless of the stones, thorns, and other impediments which they encounter in their progress, and by which they are mangled all over. It is in this class of enthusiasts that some individuals are found so completely inspired by the demon of a barbarous fanaticism, or seduced by the first incitements of a delirious glow, that they roll themselves under the car on which the idols are drawn, and are voluntarily crushed under the wheels. The surrounding 414 TEMPLES. crowd of enthusiasts, so far from trying to prevent this act of devotion, loudly applaud the zeal of the victims, and exalt them amongst the Gods. One of the severest tests to which the devotees of India are accustomed to expose themselves, is that which they call in many places Chidi Mari. The name arises from this species of self-infliction being generally prac- tised in honour of the goddess Mari-anuna (or Marima) one of the most wicked and sanguinary of all that are adored in India. At many temples, consecrated to this cruel divinity, a sort of gibbet is erected, with a pulley at the arm, thi'ough which a line passes with a sharp hook at the end. Those who have vowed to undergo the rough trial of Chidi Mari, place themselves under the gibljet, from which the rope and iron hook are let down. Then, after benumbing the flesh of the middle of the back of the votary by rubbing it very roughly, they fix the hook into it ; and, giving play to the other end of the string, they hoist up to the top of the gibbet, the wretch, thus suspended by the muscles of the back. After swinging in the air for two or three minutes, he is let down again ; and the hook being unfixed, he is dressed with proper medicines for his wound, and is dismissed in triumph. Another well known proof of devotion, to which many oblige them- selves, by vow, in cases of illness or other troubles, consists in walking or rather running over burning coals. When this is to be performed, they begin by kindling a blazing fire, and when the flames expire and all the fuel is reduced to cinders, the votaries commence their race, from the midst of a puddle of earth and water, which has been previ- ously prepared for the ])urpose ; running quickly, over the glowing embers, till they reach another puddle of the same kind on the other side of the fire. But notwithstanding this precaution, those who have a tender skin cannot fail to be grievously burnt. Others, who are unfit for the race, in place of going through the fire, take a cloth well moistened with water which tlioy ])ut over their head and shoulders, and lift up a chafing-dish filled with live embers, which they discharge over their heads. This is called the Fire lîuLh. Another species of torture submitted to, in the fulfilment of vows, is to pierce the cheeks, through and through, with a wire of silver or other TEMPLES. 415 metal, fixed in such a manner that the mouth cannot be opened with- out extreme pain. This operation is called locking the mouth, and is often protracted through the whole day. While under this discipline, the votary repairs to the temple which he has come to visit, and pays homage to the god; or walks about, with ostentation, amongst the ad- miring throng. There are several temples frequented by this species of votaries, in preference to the Pagoda of Nanjanagud before men- tioned ; and numbers of devotees of both sexes are there seen, with their jaws thus perforated through the teeth, and their mouths com- pletely locked. I once met a fanatic of this sort, in the streets, who had both lips pierced through and through with two long nails, which crossed each other, so that the point of the one reached to the right eye and that of the other to the left. He had just undergone this cruel operation at the gate of a temple consecrated to the goddess Mari-amma ; and, when I saw him, the blood was still trickUng from the wounds. He walked in that state for a long time in the streets, surrounded by a crowd of admirers, many of whom brought him alms, in money or goods, which were received by the persons who attended him. There are a great many other sorts of tortures and bodily pains thus voluntarily inflicted by the Hindus, with the view of rendering their gods propitious. Each devotee chuses the sort which is suggested by an imagination heated with barjjarous fanaticism ; and, still more fre- quently, by the desire of acquiring a name, and becoming conspicuous amongst the people. Some make avow to cut out their tongues, and acquit themselves of their vow by coolly executing it with their own hands. The custom is, when they have separated the half or any other portion of that organ, at the door of the temple, to put it on a cocoa shell, and offer it, on their knees, at the shrine of the deity. This disposition of the Hindus to bind themselves by vows to painful or costly works, in honour of tlieir gods, is visible in all unpleasant cir- cumstances that befal them ; but particularly in disease. There is hardly a Hindu who, in that case, does not take a vow to perform something or other when he recovers. The rich make vows to celebrate festivals 416 TEMPLES. at certain temples. Those less opulent offer, at the Pagoda, a cow, a buffalo, pieces of cloth, or trinkets of gold and silver. Those who are affected with any disorder of the eyes, mouth, ears, or any other outward organ, vow to their idols a corresponding resemblance of it in silver or gold. Amongst the innumerable sorts of vows practised by either sex, the following, which is very common in all parts of the peninsula, appears to me so curious as to deserve notice. It consists in the ofFer- ino; of their hair and their nails to the idol. It is well known that the men in India have the custom of frequently shaving the head, and allowing only a single tuft to grow on the crown. Those who have taken the vow suffer their hair and nails to grow for a long space of time ; and, when the day of fulfilment arrives, they go to the Pagoda, have their head shaved and their nails pared, which they offer up to the divinity whom they worship. This practice is nearly peculiar to men, and is held to be one of the most acceptable of all others to the gods. Before concluding our remarks on the vows of the Hindus, it may be proper to observe, that all such as relate to painful operations of the nature above described, with many others that are attended with bodily suffering, are always declined by the Brahmans, who leave the merit of them to the Sudras ; and those of the latter class who practise them are for the most part fanatical sectaries of Vishnu or Siva, particularly of Vishnu, who aspire by that method to the public admiration, rather than to do honour to the gods, by such barbarous and ridiculous works. Besides the practices already mentioned, which are carried on in almost every temple of any note, there are many others, not less re- volting, which are confined to some particular pagodas of great renown, where the concourse of pilgrims and other devotees is not to be num- bered. The most celebrated of the Hindu temples, in the south of the pe- ninsula, is that of Tirupali in the north of the Carnatic. It is dedi- cated to the god Vcncata lianiana. Crowds of pilgrims resort to it, from all parts of India, chiefly from amongst the followers of Vishnu. TEMPLES. 417 Those who are indifferent about casts also attend in great numbers ; but the disciples of Siva never appear. The infinite number of enthusiasts, who are continually journeying to this holy station, pour into it such abundance of offerings of all sorts, in goods, grain, gold, silver, jewels, precious stuffs, horses, cows and other cattle, and in all other articles of value ; that its revenue serves to maintain several thousands of persons, who are employed in the various functions of the idolatrous worship, which is there conducted with ex- traordinary pomp. Amongst the great number of ceremonies practised at this celebrated place, that of the Ravishment of Women is too remarkable to be passed over. It generally takes place at the time of the grand procession of the image of the god drawn through the streets, in a triumphal car, when curiosity to see the august spectacle attracts an inconceivable throng. While the procession is going forward the Brahmans who preside over the ceremony disperse themselves among the crowd, selecting the most beautiful women they can find, and begging them of their friends, for the use of the sod Venagata Ramana, for whose service the choice is declared to be made. Some persons, more intelligent, or at least less stupid than the rest, and who are so well acquainted with the knavery of the Brahmans as to know that it is not for a god of marble that their wives are solicited ; resist them, with violent reproaches, and publicly expose their impostures. Their own wives they will not de- liver up ; but they look on, while other more credulous husbands give up theirs ; not only without repugnance, but glorying in the honour, that a person of their family should have been chosen by their deity for a wife. When a woman, thus obtained, and kept in the temples, by the Brahmans, in the name of the god, is declared too old for his purposes, or when he has taken any dislike to her, they make a mark on her breast, representing the arms of the Venagata Ramana, and give her a patent, which certifies that she has served a certain number of years as one of the wives of the god of Tripathi, who is now tired of her, and therefore recommending her to the charity of the public. Thus 3h 418 TEMPLES. they are all dismissed in their turn ; and under the appellation of Kali- yugam Lakshmi, or the Lakshmi* of the Kali-yugam, they go about respected ; and, wherever they appear, they are suffered to want for nothing. This constupration of women, on the pretence of devoting them to the idols which are venei-ated by the Hindus, is not wholly confined to the temple of Tripathi, but extends to other famous pagodas, such as that of the Jagannath and some others. The temple of Jagannath is scarcely less famous than that of Tri- pathi. The religious ceremonies are conducted there with the greatest magnificence. It is situated on the north of the coast of Orissa. Its prin- cipal divinity is represented under a monstrous shape, without arms or legs. One thing peculiar to this pagoda is, that it appears to be the Temple of Peace, and the centre of union among the Hindus. The distinction of sects and casts is here unknown. Every individual whatever is ad- mitted, and allowed to pay his homage, in person, to the divinity. Accordingly, a great number of pilgrims frequent it from all quarters of India. The disciples of Vishnu and those of Siva attend, with equal zeal. The Vairagis, the Dasaru, the Jangama, and every variety of religious fanatics, when they approach this temple, lay down their ani- mosity ; and it is perhaps the only spot in India where they suspend their hatred and contention. Whilst sojourning here, they seem to compose but one community of brothers. Several thousands of functionaries, chiefly Brahmans, are engaged in the performance of the ceremonies of religious worship in this Temple of Concord. The crowd of votaries never abates. Those of the south, who undertake the holy })ilgrimage to Kasi or lienares, never omit the Temple of Jagannath in their way ; and those from the north, in their holy journey to Cape Comorin, always visit it, as they pass, to offer their adorations to its presiding deity. There are also many temples in the various provinces of the penin- sula, as well as other sacred places, which are famed for some particular advantage or other, or for some singularity in their worship. * Laksluui was the wife of Vislinii. TEMPLES. 419 At Comhaconam^ (Kumbliaconam) in Tanjore, there is a consecrated pond, which possesses the virtue, at intervals of twelve years, to cleanse all who bathe in it from spiritual and corporal impurities, though ac- cumulated for many generations. When that moment of plenary indulgence arrives, one beholds innumerable swarms of both sexes, many of whom have come from the remotest provinces of the north of the peninsula. At Madura, there is a very famous temple, in a place called Pahlany, consecrated to the god Vellayadah, to whom the devotees bring offerings of a singular kind. They consist of large leathern shoes, of the shape of those which the Hindus wear on their feet, but much bigger and more ornamented. This god being addicted to hunting, these shoes are intended for his use when he traverses the deserts in the chase. It is unnecessary to carry much farther the detail of the ceremonies and rites, general and particular, which are exercised in the temples of India. What I have already stated, I hope, will give insight into the religious worship of the people. I will conclude, therefore, with a few words concerning their Processions, and the Cars of triumph on which they exhibit their gods, in procession, through the streets. There are no temples from which Processions of great magnificence and splendour do not take place, once in the year, or oftener. On those occasions the idols are taken out of their sanctuaries, and raised on high triumphal carriages constructed for the purpose. They are upon four wheels of great strength ; not composed, like ours, with spokes within a rim, but of three or four thick pieces of wood, rounded and fitted into each other. The whole being compacted of solid timber, supports an erection of sometimes not less than fifty feet in height. The boards of which it is composed are carved with images of men and women in the most abominable attitudes ; most of them representing the grossest obscenities. Over this first elevation, composed of solid timbers, they raise several stories of slighter materials ; the whole contracting and narrowing into a pyramidal form ; resembling the shape of the temples, as we have described them. 3 H 2 420 TEMPLES. On the days of procession the cars are adorned with precious stuffs, painted cloth, garlands of flowers, and green foliage. Under a niche in the centre the idol is placed, in glittering attire, to attract the ad- miration of the people. Having fastened ropes to the enormous vehicle, they set thousands of people to work, who draw it slowly along, accompanied with the awful roaring of their voices. At certain periods they make a pause ; at which the immense crowd, collected from all parts to witness the ceremony, set up one universal shout, or rather yell, in proof of their exultation and joy. This, joined to the piercing and dissonant sounds of their instruments, and of the numerous drums which rattle amongst the disorderly throng, produces a confusion and uproar sur- passing all imagination. Sometimes, as may be easily supposed, the cumbrous car gets into embarrassment, and sometimes to a total stand, in the crowded and narrow streets, by unforeseen accidents ; and then the tumult and the clamorous roar redouble. It may be easily imagined, that, in such a chaos of confusion, where men and women are indiscriminately blended in the crowd, and their conduct wholly unobserved, many irregularities must take place. And, in fact, these consequences do arise from the processions ; because every mdividual may, without constraint, follow the immediate impulse of desire. ■ For this reason, it is generally the rendezvous of de- bauchees, and also of young persons of both sexes, who, having conceived a mutual attachment for each other in secret, and being afraid, or unable, to gratify it in any other way, without exposure, chuse the day of procession to accomplish their desires without restraint. Such is the outline of the religious ceremonies of the Hindus, and such the spirit of idolatry which prevails among them. A religion more shameful or indecent has never existed amongst a civilized people. At the same time, I am far from believing that the present worship of the Hindus corresponds with that of their first legislators ; but, rather, that it is a corruption by the Brahmans, who invented, in after-times, the monstrous worship which now prevails ; for the greater II TEMPLES. 421 number of the shocking fables, mentioned in this chapter and the preceding one, appear to be modern inventions. The Brahmans, being resolved to make the popular religion a mere machine for advancing their temporal interests and gratifying their passions, gradually urged on the Hindu people from one error to another, from a deep to a deeper pit in that chaos in which we now see them ingulfed. The object they aimed at was greatly facilitated by the art which they had previously acquired of diving into the natural propen- sities of the people, so as to construct them a religion suited to their character and genius. They saw that the Hindu could not be gra- tified but by the extravagant ; and, therefore, they compounded for him a religion that exceeds all bounds, in the theory, as well as in the practice. Seriously speaking, the turn and bent of the imagination of the people of India are such, that they can in no wise be excited but by what is monstrous. Ordinary occurrences make no impression upon them at all. Their attention cannot be gained without the introduction of giants or of pygmies. The Brahmans, therefore, having studied this propensity, availed themselves of it to invent a religious worship, which they artfully interwove with their own private interests. This passion of the Hindus for the extraordinary and the wonderful, must have been remarked by every one who has ever so little studied their character. It continually leads to the observation I have so frequently repeated, that as often as it was necessaxy to move their gross imagination, some circumstance, altogether extravagant, but coloured with the hue of truth, was required to be added to the sim- plicity of narrative or fact. To give them any idea of the marvellous, something must be in- vented that will overturn, or at least alter the whole order of nature. The iriiracles of the Christian religion, however extraordinary they must appear to a common understanding, are by no means so to the Hindus. Upon them they have no effect. The exploits of Joshua and of his army, and the prodigies they effected by the interposition of 422 TEMPLES. God, in the conquest of the land of Canaan, seem to them unworthy of notice, when compared with the achievement of their own Rama, and the miracles which attended his progress when he subjected Ceylon to his yoke. The mighty strength of Samson dwindles into nothing, when opposed to the overwhelming energy of Bali, of Ravana and the giants. The resurrection of Lazarus itself is, in their eyes, an ordinary event ; of which they see frequent examples in the Vishnu ceremonies of the Pahvahdam. I particularize these examples, because they have been actually opposed to me more than once by Bralimans, in my disputations with them on religion. But it is certain that the irrational worship which now prevails amongst Hindus of all classes, should be received by us as a striking lesson of the utter incapacity of the human mind to invent a reasonable system of religion, and of the extravagant aberrations to which man is exposed when he has not God Himself for his guide. The Divine Author of Revelation, in enabling us to perceive the absurdity of the notions which the most anciently civilized people at present in existence entertain respecting the Divinity ; and to examine the brutish worship practised by whole nations to whom, for reasons concealed from us, and which we must not attempt to unveil. He has not vouchsafed to manifest Himself; has admonished us of the exceed- ingly great obligations we are under to Him, in our being born in a re- ligion sent down from heaven. No other can give us pure conceptions of its founder, and of his infinite perfections. And had not God Himself condescended to impart to us the knowledge of his attributes, and of the worship that is pleasing to Him, never could our limited understanding, warped as it is by passion and prejudice, have arisen to just notions on the subject ; and we must have been still groping in the thick darkness of idolatry, in which our ancestors were plunged, and in which so many other nations still live, who have not yet been blessed with the guidance of their Maker. The modern Deists of Europe, I know, will not agree with these sen- timents. They presumptuously maintain that human reason, when purged from the prejudices of education, is of itself sufficient to form TEMPLES. 423 just notions of the Divinity ; and, arrogantly, attribute those which they themselves entertain to the vigour of their own genius ; while it is easy to see that they are only the fruit of the Christian education which they have received, and for which they are indebted solely to the high privi- lege of having been born in a country where the revealed religion alone is professed. But where are the philosophers, in ancient or modern times, who have arrived, without the assistance of revelation, at just ideas of the Deity, and a worship worthy of Him, and wholly divested of the super- stitions of Paganism ? Socrates, the wisest and most renowned of all, although he has spoken of the Supreme Being in a manner worthy of Him, was not able completely to shake off the fetters of superstition. For after he had taken the hemlock, surrounded by friends, who were cheering him with the prospects of a better life, he felt inward remorse, and whispered to his disciple Crito that he had vowed the sacrifice of a cock to Esculapius ; which he entreated his friend, most earnestly, to offer in his name. In like manner, the ancient philosophers of India, although they had attained to sublime notions concerning the Deity, as we have al- ready shewn, failed to apply them to their proper use ; sometimes di- recting them to the Supreme Existence, and sometimes to inferior gods, represented under a human shape. This error still prevails amongst the wisest of the Brahmans ; and that is evidently the most pernicious error of superstition, serving to confound inferior natures with the Almighty, by yielding the same honours to all. The Revealed Religion alone has communicated pure ideas on this subject, which only are worthy of their Author ; and the history of all mankind shews us that God has never been truly known or worshipped but by nations who have had Him for their only Lord. But, absurd as the worship of the Hindus is, their attachment to the species of idolatry which they have embraced is so powerful, tliat none of the great revolutions that have taken place in their country, in modern times, have inspired them with the slightest idea of renouncing the foolish rites of Paganism, and assuming the more rational religion of their conquerors. The Christians and Muhammadans have, equally, ^24 TEMPLES. laboured to introduce their respective religions angiongst them ; and the latter, no doubt, have made many proselytes, but only in the way which they have pursued every where else, of violence and compulsion. But, after all, their doctrines have never taken root, nor become predo- minant, in any of the provinces of India. Yet, in many of them, persecutions of every sort have been exercised against the Pagan inha- bitants ; and the Moslem Princes have also tried every other method of persuasion, by putting wealth and honours within the reach of those who should renounce the worship of idols for the faith of their Prophet. The religion of Christ, which offers itself only in the way of gentle- ness and persuasion, that holy and benevolent faith, which would seem so well adapted to sweeten and cheer the life of a people subdued to misery and oppression; that religion from God, whose penetrating truths have softened the rugged hearts of so many barbarous nations, has been announced to the Hindus for more than three hundred years ; but with no remarkable success. It even sensibly loses the little ground it had gained against a thousand obstacles, through the zeal and persevering efforts of the ministers who first preached it there. The prejudice against it unhappily increases every day. The conduct of those who, though born in countries where Christianity alone is pro- fessed, are now spread over all India, is often so unworthy of their faith, as to increase the prejudices and dislike which the natives enter- tain for every foreign religion, and tor that above all others. It is unnecessary to remind the reader that the manners of a people who have adopted religious customs so indecorous as the Hindus have done, must necessarily be very dissolute. Accordingly, licentiousness prevails almost universally, without shame or remorse. Every excess of debauchery or libertinism is countenanced by the irregular lives of their gods, and by the rites which their worship prescribes. This connexion illustrates the truth of the remark of Montescjuieu, that, " in a country which has the misfortune to possess a religion that does " not proceed from God, it necessarily falls in with the morals which " prevail, because even a false religion is the best guarantee that men " can have for the honesty of men." TEMPLES. 425 On the other hand, however gross and evidently absurd the worship and doctrines of the Hindus are, their religion appears to me, under its worst aspect, to be preferable to Atheism. I would much rather be an adorer of the Trimurti than an associate of the class that denies a God ; and I would far rather believe in the doctrine of the Maru Jelma, the metempsychosis of the Hindus, than in that which teaches that death is an eternal sleep, or, in other words, that the crimes of the wicked are buried with them lor ever in the grave. Several points of the Hindu faith, such as the Metempsychosis, the Naralva,and their placesof bliss, might be very beneficial to society, if they were properly inculcated on the minds of the people. And, undoubt- edly, the dread of an evil regeneration after the present life, or of the pains of Naraka. must be a powerful curb to restrain the wicked within the bounds of duty ; whilst the desire and expectation of a happy new birth, or that of a blessed abode after death, must tend to the encou- ragement of purity and virtue. But the evil is, that these fundamental articles of the Hindu faith have been utterly perverted by the Brahmans, who have sought only to turn them to their own advantage, by threaten- ing with an evil regeneration, or with the torments of Naraka, not those whose lives have been stained with every crime, but those who have injured them in their worldly concerns, or who have let slip the occasions of doing them a service ; whilst they have no difficulty in promising the happiest of renovations, or endless felicity after death, not to such as have led a truly virtuous life, but to such as practise imaginary virtues, or who promote their interests by benefactions and alms. I remember to have read a Hindu book which treats of the doc- trine of the Maru Jelma or transmigration into a good or evil futurity, where the author, apparently of the high cast, declares, amongst other things, that he who breaks his word with a Brahman, or who occasions him any detriment, directly or indirectly, in his temporal concerns, will be condemned, for such an offence, to becomey'in his second birth, a devil. He will not be permitted to dwell on the earth nor to live in the air, but will be obliged to take up his abode, in the midst of a thick forest, amongst the branches of a bushy tree ; where he shall 3 I 426 TEMPLES. never cease to gi*oan by night and by day, cursing his unhappy lot, and deprived of all aliment but stinking toddy, mixed with the slaver of a dog, which he shall drink out of the skull of a death's-head. It is in this way that offences, imaginary, or of small account, are menaced with endless punishment, after death, by the directors of the popular faith ; whilst adulterers, perjurers, robbers, and other real of- fenders, are absolved by the Brahmans of their actual crimes for selfish objects ; and assured of a recompence, after death, which should pertain exclusively to virtue. But in spite of all the trappings and the many corruptions which the Brahmans have added to the religious worship, and the belief of the Hindus, I do not hesitate to repeat, that it appears to me to be infinitely preferable to Atheism ; and I venture to affirm that every good political reasoner, every man who comprehends the feelings and movements of the human heart, will be of the same opinion. But any thing I could add on this subject will be much better supplied by a passage which I shall quote from one of the greatest men of the last age, already referred to, and indeed one of the finest in the " Spirit of Laws," entitled " Bayle's Paradox." * " Mr. Bayle has endeavoured to prove that it is better to be an " atheist than an idolater ; or, in other words, that it is less dangerous " to have no religion whatever than a false one. ' I would rather,' " he says, ' have it said of me that I do not at all exist, than that I am " a wicked man.' This is a mere sophism, founded on this ; that it is " of no utility to the human race to have it believed that a certain " man exists, in place of saying it is very useful to have it believed " that there is a God. From the idea that there is none, that of our " independency flows ; or, if we cannot entertain that idea, that of our " revolt. To say that religion is not a restraining motive, because it " does not always restrain, is the same as to say that neither have " civil laws a restraining influence. It is not reasoning fair with " religion to collect, in a large volume, a catalogue of the ills it has " occasioned, if we do not also enumerate its benefits. If I were to " recount all the evils the world has sustained from civil laws, * De l'Esprit des Lois, xxiv. 2. TEMPLES. 427 " monarchy, and republican government, I should speak terrible " things. If it were useless for subjects to have a religion, it would " be no less so for rulers to have any, who might then whiten with " foam the only curb which those who fear not human laws can feel. " A Prince who loves religion and who fears it, is a lion that stoops " to the hand that strokes him or the soothing voice. He who " fears religion and who hates it, is like the wild beasts which gnaw " the chains that hinder them from flying on the passers-by. He who " has no religion, is that terrible animal which feels not its liberty but " when it tears in pieces and devours. " The question is not to determine whether it would be better that " a certain individual should be without religion altogether, than that " he should abuse that which he has ; but to decide which is the " smaller evil, the occasional abuse of religion, or that it should not " exist at all amongst men. " In order to diminish the abhorrence of atheism, idolatry is over- " loaded. It is not true that when the ancients erected altars to any " vice, they shewed that they loved that vice ; but on the contrary " that they hated it. When the Lacedemonians built an edifice to " Fear, it was no proof that the heroic nation wished it to cling to the " hearts of the Lacedemonians. There were some deities who were " besought, not to inspire crimes, and others who were entreated to " avert them." Thus has the paradox of Bayle been demolished by an author who will not be suspected of an unreasonable partiality to religion. " Such," says Voltaire *, " is the weakness of human nature, and such its perverseness, that it is better that it should be under the dominion of all possible superstitions, than to be wholly without religion. Men have always stood in need of the rein ; and though it was ridiculous to sacrifice to Fauns, Satyrs, and Naiads, it was more rational and more useful to adore those fantastic emblems of the Divinity than to deliver themselves up to atheism. An atheist, turned reasoner, if impetuous and powerful, would be as woful a * Traité de la Tolerance, chap. 20. 3i 2 428 TEMPLES. " scouro-e as a sanguinary fanatic. When men have not true notions " of the Divinity, false ones supply their place, as in times of distress " men traffic with bad coin when there is none good to be found. " The Pao-an was afraid to commit a crime lest he should be punished " by his false gods. The JNIalabarian dreads that he may be punished " by his pagoda. Wherever society is established, religion is necessary. " The laws watch over public crimes, and religion over those that are " secret." ( 429 ) CHAP. IV. OF THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES OF INDIA. IT would be a work of volumes to enter into a detail of the fables that relate to the different deities which the commonalty adores ; for there is scarcely an object in nature, living or inanimate, to which the Hindus do not oifer worship. But they acknowledge three principal gods whom they specially venerate, under the names of Brahma^ Vishnu, and Siva. When worshipped, in union, they form, as we have already seen, the Trimurti ; and they are also separately adored with peculiar rites. These three have given birth to an infinite number besides ; and the Hindus, in all things extravagant, have shewn this disposition no where more conspicuously than in the number of the divinities they have formed. They have gone far beyond all other idolatrous nations in this particular ; as they reckon no less than thirty- three koti of gods, each koti being equal to ten millions, so that the whole number amounts to three hundred and thirty millions. I shall confine myself to a short description of the principal ones that are universally acknowledged through the whole country. The full detail would be quite insupportable. We have already spoken of the Trimurti, or three principal gods united in one person, and we shall now proceed to a short view of the leading attributes of each. £r'ah)7ia. Brahma occupies the highest place among the Hindu divinities. He is fabled to have been born with five heads ; but he is represented with four only, because he lost one in a violent contest with Siva, II 430 THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. whose wife Parvati he had ravished; and the indignant husband could not be appeased till he had cut off one of the heads of the adulterer. His wife, it is said, was his own daughter, Saraswati, whom he keeps always in his mouth. Having conceived for her an incestuous passion, he durst not gratify it in the human shape which he bore ; and there- fore he converted himself into a stag, and changed his daughter into a ; bitch. Under this form, he gratified his unnatural desires ; and it is because he violated the most sacred laws of nature, as many believe, that he is without worship, without temples or sacrifices ; that no one, in short, performs any exterior ceremony of religion in honour of Brahma. Others affirm that the sort of neglect into which this god has fallen, so as to be unworshipped, proceeds from a curse launched against him by a certain penitent called Brumuny, to whom Brahma was defi- cient in respect when the holy man entered the regions of bliss. Three important energies, in the nature of attributes, are ascribed to this deity. The first is that of being author and creator of all things. The second makes him the giver of all gifts and of all blessings ; and the third assigns to him the control over the destinies of all men. Every individual bears his mark, impressed on the forehead, by the finger of the deity himself He also possesses the power of granting the gift of immortality to whomsoever he pleases ; and it is to him that many fabulous personages are indebted for it ; such as the Giants Havana, Haranya, and several others. Being the author of all things, he is consequently the creator of men. The four great casts, of which the world consists, namely, the Brahmans, the Bajas, the merchants, and the agriculturists, were formed and in- stituted by him. The first and noblest sprung from his head, the se- cond from his shoulders, the tliird from his belly, and the last from his feet. This is the story of the creation of man most generally adopted, al- though some give it a different turn. They say that Brahma, in his first essay to create a human being, made him with only one foot ; which not answering, he destroyed the vyork, and formed the next with THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 43I three ; but the third foot being more an incumbrance than a help, he destroyed this model also, and finally resolved upon the two legs. Vishnu. Next after Brahma, comes Vishmc, also called Perumahl. His wor- ship extends far and wide ; and of all the gods he seems to have the greatest number of followers. They are divided into several classes or sects, known by the general appellation of Malum. Each Malam has its secrets, its sacrifices, its mantras, and particular signs. The most numerous of all is that whose members bear the mark of the Nama, or three perpendicular lines, imprinted on their foreheads, as a particular symbol of their extreme devotion for that divinity. The particular titles and attributes of Vishnu are those of Redeemer and Preserver of all things. The other gods, without excepting Brahma himself, have often stood in need of his assistance ; and, but for his powerful help, must, on many arduous occasions, have fallen into per- dition. His title of Preserver of all things, has made it necessary for him, on various occasions, to assume different forms, which the Hindus call Avatar as, a word which may be rendered into Metamorphoses. Ten of these are enumerated, namely : Matya-avatara, or transformation into a Fish. Kurma-avatara, that into a Tortoise. Varaha-avatara, or Boar. Narasingha-avatara, change into half man and half lion. Vamana-avatara, that into a dwarf Brahman. Paraswarama-avatara, the change into the god of that name. Rama-avatara, or Vishnu representing that hero. Krishna-avatara, change into that god's form. Bhadra-avatara, or metamorphosis into the tree Ravi or Aruli ; and Kalki-avatara, or change into a Horse. A few words will suffice on each Avatara, the detailed account of which would occupy the largest volumes. 432 '^'HE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES, The first Avatara, or metamorphosis into a Fish, takes its rise from the following accident, reported, at great length in the Bhagavata. Brahma, one day being overpowered with fatigue, fell asleep. The four books called Vedas, which had been assigned to his particular care, seeing their guardian completely sunk in somnolency, took advantage of it, and made their escape. All unprotected, they were met on the road, in their flight, by a Giant called Hayagriva, who laid hold of them ; and, in order to secure so precious a treasure, swallowed them, and put them next his heart. But, to avoid all danger of de- tection, he concealed himself in the midst of the waters of the great ocean. Vishnu, when he heard of the loss that Brahma had sustained, and that the Giant was the robber, departed from his abode and fol- lowed his enemy into the waters, under the form of a fish. After a long search, he found him at last in the deepest abyss of the sea, and there, attacking him with fury, he overcame him, and, penetrating into his bowels, there found the Vedas, and restored them to Brahma their keeper. The second Avatara was into a Tortoise, and was brought about in this manner. Wliilst the Gods and the Giants were at open war, the Giants, with the mighty Bali at their head, were victorious over the Celestials, whom they treated with the greatest severity. In this dis- astrous state the gods were satisfied to obtain peace on any terms that their enemies might propose. Having thus concluded a treaty, they lived in apparent amity ; but the Gods were, all the while secretly in- voking Vishnu to protect them from the power of their dangerous ene- mies. He granted their prayers, and at the same time ordered them to pull up the mountain Mandara Parvaia, and cast it into the sea. In exe- cuting this task, some of them were so much fatigued as to be incapa- ble of proceeding, which Vishnu perceiving, flew to their aid, on the wings of the bird Garuda, his ordinary vehicle, and fixed the mountain in the sea of curdled milk. Afterwards, the gods being desirous to navigate the sea, made a ship of Mount Mandara ; and, having taken a serpent for a rope ; they fastened one end of it to the head of one of the stoutest of their number, and the other end to the right arm of a second. While they were thus towing Mount Mandara as a ship, the THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 433 «•ods, who were in it began to perceive that it was sinking ; upon which they put up their fervent supplications to Vishnu, the preserver, to res- cue them from the imminent danger to which they were exposed. Vishnu flew again to their relief, and seeing them all about to perish, he metamorphosed himself into a tortoise ; plunged into the sea, and supported the sinking mountain on his solid back. The third Avatara was his transformation into a Hog. Vishnu, being in pursuit of the Giant Hiranyakshana, a monster of whom he wished to rid the world, discovered that he was concealed in Patala, which is the lowest of the seven inferior worlds ; and, being determined, at all hazards, to reach him, he converted himself into a large Hog, and dug a passage through the earth with his snout, continuing his pursuit till he caught and slew this enemy of the human race. The fourth Avatara is called Narasingha. The three preceding were changes into the forms of animals. This was a mixture of JNIan and Lion. It took its rise from the following adventure. The younger brother of the Giant Hiranyakshana, hearing that his brother had been slain by Vishnu, resolved to be avenged ; and, with that design, he at- tacked the god in his abode of felicity, the Vaikuntha. Vishnu, appre- hensive of a contest with so powerful an enemy, avoided him, and hid himself. The Giant being unable to find him, sought to avenge him- self on the other gods who lived in the same residence with his enemy, and treated them with cruelty. The son of the Giant, who was one of those gods, interceded for them with his father, and endeavoured to appease his wrath. But, so far from listening to these entreaties, on finding that his son was a supporter of Vishnu, he determined to put him to death. That god, seeing the danger that his votaiy was in, burst from beneath a cauldron, in the double shape of man and lion. He had still a long and bitter contest to sustain with the Giant ; but, at last, having proved victorious, he seized his enemy, laid him across his thigh, tore his belly open with his lion's claws, sucked his blood, and extracted his bowels, which he afterwards twisted round his neck as a trophy of his victory. The fifth Avatara, was the change into a Brahman Dwarf The Giant Bali, always terrible in his wars with the gods, had already subdued 3 K 434 THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. three worlds, and reduced the gods he found there into the hardest subjection. Vishnu, being desirous of deUvering so many gods and mortals from their savage enemy, metamorphosed himself into a dwarfish Brahman, and visited Bali under that disguise, soliciting a bit of ground no bigger than three prints of his little feet, which he required to offer sacrifices upon. The request appeared ludicrous to the Giant, and he granted it without scruple. Vishnu immediately resumed his godlike form, and with one footstep covered the whole earth. With another, elevated in air, he overshadowed the whole space between the earth and firmament, and nothing being left to receive the third impression of his foot, he trod upon the Giant's head, and hurled him down to the infernal Patala. The Sixth Avatara, was the transformation into the person ofParasu- Ra?na, by which Vishnu became the son of Jamadagni and Benuki. The Giant Kirtaviryanarjana, having conquered and reduced under his dominion the father and mother of Parasu-Rama ; he, or Vishnu in his shape, resolved to revenge the insult offered to the family. He attacked the Giant, slew him, and brought the carcase to his father Jamadagni. The sons of the Giant, desirous of vengeance, in their turn, went in search of Jamadagni ; found him, and cut off his head. Parasu-Rama, incensed at the cruelty ; and being resolved to inflict adequate punish- ment on the murderer of his father, attacked not only those who com- mitted the crime, but many other Kings who had leagued with them. Twenty-one assaults were sustained; but, in the last he gained the possession of their persons, and put them all to death. The Seventh Avatara is the metamorphosis of Vishnu into the hero called Rama. It is described, in a very prolix and tedious way, in the Ramayana, a book well known and read by all Hindus. It has raked together, in the history of Rama, a collection of all tlie fables and paganism of the country. It commences with the moment of the con- ception of its hero. The principal adventures in his life, which would require a folio volume to describe, were, in the first place, his journey into the desert for the purpose of soliciting Svvamitra to give him his only daugliter Sitain marriage ; next, his pilgrimage to the city of Ayodhya, and the war which it led him into with Parasu-Rama, the same person THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 435 with himself", in reality, being only different forms of Vishnu, which for a long time unfortunately they did not discover ; then the abduction of Sita by the Giant Ravana ; tlie grief and despair of Rama on this event ; the consolation and advice given him under such circumstances by his brother Lakshman, and the mode he points out for the recovery of his wife Sita; an army of Apes, commanded by the great Ape Hanuman, who met him while searching for Sita, and informed him where she dwelt, with her ravisher Ravana, and the manner of life which she led ; how Rama, at the news, inrolled the army of Apes in his service, to help him to fight Ravana ; and, being ignorant of war, received instruction from the Apes, who taught him to build bridges, to draw up an army in array, and to surprize the enemy ; how he con- quered the Isle Lanka, or Ceylon, where his enemies had rendezvoused, and which he assaulted with his Ape auxiliaries, by means of a bridge from the main land ; and how, lastly, after a long and cruel war, in which the hero gained victories, and suffered defeats, he was joined by Vishnu, the brother and enemy of the Giant Ravana, who taught Rama the certain means of subduing his enemy ; how his advice is pursued ; and how Rama, having gained a decisive victory over Ravana and the united Giants, at length regains his beloved Sita. The Eighth Avatara, in which he is transformed into the pei'son of Bala-Rama, exhibits Vishnu so disguised for the purpose of making- war against an Army of Giants, who were desolating the earth. He took for his weapon a Serpent of enormous size, and, by its means, soon succeeded in destroying all the Giants against whom he had taken arms. The Ninth Avatara is the transformation into the tree Ravi or ArulL Vishnu having entertained impure desires towards the daughter of a Giant, a beauty renowned for her virtues, employed all manner of arti- fices to gain her. This modest female having resolutely rejected his illicit solicitations, he at last made a desperate effort for the gratification of his wicked design ; and finding it impracticable, under an animal form, he assumed that of the tree Ravi ; in which semblance he suc- ceeded in satisfying his passion. This metamorphosis is, no doubt, the cause why this tree is so famous and so much venerated by the Hindus. 3 K 2 436 THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. The Tenth Avatara is the transformation into a Horse. This last Avatara has not yet taken effect ; bnt the Hindns trust that it will be realized. They expect it with the same ardour as the Jews look for- ward to their Messiah. This Tenth Avatara is to be the most beneficial and the most wonderful of all. The books which announce it do not assign the period when it will arrive, nor how it will be brought to pass, but the Hindus confide that it will restore, the Satya-yuga or Age of Happiness. Krishna. Eesides the Ten Avataras of Vishnu, the Hindus recognize another^ which is that of his change into the person of Krishna. This meta- morphosis, and all the fables that accompany it, are contained in the book c^A\eABhagavata, which is scarcely less famous than the Ramayana. Krishna, at his birth, was obliged to be concealed, in order to avoid the attack of a Giant who sought his life. He escaped his enemy under the disguise of a beggar. He was reared by persons of that cast, and soon exhibited marks of the most unbridled libertinism. Plunder and rape were familiar to him from his tender years. It was his chief pleasure to go every morning to the place where the women bathe, and, in con- cealment, to take advantage of their unguarded exposure. Then he rushed amongst them, took possession of their clothes, and gave a loose to the indecencies of language and of gesture. He maintained sixteen wives, who had the title of queens, and sixteen thousand concubines. All these women bore children almost without number ; but Krishna, fearing they would league against him and deprive him of his power, murdered them all. He had long and cruel wars with the Giants, with various success. At last his infamous conduct drew upon him the curse of a virtuous woman called Ganghary ; the effects of which were soon apparent, in a wound, of which he died. In obscenity, there is nothiugthat can be comparcdwith theBhagavata. It is nevertlieless (lie delight of the Hindus, and the first book they put into the hands of their children, when learning to read; as if they deliberately intended to lay the basis of a dissolute education. THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 437 Siva. This God has likewise the names oï Iswara, Rudra, Sadasiva, and Paramcsxcara. He is generally represented under a terrible shape, to shew, by a menacing exterior, the power which he possesses of destroy- ing all things. To aggravate the horrors of his appearance, he is repre- sented with his body all covered with ashes. His long hair is plaited and curled in the most whimsical way. His eyes, unnaturally large, give him the appearance of being in a perpetual rage. Instead of jewels, they adorn his ears with great serpents. He holds in his hand a weapon called Sula. I have sometimes seen idols of Siva, of gigantic propor- tions, admirably contrived to inspire terror. The principal attribute of this God, as we have mentioned, is the power of Universal Destruction ; although some authors also give him that of Creation, in common with Brahma. His fabtdous history, like that of all the other Hindu Gods, is nothing but a tissue of absurd and extravagant adventures, invented, as it would seem, for the mere purpose of exhibiting the extremes of the two most powerful passions which tyrannize over man. Luxury and Ambition. They relate to the wars which he maintained against the Gianis; to his enmity and jealousy in opposition to the other Gods; and, above all, to his infamous amours. It is related that, in one of his wars, being desirous of completing the destruction of the Giants, and of obtaining possession of Tripura, ' the country which they inhabited, he cleft the world in twain, and took one half of it for his armour. He made Brahma the general of his army. The four Vedas were his horses. Vishnu was his arrow. The mountain Mandara Parvata was used for his bow, and a miglity ser- pent supplied the place of the string. Thus accoutred, the terrible Siva led his army to the abode of the tyrants of the earth, took the three fortresses they had constructed, and demolished them in a moment. This, and other stories of Siva, are given at great length in the Bhagavata. Siva had great difficulty in obtaining a wife ; but having made a long and austere penitence at the Mountain Parvata, that lofty eminence was II ^3g ' THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. SO affected by it as to consent at last to give him his daughter in mar- riage. The Lingam. The abomination of the Lingam takes its origin from Siva. Tliis idol which is spread all over India, is generally inclosed in a little box of silver, which all the votaries of that god wear suspended at their necks. It represents the sexual organs of man, sometimes alone, and sometimes accompanied. The long account given of the origin of this mystery in the Linga-Purana may be thus abbreviated. Siva having one day, in presence of the seven famous penitents, ex- hibited himself in a state of nature, began to play several indecent va- garies before them. He persisted till the penitents, being no longer able to tolerate his indecency, imprecated their curse upon it. The denunciation took immediate effect, and from that moment Siva was emasculated. Parvati, having heard of the misfortune of her husband, came to comfort him; — but I have not the courage to return to the pages which contain the topics of consolation which she used, or the methods she employed to repair his loss. In the meantime, the penitents having more coolly considered the dis- proportion of the punishment to the offence, and wishing to make all the reparation in their power to the unhappy Siva, decreed that all his worshippers should thenceforth address their prayers, adoration and sacrifices to what the imprecation had deprived him of Such is the infamous origin of the Lingam, which is not only openly represented in the temples, on the highways, and in other public situa- tions, but is worn by the votaries of Siva as the most precious relic, hung at their necks, or flistened to their arms and hair, and receiving from them sacrifices and adoration. The liingam is tiie ordinary symbol of all the followers of Siva. That sect spreads over the whole of India, but particularly in the west of the peninsula, where the Lingamitcs compose, in many districts, the chief part of the population. The particular customs of the sect have been before noticed; the most remarkable of which are their abstinence THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 439 from whatever has had the principle of life, and the practice of inter- ring their dead in place of burning them, as most other Hindus do. We know to what excess the spirit of idolatry may lead the ignorant ; but it is incredible, it even seems impossible, that theLingam could have originated in the direct and literal worship of what it represents ; but rather that it was an allegorical allusion of a striking kind, to typify the procreative and regenerating powers of nature, by which all kinds, of being are reproduced and maintained in the wide universe. It was, no doubt, to this fecundating and reproductive energy of nature, that the early idolators of India paid their adoration ; while their successors, from the propensity to embody every thing abstract into sensible images, transferred it to the gross emblem ; and, forgetting by little and little the ideas of their ancestors, came at length to adore the abomina- tion itself, and to rank it amongst their principal divinities. From the same principle, as far as we can perceive, arose the worship of the Phallus among the Greeks, that of Priapus among the Romans, and probably that of Baal-peor mentioned in Scripture : objects of wor- ship amongst other ancient idolatrous nations, which differed but little from that of the Lingam, and were equally abominable. Viirhneszi'ara. The god Vighneswara is likewise known by the names of Puliyar, Ganesa, and Vinayalca. He is one of the most universally adored deities. His image is' every where to be seen ; in the temples, in the choultries, in places of public resort, in the streets, in forts, by the side of streams and tanks, on the highways, and generally in all frequented places. He is taken into the houses ; and in all public ceremonies, he is worshipped the first of all. We have already spoken of him as the God of Obstacles, and mentioned that the honours he received pro- ceed from the apprehension that he would otherwise cast difficulties and impediments before them, in the ordinary occurrences of life. He derived his birth from the excrement of Parvati. His mother made him her guard and door-keeper. In this situation, the god Kumara, who had long entertained a grudge against him, finding him ^^Q THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES, alone one day, cut off his head, Siva was much grieved when he heard of the misfortune ; and, being desirous to repair it, he made a vow that he would cut off the head of the first Mving creature he should find lying down with its crown towards the north, and unite it to the trunk of Vighneswara, In setting out on this design, the first ani- mal he met with, lying in that position, was an elephant ; the head of which he cut off, and set it on the neck of Vighneswara, and thus re- stored him to life, Parvati was terrified when she first saw her son in this condition ; but, by degrees, she became reconciled to the frightful change, and gaily asked him one day what sort of a wife he would wish to marry. The son, who had for a long time looked with an incestu- ous eye on his mother, replied that he would like one altogether the same as she was. Alarmed at his answer, she exclaimed, in her wrath : " a wife like me ! go then and seek for her, and never mayest thou " marry until thou findest exactly such an one," From that time, though Vighneswara has diligently visited all places frequented by wo- men, he has never found one to suit the condition in the curse ; or rather, no woman will unite with so unseemly a husband. Indra or Devendra. This God, as we have before stated, is King of the Inferior Deities, who sojourn with him in his paradise called Snarga, or seat of Sen- sual Pleasures ; for in this voluptuous abode, no other are known. All who are admitted into it have a supply of women equal to the most inordinate concupiscence ; and their vigour is so increased as to render them capable of perpetual fruition. It will be naturally supposed that the history of a god, who rules over a society like this, must be disgusting, and filled with nauseous ob- scenity ; and it certainly would be a cruel task to be obliged to submit to the perusal of what the Hindu books contain on the subject of De- vendra, and of the detestable gratifications in which the votaries who arc admitted into his paradise indulge. lîut that I may not omit an opportunity of exposing the genius of the Hindu mythology, and that of the abominable books from which the natives imbibe their earliest THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. 44J principles, I am compelled once more to incur the risk of offending modesty, by tracing an outline of a single adventure of this god of the heathens. ' Having conceived a violent passion for the wife of the penitent Gautama, and after meditating long upon the means of gratifying it, he bethought himself of assuming the appearance of a dunghill cock. In the shape of this domestic fowl, he took his station close by the house of Gautama ; and in the middle of the night he began to crow, and counterfeited so well that the penitent, who happened to be awake, sup- posing that the dawn was approaching, got out of bed, and went to make his usual ablutions in the river. As soon as Gautama had gone forth, Devendra entered the house, and occupied his place by the side of his wife Ahilya. The husband, when he returned, understood what had taken place in his absence, and in a transport of rage poured out his curses upon both, imprecating that his wife might be transformed into stone, and that her gallant should be withered up, and deprived of the marks of virility. The malediction was instantly effectual against both. But the gods and the goddesses of Swai'ga, having heard of the mishap of their King, and indeed having ocular testimony of his misfortune, occasioned by the curse of Gautama, after much consultation, found out the means of restoring him to his pristine vigour and integrity, by borrowing from a he-goat which they caught. This is but a brief, and I trust, rather a delicate abridgement of the adventure ; which is given at full length, in the purana called Indra-purana. It makes me blush even to allude to such obscenities ; and the shame they occasion restrains me from entering into an enlarged detail of the fables relating to the divinities of India ; which are replete with allusions equally abhorrent to modesty and reason. The god Devendra rides an elephant, and has a cutting instrument called the Vajra for his weapon of offence. The colour of his gar- ment is red. Those who seek to establish a connection or resemblance between the false gods of the different idolatrous nations of antiquity, will 3l 442 THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. find several points of approximation, in comparing the divinities of India with those of Greece and Rome. The short account we have given of the history of some of the principal ones would serve to establish this congruity. At the same time I do not consider it sufficient to justifv, in its full extent, the conclusions drawn from those marks of similitude, by some modern writers, who are desirous of tracing the Indian and Grecian gods from a common origin. The metamorphoses of Jupiter; at one time into a satyr, in the rape of Antiope ; at another into a bull, when he carried Europa away ; then into a swan, for the purpose of abusing Leda, or into a shower of gold for the corruption of Danaë ; and many other changes, for facilitating his amours, have a great resemblance to the adventures of Brahma and of Vishnu. Nor does the Lingam of the Hindus, as we have shewn, differ widel}^ from the Phallus of the Greeks and the Priapus of the Latins. But there is another particular in Avhich the gods of these different nations seem to bear a more striking analogy to each other than in any other yet mentioned ; and that is the arms or weapons which they respectively bore. The gods of Greece were always represented armed ; as the Hindu gods are also. The Greeks armed Saturn with a scythe, Jupiter with the thunder, Neptune with the trident, and Pluto with his two pronged fork. They assigned a club to Hercules, a thyrsis to Bacchus ; to Minerva a shield or Egis, and to Diana the bow and arrows. The Hindus, in like manner, have put arms in the liands of each of their principal deities, with the exception of Brahma ; who, as we have seen, neither wears arms, nor rides ; who has no temple, nor sacrifice, nor any other worship whatever. The various weapons which the Hindus assign to their several gods, and which appear to be such as were anciently used by that people in war, are thirty-two in number. Of these, some are missile, such as the arrow ; the vana, composed of combustible materials, and the chakram, which will be afterwards mentioned. Some are defensive, as the shield ; but the chief part are offensive. It is not easy to de- II THE I'UINCll'/U. DIVINITIES. 443 scribe, in an European tongue, the form of the different sorts of arma that were anciently used by the Hindus in battle, and which are still to be seen in the hands of their idols. No just idea of them can be communicated without a drawing. Of the weapons, not missile, some are used to stab, some to hack, and some to fell. Others seem in- tended for grappling, and some for warding off. Five weapons are given to Vishnu, called in the aggregate Panch- ayudha, and which he severally used, according to the various characters which he assumed. Their names are Sankha, Chakram, Khadga, Gada, Saranga. The two principal, with which he is most commonly equipped, are the sankha, which he wields in his left hand, and the chakram, which he bears in the right. Siva has two weapons, the trisula and the damru; and every other principal deity has his peculiar instrument, with which he is always represented. Another point of resemblance between the Hindu gods and those of ancient Greece consists in the manner in which they were mounted. The Greeks and Romans represented Jupiter as seated on an eagle, Neptune in a chariot drawn by two sea-horses, Pluto in one drawn by four black horses. Mars mounted on a cock, Bacchus with a team of tigers, Juno with her peacocks, and Pallas with the solemn owl. The Hindus have, in like manner, assigned to each of their chief gods their peculiar vehicle, Brahma alone being excepted. Vishnu generally rode on the bird Garuda, and Siva on the bull. Following up this subject, we shall give a brief account of the equipage and arms of the other leading deities, as well as of the eight gods who are known by the appellation of Ashta-dik-pala-guru, or those who preside over the eight principal points of the compass. For each portion of the world has a god, who specially presides over it, and favours it with his protection. The names of these gods, with their appropriate vehicle, arms, habiliment, and the quarter of the earth to which they severally belong, are briefly expressed in the following table. 3l 2 444 THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES. The Ashta-dik-pala-guru, principal divisions of the world or gods who preside over the eight \l Names. 1. Indra Agni - Yama - NiRUT - Varuna Vayu 7. Kuvera 8. Isana - Quarters over which they preside. East South- East South South-west West North-west North North-east How mounted. The Elephant The Ram The Buffalo - Man - - The Crocodile The Antelope The Horse - The Bull Weapons. Vajra Sikhi Dan da Cookah Pasa Dwaja Khadga Trisula Colour of Clothing. Red. Violet. Bright-yellow. Deep-yellow. White. Blue or Indigo. Rose colour. Gray. ( 445 ) CHAP. V. OF THE WORSHIP OF ANIMALS, AND THAT OF THE BUTAM OR MALEVOLENT BEINGS. \JY all kinds of superstition by which the human intellect has been clogged, degraded, and debased, the worship of Brute Animals seems to be the most humiliating to our species. If we did not attend to the origin and the predisposing causes, we could hardly credit that rational beings should descend so far beneath the dignity of their nature as to stoop to the adoration of brutes. But it may be suggested, as some apology for this monstrous aberration of human reason, that, in all ages, the superstitious bias has received an impulse, through the channel of Religion, from motives of fear or interest ; and that it has been a natural impression amongst all idolatrous nations to pay adoration to whatever can be detrimental or useful. It is sufficiently known that Animal worship was established and uni- versally observed amongst the Egyptians. The noxious kinds, and the useful, shared alike in their adoration. They erected altars and offered incense to the Bull Apis, the Bird Ibis, to the Kite, the Crocodile, and a vast variety of other animals. The Egyptians, however, limited their religious adoration of animals to a small number of sorts, the most beneficial or the most dangerous ; while the Hindus, in all things extravagant, pay honour and worship, less or more solemn, to almost every living creature, whether quadru- ped, bird, or reptile. The Ape, the Tiger, the Elephant, the Horse, the Ox, the Stag, the Sheep, the Hog, the Dog, the Cat, the Rat, the Peacock, the Eagle, the Cock, the Hawk, the Serpent, the Chameleon, the Lizard, the Tortoise, all kinds of amphibious creatures. Fishes, and even Insects, have been consecrated by Hindu folly. Every living 446 THE WORSHIP OF ANIMALS. creature that can be supposed capable of effecting good or evil in the smallest degi'ee, has become a sort of divinity and is entitled to ador- ation and sacrifice. But, amidst the variety of anitoals, some have been more interesting than others, and have consequently received higher honours ; either on account of their superior utility, or the greater dread they inspire. Here we may rank the Cow, the Ox, the Ape, the bird of prey known there under the name of Gainida, and the serpent Capella. We shall add a few words concerning each of these four species, whose images are represented in every quarter. The Ape, knoxcm by the name of Hakumak. The motive which induced the early idolaters of India to make the Ape one of their principal divinities was, in all probability, founded on the striking resemblance which they remarked between that animal and man, in exterior appearance and physical relations. They considered it as holding the first rank in the order of brutes, and consequently as the king of the animals ; and, after deifying it, they chose to perpetuate its honours by inventing the infinite collection of fables with which their books are filled. It was with an army of Apes that their great hero Rama conquered Lanka, or Ceylon ; and the achievements of this host of satyrs, under the command of the great Ape Hanuman, occupies the greater part of the Ramayana, the most celebrated of their historical works. The worship of this leader extends over all the territory of India, and espe- cially amongst the followers of Vishnu, but the sect of Siva does not admit of his claim. His idol is every where seen in the temples, choultries, and other places frequented by the people ; and it is also frequently found in the woods, and under thick trees in desert places. But particularly where the Vishnuvites abound, one meets almost every where with the favourite idol of Hanuman. Tiie sacrifices offered to it consist of the simplest productions of nature. THE \VORSHIP OF ANIMALS. 447 In parts frequented by apes, devotees are often seen to make it their duty to give them part of their food ; and they consider it as a very meritorious act. Baswa or The Bull. Tlie Bull is the favourite God of the worshippers of Siva. They con- stantly represent the God as its rider, and as performing all his journies on its back. The worship of this animal, as well as of the Cow, is well known to have prevailed in many ancient nations ; and the superstitious reverence of the Egyptians for their God Apis was carried to the utmost excess. Bryant, in his Treatise of Mytholog}-, seems to be of opinion that the first origin of the worship of these sacred animals, so universal among ancient nations, proceeded from the respect in which the first men long continued to hold the Ark of Noah, of which they considered the Cow as the symbol. I am sin-prized that the learned writer should have pro- posed so improbable a solution, when a natural and reasonable one occurs to every mind that attends to the genius of idolatry: that the worship and reverence so universally paid to this species of animals pro- ceeded from their great utility and the indispensable services they ren- der to society. These services are so essential to the Hindus, that we may boldly assert that, without the help of the ox and the supplies from the cow, they would be unable to exist. They saw no other animal so useful, and they naturally regarded it as a beneficent God, and one of the most sacred objects of worship. The image of it is seen in almost every temple, and in most other places frequented by the people. But among all the worshippers of this animal, the sect of Siva pay it the most particular devotion ; and, in the districts where they predo- minate, nothing is to be seen but the representation of their favourite idol Baswa, or the Bull, on a pedestal, lying flat on his belly. Monday in every week, as before hinted, is set apart to the honour of Baswa. On that day, the Sivites give repose to their cattle, and release them from labour. 448 THE WORSHIP OF ANIMALS. The Bird Garuba. The Garuda is of the nature of a bird of prey, and is held in the highest veneration by the Hindus, and particularly by the tribe of Vishnu. It is the ordinary vehicle on which that God performs his journies. The Vishnuvite Brahmans, every morning after ablution, wait for the appearance of one of those birds, in order to pay it adoration. It is every where to be seen about the villages. It is bigger than our falcon, but much smaller than the least of our eagles. Its plumage is handsome. The feathers of the head, neck, and breast, are of a very bright and glossy white ; and those of the back, wings, and tail, form a sort of mantle of a beautiful brown. But when it approaches near, it becomes offensive, from its unpleasant odour. Its ordinary cry is a kind oï kree, kree! uttered with a hoarse and croaking scream, pro- longing the sound at the end in a very disagreeable way. Although it appears a vigorous bird ; and it actually possesses great advantages in its strong hooked bill and powerful talons ; yet it never attacks other birds that can oppose the least resistance. It by no means has the courage of the hawk. Its timid and indolent nature would rather rank it with the buzzard or raven ; though it does not, like them, pounce upon carrion. Its ordinary food is the lizards, mice, and, above all, the snakes, which it carries up alive in its claws to a great height, and there lets them fall upon the ground. It descends after them, and, if it does not find them dead after one fall, it gives them a second, and then quietly retires to some neighbouring tree to devour them. It is probably the service which it does to society, in destroying nox- ious reptiles and other disgusting animals, that has been the means of protecting it, and raising it to the rank of a principal divinity. It was the same motive that prompted the Egyptians to consecrate the Ibis, and pay it homage. The Garuda also devours frogs and little fishes, which it catches with its claws in shallow waters. It is also a dangerous enemy to the poultry yard ; but it is so cowardly that an angry hen can put it to flight ; and it can only venture on some unguarded chicken. THli WOllSHIP OF ANIMALS. 449 I have entered into these details, because the bird seems but little known to our European ornithologists. Being under the protection of superstition, it approaches a man without fear, and is seen every where about the villages, from which it seldom strays. It is of heavy flight, and never mounts high in the air. Sunday is the day particularly set apart for the worship of this sacred fowl. Troops of people are then seen uniting in their adoration and sacrifice ; after which, they call the birds, and throw bits of meat in the air, which they nimbly catch with their talons. It would be held as heinous an offence, particularly among the fol- lowers of Vishnu, to kill one of these fowls as to commit manslaughter ; and when they find one dead, they bury it ceremoniously, and crowds of people attend, with instruments of music, and with every demon- stration of deep affliction. They observe the same practice on the death of an ape or of a Capella serpent, and use many ceremonies for the purpose of expiating the destruction of those sacred creatures. The Serpent. Of all noxious animals found in India, there are none that oc- casion more frequent or more fatal evils than the serpents. Those inflicted by the tiger, though very frightful also, more seldom occur and are less universally felt than what proceed from the venom of these dangerous reptiles. During my whole residence in India, hardly a month has passed without some person in my neighbourhood suffering sudden death by the bite of a serpent. One of the commonest, and at the same time the most venomous, as its bite sometimes occasions instant death, is what in Europe is generally called the Capella. It is met with, unfortunately, every where ; and it is for that reason that the Hindus offer sacrifice and adoration to it, above all others. It is more venerated than the rest of the pernicious creatures, because it is the most dreaded of any. Fear of the dreadful and frequent evils which it occasions, has indeed made 3 M 450 THE WORSHIP OF ANIMALS. it the most sacred of animals, upon the same principle tluit the Egyptians pay divine honours to the crocodile. In order to impress more strongly on the mind, the danger of this baleful agent, and the necessity for worshipping it, so as to render it propitious, the Hindus have filled their books with tales concerning so active an enemy of the human race ; and, on the other hand, figures of them are represented in most of the temples and on the other public monuments and buildings. They seek out their holes, which are generally excavated in the hillocks of earth thrown up by the kariah or white ants ; and when they find one, they go from time to time, and offer to it oblations of milk, bananas and other articles for nourishment. When one of these dangerous guests intrudes himself into their houses, so far from turning him out, many of them will rather make sacrifices to him, and give him food every day. Some instances are known where Capella serpents have been entertained in houses, in this manner, for several years ; but in no case are they ever injured, and it would be a heinous crime to kill them. One of the eighteen annual festivals of the Hindus is especially con- secrated to the worship of the serpent Capella, which is celebrated on the fifth day of the moon in December, called for that reason Naga Panchami ; naga being the Hindu name for this serpent. Temples are also erected to them in many places, of which there is one of great celebrity in the west of the jNIysore, at a place called Subrahmanya ; a name derived from the great serpent Subraya, which is renowned in Hindu fable, and the principal deity honoured at this pagoda. When the festival comes round, a vast crowd of people assembles to offer sacrifices to the creeping gods, in their sacred dome. Many serpents, both of the Capella and other species, have taken up their residence within it, in holes made for the purpose. They are kept and well fed by the presiding Brahmans with milk, butter, and bananas» By the protection they here enjoy they multiply exceedingly, and may be seen swarming fi-om every cianny in the temple: and a terrible sacrilege it would be to injure or molest them. MALEVOLENT FIENDS. 45 1 *But the Hindu superstition is so inexhaustible that other kinds of animals, besides those we have enumerated, come in for a share of their adoration. Even fishes are not excluded. Devout Brahmans are often seen casting rice into the waters to feed them ; and, in many places, all fishing is prohibited. In times before the Pagan Princes ceased to rule in the Mysore, they made it their constant practice to throw a quantity of boiled rice into the Cavery for the sustenance of the fishes. The Bhuta or Malevolent Fiends. • All nations of the earth, civilized or barbarous, have acknowledged the existence of certain evil spirits, whose nature and constant employ- ment it is to injure men in various ways. Revealed religion alone gives just and rational views of the subject. Superstition, on the other hand, engendered by fear and nourished by ignorance, has conjured up a thousand absurd and ridiculous fables, on a subject so well suited to them. People, who have not surmounted their crude notions con- cerning the general dispensation of Providence, when they find them- selves unable to discover the causes of the cross accidents, however common, which betal them in the ordinary course of nature, cannot help ascribing them to the agency of invisible and wicked beings, who delight in bringing upon m.en the various ills and miseries to which they are exposed. The next step is to seek to propitiate the fiend by prayers, adoration, and sacrifice. We have seen, in the course of this work, to what pitch the Hindus carry their credulity in this particular. The worship of demons is universally established and practised amongst them. They call them Bhtta which also signifies Element ; as if the elements were in fact nothing else but wicked spirits personified, from whose wrath and fury all the disturbances of nature arise. Malign spirits are also called by the generic names of Pisacha (or Pishashu) and Daitya. In many parts we meet with temples specially devoted to the worship of wicked spirits. There are districts also in which it almost ex- clusively predominates. Such is that long chain of mountains which 3 M 2 452 MALEVOLENT FIENDS. extend on the west of the Mysore, where the greater part of tiie inhabitants practise no other worship bnt that of the devil. Every house and each family has its own particular Bhuta, who stands for its tutelary god ; and to whom daily prayers and propitiatory sacrifices are offered, not only to incline him to withhold his own machinations, but to defend them from the evils which the Bhutas of their neighbours or enemies might inflict. In those parts, the image of the demon is every where seen, represented in a hideous form, and often by a shapeless stone. Each of these fiends has his particular name ; and some, who are more powerful and atrocious than others, are preferred in the same proportion. All evil demons love bloody offerings ; and therefore their ardent worshippers sacrifice living victims, such as buffaloes, hogs, rams, cocks, and the like. When rice is offered, it must be tinged with blood ; and they are also soothed with inebriating drinks. In offerings of flowers the red only are presented to them. The worship of the Bhutas and the manner of conducting it are explained in the fourth veda of the Hindus called Atharvana-veda ; and it is on that account very carefully concealed by the Brahmans. I have very generally found that the direct worship of demons is most prevalent in deserts, solitary places, and mountainous tracts ; the reason of which is that in such parts the people are less civilized than those of the plains, more ignorant and timid, and therefore more prone to superstition. They are therefore more easily led to attribute all their misadventures and afflictions to the displeasure of their demon. Many hordes of savages, who are scattered amongst the forests on the coast of Malabar, and in the woods and mountains of the Carnatic, who are known by the names of Kadu, Kuruberu, Soligueru, and Iruler, acknowledge no other deity but the Bhutas. The nature of the Hindus is so much disposed to idolatry, that all visible objects are adored whether animated or inanimate. Of the latter class, the vegetable race affords them several subjects of particular adoration. WORSHIP OF PLANTS. 450 The feast of Divuligay, formerly described, is the occasion generally taken to pay special reverence to plants, by offering them sacrifices. The farmers repeat them many times in the course of the year. Among the trees, there are some which the Hindu superstition has distinguished with particular honours, on account of the good or evil they are capable of producing. Of the mischievous kind, there is a prickly shrub, the points of which are venomous ; to avert the effect of which they offer a sacrifice of a particular nature. It consists in stick- ing rags on its branches, with which it is sometimes wholly covered. Those who have travelled in the southern provinces must have observed many examples of this. Amongst the useful trees which are worshipped with particular re- verence, less regard is shewn to those which excel in fruit than to such as afford the coolest shade by the thickness of their foliage. The prin- cipal of these are the Aruli or Aras Maram, Vepan or Bcvina Marcmi, Alimaram, and some others which yield a grateful shelter from the burning climate. But the most celebrated of all is that which goes by the name of Alimaram. The branches of this tree extend sometimes to the distance of more than a quarter of a league. It darts roots from its branches, which hang like a tissue of fibres, till they reach the ground, into which they gradually make their way ; each creating, in a short time, a new trunk, which invigorates the branch it descended from, and shoots out new ones ; which, after a while, eject young fibres, in their turn, to produce fresh trunks to the tree ; which thus continues to ex- pand, as long as it finds an appropriate soil, or meets with no insuper- able obstruction. ( 454 ) CHAP. VI. OF THE PARIAHS AND OTHER INFERIOR CASTS OF HINDUS. xxFTER having so long dwelt upon the Brahmans, in particular, and the other casts of Hindus, in general ; I am called upon to say some- thing concerning certain tribes, who from their inferiority of rank, and the contempt in which they are held, are considered as a separate race, cut off from the great family of society. The best known and the most numerous of these is the tribe of the Pareyer, as they are called in the Tamul tongue, from which is corrupted the European term Pariah. The cast is fovmd every where, and I compute that it must include at least a fifth of the whole population of the peninsitla. It is divided, like the other subordinate tribes, into several classes, each of which disputes with the rest for superiority ; but they are all held in equal contempt by the generality of the other classes. What I have to report concerning this cast will form a decided con- trast with what I have remarked relative to the Brahmans, and will afford an additional proof of what I have so often repeated, that the Hindus are unable, under any circumstances, to preserve a middle course. It will be now shewn that they are not less vehement in the contempt and distance with which they treat the persons here alluded to, than in the honours which they accumulate on such of them as are elevated above the rest, by having ac<[uired a sacred character. In all districts of the peninsula, the I'ariahs are entirely subjected to the other casts, and rigorously treated by them all. In general, they even have nut jiermission to cultivate the ground for their own use, but are compelled to hire themselves to other casts ; for whom, for a small allowance, they are obliged to undergo the most severe labours, and to u INFERIOR CASTS. 455 submit to be beaten at pleasure ; and, in truth, the Pariahs of India are not to be considered in any other hght than as the born slaves of the other tribes. At least there is as great a distance between them and the other casts as subsists in our colonies between the planters and their slaves. These lead not a harder life than the Pariahs, and the usage of both is equally severe. The distance and aversion which the other casts, and the Brahmans in particular, manifest for the Pariahs are carried so far that, in many places, their very approach is sufficient to pollute the whole neighbour- hood. They are not permitted to enter the street where the Brahmans live. If they venture to transgress, those superior beings would have the right, not to assault them themselves, because it would be pollution to touch them even with the end of a long pole, but they would be en- titled to give them a sound beating by the hands of others ; or even to make an end of them, which has often happened, by the orders of the native Princes, without dispute or inquiry. He who is touched, even without being conscious of it, by a Pariah, is defiled, and cannot be purified from the stain, or communicate with any individual, without undergoing a variety of ceremonies, more or less difficult according to the rank of the individual and the custom of the cast to which he belongs. Any person who, from whatever accident, has eaten with Pariahs, or of food provided by them ; or even drank of the water which they have drawn, or which was contained in earthen vessels which they had handled ; any one who has set his foot in their houses or permitted them to enter his own, would be proscribed, without pity, from his cast, and would never be restored without a number of troublesome ceremo- nies and great expence. And if he were known to join in carnal in- tercourse with a female of the tribe, he would be treated with equal severity. This extreme detestation of the Pariahs by other casts, is not carried to the same extent in all districts. It prevails chiefly in the southern parts of the peninsula, and becomes less apparent in the north. In that quarter of the Mysore, where I am now writing these pages, the higher casts endure the approach of the Pariahs ; for they suffer them. 456 ' INFERIOR CASTS. to enter that part of the house which shelters the cows ; and in some cases they have been permitted to shew their head, and one foot, in the apartment of the master of the house. I have been informed that this wide distinction between these casts becomes less apparent as you go northward, till at last it almost totally disappears. But the distinction itself appears to be of very old standing, being particularly referred to in several of the ancient Puranas ; and it is more than probable that this despised tribe was originally created by the union of individuals of all casts who were expelled for bad conduct and transgression of the rules of their oi^der ; and who had nothing to look to or fear after this absolute exclusion from the society of honour- able men. They would naturally be led to give themselves up to every excess, without restraint. In that abandoned course of life they still continue ; and all the other casts would probably have fallen into it also, or, if it were possible, into a worse, if it had not been for the wholesome restraint of private duty and domestic discipline. The distance, however, which exists between the Pariahs and the other tribes does not appear to have been so great, at the first, as it is at present. Although the lowest of the casts, it is ranked, nevertheless, with that of the Sudras ; and they are considered to have derived their origin from the same source. Even at the present time, they pass for the descendants of the first cast among the Cultivators ; who do not disdain to call them their children. But we must also observe, that if the better class of the Sudras considers the Pariahs to be sprung from the same stock with themselves, and represents them, in speculation, as their children, they are very far from reducing their theory to practice. In no instance, indeed, can the Hindus have shewn a wider difference between their professions and pi-actice. The European inhabitants are under the necessity of employing Pa- riahs for servants, because a great part of their work could not be done by persons of any other cast. There is, for example, no member of a Sudra tribe that would submit to brush the shoes of his master, or to draw off his boots to clean them ; but far less coidd any such person be induced, by any reward, to be his cook ; because the Europeans make no secret of violating the prejudices of the people amongst whom they INFERIOR CASTS. 457 live, by commanding beef to be prepared for their tables. They have no other choice, therefore, but to make use of the unscrupulous Pariah in that department of their household. And it may well be imagined, that if Europeans are detested by the superstitious Hindus, on account of the nature of their food, this sentiment will not be weakened by con- sidering what degraded beings are necessarily employed in preparing it. For the prejudices of the country will not permit that any one but a Pariah shall eat what has been dressed by a Pariah. It cannot be questioned that the want of delicacy on the part of the Europeans, in admitting Pariahs into their menial service, gives more offence and occasions more disgust to the Hindus, than any thing besides, and is the principal cause of preventing persons of a decent cast from serving them in that capacity. They are exposed, therefore, to faithless domestics, in whom they cannot confide. And if, at any time, one sees in the houses of the Europeans any others besides Pariahs, they are generally found to be infamous and unprincipled fellows, driven from their casts and from all society, and compelled to take refuge in the most degrading servitude. It is unquestionable that the worst of the whole race, and the most vicious, are such as follow this course of life ; for no reputable or well behaved man amongst them would endure to be thus confounded with the Pariahs. . Another consideration, which creates a dislike to serve Europeans, is the great distance at which they keep their domestics, and the in- dignities and bad treatment which they frequently make them submit to, but above all the kick of a foot covered with the pollution of a leathern shoe or a boot. The Pariahs, who are accustomed to servile treatment from their infancy, patiently endure all these indignities ; but it is far otherwise with the other casts, who are by nature high-spirited and proud. Besides, the condition of a servant in India is by no means degrading. The footman eats with his master, the maid-servant with her mistress, and they all go on side by side, in the intercourse of life. The conduct of the European settlers being so opposite in this respect, it is no wonder that their service should be held in dislike by all persons of 3 N 428 INFERIOR CASTS. decent sentiments and habits, and be left entirely to the refuse of all casts. But, if the cast of the Pariahs be held in low and vile repute, it must be admitted that it deserves to be so, by the conduct of the indivi- duals, and the sort of life which they lead. The most of them sell themselves, with their wives and children, for slaves to the farmers ; who make them undergo the hardest labours of agriculture, and treat them with the utmost severity. They are likewise the scavengers of the villages, their business being to keep the thoroughfares clean, and to remove all the filth as it collects in the houses. Yet these, notwithstanding the meanness of their employment, are generally better treated than the others ; because there is superadded to the disgusting employment we have mentioned the cleanlier duty of dis- tributing the waters of the tanks and canals for irrigating the rice plantations of the inhabitants of the village ; who, for that reason, cannot avoid feeling some kindness in their behalf. • ' Some of them, who do not live in this state of servitude, are em- ployed to take care of the horses of individuals, or of the army, or of elephants and oxen. They are also the porters, and run upon errands and messages. In some parts they are permitted to cultivate the lands, for their own benefit ; and in others they can exercise the pro- fession of weavers. Of late, they have occasionally been admitted into the European armies, and those of the native Princes, in which they have sometimes attained considerable distinction. In point of courage, they are not inferior to any other Hindu cast ; but the edu- cation they receive deprives them of all the other qualities of a soldier. It is difficult to imbue them with military discipline ; and, on the other hand, they are entirely devoid of every principle of honour. Knowing that they have nothing to lose in the esteem of the other casts, they give themselves up without shame or scruple to all sorts of vice ; and the greatest irregularities reign amongst them, without affecting them with the slightest remorse. The vices of the Pariahs lean to sensuality, as those of the Brahmans do to knavery. There is a coarseness about them which excites INFERIOR CASTS. ^gfy abhorrence. Their harsh and rugged features betray their inward character ; yet it may be truly said, that the grossness of their manners and demeanour exceeds that of their external figure. They are exceedingly addicted to drunkenness ; a vice much abhorred by all other Hindus. The liquor which they most enjoy is the juice of the palm, which they commonly drink when in a state of fermentation ; and, though it then stinks abominably, they seem to take it for nectar. Their intemperance not only occasions frequent quarrels amongst them, but leads to the cruel treatment of their wives. In that con- dition, they often fall upon them with blows, even when in a state of pregnancy ; and we may ascribe in a great degree to the barbarous treatment they experience from their drunken husbands the greater frequency of abortion among the Pariah women than in any of the other casts. But that which renders them most odious to the other Hindus is the abominable food with which they gorge their appetites. Attracted by the stench of a rotten carcass, they fly in crowds to dispute the infectious carrion with the dogs, the ravens and other birds of prey. They share the mass of corruption, and retire to their dens to devour it without rice, seasoning, or any other accompaniment. Little do they care of what disease the animal may have died ; for they make no scruple to poison secretly their neighbour's oxen and cows, to provide a savage repast for their ravenous appetites. All animals that die, in any place, belong of right to the bailiff of the village ; who disposes of the carcasses, at a low price, to the Pariahs in the neigh- bourhood. What they do not immediately consume they dry in the sun, to be laid up for a future occasion. In almost all their houses, lumps of carrion, strung together, are seen hanging on the wall. The infectious odour is not regarded by the inhabitants, but it is quickly perceived by a traveller passing through the village, who is at no loss to determine what cast he is amongst. To this horrible food may be attributed many of the contagious diseases which prevail constantly in their habitations, from which the other casts in the neighbourhood are wholly exempt. 3n 2 460 INFERIOR CASTS. After this description, is it to be wondered at that the Pariahs are held in abhorrence by the other casts ? Are these to be blamed for refusing all connection with such wretches, and obliging them to live apart, and in villages wholly detached from the rest of the population ? Besides the cast of Pariahs, which is spread over all the provinces of the peninsula, there are some others, peculiar to certain districts, which equal, or even surpass it, in brutality of sentiment, irregularity of life, and also in the abhorrence in which they are held. Such is the cast of the Pallis, which is little known but in the kingdom of Madura and other parts bordering on Cape Comorin. They boast a superiority over the Pariahs, because they do not eat the flesh of the cow or ox ; but the Pariahs hold them to be far beneath themselves, as belonging to the left-hand, of which they are the dregs ; whilst they themselves pertain to the right-hand, of which they account them- selves the firmest support. The history' of the tivo hands we have already given ; and we failed not to commemorate the effectual aid which the Pariahs are accustomed to lend in turning the tide of battle against the heresy of the left-hand. In the mountainous tract of the Malabar Coast there is to be seen a cast still more low and depressed than any we have yet mentioned. They are called Pw/ms; who are considered to be far beneath the beasts who traverse their forests, and equally share the dominion in them. It is not permitted to them to erect a house, but only a sort of shed, sup- ported on four bamboos, and open on all sides. It shelters them from the rain, but not from the injuries of the weather. They dare not walk on the common road, as their steps would defile it. When they see any person coming at a distance, they must give him notice, by a loud cry, and make a great circuit to let him pass. The least distance they are permitted to keep from persons of a different cast, is about a hun- dred paces. In all the provinces of the peninsula, the cast of the Shoemakers is held to be very infamous, and as below the Pariahs. They are inferior to INFERIOR CASTS. 461 them, from the baseness of their sentiments, and tlie total want of honour and of all feeling of shame. Their manners are also more gross, and they are more addicted to gluttony and intemperance. They get merry towards the evenings ; and it is not long before the villages re- sound with the cries and quarrels occasioned by their cups. They are all wretchedly poor ; even beneath the level of the Pariahs. These, though rarely, enjoy a temporary abundance, but the wretched Chakili, or coblers, exist in absolute indigence. But they can the less complain, as their misery arises chiefly out of their ebriety ; a privilege which is nearly peculiar to themselves. They will never work while they have any thing to drink, and they never return to their work till their purse is exhausted ; passing in this manner, alternately from labour to drunk- enness, and from drunkenness to labour. Their women do not allow themselves to be surpassed by their husbands in any vicious habit, and particularly in that of intemperance. And nothing more need be said of their morals or behaviour. Among the Pariahs, there is one sort greatly elevated above the rest j with whom they form no alliance, but consider themselves as their Gurus or Valuvers, as they are called. They are likewise named in de- rision, the Brahmans of the Pariahs ; in allusion, no doubt, to their con- ducting the marriage-rites and other ceremonies of that people. They likewise publish a part of the lies contained in the almanack ; such as the good and evil days, the favourable and unfavourable moments for commencing an enterprize ; and other lollies. But they are not allowed to be editors of the astronomical part of the publication, relating to the eclipses, new and full moon, and such important matters ; which en- tirely belong to the Brahmans. Besides those low and despised sects, there are many others, which though greatly above them, are still regarded with contempt by the ge- nerality of Hindus, and held to occupy the lowest rank of all the kinds of Sudras. These tribes have sunk in the public opinion by living in a sort of vassalage beneath the other casts, or by exercising trades which frequently expose them to pollution ; or, in many instances, because they lead a wandering and roving life, which involves them in frequent breaches of the most revered and established customs. II ^Q2 INFERIOR CASTS. Of the vulgar casts, two of the lowest are the Barbers and the Whit- sters. One or more families belonging to each of these casts, exercise their respective trades in every village ; from which they must not pass into a neighbouring village to work, without leave. These two trades descend from father to son, from one generation to another ; and those who exercise thein form two distinct tribes. The Barber is obliged to shave and to cut the hair and nails of all the inhabitants of the vil- lao-e. In many districts, the custom is to be shaved in every part of the body where hair grows ; and this custom is very generally observed, particularly by the Brahmans, on their marriage day and other solemn occasions. As to the Whitster, he is bound to wash not only all the clothing which men and women wear, but also the filthiest rags that have been used in keeping the children in decent order, or even for more disgusting purposes. These two professions reduce those that practise them to a state of dependence, which does not admit of their declin- ing to do any thing at all connected with their trade. They are paid by the inhabitants, in kind, once a year, after the grain is got in. Their servile condition, and the filthy nature of their employment, na- turally produce the general contempt in which they are held by all the casts, who look upon them merely as their slaves. The cast of Potiers and that of Utarans, whose principal employment consists in building walls of earth, digging tanks, and keeping their banks in repair, are likewise considered as low tribes, by the Sudras. The education of these people corresponds to the meanness of their origin. Their mind is as uncultivated as their manners ; and every thing seems to justify the small esteem in which they are held. The tribe of Mushiers, or workers in the skins of animals, used in dress, though not so much despised as the preceding, yet possess no degree of consideration. They are not admitted, by the other casts, into any familiarity, or to eat or drink out of the same vessels with them. This is accounted for by the filth they are exposed to in handling the skins. INFERIOR CASTS. 463 The other working casts, such as carpenters, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, founders, and in general all who exercise handicraft trades enjoy no great degree of consideration among the other casts of the Sudras. The ornamental arts, such as painting, instrumental music, and the like, are extremely low in estimation. Hardly any but the low tribe of the Mushiers exercise the first of these ; and music is nearly confined to the Barbers and Pariahs : instrumental music wholly so. The small encouragement these two arts receive is, no doubt, owing to the little progress they have made. In painting, nothing can be seen but mere daubing, set off with bright colours and extravagant glare. And, although all Hindus are great lovers of music, introducing it into all their civil and religious ceremonies, yet I can vouch that it is still in its infancy ; and probably they have made no progress in it for three thou- sand years. In their festivals, and on other occasions, it is not the con- cord of sweet sounds that they require from their musicians. Confu- sion and obstreperous noise is more agreeable to their untutored senses, with sounds so harsh and piercing as would almost rend the drum of an European ear. And it must be owned that their taste in this respect is fully gratified by their performers. But, harsh and discordant as their music is, it pleases them infinitely more than ours. This I have often experienced. Of our instruments they love only the drum. The sound of our sweetest instruments, pro- ducing a melody which soothes and delights our perceptions, and ex- cites the most pleasant emotions, has no effect whatever on ears so per- petually stunned with loud and jarring dissonance. Their vocal music is almost as little adapted to delight an European ear. An insipid monotony pervades their singing ; and, although they have a gamut, composed of seven notes, like ours, they have never ap- plied it to create the diversity, proportion, and combination which have so many charms for us. The contempt in which players on wind instruments are held, I be- lieve, arises chiefly from the defilement which is supposed to be con- tracted by applying the mouth to apertures so often polluted with 464 INFERIOR CASTS. spittle. Stringed instruments being free from this objection, the highest casts, even the Brahmans themselves, do not disdain to make an accompaniment to their own voices, by touching a small harp called Vuny or Vina, which is used all over India. Its notes are so far from lacerating the ear, like those of their wind instruments, that, on the contrary, they may be listened to with pleasure by an European ; though they would give greater pleasure if they were more diversified. The Brahmans almost exclusively practise on this instrument. The use of the Vina is very ancient among the Hindus. Its name is mentioned in almost all their early writings, as an instrument in favour with the great. Brahmans, Kings, Princes, and the Gods them- selves, learn to strike it ; and many of them are extolled for their pro- ficiency. It appears to me very probable that the Vina of the Brahmans is the same as the Cithara, or the Hebrew Harp, so often mentioned in the sacred writings ; on which the holy King David so much excelled, and from which he drew sounds that could tame the fury of his unfor- tunate master Saul, when forsaken of God and agitated by all the passions. The Harp appears to have been the instrument of the upper ranks amongst the Hebrews, as the Vina is amongst the Hindus. We have observed that the Brahmans alone ai'e proficients on this instrument ; but truly they pay dear for the distinction, and their time of probation is very tedious. It is a great deal if the scholar is able to play the two and thirty Hindu airs after four or five years of practice. Besides the Vina, they have a stringed instrument called Kinnara a sort of guitar, which is also in great esteem. The strings of their instruments are never made, as ours often are, of the guts of animals, but always of metal wires. The purity of the Brahman could not possibly finger the catgut. A second description of men of degraded rank, in the eyes of the Hindus, consists of those who are addicted to a vagrant and wandering life, which leads them into a continual violation of the received prac- tices, and makes tiiem suspected characters. There arc several casts of INFERIOR CASTS. 465 this sort, who have no permanent abode, but are in continual migration. Such are the Kuravers or Kurumeru, the Lanibady or Sukaters, and many others ; some of whom we shall briefly point out. The vagrants called Kuravers or Kurumeru are divided into three branches. One of these is chiefly engaged in the trafiic of Salt, which they go, in bands, to the coasts to procure, and carry it to the interior of the country on the backs of asses, which they have in great droves ; and when they have disposed of their cargoes, they reload the beasts with the sort of grain in greatest request on the coast ; to which they return without loss of time. Thus their whole lives are passed in tran- sit, without a place of settlement in any part of the land. The trade of another branch of the Kurumeru is the manufacture of osier panniers, wicker baskets and other household utensils of that sort, or bamboo mats. This class, like the preceding, are compelled to tra- verse the whole country, from place to place, in quest of employment. All of them live under little tents, constructed of woven bamboos, three feet high, four or five broad, and five or six in length ; in which they squat, man, wife, and children, and shelter themselves from the weather. When they find no more work in the district, they fold up their tents and remove to the next population. These vagabonds never think of saving any thing for future wants, but spend every day all they earn, and sometimes more. They must therefore live in grievous poverty ; and, when their work fails them, they have no resource but in begging alms. The third species of Kurumeru is generally known under the name of Kalla-Bantru, or Robbers ; and indeed those who compose this cast are generally thieves or sharpers, by profession and right of birth. The distinction of expertness in filching belongs to this tribe ; the individuals of which it consists having been trained to knavery from their infancy. They are instructed in no other learning, and the only art they commu- nicate to their children is that of stealing adroitly ; unless we except that of being prepared with a round lie, and with a determined resolu- tion to endure every sort of torture rather than to confess the robberies which are laid to their charge. 3 o 466 INFERIOR CASTS. Far from being ashamed of their infamous profession, they openly glory in it ; and when they have nothing to fear, they pubHcly boast, with the greatest self-complacency, of the dextrous robberies they have committed, at various times, during their career. Some who have been caught and wounded in the act, or have had their nose and ears, or perhaps their hand, cut off for the offence, exhibit their loss with ostentation, as a mark of their intrepidity ; and these are the men who are generally chosen to be the chiefs of the cast. It is commonly in the dead of the night that they commit their de- predations. Then they enter the villages silently, leaving sentinels at the avenues, while others seek out the houses that may be attacked with the least danger of detection, and so make good their entry iind pillage them. This they effect, without attempting to force open the door, which would be a noisy operation ; but by quietly cutting through the mud wall with a sharp instrument, so as to make an opening sufficiently large to pass through. The Kallabantru are so expert in this species of robbery, that, in less than half an hour, they will carry off a rich lading of plunder, without being heard or suspected till day-light discloses the villainy. In the countries that are under the yoke of Moorish Princes, these thieves are authorized by the Government ; who give them a licence to rob, in consideration of a certain tribute which they require for the pri- vilege, or on condition of their paying to the public receiver one half of the booty they acquire. But as, in a civilized country, for the credit of the police, such a contract must be kept secret ; so the culprit can seek no redress from the magistrate for the wounds and mutilations which he is exposed to, when he happens to be surprized. On the other hand, the magistrate must shield from punishment the rogues with whom they are in j)artnership. The Princes have always in their service a great number of Kallaban- tru, whom they employ in their calling ; which is that of [)lundering for their master's j)rofit. The last JNIusalman Prince who reigned in the Mysore had a regular battalion of them on service, in time of war ; not for the purpose of fighting in the field, but to prowl and infest the enemy's camp in the night, stealing away the horses and other neces- 1 1 INFERIOR CASTS. 467 saries of the officers, spiking the cannon, and acting as spies. They were rewarded in proportion to the dexterity they displayed in these achievements ; and in time of peace they were dispatched into the various states of neighbouring Princes, to rob, for the benefit of their master; besides discharging their ordinary duty of spies. The Polygars, who are chiefs of particular districts, have in their pay several of these rascals, who are sent from place to place to steal, or to do any other similar service, in the manner of the Kalabantru. In the provinces where they are tolerated by the Government, the poor inhabitants, having no other means of escaping from pillage, pay them a yearly subsidy of a quarter of a rupee and a fowl for each house ; the chief of the gang agreeing to take them under his protec- tion, and to be answerable for every robbery that shall be committed. The cast of Kalabantru is spread over all the Mysore ; where they are also infested with another sort, under the name of Kanoji, who are equally formidable. But, of all the vagrant casts, the best known, and also the most de- tested, is that of the Lamhadis or Sukaters. Their origin is not well understood, as they are different in manners, customs, and language, from all the other casts of Hindus. They appear to have more affinity with the Mahrattas than any other nation ; and, I believe, it is from that marauding race that we must trace their descent. It is certain that it is in their armies that they are trained to that course of pillage and rapine which has obliterated all notions of property, when they feel themselves the strongest, or when they are out of the reach of justice. At the same time, the exemplary punishments which the police has in- flicted on them in several places, of late, has made them somewhat more circumspect, and they no longer dare to plunder openly. But, woe to the traveller whom they meet alone in a solitary place, especially if they think him a prize. Their rendezvous, in times of war, is with some army ; and generally with the most undisciplined one, about which they swarm in great crowds, to take advantage of the disorder and confusion which they expect to find, and which serve as a cloak to their depredations. They make themselves useful by supplying the markets with provisions, 3 2 468 INFERIOR CASTS. which they have foraged in all quarters. And they also make a trade of lending out to the side that will best pay them their numerous herds of bullocks to cari-y necessaries for the supply of the armies. It was thus that, in the last war with the Sultan of the Mysore, the Eng- lish took into their pay many thousands of them for transporting their provisions. However, they had soon reason to repent their connection with such faithless wretches, devoid of all honour and discipline, when they saw them laying waste the country over which they passed, and causing more damage than the whole army of the enemy would have done. The frequent punishments inflicted on their chiefs had no effect on that horde of robbers, whom the scent of plunder allured more powerfully than even their extravagant perquisites and hire. Ip times of peace, these banditti return to their trade in corn, which they carry from one place to another. Their rude and uncultivated manners, with their coarse and deformed features, both in the men and the women, at once betray the character and disposition of their minds. In all parts of India they have justly become the objects of the watch- fulness and suspicion of the police ; for, in no circumstances, can any reliance be placed on them. Their women are every where held to be most dissolute. Their lewdness has almost universally passed into a proverb ; and it is even said that they often go out in a body and compel such men as they meet to gratify their wishes. The Lambadis or Sukaters form a cast entirely distinct from the rest of the Hindus, with whom they have but very little intercourse ; being wholly different from them in religion, language, manners, and customs. All other casts treat them with distant and thorough contempt. There is yet another tribe of vagrants, who are also a separate sect, and live universally despised. They are the class of mountebanks, buffoons, posture-makers, tumblers, dancers, and the like ; who form various parties, to exhibit their several arts and tricks, in all places where admirers and dupes are to be found. The most dissolute body is that of the Dumhars or Dumharu. It is not surprizing that, in a country where the love of all that approaches to the marvellous reigns with un- bounded sway, such sorts of jugglers should prevail. Nevertheless, the INFERIOR CASTS. 4^9 casts who follow these professions are vilified, and universally looked down upon, though the practitioners are, at the same time, considered as expert magicians, initiated in all occult and necromantic arts, who are to be feared as well as distrusted. They may be compared, indeed, to the mountebank order in Europe ; but they are more universally and cordially despised. Yet I have seen them perform tricks and feats which put them at least on a level with their brethren in Europe. The most usual exhibition is that of the keepers of serpents, who have them taught to dance to the sound of a kind of flute. They per- form various tricks with them ; which, though apparently terrible, are not very dangerous, as they always take the precaution to deprive them of their fangs, and to extract the vesicle in which the venom is con- tained. They are believed to have the power of charming those dan- gerous reptiles, and of commanding them to approach and surrender themselves, at the sound of their flute. The same art appears to have been laid claim to in other ancient nations, as appears from the allegory of the prophet, where he compares the obstinacy of an obdurate sinner to a serpent that shuts its ear against the voice of the charmer *. Without dwelling on the literal accuracy of this striking passage of Holy Writ, I may confidently assert, that the skill which the pretenders to enchant- ment, in India, claim in this particular, is rank imposture. The trick is to put a snake, which they had tamed and accustomed to their music, into some remote place, and they manage it so, that, in appearing to go casually in that direction, and beginning to play, the snake comes forward at the accustomed sound. When they enter into an agreement with any simpleton, who fancies that his house is infested with serpents, a notion which they sometimes contrive to infuse into his brain, they artfully introduce into some crevice of the house one of their tame snakes, which comes up to its master, as soon as it hears his flute. The potent enchanter instantly whips it up into his pannier, takes his * " Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; they are hke the deaf adder that stop- " peth her ear ; whicli will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.'' Psalm Iviii. 4. " For behold I will send serpents, cockatrices among you, which will not be charmed." Jerem. viii. 1 7. 470 INFERIOR CASTS. fee, and gravely presents himself at the next house, to renew his offers of assistance to similar dupes. Another race of vagrants live at the public expence, by exhibiting a kind of comedies, or rather farces, of the indecent kind both in the cha- racters and the dialogue. They likewise exhibit puppet shews, mixed with gross obscenity and absurdity, but well adapted to the stupid mul- titude that gaze and admire. They know they could not gain the at- tention, far less the laugh of such people, without sacrificing decency, modesty, and common sense. In the Mysore and theTelinga country, there is another distinct cast of wanderers, more peaceable and innocent than any of the former. They are called Pakanaty, and speak the Telinga. They were originally natives of that country, and were employed in agriculture. They be- longed to the tribe of Goalaru or shepherds. It is now a hundred and fifty years since they first took up their present vagrant and wan- dering life ; to which they are grown so much accustomed, that it would be impossible to reclaim them to any fixed or sedentary habits. The cause of their detaching themselves originally from society arose from some severe treatment which the governor of the province where they lived was going to inflict upon some of their favourite chiefs. To avert this insult, and to be revenged against their rulers, they took the resolution of quitting their villages and abandoning their agricul- tural labours ; and they have never since entertained a thought of re- suming their ancient course of life. They sojourn in the open fields, under small tents of bamboo, and wander from place to place, as hu- mour dictates. Some of their chiefs, with whom I have conversed, have informed me, tliai they amount in all to seven or eight thousand individuals. Part wandiT in the Telinga country and ])art in Kanara. They are divided into different tribes, the heads of which assemble, from time to time, to decide any disputes that may have arisen, and to watch over the jgeneral good order of the cast. They are imder an exceedingly good police; and, though always roving in bands through the country, they maintain a great respect for property, and no instance of pillage is ever heard of among them. INFERIOR CASTS. 47 1 They all live in the most wretched condition. The wealthiest among them have nothing beyond a few buffiiloes or cows, whose milk they sell. They are mostly all herbarists ; and wherever they roam, they are careful to collect the various plants and roots which serve for medical purposes, or which are used in dying, or as physic for horses and cows. They sell these simples to the dealers in spices ; and by this traffic they partly maintain themselves, and make up for what is wanting by hunting, fishing, or begging. Among the vices which are the reproach of the various wandering tribes, intemperance, and the want of delicacy in the choice of food, are chiefly complained of; and these are, at the same time, the most odious and degrading of any, in the eyes of the other casts. Drunkenness per- vades them all ; the material of which is the Toddy, or juice of the palm ; to which men and women are equally addicted. As to food, every thing is alike to them ; and, with the exce})tion of the flesh of the cow, they put up with any other sort of victuals, how- ever offensive. Tiger's flesh, that of the fox, the cat, the crocodile, the serpent, lizard, crow, and of many other creatures, equally revolting to the generality of Hindus, constitute the principal nourishment of all the different wandering hordes we have described. Each cast of vagrants forms a little re{)ub]ic in itself, governed by its own laws and usages. They have but little to do with social duties, or even with authority. Wandering continually from place to place, they pay no tribute ; and, being scarcely possessed of any thing, they have no occasion for the protection of the Prince to enable them to live un- molested : neither do they importune the magistrate for justice or favour. Each little community has chiefs of its own, elected or de- posed by a majority of voices ; and who, as long as their authority continues, are invested with power to enforce their rules, to inflict pimisliment and fines on those who violate them, and to terminate all disputes that arise. The whole of these wanderers, in going from place to place, take with them not only their wicker tents and all their goods, which indeed are no great matter, but also the provisions necessary for their subsistence during several days, and the utensils requisite for preparing and cooking their food. When they have beasts of burden, they load them with 472 INFERIOR CASTS. part of their furniture ; but, when witliout that accommodation, they are sometimes in great straits. I have frequently seen poor creatures, of this kind, carrying on their heads and shoulders every thing they possessed in the world, with what was necessary for their present sub- sistence. The husband took the burden of the tent, the provisions, and some earthen vessels for boiling them ; while the wife, with half of her body left bare, in order to spare a part of her garment to wrap the child that dangled at her back, carried on her head the little millstone which they use for grinding the corn that makes a part of their food, and held, under one arm, the pestle for pounding the rice, and the mor- tar under the other. Such is the touching spectacle I have often seen, with feelings of tender sympathy and compassion ; and such is the kind of existence that thousands of Hindus are doomed to abide ; and which they endure without a murmur, and without envying those who enjoy the real blessings of life. And never does it come into their thoughts to improve their condition, by entering into the bosom of society, and engaging in some employment more reputable and easy. There are still a great many other detached casts in the southern parts of India besides those we have mentioned ; all living in a state of degradation and contempt. Amongst others, there is that of the Ku- rumbars or Kurubaru. The baseness of their nature and their total want of instruction seem to justify the detestation in which they are held by the superior casts of Sudras. Their occupation is that of Shep- herds ; but they are not to be confounded with the cast of Herdsmen called Icki/irs and Goalam, who are one of the highest casts among the Sudras, and have the cows and goats under their care, while the others are confined entirely to sheep, of which they have considerable flocks. The meanness of their employment seems to spread its influ- ence over their manners. Being confined to the society of their woolly charge, they seem to have contracted the stupid nature of the animal ; and, from the rudeness of their nature, they are as much beneath the other casts of Hindus, as the sheep, by their simplicity and imperfect instinct, are beneath the other quadrupeds. The stupidity of the Ku- rubarus is become proverbial ; and when a person of another cast does any thing tiioughtless and foolish, he is said to be as stupid as a Kuru- INFERIOR CASTS. 473 baru. This sect prevails in the countries of Canara, Talugu, and Tamul, but chiefly in the first, from which it appears to have originated, and where they are still found in great numbers in every district. I have already mentioned the casts of Savages met with in the forests and on the mountains of the southern parts of the peninsula. They are divided into various tribes, each of which is subdivided into separate hordes. They seldom quit their haunts, and are not often visited there, on account of the dread they are held in as reputed sorcerers or magi- cians, whose malice would occasion disease or misfortune. And, indeed, when any of the neighbouring casts are affected with any calamity which they suspect to have proceeded from their machinations, they fall upon them with severity, and sometimes revenge themselves by their death. Many of these savages spare themselves the trouble of building houses ; although, by living in the midst of a wood, they might have abundant materials. In the rainy season, they shelter themselves in caverns, hollow trees, and clefts of the rocks ; and, in fine weather, they keep the open fields. In the night, every horde collects in a body ; and each lights large fires, all around, to keep them warm and to scare the wild beasts, while they sleep in the centre, in a promiscuous heap. They are almost entirely naked. The women wear nothing to conceal their nakedness but some leaves of trees stitched together, and bound round their waists. They think it too great a hardship to perform agricultural labour ; and therefore they never engage in it but when urged by extreme neces- sity. Knowing nothing beyond the absolute demands of hunger, they find enough in their forests to assuage it. Roots and other spontane- ous productions of nature ; reptiles, and animals which they entrap in snares or kill in the chace ; and honey, which they find in abundance within the chinks of the rocks, or on the trees, among the branches of which they skip with the agility of monkeys, afford all that is necessary to appease the cravings of nature. More stupid than the African savage, he of India is ignorant even of the use of the bow. 3 p 474 • INFERIOR CASTS, The inhabitants of the plains apply to them, when they have occasion for timber for building their houses, or for any other works of magni- tude ; and, for a matter of small value, such as some copper rings, a few glass beads, or a little corn, the savages will cut them as much wood as they want. They are always considered, by the other inhabitants, to have the power, through the means of incantation and magic, to charm the tigers. the elephants, and the venomous reptiles which share with them in their forests, so that they have nothing to fear from their attacks. They train up their children from their earliest infancy, to the hard life that nature seems to have intended for them. The day after lying- in, the woman is obliged to scour the woods for food. Before setting out, she suckles the new-born infant, digs a little trench in the ground for a cradle, where she deposits the naked babe, upon the bare earth j and, trusting to the care of Providence, goes with her husband and the rest of the family, in quest of wherewithal to supply their wants for the day. This is not quickly obtained ; and it is evening before they re- turn. From three days old they accustom the child to solid food ; and, in order to inure it betimes to the rigour of the seasons, they wash it every day in dew collected from the plants ; and until the infant is able to accompany or follow the mother, it remains in this manner, from morning to night, in the recesses of the wood, exposed to the rain, the sun, and all the inclemency of the weather, stretched out uncovered in the little tomb, which is its only cradle. It appears that the only religion of these savages consists in the worship of the Bhuta or Demons, which they exclusively adore, payr ing no acknowledgment to the divinities of the nation. These are, in the greatest number, in the forests of JNIalabar ; but there is also a different species of" savages in various parts of the Carnatic, roaming in the woods of that province, and known under the name of Iridirs, and sometimes of Soligaru. Like the Kurubaru, they lead a savage life, and have scarcely any commmiication with the more polished people of the plain. Their })rincipal means of living are roots and honey, which they find in the woods. They barter the ^ast, and its wax, with the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, for such INFERIOR CASTS. 475 articles as they have to spare. In other particulars they scarcely differ in any thing from the preceding class, and are equally dreaded for enchantments and sorcery by their jealous neighbours of the plains. The savage cast of Malay Kudiaru has been already noticed. Though living in the woods, they have made some approach to the social state. Their occupation is to extract the juice or Kallu from the palm trees, selling a part and drinking the remainder. It is the women that ascend the trees ; and they do it with great agility. The husbands go to market with the liquor. This tribe is hardly found beyond the district of Curga. Here there is also another tribe, known by the appellation of Yeruvani. It consists of several hordes dispersed through the woods. Being without the resources for subsistence which the others possess, they are compelled to provide for their wants by making themselves useful in society. For this purpose they quit their cabins, and repair to the habitations of their more polished neighbours ; who, for a small allowance of grain, obtain the services of the savages in the most toilsome labours of husbandry. But, such is their improvidence and indolence, that as long as a single morsel of rice remains in their huts, they obstinately refuse to renew their labour. Their employers, however, are obliged to put up with their humour, because they cannot otherwise exempt themselves from drudgery ; and, if they should offend a single indi- vidual amongst them, by ill treatment, or in any other way, the whole horde would resent the affront, and, in a body, desert their accustomed abodes for the hidden recesses of the forests. There they would sulkily remain, till their superiors, being at a loss for their assistance, were reduced to the necessity of making the first advances, by an apology for the injury, or such indemnification as the savages might require. All the various savage tribes, having much difficulty in procuring the absolute necessaries of life, have no means whatever of attaining to the petty luxuries which are within the reach of the lowest orders of the other casts. Betel, tobacco, oil for rubbing the head and body, 3p 2 ^»jg INFERIOR CASTS. and some other indulgences which habit has rendered necessary to the ordinary Hindus, are quite unknown to the savage tribes, and do not even seem to be coveted by them. They think it quite sufficient to be favoured by strangers with a httle salt and pepper to season the roots and iùsipid vegetables which form their principal nourishment. All these savages are of an inoffensive and quiet disposition. The sio-ht even of a stranger is enough to put a whole horde of them to flight. Their indolent and lazy habits result from the climate. Far different from the Cannibals of America, or those which people an extensive region of Africa, they know not the meaning of war ; and they seem to be ignorant of the practice of repaying evil with evil. Buried in the thick forests where they were born, or in the deep grottoes of the rocks which they inhabit, there is nothing they are more afraid of than the approach or appearance of a civilized man ; and so far from envying him the boasted happiness of social life, they shun all intercourse with him, out of fear that he designs to strip them of their independence and liberty, and reduce them to the bondage of society. They preserve, however, some of the leading prejudices of their countrymen. They never eat cows fîesh. They have the same notions concerning cleanness and impurity, and they observe, in the principal occurrences of life, several other rules which are in common use in the country. ( 477 ) CHAP. .VIL OF THE METEMPSYCHOSIS. THE HINDUS THE INVENTORS OF THE DOCTRINE. CAUSES AND NUMBER OF THE TRANSMIGRATIONS. OF THE PAINS OF HELL AND THEIR DURATION. ABODES OF BLISS. •SEVERAL writers, both ancient and modern, have been of opinion that Pythagoras was the author of the system of the Metempsychosis, called by the Hindus Purwa Jcinma, or regeneration, and that it was communicated by that philosopher to the sages of India, when he visited their country. But all who are acquainted with the spirit and edu- cation of the Brahmans, both ancient and modern, will be easily satisfied of the contrary, and will be convinced that, so far from re- ceiving lessons from Pythagoras, they were his masters in this respect. The desire of learning something new, and of attaining perfection in the sciences, induced that philosopher to penetrate into every country where they had begun to flourish in those remote ages ; and, having heard of the renown of the philosophers of India, which long after- wards spread into Europe, he undertook a long voyage to see them, and to profit by their doctrines. What makes it more probable that it was from them that he derived his system of the transmigration of the soul of one body into another, is that he did not publish it till after his return from India ; and no circumstance of his life shews that he had any notion of it before his journey. Is it at all to be imagined that the Brahmans would consent to borrow a system so abstracted and extraordinary from a stranger ? Those who know their pride and arrogant presumption, will find great difficulty in believing it. Never can a Brahman be persuaded that sciences, which he is ignorant of, can be lodged in the mind of a II 478 THE METEMPSYCHOSIS. man of any other cast, far less of a foreigner ; and never would he lend an ear to any individual who should pretend to be acquainted with any new science or useful discovery, of which he himself would not assume to be the inventor. We have before had occasion to remark, that this cast of persons has been regarded, in all times, as the universal and exclusive heir of every art and science. They are all educated in the belief that no man can possibly know what they are ignorant of Such is the fundamental principle in which they have been nurtured, in ancient and modern times : a principle which their long intercourse with nations far beyond them in every branch of science has never been able to shake. Their books, which appear to be more ancient than Pythagoras, are filled with the doctrine of the Purwa Janma or Metempsychosis, and treat of it as a system coeval with their most ancient institutions, civil and religious, and established beyond all controversy. But, whoever he was that was the original inventor of that absurd system, which some modern authors have called sublime, Greece and the other countries into which it was introduced by Pythagoras and his disciples, do not appear to have derived much benefit from the disco- very. It appears wonderful that Empedocles, Socrates, and Plato, philosophers otherwise so enlightened, should have adopted it, without examination. Aristotle and the whole Peripatetic school justly rejected it. But it continues to this day to be the universal belief of every Hindu. Pythagoras drew from it a very natural inference, when he asserted that they ought to abstain from eating the flesh of any living creature, lest the son might possibly feed on the body of his father, whose soul had, peradventure, passed into the substance of a fowl or sheep ; so that the horrid feast of Thyestes might be often repeated. Several of the disciples of that philosopher, to act consistently with his doctrines, confined themselves to live entirely upon liquids. They even rejected the bean from their meals, as the Brahmans have rejected the onion and some other simple productions of the same nature. But these rigorous precepts of the strict disciples of the Greek philosopher were less fol- THE METEMPSYCHOSIS, 479 lowed than their doctrines, and the people never relinquished the use of flesh. The Hindu philosophers, in all probability, gave birth to this notion of Pythagoras, when he adopted their system of the Purwa Jannia. He saw their abhorrence of the murder of animals. He likewise saw that the Brahmans and all the cultivated people of India most religiously abstained from eating whatsoever had been alive ; and his conclusion would naturally be that their extreme abstinence in that respect must have arisen from the apprehension they were in of slaying an ancestor, perhaps, in the creature which was served up for their food. . If this was the inference which that philosopher drew from the custom of the Hindus, and their mode of living, I have no difficulty in saying it was a false one. The abstinence from meat amongst the Hindus, is founded upon two principles, very different from those which were assumed by the Pythagoreans ; and the practice appears to be foreign to the doctrine of Metempsychosis. The first principle is the dread of being defiled by the use of animal nutriment ; and the second is the abhorrence of the murder which must have been committed before they could enjoy such a feast. In consequence of the former principle, of shunning all defilement, the nobler part of the nation is restricted to the use of liquids only, and of the simple productions of nature, for their aliment. The Brahmans could use nothing that proceeded from an animal, with the exception of milk, which constituted the most sub- stantial and delicious portion of their food. The horror whicli a dead body generally inspires ; the fetid stench which it exhales, from the moment almost of dissolution, are widely different from the decay of vegetables, which rot without putridity. The revolting idea of being obliged to gratify the appetite by loading the table with carcasses of slaughtered animals, and a thousand other considerations not less rea- sonable, concerning the nature of what is pure and what is impure, have determined the opinions of the Hindus on this subject. They have been instilled by education, and so deeply rooted in the mind, that those who have once imbibed the prejudice have not even a thought of ever departing from it, under any circumstances that can befal them through life. 430 THE METEMPSYCHOSIS. The second motive which influenced their conduct, in this particular, was the dread and horror of murder, which it was necessary to commit as often as they might have recourse to this diet; a dread, wiiich by many is carried so far, as even to induce them to spare the most vile and troublesome insects ; such as never fail to disturb the repose of men and brutes. This is more congruous and consistent than the conduct of the disciples of Pythagoras. The Hindus believe that no difference exists between the souls of men and of animals ; and that the sins of human beinçps in one oeneration are the cause of their heino; degraded to the condition of a beast in another. Hence they conclude, that it is equally wicked to slav a beast or an insect as to murder one of their own species. But, with the exception of theBrahmans, theKshatriya and the Vaisya, the greater number of the Sudras kill animals and eat their flesh. They have amongst them butchers and hunters by profession. The cast of \heBaiders or Baideru, who generally live in the mountains and forests, have scarcely any other occupation than the chace. I have read some- where, in an Indian book, that one of the ancient penitents, who were almost entirely Brahmans, and who never tasted of any creature that had lived, amused his leisure with the diversion of hunting serpents, which were common in the woods where he exercised his penitence, and killed all he could find ; although this reptile is particularly rever- enced by the Hindus, and placed in the number of sucli as the vulgar adores. But this is not the only particular in which the Hindu paganism is found to be inconsistent with itself The Pythagoreans were neither so steady nor so consistent as the Hindus, in their opinions on the same subject ; for they reproach them for rendering the transmigration of souls common and promiscuous amongst all living creatures ; for thus, they say, the soul of a King might pass into the body of an ape, and of a Queen into that of agrass- hoppcr. In order to escape the ridicule to which such a system w^s exposed, certain philosophers of that sect, such as Plotinus and Porphyry, endeavoured, thougii too late, to limit the transmigration of the souls of men to human bodies, and those of brutes to their own species ; and they would fain have passed these inventions for the doctrine of the ori- THE METEMPSYCHOSIS. 4gl ginal founders of their sect. But the testimony of all the ancient writers is too direct and conclusive, on this topic, to admit of any faith being paid to the tardy retractation of their disciples. The Hindus recognize two principal causes of the transmigration of souls ; and their system of Purwa Janma seems to have been invented to justify, under a gross allegory, the administration of Providence in dis- pensing rewards and punishments. The first cause which they assign is common to them with the Pythagoreans. Transgression must be punished, and virtue rewarded. This does not take place in the present life ; for we often see vice triumphant, and virtue beaten down. As a remedy for this great irregularity, the Gods, who hold in their hands the destinies of men, have decreed that he who, during his life, was a wicked man, a robber or homicide, shall, in requital of his crimes, be regenerated after his present life, and become a Pariah, some voracious animal, or a creeping insect, or be born blind or crooked ; so that, according to this doctrine, lowness of birth or bodily defects, are an incontestable proof of the perverseness that reigned in a preceding exist- ence. On the contrary, to have been born beautiful, handsome, rich, powerful, a Brahman, or even a cow ; every circumstance of that nature, is a clear proof of the pure and virtuous life which had distinguished the fortunate object in a preceding generation. Such is the feeling of all the people of India, and, as it appears, of all the Asiatics ; and such was very nearly that of the early Pythagoreans. But, independently of this first cause of transmigrations, the Hindus assign another, which is peculiar to them. As their notions concern- ing defilement and purity must be combined with every thing else, they pretend that a soul after death, must retain something of the disposi- tions and stains which it had contracted in a preceding generation, just as an earthen vessel retains for a long time the odour of some strong liquor which was put into it when new. They strengthen this compari- son by the instance of a woman, who had been a fish in her precedincr generation ; and who, though, in the present, a real woman, still re- tained the fishy odour. It is necessary, therefore, that a long succes- sion of generations shall cleanse the impurities of the past ; which must 3ft 4g2 THE METEMPSYCHOSIS. be followed by a vast number more, if, in place of purifying themselves from ancient stains, they contract new ones, by a dissolute life. When the Hindus are interrogated on the number of these transmi- grations which must take effect, and from what epoch they commence ; they answer, that they take their beginning from the period when the earth began to be populous, and vice had begun to reign in it. As to their duration, it has been, and will continue to be, commensurate with the various Yugas or ages of the world. As to the number of transmigrations, the poets have exceedingly exaggerated or extenuated them, according as their extravagant imagination impelled. But the most rational of their philosophers agree that the number cannot be fixed, as it must be proportioned to the measure of virtue or vice pre- dominant in each individual, which must require a greater or less suc- cession of new births before arriving at that sublime state of purity which at last puts a period to this transition of the soul from body to body, and inseparably reunites it to the great Being, to Para-Brahma. On this point, the philosophers of India appear to me to be wiser and less empirical than the divine Plato himself; since that great phi- losopher scruples not to determine the period for which a soul shall continue to pass from one body to another. He fixes it at three thousand years for some, and at ten thousand for others. He likewise ventures to pronounce upon the sort of transmigration which some famous indi- viduals have sustained. Thus the soul of Agamemnon he holds to have passed into an eagle, and that of Thersites into the body of an ape ; just as if, by the multiplication of lies, he could render his system of the Metempsychosis more probable or less absurd. One point in which the Hindu system may probably appear defec- tive and inferior to that of the Greeks, is that of consciousness. How can it happen, it is asked, that one should have no remembrance of what passed in the preceding generation ? The Grecian poets had fabled the river Lethe, whose waters had the power of creating an oblivion of all that had been done or learned before death. Some chosen souls, however, were exempted from the general rule, and preserved distinctly the memory of the sort of life which they formerly passed. Of this number was Pythagoras liimself, who in order to enhance the credit of II HELL. 483 his new system, had the hardiness to declare that he was originally >^thalides, the reputed son of Mercury ; afterwards Eu[)horbus, who was wounded by Menelaus at the siege of Troy ; then Hermotymus ; and then a fisherman of Delos, called Pyrrhus ; and last of all Pytha- goras. The Hindus confer that privilege upon but a very small number of virtuous souls ; but, as to the bulk of mankind, they affirm that the mere circumstance of regeneration is sufficient to obliterate all memory of what they formerly saw, and all knowledge of former events. A child under two years of age, they observe, cannot remember to day what he did yesterday; and much less likely is it that he should recol~ lect what took place before his new birth. Is this explanation less satis- factory than that of the river Lethe ? Of Hell. The Purwa Janma or Metempsychosis, being designed perhaps, as a vindication of the system of Providence, by establishing a balance be- tween virtue and vice, in rewarding the one and punishing the other, did not require the addition of places of torment and felicity after death. As ^r as punishment was concerned, it was sufficient to renew for several times an evil regeneration to the wicked, while the righteous were, with less delay, reunited to the Divinity, that universal soul of the world from which they were originally detached. But no civilized nation has ever held these abstract and general notions in religion ; the offspring of some exalted and enthusiastic spirits. But there are fun- damental truths, so deeply engraven on the heart of man by the Author of his being, that neither the vain sophistry of a false philosophy, nor the madness of an overbearing idolatry, shall ever succeed in wholly obliterating their impression. The Hindus, above all nations, strictly preserved, in the midst of the thick darkness of a gross idolatry, the remembrance of the prin- cipal truths of natural religion, as they existed amongst the earliest men ; and of those, in particular, which relate to the rewards and pu- nishments reserved for mankind in another life. 3q 2 484 HELL. These precious doctrines, with many others not less important, were unfortunately corrupted and disfigured by innumerable fables such as this of the metempsychosis. The Hindus also invented a king of the infernal regions, who had under his orders judges of the dead, and messengers to execute their awards. In this infernal kingdom, which they call Naraka and sometimes Patala, they acknowledge a God or sovereign Judge, to whom they give the name of Yama. This chief of the council of hell consults his records formed by the agency of scribes and others under his authority, who keep an exact account of all the good and all the evil which take place on the earth. They lay their report before their master, who de- cides on each case ; and the punishment, proportioned to the sins of the dead, immediately follows. Executioners, cruel and inexorable, are appointed to torment the guilty, without respite, by means of steel, of fire, and a thousand other ways, which their cruelty suggests. In the detail which the Hindu books give of these varied punishments of hell, I have been struck with one as somewhat remarkable, and not less disgusting. It is related that some very guilty souls are plunged several times a day into a lake of mucus. I should not have so much marvelled if they had chosen to drench the culprits in a lake of spittle ; for that is the fluid on which the Hindu looks more aghast than on any other ^jicrement or secretion of the body. But Yama is not the only god that is continually on the watch to seize upon the souls of mortals when they die. Other deities, and above all Siva and Vishnu, have likewise their invisible emissaries on earth, who know the votaries of their respective masters ; and the death of such persons is often the subject of a sharp contest between the imps of those divinities and the servants of Yama ; each of them striving to bear away the departed soul to his own master. But the attachment to Vishnu or Siva, however moderate it may have been, is so full of merit, that their emissaries generally have the advantage, in the dis- putes for dominion over the souls of the dead, while those of the god of Naraka are compelled to a disorderly retreat. The duration of the punishment of the sinners condemned by Yama, is in proportion to the heinousncss and number of their crimes. The ABODES OF HAPPINESS. 435 Hindus admit that the retribution is severe and long, but by no means eternal. They hold that, at the end of every age, a universal revolu- tion of all nature takes place, and a new order of things commences. Unconnected with past times, we now live in the last age or Kali- yuga ; and we have elsewhere related how much of it has elapsed, and how long it has yet to run. When it ends, all souls shall be re- united to the divine essence from which they were originally taken ; and the world being dissolved, the pains of the damned shall terminate also. The Greeks, less presumptuous than the Hindus, did not venture to fix the period vvhen their iron age was to expire. Neither did they attempt to assign limits to the thirst of Tantalus, or to predict the moment when Ixion's wheel should stop. Probably they believed that these torments were everlasting. Plato admitted the eternity of punishment for some enormous crimes, for which the guilty were hurled to Erebus. It is not improbable that he may have had some knowledge of the doctrines of the Holy Scriptures on this point, by communicating with learned Jews, from whom he might draw many things which it is scarcely possible to discover but by means of the Divine revelation. The Abodes of Happiness. The Hindus have invented several places of enjoyment for those who have expiated their faults by repeated transmigrations and the torments they have suffered from Yama in Naraka ; but there are four of particular celebrity. One is called Vaikuntha, the residence of Vishnu, into which, besides his own devotees, are admitted those of Brahma and Siva, and all others, without distinction of cast or person. The same report is given of the Kailasa, or world of Siva, into which his votaries are received after death. These seats of happiness are represented by some Hindu writers to be vast mountains on the north of India; the Kailasa being a mountain of silver. The Swarga, another blissful residence, is situated in the air, and has Devendra for its king, although a god of lower rank than Siva- 486 ABODES OF HAPPINESS. and Vishnu. His paradise, notwithstanding, is more celebrated than theirs. Music, dancing, sensual enjoyment and carnal voluptuousness are amongst the delights which it affords. There is no reason, how- ever, to suppose that the other places of bliss are destitute of such enjoyments ; for the presiding deities of them all, according to the Hindu fables, were equally celebrated for all excesses of sensual in- dulgence, while they sojourned on this earth. The paradise of Brahma is called Sati/aluka, or the World of Truth. It is elevated far higher than the rest, and is more pure than any. It is watered by the Ganges ; a stream which never flowed out of that sacred land, until the fervent and rigorous devotion of an illustrious penitent prevailed to draw down its hallowed current upon earth. With such an origin, we cannot wonder at the high virtues ascribed by all true Hindus to this mighty river. Brahmans, almost exclusively, are admitted into the Satyaloka, when they have concluded a life truly virtuous upon earth. But they are not irrevocably stationed there ; for neither they, nor those who have been admitted into the other seats of beatitude, are exempt from" the necessity of being again born upon earth, and with repeated trans- migrations. This shews how limited and imperfect their scheme of celestial happiness must be. This renewed and protracted purification seems contradictory to their system ; and paradise, with them, forms no security for its possessor. But, at last, when these repeated new births, joined to the practice of virtue and repentance, have completely purified the soul, and have corrected its slightest bias towards terrestrial objects ; then, and not till then, does it re-unite with the divine Para-Brahma, to that un- bounded spirit, as drops of water return to the ocean, from whence they were exhaled. This is the complete and glorious beatitude of the Hindus ; to which they give the appellation of Moksham, which signifies deliverance. Idolatry, the natural tendency of which is to corrupt all things, by absurd and ridiculous fables, has nevertheless respected certain fundamental truths which are engraven on the hearts of all men ; tlie knowledge of which appears indispensably necessary to the stability of HUMAN SACRIFICES. 4g7 all civilized society. The people of India, though immersed in the thick darkness of the grossest idolatry, have yet preserved the know- ledge of a Supreme Being, his providence, bounty, and justice ; and of the immortality and spiritual nature of the soul. They have admitted the necessary existence of a future life, accompanied with re- wards and punishments. What are we to conclude, then, from their persuasion respecting these fundamental articles of the popular faith ? This, surely ; that the sacred truths, which are born, as it were, with man, and remain imprinted on his heart, during the whole course of his ex- istence, can never be effaced from the memory of our species. The Atheist and Materialist may resort to the sophisms of a false philosophy, to obliterate the memory of truths which press them hard ; they may exhaust the faculties of a mind perverted by the passions, and en- deavour to interpose a cloud to prevent their light, which shines like the sun, from reaching the hearts of other men. All their efforts shall be ineffectual. The vivid brightness of those eternal and unchangeable truths shall continue to penetrate athwart the thin vapour, which the unbeliever endeavours to raise, for the purpose of intercepting their splendour. Tlie testimony of conscience shall triumph over the vain sophisms of a false philosophy ; and be relied on, while reasonable men exist upon earth. Of Human Sacrifices offered by the Hindus. The history of the world teaches us that the different nations by which it is peopled, have, in ancient times, made the sacrifice of human victims a part of the worship which they rendered to their divinities. Man, environed on all hands with evils, and in all cases conscious of his own guilt, imagined, after the spirit of idolatry had biassed his understanding, that the best means of appeasing the gods, and of rendering them propitious, was to offer to them the noblest and most valuable victims which the earth could afford : thinking it lawful, for their gratification, to pour human blood, as well as that of beasts, upon their altars. 48g HUMAN SACRIFICES. I believe there are few nations, civilized or barbarous, in the world, who may not be justly reproached with that horrid kind of sacrifice ; and, though some modern authors have questioned the fact of the Hindus having, in common with other ancient nations, spilt the blood of their fellows, in the sanctuaries of the deities whom they adore, and have sought to acquit that people of so abominable a crime ; yet it has never appeared a matter of doubt to me. On the contrary, I believe it is quite certain that the various nations of India have immo- lated human victims to their gods, both in ancient and modern times. Incontestable evidence of the fact has been given in several parts of this work. On the subject of magic, we related that, when any very extraordinary effect was intended, the magician could not depend upon a certain result without oifering the sacrifice of a young girl to the demons of mischief; and also that when people in authority come to a magician for information on any great event, this barbarous sacrifice is generally the prelude to the ceremonies. It appears, therefore, that the Atharvana-veda, or that book of the four sacred volumes which teaches the magical art, recognises this horrible ceremony. In the sacrifice also of the Yajna, where the noblest victim is re- quired to be offered, although it was more usual to take an elephant or horse, as the most valuable of animals, for the purpose ; yet it is not without example that a man has been chosen, as a creature still more noble. Indeed, we may easily convince ourselves that no nation can have less repugnance to human sacrifices than the Hindus, if we examine the conduct which they exhibit at the present time. In many provinces, the natives still can trace, and actually point out to the curious travel- ler, the ground and situation where their Rajas sacrificed to their idols the prisoners whom they had taken in war. The object of the awful rite was to render their diviuities more placable, and to obtain their favourable aid in battle. I have visited some of those abominable places, which are commonly in the mountains or other unfrequented parts ; as if those awful beings who delighted to see their altars moist- ened with human gore, and their sanctuaries strewed with the carcasses, HUMAN SACRIFICES. 489 were themselves conscious of the enormity of the crime, and therefore desired to veil the horrid spectacle from the eyes of men. In the secret places where these detestable sacrifices were performed of old, a little temple of mean appearance is generally found, and sometimes but a simple niche, in which the idol is preserved, to obtain whose favour so horrid a price is paid. The victim was immolated by decapitation, and the head was left exposed for a time in the presence of the idol. I have been conducted to see several of those sad charnel dens, in various districts. One of them is not far from Seringapatam, on the hill near which the fort of Mysore is built". On the top of that moun- tain, the pagoda may still be observed, where the Rajas were accustomed to sacrifice their prisoners of war, or state delinquents. Sometimes they were satisfied with mutilating their victims, by cut- ting off their hands, nose, and ears ; which they offered up, fresh and bloody, at the shrine of the idol, or hung them up, exposed on the gate of the temple. But I have also conversed with several old men, who have entered familiarly into the object and circumstances of these sacrifices, and spoke of them to me as events of their own days, and as publicly known. It appears, indeed, that this practice of sacrificing prisoners taken in war, amongst the pagan Princes, was not in opposition to our notions of the law of nations, being reciprocal, and acknowledged as the legitimate reprisals of one sovereign upon another. The people look on, without horror, or even surprize. They still speak of it, without emotion, as a thing just and regular, and as being fitly appropriate to the state of war. Of late, the intercourse of the Hindus with the Europeans and Musalmans, and the just horror which these invaders have expressed of such atrocious crimes, have nearly effected their total abolition : nearly, I say, because I cannot answer with confidence for what may have taken place, under some petty native Princes, who have preserved a precarious independence up to the present day. Neither would I like * From tlic name of this fort, which is but of modem date, the whole province has been ^called Maisur or Mysore, though very improperly. The natives usually call it the Carnatic, of which it forms the principal part. 3e 490 liUMAN SACRIFICES. to risk the falling into their hands, as an enemy or prisoner of war. What I have heard of some of the petty Mahratta Princes, confirms my suspicions that human sacrifices are not yet wholly renounced. It cannot therefore be reasonably doubted that in India men have been offered up as holocausts, both in ancient and in modern times, upon the altars of the idols, who are supposed to be gratified by seeing their shrines inundated with human blood. Still, in many places, they keep up the remembrance of these horrible sacrifices ; and, although they are no longer permitted to shed the blood of their fellow-creatures, in honour of the gods, they have thought it necessary to supply the defi- ciency, and in some degree, at least, to satisfy the taste of several of their deities for this horrid sacrifice, by forming a human figure of flour- paste, or clay, which they carry into the temples, and there cut off its head or mutilate it, in various ways, in presence of the idols. This species of unbloody sacrifice, plainly representing the human victims anciently offered up to the same gods of the country, is seen in many places. In the kingdom of Tanjore there is a village called Tirushankatam Kudi, where a solemn festival is celebrated every year, at which great multitudes of people assemble ; each votary bringing with him one of those little images of dough, into the temple, dedicated to Vishnu, and there cutting off the head in honour of that god. This ceremony, which is annually performed with great solemnity, was instituted in conmiemoration of a famous event which happened in that village. Two virtuous persons lived there, Sirutimdcn and his wife Vanagata-ananga, whose faith and piety Vishnu was desirous to prove. He appeared to them, accordingly, in a human form, and demanded no other service of them but that of sacrificing, with their own hands, their only and much-beloved son Siralen, and serving up his flesh for a re- past. The parents, with heroic courage, surmounting the sentiments and chidings of nature, obeyed without hesitation, and submitted to the pleasure of the god. So illustrious an act of devotion is held worthy of this annual commemoration, at which the sacrifice is emblematically renewed. The same barbarous custom is preserved in many parts of India ; and the ardour with which the people engage in it leaves room to suspect that they still regret the times when they would have been HUMAN SACRIFICES. 49I at liberty to offer up to their sanguinary gods, the reality, instead of the symbol. If farther evidence were wanting that such sacrifices were actually in existence among the Hindus, and that they were thought acceptable to the divinities whom the people adore, we should find it in the Kalikor- Purana, a work written under the direction of Siva. In this book, one of the most esteemed of any, we find the most minute detail of the mode, the ceremonies, and the advantage of sacrificing human and other living victims. The nicest distinction is also laid down concern- ing the species of animals, amongst the quadrupeds, birds, and fishes, which might serve for an offering, and to which of the gods those sacri- fices were pleasing. Of these, the chief were Bahira, Yamu, Dharma- raja, Kali, Marima, and several other of the infernal and malignant demons ; most of whom are the progeny or near relations of Siva the god of destruction. All these are delighted with human sacrifice, but, above all. Kali, a female divinity, and the most wicked of all. Such an offering gives her a gleam of pleasure that endures a thousand years ; and the sacrifice of three men together, would prolong her ecstacy for a thousand centuries. In the abominable book from which I am quoting, human sacrifices are held to be a right inherent in the Princes ; to whom they are the source of wealth, the cause of victory, and other temporal blessings ; none of which can be enjoyed by any other man without their consent. The work describes, at great length, the qualities which the victim, whether human or bestial must possess. A woman cannot be offered, nor a she animal : neither Brahman nor Prince. If it be a human victim that is offered, he must be free from corpo- ral defect, and unstained with great crimes. If it be an animal, it must have exceeded its third year, and be without blemish or disease. In the same Purana, we find a description of the various instruments, such as the kind of knife and axe, with which the several victims are to be slain. It also contains a minute account of the favourable and un- 3 R 2 492 HUMAN SACRIFICES. lucky omens to be drawn from the sacrifice, according to the side on which it falls, the manner in which the blood gushes, or the convulsions and cries which attend its last moments. The same volume assures us that the gods who take delight in bloody sacrifices, are not less pleased with offerings of strong liquors and in- ebriating drugs, such as arrack, toddy, and opium. But though such bloody and murderous sacrifices are permitted, and even recommended, to Princes and others of high rank, as the means of acquiring the protection of the gods, and success in their enter- prises ; they are nevertheless expressly prohibited to the Brahmans, who are not allowed even to assist at them. ( 493 ) CHAP. VIII. EXERCISE OF JUSTICE, CIVIL AND CRIMINAL. VV ITHOUT any of the judicial forms invented by the spirit of chi- canery in Europe ; with no advocates, solicitors, or other blood suckers, now become necessary adjuncts of a court of justice in Europe ; unen- cumbered with the endless proceedings, the expence of which often exceeds the value of the subject in dispute ; the Hindus determine the greater part of their suits of law by the arbitration of friends or of the heads of the cast ; or, in cases of the very highest importance, by re- ference to the chiefs of the whole casts of the district assembled to dis- cuss the matters in controversy. In ordinary questions, they generally apply to the chief of the place, who takes upon himself the office of justice of the peace, and accom- modates the matter between the parties. When he thinks it more fit he sends them before their kindred, or arbitrators whom he appoints. He generally follows this last course when the complainants are Brah- mans, because persons out of their cast are not supposed capable of properly deciding differences between them. When these methods have been ineffectual to reconcile the parties, or when they refuse to submit to the decision of the arbitrators, they must apply to the magistrates of the district, who decide the contro- versy, without any appeal. The authority of the Hindu Princes, as well as that of the vile emis- saries whom they keep in the several provinces of their countiy, for the purpose of harrassing and oppressing them, in their name, being altogether despotic, and knowing no other rule but their own ar- bitrary will ; there is nothing in India that resembles a court of justice. 494 CIVIL AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. Neither is there a shadow of public right, nor any code of laws by which those who administer justice may be guided. The civil power and the judicial are generally united, and exercised in each district by the collector or receiver of the imposts. There is one in every district, and he is commonly the only magistrate to be found. His powers are very ample, and he is accountable to the Prince only for his actions, or to his chief ministers, or governor of the pro- vince in which he resides. This sort of public magistrates are gene- rally known under the name of Havildar or Thasildar, and the places where they hold their public sittings, under that of Arumani. They are generally Brahmans ; and they have also a certain number of Brah- man writers under them, who act as their assessors or advisers, and assist them in forming a council for the. district. . This tribunal, chiefly intended for the collection of the taxes, takes cognizance also of all affairs civil and criminal within its bounds, and determines upon all causes. Those which are most eagerly taken up by these tribunals are cases of debt, or where fines are to be levied. In the last instance, the whole sum recovered goes into the pocket of the judge ; and when it is a question of debt to be exacted, he withholds three fourths of the amount, as an indemnity to the Prince, or as a mark of gratitude to himself for his gratuitous assistance in calling in their money. When the process turns on ordinary subjects, or when nothing is to be gained by taking cognizance of it, the district judges, to save them- selves from trouble of that kind, remit the matter to arbitrators, whom they appoint, and whose decisions they support, by enforcing the obe- dience of the parties concerned. To supply the deficiency of a code of laws, they take for their guides certain natural maxims of justice and equity, known and acknowledged by all reasonable men, and admitted by all civilized nations. Besides the customs and usages peculiar to each cast, which have a different shade in each country, it would be desirable that the rules of natural equity should be always strictly followed ; but, as wc have had occasion more than once to remark, the arts of coihision, practised so success- fully in other countries, are unfortunately still more efficacious in India. CIVIL AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. 495 Secret presents, prejudices, private affection for one of the parties, and a thousand other motives of that nature, too often dictate the awards of the judges, and even of the arbitrators. With them, the rich most frequently gain their cause ; and powerful offenders generally find means to make the balance, in which the Hindus poise the claims of justice, to incline in their own favour. Often, also, the parties may inspire an equal interest ; and then he who makes the loudest clamour, or is most fertile in abuse of his adversary, is likely to gain his cause ; for in theh' courts, there is much vociferation, and the pleaders spare no invective. Although the Hindus recognise no code of public law, yet, in some of their books, very rational rules of equity are to be found, which might form a very tolerable foundation for a right administration of justice. Amongst these law books, there is one known by the name of Dharma Sastra or Niti Sastra, in which are contained excellent rules of civil and criminal jurisprudence, with decisions reported, which shew the mode of their application. It is pity, that the tenour of this work like that of all other Hindu books, should be infected with the follies and superstitions of the country ; and, though composed on a subject so grave and serious, should nevertheless be replete with cases both absurd and morally impossible. Besides, these books are written in a learned tongue, understood but by a small number ; and when the cause comes to be decided, they are fain to follow the principles and rules which we have just described. In questions relating to inheritance, debts, real property, and so forth, the Hindus do not admit of the rule of prescription ; and creditors, and others, having a proper claim, or their representatives, may prosecute another party, although he and his ancestors may have been possessed of the property in dispute for more than a century. Causes of this kind frequently arise, and bring distress upon families and individuals. A person in quiet possession of lands, regularly transmitted by his ancestors, or enjoying a fortune, lawfully acquired by the sweat of his own brow, finds himself arrested and attacked, by some person, who produces a bond for a large sum lent to one of his ^gg CIVIL AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. ancestors, generations before, by one of the forefathers of the claimant ; who probably adds to his demand the interest for a hundred years. Some mitigation, however, is occasionally found necessary, even in the case of a debt indubitably proved, when it has become an- tiquated, and cannot be inforced without creating distress and ruin. In such cases, the arbitrators take upon themselves to moderate the claim, and settle the business in an amicable way. Of all the contracts entered into among the Hindus, that of money lent would appear the most iniquitous to those who are ignorant of the risk to which the lender is exposed, and the opportunities which the borrower has of evading the claims of his creditor. The most moderate interest, and that which is taken by persons of honesty and scrupulous conscience, or what is called dharma vadi, just interest, is the charge of twenty in the hundred on the principal sum. INIany usurers exact fifty, and some even one hundred per centum. Yet the usurious lender rarely becomes rich by his iniquitous trade. The people are generally without substance ; and the borrower has rarely any thing to give in mortgage for the debt. Both principal and interest are therefore often lost. And if, by dint of legal process, they get a judgment in their favour, they are often obliged to content themselves with the bare sum, and to sacrifice the whole or the greater part of the interest. The creditor has still one resource re- mainino-, that if the descendants of his insolvent debtor become wealthy his claim on them never abates. Creditors can have no hold on the real estate of their debtors, be- cause the Hindus have no property in the soil. The lands which they cultivate are the domain of the Prince, who is the sole pro- prietor. He can resume them at his pleasure, and give them to another to cultivate. Even the huts in which they live, built of mud, and covered with thatch, are not their own. All belongs to the Prince ; and if a man, for any reason whatever, quits his habitation in the village, he can by no means dispose of it to another, aUhough it were constructed by his own hands. The only proi)erty they possess is their few cows and buffaloes ; and upon these no creditor is allowed to lay his hands ; because, il' deprived of his cattle, he would be 1 1 CIVIL AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. 497 unable to cultivate the land ; whence an injury would accrue to the Prince. When an action is necessary to be brought against any one ; instead of sending a writ by the hands of an officer, the arrest is made by adjuring the party in the name of the Prince, or of the governor of the province, or any other person high in authority. The instant the complainant accosts his adversary, " I arrest thee, in the name of such an one ;" the latter must lay aside all other business, till he has answered to the charges preferred against him, and until both parties are agreed on terms for settling the matter in dispute. In all cases, the evidence is brought forward by witnesses upon oath. There are several ways of administering this ceremony ; but the most usual is for the person examined to lay his hand on the head of one of the idols, calling it to witness the veracity of his testimony. There is no country, however, on earth, in which the sanction of an oath is less respected, and particularly amongst the Brahmans. That high cast is not ashamed to encourage falsehood, and even perjury, unde/ certain circumstances, and to justify them openly ; as vices no doubt, when used for ordinary purposes, but as virtuous in the highest degree, when employed for the advantage of the cast. The small regard the Hindus have for an oath makes them seek, in difficult cases, a variety of tests and ordeals, by which they affect to try if a suspected person is really innocent or guilty. They admit nine or ten sorts of the ordeal ; the most of which are the same as those anciently used in Europe, and elsewhere, under similar circumstances. Amongst the Hindus, the most frequent appeal is to fire ; by com- pelling the suspected persons to walk bare-footed over burning coals, or to hold a bar of red hot iron a considerable while in their hands. Sometimes it was enjoined them to plunge their hands for a time in boiling oil. If the party under trial goes through the experiment of the fire, without wincing, or receiving hurt, he is declared innocent of the crime imputed to him ; but if he receives injury from the test, he is held to be convicted on clear evidence, and receives the 3 s ^gg CIVIL AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. punishment applicable to the crime of which he has been thus found guilty. Another sort of ordeal is often resorted to, which consists in shutting up a venomous snake in a vessel or basket, inclosing with it a bit of coin, or a trinket. The suspected person is brought forward, and blindfolded by tying a handkerchief over his eyes ; and is then directed to put his hand into the vessel, or basket, where the serpent is imprisoned, and to grope for the bit of money, and take it out. If the serpent permits him to do so with impunity, he is declared in- nocent ; but if he is stung, there is no longer any doubt of his guilt. In some countries and casts, the ordeal consists in forcing the accused to swallow water, cup after cup, until it discharges itself at mouth and nose. Persons who are really guilty of a secret crime, when called upon to exculpate themselves, rarely abide the terrible test of the ordeal ; but avoid it by confession. So far it is well. But a serious evil often arises out of the cruel and deceitful proof; for those who are really innocent, being conscious of their innocence, boldly rely on the result of the ordeal ; and, in their honest confidence, are betrayed to in- famy and ruin. The ordeal is not confined to magistrates and other public officers, for procuring evidence in doubtful cases ; but is universally employed by individuals through all the country, when similar evidence is sought with regard to the members of a family. A jealous husband also frequently resorts to the ordeal of fire or boiling oil, to settle his doubts of the fidelity of his spouse. The father of a family, who has been robbed, resorts to the same mode of trying his children and servants, to detect the perpetrator of the crime. This barbarous custom appears to be of old standing among the Hindus ; and it cannot be doubted that it must hav^e originated from the little regard they have in all times shewn for the sanctity of an oath, anil their total indifference respecting the crime of |km jury. The administration of criminal justice among the Hindus differs in many respects from that of the civil ; and the proceedings are wholly different. CIVIL AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. 499 In certain crimes, such as that of adultery, some casts inflict the punishment of death upon the adulteress. But, in such cases, it is neither the relations nor the heads of the tribes that preside at the execution of the sentence. The husband alone has that authority. But this extreme punishment, for such an offence, is not permitted but in countries under the native governors. In the provinces under the Muhammadan yoke, a pecuniary punishment is always preferred. Young women or widows, not belonging to the class of prostitutes, who are convicted of leading an abandoned life, especially if preg- nancy ensues, are condemned to paya fine far beyond their ability; and the seducer is still more severely mulcted. And, if their own means are not sufficient, their relations must come forward to their assistance. Any striking violation of the usages of the cast are punished in the same manner. The money arising from the fines is collected by the chief administrators of the district ; and, after payment, the culprit is gene- rally obliged to give an entertainment to all the heads of his cast ; which brings about a perfect reconciliation. In each canton there is a Farmer- of Offences : that is, a person who pays to the government a fixed sum of money, in lieu of the whole of the ordinary transgressions that shall take place within the district, in the course of the following year. The profit and the loss being wholly on his own account, he takes good care to let no misdemeanor go free. In regard to crimes against the peace of the citizens and public order, such as robberies, homicide, and the like ; they fall under the cognizance of the governors of the provinces. Thieves are commonly let go, upon restoring what they have stolen, and more particularly if they are in good circumstances. The owner gets back a small share of his own property, and the larger portion falls to the persons in autho- rity, in consideration of their trouble. But the highwaymen are often punished, by cutting off a hand, or their nose and ears. Sometimes, they are put in irons, and condemned to the public works. There are scarcely any but state criminals, or traitors to their king and country, who are capitally punished. It is but seldom that death is 3s 2 500 CIVIL AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. inflicted on homicides ; especially if they are rich and able to make pre- sents to the governor of the province, who is never at a loss for a pre- tence to palliate or excuse the crime. When committed by a person of no consideration, it is generally thought sufiicient to strip him of all he has, and to banish him, with his familj^, out of the province. It is thus that real crimes are sometimes encouraged amongst the Hindus ; while capital punishment is reserved for imaginary guilt. I well remember an unhappy Pariah, some years ago, who resided in the Tanjore while it was under its native Princes, being condemned to death for having killed a bull that had been devoted to a Pagoda of Siva, and was accustomed to make terrible ravages in the rice fields in the neigh- bourhood. Shooting, beheading, and hanging, are the ordinary modes of carry- ing the sentence of death into execution. Banishment from the coun- ts try, after confiscation of their property ; the C/iabuk, or application of whips or rods ; rolling the body over flints or pebbles become hot by the influence of the sun ; a large stone set upon the head or shoulders for many hours together : piqueting, with the whole weight resting on one foot upon a sharp point. Sometimes the feet and hands are con- fined with bolts which are screwed till the bones are nearly dislocated, and sometimes needles are thrust between their nails and flesh. The acrid and corrosive juice of pepper is likewise poured into their eyes and nostrils ; or they are compelled to lie down for several hours to- gether in the burning heat of the sun, with their heads and bodies ex- posed bare to its intensity. It is not, however, so much against thieves and murderers that they em- ploy these tortures, as against public functionaries, who have committed malversations and embezzlement with regard to the public monies ; or those who are possessed of wealth, which they desire to lay hold of. For, as we have already mentioned, no man in India can be called the master of his own wealth, however lawfully acquired. As soon as the Princes, whether Musalman or Pagan, but ])articularly the former, sus- pect that one of their subjects has acquired riches sufficient to tempt their cupidity, they have him immediately taken up and sent to prison. If this first step is not sufficient to extort his whole property for the CIVIL AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE, 5OI public treasury, the tortures we have mentioned are then employed. The Muhammadans do not spare the Brahmans themselves, who have employments under them ; and, it must be owned, that they partly deserve this cruel treatment, for they manifest a character more stern and unmerciful than that even of the Moors, in exacting for their own use, the money of their poor labourers. When imprisonment or the rack has extorted the sum that was ex- pected from their victim, they make him a present in return, of a turban or piece of cloth ; or add insult to injury, by making all sorts of apolo- gies for the injustice he has suffered. They are, forsooth, very sorry that he allowed matters to go so far ; which he certainly might have prevented, had he listened to their reasonable proposals at the outset; They fail not to conclude with promises of helping him to repair the breach made in his fortune, and assuring him that they will never mo- lest him any more, however rich he may become. But all Hindus too well know the character of the tyrants, under whose iron yoke they groan, to be misled in such cases by their hypocritical professions. None of the punishments we have mentioned, not even that of death, brings any stain of infamy whatever on the person so punished ; far less upon his family. { 502 ) CHAP. IX. OF THE HINDU FABLES. J. HE particular taste of the Hindus for poetry and fiction has given rise to an incredible number of Fabulous Stories which are current among them. In their books we often meet with apologues of an in- structive nature and well adapted to the subject in hand ; and they are much accustomed to relate similar stories in conversation. Some of these popular tales are well imagined and contain a good moral. Out of a great number of this sort I have selected the following, which is very generally known and which I have seen inserted in many of their books ; and I have likewise heard it related in familiar conversation by persons of good understanding among them. The Tale. " A Traveller, having missed his way, was overtaken by darkness " in the midst of a thick forest. Being apprehensive that such a wood " must naturally be the receptacle of wild beasts, he determined to " keep out of their way by mounting into a tree. He therefore chose the " thickest he could find, and having climbed up, he fell fast asleep, and " so continued until the light of the morning awoke him, and admo- " nished him that it was time to continue his journey. In preparing " to descend, he cast his eyes downwards, and beheld, at the foot of " the tree, a huge tiger sitting on his rump, and eagerly on the " watch, as if impatient for the appearance of some prey, which he " was ready to tear in pieces and devour. Struck with terror at the " sight of the monster, the traveller continued for a long while im- HINDU FAJ5LES. 503 *' moveably fixed to the spot where he sat. At length, recovering " himself a little, and looking all round him, he observed that the tree " on which he was had many others contiguous to it, with their " branches so intermixed, that he could gradually pass from one to " another, until at last he might get out of the reach of danger. He " was on the point of putting his design in execution, when, raising " his eyes, he saw a monstrous serpent, suspended by the tail to the " branch immediately over him, and its head nearly reaching his own. " The monster appeared, indeed, to be asleep in that posture ; but the " slightest motion might wake it and expose him to its fury. At the " sight of the extreme danger which environed him on all sides ; a " frightful serpent above, and a devouring tiger beneath, the tra- " veller lost all courage: and being unable, from fear, to support himself " longer on his legs, he was on the point of falling into the jaws of the " tiger, who stood ready gaping to receive him. In awful constern- " ation, he remained motionless ; having nothing before him but the *' image of death, and believing every moment to be his last. He had " yielded to despair ; when, once more raising his head, he saw a " honev-comb upon the top of the highest branches of the tree. The " comb distilled its sweets, drop by drop, close by the side of the tra- " veller. He stretched forward his head, and put out his tongue, to " catch the honey as it fell ; and, in the delicious enjoyment, thought " no ntore of the awful dangers which environed him." Besides detached fables, which are quoted in books, and often brought forward in conversation, the Hindus have a regular systematical collec- tion of them called Panclia-f antra, which is circulated in every district, and translated into all languages. They are very old, and worthy of deep attention. I understand they have been translated into several European languages ; and therefore it would be superfluous to enter into a more minute account of them here. What I have seen in some European books are indeed but meagre extracts ; but, as they may be better known than I am aware of, 1 shall add but a few words on the subject. In the extracts I have alluded to, they represent the author to have been a Brahman Gymnosophist or Philosopher, called Pilpay or Bid- II 504 HINDU FABLES. pay. He is supposed to have been governor of a province of India, and counsellor of the King of Dahshelim. In the manuscripts, which I have read in the original, the name of the author and of the Prince to whom they were inscribed, differ so materially from the European extract, that I shall be excused for giving some account, at least of the introduction to the Pancha-tantra. In the city of Pataliputra, King Sudarsana reigned. He had three adult sons, who seemed to vie with each other in coarseness of disposi- tion and manners. The good Prince, in great affliction, at length communicated the subject of his grief to his council. The Brahman Somajanma, one of the number, offered his services to the King, being willing to undertake the reformation of the three Princes, by correcting the errors of their former education. The King accepted his offer with joy, and put his sons under his care. The Brahman, with great patience and toil, succeeded at length in his enterprize, and subdued the disposi- tions, habits, and morals of his disciples, by frequently inculcating five principal fables, each embracing a great number of subordinate ones. These fables compose the Pancha-tantra, or five points of industry. They are five little romances, which are entitled " instructive," although their morality be not very sound, sometimes conducting to what is evil, rather than teaching; the means of avoiding; it. The first story explains how dextrous knaves contrive to sow divisions between the best friends. The second teaches the advantage 'of true friends, and how they should be selected. The third explains how one is to destroy his adversary by artifice when he cannot succeed by force. The fourth shews how a man loses his property by misconduct ; and the last exhibits the bad effects of thoughtlessness and precipitate decision. The first fable appears to teach false morality, in shewing how a breach of the most intimate friendship may be effected, and how a faith- ful minister may be ruined in the good opinion of his Prince ; unless the intention of the Brahman, in instructing his pupils how the fox un- dermined the faithliil !)ull in the favour of the lion, was not rather to caution them against the sycophants that haunt the palaces of Kings, and by false insimiations carry poison to the royal ear, and ruin the HINDU FABLES, 505 credit of" the most meritorious servants. The following is a short ab- stract of this fable, which I think superior to the rest. A Bull, who had been left by his owner in the midst of a forest, became at first the friend, and afterwards the confidant, of the Lion, who ruled there. A Fox, who had till then enjoyed the entire confi- dence of the king of the woods, had introduced the Bull, and recom- mended him to the Lion, very much against the opinion and advice of another aged Fox, his friend, who endeavoured, by many apologues, to dissuade him from so dangerous a step. These were answered, by relat- ing other fables ; and the advice was rejected. It turned out, however, that the old Fox was right. The upstart Bull conducted himself with so much gentleness, candour, and good faith, that he soon acquired the unbounded confidence of the Lion, became his first minister, and, with- out artifice, supplanted the Fox that introduced him. Thus degraded, and neglected by his sovereign, after having so long directed his coun- cils, the Fox now strove to undo his own work, and to pull down the minister whom he had elevated to that dignity. For this purpose, he employed every art and all sorts of duplicity, and managed so well, by innumerable fables which he invented and recited to the Lion, every day, that a deep distrust of the faithful animal was engendered in his royal mind ; and being led to suspect, at last, that the Bull was about to dethrone him and usurp the dominion of the forest, he fell upon him and tore him in pieces. The author of the Pancha-tantra has taken occasion to introduce into his work a great number of fables, in which animals are the speakers. They are very much the same with those of Esop, though far more prolix. They are so constructed, that one fable, before it is finished, gives rise to another, from one of the attending beasts, and so on to a third. There is some ingenuity in this method ; but by thus involving one tale within another, we are in danger of losing sight of that which was first commenced. The author returns to it, no doubt ; but a reader of fable does not willingly submit to the fatigue and trouble of so intri- cate an arrangement. In the last of the four fables which follow, the dialogue is not confined to beasts. The principal subject of this fable is a tame Stork, which a 3 T 506 HINDU FABLES. Brahman had carefully reared in his house. Seeing it one day coming out all bloody from the apartment where his infant child slept, he imagined it to be the blood of the child who had been devoured by the stork. Struck with horror at the thought, in a moment of rage, he slew the fowl. But what was his regret and despair, when he saw the infant in tranquil slumber, and an enormous serpent stretched out dead by the side of the cradle, and immersed in its own blood ? At once he perceived that the faithful stork had saved the life of the babe, by flying upon the serpent when in the act of stifling it. It is impossible to determine the age of these fables, no authentic document of their era being now extant. The Hindus rank them with their oldest productions ; and the estimation in which they are held through all India, is a proof of their antiquity. They are at least as old as those of Esop ; who probably derived his taste from this source, as in many passages of his writings there is a strong resemblance to the Pancha-tantra. But to take the question in another light : could the Brahman Somajanma have had any knowledge of the stories of the Grecian fabulists, so as to have drawn his ideas from them ? This will appear rather improbable, when we consider the contempt which the Brahmans have, in all ages, entertained for literary productions of which they were not themselves the inventors ; and the impossibility of their adopting them. We also know that ancient sages sometimes travelled from Europe into India, to receive lessons of wisdom from its philosophers and Bralimans. Some Greek philosophers undertook this joiu'ney, long belbre the birth of Esop ; and at a time when their country passed for the most cultivated, wisest, and best regulated country in the universe. It is uncertain wht^ther these liibles were originally composed in verse or prose. They were most probably in verse, as that was the most ancient mode of composition in India. It is certain at least that they have them in Sanscrit verse. Thence they may have been translated into prose, for the convenience of those to whom the poetic language was not familiar. They have passed, in this way, into the Tamul, Canara, and Telinga languages. TJie style, in prose, as far HINDU FAliLES. 507 as I have seen, is extremely ornamented, and of a poetic strain ; which would naturally be derived from the original poetry. The five principal fables, together, form a considerable volume, on account of the great number of interlocutoi-y tales that are inter- woven with them. If closely translated, they woidd compose two duodecimo volumes, of three or four hundred pages each. It is not surprising, that sucli a work should have an extensive circulation among a people like the Hindus, prone to fiction and the marvellous. This natural disposition lays them open to the craft of innumerable adventurers, who make it their profession to ramble over the whole land, with fables and stories utterly devoid of reason or sense. 3 T 2 ( 508 ) CHAP. X. HINDU TALES. JL HE subject of this chapter will perhaps appear to some readers unworthy of any attention. But there are also many to whom nothing is without interest that belongs to the manners and dispositions of an ancient people ; and for their sake I will transgress a little on this subject. Among the tales which are current in the country, some are written and known to many ; while others are local, and can be considered only as old women's stories, or the traditions of the district. Both are equally devoid of sense, and fit only to amuse children. Of the written tales which I have seen, the three following may be taken as a specimen, fit to amuse an idle reader, and at the same time, as characteristical of the general taste that pervades them all. Tale of the Four Deaf Men. A deaf shepherd was, awe day, tending his flock, near his own village ; and though it was almost noon, his wife had not yet brought him his breakfast. He was afraid to leave his sheep, to go in (juest of it, lest some accident should befal them. But his hunger could not be appeased ; and upon looking round, he spied a Talaii/ari, or village hind, who had come to cut grass for his cow near a neighbouring spring. He went to call him, though very reluctantly, because he knew that, though those servants of the village are set as watchmen to prevent theft, yet they are great thieves themselves. He hailed him, HINDU TALES. 509 however, and requested him just to give an eye to his flock for the short time he should be absent, and that he would not forget hira when he returned from breakfast. But the man was as deaf as himself; and, mistaking his intentions, he angrily asked the shepherd : " What right have you to take this " grass, which I have had the trouble to cut ? Is my cow to starve, that " your sheep may fatten ? (io about thy business and let me alone !" The deaf shepherd observed the repulsive gesture of the hind, which he took for a signal of acquiescence in his request, and therefore briskly run towards the village, fully determined to give his wife a good lesson for her neglect. But, when he approached his house, he saw her before the door, rolling in the pains of a violent colic, brought on by eating over night too great a quantity of raw green pease. Her sad condition, and the necessity he was under to provide break- fast for himself, detained the shepherd longer than he wished ; while the small confidence he had in the person with whom he left his sheep, accelerated his return to the utmost. Overjoyed to see his flock peaceably feeding near the spot where he left them, he counted them over ; and, finding that there was not a single sheep missing : " he is an honest fellow," quoth he, " this " Talaiyari ; the very jewel of his race ! I promised him a reward, and " he shall have it." There was a lame beast in the flock, well enough in other respects, which he hoisted on his shoulders, and carried to the place where the hind was, and courteously offered him the mutton, saying, " you have taken great care of my sheep during my " absence. Take this one for your trouble." " I !" says the deaf hind, " I break your sheep's leg ! I'll be " hanged if I went near your flock since you have been gone, or " stirred from the place where I now am." " Yes," says the shepherd, " it is good and fat mutton, and will be a treat to you and your " family or friends." " Have I not told thee," replied the Talaiyari in a rage, " that I never went near thy sheep ; and yet thou wilt accuse " me of breaking that one's leg. Get about thy business, or I will give " thee a good beating !" And, by his gestures, he seemed determined to put his threats in execution. The astonished shepherd got into a 510 HINDU TALES. passion also, and assumed a postin'e of defianc^. They were just proceeding to blows, when a man on horseback came up. To him they both appealed, to decide tlie dispute between them ; and the shepherd, laying hold of the bridle, requested the horseman to light, just for a moment, and to settle the difference between him and the beggarly Talaiyari. " I have offered him a present of a sheep," says he, " because I thought he had done me a service ; and, in requital, he *' will knock me down." The villager was at the same time preferring his complaint, that the shepherd would accuse him of breaking the leg of his sheep, when he had never been near his fiock. The horseman, to whom they both appealed, happened to be as deaf as they ; and did not understand a word that either of them said. But, seeing them both addressing him with vehemence, he made , a sign to them to listen to him, and then frankl}^ told them that he confessed the horse he rode was not his own. " It was a stray that I " found on the I'oad," quoth he, " and being at a loss, I mounted *' him for the sake of expedition. If he be your's, take him. If not, " pray let me proceed, as I am really in great haste." The shepherd and the village hind, each imagining that the horse- man had decided in favour of the other, became more violent than ever ; both cursing him, whom they had taken for their judge, and accusing him of partiality. At this crisis, there happened to come up an aged Brahman. Instantly they all crowded round him ; shepherd, Talaiyari, and horse- man ; each claiming his interposition, and a decision in his favour. All spoke together ; every one telling his own tale. But the Brahman had lost his hearing also. " I know," said he, " you want to compel " me to return home to her" (meaning his wife) ; " but do you know " her character ? In all the legions of the devils, I defy you to find " one that is her equal in wickedness. Since the time I first bought " her, she has made me commit more sin than it will be in my power " to expiate in thirty generations. I am going on a pilgrimage to " Kasi (Benares), where I will wash myself from the innumerable " crimes I have been led into from the hour in which I had the mis- HINDU TALES. 511 " fortune to make her my wife. Then will I wear out the rest of my " days, on alms in a strange land." While they were all four venting their exclamations, without hearing a word ; the horse-stealer perceived some people advancing towards them with great speed. Fearing they might be the owners of the beast, he dismounted and took to his heels. The shepherd, seeing it was growing late, went to look after his flock ; pouring out curses, as he trudged, against all arbitrators, and bitterly complaining that all justice had departed from the earth. Then he bethought himself of a snake that crossed his path in the morning, as he came out of the sheepfold, and which might account for the troubles he had that day experienced. The Talaiyari returned to his load of grass ; and finding the lame sheep there, he took it on his shoulder, to punish the shepherd for the vexation he had given him ; and the aged Brahman pursued his course to a choultry that was not far off. A quiet night and sound sleep soothed his anger in part ; and, early in the morning, several Brahmans, his neighbours and I'elations, who had traced him out, persuaded him to return home, promising to engage his wife to be more obedient and less quarrelsome in future. ^'r Tale of the Four simple Brahmans. In a certain district, proclamation had been made of a Samara- danam being about to be held. This is one of the public festivals given by pious people, and sometimes by those in power, to the Brah- mans ; who, on such occasions, assemble in great numbers from all quarters. Four individuals of the cast, from different villages, all going thither, fell in upon the road ; and, finding that they were all upon the same errand, they agreed to walk in company. A soldier happening to meet them, saluted them in the usual way by touching hands and pronouncing the words, always applied on such occasions to Brahmans, of dandam-arya, or health to my lord. The four travellers made the usual i-eturn, each of them pronouncing the customary benediction of asirvadam ; and, going on, they came to a well, where they quenched their thirst, and reposed themselves in the shade 512 HINDU TALES. of some trees. Sitting there, and finding no better subject of con- versation, one of them asked the rest, whether they did not remark how particularly the soldier had distinguished him, by his polite salutation. " You!" says another, " it was not you that he saluted, " but me." " You are both mistaken," says a third, " for you may " remember that, when the soldier said dandam-arya, he cast his " eyes upon me." " Not at all," replied the fourth, " it was me " only he saluted ; otherwise should I have answered him as I did, by " saying asirvadam ?" Each maintained his argument obstinately ; and, as none of them would yield, the dispute liad nearly come to blows, when the least stupid of the four, seeing what was likely to happen, put an end to the brawl by the following advice : " How foolish it is in us," says he, " thus to put ourselves in a passion ! After we have said all the ill " of one another that we can invent, nay after going stoutly to " fisticuffs, like Sudra rabble, should we be at all nearer to the decision " of our difference? The fittest person to determine the controversy, I " think, would be the man who occasioned it. The soldier, who " chose to salutjj one or other of us, cannot be yet far off. Let us " therefore run after him as quickly as we can, and we shall soon " know for which of us he intended his salutation." The advice appeared wise to them all, and was immediately adopted. The whole of them set off in piu'suit of the soldier ; and at last over- took him, after running a league, and all out of breath. As soon as they came in sight of him, they cried out to him to stop ; and, before they had well approached him, they had put him In full possession of the nature of their dispute, and prayed him to terminate it by saying, to which of them he had directed his salutation. The soldier instantly perceiving the nature of the people he had to do with, antl being willing to amuse himself a little at their expence, coolly replied, that he intended his salutation for the greatest fool of all the four ; and then, turning on his heel, he continued his journey. The Brahmans, confounded with this answer, turned back in silence. But all of them had deeply at heart the distinction of the salutation of the soldier, and the dispute was gradually renewed. Even the u HINDU TALES, 5I3 awkward decision of the warrior could not prevent each of them from arrogating to himself the pre-eminence of being noticed by him, to the exclusion of the others. The contention therefore now became, which of the four was the stupidest ; and, strange as it was, it grew as warm as ever, and must have come to blows, had not the person who gave the former advice, to follow the soldier, interposed again with his wisdom, and spoken as follows. " I think myself the greatest fool of you all. Each of you thinks " the same thing of himself And, after a fight, shall we be a bit " nearer the decision of the question ? Let us therefore have a little " patience. We are within a short distance of Dharmapuri, where " there is a choultry, at which all little causes are tried by the heads " of the village ; and let ours be judged among the rest." All agreed in the soundness of the advice ; and having arrived at the village, they eagerly entered the choultry, to have their business settled by the arbitrators. They could not have come at a better season. The chiefs of the district, Brahmans and others, had already met in the choultry ; and no other cause offering itself, they proceeded immediately to that of the Brahmans. All the four advanced into the middle of the court, and stated, that a sharp contest having arisen among them, they were come to have it decided with fairness and impartiality. The court desired them to proceed and explain the grounds of their controversy, Upon this, one of them stood forward, and related to the assembly all that had happened, from their meeting with the soldier to the pre- sent state of the quarrel ; which rested on the superior degree of stupidity of some one of them over the others. The detail created an universal shout of laughter. The president, who was of a gay disposition, was delighted beyond measure to have fallen in with so diverting an incident. But he put on a grave face, and laid it down, as the peculiarity of the cause, that it could not be determined on the testimony of witnesses, and that in fact there was no other way of satisfying the minds of the judges, than by each, in his turn, relat- ing some particular occurrence of his life, on which he could best es- tablish his claim to superior folly. He clearly shewed that there could 3 u ej^ HINDU TALES. be no other means of determining to which of them the salutation of the soldier could with justice be awarded. The Brahmans assented, and upon a sign being made to one of them to begin, and to the rest to keep silence, the first thus commenced his oration. " I am poorly provided with clothing as you see ; and it is not to " day only that I have been covered with rags. A rich and very cha- " ritable Brahman merchant once made me a present of two pieces « of cloth to attire me; the finest that had ever been seen in our " Agragrama *. I shewed them to the other Brahmans of the village, " who all congratulated me on so fortunate an acquisition. They told " me it must be the fruit of some good deeds that I had done in a pre- " ceding generation. Before I put them on, I washed them, according " to the custom, in order to purify them from the soil of the weaver's " touch ; and hung them up to dry, with the ends fastened to two " branches of a tree. A dog then happening to come that way, run " under them, and I could not discern whether he was high enough to " touch the clothes or not. I asked my children, who were present ; but " they said they were not quite certain. How then was I to discover " the fact ? I put myself upon all fours, so as to be of the height of " the dog ; and, in that posture, I crawled under the clothing. Did " I touch it? said I to the children who were observing me. They an- " swered ' No :' and I was filled with joy at the news. But after re- " fleeting awhile, I recollected that the dog had a turned up tail ; and " that, by elevating it above the rest of his body, it might well have " reached my cloth. To ascertain that, I fixed a leaf to my rump, " turning upwards ; and then, creeping again on all fours, I passed a " second time under the clothing. The children immediately cried " out that the point of the leaf on my back had touched the cloth. " This proved to me that the point of the dog's tail must have done so *' too, and that my garment was therefore polluted. In my rage, I " pulled down the beautiful raiment, and tore it in a thousand pieces, " loading with curses both the dog and his master. " When this foolish act was known, 1 became the laughing stock of " all the world ; and I was universally treated as a madman. * Even if * Village inhabited by Brahmans. HINDU TALES. 515 " the dog,' they all said : ' had touched the cloth, and so brought de- " filement upon it, might not you have washed it a second time, and " so have removed the stain ? Or might you not have given it to some " poor Sudra rather than tear it in pieces ? After such egregious folly, " who will give you clothes another time ?' This was all true ; for ever " since, when I have begged clothing of any one, the constant answer " has been, that no doubt I wanted a piece of cloth to pull to pieces." He was going on, when a bystander interrupted him by remarking that he seemed to understand going on all fours. " Exceedingly " well," says he, " as you shall see ;" and off he shuffled in that pos- ture, amidst the unbounded laughter of the spectators. " Enough, enough !" said the president. " What we have both *' heard and seen goes a great way in his favour. But let us now " hear what the next of you has to say for himself, in proof of his stu- *' pidity," The second accordingly began, by expressing his confi- dence, that, if what they had just heard appeared to them to be de- serving of the salutation of the soldier, what he had to say would change that opinion. " Having got my hair and beard shaven one day," he continued, *' in order to appear decent at a public festival of the Brahmans (the " Samaradanam), which had been proclaimed through all the district, *' I desired my wife to give the barber a penny for his trouble. She " heedlessly gave him a couple. I asked of him to give me one of " them back ; but he refused. Upon that we quarrelled, and began " to abuse each other; but the'barber at length pacified me, by ofFer- *' ing, in consideration of the double fee, to shave my wife also. I " thought this a fair way of settling the difference between us. But " my wife, hearing the proposal, and seeing the barber in earnest, tried " to make her escape by flight. I took hold of her and forced her to *' sit down, while he shaved her poll in the same manner as they serve " widows. During the operation, she cried out bitterly ; but I was " inexorable, thinking it less hard that my wife should be close shaven " than that my penny should be given away for nothing. When the " barber had finished, I let her go, and she retired immediately to a ^' place of concealment, pouring down curses on me and the barber. He 3 u 2 ^IQ HINDU TALES. " took his departure ; and meeting my mother in his way, told her " what he had done ; which made her hasten to the house, to inquire " into the outrage ; and when she saw with her own eyes that it was " all true, she also loaded me with invectives. " The barber published every where what had happened at our " house ; and the villain added to the story, that I had caught her " with another man, which was the cause of my having her shaved; " and people were no doubt expecting, according to our custom in " such a case, to see her mounted on the ass, with her face turned to- " wards the tail. They came running to my dwelling from all quarters, " and actually brought an ass to make the usual exhibition in the " streets. The report soon reached my father-in-law, who lived at a " distance of ten or twelve leagues, and he, with his wife, came also " to inquire into the affair. Seeing their poor daughter in that de- " graded state, and being apprised of the only reason ; they reproached " me most bitterly ; which I patiently endured, being conscious that " I was in the wrong. They persisted, however, to take her with them, " and kept her carefully concealed from every eye for four whole years j " when at length they restored her to me. " This little accident made me lose the Samaradanam, for which I " had been preparing by a fast of thi-ee days ; and it was a great mor- " tification to me to be excluded from it, as I understood that it was " a most splendid entertainment. Another Samaradanam was an- " nounced to be held ten days afterwards, at which I expected to make " up for my loss. But I was received with the hisses of six hundred " Brahmans, who seized my person, and insisted on my giving up the «' accomplice of my wife, that he might be prosecuted and punished, " according to the severe rules of the cast. " I solemnly attested her innocence, and told the real cause of the " shaving of her hair ; when an universal burst of surprise took place ; " every one exclaiming, how monstrous it was that a married woman " should be so degraded, without having committed the crime of " adultery ! Either this man, they said, must be a liar, or he is the " greatest fool on the face of the earth ! Such I dare say, gentlemen, you will think me ; and I am sure you will consider my lolly," (look- HINDU TALES. 517 ing here with great disdain on the first speaker) " as being far superior " to that of the render of body clothing." The court agreed that the speaker had put in a very strong case ; but justice required that the other two should also be heard. The third claimant was indeed burning with impatience for his turn ; and, as soon as he had permission, he thus began. '" My name was originally Anantya. Now, all the world call me " Betel Anantya ; and I will tell you how this nickname arose. " My wife, having been long detained at her father's house, on ac- " count of her youth, had cohabited with me but about a month ; when, " going to bed one evening, I happened to say, carelessly I believe, " that all women were prattlers. She retorted, that she knew men " who were not less prattlers than women. I perceived at once that " she alluded to myself; and being somewhat piqued at the sharpness " of her retort, I said, Now let us see which of us shall speak first. " ' Agreed,' quoth she ; ' but what shall the loser forfeit ?' A leaf of " betel, said I ; and our wager being thus agreed, we both addressed " ourselves to sleep without speaking another word. " Next morning as we did not appear at our usual hour, after some " interval, they called us, but got no answer. They again called, and " then roared stoutly at the door ; but with no success. The alarm " began to spread in the house. They began to fear that we had " died suddenly. The carpenter was called with his tools. The " door of our room was forced open ; and, when they got in, they " were not a little surprised to find both of us broad awake, in good " health, and at our ease, though without the faculty of speech. My " mother was greatly alarmed, and gave loud vent to her grief All " the Brahmans in the village, of both sexes, assembled, to the number " of one hundred ; and, after close examination, every one drew his " own conclusion on the accident which was supposed to have be- " fallen us. The greater number were of opinion, that it could have " arisen only from the malevolence of some enemy, who had availed " himself of magical incantations to injure us. For this reason a " famous magician was called, to counteract the effects of the witch- " craft, and to remove it. As soon as he came, after stedfastly con- 518 HINDU TALES, " templating us for some time, he began to tiy our pulses, by put- " ting his finger on our wrists, on our temples, on the heart, and on " various other parts of the body ; and, after a great variety of gri- " maces, the remembrance of which excites my laughter, as often as I " think of him, he decided that our mal ad}^ arose wholly from the effect ; " of malevolence. He even gave the name of the particular devil tliat 1 " possessed my wife and me, and rendered us dumb. He added that I " this devil was very stubborn and difficult to lay ; and that it would j " cost three or four pagodas, for the expence of the offerings neces- 1 " sary for compelling him to fly. " My relations, who were not very opulent, were astonished at the " grievous imposition which the magician "had laid on. Yet, rather " than we should continue dumb, they consented to give him whatso- " ever should be necessary for the expence of his sacrifice ; and they " farther promised, that they would reward him for his trouble, as " soon as the demon by whom we were possessed should be expelled. " He was on the point of commencing his magical operations, when " a Brahman, one of our friends who was present, maintained, in op- " position to the opinion of the magician and his assistants, that " our malady was not at all the effect of witchcraft, but arose from *' some simple and ordinary cause ; of which he had seen several in- " stances ; and he undertook to cure us without any expence. " He took a chafing dish filled with burninfij charcoal, and heated " a small bar of gold very hot. This he took up with pincers, and ap- " plied to the soles of my feet, then to my elbows, and the crown of " my head. I endured these cruel operations, without shewing the least " symptom of pain, or making any complaint ; being determined to " bear any thing, and to die, if necessary, rather than lose the wager " I had laid. " ' Let us try the effect on the woman,' said the doctor, astonished " at my resolution and apparent insensibility. And immediately, " taking the bit of gold, well heated, he applied it to the sole of her " foot. She was not able to endure tlie pain for a moment, but in- " stantly screamed out : ' A]>j)a, enough !' and, turning to me, ' I have " lost my wager,' she said ; ' there is your leaf of betel.' Did I not HINDU TALES. 5J 9 ** tell you, said I, taking the leaf, that you would be the first to speak *' out, and that you would prove by your own conduct that I was right " in saying yesterday, when we went to bed, that women are babblers ? " Every one was surprized at the whole proceeding ; nor could any of " them comprehend the meaning of what was passing between my wife " and me ; until I explained the kind of wager we had made overnight, " before going to sleep. ' What!' they exclaimed, ' was it for a leaf of " betel that you have spread this alarm through your own house, and the " whole village? for a leaf of betel, that you shewed such constancy, and " suffered burning from the feet to the head upwards ? Never in the " world was there seen such folly !' And from that time I have been " constantly known by the name of Betel Anantya." The narrative being finished, the Court were of opinion that so transcendcUit a piece of folly gave him high pretensions in the depend- ing suit ; but it was necessary, first, to hear the fourth and last of the suitors ; who thus addressed them : " The maiden to whom I was betrothed, having remained six or " seven years at her father's house, on account of her youth, we were " at last apprized that she was become marriageable ; and her parents " informed mine that she was in a situation to fulfil all the duties of a *' wife, and might therefore join her husband. My mother, Ijeing at " that time sick, and the house of my father-in-law being at the dis- " tance of five or six leagues from ours, she was not able to undertake " the journey. She therefore committed to myself the duty of" bring- " ing home my wife, and counselled me so to conduct myself, in words *' and actions, that they might not see that I was only a brute. " ' Knowing thee as I do,' said my mother as I took leave of her, ' I " am very distrustful of thee.' But I promised to be on my good be- " haviour ; and so I departed. " I was well received by my father-in-law, who gave a great feast " to all the Brahmans of the village on the occasion. He made me " stay three days, during which there was nothing but festivity. At " length, the time of our departure having arrived, he suffered my " wife and myself to leave him, after pouring out blessings on us both, ** and wishing us a long and happy life, enriched with a numerous pos- II 520 HINDU TALES. " terlty. When we took leave of him, he shed abundance of tears, as " if he had foreseen the misery that awaited us. ♦' It was then the summer solstice, and the day was excessively hot. " We had to cross a sandy plain of more than two leagues ; and the sand, " being heated by the burning sun, scorched the feet of my voung "^ wife, who being brought up too tenderly in her father's house, was '< not accustomed to such severe trials. She fell a crying, and being " unable to go on, she lay down on the ground, saying she wished to " die there. " I was in dreadful trouble, and knew not what step to take ; when " a merchant came up, travelling the contrary way. He had a train " of fifty bullocks, loaded with various merchandize. I ran to meet " him, and told him the cause of my anxiety with tears in my eyes ; " and entreated him to aid me with his good advice, in the distressing " circumstances in which I was placed. He immediately answered, " that a young and delicate woman, such as my wife was, could neither " remain where she lay, nor proceed in her journey, under so hot a sun, " without being exposed to certain death. Rather than that I should " see her perish, and run the hazard of being suspected of having " killed her myself, and be held guilty of one of the five crimes which " the Brahmans esteem the most heinous, he advised me to give her " to him, and then he would mount her on one of his cattle, and take " her along with him. That I should be a loser, he admitted ; but " all things considered, it was better to lose her, with the merit of " having saved her life, than equally to lose her, under the suspicion " of being her murderer. ' Her trinkets,' he said, ' may be worth " fifteen pagodas. Take these twenty, and give me your wife.' " The merchant's arguments appeared unanswerable : so I yielded " to them, and delivered to him my wife, whom he placed on one of " his best oxen, and continued his journey without delay. I continued " mine, also, and got home in the evening, exhausted with hunger and " fatigue, and with my feet almost roasted with the burning sand, over " which I had walked the greater part of the day. " Frightened to see me alone, ' Where is your wife ?' cried my mo- *• ther. I gave her a full account of every thing that had happened from HINDU TALES. 521 " the time I left her. I spoke of the agreeable and courteous manner in " which my father-in-law had received me, and how, by some delay, we " had been overtaken by the scorching heat of the sun at noon, so as that " my wife must have been suffocated, and myself suspected of her murder, " had we proceeded; and that I had preferred to sell her to a merchant " who met us, for twenty pagodas. And I shewed my mother the money. " When, I had done my mother fell into an ecstacy of fury. She " lifted up her voice against me with cries of rage, and overwhelmed " me with imprecations and awful curses. Having given way to these " first emotions of despair, she sunk into a more moderate tone. " ' What hast thou done, wretch !' said she ' what hast thou done ! " sold thy wife, hast thou ! delivered her to another man ! A Brahma- " nari is become the concubine of a vile merchant ! Ah ! What will " her kindred and ours say v/hen they hear the tale of this brutish stu- " pidity, of folly so unexampled and degrading !' " The relations of my wife were soon informed of the sad adventure " that had befallen their unhappy girl. They came over to attack me, " and would certainly have murdered me, and my innocent mother, if " we had not both made a sudden escape. Having no direct object to " wreak their vengeance upon, they brought the matter before the " chiefs of the cast, who unanimously fined me in two hundred pa- " godas, as a reparation to my father-in-law, and issued a prohibition " against so great a fool being ever allowed to take another wife ; de- " nouncing the penalty of expulsion IVom the cast, against any one " who should assist me in such an attempt. 1 was therefore con- " demned to remain a widower all my life, and to pay dear for my " folly. Indeed, I should have been excluded for ever from my cast, " but for the high consideration in which the memory of my late father " is still held, he having lived respected by all the world. " Now that you have heard one specimen of the many follies of my " life, I hope you will not consider me as beneath those who have " spoken before me ; nor my pretensions altogether undeserving of the " salutation of the soldier." The heads of the assembly, several of whom were convulsed with laughter while the Brahmans were telling their histories, decided, after 3x 522 HINDU TALES. hearing them all, that each had given such absolute proofs of folly as to be entitled, in justice, to a superiority in his own way ; that each of them therefore should be at liberty to call himself the greatest fool of all, and to attribute to himself the salutation of the soldier. Each of them having thus gained his suit, it was recommended to them all to continue their journey, if it were possible, in amity. The de- lighted Brahmans rushed out of court, each exclaiming that he had sained his cause. &* Tale of Apoji, Prime Minister of King Krishnaraya. Although the composition I am now about to describe be placed in the list of tales, yet it is believed to be founded on historical truth ; the memory of the good King Krishnaraya, and his faithful minister Apaji, being still held in reverence among the Hindus. They flou- rished a short time anterior to the first invasion of the country by the Muhammadans ; and their sole ambition was to make their subjects happy. But, whether history or tale, the narrative affords a good illustration of the customs and usages of the people. In the happy times, when the race of Hindus was governed by native Princes, one of their monarchs, called Krishnaraya, bore rule over one of the most extensive and richest provinces of that vast country. His only study was to gain the respect and love of his people, by render- ing them happy ; and, with that view, he was particularly solicitous to admit none into his service or counsels but men whose experience and prudence would insure a wise administration of the state. His prime minister Apaji, stood highest in his confidence, because, with many other excellent qualities, he possessed the happy talent of dis- playing truth in entertaining and striking allegories. One day, when at the court of his master, nothing of greater import- ance being under consideration, the King })roposcd to him the follow- ing question. " I have often heard it said, Apaji, that men in their civil and " religious usages, only follow a beaten track ; and that the form of " worsiiip, or of other customs, being once established, continues to be " blindly acted upon by the undisccrning multitude, however absurd II HINDU TALES. 523 " and ridiculous it may be. I desire that you will prove to me the " truth of that opinion, and shew me the justice of the trite adage " so constantly employed through the whole country, ' Jana Marulu, " Jatra Marulu,' the meaning of which I take to be : Is it the men or '* their customs that are ridiculous ?" Apaji, with his usual modesty, promised the King to apply him- self to the solution of that proverbial question, and to give his answer in a few days. After the King had dismissed his council, Apaji wholly occupied with the question which his master had given him to resolve, went home, taking with him the shepherd who had the care of the King's flock ; a man of a gross and rough nature, as those of his profession generally are. He thus addressed him : " Hear me, Kuruba ; you " must instantly lay aside your shepherd't^ clothing, and put on that of " a Sannyasi or Penitent, whom you are to represent for a certain time. " You will begin, by rubbing your whole body with ashes. You will " then take in one hand, a bamboo rod with seven knots, and, in the " other, the pitcher, in which a penitent always carries his water. " Under your arm, you will take the antelope skin, on which persons " of that profession must always sit. This being done, go without " delay to the mountain nearest to this town, and enter the cavern in " the middle of the hill, which every one knows. Going to the far- " ther end of it, you will spread the antelope skin on the ground, and " sit down upon it, in the manner of a penitent. Your eyes must be " fixed on the ground, while one hand keeps your nostrils shut, and " the other is resting on the crown of your head. But be careful to " perform your part well, and see that you do not beti-ay me. It may " happen that the King himself, with all his retinue, and vast multi- " tudes of people, may go to see you ; but, whether I, or even the " King himself, shall be there, you must remain immoveable in the " posture which I have described. And, whatever pain you may " suflPer, even if they shall pluck up all your hairs one by one, you " must appear to feel as little as if you were dead; complaining of " nothing, attending to nothing; looking at nobody, speaking to nobody. " There, shepherd ! That is what I demand of thee. And if thou 3x2 _524 HINDU TALES. " transo-ress my orders, in the slightest degree, thy life shall answer for "it ; but if on the contrary thou shalt execute them as I expect, thou " shalt be most liberally rewarded." The poor shepherd, having been all his life accustomed only to feed his sheep, had no ambition to change his employment for that of a San- nyasi ; but his master's commands were uttered in so determined a tone, that he saw any attempt of his to alter them to be altogether useless, and therefore prepared to play the part of the Penitent. Every thing being in order, he betook himself to the cave appointed, with the resolution of executing the orders of his master. Apaji, in the meantime, went to the palace, where he found the King already surrounded by his courtiers. Having approached him, he addressed him to this effect : " Great King ! While you are occupied in the midst of your wise " counsellors with the means of making your subjects happy, I am " under the necessity of interrupting you, by announcing to you the " most happy news, and that the day is arrived when the gods, de- " lighted with your virtues, have chosen to give you a signal proof of their " protection and favour. At the time I am now speaking, a great " wonder is exhibited in your kingdom, and very near your own pa- " lace. In the middle of the mountain, which is but at a short distance " from your capital, there is a cave, in which a holy penitent, descended " without doubt from the dwelling place of the great Vishnu, has taken " up his abode. In profound meditation on the perfections of Para- " Brahma, he is wholly insensible to all terrestrial objects. He has no " other nourishment than the air which he breathes, and none of the " objects that affect the five senses make the slightest impression on " him. In a word, it may be truly said, that the body alone of this " great personage resides in this lower world, whilst his soul, his " thoughts, and all his affections, are closely united to the divinity. " I have no doubt that the gods, in sending him to visit your king- " dom, have deigned to give you an unequivocal proof of their favour " and kindness to you and your people." The King and all his court listened, with Ernest attention, and re- mained for some time looking at each other in deep amazement. At last HINDU TALES. 525 the King, with tlieir unanimous concurrence, determined to visit the ilhistrious stranger, and implore his blessing. He went accordingly, in magnificent pi'ocession, with his court and troops attending. The royal trumpets sounded in all parts, to announce the object of the visit, and invite ail persons whatever to attend. As they came near the mountain, the mmibers encreased ; and, never before, had such an assem])ly been seen. Every face was cheerful, and every heart rejoiced to have lived to see so distinguished a personage upon earth. The King and the splendid throng had ascended the mountain, and approached the cave where the pretended Sannyasi lived, in deep seclusion from the world, and in intimate union with the deity. The King, already penetrated with religious awe, entered the holy re- treat, with marks of submission and reverence in his demeanour. There he saw the object of his respect, in a remote corner. He paused a while, and gazed at him in silence. It was a human form he saw, sitting on the skin of an antelope, with a pitcher of water on one side, and a seven knotted bamboo rod on the other. Its head hung down, and its eyes were fixed on the ground. One hand kept the nostrils shut, and the other rested on its head. Its body seemed as motionless as the rock on which it lay. The King was struck with reverential dread. He drew near to the penitent ; and thrice he prostrated himself at his feet, and then ad- dressed him in these terms : " Mighty Penitent ! Blessed be my destiny which has prolonged my " existence to this day, when I have the inexpressible felicity of seeing " your holy feet. What I now behold, with mine own eyes, infinitely " exceeds the public renown which emblazons your virtues. The hap- " piness of this hour, I know not whence it comes. The few good deeds " I have performed, in the present generation, are surely inadequate " to so distinguished a favour ; and I can attribute it only to the merits " of my ancestors, or to some signal work wiiich I may have been ena- " bled to perform in a preceding generation, the memory of which I " no longer retain. But, however that may be, the hour in which I " now first see your hallowed feet is far the happiest of my life. Hence- " forth, I can have nothing to wish for in this world. It is enough 526 HINDU TALES. " for any mortal to have seen those sacred feet ; for, so beatific a vision " will blot out all the sins I have committed in this and all preceding " generations. Now am I as pure as the sacred stream of the Ganges, " and I have nothing more to wish for on earth." The counterfeit penitent received the flattering speech of the mo- narch without emotion, and inflexibly maintained his posture. The numerous spectators were amazed, and could only whisper to each other, what a great being that must be, who could hear the submissive addresses of such a King, without deigning to cast a glance of appro- bation towards him. Well might it be said, they thought, that the body only of the holy penitent remained upon the earth, while his thoughts, his sentiments and his soul had been reunited to Para- Brahma. King Krishnaraya continued to gaze with admiration, and tried by farther flattering and compliment, to gain but a single look of the Sannyasi ; but the penitent continued absorbed in thought. The King was then about to take his leave ; but the minister Apaji interposed. " Great Monarch," he said, " having come so far to " visit this holy personage, who will henceforth be the object of public " veneration, and not having yet received his benediction, it would be " desirable at least, to have some memorial of him, to preserve as a pre- " cious relic ; if it were no more than one of the hairs, which grow so " profusely on his body." The King apjjroved the advice of his minister, and immediately ad- vanced, and neatly plucked a hair from the shaggy breast of the San- nyasi. He put it to his lips and kissed it "I shall enshrine it," said he, " in a box of gold, which I shall always wear suspended to my neck, " as the most precious of my ornaments. It shall be my talisman " against all accidents, and the source of perjictual good." The ministers and other courtiers, who were about the King, fol- lowed his example ; and each plucked a hair from the breast of the penitent, to be preserved as a holy relic. 'J'he innumerable multitude, who were spread over the mountain, gradually learned what was going on in the cave. Every one burned with desire to be possessed of so precious a mcmoriaL Each plucked his relic, till the tortured shep- HIND [I TALES. 527 herd had not a hair left on his body. But he endured his sufferings >vith heroic fortitude ; and never winced, nor altered his stedfast look. On his return to the palace, the King informed his wives of all that had passed, and shewed them the relic he had brought from the breast of the Sannyasi. They heard and looked with curiosity and wonder, and sorely lamented that the rigorous rules prescribed to the sex had not permitted them to accompany their husband to the cave, and to share in the general happiness and joy, by visiting the holy man. Rut the King might, as the greatest of favours, graciously permit the famous penitent to be brought to the palace, that they also might have the happiness of seeing him, and of selecting a hair from his body with their own hands. The King made many difficulties, but at last consented to indulge the wishes of his wives ; and, being desirous, at the same time, to do honour to the Sannyasi, he ordered out his whole court, with his troops of horse and foot, to serve for an escort. On arriving at the cave, which was still surrounded by a part of the multitude, who had not yet got their hairs, the four chiefs of the cavalcade v.'ent up to him, and having unfolded the nature of their mission, they took up the motion- less penitent in their arms, and placed him in a superb new palanquin, in the same posture in which they found him in the cave. The shepherd sat immoveable in the palanquin, still keeping up the appearance of a Sannyasi in contemplation, and was conducted in state through the streets of the city, in the midst of an immense concourse of people, who made the air resound with their rejoicings. The poor shepherd, in the meantime, who had eaten nothing for two days, during which his whole skin had been lacerated and torn by the perpetual plucking of the hairs, felt but little enjoyment from the triumph, and would have betrayed the plot, but for the dread of his master's anger. " Why should I," he would say to himself, " carry on a trick like this " in the midst of torment and pain ? I would be in the company of my " sheep, and hear tigers roaring in the woods, rather than be deaf- " ened with the noise of their acclamations. Had I been with my " flock, I should have had three good meals before now ; whereas after " two days of fasting, I know not when I may be relieved." 528 HINDU TALES. While such thoughts were passing in his mind, they arrived at the palace, and he was immediately introduced into a superb apartment, where he received a visit from the Princesses. They prostrated them- selves, one by one at his feet ; and after a pause of silent admiration, each of them would have a hair also, to be enshrined, like their hus- band's, in a box of gold, and to be worn continually, as the most precious ornament. It may be supposed that, after so much pincing and pluck- ing, it would be no easy matter to find any thing remaining on the hide of the poor shepherd ; and in fact it was not without carefully explor- ing various creases and folds, that each lady could be accommodated with a relic. At last, they concluded their devout visit, and retired ; leaving the shepherd still maintaining his inflexible attitude of contem- plation ; from which he was at length relieved by the King giving orders, that the Sannyasi should be left alone all night, in order to enjoy repose, after so much fatigue and suffering. But Apaji found a secret entrance by which he introduced himself in the night to the hungry and smarting shepherd ; and thus he ad- dressed him in soothing accents : " Kurubu ! the period of your pro- " bation is accomplished. You have well performed the part I set down " for you, and you have fulfilled my expectations. I promised you a re- " compence and you shall not be disappointed. In the meantime, put " off that dress, and resume your coarse woollen cambali. Get some- " thing to eat, and go to bed, as you have need ; and, in the morning, " go out as usual with your sheep." The shepherd did not wait a second bidding, but quickly got into the fields, resolved not to act the Sannyasi any more. Early next morning, the King went with his retinue to renew his humble salutations to the holy penitent. They found him not, and they remained astonished for a while. But, on reflection, their vener- ation was augmented, for they could not doubt that it was some divinity, under a human form, who had come amongst them, on a temporary visit, to convince them of his being their protector ; and had returned, in the night, to his heavenly abode. The advent and departure of this wonder were the only subject of conversation in court, town and coun- HINDU TALES. 529 try for several days. Then it gradually grew stale, and at last was but occasionally remembered, like any other antiquated miracle. A good while afterwards, when Apaji was one day at court, the King put him in mind of the old proverb of Jana Marulu, Jatra Ma- rulu, and asked him whether he still thought that a people followed a particular track, merely because it happened to be laid down for them, and that, however ridiculous the ceremony and usages of a nation might be, those who practised them were still more ridiculous. Apaji, who waited only for an opportunity like this, to enter on his favourite speculation ; and having obtained permission to express himself without reserve, thus addressed the King : " Great King ! your own conduct some days ago decided this ques- " tion, when you condescended to visit the cave in the mountain, and " the pretended Sannyasi who was there. You have allowed me to " speak without constraint, and I will therefore confess that the vener- " able penitent was no other than the shepherd, who has been all his " life employed in keeping my sheep : a being so rough and unculti- " vated as to approach nearly to utter stupidity. Such is the person- " age whom you and your court, upon my sole testimony, have treated " with honours, almost divine, and have elevated to the rank of a " deity. The multitude, without examination, have blindly followed " your example, and, without any knowledge of the object of its ado- " ration, run with you into the excess of fanatical zeal, in favour of " a keeper of sheep, a low-born man, uneducated and almost a fool. " From this striking instance, you must be satisfied, that public insti- " tutions are matters of example and habit, and that we ought to direct " our ridicule of the absurd usages of a country, not so much against " the usages themselves, as against those who practise them." The King, like a wise sovereign, took in good part the strenuous ef- forts which his minister had boldly adopted to enlighten him on mat- ters so important and abstruse, and continued to repose upon him as his most faithful subject and friend. 3 Y ( 530 ) CHAP. XL OF THE MILITARY SYSTEM OF INDIA. J- OUGHT perhaps, in prudence, to close my description of the Hindu people and their customs, with the last chapter. My profession will justly appear to disqualify me from giving a full or satisfactory account of what I'elates to the subject of war. At the same time, as almost the whole of their public monuments, religious and profane, represent the image of war, and all their histories are filled with military details, a few remarks on that subject will not be deemed inconsistent with the nature of my work. The cast of Kshatriya, or Kings, and that of Rajaputras, or descendants of Kings, were at one time the exclusive possessors of authority and go- vernment in the various countries of India ; and to them the trade of war exclusively belonged. No others had a right to enrol themselves in the profession of arms. The Hindu customs have undergone a great change in this particular. The ambition of conquerors has overstepped and subverted those primi- tive rules of their institution. At present, there are few Kings to be seen of that cast, from which, in right of birth, they ought all to spring. In India, as well as every where else, territory becomes the inheritance of the strongest, and in most of the provinces Princes of base extraction have, by boldness or cunning, raised themselves to the throne. The right of bearing arms, which, in early times, belonged only to the Rajaputras, is now universal ; and all casts, from the Prahmans down to the Pariahs, may now become soldiers. Sometimes, Brahmans are found commanding armies, and sometimes, particularly in the Mahratta service, standing in the ranks. MILITAJIY SYSTEM. 53I Although the rules and practices followed by the Hindus seem to have been intended to enervate the natural courage, and to oppose insiu'mountable obstacles to the other qualities of a good soldier, yet the art of war amongst them appears as old as any other of their institutions ; and, as a profession, it originally had, with them, the preference which it merited. In the scale of society, it had the second rank, and stood immediately after the priesthood, who had the pre-eminence due to those functions which place them between god and the human race. Next to the Brahmans, the soldiers enjoyed the highest privileges of any other citizens. Some of those privileges were common to them with the Brahmans ; such as the high distinction of being per- mitted to read the Vedas, the right of being invested with the triple cord, and some others which the Brahmans conceded to them, in consideration, no doubt, of the great benefits which they, as well as the society at large, derived from their services. But although the profession of arms was known and honoured among the Hindus of ancient times, and although the history of no country furnishes so many examples of wars, conquests, sieges, battles, victories, and defeats, as that of India, in old though fabulous periods ; yet it must be admitted that there is probably no nation on earth where, though less honoured, the art was not cultivated with greater advantage and success. Until the era of the modern invasions, by those fierce and sanguinary conquerors, who, at the head of their warlike and barbarous hordes, passed the mountains of the north to lay waste the fertile and peaceful provinces of India, inundating them with the innocent blood of a harmless race, whose undefended territories they usurped as lawful spoil ; until then, the art of war was but in its infancy in India, and the same as it had been for three thousand years. The feeble resistance they made to those ferocious conquerors who so unworthily used the right of the sword, and who, (a thousand times worse than the swarms of locusts which frequently spread dismay over the land by devouring the sources of existence,) carried desolation and death 3y 2 532 MILITARY SYSTEM. wherever they directed their course, sufficiently proves the inferiority of the Hindu in discipline and courage. Their wars are of three sorts : those of fabulous times, those of the ancient Kings, and those of modern date. In speaking of the last, I must premise, that I profess to treat only of such as were carried on by the Princes of the country with each other, before the experience of European tactics and skill had induced them to admit foreigners into their armies, for the purpose of being trained and disciplined by their superior abilities. This arose from their ambition, or rather from their narrow comprehension and dim perception of their own true interests, which hindered them from seeing the dangers which, sooner or later, must result from admitting such dangerous auxiliaries into their service. What I shall observe upon is antecedent to that epoch ; which, I believe, does not go back more than sixty or seventy years. I do not at all touch upon the fabled wars of their gods, with each other, or against the giants, which are so tediously given in their books ; because they are entitled to no more attention than a sick person in a fit of delirium. They would introduce us to armies of giants, whose heads reached the stars, riding on elephants of a size ade- quate to their high stature. One of them will appear putting his shoulders under the firmament and lifting it uj). Then, with awful concussion, he overturns the gods who dwell there, and shews what he is capable of doing, and what they have to fear. In the same style, a god goes forth to combat a giant, makes the earth his chariot, the rainbow his bow, and Vishnu his arrow. He discharges this tremendous shaft, and, at one stroke, utterly overwhelms an immense city, in which the giants, his enemies, were intrenched, and are now all buried in the ruins- It would be easy for me to bring forward a thousand fooleries of this sort ; which I have read in Hindu books ; but they could answer no other purpose than to disgust the reader, and to prove that their poets are the most senseless of mortals. The history of the wars of the ancient Kings of India is scarcely less extravagant than the other, and deserves no greater attention. It is not composed, in sober prose by historians, but by wild poets in MILITARY SYSTEM. 533 enthusiastic verse ; who, in this and in every thing besides, follow the bias of" their disordered imagination. What truth can be descried throuoh tlie thick veil of their fable ? The million of soldiers whom Xerxes conducted for the overthrow of Greece, are but a handful, when compared with the almost innumerable hosts of warriors that composed the armies of the ancient Princes of India. But there is nothine; wonderful in such impostures, when we advert to the incurable tendency of the Hindus to every kind of extravagance, whether in their narration, in conversation, in civil affairs, in religious opinions, or in any other circumstance of life. But there is one thing connected with this subject, that is not fabulous ; which is, that their armies were made up of four arms, which the Hindus express by the word Chatur-angam. These four were elephants, chariots, cavalry, and infantry. United, they composed a complete army. This mode of constructing an Indian army subsisted at the time of the invasion of Alexander the Great. It was followed in the army of Porus, who was subdued and taken prisoner by that great conqueror. Quintus Curtius remarks that, in the line of battle, there were arranged eighty-five elephants, three hundred chariots, and thirty thousand infantry. He does not enumerate the cavalry of the Indian King, but he afterwards alludes to it in his narrative. What we have said of the four divisions of the ancient Indian armies, may serve to fix the origin of the game of chess, which has been the subject of so many disputes and researches, as well as to reform the mode of playing it jn Europe ; at least, as far as regards the chess-men. I believe it is generally admitted to be a military game. Castles, knights, pawns, and other terms justify that idea. But is it not ridiculous, in the European way of playing it, to see castles îTiarching about ; a queen in every part of the battle, and stoutly fighting ; bishops, at the side of the King, maintaining a conspicuous share in the combat ; and the like? The Hindus, who play this game as we do, with some slight variations, call it Chatur-angam, an army of four arms. At the two opposite sides of the chess board they plant the elephants, which 534 MILITARY SYSTEM- were formerly surmounted with small towers. We have substituted in their place, thick solid castles with regular battlements all round, and we make those great masses fly nimbly about in all directions. Instead of the bishops we employ, the Hindus make use of cars, representing the vehicle anciently used in their armies. In place of our queen, whom we make very active in the battle, rather unsuitably to her sex, they bring forward what they call Mantri, or minister of state, a leader who changes from place to place during the fight, and sometimes strikes a blow, as he passes. All this we think sufficiently demonstrates that the Hindus were the oriçrinal inventors of chess. The field of battle is called Pura-Sthalam, or place of combat. From this word is probably derived the name of Porus, which the ancient Greeks give to the King whom Alexander conquered on the banks of the Indus. They probably confounded the name of the place of the battle with that of the Prince who fought. This, probably, is not the only error into which the authors would fall who give such erroneous accounts of India and its inhabitants. But it is time to return from this digression to the constituent parts of the armies of the ancient Kings of India, beginning with the elephants. All the ancient authors speak of towers, supported by these animals, filled with combatants, in the armies of the Asiatic Princes. But I believe we shall not form correct ideas on the subject, without making great allowances for the imagination of those writers. If these turrets were at all high, the motion of the animal, which from its manner of walking, is more jolting than that of any other, would necessarily make it lose its balance and tumble down. For the elephant does not move like other quadrupeds, advancing the legs alternately, but brings forward the two legs of one side together. If they were constructed with much solidity, they would be too heavy for the animal, which, though the strongest of any, docs not support a weight proportioned to his size. For, powerful as he is, they can scarcely venture a heavier load on his back than twelve hundred weight ; and they must take some pains to reconcile him even to that. Of all that has been written, therefore, of castles filled with armed men, on the backs of elephants, a great deal must have been borrowed MILI'l ARY SYSTEM. 535 from indistinct observers, unacquainted with the nature of the animal, who, being astonished at its enormous bulk, fancied its strength to be equally great. Towers such as have been described are therefore plainly absurd. At the same time, I do not assert that the elephant has not been used, to great advantage, in war. The soldiers on his back were furnished with numbers of arrows, or other missile weapons, which they could employ with great effect against an enemy's army. The elephant hims(>lf, when accoutred for the combat, was still more terrible than his riders, and wonderfully contributed to spread terror and con- fusion amongst enemies unaccustomed to that species of warfare. These extraordinary creatures, even at this day, are of great use in the armies of the Indian Princes. But they serve more for parade than for war. It belongs to the dignity of generals, and other chiefs, to be mounted on elephants, superbly harnessed ; and, when they take the field, they are armed with the bow, with fire-arms, and often with a long spear ; which they change in battle according to circumstances. The elephant, by nature, has a great dread of fire ; and they are obliged to train him by practice to endure it, and even habituate him to actual burnings, that he may not in battle be terrified and rendered unmanageable by the fire-works which are thrown amongst them. In sieges they are of great use, in forcing the gates of fortified places. And, to increase their efficiency, they are sometimes equipped with strong points of iron of great strength. In the Mogul armies, an elephant always led the way in a march, having a long pole fixed on his head, with a great flag hoisted on its top. Another elephant generally followed, who carried on his back a small casket set in a niche, inclosing some relics, precious to tlieMuham- madans ; sometimes, even, a true or pretended hair of the beard of the Prophet. The only unequivocal service which the elephant renders is in the transport of artillery. When the bullocks which draw the cannon are stopped by a slough or a ditch, or any similar impediment, one elephant or more are brought, who raise up the carriages with their trunks, and greatly assist in carrying them through bad roads. In passing rivers and canals, where there are no fords, the people and heavy baggage are II gS6 MILITARY SYSTEM. transported on their backs. But these advantages, and others which might be mentioned, are greatly overbalanced by the expence of their keeping. The chariots are the next department of the ancient armies of India. They appear to have been very numerous and of vast size. All the principal officers rode in them, and that of the King was particularly splendid. When two Princes were at war with each other, they still kept up the forms of politeness, and never commenced a battle without saluting each other from their chariots ; concluding with mutual defi- ance. We read in one of their books that one of those Kings, when he rode up to give battle to his enemy, first shot an arrow of compliment, which dropped at the foot of his chariot. The other returned the civi- lity in the same way, and then the combat began. I have never seen a minute description of those vehicles ; but the books in which they are mentioned describe them as being large, and drawn by five horses. In one book, I remember to have read of some Prince who, in preparing for war, got a troop of devils for a team ; so that he could not fail to drive at a good pace. It was a regular appen- dage to all chariots, to be hung round with large bells, which would create a fine clangor in the field of battle, and serve to spread terror and dismay through the enemy's ranks. Perhaps, it is in imitation of those ancient chariots of war, that the Hindus of the present day decorate their carriages with many bells, the tinkling of which announces their approach from afar. But the cars, in which the Hindus now sometimes travel, are of modern taste, and bear no analogy to the ancient war chariots. Cavalry formed the third division of the Hindu army. Their strength, however, did not consist in that arm, their whole dependence being on the foot. This is now wholly changed in modern times, when the in- fantry are almost entirely laid aside, with the exception of a few un- disciplined bands of freebooters, whose principal and indeed only business, is, not to fight, but to spread themselves about in the defenceless villages; to pillage, ravage, burn, and destroy whatever comes in their way ; and to scatter havoc and desolation through the whole territory of the enemy. MILITARY SYSTEM. 537 The Moguls and Mahratas, who, till lately, were the two principal powers who disputed the mastery, in many long, obstinate, and bloody wars, sometimes brought, on each side, upwards of a hundred thousand horse into the field. The Mahrata Trinces, if united, could make a muster of three hundred thousand. But they have never been able to bring forward any thing like this immense number of combatants ; because they knew scarcely any thing of the military art. The severe lessons which the Europeans have con- tinually afforded them, for more than three hundred years, since they have had a footing there, have scarcely yet opened their eyes to the defects of their ancient system of tactics, and the great superiority of those of their opponents. They have never yet known what the seve- rity of discipline in an army may effect, or the advantage of the arrange- ment of the troops, the order of marching, and encampment. They are wholly devoid of the skill by which large masses of men are moved, without confusion or trouble ; and they think they have done every thing when they have got together an immense and indiscriminate mul- titude, without order, and acting in the field from individual impulse and at random. The General has under him a great number of chiefs, who command such horse troops as they can raise upon pay. Each man brings his own horse, and receives certain wages for himself and beast, which he keeps at his own expence ; and when it dies or is lost, he also is dis- missed from the service. This method of recruiting their armies is extremely prejudicial to the enterprize of the soldier ; because the great object of his care being to preserve the horse, upon the safety of which his own bread depends, he is always ready to make his escape, when Jiny real danger appears. In these armies, desertion is very frequent ; nor are the deserters either strictly sought after or severely punished. What they chiefly de- pend upon as a preventive, is to keep up a good arrear of pay ; which compels the soldier to remain at his colours, or to relinquish what he has earned. Sometimes, indeed, they mutiny in such cases, and arrest their General, or threaten him with the sabre : all which he is obliged to put up with, without blaming, far less punishing, the agitators. He 3z 538 MILITARY SYSTEM. reconciles them, in the best way he is able, by giving them acknow- ledgements at least of the debt ; and the same slippery service is renewed. Troops so midisciplined and mercenary cannot be expected to be very courageous ; but marks of valour are often seen in their leaders, particularly among the Moors. They never fly in battle, though over- matched, while any of their people support them ; and the point of honour is more concerned amongst them, in submitting to a retreat, than amongst us. The privates in the Moorish and Mahrata cavalry are in general very poorly mounted. Parties of them sometimes make excursions, and burst into a district where they were not at all expected. It is not that good horses are not to be found in India, particularly in the northern states ; but they are sold so high that private individuals cannot afford to buy them. The chiefs, however, take none but the best ; and they are at great pains to find them. They decorate them in various ways, and often paint them over with different colours. They dress them also with infinite neatness, and mount them with perfect grace. The Mahratas accustom their steeds to stop when a certain cry is given. The horseman dismounts, and the horse stands still as if he were tied. I knew a late instance of a robber who, seeing a horse thus standing still, got upon his back to fly beyond the reach of his pursuers, and had got the animal into a gallop, when the owner perceived him, and instantly gave the accustomed cry to halt. The docile creature obeyed its master's call, perceived its error, and suddenly stopped. The robber tried all means to spur him on, but they were ineffectual ; and he was fain to dismount and make his escape on his own legs. The jSloorisli and Mahrata cavalry are armed with lances and arrows; to which some of them add the musquet. Many have a wretched sabre, and a great number carry cataris or daggers. Several have no other armour than the whip or rod, with which they push on their steed. Each individual provides his own horse and arms ; and there is nothing like uniformity in their weapons or accoutrements. They scarcely understand marching in a line, nor are they exercised in the evolutions of cavalry : wliicli is indeed less necessary, as a gene- MILITARY SYSTEM. /roq ral engagement is a thing almost unheard of amongst them. In their first wars there was nothing beyond skirmishes, or sudden surprizes by one party upon another, which generally ended with little bloodshed. The operations of an undisciplined army must always have consisted, as they do to this day in India, in burning and laying waste the ene- my's country, in pillaging the poor defenceless inhabitants and putting them to the torture, to force them to disclose their concealed treasures. It is not therefore to be wondered at that small detachments of European cavalry or infantry should have been recently found to rout ten times their number of such a miserable host. The infantry force was still more wretched before the present practice began, of permitting their troops to enter into the service of the Euro- peans, for the purpose of giving them discipline. Till then, foot sol- diers were little known in the Mogul and Mahrata armies. Infantry, however, were more esteemed among the Kings of anti- quity ; then forming the fourth order of their military establishment. It was then the most numerous part, and what was most relied on in their battles. And still it constitutes to tliis day the only strength of the little Princes of the country known commonly under the name of Poligars. These Poligars, who may be compared, in several respects, with the Barons of France and England during the thirteenth century, who from their lofty castles and towers could brave and insult the royal au- thority, which they often found means to bridle and subdue, are very numerous in various provinces of India ; and were still more so, before the great European power, which of late has extended its rule or in- fluence over the country, had diminished the number of those privileged robbers. Their defences are thick forests, or steep mountains, where they can set at defiance those who rule over the countries which inclose them. The higher power, finding it impossible to reduce them without much labour ; and fearing at the same time, by unnecessary violence, to rouse them to acts of pillage and devastation, is contented to live with them in the best manner it may. The confined and barren territory, possessed by the Poligars, not being adequate to their maintenance and that of their horde, they keep 3 z 2 ^^Q MILITARY SYSTEM. a great number of robbers and plunderers in their employment, whom they send out, from time to time, in the night, to the neighbouring country ; from which they return with their booty, and share it with their masters. The English, however, after experiencing some loss, have, by per- severance, almost wholly eradicated this evil; and have shewn the robbers, to their cost, what military discipline and vigour can accom- plish, in the most difficult enterprises. The arms of these chiefs, and of those they have in their service, are bows and arrows, spears, and match-lock guns. They are utterly ignorant of regular battle or of maintaining a contest in the open field ; but, when pursued, they betake themselves to their thick woods or steep rocks, where they endeavour to decoy the enemy into some narrow defile, suited to their active and desultory attacks. It was not without penetrating into the heart of their forests, and after great labour and loss, that the English succeeded in laying hold of their leaders, and establish- ing in their territory a state of order and tranquillity, which they had never known before. Castrametation is as little understood by the Hindu Generals as the order of fighting. In their march, and encampment, there is the utmost confusion. When it is necessary for the army to halt, the great object attended to is the facility of obtaining water. A large supply is not every where to be found, particularly at certain times of the year : and whole armies have been seen reduced to the utmost extremity of dis- tress by being deprived, even for a short time, of an article of such in- dispensable necessity in a burning climate. A great flag, which goes first, and is raised very high, marks the place where the army is to halt. Every division takes up its ground beyond the standard, without regularity or order. The chief pitches his tent in the niidist of his party, and hoists his flag upon it; every leader having one appropriate for himself, whicli may be distinguished by his own party. Thus every thing is in confusion, with the exception of a small space about the tent of the General, where some degree of order is observed; and likewise in the market place, where a very good police is kept up. Here all sorts of goods arc to be seen, and various MILITARY SYSTEM. 54I kinds of merchandise, in abundance, which arc chiefly supplied from the plunder of the country through which the army has marched. For no Hindu army has any respect for property. Wherever they spread, rape, conflagration, pillage, devastation and every sort of excess ac- company their |)rogress. The wasteful Hindus scarcely know what it is to form a magazine, or to have convoys of provisions ; trusting wholly to their foraging parties to supply their wants. And, so effectually is this done, that numbers of purveyors follow the armies, buying at a cheap rate, from the soldiers, the goods and property pillaged in the march, which they bring regu- larly to the market. On the other hand, when their march lies through a country already laid waste, these dealers follow with their oxen laden with provisions. The most abominable profligacy exists in all their armies, but par- ticularly among the Moors. The persons, who so devote themselves, have separate quarters which are perfectly well known, and not less fre- quented. The General makes them an object of revenue. Among the followers of the camp there are numbers of mountebanks, all sorts of magicians, soothsayers and fortune-tellers, rope-dancers, slight of hand men, sharpers, thieves, faquirs, blind beggars, and in short so many useless mouths that they out-number the effective sol- diers. Besides, every soldier is accompanied by his whole family; so that an army of twenty or five and twenty thousand soldiers, is attended by a train of two or three hundred thousand other individuals, whose chief employment it is to take advantage of the confusion which reigns in a camp, and to addict themselves to plunder and every other sort of licence. The Mahratas are not so subject to this evil, because it is not so easy to keep up with them in the forced marches they are accustomed to make. The tents of the chiefs, particularly amongst the Moors, are large and commodious, suited to the taste for luxury and voluptuousness which characterises the Asiatic Princes. They are filled with superb and useless finery, and divided into several apartments, of which some are for their wives or concubines, by whom they are always attended. In the midst of the tumult of camps, a Hindu Prince 542 MILITARY SYSTEM. never forgets any thing that can administer to his appetites or enervate his courage. To take an army of this sort by surprise, is no difficult operation ; for they keep no outposts. Their spies in the enemy's camp, in some measure, make up for the defect, by apprizing their friends, when they perceive any extraordinary movement of the enemy, and so putting them on their guard. Assaults by night are but rare, the parties being more disposed to enjoy their own slumber than to disturb that of their enemies, at un- seasonable hours. The art of besieging towns was also, till of late, but little understood. Famine or capitulation were, in general, the only means resorted to for gaining possession of any place of strength. To attempt to take a town by storm, would have been considered an undertaking of desper- ation and madness : and it has often happened that places, surrounded only with old earthen walls, and defended by a few hundred of the neighbouring peasantry, with no arms but a few matchlock musquets, have been defended for a long time, against considerable armies ; who, being fatigued and worn out by the continued repulses of the besieged, have been obliged to retire from the place, with the disgrace of having made no impression upon it whatever. The state of safety in which the governor of a town, so besieged, considers himself to be, against all the efforts of a beleaguering army, is carried to a degree of confidence so unconquerable, that, even in these days, when they have had experience of what European courage and conduct can do, and have seen the awful consequences of a suc- cessful siege, followed up by an assault, they still retain their obstinacy. Instances have lately occurred of the commanders of these paltry earthen forts refusing to surrender, at the summons of an European army, defying it with insolence, and demeaning themselves, at the moment of the assault, as if they were only attacked by some undis- ciplined hordes. In general, it is held a point of honour in the connnander of a town, never to surrender at the first summons, however inconsiderable and defenceless the place may be, and however powerful the army MILITARY SYSTEM. 543 that attacks it ; let the terms proposed for capitulation be ever so reasonable. To surrender under such circumstances, would brin^ public disgrace upon the sovereign ; and all the world would consider ' it an act of treason on the part of the governor. The use of trenches has been long known to the Hindus, and they have been accustomed to make their approaches by that means to the places they besiege. When the two parties thus get near to each other, they fall to mutual defiance and reproaches. " If you cannot " take this place," say the besieged Pagans to the Muhammadan aggressors, " you will look as queer as if you had been eating pork." " Very true," reply the Musalmans, " but if we do take it, it will " be as pleasant to you, as if you had eaten up a cow." Bravery is a virtue laid claim to by all nations, even by the most indolent and timid ; and when people of that stamp, amongst whom we cannot refuse the Hindus the very highest rank, feel themselves out of the reach of danger, they are the most apt to give a loose to vain glory and gasconade. One method of taking a fortress, very much practised, is that of incantation. The besiegers employ magicians and sorcerers, who exert all the power of their wicked arts to paralyze the exertions of the besieged, and to make their leader fall. He, again, puts contrary spells in operation, fit to counteract these machinations, or even, of so potent a nature, as to aim at the total destruction of the besieging army. I know that, since I have been in India, all this has been practised : with what advantage to either party, I leave to the reader to imagine. The fortifications of places of the first order formerly consisted, and, in many parts, still consist, in one or two thick walls, flanked with round or triangular towers ; upon which some pieces of cannon, but poorly supplied, are commonly mounted. A wide and deep ditch is on the outside ; but, as the Hindus are unskilful in the construction of bridges, they always leave a causeway from the gate of the town over the ditch, which is generally masked by a wall, that conceals it from without. ^^^ MILITARY SYSTEM. But, since the Europeans have introduced themselves among the Hindus, as their masters in homicide ; since they have made them tlie fatal present of their destructive tactics, and have taught them to cut each others throats with more method and effect, according to the refinements of military art ; since, in furnishing them with engines more murderous than their own, they have had the abhorred dis- tinction of teaching them by rule, the dreadful uses to which those instruments can be turned, for the destruction of the species : since that epoch, which they have for ever to deplore, the Hindus have changed their modes of warfare, in the camp and field, as well as in the fortress. The most considerable of their ancient places of strength are the castles, built on mountains of steep rock ; many of which appear im- pregnable. They are called Durgas, and are seen in great numbers iu that part of India which is most hilly. We find in Quintus Curtius* a description of one of these Durgas called Aornus^ on the banks of the Indus, which stood out against Alexander, and which he was unable to take until abandoned by the garrison. The Durgas that have a great elevation, have the inconvenience of a cold and humid atmosphere ; while, in the valley, or at the foot of the rock, the air is mild, and sometimes hot. For this reason, those who are stationed in these high forts are unhealthy, and are subject to fevers, which are very difficult to cure. I shall conclude this branch of my subject with a few words on the Arms of the country. The Hindus have thirty-two different kinds of weapons, each of which has a particular name and description in their books. Models of them are also to be seen in the hands of the images of their principal gods. Each of the thirty-two gods has his own peculiar weapon. It would be difficult to give in writing, any tolerable description of them, as hardly one of them- bears the smallest resemblance to such as are known in lùu'ope. All that can be said in general, is, that some are edged for hacking, some pointed for the thrust, and others obtuse and weighty for the purpose of con- * Lib. viii. c. 11. MILITARY SYSTEM. 545 tusion. Among the defensive, are the helmet and the shield. The latter is the more common, and is made of leather, studded with nails, with large round heads ; and is generally about two feet in diameter. Some Hindu soldiers, instead of a cuirass, wear a kind of thick and quilted jackets ; a sort of armour greatly in use amongst the Hebrews of old, and other ancient people. They were made with great art, and could ward off the blows of cutting instruments ; and the same advan- tage is attributed to those of the Hindus : but they certainly are not impenetrable to musket-shot ; and I cannot imagine that any advantage they afford can be at all equivalent to the inconvenience they occasion in sultry climates. The most common weapon of offence, in ancient times, was the bow and arrow. It is still practised with skill and effect. Their arrows are small, not beino- more than two or two and a half feet long. The bows do not exceed that length, although their fables make those of their gods to be of a prodigious sweep. It is stated that the bow of Rama was carried with difficulty by fifty thousand men. The favourite weapon of Vishnu is the Chalcrani; which is a round or circular machine, of which many devotees of the god bear the em- blem, imprinted on their shoulders with hot iron. It is still used in some places, and is nothing more than a large circular plate of iron, the outer edge of which is made very sharp. Through the centre a shaft passes, by means of which a rotatory motion is given to the plate, which whirls with great rapidity, and cuts whatever it approaches. I am inclined to believe, that neither this, nor several other weapons that I have seen re- presented in the hands of the idols, are at all used in any other nation. Another species, very much in use among all the Hindu Princes, is a sort of large I'ocket, hooped with iron, and eight or ten inches long. They fire it in a horizontal position, and employ it chiefly in spreading confusion and disorder amongst the cavalry. They wound whatever they approach ; and some emit a crescent of fire, which makes them exceedingly dangerous. In general they do not make so loud a report as our hand-grenades, but thev have a more extensive range. From the Hindu books, it appears that the use of these fire- works, which are called Vana or Bana, is very ancient. Mention is made 4 A 546 MILITARY SYSTEM. in the Ramayana of the Vana or Rocket of Rama, as one of his principal missiles. The Vana is also one of the thirty-two species of arms enumerated by the ancient Hindus ; which is a proof that the use of gunpowder was not unknown to them, at an early period ; for, with- out that material, it would be impossible to charge the rockets, which, from the oldest times to the present day, have been employed by this people. Besides, the knowledge and practice of the various sorts of fire-works known in Europe, must have been of ancient date amongst the Hin- dus ; since there are some casts, Avhose ordinary, and sometimes only occupation, has always been the making of such preparations of gun- powder. It is probable that the Europeans have borrowed the art from them. But it is certain that they possessed it before the period of the modern invasions of the Christian and Muhammadan powers ; which evidently establishes the invention of gunpowder, among them, to have preceded its discovery in Europe by many centuries. At the same time it appears that the Hindus were not formerly acr- quainted with the destructive effects of this powerful agent, when strongly compressed in metallic tubes. It was reserved to the Euro- peans to instruct them in this deplorable and pernicious science. For, till the invasions from Europe, the people of India made no use of gun- powder, but for pleasure and amusement. Their invaders taught them its murderous qualities. Besides several of the ancient instruments peculiar to the nation, the Hindus have lately adopted the lance, the dagger, and the sabre. The last is now their favourite weapon. They have masters of defence who teach the art ; and they practise it very gracefully. But these arms are not often stained with the blood of an enemy. The musket has also become a favourite amongst them, although, in their hands, it is not very fatal. Till lately, they had only matchlocks, and their powder has been always very bad. The Hindu armies are never exercised in firing. Their Princes think it a useless expence to waste powder in any other way than in the field of battle. Of late, the Europeans have provided them with pieces of cannon, MILITARY SYSTEM. 547 of brass and cast iron. They had iron ones before, but they were com- posed of separate bars, fastened together, and of an enormous cahbre ; and, with this miserable artillery, they shot stone balls of more than a foot in diameter. They did not understand any way of pointing them but horizontally. Their ignorance of the European mode of serving the artillery was often the cause of many of them losing their lives. I have read, in a manuscript written here about sixty years ago, that, about that time, the Raja of Tanjore, for some grudge, having declared war against the Dutch, sent a considerable body of troops to take the fort of Negapatam. Some cannon shots were fired upon them from thence without taking effect. The King's troops, remarking that the bullets went high over their heads, advanced to the glacis, thinking they had nothing to fear from the artillery of their enemies. But the Dutch, taking the opportunity of their near approach, loaded their guns with grape-shot, and, taking a good aim, threw the whole army into disor- der, and taught them, to their cost, how easy it was to change the direc- tion of a cannon. The author, from whom I quote, adds, that, on the same occasion, a Brahman, in the service of the Raja, having gone too near the fort, his palanquin was struck with a cannon-shot, and shivered in pieces. He himself was unhurt, having cautiously quitted it a little before ; but his fear was so excessive that he fled, with the utmost precipitation ; swearing, from time to time, by the three hundred and thirty millions of gods, that he would never again, while he lived, go within ten leagues of any colony inhabited by European dogs. 4 A 2 APPENDIX. ON THE SECT OF THE JAINAS AND THE PRINCIPAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEM AND THE BRAHMANS. X HE details which I propose to give on the sect of the Jainas, their doctrines and particular customs, have been communicated to me by several learned per- sons, belonging to that sect, in various districts, and at différent times. But, as my instructors did not agree in all points, I have thought it most prudent to avoid all uncertainty, by omitting every thing on which there was a diversity of opinion, and to admit that only on which they were all agreed. I have hke- wise taken pains to ascertain the authenticity of great part of what follows, by consulting several Jaina books, which were for some time in my possession, and from which many of the particulars here given are abridged. So that I can venture to vouch for the accuracy of what I report. And I may be per- mitted here to say that it has been my constant rule, while I have been meditat- ing this work, in all cases to which my personal observation did not extend, or where I had not the authority of books, to reject whatever I had taken from one mouth, if I found it contradicted by others, during the whole range of my excursions in the different provinces of India. The name Jaina is composed of two words Ji and Na, signifying a person that has renounced the ordinary modes of thinking and living among mankind. For a true Jaina is bound to this separation from society, by his religion, which prescribes it, and also that he may avoid the scorn and sneers which the due performance of his sacred duties would there bring upon him ; and by that firm belief in holy things which he must hold inviolable to his dying hour. Yea, his religion is the only true one upon earth ; the primitive faith oi' all mankind. 550 JAINAS. [Appendix. In the progress of time, the true religion was gradually abused in different essential points ; and abominations, corruptions, and superstitions of every kind have usurped its place. The Brahmans who gained the ascendant, swerved from all the old religious maxims of their Hindu ancestors, laying aside the venerable traditions of their masters, and substituting in their place a monstrous combination in which there cannot be seen a trace ' of tlie primitive doctrines. The Brahmans are undoubtedly the inventors of the Vedas, the eighteen Puranas, the Trimurti, and the extravagant fables of the Avataras of Vishnu, the infamy of the Lingam, the worship of the Cow and other Animals^ and of sensible objects, the sacrifice of the Yajna, and many other absurdities not less reprehensible. The whole of these are rejected by the Jainas, who hold them to be a mass of abominations, innovations, and corruptions of the true and primitive religion. These depravations of the Brahmans were not indeed introduced suddenly and at once, but insensibly and little by little. The Jainas who then formed, with the Brahmans, a part of the same general body of Hindus, all possessing the same common religion, were unwilling to come to an open rupture, but never ceased, from the outset, to oppose with all their might the dangerous in- novations and changes which that proud body were introducing into the pure system which every class of Indians had professed from the remotest times. But the sound believers at that period, perceiving that all their endeavours to preserve the true religion pure and unspotted, were unavailing, and that the Brahmans were continually advancing in apostacy with rapid strides, and seemed determined to bring matters to a crisis by drawing over the thoughtless multitude into the torrent on which they themselves had embarked, were forced into the unpleasant necessity of an open rupture. This became absolutely unavoidable when, after so many other innovations, the Brahmans introduced the dangerous novelty of the sacrifice of Yajna, in which a living offering, generally a ram, is sacrificed, in contradiction to the most sacred and in- violable principles of the Hindus, that uniformly and rigorously interdicted every species of slaughter, which, in its most innocent form, no necessity could justify. After that detestable innovation, matters came to an extremity. The Jainas assumed that appellation, which sufficiently denoted the course they were to pursue. They kept no longer any terms, but declared themselves in a state of open insurrection against the corrupters of the true primitive religion. They witlidrew from the Brahmans and all their adherents, and formed the body of Jainas such as it now exists, and composed of some faithful Brahmans, of Ksha- II Appendix.] JAINAS. 55'J triya or Soldiers, of Vaisya or Merchants, and of Sudras or Cultivators. These four divisions now compose the posterity of the Hindus of every cast who united together, in early times, to oppose the innovations of the Bralunans, and who have preserved in purity the pristine religion of the country. After this rupture, tlie Jainas, or true believers, never desisted, during a long course of time, to oppose the progress of tlie Brahmans, and to reproach them with their apostacy and impious conduct. The points on which they diftéred had been till then the subjects merely of learned controversy, but now aflbrded grounds for a long and bloody war, in which the Jainas held up for a long time against tlieir adversaries. But the wicked innovations of tlie Brahmans having gradually been adopted by most of the Kshatriya or Rajas, and the great majority of the other tribes, they became the more powerful party, and succeeded at last in beating down the Jainas and reducing them to a state of abject submission ; everywhere demolishing the places and objects of their worship, depriving them of their religious and civil liberty, excluding them from all places and employ- ments, and reducing them to such absolute distress that in many provinces of India there does not remain the slightest vestige of the Jainas or their worship. This persecution and religious war, the commencement of Avhich cannot be exactly ascertained, as, according to all appearances, it must have begun at a very remote period, seems to have continued to modern times ; as we are assured that Kings and other Jaina Princes exercised their government in many countries of the peninsula within tiiese four or five hundred years ; and it is asserted that it was under their protection, and by their assistance, that several of the temples and other public monuments were erected, which are at present held by that sect and are to be found in the different provinces. The Brahmans are now universally predominant. The Jainas no where pos- sess the land nor even confidential employments ; but conform themselves in all places to the ordinary life of other Hindus, addicting themselves, like the rest, to agriculture and trade. The tribe of Vaisya, the most numerous of any, is almost exclusively engaged in traffic, and chiefly in that of vessels of cop- per and other metals used by the Hindus in their kitchens. yiie Brahmans intermixed with the Jainas are not numerous. I have been informed, however, that in the south of the Mysore, at the distance of three or four days journey from the place where I am now writing, there are fifty or sixty families of Brahman-Jainas who have a temple for their own special use, with a Brahman Guru of their sect, who officiates in it, at a village called Mahleyore. 552 JAINAS. [Appendix. In the principal temples pertaining to the sect, those for example of Bala- gola, Madhu-giri and others, the Gurus or priests who perform the sacred functions, are taken from the tribe of Vaisya or Merchants, and not from that of Brahmans. This usui'pation on the part of the Vaisya, added to the reproach they lie under of having corrupted or altered the true religion of the Jainas, by mixing it with several superstitious practices of their opponents, has excited against them the jealousy and distrust of the Brahmans of the sect, who treat them as Pat/la or heretics. But the differences between them have never broken out into an open rupture. The body of Jainas is divided into two principal sects, one of which bears the name of Jaijia-Basru, and the other Kashta-Chanda-S'wetambari. Accord- ing to the system of the latter, there is no other Moksha or Miikti ; that is to say, there is no other supreme fehcity or object of mankind, but the carnal enjoyment of the sexes. This article forms the distinguishing feature of their system, although they also differ in several other points fiom the Jaina-Basru. This last sect is more numerous than the other, and we offer this short abridge- ment of the doctrines which they teach. Religious System of the Jainas. They acknowledge but one Supreme Being, one God only, to whom they give the appellations of Jaineswara, Para-matma, Par-apara-vastu, and several others, all expressive of his infinite nature. To this Being alone men ought to oflter up their adoration and sacrifices. The adoi'ation and otlier marks of respect which tlie Jainas frequently offer to their Tirthuru, their Chakravartis and to several other objects of worship held sacred among them, and represented under a human shape, naturally refer to the Supreme Being alone : for those holy personages, in taking possession after death of the Moksha or Mukti, the supreme felicity, have become intimately united and inseparably incorporated with the Divinity. The Supreme Being is one and indivisible, spiritual and without parts or ex- tension. His four principal attributes are as follows : 1. Ananta Gnanam : — Wisdom infinite. 2. Ananta Darsanam .• — Intuition infinite ; or knowing all things, and being every where present. 3. Ananta Virijam : — Infinite power. 4. Ananta Sukham : — Infinite happiness, Appendix.] JAINAS. r^r^e^ This great Omnipotent is wholly absorbed in the contemplation of his own infinite perfections and in the enjoyment of his own blessedness. He concerns not himself at all with earthly things, and intermeddles not with the order and government of this great universe. The virtue and vice, the good and evil which prevail in the world are equally indifferent to him. Virtue, being just and good in its own nature ; those who practise it in this world, shall find an unbounded reward in another life, in a happy regeneration, or in immediate introduction to the Swarga. Vice, being unjust and wicked in its nature, the vicious shall find a suitable punishment in an evil resurrection, or in descending straight into the infernal Naraka, there to expiate their crimes. But, in neither case, does the divinity interfere. He takes no concern in their actions here, nor in their rewards or punishments in a future state. Matter is eternal, and independent of the Divinity. Whatever exists now, has always existed, and will continue for ever. Not only is matter eternal, but the order also that prevails in the universe, such as the fixed and uniform motion of the stars, the separation of light from darkness, the succession and renovation of the seasons, the production, and re- production of animal and vegetable life. In short, whatsoever is visible is also everlasting ; and whatsoever is shall endure without considerable alteration. Metempsychosis. The most prominent dogma of the religion of the Jainas is that of the trans- migration of the soul of one body into another after death. The transition is from the body of one man into that of another man, or into that of a brute : and a soul is either elevated or degraded in this way, according to the previous virtue or vice of the possessor. The Jainas attempt to explain their system of future retribution in the fol- lowing way. Althougii a man may not have to reproach himself with great crimes, yet still the slightest tinge of vice discolours the genuine hue of virtue, and the offender must suffer transmigration into the body of an insect, a reptile, a bird, or a quadruped, and is degraded in this respect, less or more, according to the degree of his offences. When the balance of virtue and vice stands nearly equal, and still more when the good outweighs the evil, the soul removes into the body of a rational crea- 4 B 554 JAINAS. [Appendix. ture, and regains a new existence, more or less happy in proportion to the degree of virtue vvhicli it preserved in the other world. The noblest transmi- gration of all is into a Brahman or into a cow. When an individual has led a life eminently virtuous, he passes directly after his decease to Swarga. When a wicked man dies, he goes headlong into Naraka. In these several particulars, the system of the Jainas differs very little from that of their enemies the Brahmans ; but they differ more widely in their opi- nions concerning the Lokas or 'worlds. For the Jainas entirely reject the four- teen Lokas of the Brahmans and also their three principal abodes of happiness, the Satya-loka, Vaiku7itlia and Kailasa, the paradises of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. The Jainas admit but of three worlds, which they express by the generic name of Jagat-tr/i/a. It comprises the UrddJma-loka, the paradise, which is the highest of all ; the Adha-loka, hell, and sometimes called Patala, the lowest of all ; and the Madhya-loha, or middle world, the earth, the abode of mortals. 1. The TJrddfma-loka or Swarga. That world, the first of the Jagat-triya, has Devendra for its king, and has for inhabitants only the virtuous few. There are sixteen mansions in the Swarga, in which a higher and a higher degree of happiness is enjoyed in pro- portion to the degree of virtue. The first and best of the sixteen, in which the highest felicity is found, is called Sadhu-dharma, and is attainable only by the eminently holy, who will here enjoy uninterrupted bliss for a period of thirty- three thousand years. The last and lowest of the sixteen abodes is called Achiida Karpa, where the moderately virtuous are admitted and enjoy hap- piness for a thousand years. In the intermediate places a degree of enjoyment greater or less is inherited ; and every virtuous soul has its mansion assigned according to its rank in merit. The chief happiness enjoyed in these abodes arises from the company of many women of exquisite beauty, from whose society tiie blessed draw the purest delight, by indulging the senses of sight and hearing alone, and without animal gratification. They are ravished to ecstacy by the continual view of those enchanting creatures, whose melodious voices fill them with transports of delight infinitely beyond what carnal pleasures can bestow. But this life does not continue for ever. After enjoying it for a fixed num- ber of years, in a state of less or greater intensity ofluipjjincss according to the elevation of their respective merits, they arp all iloomed, eacii at his own pr^- Appe-ndix.] JAINAS. g^ scribed period, to revisit the earth, where tlieir souls renew the transmigration from body to body. Adha-hka or Naraka : Hell. The Second World of the Jagat-triya is called Adha-loka or Naraka, and some- times Patala. This is the lowest world of all, where those who had led the most wicked lives on earth, whose sins were too numerous and flagrant to be expiated by the vilest possible state of transformation, are doomed to linger in some one of the seven dungeons, each more hideous than another. The first abode, or least terrible, is called Retna-pravai. The sinners who are relegated thither suffer torments for a thousand years. The second, or Sarkana-pravai, is destined for those who are subjected to the torment of three thousand years. The third is called Vahluka-pravai, where the punishment extends to seven thousand years. The fourth, named Panka-pravai detains its prisoners ten thousand years. Then follow Dhuma-pravai and Tama-pravai, the sixth and seventh, where the lengthened sufferings are for periods of seven- teen and twenty-two thousands of years. But in the last and most dreadful of all, the Maha-damay-pravai, the prison of the most obdurate and outrageous sinners, the torture is prolonged during a space of three and thirty thousand years. The souls of women, however guilty, being less capable of enduring the extremity of pain, are never doomed to the unutterable woes of this last region of the damned. Sinners of all classes have thus their assigned periods, places, and degrees of punishment ; and even in this ultimate place of horrors, the retribution is suited to the relative excess of wickedness and crime. One of the punishments, to which great criminals are there exposed, is to place them between two moun- tains, the sides of which are made to approach, and, by collapsing, flatten the bodies of the culprits, braying their bones to powder and spreading their sub- stance over the whole face of the mountains like a thin leaf of a tree. The mountains re-open and recede, and again unite with a shock, disclosing the un- happy wretch and crushing him again by turns. Nor does time bring relief, by ending his existence or deadening his sensibility to pain, until the long period revolves and returns him again to the earth, to animate in rotation a new series of bodies. In no region of the Naraka is the punishment perpetual ; never exceeding tliree and thirty thousand years, nor falling short of a thousand. 4 b 2 556 JAINAS. [Appendix. The Madhya-loka. The Third World of the Jagat-triya, is the Madhya-loka, the intermediate state, or world which men inhabit ; the abode of virtue and vice. This Loka is a Reju in extent, or the space which is traversed by the sun in half his yearly course. But Jambu-d-wipa, the earth in which we live, is but a small part of the Madhya-loka, and is no more than a vast continent, environed on all sides by a wide ocean. It contains a lake, extending a lak of Yojana in length, or about four hundred thousand leagues ; in the midst of which the famous mountain of Maha-meru raises its summit. The Jambu-dwipa is divided into four parts; Purva-videha, Apara-videha, Bha- rata-kshetra (in which India is situated), and Ahi-vratta. These are situated on the east, west, south, and north of the Maha-meru, respectively. They are like- wise divided from each other by boundaries consisting of six enormous moun- tains, called Himavat, Maha-hhnavat*, Nishadha, Nila, Ahrumani, Sikaris; the three first situated to the north of the lake, and the others to the south. All these mountains stretch in one direction from east to west, and cross the whole Jambu-dwipa from sea to sea. In the space which intervenes between one mountain and another, immense plains are situated, where the trees, the shrubs, and the fruits are of a crimson hue. Children of either sex, born in those regions, are fit for propagation forty- eight hours after their birth. Men there are exempt fiom pain and disease. Ever happy and contented, they feast on the succulent plants and delicious fruits which the unsolicited earth yields them spontaneously : and placid even is their death, which translates them into the elysium oï Swarga. On the summit of Mount Maha-himavat, a mighty fountain springs, from which the Ganges and Indus, with twelve other great rivers, take their origin. These fourteen streams preserve a regular and unintermitting flow. Unlike the spurious Indus and Ganges of the Brahmans, they are always unfordable, and subject neither to flooding nor desiccation, to ebbing or flowing ; but keep their even course through the boundless plain, till they mingle their waves with the ocean. TheJaina names for these fourteen rivers areGanga, Sindu, Rohita-toya, Roliita, Harita-toya, Harikantha, Sitha, Sit'oda, Nari, Narikantha, Swarna-kula, Rupya- kula, Riktha, Rikth'oda. * May not these be the greater and lesser Iniiius ? Appendix.] JAINAS. ggfj The sea which encircles the Jambu-dwipa is two laks of yojana in breadth, or eight hundred thousand leagues. Beyond this great expanse of waters there is another Jam/m-chvipa or continent called Maha-lavani. It has also a race of inha- bitants, with its own Maha-meru, and sacred rivers intersecting its ample plains, ïiiis Jambu-dwipa is two laks of yojana in extent, and is surrounded with a sea four laks of yojana across. Beyond this sea there is another Jambu-dwipa, ca.\liidDahala-kishendah,which is double the extent of the preceding, and has two Maha-meru mountains. It is inhabited by human beings also, and has its holy fountains and rivers. The sea is here eight lacks of yojana across. On the other side of this ocean a fourth Jambu-dwipa is situated, with the impos- ing appellation of Puskara-vratta-dwipa, which again doubles the preceding in all its proportions ; has its two Mount Maha-merus, its streams, and its sur- rounding ocean. On the farther shores of this utmost sea, at a distance of sixteen laks of yojana, a mountain rears its head, with the name of Manush'otra-parvata, forming the Thermopyla3 of the human race, beyond which no earthly being has ever passed. The islands in that extreme ocean have never been visited by man. In each of the four Jambu-dwipas, there are several Tir thuru,Chakravarii, Vasu- devata, and other holy persons. The numbers of each class vary, but there are not less than twenty of any one, nor more than eighty. Succession and Division of Time. The duration of Time is divided into six periods, which have been succeeding each other without interruption from all eternity. At the close of each, a general and total revolution takes place through all nature ; and the world is renewed. The first and longest of these periods is called Pratama-lcala, and endures four koti of koti, or forty millions of millions of years. The second, Dintiya-kala, lasts thirty millions of millions. Tretiya-kala, the third, diminishes to twenty millions of millions. Chatwta-kala, the fourth, comes down to ten millions of millions, bating forty- two thousand years. The fifth period, called Panchama-kala, or time of inconstancy and change, is the very age in which we now live, and will last twenty one thousand years. This present year of the Christian œra, 1807, is the two thousand four hundred and fiftieth year of the Panchama-kala of the Jainas. 558 JAINAS. [Appendix. The recency of the commencement of this period, going back only 2450 years, strikes me as something remarkable, and inclines me to believe that it takes its origin from the epoch of their open rupture with theBrahmans, and their separation from the other Hindus. So famous an event might well give rise to a new era. If this point could be well ascertained, it would enable us to fix with more pro- bability than we can do now, the origin and antiquity of the greater number of Hindu tales ; because it was the invention, as it is thought, and the introduction of these fables into the religious system of the Hindus, that created the schism which still subsists between the Brahmans and Jainas. The sixth and last of the periods is called Shashta-kala, and will continue a thousand years. When it arrives, the element of fire shall disappear from the earth, and those who are then alive shall feed on unwholesome reptiles and such roots and herbs as they can find in their precarious search. In that last age there will be in the earth neither division nor abolition of casts, no public nor private property, no form of government, no kings nor laws. Men shall then have passed into a savage state. The period will close with a Pralayam, a flood which shall inundate all the earth except the mountain Vidyartha, which is of silver, and will alone remain unburied by the waters. The flood will be occasioned by unceasing rain of forty-seven days, attended with a mixture and confusion of the elements. Some persons living near the mountain of silver will take refuge in the caves that are about it, and shall be saved from the universal ruin. When the flood retires, they will come forth from the mountain and replenish the earth. The six periods will commence again in their regular order and succeed one another as before. Kno'wledge and Learning of the Jainas. The learning and science of the Jainas is wholly deposited in four Vedas, twenty-four Furanas, and sixty-four Sastras. The names of the Puranas are the same with those of the twenty-four Tirthurus formerly mentioned, there being a Purana devoted to each Tirthuru and contain- ing his history. The names of the four Vedas are Pratamani-yoga, Charanani-yoga, Kara- nani-yoga, Dravyani-yoga. They were written by Jd'eswara, the most ancient and famous personage known among the Jainas. He flourished before the twenty- four Tirthurus, and burst upon this world from theSwarga. Assuming our nature, he underwent the life of a Brahman, a penitent, and a Nirvani. He lived a whole Purva Koti or a hundred million of millions of years. He is not only Appendix.] JAINAS. 559 the author of the Vedas, which he wrote with his own hand ; but he also divided men into different casts, laid down the rules by which they were to be directed, their form of government, and all the ordinances which still unite the Jainas to one another. Ad'eswara, in short, is in every respect to the Jainas what Brahma is to the Brahmans, and probably both are ibvmed from the same model. The Shalaka Piirusha. Besides Ad'eswara, who is considered as the most perfect of beings who ever appeared on our earth in human shape, the Jainas acknowledge sixty-three other famous personages whom they denominate by the generic appellation of Shalaka Purusha ; and their history is found recorded in the first of the Vedas, called Pratamani-yoga, and also in the twenty-four Puranas. Of these sixty-three holy personages, twenty-four are Tirthurus, twelve Chakravartis, nine Vasu-devatas, nine Bala-vasu-devatas, and nine Bala-ramas. The twenty-four Tirthurus are the most celebrated of these holy personages. Their condition was the most elevated that any human being can attain. They all lived in the most absolute state of Nirvani or naked penitents. They were subject to no human infirmity, weakness, or want, not even to mortality. After sojourning long upon earth in purity and holiness, they chose at last to depart, and by slow degrees their physical frame dissolved, yielding up to the five ele- ments the particles belonging to each, which were gradually attracted to the Moksha, the abode of the divinity, and united to his nature for ever. . The Tirthurus descended from the Swarga and assumed the human form in the tribe of Kshatriya or Rajas. They afterwards became Brahmans, having been initiated into that tribe by the ceremony of Dakshina. During their lives they gave an example of all the virtues, exhorting men to conform to the precepts and rules enjoined by Ad'eswara, and devoted themselves to the practice of penitence and contemplation. Several of them lived very long. The first existed some millions of years. The lives of the rest gradually diminished, and the last of all lived no more than eighty years. They flourislied in the age called Chaturta Kala, which immediately preceded that of our own times, and lasted a koti of kotis, or ten millions of millions of years. Some of them had been married before they became penitents, but afterwards renounced their wives in order to devote themselves to a contemplative and ascetic life. Others were penitents from their youth up. Their names are as follow: Vrishabha, Adita, Sambhava, Abhinandana, Sumati, Padma-prabha, Subh'arshava, Chandra-prabha, Pushpa-danti, Sitala, Sryansga, Vasu-pujya» 11 560 JAINAS. CAppendik. Vimala, Ananta, Dharma, Santi, Kuntu, Ara, Malla, Muni-suvratta, Mahny, Mihuny, Parasiva, Vardhamana. There are no Tirthurus at present in this division of the Jambu-dwipa, which those holy persons have disappeared from, several thousand years ago ; although they will return in future ages. Besides the Iwenty-four Tirthurus, the Jainas reckon also twelve Chakra-vartis in the number of their sixty-three Shalaka Purusha. These Chakra-vartis were a sort of emperors who had divided amongst them the dominion of the Jam- bu-dwipa. They were contemporary with the Tirthurus, and bore the following names : Bharata, Sagara, Maghava, Sanatkumara, Santi, Kuntu, Hara, Subama, Arasayana, Jaya-sena, Sur'endrata, Brahmadata. These twelve Chakra-vartis descended also from Swarga, and in the human form joined the tribes of Rajas. From thence some of them being- adopted into the cast of Brahmans became penitents, and were ultimately re- ceived into the state of endless felicity at their death. Others returned again to Swarga from which they had descended ; and the remaining part having led a dissolute life while in this world have been sent at their death to expiate their new crimes in Naraka. The twelve Chakra-vartis or emperors were frequently at war with each other. They were also frequently opposed by the nine Bala-vasu-devas, the nine Vasu-devatas and the nine Bala-ramas * ; these seven and twenty being a sort of half Chakra-vartis and reckoned amongst the sixty-three Shalaka- purusheru ; and their history is written in the first of the Vedas called Prata- mani-yoga, and also in the twenty-four Puranas and other sacred compositions. The second Veda of the Jainas has the name of Charanani-yoga, and de- scribes at length the rules of the casts of the various ranks and conditions in society, and several other matters of that kind. The third Veda, called Karanani-yoga, describes the nature, order, and composition of the Jagat-triya or three worlds. The fourth Veda, Dravyani-yoga, teaches the philosophy, including tlie metaphysical systems of the Jainas, described under the titles of six Dravya, five Panchashd Kay a, seven Tatva, and nine Fadartlia ; being twenty- seven in all, and comprising all that is extant on the philosopliical institutions of the Jainas. • The Rama of the Brahmans is found among the nine Bala-ramas of the Jainas, as Krishna is one of their nine Vasu-dcvata. The Braimians have usurped these two names in order to complete the Avataras of tiicir Vishnu. But they were not allowed to pass amongst the gods of the Brahmans until they had died and suifered the pains of Naraka, as the Jainas affirm. Appendix] JAINAS, 55J Rank of Sminyasi Nirvani, among the Jainas. The highest station to which a human being can attain is that of Sannynsi Nirvani or naked penitent. A person in this situation is no longer a man but becomes a part of the divinity, to whom he is in some measure assimilated by his devotions. When he has arrived at the highest possible degree in this pro- fession, he voluntarily lays it down, and, without dying, his earthly frame is. attenuated, and he obtains the Moksha by absorption into the godhead. No true Nirvani penitent now exists in this division of Jagat-triya ; and con- sequently no mortal is now capable of obtaining the Moksha or supreme feli- city ; because, to be qualified for that distinction, a man must have been a Brahman born, and must also pass through the state of a Nirvani penitent. Women never having aspired at any time to this rank, it follows that in no age, can persons of that sex have been qualified to receive the Moksha. After many millions of years and several millions of transmigrations from body to body, all men ultimately attain to the state of Nirvani penitent, and terminate their course by reunion with the divinity through the blessing of Moksha. But, before arriving at this sublime condition, it is requisite to pass through eleven inferior degrees of contemplation, forming a noviciate or course of pre- paration for the degree of Nirvani, during v/hich the penitent is gradually ac- quiring advancement in purity until he arrives at ultimate perfection. These eleven degrees are : Darsanaka, Vrataka, Samayika, Prasadhava-vachi, Sach-chitta-vrata, Ratri-vakta, Bramachari, Arama-vrata, Parijna-vrata, Anuman- vrata, Utachti-vrata, and Nirvani. When he has reached this lofty summit, the penitent is no longer of this world, but becomes wholly insensible to earthly concerns. He sees, with equal indifference, the good and the evil, the virtue and the vice which prevail amongst men. He is entirely exempted from human passions and their effects, and neither loves nor hates. He is beyond the wants of nature, and can bear all sorts of privations without pain. Hunger and thirst are no longer felt, and he can pass weeks or months without sustenance. When he submits to food, he takes indiscriminately whatever nourishment, either animal or vegetable, comes in his way. An excrement, if it comes the readiest, is not rejected. He knows not the shelter of a roof, the bare plain or shady forest being his only alternative. Having no wants, he lives in absolute independence and in total estrangement from other men. Though quite naked, he is utterly regardless of ■i c KcQ JAINAS. [[Appendix. wind or rain, of heat or cold. He is exempt from disease and infirmity. He has a lofty contempt for all men, let their rank or condition in life be ever so higii. Whether they do right or wrong he cares not. He casts not a look away on any man, nor receives any visit. He sufters no thought, nor affection, nor inclination, to wander from the Deity ; of whose essence he already con- siders himself to be a part. Absorbed in the contemplation of the divine perfections, what consideration has he to bestow on the world and all its vanities ? But a life of abstinence, hardship, and contemplation, during the eleven stages which have been enumerated, must gradually impair the bodily frame of the devotee. It wastes away like Karpura, the Indian camphire, in the furnace. The five principles of which it consists are imperceptibly dissipated ; the earth, the water, the fire, the wind, and the air, rejoining their kindred and native elements ; till nothing but a shadow or pliantom of the Nirvani i-emains. Arrived at this incomparable state of perfection, he quits this sublunary world, and goes to unite himself inseparably with the deity, and to enjoy in his bosom spiritual happiness, complete and everlasting. Civil rules of conduct among the Jainas. Their civil ordinances are in many respects the same as tliose of other casts of Hindus, and particularly those of the Brahmans. Their scrupulosity respect- ing purity and impurity is nearly as great, and they follow nearly the same modes of purification from external and internal pollution. For this purpose, the ablutions of the Jainas are not less frequent than those of any other tribe, and they are accompanied also with Mantras and other ceremonies. The customs of the Brahmans respecting the Triple Cord, Marriage, Mourning, Funerals and the other affairs of life, are also observed in substance by the Jainas. But they have some usages peculiar to themselves, such as the following. All casts and ranks amongst them wear the Triple Cord, which they are in- vested with when very young by the Gurus with much pomp and ceremony. They are not permitted to take any solid food before sunrise or after sunset. All meals are therefore served up while the great luminary is above the hori. zon ; and no circumstance of life can occur in which this rule may be dispensed with. They have no Tithi, or days appointed for celebrating the memory of the dead j which is one of the most prominent institutions among the Brahmans. Appendix.] JAINAS. ^qq With the Jainas, the dead are forgotten ahnost as soon as they are buried ; and, in three days after the funeral, there is no farther mention of them. They do not, hke most other Hindus, rub their foreheads with the ashes of cow-dung. But as, in India, it would appear rude to shew the bare skin of the whole forehead, they take the decoction of sandal wood and imprint upon it the little circular mark called Pota, or merely a strait line. Some of them exhibit the Pota, in form of a cross, on the head, neck, stomach, and each shoulder, in honour of their five principal Tirthurus. They are still more rigid than the Brahmans with regard to food. They scrupulously abstain not only from all inebriating drink and from all animal matter, but they also reject for nourishment some of the simple vegetable pro- ductions, such as the onion and garlic, and those sorts which are in general use in the country and known by the name of Katri-Kayi and Pudelenkayi, with other simples on which the Brahmans subsist. Their motive for this extreme reserve is the dread of committing murder by destroying the insects which abound in such plants. So that the principal and almost the sole article of food which remains to the Jainas, besides rice and milk, are the different species of peas and beans that grow in the country. They have a particular abhorrence of assa fœtida, which the Brahmans, on the contrary, are so excessively fond of that it has become an indispensable article in their kitchens. The Jainas eat no honey, not even as a medicine in sickness. Their dread of committing murder is so excessive, that the women, in clean- ing their houses, when they come to scour the floors with cow-dung, according to the general Hindu custom, commence with lightly sweeping the surface, to remove the insects which are hopping about, lest any of them should fall a victim to the scrubbing brush. For the like reason, when they are preparing to cook, they carefully exa- mine every article and ingredient they are to use, and tenderly shake off all the creeping creatures they find. Indeed, being of opinion that it is as great a crime to kill an insect as a man, the Jainas will not maltreat even those that seem, formed by nature for the sole purpose of tormenting human repose. When a bug is very teasing, they will remove him softly and put him on the ground without injury. Being afraid, for the same reason, of swallowing animated beings in the water which they drink, when they go to the tank or well to draw it, they carefully cover the mouth of the pitcher with a bit of gauze to exclude thç insects from entering with the water. A thirsty traveller, in the same manner, 4 c 2 5g4 JAINAS. [Appendix. when he wants to drink on his way, stoops down to the stream, and puts a cloth over his mouth, through which lie sucks the water, and so avoids the danger of" committing murder. Notwithstanding these peculiarities of customs and opinions, the Jainas enjoy a very extensive toleration in most parts of the peninsula. They have many elegant temples in various districts, where they perform their ceremonies, with- out interruption, and with abundance of pomp and splendour. There is a celebrated temple of this sect, in the Mysore, in a village called Sravana-Balagola, at some distance fi'om the fort of Seringapatam. Vast num- bers of pilgrims of this sect, from various provinces of the peninsula, are daily flocking to this sacred place to perform their vows. Of late years, however, it has lost much of its celebrity, on account of the frequent visits of Europeans from curiosity ; which, in the eyes of the devout natives, injure the sanctity of the place. I have been informed that the Guru or pontift' of the sect, who for- merly resided at this temple, felt himself so greatly insulted by these frequent and inquisitive intrusions of European strangers, which he had no means of pre- venting, and so deeply affected with the grievous pollution which the very pre- sence of this sort of people, followed by their Pariah servants and dogs, brought upon the temple, that he quitted it in despair four years ago, and sought a refuge on the Malabar coast, where he might avoid such imjiortunate guests. Examples of this kind should be a lesson to Europeans, and teach them that they should be a little more circumspect in their intercourse with the Hindus ; that they should have some respect and tenderness for inveterate prejudices, and spare the timid devotees the pain and disgust which their presence cannot fail to excite. The village of Sravana Balagola is surrounded with three little hills, and it is in the bason which they form that this celebrated Jaina temple is erected. At the top of one of those hills there is hewn out of the rock a gigantic image sixty or seventy feet high ; which may be seen at a distance of several leagues. It must have been a work of great labour to cut out so enormous a figure to such a depth in the rock. It may be taken as a sample of the Hindu style of sculpture ; and it has appeared to many European travellers who have visited it not to be devoid of jiroportion. It represents a celebrated ancient Nirvani penitent, called Gautama, a younger son of their great Adiswara. It is in a standing jmsture and altogether naked. The same figure is re|)resented in the interior of the temple at the foot of the mountain, also naked, but sitting cross-legged. On the outside of the II Appendix.] JAINAS. « ,. _ walls there are niches containing images of the twenty-fbur Tirthurus and seve- ral other objects of Jaina worship. It ap])ears deserving of notice that the principal objects of veneration to be met with in the greater part of the large temples of the Jainas are represented of a gigantic size, and all naked ; which proves that they have generally been intended to commemorate some of their Nirvani penitents. The Jainas meddle not at all with the cerefnonies of the Brahmans ; nor will they on any account suffer their own to be touched by them ; shewing upon all occasions the utmost jealousy of any attempts at superiority on the part of that sect, to whom they never yield the smallest mark of attention or deference. So strongly does this sentiment prevail on both sides, that the two sects cannot possibly live together or agree in any one point. A perpetual distrust keeps them asunder ; and if self interest leads them at any time to a good understanding and familiar intercourse with each other, it is altogether insin- cere and hollow, their secret hatred and abhorrence being generally the greatest when they a])pear to be the most in union. It is said that some casts of Brah- mans introduce into their daily prayers a malediction against the Jainas j who, by way of reprisal, every morning, as soon as they are awake, pronounce these words : " Brahma Ks/iayam," Let the Brahmans perish ! The decided hatred that subsists between the two sects is outwardly mani- fested in their conduct to each other under all circumstances of life. In the countries where the Brahmans have the ascendant, they exclude the Jainas from all employments, and where the latter are the strongest they lose no oc- casion of mortifying the Brahmans, of humbling their pride, and making them feel that they have not yet forgotten the injuries and persecutions of every kind which their ancestors had to endure from the Brahmans of former times. Printed by A. Strahan, New-Street-Square, London. \Hlu[ ^/^aj. 4of nVlI^rnT "^G'ONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 900^'J^ Return this material to the librarv ___Jromwhich it was borrowed. 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