Essays on the Religion and Philosophy of the Hindus

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II. On the DUTIES of a faithful Hindu widow.
[From the Asiatic Researches, vol. iv. p. 209-219. Calcutta, 1795. 4to.]

While the light which the labours of the Asiatic Society have thrown on the sciences and religion of the Hindus, has drawn the attention of the literary world to that subject, the hint thrown out by the President for rejecting the authority of every publication preceding the translation of the Gita, does not appear to have made sufficient impression. Several late compilations in Europe betray great want of judgment in the selection of authorities; and their motley dress of true and false colours tends to perpetuate error; for this reason it seems necessary on every topic to revert to original authorities, for the purpose of cancelling error or verifying facts already published; and this object will no way be more readily attained, than by the communication of detached essays on each topic, as it may present itself to the Orientalist in the progress of his researches.

From this or any other motive for indulgence, should the following authorities from Sanscrit books be thought worthy of a place in the next volume of the Society's Transactions, I shall be rewarded for the pains taken in collecting them.

'Having first bathed, the widow, dressed in two clean garments, and holding some cum grass, sips water from the palm of her hand. Bearing cusa and tila [Sesamum.] on her hand, she looks towards the east or north, while the Brahmana utters the mystic word 'Om. Bowing to Narayana, she next declares: [This declaration is called the Sancalpa.] "On this month, so named in such a pacsha, on such a tit'hi, I (naming herself and her family [Gotra, the family or race. Four great families of Brahmanas are now extant, and have branched into many distinct races. Since the memorable massacre of the Cshatriyas, by Parasu-Rama, the Cshatriyas describe themselves from the same Gotras as the Brahmanas.]) that I may meet Arundhati [Wife of Vasisht'ha. and reside in Swarga; that the years of my stay may be numerous as the hairs on the human body; that I may enjoy with my husband the felicity of heaven, and sanctify my paternal and maternal progenitors, and the ancestry of my husband's father; that lauded by the Apsarases, I may be happy with my lord, through the reigns of fourteen Indras; that expiation be made for my husband's offences, whether he has killed a Brahmana, broken the ties of gratitude, or murdered his friend, thus I ascend my husband's burning pile. I call on you, ye guardians of the eight regions of the world; Sun and Moon! Air, Fire, Aether, [Acasa.] Earth, and Water! My own soul! Yama! Day, Night, and Twilight! And thou, Conscience, bear witness: I follow my husband's corpse on the funeral pile."' [In several publications the woman has been described as placing herself on the pile before it be lighted; but the ritual quoted is conformable to the text of the Bhagavata. "When the corpse is about to be consumed in the sahotaja, the faithful wife who stood without, rushes on the fire. " — NAREDA to Yud'hisht'hira, announcing the death and funeral of Dhbitarashtra. See Bhagavata, book i., ch. 13. The sahotaja is a cabin of grass or leaves, sometimes erected on the funeral pile. "The shed on the funeral pile of a Muni is [called] parnotaja and sahotaja." See the vocabulary entitled Haravali.]

'Having repeated the Sancalpa, she walks thrice round the pile; and the Brahmana utters the following mantras:

'"'Om! Let these women, not to be widowed, good wives, adorned with collyrium, holding clarified butter, consign themselves to the fire. Immortal, not childless, nor husbandless, well adorned with gems, let them pass into fire, whose original element is water." (From the Rigveda.)

'"'Om! Let these faithful wives, pure, beautiful, commit themselves to the fire, with their husband's corpse." (A Pauranica mantra.)

'With this benediction, and uttering the mystic Namo Namah, she ascends the flaming pile.'

While the prescribed ceremonies are performed by the widow, the son, or other near kinsman, of the deceased, applies the first torch, with the forms directed for funeral rites in the Grihya, [Extracts or compilations from the sacred books, containing the particular forms for religious ceremonies, to be observed by the race or family for whom that portion of the sacred writings has been adopted, which composes their Grihya.] by which his tribe is governed.

The Sancalpa is evidently formed on the words of Angiras:

"The wife who commits herself to the flames with her husband's corpse, shall equal ARUNDHATI, and reside in Swarga;

"Accompanying her husband, she shall reside so long in Swarga as are the thirty-five mittions of hairs on the human body.

"As the snake-catcher forcibly drags the serpent from his earth, so, bearing her husband [from hell], with him she shall enjoy heavenly bliss.

"Dying with her husband, she sanctities her maternal and paternal ancestors; and the ancestry of him to whom she gave her virginity.

"Such a wife, adoring her husband, in celestial felicity with him, greatest, most admired, [The word in the text is expounded "lauded by the choirs of heaven, Gand'harvas," &c.] with him shall enjoy the delights of heaven, while fourteen Indras reign.

"Though her husband had killed a Brahmana, [The commentators are at the pains of shewing that this expiation must refer to a crime committed in a former existence; for funeral rites are refused to the murderer of a Brahmana.] broken the ties of gratitude, or murdered his friend, she expiates the crime." (Angiras.)

The mantras are adopted on the authority of the Brahme purana.

"While the pile is preparing, tell the faithful wife of the greatest duty of woman; she is loyal and pure who burns herself with her husband's corpse. Hearing this, fortified [in her resolution], and full of affection, she completes the Pitrimedha yoga [Act of burning herself with her husband.] and ascends to Swarga." (Brahme purana.)

It is held to be the duty of a widow to burn herself with her husband's corpse; but she has the alternative,

"On the death of her husband, to live as Brahmachari, or commit herself to the flames." (Vishnu.)

The austerity intended consists in chastity, and in acts of piety and mortification.

"The use of tambulam dress, and feeding off vessels of tutenague is forbidden to the Yati, [Sannyasi.] the Brahmachari, and the widow."(Prachetas.)

"The widow shall never exceed one meal a day, nor sleep on a bed; if she do so, her husband falls from Swarga."

"She shall eat no other than simple food, and [If she has no male descendants. See Madana Parijata.] shall daily offer the tarpana of cusa, tila, and water. [Oblations for the manes of ancestors to the third degree, though not exclusively; for the prayer includes a general petition for remoter ancestors. Yet daily oblations (Vaisvadeva) are separately offered for ancestors beyond the third degree.]

"In Vaisac'ha, Cartica, and Magha, she shall exceed the usual duties of ablution, alms, and pilgrimage, and often use the name of GOD [in prayer]." (The Smriti.)

After undertaking the duty of a Sati, should the widow recede, she incurs the penalties of defilement.

"If the woman, regretting life, recede from the pile, she is defiled; but may be purified by observing the fast called Prajapalya." [It extends to twelve days; the first three, a spare meal may be taken once in each day; the next three, one in each night; the succeeding three days, nothing may be eaten but what is given unsolicited; and the last three days are a rigid fast.] (Apastamba.)

Though an alternative be allowed, the Hindu legislators have shown themselves disposed to encourage widows to burn themselves with their husband's corpse.

Harita thus defines a loyal wife: "She, whose sympathy feels the pains and joys of her husband; who mourns and pines in his absence, and dies when he dies, is a good and loyal wife." (Harita.)

"Always revere a loyal wife, as you venerate the Devatas: for, by her virtues, the prince's empire may extend over the three worlds." (Matsya purana.)

"Though the husband died unhappy by the disobedience of his wife; if from motives of love, disgust [of the world], fear [of living unprotected], or sorrow, she commit herself to the flames, she is entitled to veneration." (Maha Bharata.)

Obsequies for suicides are forbidden; but the Rigveda expressly declares, that "the loyal wife [who burns herself], shall not be deemed a suicide. When a mourning of three days has been completed, the 'Sraddha is to be performed." [The shortness of the mourning is honourable: the longest mourning is for the lowest tribe.] This appears from the prayer for the occasion, directed in the Rigveda.

Regularly the chief mourner for the husband and for the wife, would in many cases be distinct persons: but the Bhavishya purana provides, that "When the widow consigns herself to the same pile with the corpse of the deceased, whoever performs the Criya for her husband, shall perform it for her."

"As to the ceremonies from the lighting of the funeral pile to the Pinda] whoever lights the pile shall also offer the Pinda." (Vayu purana.)

In certain circumstances the widow is disqualified for this act of a Sati.

"She who has an infant child, or is pregnant, or whose pregnancy is doubtful, or who is unclean, may not, princess, ascend the funeral pile.

"So said Nareda to the mother of Sagara."

"The mother of an infant shall not relinquish the care of her child to ascend the pile; nor shall one who is unclean [from a periodical cause], or whose time for purification after childbirth is not passed, nor shall one who is pregnant, commit herself to the flames. [It has been erroneously asserted, that a wife, pregnant at the time of her husband's death, may burn herself after delivery. Hindu authorities positively contradict it. In addition to the text it may be remarked, that it is a maxim, "What was prevented in its season, may not afterwards be resumed."] But the mother of an infant may, if the care of the child can be otherwise provided." (Vrihaspati.)

In the event of a Brahmana dying in a distant country, his widow is not permitted to burn herself.

"A Vipra or Bramani may not ascend a second pile." (Gotama.)

But with other castes, this proof of fidelity is not precluded by the remote decease of the husband, and is called Anugamana.

"The widow, on the news of her husband's dying in a distant country, should expeditiously burn herself: so shall she obtain perfection." (Vyasa.)

"Should the husband die on a journey, holding his sandals to her breast, let her pass into the flames." (Brahme purana.)

The expression is not understood of sandals exclusively; for Usanas or Sucra declares:

"Except a Vipra, the widow may take any thing that belonged to her husband, and ascend the pile.

"But a Vipra may not ascend a second pile; this practice belongs to other tribes." (Sucra.)

In two of the excepted cases, a latitude is allowed for a widow desirous of offering this token of loyalty, by postponing the obsequies of the deceased: for Vyasa directs that, ''If the loyal wife be distant less than the journey of a day, and desire to die with her husband, his corpse shall not be burnt until she arrive." And the Bhavishya purana permits that "the corpse be kept one night, if the third day of her uncleanness had expired when her husband died."

With respect to a circumstance of time, [Occasional observances are omitted on intercalary days.] which might on some occasions be objected, the commentators obviate the difficulty, by arguing from several texts, "that to die with or after [her husband], is for a widow naimittica [Eventual; incumbent when a certain event happens.] and camya, [Optional; done for its reward.] and consequently allowable in the intercalary month:" for Cacsha teaches, that "whenever an act both naimittica and camya is in hand, it is then to be performed without consulting season." They are at the trouble of removing another difficulty:

"Dhritarashtra in the state of Samadhi, quitted his terrestrial form to proceed to the Mucti, or beatitude, which awaited him. When the leaves and wood were lighted to consume the corpse, his wife Gand'hari was seen to pass into the flames. Now also, a husband dying at Casi and attaining Mucti, it becomes his widow to follow the corpse in the flames."

It were superfluous to pursue commentators through all their frivolous distinctions and laborious illustrations on latent difficulties.

All the ceremonies essential to this awful rite are included in the instructions already quoted. But many practices have been introduced, though not sanctioned by any ritual. A widow who declares her resolution of burning herself with the corpse, is required to give a token of her fortitude: and it is acknowledged, that one who receded after the ceremony commenced, would be compelled by her relations to complete the sacrifice. This may explain circumstances described by some who have witnessed the melancholy scene.

Other ceremonies noticed in the relations of persons who have been present on such occasions, are directed in several rituals:

"Adorned with all jewels, decked with minium and other customary ornaments, with the box of minium in her hand, having made puja or adoration to the Devatas, thus reflecting that this life is nought: my lord and master to me was all, — she walks round the burning pile. She bestows jewels on the Brahmanas, comforts her relations, and shows her friends the attentions of civility: while calling the Sun and Elements to witness, she distributes minium at pleasure; and having repeated the Sancalpa, proceeds into the flames. There embracing the corpse, she abandons herself to the fire, calling Satya! Sattya! Satya!"

The by-standers throw on butter and wood: for this they are taught that they acquire merit exceeding ten million fold the merit of an Aswamedha, or other great sacrifice. Even those who join the procession from the house of the deceased to the funeral pile, for every step are rewarded as for an Aswamedha. Such indulgences are promised by grave authors: they are quoted in this place only as they seem to authorize an inference, that happily the martyrs of this superstition have never been numerous. It is certain that the instances of the widow's sacrifices are now rare: on this it is only necessary to appeal to the recollection of every person residing in India, how few instances have actually occurred within his knowledge. And, had they ever been frequent, superstition would hardly have promised its indulgences to spectators.

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III. On the Religious ceremonies of the Hindus, and of the Brahmens especially.

ESSAY I.

[From the Asiatic Researches, vol. v. p. 345-368. Calcutta, 1798. 4to.]

The civil law of the Hindus containing frequent allusions to their religious rites, I was led, among other pursuits connected with a late undertaking, to peruse several treatises on this subject, and to translate from the Sanscrit some entire tracts, and parts of others. From these sources of information, upon a subject on which the Hindus are by no means communicative, I intend to lay before the Society, in this and subsequent essays, an abridged explanation of the ceremonies, and verbal translations of the prayers used at rites, which a Hindu is bound constantly to perform. In other branches of this inquiry, the Society may expect valuable communications from our colleague, Mr. W. C. Blaquiere, who is engaged in similar researches. That part of the subject to which I have confined my enquiries will be also found to contain curious matter, which I shall now set forth without comment, reserving for a subsequent essay the observations which are suggested by a review of these religious practices.

A Brahmana rising from sleep, is enjoined, under the penalty of losing the benefit of all rites performed by him, to rub his teeth with a proper withe, or a twig of the racemiferous fig-tree, pronouncing to himself this prayer: "Attend, lord of the forest; Soma, king of herbs and plants, has approached thee: mayest thou and he cleanse my mouth with glory and good auspices, that I may eat abundant food." The following prayer is also used upon this occasion: "Lord of the forest! grant me life, strength, glory, splendour, offspring, cattle, abundant wealth, virtue, knowledge, and intelligence." But if a proper withe cannot be found, or on certain days, when the use of it is forbidden, (that is, on the day of the conjunction, and on the first, sixth, and ninth days of each lunar fortnight), he must rinse his mouth twelve times with water.

Having carefully thrown away the twig which has been used, in a place free from impurities, he should proceed to bathe, standing in a river, or in other water. The duty of bathing in the morning, and at noon, if the man be a householder, and in the evening also, if he belong to an order of devotion, is inculcated by pronouncing the strict observance of it no less efficacious than a rigid penance, in expiating sins, especially the early bath in the months of Magha, P'halguna, and Cartica: and the bath being particularly enjoined as a salutary ablution, he is permitted to bathe in his own house, but without prayers, if the weather, or his own infirmities, prevent his going forth: or he may abridge the ceremonies, and use fewer prayers, if a religious duty, or urgent business, require his early attendance. The regular bath consists of ablutions followed by worship, and by the inaudible recitation of the Gayatri with the names of the worlds. First sipping water, and sprinkling some before him, the priest recites the three subjoined prayers, while he performs an ablution, by throwing water eight times on his head, or towards the sky, and concludes it by casting water on the ground, to destroy the demons who wage war with the gods. 1st. "O waters! since ye afford delight, grant us present happiness, and the rapturous sight of the supreme god." 2d. "Like tender mothers, make us here partakers of your most auspicious essence." 3d. "We become contented with your essence, with which ye satisfy the universe. Waters! grant it unto us." (Or, as otherwise expounded, the third text may signify, 'Eagerly do we approach your essence, which supports the universal abode. Waters! grant it unto us.') In the Agni purana, the ablution is otherwise directed: "At twilight, let a man attentively recite the prayers addressed to water, and perform an ablution, by throwing water on the crown of his head, on the earth, towards the sky; again towards the sky, on the earth, on the crown of his head, on the earth, again on the crown of his head, and lastly on the earth." Immediately after this ablution, he should sip water without swallowing it, silently praying in these words: "Lord of sacrifice! thy heart is in the midst of the waters of the ocean; may salutary herbs and waters pervade thee. With sacrificial hymns and humble salutation we invite thy presence; may this ablution be efficacious." Or he may sip water while he utters inaudibly the mysterious names of the seven worlds. Thrice plunging into water, he must each time repeat the expiatory text which recites the creation; and having thus completed his ablution, he puts on his mantle after washing it, and sits down to worship the rising sun.

This ceremony is begun by his tying the lock of hair on the crown of his head, while he recites the Gayatri, holding much cusa grass in his left, and three blades of the same grass in his right hand; or wearing a ring of grass on the third finger of the same hand. Thrice sipping water with the same text preceded by the mysterious names of worlds, and each time rubbing his hands as if washing them; and finally, touching with his wet hand, his feet, head, breast, eyes, ears, nose, and navel, or his breast, navel, and both shoulders only (according to another rule), he should again sip water three times, pronouncing to himself the expiatory text which recites the creation. If he happen to sneeze or spit, he must not immediately sip water, but first touch his right ear, in compliance with the maxim, 'after sneezing, spitting, blowing his nose, sleeping, putting on apparel, or dropping tears, a man should not immediately sip water, but first touch his right ear.' "Fire," says Parasara, "water, the Vedas, the sun, moon, and air, all reside in the right ears of Brahmanas. Ganga is in their right ears, sacrificial fire in their nostrils; at the moment when both are touched, impurity vanishes." This, by the by, will explain the practice of suspending the end of the sacerdotal string from over the right ear, to purify that string from the defilement which follows an evacuation of urine. The sipping of water is a requisite introduction of all rites; without it, says the Samba purana, all acts of religion are vain. Having therefore sipped water as above-mentioned, and passed his hand filled with water briskly round his neck while he recites this prayer, "May the waters preserve me!" the priest closes his eyes and meditates in silence, figuring to himself that "Brahma', with four faces and a red complexion, resides in his navel; Vishnu, with four arms and a black complexion, in his heart; and Siva, with five faces and a white complexion, in his forehead." The priest afterwards meditates the holiest of texts during three suppressions of breath. Closing the left nostril with the two longest fingers of his right hand, he draws his breath through the right nostril, and then closing that nostril likewise with his thumb, holds his breath while he meditates the text: he then raises both fingers off the left nostril, and emits the breath he had suppressed. While he holds his breath, he must, on this occasion, repeat to himself the Gayatri with the mysterious names of the worlds, the triliteral monosyllable, and the sacred text of Brahme. A suppression of breath, so explained by the ancient legislator, Yajnyawalcya, consequently implies the following meditation: "'Om! Earth! Sky! Heaven! Middle region! Place of births! Mansion of the blessed! Abode of truth! We meditate on the adorable light of the resplendent generator, which governs our intellects; which is water, lustre, savour, immortal faculty of thought, Brahme, earth, sky, and heaven." According to the commentary, of which a copious extract shall be subjoined, the text thus recited signifies, "That effulgent power which governs our intellects is the primitive element of water, the lustre of gems and other glittering substances, the savour of trees and herbs, the thinking soul of living beings: it is the creator, preserver, and destroyer; the sun, and every other deity, and all which moves, or which is fixed in the three worlds, named, earth, sky, and heaven. The supreme Brahme, so manifested, illumines the seven worlds; may he unite my soul to his own radiance: (that is, to his own soul, which resides effulgent in the seventh world, or mansion of truth)." On another occasion, the concluding prayer, which is the Gyatri of Brahme, is omitted, and the names of the three lower worlds only are premised. Thus recited, the Gayatri, properly so called, bears the following import: "On that effulgent power, which is Brahme himself, and is called the light of the radiant sun, do I meditate, governed by the mysterious light which resides within me for the purpose of thought; that very light is the earth, the subtile ether, and all which exists within the created sphere; it is the threefold world, containing all which is fixed or moveable: it exists internally in my heart, externally in the orb of the sun; being one and the same with that effulgent power, I myself am an irradiated manifestation of the supreme Brahme." With such reflections, says the commentator, should the text be inaudibly recited.

These expositions are justified by a very ample commentary, in which numerous authorities are cited; and to which the commentator has added many passages from ancient lawyers, and from mythological poems, showing the efficacy of these prayers in expiating sin. As the foregoing explanations of the text are founded chiefly on the gloss of an ancient philosopher and legislator, Yajnyawalcya, the following extract will consist of little more than a verbal translation of his metrical gloss.

"The parent of all beings produced all states of existence, for he generates and preserves all creatures: therefore is he called the generator. Because he shines and sports, because he loves and irradiates, therefore is he called resplendent or divine, and is praised by all deities. We meditate on the light, which, existing in our minds, continually governs our intellects in the pursuits of virtue, wealth, love, and beatitude. Because the being who shines with seven rays, assuming the forms of time and of fire, matures productions, is resplendent, illumines all, and finally destroys the universe, therefore he, who naturally shines with seven rays, is called light or the effulgent power. The first syllable denotes that he illumines worlds; the second consonant implies that he colours all creatures; the last syllable signifies that he moves without ceasing. From his cherishing all, he is called the irradiating preserver."

Although it appears from the terms of the text, ("Light of the Generator or Sun,") that the sun and the light spoken of are distinct, yet, in meditating this sublime text, they are undistinguished; that light is the sun, and the sun is light; they are identical: "The same effulgent and irradiating power which animates living beings as their soul, exists in the sky as the male being residing in the midst of the sun." There is consequently no distinction; but that effulgence which exists in the heart, governing the intellects of animals, must alone be meditated, as one and the same, however, with the luminous power residing in the orb of the sun.

"That which is in the sun, and thus called light or effulgent power, is adorable, and must be worshipped by them who dread successive births and deaths, and who eagerly desire beatitude. The being who may be seen in the solar orb, must be contemplated by the understanding, to obtain exemption from successive births and deaths and various pains."

The prayer is preceded by the names of the seven worlds, as epithets of it, to denote its efficacy; signifying, that this light pervades and illumines the seven worlds, which, "situated one above the other, are the seven mansions of all beings: they are called the seven abodes, self-existent in a former period, renovated in this. These seven mysterious words are celebrated as the names of the seven worlds. The place where all beings, whether fixed or moveable, exist, is called Earth, which is the first world. That in which beings exist a second time, but without sensation, again to become sensible at the close of the period appointed for the duration of the present universe, is the World of Re-existence. The abode of the good, where cold, heat, and light, are perpetually produced, is named Heaven. The intermediate region between the upper and lower worlds, is denominated the Middle World. The heaven, where animals, destroyed in a general conflagration at the close of the appointed period, are born again, is thence called the World of Births. That in which Sanaca, and other sons of Brahma, justified by austere devotion, reside, exempt from all dominion, is thence named the Mansion of the Blessed. Truth, the seventh world, and the abode of BRAHME, is placed on the summit above other worlds; it is attained by true knowledge, by the regular discharge of duties, and by veracity: once attained, it is never lost. Truth is, indeed, the seventh world, therefore called the Sublime Abode."

The names of the worlds are preceded by the triliteral monosyllable, to obviate the evil consequence announced by Menu, "A Brahmana, beginning and ending a lecture of the Veda (or the recital of any holy strain), must always pronounce to himself the syllable om: for unless the syllable 6m precede, his learning will slip away from him; and unless it follow, nothing will be long retained." Or that syllable is prefixed to the several names of worlds, denoting that the seven worlds are manifestations of the power signified by that syllable. "As the leaf of the palasa," says Yajnyawalcya, "is supported by a single pedicle, so is this universe upheld by the syllable om, a symbol of the supreme Brahme." "All rites ordained in the Veda, oblations to fire, and solemn sacrifices, pass away; but that which passeth not away," says Menu, "is declared to be the syllable om, thence called acshara, since it is a symbol of God, the lord of created beings." (Menu, chap. ii. v. 74, 84.)

The concluding prayer is subjoined, to teach the various manifestations of that light, which is the sun himself. It is Brahme, the supreme soul. "The sun," says Yajnyawalcya, "is Brahme: this is a certain truth, revealed in the sacred Upanishads, and in various 'Sac' has of the Vedas.'' So the Bhawishya purana, speaking of the sun: "Because there is none greater than he, nor has been, nor will be, therefore he is celebrated as the supreme soul in all the Vedas."

That greatest of lights which exists in the sun, exists also as the principle of life in the hearts of all beings. It shines externally in the sky, internally in the heart: it is found in fire and in flame. This principle of life, which is acknowledged by the virtuous as existing in the heart and in the sky, shines externally in the ethereal region, manifested in the form of the sun. It is also made apparent in the lustre of gems, stones, and metals; and in the taste of trees, plants, and herbs. That is, the irradiating being, who is a form of Brahme, is manifested in all moving beings (gods, demons, men, serpents, beasts, birds, insects, and the rest) by their locomotion; and in some fixed substances, such as stones, gems, and metals, by their lustre; in others, such as trees, plants, and herbs, by their savour. Every thing which moves or which is fixed, is pervaded by that light, which in all moving things exists as the supreme soul, and as the immortal thinking faculty of beings which have the power of motion. Thus the venerable commentator says, "In the midst of the sun stands the moon, in the midst of the moon is fire, in the midst of light is truth, in the midst of truth is the unperishable being. " And again, "God is the unperishable being residing in the "sacred abode: the thinking soul is light alone; it shines with unborrowed splendour." This thinking soul, called the immortal principle, is a manifestation of that irradiating power who is the supreme soul.

This universe, consisting of three worlds, was produced from water. " He first, with a thought, created the waters, and placed in them a productive seed." (Menu, chap. i. v. 8.) Water, which is the element whence the three worlds proceeded, is that light which is also the efficient cause of creation, duration, and destruction, manifested with these powers, in the form of Brahma, Vishnu, and Rudra: to denote this, "earth, sky, and heaven," are subjoined as epithets of light. These terms bear allusion also to the three qualities of truth, passion, and darkness, corresponding with the three manifestations of power, as creator, preserver, and destroyer; hence it is also intimated, that the irradiating being is manifested as BRAHMA, VISHNU, and RUDRA, who are respectively endued with the qualities of truth, passion, and darkness. The meaning is, that this irradiating being, who is the supreme Brahme manifested in three forms or powers, is the efficient cause of the creation of the universe, of its duration and destruction. So in the Bhawishya purana, Crishna says, "The sun is the god of perception, the eye of the universe, the cause of day; there is none greater than he among the immortal powers. From him this universe proceeded, and in him it will reach annihilation; he is time measured by instants," &c. Thus the universe, consisting of three worlds, containing all which is fixed or moveable, is the irradiating being; and he is the creator of that universe, the preserver and destroyer of it. Consequently nothing can exist, which is not that irradiating power.

These extracts from two very copious commentaries will sufficiently explain the texts which are meditated while the breath is held as above mentioned. Immediately after these suppressions of breath, the priest should sip water, reciting the following prayer: "May the sun, sacrifice, the regent of the firmament, and other deities who preside over sacrifice, defend me from the sin arising from the imperfect performance of a religious ceremony. Whatever sin I have committed by night, in thought, word or deed, be that cancelled by day. Whatever sin be in me, may that be far removed. I offer this water to the sun, whose light irradiates my heart, who sprung from the immortal essence. Be this oblation efficacious." He should next make three ablutions with the prayers: "Waters! since ye afford delight," &c., at the same time throwing water eight times on his head, or towards the sky, and once on the ground as before; and again make similar ablutions with the following prayer: "As a tired man leaves drops of sweat at the foot of a tree; as he who bathes is cleansed from all foulness; as an oblation is sanctified by holy grass; so may this water purify me from sin:" and another ablution with the expiatory text which rehearses the creation. He should next fill the palm of his hand with water, and presenting it to his nose, inhale the fluid by one nostril, and retaining it for a while, exhale it through the other, and throw away the water towards the north-east quarter. This is considered as an internal ablution, which washes away sins. He concludes by sipping water with the following prayer: "Water! thou dost penetrate all beings; thou dost reach the deep recesses of the mountains; thou art the mouth of the universe; thou art sacrifice; thou art the mystic word vasha't; thou art light, taste, and the immortal fluid."

After these ceremonies he proceeds to worship the sun, standing on one foot, and resting the other against his ankle or heel, looking towards the east, and holding his hands open before him in a hollow form. In this posture he pronounces to himself the following prayers, 1st. "The rays of light announce the splendid fiery sun, beautifully rising to illumine the universe." 2d. "He rises, wonderful, the eye of the sun, of water, and of fire, collective power of gods; he fills heaven, earth, and sky, with his luminous net; he is the soul of all which is fixed or locomotive." 3d. "That eye, supremely beneficial, rises pure from the east; may we see him a hundred years; may we live a hundred years; may we hear a hundred years." 4th. "May we, preserved by the divine power, contemplating heaven above the region of darkness, approach the deity, most splendid of luminaries." The following prayer may be also subjoined: "Thou art self-existent, thou art the most excellent ray; thou givest effulgence: grant it unto me." This is explained as an allusion to the seven rays of the sun, four of which are supposed to point towards the four quarters, one upwards, one downwards; and the seventh, which is centrical, is the most excellent of all, and is here addressed in a prayer, which is explained as signifying, "May the supreme ruler, who generates all things, whose luminous ray is self-existent, who is the sublime cause of light, from whom worlds receive illumination, be favourable to us." After presenting an oblation to the sun, in the mode to be forthwith explained, the Gayatri must be next invoked, in these words: "Thou art light; thou art seed; thou art immortal life; thou art called effulgent: beloved by the gods, defamed by none, thou art the holiest sacrifice." And it should be afterwards recited measure by measure; then the two first measures as one hemistich, and the third measure as the other; and, lastly, the three measures without interruption. The same text is then invoked in these words: "Divine text, who dost grant our best wishes, whose name is trisyllable, whose import is the power of the Supreme Being; come, thou mother of the Vedas, who didst spring from Brahme, be constant here." The Gayatri is then pronounced inaudibly with the triliteral monosyllable and the names of the three lower worlds, a hundred or a thousand times, or as often as may be practicable, counting the repetitions on a rosary of gems set in gold, or of wild grains. For this purpose the seeds of the putrajiva, vulgarly named pitonhia, are declared preferable. The following prayers from the Vishnu purana conclude these repetitions: [I omit the very tedious detail respecting sins expiated by a set number of repetitions; but in one instance, as an atonement for unwarily eating or drinking what is forbidden, it is directed, that eight hundred repetitions of the Gayatri should be preceded by three suppressions of breath, touching water during the recital of the following text: "The bull roars; he has four horns, three feet, two heads, seven hands, and is bound by a threefold ligature: he is the mighty resplendent being, and pervades mortal men." The bull is Religious Duty personified. His four horns are the Brahma or superintending priest; the Udgatri or chanter of the Samaveda; the Hotri, or reader of the Rigveda, who performs the essential part of a religious ceremony; and the Ad'hwaryu, who sits in the sacred close, and chants the Yajurveda. His three feet are the three Vedas. Oblations and sacrifice are his two heads, roaring stupendously. His seven hands are the Hotri, Maitravaruna, Brahmanach'handasi, Gravastata, Ach'havac Neshtri, and Potri; names by which officiating priests are designated at certain solemn rites. The threefold ligature by which he is bound, is worshipped in the morning, at noon, and in the evening.]

"Salutation to the sun; to that luminary, O Brahme, who is the light of the pervader, the pure generator of the universe, the cause of efficacious rites." 2d. "I bow to the great cause of day (whose emblem is a full-blown flower of the yava tree), the mighty luminary sprung from Casyapa, the foe of darkness, the destroyer of every sin." Or the priest walks a turn through the south, rehearsing a short text: "I follow the course of the sun;" which is thus explained, "As the sun in his course moves round the world by the way of the south, so do I, following that luminary, obtain the benefit arising from a journey round the earth by the way of the south."

The oblation above-mentioned, and which is called arg'ha, consists of tila, flowers, barley, water, and red-sanders-wood, in a clean copper vessel, made in the shape of a boat; this the priest places on his head, and thus presents it with the following text: "He who travels the appointed path (namely, the sun) is present in that pure orb of fire, and in the ethereal region; he is the sacrificer at religious rites, and he sits in the sacred close; never remaining a single day in the same spot, yet present in every house, in the heart of every human being, in the most holy mansion, in the subtile ether; produced in water, in earth, in the abode of truth, and in the stony mountains, he is that which is both minute and vast." This text is explained as signifying, that the sun is a manifestation of the Supreme Being, present every where, produced every where, pervading  every place and thing. The oblation is concluded by worshipping the sun with the subjoined text: "His rays, the efficient causes of knowledge, irradiating worlds, appear like sacrificial fires."

Preparatory to any act of religion, ablutions must be again performed in the form prescribed for the mid-day bath; the practice of bathing at noon is likewise enjoined as requisite to cleanliness, conducive to health, and efficacious in removing spiritual as well as corporeal defilements: it must, nevertheless, be omitted by one who is afflicted with disease; and a healthy person is forbidden to bathe immediately after a meal, and without laying aside his jewels and other ornaments. If there be no impediment, such as those now mentioned or formerly noticed in speaking of early ablutions, he may bathe with water drawn from a well, from a fountain, or from the bason of a cataract; but he should prefer water which lies above ground, choosing a stream rather than stagnant water, a river in preference to a small brook, a holy stream before a vulgar river; and, above all, the water of the Ganges. In treating of the bath, authors distinguish various ablutions, properly and improperly so called; such as rubbing the body with ashes, which is named a bath sacred to fire; plunging into water, a bath sacred to the regent of this element; ablutions accompanied by the prayers, "O waters! since ye afford delight," &c. which constitute the holy bath; standing in dust raised by the treading of cows, a bath denominated from wind or air; standing in the rain during day-light, a bath named from the sky or atmosphere. The ablutions, or bath, properly so called, are performed with the following ceremonies.

After bathing and cleansing his person, and pronouncing as a vow, "I will now perform ablutions, " he who bathes should invoke the holy rivers: "O Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati, 'Satadru, Marudvid'ha and Jiyiciya! hear my prayers; for my sake be included in this small quantity of water with the holy streams of Parush'ti, Asicni, and Vitasta." He should also utter the radical prayer, consisting of the words "Salutation to Narayana." Upon this occasion a prayer extracted from the Paama purana is often used with this salutation, called the radical text; and the ceremony is at once concluded by taking up earth, and pronouncing the subjoined prayer: "Earth, supporter of all things, trampled by horses, traversed by cars, trodden by VISHNU! whatever sin has been committed by me, do thou, who art upheld by the hundred-armed Chrishna, incarnate in the shape of a boar, ascend my limbs and remove every such sin."

The text extracted from the Paama purana follows: "Thou didst spring from the foot of Vishnu, daughter of Vishnu, honoured by him; therefore preserve us from sin, protecting us from the day of our birth, even unto death. The regent of air has named thirty-five millions of holy places in the sky, on earth, and in the space between; they are all comprised in thee, daughter of Jahnu. Thou art called she who promotes growth; among the gods thou art named the lotos; able, wife of Prit'hu, bird, body of the universe, wife of SIVA, nectar, female cherisher of science, cheerful, favouring worlds, merciful, daughter of Jahnu, consoler, giver of consolation. Ganga, who flows through the three worlds, will be near unto him who pronounces these pure titles during his ablutions."

"When the ceremony is preferred in its full detail, the regular prayer is a text of the Veda. "Thrice did Vishnu step, and at three strides traversed the universe: happily was his foot placed on this dusty earth. Be this oblation efficacious!" By this prayer is meant, "may the earth thus taken up, purify me." Cow-dung is next employed, with a prayer importing, "Since I take up cow-dung, invoking thereon the goddess of abundance, may I obtain prosperity!" The literal sense is this: "I here invoke that goddess of abundance, who is the vehicle of smell, who is irresistible, ever white, present in this cow-dung, mistress of all beings, greatest of elements, ruling all the senses." Water is afterwards held up in the hollow of both hands joined, while the prayer denominated from the regent of water is pronounced: "Because Varuna, king of waters, spread a road for the sun, therefore do I follow that route. Oh! he made that road in untrodden space to receive the footsteps of the sun. It is he who restrains the heart-rending wicked." The sense is, "Varuna, king of waters, who curbs the wicked, made an expanded road in the ethereal region to receive the rays of the sun; I therefore follow that route. " Next, previous to swimming, a short prayer must be meditated: " Salutation to the regent of water! past are the fetters of VARUNA." This is explained as importing, that the displeasure of VARUNA at a man's traversing the waters, which are his fetters, is averted by salutation: swimming is therefore preceded by this address. The priest should next recite the invocation of holy rivers, and thrice throw water on his head from the hollow of both hands joined, repeating three several texts. 1st. "Waters! remove this sin, whatever it be, which is in me; whether I have done any thing malicious towards others, or cursed them in my heart, or spoken falsehoods." 2d. "Waters! mothers of worlds! purify us; cleanse us by the sprinkled fluid, ye who purify through libations; for ye, divine waters, do remove every sin.'' 3d. "As a tired man leaves drops of sweat at the foot of a tree," &c. Again, swimming, and making a circuit through the south, this prayer should be recited: "May divine waters be auspicious to us for accumulation, for gain, and for refreshing draughts: may they listen to us, that we may be associated with good auspices." Next reciting the following prayer, the priest should thrice plunge into water: "O consummation of solemn rites! who dost purify when performed by the most grievous offenders; thou dost invite the basest criminals to purification; thou dost expiate the most heinous crimes. I atone for sins towards the gods, by gratifying them with oblations and sacrifice; I expiate sins towards mortals, by employing mortal men to officiate at sacraments. Therefore defend me from the pernicious sin of offending the gods."

Water must be next sipped with the prayer, "Lord of sacrifice, thy heart is in the midst of the waters of the ocean," &c., and the invocation of holy rivers is again recited. The priest must thrice throw up water with the three prayers: "O, waters, since ye afford delight," &c.; and again, with the three subjoined prayers: 1st. "May the Lord of thought purify me with an uncut blade of cum grass and with the rays of the sun. Lord of purity, may I obtain that coveted innocence which is the wish of thee, who art satisfied by this oblation of water; and of me, who am purified by this holy grass." 2d. "May the Lord of speech purify me," &c. 3d. " May the resplendent sun purify me, " &c. Thrice plunging into water, the priest should as often repeat the grand expiatory text, of which YAJNYAWALCYA says, "It comprises the principles of things, and the elements, the existence of the [chaotic] mass, the production and destruction of worlds." This serves as a key to explain the meaning of the text, which, being considered as the essence of the Vedas, is most mysterious. The author before me seems to undertake the explanation of it with great awe, and intimates, that he has no other key to its meaning, nor the aid of earlier commentaries. 'The Supreme Being alone existed: afterwards there was universal darkness: next, the watery ocean was produced by the diffusion of virtue: then did the creator, lord of the universe, rise out of the ocean, and successively frame the sun and moon, which govern day and night, whence proceeds the revolution of years; and after them he framed heaven and earth, the space between, and the celestial region.' The terms, with which the text begins, both signify truth; but are here explained as denoting the supreme Brahme, on the authority of a text quoted from the Veda: "Brahme is truth, the one immutable being. He is truth and everlasting knowledge." 'During the period of general annihilation, ' says the commentator, 'the Supreme Being alone existed. Afterwards, during that period, night was produced; in other words, there was universal darkness.' "This universe existed only in darkness, imperceptible, undefinable, undiscoverable by reason, and undiscovered by revelation, as if it were wholly immersed in sleep." (Menu, ch. i. V. 5.) Next, when the creation began, the ocean was produced by an unseen power universally diffused; that is, the element of water was first reproduced, as the means of the creation. "He first, with a thought, created the waters," &c. (Menu. ch. i. v. 8.) Then did the creator, who is lord of the universe, rise out of the waters. ' The Lord of the universe, annihilated by the general destruction, revived with his own creation of the three worlds.' Heaven is here explained, the expanse of the sky above the region of the stars. The celestial region is the middle world and heavens above. The author before me has added numerous quotations on the sublimity and efficacy of this text, which Menu compares with the sacrifice of a horse, in respect of its power to obliterate sins.

After bathing, while he repeats this prayer, the priest should again plunge into water, thrice repeating the text, "As a tired man leaves drops of sweat at the foot of a tree," &c. Afterwards, to atone for greater offences, he should meditate the Gayatri, &c. during three suppressions of breath. He must also recite it measure by measure, hemistich by hemistich; and, lastly, the entire text, without any pause. As an expiation of the sin of eating with men of very low tribes, or of coveting or accepting what should not be received, a man should plunge into water, at the same time reciting a prayer which will be quoted on another occasion. One who has drunk spirituous liquors should traverse water up to his throat, and drink as much expressed juice of the moon-plant as he can take up in the hollow of both hands, while he meditates the triliteral monosyllable, and then plunge into water, reciting the subjoined prayer: "O, RUDRA! hurt not our offspring and descendants; abridge not the period of our lives; destroy not our cows; kill not our horses; slay not our proud and irritable folks; because, holding oblations, we always pray to thee!"

Having finished his ablutions, and coming out of the water, putting on his apparel after cleansing it, having washed his hands and feet, and having sipped water, the priest sits down to worship in the same mode which was directed after the early bath; substituting, however, the following prayer, in lieu of that which begins with the words, "May the sun, sacrifice," &c., "May the waters purify the earth, that she, being cleansed, may purify me. May the lord of holy knowledge purify her, that she, being cleansed by holiness, may purify me. May the waters free me from every defilement, whatever be my uncleanness, whether I have eaten prohibited food, done forbidden acts, or accepted the gifts of dishonest men." Another difference between worship at noon and in the morning, consists in standing before the sun with uplifted arms instead of joining the hands in a hollow form. In all other respects the form of adoration is similar.

Having concluded this ceremony, and walked in a round beginning through the south, and saluted the sun, the priest may proceed to study a portion of the Veda. Turning his face towards the east, with his right hand towards the south and his left hand towards the north, sitting down with cusa grass before him, holding two sacred blades of grass on the tips of his left fingers, and placing his right hand thereon with the palm turned upwards, and having thus meditated the Gayatri, the priest should recite the proper text on commencing the lecture, and read as much of the Vedas as may be practicable for him; continuing the practice daily until he have read through the whole of the Vedas, and then recommencing the course.

Prayer on beginning a lecture of the Rigveda: "I praise the blazing fire, which is first placed at religious rites, which effects the ceremony for the benefit of the votary, which performs the essential part of the rite, which is the most liberal giver of gems."

On beginning a lecture of the Yajurveda: "I gather thee, O branch of the Veda, for the sake of rain; I pluck thee for the sake of strength. Calves! ye are like unto air; (that is, as wind supplies the world by means of rain, so do ye supply sacrifices by the milking of cows). May the luminous generator of worlds make you attain success in the best of sacraments."

On beginning a lecture of the Samaveda: "Regent of fire, who dost effect all religious ceremonies, approach to taste my offering, thou who art praised for the sake of oblations. Sit down on this grass."

The text which is repeated on commencing a lecture of the At'harvaveda has been already quoted on another occasion: "May divine waters be auspicious to us," &c.

In this manner should a lecture of the Vedas, or of the Vedangas, of the sacred poems and mythological history, of law, and other branches of sacred literature, be conducted. The priest should next proceed to offer barley, tila, and water to the manes. Turning his face towards the cast, wearing the sacrificial cord on his left shoulder, he should sit down, and spread cusa grass before him, with the tips pointing towards the east. Taking grains of barley in his right hand, he should invoke the gods. "O, assembled gods! hear my call, sit down on this grass." Then throwing away some grains of barley, and putting one hand over the other, he should pray in these words: "Gods! who reside in the ethereal region, in the world near us, and in heaven above; ye, whose tongues are flame, and who save all them who duly perform the sacraments, hear my call; sit down on this grass, and be cheerful. " Spreading the cusa grass, the tips of which must point towards the east, and placing his left hand thereon and his right hand above the left, he must offer grains of barley and water from the tips of his fingers (which are parts dedicated to the gods), holding three straight blades of grass so that the tips be towards his thumb, and repeating this prayer: "May the gods be satisfied; may the holy verses, the scriptures, the devout sages, the sacred poems, the teachers of them, and the celestial quiristers, be satisfied; may other instructors, human beings, minutes of time, moments, instants measured by the twinkling of an eye, hours, days, fortnights, months, seasons, and years, with all their component parts, be satisfied herewith." [The verb is repeated with each term, "May the holy verses be satisfied; may the Vedas be satisfied," &c.] Next, wearing the sacrificial thread round his neck and turning towards the north, he should offer tila, or grains of barley with water, from the middle of his hand (which is a part dedicated to human beings), holding in it cusa grass, the middle of which must rest on the palm of his hand: this oblation he presents on grass, the tips of which are pointed towards the north; and with it he pronounces these words: "May SANACA be satisfied; may Sanandana, Sanatana, Capila, Asuri, Bod'hu, and Parchasic'ha, be satisfied herewith." Placing the thread on his right shoulder, and turning towards the south, he must offer tila and water from the root of his thumb (which is a part sacred to the progenitors of mankind), holding bent grass thereon: this oblation he should present upon a vessel of rhinoceros' horn placed on grass, the tips of which are pointed towards the south; and with it he says, "May fire which receives oblations presented to our forefathers, be satisfied herewith; may the moon, the judge of departed souls, the sun, the progenitors who are purified by fire, those who are named from their drinking the juice of the moon-plant, and those who are denominated from sitting on holy grass, be satisfied herewith!" He must then make a similar oblation, saying, "May Narasarya, Parasarya, Suca, Sacalya, Yajnyawalcya, Jatucarna, Satyayana, Apastamba, Baud'hayana, Vachacuti, Valjav'pi, Huhu, Locacshi, Maitrayani, and Aindrayani, be satisfied herewith." He afterwards offers three oblations of water mixed with tila from the hollow of both hands joined, and this he repeats fourteen times with the different titles of Yama, which are considered as fourteen distinct forms of the same deity. " Salutation to Yama; salutation to Dhermaraja, or the king of duties; to death; to Antaca, or the destroyer; to Vaivaswata, or the child of the sun; to time; to the slayer of all beings; to Audumbara, or Yama, springing out of the racemiferous fig-tree; to him who reduces all things to ashes; to the dark-blue deity; to him who resides in the supreme abode; to him whose belly is like that of a wolf; to the variegated being; to the wonderful inflictor of pains." Taking up grains of tila, and throwing them away, while he pronounces this address to fire: "Eagerly we place and support thee; eagerly we give thee fuel; do thou fondly invite the progenitors, who love thee, to taste this pious oblation:" let him invoke the progenitors of mankind in these words: "May our progenitors, who are worthy of drinking the juice of the moon-plant, and they who are purified by fire, approach us through the paths which are travelled by gods; and, pleased with the food presented at this sacrament, may they ask for more, and preserve us from evil." He should then offer a triple oblation of water with both hands, reciting the following text, and saying, "I offer this tila and water to my father, such a one sprung from such a family." He must offer similar oblations to his paternal grandfather, and great-grandfather; and another set of similar oblations to his maternal grandfather, and to the father and grandfather of that ancestor: a similar oblation must be presented to his mother, and single oblations to his paternal grandmother and great-grandmother: three more oblations are presented, each to three persons, paternal uncle, brother, son, grandson, daughter's son, son in-law, maternal uncle, sister's son, father's sister's son, mother's sister, and other relations. The text alluded to bears this meaning: "Waters, be the food of our progenitors: satisfy my parents, ye who convey nourishment, which is the drink of immortality, the fluid of libations, the milky liquor, the confined and promised food of the manes." [See a remark on this passage below, page 106, note.]

The ceremony may be concluded with three voluntary oblations: the first presented like the oblations to deities, looking towards the east, and with the sacrificial cord placed on his left shoulder; the second, like that offered to progenitors, looking towards the south, and with the string passed over his right shoulder. The prayers which accompany these offerings are subjoined: 1st. "May the gods, demons, benevolent genii, huge serpents, heavenly quiristers, fierce giants, blood-thirsty savages, unmelodious guardians of the celestial treasure, successful genii, spirits called Cushmanda, trees, and all animals which move in air or in water, which live on earth, and feed abroad; may all these quickly obtain contentment, through the water presented by me." 2nd. "To satisfy them who are detained in all the hells and places of torment, this water is presented by me." 3d. "May those who are, and those who are not, of kin to me, and those who were allied to me in a former existence, and all who desire oblations of water from me, obtain perfect contentment." The first text, which is taken from the Samaveda, differs a little from the Yajurveda: "Gods, benevolent genii, huge serpents, nymphs, demons, wicked beings, snakes, birds of mighty wing, trees, giants, and all who traverse the ethereal region, genii who cherish science, animals that live in water or traverse the atmosphere, creatures that have no abode, and all living animals which exist in sin or in the practice of virtue; to satisfy them is this water presented by me." Afterwards the priest should wring his lower garment, pronouncing this text: "May those who have been born in my family, and have died, leaving no son nor kinsman bearing the same name, be contented with [this water which I present by wringing it from my vesture." Then placing his sacrificial cord on his left shoulder, sipping water, and raising up his arms, let him contemplate the sun, reciting a prayer inserted above: "He who travels the appointed path," &c. The priest should afterwards present an oblation of water to the sun, pronouncing the text of the Vishnu purana which has been already cited, "Salutation to the sun," &c. He then concludes the whole ceremony by worshipping the sun with a prayer above quoted: "Thou art self-existent," &c.; by making a circuit through the south, while he pronounces, "I follow the course of the sun;" and by offering water from the hollow of his hand, while he salutes the regents of space and other Deities; "Salutation to space; to the regents of space, to BRAHMA, to the earth, to salutary herbs, to fire, to speech, to the lord of speech, to the pervader, and to the mighty Deity."

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Part 1 of 2

IV. On the Religious Ceremonies of the Hindus, and of the Brahmens especially.

ESSAY II.

[From the Asiatic Researches, vol. vii. p. 232 — 285. Calcutta, 1801. 4to.]

A FORMER essay on this subject [Ante, p. 76.] described the daily ablutions performed with prayers and acts of religion by every Brahmen. His next daily duty is the performance of the five great sacraments. The first, consisting in the study of the Veda, has been already noticed;  the sacraments of the manes, of deities, and of spirits, slightly touched upon in the first essay, will be made the subject of the present one; and the hospitable reception of guests will be followed in the next by a description of the various ceremonies which must be celebrated at different periods, from the birth to the marriage of a Hindu.

The sacrament of deities consists in oblations to fire with prayers addressed to various divinities; and it is exclusive of the offerings of perfumes and blossoms before idols. It does not fall within my present plan to describe the manner in which the several sects of Hindus [See note A, at the end of the present Essay.] adore their gods, or the images of them; and I shall therefore restrict myself to explain the oblations to fire, and then proceed to describe funeral rites and commemorative obsequies, together with the daily offerings of food and water, to the manes of ancestors.

I am guided by the author now before me [In the former essay, my chief guide was Helayud'ha, who has given very perspicuous explanations of the mantras (or prayers used at religious ceremonies) in several treatises, particularly in one entitled Brahmana servaswa. In the present essay, I likewise use a ritual composed by Bhavadeva for the use of Samavedi priests, and a commentary on the mantras by Guna Vishnu, as also the Acharachandricd (a treatise on religious ceremonies observed by 'Sudras, but including many of those performed by other classes), and the Acharadersa, a treatise on daily duties.] in premising the ceremony of consecrating the fire, and of hallowing the sacrificial implements; "because this ceremony is, as it were, the ground-work of all religious acts."

First, the priest smears with cown-dung a level piece of ground four cubits square, free from all impurities, and sheltered by a shed. Having bathed and sipped water, he sits down with his face towards the east, and places a vessel of water with cusa grass [Poa Cynosuroides, Koenig. On the new moon of Bhadra, a sufficient quantity of this sort of grass is provided for use during the whole year.] on his left; then, dropping his right knee, and resting on the span of his left hand, he draws with a root of cusa grass a line, one span or twelve fingers long, and directed towards the east. From the nearest extremity of this line he draws another at right angles to it, twenty-one fingers long, and directed towards the north. Upon this line he draws three others, parallel to the first, equal to it in length, and distant seven fingers from each other. The first line is really, or figuratively, made a yellow line, and is sacred to the earth; the second is red, and sacred to fire; the third black, and sacred to BRAHMA the creator; the fourth blue, and sacred to Indra the regent of the firmament; the fifth white, and sacred to soma. He next gathers up the dust from the edges of these lines, and throws it away towards the north-east, saying, "What was [herein] bad, is cast away:'' and he concludes by sprinkling water on the several lines.

Having thus prepared the ground for the reception of the sacrificial fire, he takes a lighted ember out of the covered vessel which contains the fire, and throws it away, saying, "I dismiss far away carnivorous fire; may it go to the realm of Yama, bearing sin [hence]." He then places the fire before him, saying, "Earth! Sky! Heaven!'' and adding, "this other [harmless] fire alone remains here; well knowing [its office], may it convey my oblation to the Gods." He then denominates the fire according to the purpose for which he prepares it, saying, "Fire! thou art named so and so;" and he concludes this part of the ceremony by silently burning a log of wood, one span long and smeared with clarified butter.

He next proceeds to place the Brahma or superintending priest. Upon very solemn occasions, a learned Brahmana does actually discharge the functions of superintending priest; but, in general, a bundle containing fifty blades of cusa grass is placed to represent the Brahma. The officiating priest takes up the vessel of water, and walks round the fire keeping his right side turned towards it: he then pours water near it, directing the stream towards the east; he spreads cusa grass thereon; and crossing his right knee over his left without sitting down, he takes up a single blade of grass between the thumb and ring finger of his left hand, and throws it away towards the south-west corner of the shed, saying, "What was herein bad, is cast away." Next, touching the water, resting the sole of his right foot on his left ankle, and sprinkling the grass with water, he places the Brahma on it, saying, "Sit on [this] seat until [thy] fee [be paid thee]." The officiating priest then returns by the same road by which he went round the fire; and sitting down again with his face towards the east, names the earth inaudibly.

If any profane word have been spoken during the preceding ceremony, atonement must be now made by pronouncing this text: "Thrice did Vishnu step, and at three strides traversed the universe: happily was his foot placed on the dusty [earth]." The meaning is, since the earth has been purified by the contact of Vishnu's foot, may she (the earth so purified) atone for any profane word spoken during this ceremony.

If it be intended to make oblations of rice mixed with milk, curds, and butter, this too is the proper time for mixing them; and the priest afterwards proceeds to name the earth in the following prayer, which he pronounces with downcast look, resting both hands on the ground: "We adore this earth, this auspicious and most excellent earth: do thou, fire! resist [our] enemies. Thou dost take [on thee] the power [and office] of other [deities]."

With blades of cusa grass held in his right hand, he must next strew leaves of the same grass on three sides of the fire, arranging them regularly, so that the tip of one row shall cover the roots of the other. He begins with the eastern side, and at three times strews grass there, to cover the whole space from north to south; and in like manner distributes grass on the southern and western sides. He then blesses the ten regions of space; and rising a little, puts some wood [The fuel used at sacrifices must be wood of the racemiferous figtree, the leafy Butea, or the Catechu Mimosa. It should seem, however, that the prickly Adenanthera, or even the Mango, may be used. The wood is cut into small logs, a span long, and not thicker than a man's fist.] on the fire with a ladle-full of clarified butter, while he meditates in silence on Brahma, the lord of creatures.

The priest then takes up two leaves of cusa grass, and with another blade of the same grass cuts off the length of a span, saying, "Pure leaves! be sacred to Vishnu;" and throws them into a vessel of copper or other metal. Again he takes two leaves of grass, and holding the tips between the thumb and ring finger of his right hand, and the roots between the thumb and ring finger of his left, and crossing his right hand over his left, he takes up clarified butter on the curvature of the grass, and thus silently casts some into the fire three several times. He then sprinkles both the leaves with water, and throws them away. He afterwards sprinkles with water the vessel containing clarified butter, and puts it on the fire, and takes it off again, three times, and thus concludes the ceremony of hallowing the butter; during the course of which, while he holas the leaves of grass in both hands, he recites this prayer: "May the divine generator [Vishnu] purify thee by means of [this] faultless pure leaf; and may the sun do so, by means of [his] rays of light: be this oblation efficacious."

The priest must next hallow the wooden ladle by thrice turning therein his fore-finger and thumb, describing with their tips the figure of 7 in the inside, and the figure of 9 on the outside of the bowl of the ladle. Then dropping his right knee, he sprinkles water from the palms of his hands on the whole southern side of the fire, from west to east, saying, "Aditi! [mother of the Gods!] grant me thy approbation." He does the same on the whole western side, from south to north, saying, "Anumati! [The moon wanting a digit of full.] grant me thy approbation;" and on the northern side, saying, Saraswati! grant me thy approbation." And lastly he sprinkles water all round the fire, while he pronounces this text, "Generous sun! approve this rite; approve the performer of it, that he may share its reward. May the celestial luminary, which purifies the intellectual soul, purify our minds. May the lord of speech make our prayers acceptable."

Holding cusa grass in both hands, he then recites an expiatory prayer, which will be inserted in another place; and throwing away the grass, lie thus finishes the hallowing of the sacrificial implements: a ceremony which necessarily precedes all other religious rites.

He next makes oblations to fire, with such ceremonies, and in such form as are adapted to the religious rite which is intended to be subsequently performed. The sacrifice, with the three mysterious words, usually precedes and follows the particular sacrifice which is suited to the occasion; being most generally practised, it will be the most proper specimen of the form in which oblations are made.

Having silently burnt a log of wood smeared with clarified butter, the priest makes three oblations, by pouring each time a ladle-full of butter on the fire, saying, "Earth! be this oblation efficacious:" "Sky! be this oblation efficacious:" "Heaven! be this oblation efficacious." On some occasions he makes a fourth offering in a similar mode, saying, "Earth! Sky! Heaven! be this oblation efficacious."  If it be requisite to offer a mixture of rice, milk, curds, and butter, this is now done; and the oblations, accompanied with the names of the three worlds, are repeated.

As another instance of oblations to fire, the sacrifice to the nine planets may deserve notice. This consists of nine oblations of clarified butter with the following prayers:

1. "The divine sun approaches with his golden car, returning alternately with the shades of night, rousing mortal and immortal beings, and surveying worlds: May this oblation to the solar planet be efficacious."

2. "Gods! produce that [Moon] which has no foe; which is the son of the solar orb, and became the offspring of space, for the benefit of this world; [According to one legend, a ray of the sun, called sushumna, became the moon; according to another, a flash of light from the eye of Atri was received by space, a goddess; she conceived and bore soma, who is therefore called a son of Atri. This legend may be found in the Harivansa. Calidasa alludes to it in the Raghuvansa, (b. 2. v. 75,) comparing Sudacshina, when she conceived Raghu, to the via lactea receiving the luminary which sprung from the eye of Atri.] produce it for the advancement of knowledge, for protection from danger, for vast supremacy, for empire, and for the sake of Indra's organs of sense: May this oblation to the lunar planet be efficacious."

3. "This gem of the sky, whose head resembles fire, is the lord of waters, and replenishes the seeds of the earth: May this oblation to the planet Mars be efficacious."

4. "Be roused, fire! and thou, [O Bud'ha!] perfect this sacrificial rite, and associate with us; let this votary and all the Gods sit in this most excellent assembly: May this oblation to the planet Mercury be efficacious."

5. "O Vrihaspati, sprung from eternal truth, confer on us abundantly that various wealth which the most venerable of beings may revere; which shines gloriously amongst all people; which serves to defray sacrifices; which is preserved by strength: May this oblation to the planet Jupiter be efficacious."

6. "The lord of creatures drank the invigorating essence distilled from food; he drank milk and the juice of the moon-plant. By means of scripture, which is truth itself, this beverage, thus quaffed, became a prolific essence, the eternal organ of universal perception, Indra's organs of sense, the milk of immortality, and honey to the manes of ancestors: May this oblation to the planet Venus be efficacious."

7. "May divine waters be auspicious to us for accumulation, for gain, and for refreshing draughts; may they listen to us, that we may be associated with good auspices: May this oblation to the planet Saturn be efficacious."

8. "O durva, [Agrostis linearis. Koenig.] which dost germinate at every knot, at every joint, multiply us through a hundred, through a thousand descents: May this oblation to the planet of the ascending node be efficacious."

9. "Be thou produced by dwellers in this world, to give knowledge to ignorant mortals, and wealth to the indigent, or beauty to the ugly: May this oblation to the planet of the descending node be efficacious."

I now proceed to the promised description of funeral rites, abridging the detail of ceremonies as delivered in rituals, omitting local variations noticed by authors who have treated of this subject, and 'Commonly neglecting the superstitious reasons given by them for the very numerous ceremonies which they direct to be performed in honour of persons recently deceased, or of ancestors long since defunct.

A dying man, when no hopes of his surviving remain, should be laid upon a bed of cusa grass, either in the house or out of it, if he be a Sudra, but in the open air if he belong to another tribe. When he is at the point of death, donations of cattle, land, gold, silver, or other things, according to his ability, should be made by him; or if he be too weak, by another person in his name. His head should be sprinkled with water drawn from the Ganges, and smeared with clay brought from the same river. A salagrama [The salagramas are black stones found in a part of the Gandaci riser, within the limits of Nepal. They are mostly round, and are commonly perforated in one or more places by worms, or, as the Hindus believe, by Vishnu in the shape of a reptile. According to the number of perforations and of spiral curves in each, the stone is supposed to contain Vishnu in various characters. For example, such a stone perforated in one place only, with four spiral curves in the perforation, and with marks resembling a cow's foot, and a long wreath of flowers, contains Lacshmi Narayana. In like manner stones are found in the Nermada, near 'Oncar mandatta, which are considered as types of Siva, and are called Ban-ting. The salagrama is found upon trial not to be calcareous: it strikes fire with steel, and scarcely at all effervesces with acids.] stone ought to be placed near the dying man; holy strains from the Veda or from sacred poems should be repeated aloud in his ears, and leaves of holy basil must be scattered over his head.

When he expires, the corpse must be washed, perfumed, and decked with wreaths of flowers; a bit of tutanag, another of gold, a gem of any sort, and a piece of coral, should be put into the mouth of the corpse, and bits of gold in both nostrils, both eyes, and both ears. A cloth perfumed with fragrant oil must be thrown over the corpse, which the nearest relations of the deceased must then carry with modest deportment to some holy spot in the forest, or near water. The corpse must be preceded by fire, and by food carried in an unbaked earthen vessel; and rituals direct, that it shall be accompanied by music of all sorts, drums, cymbals, and wind and stringed instruments. This practice seems to be now disused in most provinces of Hindustan; but the necessity of throwing a cloth over the corpse, however poor the relations of the deceased maybe, is enforced by the strictest injunctions: it is generally the perquisite of the priest who officiates at the funeral. [In most parts of India the priests who officiate at funerals are held in disesteem; they are distinguished by various appellations, as Mahabrahmen, &c. — See Digest of Hindu Law, vol. ii, p. 175. (Octavo edit. vol. ii, p. 61.)]

The corpse is carried out by the southern gate of the town, if the deceased were a Sudra: by the western, if he were a Brahmana: by the northern, if he belonged to the military class; and by the eastern portal, if he sprung from the mercantile tribe. Should the road pass through any inhabited place, a circuit must be made to avoid it; and when the procession has reached its destination, after once halting by the way, the corpse must be gently laid, with the head towards the south, on a bed of cusa, the tips whereof are pointed southward. The sons or other relations of the deceased having bathed in their clothes, must next prepare the funeral pile with a sufficient quantity of fuel, on a clean spot of ground, after marking lines thereon to consecrate it, in a mode similar to that which is practised in preparing a fire for sacrifices and oblations. They must afterwards wash the corpse, meditating on Gaya and other sacred places, holy mountains, the field of the gurus, the rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Causici, Chandrabhaga, Bhadrdvacasa, Gandaci, Sarayu, and Nermada; Vainava, Varaha, and Pindaraca, and all other holy places on the face of the earth, as well as the four oceans themselves.

Some of these ceremonies are only observed at the obsequies of a priest who maintained a consecrated fire; his funeral pile must be lighted from that fire: but at the obsequies of other persons, the carrying of food to be left by the way, and the consecration of the spot whereon the funeral pile is raised, must be omitted, and any unpolluted fire may be used: it is only necessary to avoid taking it from another funeral pile, or from the abode of an outcast, of a man belonging to the tribe of executioners, of a woman who has lately borne a child, or of any person who is unclean.

After washing the corpse, clothing it in clean apparel, and rubbing it with perfumes, such as sandal-wood, saffron, or aloe wood, the relations of the deceased place the corpse supine with its head towards the north (or resupine, if it be the body of a woman), on the funeral pile, which is previously decorated with strung and unstrung flowers. A cloth must be thrown over it, and a relation of the deceased taking up a lighted brand, must invoke the holy places above-mentioned, and say, "May the Gods with flaming mouths burn this corpse!" He then walks thrice round the pile with his right hand towards it, and shifts the sacrificial cord to his right shoulder. Then looking towards the south, and dropping his left knee to the ground, he applies the fire to the pile near the head of the corpse, saying, "Namo! namah!" while the attending priests recite the following prayer: "Fire! thou wert lighted by him — may he therefore be reproduced from thee that he may attain the region of celestial bliss. May this offering be auspicious." This, it may be remarked, supposes the funeral pile to be lighted from the sacrificial fire kept up by the deceased; the same prayer is, however, used at the funeral of a man who had no consecrated hearth.

The fire must be so managed that some bones may remain for the subsequent ceremony of gathering the ashes. While the pile is burning, the relations of the deceased take up seven pieces of wood a span long, and cut them severally with an axe over the fire-brands (after walking each time round the funeral pile), and then throw the pieces over their shoulders upon the fire, saying, "Salutation to thee who dost consume flesh."

The body of a young child under two years old must not be burnt, but buried. It is decked with wreaths of fragrant flowers, and carried out by the relations, who bury it in a clean spot, saying, "Namo! namah!'' while a priest chants the song of Yama: "The offspring of the sun, day after day fetching cows, horses, human beings, and cattle, is no more satiated therewith than a drunkard with wine."

When funeral rites are performed for a person who died in a foreign country, or whose bones cannot be found, a figure is made with three hundred and sixty leaves of the Butea, or as many woollen threads, distributed so as to represent the several parts of the human body according to a fancied analogy of numbers; round the whole must be tied a thong of leather from the hide of a black antelope, and over that a woollen thread; it is then smeared with barley-meal mixed with water, and must be burnt as an emblem of the corpse.

After the body of the deceased has been burnt in the mode above mentioned, all who have touched or followed the corpse must walk round the pile, keeping their left hands towards it, and taking care not to look at the fire. They then walk in procession, according to seniority, to a river or other running water, and after washing and again putting on their apparel, they advance into the stream. They then ask the deceased's brother-in-law, or some other person able to give the proper answer, "Shall we present water?" If the deceased were a hundred years old, the answer must be simply, "Do so:" but if he were not so aged, the reply is, "Do so, but do not repeat the oblation." Upon this, they all shift the sacerdotal string to the right shoulder, and looking towards the south, and being clad in a single garment without a mantle, they stir the water with the ring-finger of the left hand, saying, "Waters, purify us." With the same finger of the right hand they throw up some water towards the south, and after plunging once under the surface of the river, they rub themselves with their hands. An oblation of water must be next presented from the joined palms of the hands, naming the deceased and the family from which he sprung, and saying, "May this oblation reach thee." If it be intended to show particular honour to the deceased, three offerings of water may be thus made.

After finishing the usual libations of water to satisfy the manes of the deceased, they quit the river and shift their wet clothes for other apparel; they then sip water without swallowing it, and sitting down on the soft turf, alleviate their sorrow by the recital of the following or other suitable moral sentences, refraining at the same time from tears and lamentation.

1. "Foolish is he who seeks permanence in the human state, unsolid like the stem of the plantain tree, transient like the foam of the sea."

2. "When a body, formed of five elements to receive the reward of deeds done in its own former person, reverts to its five original principles, what room is there for regret?"

3. "The earth is perishable; the ocean, the Gods themselves pass away: how should not that bubble, mortal man, meet destruction?"

4. "All that is low must finally perish; all that is elevated must ultimately fall; all compound bodies must end in dissolution, and life is concluded with death."

5. "Unwillingly do the manes of the deceased taste the tears and rheum shed by their kinsmen; then do not wail, but diligently perform the obsequies of the dead." [The recital of these verses is specially directed by Yajnyawalcya, B 3. V. 7, &c.]

At night, if the corpse were burnt by day; or in the day time, if the ceremony were not completed until night; or in case of exigency, whenever the priest approves, the nearest relation of the deceased takes up water in a new earthen jar, and returns to the town preceded by a person bearing a staff, [The purpose of his carrying a staff is to scare evil spirits and ghosts.] and attended by the rest walking in procession, and led by the youngest. Going to the door of his own house, or to a place of worship, or to some spot near water, he prepares the ground for the oblation of a funeral cake, by raising a small altar of earth, and marking lines on it as is practised for other oblations. Then, taking a brush of cusa grass in his right hand, he washes therewith the ground, over which cusa grass is spread, saying, "Such a one! (naming the deceased, and the family from which he sprung) may this oblation be acceptable to thee." Next, making a ball of three handfuls of boiled rice mixed with tila, [Sesamum Indicum, Linn.] fruits of various sorts, honey, milk, butter, and similar things, such as sugar, roots, pot herbs, &c. (or if that be impracticable, with tila at least), he presents it on the spot he had purified, naming the deceased, and saying, "May this first funeral cake, which shall restore thy head, be acceptable to thee. " Again purifying the spot in the same manner as before, and with the same words addressed to the deceased, he silently puts fragrant flowers, resin, alighted lamp, betel-leaves, and similar things, on the funeral cake, and then presents a woollen yarn, naming the deceased, and saying, "May this apparel, made of woollen yarn, be acceptable to thee." He next offers an earthen vessel full of tila and water near the funeral cake, and says, "May this vessel of tila and water be acceptable to thee."

It is customary to set apart on a leaf some food for the crows, after which the cake and other things which have been offered must be thrown into the water. This part of the ceremony is then concluded by wiping the ground, and offering thereon a lamp, water, and wreaths of flowers, naming the deceased with each oblation, and saying, "May this be acceptable to thee."

In the evening of the same day, water and milk must be suspended in earthen vessels before the door, in honour of the deceased, with this address to him, "Such a one deceased! bathe here; drink this:" and the same ceremony may be repeated every evening until the period of mourning expire.

When the persons who attended the funeral return home and approach the house-door (before the ceremony of suspending water and milk, but after the other rites above-mentioned), they each bite three leaves of nimba [Melia Azadirachta, Linn.] between their teeth, sip water, and touch a branch of sami [Adenanthera aculeata, or Prosopis aculeata.] with their right hands, while the priest says, "May the sami tree atone for sins." Each mourner then touches fire, while the priest says, "May fire grant us happiness;" and standing between a bull and a goat, touches both those animals while the priest recites an appropriate prayer. [I must for the present omit it, because it is not exhibited at full length in any work I have yet consulted.] Then, after touching the tip of a blade of durva grass, a piece of coral, some clarified butter, water, cow-dung, and white mustard-seed, or rubbing his head and limbs with the butter and mustard seed, each man stands on a stone, while the priest says for him, "May I be firm like this stone;" and thus he enters his house.

During ten days, funeral cakes, together with libations of water and tila, must be offered as on the first day; augmenting, however, the number each time, so that ten cakes, and as many libations of water and tila, be offered on the tenth day; and with this further difference, that the address varies each time. On the second day the prayer is, "May this second cake, which shall restore thy ears, eyes, and nose, be acceptable;" on the third day, "this third cake, which shall restore thy throat, arms, and breast;" on the fourth, "thy navel and organs of excretion;" on the fifth, "thy knees, legs, and feet;" on the sixth, "all thy vitals;" on the seventh, "all thy veins;" on the eighth, "thy teeth, nails, and hair;" on the ninth, "thy manly strength;" on the tenth, "May this tenth cake, which shall fully satisfy the hunger and thirst of thy renewed body, be acceptable to thee." During this period, a pebble wrapt up in a fragment of the deceased's shroud is worn by the heir suspended on his neck. To that pebble, as a type of the deceased, the funeral cakes are offered. The same vessel in which the first oblation was made must be used throughout the period of mourning; this vessel, therefore, is also carried by the heir in the fragment of the shroud. He uses that slip of cloth taken from the winding-sheet as a sacrificial cord, and makes the oblations every day on the same spot; should either the vessel or the pebble be lost by any accident, the offerings must be recommenced.

If the mourning last three days only, ten funeral cakes must be nevertheless offered, three on the first and third days, and four on the second; if it lasts no more than one day, the ten oblations must be made at once.

All the kinsmen of the deceased, within the sixth degree of consanguinity, should fast for three days and nights, or one at the least; however, if that be impracticable, they may eat a single meal at night, purchasing the food ready prepared, but on no account preparing victuals at home. So long as the mourning lasts, the nearest relations of the deceased must not exceed one daily meal, nor eat fleshmeat, nor any food seasoned with factitious salt; they must use a plate made of the leaves of any tree but the plantain, or else take their food from the hands of some other persons; they must not handle a knife, or any other implement made of iron, nor sleep upon a bedstead, nor adorn their persons, but remain squalid, and refrain from perfumes and other gratifications; they must likewise omit the daily ceremonies of ablution and divine worship. On the third and fifth days, as also on the seventh and ninth, the kinsmen assemble, bathe in the open air, offer tila and water to the deceased, and take a repast together; they place lamps at cross roads, and in their own houses, and likewise on the way to the cemetery, and they observe vigils in honour of the deceased.

On the last day of mourning, or earlier in those countries where the obsequies are expedited on the second or third day, the nearest kinsman of the deceased gathers his ashes after offering a sradd'ha singly for him.

In the first place, the kinsman smears with cow-dung the spot where the oblation is to be presented; and after washing his hands and feet, sipping water, and taking up cusa grass in his hand, he sits down on a cushion pointed towards the south and placed upon a blade of cusa grass, the tip of which must also point towards the south. He then places near him a bundle of cusa grass, consecrated by pronouncing the word namah! or else prepares a fire for oblations; then lighting a lamp with clarified butter or with oil of sesamum, and arranging the food and other things intended to be offered, he must sprinkle himself with water, meditating on Vishnu surnamed the lotos-eyed, or revolving in his mind this verse, "Whether pure or defiled, or wherever he may have gone, he who remembers the being whose eyes are like the lotos, shall be pure externally and internally." Shifting the sacerdotal cord on his right shoulder, he takes up a brush of cusa grass, and presents water together with tila and with blossoms, naming the deceased and the family from which he sprung, and saying, "May this water for ablutions be acceptable to thee." Then saying, "May this be right," he pronounces a vow or solemn declaration. "This day I will offer on a bundle of cusa grass (or, if such be the custom, "on fire") a sradd'ha for a single person, with unboiled food, together with clarified butter and with water, preparatory to the gathering of the bones of such a one deceased." The priests answering "do so," he says "namo namah!" while the priests meditate the Gayatri, and thrice repeat, "Salutation to the Gods, to the manes of ancestors, and to mighty saints; to Swaha [goddess of fire]; to Swad'ha [the food of the manes]: salutation unto them for ever and ever."

He then presents a cushion made of cusa grass, naming the deceased, and saying, "May this be acceptable unto thee;" and afterwards distributes meal of sesamum, while the priests recite, "May the demons and fierce giants that sit on this consecrated spot be dispersed: and the bloodthirsty savages that inhabit the earth, may they go to any other place to which their inclinations may lead them."

Placing an oval vessel with its narrowest end towards the south, he takes up two blades of grass, and breaking off a span's length, throws them into the vessel; and after sprinkling them with water, makes a libation, while the priests say, "May divine waters be auspicious to us for accumulation, for gain, and for refreshing draughts; may they listen to us, and grant that we may be associated with good auspices." He then throws in tila, while the priests say, "Thou art tila, sacred to soma; framed by the divinity, thou dost produce celestial bliss [for him that makes oblations]; mixed with water, mayest thou long satisfy our ancestors with the food of the manes: be this oblation efficacious." He afterwards silently casts into the vessel perfumes, flowers, and durva grass. Then taking up the vessel with his left hand, putting two blades of grass on the cushion with their tips pointed to the north, he must pour the water from the argha thereon. The priests meantime recite, "The waters in heaven, in the atmosphere, and on the earth, have been united [by their sweetness] with milk: may those silver waters, worthy of oblation, be auspicious, salutary, and exhilarating to us; and be happily offered: may this oblation be efficacious." He adds. "namah," and pours out the water, naming the deceased, and saying, "May this argha be acceptable unto thee." Then oversetting the vessel, and arranging in due order the unboiled rice, condiments, clarified butter, and other requisites, he scatters tila, while the priests recite, "Thrice did Vishnu step," &c. He next offers the rice, clarified butter, water, and condiments, while he touches the vessel with his left hand, and names the deceased, saying, "May this raw food, with clarified butter and condiments, together with water, be acceptable unto thee." After the priests have repeated the Gayatri, preceded by the names of the worlds, he pours honey or sugar upon the rice, while they recite this prayer: "May the winds blow sweet, the rivers flow sweet, and salutary herbs be sweet, unto us; may night be sweet, may the mornings pass sweetly; may the soil of the earth, and heaven, parent [of all productions], be sweet unto us; may [soma] king of herbs and trees be sweet; may the sun be sweet, may kine be sweet unto' us." He then says, "Namo! namah!" while the priests recite, "Whatever may be deficient in this food, whatever may be imperfect in this rite, whatever may be wanting in its form, may all that become faultless."

He should then feed the Brahmanas whom he has assembled, either silently distributing food among them, or adding a respectful invitation to them to eat. When he has given them water to rinse their mouths, he may consider the deceased as fed through their intervention. The priests again recite the Gayatri and the prayer, "May the winds blow sweet," &c., and add the subjoined prayers, which should be followed by the music of flagelets, lutes, drums, &c.

1. "The embodied spirit, which hath a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet, stands in the human breast, while he totally pervades the earth." 2. "That being is this universe, and all that has been or will be; he is that which grows by nourishment, and he is the distributor of immortality." 3. "Such is his greatness; and therefore is he the most excellent embodied spirit: the elements of the universe are one portion of him; and three portions of him are immortality in heaven." 4. "That threefold being rose above [this world]; and the single portion of him remained in this universe, which consists of what docs, and what does not, taste [the reward of good and bad actions]: again he pervaded the universe." 5. "From him sprung Viraj [See translation of Menu, Ch. i. v. 32.]; from whom [the first] man was produced: and he, being successively reproduced, peopled the earth." 6. "From that single portion, surnamed the universal sacrifice, was the holy oblation of butter and curds produced; and this did frame all cattle, wild or domestic, which are governed by instinct." 7. "From that universal sacrifice were produced the strains of the Rich and Saman; from him the sacred metres sprung; from him did the Yajush proceed." 8. "From him were produced horses and all beasts that have two rows of teeth; from him sprung cows; from him proceeded goats and sheep." 9. "Him the Gods, the demigods named Sad'hya, and the holy sages, consecrated [Literally, "immolated;" but the commentator says, "consecrated.'] as a victim on sacred grass; and thus performed a solemn act of religion." 10. "Into how many portions did they divide this being whom they immolated? what did his mouth become? what are his arms, his thighs, and his feet now called?" 11. "His mouth became a priest; his arm was made a soldier; his thigh was transformed into a husbandman; from his feet sprung the servile man." 12. "The moon was produced from his mind; the sun sprung from his eye; air and breath proceeded from his ear; and fire rose from his mouth." 13. "The subtile element was produced from his navel; the sky from his head; the earth from his feet; and space from his ear: thus did he frame worlds." 14. "In that solemn sacrifice which the Gods performed with him as a victim, spring was the butter, summer the fuel, and sultry weather the oblation." 15. "Seven were the moats [surrounding the altar]; thrice seven were the logs of holy fuel; at that sacrifice which the Gods performed, binding this being as the victim." 19. "By that sacrifice the Gods worshipped this victim: such were primeval duties; and thus did they attain heaven, where former Gods and mighty demigods abide." [I think it unnecessary to quote from the commentary the explanation of this curious passage of the Veda as it is there given, because it does not really elucidate the sense; the allegory is, for the most part, sufficiently obvious. Other prayers may be also recited on the same occasion: it would be tedious to insert them all in this place.]

Next spreading cusa grass near the fragments of the repast, and taking some unboiled rice with tila and clarified butter, he must distribute it on the grass, while the priests recite for him these prayers: "May those in my family who have been burnt by fire, or who are alive and yet unburnt, be satisfied with this food presented on the ground, and proceed contented towards the supreme path [of eternal bliss]. May those who have no father nor mother, nor kinsman, nor food, nor supply of nourishment, be contented with this food offered on the ground, and attain, like it, a happy abode." He then gives the Brahmanas water to rinse their mouths; and the priests once more recite the Gayatri and the prayer, "May the winds blow sweet," &c.

Then taking in his left hand another vessel containing tila blossoms and water, and in his right a brush made of cusa grass, he sprinkles water over the grass spread on the consecrated spot, naming the deceased, and saying, "May this ablution be acceptable to thee:" he afterwards takes a cake or ball of food mixed with clarified butter, and presents it, saying, "May this cake be acceptable to thee;" and deals out the food with this prayer: "Ancestors,  rejoice; take your respective shares, and be strong as bulls." Then walking round by the left to the northern side of the consecrated spot, and meditating, "Ancestors be glad; take your respective shares and be strong as bulls," he returns by the same road, and again sprinkles water on the ground to wash the oblation, saying, "May this ablution be acceptable to thee."

Next, touching his hip with his elbow, or else his right side, and having sipped water, he must make six libations of water with the hollow palms of his hand, saying, "Salutation unto thee, O deceased, and unto the saddening [hot] season; salutation unto thee, O deceased, and unto the month of tapas [or dewy season]; salutation unto thee, O deceased, unto that [season] which abounds with water; salutation unto thee, O deceased, and to the nectar [of blossoms]; salutation unto thee, deceased, and to the terrible and angry [season]; salutation unto thee, deceased, and to female fire [or the sultry season]." [See note B, at the end of the present Essay.]

He next offers a thread on the funeral cake, holding the wet brush in his hand, naming the deceased, and saying, "May this raiment be acceptable to thee;" the priests add, "Fathers, this apparel is offered unto you." He then silently strews perfumes, blossoms, resin, and betel leaves on the funeral cake, and places a lighted lamp on it. He sprinkles water on the bundle of grass, saying, "May the waters be auspicious;" and offers rice, adding, "May the blossoms be sweet, may the rice be harmless;" and then pours water on it, naming the deceased, and saying, "May this food and drink be acceptable unto thee." In the next place he strews grass over the funeral cake and sprinkles water on it, reciting this prayer, "Waters! ye are the food of our progenitors; satisfy my parents, ye who convey nourishment, which is ambrosia, butter, milk, cattle, and distilled liquor." [The former translation of this text (in the first Essay on the Religious Ceremonies of the Hindus, ante, p. 90) was erroneous in several places; and I still am not perfectly confident that I rightly understand it. The term (cilata) which the commentator explains as signifying cattle, literally means "fit to be tied to a pole or stake." The reading of the next term was erroneous. I read and translated parisruta for parisruta; "promised" instead of "distilled." The commentator explains it as signifying the nourishment of progenitors.] Lastly, he smells some of the food, and poises in his hand the funeral cakes, saying, "May this ball be wholesome food; " and concludes by paying the officiating priest his fee, with a formal declaration, "I do give this fee (consisting of so much money) to such a one (a priest sprung from such a family, and who uses such a Veda and such a sac'ha of it), for the purpose of fully completing, the obsequies this day performed by me in honour of one person singly, preparatory to the gathering of the bones of such a one, deceased."

After the priest has thrice said, "Salutation to the Gods, to progenitors, to mighty saints," &c., he dismisses him; lights a lamp in honour of the deceased; meditates on Heri with undiverted attention; casts the food and other things used at the obsequies into the fire; and then proceeds to the cemetery for the purpose of gathering the ashes of the deceased.

The son or nearest relation of the defunct, accompanied by his kinsmen, and clothed in clean apparel, repairs to the cemetery, carrying eight vessels filled with various flowers, roots, and similar things. When arrived there, he does honour to the place by presenting an argha, with perfumes, blossoms, fragrant resins, a lamp, &c. Some of his kinsmen invoke the deities of the cemetery, when the argha is presented; others, when flowers are offered; others again, when food, fragrant resins, a lighted lamp, water, wreaths of flowers, and rice are offered, saying, "Salutation to the deities whose mouths are devouring fire." He advances to the northern gate [The practice of enclosing the funeral pile with temporary walls is almost universally disused.] or extremity of the funeral pile, sits down there, and presents two vessels as an oblation to spirits, with this prayer, "May the adorable and eternal Gods, who are present in this cemetery, accept from us this eight-fold unperishable oblation: may they convey the deceased to pleasing and eternal abodes, and grant to us life, health, and perfect ease. This eight-fold oblation is offered to Siva and other deities: salutation unto them," Then walking round the spot with his right side towards it, he successively places two other vessels, containing eight different things, at each of three other gates or sides of the enclosure which surrounds the funeral pile; and he presents these oblations with the same formality as before, sprinkles them with milk, and adds, "May SIVA and the other deities depart to their respective abodes." He then shifts the sacerdotal string to his right shoulder, turns his face towards the south, silently sprinkles the bones and ashes with cow's milk, and, using a branch of Sami and another of palasa [Butea frondosa, Linn.; and superba, Roxb.] instead of tongs, first draws out from the ashes the bones of the head, and afterwards the other bones successively, sprinkles them with perfumed liquids and with clarified butter made of cow's milk, and puts them into a casket made of the leaves of the palasa: this he places in a new earthen vessel, covers it with a lid, and ties it up with thread. Choosing some clean spot where encroachments of the river are not to be apprehended, he digs a very deep hole, and spreads cusa grass at the bottom of it, and over the grass a piece of yellow cloth; he places thereon the earthen vessel containing the bones of the deceased, covers it with a lump of mud, together with thorny, moss and mud, and plants a tree in the excavation, or raises a mound of masonry, or makes a pond, or erects a standard. He, and the rest of the kinsmen, then bathe in their clothes. At a subsequent time, the son or other near relation fills up the excavation and levels the ground; he throws the ashes of the funeral pile into the water, cleans the spot with cow-dung and water, presents oblation to Siva and other deities in the manner beforementioned, dismisses those deities, and casts the oblation into water. To cover the spot where the funeral pile stood, a tree should be planted, or a mound of masonry be raised, or a pond be dug, or a standard be erected. [This does not appear to be very universally practised; but a monument is always erected on the spot where a woman has burnt herself with her husband's corpse, or where any person has died a legal voluntary death. A mausoleum is, however, often built in honour of a Hindu prince or noble; it is called in the Hindustani language, a ch'hetri and the practice of consecrating a temple in honour of the deceased is still more common, especially in the centrical parts of India. I shall take some future occasion to resume a subject alluded to in this note; but in the mean time it may be fit to remark, that legal suicide was formerly common among the Hindus, and is not now very rare, although instances of men's burning themselves have not perhaps lately occurred so often as their drowning themselves in holy rivers. The blind father and mother of the young anchorite, whom Dasarat'ha slew by mistake, burnt themselves with the corpse of their son. The scholiast of the Raghuvansa, in which poem, as well as in the Ramayana, this story is beautifully told, quotes a text of law to prove that suicide is in such instances legal. I cannot refrain from also mentioning, that instances are not unfrequent where persons afflicted with loathsome and incurable diseases have caused themselves to be buried alive. I hope soon to be the channel of communicating to the Asiatic Society a very remarkable case of a leper rescued from a premature grave, and radically cured of his distemper. I must also take this occasion of announcing a very singular practice which prevails among the lowest tribes of the inhabitants of Berar and Gondwana. Suicide is not unfrequently vowed by such persons in return for boons solicited from idols; and to fulfil his vow, the successful votary throws himself from a precipice named Calabhairava, situated in the mountains between the Tapti and Nermada rivers. The annual fair held near that spot at the beginning of spring, usually witnesses eight or ten victims of this superstition.] Again, at a subsequent time, the son, or other near relation, carries the bones, which were so buried, to the river Ganges: he bathes there, nibs the vessel with the five productions of kine, puts gold, honey, clarified butter and tila on the vessel, and looking towards the south, and advancing into the river, with these words, "Be there salutation unto justice," throws the vessel into the waters of the Ganges, saying, "May he (the deceased) be pleased with me." Again bathing, he stands upright, and contemplates the sun; then sipping water, and taking up cum grass, tila, and water, pays the priests their fees.

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Part 2 of 2

So long as mourning lasts after gathering the ashes, the near relations of the deceased continue to offer water with the same formalities and prayers as abovementioned, and to refrain from factitious salt, butter, &c. On the last day of mourning, the nearest relation puts on neat apparel, and causes his house and furniture to be cleaned; he then goes out of the town, and after offering the tenth funeral cake in the manner before described, he makes ten libations of water from the palms of his hands, causes the hair of his head and body to be shaved, and his nails to be cut, and gives the barbers the clothes which were worn at the funeral of the deceased, and adds some other remuneration. He then anoints his head and limbs down to his feet with oil of sesamum, rubs all his limbs with meal of sesamum, and his head with the ground pods of white mustard; he bathes, sips water, touches and blesses various auspicious things, such as stones, clarified butter, leaves of nimba, white mustard, durva grass, coral, a cow, gold, curds, honey, a mirror, and a conch, and also touches a bambu staff. He now returns purified to his home, and thus completes the first obsequies of the deceased.

The second series of obsequies, commencing on the day after the period of mourning has elapsed, is opened by a lustration termed the consolatory ceremony, the description of which must be here abridged, for want of a commentary to explain all the prayers that are recited at this religious rite; for the same reason, an account of the ceremonies attending the consecration and dismissal of a bull in honour of the deceased, must for the present be postponed.

The lustration consists in the consecration of four vessels of water, and sprinkling therewith the house, the furniture, and the persons belonging to the family. After lighting a fire, and blessing the attendant Brahmanas, the priest fills four vessels with water, and putting his hand into the first, meditates the Gayatri, before and after reciting the following prayers:

1. "May generous waters be auspicious to us, for gain and for refreshing draughts; may they approach towards us, that we may be associated with good auspices." 2. "Earth, afford us ease, be free from thorns, be habitable; widely extended as thou art, procure us happiness." 3. "O waters! since ye afford delight, grant us food, and the rapturous sight [of the Supreme Being]." 4. "Like tender mothers, make us here partakers of your most auspicious essence." [The translation of several among these prayers is a little varied from a former version of them (in the First Essay on the Religious Ceremonies of the Hindus ante, p. 76, 77), to conform with the different expositions given in different places by the commentators I have consulted. For the same purpose, I shall here subjoin another version of the Gayatri: "Earth! Sky! Heaven! Let ns meditate on [these and on] the most excellent light and power of that generous, sportive, and resplendent Sun, [praying that] it may guide our intellects." A paraphrase of this very important text may be found in the preface to the translation of Menu, p. xviii. See also the Essay on the Vedas, ante, p. 15.]

Putting his hand into the second vessel, the priest meditates the Gayatri and the four prayers above quoted, adding some others, and concluding this second consecration of water by once more meditating the Gayatri.

Then taking a lump of sugar and a copper vessel in his left hand, biting the sugar and spitting it out again, the priest sips water; afterwards putting his hand into the third vessel, he meditates the Gayatri and the four prayers above cited, interposing this, " May INDRA and VARUNA [the regents of the sky and of the ocean] accept our oblations and grant us happiness; may Indra and the cherishing sun grant us happiness in the distribution of food; may Indra and the moon grant us the happiness of attaining the road to celestial bliss and the association of good auspices." The priest adds, 1. "May we sufficiently attain your essence with which you satisfy the universe. Waters! grant it to us." 2. "May heaven be our comfort; may the sky, earth, water, salutary herbs, trees, the assembled gods, the creator, and the universe, be our comfort; may that comfort obviate difficulties, and become to us the means of attaining our wishes." 3. "Make me perfect in [my own person, and in the persons of all who are] connected with me; may all beings view me with the [benevolent] eye of the sun: I view all beings with the solar eye; let us view each other with the [benevolent] solar eye." 4. "Make me perfect in my own person, and in the persons of all who are allied to me: may I live long in thy sight; long may I live in thy sight." 5. "Salutation to thee [O fire!] who dost seize oblations, to thee who dost shine, to thee who dost scintillate; may thy flames burn our foes; mayest thou, the purifier, be auspicious unto us." 6. "Salutation to thee, manifested in lightning; salutation to thee, manifested in thunder; salutation to thee, O GOD! for thou dost endeavour to bestow celestial bliss." 7. "Since thou dost seek to awe the wicked [only], make us fearless; grant happiness to our progeny, and courage to our cattle. " 8. "May water and herbs be friendly to us; may they be inimical to him who hates us and whom we hate." 9. "May we see a hundred years that pure eye, which rises from the east, and benefits the Gods; may we live a hundred years; may we speak a hundred years; may we be free from distress a hundred years, and again a hundred years." After another prayer, the priest again meditates the Gayatri and thus concludes the third consecration. He then hallows the fourth vessel of water in a similar manner, with a repetition of the prayer, "May the earth be our comfort," &c., and with some others, which must be here omitted for the reason before mentioned. [At most religions ceremonies, and especially at the deprecatory rites, the prayers directed in the several Vedas, and in the various sac'has of them, differ much. Those which are translated in the present and former essays are mostly taken from the Yajurveda, and may be used by any Brahmen, instead of the prayers directed in the particular Veda, by which he should regularly be guided. The subject of lustrations is curious; they are performed with various ceremonies, to avert calamities or to obviate disappointments. Should other engagements permit it, this topic will be treated in a future essay.]

Though it be not positively enjoined, it is customary, immediately after this lustration, to give away a vessel of tila, and also a cow, for the sake of securing the passage of the deceased over the Vaitarani, or river of hell; whence the cow so given is called Vaitarani- d'henu. Afterwards a bed with its furniture is brought, and the giver sits down near the Brahmana who has been invited to receive the present; after saying, "Salutation to this bed with its furniture, salutation to this priest to whom it is given," he pays due honour to the Brahmana in the usual form of hospitality. He then pours water into his hand, saying, "I give thee this bed with its furniture;" the priest replies, "Give it." Upon this he sprinkles it with water, and taking up cusa grass, tila, and water, delivers them to the priest, pouring the water into his hand, with a formal declaration of the gift and its purpose; and again delivers a bit of gold with cusa grass, &c. making a similar formal declaration. 1. "This day, I, being desirous of obtaining celestial bliss for such a one defunct, do give unto thee, such a one, a Brahmana, descended from such a family, to whom due honour has been shown, this bed and furniture, which has been duly honoured, and which is sacred to Vishnu." 2. "This day I give unto thee (so and so) this gold, sacred to fire, as a sacerdotal fee, for the sake of confirming the donation I have made of this bed and furniture." The Brahmana both times replies, "Be it well." Then lying upon the bed, and touching it with the upper part of his middle-finger, he meditates the Gayatri with suitable prayers, adding, "This bed is sacred to Vishnu."

With the same ceremonies, and with similar formal declarations, he next gives away to a Brahmana (or more commonly, in both instances, to a married couple) a golden image of the deceased, or else a golden idol, or both, with clothes and various sorts of fruit. 'Afterwards he distributes other presents among Brahmanas, for the greater honour of the deceased: making donations of land, and giving a chair or stool, clothes, water, food, betel-leaf, a lamp, gold, silver, a parasol, an orchard of fruit trees, wreaths of flowers, a pair of shoes, another bed, another milch cow, and any other presents he may choose to give, such as an elephant, a horse, a carriage, a slave, a house, and so forth. '

It is hardly necessary to remark on this quotation, that none but very rich or superstitious persons make these ample donations, which are not positively enjoined, though strenuously recommended.

There is some difference in the religious formalities with which various things are given or accepted, on this or on any other occasion. In the formal declaration, too, a different tutelary Deity is named, and a different object is specified; but, in other respects, the form of the declaration is similar, whatever be the occasion on which the gift is made.

In making a donation of land, the donor sits down with his face to the east, opposite to the person to whom he gives it. The donor says, "Salutation to this land with its produce; salutation to this priest, to whom I give it." Then, after showing him honour in the usual form, he pours water into his hand, saying, "I give thee this land with its produce." The other replies, "Give it." Upon which he sprinkles the place with water; and taking up water, with holy basil and cusa grass, he pours the water into the other's hand, making a formal declaration of the donation and the motive of it. He then delivers a bit of gold, with cusa grass, &c., declaring his purpose in giving it, as a sacerdotal fee, to consolidate the donation of land. The other accepts the gift by a verbal acknowledgment, and meditates the Gayatri with some other prayers.

A chair or stool is accepted by sitting down on it; clothes, by putting them on; a parasol, by holding the handle of it; shoes or sandals, by standing on them; and a couch, by lying on it. In these and other donations there is no variation in the prayers; but the gift of a milch cow is made with other texts, which the donor recites standing near the cow, and making a libation of water from the palms of his hands after the recital of each prayer. The gift is accepted by holding the animal's tail.

1. "May the Goddess, who is the Lacshmi of all beings and resides among the Gods, assume the shape of a milch cow and procure me comfort." 2. "May the Goddess who is Rudrani in a corporeal form, and who is the beloved of Siva, assume the shape of a milch cow and procure me comfort." 3. "May she, who is Lacshmi reposing on the bosom of Vishnu; she, who is the Lacshmi of the regent of riches; she, who is the Lacshmi of kings, be a boon-granting cow to me." 4. "May she, who is the Lacshmi of Brahma; she, who is Swaha, the wife of fire; she, who is the exerted power of the sun, moon, and stars, assume the shape of a milch cow for [my] prosperity." 5. "Since thou art Swad'ha [the food] of them, who are chief among the manes of ancestors, and Swaha' [the consuming power] of them, who eat solemn sacrifices; therefore, being the cow that expiates every sin, procure me comfort." 6. "I invoke the Goddess who is endowed with the attributes of all the Gods, who confers all happiness, who bestows [abodes in] all the worlds for the sake of all people." 7. "I pray to that auspicious Goddess for immortality and happiness."

The remaining ceremonies, omitting for the present the consecration of a bull, consist chiefly in the obsequies called sradd'has. The first set of funeral ceremonies is adapted to effect, by means of oblations, the reimbodying of the soul of the deceased, after burning his corpse. The apparent scope of the second set is to raise his shade from this world (where it would else, according to the notions of the Hindus, continue to roam among demons and evil spirits) up to heaven, and there deify him, as it were, among the manes of departed ancestors. For this end, a sradd'ha should regularly be offered to the deceased on the day after mourning expires; twelve other sradd'has singly to the deceased in twelve successive months; similar obsequies at the end of the third fortnight, and also in the sixth month, and in the twelfth; and the oblation called Sapindana, on the first anniversary of his decease. In most provinces the periods for these sixteen ceremonies, and for the concluding obsequies entitled Sapindana, are, anticipated, and the whole is completed on the second or third day; after which they are again performed at the proper times, but in honour of the whole set of progenitors instead of the deceased singly. The obsequies intended to raise the shade of the deceased to heaven are thus completed. Afterwards a sradd'ha is annually offered to him on the anniversary of his decease.

The form of the various sradd'has (for they are numerous [In a work entitled Nirneya Sind'hu I find authority for classing obsequies under twelve heads. 1. Daily obsequies, either with food or with water only, in honour of ancestors in general, but excluding the Viswedevas 2. Obsequies for a special cause; that is, in honour of a kinsman recently defunct. 3. Voluntary obsequies, performed by way of supererogation, for the greater benefit of the deceased. 4. Obsequies for increase of prosperity, performed upon any accession of wealth or prosperity, and upon other joyful occasions. 5. A sradd'ha intended to introduce the shade of a deceased kinsman to the rest of the manes. 6. Obsequies performed on appointed days, such as that of new moon, full moon, sun's passage into a new sign, &c. 7. A sradd'ha to sanctify the food at an entertainment given to a company of reverend persons. 8. One performed when stated numbers of priests are fed at the cost of a person who needs purification from some defilement. 9. A sradd'ha preparatory to the celebration of any solemn rite, and considered as a part of such rite. 10. 'Sradd'has in honour of deities. 11. Oblations of clarified butter, previous to the undertaking of a distant journey. 12. A sradd'ha to sanctify a meal of flesh meat prepared simply for the sake of nourishment.]) is so nearly the same, that it will be only necessary to describe that which is performed in honour of progenitors in general; and at which three funeral cakes are offered to three paternal ancestors; as many to three maternal forefathers, and two to the Viswedevas or assembled Gods. A sradd'ha in honour of one person singly has been already noticed.

After smearing the place with cow-dung, a square altar of sand is raised on it, one or two fingers high, and a span nearly in each direction. (It must be triangular at the obsequies of one recently defunct.) The person who performs the ceremony, first washes his hands and feet, sips water, and puts a ring of cum grass on the ring finger of each hand. He sits down on a cushion of cusa grass, or of other materials, placed upon a blade of such grass. He lights a lamp, reciting a prayer, which will be cited on another occasion. He places the implements and materials in regular order, and sprinkles water on himself and all around, meditating on Vishnu surnamed the lotos-eyed, and revolving in his mind the couplet, "Whether pure or defiled," &c. He now shifts the sacerdotal thread to his right shoulder, and solemny declares his intention of performing a sradd'ha, and the motive of it. He thrice meditates the Gayatri, and pronounces the salutation to superior beings, " Salutation to the Gods, to the manes of ancestors," &c.

After this preparation he proceeds to invite and to welcome the assembled Gods and the manes. First, he places two little cushions of cusa grass on one side of the altar for the Viswedevas, and six in front of it for the Pitris. Each cushion should consist of three blades of grass folded up. After strewing cusa grass on those cushions, he asks, "Shall I invoke the assembled Gods?" Being told "Do so," he thus invokes them: "Assembled Gods! hear my invocation; come and sit down on this holy grass." After scattering barley on the same spot, he meditates this prayer, "Assembled Gods! listen to my invocation, ye, who reside in the sky; and ye who abide near us [on earth], or [far off] in heaven; ye, whose tongues are fire; and ye, who defend the funeral sacrifice, sit on this grass and be cheerful." He then invites the manes of ancestors with similar invocations: "O fire! zealously we support thee; zealously we feed thee with fuel; eagerly do thou call our willing ancestors to taste our oblation." May our progenitors, who eat the moon-plant, who are sanctified by holy fires, come by paths, which Gods travel. [The Via Lactea seems to be meant by the path of the Gods.] Satisfied with ancestral food at this solemn sacrifice, may they applaud and guard us." He next welcomes the Gods and manes with oblations of water, &c. in vessels made of leaves. [Plantain leaves; or else leaves of the Butea frondosa, or of the Bassia latifolia.] Two are presented to the Viswedevas, and three to paternal ancestors, and as many to maternal forefathers. Cusa grass is put into each vessel and water sprinkled on it, while the prayer, "May divine waters be auspicious to us," &c. is recited. Barley is thrown into the vessels intended for the Gods, and tila into those intended for the manes of ancestors, with these prayers, 1. "Barley! thou art the separator, [Yava signifies barley; in this text it also signifies separator, being derived from yu, to unmix. Many of the prayers contain similar quibbles.] separate [us] from our natural enemies and from our malicious foes." 2. "Thou art tila, sacred to soma," &c. At a sradd'ha for increase of prosperity, which is performed on many occasions as a preparative for a solemn act of religion, barley is thrown into the vessels instead of tila and the last prayer is thus varied: "Thou art barley, sacred to Soma: framed by the divinity, thou dost produce celestial bliss; mixt with water, mayest thou long satisfy with nourishment my several progenitors, whose mouths are full of blessings." The vessels are successively taken up, repeating each time a prayer before cited: "The waters in heaven, in the atmosphere, and an the earth, have been united with milk," &c. The cusa grass that lay on the vessels is put into a Brahmana's hand, and that which was under it is held by the person who performs  the sradd'ha, in his own hand; and through it he successively pours the water out of each vessel on the Brahmana's hand. He then piles up the empty vessels in three sets, and reverses them, saying, while he oversets the first, "Thou art a mansion for ancestors."

At the last obsequies for one recently deceased, and which are named the Sapindana, the following prayer is recited when the vessel which has been offered to him is piled up with the rest: "May the mansion of those progenitors, who have reached a common abode, and who have accordant minds, foster him; may the blessed sacrifice, sacred to the Gods, be his." The subjoined prayer likewise is peculiar to the Sapindana: "By [the intercession of] those souls who are mine by affinity, who are animated [shades], who have reached a common abode, who have accordant minds, may prosperity be mine in this world for a hundred years."

The person who performs the sradd'ha next takes up food smeared with clarified butter, and makes two oblations to fire, reciting these prayers: 1. "May this oblation to fire, which conveys offerings to the manes, be efficacious." 2. "May this oblation to the moon, wherein the progenitors of mankind abide, be efficacious."

Brahmanas should be fed with the residue of the oblation; it is accordingly consecrated for that purpose by the following prayer: "The vessel that holds thee is the earth; its lid is the sky; I offer this residue of an oblation, similar to ambrosia, in the undefiled mouth of a priest: may this oblation be efficacious." The performer of the sradd'ha then points with his thumb towards the food, saying, "Thrice did Vishnu step," &c. He adds, "May the demons and giants that sit on this consecrated spot be dispersed." He meditates the Gayatri with the names of the worlds, and sweetens the food with honey or sugar, saying, "May winds blow sweet," &c. He then distributes the food among Brahmanas; and when they have eaten and have acknowledged that they are satisfied, he gives them water to rinse their mouths.

He now proceeds to offer the funeral cakes, consisting of balls or lumps of food mixed with clarified butter. He offers three to the paternal forefathers, as many to the maternal ancestors, and two to the Viswedevas. The prayers ("Ancestors! rejoice, take your respective shares," &c.) and the form of the oblation, have been already mentioned. It is only necessary to add in this place, that he wipes his hand with cusa grass in honour of remoter ancestors, who thus become partakers of the oblations.

In the next place, he makes six libations of water from the palms of his hands, with the salutation to the seasons: "Salutation unto you, fathers, and unto the saddening season," &c. By this prayer the manes of ancestors are doubly saluted; for the Veda declares, "The six seasons are the progenitors of mankind."

A thread is placed on each funeral cake, to serve as apparel for the manes, and each time the same words are repeated, "Fathers! this apparel is offered unto you." Flowers, perfumes, and similar things are added at pleasure; but water must be sprinkled on each cake, with the prayer, "Waters, ye are the food of our progenitors," &c.

The performer of the sradd'ha then takes up the middle cake and smells to it; or his wife eats it, if they be solicitous for male offspring. In this case the following prayer must be recited: "Grant, D progenitors, the conception of a male child, [longlived and healthy, like] the lotos and garland [or twins, that sprung from Aswini]; so that, at this season, there may be a person [to fulfil the wishes of the Gods, of the manes, and of human beings]." He then takes up the cakes successively, smells to them, throws them into a vessel, and gives away the food to a mendicant priest or to a cow, or else casts it into the waters.

He then dismisses the manes, saying, "Fathers, to whom food belongs, guard our food and the other things offered by us; venerable and immortal as ye are and conversant with holy truths. Quaff the sweet essence of it, be cheerful, and depart contented by the paths which Gods travel." Lastly, he walks round the spot and leaves it, saying, "May the benefit of this oblation accrue to me repeatedly; may the Goddess of the earth, and the Goddess of the sky, whose form is the universe, visit me [with present and future happiness]. Father and mother! revisit me [when I again celebrate obsequies], soma, king of the manes! visit me for the sake of [conferring] immortality."

A sradd'ha is thus performed, with an oblation of three funeral cakes only to three male paternal ancestors, on some occasions; or with as many funeral oblations to three maternal ancestors, on others. Sometimes separate oblations are also presented to the wives of the paternal ancestors; at other times, similar offerings are likewise made to the wives of three maternal ancestors. Thus, at the monthly sradd'has celebrated on the day of new moon, six funeral cakes are offered to three paternal and as many maternal male ancestors with their wives: on most other occasions separate oblations are presented to the female ancestors. At the obsequies celebrated in the first half of Aswina, on the day entitled Mahalaya, funeral cakes are separately offered to every deceased friend and near relation: thus, immediately after the oblations to ancestors, a cake is presented to a deceased wife, then to a son or daughter, to a brother or sister, to an uncle or aunt, to a father-in law, to a preceptor, and lastly to a friend. The same is observed at the obsequies performed on the day of an eclipse, or upon a pilgrimage to any holy spot, and especially to Gaya.

Formal obsequies are performed no less than ninety-six times in every year; namely, on the day of new moon, and on the dates of the fourteen Menwantaras and of four Yugadyas; that is, on the anniversaries of the accession of fourteen Menus and of the commencement of four ages: also throughout the whole first fortnight of Aswina, thence called pitripacsha, and whenever the sun enters a new sign, and especially when he reaches the equinox or either solstice; and, in certain circumstances, when the moon arrives at Vyatipata, one of the twenty-seven yogas or astrological divisions of the zodiac. The eighth of Pausha, called Aindri, the eighth of Magha (when flesh meat should be offered), and the ninth of the same month, together with additional obsequies on some of these dates and on a few others, complete the number abovementioned. Different authorities do not, however, concur exactly in the number, or in the particular days, when the sradd'has should be solemnized.

Besides these formal obsequies a daily sradd'ha is likewise performed. It consists in dropping food into the hands of a Brahmana after offering it to six ancestors by name, with the usual preparatory vow and prayers, and with the formality of placing three blades of grass as a seat for each ancestor; but using a single prayer only for the invocation of the manes, and omitting the ceremony of welcoming them with an argha. Libations of water are also made in honour of progenitors, as noticed in the former essay on daily ablutions.

The obsequies for increase of prosperity, or as the same term (Vriddhi sradd'ha) may signify, the obsequies performed on an accession of prosperity, [Sometimes named Nandi muc'ha, from a word which occurs in the prayer peculiar to this sradd'ha.] are celebrated previously to the sacrifice of a victim and to the solemnization of a marriage, or of any of the ceremonies which, according to the notions of the Hindus, contribute to the regeneration of a twice-born man, that is, of a Brahmana, Cshatriya, or Vaisya. This sradd'ha is likewise performed at the commencement and close of a solemn fast.

It should be observed respecting the practice of giving food to priests at all these obsequies, that Brahmanas generally give it to one or more of their own relations. A stranger, unless indigent, would be very unwilling to accept the food, or to attend at a sradd'ha for the purpose of eating it. The use of fleshmeat is positively enjoined to Hindus at certain obsequies (see Menu, c. iii. v. 124), and recommended at all (Menu, c. iii. v. 268, &c.); but the precepts of their law-givers on the subject are by some deemed obsolete in the present age, and are evaded by others, who acknowledge the cogency of these laws. These commonly make a vow to abstain from flesh-meat, and consider that vow as more binding than the precepts here alluded to. Others, again, not only eat meat at obsequies and solemn sacrifices, but make it their common diet, in direct breach of the institutes of their religion. (See Menu, c. 5. v. 31, &c.)

Brahmanas who maintain a perpetual fire, which all who devote themselves to the priesthood ought to do, perform the daily ceremonies of religion in their full detail. Others, who are engaged in worldly pursuits, and even some who follow the regular profession of the sacerdotal tribe, abridge these rites. They comprise all the daily sacraments in one ceremony, called Vaiswadeva, which is celebrated in the forenoon, and by some in the evening likewise. It consists in oblations to the Gods, to the manes, and to the spirits, out of the food prepared for the daily meal; and in a gift of a part of it to guests.

Sitting down on a clean spot of ground, the Brahmana places a vessel containing fire on his right hand, and hallows it by throwing away a lighted piece of cusa grass, saying, "I dismiss far away carnivorous fire, " &c. He then places it on the consecrated spot reciting the prayer with which the household and sacrificial fires should be lighted by the attrition of wood; "Fires! [this wood] is thy origin, which is attainable in all seasons; whence being produced, thou dost shine. Knowing this, seize on it, and afterwards gument our wealth."

He then lays cusa grass on the eastern side of the fire with its tips pointed towards the north, reciting the first verse of the Rigveda, with which also it is usual to commence the daily lecture of that Veda: "I praise divine fire, primevally consecrated, the efficient performer of a solemn ceremony, the chief agent of a sacrifice, the most liberal giver of gems."

He next spreads cusa grass on the southern side of the fire with its tips pointed towards the east, reciting the introduction of the Yajurveda, with which also a daily lecture of the Yajush is always begun. 1. "I gather thee for the sake of rain," [He breaks off a branch of a tree, or is supposed to do so, with these words.] 2. "I pluck thee for the sake of strength." [He pulls down the branch he had broken.] 3. "Ye are like unto air." [He touches young calves with the branch he had plucked.] 4. "May the liberal generator [of worlds] make you happily reach this most excellent sacrament." [He is here, supposed to touch the milch cows with the same branch.]

He then spreads cusa grass on the western side with the tips pointed to the north, reciting the prayer which precedes a lecture of the Samaveda: "Fire! approach to taste [my offering]; thou, who art praised for the gift of oblations. Sit down on this grass, thou, who art the complete performer of the solemn sacrifice."

In like manner he spreads cusa grass on the northern side with the tips pointed to the east, reciting the prayer which precedes a lecture of the At'harvan: "May divine waters be auspicious to us," &c.

Exciting the fire and sprinkling water on it, he must offer with his hands food smeared with clarified butter, three several times saying, "Earth! Sky! Heaven!" He then makes five similar oblations to the regent of fire; to the god of medicine; to the assembled deities; to the lord of created beings; and, lastly, to the Creator of the universe. He concludes the sacrament of the Gods with six oblations, reciting six prayers. 1. "Fire! thou dost expiate a sin against the Gods [arising from any failure in divine worship]: may this oblation be efficacious." 2. "Thou dost expiate a sin against man [arising from a failure in hospitality]," 3. "Thou dost expiate a sin against the manes [from a failure in the performance of obsequies]." 4. "Thou dost expiate a sin against my own soul [arising from any blameable act]." 5. "Thou dost expiate repeated sins." 6. "Thou dost expiate every sin I have committed, whether wilfully or unintentionally: may this oblation be efficacious."

He then worships fire, making an oblation to it with this prayer: "Fire! seven are thy fuels; seven thy tongues; seven thy holy sages; seven thy beloved abodes; seven ways do seven sacrificers worship thee. Thy sources are seven. Be content with this clarified butter. May this oblation be efficacious." [The commentator enumerates the seven tongues of fire, Pravaha, Avaha, Udvaha, Samvaha, Vivaha, Parivaha, Nivaha, (or else Anuvaha); all of which imply the power of conveying oblations to the deities to whom offerings are made. The seven holy sages and sacrifices are the Hotri, Maitravaruna, Brahmana ch'handasi, Ach'havac, Potri, Neshtri. and Agnid'hra; that is, the seven officiating priests at very solemn sacrifices. They worship fire seven ways by the Agnishtoma and other sacrifices. The seven abodes are the names of the seven worlds: and fire is called in the Veda, saptachitica, which seems to allude to seven consecrated hearths. In the sixteen verses called Paurusha, which have been already quoted, the names of the seven worlds thrice repeated, are understood to be meant by the thrice seven fuels; and the seven oceans are the seven moats surrounding the altar. Fire, like the sun itself, is supposed to emit seven moats surrounding the altar. Fire, like the sun itself, is supposed to emit seven rays: this perhaps may account for the number seven being so often repeated.]

About this time he extinguishes the Racshoghna, or lamp lighted previously to the presenting of oblations to the Gods and to the manes. It was lighted for the purpose of repelling evil spirits, and is now extinguished with this text: "In solemn acts of religion, whatever fails through the negligence of those who perform the ceremony, may be perfected solely through meditation on Vishnu."

The Brahmana should next offer the residue of the oblation to spirits, going round to the different places where such oblations ought to be made, sweeping each spot with his hand, sprinkling water on it, and placing there lumps of food. Near the spot where the vessel of water stands he presents three such oblations, saying, "Salutation to rain; to water; to the earth." At both doors of his house he makes offerings to D'hatri and Vid'hatri, or Brahma, the protector and creator. Towards the eight principal points of the compass he places offerings, severally adding salutation to them and to the regents of them. In the middle of the house he presents oblations, with salutation to Brahma, to the sky, and to the sun. Afterwards he offers similar oblations to all the Gods; to all beings; to twilight; and to the lord of all beings. He then shifts the sacrificial cord, and looking towards the south and dropping one knee, he presents an oblation to the manes of ancestors, saying, "Salutation to progenitors: may this ancestral food be acceptable." This ceremony is not constantly practised, though directed in some rituals; but the residue of the oblation to the Gods must be left on a clean spot of ground as an oblation to all beings, intended, however, for dogs and crows in particular. It is presented with the following prayer, which is taken from the Puranas: "May Gods, men, cattle, birds, demigods, benevolent genii, serpents, demons, departed spirits, bloodthirsty savages, trees and all who desire food given by me;" 2. "May reptiles, insects, flies, and all hungry beings, or spirits concerned in this rite, obtain contentment from this food left for them by me, and may they become happy;'' 3. May they, who have neither mother, nor father, nor kinsman, nor food, nor means of obtaining it, be satisfied with that which is offered by me on this spot for their contentment, and be cheerful." Or the following prayer may be used: "To animals who night and day roam in search of food offered to the spirits, he who desires nourishment, should give something: may the lord of nourishment grant it unto me."

He concludes by performing a lustration similar to that which has been already noticed, but much shorter. After thus completing the other sacraments, the householder should present food to his guests; that is, to any person who claims his hospitality. When he has thus allotted out of the food prepared for his own repast, one portion to the Gods, a second to progenitors, a third to all beings, and a fourth to his guests, he and his family may then, and not before, consume the remaining portion of the food. "Whenever a spiritual preceptor, a devotee or an officiating priest, a bridegroom, or a particular friend, comes as a guest, he is received with honours, which will be described among the nuptial ceremonies. In the entertainment of other guests no religious rites are performed, nor any prayers recited.

The householder is enjoined to give daily alms; but no particular time is prescribed for the distribution of them; he is simply directed to give food to religious mendicants whenever they come to his door; but especially if they come at the time when food is ready for his own meal. On the authority of the Puranas, it is also a common practice to feed a cow before the householder breaks his own fast. [The adoration of a cow is not uncommon. This worship consists in presenting flowers to her, washing her feet, &c. It is entirely different from the practice here noticed. Both seem to be founded on the superstitious notion, that the favour of Surabhi (the boon-granting cow) may be gained by showing kindness to her offspring. The story of Vasisht'ha's cow, Nandini, attended by the king Dilipa for the sake of obtaining a boon through her means, is a pretty fable grounded on this notion. It is beautifully told by Calidasa in the Raghuvansa. I cannot refrain from mentioning another fable of a cow named Bahula, whose expostulations with a tiger, pleading to him to spare her life, form the only admired passage in the Itihasas, or collection of stories supposed to be related by Bhimasena, while he lay at the point of death wounded with innumerable arrows. The fourth day of Aswina is sacred to this cow, and named from her Bahula chaturt'hi. Images of her and her calf are worshipped; and the extract from the Itihasas is on that day read with great solemnity.] He either presents grass, water, and corn to her with this text, "Daughter of Surabhi, framed of five elements, auspicious, pure, holy, sprung from the sun, accept this food given by me; salutation unto thee:" or else he conducts the kine to grass, saying, "May cows, who are mothers of the three worlds and daughters of Surabhi, and who are beneficent, pure, and holy, accept the food given by me."

Some Brahmanas do still further abridge the compendious ceremony called Vaiswadeva. They offer perfumes and flowers to fire; and make five oblations, out of the food prepared for their own use, to Brahma, to the lord of created beings, to the household fire, to CASYAPA, and to Anumati, dropping each oblation on fire, or on water, or on the ground, with the usual addition, "May this oblation be efficacious." They then make offerings to all beings, by placing a few lumps of food at the door, or on a quadrangular spot near the fire, with a salutation to Dhatri, &c., and they immediately proceed to their own repast.

Here too, as in every other matter relating to private morals, the Hindu legislators and the authors of the Puranas have heaped together a multitude of precepts, mostly trivial, and not unfrequently absurd. Some of them relate to diet; they prohibit many sorts of food altogether, and forbid the constant use of others: some regard the acceptance of food, which must on no account he received if it be given with one hand, nor without a leaf or dish; some again prescribe the hour at which the two daily meals which are allowed, should be eaten (namely, in the forenoon and in the evening); others enumerate the places (a boat for example) where a Hindu must not eat, and specify the persons (his sons and the inmates of his house) with whom he should eat, and those (his wife for instance) with whom he should not. The lawgivers have been no less particular in directing the posture in which the Hindu must sit; the quarter towards which he ought to look, and the precautions he should take to insulate himself, as it were, during his meal, lest he be contaminated by the touch of some undetected sinner, who may be present. To explain even in a cursory manner the objects of all these, would be tedious; but the mode in which a Hindu takes his repast conformably with such injunctions as are most cogent, may be briefly stated, and with this I shall close the present essay.

After washing his hands and feet, and sipping water without swallowing it, he sits down on a stool or cushion (but not on a couch nor on a bed) before his plate, which must be placed on a clean spot of ground that has been wiped and smoothed in a quadrangular form, if he be a Brahmana: a triangular one, if he be a Cshatriya; circular, if he be a Vaisya; and in the shape of a crescent, if he belong to the fourth tribe. When the food is first brought in, he is required to bow to it, raising both hands in the form of humble salutation to his forehead; and he should add, "May this be always ours:" that is, may food never be deficient. When he has sitten down, he should lift the plate with his left hand and bless the food, saying, "Thou art invigorating. " He sets it down, naming the three worlds. Or if the food be handed to him, he says, "May heaven give thee," and then accepts it with these words, "The earth accepts thee." Before he begins eating, he must move his hand round the plate, to insulate it, or his own person rather, from the rest of the company. He next offers five lumps of food to Yama by five different titles; he sips and swallows water; he makes five oblations to breath by five distinct names, Prana, Vyana, Apana, Samana, and Udana; and lastly, he wets both eyes. He then eats his repast in silence, lifting the food with all the fingers of his right hand, and afterwards again sips water, saying, "Ambrosial fluid! thou art the couch of VISHNU and of food."  

NOTES.

(A.)

That Hindus belong to various sects is universally known; but their characteristic differences are not perhaps so generally understood. Five great sects exclusively worship a single deity; one recognises the five divinities which are adored by the other sects respectively, but the followers of this comprehensive scheme mostly select one object of daily devotion, and pay adoration to other deities on particular occasions only. Even they deny the charge of polytheism, and repel the imputation of idolatry; they justify the practice of adoring the images of celestial spirits, by arguments similar to those which have been elsewhere employed in defence of angel and image worship. If the doctrines of the Veda, and even those of the Puranas, he closely examined, the Hindu theology will be found consistent with monotheism, though it contain the seeds of polytheism and idolatry. I shall take some future occasion of enlarging on this topic: I have here only to remark, that modern Hindus seem to misunderstand the numerous texts, which declare the unity of the godhead, and the identity of Vishnu, Siva, the Sun, &c. Their theologists have entered into vain disputes on the question, which among the attributes of God shall be deemed characteristic and preeminent. Sancara Acharya, tlic Celebrated commentator on the Veda, contended for the attributes of Siva, and founded or confirmed the sect of Saivas, who worship Maha deva as the supreme being, and deny the independent existence of Vishnu and other deities. Mad'hava Acharya and Vallabha Acharya have in like manner established the sect of Vaishnavas, who adore Vishnu as God. The Sauras (less numerous than the two sects abovementioned) worship the Sun, and acknowledge no other divinity. The Ganapatyas adore GANESA, as uniting in his person all the attributes of the deity.

Before I notice the fifth sect, I must remind the reader that the Hindu mythology has personified the abstract and active powers of the divinity, and has ascribed sexes to these mythological personages. The Sacti, or energy of an attribute of God, is female, and is fabled as the consort of that personified attribute. The Sacti of SIVA, whose emblem is the phallus, is herself typified by the female organ. This the Sactas worhip; some figuratively, others literally.

Vopadeva, the real author of the Sri Bhagavata, has endeavoured to reconcile all the sects of Hindus by reviving the doctrines of Vyasa. He recognises all the deities, but as subordinate to the supreme being, or rather as attributes or manifestations of God. A new sect has been thus formed, and is denominated from that modern Purana. But the numerous followers of it do not seem to have well apprehended the doctrines they profess: they incline much to real polytheism, but do at least reject the derogatory notions of the divinity, which the other sects seem to have adopted.

The Vaishnavas, though nominally worshippers of Vishnu, are in fact votaries of deified heroes. The Goculast'has (one branch of this sect) adore Crishna, while the Ramanuj worship Ramachandra. Both have again branched into three sects. One consists of the exclusive worshippers of Crishna, and these only are deemed true and orthodox Vaishnavas; another joins his favourite Rad'ha with the hero. A third, called Rad'haballabhi, adores Rad'ha' only, considering her as the active power of Vishnu. The followers of these last-mentioned sects have adopted the singular practice of presenting to their own wives the oblations intended for the goddess; and those among them who follow the left-handed path (there is in most sects a right-handed or decent path, and a left-handed or indecent mode of worship), require their wives to be naked when attending them at their devotions.

Among the Ramanuj, some worship Rama only; others Sita; and others both Rama and Sita. None of them practise any indecent mode of worship; and they all, like the Goculast'has, as well as the followers of the Bhagavata, delineate on their foreheads a double upright line with chalk or with sandal wood, and a red circlet with red Sanders, or with turmeric and lime; but the Ramanuj add an upright red line in the middle of the double white one.

The Saivas are all worshippers of Siva and Bhavani conjointly, and they adore the linga or compound type of this god and goddess, as the Vaishnavas do the image of Lacshmi-Narayana. There are no exclusive worshippers of Siva besides the sect of naked gymnosophists called Lingis: and the exclusive adorers of the goddess are the Sactas. In this last-mentioned sect, as in most others, there is a right-handed and decent path, and a left-handed and indecent mode of worship: but the indecent worship of this sect is most grossly so, and consists of unbridled debauchery with wine and women. This profligate sect is supposed to be numerous though unavowed. [They are avowed in some provinces.] In most parts of India, if not in all, they are held in deserved detestation; and even the decent Sactas do not make public profession of their tenets, nor wear on their foreheads the mark of the sect, lest they should be suspected of belonging to the other branch of it. The sacrifice of cattle before idols is peculiar to this sect.

The Saivas and Sactas delineate on their foreheads three horizontal lines with ashes obtained, if possible, from the hearth on which a consecrated fire is perpetually maintained; they add a red circlet, which the Saivas make with red sanders, and which the Sactas, when they avow themselves, mark either with saffron or with turmeric and borax.

The Sauras are true worshippers of the sun; some of them, it seems, adore the dormant and active energies of the planet conjointly. This sect, which is not very numerous, is distinguished by the use of red sanders for the horizontal triple line, as well as for the circlet on their foreheads.

The Ganapalyas have branched into two sects; the one worships sudd'ha Ganapati, the other Uchch'hishta Ganapati. The followers of the latter sect pronounce their prayers with their mouths full of victuals (whence the denomination of the deity worshipped by them). The Ganapatyas are distinguished by the use of red minium for the circlet on their foreheads. The family of Brahmanas, residing at Chinchwer near Puna, and enjoying the privilege of an hereditary incarnation of Ganesa from father to son, probably belongs to this sect. We may hope for more information on this curious instance of priestcraft and credulity, from the inquiries made on the spot by the gentlemen of the embassy from Bombay, who lately visited that place.

Before I conclude this note (concerning which it should be remarked, that the information here collected rests chiefly on the authority of verbal communications), I must add, that the left-handed path or indecent worship of the several sects, especially that of the Sactas, is founded on the Tantras which are, for this reason, held in disesteem. I was misinformed when I described them as constituting a branch of literature highly esteemed though much neglected. (As. Res. vol. V. p. 54.) The reverse would have been more exact.

(B.)

This prayer, when used upon other occasions, is thus varied, "Salutation unto you, fathers, and unto the saddening season," &c. The six seasons, in the order in which they are here named, are the hot, dewy, rainy, flowery, frosty, and sultry seasons. One is indicated in this passage by the name of the month with which it begins; and a text of the Veda, alluded to by the late Sir William JONES, in his observations on the lunar year of the Hindus (As. Res. vol. iii, p. 258), specifies Tapas and Tapasya, the lunar (not the solar) Magha and P'halguna, as corresponding with Sisira: that is, with the dewy season. The text in question shall be subjoined to this note, because it may serve to prove that the Veda, from which it is extracted (Apastamba's copy of the Yajurveda usually denominated the black Yajush), cannot be much older than the observation of the colures recorded by Parasara (see As. Res. vol. ii, p. 268, and 393), which must have been made nearly 1391 years before the Christian era (As. Res. vol. v, p. 288). According to the Veda, the lunar Mad'hu and Mad'hava, or Chaitra and Vaisac'ha, correspond with Vasanta or the spring. Now the lunar Chaitra, here meant, is the primary lunar month, beginning from the conjunction which precedes full moon in or near Chitra, and ending with the conjunction which follows it. Vaisac'ha does in like manner extend from the conjunction which precedes full moon in or near Visac'ha to that which follows it. The five nacshatras, Hasta, Chitra, Swati, Visac'ha and Anurad'ha, comprise all the asterisms in which the full moons of Chaitra and Vaisac'ha can happen; and these lunar months may therefore fluctuate between the first degree of Uttara P'halguni and the last of Jyesht'ha. Consequently the season of Vasanta might begin at soonest when the sun was in the middle of Purva Bhadrapada, or it might end at latest when the sun was in the middle of Mrigasiras. It appears, then, that the limits of Vasania are Pisces and Taurus; that is Mina and Vrisha. (This corresponds with a text which I shall forthwith quote from a very ancient Hindu author.) Now if the place of the equinox did then correspond with the position assigned by Parasara to the colures, Vasanta might end at the soonest seven or eight days after the equinox, or at latest thirty-eight or thirty-nine days; and on a medium (that is when the full moon happened in the middle of Chitra), twenty-two or twenty-three days after the vernal equinox. This agrees exactly with the real course of the seasons; for the rains do generally begin a week before the summer solstice, but their commencement does vary, in different years, about a fortnight on either side of that period. It seems therefore a probable inference, that such was the position of the equinox when the calendar of months and seasons was adjusted as described in this passage of the Veda. Hence I infer the probability, that the Vedas were not arranged in their present form earlier than the fourteenth century before the Christian era. This, it must be acknowledged, is vague and conjectural; but, if the Vedas were compiled in India so early as the commencement of the astronomical Call yuga, the seasons must have then corresponded with other months; and the passage of the Veda, which shall be forthwith cited, must have disagreed with the natural course of the seasons at the very time it was written.

I shall now quote the passage so often alluded to in this note. "Mad'hus cha Madhavas cha Vasanticav ritu; Sucras cha Suchis cha graishmav ritu; Nabhas cha Nabasyas cha varshicav ritu: Ishas chojas cha saradav ritu; Sahas cha Sahasyas cha haimanticav ritu: Tapas cha Tapasyas cha saisirav ritu. " 'Mad'hu and Mad'hava are the two portions of the season Vasanta (or the spring); Sucra and Suchi, of grishma (or the hot season); Nabhas and Nabhasya, of varsha (or the rainy season); Ijas and Ujas, of sarada (or the sultry season); and Sahas and Sahasya, of hemanta (or the frosty season); and Tapas and Tapasya, of sisira (or the dewy season).'

All authors agree that Mad hu signifies the month of Chaitra; Madhava the month of Vaisacha, and so forth. These names are so explained in dictionaries and by astronomical writers, as well as by the commentators on this and other passages, where these names of the months are employed. The author now before me (Divacara Bhatta) expressly says, that this text of the Veda relates to the order of the seasons according to the lunar months. He proves it by quoting a text of the Taittiriya Yajurveda, and afterwards cites the following passage from Baudhayana respecting the seasons measured by solar-sidereal time, "Mina-Meshayor Mesha- Vrishabhayor va vasantah," &c. "Vasanta corresponds with Mina and Mesha, or with Mesha and Vrisha,'' &c. It should be observed, that the secondary lunar month, which begins and ends with full-moon, cannot be here meant; because this mode of reckoning has never been universal, and the use of it is limited to countries situated to the northward of the Vind'hya range of hills, as I learn from the following passage of the Tricanda mandana: "The lunar month also is of two sorts, commencing either with the light fortnight or with the dark one. Some do not admit the month which begins with the dark fortnight; and even by them who do, it is not admitted on the south of the Vindhya mountains."

[admin]

V. On the Religious Ceremonies of the Hindus, and of the Brahmens Especially

ESSAY III.

[From the Asiatic Researches, vol. vii. p. 288-311, Calcutta, 1801. 4to.] Hospitality has been already mentioned in the preceding Essay, as one of the five great sacraments which constitute the daily duty of a Hindu. The formal reception of such guests as are entitled to peculiar honour was reserved for the subject of the present tract. The religious rites, intermixed with acts of courtesy, which are practised by way of formal hospitality, are nearly the same, whether it be high rank, a venerable profession, or cordial friendship, which entitles the guest to be welcomed with distinction. They chiefly consist in presenting to him a stool to sit on, water for ablutions, and honey mixed with other food for refreshment. It seems to have been anciently the custom to slay a cow on this occasion; and a guest was therefore called goghna, or cow-killer. Imperfect traces of this custom remain in the hospitable ceremonies which I shall now describe from the ritual of Brahmanas who use the Samaveda. As the marriage ceremony opens with the solemn reception of the bridegroom by the father of the bride, this part of the nuptial solemnity may be fitly chosen as an example of hospitable rites. It will furnish occasion too, for proceeding to describe the whole of the marriage ceremony.

Having previously performed the obsequies of ancestors, as is usual upon any accession of good fortune, the father of the bride sits down to await the bridegroom's arrival, in the apartment prepared for the purpose; and at the time chosen for it, according to the rules of astrology. The jewels and other presents intended for him are placed there; a cow is tied on the northern side of the apartment; and a stool or cushion, and other furniture for the reception of the guest, are arranged in order. On his approach, the bride's father rises to welcome him, and recites the following prayer, while the bridegroom stands before him: "May she [who supplies oblations for] religious worship, who constantly follows her calf, and who was the the milch cow when Yama was [the votary], abound with milk, and fulfil our wishes, year after year.''

This prayer is seemingly intended for the consecration of the cow, which is let loose in a subsequent stage of the ceremony, instead of slaying her, as appears to have been anciently the custom. The commentator, whose gloss has been followed in this version of the text, introduces it by the remark, that a guest entitled to honourable reception is a spiritual preceptor, a priest, an ascetic, a prince, a bridegroom, a friend, or in short any one, to welcome whose arrival a cow must be tied for the purpose of slaying her, whence a guest is denominated goghna, or cow-killer. The prayer seems to contain an allusion, which I cannot better explain than by quoting a passage from Calidasa's poem entitled Raghuvansa, where Vasisht'ha informs the king Dilipa that the cow Surabhi, who was offended by his neglect, cannot be now appeased by courtesy shown to herself, because she remains in a place inaccessible to him: "prachetas is performing a tedious sacrifice; to supply the oblations of which, SURABHI now abides in the infernal region, whose gates are guarded by huge serpents.''

After the prayer above-mentioned has been meditated, the bridegroom sits down on a stool or cushion, which is presented to him. He first recites a text of the Yajurveda: "I step on this for the sake of food and other benefits, on this variously splendid footstool." The bride's father presents to him a cushion made of twenty leaves of cusa grass, holding it up with both hands, and exclaiming, "The cushion! the cushion! the cushion!" The bridegroom replies, "I accept the cushion," and, taking it, places it on the ground under his feet, while he recites the following prayer: "May those plants over which soma presides, and which are variously dispersed on the earth, incessantly grant me happiness while this cushion is placed under my feet." Another is presented to him, which he accepts in the same manner, saying, "May those numerous plants over which SOMA presides, and which are salutary a hundred different ways, incessantly grant me happiness while I sit on this cushion." Instead of these prayers, which are peculiar to the Brahmanas that use the Samaveda, the following text is commonly recited: "I obscure my rivals, as the sun does other luminaries; I tread on this, as the type of him who injures me."

The bride's father next offers a vessel of water, thrice exclaiming, "Water for ablutions!" The bridegroom declares his acceptance of it, and looks into the vessel, saying, "Generous water! I view thee; return in the form of fertilizing rain from him, from whom thou dost proceed:" that is, from the sun; for it is acknowledged, says the commentator, that rain proceeds from vapours raised by the heat of the sun. The bridegroom takes up water in the palms of both hands joined together, and throws it on his left foot, saying, "I wash my left foot, and fix prosperity in this realm:'' he also throws water on his other foot, saying, "I wash my right foot, and introduce prosperity into this realm:" and he then throws water on both feet, saying, "I wash first one and then the other, and lastly both feet, that the realm may thrive and intrepidity be gained." The following is the text of the Yajush, which is generally used instead of the preceding prayers: "Thou dost afford various elegance; I accept thee, who dost so: afford it for the ablution of my feet."

An arghya (that is, water, rice, and durva grass, in a conch, or in a vessel shaped like one, or rather like a boat) is next presented to the bridegroom in a similar manner, and accepted by him with equal formality. He pours the water on his own head, saying, "Thou art the splendour of food; through thee may I become glorious." This prayer is taken from the Yajush: but the followers of that Veda use different texts, accepting the arghya with this prayer, "Ye are waters (ap); through you may I obtain (ap) all my wishes:" and pouring out the water with this text, "I dismiss you to the ocean: return to your source, harmless unto me, most excellent waters! but my beverage is not poured forth."

A vessel of water is then offered by the bride's father, who thrice exclaims, "'Take water to be sipped:" the bridegroom accepts it, saying, "Thou art glorious, grant me glory;" or else, "Conduct me to glory, endue me with splendour, render me dear to all people, make me owner of cattle, and preserve me unhurt in all my limbs."

The bride's father fills a vessel with honey, curds, and clarified butter; he covers it with another vessel, and presents it to the bridegroom, exclaiming three times, "Take the mad'huparca." The bridegroom accepts it, places it on the ground, and looks into it, saying, "Thou art glorious; may I become so." He tastes the food three times, saying, "Thou art the sustenance of the glorious; thou art the nourishment of the splendid: thou art the food of the fortunate; grant me prosperity." He then silently eats until he be satisfied.

Although these texts be taken from the Yajush, yet other prayers from the same Veda are used by the sects which follow it. While looking into the vessel, the bridegroom says, "I view thee with the eye of the sun [who draws unto himself what he contemplates]." On accepting the mad'huparca the bridegroom says, "I take thee with the assent of the generous sun; with the arms of both sons of Aswini; with the hands of the cherishing luminary.'' He mixes it, saying, "May I mix thee, venerable present! and remove whatever might be hurtful in the eating of thee." He tastes it three times, saying, "May I eat that sweet, best, and nourishing form of honey; which is the sweet, best, and nourishing form of honey; and may I thus become excellent, sweet-tempered, and well nourished by food." After eating until he be satisfied, and after sipping water, be touches his mouth and other parts of his body with his hand, saying, "May there be speech in my mouth, breath in my nostrils, sight in my eye-balls, hearing in my ears, strength in my arms, firmness in my thighs; may my limbs and members remain unhurt together with my soul."

Presents suitable to the rank of the parties are then presented to the guest. At the marriage ceremony, too, the bride is formally given by her father to the bridegroom, in this stage of the solemnity according to some rituals, but later according to others. The hospitable rites are then concluded by letting loose the cow at the intercession of the guest. A barber who attends for that purpose, exclaims, "The cow! the cow!" Upon which the guest pronounces this text: "Release the cow from the fetters of Varuna. May she subdue my foe: may she destroy the enemies of both him (the host) [and me]. Dismiss the cow, that she may eat grass and drink water." When the cow has been released the guest thus addresses her: "I have earnestly entreated this prudent person [or, according lo another interpretation of the text, each docile person], saying, kill not the innocent harmless cow, who is mother of Rudras, daughter of Vasus, sister of Adityas, and the source of ambrosia." In the Yajurveda the following prayer is added to this text: "May she expiate my sins and his (naming the host). Release her that she may graze." It is evident that the guest's intercessions imply a practice, become obsolete, of slaying a cow for the purpose of hospitality.

While the bridegroom is welcomed with these ceremonies, or more properly before his arrival, the bride bathes during the recital of the following texts. Three vessels of water are severally poured on her head, with three different prayers. 1. "Love! I know thy name. Thou art called an intoxicating beverage. Bring [the bridegroom] happily. For thee was framed the inebriating draught. Fire! thy best origin is here. Through devotion wert thou created. May this oblation be efficacious." 2. "Damsel! I anoint this thy generative organ with honey, because it is the second mouth of the Creator: by that thou subduest all males, though unsubdued; by that thou art lively, and dost hold dominion. May this oblation be efficacious." 3. "May the primeval ruling sages, who framed the female organ, as a fire that consumeth flesh, and thereby framed a procreating juice, grant the prolific power, that proceeds from the three-horned [bull] and from the sun. May this oblation be efficacious." To elucidate the first of these texts the commentator cites the following passage: "The sage Vasisht'ha, the regent of the moon, the ruler of heaven, the preceptor of the Gods, and the great forefather of all beings, however old in the practice of devotion and old by the progress of age, were deluded by women. Liquors distilled from sugar, from grain, and from the blossoms of Bassia, are three sorts of intoxicating drinks: the fourth is woman, by whom this world is deluded. One who contemplates a beautiful woman becomes intoxicated, and so does he who quaffs an inebriating beverage: woman is called an inebriating draught, because she intoxicates by her looks." To explain the second text, the same author quotes a passage of the Veda, intimating that Brahma has two mouths; one containing all holiness, the other allotted for the production of all beings: 'for they are created from his mouth.'

After the bridegroom has tasted the Mad'huparca presented to him, as above-mentioned, the bride's right hand is placed on his, both having been previously rubbed with turmeric or some other auspicious drug. A matron must bind both hands with cusa grass amidst the sound of cheerful music. To this part of the ceremony the author of the poem entitled Naishadhiya has very prettily alluded, in describing the marriage of Nala and Damayanti (b. xvi. v. 13 & 14.) 'As he tasted the Mad'huparca, which was presented to him, those spectators who had foresight reflected, "He has begun the ceremonies of an auspicious day, because he will quaff the honey of Bhaimi's lip. The bridegroom's hand exults in the slaughter of foes; the bride's hand has purloined its beauty from the lotos; it is for that reason probably that, in this well-governed realm of Viderbha, both [guilty] hands are fast bound with strong cusa.'"

The bride's father, bidding the attendant priests begin their acclamations, such as "happy day! auspicious be it! prosperity attend! blessings!" &c., takes a vessel of water containing tila [Sesamuni Indicum.] and cusa [Poa cynosuroides.] grass, and pours it on the hands of the bride and bridegroom, after uttering the words, "Om tat sat! "God the existent!" and after repeating at full length the names and designations of the bridegroom, of the bride, and of himself; and then solemnly declaring, "I give unto thee this damsel adorned with jewels and protected by the lord of creatures." The bridegroom replies, "Well be it!" The bride's father afterwards gives him a piece of gold, saying, "I this day give thee this gold, as a fee for the purpose of completing the solemn donation made by me." The bridegroom again says, "Well be it!" and then recites this text: "Who gave her? to whom did he give her? Love (or free consent) gave her. To love he gave her. Love was the giver. Love was the taker. Love! may this be thine! With love may I enjoy her!" The close of the text is thus varied in the Samaveda: "Love has pervaded the ocean. With love I accept her. Love! may this be thine," In the common rituals another prayer is directed to be likewise recited immediately after thus formally accepting the bride: "May the ethereal element give thee. May earth accept thee."

Being thus affianced, the bride and bridegroom then walk forth, while he thus addresses her: "May the regents of space, may air, the sun, and fire, dispel that anxiety which thou feelest in thy mind, and turn thy heart to me." He proceeds thus, while they look at each other: "Be gentle in thy aspect and loyal to thy husband; be fortunate in cattle, amiable in thy mind, and beautiful in thy person; be mother of valiant sons; be fond of delights; be cheerful, and bring prosperity to our bipeds and quadrupeds. First [in a former birth] SOMA received thee; the sun next obtained thee; [in successive transmigrations] the regent of fire was thy third husband; thy fourth is a human being, soma gave her to the sun; the sun gave her to the regent of fire; fire gave her to me; with her he has given me wealth and male offspring. May she, a most auspicious cause of prosperity, never desert me," &c. [I omit the remainder of the text, which it would be indecorous to translate into a modern language. The literal sense of it is here subjoined in a Latin version: "Illa redamans accipito fascinum meum, quod ego peramans intromittam in cam, multae qua illecebrae sistunt."]

It should seem that, according to these rituals, the bridegroom gives a waistcloth and mantle to the bride before he is affianced to her; and the ceremony of tying the skirts of their mantles precedes that of her father's solemnly bestowing her on the bridegroom. But the ritual of the Samavedi priests makes the gift of the damsel precede the tying of the knot; and, inconsistently enough, directs the mantles to be tied before the bridegroom has clothed the bride. After the donation has been accepted as abovementioned, the bride's father should tie a knot in the bridegroom's mantle over the presents given with the bride, while the affianced pair are looking at each other. The cow is then released in the manner before described; a libation of water is made; and the bride's father meditates the Gayatri, and ties a knot with the skirts of the bride's and bridegroom's mantles, after saying, "Ye must be inseparably united in matters of duty, wealth, and love." The bridegroom afterwards clothes the bride with the following ceremonies.

He goes to the principal apartment of the house, prepares a sacrificial fire in the usual mode, and hallows the implements of sacrifice. A friend of the bridegroom walks round the fire, bearing a jar of water, and stops on the south side of it: another does the same, and places himself on the right hand of the first. The bridegroom then casts four double handfuls of rice, mixed with leaves of sami, [Adenanthera aculeata.] into a flat basket: near it he places a stone and mullar, after formally touching them, and then entering the house, he causes the bride to be clothed with a new waistcloth and scarf, while he recites the subjoined prayers: "May those generous women who spun and wound the thread, and who wove the warp and weft of this cloth, generously clothe thee to old age: long-lived woman! put on this raiment." "Clothe her: invest her with apparel: prolong her life to great age, Mayest thou live a hundred years. As long as thou livest, amiable woman! revere [that is, carefully preserve] beauty and wealth. " The first of these prayers is nearly the same with that which is used by the followers of the Yajush, when the scarf is put on the bride's shoulder. It is preceded by a different one, which is recited while the waistcloth is wrapped round her: "Mayest thou reach old age. Put on this raiment. Be lovely: be chaste. Live a hundred years. Invite [that is, preserve and obtain] beauty, wealth, and male offspring. Damsel! put on this apparel." Afterwards the following prayer is recited: "May the assembled gods unite our hearts. May the waters unite them. May air unite us. May the creator unite us. May the god of love unite us."

But, according to the followers of the Samavedu, the bridegroom, immediately after the scarf has been placed on the bride's shoulder, conducts her towards the sacrificial fire, saying, "soma [the regent of the moon] gave her to the sun: [Gunavishnu here explains Gandharba by the word Aditya, which may signify the sun, or a deity in general.] the sun gave her to the regent of fire: fire has given her to me, and with her, wealth and male offspring." The bride then goes to the western side of the fire and recites the following prayer, while she steps on a mat made of Virana grass [Andropogon aromaticum or muricatum.] and covered with silk: "May our lord assign me the path by which I may reach the abode of my lord." She sits down on the edge of the mat; and the bridegroom offers six oblations of clarified butter, reciting the following prayers, while the bride touches his shoulder with her right hand. 1. "May fire come, first among the gods; may it rescue her offspring from the fetters of death; may Varuna, king [of waters], grant that this woman should never bemoan a calamity befalling her children." 2. "May the domestic perpetual fire guard her; may it render her progeny long-lived; may she never be widowed; may she be mother of surviving children; may she experience the joy of having male offspring." 3. "May heaven protect thy back; may air, and the two sons of Aswini, protect thy thighs; may the sun protect thy children while sucking thy breast; and Vrihaspati protect them until they wear clothes; and afterwards may the assembled gods protect them." 4. "May no lamentation arise at night in thy abode; may crying women enter other houses than thine; mayest thou never admit sorrow to thy breast; mayest thou prosper in thy husband's house, blest with his survival, and viewing cheerful children." 5. "I lift barrenness, the death of children, sin, and every other evil, as I would lift a chaplet off thy head; and I consign the fetters [of premature death] to thy foes." 6. "May death depart from me, and immortality come; may [Yama] the child of the sun, render me fearless. Death! follow a different path from that by which we proceed, and from that which the gods travel. To thee who seest and who hearest, I call, saying, hurt not our offspring, nor our progenitors. And may this oblation be efficacious. " The bridegroom then presents oblations, naming the three worlds, separately and conjointly, and offers either four or five oblations to fire and to the moon. The bride and bridegroom then rise up, and he passes from her left side to her right, and makes her join her hands in a hollow form.

The rice, [From this use of raw rice at the nuptial ceremony, arises the custom of presenting rice, tinged with turmeric, by way of invitation to guests whose company is requested at a wedding.] which had been put into a basket, is then taken up, and the stone is placed before the bride, who treads upon it with the point of her right foot, while the bridegroom recites this prayer: "Ascend this stone; be firm like this stone; distress my foe, and be not subservient to my enemies." The bridegroom then pours a ladleful of clarified butter on her hands; another person gives her the rice, and two other ladlefuls of butter are poured over it. She then separates her hands, and lets fall the rice on the fire, while the following text is recited: "This woman, casting the rice into the fire, says. May my lord be long lived, may we live a hundred years, and may all my kinsmen prosper: be this oblation efficacious.'' Afterwards the bridegroom walks round the fire, preceded by the bride, and reciting this text: "The girl goes from her parents to her husband's abode, having strictly observed abstinence [for three days from factitious salt, &c.] Damsel! by means of thee we repress foes, like a stream of water." The bride again treads on the stone and makes another oblation of rice, while the subjoined prayer is recited: "The damsel has worshipped the generous sun and the regent of fire; may he and the generous sun liberate her and me from this [family]; be this oblation efficacious." They afterwards walk round the fire as before. Four or five other oblations are made with the same ceremonies and prayers, varying only the title of the sun who is here called Pushan, but was entitled Aryaman in the preceding prayer. The bridegroom then pours rice out of the basket into the fire, after pouring one or two ladlefuls of butter on the edge of the basket; with this offering he simply says, "May this oblation to fire be efficacious."

The oblations and prayers directed by the Yajurveda, previous to this period of the solemnity, are very different from those which have been here inserted from the Samaveda; and some of the ceremonies, which will be subsequently noticed, are anticipated by the priests, who follow the Yajush.

Twelve oblations are made with as many prayers. 1. "May this oblation be efficacious, and happily conveyed to that being who is fire in the form of a celestial quirister, who is accompanied by truth, and whose abode is truth; may he cherish our holy knowledge and our valour. " 2. "Efficacious be this oblation to those delightful plants, which are the nymphs of that being who is fire in the form of a celestial quirister, who is accompanied by truth, and whose abode is truth." 3. and 4. The foregoing prayers are thus varied: "To that being who is the sun, in the form of a celestial quirister, and who consists wholly of the Samaveda." "Those enlivening rays, which are the nymphs of that sun." 5. and 6. "That being who is the moon in the form of a celestial quirister, and who is a ray of the sun, and named Sushmana." "Those asterisms which are the nymphs of the moon, and are called Bhecuri." [This term is not expounded by the commentator. Bha signifies an asterism: but the meaning of the compound term is not obvious. Sushmana bears some affinity to Sushumna, mentioned in a former essay; but neither of these names is explained in the commentaries which I have consulted.] 7. and 8. "That being who is air, constantly moving and travelling every where." "Those waters which are the nymphs of air, and are termed invigorating." 9. and 10. "That being who is the solemn sacrifice in the form of a celestial quirister; who cherishes all beings, and whose pace is elegant." "Those sacrificial fees, which are the nymphs of the solemn sacrifice, and are named thanksgivings." 11. and 12. "That being who is mind in the form of a celestial quirister, who is the supreme ruler of creatures, and who is the fabricator of the universe." "Those holy strains (Rich and Saman) who are the nymphs of mind, and are named the means of attaining wishes."

Thirteen oblations are next presented, during the recital of as many portions of a single text. "May the supreme ruler of creatures, who is glorious in his victories over [hostile] armies, grant victory to INDRA, the regent of rain. All creatures humbly bow to him; for he is terrible: to him are oblations due. May he grant me victory, knowledge, reflection, regard, self-rule, skill, understanding, power, [returns of] the conjunction and opposition of the sun and moon, and holy texts (Vrihat and Rat'hantara)." [Texts of the Samaveda so named.]

Eighteen oblations are then offered, while as many texts are meditated;  they differ only in the name of the deity that is invoked. 1. "May fire, lord of [living] beings, protect me in respect of holiness, valour, and prayer, and in regard to ancient privileges, to this solemn rite, and to this invocation of deities. " 2. "May Indra, lord or regent of the eldest (that is, of the best of beings) protect me," &c. 3. "Yama, lord of the earth." 4. "Air, lord of the sky." 5. "The sun, lord of heaven." 6. "The moon, lord of stars. " 7. "VRIHASPATI, lord [that is, preceptor] of Brahma [and other deities]." 8. "Mitra (the sun), lord of true beings." 9. "Varuna, lord of waters." 10. "The ocean, lord of rivers." 11. "Food, lord of tributary powers." 12. "soma (the moon), lord of plants." 13. "Savitri (the generative sun), lord of pregnant females." 14. "Rudra (Siva), lord of [deities, that bear the shape of] cattle." 15. "The fabricator of the universe, lord of forms." 16. "Vishnu, lord of mountains." 17. "Winds (Maruts), lords of (ganas) sets of divinities." 18. "Fathers, grandfathers, remoter ancestors, more distant progenitors, their parents, and grandsires."

Oblations are afterwards made, with prayers corresponding to those which have been already cited from the Samaveda. 1. "May fire come, first among the gods," &c. 2. "May the domestic perpetual fire guard her," &c. 3. "Fire, who dost protect such as perform sacrifices! grant us all blessings in heaven and on earth: grant unto us that various and excellent wealth, which is produced on this earth and in heaven." 4. "O best of luminaries! Come, show us an easy path, that our lives may be uninjured. May death depart from me, and immortality come. May the child of the sun render me fearless." 5. "Death! follow a different path," &c.

The bride offers the oblations of rice mixed with leaves of sami, [Adenanthera aculeata.] letting fall the offerings on the fire in the manner beforementioned, and with the same prayers, but recited in a reversed order and a little varied. 1. "The damsel has worshipped the generous sun in the form of fire; may that generous sun never separate her from this husband. " 2. "This woman, casting the rice into the fire, says, May my lord be long-lived; may my kinsmen reach old age." 3. "I cast this rice into the fire, that it may become a cause of thy prosperity: may fire assent to my union with thee." [This version is conformable to a different commentary from that which was followed in the former translation.]

According to the followers of the Yajurveda, the bridegroom now takes the bride's right hand, reciting a text which will be subsequently quoted. The bride then steps on a stone while this text is recited: "Ascend this stone: be firm like this stone. Subdue such as entertain hostile designs against me, and repel them." The following hymn is then chanted. "Charming Saraswati, swift as a mare! whom I celebrate in face of this universe, protect this [solemn rite]. O thou! in whom the elements were produced, in whom this universe was framed, I now will sing that hymn [the nuptial text] which constitutes the highest glory of women." The bride and bridegroom afterwards walk round the fire, while the following test is recited: "Fire! thou didst first espouse this female sun (this woman, beautiful like the sun); now let a human being again espouse her by thy means. Give her, fire! with offspring, to a [human] husband." The remainder of the rice is then dropped into the fire as an oblation to the god of love.

The next ceremony is the bride's stepping seven steps. It is the most material of all the nuptial rites; for the marriage is complete and irrevocable, so soon as she has taken the seventh step, and not sooner. She is conducted by the bridegroom, and directed by him to step successively into seven circles, while the following texts are uttered: 1. "May Vishnu cause thee to take one step for the sake of obtaining food. " 2. " May Vishnu cause thee to take one step for the sake of obtaining strength. '' 3. " Three steps for the sake of solemn acts of religion. " 4. "Four steps for the sake of obtaining happiness." 5. "Five steps for the sake of cattle." 6. "Six stops for the sake of increase of wealth. " 7. "Seven steps for the sake of obtaining priests to perform sacrifices." [In the Vajurveda the texts are varied, so that the third step is for increase of wealth, and the sixth for obtaining happy seasons.] The bridegroom then addresses the bride, "Having completed seven steps, be my companion. May I become thy associate. May none interrupt thy association with me. May such as are disposed to promote our happiness, confirm thy association with me." The bridegroom then addresses the spectators: " This woman is auspicious: approach and view her; and having conferred [by your good wishes] auspicious fortune on her, depart to your respective abodes."

Then the bridegroom's friend, who stood near the fire bearing a jar of water, advances to the spot where the seventh step was completed, and pours water on the bridegrooms head, and afterwards on the bride's, while a prayer abovementioned is recited: "May waters and all the Gods cleanse our hearts; may air do so; may the creator do so; may the divine instructress unite our hearts." [It is here translated according to the gloss of Gunavishnu; in the former version I followed the commentary of Helayud'ha.]

The bridegroom then puts his left hand under the bride's hands, which are joined together in a hollow form, and taking her right hand in his, recites the six following texts: 1. "I take thy hand for the sake of good fortune, that thou mayest become old with me, thy husband: may the generous, mighty, and prolific sun render thee a matron, that I may be a householder.'' 2. "Be gentle in thy aspect and loyal to thy husband; be fortunate in cattle, amiable in thy mind, and beautiful in thy person; be mother of surviving sons; be assiduous at the [five] sacraments; be cheerful; and bring prosperity to our bipeds and quadrupeds." 3. "May the lord of creatures grant its progeny, even unto old age; may the sun render that progeny conspicuous. Auspicious deities have given thee to me: enter thy husband's abode, and bring health to our bipeds and quadrupeds." 4. "O Indra, who pourest forth rain! render this woman fortunate and the mother of children: grant her ten sons; give her eleven protectors." 5. "Be submissive to thy husband's father, to his mother, to his sister, and to his brothers. " 6. " Give thy heart to my religious duties: may thy mind follow mine; be thou consentient to my speech. May Vrihaspati unite thee unto me."

The followers of the Yajurveda enlarge the first prayer and omit the rest, some of which, however, they employ at other periods of the solemnity. "I take thy hand for the sake of good fortune, that thou mayest become old with me, thy husband; may the deities, namely, the divine sun (Aryaman), and the prolific being (Savatri), and the god of love, give thee as a matron unto me, that I may be a householder. I need the goddess of prosperity. Thou art she. Thou art the goddess of prosperity. I need her. I am the Saman [veda]: thou art the Rich [veda]. I am the sky: thou art the earth. Come; let us marry: let us hold conjugal intercourse: let us procreate offspring: let us obtain sons. May they reach old age. May we, being affectionate, glorious, and well disposed, see during a hundred years, live a hundred years, and hear a hundred years."

According to the ritual, which conforms to the Samaveda, the bridegroom sits down near the fire with the bride, and finishes this part of the ceremony by making oblations, while he names the three worlds severally and conjointly. The taking of the bride's hand in marriage is thus completed. In the evening of the same day, so soon as the stars appear, the bride sits down on a bull's hide, which must be of a red colour, and must be placed with the neck towards the east and the hair upwards. The bridegroom sits down near her, makes oblations while he names the three worlds as usual, and then makes six oblations with the following prayers, and each time pours the remainder of the clarified butter on the bride's head. 1. "I obviate by this full oblation all ill marks in the lines [of thy hands], in thy eyelashes, and in the spots [on thy body]." 2. "I obviate by this full oblation all the ill marks in thy hair; and whatever is sinful in thy looking, or in thy crying. " 3. "I obviate by this full oblation all that may be sinful in thy temper, in thy speaking, and in thy laughing." 4. "I obviate by this full oblation all the ill marks in thy teeth, and in the dark intervals between t hem; in thy hands, and in thy feet." 5. "I obviate by this full oblation all the ill marks on thy thighs, on thy privy part, on thy haunches, and on the lineaments of thy figure." 6. "Whatever natural or accidental evil marks were on all thy limbs, I have obviated all such marks by these full oblations of clarified butter. May this oblation be efficacious."

The bride and bridegroom rise up; and he shews her the polar star, reciting the following text: "Heaven is stable; the earth is stable; this universe is stable; theses mountains are stable; may this woman be stable in her husband's family." [Dhruva, the pole, also signifies stable, fixed, steady, firm.] The bride salutes the bridegroom, naming herself and family, and adding a respectful interjection. The bridegroom replies, "Be long-lived and happy." Matrons then pour water, mixed with leaves, upon the bride and bridegroom, out of jars which had been previously placed on an altar prepared for the purpose; and the bridegroom again makes oblations with the names of the worlds, by way of closing this part of the ceremony.

The bridegroom afterwards eats food prepared without factitious salt. During this meal he recites the following prayers: 1. "I bind with the fetters of food thy heart and mind to the gem [of my soul]; I bind them with nourishment, which is the thread of life; I bind them with the knot of truth." 2. "May that heart, which is yours, become my heart; and this heart, which is mine, become thy heart." 3. "Since food is the bond of life, I bind thee therewith." The remainder of the food must be then given to the bride.

During the three subsequent days the married couple must abstain from factitious salt, live chastely and austerely, and sleep on the ground. On the following day, that is, on the fourth exclusively, [The Muslemans of India do not scruple to borrow from the Hindus superstitious ceremonies that are celebrated with festivity. They take an active part in the gambols of the Holi, and even solicit the favours of the Indian Plutus, at the Diwali. The bridal procession, on the fourth day, with all the sports and gambols of the Chant'hi (Chaturt'hi), is evidently copied from the similar customs of the Hindus. In Bengal the Muslemans have even adopted the premature marriage of infant brides and bridegrooms.] the bridegroom conducts the bride to his own house on a carriage or other suitable conveyance. He recites the following text when she ascends the carriage: " wife of the sun! ascend this vehicle resembling the beautiful blossoms of the cotton-tree [Bombax heptaphyllum.] and butea, [Butea frondosa.] tinged with various tints and coloured like gold, well constructed, furnished with good wheels, and the source of ambrosia [that is, of blessings]: bring happiness to thy husband." Proceeding with his bride, he, or some other person for him, recites the following text on their coming to a cross road: "May robbers, who infest the road remain ignorant [of this journey]; may the married couple reach a place of security and difficult access, by easy roads; and may foes keep aloof."

Alighting from the carriage, the bridegroom leads the bride into the house, chanting the hymn called Vamadevya. Matrons welcome the bride, and make her sit down on a bull's hide of the same colour, and placed in the same manner as before. The bridegroom then recites the following prayer: "May kine here produce numerous young; may horses and human beings do so; and may the deity sit here, by whose favour sacrifices are accomplished with gifts a thousand fold."

The women the place a young child in the bride's lap; they put roots of lotos, or else fruit of different kinds, in his hand. The bridegroom takes up the child, and then prepares a sacrificial fire in the usual manner, and makes eight oblations with the following prayers, preceded and followed by the usual oblations to the three worlds. 1. "May there be cheerfulness here." 2. "May thine own [kindred] be kind here. " 3. " May there be pleasure here. " 4. "Sport thou here." 5. "May there be kindness here with me.'' 6. "May thine own [kindred] be here, benevolent towards me.'' 7. "May there be here delight towards me." 8. "Be thou here joyous towards me." The bride then salutes her father-in-law and the other relatives of her husband.

Afterwards the bridegroom prepares another sacrificial fire, and sits down with the bride on his right hand. He makes twenty oblations with the following prayers, preceded and followed as usual by oblations to the three worlds. The remainder of each ladleful is thrown into a jar of water, which is afterwards poured on the bride's head. 1. "Fire, expiator of evil! thou dost atone evils for the gods themselves. I, a priest, approach thee, desirous of soliciting thee to remove any sinful taint in the beauty of this woman." 2. "Air, expiator of evil!" &c. 3. "Moon, expiator of evil! " &c. 4. "Sun, expiator of evil!" &c. 5. "Fire, air, moon, and sun, expiators of evil! ye do atone evils for the gods. I, a priest, approach thee, desirous of soliciting thee to remove any sinful taint in the beauty of this woman." 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. "soliciting thee to remove any thing in her person which might destroy her husband." 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, "any thing in her person which might make her negligent of cattle."

The priests who use the Yajurveda, make only five oblations with as many prayers addressed to fire, air, the sun, the moon, and the Gandharba or celestial quirister; praying them to remove any thing in the person of the bride which might be injurious to her husband, to her offspring, to cattle, to the household, and to honour and glory. The following text is recited while the water is poured on the bride's head: "That blameable portion of thy person which would have been injurious to thy husband, thy offspring, thy cattle, thy household, and thy honour, I render destructive of paramours: may thy body [thus cleared from evil] reach old age with me." The bride is then fed with food prepared in a caldron, and the following text is recited: "I unite thy breath with my breath; thy bones with my bones; thy flesh with my flesh; and thy skin with my skin."

The ceremonies of which the nuptial solemnity consists may be here recapitulated. The bridegroom goes in procession to the house where the bride's father resides, and is there welcomed as a guest. The bride is given to him by her father in the form usual at every solemn donation, and their hands are bound together with grass. He clothes the bride with an upper and lower garment, and the skirts of her mantle and his are tied together. The bridegroom makes oblations to fire, and the bride drops rice on it as an oblation. The bridegroom solemnly takes her hand in marriage. She treads on a stone and mullar. They walk round the fire. The bride steps seven times, conducted by the bridegroom, and he then dismisses the spectators, the marriage being now complete and irrevocable. In the evening of the same day the bride sits down on a bull's hide, and the bridegroom points out to her the polar star as an emblem of stability. They then partake of a meal. The bridegroom remains three days at the house of the bride's father: on the fourth day he conducts her to his own house in solemn procession. She is there welcomed by his kindred; and the solemnity ends with oblations to fire.

Among Hindus, a girl is married before the age of puberty. The law even censures the delay of her marriage beyond the tenth year. For this reason, and because the bridegroom too may be an infant, it is rare that a marriage should be consummated until long after its solemnization. The recital of prayers on this occasion constitutes it a religious ceremony; and it is the first of those that are performed for the purpose of expiating the sinful taint which a child is supposed to contract in the womb of his mother. They shall be described in a future essay.

On the practice of immature nuptials, a subject suggested in the preceding paragraph, it may be remarked, that it arises from a laudable motive; from a sense of duty incumbent on a father, who considers as a debt the obligation of providing a suitable match for his daughter. This notion, which is strongly inculcated by Hindu legislators, is forcibly impressed on the minds of parents. But in their zeal to dispose of a daughter in marriage, they do not perhaps sufficiently consult her domestic felicity. By the death of an infant husband, she is condemned to virgin widowhood for the period of her life. If both survive, the habitual bickerings of their infancy are prolonged in perpetual discord.

Numerous restrictions in the assortment of matches impose on parents this necessity of embracing the earliest opportunity of affiancing their children to fit companions. The intermarriages of different classes, formerly permitted with certain limitations, are now wholly forbidden. The prohibited degrees extend to the sixth of affinity; and even the bearing of the same family name is a sufficient cause of impediment.

To conclude the subject of nuptials, I shall only add, that eight forms are noticed by Hindu legislators. (Menu, c. iii.) But one only, which has been here described from the Indian rituals, is now used.

[admin]

VI. On the Philosophy of the Hindus.

PART I.

[Read at a public meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society, June 21, 1823.]

[From the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society vol. i. p. 19-43.]

INTRODUCTION

The Hindus, as is well known, possess various ancient systems of philosophy, which they consider to be orthodox, as consistent with the theology and metaphysics of the Vedas; and have likewise preserved divers systems deemed heretical, as incompatible with the doctrines of their holy books.

The two Mimansas (for there are two schools of metaphysics under this title) are emphatically orthodox. The prior one (purva), which has JAIMINI for its founder, teaches the art of reasoning, with the express view of aiding the interpretation of the Vedas. The latter (uttara), commonly called Vedanta, and attributed to Vyasa, deduces from the text of the Indian scriptures a refined psychology, which goes to a denial of a material world.

The Nyaya, of which Gotama is the acknowledged author, furnishes a philosophical arrangement, with strict rules of reasoning, not unaptly compared to the dialectics of the Aristotelian school. Another course of philosophy connected with it bears the denomination of Vaiseshica. Its reputed author is Canade; who, like Democritus, maintained the doctrine of atoms.

A different philosophical system, partly heterodox, and partly conformable to the established Hindu creed, is the Sanc'hya: of which also, as of the preceding, there are two schools; one usually known by that name; the other commonly termed Yoga. A succinct exposition of the Sanc'hya doctrines is the design of the present essay: they are selected for that purpose, on account of the strong affinity which they manifestly bear to the metaphysical opinions of the sects of Jina and Budd'ha.

Though not strictly orthodox, both Sanc'hyas and the Vaiseshica, as well as the Nyaya, are respected and studied by very rigid adherents of the Vedas, who are taught, however, to reject so much as disagrees, and treasure up what is consonant to their scriptures. "In Canade's doctrine, in the Sanc'hya, and in the Yoga, that part which is inconsistent with the Vedas, is to be rejected by those who strictly adhere to revelation. In Jaimini's doctrine, and in Vyasa's, there is nothing whatsoever at variance with scripture." [Quotation in Vijnyana-Bhicshu's Capila-bhashya.]

Heretical treatises of philosophy are very numerous: among which that of CHARVACA, which exhibits the doctrine of the Jaina sect, is most conspicuous; and next to it, the Pasupata.

To them, and to the orthodox systems beforementioned, it is not intended here to advert, further than as they are noticed by writers on the Sanc'hya, citing opinions of other schools of philosophy, in course of commenting on the text which they are engaged in expounding. It is not my present purpose to exhibit a contrasted view of the tenets of different philosophical schools, but to present to this Society a summary of the doctrine of a single sect; which will serve, however, to elucidate that of several more.

Of other philosophical sects, the received doctrines in detail may be best reserved for separate notice, in distinct essays to be hereafter submitted to the Society. I must be clearly understood, however, not to pledge myself definitively for that task.

I proceed without further preface to the immediate subject of the present essay:

A system of philosophy, in which precision of reckoning is observed in the enumeration of its principles, is denominated Sanc'hya; a term which has been understood to signify numeral, agreeably to the usual acceptation of sanc'hya, number: and hence its analogy to the Pythagorean philosophy has been presumed. But the name may be taken to imply, that its doctrine is founded in the exercise of judgment: for the word from which it is derived signifies reasoning or deliberation; [Am. Cosh. 1, I, 4, 11.] and that interpretation of its import is countenanced by a passage of the Bharata, where it is said of this sect of philosophers: "They exercise judgment (sanc'ya), and discuss nature and [other] twenty-four principles, and therefore are called Sanc'hya.''

The commentator who has furnished this quotation, expounds sanc'hya, as here importing 'the discovery of soul by means of right discrimination.' [Capita-bhashya.]

The reputed founder of this sect of metaphysical philosophy was Capila; an ancient sage, concerning whose origin and adventures the mythological fables, which occupy the place of history with the Hindus, are recounted variously. In Gaudapa'da's commentary on the Sanc'hya-carica, he is asserted to have been a son of Brahma; being one of the seven great Rishis, or saints, named in Puranas or theogonies as the offspring of that deity. His two most distinguished disciples, Asuri and Panchasic'ha, are there exalted to the same rank and divine origin with himself. Another commentator maintains that Capila was an incarnation of Vishnu. It had been affirmed by a writer on the Vedanta, upon the authority of a passage quoted by him, wherein Capila, the founder of the Sanc'hya sect, is identified with AGNI (fire), that he was an incarnation, not of Vishnu, but of AGNI. The commentator is not content with the fiery origin conceded to the author. He denies the existence of more than one Capila; and insists, that the founder of this sect was an incarnation of Vishnu, born as the son of Devaduti. [VIJNYANA in Cap. bhash.]

In fact, the word Capila, besides its ordinary signification of tawny colour, bears likewise that of fire: and upon this ambiguity of sense many legends in the Indian theogonies, concerning the saint of the name, have been grounded; a sample of which will be found quoted by Col. Wilford, in the Asiatic Researches. [Vol. iii. p. 355.]

A passage which is cited in the commentaries of Gaudapada and VACHESPATI on the Carica, assigns to Capila intuitive knowledge and innate virtue, with transcendent power and other perfections born with him at the earliest creation; and this is taken by those scholiasts as relating to the founder of the Sanc'hya sect. But another commentator of the Carica, Ramacrishna, who belongs to the theistical branch of this sect, affirms that the passage in question concerns Iswara, or God, acknowledged by that school.

A text quoted in Vyasa's commentary on Patanjali's Yogasastra, [PATANJ. Sanc'h. prav, 1, 25.] and referred by the annotator Vachespati, as well as a modern scholiast of the Yoga-sastra, Nagoji, to Panchasic'ha the disciple of Asuri, describes Capila as an incarnation of the Deity: "The holy and first wise one, entering a mind by himself framed, and becoming the mighty sage (Capila), compassionately revealed this science to Asuri." [Panch, sutra, quoted in Vyasa's bhashya.]

It may be questioned whether Capila be not altogether a mythological personage, to whom the true author of the doctrine, whoever he was, thought fit to ascribe it.

A collection of sutras, or succinct aphorisms, in six lectures, attributed to Capila himself, is extant under the title of Sanc'hya pravachana. As an ancient work (whoever may have been really its author), it must doubtless have been expounded by early scholiasts. But the only commentary, which can at present be referred to by name is the Capila-bhashya: or, as the author himself cites it in his other works, Sanc'hya-bhashya. The title at full length, in the epigraph of the book, is Capila-sanc'hya-pravachana-sastra-bhasya. It is by VIJNYANA-BHICSHU, a mendicant ascetic (as his designation imports), who composed a separate treatise on the attainment of beatitude in this life, entitled Sanc'hya-sara, and wrote many other works; particularly the Yoga-vartica, consisting of scholia on Patanjali's Yoga-sastra, and the Brahme-mimansa-bhashya, which is a commentary on a treatise of Vedanti philosophy.

It appears from the preface of the Capila-bhashya, that a more compendious tract, in the same form of sutras or aphorisms, bears the title of Tatwa-samasa, and is ascribed to the same author, CAPILA. The scholiast intimates that both are of equal authority, and in no respect discordant: one being a summary of the greater work, or else this an amplification of the conciser one. The latter was probably the case; for there is much repetition in the Sanc'hya-pravachana.

It is avowedly not the earliest treatise on this branch of philosophy: since it contains references to former authorities for particulars which are but briefly hinted in the sutras; [Cap. 3, 30.] and it quotes some by name, and among them Panchasic'ha, [Cap 6.] the disciple of the reputed author's pupil: an anachronism which appears decisive.

The title of Sanc'hya-pravachana seems a borrowed one; at least it is common to several compositions. It appertains to Patanjali's Yoga-sastra.

If the authority of the scholiast of Capila may be trusted, the Tatwa-samasa is the proper text of the Sanc'hya: and its doctrine is more fully, but separately set forth, by the two ampler treatises, entitled Sanc'hya-pravachana, which contain a fuller exposition of what had been there succinctly delivered; Patanjali's work supplying the deficiency of Capila's, and declaring the existence of God, which for argument's sake, and not absolutely and unreservedly, he had denied.

Of the six lectures or chapters into which the sutras are distributed, the three first comprise an exposition of the whole Sanc'hya doctrine. The fourth contains illustrative comparisons, with reference to fables and tales. The fifth is controversial, confuting opinions of other sects; which is the case also with part of the first. The sixth and last treats of the most important parts of the doctrine, enlarging upon topics before touched.

The Carica, which will be forthwith mentioned as the text book or standard authority of the Sanc'hya, has an allusion to the contents of the fourth and fifth chapters, professing to be a complete treatise of the science, exclusive of illustrative tales and controversial disquisitions. [Car. 72.] The author must have had before him the same collection of sutras, or one similarly arranged. His scholiast [Narayana-Tirt'ha.] expressly refers to the numbers of the chapters.

Whether the Tatwa-samasa of Capila be extant, or whether the sutras of Panchasic'ha be so, is not certain. The latter are frequently cited, and by modern authors on the Sanc'hya: whence a presumption, that they may be yet forthcoming.

The best text of the Sanc'hya is a short treatise in verse, which is denominated Carica, as memorial verses of other sciences likewise are. The acknowledged author is Iswara-Crishna, described in the concluding lines or epigraph of the work itself, as having received the doctrine, through a succession of intermediate instructors, from Panchasic'ha, by whom it was first promulgated, and who was himself instructed by Asuri, the disciple of Capila. [Car. 70 and 71.]

This brief tract, containing seventy-two stanzas in arya metre, has been expounded in numerous commentaries.

One of these is the work of Gaudapada, the celebrated scholiast of the Upanishads of the Vedas, and preceptor of Govinda, who was preceptor of Sancara-Acharya, author likewise of numerous treatises on divers branches of theological philosophy. It is entitled Sanc'hya bhashya.

Another, denominated Sanc'hya-chandrica, is by Narayana-Tirt'ha, who seems from his designation to have been an ascetic. He was author likewise of a gloss on the Yoga-sastra, as appears from his own references to it.

A third commentary, under the title of Sanc'hya-tatwa-caumudi, or more simply Tatwa-caumudi (for so it is cited by later commentators), is by Vachespati-Misra, a native of Tirhut, author of similar works on various other philosophical systems. It appears from the multiplicity of its copies, which are unusually frequent, to be the most approved gloss on the text.

One more commentary, bearing the analogous but simpler title of Sanc'hya-caumudi, is by Rama-Crishna, Bhattacha'rya, a learned and not ancient writer of Bengal; who has for the most part followed preceding commentators, borrowing frequently from Narayana Tirt'ha, though taking the title of his commentary from Vachespati's.

The scholiasts of the Carica have, in more than one place, noticed the text of the sutras: thus formally admitting the authority of the aphorisms. The excellence of the memorial verses (Carica), with the gloss of GAUDAPADA and that of Vachespati-Misra, has been the occasion of both collections of aphorisms (Tatwu-samasa and Sanc'hya-pravachana) falling into comparative neglect. They are superseded for a text book of the sect by Iswaua-Crishna's clearer and more compendious work Both sutras and carted may be considered to be genuine and authoritative expositions of the doctrine; and the more especially, as they do not, upon any material point, appear to disagree.

The several works beforementioned are the principal works in which the Sanc'hya philosophy may be now studied. Others, which are cited by scholiasts, may possibly be yet forthcoming. But they are at least scarce, and no sufficient account of them can be given upon the strength of a few scattered quotations. Among them, however, may be named the Rajavartica, to which reference is made, as to a work held in much estimation, and which appears to comprise annotations on the sutras; and the Sangraha, which is cited for parallel passages explanatory of the text, being an abridged exposition of the same doctrines, in the form of a select compilation.

Concerning the presumable antiquity of either Capila's aphorisms or Iswara-Crishna's memorial couplets, I shall here only remark, that notices of them, with quotations from both, do occur in philosophical treatises of other schools, whereby their authenticity is so far established.

Besides the Sanc'hya of Capila and his followers, another system, bearing the same denomination, but more usually termed the Yogasastra or Yuga-sutra, as before remarked, is ascribed to a mythological being, Patanjali, the supposed author of the great grammatical commentary emphatically named the Mahabhashya: and likewise of a celebrated medical treatise termed Characa, and other distinguished performances.

The collection of Yoga-sutras, bearing the common title of Sanc'hya pravachana, is distributed into four chapters or quarters (pada): the first, on contemplation (samad'hi); the second, on the means of its attainment; the third, on the exercise of transcendent power (vibhuti); the fourth, on abstraction or spiritual insulation (caiwalya).

An ancient commentary on this fanatical work is forthcoming, entitled Patanjala-bhashya. It is attributed to Veda-Vyasa, the compiler of the Indian scriptures and founder of the Vedanti school of philosophy, Vachespati Misra has furnished scholia on both text and gloss. This scholiast has been already noticed as an eminent interpreter of the Carica: and the same remark is here applicable, that the multiplicity of copies indicates the estimation in which his gloss is held above other scholia.

Another commentary is by Vijnyana-Bhicshu beforementioned. He refers to it in his other works under the name of Yoga-vartica. It probably is extant; for quotations from it occur in modern compilations.

A third commentary, denominated Raja-martanda, is ascribed in its preface and epigraph to Rana-Rangamalla, surnamed Bhojaraja or Bhoja-Pati, sovereign of Dhara, and therefore called Dhareswara. It was probably composed at his court, under his auspices; and his name has been affixed to it in compliment to him, as is no uncommon practice. It is a succinct and lucid exposition of the text.

An ampler commentary by a modern Maharashtriya Brahman, named Nagoji-Bhatta Upad'hyaya, bears the title of Patanjali-sutravritti. It is very copious and very clear.

The tenets of the two schools of the Sanc'hya are on many, not to say on most, points, that are treated in both, the same; differing however upon one, which is the most important of all: the proof of existence of supreme God.

The one school (Patanjali's) recognising God, is therefore denominated theistical (Seswara sanc'hya). The other (Capila's) is atheistical (NirIswara sanc'hya), as the sects of Jina and Buddha in effect are, acknowledging no creator of universe nor supreme ruling providence. The Gods of Capila are beings superior to man; but, like him, subject to change and transmigration.

A third school, denominated Pauranica sanc'hya, considers nature as an illusion; conforming upon most other points to the doctrine of PATANJALI, and upon many, to that of Capila. In several of the Puranas, as the Matsya, Carina and Vishnu, in particular, the cosmogony, which is an essential part of an Indian theogony, is delivered consonantly to this system. That which is found at the beginning of Menu's institutes of law is not irreconcileable to it. [MENU, 1. 14—10.]

Doctrine of the Sanc'hya.

The professed design of all the schools of the Sanc'hya, theistical, atheistical, and mythological, as of other Indian systems of philosophy, is to teach the means by which eternal beatitude may be attained after death, if not before it.

In a passage of the Vedas it is said, "Soul is to be known, it is to be discriminated from nature: thus it does not come again; it does not come again." [GAUD, on Car.] Consonantly to this and to numberless other passages of a like import, the whole scope of the Vedanta is to teach a doctrine, by the knowledge of which an exemption from metempsychosis shall be attainable; and to inculcate that as the grand object to be sought, by moans indicated.

Even in the aphorisms of the Nyaya [Got sutr.] the same is proposed as the reward of a thorough acquaintance with that philosophical arrangement.

In like manner the Grecian philosophers, and Pythagoras and Plato in particular, taught that "the end of philosophy is to free the mind from incumbrances which hinder its progress towards perfection, and to raise it to the contemplation of immutable truth," and "to disengage it from all animal passions, that it may rise above sensible objects to the contemplation of the world of intelligence. " [Enfield's Hist, of Phil. I. 382 and 233.]

In all systems of the Sanc'hya the same purpose is propounded, "Future pain," says Patanjali, "is to be prevented. A clear knowledge of discriminate truth is the way of its prevention." [Pat. 2. 16. and 26.]

It is true knowledge, as Capila and his followers insist, [Cap. 1. 1. Car. 1.] that alone can secure entire and permanent deliverance from evil: whereas temporal means, whether for exciting pleasure or for relieving mental and bodily sufferance, are insufficient to that end; and the spiritual resources of practical religion are imperfect, since sacrifice, the most efficacious of observances, is attended with the slaughter of animals, and consequently is not innocent and pure; and the heavenly meed of pious acts is transitory. [Car. 1.]

In support of these positions, passages are cited from the Vedas declaring in express terms the attainment of celestial bliss by celebration of sacrifices: "Whoever performs an aswamed'ha (or immolation of a horse) conquers all worlds; overcomes death; expiates sin; atones for sacrilege." In another place, Indra and the rest of the subordinate deities are introduced exulting on their acquisition of bliss. "We have drunk the juice of asclepias [Soma, the moon-plant: Asclepias acida.] and are become immortal; we have attained effulgence; we have learned divine truths. How can a foe harm us? How can age affect the immortality of a deathless being?'' [GAUD. on Car. 2.] Yet it appears in divers parts of the Indian scriptures, that, according to Hindu theology, even those deities, though termed immortal, have but a definite duration of life, perishing with the whole world at its periodical dissolution. "Many thousands of Indras and of other Gods have passed away in successive periods, overcome by time; for time is hard to overcome." [Ibid.]

Complete and perpetual exemption from every sort of ill is the beatitude which is proposed for attainment by acquisition of perfect knowledge. "Absolute prevention of all three sorts of pain," as an aphorism of" the Sanc'hya intimates, "is the highest purpose of soul." [San. prav. 1. 1.] Those three sorts are evil proceeding from self, from external beings, or from divine causes: the first is either bodily, as disease of various kinds; or mental, as cupidity, anger, and other passions: the two remaining sorts arise from external sources; one excited by some mundane being; the other, by the agency of a being of a superior order, or produced by a fortuitous cause.

True and perfect knowledge, by which deliverance from evil of every kind is attainable, consists in rightly discriminating the principles, perceptible and imperceptible, of the material world, from the sensitive and cognitive principle which is the immaterial soul. Thus the Carica premises, that "the inquiry concerns means of precluding the three sorts of pain: for pain is embarrassment. Nor is the inquiry superfluous, because obvious means of alleviation exist; for absolute and final relief is not thereby accomplished. The revealed mode is, like the temporal one, ineffectual: for it is impure; and it is defective in some respects, as well as excessive in others. A method, different from both, is preferable; consisting in a discriminative knowledge of perceptible principles, and of the imperceptible one, and of the thinking soul." [Car. 1 and 2 with Scholia.]

The revealed mode, to which allusion is here made, is not theological doctrine with the knowledge of first principles, insuring exemption from transmigration; but performance of religious ceremonies enjoined in the practical Vedas, and especially the immolation of victims, for which a heavenly reward, a place among the Gods, is promised.

It is not pure, observes the scholiast, for it is attended with the slaughter of animals, which if not sinful in such cases, is, to say the least, not harmless. The merit of it, therefore, is of a mixed nature. A particular precept expresses, "slay the consecrated victim:" but a general maxim ordains, "hurt no sentient being." It is defective, since even the Gods, Indra and the rest, perish at the appointed period. It is in other respects excessive, since the felicity of one is a source of unhappiness to another.

Visible and temporal means, to which likewise reference is made in the text, are medicine and other remedies for bodily ailment; diversion alleviating mental ills; a guard against external injury; charms for defence from accidents. Such expedients do not utterly preclude sufferance. But true knowledge, say Indian philosophers, does so; and they undertake to teach the means of its attainment.

By three kinds of evidence, exclusive of intuition, which belongs to beings of a superior order, demonstration is arrived at, and certainty is attained, by mankind: namely, perception, inference, and affirmation. [Car. 4. Pat. 1. 7. Cap. 1.] All authorities among the Sanc'hyas, (Patanjali and CAPILA, as well as their respective followers) concur in asserting these. Other sources of knowledge, admitted in different systems of philosophy, are reducible to these three. Comparison, or analogy, which the logicians of Gotama's school add to that enumeration, and tradition and other arguments, which Jaimini maintains (viz. capacity, aspect, and privation of four sorts, antecedent, reciprocal, absolute, and total), are all comprehended therein. Other philosophers, who recognise fewer sources of knowledge, as Charvaca, who acknowledges perception only, and the Vaiseshicas, who disallow tradition, are rejected as insufficient authorities. [Com. on Car. 5.]

Inference is of three sorts, equally admitted by the schools of the Sanc'hya and Gotama's Nyaya, and in all distinguished by the same denominations. The consideration of them more properly belongs to the dialectic philosophy than to this, and may therefore be postponed. It will be here sufficient to state the simplest explanation furnished by scholiasts of the Carica and Sutras, without going into the differences which occur in their expositions.

One sort, then, is the inference of an effect from a cause; the second is that of a cause from an effect; the third is deduced from a relation other than that of cause and effect. Examples of them are, 1st. Rain anticipated from a cloud seen gathering. 2d. Fire concluded on a hill, whence smoke ascends. 3d. A flower's appropriate colour presumed where its peculiar scent is noticed; or motion of the moon's orb, deduced from observation of it in different aspects; or saltness of the sea, concluded from that of a sample of seawater; or bloom surmised on mangoe-trees in general, when an individual mangoe-tree is found in blossom.

In regard to the third kind of evidence, tradition or right affirmation, [Pat. 1. 7.] explained as intending true revelation, [Car. 4 and 5.] commentators understand it to mean the Vedas or sacred writ, including the recollections of those gifted mortals, who remember passages of their former lives, and call to mind events which occurred to them in other worlds; and excluding, on the other hand, pretended revelations of impostors and barbarians.

In a dialogue cited from the Vedas, one of the interlocutors, the holy Jaigishavya, asserts his presence, and consequent recollection of occurrences, through ten renovations of the universe (Mahasarga).

In a more extended sense, this third kind of evidence is the affirmation of any truth, and comprises every mode of oral information or verbal communication whence knowledge of a truth maybe drawn.

From these three sources, by the right exercise of judgment and due application of reasoning, true knowledge is derived, consisting in a discriminative acquaintance with principles; which, in the Sanc'hya system, are reckoned to be not less than twenty-five; viz.

1. Nature, Pracrlti or Mula-pracriti, the root or plastic origin of all: termed Prad'hana, the chief one: the universal, material cause; identified by the cosmogony of the Puranas (in several of which the Sanc'hya philosophy is followed) with Maya or illusion; and, by mythologists, with Brahmi, the power or energy of Brahma. It is eternal matter, undiscrete; undistinguishable, as destitute of parts; inferrible, from its effects: being productive, but no production.

2. Intelligence, called Budd'hi and Mahat or the great one: the first production of nature, in create, prolific; being itself productive of other principles. It is identified by the mythological Sanc'hya with the Hindu triad of Gods. A very remarkable passage of the Matsya-purana cited in the Sanc'hya-sara, after declaring that the great principle is produced "from modified nature," proceeds to affirm, "that the great one becomes distinctly known as three Gods, through the influence of the three qualities of goodness, foulness, and darkness; 'being one person, and three Gods,' (eca murtis, trayo devah), namely, Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheswara. In the aggregate it is the deity; but, distributive, it appertains to individual beings.''

3. Consciousness, termed Ahancara, or more properly egotism, which is the literal sense of the term. The peculiar and appropriate function of it is (abhimana) selfish conviction; a belief that, in perception and meditation, "I" am concerned; that the objects of sense concern me; in short, that I am. It proceeds from the intellectual principle, and is productive of those which follow.

4 — 8. Five subtile particles, rudiments, or atoms, denominated Tanmatra: perceptible to beings of a superior order, but unapprehended by the grosser senses of mankind: derived from the conscious principle, and themselves productive of the five grosser elements, earth, water, fire, air, and space.

9 — 19. Eleven organs of sense and action, which also are productions of the conscious principle. Ten are external: viz. five of sense and five of action. The eleventh is internal, an organ both of sense and of action, termed manas or mind. The five instruments of sensation are, the eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue, and the skin. The five instruments of action are, 1st, voice, or the organ of speech; 2d, the hand; 3d, the feet; 4th, the excretory termination of the intestines; 5th, the organ of generation. Mind, serving both for sense and action, is an organ by affinity, being cognate with the rest.

These eleven organs, with the two principles of intelligence and consciousness, are thirteen instruments of knowledge: three internal, and ten external, likened to three warders and ten gates. [Car. 32— 35.]

An external sense perceives; the internal one examines; consciousness makes the selfish application 5 and intellect resolves: an external organ executes.

20 — 24. Five elements, produced from the five elementary particles or rudiments. 1st. A diffused, etherial fluid (acasa), occupying space: it has the property of audibleness, being the vehicle of sound, derived from the sonorous rudiment or etherial atom. 2d. Air, which is endued with the properties of audibleness and tangibility, being sensible to hearing and touch; derived from the tangible rudiment or aerial atom. 3d. Fire, which is invested with properties of audibleness, tangibility, and colour; sensible to hearing, touch, and sight: derived from the colouring rudiment or igneous atom. 4th. Water, which possesses the properties of audibleness, tangibility, colour and savour; being sensible to hearing, touch, sight, and taste: derived from the savoury rudiment or aqueous atom. 5th. Earth, which unites the properties of audibleness, tangibility, colour, savour, and odour; being sensible to hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell: derived from the odorous rudiment or terrene atom.

25. Soul, termed Purusha, Pumas, or Atman; which is neither produced nor productive. It is multitudinous, individual, sensitive, eternal, unalterable, immaterial.

The theistical Sanc'hya recognises the same principles; understanding, however, by Purusha, not individual soul alone, but likewise God (Iswara), the ruler of the world.

These twenty-five principles are summarily contrasted in the Carica. "Nature, root of all, is no production. Seven principles; the GREAT or intellectual one, &c. are productions and productive. Sixteen are productions (unproductive). Soul is neither a production nor productive." [Car. 3.]

To this passage a close resemblance will be remarked in one which occurs at the beginning of Erigena's treatise De Divisione Naturae, where he distinguishes these four: "That which creates and is not created; that which is created and creates; that which is created and creates not; and that which neither creates nor is created." [J. Scoti Erigenae de div. nat. lib. 5.]

In several of the Upanishads of the Vedas a similar distribution is affirmed, viz. "eight productive principles and sixteen productions." [Garbha, Prasna and Maitreya Upanishads.]

It is for contemplation of nature, and for abstraction from it, that union of soul with nature takes place, as the halt and the blind join for conveyance and for guidance (one bearing and directed; the other borne and directing). By that union of soul and nature, creation, consisting in the development of intellect and the rest of the principles, is effected.

The soul's wish is fruition or liberation. For either purpose, it is in the first place invested with a subtile person, towards the formation of which the evolution of principles proceeds no further than the elementary rudiments. [Car. 40.] This is composed then of intellect, consciousness, and mind, as well as the rest of the organs and instruments of life, conjoined with particles, or elementary rudiments, of five sorts: thus seventeen principles enter into its composition. [Cap. 3. 8.]

This person or subtile frame, termed linga, linga-sarira, or sucshma-sarira, is primeval, produced from original nature at the earliest or initial development of principles. It is unconfined; too subtile for restraint or hindrance (and thence termed ativahica, surpassing the wind in swiftness); incapable of enjoyment until it be invested with a grosser body, affected nevertheless by sentiments.

This is termed the rudimental creation (tanmatra-sarga).

The notion of an animated atom seems to be a compromise between the refined dogma of an immaterial soul, and the difficulty which a gross understanding finds in grasping the comprehension of individual existence, unattached to matter.

The grosser body, with which a soul clad in its subtile person is invested for the purpose of fruition, is composed of the five elements; or of four, excluding the etherial, according to some authorities; or of one earth alone, according to others. [Cap. 3. 16—18.] That grosser body, propagated by generation, is perishable. The subtile person is more durable, transmigrating through successive bodies, which it assumes, as a mimic shifts his disguises to represent various characters.

According to CAPILA, [Car. 3, 10, 11.] as he is interpreted by his scholiast, there is intermediately a corporeal frame composed of the five elements, but tenuous or refined. It is termed anusht'hana sarira, and is the vehicle of the subtile person.

It is this, rather than the subtile person itself, which in Patanjali's Yoga-sastra is conceived to extend, like the flame of a lamp over its wick, to a small distance above the skull.

The corporeal creation (bhautica-sarga), consisting of souls invested with gross bodies, comprises eight orders of superior beings and five of inferior; which, together with man, who forms a class apart, constitute fourteen orders of beings, distributed in three worlds or classes.

The eight superior orders of beings bear appellations familiar to Hindu theology; Brahma, Prajapatis, Indras, Pitris, Gand'harvas, Yacshas, Racshasas, and Pisachas; Gods or demi-Gods, demons and evil spirits.

The inferior orders of beings are quadrupeds, distinguished in two orders; birds, reptiles, fishes, and insects; vegetables and unorganic substances.

Above is the abode of goodness, peopled by beings of superior orders; virtue prevails there, and consequent bliss, imperfect however, inasmuch as it is transient. Beneath is the abode of darkness or illusion, where beings of an inferior order dwell; stolidity or dulness is prevalent. Between is the human world, where foulness or passion predominates, attended with continual misery.

Throughout these worlds, sentient soul experiences ill arising from decay and death, until it be finally liberated from its union with person.

Besides the grosser corporeal creation and the subtile or personal, all belonging to the material world, the Sanc'hya distinguishes an intellectual creation (pratyaya-sarga or bhava-sarga), consisting of the affections of intellect, its sentiments or faculties, which are enumerated in four classes, as obstructing, disabling, contenting, or perfecting the understanding, and amount to fifty.

Obstructions of the intellect are error, conceit, passion, hatred, fear: which are severally denominated obscurity, illusion, extreme illusion, gloom, and utter darkness. These again are subdivided into sixty-two sorts; error comprising eight species; illusion, as many; extreme illusion, ten; gloom, eighteen; and utter darkness, the same number.

Error, or obscurity, mistakes irrational nature, intellect, consciousness, or any one of the five elementary atoms, for the soul, and imagines liberation to consist in absorption into one of those eight prolific principles.

Conceit, termed illusion, imagines transcendent power, in any of its eight modes, to be deliverance from evil. Thus beings of a superior order, as Indra and the rest of the Gods, who possess transcendent power of every sort, conceive it to be perpetual, and believe themselves immortal.

Passion, called extreme illusion, concerns the five objects of sense; sound, tact, colour, savour, and odour; reckoned to be twice as many, as different to man and to superior beings.

Envy or hatred, denominated gloom, relates to the same ten objects of sense, and to eight-fold transcendent power, furnishing the means of their enjoyment.

Fear, named utter darkness, regards the same eighteen subjects, and consists in the dread of ill attendant on their loss by death or by deprivation of power.

Disability of intellect, which constitutes the second class, comprising twenty-eight species, arises from defect or injury of organs, which are eleven: and to these eleven sorts are added the contraries of the two next classes, containing the one nine, and the other eight species, making a total of twenty-eight. Deafness, blindness, deprivation of taste, want of smell, numbedness, dumbness, handlessness, lameness, costiveness, impotence, and madness, are disabilities preventing performance of functions.

Content or acquiescence, which forms the third class, is either internal or external: the one four-fold, the other five-fold; viz. internal, 1st. Concerning nature; as, an opinion that a discriminative knowledge of nature is a modification of that principle itself, with a consequent expectation of deliverance by the act of nature. 2d. Concerning the proximate cause; as a belief that ascetic observances suffice to ensure liberation. 3d. Concerning time; as a fancy that deliverance will come in course, without study. 4th. Concerning luck; as a supposition that its attainment depends on destiny. External acquiescence relates to abstinence from enjoyment upon temporal motives; namely, 1st, aversion from the trouble of acquisition; or, 2d, from that of preservation; and, 5d, reluctance to incur loss consequent on use; or, 4th, evil attending on fruition; or, 5th, offence of hurting objects by the enjoyment of them.

The perfecting of the intellect is the fourth class, and comprises eight species. Perfection consists in the prevention of evil; and this being three-fold, its prevention is so likewise; as is the consequent perfection of the understanding. This is direct. The remaining five species are indirect, viz. reasoning; oral instruction; study; amicable intercourse; and purity, internal and external (or according to another interpretation, liberality). They are means of arriving at perfection.

The Sanc'hya, as other Indian systems of philosophy, is much engaged with the consideration of what is termed the three qualities (guna): if indeed quality be here the proper import of the term; for the scholiast of Capila understands it as meaning, not quality or accident, but substance, a modification of nature, fettering the soul; conformably with an other acceptation of guna, signifying a cord. [Vijnyan, on Cap. 1.]

The first, and highest, is goodness (sattwa). It is alleviating, enlightening, attended with pleasure and happiness; and virtue predominates in it. In fire it is prevalent; wherefore flame ascends, and sparks fly upwards. In man, when it abounds, as it does in beings of a superior order, it is the cause of virtue.

The second and middlemost is foulness or passion (rajas or lejas). It is active, urgent, and variable; attended with evil and misery. In air it predominates, wherefore wind moves transversely. In living beings it is the cause of vice.

The third and lowest is darkness (tamas). It is heavy and obstructive; attended with sorrow, dulness, and illusion. In earth and water it predominates, wherefore they fall or tend downwards. In living beings it is the cause of stolidity.

These three qualities are not mere accidents of nature, but are of its essence and enter into its composition. "We speak of the qualities of nature as we do of the trees of a forest," say the Sanc'hyas. [Sanc'hya-sara.] In the Vedas they are pronounced to be successive modifications, one of the other: "All was darkness: commanded to change, darkness took the taint of foulness; and this, again commanded, assumed the form of goodness."

They co-operate for a purpose, by union of opposites: as a lamp, which is composed of oil, a wick, and flame, [Car. 13.] substances inimical and contrary.

Taking the three qualities by which nature is modified, for principles or categories, the number, before enumerated, is raised to twenty-eight; as is by some authorities maintained. [Vijnyana-Bhicshu in Sanc'hya sara and Capita-bhashya.]

To the intellect appertain eight modes, effects, or properties: four partaking of goodness; namely, virtue, knowledge, dispassion, and power; and four which are the reverse of those, and partake of darkness, viz. sin, error, incontinency, and powerlessness.

Virtue here intends moral or religious merit. Knowledge is either exterior or interior; that is, temporal or spiritual. Interior or spiritual knowledge discriminates soul from nature, and operates its deliverance from evil. Exterior or temporal knowledge comprehends holy writ, and every science but self-knowledge.

Dispassion likewise is either exterior or interior; as proceeding from a temporal motive, aversion from trouble; or a spiritual impulse, the conviction that nature is a dream, a mere juggle and illusion.

Power is eight-fold: consisting in the faculty of shrinking into a minute form, to which every thing is pervious; or enlarging to a gigantic body; or assuming levity (rising along a sunbeam to the solar orb); or possessing unlimited reach of organs (as touching the moon with the tip of a finger); or irresistible will (for instance, sinking into the earth, as easily as in water); dominion over all beings animate or inanimate; faculty of changing the course of nature; ability to accomplish every thing desired.

The notion, that such transcendent power is attainable by man in this life, is not peculiar to the Sanc'hya sect: it is generally prevalent among the Hindus, and amounts to a belief of magic. A Yogi, imagined to have acquired such faculties, is, to vulgar apprehension, a sorcerer, and is so represented in many a drama and popular tale.

One of the four chapters of Patanjali's Yoga-sastra (the third), relates almost exclusively to this subject, from which it takes its title. It is full of directions for bodily and mental exercises, consisting of intensely profound meditation on special topics, accompanied by suppression of breath and restraint of the senses, while steadily maintaining prescribed postures. By such exercises, the adept acquires the knowledge of every thing past and future, remote or hidden; he divines the thoughts of others 5 gains the strength of an elephant, the courage of a lion, and the swiftness of the wind; flies in the air, floats in water, dives into the earth, contemplates all worlds at one glance, and performs other strange feats.

But neither power, however transcendent, nor dispassion, nor virtue, however meritorious, suffices for the attainment of beatitude. It serves but to prepare the soul for that absorbed contemplation, by which the great purpose of deliverance is to be accomplished.

The promptest mode of attaining beatitude through absorbed contemplation, is devotion to God; consisting in repeated muttering of his mystical name, the syllable om, at the same time meditating its signification. It is this which constitutes efficacious devotion; whereby the deity, propitiated, confers on the votary the boon that is sought; precluding all impediments, and effecting the attainment of an inward sentiment that prepares the soul for liberation.

"God, ISWARA, the supreme ruler," according to Patanjali, [Yoga-sastra 1. 23—24, and 26—29.] "is a soul or spirit distinct from other souls; unaffected by the ills with which they are beset; unconcerned with good or bad deeds and their consequences, and with fancies or passing thoughts. In him is the utmost omniscience. He is the instructor of the earliest beings that have a beginning (the deities of mythology); himself infinite, unlimited by time."

CAPILA, on the other hand, denies an Iswara, ruler of the world by volition: alleging that there is no proof of God's existence, unperceived by the senses, not inferred from reasoning, nor yet revealed. [Cap. 1. 91—98; 3. 52—55; 5. 2—12; and 6. 64—78.] He acknowledges, indeed, a being issuing from nature, who is intelligence absolute; source of all individual intelligences, and origin of other existences successively evolved and developed. He expressly affirms, "that the truth of such an Iswara is demonstrated:" [Cap. 3, 55.] the creator of worlds, in such sense of creation: for "the existence of effects," he says, "is dependent upon consciousness, not upon Iswara;" and "all else is from the great principle, intellect." [Cap. 6. 65 and 66.] Yet that being is finite; having a beginning and an end; dating from the grand development of the universe, to terminate with the consummation of all things. But an infinite being, creator and guide of the universe by volition, Capila positively disavows. [Cap. 1.] "Detached from nature, unaffected therefore by consciousness and the rest of nature's trammels, he could have no inducement to creation; fettered by nature, he could not be capable of creation. Guidance requires proximity, as the iron is attracted by the magnet; and, in like manner, it is by proximity that living souls govern individual bodies, enlightened by animation as hot iron is by heat."

Passages of admitted authority, in which God is named, relate, according to Capila and his followers, either to a liberated soul or to a mythological deity, or that superior, not supreme being, whom mythology places in the midst of the mundane egg.

Such is the essential and characteristic difference of CAPILA's and PATANJALI's, the atheistical and deistical, Sanc'hyas.

In less momentous matters they differ, not upon points of doctrine, but in the degree in which the exterior exercises, or abstruse reasoning  and study, are weighed upon, as requisite preparations of absorbed contemplation. Patanjali's Yoga-sastra is occupied with devotional exercise and mental abstraction, subduing body and mind: Capila is more engaged with investigation of principles and reasoning upon them. One is more mystic and fanatical. The other makes a nearer approach to philosophical disquisition, however mistaken in its conclusions.

The manner in which a knowledge of those principles or categories that are recognised by the Sanc'hyas may be acquired, is set forth in the Carica: "Sensible objects become known by perception. It is by inference or reasoning, that acquaintance with things transcending the senses is attained: and a truth, which is neither to be directly perceived nor to be inferred by reasoning, is deduced from revelation. For various causes, things may be imperceptible or unperceived; distance, nearness, minuteness; confusion, concealment; predominance of other matters; defect of organs or inattention. It is owing to the subtlety of nature, not to the non-existence of this original principle, that it is not apprehended by the senses, but inferred from its effects. Intellect and the rest of the derivative principles are effects; whence it is concluded as their cause; in some respects analogous, but in others dissimilar." [Car. 6. 8.]

"Effect subsists antecedently to the operation of cause:" a maxim not unlike the ancient one, that "nothing comes of nothing;" for it is the material, not the efficient, cause, which is here spoken of.

The reasons alleged by the Sanc'hyas [Car. 9.] are, that "what exists not, can by no operation of a cause be brought into existence:" that is, effects are educts, rather than products. Oil is in the seed of sesamum before it is expressed; rice is in the husk before it is peeled; milk is in the udder before it is drawn. ''Materials, too, are selected, which are apt for the purpose:" milk, not water, is taken to make curds. "Every thing is not by every means possible:" cloth, not earthen ware, may be made with yarn. "What is capable, does that to which it is "competent:" a potter does not weave cloth, but makes a jar, from a lump of clay, with a wheel and other implements. "The nature of cause and effect is the same:" a piece of cloth does not essentially differ from the yarn of which it is wove; as an ox does from a horse: barley, not rice or peas, grows out of barley-corns.

"There is a general cause, which is undistinguishable." [Car. 15. 16.] This position is supported by divers arguments. "Specific objects are finite;" they are multitudinous and not universal: there must then be a single all pervading cause. Another argument is drawn from affinity; "homogeneousness indicates a cause." An earthen jar implies a lump of clay of which it is made; a golden coronet presumes a mass of gold of which it was fabricated: seeing a rigidly abstemious novice, it is readily concluded, says the scholiast, that his parents are of the sacerdotal tribe. There must then be a cause bearing affinity to effects which are seen. Another reason is "existence of effects through energy:" there must be a cause adequate to the effects. A potter is capable of fabricating pottery: he makes a pot, not a car, nor a piece of cloth. The main argument of the Sanc'hyas on this point is "the parting or issuing of effects from cause, and the re-union of the universe." A type of this is the tortoise, which puts forth its limbs, and again retracts them within its shell. So, at the general destruction or consummation of all things, taking place at an appointed period, the five elements, earth, water, fire, air, and ether, constituting the three worlds, are withdrawn in the inverse order of that in which they proceeded from the primary principles, returning step by step to their first cause, the chief and undistinguishable one, which is nature.

It operates by means of the three qualities of goodness, foulness, and darkness. It does so by mixture; as the confluence of three streams forms one river; for example, the Ganges: or as threads interwoven constitute a piece of cloth: and as a picture is a result of the union of pigments. It operates "by modification" too: as water, dropped from a cloud, absorbed by the roots of plants, and carried into the fruit, acquires special flavour, so are different objects diversified by the influence of the several qualities respectively. Thus, from one chief cause, which is nature, spring three dissimilar worlds, observes the scholiast, peopled by Gods enjoying bliss, by men suffering pain, by inferior animals affected with dulness. It is owing to prevalence of particular qualities. In the Gods, goodness prevails, and foulness and darkness are foreign; and therefore are the Gods supremely happy. In man, foulness is prevalent, and goodness and darkness are strangers; wherefore man is eminently wretched. In animals, darkness predominates, and goodness and foulness are wanting; and therefore are animals extremely dull.

The existence of soul is demonstrated by several arguments: [Car. 17.] "The assemblage of sensible objects is for another's use; " as a bed is for a sleeper, a chair for a sitter: that other, who uses it, must be a sensitive being; and the sensitive being is soul. The converse of sensible objects endued with the three qualities, goodness, foulness, and darkness, indiscriminate, common, inanimate, and prolific, must exist, devoid of qualities, discriminate, and so forth: that is soul. "There must be superintendence;" as there is a charioteer to a car: the superintendent of inanimate matter is soul. "There must be one to enjoy" what is formed for enjoyment: a spectator, a witness of it: that spectator is soul. "There is a tendency to abstraction:" the wise and unwise alike desire a termination of vicissitude: holy writ and mighty sages tend to that consummation; the final and absolute extinction of every sort of pain: there must then be a being capable of abstraction, essentially unconnected with pleasure, pain, and illusion: and that being is soul.

There is not one soul to all bodies, as a string on which pearls are strung; but a separate soul for each particular body. "Multitude of souls" is proved by the following arguments. [Car. 18.] "Birth, death, and the instruments of life are allotted severally:" if one soul animated all bodies, one being born, all would be born; one dying, all would die; one being blind, or deaf, or dumb, all would be blind, or deaf, or dumb; one seeing, all would see; one hearing, all would hear; one speaking, all would speak. Birth is the union of soul with instruments, namely, intellect, consciousness, mind and corporeal organs; it is not a modification of soul, for soul is unalterable. Death is its abandonment of them; not an extinction of it, for it is unperishable. Soul then is multitudinous. "Occupations are not at one time universally the same:" if one soul animated all beings, then all bodies would be stirred by the same influence, but it is not so: some are engaged in virtue, others occupied with vice; some restraining passions, others yielding to them; some involved in error, others seeking knowledge. Souls therefore are numerous. "Qualities affect differently:" one is happy; another miserable; and again, another stupid. The Gods are ever happy; man, unhappy; inferior animals, dull. Were there but one soul, all would be alike. The attributes of the several principles, material and immaterial, discrete and undiscrete, perceptible and imperceptible, are compared and contrasted. "A discrete principle," as is affirmed by the Sanc'hyas, [Car. 10, 11.] "is causable:" it is uneternal, "inconstant," one while apparent, at another time evanescent: it is "unpervading," not entering into all; for effect is possessed with its cause, not cause with its effect: it is acted upon, and "mutable," changing from one body to another: it is "multitudinous;" for there are so many minds, intellects, &c. as there are souls animating bodies: it is "supported," resting upon its cause: it is involvable, "merging" one into another, and implying one the other: it is "conjunct," consisting of parts or qualities; as sound, taste, smell, &c.: it is "governed,'' or dependent on another's will.

"The undiscrete principle" is in all these respects the reverse: it is causeless, eternal, all pervading, immutable, or unacted upon; single, as being the one cause of three orders of beings; unsupported (relying but on itself); uninvolvable (not merging or implying); unconjunct; consisting of no parts; self-ruled.

Discrete principles, as well as the undiscrete one, have the three qualities of goodness, foulness, and darkness: the one (nature) having them in its own right, as its form or properties; the rest, because they are its effects: as black yarn makes black cloth. They are undiscriminating or "indiscriminate;" not distinguishing quality from quality, and confounding nature with qualities: for nature is not distinct from itself, nor are qualities separate from it. They are "objects" of apprehension and enjoyment for every soul, external to discriminative knowledge, but subjects of it. They are "common," like an utensil, or like a harlot. They are "irrational" or unsentient; unaware of pain or pleasure: from an insensible lump of clay comes an insensible earthen pot. They are "prolific;" one producing or generating another: nature producing intellect, and intellect generating consciousness, and so forth.

Soul, on the contrary, is devoid of qualities; it is discriminative; it is no object of enjoyment; it is several or peculiar; it is sensitive, aware of pain and pleasure; unprolific, for nothing is generated by it.

In these respects it differs from all the other principles. On certain points it conforms with the undiscrete principle, and differs from the discrete: in one regard it agrees with these and disagrees with the other: for it is not single, but on the contrary multitudinous; and it is causeless, eternal, pervading, immutable, unsupported, unmerging or unimplying, unconjunct (consisting of no parts), self-governed.

The attributes of the perceptible, discrete principles and of the undiscrete, indefinite one, are considered to be proved [Car. 14.] by the influence of the three qualities in one instance, and their absence in the converse; and by conformity of cause and effect: an argument much and frequently relied upon. It concerns the material, not the efficient, cause.

From the contrast between soul and the other principles, it follows, as the Carica [Car. 19, 20.] affirms, that "soul is witness, bystander, spectator, solitary and passive. Therefore, by reason of union with it, insensible body seems sensible: and, though the qualities be active, the stranger (soul) appears as the agent."

"Though inanimate, nature performs the office of preparing the soul for its deliverance, in like manner as it is a function of milk, an unintelligent substance, to nourish the calf." [ Car. 75.]

Nature is likened to a female dancer, exhibiting herself to soul as to an audience, and is reproached with shamelessness for repeatedly exposing herself to the rude gaze of the spectator. "She desists, however, when she has sufficiently shown herself. She does so, because she has been seen; he desists, because he has seen her. There is no further use for the world: yet the connexion of soul and nature still subsists." [Car. 59, 61, 66.]

By attainment of spiritual knowledge through the study of principles, the conclusive, incontrovertible, single truth is learned: so the Carica declares [Car. 64.] that "neither I am, nor is aught mine, nor I exist."

"All which passes in consciousness, in intellect is reflected by the soul, as an image which sullies not the crystal, but appertains not to it. Possessed of this self-knowledge, soul contemplates at ease nature thereby debarred from prolific change, and precluded therefore from every other form and effect of intellect, but that spiritual saving knowledge." [Car. 65.]

"Yet soul remains awhile invested with body; as the potter's wheel continues whirling after the pot has been fashioned, by force of the impulse previously given to it. When separation of the informed soul from its corporeal frame at length takes place, and nature in respect of it ceases, then is absolute and final deliverance accomplished." [Car. 67, 68.]

"Thus," concludes the Carica, "this abstruse knowledge, adapted to the liberation of soul, wherein the origin, duration, and termination of beings are considered, has been thoroughly expounded by the mighty saint. The sage compassionately taught it to Asuri, who communicated it to Panchas'ic'ha, and by him it was promulgated to mankind." [Car. 69, 70.]

[admin]

VII. On the Philosophy of the Hindus.

PART II.

[Read at a public meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society, Feb. 21, 1824.]

[From the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 92-118.]

In the preceding essay, the Sanc'hya, theistical as well as atheistical, was examined. The subject of the present essay will be the dialectic philosophy of GOTAMA, and atomical of Canade, respectively called Nyaya "reasoning," and Vaiseshica "particular." The first,, as its title implies, is chiefly occupied with the metaphysics of logic; the second with physics: that is, with "particulars" or sensible objects; and hence its name. They may be taken generally as parts of one system, supplying each other's deficiencies; commonly agreeing upon such points as are treated by both, yet on some differing, and therefore giving origin to two schools, the Naiyayica and Vaiseshica.

From these have branched various subordinate schools of philosophy; which, in the ardour of scholastic disputation, have disagreed on matters of doctrine or of interpretation. The ordinary distinction between them is that of ancients and moderns; besides appellations derived from the names of their favourite authors, as will be more particularly noticed in another place.

The text of Gotama is a collection of sutras or succinct aphorisms, in five books or "lectures," each divided into two "days" or diurnal lessons; and these again subdivided into sections or articles, termed pracaranas, as relating to distinct topics. It is a maxim, that a section is not to consist of so little as a single sutra; and to make good the rule, some stress is occasionally put upon the text, either splitting an aphorism or associating it incongruously.

Canade's collection of sutras is comprised in ten lectures, similarly divided into two daily lessons, and these into pracaranas, or sections, containing two or more sutras relative to the same topic.

Like the text of other sciences among the Hindus, the sutras of GOTAMA and of Canade have been explained and annotated by a triple set of commentaries, under the usual titles of Bhashya, Vartica, and Tica. These (the Bhashya especially) are repeatedly cited by modern commentators, as well as by writers of separate treatises; but (so far as has come under my immediate notice) without naming the authors; and I cannot adventure, having no present opportunity of consulting the original scholia in a collective form, to assign them to their proper authors, from recollection of former researches.

They are of high authority, and probably of great antiquity; and it frequently becomes a question with the later commentators, whether a particular passage is to be taken for a sutra and part of the text, or for a gloss of the ancient scholiast.

Commentaries which are now at hand, and which have been consulted in the course of preparing the present treatise, are the Vartica-tatparya-parisudd'hi of the celebrated Udayanacharya, and the Vartica-tatparya-'tica of the no less celebrated Vachespati-Misra. The more modern scholia of Viswanat'ha upon Gotama's text, and Sancara-Misra upon Canade's, are those to which most frequent reference has been made for the present purpose.

Separate treatises of distinguished authors teach, and amply dis- cuss, the elements of the science. Sucli are the Nyaya-Uldvati of ballabha-a'cha'rya, following chiefly Canade's system. An easier, and more concise introduction than these abstruse and voluminous works afford, is found requisite to the initiatory study of the science. One of the most approved elementary treatises is the Tarca-bhasha of Cesava-Misra, author of many other tracts. Though adapted to the comprehension of the learner without the aid of a gloss, it has nevertheless employed the labour of many commentators, expounding and illustrating it. Among others may be named, in order of seniority, Goverd'hana-Mis'ra in the Tarca- bhasha-pracasa; Gauricanta (author likewise of the Sadyuctimuctavali) in the Bhavart'hadipica; Mad'havadeva (author of the Nyayasara) in the Tarca-bhasha-sara manjari: besides Ramalinga-Criti in the Nyaya-sangraha, whose relative antiquity is less certain; and Balibhadra, who is known to me only from Gauricanta's citations.

Another compendious introduction to the study of Indian logic is the Padart'ha-dipica by Conda-Bhatta, a noted grammarian, author of the Vaiyacarana bhushana, on the philosophy of grammatical structure. It does not appear to have had any commentator, and it needs none.

Metrical treatises, or memorial verses, comprising the elements of the science, bear the ordinary demonstration of Carica. A work of this description is the Cusumanjali, with its commentary, by Narayana-Tirt'ha; another, which likewise is expounded by its author, is the Nyaya-sancshepa of Govinda-Bhattacharya.

Elementary works only have been here spoken of. Distinct treatises on divers branches of the whole subject, and on various emergent  topics, are innumerable. No department of science or literature has more engaged the attention of the Hindus than the Nyaya; and the fruit of their lucubrations has been an infinity of volumes, among which are compositions of very celebrated schoolmen.

The order observed, both by Gotama and by Canade, in delivering the precepts of the science which they engage to unfold, is that which has been intimated in a passage of the Vedas cited in the Bhashya, as requisite steps of instruction and study: viz. enunciation, definition, and investigation. Enunciation (uddesa) is the mention of a thing by its name; that is, by a term signifying it, as taught by revelation: for language is considered to have been revealed to man. Definition (lacshana) sets forth a peculiar property, constituting the essential character of a thing. Investigation (paricsha) consists in disquisition upon the pertinence and sufficiency of the definition. Consonantly to this, the teachers of philosophy premise the terms of the science, proceed to the definitions, and then pass on to the examination of subjects so premised.

In a logical arrangement the "predicaments" (padart'ha), or "objects of proof," are six, as they are enumerated by Canade; [ C. 1. 3.] viz. substance, qualify, action, community, particularity, and aggregation or intimate relation: to which a seventh is added by other authors; privation or negation. [Tarc. Bhash. 1.] Thus augmented, they compose a two-fold arrangement, positive and negative (bhava and abhava); the first comprising six, the latter one. [Pad. Dip. 1.]

The Baudd'has, or followers of Budd'ha, are said to identify the predicaments with knowledge (jnyana); and according to the Vedantis, who are pantheists, the predicaments are identified with the universal being (Brahme) in whom all exists. [Tarc. Bhash. and N. Sang. 2, 4.]

Other categories are alleged by different authorities; as power or energy (sacti); similarity or resemblance (sadrisya); and many more. But the logicians of this school acknowledge but six, or at most seven, abovementioned.

Gotama enumerates sixteen heads or topics: among which, proof or evidence, and that which is to be proven, are chief; and the rest are subsidiary or accessory, as contributing to knowledge and ascertainment of truth. Disputation being contemplated in this arrangement, several among these heads relate to controversial discussion. They are, 1st, proof; 2d, that which is to be known and proven; 3d, doubt; 4th, motive; 5th, instance; 6th, demonstrated truth; 7th, member of a regular argument or syllogism; 8th, reasoning by reduction to absurdity; 9th, determination or ascertainment; 10th, thesis or disquisition; 11th, controversy; 12th, objection; 13th, fallacious reason; 14th, perversion; 15th, futility; 16th, confutation. [G. 1.]

The difference between these two arrangements is not considered to amount to discrepancy. They are held to be reconcileable: the one more ample, the other more succinct; but both leading to like results.

The Sanc'hya philosophy, as shewn in a former essay, [Ante, p. 153, &c.] affirms two eternal principles, soul and matter; (for pracriti or nature, abstracted from modifications, is no other than matter): and reckoning, with these two permanent principles, such as are transient, they enumerate twenty-five.

The Nyaya, as well as the Sanc'hya, concur with other schools of psychology in promising beatitude, or (nihsreyas) final excellence; and (mocsha) deliverance from evil, for the reward of a thorough knowledge of the principles which they teach; that is, of truth; meaning the conviction of the soul's eternal existence separable from body.

Soul then, as the Bhashya affirms, is that which is to be known and proven, Gotama, however, enumerates under this head, besides soul, its associate body, the external senses, things or the objects of sense (that is, the elements; and his followers here take occasion to introduce Canade's six categories), intellect or understanding, mind, or the eternal organ, activity, fault, transmigration, fruit or consequence of deeds, pain or physical evil, and lastly, liberation; making, together with soul, twelve (prameya) objects of proof, being topics of knowledge requisite for deliverance.

1. Evidence or proof (pramana) by which those objects are known and demonstrated, is of four kinds: perception; inference of three sorts (consequent, antecedent, and analogous); comparison, and affirmation (comprehending tradition, as well as revelation). Inference a priori concludes an effect from its cause; inference a posteriori deduces a cause from its effect: another ground of inference is analogy. Or one sort is direct and affirmative; another indirect or negative; and the third is both direct and indirect.

Proof (pramdana) is defined to be the efficient or especial cause of actual knowledge: and this intends right notion (anubhava); exclusive, consequently, of wrong notion; as error, doubt, and reduction to absurdity, and likewise exclusive of memory: for notion (anubhava) is knowledge other than remembrance.

Cause (carana) is that which is efficacious, necessarily preceding an effect that cannot else be: and conversely, effect (carya) is that which necessarily ensues and could not else be.

For the relation of cause and effect, and for distinguishing different sorts of cause, connexion (sambandha) or relation, in general, must be considered. It is two-fold: simple conjunction (sanyoga), and aggregation or intimate and constant relation. (samavaya); the latter being the connexion of things, whereof one, so long as they coexist, continues united with the other: for example, parts and that which is composed of them, as yam and cloth; for so long as the yarn subsists the cloth remains. Here the connexion of the yarn and cloth is intimate relation; but that of the loom is simple conjunction. Consonantly to this distinction, cause is intimate or direct, producing aggregation or an intimately relative effect, as clay of pottery, or yam of cloth: or it is mediate or indirect, being proximate to the aggregating cause, as conjunction of yarn, serving for the production of cloth: or thirdly, it is neither direct nor indirect; but instrumental or concomitant, as the loom. Of positive things there must be three causes, and the most efficacious is termed the chief or especial cause: of negative there is but one, which is the third abovementioned.

This would be the place for an ample discussion of the several sorts of proof abovementioned. But they are topics embracing too great a scope of disquisition in the Hindu philosophy, to be adequately considered within the limits of the present essay. The subject, therefore, is reserved for future consideration, in a connected view of it, with relation to the various Indian systems of philosophising, after they shall have been severally examined.

II. 1. The first and most important of twelve objects of evidence or matters to be proven, enumerated by Gotama, is soul. [G. 1. 1. 3. 2. and 3. 1. 1—5. Tarc. Bhash. 2. 1.] It is the site of knowledge or sentiment: distinct from body and from the senses; different for each individual coexistent person; infinite; eternal; perceived by the mental organ; and demonstrated by its peculiar attributes, intellect, &c. For knowledge, desire, aversion, volition, pain and pleasure, severally and collectively, argue the existence of soul: since these are not universal attributes, as number, quantity, &c. common to all substances; but are peculiar and characteristic qualities, apprehended exclusively by one organ, as colour and other peculiar qualities are; yet belonging not to apparent substances, as earth, and the rest; and arguing therefore a distinct substratum, other than space, time and mind, to which universal, not peculiar, qualities appertain. That distinct substance, which is the substratum of those peculiar qualities, is the soul.

This concerns the living soul (jivatma), the animating spirit of individual person. Souls then, as is expressly affirmed, are numerous. But the supreme soul (Paramatma) is one: the seat of eternal knowledge; demonstrated as the maker of all things. [Pad. Dip. 1. 8.]

The individual soul is infinite; for whithersoever the body goes there the soul too is present. It experiences the fruit of its deeds; pain or pleasure. It is eternal, because it is infinite; for whatever is infinite is likewise eternal; as the etherial element (acasa).

Being a substance, though immaterial, as a substratum of (qualities, it is placed in Canade's arrangement as one of nine substances which are there recognised. [G. 1.]

It has fourteen qualities: viz. number, quantity, severalty, conjunction, disjunction, intellect, pleasure, pain, desire, aversion, volition, merit, demerit, and faculty of imagination.

2. The second among matters to be proven in Gotama's enumeration, is body. It is the site of effort, of organs of sensation, and of sentiment of pain or pleasure. [G. 1. 1. 3. 3.]

It is an ultimate compound; the seat of soul's enjoyment. It is a whole, composed of parts; a framed substance, not inchoative: associated with which, soul experiences fruition; that is, immediate presence of pain or of pleasure, in relation to itself.

It is the site of effort; not of motion simply, but of action tending to the attainment of what is pleasing, and to the removal of what is displeasing. [Tarc. Bhash. and Com.]

It is earthly; for the qualities of earth are perceived in it: (namely, smell, colour, solidity, &c. ): and it is expressly pronounced so by more than one passage of the Vedas. According to some opinions, it consists of three elements, earth, water, and light or heat; for the peculiar qualities of those elements are perceptible in it, since it has smell, clamminess, and warmth: or it consists of four, since there is inspiration as well as expiration of air: or of five, as indicated by odour, moisture, digestion, breath, and cavities. [G. 3. 1. 6. 1—5.] Those opinions are controverted by the Nyaya. It consists not of five, nor of four elements: else, as Canade argues, it would be invisible; for the union of visible with invisible objects is so: instance wind. Nor does it consist of three visible elements, nor of two: for there is no intimate inchoative union of heterogeneous substances. [Can. 4. 2. 1. and Com.] This last reason is alleged likewise by Capila: heterogeneous materials cannot enter into the same composition. [Cap. 3. 16—18 and 5. 99.]

Besides human and other bodies of this world, all which are terrene, there are, in other worlds, aqueous, igneous, and aerial bodies. In these, too, there is union with an element, for soul's fruition. [Bhashya on Got.]

Earthly body is two-fold; sexually bred, or not so bred: the first is either viviparous or oviparous: the second results from concurrence of particles by an unseen or predestined cause, and peculiar disposition of atoms. That such beings are, is proved from authority of the Vedas, which reveal creation of Gods and demi-Gods.

Or the distinction is between such as are propagated by sexes or are otherwise generated. The hitter comprehends equivocal generation of worms, nits, maggots, gnats, and other vermin, considered to be bred in sweat or fermented filth; and germination of plants sprouting from the ground. Accordingly, the distinct sorts of body are five: 1st, ungenerated; 2d, uterine or viviparous; 3d, oviparous; 4th, engendered in filth; 5th, vegetative or germinating. [Pad. Dip. and Madh. on Ces.]

3. Next, among objects of proof, are the organs of sensation. An organ of sense is defined as an instrument of knowledge, conjoined to the body and imperceptible to the senses. [Tarc. Bhash.]

There are five external organs: smell, taste, sight, touch, and hearing. They are not modifications of consciousness (as the Sanc'hyas maintain), but material, constituted of the elements, earth, water, light, air, and ether, respectively. [GOT. 1. 1. 3. 4-5 and 3. 1. 7 and 8.]

The pupil of the eye is not the organ of sight (as the Baudd'has affirm); nor is the outer ear, or opening of the auditory passage, the organ of hearing: but a ray of light, proceeding from the pupil of the eye towards the object viewed, is the visual organ; and ether, contained in the cavity of the ear, and communicating by intermediate ether with the object heard, is the organ of hearing. That ray of light is not ordinarily visible: just as the effulgence of a torch is unseen in meridian sunshine. But, under particular circumstances, a glimpse of the visual ray is obtained. For instance, in the dark, the eye of a cat or other animal prowling at night.

The organ of vision then is lucid; and, in like manner, the organ of hearing is etherial; and that of taste, aqueous (as saliva); and of feeling, aerial; and of smelling, earthly.

The site of the visual organ is the pupil of the eye; of the auditory organ, the orifice of the ear; of the olfactory organ, the nostril or tip of the nose; of the taste, the tip of the tongue; of the feeling, the skin.

Objects apprehended by the senses, are odour, flavour, colour, touch (or temperature), and sound; which are qualities appertaining to earth, water, light, air, and ether. [Got. 1. 1. 3. 6.]

The existence of organs of sense is proved by inference, from the fact of the apprehension of those objects: for apprehension implies an instrument to effect it, since it is an act, in like manner as the act of cutting implies an instrument, as an axe or a knife.

The organs are six, including an internal organ, termed manas, or mind: not five only, as the followers of Budd'ha maintain, disallowing an internal sense; nor so many as eleven, which the Sanc'hyas affirm, comprehending with the senses the organs of action, which they reckon five. [GAU. on CES.]

Mind is the instrument which effects the apprehension of pain, pleasure, or interior sensations; and, by its union with external senses, produces knowledge of exterior objects apprehended through them, as colour, &c., but not independently of those senses, for outward objects.

Its existence is proved by singleness of sensation: since various sensations do not arise at one time to the same soul. They only seem to do so when passing rapidly, though successively; as a firebrand, whirled with velocity, seems a ring of fire.

It is single; that is, for each soul, one: not so many minds as there are external senses. When it is conjoined with any one of the outward organs, knowledge is received through that organ: when not so conjoined, none comes through that sense, but through any other with which it then is associated. [GOT. 1. 1. 3. 8. and 3. 2. 6.]

It is not infinite, being imperceptible to the touch, like the etherial element, as the Mimansa maintains; [Pad. Dip.] but it is minutely small, as an atom. Were it infinite, it might be united with every thing at once, and all sensations might be contemporaneous. It is imperceptible to sight, touch, and other senses, and is inferred from reasoning, as follows: there must be an instrument of apprehension of pain and pleasure, which instrument must be other than the sight, or any external sense; for pain and pleasure are experienced though sight be wanting. Such instrument of painful or pleasureable sensation is termed mind (manas).

It is eternal, and is distinct from soul as well as from body, with which it is merely conjoined.

It is reckoned by Canade among substances; and is the substratum of eight qualities, none of which are peculiar to it, being all common to other substances: viz. number, quantity, individuality, conjunction, disjunction, priority, subsequence, and faculty. [GAU on CES.]

4. Next in Gotama's arrangement are the (art'ha) objects of sense; that is, of the external senses: and he enumerates odour, taste, colour, feel, and sound, which are the peculiar qualities of earth, and the rest of the elements respectively. [GOT. 1. 3. 5.]

Under this head Cesava places the categories (padart'ha) of Canade, which are six; substance, quality, &c.

I. Substance is the intimate cause of an aggregate effect or product: it is the site of qualities and of action; or that in which qualities abide, and in which action takes place. [CAN. 1. 1. 4. 1. CES. and Com. Pad. Dip.]

Nine are enumerated, and no more are recognised. Darkness has been alleged by some philosophers; but it is no substance; nor is body a distinct one; nor gold, which the Mimansacas affirm to be a peculiar substance.

Those specified by Canade are:

1. Earth, which besides qualities common to most substances (as number, quantity, individuality, conjunction, disjunction, priority, posteriority, gravity, fluidity, and faculty of velocity and of elasticity), has colour, savour, odour, and feel, or temperature. Its distinguishing quality is smell; and it is succinctly defined as a substance odorous. [CAN. 2. 1. 1.1.] In some instances, as in gems, the smell is latent; but it becomes manifest by calcination.

It is eternal, as atoms; or transient, as aggregates. In either, those characteristic qualities are transitory, and are maturative, as affected by light and heat: for by union with it, whether latent or manifest, former colour, taste, smell, and temperature are in earth of any sort annulled, and other colour, &c. introduced.

Aggregates or products are either organised bodies, or organs of perception, or unorganic masses.

Organised earthly bodies are of five sorts [see body]. The organ of smell is terreous. Unorganic masses are stones, lumps of clay, &c. The union of integrant parts is hard, soft, or cumulative, as stones, flowers, cotton, &c.

2. Water, which has the qualities of earth; excepting smell, and with the addition of viscidity. Odour, when observable in water, is adscititious, arising from mixture of earthly particles.

The distinguishing quality of water is coolness. It is accordingly defined as a substance cool to the feel.

It is eternal, as atoms; transient, as aggregates. The qualities of the first are constant likewise; those of the latter inconstant.

Organic aqueous bodies are beings abiding in the realm of Varuna. The organ of taste is aqueous: witness the saliva. Unorganic waters are rivers, seas, rain, snow, hail, &c.

It is by some maintained, that hail is pure water rendered solid by supervention of an unseen virtue: others imagine its solidity to be owing to mixture of earthy particles.

3. Light is coloured, and illumines other substances; and to the feel is hot: which is its distinguishing quality. It is defined as a substance hot to the feel. [Heat, then, and light, are identified as one substance.]

It has the qualities of earth, except smell, taste, and gravity. It is eternal, as atoms; not so, as aggregates.

Organic luminous bodies are beings abiding in the solar realm. The visual ray., which is the organ of sight, is lucid [see organs of perception]. Unorganic light is reckoned fourfold: earthy, celestial, alvine, and mineral. Another distinction concerns sight and feel; as light or heat may be either latent or manifest, in respect of both sight and feel, or differently in regard to either. Thus fire is both seen and felt; the heat of hot water is felt, but not seen; moonshine is seen, but not felt; the visual ray is neither seen nor felt. Terrestrious light is that, of which the fuel is earthy, as fire. Celestial is that, of which the fuel is watery, as lightning, and meteors of various sorts. Alvine is that, of which the fuel is both earthy and watery: it is intestinal, which digests food and drink. Mineral is that which is found in pits, as gold. For some maintain that gold is solid light; or, at least that the chief ingredient is light, which is rendered solid by mixture with some particles of earth. Were it mere earth, it might be calcined by fire strongly urged. Its light is not latent, but overpowered by the colour of the earthy particles mixed with it. In the Mimansa, however, it is reckoned a distinct substance, as before observed.

4. Air is a colourless substance, sensible to the feel; being temperate (neither hot, nor cold). Besides this its distinguishing quality, it has the same common qualities with light, except fluidity (that is number, quantity, individuality, conjunction, disjunction, priority, subsequence, and faculty of elasticity and velocity).

Its existence as a distinct substance is inferred from feeling. The wind, that blows, is apprehended as temperate, independently of the influence of light: and this temperature, which is a quality, implies a substratum; for it cannot subsist without one: that substratum is air; different from water, which is cold; and from light, which is hot; and from earth, which is adventitiously warm by induction of light.

Air is either eternal as atoms, or transient as aggregates. Organic aerial bodies are beings inhabiting the atmosphere, and evil spirits (Pisachas, &c.) who haunt the earth. The organ of touch is an aerial integument, or air diffused over the cuticle. Unorganic air is wind, which agitates trees and other tremulous objects. To these may be added, as a fourth kind of aerial aggregates, the breath and other vital airs.

5. Ether (acasa), which is a substance that has the quality of sound. Besides that its peculiar and distinguishing quality, it has number (viz. unity), quantity, individuality, conjunction, and disjunction. It is infinite, one, and eternal.

The existence of an etherial element as a distinct substance is deduced, not from distinct perception, but from inference. Sound is a peculiar quality; for, like colour and other peculiar qualities, it is apprehended by only one external organ of such beings as men are: now a quality abides in a substance which is qualified; but neither soul, nor any one of the four elements, earth, water, light, and air, can be its substratum, for it is apprehended by the organ of hearing: the qualities of earth, and the rest are not apprehended by the hearing, but sound is; therefore it is not a quality of those substances; nor is it a quality of time, space, and mind; since it is a peculiar quality, and those three substances have none but such as are common to many: therefore a substratum, other than all these, is inferred; and that substratum is the etherial element. It is one; for there is no evidence of diversity; and its unity is congruous, as infinity accounts for ubiquity. It is infinite, because it is in effect found every where. It is eternal, because it is infinite.

It appears white, from connexion with a lucid white orb; as a rock-crystal appears red by association with a red object. The blue colour of a clear sky is derived, according to Patanjali, from the southern peak of the great mountain Sumeru, which is composed of sapphire. On other sides of Sumeru the colour of the sky is different, being borrowed from the hue of the peak which overlooks that quarter. Others suppose that the black colour of the pupil of the eye is imparted to the sky (blue and black being reckoned tinges of the same colour), as a jaundiced eye sees every object yellow.

The organ of hearing is etherial, being a portion of ether (acasa) confined in the hollow of the ear, and (as affirmed by the author of of the Padart'ha dipica) endued with a particular and unseen virtue. In the ear of a deaf man, the portion of ether which is there present is devoid of that particular virtue, and therefore it is not a perfect and efficient auditory organ.

6. Time is inferred from the relation of priority and subsequence, other than that of place. It is deduced from the notions of quick, slow, simultaneous, &c., and is marked by association of objects with the sun's revolutions.

Young is the reverse of old, as old is of young. This contrast, which does not concern place, is an effect, needing a cause other than place, &c. That cause is time.

It has the qualities of number, quantity, individuality, conjunction, and disjunction. It is one, eternal, infinite.

Though one, it takes numerous designations; as past, present, and future, with reference to acts that are so.

7. Place, or space, is inferred from the relation of priority and subsequence, other than that of time. It is deduced from the notions of here and there.

It has the same qualities as time; and like it, is one, eternal, infinite.

Though one, it receives various designations, as east, west, north, south, &c., by association with the sun's position.

8. Soul, though immaterial, is considered to be a substance, as a substratum of qualities. It is eighth in Canade's arrangement. In Gotama's it is first among things to be proven [see before].

9. Mind, according to Canade, is a ninth substance; and, in Gotama's arrangement, it recurs in two places, as one of the twelve matters to be proven; and again, under the distinct head of organs of sensation, being reckoned an internal sense [see before].

Material substances are by Canade considered to be primarily atoms; and secondarily, aggregates. He maintains the eternity of atoms; and their existence and aggregation are explained as follows: [CAN. 2. 2. 2. 1. CES. &c.]

The mote, which is seen in a sunbeam, is the smallest perceptible quantity. Being a substance and an effect, it must be composed of what is less than itself: and this likewise is a substance and an effect; for the component part of a substance that has magnitude must be an effect. This again must be composed of what is smaller, and that smaller thing is an atom. It is simple and uncomposed; else the series would be endless: and, were it pursued indefinitely, there would be no difference of magnitude between a mustard-seed and a mountain, a gnat and an elephant, each alike containing an infinity of particles. The ultimate atom then is simple.

The first compound consists of two atoms: for one does not enter into composition; and there is no argument to prove, that more than two must, for incohation, be united. The next consists of three double atoms; for, if only two were conjoined, magnitude would hardly ensue, since it must be produced either by size or number of particles; it cannot be their size, and therefore it must be their number. Nor is there any reason for assuming the union of four double atoms, since three suffice to originate magnitude. [CES.] The atom then is reckoned to be the sixth part of a mote visible in a sunbeam. [Pad. Dip.]

Two earthly atoms, concurring by an unseen peculiar virtue, the creative will of God, or time, or other competent cause, constitute a double atom of earth; and, by concourse of three binary atoms, a tertiary atom is produced; and, by concourse of four triple atoms, a quaternary atom; and so on, to a gross, grosser, or grossest mass of earth: thus great earth is produced; and in like manner, great water, from aqueous atoms; great light from luminous; and great air, from aerial. The qualities that belong to the effect are those which appertained to the integrant part, or primary particle, as its material cause: and conversely, the qualities which belong to the cause are found in the effect.

The dissolution of substances proceeds inversely. In the integrant parts of an aggregate substance resulting from composition, as in the potsherds of an earthen jar, action is induced by pressure attended with velocity, or by simple pressure. Disjunction ensues; whereby the union, which was the cause of incohation of members, is annulled; and the integral substance, consisting of those members, is resolved into its parts, and is destroyed; for it ceases to subsist as a whole.

II. Quality is closely united with substance; not, however, as an intimate cause of it, nor consisting in motion, but common; not a genus, yet appertaining to one. It is independent of conjunction and disjunction; not the cause of them, nor itself endued with qualities.

Twenty-four are enumerated. Seventeen only are, indeed, specified in Canade's aphorisms; [CAN. 1. 1. 2. 2. and 1. 1. 4. 2.] but the rest are understood.

1. Colour. It is a peculiar quality to be apprehended only by sight; and abides in three substances; earth, water, and light. It is a characteristic quality of the last; and, in that, is white and resplendent. In water, it is white, but without lustre. In the primary .atoms of both it is perpetual; in their products, not so. In earth it is variable; and seven colours are distinguished: viz. white, yellow, green, red, black, tawny (or orange), [One commentator (Madhavadeva) specifies blue in place of orange; another (Gauricanta) omits both, reducing the colours to six.] and variegated. The varieties of these seven colours are many, unenumerated. The six simple colours occur in the atoms of earth; and the seven, including variegated, in its double atoms, and more complex forms. The colour of integrant parts is the cause of colour in the integral substance.

2. Savour: It is a peculiar quality, to be apprehended only by by the organ of taste; and abides in two substances, earth and water. It is a characteristic quality of the last; and in it is sweet. It is perpetual in atoms of water; not so in aqueous products. In earth it is variable; and six sorts are distinguished: sweet, bitter, pungent, astringent, acid, and saline.

3. Odour. It is a peculiar quality, to be apprehended only by the organ of smell; and abides in earth alone, being its distinguishing quality. In water, odour is adscititious, being induced by union with earthy particles; as a clear crystal appears red by association with a hollyhock, or other flower of that hue. In air also it is adscititious: thus a breeze, which has blown over blossoms, musk, camphor, or other scented substances, wafts fragrant particles of the blossoms, &c. The flowers are not torn, nor the musk diminished; because the parts are replaced by a reproductive unseen virtue. However, camphor and other volatile substances do waste.

Two sorts of odour are distinguished, fragrance and stench.

4. Feel, and especially temperature. It is a peculiar quality, to be apprehended only by the skin or organ of feeling. It abides in four substances: earth, water, light, and air; and is a characteristic quality of the last.

Three sorts are distinguished, cold, hot, and temperate. In water, it is cold; in light, hot; in earth and in air, temperate. Divers other sorts, likewise, are noticed; as hard and soft, and diversified, &c. These four qualities are latent in minute substances, as atoms and double atoms; manifest to perception in products or aggregates of greater magnitude. A mote in a sunbeam may be seen, though not felt. The colour of the visual ray, or organ of sight, is ordinarily imperceptible.

5. Number. It is the reason of perceiving and reckoning one, two, or many, to the utmost limit of numeration. The notion of number is deduced from comparison. Of two masses seen, this is one, and that is one: hence the notion of two, and so of more.

It is an universal quality, common to all substances without exception.

It is considered of two sorts, unity and multitude; or of three, monad, duad, and multitude. Unity is either eternal or transient: eternal unity regards eternal things; that which is uneternal, concerns effects or transitory substances.

6. Quantity. It is the special cause of the use and perception of measure.

It is an universal quality, common to all substances.

It is considered to be fourfold: great and small; long and short.

Extreme littleness and shortness are eternal; as mind, or as atoms, whether single or double, &c. Extreme length and greatness (termed infinite) are likewise eternal, as ether.

Within these extremes is inferior magnitude or finite quantity; which is uneternal. It is of various degrees in length and bulk, more or most; from the mote or tertiary atom, upwards, to any magnitude short of infinite.

The finite magnitude of products or effects results from number, size, or mass. Multitude of atoms, bulk of particles, and heap of component parts, constitute magnitude. The latter, or cumulation of particles, concerns a loose texture. The others, close or compact. Infinity transcends the senses. An object may be too great, as it may be too small, to be distinguished.

7. Individuality, severalty, or separateness, is a quality common to all substances.

It is of two sorts; individuality of one or of a pair; or it is manifold, as individuality of a triad, &c. Simple individuality is eternal, in respect of eternal things; transient, in regard to such as are transitory. Individuality, of a pair or triad, &c. is of course transitory: it results from comparison, as duad or triad does.

8. Conjunction is a transient connexion.

It is an universal quality incident to all substances and is transitory.

It implies two subjects, and is threefold: arising from the act of either or of both, or else from conjunction; being simple, or reciprocal, or mediate. The junction of a falcon perching, which is active, with the perch whereon it settles, which is passive, is conjunction arising from the act of one. Collision of fighting rams, or of wrestlers, is conjunction arising from the act of both. Contact of a finger with a tree occasions the conjunction of the body with the tree; and this is mediate.

9. Disjunction. It is the converse of conjunction; necessarily preceded by it, and like it, implying two subjects. It is not the mere negation of conjunction, nor simply the dissolution of it.

The knowledge of this quality, as well as of its counterpart, is derived from perception.

It is an universal quality incident to all substances and is simple, reciprocal, or mediate. A falcon taking flight from a rock, is an instance of disjunction arising from the act of one of two subjects; the active from the inactive. The parting of combatants, rams or wrestlers, is an example of disjunction arising from the act of both. Disjunction of the body and the tree, resulting from the disunion of the finger and the tree, is mediate.

10. — 11. Priority and posteriority. These qualities, being contrasted and correlative, are considered together. They are of two sorts, concerning place and time. In respect of place, they are proximity and distance; in regard to time, youth and antiquity. The one concerns (murta) definite bodies, consisting of circumscribed quantity; the other affects generated substances.

The knowledge of them is derived from comparison.

Two masses being situated in one place, nearness is deduced from the conjunction of one with place as associated by comparison, referring primarily to the person of the spectator; or, secondarily, to other correlatives of place. Where least conjunction of conjunct things intervenes, it is nearness; where most does, it is remoteness. Thus, Prayaga is nearer to Mat'hura than Casi, and Casi remoter from it than Prayaga.

In like manner, one of two masses, not restricted to place, is young, as deduced from the association of the object with time, by comparison discriminating that which is connected with least time. Another is old, which is connected with most time. Here time is determined by revolutions of the sun.

12. Gravity is the peculiar cause of primary descent or falling. [Tarc. Bhash, and Pad. Dip.]

It affects earth and water. Gold is affected by this quality, by reason of earth contained in it.

In the absence of a countervailing cause, as adhesion, velocity, or some act of volition . descent results from this quality. Thus a cocoa-nut is withheld from falling by adhesion of the foot-stalk; but, this impediment ceasing on maturity of the fruit, it falls.

According to Udayana Acharya, gravity is imperceptible, but to be inferred from the act of falling, Ballabha maintains, that it is perceived in the position of a thing descending to a lower situation.

Levity is a distinct quality, but the negation of gravity.

13. Fluidity is the cause of original trickling. [Tarc. Bhash. and Pad. Dip.]

It affects earth, light, and water. It is natural and essential in water; adscititious in earth and light; being induced by exhibition of fire in molten substances, as lac, gold, &c.

Fluidity is perceptible by the external senses, sight and touch.

In hail and ice, fluidity essentially subsists; but is obstructed by an impediment arising from an unseen virtue which renders the water solid.

14. Viscidity is the quality of clamminess and cause of agglutination. It abides in water only. In oil, liquid butter, &c., it results from the watery parts of those liquids. [Ibid and Siddh. Sang.]

15. Sound is a peculiar quality of the etherial element, and is to be apprehended by the hearing. It abides in that element exclusively, and is its characteristic quality. Two sorts are distinguished: articulate and musical. [Ibid.]

To account for sound originating in one place being heard in another, it is observed, that sound is propagated by undulation, wave after wave, radiating in every direction, from a centre, like the blossoms of a Nauclea. It is not the first, nor the intermediate wave, that is the sound heard, but the last which comes in contact with the organ of hearing; and therefore it is not quite correct to say, that a drum has been heard. Sound originates in conjunction, in disjunction, or in sound itself. The conjunction of cymbals, or that of a drum and stick, may serve to exemplify the first. It is the instrumental cause. The rustling of leaves is an instance of disjunction being the cause of sound. In some cases, sound becomes the cause of sound. In all, the conformity of wind, or its calmness, is a concomitant cause: for an adverse wind obstructs it. The material cause is in every case the etherial fluid; and the conjunction of that with the sonorous subject is a concomitant cause.

The Mimansa affirms the eternity of sound. This is contested by the Naiyayicas, who maintain, that were it eternal, it could not be apprehended by human organs of sense.

16 — 23. The eight following qualities are perceptible by the mental organ, not by the external senses. They are qualities of the soul, not of material substances.

16. Intelligence (budd'hi) is placed by Canade among qualities; and by Gotama, fifth among objects of proof. It will be noticed in that place.

17 and 18. Pleasure and pain are among qualities enumerated by CANADE. Pain or evil is placed by Gotama among objects of proof; where (under the head of deliverance) it will be further noticed, with its converse.

19 and 20. Desire and aversion are the two next in order among qualities. Desire is the wish of pleasure and of happiness, and of absence of pain. Passion is extreme desire; it is incident to man and inferior beings. The supreme being is devoid of passion. Neither does desire intend God's will, nor a saint's wish. Aversion is loathing or hatred.

21. Volition (yatna), effort or exertion, is a determination to action productive of gratification. Desire is its occasion, and perception its reason. Two sorts of perceptible effort are distinguished: that proceeding from desire, seeking what is agreeable; and that which proceeds from aversion, shunning what is loathsome. Another species, which escapes sensation or perception, but is inferred from analogy of spontaneous acts, comprises animal functions, having for a cause the vital unseen power.

Volition, desire, and intelligence, are in man transitory, variable, or inconstant. The will and intelligence of God are eternal, uniform, constant.

22 and 23. Virtue and vice (D'harma and Ad'harma), or moral merit and demerit, are the peculiar causes of pleasure and of pain respectively. The result of performing that which is enjoined, as sacrifice, &c. is virtue; the result of doing that which is forbidden, is vice. They are qualities of the soul; imperceptible, but inferred from reasoning.

The proof of them is deduced from transmigration. The body of an individual, with his limbs and organs of sense, is a result of a peculiar quality of his soul; since this is the cause of that individual's fruition, like a thing which is produced by his effort or volition. The peculiar quality of the soul, which does occasion its being invested with body, limbs, and organs, is virtue or vice: for body and the rest are not the result of effort and volition. [Tarc. Bhash.]

24. The twenty-fourth and last quality is faculty (sanscara). This comprehends three sorts.

Velocity (vega), which is the cause of action. It concerns matter only; and is a quality of the mental organ, and of the four grosser elements, earth, water, light, and air. It becomes manifest from the perception of motion.

Elasticity (st'hitist'havaca) is a quality of particular tangible, terrene objects; and is the cause of that peculiar action, whereby an altered thing is restored to its pristine state, as a bow unbends and a strained branch resumes its former position. It is imperceptible; but is inferred from the fact of the restitution of a thing to its former condition.

Imagination (bhavana) is a peculiar quality of the soul, and is the cause of memory. It is a result of notion or recollection; and being excited, produces remembrance: and the exciting cause is the recurrence of an association; that is, of the sight or other perception of a like object.

III. The next head in Canade's arrangement, after quality, is action (carme).

Action consists in motion, and, like quality, abides in substance alone. It affects a single, that is a finite substance, which is matter. It is the cause (not aggregative, but indirect) of disjunction, as of conjunction: that is, a fresh conjunction in one place, after annulment of a prior one in another, by means of disjunction. It is devoid of quality, and is transitory.

Five sorts are enumerated: to cast upward; to cast downward; to push forward; to spread horizontally; and, fifthly, to go on; including many varieties under the last comprehensive head.

IV. Community (Samanya), or the condition of equal or like things, is the cause of the perception of conformity. It is eternal, single, concerning more than one thing, being a property common to several. It abides in substance, in quality, and in action.

Two degrees of it are distinguished: the highest, concerning numerous objects; the lowest, concerning few. The first is existence, a common property of all. The latter is the abstraction of an individual, varying with age, in dimensions, yet continuing identical. A third, or intermediate degree, is distinguished, comprehended in the first, and including the latter. These three degrees of community correspond nearly with genus, species, and individual.

In another view, community is two-fold: viz. genus (jati) and discriminative property (upadhi), or species.

The Baudd'has are cited as denying this category, and maintaining that individuals only have existence, and that abstraction is false and deceptive. This, as well as other controverted points, will be further noticed at a future opportunity.

V. Difference (visesha), or particularity, is the cause of perception of exclusion. It affects a particular and single object, which is devoid of community. It abides in eternal substances. Such substances are mind, soul, time, place; and the etherial element; and the atoms of earth, water, light, and air.

VI. The sixth and last of Canade's categories is aggregation (samavaya), or perpetual intimate relation. It has been already briefly noticed.

VII. To the six affirmative categories of Canade, succeeding writers add a seventh, which is negative.

Negation or privation (abhava) is of two sorts; universal and mutual. Universal negation comprehends three species, antecedent, emergent, and absolute.

Antecedent privation (pragabhava) is present negation of that which at a future time will be. It is negation in the material cause previous to the production of an effect; as, in yarn, prior to the fabrication of cloth, there is antecedent privation of the piece of cloth which is to be woven. It is without beginning, for it has not been produced; and has an end, for it will be terminated by the production of the effect.

Emergent privation is destruction (dhwansa), or cessation, of an effect. It is negation in the cause, subsequent to the production of the effect: as, in a broken jar, (smashed by the blow of a mallet) the negation of jar in the heap of potsherds. It has a commencement, but no end; for the destruction of the effect cannot be undone.

Absolute negation extends through all times, past, present, and future. It has neither beginning nor end. For example, fire in a lake, colour in air.

Mutual privation is difference (bheda). It is reciprocal negation of identity, essence, or respective peculiarity.

5. To return to Gotama's arrangement. The fifth place, next after objects of sense, is by him allotted to intelligence (budd'hi), apprehension, knowledge, or conception; defined as that which manifests, or makes known, a matter.

It is two-fold; notion and remembrance. Notion (unubhava) includes two sorts; right and wrong. Right notion (prama) is such as is incontrovertible. It is derived from proof, and is consequently fourfold; viz. from perception, or inference, or comparison, or revelation: for example: 1st, ajar perceived by undisordered organs; 2d, fire inferred from smoke; 3d, a gayal [Bos gavoeus s. frontalis. As. Res. vol. viii. p. 487.] recognised from its resemblance to a cow; 4th, celestial happiness attainable through sacrifice, as inculcated by the Vedas.

Wrong notion deviates from truth, and is not derived from proof. It is threefold: doubt; premises liable to reduction to absurdity; and error (for example, mistaking mother-o'-pearl for silver).

Remembrance (smarana), likewise, is either right or wrong. Both occur, and right remembrance especially, while awake. But, in sleep, remembrance is wrong.

6. The sixth place among objects of proof is allotted to mind. It has been already twice noticed; viz. among organs of sense, and again among substances.

7. Activity (pravritti) is next in order. It is determination, the result of passion, and the cause of virtue and vice, or merit and demerit; according as the act is one enjoined or forbidden. It is oral, mental, or corporeal; not comprehending unconscious vital functions. It is the reason of all worldly proceedings.

8. From acts proceed faults (dosha): including under this designation, passion or extreme desire; aversion or loathing; and error or delusion (moha). The two first of these are reckoned by Canade among qualities.

9. Next in Gotama's arrangement is (pretya-bhava) the condition of the soul after death; which is transmigration: for the soul, being immortal, passes from a former body which perishes, to a new one which receives it. This is a reproduction (punar-utpatti).

10. Retribution (p'hala) is the fruit accruing from faults which result from activity. It is a return of fruition (punarbhoga), or experience of pleasure or pain, in association with body, mind, and senses.

11. Pain, or anguish, is the eleventh topic of matters to be proven.

12. Deliverance from pain is beatitude: it is absolute prevention of every sort of ill; reckoned, in this system of philosophy, to comprehend twenty-one varieties of evil, primary or secondary: viz. 1, body; 2—7, the six organs of sense; 8 — 13, six objects (vishaya) of sensation; 14 — 19, six sorts of apprehension and intelligence (budd'hi); 20, pain or anguish; 21, pleasure. For even this, being tainted with evil, is pain; as honey drugged with poison is reckoned among deleterious substances.

This liberation from ill is attained by soul, acquainted with the truth (tatwa), by means of holy science; divested of passion through knowledge of the evil incident to objects; meditating on itself; and, by the maturity of self-knowledge, making its own essence present; relieved from impediments; not earning fresh merit or demerit, by deeds done with desire; discerning the previous burden of merit or demerit, by devout contemplation; and acquitting it through compressed endurance of its fruit; and thus (previous acts being annulled, and present body departed and no future body accruing), there is no further connexion with the various sorts of ill, since there is no cause for them. This, then, is prevention of pain of every sort; it is deliverance and beatitude.

III. After proof and matter to be proven, Gotama proceeds to other categories, and assigns the next place to doubt (sansaya).

It is the consideration of divers contrary matters in regard to one and the same thing; and is of three sorts, arising from common or from peculiar qualities, or merely from contradiction; discriminative marks being in all three cases unnoticed. Thus an object is observed, concerning which it becomes a question whether it be a man or a post: the limbs which would betoken the man, or the crooked trunk which would distinguish the post, being equally unperceived. Again, odour is a peculiar quality of earth: it belongs not to eternal substances, as the etherial element; nor to transient elements, as water; is then earth eternal or uneternal? So, one affirms that sound is eternal; another denies that position; and a third person doubts.

IV. Motive (prayojana) is that by which a person is actuated, or moved to action. It is the desire of attaining pleasure, or of shunning pain; or the wish of exemption from both; for such is the purpose or impulse of every one in a natural state of mind. [GOT. I. 1. 4, 1—3.]

V. Instance (drish'tanta) is, in a controversy, a topic on which both disputants consent. It is either concordant or discordant; direct or inverse: as the culinary hearth, for a direct instance of the argument of the presence of fire betokened by smoke; and a lake, for an inverse or contrary instance of the argument, where the indicating vapour is mist or fog. [GOT. 1. 1.5. 1—6.]

VI. Demonstrated truth (sidd'hanta) is of four sorts; viz. universally acknowledged; partially so; hypothetically; argumentatively (or, e concessu). [GOT. 1. 1. 6. 1, &c.]

Thus, existence of substance, or of that to which properties appertain, is universally recognised, though the abstract notion of it may not be so; for the Baudd'has deny abstraction. Mind is by the Naiyayicas considered to be an organ of perception, and so it is by the kindred sect of Vaiseshicas. The eternity of sound is admitted in the Mimansa, and denied in the Nyaya. Supposing the creation of the earth to be proved, omniscience of the creator follows. In JAIMINI's disquisition on the eternity, or the transitoriness, of sound, it is said, granting sound to be a quality.

On the appositeness of some of these examples, in the cases to which they are here applied, as instances of divers sorts of demonstration, there is a disagreement among commentators, which it is needless to go into.

VII. A regular argument, or complete syllogism (nyaya), consists of five members (avayava) or component parts. 1st, the proposition (pratijnya); 2d, the reason (hetu or apadesa); 3d, the instance (udaharana or nidarsana); 4th, the application (upanaya); 5th, the conclusion (nigamana). Ex.

1. This hill is fiery:

2. For it smokes.

3. What smokes, is fiery: as a culinary hearth.

4. Accordingly, the hill is smoking:

5. Therefore it is fiery.

Some [The followers of the Mimansa. Pad. Dip.] confine the syllogism (nyaya) to three members; either the three first, or the three last. In this latter form it is quite regular. The recital joined with the instance is the major; the application is the minor; the conclusion follows.

VIII. Next in this arrangement is (tarca) reduction to absurdity. It is a mode of reasoning, for the investigation of truth, by deduction from wrong premises, to an inadmissible conclusion which is at variance with proof, whether actual perception or demonstrable inference. The conclusion to which the premises would lead is in- admissible, as contrary to what is demonstrated, or as conceding what is disproved.

It is not to be confounded with doubt, to which there are two sides; but to this there is but one.

Five sorts are distinguished by the more ancient writers, to which the moderns have added six, or even seven more varieties. It is needless to enumerate them: one or two examples may suffice.

Ex. 1. Is this hill fiery, or not? On this question one delivers his opinion, that it is not fiery. The answer to him is, Were it not fiery, it would not smoke.

Ex. 2. If there be a jar in this place, it must look like the ground.

Fallacy of the same form, termed tarcabhasa, comprises the like number of sorts and varieties.

The designations by which they are distinguished are familiar to the Indian scholastic disputation. It would be tedious to enumerate and explain them.

IX. Ascertainment (nirneya), or determination of truth, is the fruit of proof, the result of evidence and of reasoning, confuting objections and establishing the position in question.

X. — XII. Disputation (cat' ha) is conference or dialogue of interlocutors maintaining adverse positions, whether contending for victory, or seeking the truth. It comprises three of the categories.

X. One is (jalpa) debate of disputants contending for victory; each seeking to establish his own position and overthrow the opponent's.

XI. Another is (vada) discourse, or interlocution of persons communing on a topic in pursuit of truth, as preceptor and pupil together with fellow-students.

XII. The third is (vitanda) cavil, or controversy wherein the disputant seeks to confute his opponent without offering to support a position of his own.

XIII. Next in Gotama's enumeration is fallacy, or, as it is termed, semblance of a reason (hetwabhasa)] it is the non causa pro causa of logicians. Five sorts are distinguished, embracing divers varieties or subdivisions. They need not be here set forth.

XIV. Fraud (ch'hala), or perversion and misconstruction, is of three sorts: 1st, verbal misconstruing of what is ambiguous; 2d, perverting, in a literal sense, what is said in a metaphorical one; 3d, generalizing what is particular.

XV. After all these is (jati) a futile answer, or self-confuting reply. No less than twenty-four sorts are enumerated.

XVI. The sixteenth, and last of Gotama's categories, is (nigraha-st'hana) failure in argument, or (parajaya-hetu) reason of defeat. It is the termination of a controversy. Of this, likewise, no fewer than twenty-two distinctions are specified; which are here passed by, as the present essay has already been extended to too great a length.

[admin]

VIII. On the Philosophy of the Hindus.

PART III. [Read at a public meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society, March 4th, 1826.]

[From the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society vol. i. p. 439 — 461.]

INTRODUCTION.

Of the six systems of philosophy received among learned Hindus, four have been noticed in the preceding parts of this essay, viz. the theistical and atheistical Sanc'hyas, the dialectic Nyaya, and the atomical Vaiseshica. The prior or practical Mimansa will be now considered; reserving the later or theological Mimansa, usually named Vedanta, for a future disquisition, should it appear requisite to pursue the subject, much concerning it being already before the public.

The object of the Mimansa is the interpretation of the Vedas. "Its purpose," says a commentator, [Somanat'ha in the Mayuc'ha, 2. 1. 17.] "is to determine the sense of revelation." Its whole scope is the ascertainment of duty. Here duly intends sacrifices and other acts of religion ordained by the Vedas. The same term [dharma) likewise signifies virtue, or moral merit; and grammarians have distinguished its import according to the gender of the noun. In one, (the masculine), it implies virtue; in the other (neuter), it means an act of devotion. [Medini cosha.] It is in the last-mentioned sense that the term is here employed; and its meaning is by commentators explained to be "the scope of an injunction; the object of a command; [Part'ha 1. 1. 2. Didh. ibid.] a purpose ordained by revelation with a view to a motive, such as sacrifice commanded by the Vedas, for the attainment of bliss;" [Apadeva; Nyaya-pracasa.] and such indeed is the main scope of every disquisition.

The prior (purva) Mimansa then is practical, as relating to works (carma) or religious observances to be undertaken for specific ends; and it is accordingly termed Carma-mimansa, in contradistinction to the theological, which is named Brahme-mimansa.

It is not directly a system of philosophy; nor chiefly so. But, in course of delivering canons of scriptural interpretation, it incidently touches upon philosophical topics; and scholastic disputants have elicited from its dogmas principles of reasoning applicable to the prevailing points of controversy agitated by the Hindu schools of philosophy.

Writers on the Mimansa.

The acknowledged founder of this school of scriptural interpretation is JAIMINI. He is repeatedly named as an authority in the sutras which are ascribed to him. Other ancient writers on the same subject, who are occasionally quoted in those aphorisms, as Atreya, Badari, Badarayana, [Author of the Brahme-sutras.] Labucayana, Aitisayana, &c. are sometimes adduced there for authority, but oftener for correction and confutation.

It is no doubt possible, that the true author of a work may speak in it of himself by name, and in the third person. Nor, indeed, is that very unusual. A Hindu commentator will, however, say, as the scholiasts of Menu's and of Yajnyawalcya's institutes of law do, that the oral instructions of the teacher were put in writing by some disciple; and, for this reason, the mention of him as of a third person is strictly proper.

The sutras, or aphorisms, thus attributed to Jaimini, are arranged in twelve lectures, each subdivided into four chapters, except the third, sixth, and tenth lectures, which contain twice as many; making the entire number sixty chapters. These again are divided into sections, cases, or topics (Adhicaranas), ordinarily comprising several sutras, but not uncommonly restricted to one; and instances may be noted where a single sentence is split into several adhicaranas; or, on the contrary, a single phrase variously interpreted becomes applicable to distinct cases; and sutras, united under the same head by one interpreter, are by another explained as constituting separate topics. The total number of sutras is 2,652, and of adhicaranas 915, as numbered by Mad'hava Acharya.

Like the aphorisms of other Indian sciences, those sutras are extremely obscure; or without a gloss utterly unintelligible. They must have been from the first accompanied by an oral or written exposition; and an ancient scholiast (Vritticara), is quoted by the herd of commentators for subsidiary aphorisms, supplying the defect of the text, as well as for explanatory comments on it.

Besides the work of the old scholiast, which probably is not extant in a complete form, the sutras have, as usual, been elucidated by a perpetual commentary, and by corrective annotations on it.

The author of the extant commentary is Sabara Swami Bhatta, from whom it takes the name of Sahara bhashya. He quotes occasionally the ancient scholiast, sometimes concurring with, sometimes dissenting from him.

The annotations (vartica) are by Bhatta Cumarila Swami, who is the great authority of the Mimansaca school, in which he is emphatically designated by his title, Bhatta, equivalent to Doctor. He frequently expounds and corrects Sabara's gloss, often delivers a different interpretation, but in many instances passes entire sections without notice, as seeing no occasion for emendation or explanation of the commentary, which he must be considered therefore as tacitly ratifying. The ancient scholiast is sometimes cited by him, adopting or amending the scholia; and he criticises the text itself, and arrangement of Jaimini.

Next to him in celebrity is a writer usually cited under the title of Guru; more rarely under the designation of Prabhacara. [MADH. 1.1.3.] His work I have had no opportunity of examining with a view to the present essay, and he is known to me chiefly from references and quotations; as in Madhava's summary, where his opinions are perpetually contrasted with Cumarila's; and in the text and commentary of the Sastra-dipica, where his positions are canvassed and compared with those of numerous other writers.

Cumarila Bhatta figures greatly in the traditionary religious history of India. He was predecessor of Sancara Acharya, and equally rigid in maintaining the orthodox faith against heretics, who reject the authority of the Vedas. He is considered to have been the chief antagonist of the sect of Buddha, and to have instigated an exterminating persecution of that heresy. [Preface to Wilson's Dictionary, p. xix.] He does, indeed, take every occasion of controverting the authority and doctrine of Sacya or BUDDHA, as well as Arhat or Jina, together with obscurer heretics, Bod'hayana and Masaca; and he denies them any consideration, even when they do concur upon any point with the Vedas. [Mim. 1. 3. 4.] The age of Cumarila, anterior to Sancara, [Sabara Swami Acharya is expressly named by Sancara in his commentary on the latter Mimansa (see Brahma Sutra, 3. 3. 53); and there are allusions to Cumarila Bhatta, if no direct mention of him.] and corresponding with the period [of the persecution of the Bauddhas, goes back to an antiquity of much more than a thousand years. He is reputed to have been contemporary with Sudhanwa, but the chronology of that prince's reign is not accurately determined. [Preface to Wilson's Dictionary, p. xviii.]

Next in eminence among the commentators of the Mimansa is Part'ha-Sarat'hi Misra, who has professedly followed the guidance of CUMARILA BHATTA. His Commentary, entitled Sastra-dipica, has been amply expounded in a gloss bearing the title of Mayuc'ha- mala, by Somanat'ha, a Carnataci-Brahman, whose elder brother was high priest of the celebrated temple at Vencatadri (or Vencatagiri). [135 miles west from Madras.] Part'ha-Sarat'hi is author likewise of the Nyaya-ratna- mala and other known works.

A compendious gloss on the text of Jaimini, following likewise the same guidance (that of Cumarila), is the Bhatta-dipica of C'handa-deva, author of a separate and ampler treatise, entitled Mimansa-caustubha, to which he repeatedly refers for a fuller elucidation of matters briefly touched upon in his concise but instructive gloss. This work is posterior to that of Madhava Acharya, who is sometimes quoted in it, and to Part'ha-Sarat'hi, who is more frequently noticed.

The Mimansa-nyaya-viveca is another commentary by a distinguished author, Bhavanat'ha Misra. I speak of this and of the foregoing as commentaries, because they follow the order of the text, recite one or more of the aphorisms from every section, and explain the subject, but without regularly expounding every word, as ordinary scholiasts, in a perpetual gloss.

Among numerous other commentaries on Jaimini's text, the Nyayavali-didhiti of Raghavananda is not to be omitted. It contains an excellent interpretation of the sutras, which it expounds word by word, in the manner of a perpetual comment. It is brief, but clear; leaving nothing unexplained, and wandering into no digressions.

It results from the many revisions which the text and exposition of it have undergone, with amendments, one while arriving by a different process of reasoning at the same conclusion, another time varying the question and deducing from an unchanged text an altered argument for its solution, that the cases (adhicaranas) assume a very diversified aspect in the hands of the many interpreters of the Mimansa.

A summary or paraphrase of Jaimini's doctrine was put into verse by an ancient author, whose memorial verses are frequently cited by the commentators of Jaimini, under the title of Sangraha.

Another metrical paraphrase is largely employed in the Vartica, or is a part of that work itself. An entire chapter occurs under the title of Sloca vartica: other whole chapters of Cumarila's performance are exclusively in prose. In many, verse and prose are intermixed.

The most approved introduction to the study of the Mimansa is the Nyaya-mala-vistara by Madhava Acharya. It is in verse, attended with a commentary in prose by the same author. It follows the order of Jaimini's text; not by way of paraphrase, but as a summary (though the title rather implies amplification) of its purport, and of approved deductions from it; sometimes explaining separately  the doctrine of Bhatta and of Guru, under each head; at other times that of the old scholiast; but more commonly confined to that of Bhatta alone; yet often furnishing more than one application to the same text, as Bhatta himself does.

MADHAVA ACHARYA was both priest and minister, or civil as well as spiritual adviser of Bucca-Raya and Harihara, sovereigns of Vidyanagara on the Godovari, as his father Mayana had been of their father and predecessor Sangama, who reigned over the whole peninsula of India.

Like the numerous other writings which bear his name, the Nyalamala was composed, not by himself, but by his directions, under the more immediate superintendence of his brother, Sayana-Acharya; and it appears from its preface to have been the next performance undertaken after the completion of their commentary on Parasara's institutes of law; and it suitably enough preceded the great commentary of the same authors on the whole of the Vedas.

According to history, confirmed by authentic inscriptions, Madhava flourished towards the middle of the fourteenth century: the sovereigns whose confidence he enjoyed reigned from that time to the end of the century.

Analysis of the Mimansa.

From this brief notice of the principal writers on the Mimansa, I pass to the subject which has occupied them.

A complete adhicarana, or case, consists of five members, viz. 1, the subject, or matter to be explained; 2, the doubt, or question arising upon that matter; 3, the first side (purva-pacsha), or prima facie argument concerning it; 4, the answer (uttara) or demonstrated conclusion (siddhanta); 5, the pertinence or relevancy.

The last-mentioned appertains to the whole arrangement as well as to its subdivisions; and commentators are occupied with showing the relation and connexion of subjects treated in the several lectures and chapters, and their right distribution, and appropriate positions.

The text of Jaimini's aphorisms does not ordinarily exhibit the whole of the five members of an adhicarana. Frequently the subject, and the question concerning it, are but hinted, or they are left to be surmised; sometimes the disputable solution of it is unnoticed, and the right conclusion alone is set forth. The rest is supplied by the scholiasts; and they do not always concur as to the most apposite examples, nor concerning the presumed allusions of the text.

Its introductory sutras propose the subject in this manner. "Now then the study of duty is to be commenced. Duty is a purpose which is inculcated by a command. Its reason must be inquired." [JAIM. l. 1. 1 — 3.]

That is, according to the interpretation of commentators, 'Next, after reading the Veda; and therefore, for the sake of understanding it; the duty enjoined by it is to be investigated. Duty is a meaning deduced from injunction: its ground must be sifted. A command is not implicitly received for proof of duty.'

The business of the Mimansa, then, being to investigate what is incumbent as a duty to be performed, the primary matter for inquiry is proof and authority (pramana). This, accordingly, is the subject of the first lecture, comprising four chapters, which treat of the following matters: 1st, precept and its cogency; 2, affirmation or narrative (art'havada), as well as prayer and invocation (mantra), their cogency as inculcating some duty; 3, law memorial (smrti), and usage (achara), their authority as presumption of some cogent revelation; 4, modifying ordinance and specific denomination, distinguished from direct or positive injunction.

Proceeding with the subject as above proposed, the Mimansa declares that perception or simple apprehension is no reason of duty, for it apprehends a present object only, whereas duty concerns the future. [JAIM. 1. 1. 4.] Simple apprehension is defined in these words: "when the organs of man are in contiguity with an object, that source of knowledge is perception.''

The ancient scholiast has here introduced definitions of other sources of knowledge which the author had omitted, viz. inference, verbal communication, comparison, presumption, and privation. None of these are reasons of duty except verbal communication; for the rest are founded on perception, which itself is not so. Verbal communication is either human, as a correct sentence (apta-vacya), or superhuman, as a passage of the Vedas. It is indicative or imperative; and the latter is either positive or relative: Ex. 1. "This is to be done:" 2. "That is to be done like this."

"On sight of one member of a known association, the consequent apprehension of the other part which is not actually proximate, is (anumana) inference. [Anc. Schol. Didh., Part'h., &c.] The association must be such as had been before directly perceived, or had become known by analogy.

"Comparison (upamana) is knowledge arising from resemblance more or less strong. It is apprehension of the likeness which a thing presently seen bears to one before observed: and likeness or similitude is concomitancy of associates or attributes with one object, which were associated with another.

"Presumption (art'hapatti) is deduction of a matter from that which could not else be. It is assumption of a thing not itself perceived, but necessarily implied by another which is seen, heard, or proven.

"Knowledge of a thing which is not proximate (or subject to perception) derived through understood sound, that is through words the acceptation whereof is known, is (sastra) ordinance or revelation. It is (sabda) verbal communication."

These five sources of knowledge, or modes of proof, as here defined, are admitted by all Mimansacas: and the followers of Prabhacara are stated to restrict their admission to those five. [Vedanta-sic'hamani.] Bhatta with his disciples, guided by the ancient scholiast, adds a sixth, which is privation (abhava); and the Vedantis or Uttara Mimansacas concur in the admission of that number.

The Charvacas, as noticed in the first part of this essay, [Ante, p. 152.] recognise but one, viz. perception. The followers of Canade and those of Sugata (Buddha) acknowledge two, perception and inference. The Sanc'hyas reckon three, including affirmation. [Ante, p. 165 — 168.] The Naiyayicas, or followers of Gotama, count four, viz. the foregoing together with comparison. The Prabhacaras, as just now observed, admit five. And the rest of the Mimansacas, in both schools, prior and later Mimansa, enumerate six. [Vedanta sic'ham.] It does not appear that a greater number has been alleged by any sect of Indian philosophy.

The first six lectures of Jaimini's Mimansa treat of positive injunction: it is the first half of the work. The latter half, comprising six more lectures, concerns indirect command: adapting to a copy, with any requisite modifications, that which was prescribed for the pattern or prototype.

The authority of enjoined duty is the topic of the first lecture: its differences and varieties, its parts (or appendant members, contrasted with the main act), and the purpose of performance, are successively considered in the three next, and complete the subject of "that which is to be performed." The order of performance occupies the fifth lecture; and qualification for its performance is treated in the sixth.

The subject of indirect precept is opened in the seventh lecture generally, and in the eighth particularly. Inferrible changes, adapting to the variation or copy what was designed for the type or model, are discussed in the ninth, and bars or exceptions in the tenth. Concurrent efficacy is considered in the eleventh lecture; and co-ordinate effect in the twelfth: that is, the co-operation of several acts for a single result is the subject of the one; and the incidental effect of an act, of which the chief purpose is different, is discussed in the other.

These which are the principal topics of each lecture are not, however, exclusive. Other matters are introduced by the way, being suggested by the main subject or its exceptions.

In the first chapter of the first lecture occurs the noted disquisition of the Mimansa on the original and perpetual association of articulate sound with sense. [A passage cited by writers on the dialectic Nyaya from the disquisition on the perpetuity of sound (see ante, page 185), is not to be found in Jaimini's sutras: it must have been taken from one of his commentators.]

"It is a primary and natural connexion," Jaimini affirms, "not merely a conventional one. The knowledge of it is instruction, since the utterance of a particular sound conveys knowledge, as its enunciation is for a particular sense. It matters not whether the subject have been previously apprehended (the words being intelligible, or the context rendering them so). Precept is authoritative, independently of human communication." [JAIM. 1. 1. 5.]

Grammarians assume a special category, denominated sp'hota, for the object of mental perception, which ensues upon the hearing of an articulate sound, and which they consider to be distinct from the elements or component letters of the word. Logicians disallow that as a needless assumption. [Didh., Part'h, and Madh.] They insist, however, that "sound is an effect, because it is perceived as the result of effort; because it endures not, but ceases so soon as uttered; because it is spoken of as made or done; because it is at once apprehended in divers places at the same instant, uttered by divers persons; because it is liable to permutation; and because it is subject to increase of intensity with the multitude of utterers." To all which the answer is, that " the result of an effort is uniform, the same letters being articulated. Sound is unobserved though existent, if it reach not the object (vibrations of air emitted from the mouth of the speaker proceed and manifest sound by their appulse to air at rest in the space bounded by the hollow of the ear; for want of such appulse, sound, though existent, is unapprehended). [Didh.] Sound is not made or done, but is used; it is uttered, not called into existence. Its universality is as that of the sun (common to all). The permutation of letters is the substitution of a different one (as a semivowel for a vowel), not the alteration of the same letter. Noise, not sound, is increased by a multitude of voices. Sound is perpetual, intended for the apprehension of others: it is universal, a generic term being applicable to all individuals. Its perpetuity is intimated by a passage of the Veda, which expresses "Send forth praise, with perpetual speech." [JAIM. 1. 1. 6. 1—18 and Com.]

The first chapter terminates with an inquiry into the authority of the Veda, which is maintained to be primeval and superhuman; although different portions of it are denominated from names of men, as Cat'haca, Caut'huma, Paishpala, &c. and although worldly incidents and occurrences are mentioned. Those denominations of particular portions, it is affirmed, have reference to the tradition by which a revelation has been transmitted. They are named after the person who uttered them, as to him revealed.

The eternity of the Veda, or authenticity of its revelation, is attempted to be proved by showing that it had no human origin; and for this purpose, the principal argument is, that no human author is remembered. In the case of human compositions, it is said, contemporaries have been aware that the authors of them were occupied in composing those works: not so with the Veda, which has been handed down as primeval, and of which no mortal author was known.

It is, however, acknowledged, that a mistake may be made, and the work of a human author may be erroneously received as a part of the sacred book by those who are unacquainted with its true origin. An instance occurs among those who use the Bahvrich, a sac'ha of the Rigveda, by whom a ritual of Aswalayana has been admitted, under the title of the fifth Aranyaca, as a part of the Rigveda.

The Veda received as holy by orthodox Hindus consists of two parts, prayer and precept (mantra and brahmana). Jaimini has attempted to give a short definition of the first, adding that the second is its supplement; "whatever is not mantra, is brahmaha." [Mim. 2. 1. 7.] The ancient scholiast has endeavoured to supply the acknowledged defect of Jaimini's imperfect definition, by enumerating the various descriptions of passages coming under each head. Later scholiasts have shown, that every article in that enumeration is subject to exceptions; and the only test of distinction, finally acknowledged, is admission of the expert, or acceptance of approved teachers, who have taught their disciples to use one passage as a prayer, and to read another as a precept, Jaimini's definition, and his scholiast's enumeration, serve but to alleviate "the task of picking up grains."

Generally, then, a mantra is a prayer, invocation, or declaration. It is expressed in the first person, or is addressed in the second. It declares the purpose of a pious act, or lauds or invokes the object. It asks a question or returns an answer; directs, inquires, or deliberates; blesses or imprecates, exults or laments, counts or narrates, &c.

Here is to be remarked, that changes introduced into a prayer to adapt it, mutalis mutandis, to a different ceremony from that for which primarily it was intended, or the insertion of an individual's personal and family names where this is requisite, are not considered to be part of the mantra.

It is likewise to be observed, although mantras of the Vedas are ordinarily significant, that the chants of the Samaveda are unmeaning. They consist of a few syllables, as ira ayira, or gira gayira, repeated again and again, as required by the tune or rhythm. Nevertheless, significant mantras are likewise chanted; and two of the books of the Samuveda are allotted to hymns of this description. The hymns consist of triplets {inch) or triple stanzas.

The first, or pattern verse or stanza, is found, with the name of the appropriate tune, in the Chhandas or Yonigrant'ha; and the two remaining verses or stanzas, to complete the triplet, are furnished in the supplementary book called Uttara-grant'ha.

Mantras are distinguished under three designations. Those which are in metre are termed rich, those chanted are saman, and the rest are yajush, sacrificial prayers in prose (for yajush imports sacrifice). Nevertheless, metrical prayers occur in the Yajurveda, and prose in the Samaveda.

Metrical prayers are recited aloud: those termed saman with musical modulation; but the prose inaudibly muttered. [Mim. 3. 3. 1.] Such, however, as are vocative, addressed to a second person, are to be uttered audibly, though in prose: for communication is intended. [Ib. 2. 1. 7—14.]

Metrical prayers, however, belonging to the Yajurveda are inaudibly  recited; and so are chants belonging to the same inaudibly chanted: for prayers take the character of the rite into which they are introduced; and where the same rite is ordained in more than one Veda, it appertains to that with which it is most consonant, and the prayer is either audibly or inaudibly chanted accordingly. [Ib. 3. 3. 1— 3. Instances of the same prayer recurring either word for word, or with very slight variation, in more than one Veda, are innumerable. An eminent example is that of the celebrated Gayatri, of which the proper place is in the Rig-veda (3. 4. 10.), among hymns of Viswamitra. It is, however, repeated in all the Vedas, and particularly in the 3d, 22d and 36th chapters of the white Yajush. (3, § 35; 22, § 9; and 36, § 3.) Another notable instance is that of the Purusha-sucta, of which a version was given, from a ritual in which it was found cited (ante, p. 104). It has a place in the Rig-veda (8. 4. 7.) among miscellaneous hymns; and is inserted, with some little variation, among prayers employed at the Purusha-medha, in the 31st chapter of the white Vajur-veda. On collation of those two Vedas and their scholia, I find occasion to amend one or two passages in the version of it formerly given: but for this I shall take another opportunity. That remarkable hymn is in language, metre, and style, very different from the rest of the prayers with which it is associated. It has a decidedly more modern tone; and must have been composed after the Sanscrit language had been refined, and its grammar and rhythm perfected. The internal evidence which it furnishes, serves to demonstrate the important fact, that the compilation of the Vedas, in their present arrangement, took place after the Sanscrit tongue had advanced, from the rustic and irregular dialect in which the multitude of hymns and prayers of the Veda was composed, to the polished and sonorous language in which the mythological poems, sacred and prophane (puranas and cavyas), have been written.]

The prayers termed rich and saman are limited by the metre and the chant respectively; but those which are in prose are regulated as to their extent by the sense. A complete sentence constitutes a single yajush: the sense must be one, and would be deficient were the phrase divided. Nevertheless, the sentence which constitutes a prayer may borrow, from a preceding or from a subsequent one, terms wanting to perfect the sense, unless an intervening one be incompatible with that construction. [Mim. 2. 1. 14—18.]

The brahmum of the Veda is in general a precept; or it expresses praise or blame, or a doubt, a reason, or a comparison; or intimates a derivation; or narrates a fact or an occurrence: and a characteristic sign of it is that it very generally contains the particle "so" (iti or itiha); as a mantra usually does the pronoun of the second person "thee," either expressed or understood, "(thou) art." [Sab. &c. on Mim. 1. 4. 1. and 2. 1. 7.]

In a still more general view the brahmana is practical, directing religious observances, teaching the purpose, time, and manner of performing them, indicating the prayers to be employed, and elucidating their import. The esoteric brahmana comprises the upanishads, and is theological.

It becomes a question which the Mimansa examines at much length, whether those passages of the Veda which are not direct precepts, but are narrative, laudatory, or explanatory, are nevertheless cogent for a point of duty. In this inquiry is involved the further question, whether a consciousness of the scope of an act is essential to its efficacy for the production of its proper consequence. The Mimansa maintains that narrative or indicative texts are proof of duty, as concurrent in import with a direct precept. There subsists a mutual relation between them. One enjoins or forbids an act; the other supplies an inducement for doing it or for refraining from it: "Do so, because such is the fruit." The imperative sentence is nevertheless cogent independently of the affirmative one, and needs not its support. The indicative phrase is cogent, implying injunction by pronouncing benefit.

It virtually prescribes the act which it recommends. [Mim. 1. 2. 1-3.] Inference, however, is not to be strained. It is not equally convincing as actual perception: a forthcoming injunction or direct precept has more force than a mere inference from premises. [Ib. 1. 2. 3.]

A prayer, too, carries authority, as evidence of a precept bearing the like import. This is a visible or temporal purpose of a prayer; and it is a received maxim, that a perceptible purpose being assignable, prevails before an imperceptible one. But the recital of a particular prayer at a religious rite, rather than a narrative text of like import, is for a spiritual end, since there is no visible purpose of a set form of words. [Mim. 1. 2. 4.]

Besides the evidence of precept from an extant revelation or recorded hearing (sruti) of it, another source of evidence is founded on the recollections (smriti) of ancient sages. They possess authority as grounded on the Veda, being composed by holy personages conversant with its contents. Nor was it superfluous to compose anew what was there to be found; for a compilation, exhibiting in a succinct form that which is scattered through the Veda, has its use. Nor are the prayers which the smrti directs unauthorized, for they are presumed to have been taken from passages of revelation not now forthcoming. Those recollections have come down by unbroken tradition to this day, admitted by the virtuous of the three tribes, and known under the title of Dharma-sastra, comprising the institutes of law, civil and religious. Nor is error to be presumed which had not, until now, been detected. An express text of the Veda, as the Mimansa maintains, [lb. 1. 3. 1.] must then be concluded to have been actually seen by the venerable author of a recorded recollection (smrti).

But if contradiction appear, if it can be shown that an extant passage of the Veda is inconsistent with one of the smriti, it invalidates that presumption. An actual text, present to the sense, prevails before a presumptive one. [lb. 1. 3. 2.]

Or though no contrary passage of the Veda be actually found, yet if cupidity, or other exceptionable motive may be assigned, revelation is not to be presumed in the instance, the recollection being thus impeached. [1b. 1 3. 3.]

The 'Sacyas (or Bauddhas) and Jainas (or Arhatas), as Cumarila acknowledges, are considered to be Cshatriyas. It is not to be concluded, he says, that their recollections were founded upon a Veda which is now lost. There can be no inference of a foundation in revelation, for unauthentic recollections of persons who deny its authenticity. Even when they do concur with it, as recommending charitable gifts and enjoining veracity, chastity, and innocence, the books of the Sacyas are of no authority for the virtues which they inculcate. Duties are not taken from them: the association would suggest a surmise of vice, [lb. 1. 3. 4.] tainting what else is virtuous. The entire Veda which is directed to be studied is the foundation of duty; and those only who are conversant with it are capable of competent recollections.

Usage generally prevalent among good men, and by them practised as understanding it to be enjoined and therefore incumbent on them, is mediately, but not directly, evidence of duty: but it is not valid if it be contrary to an express text. From the modern prevalence of any usage, there arises a presumption of a correspondent injunction by a holy personage who remembered a revelation to the same effect. Thus usage presumes a recollection, which again presupposes revelation. Authors, however, have omitted particulars, sanctioning good customs in general terms: but any usage which is inconsistent with a recorded recollection is not to be practised, so long as no express text of scripture is found to support it.

In like manner, rituals which teach the proper mode of celebrating religious rites, and are entitled Calpa-sutra or Grihya-grant'ha, derive their authority, like the Dharma-sastra, from a presumption that their authors, being persons conversant with the Veda, collected and abridged rules which they there found. The Calpa-sutras neither are a part of the Veda, nor possess equal nor independent authority. It would be a laborious enterprise to prove a superhuman origin of them; nor can it be accomplished, since contemporaries were aware of the authors being occupied with the composition of them. [GURU on Mim. 1. 3. 7.] Whenever a sutra (whether of the culpa or grihya) is opposed to an extant passage of the Veda, or is inconsistent with valid reason, it is not to be followed; nor is an alternative admissible in regard to its observance in such case, unless a corroborative text of the Veda can be shown. [C'handa-Deva.]

Neither are usages restricted to particular provinces, though certain customs are more generally prevalent in some places than in others: as the Holaca (vulg. Huli) or festival of spring in the east; the worship of local tutelary deities hereditarily, by families, in the south; the racing of oxen on the full moon of Jyesht'ha, in the north; and the adoration of tribes of deities (matri-gana), in the west. Nor are rituals and law institutes confined to particular classes: though some are followed by certain persons preferably to others; as Vasisht'ha, by the Bahvrich sac'ha of the Rigveda: Gautama, by the Gobhiliya of the Samaveda; Sanc'ha and Lic'hita, by the Vajasaneyi; and Apastamba and Baudhayana, by the Taittiriya of the Yajurveda. There is no presumption of a restrictive revelation, but of one of general import. The institutes of law, and rituals of ceremonies, were composed by authors appertaining to particular sac'has, and by them taught to their fellows belonging to the same, and have continued current among the descendants of those to whom they were so taught.

A very curious disquisition occurs in this part of the Mimansa, [1. 3. 5.] on the acceptation of words in correct language and barbaric dialects, and on the use of terms taken from either. Instances alleged are yava, signifying in Sanscrit, barley, but in the barbaric tongue, the plant named priyangu: varaha, in the one a hog, and in the other a cow; pitu, a certain tree, [The name is in vocabularies assigned to many different trees.] but among barbarians an elephant; vetusa, a rattan cane and a citron. The Mimansa concludes, that in such instances of words having two acceptations, that in which it is received by the civilized (aryas), or which is countenanced by use in sacred books, is to be preferred to the practice of barbarians (Mlech'ha), who are apt to confound words or their meanings.

Concerning these instances, Cumarila remarks that the words have no such acceptation, in any country, as is by the scholiast alleged. He. is wrong in regard to one, at least, for pitu is evidently the Persian fit or pit. Modern vocabularies [JATADHARA, &c.] exhibit the word as a Sanscrit one in the same sense; erroneously, as appears from this disquisition.

Then follows, in Cumarila's Vartica, much upon the subject of provincial and barbaric dialects; which, adverting to the age in which he flourished, is interesting, and merits the attention of philologists. He brings examples from the Andhra and Dravida dialects, and specifies as barbaric tongues the Parasica, Yavana, Raumaca, and Barbara, but confesses his imperfect acquaintance with these.

Jaimini gives an instance of a barbaric term used in the Veda, viz., pica, a black cuckow (cuculus indicus); to which his scholiasts add nema, half, tamarasa, a lotus, and sata a wooden colander; but without adducing examples of the actual use of them in any of the Vedas. Such terms must be taken in their ordinary acceptation, though barbarous; and the passage quoted from the Veda where the word pica occurs, must be interpreted "sacrifice a black cuckow at night." It will here be remarked, that pica corresponds to the Latin picus, and that nem answers to the Persic nim.

On the other hand, a barbaric word, or a provincial corruption, is not to be employed instead of the proper Sanscrit term. Thus go (gauh), and not gawi, is the right term for a cow. [Vart. 1. 3. 4.] Orthography, likewise, is to be carefully attended to; else by writing or reading aswa for aswa in the directions for the sacrifice of a horse, the injunction would seem to be for the sacrifice of a pauper (a-swa, destitute of property).

Generally, words are to be applied in strict conformity with correct grammar. The Sacyas, and other heretics, as Cumarila in this place remarks, [Vart. 1. 3. 7.] do not use Sanscrit (they employ Pracrit). But Brahmanas should not speak as barbarians. Grammar, which is primeval, has been handed down by tradition. Language is the same in the Vedas and in ordinary discourse, notwithstanding a few deviations: the import of words is generic, though the application of them is specific.

The peculiarities of the dialect of the Veda are not to be taken for inaccuracies. Thus, tman stands for atman, self or soul; and Brahmanasah for Brahmanah, priests; with many other anomalies of the sacred dialect. [Mim. 1. 3. 10.]

When the ordinary acceptation of a term is different from that which it bears in an explanatory passage, this latter import prevails in the text likewise, else the precept and its supplement would disagree. Thus trivrit, triplet, is specially applied to a hymn comprising three triplets or nine stanzas, which is the peculiar sense it bears in the Vedas.

Again, charu, which in ordinary discourse signifies boiler or cauldron, is in the Vedas an oblation of boiled food, as rice, &c. So aswabala, which literally means horse-hair, is a designation of a species of grass (saccharum spontaneum) into which it is said the tail of a consecrated horse was once transformed; and of that grass a cushion is made for certain religions rites.

It will be observed, as has been intimated in speaking of the members of an adhicarana in the Mimansa, that a case is proposed, either specified in Jaimini's text or supplied by his scholiasts. Upon this a doubt or question is raised, and a solution of it is suggested, which is refuted, and a right conclusion established in its stead. The disquisitions of the Mimansa bear, therefore, a certain resemblance to juridical questions; and, in fact, the Hindu law being blended with the religion of the people, the same modes of reasoning are applicable, and are applied to the one as to the other. The logic of the Mimansa is the logic of the law; the rule of interpretation of civil and religious ordinances. Each case is examined and determined upon general principles; and from the cases decided the principles may be collected. A well-ordered arrangement of them would constitute the philosophy of the law: and this is, in truth, what has been attempted in the Mimansa. Jaimini's arrangement, however, is not philosophical; and I am not acquainted with any elementary work of this school in which a better distribution has been achieved. I shall not here attempt to supply the defect, but confine the sequel of this essay to a few specimens from divers chapters of Jaimini, after some more remarks on the general scope and manner of the work.

Instances of the application of reasoning, as taught in the Mimansa, to the discussion and determination of juridical questions, may be seen in two treatises on the Law of Inheritance, translated by myself, and as many on Adoption, by a member of this Society, Mr. J. C. C. Sutherland (See Mitacshara on Inheritance, 1. 1. 10, and 1. 9. 11, and 2. 1. 34; Jimuta Vahana, 11, 5. 16 -19. Datt. Mim. on Adoption, 1. 1. 35-41, and 4. 4. 65-66 and 6. 6. 27-31. Datt. Chand. 1. 1. 24 and 2. 2. 4).

The subject which most engages attention throughout the Mimansa, recurring at every turn, is the invisible or spiritual operation of an act of merit. The action ceases, yet the consequence does not immediately ensue. A virtue meantime subsists, unseen, but efficacious to connect the consequence with its past and remote cause, and to bring about at a distant period, or in another world, the relative effect.

That unseen virtue is termed apurva, being a relation superinduced, not before possessed.

Sacrifice (yaga), which, among meritorious works, is the act of religion most inculcated by the Vedas, and consequently most discussed  in the prior Mimansa, consists in parting with a thing that it may belong to a deity, whom it is intended to propitiate. [Mim. 4. 4.12.] Being cast into the fire for that purpose, it is a burnt offering (homa). Four sorts are distinguished; a simple oblation (ish'ti), the immolation of a victim (pasu), the presenting of expressed juice of the soma plant (asclepias acida), and the burnt-offering above-mentioned. [lb. 4. 4. 1.] The object of certain rites is some definite temporal advantage; of others, benefit in another world. Three ceremonies, in particular, are types of all the rest: the consecration of a sacrificial fire, the presenting of an oblation, and the preparation of the soma. The oblation which serves as a model for the rest, is that which is offered twice in each month, viz. at the full and change of the moon. It is accompanied, more especially at the new moon, with an oblation of whey from new milk. Accordingly, the Yajurveda begins with this rite. It comprehends the sending of selected cows to pasture after separating their calves, touching them with a leafy branch of palasa (butea frondosa) cut for the purpose, and subsequently stuck in the ground in front of the apartment containing the sacrificial fire, for a protection of the herd from robbers and beasts of prey: the cows are milked in the evening and again in the morning; and, from the new milk, whey is then prepared for an oblation.

Concerning this ceremony, with all its details, numerous questions arise, which are resolved in the Mimansa: for instance, the milking of the cows is pronounced to be not a primary or main act, but a subordinate one; and the parting of the calves from their dams is subsidiary to that subordinate act. [lb. 4. 3. 10.] The whey, which in fact is milk modified, is the main object of the whole preparation; not the curd, which is but incidentally produced, not being sought nor wanted. [Mim. 4. 1. 9.]

In the fourth chapter of the first book, the author discriminates terms that modify the precept from such as are specific denominations. Several of the instances are not a little curious. Thus it is a question, whether the hawk-sacrifice (syena-yaga), which is attended with imprecations on a hated foe, be performed by the actual immolation of a bird of that kind. The case is determined by a maxim, that "a term intimating resemblance is denominative." Hawk, then, is the name of that incantation: "it pounces on the foe as a falcon on his prey." [Ib. 1. 4. 5. and 3. 7. 23.] So tongs is a name for a similar incantation, "which seizes the enemy from afar as with a pair of tongs;" and cow, for a sacrifice to avert such imprecations.

It is fit to remark in this place, that incantations for destruction of hated foes, though frequent in the Vedas (and modes of performing them, with greater or less solemnity, are there taught), cannot be deemed laudable acts of religion; on the contrary, they are pronounced to be at least mediately criminal; and pains in hell, as for homicide, await the malevolent man who thus practices against the life of his enemy.

Another instance, discussed in the same chapter, is chitra, applied to a sacrifice performed for acquisition of cattle. It is questioned whether the feminine termination, joined to the ordinary signification of the word, indicates a female victim of a varied colour. It intends, however, an offering termed various, as consisting of no less than six different articles: honey, milk, curds, boiled butter, rice in the husk as well as clean, and water. [1b. 1. 4. 3.]

In like manner, udbhid is the name of a sacrifice directed to be performed for the like purpose: that is, by a person desirous of possessing cattle. The sense approaches to the etymology of the term: it is a ceremony "by which possession of cattle is, as it were, dug up." It does not imply that some tool for delving, as a spade or hoe for digging up the earth, is to be actually employed in the ceremony.

A question of considerable interest, as involving the important one concerning property in the soil in India, is discussed in the sixth lecture. [lb. 6. 7. 2.] At certain sacrifices, such as that which is called viswajit, the votary, for whose benefit the ceremony is performed, is enjoined to bestow all his property on the officiating priests. It is asked whether a paramount sovereign shall give all the land, including pasture-ground, highways, and the site of lakes and ponds; an universal monarch, the whole earth; and a subordinate prince, the entire province over which he rules? To that question the answer is: the monarch has not property in the earth, nor the subordinate prince in the land. By conquest kingly power is obtained, and property in house and field which belonged to the enemy. The maxim of the law, that "the king is lord of all excepting sacerdotal wealth," concerns his authority for correction of the wicked and protection of the good. His kingly power is for government of the realm and extirpation of wrong; and for that purpose he receives taxes from husbandmen, and levies fines from offenders. But right of property is not thereby vested in him; else he would have property in house and land appertaining to the subjects abiding  in his dominions. The earth is not the king's, but is common to all beings enjoying the fruit of their own labour. It belongs, says JAIMINI, to all alike: therefore, although a gift of a piece of ground to an individual does take place, the whole land cannot be given by a monarch, nor a province by a subordinate prince 5 but house and field, acquired by purchase and similar means, are liable to gift." [SAB. MADH. and C'HANDA, ad locum.]

The case which will be here next cited, will bring to recollection the instance of the Indian Calanus, [Calyana.] who accompanied Alexander's army, and burnt himself at Babylon after the manner of his country.

This particular mode of religious suicide by cremation is now obsolete; as that of widows is in some provinces of India, and it may be hoped will become so in the rest, if no injudicious interference by direct prohibition arouse opposition and prevent the growing disuse. Other modes of religious suicide not unfrequently occur; such as drowning, burying alive, falling from a precipice or under the wheels of an idol's car, &c. But they are not founded on the Vedas, as that by burning is.

Self-immolation, in that ancient form of it, is a solemn sacrifice, performed according to rites which the Vedas direct, by a man desirous of passing immediately to heaven without enduring disease. He engages priests, as at other sacrifices, for the various functions requisite to the performance of the rites, being himself the votary for whose benefit the ceremony is undertaken. At a certain stage of it, after wrapping a cloth round a branch of udumbara (ficus glomerata), which represents a sacrificial stake, and having appointed the priests to complete the ceremony, he chants a solemn hymn, and casts himself on a burning pile wherein his body is consumed. Afterwards, whatever concerns the rite as a sacrificial ceremony, is to be completed by the attendant priests: Omitting, however, those matters which specially appertain to the votary, and which, after his death, there is no one competent to perform. [Mim. 10, 2. 23.]

In like manner, if the principal die by a natural death, after engaging Brahmanas to co-operate with him in the celebration of certain rites requiring the aid of several priests, his body is to be burnt, and his ashes kept to represent him; and the ceremony is completed for his benefit, according to one opinion, but for theirs according to another. The ashes, it is argued, do not perform the ceremony, but the priests do. Being inanimate, the bones cannot fulfil the prescribed duties peculiar to the principal: as utterance of certain prayers, shaving of hair and beard, measure of his stature with a branch of udumbara, &c. These and similar functions are not practicable by an inanimate skeleton, and therefore are unavoidably omitted. [Mim. 10. 2. 17-20.]

The full complement of persons officiating at a great solemnity is seventeen. This number, as is shown, includes the votary or principal, who is assisted by sixteen priests engaged by him for different offices, which he need not personally discharge. His essential function is the payment of their hire or sacrificial fee. [lb 3. 7. 8-17.]

They rank in different gradations, and are remunerated proportionably. Four, whose duties are most important, receive the full perquisite; four others are recompensed with a half; the four next with a third; and the four last with a quarter.

On occasions of less solemnity four priests only are engaged, making with the principal five officiating persons. A question is raised, whether the immolator of a victim at the sacrifice of an animal (usually a goat) be a distinct officiating person: the answer is in the negative. No one is specially engaged for immolator independently of other functions; but some one of the party, who has other duties to discharge, slays the victim in the prescribed manner, and is accordingly termed immolator. [Ib. 3. 7. 13.]

The victims at some sacrifices are numerous: as many as seventeen at the vajapeya, made fast to the same number of stakes; and at an aswamed'ha not fewer than six hundred and nine of all descriptions, tame and wild, terrestrial and aquatic, walking, flying, swimming, and creeping things, distributed among twenty-one stakes and in the intervals between them; the tame made fast to the stakes, and the wild secured in cages, nets, baskets, jars, and hollow canes, and by various other devices. The wild are not to be slain, but at a certain stage of the ceremony let loose. The tame ones, or most of them (chiefly goats), are to be actually immolated.

The various rites are successively performed for each victim; not completed for one before they are commenced for another. But the consecration of the sacrificial stakes is perfected for each in succession, because the votary is required to retain hold of the stake until the consecration of it is done. [Ib. 5. 2. 1-5.]

The foregoing instances may suffice to give some idea of the nature of the subjects treated in the Mimansa, and of the way in which they are handled. They have been selected as in themselves curious,  rather than as instructive specimens of the manner in which very numerous and varied cases are examined and questions concerning them resolved. The arguments would be tedious, and the reasons of the solution would need much elucidation, and after all would, in general, be uninteresting.

A few examples of the topics investigated, and still fewer of the reasoning applied to them, have therefore been considered as better conveying in a small compass a notion of the multifarious subjects of the Mimansa.

[admin]

Part 1 of 2

IX. On the Philosophy of the Hindus.

PART IV. [Read at a public meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society, April 7, 1827.]

[From the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. ii. p. 1-39.]

INTRODUCTION.

A PRECEDING essay on Indian philosophy contained a succinct account of the Carma-mimansa. The present one will be devoted to the Brahma mimansa; which, as the complement of the former, is termed uttara, later, contrasted with purva, prior, being the investigation of proof, deducible from the Vedas in regard to theology, as the other is in regard to works and their merit. The two together, then, comprise the complete system of interpretation of the precepts and doctrine of the Vedas, both practical and theological. They are parts of one whole. The later Mimansa is supplementary to the prior, and is expressly affirmed to be so: but, differing on many important points, though agreeing on others, they are essentially distinct in a religious as in a philosophical view.

The ordinary designation of the Uttara-mimansa is Vedanta, a term likewise of more comprehensive import. It literally signifies "conclusion of the Veda,'' and bears reference to the Upanishads, which are, for the most part, terminating sections of the Vedas to which they belong. It implies, however, the doctrine derived from them, and extends to books of sacred authority, in which that doctrine |is thence deduced; and in this large acceptation, it is "the end and scope of the Vedas."

The followers of the Vedanta have separated in several sects, as 'ancient' and 'modern' Vedantins, and bearing other designations. The points on which they disagree, and the difference of their opinions, will not be a subject of the present essay, but may be noticed in a future one.

Among numerous Upanishads, those which are principally relied upon for the Vedanta, and which accordingly are most frequently cited, are the Ch'handogya, Caushitaci, Vrihad aranyaca, Aitareyaca, Taittiriyaca, Cat'haca, Cat'havalli, Mundaca, Prasna, Swetaswatara; to which may be added the Isa-vasya, Cena, and one or two more.

Certain religious exercises, consisting chiefly in profound meditation, with particular sitting postures rigorously continued, are inculcated as preparing the student for the attainment of divine knowledge, and promoting his acquisition of it. Directions concerning such devout exercises are to be found in several of the Upanishads, especially in the Swetaswatara; and likewise in other portions of the Vedas, as a part of the general ritual. These are accordingly cited by the commentators of the Vedanta, and must be considered to be comprehended under that general term; [For instance, the Agni rahasya brahmana of the Canwas and of the Vajins (or Vajasaneyins); the Rashasya brahmana of the Tandins and of the Paingins.] and others from different sac'has of the Vedas, as further exemplified in a note below. [The Udgit'ha brahmana of the Vajasaneyins, the Panchagni-vidya pracarana of the same, the C'hila grant'ha of the Ranayainyas, the Prana-samvada or Prana-vidya. Dahara-vidya, Harda vidya, Paramatma vidya Satya-vidya, Vaiswanara-vidya, Sandilya vidya, Vamadevya vidya, Upacosala vidya, Paryanca-vidya, Madhu-vidya, Shodasacala-vidya, Samvarga-vidya, &c.]

Besides the portion of the Vedas understood to be intended by the designation of Vedanta, the grand authority for its doctrine is the collection of sutras, or aphorisms, entitled Brahme-sutra or Sariraca-mimansa, and sometimes Sarira-sutra or Vedanta-sutra. Sarira, it should be observed, signifies embodied or incarnate (soul).

Other authorities are the ancient scholia of that text, which is the standard work of the science; and didactic poems comprehended under the designation of smriti, a name implying a certain degree of veneration due to the authors. Such are the Bhagavad gita and Yoga-vasisht'ha, reputed to be inspired writings.

Writers on the Vedanta.

The Sariraca-mimansa or Brahme sutra, above-mentioned, is a collection of succinct aphorisms attributed to Badarayana, who is the same with Vyasa or Veda-vyasa; also called Dwaipayana or Crishna-dwaipayana. According to mythology, he had in a former state, being then a brahmana bearing the name of Apantara-ta-mas. [SANC. &c. on Br. Sutr. 3. 3. 32.] acquired a perfect knowledge of revelation and of the divinity, and was consequently qualified for eternal beatitude. Nevertheless, by special command of the deity, he resumed a corporeal frame and the human shape, at the period intervening between the third and fourth ages of the present world, and was compiler of the Vedas, as his title of Vyasa implies.

In the Puranas, and by Parasara, he is said to be an incarnation (avatara) of Vishnu. This, however, is not altogether at variance with the foregoing legend; since Apantara-Tamas, having attained perfection, was identified with the deity; and his resumption of the human form was a descent of the God, in mythological notions.

Apart from mythology, it is not to be deemed unlikely, that the person (whoever he really was) who compiled and arranged the Vedas, was led to compose a treatise on their scope and essential doctrine. But Vyasa is also reputed author of the Mahabharata, and most of the principal puranas; and that is for the contrary reason improbable, since the doctrine of the puranas, and even of the Bhagavad gita and the rest of the Mahabharata, are not quite consonant to that of the Vedas, as expounded in the Brahme-sutras. The same person would not have deduced from the same premises such different conclusions.

The name of Badarayana frequently recurs in the sutras ascribed to him, as does that of Jaimini, the reputed author of the Purvamimansa, in his. I have already remarked, in the preceding essay, [See p. 189, of this volume.] on the mention of an author by his name, and in the third person, in his own work. It is nothing unusual in literature or science of other nations: but a Hindu commentator will account for it, by presuming the actual composition to be that of a disciple recording the words of his teacher.

Besides Badarayana himself, and his great predecessor Jaimini, several other distinguished names likewise occur, though less frequently: some which are also noticed in the Purva-mimansa, as Atrieyi and Badari; and some which are not there found, as Asmarat'hya, Audulomi, Carshnajini, and Casacritsna; and the Yoga of Patanjali, which consequently is an anterior work; as indeed it must be, if its scholiast, as generally acknowledged, be the same Vyasa who is the author of the aphorisms of the Uttara-mimansa.

The Sariraca is also posterior to the atheistical Sanc'hya of Capila, to whom, or at least to his doctrine, there are many marked allusions in the text.

The atomic system of Canade (or, as the scholiast of the Sariraca, in more than one place, contumeliously designates him, Cana-Bhuj or Canabhacsha) is frequently adverted to for the purpose of confutation; as are the most noted heretical systems, viz. the several sects of Jainas, the Bauddhas, the Pasupalas with other classes of Maheswaras, the Pancharatras or Bhagavatas, and divers other schismatics.

From this, which is also supported by other reasons, there seems to be good ground for considering the Sariraca to be the latest of the six grand systems of doctrine (darsana) in Indian philosophy: later, likewise, than the heresies which sprung up among the Hindus of the military and mercantile tribes (cshatriya and vaisya) and which, disclaiming the Vedas, set up a Jina or a Buddha for an object of worship; and later even than some, which, acknowledging the Vedas, have deviated into heterodoxy in their interpretation of the text.

In a separate essay, [See p. 243, of this volume.] I have endeavoured to give some account of the heretical and heterodox sects which the Sariraca confutes: and of which the tenets are explained, for the elucidation of that confutation, in its numerous commentaries. I allude particularly to the Jainas, Bauddhas, Charvacas, Pasupatas, and Pancharatras.

The sutras of Badarayana are arranged in four books or lectures (adhyaya), each subdivided into four chapters or quarters (pada). Like the aphorisms of the prior Mimansa, they are distributed very unequally into sections, arguments, cases, or topics (adhicarana). The entire number of sutras is 555; of adhicaranas 191. But in this there is a little uncertainty, for it appears from Sancara, that earlier commentaries subdivided some adhicaranas, where he writes the aphorisms in one section.

An adhicarana in the later, as in the prior Mimansa, consists of five members or parts: 1st, the subject and matter to be explained; 2d, the doubt or question concerning it; 3d, the plausible solution or prima facie argument; 4th, the answer, or demonstrated conclusion and true solution; 5th, the pertinence or relevancy and connexion.

But in Badarayana's aphorisms, as in those of Jaimini, no adhicarana is fully set forth. Very frequently the solution only is given by a single sutra, which obscurely hints the question, and makes no allusion to any different plausible solution, nor to arguments in favour of it. More rarely the opposed solution is examined at some length, and arguments in support of it are discussed through a string of brief sentences.

Being a sequel of the prior Mimansa, the latter adopts the same distinctions of six sources of knowledge or modes of proof [Vedanta paribhasha.] which are taught by Jaimini, supplied where he is deficient by the old scholiast. There is, indeed, no direct mention of them in the Brahme-sutras, beyond a frequent reference to oral proof, meaning revelation, which is sixth among those modes. But the commentators make ample use of a logic which employs the same terms with that of the Purva-mimansa, being founded on it, though not without amendments on some points. Among the rest, the Vedantins have taken the syllogism (nyaya) of the dialectic philosophy, with the obvious improvement of reducing its five members to three. [Vedanta paribhasha.] "It consists," as expressly declared, "of three, not of five parts; for as the requisites of the inference are exhibited by three members, two more are superfluous. They are either the proposition, the reason, and the example; or the instance, the application, and the conclusion."

In this state it is a perfectly regular syllogism, as I had occasion to remark in a former essay: [See p. 185, of this volume.] and it naturally becomes a question, whether the emendation was borrowed from the Greeks, or being sufficiently obvious, may be deemed purely Indian, fallen upon without hint or assistance from another quarter. The improvement does not appear to be of ancient date, a circumstance which favours the supposition of its having been borrowed. The earliest works in which I have found it mentioned are of no antiquity. [Sanc. 3. 3. 53.]

The logic of the two Mimansas merits a more full examination than the limits of the present essay allow, and it has been reserved for a separate consideration at a future opportunity, because it has been refined and brought into a regular form by the followers, rather than by founders of either school.

The Sariraca-sutras are in the highest degree obscure, and could never have been intelligible without an ample interpretation. Hinting the question or its solution, rather than proposing the one or briefly delivering the other, they but allude to the subject. Like the aphorisms of other Indian sciences, they must from the first have been accompanied by the author's exposition of the meaning, whether orally taught by him or communicated in writing.

Among ancient scholiasts of the Brahme-sutras the name of BAUDHAYANA occurs: an appellation to which reverence, as to that of a saint or rishi, attaches. He is likewise the reputed author of a treatise on law. An early gloss, under the designation of vritti, is quoted without its author's name, and is understood to be adverted to in the remarks of later writers, in several instances, where no particular reference is however expressed. It is apparently Baudhayana's. An ancient writer on both mimansas (prior and later) is cited, under the name of upavarsha, with the epithet of venerable (bhagavat), [In the Vedanta paribhasha and Padart'ha dipica.] implying that he was a holy personage. He is noticed in the supplement to the Amera-cosha [Tricanda sesha.] as a saint (muni), with the titles or additions of Hala-bhriti, Crita-coti, and Ayachita. It does not appear that any of his works are now forthcoming.

The most distinguished scholiast of these sutras, in modern estimation, is the celebrated Sancara Acharya, the founder of a sect among Hindus which is yet one of the most prevalent. I have had a former occasion of discussing the antiquity of this eminent person; and the subject has been since examined by Rama Mohen Raya and by Mr. Wilson. [Sanscrit Dict., first edit,, pref. p. xvi.] I continue of opinion, that the period when he flourished may be taken to have been the close of the eighth or beginning of the ninth century of the Christian era; and I am confirmed in it by the concurring opinions of those very learned persons.

How much earlier the older scholia were, or the text itself, there is no evidence to determine. If the reputed author be the true one, it would be necessary to go back nearly two thousand years, to the era of the arrangement of the Vedas by Vyasa.

Sancara's gloss or perpetual commentary of the sutras bears the title of Sariraca-mimansa-bhashya. It has been annotated and interpreted by a herd of commentators; and among others, and most noted, by Vachespati Misra, in the Bhamati or Sariraca-bhashya-vibhaga.

This is the same Vachespati, whose commentaries on the Sanc'hya-carica of Iswara Chandra, and on the text and gloss of Patanjali's Yoga and Gotama's Nyaya, were noticed in former essays. [See pp. 147, 148, 166, of this volume.] He is the author of other treatises on dialectics (Nyaya), and of one entitled Tatwa-vindu on the Purva-mimansa, as it is expounded by BHATTA. All his works, in every department, are held in high and deserved estimation.

Vachespati's exposition of Sancara's gloss, again, has been amply annotated and explained in the Vedanta-calpataru of ANALANANDA, sumamed Vyasasrama; whose notes, in their turn, become the text for other scholia: especially a voluminous collection under the title of Parimala, or Vedanta-calpataru-parimala, by Apyayadicshita (author of several other works); and an abridged one, under that of Vedanta calpataru-manjari, by Vidyanat'ha Bhatta.

Other commentaries on Sancara's gloss are numerous and esteemed, though not burdened with so long a chain of scholia upon scholia: for instance, the Brahma-vidya-bharana by Adwaitananda, [It is by Mr. Ward named Vedanta sutra vyac'hya by Brahma-vidyabha-rana, mistaking the title of the work for the appellation of the author. Yet it is expressly affirmed in the rubric and colophon to be the work of Adwaitananda, who abridged it from an ampler commentary by Ramananda Tirt'ha. The mistake is the more remarkable, as the same Adwaitananda was preceptor of SADANANDA, whose work, the Vedanta-sara, Mr. Ward attempted to translate; and the only part of Sadananda's preface, which is preserved in the version, is that preceptor's name. Mr. Ward's catalogue of treatises extant belonging to this school of philosophy exhibits other like errors. He puts Madhava for Madhusudana, the name of an author; converts a commentary (the Muctavali) into an abridgment; and turns the text (mula) of the Vedanta-sara into its essence. Ward's Hindus, vol., iv. pp. 172, 173.] and the Bhashya-ratnaprabha by Govindananda; both works of acknowledged merit.

These multiplied expositions of the text and of the gloss furnish an inexhaustible fund of controversial disquisition, suited to the disputatious schoolmen of India. On many occasions, however, they are usefully consulted, in succession, for annotations supplying a right interpretation of obscure passages in Sancara's scholia or in Vyasa's text.

Another perpetual commentary on the sutras of the Sariraca by a distinguished author, is the work of the celebrated Ramanuja, the founder of a sect which has sprung as a schism out of the Vedantin. The points of doctrine, on which these great authorities differ, will be inquired into in another place. It may be readily supposed that they are not unfrequently at variance in the interpretation of the text, and I shall, therefore, make little use of the scholia of Ramanuja for the present essay. For the same reason, I make no reference to the commentaries of Ballabha Acharya, Bhatta Bhascara, ANANTA Tirt'ha surnamed Madhu, and Nilacant'ha, whose interpretations differ essentially on some points from Sancara's.

Commentaries on the Sariraca-sutras by authors of less note are extremely numerous. I shall content myself with naming such only as are immediately under view, viz. the Vedanta-sutra-muctavati by Brahmananda-Saraswati; [Mr. Ward calls this an abridgment of the Vedanta-sutras. It is no abridgment, but a commentary in ordinary form.] the Brahma-sutra-bhashya or Mimansa- bhashya, by Bhascaracharya; the Vedanta-sutra-vyac'hya-chandrica, by BHAVADEVA Misra; the Vyasa-sutra-vritti, by RANGANAT'HA; the Subodhini or Sarira-sutra-sarart'ha-chandrica, by Gangadhara; and the Brahmamritra-vershini, by Ramananda.

This list might with ease be greatly enlarged. Two of the commentaries, which have been consulted in progress of preparing the present essay, are without the authors name, either in preface or colophon, in the only copies which I have seen; and occasions have occurred for noticing authors of commentaries on other branches of philosophy, as well as on the Brahma-mimansa (for instance Vijnyana Bhicshu, author of the Sanc'hya-sara and Yoga-vartica). [See p. 146, 148, of this volume.]

To these many and various commentaries in prose, on the text and on the scholia, must be added more than one in verse. For instance, the Sancshepa-sariraca, which is a metrical paraphrase of text and gloss, by Sarvajnyatmagiri a sannyasi: it is expounded by a commentary entitled Anwayart'ha-pracasica, by Rama Tirt'ha, disciple of Crishna Tirt'ha, and author of several other works; in particular, a commentary on the Upadesa-sahasri, and one on the Vedanta-sara.

Besides his great work, the interpretation of the sutras, Sancara wrote commentaries on all the principal or important Upanishads. His preceptor, Govinda, and the preceptor's teacher, Gaudapada, had already written commentaries on many of them.

Sancara is author, likewise, of several distinct treatises; the most noted of which is the Upadesa-sahasri, a metrical summary of the doctrine deduced by him from the Upanishads and Brahma-sutras, in his commentaries on those original works. The text of the Upadesa-sahasri has been expounded by more than one commentator; and among others by Rama Tirt'ha, already noticed for his comment  on the Sancshepa-sariraca. His gloss of the Upadesa-sahasri is entitled Pada-yojanica.

Elementary treatises on the Vedanta are very abundant. It may suffice to notice a few which are popular and in general use, and which have been consulted in the preparation of the present essay.

The Vedanta-paribhasha of Dharma-raja Dicshita explains, as its title indicates, the technical terms of the Vedanta; and, in course of doing so, opens most of the principal points of its doctrine. A commentary on this work by the author's son, Rama-Crishha Dicshita, bears the title of Vedanta-sic'hamani. Taken together, they form an useful introduction to the study of this branch of Indian philosophy.

The Vedanta-sara is a popular compendium of the entire doctrine of the Vedanta. [Mr. Ward has given, in the fourth volume of his View of the History, Literature, and Mythology of the Hindus (third edition) a translation of the Vedanta-sara. I wish to speak as gently as I can of Mr. Ward's performance; but having collated this, I am bound to say it is no version of the original text, and seems to have been made from an oral exposition through the medium of a different language, probably the Bengalese. This will be evident to the oriental scholar on the slightest comparison: for example, the introduction, which does not correspond with the original in so much as a single word, the name of the author's preceptor alone excepted; nor is there a word of the translated introduction countenanced by any of the commentaries. At the commencement of the treatise, too, where the requisite qualifications of a student are enumerated, Mr. Ward makes his author say, that a person possessing those qualifications is heir to the Veda (p. 176). There is no term in the text, nor in the commentaries, which could suggest the notion of heir; unless Mr. Ward has so translated adhicari (a competent or qualified person), which in Bengalese signifies proprietor, or, with the epithet uttara (uttaradhicari) heir or successor. It would be needless to pursue the comparison further. The meaning of the original is certainly not to be gathered from such translations of this and (as Mr. Ward terms them) of other principal works of the Hindus, which he has presented to the public. I was not aware, when preparing the former essays on the Philosophy of the Hindus which have been inserted in the first volume of the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, that Mr. Ward had treated the same topics: but I think it now unnecessary to revert to the subject, for the purpose of offering any remarks on his explanation of other branches of Indian philosophy.] It is the work of Sadananda, disciple of Adwayananda or ADWAITANANDA before-mentioned, and has become the text for several commentaries; and, among the rest, the Vidwanmano-ranjini, by RAMA-TIRT'HA, who has been already twice noticed for other works; and the Subodhini, by Nrisinha Saraswati, disciple of Crishnananda.

A few other treatises may be here briefly noticed.

The Sastra-siddhanta-lesa-sangraha, by Apyaya or (Apyai) or CSHITA, son of Ranganat'ha or RANGARAJA DICSHITA, and author of the Parimala on the Siddhanta calpataru, before-mentioned, as well as of other works, has the benefit of a commentary, entitled Crishnalancara, by Achyuta Crishnananda Tirt'ha, disciple of SWAYAMPRACASANANDA SARASWATi. The Vedanta-siddhanta-vindu, by MADHUSUDANA, disciple of VISWEWA-RANANDA SARASWATI, and author of the Vedanta-calpalatica, and of other works, is in like manner commented on by BRAHMANANDA, disciple of Narayana Tirt'ha.

Analysis.

[In this analysis of the sutras, a portion of the scholia or explanations of commentators is blended with the text, for a brief abstract and intelligible summary of the doctrine.]

The Uttara-mimansa opens precisely as the Purva, announcing the purport in the same terms, except a single, but most important word, brahme instead of dharma. 'Next, therefore, the inquiry is concerning God.' [Br. Sutr. 1. 1. § 1.] It proceeds thus: '[He is that] whence are the birth and [continuance, and dissolution] of [this world]: [He is] the source of [revelation or] holy ordinance.' [1b. § 2 and 3.] That is, as the commentators infer from these aphorisms so expounded, 'He is the omnipotent creator of the world and the omniscient author of revelation.' It goes on to say, 'This appears from the import and right construction of holy writ.' [1b. § 4.]

The author of the sutras next [1b. § 5. (sutr. 5. 11.)] enters upon a confutation of the Sanc'hyas, who insist that nature, termed prad'hana, which is the material cause of the universe, as they affirm, is the same with the omniscient and omnipotent cause of the world recognised by the Vedas. It is not so; for 'wish' (consequently volition) is attributed to that cause, which moreover is termed (atman) soul: 'He wished to be many and prolific, and became manifold.' And again, 'He desired to be many, &c.' [Ch'handogya, 6.] Therefore he is a sentient rational being; not insensible, as the pracriti (nature) or pradhana (matter) of Capila is affirmed to be.

In the sequel of the first chapter [§ § 6 to § 11.] questions are raised upon divers passages of the Vedas, alluded to in the text, and quoted in the scholia, where minor attributes are seemingly assigned to the world's cause; or in which subordinate designations occur, such as might be supposed to indicate an inferior being, but are shown to intend the supreme one.

The cases (adhicaranas) or questions arising on them are examined and resolved concisely and obscurely in the sutras, fully and perspicuously  in the scholia.

'The omnipotent, omniscient, sentient cause of the universe, is (anandamaya) essentially happy. [Taittiriya.] He is the brilliant, golden person, seen within (antar) the solar orb and the human eye. [Ch'handogya, 1.] He is the etherial element (acasa), from which all things proceed and to which all return. [Ch'handogya, I.] He is the breath (prana) in which all beings merge, into which they all rise. [Udgit'ha.] He is the light (Jyotish) which shines in heaven, and in all places high and low, everywhere throughout the world, and within the human person. He is the breath (prana) and intelligent self, immortal, undecaying, and happy, with which Indra, in a dialogue with Pratardana, identifies himself.' [Caushitaci.]

The term prana, which is the subject of two of the sections just quoted (§ 9 and 11), properly and primarily signifies respiration, as well as certain other vital actions (inspiration, energy, expiration, digestion, or circulation of nourishment); and secondarily, the senses and organs. [Br. Sutr. 2. 4. § 1, 6. (S. 1, 13.)] But, in the passages here referred to, it is employed for a different signification, intending the supreme Brahme; as also in divers other texts of the Vedas: and, among the rest, in one where the senses are said to be absorbed into it during profound sleep; [SANC. &c. on Br. Sutr. 1. 1. § 9.] for 'while a man sleeps without dreaming, his soul is with Brahme. '

Further cases of the like nature, but in which the indications of the true meaning appear less evident, are discussed at length in the second and third chapters of the first book. Those in which the distinctive attributes of the supreme being are more positively indicated by the passage whereon a question arises, had been considered in the foregoing chapter: they are not so clearly denoted in the passages now examined, such as concern God as the object of devout meditation and worship, are for the most part collected in the second chapter; those which relate to God as the object of knowledge, are reserved for the third. Throughout these cases, completed where requisite by the scholiast, divers interpretations of a particular term or phrase are first proposed, as obvious and plausible, and reasons favourable to the proposed explanation set forth; but are set aside by stronger arguments, for a different and opposite construction. The reasoning is here omitted, as it would need much elucidation; and the purpose of this analysis is to exhibit the topics treated, and but summarily the manner of handling them.

It is not the embodied (sarira) and individual soul, but the supreme Brahme himself, [Brahman is, in this acceptation, a neuter noun (nom. Brahme or Brahma); and the same term in the masculine (nom. Brahma) is one of the three Gods who constitute one person. But it is more conformable with our idiom to employ the masculine exclusively, and many Sanscrit terms of the same import are masculine; as Paramatman(-tma), Paramesnara &c.] on whom devout meditation is to be fixed, as enjoined in a passage which declares: 'this universe is indeed Brahme; [Ch'handogya, 3. 'Sanditya-vidya. Br. Sutr. 1. 2. § 1, (S. 1, 8.)] for it springs from him, merges in him, breathes in him: therefore, serene, worship him. Verily, a devout man, as are his thoughts or deeds in this world, such does he become departing hence [in another birth]. Frame then the devout meditation, "a living body endued with mind ..."' [Cat'havalli, 2. Br. Sutr. 1. 2. § 2. (8. 9, 10).]

It is neither fire nor the individual soul, but the supreme being, who is the 'devourer' (attri) described in the dialogue between YAMA and Nachicetas: [Cat'havalli. 3. Br. S. 1. 2. § 3. (S. 11, 12.)] ' who, then, knows where abides that being, whose food is the priest and the soldier (and all which is fixt or moveable), and death is his sauce?'

In the following passage, the supreme spirit, and not the intellectual faculty, is associated with the individual living soul, as "two occupying the cavity or ventricle of the heart" (guham pravish'tau atmanau). 'Theologists, as well as worshippers maintaining sacred fires, term light and shade the contrasted two, who abide in the most excellent abode, worthy of the supreme, occupying the cavity (of the heart), dwelling together in the worldly body, and tasting the certain fruit of good (or of evil) works.' [Ch'handogya 4. Upacosala-vidya. Br. Sutr. 1. 2. § 4. (S. 13, 17.)]

In the following extract from a dialogue, [Vrihad aranyaca, 5. Br. Sutr. 1 . 2. § 5. (S 18, 20.)] in which Satyacama instructs Upacosala, the supreme being is meant; not the reflected image in the eye, nor the informing deity of that organ, nor the regent of the sun, nor the individual intelligent soul. 'This being, who is seen in the eye, is the self (atman): He is immortal, fearless Brahme. Though liquid grease, or water, be dropped therein, it passes to the corners (leaving the eye-ball undefiled).'

So, in a dialogue, in which Yajnyawalcya instructs Uddalaca, [Mundaca, an Upanishad of the At'harvana. Br. Sutr. 1. 2. § 6. (S. 21, 23.)] "the internal check" (antaryamin) is the supreme being; and not the individual soul, nor the material cause of the world, nor a subordinate deity, the conscious informing regent of the earth, nor a saint possessing transcendent power: where premising, 'he who eternally restrains (or governs) this and the other world, and all beings therein,' the instructor goes on to say: 'who standing in the earth is other than [the earth, whom the earth knows not, whose body the earth is, who interiorly restrains (and governs) the earth: the same is thy soul (and mine), the "internal check" (antaryamin), immortal, &c,'

Again, in another dialogue, Angiras, in answer to Mahasala, who with SAUNACA visited him for instruction, declares 'there are two sciences, one termed inferior, the other superior. The inferior comprises the four Vedas, with their appendages, grammar, &c.' (all of which he enumerates): 'but the superior (or best and most beneficial) is that by which the unalterable (being) is comprehended, who is invisible (imperceptible by organs of sense), ungrasped (not prehensible by organs of action), come of no race, belonging to no tribe, devoid of eye, ear (or other sensitive organ), destitute of hand, foot (or other instrument of action), everlasting lord, present every where, yet most minute. Him, invariable, the wise contemplate as the source (or cause) of beings. As the spider puts forth and draws in his thread, as plants spring from the earth (and return to it), as hair of the head and body grows from the living man, so does the universe come of the unalterable... ' Here it is the supreme being, not nature or a material cause, nor an embodied individual soul, who is the invisible (adresya) ungrasped source of (all) beings (bhuta-yoni).

In a dialogue between several interlocutors, Prachinasala, UDDALACA, and ASWAPATi, king of the Caiceyis, (of which a version at length was inserted in an essay on the Vedas, [ See p. 50, of this volume.] the terms vaiswanara and atman occur (there translated universal soul). The ordinary acceptation of vaiswanara is tire: and it is therefore questioned, whether the element of fire be not here meant, or the regent of tire, that is, the conscious, informing deity of it, or a particular deity described as having an igneous body, or animal heat designated as alvine fire; and whether likewise atman intends the living, individual soul, or the supreme being. The answer is, that the junction of both general terms limits the sense, and restricts the purport of the passage to the single object to which both terms are applicable: it relates, then, to the supreme being. [Ch'handogya, 5. Br. Sutr. 1. 2. § 7. (S. 24, 32.)]

Under this section the author twice cites Jaimini: [1b. S. 28 and 31.] once for obviating any difficulty or apparent contradiction in this place, by taking the term in its literal and etymological sense (universal guide of men), instead of the particular acceptation of fire; and again, as justifying, by a parallel passage in another Veda, [Vajasaneyi brahmana.] an epithet intimating the minute size of the being in question (pradesa-matra), a span long. [By an oversight, the expression relative to diminutive dimension was omitted in the translated passage.] On this last point other ancient authors are likewise cited: one, Asmarat'hya, who explains it as the result of shrinking or condensation; the other, Badari, as a fruit of imagination or mental conception. [Br Sutr. I. 2. 29. 30.] Reference is also made to another sac'ha of the Veda, [Jabala.] where the infinite, supreme soul is said to occupy the spot between the eye-brows and nose.

'That on which heaven and earth and the intermediate transpicuous region are fixt, mind, with the vital airs (or sensitive organs), know to be the one soul (atman): reject other doctrines. This alone is the bridge of immortality.' [Mundaca. Br. Sutr. 1. 3. § 1. (S. 1, 7.)] In this passage of an Upanishad of the At'harvana, Brahme is intended, and not any other supposed site (ayatana) of heaven, earth, &c.

In a dialogue between Nareda and Sanatcumara, the (bhuman) 'great' one, proposed as an object of inquiry for him who desires unlimited happiness, since there is no bliss in that which is finite and small, is briefly defined. 'He is great, in whom nought else is seen, heard, or known, but that wherein ought else is seen, heard, or known, is small.' [Ch'handogya. 7. Bhumavidya. Br. Sutr. 1. 3. § 2. (S. 8, 9.)] Here the supreme being is meant; not breath (prana), which had been previously mentioned as greatest, in a climax of enumerated objects.

So, in a dialogue between Yajnyawalcya and his wife Gargi, [Vrihad arany. 5. Br. Sutr. 1. 3. § 3. (S. 10, 12.)] being asked by her, 'the heaven above, and the earth beneath, and the transpicuous region between, and all which has been, is, and will be, whereon are they woven and sewn?' answers, the ether (acasa); and being further asked, what it is on which ether is woven or sewn? replies, 'the unvaried being, whom Brahmanas affirm to be neither coarse nor subtile, neither short nor long ...' It is the supreme being who is here meant.

The mystic syllable om, composed of three elements of articulation, is a subject of devout meditation; and the efficacy of that meditation depends on the limited or extended sense in which it is contemplated. The question concerning this mode of worship is discussed in a dialogue between Pippalada and Satyacama. [Prasna, an Upanishad of the At'harvana. Br, Sutr. 1. 3. § 4. (S. 13.)]

If the devotion be restricted to the sense indicated by one element, the effect passes not beyond this world; if to that indicated by two of the elements, it extends to the lunar orb, whence however the soul returns to a new birth; if it be more comprehensive, embracing the import of the three elements of the word, the ascent is to the solar orb, whence, stripped of sin, and liberated as a snake which has cast its slough, the soul proceeds to the abode of Brahme, and to the contemplation of (purusha) him who resides in a corporeal frame: that is, soul reposing in body (purisaya).

That mystic name, then, is applied either to the supreme Brahme, uniform, with no quality or distinction of parts; or to Brahme, not supreme, but an effect (carya) diversified, qualified; who is the same with the Viraj and Hiranya-Garbha of mythology, born in the mundane egg.

It appears from the latter part of the text, that it is the supreme Brahme to whom meditation is to be directed, and on whom the thoughts are to be fixed, for that great result of liberation from sin and worldly trammels.

In a passage descriptive of the lesser ventricle of the heart, it is said: 'within this body (Brahme-pura) Brahme's abode, is a (dahara) little lotus, a dwelling within which is a (dahara) small vacuity occupied by ether (acasa). What that is which is within (the heart's ventricle) is to be inquired, and should be known.' [Ch'handogya, 8. Dahara-vidya. Br. Sutr. 1. 3. § 5. (S. 14, 21.)] A question is here raised, whether that 'ether' (acasa) within the ventricle of the heart be the etherial element, or the individual sensitive soul, or the supreme one; and it is pronounced from the context, that the supreme being is here meant.

'The sun shines not therein, nor the moon, nor stars: much less this fire. All shines after his effulgence (reflecting his light), by whose splendour this whole (world) is illumined.' [Mundaca, Br. Sutr. 1. 3. § 6. (S. 22, 23.)] In this passage it is no particular luminary or mine of light, but the (prajnya) intelligent soul (supreme Brahme) which shines with no borrowed light.

In the dialogue between Yama and Nachicetas, before cited, are the following passages. [Cat'ha. 4. Br. Sutr. 1 . 3. § 7. (S. 24, 25.)] 'A person (purusha) no bigger than the thumb abides in the midst of self;' and again, 'the person no bigger than the thumb is clear as a smokeless flame, lord of the past (present) and future; he is to-day and will be to-morrow: such is he ( concerning whom you inquire ).' This is evidently said of the supreme ruler, not of the individual living soul.

Another passage of the same Upanishad [Cat'ha. 6. Br. Sutr. 1. 3. § 10. (S. 39.)] declares: 'this whole universe, issuing from breath (prana), moves as it impels: great, terrible, as a clap of thunder. They, who know it, become immortal.' Brahme, not the thunderbolt nor wind, is here meant.

'The living soul (samprasada) rising from this corporeal frame, attains the supreme light, and comes forth with his identical form.' [Ch'handogya 8. Prajapati-vidya, Br. Sutr. I. 3. § 11. (S. 40.)] 'It is neither the light of the sun, nor the visual organ, but Brahme, that is here meant.

'Ether (acasa) is the bearer (cause of bearing) of name and form. That in the midst of which they both are, is Brahme: it is immortality; it is soul.' [Ch'handogya 8 ad finem. Br. Sutr. 1. 3. § 12. (S. 41.)] Acasa here intends the supreme being, not the element so named.

In a dialogue between Yajnyawalcya and Janaca, [Vrihad aranyaca, 6. Br. Sutr. 1. 3. § 13. (S. 42. 43.)] in answer to an inquiry 'which is the soul?' the intelligent internal light within the heart is declared to be so. This likewise is shown to relate to the supreme one, unaffected by worldly course.

It had been intimated in an early aphorism of the first chapter, that the Vedas, being rightly interpreted, do concur in the same import, as there expressed concerning the omnipotent and omniscient creator of the universe. [Br. S. 1. 1. § 4.] An objection to this conclusion is raised, upon the ground of discrepancy remarked in various texts of the Vedas, [Ch'handogya. Taittiriya. and Aitareya.] which coincide, indeed, in ascribing the creation to Brahme, but differ in the order and particulars of the world's development. The apparent contradiction is reconciled, as they agree on the essential points of the creator's attributes; omnipotent and omniscient providence, lord of all, soul of all, and without a second, &c.: and it was not the object of the discrepant passages to declare the precise succession and exact course of the world's formation.

Two more sections are devoted to expound passages which define Brahme as creator, and which are shown to comport no other construction. In one, [Caushitaci brahmana. Br. S. 1. 4. §5. (S. 16-18.)] cited from a dialogue between Ajatasatru and Balaci, surnamed Gargya, the object of meditation and worship is pronounced to be, 'he who was the maker of those persons just before mentioned (regents of the sun, moon, &c.), and whose work this universe is.'

In the other, cited from a dialogue between Yajnyawalcya and MAITREYI, [Vrihad aranyaca, Maitreyi brahmana. Br. Sutr. 1. 4. § 6. (S. 19-22.)] soul, and all else which is desirable, are contrasted as mutual objects of affection: 'it is for soul (atman) that opulence, kindred, and all else which is dear, are so; and thereunto soul reciprocally is so; and such is the object which should be meditated, inquired, and known, and by knowledge of whom all becomes known.' This, it is shown, is said of the supreme, not of the individual soul, nor of the breath of life.

Under this last head several authorities are quoted by the author, for different modes of interpretation and reasoning, viz. Asmarat'hya, Audulomi and Casacritsna, as Jaimini under the next preceding (§ 5).

The succeeding section [Br. Sutr. 1.4. § 7. (S. 23-27.)] affirms the important tenet of the Vedanta, that the supreme being is the material, as well as the efficient, cause of the universe; it is a proposition directly resulting from the tenour of passages of the Vedas, and illustrations and examples adduced.

The first lecture is terminated by an aphorism, [Br. Sutr. 1. 4. § 8. (S. 28.)] intimating that, in the like manner as the opinion of a plastic nature and material cause (termed by the Sanc'hyas, pradhana) has been shown to be unsupported by the text of the Veda, and inconsistent with its undoubted doctrine, so, by the like reasoning, the notion of atoms (anu or paramanu) and that of an universal void (sunya), and other as unfounded systems, are set aside in favour of the only consistent position just now affirmed. (Br. Sutr. 1. 1. § 5 and 1. 4. § 7.)

Not to interrupt the connexion of the subjects, I have purposely passed by a digression, or rather several, comprised in two sections of this chapter, [Br. Sutr. 1. 3. § 8, 9. (S. 26-38.)] wherein it is inquired whether any besides a regenerate man (or Hindu of the three first tribes) is qualified for theological studies and theognostic attainments; and the solution of the doubt is, that a sudra, or man of an inferior tribe, is incompetent; [Br. Sutr. 1. 3. (S. 28-29.)] and that beings superior to man (the Gods of mythology) are qualified.

In the course of this disquisition the noted question of the eternity of sound, of articulate sound in particular, is mooted and examined. It is a favourite topic in both Mimansas, being intimately connected with that of the eternity of the Veda, or revelation acknowledged by them.

[admin]

Part 2 of 2

I shall not, however, enter into the matter further, in this place, though much remain to be added to the little which was said on it in a former essay. [See p. 195, of this volume.]

In the fourth chapter of the first lecture, the author returns to the task of confuting the Sanc'hya doctrine; and some passages of the Vedas, apparently favouring that doctrine, are differently interpreted by him: 'the indistinct one (avyacta) is superior to the great one (mahat), and embodied soul (purusha) is superior to the indistinct.' [Cat'ha, 3, Br. Sutr. 1.4. § 1. (S. 1-7.)] Here the very same terms, which the Sanc'hyas employ for 'intelligence,  nature, and soul,' are contrasted, with allusion seemingly to the technical acceptations of them. This passage is, however, explained away; and the terms are taken by the Vedantins in a different sense.

The next instance is less striking and may be briefly dismissed, as may that following it: one relative to aja, alleged to signify in the passage in question [Swetaswatara. B. S. 1. 4. § 2. (S. 8-10.)] the unborn sempiternal nature (pracriti), but explained to intend a luminous nature (pracriti) noticed in the Ch'handogya; (there is in the text itself an evident allusion to the ordinary acceptation of the word, a she-goat): the other concerning the meaning of the words pancha-panchajanah, in a passage of the Vrihad aranyaca, [Vrihad aran. 6. Br. Sutr. 1. 4. § 3. (S. 11-13.)] which a follower of the Sanc'hya would construe as bearing reference to five times five (twenty-five) principles; but which clearly relates to five objects specified in the context, and figuratively termed persons (pancha-jana).

It is because the Sanc'hya doctrine is, in the apprehension of the Vedantins themselves, to a certain degree plausible, and seemingly countenanced by the text of the Vedas, that its refutation occupies so much of the attention of the author and his scholiasts. More than one among the sages of the law (Devala in particular is named) have sanctioned the principles of the Sanc'hyu; and they are not uncountenanced by Menu. [Menu's Institutes, ch. xii., v. 50.] Capila himself is spoken of with the reverence due to a saint (Maha-rishi) and inspired sage; and his most eminent disciples, as Panchasic'ha, &c. are mentioned with like veneration; and their works are dignified with the appellations of tantra and smriti as holy writings, by the Vedantins, at the same time that these oppose and refute the doctrine taught by him.

Capila, indeed, is named in the Veda itself as possessing transcendent knowledge: but here it is remarked, that the name has been borne by more than one sage; and in particular by Vasudeva, who slew the sons of Sagara. [SANC. on Br. Sutr. 2. 1. § 1. (S. 1-2.)] This mythological personage, it is contended, is the Capila named in the Veda.

The second lecture continues the refutation of Capila's Sanc'hya, which, it is observed, is at variance with the smritis, as with the Vedas: and here the name of Menu is placed at the head of them, although the institutes, which bear his name, will be found, as just now hinted, and as subsequently admitted in another section, to afford seeming countenance to Sanc'hya doctrines. Such passages are, however, explained away by the Vedantins, who rely in this instance, as they do in that of the Veda itself, on other texts, which are not reconcileable to the Sanc'hya.

The same argument is in the following section, [Br. Sutr. 2. 1. § 2. (S. 3.)] applied to the setting aside of the Yoga-smriti of Patanjali (Hairanya-garbha), so far as that is inconsistent with the orthodox tenets deduced from the Vedas: and, by parity of reasoning, to Canade's atomical scheme; and to other systems which admit two distinct causes (a material and an efficient one) of the universe.

The doctrine derived from the tenour of the Vedas is to be supported, likewise, by reasoning independently of authority. 'The objection, that the cause and effect are dissimilar, is not a valid one: instances of such dissimilarity are frequent. Hair and nails, which are insensible, grow from a sensible animal body; and sentient vermin (scorpions, &c.) spring from inanimate sources (cow-dung, &c.) The argument, too, might be retorted; for, according to the adverse position, sentient beings are produced from an insensible plastic nature. [Br. Sutr. 2. 1. § 3. (S. 4. 11.)] On these and other arguments the orthodox doctrine is maintainable by reasoning: and by like arguments opinions concerning atoms and an universal void, which are not received by the best persons, may be confuted.' [ Ibid. § 4. (S. 12.)]

'The distinction relative to fruition, discriminating one who enjoys and that which is enjoyed, does not invalidate the singleness and identity of Brahme as cause and effect. [Ibid. 2. 1. § 5. (S. 13.)] The sea is one and not other than its waters; yet waves, foam, spray, drops, froth, and other modifications of it, differ from each other. '

'An effect is not other than its cause. Brahme is single without a second. He is not separate from the embodied self. He is soul; and the soul is he. [Ibid. §6. (S. 14-20.) and §7. (S. 21-23.)] Yet he does not do that only which is agreeable and beneficial to self. The same earth exhibits diamonds, rock crystals, red orpiment, &c.; the same soil produces a diversity of plants; the same food is converted into various excrescences, hair, nails, &c.

'As milk changes to curd, and water to ice, so is Brahme variously transformed and diversified, without aid of tools or exterior means of any sort. [Ibid. § 8. (S. 24-25.)] In like manner, the spider spins his web out of his own substance; spirits assume various shapes; cranes (valaca) propagate without the male; and the lotus proceeds from pond to pond without organs of motion. That Brahme is entire without parts, is no objection: he is not wholly transformed into worldly appearances. Various changes are presented to the same dreaming soul. Differs illusory shapes and disguises are assumed by the same spirit.' [Ibid. § 9. (S. 26-29.)]

'Brahme is omnipotent, able for every act, without organ or instrument. [Ibid. § 10. (S. 30-31.)] No motive or special purpose need be assigned for his creation of the universe, besides his will.' [Ibid. § 11. (S. 32-33.)]

'Unfairness and uncompassionateness are not to be imputed to him, because some (the Gods) are happy, others (beasts and inferior beings) are miserable, and others again (men) partake of happiness and unhappiness. Every one has his lot, in the renovated world, according to his merits, his previous virtue or vice in a former stage of an universe, which is sempiternal and had no beginning in time. So the rain-cloud distributes rain impartially; yet the sprout varies according to the seed.' [Br. Sutr. 2. 1. §. 12. (S. 34-36.)]

'Every attribute of a first cause (omniscience, omnipotence, &c.) exists in Brahme, who is devoid of qualities. ' [Ibid. § 13. (S. 37.)]

The second chapter of the second lecture is controversial. The doctrine of the Sanc'hyas is confuted in the first section; that of the Vaiseshicas in two more; of the Bauddhas in as many; of the Jainas in one; of the Pasupatas and Pancharatras, likewise, in one each. These controversial disquisitions are here omitted; as a brief abstract would hardly be intelligible, and a full explanation would lead to too great length. They have been partly noticed in a separate treatise on the Philosophy of Indian Sects. [See p. 243, of this volume.] It is remarkable, that the Nyaya of Gotama is entirely unnoticed in the text and commentaries of the Vedanta-sutras.

In the third chapter of the second lecture, the task of reconciling seeming contradictions of passages in the Vedas is resumed.

'The origin of air and the etherial element (acasa), unnoticed in the text of the Veda (Ch'handogya), where the creation of the three other elements is described, has been affirmed in another (Taittiriyaca). [Ibid. 2. 3. §. 1 and 2. (S. 1-7 and 8.)] The omission of the one is supplied by the notice in the other; there is no contradiction, as the deficient passage is not restrictive, nor professes a complete enumeration. Ether and air are by Brahme created. But he himself has no origin, no procreator nor maker, for he is eternal, without beginning as without end. [Br. Sutr. 2. 3 § 3. (S. 9.)] So fire, and water, and earth, proceed mediately from him, being evolved successively, the one from the other, as fire from air, and this from ether, [Ibid. § 4-6. (S. 10-12.)] The element of earth is meant in divers passages where food (that is, esculent vegetable) is said to proceed from water: for rain fertilizes the earth. It is by his will, not by their own act, that they are so evolved; and conversely, they merge one into the other, in the reversed order, and are re- absorbed at the general dissolution of worlds, previous to renovation of all things.' [Ibid § 7-8. (S. 13-14.)]

'Intellect, mind, and organs of sense and action, being composed of the primary elements, are evolved and re-absorbed in no different order or succession, but in that of the elements of which they consist.' [Ibid. § 9. (S. 15.)]

'The same course, evolution and re-absorption, or material birth and death, cannot be affirmed of the soul. Birth and death are predicated of an individual, referring merely to his association with body, which is matter fixed or moveable. Individual souls are, in the Veda, compared to sparks issuing from a blazing fire; but the soul is likewise declared expressly to be eternal and unborn. Its emanation is no birth, nor original production. [Br. Sutr. § 10-11 (S. 16-17.)] It is perpetually intelligent and constantly sensible, as the Sanc'hyas too maintain; not adventitiously so, merely by association with mind and intellect, as the disciples of Canade insist. It is for want of sensible objects, not for want of sensibility or faculty of perception, that the soul feels not during profound sleep, fainting, or trance.

'The soul is not of finite dimensions, as its transmigrations seemingly indicate; nor minutely small abiding within the heart, and no bigger than the hundredth part of a hundredth of a hair's point, as in some passages described; but, on the contrary, being identified with supreme Brahme, it participates in his infinity.' [Ibid. 2. 3. § 13. (S. 19-32.)]

'The soul is active; not as the Sanc'hyas maintain, merely passive. [Ibid. § 14. (S. 33-39.)]  Its activity, however, is not essential, but adventitious. As the carpenter, having his tools in hand, toils and suffers, and laying them aside, rests and is easy, so the soul in conjunction with its instruments (the senses and organs) is active, and quitting them, reposes. [Ibid. § 15. (S. 40.)]

'Blind in the darkness of ignorance, the soul is guided in its actions and fruition, in its attainment of knowledge, and consequent liberation and bliss, by the supreme ruler of the universe, [Ibid. § 16. (S. 41-42.)] who causes it to act conformably with its previous resolves: now, according to its former purposes, as then consonantly to its yet earlier predispositions, accruing from preceding forms with no retrospective limit; for the world had no beginning. The supreme soul makes the individuals act relatively to their virtuous or vicious propensities, as the same fertilizing rain-cloud causes various seeds to sprout multifariously, producing diversity of plants according to their kind.

'The soul is a portion of the supreme ruler, [Ibid. § 17. (S. 43—53.)] as a spark is of fire. The relation is not as that of master and servant, ruler and ruled, but as that of whole and part. In more than one hymn and prayer of the Vedas [Rigveda, 8. 4. 17. Yajurveda (Vajasaneyi) 31. 3.] it is said, "All beings constitute one quarter of him; three quarters are imperishable in heaven:" and in the Iswara-gita [SANCARA cites by this name the Bhagavad gita.] and other smritis, the soul, that animates body, is expressly affirmed to be a portion of him. He does not, however, partake of the pain and suffering of which the individual soul is conscious, through sympathy, during its association with body; so solar or lunar light appears as that which it illumines, though distinct therefrom.

'As the sun's image reflected in water is tremulous, quaking with the undulations of the pool, without however affecting other watery images nor the solar orb itself; so the sufferings of one individual affect not another, nor the supreme ruler. But, according to the doctrine of the Sanc'hyas, who maintain that souls are numerous, each of them infinite, and all affected by one plastic principle, nature (pradhana or pracriti), the pain or pleasure, which is experienced by one, must be felt by all. The like consequence is objected to the doctrine of Canade, who taught that souls, numerous and infinite, are of themselves insensible; and mind, the soul's instrument, is minute as an atom, and by itself likewise unsentient. The union of one soul with a mind would not exclude its association with other souls, equally infinite and ubiquitary; and all, therefore, would partake of the same feeling of pain or pleasure. '

The fourth chapter of the second book proceeds in the task of reconciling apparent contradictions of passages in the Vedas. [Br. Sutr. 2. 4. § 1. (S. 1-4.)]

'The corporeal organs of sense and of action, designated by the term prana in a secondary acceptation (it is noticed in its proper signification further on, § 4), have, like the elements and other objects treated of in the foregoing chapter, a similar origin, as modifications of Brahme; although unnoticed in some passages concerning the creation, and mentioned in others as pre-existent, but expressly affirmed in others to be successively evolved. [Ibid. 2. 4. § 1. (S. 1-4.)] The deficiency or omission of one text does not invalidate the explicit tenor of another.

'In various passages, the number of corporeal organs is differently stated, from seven to thirteen. The precise number is, however, eleven: [Ibid. § 2. (S. 5-6.)] the five senses, sight, &c.; five active organs, the hand, &c.; and lastly, the internal faculty, mind, comprehending intelligence, consciousness, and sensation. Where a greater number is specified, the term is employed in its most comprehensive sense; where fewer are mentioned, it is used in a more restricted acceptation:  thus seven sensitive organs are spoken of, relatively to the eyes, ears, and nostrils (in pairs), and the tongue.

'They are finite and small: not, however, minute as atoms, nor yet gross, as the coarser elements. [Ibid. § 3. (S. 7.)]

'In its primary or principal signification, prana is vital action, and chiefly respiration. This, too, is a modification of Brahme. It is not wind (vayu) or the air which is breathed, though so described in numerous passages of the Vedas and other authorities; nor is it an operation of a corporeal organ; but it is a particular vital act, and comprehends five such: 1st, respiration, or an act operating upwards; 2d, inspiration, one operating downwards; 3d, a vigorous action, which is a mean between the foregoing two; 4th, expiration, or passage upwards, as in metempsychosis; 5th, digestion, or circulation  of nutriment throughout the corporeal frame.' [Br. Sutr. 2. 4. § 4. (S. 8.) § 5. (S. 9-12.) § 6. (S. 13.)]

'Here, too, it must be understood of a limited, not vast or infinite act, nor minutely small. The vital act is not so minute as not to pervade the entire frame, as in the instance of circulation of nourishment; yet is small enough to he imperceptible to a bystander, in the instance of life's passage in transmigration.

'Respiration and the rest of the vital acts do not take effect of themselves by an intrinsic faculty, but as influenced and directed by a presiding deity and ruling power, yet relatively to a particular body, to whose animating spirit, and not to the presiding deity, fruition accrues. [Ibid. § 7. (S. 14-16.)]

'The senses and organs, eleven in number, as above mentioned, are not modifications of the principal vital act, respiration, but distinct principles. [Ibid. § 8. (S. 17-19.)]

'It is the supreme ruler, not the individual soul, who is described in passages of the Vedas as transforming himself into divers combinations, assuming various names and shapes, deemed terrene, aqueous, or igneous, according to the predominancy of the one or the other element. When nourishment is received into the corporeal frame, it undergoes a threefold distribution, according to its fineness or coarseness: corn and other terrene food becomes flesh; but the coarser portion is ejected, and the finer nourishes the mental organ. Water is converted into blood; the coarser particles are rejected as urine; the finer supports the breath. Oil or other combustible substance, deemed igneous, becomes marrow; the coarser part is deposited as bone, and the finer supplies the faculty of speech.' [Ibid. § 9. (S. 20-22.)]

The third lecture treats on the means whereby knowledge is attainable, through which liberation and perpetual bliss may be achieved: and, as preliminary thereto, on the passage of the soul furnished with organs into the versatile world and its various conditions; and on the nature and attributes of the supreme being.

'The soul is subject to transmigration. It passes from one state to another, invested with a subtile frame consisting of elementary particles, the seed or rudiment of a grosser body. Departing from that which it occupied, it ascends to the moon; where, clothed with an aqueous form, it experiences the recompense of its works; and whence it returns to occupy a new body with resulting influence of its former deeds. But evil-doers suffer for their misdeeds in the seven appointed regions of retribution. [Ibid. 3. 1. § 1-3. (S. 1-7 and 8-11 and 12-21.)]

'The returning soul quits its watery frame in the lunar orb, and passes successively and rapidly through ether, air, vapour, mist, and cloud, into rain; and thus finds its way into a vegetating plant, and thence, through the medium of nourishment, into an animal embryo.' [Br. Sutr. 3. 1. §4-6. (S. 22-23 and 24-27.)]

In the second chapter of this lecture the states or conditions of the embodied soul are treated of. They are chiefly three; waking, dreaming, and profound sleep: to which may be added for a fourth, that of death; and for a fifth, that of trance, swoon, or stupor, which is intermediate between profound sleep and death (as it were half-dead), as dreaming is between waking and profound sleep. In that middle state of dreaming there is a fanciful course of events, and illusory creation, which however testifies the existence of a conscious soul. In profound sleep the soul has retired to the supreme one by the route of the arteries of the pericardium. [Ibid. 3. 2. § 1-4. (S. 1-6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.)]

The remainder of this chapter is devoted to the consideration of the nature and attributes of the supreme being. 'He is described in many passages of the Veda, as diversified and endued with every quality and particular character; but in other and very numerous texts, as without form or quality. The latter only is truly applicable, not the former, nor yet both. He is impassible, unaffected by worldly modifications; as the clear crystal, seemingly coloured by the red blossom of a hibiscus, is not the less really pellucid. He does not vary with every disguising form or designation, for all diversity is expressly denied by explicit texts; and the notion of variableness relative to him is distinctly condemned in some sac'has of the Veda. [Ibid. 3.2. § 5. (S. 11-13.)]

'He is neither coarse nor subtile, neither long nor short, neither audible nor tangible; amorphous, invariable. '

'This luminous immortal being, who is in this earth, is the same with the luminous, immortal, embodied spirit, which informs the corporeal self, and is the same with the [supreme] soul.' 'He is to be apprehended by mind alone, there is not here any multiplicity. Whosoever views him as manifold dies death after death. [Passages of the Veda cited among others by the scholiasts commenting on the above.]

'He is amorphous, for so he is explicitly declared to be; but seemingly assuming form, as sunshine or moonlight, impinging on an object, appears straight or crooked.' [Br. Sutr. 3. 2. (S. 14.)]

'He is pronounced to be sheer sense, mere intellect and thought: as a lump of salt is wholly of an uniform taste within and without, so is the soul an entire mass of intelligence.' This is affirmed both in the Vedas and in the smritis: and, as such, he is compared to the reflected images of sun and moon, which fluctuate with the rise and fall of the waters that reflect them. [Ibid. 3. 2. (S. 15-20.)] 'The luminous sun, though single, yet reflected in water, becomes various; and so does the unborn divine soul by disguise in divers modes.'

The Veda so describes him, as entering into and pervading the corporeal shapes by himself wrought. [Br. Sutr. 3. 2. S. 21.] 'He framed bodies, biped and quadruped; and becoming a bird, he passed into those bodies, filling them as their informing spirit. '

In the Vrihad aranyaca, after premising two modes of Brahme, morphous and amorphous; one composed of the three coarser elements, earth, water, and fire; the other consisting of the two more subtile, air and ether; it is said, 'next then his name is propounded,' "neither so nor so; for there is none other but he, and he is the supreme. " Here the finite forms premised are denied; for his existence as the supreme being is repeatedly affirmed in this and in other passages. [Ibid. § 6. (S. 22.)]

'He is imperceptible; yet during devout meditation is, as it were, apprehended by perception and inference, through revelation and authentic recollections. [Ibid. S. 23-24.]

'Like the sun and other luminaries, seemingly multiplied by reflection though really single, and like ether (space) apparently subdivided in vessels containing it within limits, the (supreme) light is without difference or distinction of particulars, for he is repeatedly declared so to be. [Ibid. S. 25.] Therefore is one, who knows the truth, identified with the infinite being; for so revelation indicates. But since both are affirmed, the relation is as that of the coiled serpent fancied to be a hoop; or as that of light and the luminary from which it proceeds, for both are luminous. [Ibid. (S. 26-30.)]

'There is none other but he, notwithstanding the apparent import of divers texts, which seem to imply differences, various relations, and aliquot parts. He is ubiquitary and eternal; for he is pronounced to be greater than etherial space, which is infinite. [Ibid. § 7.]

'The fruit or recompense of works is from him, for that is congruous; and so it is expressly affirmed in the Vedas. Jaimini alleges virtue or moral merit; but the author of the sutras (Badarayana Vyasa) maintains the former, because the supreme being is in the Vedas termed the cause of virtue and of vice, as of every thing else.' [ Ibid. § 8.]

The two last chapters of the third lecture relate chiefly to devout exercises and pious meditation, the practice of which is inculcated as proper and requisite to prepare the soul and mind for the reception of divine knowledge, and to promote its attainment. I pass rapidly over this copious part [The third chapter contains thirty-six sections, comprising sixty-six aphorisms; the fourth includes eighteen, comprehending fifty-two sutras; and the subject is pursued in the eight first sections of the fourth lecture.] of the text, for the same reason for which I restricted myself to a very brief notice of the Yoga or theistical Sanc'hya of Patanjali; because religious observances are more concerned than philosophy with the topics there treated, and the ritual of the Yoga according to both systems, Sanc'hya and Vedanta, would be a fitter subject of a separate treatise, rather than to be incidentally touched on while investigating the philosophical doctrines of both schools.

Various questions arise on the modes, forms, and object of meditation taught in the Upanishads and in other portions of the Vedas, as well as on exterior observances either immediately or mediately connected therewith, and likewise on the direct efficacy of knowledge, which are all considered and solved at much length. In general, but not always, the same divine knowledge, the same worship, and like meditations, are intended by the same designations in different Vedas, the omissions and obscurities of one being supplied and explained by another, and even under various designations. By the acquisition of such knowledge, attainable as it is in the present or in a future birth, in lifetime, or to take effect after death, the influence of works is annulled, and consequent deliverance is single, not varying in degree and inducing different gradations of bliss, but complete and final happiness.

The fourth lecture relates chiefly to the fruit and effect of pious meditation properly conducted, and the consequent attainment of divine knowledge. The beginning of the first chapter is, however, supplemental to the foregoing lecture, treating of devout exercises, and the posture (a sitting one) in which devotion and contemplation should be practised, with constant repetition of those observances, and persisting therein during life. [Br. Sutr. 4. 1. § 1-8. (S. 1-12.)]

So soon as that knowledge is attained, past sin is annulled and future offence precluded. [Ibid. § 9. (S. 13.)] "As water wets not the leaf of the lotus, so sin touches not him who knows God: as the floss on the carding comb cast into the fire is consumed, so are his sins burnt away." [Ch'handogya, Brahme-vidya.]

'In like manner, the effect of the converse (that is, of merit and virtue) is by acquisition of knowledge annulled and precluded. It is at death that, these consequences take place. [Br. S. 4. 1. § 10. (S. 14.)] "He traverses both (merit and demerit) thereby." [Vrihad aranyaca.] "The heart's knot is broken, all doubts are split, and his works perish, when he has seen the supreme being." [Mundaca.] "All sins depart from him:" [Ch'handogya.] meaning good works as well as misdeeds; for the confinement of fetters is the same, whether the chain be of gold or iron.' [Anon. com.]

'But only such antecedent sin and virtue are annulled, as had not begun to have effect: for their influence lasts until his deliverance, and then does he merge in the supreme Brahme. [Br. Sutr. 4. 1. § 11. (S. 15.) Ch'handogya.] Those which were in operation are not annulled, as the arrow, which has been shot completes its flight, nor falls till its speed is spent; and the potter's wheel, once set in motion, whirls till the velocity which has been communicated to it is exhausted.'

'However, the maintenance of a perpetual fire, and certain other religious observances enjoined as conducive to the same end, are not rendered inefficacious: [Br. Sutr. 4. 1. § 12. (S. 16-17).] for it is declared that ''Brahmanas seek divine knowledge by holy study, sacrifice, liberality, and devotion:" [Vrihad aranyaca.] and according to some sac'has [Satyayana.] of the Veda, other merits remain likewise effectual; for sons succeed to the inheritance of their father's works; the affectionate share his good deeds; and the malignant participate of his ill actions. These sacrificial observances may be such as are conjoined with devout exercises, faith, and pious meditation; or unattended by those holy practices for attainment of divine knowledge, since they are pronounced most efficacious when so conjoined, which implies that they are not wholly inoperative by themselves.' [Br. Sutr. 4. 1. § 13. (S. 18.) Ch'handogya.]

'Having annulled by fruition other works which had begun to have effect; having enjoyed the recompense and suffered the pains of good and bad actions, the possessor of divine knowledge, on demise of the body, proceeds to a reunion with Brahme. [Br. Sutr. § 14. (S. 19.) Ch'handogya and Vrihad aranyaca.]

The fruit of divine knowledge having been shown in the first chapter, the second chapter of this lecture treats of the particular effect of devout exercises joined with appropriate meditation. It chiefly concerns the ascent of the soul, or mode in which it passes from the body.

'Of a dying person the speech, followed by the rest of the ten exterior faculties (not the corporeal organs themselves), is absorbed into the mind, for the action of the outer organ ceases before the mind's. This in like manner retires into the breath, [Ch'handogya. Br. Sutr. 4. 2. § 1-3.] attended likewise by all the other vital functions, for they are life's companions; and the same retreat of the mind is observable, also, in profound sleep and in a swoon. Breath, attended likewise by all other vital faculties, is withdrawn into the living soul which governs the corporeal organs, as the attendants of a king assemble around him when he is setting out upon a journey; for all vital functions gather about the soul at the last moment when it is expiring. [Vrihad aranyaca.] The living soul, attended with all its faculties, retires within a rudiment of body, composed of light with the rest of the five elements, in a subtile  state. "Breath," is, therefore, said to withdraw into "light;" not meaning that element (or fire) exclusively; nor intending direct transition, for a traveller has gone from one city to another, though he passed through an intermediate town.'

'This retirement from the body is common to ordinary uninformed people as to the devout contemplative worshipper, until they proceed further on their respective paths: and immortality (without immediate reunion with the supreme Brahme) is the fruit of pious meditation, though impediments may not be wholly consumed and removed. [Br. Sutr. 4. 2. § 4. (S. 7.)]

'In that condition the soul of the contemplative worshipper remains united to a subtile elementary frame, conjoined with the vital faculties, until the dissolution of worlds, when it merges in the supreme deity. That elementary frame is minute in its dimensions as subtile in its texture, and is accordingly imperceptible to bystanders when departing from the body: nor is it oppressed by cremation or other treatment which that body undergoes. It is by its warmth sensible so long as it abides with that coarser frame, which becomes cold in death when it has departed, [Ibid. § 5. (S. 8-11.) Cat'havalli, &c.] and was warm during life while it remained.

'But he who has attained the true knowledge of God does not pass through the same stages of retreat, proceeding directly to reunion with the supreme being, with which he is identified, as a river, at its confluence with the sea, merges therein altogether. His vital faculties and the elements of which his body consists, all the sixteen component parts which constitute the human frame, are absorbed absolutely and completely: both name and form cease; and he becomes immortal, without parts or members.' [Ibid. § 6-8. (S. 12-10.) Canwa, Madhyandina, Prasna, &c.]

In course of expounding the text, some of the commentators compare the ultimate absorption of the vital faculties to the disappearance of water sprinkled on a hot stone. [Ranganat'ha on Br. Sutr. 4. 2. § 6. (S. 12).] They seem to be unaware of its evaporation, and consider it to have sunk into the stone.

'The soul, together with the vital faculties absorbed in it, having retired within its proper abode, the heart, the summit of that viscus flashes, and lightens the passage by which the soul is to depart: the crown of the head in the case of the wise; and any other part of the body, in the instance of the ignorant. A hundred and one arteries issue from the heart, one of which passes to the crown of the head: it is named sushumna. By that passage, in virtue of acquired knowledge, and of recollection of the meditated way, the soul of the wise, graced by the favour of Brahme, whose dwelling is in the heart, issues and meets a solar ray; and by that route proceeds, whether it be night or day, winter or summer. [Br. Sutr. 4. 2. § 9-11. (S. 17-21.) Vrihad aran. Ch'handogya, &c.] The contact of a sunbeam with the vein is constant, as long as the body endures: rays of light reach from the sun to the vein, and conversely extend from this to the sun. The preferableness of summer, as exemplified in the case of bhishma, who awaited the return of that auspicious season to die, does not concern the devout worshipper, who has practised religious exercises in contemplation of Brahme, as inculcated by the Vedas, and has consequently acquired knowledge. But it does concern those who have followed the observances taught by the Sanc'hya Yoga; according to which, the time of day and season of the year are not indifferent.'

The further progress of the soul, from the termination of the coronal artery communicating with a solar ray to its final destination, the abode of Brahme, is variously described in divers texts of the Veda; some specifying intermediate stations which are omitted by others, or mentioned in a different order. [Ch'handogya, Caushitaci, Vrihad aranyaca, &c.] The seeming discrepancies of those passages are reconciled, and all are shown to relate to one uniform route, deduced from the text, for the divine journey (deva-yana) which the liberated soul travels. A question arises, whether the intermediate stations, which are mentioned, be stages of the journey, or scenes of fruition to be visited in succession, or landmarks designated for the course and direction of the route. [BHAVADEVA instances Pataliputra and the Sona river, as indicated for the direction of the route from Tirahhucti (Tirhut) to Varanasi (Benares). It is clear that he understands Pataliputra (the ancient Palibothra) to be Patna.] On this point the settled conclusion is, [Br. Sutr. 4. 3. § 1-4. (S. 1-6.)] that the presiding deities or regents of the places or regions indicated are guides to the soul, who forward it on its way in its helpless condition, destitute of exerted organs, all its faculties being absorbed and withdrawn; as a blind man is led, or a faint person is conducted, by a guide.

The route deduced from the tenour of texts compared, and from divers considerations set forth, [Br. Sutr. 4. 3. § 1-4. (S. 1-6.)] is by a solar ray to the realm of fire; thence to the regents of day, of the semilunation, of the summer six months, of the year; and thence to the abode of Gods; to air or wind, the regent of which forwards the journeying soul from his precincts, by a narrow passage compared to the nave of a chariot wheel, towards the sun: thence the transition is to the moon, whence to the region of lightning, above which is the realm of Varuna, the regent of water; for lightning and thunder are beneath the raincloud and aqueous region: the rest of the way is by the realm of INDRA, to the abode of Prajapati or Brahne.

A question arises, which is here discussed, whether Brahme, to whose dwelling and court the soul is conducted, be the supreme being, according to the ordinary and chief acceptation of the term, or be that effect of his creative will which is distinguished as carya brahme, identified with the mythological personage entitled HIRANYAGARBHA, as having been included within the golden mundane egg. JAIMINI affirms the supreme one to be meant: but Badari maintains the other opinion: which is that which the commentators of the sutras understand the author of them to adopt. [Br. Sutr. 4. 3. § 5. (S. 7-14.)]

The souls of those holy persons only, whose devout meditation was addressed to the pure Brahme himself, take the route described; [Ibid. § 6. (S. 15-16.)] not those whose contemplation was partial and restrictive: they have their special reward. Those, too, whose knowledge of God was more perfect, pass immediately, or by any route, to a reunion with the divinity, with whom they are identified.

The soul of him who has arrived at the perfection of divine knowledge, and is consequently liberated, "quitting its corporeal frame, ascends to the supreme light which is Brahme, and comes forth identified with him, conform and undivided;" [Ibid. § 1-2. (S. 1-4.)] as pure water, dropped into the limpid lake, is such as that is.

Concerning the condition of the liberated man, a difference of doctrine is noticed, [Ibid. § 3. (S. 5-7.)] Jaimini maintained, that he is endued with divine attributes, omniscience, ubiquitary power, and other transcendent faculties, Audulomi insisted, that he becomes sheer thought, sentient intelligence. The author of the sutras (Badarayana) accedes to the last-mentioned opinion; admitting, however, the practical or apparent possession of divine faculties by one who has attained perfection of knowledge.

By certain devout exercises and meditation [Harda-vidya or Dahara-vidya in the Ch'handogya.] a less perfect knowledge is acquired, which, as before mentioned, qualifies the possessor of it for reception at Brahme' s abode, though not for immediate re-union and identity with his being. In that condition transcendent power is enjoyed. The pitris, or shades of progenitors, may be called up by a simple act of the will; and other superhuman faculties may be similarly exerted. The possessor of these is independent, subject to no other's control. He may, at his option, be invested with one or more bodies, furnished with senses and organs, or be unincumbered with a corporeal frame. On this point, however, a difference of doctrine subsists, Jaimini maintained the indispensable presence of body; Badari, its absence; and the author (Badarayana) admits the option. In one case, the condition is that of a person dreaming; in the other case, as of one awake. [Br. Sutr. 4. 4. §. 4. 5. (S. 9—14.)]

'Master of several bodies, by a simple act of his will, the Yogi does not occupy one only, leaving the rest inanimate, like so many wooden machines. He may animate more than one, in like manner as a single lamp may be made to supply more than one wick.' [Ibid. § 6. (S. 15-16.)]

Liberation (mucti), besides its proper and strict sense, which is that of final deliverance through a perfect knowledge of Brahme, and consequent identification with the divinity and absorption into his essence, is likewise employed in a secondary acceptation for that which takes effect in life time (jivan-mucti)] or which conducts the soul after death to dwell with Brahme; not, however, divested of a subtile corporeal frame. The more complete deliverance is incorporeal (videha mucti). [BHAVADEVA on Br. Sutr. 4. 4. S. 22.] The less perfect liberation appertains to a Yogi, similar, in respect of the faculties and powers possessed by him, to one who has accomplished the like by the observances taught in the Sanc'hya or Yoga of Patanjali.

Such a Yogi, uncontrolled and independent as he has been pronounced to be, can exert every faculty and superior power analogous to that of the divinity's which may be conducive to enjoyment; but he has not a creative power. His faculties are transcendent for enjoyment, not for action. [Br. Sutr. 4. 4. § 7. (S. 17-22.)]

The more perfect liberation is absolute and final: there is no return of the soul from its absorption in the divine essence, to undergo further transmigrations as before. [Ibid. S. 22.] But incomplete knowledge, which conducts to Brahme' s abode without qualifying the soul for such absorption into the divinity, exempts it from return during the subsisting calpa; but not at a future renovation of worlds, [On this point the commentators do not appear to agree.] unless by special favour of the deity.

Recapitulation.

In the foregoing summary of the Vedanta from the sutras of Vyasa, the interpretation by Sancara has been relied upon; and his gloss, with notes of his annotators and the commentaries of scholiasts who follow him, have been exclusively employed, lest the doctrine of separate schools and different branches of the Vedanta should be blended and confounded. Those commentaries are numerous, and explanations and elucidations of the text have been taken from one or from another indiscriminately, as they have been found pertinent and illustrative, without particular preference or selection. This should be borne in mind in comparing that summary with its authorities, as it has not been judged necessary, nor generally practicable, to cite the particular commentary that is especially used in each instance.

Some remarks will be now added, in which other authorities are likewise employed, and chiefly the elementary works [Vedanta sara, Vedanta paribhasha, &c.] mentioned in the introduction of this essay.

The principal and essential tenets of the Vedanta are, that God is the omniscient and omnipotent cause of the existence, continuance, and dissolution of the universe. Creation is an act of his will. He is both efficient and material cause of the world: creator and nature, framer and frame, doer and deed. At the consummation of all things, all are resolved into him: as the spider spins his thread from his own substance and gathers it in again; as vegetables sprout from the soil and return to it, earth to earth; as hair and nails grow from a living body and continue with it. The supreme being is one, sole-existent, secondless, entire, without parts, sempiternal, infinite, ineffable, invariable ruler of all, universal soul, truth, wisdom, intelligence, happiness.

Individual souls, emanating from the supreme one, are likened to innumerable sparks issuing from a blazing fire. From him they proceed, and to him they return, being of the same essence. The soul which governs the body together with its organs, neither is born; nor does it die. It is a portion of the divine substance; and, as such, infinite, immortal, intelligent, sentient, true.

It is governed by the supreme. Its activity is not of its essence, but inductive through its organs: as an artisan, taking his tools, labours and undergoes toil and pain, but laying them aside reposes; so is the soul active, and a sufferer by means of its organs; but, divested of them, and returning to the supreme one, is at rest and is happy. It is not a free and independent agent, but made to act by the supreme one, who causes it to do in one state as it had purposed in a former condition. According to its predisposition for good, or evil, for enjoined or forbidden deeds, it is made to do good or ill, and thus it has retribution for previous works. Yet God is' not author of evil; for so it has been from eternity: the series of preceding forms and of dispositions manifested in them has been infinite.

The soul is incased in body as in a sheath, or rather in a succession of sheaths. The first or inner case is the intellectual one (vijnyanamaya): it is composed of the sheer (tan-matra), or simple elements uncombined, and consists of the intellect (buddhi) joined with the five senses.

The next is the mental (manomaya) sheath, in which mind is joined with the preceding. A third [sheath or case comprises the organs of action and the vital faculties, and is termed the organic or vital case. These three sheaths (cosa) constitute the subtile frame (sucshma-sarira or linga-sarira) which attends the soul in its transmigrations. The interior rudiment confined to the inner case is the causal frame (carana-sarira).

The gross body (st'hula-sarira) which it animates from birth to death in any step of its transmigrations, is composed of the coarse elements, formed by combinations of the simple elements, in proportions of four-eighths of the predominant and characteristic one with an eighth of each of the other four: that is, the particles of the several elements, being divisible, are, in the first place, split into moieties; whereof one is subdivided into quarters; and the remaining moiety combines with one part (a quarter of a moiety) from each of the four others, thus constituting coarse or mixed elements. [Ved. Sara. 136.] The exterior case, composed of elements so combined, is the nutrimentitious (annamaya) sheath; and being the scene of coarse fruition is therefore termed the gross body.

The organic frame assimilates the combined elements received in food, and secretes the finer particles and rejects the coarsest: earth becomes flesh; water, blood; and inflammable substances (oil or grease), marrow. The coarser particles of the two first are excreted as feces and urine; those of the third are deposited in the bones. The finer particles of the one nourish the mind; of the other, supply respiration; of the third, support speech.

Organized bodies are arranged by the Vedantins in either four or three classes: for both which arrangements the authority of passages of the Veda is cited. Their four classes are the same with those of other writers; but the threefold division appears to be peculiar to this school. It is, 1st, viviparous (jivaja), as man and quadrupeds; 2d, oviparous (andaja), as birds and insects; 3d, germiniparous (udbhijja). [Sanc., &c. on Br. Sutr. 3. 1. § 3. (S. 21.)] The latter, however, comprehends the two terminating classes of the fourfold distribution, vermin and vegetable; differing but as one sprouts from the earth, the other pullulates from water: the one fixed, the other locomotive. To both, equivocal and spontaneous generation, or propagation without union of parents, is assigned.

The order in which the five elements are enumerated is that of their development: 1st, the etherial element (acasa), which is deemed a most subtile fluid, occupying all space and confounded with vacancy; sound is Its particular quality. 2d. Wind (vayu), or air in motion: for mobility is its characteristic; sound and feel are sensible in it. 3d. Fire or light (tejas), of which heat is the characteristic; and by which sound, feel, and colour (or form) are made manifest. 4th. Water (ap), of which fluidity is characteristic; and in which sound, feel, colour, and taste occur. 5th. Earth (prit'hivi or anna), of which hardness is characteristic; and in which sound, feel, colour, taste, and smell are discernible.

The notion of ether and wind as distinct elements, an opinion which this has in common with most of the other schools of Indian philosophy, seems to originate in the assumption of mobility for the essential character of the one. Hence air in motion has been distinguished from the aerial fluid at rest, which is acasa, supposed to penetrate and pervade all worldly space; and, by an easy transition, vayu (wind) and motion, come to be identified, as acasa (ether) and space likewise are confounded.

An organized body, in its most subtile state of tenuity, comprises sixteen members (avayava) or corporeal parts, viz. five organs of sense, as many instruments of action, and the same number of vital faculties; to which are added mind (including intelligence, consciousness, and sensation); or, distinguishing mind and intellect (buddhi) as separate parts, the number is seventeen.

The vital faculties, termed vayu, are not properly air or wind, but vital functions or actions. Considered, however, with a reference to the proper meaning of that term, they are by some explained to be, 1st, respiration, which is ascending and of which the seat is the nostril; 2d, inspiration (or otherwise explained, flatus), which is descending, and which issues from the lower extremity of the intestine; 3d, flatuousness, which is diffused through the body, passing by all the veins and arteries; 4th, expiration, ascending from the throat; 5th, digestion, or abdominal air, of which the seat is the middle of the body.

According to a different explanation, the first is respiration; the second, inspiration; the third, a mean between the two, pulsation, palpitation, and other vital movements; the fourth is expiration; and the fifth is digestion.

Three states of the soul in respect of the body are recognized; to which must be added a fourth, and even a fifth, viz. waking, dreaming, profoundly sleeping, half-dead, and dead. While awake, the soul, associated with body, is active under the guidance of providence, and has to do with a real (paramart'hici) and practical (vyavaharici) creation. In a dream there Is an illusory (mayamayi) and unreal creation: nevertheless, dreams prognosticate events. Dreaming is the mean (sandhya) between sleeping and waking. In profound sleep the soul is absent, having retired by the channel of the arteries, and being as it were enfolded in the supreme deity. It is not, however, blended with the divine essence, as a drop of water fallen into a lake, where it becomes undistinguishable; but, on the contrary, the soul continues discriminate, and returns unchanged to the body which it animates while awake. Swoon, or stupor, is intermediate between sleep and death. During insensibility produced by accident or disease, there is, as in profound sleep and lethargy, a temporary absence of the soul. In death it has absolutely quitted its gross corporeal frame.

Subject to future transmigration, it visits other worlds, to receive there the recompense of works or suffer the penalty of misdeeds. Sinners fall to various regions of punishment, administered by CHITRAGUPTA and other mythological persons in the realm of Yama. The virtuous rise to the moon, where they enjoy the fruit of their good actions; and whence they return to this world to animate new bodies, and act in them, under providence, conformably with their propensities and predispositions, the trace of which remains.

The wise, liberated from worldly trammels, ascend yet higher, to the abode and court of Brahme: or, if their attainment of wisdom be complete, they at once pass into a re-union with the divine essence.

Three degrees of liberation or deliverance (mucti) are distinguished: one incorporeal, which is that last-mentioned, and is complete; another imperfect, which is that before-mentioned, taking effect upon demise, when the soul passes to the highest heaven, the abode of Brahme. The third is effectual in life-time (jivan-mucti), and enables the possessor of it to perform supernatural actions; as evocation of shades of progenitors, translation of himself into other bodies called into existence by the mere force of his will, instantaneous removal to any place at his pleasure, and other wondrous performances.

These several degrees of deliverance are achieved by means of certain sacrifices, as that of a horse (aswamedha), or by religious exercises in various prescribed modes, together with pious meditation on the being and attributes of God: but the highest degree of it is attainable only by perfect knowledge of the divine nature, and of the identity of God with that which emanated from him, or was created of his substance and partakes of his essence.

Questions most recondite, which are agitated by theologians, have engaged the attention of the Vedantins likewise, and have been by them discussed at much length; such as free-will (swatantrya), divine grace (iswara-prasada), efficacy of works (carman) or of faith (sraddha), and many other abstruse points.

On the last-mentioned topic, that of faith, nothing will be found in the text of Badarayana, and little in the gloss of Sancara. Its paramount efficacy is a tenet of another branch of the Vedanta school, which follows the authority of the Bhagavad-gita. In that work, as in many of the Puranas, passages relative to this topic recur at every turn.

The fruit of works is the grand subject of the first Mimansa, which treats of religious duties, sacrifices, and other observances.

The latter Mimansa more particularly maintains the doctrine of divine grace. It treats of free-will, which it in effect denies; but endeavours to reconcile the existence of moral evil under the government of an all-wise, all-powerful, and benevolent providence, with the absence of free-will, by assuming the past eternity of the universe, and the infinite renewals of worlds, into which every individual being has brought the predispositions contracted by him in earlier states, and so retrospectively without beginning or limit.

The notion, that the versatile world is an illusion (maya), that all which passes to the apprehension of the waking individual is but a phantasy presented to his imagination, and every seeming thing is unreal and all is visionary, does not appear to be the doctrine of the text of the Vedanta. I have remarked nothing which countenances it in the sutras of Vyasa nor in the gloss of Sancara, but much concerning it in the minor commentaries and in elementary treatises. I take it to be no tenet of the original Vedantin philosophy, but of another branch, from which later writers have borrowed it, and have intermixed and confounded the two systems. The doctrine of the early Vedanta is complete and consistent, without this graft of a later growth.