Part 2 of 3
The Four Beids are not in Verse, as has been hitherto erroneously imagined, but in a Kind of measured Prose, called Pungtee Chhund: The Translator is therefore obliged to observe, that an Author of much Merit has, by wrong Information, been induced to offer four Stanzas as Specimens of the several Beids, which have not the least Affinity or Similitude to those Books: His first Stanza is very faulty, and without an Interpretation; But, as a Proof that it cannot belong to the Beids, it has already been quoted in the Specimen of the Ashlogue Aryachhund, together with the Stanzas immediately preceding and following, which are taken from a Work called Kayaprekash (or a Collection of Poems) said to have been composed by one Kiyat, in the third Age of the World. From the many obsolete Terms used in the Beids, from the Conciseness and Obscurity of their Dialect, and from the Particularity of the Modulation in which they must be recited, they are now hardly intelligible: Very few of the most learned Pundits, and those only who have employed many Years of painful Study upon this one Task, pretend to have the smallest Knowledge of the Originals, which are now also become extremely scarce and difficult to be found; but Comments have been written on them from the earliest Periods; whereof
one of the most ancient and most orthodox was composed by Bisesht Mahamoonee, or the most Wise, a great Writer and Prophet, who is said to have lived in the Suttee Jogue, or first Age of the World, and from whom Beass, the celebrated Author of the heroic Poem Mahabaret, boasted his Descent.
The Style of this Writer is clear, but very concise; a Specimen of it is here offered, in his Explanation of
the first Chapter of the Reig Beid, which contains a Description of the Wisdom and Powers of the Almighty. Plate V. Translator's preface page XXXIII and XXXIVChapter of Bishesht Mahomonee
Plate VI. Translator's preface page XXXIII and XXXIV.Chapter of Bisesht Continued.
Bisesht Mahamoonee upon the Reig Beid. [See Plates No. 5 and No. 6.]Shhree Genaeihaye nemeh! semeste weesheye wasena veeneermook
teh se Peremehumse. Kaewelum neerweeshae she Brehme chingtene
matraewe teeshtetee se Peremehumseh. Yetre kootre cheetteesh-
tetee, tetr', adou Reegbaedusye Pregyaneshebdusye vyakhyanum
kreeyetae. aekemaew' adweeteeyum Brehmaetee seeddhangteh:
Pregyanum sweteshchitenyum tedweemaeshah enacke prekarah;
tenmedhyae yet, hawibbooddhy' anoosaraene vyakhyanumkreeyetae.
Prekreshtum ootkreshtum gyanum Pregyanum: oopad hee reheetum
sweteshchitenyum. Kale treye reheetum; ewest, ha treye reheetum;
prepunche veeneermooktum swetuntrum gyanum tet pregyanum
name dhaeyum Brehme bhewetee. Yeggyanaene too mayachitenyum
bhewetee, yegg yanaene chetoorving shetee tetwum chiteryum bhe-
wetee, keemeewe; sooryes chekhyoo reewe, egnee patre meewe,
choom beke lohe meewe, sootredhare cheetre meewe, kasht' agnee
reewe, poorooshe chhayaewe wate raenoo reewe, dnenoorddhere bane
eewe, breekye chhayaewe; emoona prekaraene chitenyum semeste
jeget prepunch' otpadekum kerotee, gyaneshektee, eechhashektee,
kreeyashektee, chitenyum jegetakarum bhewetee: ete aewe neer-
getangteh kerenaene shrotre ddharaene snebde grehenum kerotee,
neergetangteh kerenaene tweeha dwaraene spershe grehenum kero-
tee, neergetangteh kerenaene chekhyoo dwaraene roope grehenum
kerotee, neergetangteh kerenaene jeehwa dwaraene rese grehenum
kerotee, neergetangteh kerenaene naseeka dwaraene gangdhe
grehenum kerotee; ete aewe punche kermingdreeye praerekeh,
punche gyanidreeye praerekeh, punche mehabhoote praerekeh,
punche tenmatranee praerekeh, goone treye praerekeh eetyadee
semeste prepunch' otpetteeh preleyatmekum kerotee, jegetsa-
khyeetwaene peshyetee. Tet pregyanum name Brehme dhyaeyum
bhewetee, tesmat pregyane shebdaene ted Brehme weeshaeshaene
serwaeshereh ket, hyetae; tebre sootredhar' eeshereh maya weedhya
netee nreetyum kerotee ke-eewe nete-eewe, eetee reegwaedusye
pregyane shebdeneerneyeh.
Commentary of Bisesht Mahamoonee upon the 1st Chapter of the Reig Beid. [An Invocation never omitted by a pious Gentoo upon the Commencement of any Business whatsoever.] GLORY be to Goneish!
That which is exempt from all Desires of the Senses, the same is the mighty Lord. He is single, and than him there is Nothing greater. Brehm (the Spirit of God) is absorbed in Self-Contemplation: The same is the mighty Lord, who is present in every Part of Space, whose Omniscience, as expressed in the Reig Beid, I shall now explain. — Brehm is one, and to him there is no Second; such is truly Brehm. His Omniscience is self-inspired (or self-intelligent) and its Comprehension includes every possible Species. — To illustrate this as far as I am able. — The most comprehensive of all comprehensive Faculties is Omniscience; and being self-inspired, it is subject to no [Of which they reckon five, Conception, Birth, Growth, Decay and Death.] Accident of Mortality or passion; of Vice [In Number six, called Opadhee, viz. Lust, Anger, Avarice, Folly, Drunkenness and Pride.]; to it the [The past, present and future.] three Distinctions of Time are not; to it the three [To be awake, to sleep and to be absorbed in a State of Unconsciousness — a Kind of Trance.] Modes of Being are not;
it is separated from the Universe, and independent of all. This Omniscience is named Brehm. By this Omniscient Spirit, the Operations of God are enlivened; by this Spirit also, the [Viz. The five Elements (for the Hindoos add to the four a subtile AEther, which they call Akash, and suppose to be the Medium of Sound); The five Members of Action, Hand, Foot, Tongue, Anus and Yard; The five Members of Perception, Ear, Eye, Nose, Mouth and Skin; The five Senses; The three Dispositions of the Mind, Desire, Passion and Tranquillity; Consciousness, or Self-Perception.] twenty-four Powers of Nature are animated. How is this? As the Eye by the Sun, as the Pot by the Fire, as Iron by the Magnet, as Variety of Imitations by the Mimic, as Fire by the Fuel, as the Shadow by the Man, as Dust by the Wind, as the Arrow by the Spring of the Bow, and as the Shade by the Tree; so
by this Spirit the World is endued with the Powers of Intellect, the Powers of the Will, and the Powers of Action; so that, if it emanates from the Heart by the Channel of the Ear, it causes the Perception of Sounds; if it emanates from the Heart by the Channel of the Skin, it causes the Perception of the Touch; if it emanates from the Heart by the Channel of the Eye, it causes the Perception of visible Objects; if it emanates from the Heart by the Channel of the Tongue, it causes the Perception of Taste; if it emanates from the Heart by the Channel of the Nose, it causes the Perception of Smell. This also invigorating the five Members of Action, and invigorating the five Members of Perception, and invigorating the five Elements, and invigorating the five Senses, and invigorating the three Dispositions of the Mind,
&c. causes the Creation or the Annihilation of the Universe; while itself beholds every Thing as an indifferent Spectator. Wherefore that Omniscience thus centered in Brehm is called Serwaesher (or the Lord of all;) and this Lord, as a Player doth, is perpetually shifting his Modes of Operation, by a Variety of Gradations, as the Dancer shifts his Steps. — Thus far the Doctrine of the Reig Beid.
***
The Translator is conscious, that this short Account of the Shanscrit is very defective and insufficient; but he must plead in his own Defence, that very lately only, and that altogether by Accident, he was enabled to procure even this slender Information; that the Pundits who compiled the Code were to a Man resolute in rejecting all his Solicitations for Instruction in this Dialect, and that the Persuasion and Influence of the Governor-General were in vain exerted to the same Purpose. However, since the Completion of his former Task he has been happy enough to become acquainted with a Bramin of more liberal Sentiments, and of a more communicative Disposition, joined to an extensive Knowledge acquired both by Study and Travel: He eagerly embraced the Opportunity of profiting by the Help of so able a Master, and means to exert all his Diligence upon so curious and uncommon a Subject.
The Hindoos as well as the Chinese have ever laid claim to an Antiquity infinitely more remote than is authorized by the Belief of the rest of Mankind. It is certain however, that these two Nations have been acquainted with Letters from the very earliest Period, and that their Annals have never been disturbed or destroyed by any known Revolution; and though we may come to the Perusal of their Records, armed with every Argument, and fortified even to Prejudice against the Admission of their Pretensions, at the same Time placing the most implicit Reliance upon the Mosaic Chronology as generally received, yet their plausible Accounts of those remote Ages, and their undeviating Confidence in their own Assertions, never can fail to make some Impression upon us, in proportion as we gain a clearer Insight to them. Suspicions of a like Nature are not totally without Foundation even in the Western World; and the conscientious Scruples [Brydone's Letters.] Publication) will always be of some Weight in the Scale of Philosophy. [
The Hindoos then reckon the Duration of the World by four Jogues, or distinct Ages.
1.
The Suttee Jogue (or Age of Purity) is said to have lasted 3,200,000 Years; and they hold that the Life of Man was in that Age extended to 100,000 Years, and that his Stature was 21 Cubits.
2.
The Tirtah Jogue (or Age in which one third of Mankind were reprobate) they suppose to have consisted of 2,400,000 Years, and that Men then lived to the Age of 10,000 Years.
3.
The Dwapaar Jogue (in which Half of the human Race became depraved) endured 1,600,000 Years, and Men's Lives were reduced to 1000 Years.
4.
The Collee Jogue (in which all Mankind are corrupted, or rather lessened, for that is the true Meaning of Collee)
is the present AEra, which they suppose ordained to subsist for 400,000 Years, of which near 5000 are already past, and Man's Life in this Period is limited to 100 Years.
Computation is lost, and Conjecture overwhelmed in the Attempt to adjust such astonishing Spaces of Time to our own confined Notions of the World's Epoch:
To such Antiquity the Mosaic Creation is but as Yesterday; and to such Ages the Life of Methuselah is no more than a Span! — Absurd as this Gentoo Doctrine may seem, mere human Reason, upon Consideration of the present contracted Measure of Mortality, can no more reconcile to itself the Idea of Patriarchal than of Braminical Longevity; and when the Line of implicit Faith is once extended, we can never ascertain the precise Limits beyond which it must not pass.
One Circumstance must not be omitted, that the Ages allotted to Mankind in the several Jogues by the Bramins tally very exactly with those mentioned by Moses, as far as the Chronology of the latter reaches. For the last Part of the Dwapaar Jogue, in which Men are said to have attained to One Thousand Years of Life, corresponds with the Mosaic AEra of the Antediluvians: And in the Commencement of the Collee Jogue, which comes very near to the Period of the Deluge, the Portion of human Existence was contracted to One Hundred Years, and is seldom supposed even to go so far. We are not much advanced in our Inquiries, by allowing with some excellent Authors, that most of the Gentoo Shasters (or Scriptures) were composed about the Beginning of the Collee Jogue; for then we at once come to the immediate AEra of the Flood, which Calamity is never once mentioned in those Shasters, and which yet we must think infinitely too remarkable to have been even but slightly spoken of, much less to have been totally omitted, had it even been known in that Part of the World. The Bramins indeed remove this Objection by two Assertions; One, that all their Scriptures were written before the Time by us allotted to Noah; the Other, that the Deluge really never took place in Hindostan. We shall not say much regarding the antiquity of these people; nor shall we amuse ourselves with the reveries of chronologers and historians; who have labored to fix with precision (though not two of them agree in opinion) the various migrations after the flood: it shall suffice for our purpose, that by their own showing, Indostan was as early peopled, as most other parts of the known world...
134. The mixture of good and evil in this world flowed naturally from the second angelic defection in the human form, as inevitable effects from adequate causes; for
these beings were so struck with the unexpected mercy of their Creator, in affording them a trial and term of probation, in a world replete with every beauty and accommodation beyond their desert; that they continued truly sensible of that grace
for a space, distinguished by the ancient poets and philosophers by the title of the golden age, by Bramah, as the age of truth and holiness; and it is reasonable to believe, that during that period, many of them regained their celestial habitations; and equally probable, that
whilst they continued in this state of general contrition, neither natural or moral evil had a footing in this globe, but that the former commenced and kept pace with the latter; and it is a well grounded opinion of philosophers and divines, that
during the primitive age, this globe was not subject to those convulsive vicissitudes of storms, earthquakes, deluges, &c. nor the animal forms to pestilential or other diseases, which moral evils produced at the beginning of the second age, when the second defection of the angelic beings under mortal forms took place as before noticed: then it was, that man began to kill and eat his brethren of the creation, the brute animals; and in process of time to kill and eat one another; -- then began contentions for property and power, which produced invasions, murders, and every species of cruelty amongst themselves; -- then began the contention between the elements by the designation of GOD, for the punishment of the ungrateful delinquents; and then also began the contention between the good and evil spiritual beings, the one laboring to recover them to their duty, the other to seduce them from it...
136.
During the primitive age, it should seem that Satan and his associate leaders had small, if any influence in the world; he appears (like an able politician) only to wait for proper times and seasons to exert his abilities in: -- he could not but know that the delinquents were now as much stunned with the unhoped-for mercy of GOD, as they had been before by his vengeance, and therefore that this could be no favorable juncture to operate upon them: -- But he also knew (as is the case with all rebels) that mercy would have no long effect upon them; that the embers of rebellion in them were only smothered, but not extinguished; and that there was only wanting a proper period and occasion to blow them up, and make them blaze again with greater fury: he judged that they would in time (allured by the delicious enjoyments of their region of probation) forget both the torments and despairing anguish they had suffered in the
region of utter darkness, as well as the mercy that had redeemed them from it; and he was perfectly right in his conclusion. -- The means this arch-traitor adopted to bring about his purposes of evil, both
natural and moral, we have developed in our foregoing General Head, omitting one circumstance of encouragement as more properly applicable here -- Satan and his leaders, although sensible that the powers of the faithful angelic beings they had to contend with, were equal with their own, yet they were not dismayed; knowing that the propensity to evil in the objects on whom their efforts were to be tried, would turn the balance in their favor....
139.
GOD, conscious that he has endowed us with sufficient powers of resistance, abandons us to ourselves; and it is by the neglect of those powers that still man goes on as the devil drives him, and must necessarily so continue, until he again, by the full exertion of his divine intellectual faculties, recovers that purity he possessed in the primitive age; the full exertion of those powers he can only acquire, by restoring the body, and its plastic juices, to their primitive natures, thereby freeing the soul from those impeding chains which he himself has forged for her...
140.
By what has been said, and with a reference to the Metempsychosis, it need not appear strange, that the world has at all times been equally populous, respecting both man and beast, or very nearly so; for so few of the delinquent spirits in every age have transmigrated to heaven, that they have been hardly missed on earth. -- Here, we know, will be objected to us Moses's account of the deluge, and the new propagation of all the animal species, from the stock which Noah saved in the ark. -- To this we say, that there have been many solid arguments urged against the universality of Moses's deluge, which have never been refuted to the full satisfaction of inquisitive reason. -- It is true, we have Moses's ipse dixit for the destruction of all, in whose nostrils were the breath of life; but how came it to pass, that a race of animals, as numerous, if not more so, than those of the earth, escaped his notice so far, as not even to be worthy the mention, namely, the fishes of the seas and rivers? in their nostrils were surely the breath of life. But the cause of Moses's silence respecting them is obvious; he knew the difficulty of conceiving how their destruction could be accomplished in their proper element, on which the most tremendous storms and hurricanes are matters of sport and pastime to them; therefore he took the wiser part in passing them over in silence, as having no existence in the scale of beings. This consideration proves, that whatsoever the deluge might have been, the destruction of the animal creation was not universal; then suffer us to ask, in justice to the rest of the devoted animals, what exemption this peculiar race as entitled to, that they did not participate in the general wreck? -- GOD's justice, mercy, and providence are equal to all, "a sparrow falls not to the ground unnoticed of him" -- therefore it should seem, that the spirits animating the inhabitants of the waters, should at that period have been less guilty than the other terrestrial species; but that that might not have been the case, we shall show presently, and demonstrate, that the seeming partial favor of Providence for that race can be only accounted for from the doctrine of the Metempsychosis.-- Interesting Historical Events, Relative to the Provinces of Bengal, and the Empire of Indostan. With a Seasonable Hint and Persuasive to the Honourable The Court of Directors of the East India Company. As Also The Mythology and Cosmogony, Fasts and Festivals of the Gentoo's, Followers of the Shastah. And a Dissertation on the Metempsychosis, commonly, though erroneously, called the Pythagorean Doctrine, by J.Z. Holwell, Esq.
But to wave these vague and indefinite Disquisitions, it will not here be superfluous to quote a passage or two from some of the most classical and authentic Shasters, which expressly determine and fix Dates of their respective AEras to the earliest Jogues.
The first Specimen here inserted is from the Book of Munnoo, which the Reader will observe stands foremost in the List of those which furnished the subsequent Code;...
The Manusmṛiti ... was one of the first Sanskrit texts to have been translated into English in 1776, by Sir William Jones, and was used to formulate the Hindu law by the British colonial government...
Over fifty manuscripts of the Manusmriti are now known, but the earliest discovered, most translated and presumed authentic version since the 18th century has been the "Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) manuscript with Kulluka Bhatta commentary". Modern scholarship states this presumed authenticity is false, and the various manuscripts of Manusmriti discovered in India are inconsistent with each other, and within themselves, raising concerns of its authenticity, insertions and interpolations made into the text in later times...
The verses 12.1, 12.2 and 12.82 are transitional verses. This section is in a different style than the rest of the text, raising questions whether this entire chapter was added later. While there is evidence that this chapter was extensively redacted over time, however it is unclear whether the entire chapter is of a later era....
Sinha, for example, states that less than half, or only 1,214 of the 2,685 verses in Manusmriti, may be authentic. Further, the verses are internally inconsistent. Verses such as 3.55-3.62 of Manusmriti, for example, glorify the position of women, while verse such as 9.3 and 9.17 do the opposite. Other passages found in Manusmriti, such as those relating to Ganesha, are modern era insertions and forgeries...
There are so many contradictions in the printed volume that, if you accept one part, you are bound to reject those parts that are wholly inconsistent with it. (...) Nobody is in possession of the original text...
Scholars doubt Manusmriti was ever administered as law text in ancient or medieval Hindu society. David Buxbaum states, "in the opinion of the best contemporary orientalists, it [Manusmriti] does not, as a whole, represent a set of rules ever actually administered in Hindustan. It is in great part an ideal picture of that which ... ought to be law".
Donald Davis writes, "there is no historical evidence for either an active propagation or implementation of Dharmasastra [Manusmriti] by a ruler or any state – as distinct from other forms of recognizing, respecting and using the text. Thinking of Dharmasastra as a legal code and of its authors as lawgivers is thus a serious misunderstanding of its history".-- Manusmriti, by Wikipedia
and though the second Quotation is not so authoritative, as being the Production of a later Author (whole Name we do not recollect) in Testimony of the Date of another, yet Jage-Bulk is mentioned among the Legislators, and his Books are valued for their Antiquity as their Excellence.
An Ashlogue Munnee hurreneh Chhund, or of Nineteen Syllables, from Munnoo. [See Plate No. 7.]Ebdanam deshekum sehesre deshekum yatum che setyae yoogae
Bhadrae masee kreetameyahee menoona brehma gyeya poorneemae
Shastrum neetee weechare dherme jenekum gyanepredum serweda
Bhoorlokae heetekamgeya menoopreja nama smreeteer deepeeka.
When ten Thousand and ten Years of the Suttee Jogue were past, on the Night of the Full Moon, in the Month Bhadun, I Munnoo, at the Command of Brehma, finished this Shaster, that speaks of Men's Duty, of justice, and of Religion, ever instructive.
This Treatise, called
Munnoo Smistee [Manusmriti], will enlighten the World like a Torch.
Plate VII. Translator's preface page XL.Ashlogues.
Two Ashlogues Anushtose Chhund, or of eight Syllables, upon Jage-Bulk. [See Plate No. 7.]Traetayam yagyewelkaene
Vyetee tae nevve punchekae
Shrawenae masee shooklae chee
Punchemyam boodhewaserae
Yagyewelky' abheedum shastrum
Dherme nectee prekashekum
Rajeneetee preedum chiwe.
Neranam heetekamyeya.
In the Tirtah Jogue, the Author Jage-Balk, when ninety-five Years were past, in the Month of Sawun, on the Moon's Increase, on the Wednesday (or literally on the Day of [It is very remarkable, that the Days of the Week are named in the Shanscrit Language from the same Planets to which they were assigned by the Greeks and Romans.
Audeetye War / Solis Dies / Audeetye / The Sun
Rebee War / Solis Dies / Rebee / The Sun
Some War / Lunae Dies / Some / The Moon
Mungel War / Martis Dies / Mungele / Mars
Boodhe War / Mercurii Dies / Boodhe / Mercury
Breehespet War / Jovis Dies / Breehspet / Jupiter
Shookre War / Veneris Dies / Shookre / Venus
Shenischer War / Saturni Dies / Shenischer / Saturn] Mercury) finished the Treatise, called Jage-Bulk, which sets forth the Offices of Religion, and also informs Men of the Duties of the Magistrate.
What Periods shall we possibly assign to these Writers, if we disallow the Authorities here quoted? If they are false, there must have been
a Time when the Imposition would have been too palpable to have passed upon Mankind, and when the concurrent Testimony of the whole World would have risen up in Judgment against it; for
if we grant Munnoo's Works to have been published during his own Life-Time, it is impossible that he should have ventured to utter so monstrous a Forgery; and if they were concealed till after his Death, could the Memory of his late Existence be so shortly obliterated through the whole Country? — But
supposing so much of the Book as relates to the Date to have been foisted in by another, and afterwards produced as a Part of the original Text, which till that Time had lain undiscovered, Nobody surely would have believed him in Opposition to the universal Faith! for so miraculous a Fiction could never gain Credit but upon the Support of some Principle of religious Opinion, and every Religion has established a Chronology of its own: Besides,
can it be possible, that none of Munnoo's Contemporaries, none of the succeeding Writers should have recorded so striking a Circumstance? for if the whole Indian World had till that Time believed with us in a Chronology nearly answering to that of Moses, so astonishing a Change in their Sentiments upon the Introduction of the Doctrine of the Jogues would have furnished ample Matter for a Thousand Volumes; but on the contrary, all the Parts of every Shaster (however different from each other on religious Subjects) are yet uniform and confident throughout upon this; the same Mode of computing their Annals has always obtained, and the same Belief of the Remoteness of Antiquity that now prevails may be proved to have been universally acknowledged, even at the Time in which some pretend to fix the first Appearance of Letters in Hindostan.
Rajah Prichutt, who though ranked as a modern on the Records of India, is yet known to have lived in the earliest Ages of the Collee Jogue, was no less anxious than modern Philosophers are to pierce through the Obscurity of Time, and to trace the Progress of the World from its Infancy; at his Instigation a Work was composed by Shukeh Diew, a learned Bramin (Son of Beass, the famous Author of the Mahabaret) containing the History of India through the three preceding Jogues, with the Succession of the several Rajahs, and the Duration of their Reigns. This curious History, called Shree Bhagbut, still subsists, divided into twelve Ascund or Books (literally Branches) and three Thousand and twenty Chapters. What shall we say to a Work composed four Thousand Years ago, and from thence tracing Mankind upwards through several millions of Years? Must we answer, that the Earth was at that Time an uninhabited Marsh still slowly emerging from an universal Inundation?
Great surely and inexplicable must be the Doubts of mere human Reason upon such a Dilemma when unassisted and uninformed by Divine Revelation; but while we admit the former in our Argument, we profess a most unshaken Reliance upon the latter, before which every Suspicion must subside, and Scepticism be absorbed in Conviction: Yet from the Premises already Established, this Conclusion at least may fairly be deduced, that the World does not now contain Annals of more indisputable Antiquity than those delivered down by the ancient Bramins.
Collateral Proofs of this Antiquity may be drawn from every Page of the present Code of Laws, in its wonderful Correspondence with many Parts of the Institutes of Moses, one of the first of known Legislators; from whom we cannot possibly find Grounds to suppose the Hindoos received the smallest Article of their Religion or Jurisprudence, though it is not utterly impossible, that the Doctrines of Hindostan might have been early transplanted into Egypt, and thus have become familiar to Moses. The Gentoos have in all Ages believed in the Transmigration of Souls, which they denominate Kayaprewaesh and Kayapelut: This latter literally answers to the Word Metempsychosis. — An ancient Shaster, called the Geeta, written by Adhae Doom, has a beautiful Stanza upon this System of the Transmigration, which he compares to a Change of Dress.
Plate VIII Translator's preface page X__Ashlogue.
An Ashlogue Cabee Chhund, or of eleven Syllables in each Line. [See Plate No. 8.]
On the Transmigration of Souls. Wesamsee jeernanee yet, ha weehaye
Newanee grehnatee nero peranee,
Tet, ha shereeranee weehaye jeernan
Enyanee sumyatee newanee daehee.
As throwing aside his old Habits,
A Man puts on others that are new,
So, our Lives quitting the Old,
Go to other newer Animals.
[Mr. Holwell.]An ingenious Author of our own has well explained their Ideas upon the Subject of a future State, though he laments at the same Time, that his Materials were too imperfect to afford complete Information.
Their Creed then is, that those Souls which have attained to a certain Degree of Purity, either by the Innocence of their Manners, or the Severity of their Mortifications, are removed to Regions of Happiness, proportioned to their respective Merits: But that those who cannot so far surmount the Prevalence of bad Example, and the forcible Degeneracy of the Times, as to deserve such a Promotion, are condemned to undergo continual Punishment in the Animation of successive animal Forms, until at the stated Period another Renovation of the four Jogues shall commence upon the Dissolution of the present.
They suppose that there are fourteen Bhoobuns or Spheres, seven below and six above the Earth; the seven inferior Worlds are said to be altogether inhabited by an infinite Variety of Serpents, described in every monstrous Figure that the Imagination can suggest; hence the Reason why such particular Mention is made of Serpents in the Account of the Creation prefixed to this Code. The Earth is called Bhoor, and Mankind who inhabit it Bhoor-logue; an Instance of which may be seen in the Stanza quoted from Munnoo: The Spheres gradually ascending from thence are,
1st. Bobur, whose Inhabitants are called the Bobur-logue. 2d. The Swergeh-logue. 3d. The Mahurr-logue. 4th. The Junneh-logue. 5th. The Tuppeh-logue. 6th. The Suttee-logue.
The Bobur is the immediate Vault of the visible Heavens, in which the Sun, Moon, and Stars are placed. The Swergeh is the first Paradise and general Receptacle for those who merit a Removal from the lower Earth. The Mahurr-logue are the Fakeers, and such Persons as by Dint of Prayer have acquired an extraordinary Degree of Sanctity. The Junneh-logue are also the Souls of pious and moral Men; and beyond this Sphere they are not supposed to pass without some uncommon Merits and Qualifications. The Sphere of Tuppeh is the Reward of those who have all their Lives performed some wonderful Act of Penance and Mortification, or who have died Martyrs for their Religion. The Suttee or highest Sphere is the Residence of Brihma and his particular Favourites, whence they are also called Brihma-logue: This is the Place of Destination for those Men who have never uttered a Falsehood during their whole Lives, and for those Women who have voluntarily burned themselves with their Husbands. How shall we reconcile so splendid and exalted a Benediction pronounced upon this spontaneous Martyrdom, with the Assertion of an Author, that the Custom for the Wives to burn themselves with their Husbands Bodies was never reckoned a religious Duty in India? This Circumstance will again present itself in the Remarks on the Chapter of Women.
But it is now Time to draw this Essay towards a Conclusion, by confining ourselves to the more immediate Explanation of such Parts of the Code as may not seem entirely consistent with European Opinions, or European justice.
The Work opens with a short Preliminary Discourse, written by the Bramins themselves, as well to set forth the Motives and Uses of the Compilation, as to gratify the honest Vanity of every sensible Mind, in giving some Account of itself and of its Labours.
Nothing can be more remote from a superstitious Adherence to their own domestic Prejudices, or more truly elevated above the mean and selfish Principles of Priestcraft, than the genuine Dignity of Sentiment that breathes through this little Performance. Few Christians, with all the Advantages of enlightened Understandings, would have expressed themselves with a more becoming Reverence for the grand and impartial Designs of Providence in all its Works, or with a more extensive Charity towards all their fellow Creatures of every Profession.
It is indeed an Article of Faith among the Bramins, that God's all merciful Power would not have permitted such a Number of different Religions, if he had not found a Pleasure in beholding their Varieties. The first Section of the Preface contains an Account of the Creation, literally as the Gentoos believe it to have been performed: The four great and original Tribes are there said to have proceeded from the four different Members of Brihma, the supposed immediate Agent of the Creation under the Spirit of the Almighty. The Hindoos do not suppose that these several Parts of the Creator, assigned for their Production, are a symbolical Token or Description of the respective Duties of their Stations; but that the several Qualifications of each Cast, and the enjoined Exercise of those Qualifications, are the natural and unavoidable Result of the presiding Function in each of the Members of their first Parent.
The Bramin from the Mouth — (Wisdom) to pray, to read, to instruct.
The Chehteree from the Arms — (Strength) to draw the Bow, to fight, to govern.
The Bice from the Belly or Thighs — (Nourishment) to provide the Necessaries of Life by Agriculture and Traffic.
The Sooder from the Feet— (Subjection) to labour, to serve, to travel.
These four great Tribes comprehend the first grand Divisions of a well-regulated State. The Mechanic, or petty Dealer, as a Branch of less Importance, and administering rather to the Luxuries than to the Necessities of Life, is furnished from a fifth adventitious Tribe, called Burrun Sunker, which is again subdivided into almost as many separate Casts as there are Trades or Occupations to be exercised by its Members.
The same Principle of Government, though under a different Modification, is said to prevail in China, where every Man is enjoined by Law to follow the Business of his Father, and forbidden to thrust himself into any other Profession. But while
we commend the Policy of the ancient Hindoos,
we must lament their most deplorable Ignorance in some of the practical Sciences, particularly Geography, to which they must give up all Pretentions after their extravagant Description of the seven Deeps, which they suppose to be so many Continents separated from each other by an almost infinite Ocean, but yet all belonging to the same World which themselves inhabit.
The other Division of the Preface contains the requisite Qualifications for a Magistrate and the Duties of his Station; most of the Rules there laid down are very pertinent, and display an accurate Knowledge of the human Heart. — But as the necessary Limits of an Essay like this do not give Room or Opportunity for a general and diffusive Criticism, it is here intended only to speak of such particular Parts and Passages of the Work as contain something peculiar, local, or characteristic.
Among the Qualities required for the proper Execution of publick Business, Mention is made, "That a Man must be able to keep in Subjection his Lust, his Anger, his Avarice, his Folly, and his Pride." These Vices are sometimes denominated in the Shanscrit under the general Term Opadhee, a Word which occurs in the quoted Specimen of the Comment upon the Reig Beid. The Folly there specified is not to be understood in the usual Sense of the Word in an European Idiom, as a negative Quality, or the mere Want of Sense, but as a Kind of obstinately stupid Lethargy, or perverse Absence of Mind, in which the Will is not altogether passive: It seems to be a Weakness peculiar to Asia, for we cannot find a Term by which to express the precise Idea in the European Languages; it operates somewhat like the violent Impulse of Fear, under which Men will utter Falsehoods totally incompatible with each other, and utterly contrary to their own Opinion, Knowledge, and Conviction; and it may be added Also, their Inclination and Intention. A very remarkable Instance of this temporary Frenzy happened lately in the Supreme Court of Judicature at Calcutta, where a Man (not an Idiot) swore upon a Trial, that he was no Kind of Relation to his own Brother who was then in Court, and who had constantly supported him from his Infancy; and that he lived in a House by himself, for which he paid the Rent from his own Pocket, when it was proved that he was not worth a Rupee, and when the Person in whose House he had always resided stood at the Bar close to him.
Whenever the Word Folly included among the Vices above-mentioned occurs in this Code, it must always be understood to carry the Meaning here described. — Another Conjecture, and that exceedingly acute and ingenious, has been started upon this Folly, that it may mean the Deception which a Man permits to be imposed on his Judgment by his Passions, as Acts of Rapacity and Avarice are often committed by Men who ascribe them to Prudence and a just Assertion of their own Right; Malice and Rancour pass for Justice, and Brutality for Spirit. This Opinion, when, thoroughly examined, will very nearly tally with the former; for all the Passions, as well as Fear, have an equal Efficacy to disturb and distort the Mind: But to account for the Folly here spoken of, as being the Offspring of the Passions, instead of drawing a Parallel between it and the Impulses of those Passions,
we must suppose the Impulse to act with infinitely more Violence upon an Asiatic Mind than we can ever have seen exemplified in Europe. It is however something like the Madness so inimitably delineated in the Hero of Cervantes, sensible enough upon some Occasions, and at the same Time completely wild, and unconscious of itself upon others; and that too originally produced by an Effort of the Will, though in the End overpowering and superseding its Functions.
It will no doubt strike the Reader with Wonder, to find a Prohibition of Fire-Arms in Records of such unfathomable Antiquity; and he will probably from hence renew the Suspicion which has long been deemed absurd, that Alexander the Great did absolutely meet with some Weapons of that Kind in India, as a Passage in Quintus Curtius seems to ascertain. Gunpowder has been known in China, as well as in Hindostan, far beyond all Periods of Investigation. —
The Word Fire-Arms is literally Shanscrit Agnee-aster, a Weapon of Fire; they describe the first Species of it to have been a Kind of Dart or Arrow tipt with Fire, and discharged upon the Enemy from a Bamboo. Among several extraordinary Properties of this Weapon, one was, that after it had taken its Flight, it divided into several separate Darts or Streams of Flame, each of which took effect, and which, when once kindled, could not be extinguished; [It seems exactly to agree with the Feu Gregeois of the Crusades.] but this Kind of Agnee-aster is now lost. — Cannon in the Shanscrit Idiom is called Shet-Aghnee, or the Weapon that kills a hundred Men at once, from (Shete) a Hundred, and gheneh to kill; and the Pooran Shasters, or Histories, ascribe the Invention of these destructive Engines to Beemookerma, the Artist, who is related to have forged all the Weapons for the War which was maintained in the Suttee Jogue between Dewta and Ossoor (or the good and bad Spirits) for the Space of one hundred Years. —
Was it Chance or Inspiration that furnished our admirable Milton with exactly the same Idea, which had never before occurred to an European Imagination?The Battles which are described in this Section, ridiculous as they may appear, when compared with the modern Art and Improvement of War, are the very Counterparts of Homer; for, in the early Ages of Mankind, a Battle appears to have been little more than a Set of distinct Duels between Man and Man; in which Case, every Circumstance pointed out in this Part of the Magistrate's Duty might naturally be expected to occur: And this is a forcible Argument to prove, that
the Compilers have not foisted into the Code any novel Opinions of their own, when in this Place hardly one of the Principles of War, as stated by them, is applicable to the present System and Situation of Mankind.There is a particular Charge to the Magistrate to forbid Fires in the Month Cheyt, or Part of March and April; this is an Institution most wisely and Usefully calculated for the Climate of Hindostan, where, for above four Months before that Time, there falls no Rain, and where the Wind always blows hard in that Month, and is very dry and parching, so that every Thing is in the most combustible Situation, and the accidental burning of a Handful of Straw may spread a Conflagration through a whole City. — It is observable in India to this Day, that Fires are more frequent and more dangerous in the Month Cheyt than in all the rest of the Year.
Upon the whole, the Scope and Master of this Section is excellent; and, divested of the peculiar Tinct it has received from the religious Tenets of its Authors, is not unworthy the Pen of the most celebrated Politicians, or Philosophers of ancient Greece.CHAP. I. The Code begins with Regulations for that which is one of the first Cements of civil Society, the Mutuation of Property; which, though equally necessary and advantageous to the Public, must be confined within certain Limits, and conducted upon the Faith of known Laws, to render it safe, confidential, and equitable. The favourable Distinctions marked towards some Tribes, and apparent Severity with respect to others, in this Chapter, though perhaps not reconcileable to our Ideas of social Compact, must be supposed perfectly Consonant to the Maxims of the Gentoos, and familiar to their Comprehensions, as it may be observed, that
the Compilers have been scrupulously exact, in pointing out all such Cases as have received different Decisions in the different Originals from whence the Abstract is selected. Indeed, the Bramins, indisputably persuaded that their Origin is from the Mouth, or superior Member, of their Creator, and consequently that the Superiority of their Tribe is interwoven with the very Essence of their Nature, esteem that to be a full and satisfactory Plea for every Advantage settled upon them, above the rest of the People, by the Laws of their Country;
nor are the other Casts discontented with the Lot to which they have been accustomed from their earliest Infancy; if they blame any Thing, it is that original Turn of Chance which gave them rather to spring from the Belly or the Feet of Brihma, than from his Arms or Head. The different Rate of Interest, established in this Chapter to be paid for the Use of different Articles, is perhaps an Institute peculiar to Hindostan; but it reflects a strong Light upon the Simplicity of ancient Manners, before Money was universally current as the Medium of Barter for all Commodities, and is at the same Time a weighty Proof of the great Antiquity of these Laws, which seem calculated for the crude Conceptions of an almost illiterate People upon their first Civilization. CHAP. II. The Rights of Inheritance, in the second Chapter, are laid down with the utmost Precision, and with the strictest Attention to the natural Claim of the Inheritor, in the several Degrees of Affinity. A Man is herein considered but as Tenant for in his own Property; and, as all Opportunity of distributing his Effects by Will, after his Death, is precluded, hardly any Mention is made of such Kind of Bequest. By these Ordinances also, he is hindered from dispossessing his Children of his Property in Favour of Aliens, and from making a blind and partial Allotment in Behalf of a favourite Child, to the Prejudice of the rest; by which the Weakness of parental Affection, or of a misguided Mind in its Dotage, is admirably remedied.
These Laws also strongly elucidate the Story of the Prodigal Son in the Scriptures; since it appears from hence to have been an immemorial Custom in the East, for Sons to demand their Portion of Inheritance during their Fathers Life-Time, and that the Parent, however aware of the dissipated Inclinations of his Child, could not legally refuse to comply with the Application. 11 And he said, A certain man had two sons:
12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.
26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.
29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
-- Luke 15:11-32
Though Polygamy has been constantly practised and universally allowed under all the Religions that have obtained in Asia, we meet with very few Instances of permitted Polyandry, or a Plurality of Husbands, such as mentioned in the fourteenth Section of this Chapter: But a Gentleman, who has lately visited the Kingdoms of Boutin and Thibet, has observed, that the same Custom is almost general to this Day in those Countries; where one Wife frequently serves all the Males of a whole Family, without being the Cause of any uncommon Jealousy or Disunion among them.