16 AMRA. 



mysteries of their religion. In the reigns of Akbar's predecessors, 

 .and during the first invasions of the Moguls, many had suffered 

 martyrdom in the most horrid forms, rather than suffer their sanc- 

 tuaries to be violated, or disclose the contents of their Vedas or 

 sacred books. Loss of caste, excommunication in this world, and 

 eternal perdition in the next, were the punishments awarded to 

 those, who should break this fundamental law of the Brahminical 

 faith. The mystery was at length to be unveiled; the doubts and 

 conjectures, to which this pertinacious concealment gave rise, were 

 now to be ended for ever. The learned doctors and muftis bent 

 forward with an attentive and eager look Abul Fazil raised his 

 small, bright, piercing eyes, while a smile of dubious import passed 

 over his countenance the Portuguese monk threw back his cowl, 

 and the calm and scornful expression of his fine features changed 

 to one of awakened curiosity and interest: even Akbar raised him- 

 self from his jewelled couch as the deputies of the Brahmans ap- 

 proached. A single delegate had been chosen from the twelve 

 principal temples and seats of learning, and they were attended by 

 forty aged men, selected from the three inferior castes, to represent 

 the mass of the Indian population warriors, merchants, and hus- 

 bandmen. At the head of this majestic procession was the Brahman 

 Sarma, the high priest, and principal Gooroo or teacher of theology 

 at Benares. This singular and venerable man had passed several 

 years of his life in the court of the sultan Buber; and the dignity 

 and austerity, that became his age and high functions, were blended 

 with a certain grace and ease in his deportment, which distinguished 

 him above the rest. 



When the sage Sarma had pronounced the usual benediction, 

 " May the king be victorious !" Akbar inclined his head with rever- 

 ence. " Wise and virtuous Brahmans!" he said, "our court de- 

 rives honour from your illustrious presence. Next to the true faitli 

 taught by our holy prophet, the doctrines of Brahma must exceed 

 all others in wisdom and purity, even as the priests of Brahma excel 

 in virtue and knowledge the wisest of the earth : disclose, therefore, 

 your sacred Sastras, that we may inhale from them, as from the 

 roses of paradise, the precious fragrance of truth and of knowledge !" 



The Brahman replied, in the soft and musical tones of his people, 

 " O king of the world ! we are not come before the throne of power 

 to betray the faith of our fathers, but to die for it, if such be the 

 will of the sultan I 1 ' Saying these words, he and his companions 

 prostrated themselves upon the earth, and, taking off their turbans, 

 flung them down before them ; then, while the rest continued with 



