1882.] Sir Henry S. Maine on Sacred Laws of the Hindus. 143 



WEEKLY EVENING MEETIN 



Friday, May 26, 1882. 



Thomas Boycott, M.D. F.L.S. Manager, in 

 Sir Henry S. Maine, K.C.S.L F.R.S. 



Sacred Laws of the Hindus. 



The speaker began by referring to the introduction of tlie study of 

 Sanscrit, by Sir William Jones, who, on becoming an Indian Judge, 

 found it needful to consult tbe Hindu law in the original. The law- 

 books of Manu, which he translated, were by him dated about 1200 B.C., 

 and believed to be the work of one man; it is now considered by Sanscrit 

 scholars to be a modern portion of a long-continued series, and it has 

 even been dated as late as about 1300 a.d. They are in verse. Much 

 more ancient books, the earliest in the form of aphorisms, have been 

 discovered, the work of schools of learned Brahmins during many ages. 

 They are essentially religious and liturgical, teaching what men ought 

 to know and do from life to death — theology and morals. There is a 

 perfect continuity of life which runs in a stream, returning in itself, 

 and the doctrine of the transmigration of souls pervades the whole 

 system*; the soul of a vicious man enters the body of one of the 

 lowest animals ; that of a holy person may be at once united to God. 

 Punishment for sins was also se^Darately effected in twenty-two hells or 

 purgatories ; and men were exhorted to torment themselves in this 

 world, to escape worse hereafter. As time went on, the king, whose 

 office in early times was chiefly to enforce penances, became a judge, 

 the chief of a tribunal, and eventually a code of civil law was con- 

 stituted. The inheritance of property was intimately connected with 

 ancestor worship. When a Brahmin became old he became a hermit, 

 and his property was divided amongst his sons, whose bounden duty 

 it was at his death to aj^pease his spirit by sacrifices. The earnest 

 desire for sons led often to extraordinary forms of artificial sonship, 

 of which Adoption was only one. The authority of the Brahmins was 

 exorbitant ; they enjoyed immunity from the sanctions of the criminal 

 laws, and were believed even to have a certain degree of power over 

 the gods. They were priests, legislators, and rulers. On a full ex- 

 amination, their influence is considered to be rather evil than good ; 

 and to this may be attributed the many misfortunes of India. The 

 Hindoo mind now is turning towards Western culture and civilisation, 

 and the future government of India, which has to respect both 

 Western and Eastern principles, is a very delicate problem. 



