566 Mr. CoLEBROOKE on the Philosophy of Indian Sectaries. 



All concur in assigning to its attainment the same term, mucti or vwcsha, 

 with some shades of difference in the interpretation of the word : as eman- 

 cipation ; deliverance from evil ; liberation from worldly bonds ; relief 

 from further transmigration, &c. 



Many other terms are in use, as synonymous with it ; and so employed 

 by all or nearly all of these sects ; to express a state of final release from 

 the world : such as amrtta, immortality ; apavarga, conclusion, completion, 

 or abandonment ; ^reyas, excellence ; nth s'reyasa, assured excellence, per- 

 fection ; cairvalya, singleness ; nih saran'a, exit, departure. But the term, 

 which the Bauddhas, as well as Jaitias, more particularly affect, and which 

 however is also used by the rest, is nirvdn'a, profound calm. In its 

 ordinary acceptation, as an" adjective, it signifies extinct, as a fire which 

 is gone out ; set, as a luminary which has gone down ; defunct, as a 

 saint who has passed away : its etymology is from vd, to blow as wind, 

 with the preposition nir used in a negative sense : it means calm and 

 unruffled. The notion which is attached to the word, in the acceptation 

 now under consideration, is that of perfect apathy. It is a concUtion 

 of unmixed tranquil happiness or extacy (dnanda). Other terms (as 

 snc'ha, mdlia, &c.) distinguish different gradations of pleasure, joy, and 

 delight. But a happy state of imperturbable apathy is the ultimate bliss 

 (dnanda) to which the Indian aspires : in this the Jaina, as well as the 

 Bauddha, concurs with the orthodox Veddntin. 



Perpetual uninterrupted apathy can hardly be said to differ from eternal 

 sleep. The notion of it as of a happy condition seems to be derived from 

 the experience of extacies, or from that of profound sleep, from which a 

 person awakes refreshed. The pleasant feeling is referred back to the period 

 of actual repose. Accordingly, as I shall have occasion to show in a future 

 essay, the veddnta considers the individual soul to be temporarily, during 

 the period of profound sleep, in the like condition of reunion with the 

 Supreme, which it permanently arrives at on its final emancipation from 

 body. 



This doctrine is not that of the Jainas nor Bauddhas. But neither do 

 they consider the endless repose allotted to their perfect saints as attended 

 with a discontinuance of individuality. It is not annihilation, but unceasing 

 apathy, which they understand to be the extinction (nirvm'a) of their 

 saints ; and which they esteem to be supreme felicity, worthy to be sought 

 by practice of mortification, as well as by acquisition of knowledge. 



