24 Mr. Colebrooke on the Plulusopliy of the Hindus. 



' In various passages, the number of corporeal organs is differently stated, 

 from seven to thirteen. The precise number is, however, eleven :* 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 ; wliere fewer are mentioned, it is used in a 

 more restricted acceptation : thus seven sensitive organs are sjioken 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.! 



' In its primary or principal signification, prdn'a is vital action, and 

 chiefly respiration. This, too, is a modification of Brahme. It is not 

 wind {vc'iyu) 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.'t 



' 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 be 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 facultj% 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.§ 



' The senses and organs, eleven in number as above mentioned, are 

 not modifications of the principal vital act, respiration, but distinct prin- 

 ciples.ll 



' 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. 



* Br. Sutr. 2. 4. § 2. (S. 5-6.) \ Ibid. § 3. (S. 7.) % Ibid. § 4. (S. 8.) § 5. (S. 9-12.) § 6. (S. 13.; 

 § Ibid. § 7. (S. 14-16.) II Ibid. § 8. (S. 17-19.) 



