VEDAS PURANAS. 253 



ten thousand stanzas. They are illustrated by numerous 

 •comments, of which the Shastras or Sastras are held almost 

 equally sacred, and are, in their turn, loaded with exposi- 

 tions ; so that a very large amount of literary production is 

 founded upon the Vedas. The perusal of these writings is 

 the most meritorious exercise in which a Hindoo can en- 

 gage ; but the Bramins, according to their narrow notions, 

 -confine that privilege strictly to their own order, and brand 

 as impious every attempt by one of an inferior class to open 

 these pages. Even their own studies are not always con- 

 ducted in the most enlightened or intelligent manner. Be- 

 ginning to read at a very early age, and having the idea that 

 merit is attached to the mere repetition of words, they often 

 disregard the import altogether. So fully is this admitted, 

 that it is thought as advantageous to repeat the words back- 

 ward as forward, and devotees are said to value themselves 

 on reciting them transposed in various fantastic forms, 

 which exclude altogether any attention to their meaning. 

 Learned men at Benares, Jyenagur, and other holy cities, 

 have even been at pains to prepare copies adapted to these 

 absurd modes of reading. 



The Puranas, another extensive portion of Hindoo liter- 

 ature, are, like the Vedas, composed in verse, and bear a 

 character still more decidedly poetical. They are confess- 

 edly more modern, and by no means held in equal venera- 

 tion. Mr. Colebrooke, indeed, supposes they may have 

 been meant to constitute a fifth Veda ; but the Bramins 

 show the inferior estimation in which they are held by 

 allowing even the humble class of Sudras to read them. 

 The Puranas, in fact, acknowledge the supreme excellence 

 of the Vedas, and enforce the reverence due to all the dei- 

 ties there celebrated and addressed ; yet they introduce us 

 to an entirely new circle of celestial characters. In the 

 former, Brama and the creation effected by him are the 

 leading themes. Theism is decidedly maintained, and ex- 

 pressed not unfrequently in very elevated language, though 

 debased by mean and childish details ; but in the Puranas 

 deified heroes arc the leading actors, and though, as incar- 

 nations of Vishnu, they might be held connected with the 

 original objects of worship, they are in fact mere human 

 beings, partaking largely the frailties of mortals. These 

 works, moreover, include accounts of the nature and attri- 



Vol. II.— y 



