>56 HINDOO LITERATURE. 



and their awful retreat. It becomes indeed pure spirits to 

 feed on balmy air in a forest blooming with trees of life ; 

 to bathe in rills died yellow with the golden dust of the lo- 

 tus, and to fortify their virtue in the mysterious bath ; to 

 meditate in caves, the pebbles of which are unblemished 

 gems : in this grove alone is attained the summit of true 

 piety." 



Metaphysics, or the philosophy of mind, forms in India a 

 very favourite object of study. It is connected with the 

 lofty and abstruse tenets of their religion, and with that 

 abstraction from active life which its precepts inculcate, and 

 which an absolute government imposes on the great body 

 of its people. A greater independence of mind has been 

 displayed upon this subject than any other upon which Hin- 

 doo thought has been exercised. Some writers, particu- 

 larly of the Jain sect, have, in open defiance of the Vedas, 

 composed works of which the votaries of the orthodox faith 

 strictly interdict the perusal. Others again have indulged 

 only in such a moderate measure of free inquiry, that the 

 Bramins, in consideration of their great merit, allow their 

 disciples to read them ; warning them carefully to reject 

 whatever is not consistent with the Vedas. Ot these demi- 

 orthodox systems the most celebrated is the Sanchye ot 

 Kapila,— a'sage so venerable, that he has even been consid- 

 ered as an incarnation of Vishnu. It may be regarded, 

 therefore, as the system of philosophy which ranks highest 

 in Indian estimation ; and the learned world is much in- 

 debted to Mr. Colebrooke for the full and perspicuous analy- 

 sis which he has given of its contents. We can only at- 

 tempt to convey to our readers a very general idea ot them. 



The author begins by explaining the advantages to be de- 

 rived from his doctrines, which he magnifies in a manner 

 truly exraordinary. He represents that they not only illu- 

 minate and enlarge the mind of man, but deliver it from all 

 evil, and secure eternal beatitude. He proceeds to consider 

 the sources of human knowledge, which he divides, not in- 

 judiciously, into the three heads of perception— inference— 

 affirmation, or testimony, human and divine. Like the 

 Greek philosophers, he makes nature to consist of the tour 

 elements of earth, water, air, and fire ; but he adds, as a 

 fifth, a diffused ethereal fluid, imagined to be the vehicle ot 



