BRACK MANS. 



395 



> das, or sacred books, containing the mysteries of 

 their philosophy ami religion. The Kctri, alone, 

 have tin- distinguishi-d honour of hearing ( tin- they 

 dare not read) these- supposed oracles of wisdom : 

 and if a Soudta were ivnvicled of so much as hear- 

 ing a passage from the Veda-, or the Shatters, he 

 ild have boiling lead poured into his ears as a pu- 

 nishment for his presumption. It is curious thus to 

 mark the congenial policy of priestcraft hi every 

 and to observe the :in;ilo..v between oriental and 

 'ern superstition. No object in nature is so sa- 

 cred, in the estimation of a pious Hindoo, as the per- 

 son of a Bramin : it is reg.irded as the greatest im- 

 piety to fail in the prescribed rules of respect and 

 reverence; and to cause his death, is an inexpiable 

 crime. This HIM lab ; rty of the Bramins has given 

 rise to gross abuses, and has latterly called for the 

 interference of the British legisl.it tire. When a Bra- 

 min supposes himself aggrieved, he has been known 

 to take his mother or his child, and, going into the 

 presence of the person who Las injured him, to stab 

 them to the heart, unless he re, : ,-;'d immediate re- 

 paration. The person who has driven him to this 

 extremity, is henceforth considered as profane, and 

 viewed by the sup. multitude with horror and 



detestation. ' Bramiti chooses to sit in 



Dliurna, as it is c.iiled ; that is, he takes his station 

 before the houof ..f his < J threatens to take 



away his own l,i if lie oilers to come out of his 

 house before he has given him the satisfaction which 

 he demands : an J as tt: Bramin never takes such a 

 step without a determination to persist in his resolu- 

 tion, and carry his threat: into effect, the unfortu- 

 nate prisonei is either obliged to submit to perhaps 

 a lawless exaction, or to L.CUI the insupportable odi- 

 um of having occasioned a Bramio's death. The 

 British government has had the courage to check 

 this absurd practice ; and wherever a Bramin is dis- 

 covered sitting in Dhurna, he is seized, nutwitstaiid- 

 ing the inviolability of his person, and thrown into 

 prison. 



All the learning in India is in the hands of the 

 Bramins ; and they were so celebrated for their li- 

 terary and philosophical attainments in ancient times, 

 that many of the most famous of the Grecian sages 

 travelled into India to perfect themselves in know- 

 ledge. However this may be, India does not ap- 

 pear to be the storehouse of knowledge in modern 

 times, and few would visit it, unless they had the 

 prospect of bringing home something else than wis- 

 dom. It perhaps would be going too far, to affirm, 

 that we might as well look for the learning and re- 

 finements of ancient Egypt among the modern Copts 

 and Mamelukes, as expect the knowledge of the 

 ancient Gymnosophists among the modern Bramins : 

 but certainly we do not meet with any of their liter- 

 ary or scientific productions, which can in any de- 

 gree command our respect : nay, even their most 

 ancient and venerable records, to which some have 

 been disposed to ascribe an almost unfathomable an- 

 tiquity, are of very little worth in a literary point 

 of vi'-w, consisting of a tissue of incomprehensible 

 allegories, and extravagant fables, which no human 

 sagacity can unravel. 

 Of tneir science, we have few or no remains, ex- 



cept their astronomical tables and trigonometrical Bracluruni. 



, which have n.ade :-.> f,"''' 1 "! a noi-e in Kumpe. 



Resj i lured to 



gKcoiiru; ..nd have 



claimed for them a high antiquity, upon grounds which 

 we think will not ca.>ily in' i.vi rturned. The Bramint 

 cannot be allowed the credit of the observatory at Be- 

 nare:,, a;;, according to the best accounts, it was erect- 

 ed by the celebrated Mahometan emperor Ackber. 

 It is now pretty well ascertained, that the arithmeti- 

 cal characters now employed in Europe, are of In- 

 dian, and not of Arabian origin, as was long suppo- 

 sed. The only learning which seems to be held in 

 any degree of estimation amongst the Bramins, in 

 modern times, is metaphysical subtlety and argu- 

 mentation. This, indeed, seems to have been the 

 species of erudition in which they have always de- 

 lighted, as corresponding best with the indolence of 

 their habits, and the acuteness of their genius. Ac- 

 cordingly, we find regular systems of logic and me- 

 taphysics, with all the niceties, distinctions, and classi- 

 fications, which are to be found among the Grecian 

 dialecticians ; and it is doubtful whether Aristotle, 

 the father of logic, did not derive both his materials 

 and arrangement from India. A Mahometan histo- 

 rian, as quoted by Sir William Jones, records a cu- 

 rious anecdote corroborative of this conjecture. He 

 mentions, that Callisthenes procured a regular treatise 

 on logic, in the Panjab, and transmitted it to Ari- 

 stotle ; and perhaps curiosity may yet be gratified 

 by discovering, that the Grecian philosopher did not 

 invent, but translate and compile a system of dialec- 

 tics. One thing is certain, that there is scarcely a 

 notion which has been advanced by metaphysicians, 

 in ancient or modern times, but may be found assert- 

 ed and illustrated in some of the Braminical writings. 

 We meet with materialists, atomists, pantheists, and 

 intcllectualists, if we may so denominate the followers 

 of the subtle and ingenious system of Berkeley. 

 There can be very little doubt that Pythagoras bor- 

 rowed most of his mystical philosophy, his notions 

 respecting the transmigration of the soul, and the 

 unlawfulness of eating animal food, from the ancient 

 Bramins ; for we find all these things particularly 

 explained and enforced by the modern Bramins. They 

 still abstain from all kinds of animal food, except 

 that in some provinces they eat a little fish, but so 

 disguised with rice and condiments, as scarcely to be 

 discerned. The most sacred of all their animals is 

 the cow, and to touch its flesh in the way of food, 

 is regarded as the highest pollution, and involves a 

 forfeiture of cast, even in the case of those who have 

 been involuntarily guilty of this offence. Hence the 

 tyrant Tippoo forcibly converted a great many of. 

 his Hindoo subjects to the Mussulman religion, by 

 sprinkling them with cow broth: by this means they 

 were for ever rendered unclean in the eyes of their 

 countrymen, and were glad to seek an asylum from 

 reproach, by embracing Mahometanism. 



This veneration for the cow, points out an evident 

 connection between India and Egypt, in which lat- 

 ter country, it is well known that the cow was the 

 principal object of religious adoration : nay, in the 

 account which Bartolomeo gives of a certain Indian 

 festival -which he witnessed, we recognize all the 



