INDIA.' 



1 1 1 



marc defended by thimble. ; hence the sounds nit- prising race of men, and some of them extremely vie!,. 



1 ' ; i h -, r . ha ml un,,U-a,mt. Tlu-.v is .... harmony in The Jews are very numerous espec.aly in the victai- 



onVnerion sin^s i.. a high and another in ty of Cochin, where they-are divided into two c, 



IheirMHlMJ one person '* ^ _ , -. ,.,, To ,,, a i om r__,. ,! ,i, _,.; , |,l : ,rk 



Ststistios. 



: . 



Sculpture, 



k* 



..;< ; one person sings 



a low voice, be-inninir i" ' w tl)ne ' tlU " car the CI . U 



,-,), ,.-eak out into a loud noise. In the 



other fine arts they are equally deficient : in painting 



are irnora.it of perspective ; gaudy colours, es- 



,11 V red and blue, with the figures crowned With 



cold are in their estimation the perfection ot painting. 



the white or Jerusalem Jews, and the Ancient or black 

 Jews, the latter are considered an inferior race. 



Christianity established itself on the Malabar coast at a Christian* 

 very early period. IV fore the arrival of Vasco de Ganta 

 there were 44 churches, all of the Nestorian persua- 

 sion, containing above 200,000 people. At present 



cr,.ld are in their estimation tne periecuon 01 | mif. . . 



,ei'r sculpture and architecture are rich and elegant there are not above 40,000 ot tins persuasion ; but the 

 ents but rude and destitute of taste and number of all kinds of Christians on the Malabar coast 

 u\l 'inent in their principles and grand outline; the is still about 200,000; of whom <)0,000 are settled in 

 most ancient remains of these arts are the excavations the nrovmee of Tnvancore. In some narts ot 

 mid sculptured rocks in Elephanta and Salsette, at 

 Illlore; the seven pagodas, and in the Cave of Car- 

 the Mahratta mountains. The Hindoos seem, 



from very remote antiquity, to have been acquainted 

 with the construction and use of the arch. The mo- 

 dern pagodas or temples differ 'considerably in their 

 style and ornaments in different parts of Hindostan ; 

 tliose in the north are the most simple; those on the 

 coast of Coromandel are built in the style of the most 

 ancient temples, of large square stones, so arranged 

 and connected that they, form a pyramid. The pa- 

 godas on the coast of Malabar are for the most part 

 circular, and covered with plates of copper. There 

 are several magnificent and very costly specimens of 

 Mahomedan architecture in various parts of Hindos- 

 tan Proper, particularly near Agra, where Shah Jehan 

 erected a monument of white marble to the memory of 

 his wife, at Delhi, &c. See CIVIL ARCHITECTURE, vol. 

 VI. p. 524., 575. 



Astronomy The claims of the Hindoos to an intimate knowledge 

 ami d.runo- o f agronomy from very remote antiquity, have been 

 lo sy- disputed. It is certain, however, that the ancient Hin- 



doos were better acquainted with this science than the 

 Greeks and Romans ; and that the rule for computing 

 the circumference of a circle was known in India at a 

 more early period than in Europe. The division of 

 the zodiac is the same as ours. Their year is sidereal, 

 beginning when the sun enters Aries. The civil year 

 and month begin at sunrise, instead of midnight. The 

 day and night are divided into four day watches and 

 four night watches, the length of which must, of course, 

 vary with the season. Each watch is subdivided into 

 ghurries, which contain 24 minutes, which are again 

 subdivided into smaller portions of time. These pe- 

 riods are measured by a brass cup with a hole at the 

 bottom, placed in a large vessel filled with water, and 

 marked with lines. As soon as the water rises in it to 

 any of these lines, the watchman strikes a pan made of 

 bell metal with a wooden mallet, indicating the num- 

 ber of the ghurrie. (See HOROLOGY, vol. XI. p. 116, 

 Note.) Only very rich men have clocks; and there are 

 no public clocks, except those attached to the armies. 

 See ASTRONOMY, vol. II. p. 585. 



Moors, Par- Beside the Hindoo inhabitants of India, there are 

 sees, &c. Moors, Parsees, Jt ws, and Christians. The Moors are 

 most numerous in Hindostan Proper, especially about 

 Delhi. They may be divided into two classes : The 

 first comprises the descendants of the conquerors, Tar- 

 tats who are continually naturalising themselves by en- 

 tering the armies, and Arabians and Persians, who set- 

 tle in Hindostan for the purposes of commerce ; the 

 second class comprehends all the descendants of con- 

 verted Hindoos. Most of the Mahomedans in India 

 are of the sect of Shiah. The Parsees, who are very 

 numerous in Guzerat and Bombay, are the descendants 

 of the followers of Zoroaster ; they are a hardy, enter- 



the province of Travancore. In some parts of this pro- 

 vince Christian churches are much more numerous than 

 Hindoo temples. A great proportion of tlte fishtrmen 

 on the Coast are Christians. 



The population of India has been differently estima- PopulioJ 

 ted, nor is it possible to fix it with any degree of ac- 

 curacy. According to Mr. C. Butter, in his letter to 

 the Court of Directors respecting the temple of Jug- 

 gernauth, 19th May 1813, the whole of the Hindoo 

 population, as far as Cabul, is not much short of 

 '200,000,000. This, however, is undoubtedly much 

 too high an estimate. According to Mr. Walter Hamil- 

 ton, in his East India Gazetteer, there are in Northern 

 Hindostan, Hindostan Proper, the Decan, and the 

 South of India, 101,000,000; of which there are 

 53,500,000 in British Hindostan, 17,500,000 in the ter- 

 ritories of the British allies and tributaries, 1-5,000,000 

 in the independent principalities, and the same num- 

 ber under the Rajpoots of Ajmeer, the Ameers of 

 Sinde, the Cabul government, the Rajahs of Bootan 

 and Assam, &c. The Marquis Wellesley, however, in 

 a recent debate on East India affairs, stated the popu- 

 lation of British Hindostan at only 40,000,000 ; and 

 this is probably nearer the truth. Supposing the area 

 of this part of India to be 357,000 geographical square 

 miles, this will give rather more than 1 19, inhabitants 

 to the square mile. In the years 1 800- 1 and 1 802, an- 

 swers were sent to the Governor- General to several 

 queries regarding the Bengal Presidency, one of which 

 had relation to the population of its diflerent districts. 

 The following are the results : 



Calcutta division. 



