iv ADVERTISEMENT. 



In the diiTertation on the Religious Ceremonies 

 of the Hindus, p. S6l, of the prefent volume, 

 the author cites a paffage which appears to have 

 reference to the creation of the univerfe, and 

 which feems, upon the whole, to bear fome re- 

 femblance to the account given by Mofes in the 

 Pentateuch. This naturallv leads us to confider 

 the antiquity of both the Mofaic and Hindu Scrip- 

 tures, and to compare, in fome meafure, the ac- 

 counts given in each work relative to that impor- 

 tant fact. 



The writings of Moses have generally been 

 coniidered as more ancient than thole of any other 

 perfon ; but the Hindu Scriptures, fo far as the 

 refearches of feveral learned men have extended, 

 appear to be of very high antiquity, and are even 

 carried by fome beyond the time of the Hebrew 

 Lawgiver. Sir W. Jones, in his Preface to the 

 " Inftitutes of Hindu Law ; or the Ordinances of 

 Menu, according to the Glofs of Cltllu'ca/' 

 carries the higheft age of the Yo.jur veda 1580 

 years before the birth of Christ, which is nine 

 years previous to the birth of Moses, and ninety 

 before Moses departed from Egypt with the If* 

 raelites. This date, of 1580 years before Christ, 



ms the more probable, becaufe the Hindu 

 fages are faid to have delivered their knowledge 

 orally. Cullu'a Biiatta produced, what may 

 be faid to be very truly, the morteft, yet the moil 

 luminous ; the leaft oftentatibus, vet the moll 

 iicd; the deepeft, yet the molr. agreeable, 

 commentary on the Hindu Scriptures, that ever 



was 



