OF THE HINDUS. 35I 



years before it can be perfectly underftood. When 

 CasindCha Serman, who attended Mr. Wilkins, was 

 afked what he thought of the Pdnimya, he anfwered 

 very expreffively, that " it was a foreft ;" but, fince 

 grammar is only an inftrument, not the end, of true 

 knowledge, there can be little occafion to travel over 

 fo rough and gloomy a path; which contains, however, 

 probably, fome acute fpeculations in Metaphyjicks. 

 The Sanfcrit Profody is eafy and beautiful; the learned 

 willfindinitalmoft all the meafuresof the Greeks; and 

 it is remarkable, that the language of the Brdhmansnins 

 very naturally into Sapphicks, Alcaicks, and Iambicks. 

 Afironomical works in this language are exceedingly 

 numerous ; feventy-nine of them are fpecified in one 

 lift; and if they contain the names of the principal ftars 

 vifible in India, with observations on their pofitionsin 

 different ages, what difcoveries may be made in fcience, 

 and what certainty attained in ancient chronology ! 



Subordinate to thekAnga's (though the reafon of the 

 arrangement is not obvious) are the feries of Sacred 

 Poems, the Body of Law, and the fix Philofophical 

 sdjlras, which the author of our text reduces to two, 

 each confiding of two parts ; and rejects a third, in two 

 parts alfo, as not perfectly orthodox : that is, not ftri&ly 

 conformable to his own principles. 



The firft Indian Poet was Vdlmici, author of the Ra- 

 mdyana, a complete epic poem on one continued, in- 

 tereiting, and heroick action : and the next in celebrity, 

 if it be not fuperior in reputation for holinefs, was the 

 Mahdbhdrata of Vydfa. To him are afcribed the facred 

 Purdnas, which are called, for their excellence, the 

 Eighteen, and which have the following titles : Brahme,or 

 the Great One; Pedma, or the Lotos ; Brdhmdncla, or the 

 Mundane Egg ; and Agni, or Fire; (thefe/owr relate to 



the 



