Ifc'O Ojv the religion and 



' ^' or R Ritpa, &c. And they further alledge, that 

 '^' beings arc continually revolving in these changes, 

 *' for tlie duration of one or more worlds, until 

 " they have performed such actions as entitle them 

 " to Nieban, the most perfect of all states, con- 

 *' sisting- in a kind of annihilation, in which beings 

 " are free from change, misery, death, sickness, 

 "or old age." 



For a further account of Niehan the reader may 

 ♦"onsult thiC treatise of the Zarado afterwards trans- 

 lated. Annihilation used in the text by my friend, 

 and in general by the missionaries, when treating 

 on this subject, is a very inaccurate term. Nieban 

 implies the being exempted from all the miseries in- 

 cident to humanity, but by no means annihilation. 

 Neither does Niebun imply absorption into the di- 

 vine essence ; a doctrine common I believe to Plato 

 and the Brahmens, and probably borrowed IVom the 

 Magi. The sect of Godama esteem the opinion 

 of a divine being, who created the universe, to be 

 highly impious. It might be supposed, that thi> 

 ■doctrine of transmigration would, among the wor- 

 shippers of Godama, prevent the belief in ghosts 

 or apparitions of the dead, but I found this not to 

 be the case. The death of some persons belonging 

 TO the Chlnefe embassy, who were lodged near us 

 <luring our stay at jlviarapura, produced great con- 

 .sternation among all the women and children in the 

 iieighbuurhood ; their ghosts being supposed more 

 likely to be restless than those of the natives. 



" 2«V?/, The J?^^rw?rMvritings do not conceive one 

 " world, but an infniite number, one constantly 

 *' succeeding another; so that when one is de- 

 " stro}'ed, another of the same form and structure 

 " arises, according to a certain general law, which 

 " they call dammada, and which maybe interpreted 

 ." fate. M'hich was the first world, and which will 

 " be the last, they do not pretend to know: nay 

 *' they say, that even Godama did not obtain this 

 2 " knowledge. 



