1^4 C>N THE RELIGION AIxD 



*' means, to invite the Nat to come out from iBe^r 

 '* houfes, and to fport in the air. The thunder and 

 *' lightning, which frequently precede rain, are the 

 " clafhing and fhining of the arms of thefe Nat, who 

 *' fometimes fport in mock-battles. As the Burma 

 " "writings acknowledge Nat prefiding over rain, fo 

 *' they alfo (like the ancient heathen) believe in others 

 *' governing the winds and the clouds." 



So far the miffionaryj on the aftronomical and phy- 

 fical ideas of the Burma doftors; ideas which, I doubf 

 not, were brought from Hindujian, along with their 

 religion and laws. Such therefore, probably, was 

 the aftronomical do6trine, taught in that country, be- 

 fore the introdutlion of Brahmenical fcience, which 

 by all accounts, however deeply involved in fable, is 

 much more perfecl. I do not conceive it to have been 

 the invention of Godama, or of thofe who in his 

 name propagated a new religion, but to have been the 

 common do6lrine prevailing in Hindujlan at the time: 

 for the Rahans fecm to confine their ftudies almoft 

 entirely to theological, hiltorical, moral, and politi- 

 cal fubjefts. From the ufe of the fame figns of the 

 zodiac, there can be little doubt of their having de- 

 rived at leaft that part of their aftronomical knowledge 

 from the Chaldeans ; whofe fcience may have in fome 

 degree reached India, nearly about the time of Go- 

 dama, through the conqueft of the Perfians under 

 Darius. But I do not think it likely, that all the 

 knowledge which the Hindus poffeffed in the time of 

 BouDDHA, was derived from Babylon* It is true, 

 that the Perfians ftiortly previous to this, as we learn 

 from our beft guide Herodotus, were an extremely 

 rude and ignorant nation :t and we have very proba- 

 ble grounds given us by Sir William Jones for be- 

 lieving that the Perfians proper were of the fame na- 

 tion with the Hindus. It might therefore be con- 

 cluded, 



* Seepage of this volume. + I fpeak of the P^r/jjw.f properly 



fo called, the inhabitants of Parjiftan^ who under Cykus founded the hilt 

 gfcat Pt'r/ian monarchy. 



