292 ON THE RELIGION AND 



It will be obferved, that no Rahans alTifted in tlis 

 proceffions : and I may fay the fame of all the reli-' 

 gious ceremonies which I faw the laity perform. 

 On the grand fefiivals the laity endeavour to pleafe 

 God by all kinds of amufements; by wreftling, danc- 

 ing, mufic, plays, and firewarks. On other occa- 

 iions they folicit Godam.v's favour by prayers and 

 offerings at the temples. 



Among the worfhippers of Bouddha, there are 

 SO'ge^ or hermits, who pretend to a high degree of 

 fanBity, arifmg from a mortification of their paffions 

 and appetites. They ought to live in caves, woods, 

 and fubterraneous buildings, of which we faw many 

 remains in the neighbourhood of Gnauns:oo, It w^as 

 one of thefe hermits, named Menu, who is faidtohave 

 formed the code of Burma laws, a fable probably 

 invented to increafe their authority. Menu was alfo, 

 according to the Brahmens^ the author of theirlaws ; 

 but the Menu o^ iXig. Brahviens is, according to the two 

 legends, as different from the Menu of the Burvias^ 

 as the tv/o codes of laws are different in their juflice 

 and tendency. Thefe So-ges at prefent are not nu- 

 merous in the Burma dominions, I not having i'ccn 

 one; but in Hindujlan, under the name of jfogks, 

 they are flili very common, and are highly indecent, 

 from their going about the ftreets, and entering all 

 houfes abfolutely naked. They are not of the Brah- 

 menical order, and to me feem to be the remains of 

 the gymnofophifts mentioned by antient authors, and, 

 I fufpe6l, often by inaccurate antiquaries, confounded 

 with the Brahviens. Paulinus every where in his ac- 

 count of the Borgiart, mufeum, confounds thefe Zoges, 

 fogies, or, as he wrote, Yoguis, -with the Samanian^ or 

 Rahans : for this however he affigns no reafon. 

 Among the Burmas I always heard them diftingiiilhed 

 as two different orders. But in reality all religions 

 have had their Zoges. Men who thought to acquire the 

 favour of God by enduring mifery in this life, or who, 

 byprctendingtomore than common fanttity,andcom- 



maad 



