«'HE HINDU RELIGTOIT. 81 



cons'dcr difficult, if not inpossible in the then ex- 

 isting state of society, without interwer.ving the pre- 

 servation of so useful an animal, with the indispensa- 

 ble liuties of religion. They therefore rendered it 

 sacred. 



The Bull was made the emblem of Justice, the 

 vehicle of S'r \'A ; and the Co a', a form of Bha'v ani, 

 and the emblem of the Earth. A mere civil insti- 

 tute, m/ghl have been dtemed inadequate to work 

 the intended reform. But an mdispensable duty, 

 enforced by all the sacred obligations of religion, was 

 thought more likely to produce the effect; as having 

 mure hold upon ihe human mind : espccidly whea 

 that religion was promulgated as the i.nmediate re* 

 relation of the Deirj. 



Mankind naturally rush into contrary extremes 

 ilnder the impulse of religious zeal ; and the animal, 

 which had been the sui^ject of voracious cruelty, 

 became the object of religious veneration and wor- 

 ship. 



When these animals were thus exalted, the slaugh- 

 ter of them was considered as a sacrilege : it was a 

 natural ccmscquence. But supersation did not stop 

 there ; the dung came to be considered as pure ; the 

 Hindus use it diluted with water, and mixed with 

 earth, to purify their shops and houses : the spot, 

 on which they eat, is plastered with this composition; 

 and the idols are purified by a mixture of the dung, 

 urine, milk, curds, and butter of the animal ; nay, 

 a small quantity of the uri^ie is daily sipped by 

 some ; every part of the animal is dedicated to some 

 divinity with appropriate invocations ; and what ori- 

 ginated in policy, has ended in gross superstition. 

 The horrid repasts of the antient world are frequently 

 alluded to. It is said of Orpheus, Ccvdibus et victu 

 fadodtterruit : notwithstanding which, the Grecians 

 arc reproached by Julius Firmicus with perpe- 

 trating these horrid lepasts,' as part of the ceremony 



Vol. VIII. G ' 



