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circled by the sacred groves and temples of the brahmins. The 

 ablutions, strongly enforced in the Hindoo religion, are wise in- 

 junctions. Bathing is not only one of the most refreshing plea- 

 sures in a hot climate, but purity of body is supposed to be nearly 

 connected with purity of soul: thus thought many of the ancient 

 sages and philosophers ; and in the sacrament of Christian bap- 

 tism the one is typical of the other. I am willing to believe that 

 acceptable prayers and praises ascend to heaven from the ablu- 

 tions of the innocent Musnavi brahmin, who rising with the early 

 dawn, washes himself in the holy stream of the Ganges, the Indus, 

 or the Nerbudda; waiting for the appearance of the celestial lumi- 

 nary over the eastern hills, to worship Om, the Great Invisible, 

 who through this agency gives light, and life, and joy to his crea- 

 tion: but emotions of pity and of blame are mingled with our ap- 

 probation when we behold these eastern philosophers worshipping 

 God themselves in his unity, and at the same time sanctioning 

 and teaching polytheism among all the other tribes of Hindoos; 

 and saying to the poor Soodra and Chandala, " stand off, for I am 

 holier than thou." 



I know not whether these humiliated castes are permitted to 

 worship any of the higher order of the Hindoo deities: Marialalee, 

 peculiarly styled the goddess of the Poor, is said to be composed of 

 two distinct properties, the virtues of a goddess, and the vices of a 

 criminal, from a monstrous union of impurity and virtue having 

 accidentally happened by mistake, as particularly recorded in the 

 Hindoo legends. Sonnerat says, Mariatalee is the great goddess of 

 the Parias; to honour her they have a custom of dancing with 

 several pots of water on their heads, placed one above another: 



