1836.] Bombay Asiatic Society, 1836. 312 



They ought to consider that the situation of those to be instructed, is to 

 be attended to, as well as the instructions to be delivered. While divine 

 truth must be propagated with unwavering fidelity, and all hopes of ulti- 

 mate success rest on its own potency, its suitableness to the general cha- 

 racter of man, and the assistanee of divine grace, judgment ought to be 

 employed in the mode of its application to those who vary much in their 

 creeds, and differ much in their moral practice. We have the highest 

 authority for an accommodation such as that for which I plead. Though 

 the great truths proclaimed hy the apostle Paul were the same in all cir- 

 cumstances, they were introduced in very different ways to the Jewish Rab- 

 bis and people, and to the membersofthe Athenian Areopagus. I must hold, 

 that there is no little unsuitableneas in India, in addressing a Pantheist as 

 a Polytheist, and vice versa : in speaking to a Jaina as to a Brahman ; in 

 condemning that at random which the natives may suppose to be unknown, 

 and in using theological tex-ms, and general phrases, without any very 

 definite sense of their application by the natives themselves. The more 

 a knowledge of Hinduism and of Hindu literature is possessed by any 

 teacher, the more patiently and uninterruptedly will he be listened to by 

 the people, and the more forcibly will he be enabled, and principally by 

 contrast and concession, to set forth the authority, and the excellence, of 

 the doctrines of Christianity. 



In connexion with the subject to which I have now adverted, I may 

 allude to the peculiar duty which devolves on us of collecting Sanskrita 

 manuscripts. They are to be found in a purer state in the Dakshan than 

 in any other part of India, and the poverty of the Brahmans leads them 

 readily to part with them. Those which were lately purchased by us are 

 very valuable. 



The contributions of the members of our Society to the elucidation of 

 Hindu Antiquities, have done much to extend and support its credit. The 

 proximity of the ancient excavations, which may be classed among the 

 wonders of the world, could not fail to excite curiosity and inquiry. The 

 descriptions and illustrations of those of Gharipur (Elephanta), Sashti 

 (Salsette), Karali (Carlee), Ferula (Ellora), Bag and Ajanta*, though a 

 few errors and oversights may be detected in them, are highly interesting. 

 Mr. Erskine has satisfactorily shown the distinguishing characteristics of 

 those of them which are respectively to be attributed to the Baud'dhas 

 and Jainas, and the Brahmans. It is to be hoped that the inscriptioas 

 which are to be found on some of them, and which are in the Sanskrita 

 language, and in ancient characters very similar to those which have late- 

 ly been published in the ably conducted Journal of the Asiatic Society of 

 Bengal, will be soon understood. The Rev. Mr. Stevenson has already 

 been successful, to a great extent, in decyphering, and translating those of 

 the temples of Karali, and thus leading to inferences by no means unim- 

 portant. Some of those of Kanadi, on Salsette, I should think, from a 

 partial trial, present no greater difficulties than those which have been 

 already overcome. The stone bearing the inscription of the temples at 

 Elephanta, we learn from Diego de Couto the Portuguese Annalist, was 

 sent to John the Third of Portugal about the year 1534, and is probably 

 now either in the Royal Museum of Lisbon, or in the University of Coimbra. 

 The Royal Asiatic Society may, without difficulty, procure a transcript. 

 There are excavated temples in the country, such as those of Nasik, and 

 Junar, and others which have been erected, such as those of Abu, Palitana 

 and Girnar, which have not yet been particularly described. What we 

 principally require in reference to them all, is information as to the time 

 at which, and the views with which, they were constructed ; an estimate 

 of them as works of art, or as indicative of the resources of those to whom 

 they are to be ascribed ; and an inquiry into the religious rites and ser- 

 vices, for which they have been appropriated, and the moral impressions 

 * Written by Messrs. Salt, Erskine, Col. Sykes, &c. 



