S H A 



S H A 



To which is prefixed a biographical preface, from which the 

 foregoing fafts have been extrafted. 



SHARPING Corn, a cuftomary prefent of corn, 

 which, at every Chrillmas, the farmers in fome parts of 

 England make to their fmith, for iharpening their ploughing- 

 irons, harrow-tines, &c. 



SHARPLING, in Ichthyology, the Englifh name of 

 the gaflerofteus. See STlCKLE-5ac;E. 



SHARPSBURG, in Geography, a town of America, 

 in Maryland ; 69 miles N-W. of Baltimore. 



SHARUM, a town of Arabia, in Hadramaut ; 15 mileo 

 S.W. of Kefchim. 



SHARUT, Shaiirat, or Sharoot, a fmall town of 

 Perfia, in Aiterabad, called alfo Bittan, is farrouiidcd in 

 fome parts with a flight earthen wall. Tiie houfes, from a 

 want of wood, are built of unburnt brick"?, and covered 

 ■with a flat arch of the fame materials. In its vicinity are 

 feen many people, whofe nofes, fingers, and toes have been 

 deftroyed by the froft, which is laid to be feverer at this 

 place than in any part of Perfia. This town, wi'h its de- 

 pendencies, yields a revenue of 1969 tomanns. The pofi- 

 tion of the town is determined by two routes, one from 

 Tehraun and the other from Tar(hi(h. 



SHASAD, or Siiazadbauy, a town of Hindooftan, in 

 the circar of Sumbul ; 16 miles S. of Sumbul. 



SHASAVA, a town of Hindooltan ; 18 miles S. of 

 Agra. 



SMASH, Al. SeeTASHKUSD. 



SHASHTI, in Mythology, a name of the Hindoo god- 

 defs Parvati ; which fee. 



SHASK, in Geography, a town of Hindooftan, in Bag- 

 lana ; 15 miles S. of Bahbelgong. 



SHASSAIR, a town of Africa, in Biledulgerid ; 7 

 miles N. of Fighig. 



SHASTAH, Shaster, or Snjlra, which latter is faid 

 to be the corredt fpelling and pronunciation, the name of 

 a facred book, in high eftimation among the idolaters of 

 Hindooftan, containing all the dogmas of the religion of the 

 Bramins, and all the ceremonies of their worlhip, and 

 ferving as a commentary on the Vedam. 



The word is derived from a root fignifying to ordain, and 

 means generally an ordinance, and particularly a facred 

 ordinance dehvered by infpiration : properly, therefore, the 

 word is applicable chiefly to facred literature. 



The term Shatter ienotei fcience or fyjlem ; and is applied 

 to other works of allronomy and philofophy, which have 

 no relation to the religion of the Indians. None but the 

 Bramins and rajahs of India are allowed to read the Vedam; 

 the priefts of the Banians, called Jhuderers, may read the 

 Shatter ; and the people, in general, are allowed to read 

 only the Paran or Pouran, which is a commentary on the 

 Shatter. 



The Shatter is divided into three parts ; the firft con- 

 taining the moral law of the Indians ; the lecond, the rites 

 and ceremonies of their religion ; and the third, the dittri- 

 bution of the people into tribes and clafTes, with the duties 

 pertaining to each clafs. 



The principal precepts of morality contained in the firtt 

 part of the Shatter, are the following : that no animal be 

 killed, becaufe the Indians attribute fouls to bri.te animals 

 as well as to mankind ; that they neither hear nor fpeak 

 evil, nor drink wine, nor eat flefh, nor touch any thin<^ 

 that is unclean ; that they obferve the feafts, prayers, and 

 wafhings, which their law prefcribes ; that they tell no lies, 

 nor are guilty of deceit in trade ; that they neither opprefs 

 nor offer violence to one another ; that they celebrate the 



folemn feafts and fafts, and appropriate certain hours of 

 ordinary fleep to cultivate a diipofition for prayer ; and that 

 they do not tteal, or defraud one another. 



The ceremonies contained in the fecond part of the 

 Shatter, are fuch as thefe : that they wath often in the 

 rivers, hereby obtaining the pardon of their fins ; that they 

 mark their forehead with red, in token of their relation to 

 the Deity ; that they prefent offerings and prayers under 

 certain trees, fet apart for this purpofe ; that they pray 

 in the temple, make oblations to their pagodas, or idols, 

 fmg hymns, and make proceflions, &c. ; that they praftife 

 pilgrimages to diltant rivers, and efpecially to the Ganges, 

 there to wafh themfelves, and make offerings ; that they 

 make vows to particular faints, according to their refpec- 

 tive departments ; that they render homage to the Deity, 

 at the firft fight of the fun ; that they pay their refpeft 

 to the fun and moon, which are the two eyes of the Deity ; 

 and that they treat with particular veneration, thofe ani- 

 mats that are deemed more pure than others, as the cow,< 

 buffalo, &c. becaufe the fouls of men have tranfmigrated 

 into thefe animals. 



The third part of the Shatter records the diftribution of 

 the people into four claffes ; the firll being that of the 

 Bramins, or priefts, appointed to inttruft the people: the 

 fecond, that of the Kutteris, or nobles, who are the ma- 

 giftrates : the third, that of the Shudderis, or merchants : 

 and the fourth, that of the mechanics. Each perfon is 

 required to remain in the clafs in which he was born, and 

 to purfue the occupation afligned to him by the Shatter. 

 According to the Bramins, the Shatter was imparted by 

 God himfelf to Brahma, and by him to tiie Bramins, who 

 communicated the contents of it to the people. 



Modern writers have given us very different accounts of 

 the antiquity and importance of the Shatter. Mr. Holwell, 

 who had made a confiderable progrefs in the tranflation of 

 this book, apprehends, that the mytliology, as well as the 

 cofmogony of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, were 

 borrowed from the doctrines of the Bramins contained in it, 

 even to the copying of their exteriors of worttiip, and the 

 dittribution of their idols, though grofsly mutilated and adul- 

 terated. With refpeft to the Vedam and Shaftah, or fcrip- 

 tures of the Gentoos, this writer informs us that Vedam, in 

 the Malabar language, fignifies the fame as Shattah in the 

 Shanlcrit ; and that the firft book is followed by the Gen- 

 toos of the Malabar and Coromandel coaits, and alfo of the 

 ifland of Ceylon. The Shaftah is followed by the Gentoos 

 of the provinces of Bengal, and by all the Gentoos of the 

 reft of India, commonly called India Proper, along tlie courfe 

 of the rivers Ganges and Jumna to the Indus. Both thefe 

 books, he fays, contain the inttitutes of their refpective reli- 

 gion and worlhip, as well as the hittory of their ancient rajahs 

 and princes ; often couched under allegory and fable : their 

 antiquity is contended for by the partifans of each ; but he 

 thinks, that the fimilitude of their names, idols, and great 

 part of their worttiip, leaves little room to doubt, nay, plainly 

 evinces, that both thefe fcriptures were originally one. He 

 adds, if we compare the great purity and chatte manners of 

 the Shattah, with the great abfurdities and impurities of the 

 Vedam, we need not hefitate to pronounce the latter a cor- 

 ruption of the former. 



With regard to the high original of thefe fcriptures, the 

 account of the Bramins is chiefly as follows. Brahma, q. d. 

 Mighty Spirit, about four thoufand eight hundred and fixty- 

 fix years ago, affumed the form of man, and the government 

 of Hindooltan. He tranflated the divine law (defigned for the 

 reftoration of mankind, who had offended in a pre-exiftent 



ftate. 



