SHASTAH. 



ftate, and who arc now in the laft fcene of probation, to the 

 dignity fnim which thi^-y were degraded,) out of tlie lan- 

 guage of angels into the well-known Shanfcrit language, and 

 called his tranflation the " Chartah Bhade Shallah" of Bir- 

 mah, or the Six Scripfure';of the Divine Words of the Mighty 

 Spirit. He appointed the Bramins, deriving their name from 

 him, to preach the word of God ; and the doftrines of the 

 Shallah were accordingly preached in their original purity a 

 thoufand years. About this time there was publifhed a 

 paraphrafe on the Cliartah Bhade : and about five hun- 

 dred years afterwards, a fecond expofilion, called " Augh- 

 torrah Bhade Shalla," or eighteen Books ol Divine Words, 

 written in a charaAcr compounded of the common Hiiidoo- 

 ftan and the Shanfcrit. This innovation produced a fchifm 

 among the Gentoos ; on which occafion, u is faid, tliofe of 

 Coromandel and Malab.ir formed a fcripture of their own, 

 which they pretended to be founded on the Chartah Bhade 

 of Birmah, and called it the Vcdam of Birmah, or Divine 

 Words of the Mightv Spirit. The original Chartah Bhade 

 was thrown alide, and, at length, wholly unknown, except to 

 a few families, who can Hill read and expound it in the Shan- 

 fcrit charaftcr. With the ellablifhment of the Auglitorrali 

 Bhade, and Vedam, which, according to the Gentoo ac- 

 count, is three tlionfand three hundred and lixty-iix years 

 ago, their polytheiim commenced ; and the principles of 

 religion became !o obfcure, and their ceremonies lo numerous, 

 that every head of a family was obliged to keep a Brainin, 

 as a guide both in faitli and praftice. Mr. Holvvell is of 

 opinion, that the Cliartah Bhade, or original fcriptures, are 

 not copied from any other fyitem of theology, promulgated 

 to, or obtruded upon mankind. The Gentoos do not at- 

 tribute them to Zoroader ; and Mr. Holwell luppofes, that 

 both Zoroaller and Pythagoras vifited Hindooltan, not to 

 inilruft, but to be inftrutted. 



From the account of Mr. Dow we learn, that the books 

 i which contain the religion and philofophy of the Hindoos, 

 arc dillinguifhed by the name of Bedas ; that they are four 

 in number, and, like the facred writings of other nations, 

 faid to be penned by the divinity. Beda, he fays, in the 

 Shanfcrit language, literally rignifies fcience ; and thefe books 

 treat not only of religion and moral duties, but of every 

 branch of philofophic knowledge. The Bramins maintain, 

 that the Bedas are the divine laws, which Brimha, at the 

 creation of the world, delivered for the initruftion of man- 

 kind ; but they affirm, that their meaning was perverted in 

 the firll age by the ignorance and wickednefs of fome princes, 

 whom they rrprefent as evil fpirits, who then haunted the 

 earth. The iirft credible account we have of I he Bedas if, 

 that about the commencement of the callug, of which era the 

 year 1768 was the 4886th year, they were written, or rather 

 collected, by a great philolopher, and reputed prophet, called 

 Deafs Muni, or Beafs tlie Infpired. 



The Hindoos, fays Mr. Dow, are divided into two great 

 religious fefts : the followers of the dodtrine of Bedang, 

 which is the original Shaller, or commentary upon the 

 Bedas ; and thofe who adhere to tiie principles of the Ne- 

 adirfen. The originnl Shaller is called Bedang, and is a 

 commcntarv upon the Bedas. 'I'his, he fays, is erroncoufly 

 called, in Europe, the Vedam. It is alcribed to Beafs 

 Muni, and faid to have been rcvifed fome years after by one 

 Serrider Swami, fmce which it has been reckoned facred, 

 and not (uhjert to any farther alterations. Alinoll all the 

 Hindoos of the Deccan, and thofe of the Malabar and Coro- 

 mandel coalts, are of this left. The followers of the Cedaiig 

 Shaflcr do not allow that any phyllcal evil exiils ; they 

 maintain that God created all tilings perfectly good, but 

 that man, being a free agent, may be guilty of moral evil, 



6 



which may be injurious to himfelf, but can be of no detri- 

 ment to the general fyilem of nature. God, they fay, being 

 perfectly benevolent, never punidied the wicked otherwife 

 than by the pain and affliftion which are the natural confe- 

 quences of evil aftions ; and hell, theref )rt, is no other than 

 a confcioufnefs of our evil. 



The Neadirfen Shaller is faid to have been written by a 

 philofopher called Goutam, near four thoufand years ago. 

 The Bramins, from Mr. Dow's account of their facred 

 books, appear to believe invariably in the unity, eternity, 

 oniniicience, and omnipotence of God ; and the polytheifra, 

 of which tliey have been accufed, is no more than a fym- 

 bolical worfliip of the divine attributes, which they divide 

 into three clalles. Under the name of Brimha, they worlhip 

 the wifdom and creative power of God ; under the appel- 

 lation of Bifhen, his providential and preferving quality ; 

 and under that of Shibah, that attribute which tends to 

 deflroy. 



According to M. de Sainte-Croix, the Shaila, however 

 extolled in Europe with refpeft to its antiquity, is pollerior 

 to the Vedam, being no more than the explication of it. 

 Holwell's Intereiling Hillorical Events, Sec. 8vo. Dow's 

 Hiilory of Hindooltan, 4to. 1768. L'Ezour Vedam, &C. 

 by M. de Sainte Croix, i2mo. Paris, 1 779. See Gentoo.s, 

 Shan.sc'Rit, and Vedam. 



Six Saftras are commonly defcribed as of fuperior fanc- 

 tity, and are called the proper Saftras : — in thefe are com- 

 priled the four Vedas, the eigliteen Puranas, commentaries 

 on the Vedas, called Upaveda, and others. ( See Veda, and 

 PuRANA.) The Sudra, or lowell of the four claifes of 

 Hindoos, are not permitted to Itudy thefe fix Saftras, as 

 being too holy for fuch prophanc contemplation. ( See 

 SuDUA.) As noticed under the article Ra.mayana, that 

 book is reckoned too fublime for the perulal of fo inferior a 

 claf?. The Sudra may hear it read. An ample field, how- 

 ever, remains for them in the lludy of prophane literature, 

 comprifed in a multitude of popular books, which correfpond 

 with the feveral Saftras, and abound with beauties of every 

 kind. All the trafts on medicine muft indeed be ftudied by 

 the Vaidyas, or thofe who are born phyficians ; and this pro- 

 fefiion is confined chiefly to the Sudras. The Vaidyas are 

 laid to iiave often more learning than m.any Bramins, with 

 far lefs pride than any. They are ufually poets, gramma- 

 rians, rhetoricians, &c. and may be elleemed in general 

 among the moll amiable and virtu<nis of the Hindoos. See 

 Vaidva. 



The word Saftra i^, however, applied more extenfively than 



the above account may feem to imply. For inftance, a col- 



leftion of trafts on arts and mannfadlures, is called Silpi 



Sallra. The name of Niti Salfra is given to a fyftem of 



ethics. Tlic Deriana Saftra is indeed one of the fix fuperior, 



and con-.prifes an explanation of the principles of the fix 



philofophical fchool;; ; a brief notice of which is given under 



the article Pnii-OSOVIIY nf the Hindoos. An analylisof tiiis 



work would fliew that many <if its theories .ire either the 



fource of fimilar dodrines propounded in later times in 



Greece, or borrowed from the fame fource with them. Other 



colleftioiis of trafts, and fome feparate works, bear alfo the 



denomination of Sallra ; and it is fometimes rather vaguely 



applied. A Brahman deeply verled in facred literature has 



the honourable title of Saftri added to his name ; cquiv.alent 



to our clerieus. Sometimes lie is diftinguiftied by it alone, 



and called the Snjlrl. There is alfo the Dherma Saftra, a 



body of ethics and ritual obfervaiices ; the Agama Sallra, 



or occult ordinances. Thi:; latter has been fulperted to 



have fume reference to the Ogham of the weft. See Ogham, 



and O'm. 



Safin, 



