850 Historical Geography of Hindustan, ^c. [No. 104. 



change of opinion, and the gradual conversion of the aborigines of India to 

 the present established system of religion.* 



Inasmuch, moreover, as the obscure subject of a nation's origin can 

 admit of proof, when facts have been mistified through religious imposture, 

 or the most recent annals perverted by fable, it may be reasonably 

 contended for, that in the age of Herodotus, the Brahmans of India, the 

 people of Persia, and those at the sources of the river Hydaspes, Sind, and 

 Oxus, followed nearly the same faith, and were not dissimilar in manners. 



It would appear that the religion they followed was the Sabean, or that 

 which enjoining a respect for the host of heaven, as the noblest symbol 

 of a deity, constituted the primitive idolatry of mankind.! It derived 

 its name from the Sabeans, an ancient people of Arabia, J and was pro- 



* Some of the Puranas are of very little antiquity, as would appear from the text 

 of the Padma Purana, which makes mention of Ramanuja, the celebrated Vishnava 

 reformer, who flourished in the middle of the 12th century, and was cotemporary with 

 Vishnu Verddhana, the fourth Belal Raja of DevarasamudraCsee A. R. xvi. p. 28.) 

 From what the Bakhta Mala, (A. R. xvi. p. 43,) asserts of the sectaries from 

 Ramanuja, called Ramanandis, according to whose tenets the distinction of caste was 

 inadmissible, we may safely infer that formerly a member of any tribe who as- 

 sumed the garb of a mendicant, and devoted himself to penance, would have gained 

 admission to the Hindu community. If we may credit the narration of Sadi, as given 

 at the end of his Bustan, he was permitted, as a mendicant, to perform Hindu 

 rites at the temple of Somnat. This happened in the 13th century ; and though he 

 calls the Brahmans Moghs, or fire-worsfiippers, it is scarcely possible that one, so 

 generally well informed as is Sadi, could have done so in ignorance, or without 

 having observed some connecting link of similarity. 



t In reference to this subject I cannot forbear quoting an opinion of Mr. Prinsep, 

 expressed in his Journal for September 1834, the justness of which appears supported by 

 the evidence of inscriptions in Western India, and of the coins which the late Secretary 

 of the Asiatic Society so ingeniously and successfully illustrated. " It is not surprising," 

 says he, " that on the Indian side of the Persian monarch's dominions, in a part proba- 

 bly under his influence, if not directly under his sway, we should find the fire-altar, or 

 the image of the sun, replaced by Krishna among the Hindus, or Buddha among the 

 Buddhaists; bothof them personating the sun in their respective mythologies." 



Whatever forms of the Hindu religion were prevalent at the time, the adoption of 

 the sun as the ostensible representation of Divine power, either in accordance with the 

 commands of the ruling prince, or from a natural tendency towards an union of the 

 Brahminical and Magian faith, could not present many difficulties. " We must not be 

 surprised," says Sir William Jones, " at finding that the characters of all the Pagan 

 deities, male and female, melt into each other, and at last into one or two; for it seems 

 a well-founded opinion, that the whole crowd of gods and goddesses in ancient Rome 

 and modern Varanes (Benares), mean only the powers of nature, and principally those 

 of the sun, expressed in a variety of ways, and by a multitude of fanciful names." 



X The origin of the name is not clearly ascertained, but has been traced by some 

 etymologists to the Arabic word Sabaa, signifying arising star. The word ^ **ilgr?l<iO 

 sahihat in that language is also made to signify stars, planets, and angels ; but I 

 can assert nothing positive regarding the word Sabean. 



