OF THE HINDUS. 5 



Had the difference of doctrine taught in the heretical schools been con- 

 fined to tenets of a merely speculative nature, they would, probably, have en- 

 countered little opposition, and excited little enmity among the Brahmanical class, 

 of which, latitude of opinion is a very common characteristic. The founder 

 of the Atheistical school, however, Vrihaspati, attacks both the Vedas and 

 the BrahmanSi and asserts that the whole of the Hindu system is a contrivance 

 of the Priesthood, to secure a means of livelihood for themselves,* whilst the 

 Bauddhas and Jainas, equally disregarding the Vedas and the BrahmanSt 

 the practice and opinions of the Hindus, invented a set of gods for themselves, 

 and deposed the ancient pantheon : these aggressions provoked resentment : 

 the writings of these sects are alluded to with every epithet of anger 

 and contempt, and they are all anathematised as heretical and atheistical : 

 more active measures than anathemas, it may be presumed, were had recourse 

 to : the followers of Vrihaspati, having no worship at all, easily eluded the 

 storm, but the Bauddhas of Hindustan were annihilated by its fury, and the 

 Jainas apparently evaded it with difficulty, although they have undoubtedly 

 survived its terrors, and may now defy its forego 



The varieties thus arising from innovations in practice and belief, have 

 differed, it may be concluded, at different eras of the Hindu worship. To trace 



and are really advocates of an atheistical doctrine, denying the existence of a God, or a future state, 

 and referring creation to the aggregation of but four elements. The Baudd^has according to the same 

 authority, admit of four subdivisions, the i^ac?%d/m7ja5, Yogdchdras, Sautrdntikas and Vaibhdshicas. 

 The Jains or Arhats, as still one of the popular divisions, we shall have occasion to notice in the text. 



* Vrihaspati has the following texts to this effect : 



" The Agnihotra, the three Vedas, the Tridanda, the smearing of ashes, are only the livelihood 



c 



