RELIGIOUS SECTS OF THE HINDUS. 309 



The survey that has thus been taken of the actual state of the Hindu 

 religion will shew, that its internal constitution has not been exempt from 

 those varieties, to which all human systems of belief are subject, and 

 that it has undergone great and frequent modifications, until it presents 

 an appearance which there is great reason to suppose is very different 

 from that which it originally wore. 



The precise character of the primitive Hindu system will only be 

 justly appreciated, when a considerable portion of the ritual of the Vedas 

 shall have been translated, but some notion of their contents and purport 

 may be formed from Mr. Colebrooke's account of them,* as well as from 

 his description of the religious ceremonies of the Hindus. t It is also 

 probable that the Institutes of Menu, in a great measure, harmonise with 

 the Vaidik Code. 



From these sources then it would seem, that some of the original 

 rites are still preserved in the Homa, or fire offerings, and in such of the 

 Sanskdras, or purificatory ceremonies, as are observed at the periods of 

 birth, tonsure, investiture, marriage and cremation. Even in these 

 ceremonies, however, formulae, borrowed from the Tantras, assume the 

 place of the genuine texts, whilst on many occasions the observances of the 

 Vedas are wholly neglected. Nor is this inconsistent with the original 

 system, which was devised for certain recognised classes into which 

 the Hindu community was then divided, and of which three out of four 

 parts no longer exist — the Hindus being now distinguished into Brahmans 

 and mixed castes alone — and the former having almost universally deviated 



* Asiatic Researches vol. Villi. 

 f Asiatic Researches vol. VII. 



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