154 
HINDOOSTAN, 
chara&er of Preferver, all containing ancient traditions, 
embellished by poetry, or difguifed by fable. The eigh¬ 
teenth is the Bhagauiata, or Life of CriShna, with which 
the fame poet is by fome imagined to have crowned the 
whole Series; though others, with more reafon, affign 
them different compofers. 
Perhaps a few famples of Indian composition might not 
be unacceptable to the reader. The following ftanzas are 
part of a Hymn to Narrayna, or the “ Spirit of God.” 
Spirit of Spirits, who, through ev’ry part 
Of fpace expanded, and of endlels time, 
Beyond the reach of laboring thought fublime, 
Badft uproar into beauteous order ftart ; 
Before heav’n was, thou art. 
Ere Spheres beneath us roll’d, or fpheres above. 
Ere earth in firmamental aether hung. 
Thou fat’lt alone, till, through thy myStic love, 
Things unexiSting to existence fprung. 
And grateful defcant fung. 
Omnifcient Spirit, whofe all-ruling pow’r 
Bids from each fenfe bright emanations beam ; 
Glows in the rainbow. Sparkles in the Stream, 
Smiles in the bud, and glistens in the flow’r 
That crowns each vernal bow’r ; 
Sighs in the gale, and warbles in the throat 
Ot eveiy bird that hails the bloomy Spring, 
Or tells his love in many a liquid note, 
Whilst envious artifts touch the rival String, 
Till rocks and forelts ring; 
Breathes in rich fragrance from the fandal grove. 
Or where the precious mufk-deer playful rove; 
In dulcet juice, from cluit’ring fruit diStils, 
And burns falubrious in the tafteful clove : 
Soft banks and verd’rous hills 
Thy prelent influence fills ; 
In air, in floods, in caverns, woods, and plains. 
Thy will inlpirits all, thy Sovereign Maya reigns. 
Blue cryltal vault, and elemental fires, 
That in th’ aethereal fluid blaze and breathe ; 
Thou, tolling main, whofe fnaky branches wreathe 
This penfile orb with intertwisting gyres ; 
Mountains, whofe lofty fpires, 
Prefumptuous, rear their Summits to the ikies, 
And blend their em’rald hue with Sapphire light; 
Smooth meads and lawns, that glow with varying dyes 
Of riew-befpangled leaves and bloffoms bright, 
Hence ! vanish from my fight 
Delnlive piftures ! unfubltantial Shows ! 
My Soul absorb'd one only Being knows, 
OS’ all perceptions one abundant fource, 
Whence ev’ry object, ev’ry moment, flows: 
Suns hence derive their force. 
Hence planets learn their courfe ; 
But funs and fading worlds I view no more : 
God only I perceive ; God only I adore. 
The following twelve moral fentences may ferve as an 
example of their profe compofition ; 
1. Reitrain, deluded mortal, thy thirft of acquiring 
wealth; excite an averfion from it in thy body, under¬ 
standing, and inclination): with the riches which thou ac¬ 
quired by thy own actions, with thefe gratify thy foul. 
2. Who is thy wife ; who thy fou.; how extremely won¬ 
derful is even this world ; whofe creature thou alia art; 
whence thou cameft—meditate on this, O brother, and 
again on this. 
3. ’Make no boaft of opulence, attendants, youth.; all 
thefe time fnatches away in the twinkling of an eye ; 
checking all this illufion like Maya, fet thy heart on the 
foot of Brahme, fpeedily gaining knowledge of Him. 
4. As a drop of water moves tremulous on the lotos- 
leaf, thus is human life inexpreffibly Slippery; the com¬ 
pany of the virtuous endures here but for a moment j 
that is our Ship in paffing the ocean of the world. 
5. The body is tottering ; the head, grey; the mouth, 
toothlefs; the delicate Staff trembles in the hand which 
holds it; Still the flaggon of covetoufnefs remains un¬ 
emptied. 
6. How foon are we born! how foon dead! how long 
lying in the mother’s womb ! How great is the preva¬ 
lence of vice in this world! Wherefore, O man, hall thou 
complacency here below ? 
7. Day and night, evening and morning, winter and 
fpring, depart and return: time Sports, life paffes on; 
yet the wind of expectation continues unrestrained. 
8. To dwell under the manlion of the high gods at 
the foot of a tree, to have the ground for a couch, and a 
hide of vellure, to renounce all extrinfic enjoyments ; 
whom doth not Such devotion fill with delight ? 
9. Place not thy affections too Itrongly on foe or friend, 
on a Son or a kinfman, in war or in peace; be thou even- 
minded towards all, if thou defirelt ipeedily to attain the 
nature of ViShnu. 
10. Eight original mountains, and feven feas, Brahme, 
Indra, the Sun, and Rudra, thefe are permanent; not 
thou, not I, not this or that people ; wherefore then Should 
anxiety be railed in our minds ? 
11. In thee, in me, in every other being, is ViShnu ; 
foolishly art thou offended with me, not bearing my ap¬ 
proach : fee every foul in thy own Sold ; in all places lay 
afide a notion of diverfity. 
12. The boy fo long delights in his play ; the youth fo 
long purfues his damS'el ; the old man fo long broods over 
uneafinefs ; that no one meditates on the Supreme Being. 
Of the Indian Drama, fir William Jones has given a 
very fatisfaftory fpecimen, by his excellent translation of 
Sacontala, or the Fatal Ring. This drama was written 
by Calidafa, an Hindoo poet, who flourished in the firlf 
century before the birth of our Saviour, We Shall briefly 
Slate the outline of it, and illustrate the ftyle and charac¬ 
ter, by extracting two or three of the principal fcenes : 
DuShmanta, emperor of India, when hunting near a 
conlecrated foreft, meets with Sacontala ; who, being the 
daughter of a king by a nymph of the lower heaven, is left 
by her parents under the care of the hermit Canna. The 
king becomes enamoured of her, and marries her ; but, be¬ 
ing Suddenly called to his court, he leaves her in a State 
of pregnancy; giving her, at the fame time, a ring, with 
the name, DuShmanta, engraved on it. The manner of 
giving the ring he thus relates : When I was coming 
from the holy forell to the capital, my beloved, with tears- 
in her eyes, thus addreffed me: “ How long will the fon 
ot' my lord keep me in bis remembrance ?”—Then, fixing 
this ring on her lovely finger, I thus answered : “Repeat 
each day one of the three fyllables engraved on this gem; 
and before thou halt Spelled the word DuShmanta, one of 
my noblelt officers Shall attend thee, and conduCt my dar¬ 
ling to her palace.” In the mean time, Sacontala, by neg- 
leCling Some offices of hofpitality, expofed herfelf to the 
wrath of ‘ the angry Durvafas,’ who uttered the following 
imprecation: “ He on whom thou art meditating, on 
whom alone thy heart is now fixed, while thou negleCteft. 
a pure gem of devotion who demands hoi'pitality, Shall 
forget thee, when thou feeft him next, as a man reltored- 
to Sobriety forgets the words which he» uttered in a fit of 
intoxication.” His wrath being, however, Softened by the 
intreaties of one of the dami'els attending on Sacontala* 
he consented that, though his word could not.be recalled, 
the l'pell which it had raifed Should be wholly removed, 
when her lord Should See his ring. The king not fending 
according to his promife, Canna, the devout and holy, 
hermit, is induced by fome favourable omens, to convey 
his adopted daughter to the palace, in company with Gau- 
tami, aai old female hermit, and two Brahmins. They 
gain admittance into the king’s prel’ence : but DuShmanta,. 
being, under the influence of the Spell,, denies all know¬ 
ledge of his wife. Sacontala, recollecting what her com¬ 
panions had laid concerning the ring, otfers to prefent it, 
to him ; but, alas! it was gone. This confirms the king 
