all he sees, that such and such cures have been performed by it. In the years 1807 and 1808, almost all the sick and imaginary sick Hindoos in the south of Bengal presented their offerings to an image called Taruk-éshwůru, at a place bearing this name. The bramhuns owning this image became rich. This excited the attention of some bramhŭns near Nudeeya, who proclaimed another image of Shivă, in their possession, to be the brother of Taruk-éshwürů,' and the people of those parts flocked to this image as others had done to the original one.

The next article relates

The author has devoted 224 pages of this work to the gods. to the Hindoo temples, none of which appear to be distinguished for the elegance of their architecture; they are not the work of a people sunk in barbarism; neither will they bear any comparison with the temples of the Greeks or Romans.* They are not constructed so as to hold a crowd of worshippers, who are always accommodated in an area opposite the temple. The room in which the idol is placed is considered sufficiently spacious if it hold the officiating priest, the utensils for worship, and the offerings.

These temples answer none of the ends of a lecture room, nor of a Christian temple. Here the passions are never raised to heaven by sacred music, nor by the voices of a large and devout congregation celebrating the praises of the Deity in the strains of sacred poetry; here no devout feelings are awakened by the voice of prayer and confession, nor are the great truths of religion explained, or enforced upon the mind of an attentive crowd by the eloquence of a public speaker: the daily worship at the temple is performed by the solitary priest with all the dulness, carelessness, and insipidity necessarily connected with a service always the same, repeated before an idol made of a cold stone, and in which the priest has no interest whatever: when the crowd do assemble before the temple, it is to enter upon orgies which destroy every vestige of moral feeling, and excite to every outrage upon virtue.

The dedication of a temple is a work of great ceremony,† if the building belong to a man

* We learn from the Ain Akbŭree, however, that the entire revenues of Orissa, for twelve years, were expended on erecting a temple to the sun.----Maurice's Indian Antiquities.

+ Circumambulating a temple is an act of merit, raising the person to a place in the heaven of the god or goddess whose temple he thus walks round. At Benares the devout do it daily. If the circumambulator be a learned man, he repeats the praise of the god as he is walking, and bows to the image every time he arrive sat the door of the temple. The ignorant merely walk round, and make the bow. The right hand is always kept towards the object circumambulated.

of wealth; the expence incurred in presents to the bramhans and others is also very great. The person who employs his wealth in this manner is considerably raised in the estimation of his countrymen: he frequently also endows the temple, as well as raises it, which is generally done by grants of land. The annual produce of the land thus bestowed, is expended in wages to the officiating priest, in the daily offerings to the idol, and in lighting and repairing the temple. Many temples, however, do not depend entirely on their endowments: they receive considerable sums from occasional offerings, and from what is presented at festivals.* Some temples are supported at an expence so trifling as to astonish a reader not acquainted with the forms of idolatry: many individuals who officiate at temples obtain only the offerings, the value of which does not amount, in many instances, to more than twenty shillings a year. Some few temples are, however, splendidly endowed, and many families receive their maintenance Where an idol has become very famous, and the offerings have amounted to a large sum, even kings have been anxious to lay hold of such a source of revenue.

from them.

The images of the gods may be made of almost all the metals, as well as of wood, stone, clay, &c. Most of the permanent images are made of wood or stone; those which are destroyed at the close of a festival, are made of clay. Small images of brass, silver, and gold, are not uncommon. The sculpture of the stone images resembles that of the Popish images of the 12th century; those cast in brass, &c. exhibit a similar progress of the arts. The consecration of an image is accompanied with a number of ceremonies, the most singular of which is that of conveying sight and life to the image, for which there are appropriate formulas, with prayers, inviting the deity to come and dwell in it. After this ceremony, the image becomes sacred, and is carefully guarded from every offensive approach.

The shastrus contain directions

for making idols, and the forms of meditation used in worship contain a description of each idol: but in many instances these forms are disregarded, and the proprietor, though compelled to preserve the identity of the image, indulges his own fancy. Some images are very diminutive, especially those made of the precious metals, but others, if for temporary use, are very large: a stone image of the linga is to be seen at Benares, which six men with joined hands can hardly grasp. At the festival of Kartikéyň, the god of war, an image is sometimes made thirty cubits high. Whatever may have been the case in other countries, idolatry in this has certainly not contributed to carry the arts of painting or sculpture to any perfection. * In the year 1809, at the temple of Jugŭnnat'hŭ, near Serampore, at the car festival, about 570 roopees were presented to the idol, in vegetables, fruits, sweetmeats, garments, and money. About 150 bramhans, 50 females, and 150 shoodrus, were entertained daily; and, at the close of the festival, the priests of the temple received 420

roopees.

Any bramhun, properly qualified by rank and knowledge, may officiate in a temple, and perform the general work of a priest. There is no order of bramhuns to whom the priesthood is confined;* many bramhŭns employ others as priests; a shoodrŭ must employ a bramhŭn, but he has his own choice of the individual; he cannot repeat a single formula of the védůs himself without being guilty of the highest offence. There are different offices in which priests are employed, but any bramhun, properly qualified, may perform the ceremonies attached to them all, p. 237. In general, a family, able to bear the expence, employs a priest on a regular allowance: some priests are retained by many families of the same cast: such a person is callThe bramhuns employed as priests to the ed the joiners' priest, or the weavers' priest, &c. shoodrus are not in high estimation among their brethren, who never fail to degrade the shoodră in every stage and state of life. The fees of the priest are in general very small: on some occassions, at the dedication of a temple, at the ceremonies for the dead when performed Female for a rich man, at the great festivals, &c. the priest receives very liberal presents. priests are almost unknown to the Hindoos: one or two instances are recorded in p. 182, 184.

The ceremonies at the temples are in most cases performed daily, morning, noon, and even. ing, at which times food is presented to the idol: the services are short, consisting of a few forms of petition and praise, during the presentation of flowers, leaves, and (except to Shivů,) a few articles of food: the priest is commonly the only person present. The doors of the lingu temples are generally open all day; multitudes of these temples are never honoured with worship, though they contain an idol: this is accounted for by there being several of these temHindoos in general bow to the ples erected in one spot belonging to the same individual. image as they pass the temple, whether the doors be open or shut. Where the deity is honoured by bloody sacrifices, a post is erected in front of the temple, for the slaughter of animals. No assemblies can be formed in these edifices; but on particular occasions the people are collected before the door, and sit or stand under an awning. The idols in honour of Vishnoo are laid down to sleep in the day, if the image be not too large,-a poor compliment to a god, that he wants rest. The utensils employed in the ceremonies at the temples are, several dishes to hold the offerings, a hand bell, a lamp, jugs for holding water, an incense dish, a copper * I insert a short extract from Bryce's "Sketch of the state of British India,” in order to assure the author, "The laws have always confined a certain propor"No pains that, as it respects Bengal, it is wholly without foundation. tion of bramhŭns, to the service of the pagodas, to the education of youth, and to study." p. 57. are spared in rendering accomplished those females, who, as the fascinating instruments of superstition, are employed in the service of their temples." p. 54.

cup to receive drink-offerings for deceased ancestors and the gods, another smaller one to pour from, a seat of kooshŭ grass for the priest, a large metal plate used as a bell, and a conch or shell. All these articles do not cost more than twenty shillings, unless the owner wish them to be costly.

In

Daily, weekly, monthly, and annual ceremonies abound among this people, to whom may truly be applied the remark of Paul to the Athenians (Acts xvii. 22); the festivals are noted in the Hindoo almanacks, and are generally held at the full or total wane of the moon. In the month of February, they have one festival in honour of the goddess of learning, Sürüswütee, which continues one day. In March, three, in honour of Shivů, Krishnŭ, and Gănga. April, two, one the anniversary of the birth of Ramu, and the other the horrid swinging festi val. In June, two, one in honour of Gunga, and the other Jugúnnat'hu's car festival; the latter is again revived in July, when the car returns to the temple. In August, the cow is worshipped, and the birth of Krishnů celebrated. In September, the memory of deceased ancestors is commemorated, and the Doorga festival held. In October, one, in honour of the goddess Rňtuntee, and in November another in honour of Kartikeyŭ, the god of war. On all these occasions the public offices are closed; but many other holidays are kept by the Hindoos, which are not honoured as public festivals.

The reader will find, in page 244, an account of the daily duties of a bramhun, by which it appears, that if he strictly conform to the rules of his religion, he must spend almost his whole time in religious ceremonies. The present race of bramhŭns, curtail these ceremonies, especially those engaged in secular affairs, who spend perhaps ten or twenty minutes in the morning, after their ablutions, in repeating the usual formulas before the lingu, or the stone called the shalŭgramů, or a pan of water. Many, however, content themselves with bathing, and repeating the name of their guardian deity.

The form of initiation into the service of a person's guardian deity consists in giving him the name of this deity, and exhorting him to repeat it continually. The ceremony of initiation is given in p. 253. From this time, the initiated becomes intitled to all the privileges of the Hindoo religion, is placed under the protection of the gods, and receives the benediction of his spiritual guide. The Hindoos are careful to conceal the words of initiation, and do not wish to declare to strangers what god they have chosen for their guardian deity.

The spiritual guide, who is chosen by the person himself, receives the highest reverence from the disciple, and is sometimes worshipped by him as a god. Disobedience to this guide is one of the highest offences a Hindoo can commit, and his anger is dreaded more than that of the gods. When the disciple approaches him, he prostrates himself at his feet, and the priest places his foot on his head. To such a state of degradation does the Hindoo superstition reduce the people! These priests are notorious for covetousness and impurity: some of them plunder the disciples of their all, and others violate the chastity of their wives. They are not distinguished by any particular dress, nor do they perform any offices of worship for their disciples.

Bathing in the Ganges, or in some other sacred river, or pool, is one of the most constant and necessary duties enjoined upon the Hindoos; the bramhŭns, after bathing, frequently complete their devotions on the banks of the river: others go home, and repeat the requisite forms before the shalŭgramů, or a pan of water. The people are taught that bathing is a religious ceremony, by which they become purified from sin!* They are never directed to bathe to promote bodily health. In the act of bathing, they pour out drink-offerings to deceased ancestors. -To be convinced how entirely the present race of Hindoos are influenced by the promises of salvation held out in their sacred books on this subject, it is only necessary for a person to attend to what is passing around him, viz. to the crowds bathing at landing-places of the Ganges; to the persons beating the sacred water into distant countries, in vessels suspended from their shoulders; to the shraddhus and other religious ceremonies performed on its banks; to the numbers of temples on both sides of the river; to so great a part of the Bengal population having erected their habitations near the river; to the number of brick landing-places, built as acts of holiness, to assist the people in obtaining the favours of Gunga; to the houses erected for the sick by the sides of the river; to the people bringing their sick relations, and laying them on bedsteads, or on the ground, by the side of the Ganges, waiting to burn them

* And yet so far are the Hindoos from having any moral feelings even in their acts of purification, that few men bathe in a retired situation: the majority choose those places to which the female bathers resort, and on their account remain in the water long beyond the time necessary for their ablutions. Many an infamous assignment is made by looks, &c. while they are thus washing away their sins. A number of bramhans engage as cooks to opulent families, to facilitate licentious intrigues: this is become so common, that the bramhuns, proverbially known by the name of cooking bramhins, are treated with the greatest suspicion by those who care for the chastity of their wives. Multitudes of bramhŭns likewise are employed as priests to prostitutes, and actually perform the offices of religion in houses of ill-fame ;----so completely absent is the moral principle from the religion of the Hindoos.

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