shastrus positively recommend the crime, and promise heaven to the self-murderer, provided he die in the Ganges! Nay, the bramhuns, as well as persons of other casts, assist those who design thus to end life, of which the reader will find instances recorded in pages 313, 314, and 315. In some places of the Ganges, deemed peculiarly sacred and efficacious, infatuated devotees very frequently drown themselves. A respectable bramhun assured the author, that in a stay of only two months at Allahabad, he saw about thirty persons drown themselves! Lepers are sometimes burnt alive with their own consent, to purify themselves from disease in the next birth. Others throw themselves under the wheels of Jügünnat'hu's ponderous car, and perish instantly. Thousands perish annually by disease and want on idolatrous pilgrimages; and notwithstanding the benevolent efforts of Mr. Duncan, it is pretty certain, that infanticide is still practised to a great extent in various parts of Hindoost'hanŭ: see p. 318. I have, in page 322, ventured to offer a calculation respecting the probable number of persons who perish annually, the victims of the bramhinical superstition, and find, that it cannot be less than Ten Thousand Five Hundred!

Another very popular act of Hindoo devotion is that of visiting sacred places.* There are few Hindoos grown up to mature age, who have not visited one or more of these places, the

ble: in theirs, there was the appearance of exultation. She placed herself in a sitting posture, with her face to the back of her husband, embracing the corpse with her left arm, and reclining her head on his shoulders; the other hand she placed over her own head, with her fore-finger erect, which she moved in a circular direction. The earth was then deliberately put round them, two men being in the grave for the purpose of stamping it round the living and the dead, which they did as a gardener does around a plant newly transplanted, till the earth rose to a level with the surface, or two or three feet above the heads of the entombed. As her head was covered some time before the finger of her right hand, I had an opportunity of observing whether any regret was manifested; but the finger moved round in the same manner as at first, till the earth closed the scene. Not a parting tear was ob served to be shed by any of her relations, till the crowd began to disperse, when the usual lamentations and howling commenced, without sorrow."

* A journey to Benares, &c. and the performance of religious ceremonies there, are actions in the highest repute for religious merit amongst the Hindoos. Many sirkars in Calcutta indulge the hope, that they shall remove all the sins they commit in the service of Europeans (which every one knows are neither few nor small) by a journey to Benares, before they die. The Hindoo pundits declare, that even Europeans, dying at Benares, though they may have lived all their days upon cow's flesh, will certainly obtain absorption into Brůmbů. On this subject, they quote a couplet, in which Benares is compared to a loose female, who receives all, and destroys their desire of sin, by quenching their appetites. The Hindoo learned men also admit that Englishmen may

partake of the blessings of their religion, in two other instances, viz. if they become firm believers in Gúnga, or die at Jugunnat bŭ-kshétrů. In all other respects, the Hindoo heavens are all shut against eaters of cow's flesh,

resort of pilgrims; many spend their whole lives in passing repeatedly from one end of Hindoost'hanŭ to the other as pilgrims; nor are these pilgrimages confined to the lower orders, householders and learned bramhúns are equally infatuated, and think it necessary to visit one or more of these spots for the purification of the soul before death. In some instances, a river; in others, a phenomenon in nature, and in others a famous idol, attracts the Hindoos. Large sums are expended by the rich, and by the poor their little all, in these journies, in the fees to the bramhuns, and in expences at the sacred place. I have given an account of the ceremonies preparatory to the pilgrimage, as well as of those which are performed when the pilgrims arrive at the consecrated place; to which are also added particulars of the most frequented of these haunts of superstition.

For the expiation of sin, many different methods of atonement are prescribed in the Hindoo writings, many of which, however, have fallen into disuse.

Lest the observance of all these acts of religious homage should fail to secure happiness in a future state, the Hindoos are taught to repeat the names of the gods in their last hours; and are also enjoined to make presents to the bramhuns, especially to their spiritual guides; their relations also immerse the body of a deceased person up to the middle in the Ganges, and pour copiously of this sacred water into the dying man.

To procure relief for the wandering spirit after death, they make to it offerings of rice, &c. in a religious ceremony, almost universally attended to, called the shraddhŭ, and on which very frequently a rich man expends not less than 3 or 400,000 roopees. To make this offering at Gŭya, is supposed to be attended with the certain deliverance of the deceased from all

sorrow.

The pooranus teach, that after death the soul becomes united to an aerial body, and passes to the seat of judgment, where it is tried by Yumu, the Indian Pluto, who decides upon its future destiny. It, however, remains in this aerial vehicle, till the last shraddhù is per

* "Ah!" said a Hindoo, one day, inthe hearing of the author, lamenting the catastrophe, "It is not every one, even of those who set out for Gŭya, who reaches the place." Another Hindoo, in the presence of the author, reproving a young bramhun, who refused to afford pecuniary help to his aged infirm parent, asked him, if this was not the grand reason why a person entered into the marriage state, that he might have a son, who, by offerings at Guya, might procure for him happiness after death?

formed twelve months after death, when it passes into happiness or misery according to the sentence of Yămă.

The same works teach, that there are many places of happiness for the devout, as well as of misery for the wicked; that God begins to reward in this life those who have performed works of merit, and punishes the wicked here by various afflictions: that indeed all present events, prosperous or adverse, are the rewards or punishments inevitably connected with merit or demerit, either in a preceding birth, or in the present life; that where merit preponderates, the person, after expiating sin by death and by sufferings in hell, rises to a higher birth, or ascends to the heaven of his guardian deity.

The joys of the Hindoo heavens are represented as wholly sensual, and the miseries of the wicked as consisting in corporal punishment: the descriptions of the former disgust a chaste mind by their grossness, and those given of the latter offend the feelings by their brutal literality.

Anxious to obtain the CONFESSION of FAITH of a BRAMHUN, from his own pen, I solicited this of a man of superior understanding, and I here give a translation of this article:

"God is invisible, independent, ever-living, glorious, uncorrupt, all-wise, the ever-blessed, the almighty; his perfections are indescribable, and past finding out; he rules over all, supports all, destroys all, and remains after the destruction of all; there is none like him; he is silence; he is free from passion, from birth, &c. from increase and decrease, from fatigue, the need of refreshment, &c. He possesses the power of infinite diminution, and lightness, and is the

soul of all.

"He created, and then entered into, all things, in which he exists in two ways, untouched by matter, and receiving the fruits of practice.* He now assumes visible forms, for the sake of engaging the minds of mankind. The different gods are parts of God, though his essence remains undiminished, as rays of light leave the sun his undiminished splendour. He created the gods to perform those things in the government of the world of which man was incapable.

* Here an objection presses hard on the bramhun, that it is God, or Spirit, then, in matter, that suffers, since matter cannot suffer. To this he answers, that the heart, though it be inanimate, and, in consequence, unconscious matter, by its nearness to spirit, becomes capable of joy and sorrow, and that this is the sufferer.

H

Some gods are parts of other gods, and there are deities of still inferior powers. If it be asked, why God himself does not govern the world, the answer is, that it might subject him to exposure, and he chooses to be concealed: he therefore governs by the gods, who are emanations from the one God, possessing a portion of his power: he who worships the gods as the one God, substantially worships God. The gods are helpful to men in all human affairs, but they are not friendly to those who seek final absorption, being jealous lest, instead of attaining absorption, they should become gods, and rival them.

"Religious ceremonies procure a fund of merit to the performer, which raises him in every future birth, and at length advances him to heaven, where he enjoys happiness for a limited period, or carries him towards final absorption.

"Happiness in actual enjoyment is the fruit of the meritorious works of preceding births; but very splendid acts of merit procure exaltation even in the birth in which they are performed. So, the misery which a person is now enduring, is the fruit of crimes in a former birth: enormous crimes however meet with punishment in the life in which they are committed. The miseries of a future state arise out of sins unremoved by former sufferings: an inanimate state, and that of reptiles, are also called states of suffering. Absorption can be obtained only by qualifications acquired on earth; and to obtain this, even an inhabitant of heaven must be born on earth. A person may sink to earth again by crimes committed in heaven. The joys of heaven arise only from the gratification of the senses. A person raised to heaven is considered as a god.

"Every ceremony of the Hindoo religion is either accompanied by a general prayer for some good, or is done from pure devotion, without hope of reward; or from a principle of obedience to the shastrů, which has promised certain blessings on the performance of such and such religious actions,

"Various sacrifices are commanded, but the most common one at present is the burnt-offering with clarified butter, &c. It is performed to procure heaven.-The worship of the gods is, speaking generally, followed by benefits in a future state, as the prayers, praise, and offerings, please the gods.-Repeating the names of the gods, procures heaven, for the name of god is like fire, which devours every combustible.-Bathing is the means of purification before religious services, and when attended to in sacred places, merits heaven.-Gifts to the poor, and

to persons of merit, and losing life to save another, are actions highly meritorious, and procure for the person future happiness.-Fasting is an act of merit, as the person refuses food in devotion to the gods.-Vows to the gods, procure heaven.-Praise offered to the gods in songs, is efficacious in procuring future happiness.-Visiting holy places, a spiritual guide, a father or a mother, destroys all sin.-Compassion, forbearance, tenderness (regarding the shedding of blood) speaking truth, entertaining strangers, becoming the refuge of the oppressed, planting trees, cutting pools of water, making flights of steps to holy rivers, and roads to holy places, giving water to the thirsty, building temples, and lodging houses for travellers; hearing the praise of the gods, or a sacred book, &c. are actions which merit heaven.-Religious austerities are useful to subdue the passions, and raise the mind to a pure state. These austerities are rewarded either by heaven or absorption."

Thus far this brambinical Confession of Faith. Its author has scarcely noticed the amazing efficacy ascribed to religious abstraction, and the austerities practised by anchorites, though the doctrine of the védus evidently favours an ascetic life. Indeed, retirement from the world

and abstraction of mind, assisted by bodily austerities, is considered as the direct way to final beatitude; yet it is not denied, but that a person who continues in a secular state, may, by performing the duties of his religion, accelerate his approach, either in this or some future birth, to divine destiny. The yogee being thus exalted in the Hindoo system of theology, and in consequence honoured by his countrymen, it has become very common to embrace the life of a religious mendicant; to do which, indeed, among an idle, effeminate, and dissolute people, there are many inducements very different from those of a religious nature: disappointments in life, disagreeable domestic occurrences, wandering propensities, illicit connexions, and very often a wish to procure impunity in the commission of flagrant crimes, induce many to embrace such a life. Perhaps there is not a single instance at present known, of a person's becoming an ascetic from the pure desire of absorption. In cases where there is the greatest appearance of such a desire, the hermit possesses a motive no higher than that of exemption from the troubles of mortal existence. I have given in this work an account of near

ly twenty orders of mendicants, (p 371, &c.) the followers of different deities: these are the scourge of the country, though the legitimate offspring of this banefu! superstition; nor need we now expect to see realized the description of a yogee as laid down in the shastră: this de

* I have noticed in p. 370 the fact, that many hordes of mendicants are armed, and live by public plunder; but perhaps there are quite as many secret robbers to be found in the garb of religious mendicants. Since this fact has become more generally known, many have suffered the punishment of their crimes.