Wide and fatal are the effects of this corruption of manners; a corruption not stopping here, but extending even to the unnatural practices of the ancient Heathens, though in these the Mahomedans are still more abandoned." In the thirty-second section of this chapter the author, after an Introductory paragraph, has given a list of Law Treatises, and has added some account of the Laws, and of the method of administering justice, under the Hindoo monarchs. The next article relates to the Astronomy of the Hindoos, comprising Introductory Remarks, a list of astronomical works, and translations from the Sōōryu-Siddhantă, and the Jyotish-Tütwů. The account of the Medical shastrus is drawn up in the same order, containing Remarks, a List of works, and Translations from the medical writings.-The state of medical science among the Hindoos is so deplorable, and this ignorance is attended with such melancholy effects, that a greater good to the country could hardly be afforded than the establishment of a MEDICAL COLLEGE at Calcutta, for the instruction of a certain number of natives yearly in the true principles of this Science, and in the practise of medicine. The number of students should be large, and each person duly qualified should be furnished with a certificate, which should be an essential pre-requisite before any native could receive an appointment under the Company's surgeons, or in any of the establishments of Government. By such an institution, in a few years every town, in Bengal at least, might be furnished with medical practitioners; and thousands of lives might be saved annually. This diffusion of light on one science also would, no doubt, operate in a very beneficial manner to excite the attention of the natives to the va lue of European knowledge on other subjects intimately connected with the illumination and comfort of the country. Similar institutions might, in time, be spread all over the country, and thus the blessings of thousands ready to perish, and indeed of the whole population, would be showered on the British government. The thirty-ninth section notices the works on Theogony, (the poorants,) and the two following sections refer to the works on Religious Ceremonies under the head of Tintrus, with a list of these treatises. The author has devoted twenty-six pages to the Poets, in which he has made some remarks on the different kinds of Hindoo poetry, giving Explanatory Specimens ; Lists of their larger Poems, of their Dramatic Works, of their smaller Poems, Satires, Hymns, &c.; Translations on the Seasons, a Dramatic Piece, and a Poetical Translation from the Ramayŭnů. The three following sections refer to Rhetoric, Music, and Ethics. On the last subject he has given six pages of Proverbs or Maxims, translated from the Punchů-Tăntrů. The forty-seventh section notices works on General History, and contains a table of contents of the Muhabharŭtŭ ; and the following sections to the end of the volume relate to Geography, to the Military Art, to works on the Arts, to Grammars, Dictionaries, and Translations from the Sungskritŭ into the different dialects of India. The author would recommend, that a SOCIETY should be formed, either in Calcutta or London, for improving our knowledge of the History, Literature, and Mythology, of the Hindoos ;—that after collecting sufficient funds, this Society should purchase an estate, and erect a Pantheon which should receive the images of the most eminent of the gods, cut in marblea Museum to receive all the curiosities of India, and a Library, to perpetuate its literature. Suitable rooms for the accommodation of the officers of the society, its committees, and members, would of necessity be added. To such a Society he would venture to recommend, that they should employ individuals in translations from the Sungskritu, and offer suitable rewards for the best translations of the most important Hindoo works. On some accounts, the metropolis of British India appears to be most eligible for this design, though such an institution might, the author conceives, do the highest honour to the capital of Britain, crowded as it is already with almost every thing great and noble.-The author recommends an Institution of this nature from the fear that no Society now existing, that no individual exertions, will ever meet the object, and that, if, (which may Providence prevent) at any future period, amidst the awfully strange events which have begun to rise in such rapid succession, India should be torn from Britain, and fall again under the power of some Asiatic or any other despotism, we should still have the most interesting monuments of her former greatness, and the most splendid trophies of the glory of the British name in India. Another argument urging us to the formation of such a Society is, that the ancient writings and the monuments of the Hindoos are dai ly becoming more scarce, and more difficult of acquisition: they will soon irrecoverably pe rish. Should the funds of the society be ample, literary treasures would pour in daily into the Library, and scarce monuments into the Museum, from all parts of India. And if it were formed in London, how interesting would a visit to such an establishment prove to all England, and to all foreigners visiting it, and how would it heighten the glory of our country! And if formed in Calcutta, how would persons from all parts of India, European and native, and indeed from all parts of the world, be drawn to it; and how greatly would it attach the Hindoos to a people by whom they were thus honoured. By the employment of an artist or two from England, all the sculptured monuments of India would soon be ours, and thus be carried down to the latest posterity. |