But the main link between the Rig Veda and the spirit of later Hindooism lies in a hymn fifty-two stanzas long, to be found in the second book, of which it is observed by Professor Wilson, that its style agrees better with that of the fourth and certainly the most modern Veda, the Atharva Veda, in which all its verses occur. I cannot myself doubt that it is of a later date than the bulk of the hymns with which it is associated, and yet its presence amidst them seems to me to indicate that it is probably the first definite outflow from this peculiar well-spring of Hindoo thought. Much of it is purely astronomical; but passages like these strike far deeper:

"Who has seen the primeval at the time of his being born? What is that endowed with substance which the unsubstantial sustains? From earth are the breath and the blood, but where is the soul? Who may repair to the sage to ask this?

"Immature, and discerning in mind, I inquire of those things which are hidden; what are the seven threads which the sages have spread to envelop the sun, in whom all abide?

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Ignorant, I inquire of the sages who know; not as one knowing, [but] for the sake of knowledge; what is that one alone, who has upheld these six spheres in the form of the unborn?

"He who knows the protector of this as the inferior associated with the superior, and the superior associated with the inferior, he is, as it were, a sage. But who in this world can expound it? Whence is the divine mind in its supremacy engendered?

*

*

"I distinguish not if I am this all; for I go perplexed, and bound in mind; when the first-born perceptions of the truth reach me, then immediately shall I obtain a portion of that word."

In connexion with the theology of the Vedas should, perhaps, also be mentioned the lately sprung up sect of Hindoo reformers, called the Neo-Vedantists, whose object it is to restore the pure doctrines of those works. It may be interesting to quote here an analysis of theo

logical publications in the Bengalee language, given at the Mission Conference of 1855.

This list, it should be observed, applies only to the Bengalee, the popular language of Bengal, alone, and affords no clue as to publications in the sacred languages, if any, within that presidency.

APPENDIX C. (See p. 69.)

The Sikh Faith.

The Sikh element, at the time when the foregoing lectures were delivered, was far from having assumed the importance which it has since done during the present struggle, or I should have dwelt on it at greater length in the text.

The two great names in the religious history of the Sikhs, are those of Nanuk, the founder of the Sikh faith, and Govind, the organiser of the Sikh community. The one was born in 1469, and died in 1539; and belonged, consequently, almost to the dawn of really modern history,-to the days of our Henry VII. and Henry VIII. The other ruled from 1675 to 1708, and belongs, therefore, to the epoch of our later revolution.

It is difficult, indeed, after one has become ever so little familiar with the wide range of doctrine presented in India, both by Buddhism and Brahminism itself, to appreciate what there was in Nanuk's teaching which made it distinctive from that of many a previous phi

losopher, religious reformer, founder of a sect or of an order, in the elder religions.

The holy book of the Sikhs, the Adee Grunth, begins with the writings of Nanuk, or those attributed to him.' The general purport of its teaching, Major Cunningham tells us, is "that God is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth, with little reference to particular forms, and that salvation is unattainable without grace, faith, and good works." Nanuk thus openly undermined caste, without directly destroying it.

"Think not of caste; abase thyself and attain to salvation."

"God will not ask man of what race he is; he will ask him what he has done."

"Of the impure among the noblest
Heed not the injunction;

Of one pure among the most despised
Nanuk will become the footstool."

"That Brahmin is a son of Brahm,

Whose rules of action are devotion, prayer, and purity; Whose principles of faith are humility and contentment; Such a Brahmin may break prescribed rules, and yet find salvation."

"Devotion is not in the ragged garment, nor in the staff. nor in ashes, nor in the shaven head, nor in the sounding of horns."

Abstinence from animal food appears to be the only trace of asceticism in his teaching; otherwise there is strong and vigorous sense in his mode of dealing with this question.

"A householder" (i. e., ordinary layman)
no evil,

Who is ever intent upon good,

Who continually exerciseth charity,

"who does

Such a householder is pure as the Ganges." "Householders and hermits are equal, whoever calls on

the name of the Lord."

"Eat and clothe thyself, and thou mayest be happy;

But without fear and faith there is no salvation."

(1) It comprises the works of the various Sikh Gooroos, or teachers, and some other holy men.

That God is one, and the source of grace and truth, he held strongly, and set forth nobly.

"The true name is God; without fear, without enmity; the Being without death, the Giver of salvation, the Gooroo" (teacher), "and

grace.

Remember the primal Truth; Truth which was before the world began,

Truth which is, and Truth, O Nanuk! which will remain. By reflection it cannot be understood, if times innumerable it be considered.

By meditation it cannot be attained, how much soever the attention be fixed.

How can truth be told? how can falsehood be unravelled? O Nanuk! by following the will of God, as by Him ordained."

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One self-existent, Himself the Creator,

O Nanuk! one continueth, another never was, and

never will be."

"Numerous Mahomets there have been, and multitudes of Brahmas, Vishnoos, and Sivas,

Thousands of peers" (Mussulman saints)" and prophets, and tens of thousands of saints and holy men;

But the chief of lords is the One Lord, the true name of God."

"O Nanuk! he on whom God looks, finds the Lord."

I strongly suspect it was the life of the reformer which gave especial weight to his doctrines. That this was very pure, harmless, and sincere, is not, I think, to be doubted. Mussulman writers speak of him quite as favourably as his own disciples. They ascribe to him the working of miracles (though he himself speaks slightingly of mere portent-making); report that he studied diligently the writings of their own faith,which indeed, from internal evidence, I should deem certain, and even that he was specially instructed by the prophet Elijah. He was a Kshatriya by birth, a grain factor by trade, but threw up his calling to embrace poverty, and spent many years in travel, in company with a few disciples; after which he returned to his family, and spent the remainder of a life of seventy years in peaceful teaching, by precept and practice.

From Nanuk, there is a succession of (with himself) ten Gooroos, or teachers, in all of whom he is himself believed to have become incarnate. Strange to say, in addition to what may be called the main or leading body of Sikhs, which has become a nation, two other religious bodies are connected with Nanuk, and one of them is really the orthodox representative of his religious views. In addition to abstinence from animal food, Nanuk had equally recommended abstinence from physical force. "Fight," he had said, "with no weapon, save the word of God; a holy teacher hath no means save the purity of his doctrine." Now the genuine Quaker Sikhs, if we may so call them, who profess to follow these doctrines, exist to this day as a purely religious community, scattered over nearly all India, engaged in trade, thriving, and keen moneygetters, like their Christian congeners; Omichund, Clive's vile ally, but undeserved victim, is said to have belonged to them.1 But again, Nanuk's own son, whom he had the good sense to set aside from the Goorooship, became the founder of another widely-diffused sect (the Oodassees), who, quite contrary to Nanuk's own teaching, profess indifference to the world. They are, nevertheless, we are told, proud of their connexion with the Sikhs, and most of them use the Adee Grunth.

So slow, however, was at first the progress of the main body of Sikhs, that forty-two years after Nanuk's death, we are told that there were not more than eightyfour disciples. Arjoon, the fifth Gooroo, was the first who gave shape to the Sikh religious community. He it was who put in order the holy writings, established the then obscure hamlet of Umritsir as a religious

(1) In "Bengal as a Field of Missions," will be found a curious account of an old follower of Nanuk," at Ghazeepore, in Behar, who had with great attention" heard the missionaries' preaching, and told them that when the Sikh war was going on, he "spent more than 500 rupees for charitable purposes, that the English might obtain the victory, as he knew that his brethren were wicked, and deserved to be no longer rulers of the country." He only made one objection to missionary doctrines: "If you would abstain from kiling cows and eating beef, the whole country would, become Christian very soon."-See p. 363.