an scripture is included under the general head of divinity (brahmănă). This comprises precepts, which inculcate religious duties; maxims, which explain those precepts; and arguments, which relate to theology. But, in the present arrangement of the védus, the portion, which contains passages called bramhunos, includes many which are strictly prayers or măntrus. The theology of the Indian scripture, comprehending the argumentative portion entitled védantă, is contained in tracts denominated oopunishuds; some of which are portions of the brahmănă, properly so called; others are found only in a detached form; and one is a part of a súnghita itself.

"The sunghita of the rig-védŭ contains muntras or prayers, which, for the most part, are encomiastic; as the name of the rig-védŭ implies.*

"The yajoor-védů relates chiefly to oblations and sacrifices, as the name itself implies. The first chapter, and the greatest part of the second, contain prayers adapted for sacrifices at the full and change of the moon: but the six last sections regard oblations to the manes. The subject of the third chapter is the consecration of a perpetual fire, and the sacrifice of victims: the five next relate chiefly to a ceremony called ŭgnishtomů, which includes that of drinking the juice of the acid asclepias. The two following relate to the vajŭpéyŭ and rajŭsōōyŭ; the last of which ceremonies involves the consecration of a king. Eight chapters, from the eleventh to the eighteenth, regard the sanctifying of sacrificial fire; and the ceremony, named Soutraminee, which was the subject of the last section of the tenth chapter, occupies three other chapters from the nineteenth to the twenty-first. The prayers to be used at an ŏshwŭmédhu, or ceremony emblematic of the immolation of a horse and other animals, by a king ambitious of universal empire, are placed in four chapters, from the twenty-second to the twenty-fifth. The two next are miscellaneous chapters; the Soutraminee and

"The mŭntrus or prayers of the rig-védŭ are, for the most part, encomiastic, as the name of this védŭ implies, rich to laud; properly signifying any prayer or hymn, in which a deity is praised. As those are mostly in verse, the term becomes also applicable to such passages of any védů, as are reducible to measure according to the rules of prosody. The first védŭ, in Vyasŭ's compilation, comprehending most of these texts, is called the rig-védů; or, as expressed in the commentary on the Index, because it abounds with such texts (rich).”

་

✦ “Yŭjoosh is derived from the verb yuj to worship or adore. Another etymology is sometimes assigned: but this is most consistent with the subject; viz, (yŭgnů) sacrifices, and (homu) oblations to fire.”,

:

ŭswůmédhŭ are completed in two others; and the poorooshŭ-médhů, or ceremony performed as the type of the allegorical immolation of Narayănŭ, fills the thirtieth and thirty-first chapters. The three next belong to the Survă-médhů, or prayers and oblations for universal success. A chapter follows on the Pitree-médhŭ, or obsequies in commemoration of a deceased ancestor : and the five last chapters contain such passages of this védŭ, as are ascribed to Dŭdhyŭk, son or descendant of Ŭt'hŭrvăn four of them consist of prayers applicable to various religious rites, as sacraments, The first section lustrations, penance, &c. and the last is restricted to theology. (ŭnoovakŭ), of the black yújoosh, in this collection of prayers, corresponds with the first section (kundika) in the white yujoosh; but all the rest differ; and so does the arrangement of the subjects. Many of the topics are indeed alike in both védŭs, but differently placed, and differently treated. Thus the ceremony called rajŭsʊoyǎ occupies one kandu, corresponding with the eight průshnu of the first book (ushtōků;) and is preceded by two kandus, relative to the vajŭpéyŭ, and to the mode of its celebration, which occupy fourteen sections in the preceding průshnă. Consecrated fire is the subject of four kandus, which fill the fourth and fifth books. Sacrifice (udhwură) is noticed in the second and third lectures of the first book, and in several lectures of the sixth. The subject is continued in the seventh and last book; which treats largely on the Juyotishtomu, including the forms of preparing and drinking the juice of acid asclepias. The ushwů-médhů, nree-médhŭ, and pitree-médhŭ, are severally treated of in their places; that is, in the collection of prayers, and in the second part of this védŭ. Other topics, introduced in different places, are numerous; but it would be tedious to specify them at large.

"A peculiar degree of holiness seems to be attached, according to Indian notions, to the samů védŭ; if reliance may be placed on the inference suggested by the etymology of its name, which indicates, according to the derivation* usually assigned to it, the efficacy of this part of the védăs in removing sin. The prayers belonging

to it are, as before observed, composed in metre, and intended to be chanted; and their supposed efficacy is apparently ascribed to this mode of uttering them.

From the root sho, convertible into so, and sa, and signifying 'to destroy.' The derivative is expounded as denoting something' which destroys sin.'

"The ut'hürcй-védů, as is well known, contains many forms of imprecation for the destruction of enemies. But it must not be inferred, that such is the chief subject of that védŏ; since it also contains a great number of prayers for safety and for the averting of calamities: and, like the other védŭs, numerous hymns to the gods, with prayers to be used at solemn rites and religious exercises, excepting such as are named yǎgnǎ."

SECTION VII.

Method of reading the Védů.

"IN a regular perusal of the védů, which is enjoined to all priests, and which is much practised by Marhatas and Telingas, the student or reader is required to notice, especially, the author, subject, metre, and purpose of each mintră or invocation. To understand the meaning of the passage is thought less important.* The institutors of the Hindoo system have indeed recommended the study of the sense; but they have inculcated with equal strenuousness, and more success, attention to the name of the rishee or person, by whom the text was first uttered, the deity to whom it is addressed, or the subject to which it relates, and also its rhythm or metre, and its purpose, or the religious ceremony at which it should be used. Accordingly the védă is recited in various superstitious modes: word by word, either simply disjoining them, or else repeating the words alternately, backwards and forwards, once or oftener. Copies of the rig-védǎ and yŭjoosh (for the samŭ-védů is chanted only) are prepared for these and other modes of recital, and are called pădů, krămă, jūtă, ghănă, &c. But the various ways of inverting the text are restricted, as it should appear, to the principal védŭs; that is, to the original editions of the rig-védň and yujoosh: while the subsequent editions, in which the text, or the arrangement of it, is varied, being therefore deemed subordinate sakhas, should be repeated only in a simple manner."

* It was not, I dare say, because the bramhüns were ashamed of the védus, that they taught students to regard the meaning of a passage as of less importance than to know the author, the metre, and the purpose of each incantation: but, in giving such advice, surely their ideas of the importance of the meaning of their most sacred books must have been very low.

SECTION VIII.

Specimens of the Hymns of the samŭ-védů.

From the Arůnyŭ-gană.

"Possessed of innumerable heads, innumerable eyes, innumerable feet, Brămhu fills the heavens and the earth; he is whatever was, whatever will be; he is separate from ali; in this separate state he exists in a three-fold form above the universe, the fourth part is transfused through the world: he is therefore called the Great Being; his command is as the water of life; from him proceeded the Viratŭ-poorooshu; he

*

The Shree-bhagŭvŭtŭ and several pooranis thus describe what is here called the Viratŭ-poorooshŭ, viz. the whole universe existing as the body of the deity; in which he dwells as the animating soul: -The upper part of his thighs form the earth; his navel the firmament; his breast, the heavens; the higher parts of his body, the heavens of the rishees; the back of his shoulders, the heaven of the pitrees; his neck, the heaven of those who were the most rigid ascetics; his head, the heaven of Brumha; his breach, the first of the regions below the earth; his thighs, the second region; his knees, the third; his legs, the fourth; his ancles, the fifth; the surface of his feet, the sixth; the soles of his feet, patalŭ, or the world of snakes. His mouth, words, (the védŭ) fire and its regent, the seven principles of bodies, and the rules of verse; his tongue, burnt-offerings, food, the water of life, water, and the regent of the waters; his nose, the five breaths, the regent of air, scents; his eyes, every shining substance, the sun and moon; his brows, the evening; his ears, the ten regions and their regents, also vacuum and sound; his whole body, the excellent part of every thing on earth; his skin, contact, sacrifices and offerings: the hair of his body, the trees, grasses, &c.; the hair of his head, the clouds; his beard, the lightning; his nails, the metals; his arms, the guardians of the regions; his feet, prayer, and preservation; his penis, children, &c. ; his anus, death, injury, hell; his left side, ignorance, and irreligion; his veins, the male and female rivers; his bones, the mountains; his belly, the sea that surrounds the earth; his mind, religion, Brŭmha, and Shivă ; his heart, the rishees, Vishnoo, and true wisdom; his favour, religion; his frown, irreligion. In short, Brumha, Shivů, the gods, the titans, precious stones, men, serpents, birds, beasts, creeping things, the upsŭrůs, the důkshŭs, the rakshusus, the bhōōtus, the siddhus, whatever passes through the waters, dwells in the earth, or flies in the air, the planets, stars, the clouds, thunder, lightning, and all that composes the visible universe, are parts of the Viratu-poorooshů.How strikingly does this agree with a Fragment by Epictetus, lately found in Herculaneum: "Chrysippus, referring every thing to Jupiter, maintains, that the world is, as it were, an animated body, and that God is the governing power, and the soul of the whole; that the world is one of the intelligent principles, governing in common with gods and men. Diogenes, the Babylonian, also, in his book concerning Minerva, asserts, that the world is the same with Jove, and that it comprehends that divinity as the body of man does his soul. All the followers of Zeno, therefore, if they have left us any gods at all, as some of them have left none, and others have taken away many, say, that God is one; or, in other words, the universe and its soul: and those who allow a plurality, vary in their statements, being aware, that, if they affirmed the existence of one God only, they might be traduced before the multitude as destroying the gods, by allowing only one universal deity and not several, much less all those who are generally held in estimation: while we assert the existence not only of the gods worshipped by the Greeks, but also of many more. Besides, they have not thought fit to leave even those, respecting whom they agree with us, in a form like that in which they are universally worshipped for they admit no gods in the resemblance of men, but only the air, and the winds, and the æther: so that I should confi dently assert, that they are more reprehensible than even Diagoras: for he has treated the gods with levity almost, but has not directly attacked them, as Aristoxenus has observed in the customs of the Mantinean; and in his poetry, he remarks Diagoras has adhered to the truth, introducing nothing like impiety in any of his verses; But in the capacity of a poet, speaking with reverence of the deity.”

Kk

is the source of universal motion; he is not separate from the universe; he is the light of the moon, of the sun, of the fire, of the lightning, and of all that shines; the védů is the breath of his nostrils; the primary elements are his sight; the agitation of human affairs is his laughter; his sleep, is the destruction of the universe; in different forms he cherishes the creatures, as, in the form of fire, he digests their food; in the form of air, he preserves them in existence; in the form of water, he satisfies them; in the form of the sun, he assists them in the affairs of life, and in that of the moon, he refreshes them with sleep; the progression of time, forms his footsteps; all the gods are to him as sparks from fire. In the form of fire,* he cherishes the gods;+-therefore 1 bow to Him, who is the universe; to the gods who dwell in heaven, I bow; to the gods who dwell in space, I bow; to the gods on earth, I bow; to the regent of waters, I bow; to the gods who guard the regions, I bow."

"Brůmhǎ is the life of life, mind of mind, sight of sight; he dwells in the centre of light; he, without eyes, sees whatever was, is, or shall be; without hands or feet, he holds every thing, and executes his purposes with the rapidity of lightning; without the appropriate members, he hears and tastes of every thing; becoming the cultivator, he tills the ground; becoming the clouds, he waters it; becoming corn, he fills the creatures. His power is seen in the cooling draught, the burning fire, the scorching sun, the cooling beams of the moon; in the butter-yielding milk; while he dwells in the body, it retains the vital heat; when he retires, it becomes cold; he preserves the life of those appointed to live; he conceals those who are appointed to be hid; he beholds the world; he appoints the names and forms of things, and thus makes them known; he who seeks refuge in him, is worshipped by all the gods; he destroys the sins of such a devotee as fire consumes the cotton thread; to the holy, he is ever near; from the wicked he is afar off; he is the source of truth and of falsehood; to assist men in their worship, to him have been assigned name, form, and place; he who takes refuge in him, is a holy person; he whose face is turned from him, is a blasphemer."

It appears, that when the Hindoos chant these hymns, the sounds are modified hy