A

VIEW

OF THE

HISTORY, LITERATURE, AND MYTHOLOGY

OF

THE HINDOOS:

INCLUDING

A MINUTE DESCRIPTION OF

THEIR MANNERS AND CUSTOMS,

AND

TRANSLATIONS FROM THEIR PRINCIPAL WORKS.

IN FOUR VOLUMES.

VOL. IV.

BY WILLIAM WARD,

OF SERAMPORE.

THE THIRD EDITION,

CAREFULLY ABRIDGED AND GREATLY IMPROVED.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR BLACK, KINGSBURY, PARBURY, AND ALLEN,
BOOKSELLERS TO THE HON. EAST-INDIA COMPANY,

LEADENHALL-STREET.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

THE védŭ said to be uncreated, but the real authors the Hindoo sages-the

antiquity of these writings-the writers called Granée, or The Wise, i.—

Conjecture respecting the period when these writers lived-a theory rela-

tive to the priority of the védü, iii.-Names of the most distinguished

of the Hiudoo writers of the next writers in order of time and merit,

ib.-Names of grammarians, poets, astronomers, &c. v.-Regret ex-

pressed that these biographical materials are not more ample, vii.—Sub-

jects treated of by the Hindoo philosophers, viii.-Comparison between

these subjects and the Greek philosophy, ix.-Astonishment excited by

perceiving the striking agreement between the theories of the Greek and

Indian schools, xii.-This comparison pursued in reference to the Divine

Existence the atheism of several sects among both nations, ib.-The

comparison continued, and applied to the divine nature, viz. God remains

in eternal abstraction-the soul of the world-his nature intangible-

God and matter the same-the world, his clothing-a visible Being-

divine and human spirit one-no idea of the Christian Trinity, xv.-Sum-

mary of Egyptian, Greek, and Hindoo opinions on these subjects, xix.-

Sublime conceptions sometimes expressed by the Hindoos in reference to

God, xx.-No Providence in the Hindoo system, ib.-Opinions of Greeks

and Hindoos relative to creation, viz. matter capable of creation-union

of God with matter-an archetype--world eternal-matter, atoms, and

the primary elements eternal, xxi.-Better ideas among some, xXV.c

Hindoo and Greek opinions relative to the present state, ib.-Ditto to the

gods, xxvi.-Brümhŭ not an object of worship, ib.-The Hindoo, Greek,

Roman, and Samothracian trinity, xxvii.-The gods created beings, ib.-

Work assigned to the gods, ib.-Two parts in the Hindoo theology; one

for the vulgar, the other for the philosophers or ascetics, xxviii.-State

of man in this world, ib.-Opinions respecting the human frame, xxix.—

Nature of the soul, xxx.—Greek and Hindoo opinions in reference to the

mind and understanding, xxxi.—Of religion, xxxii.—Of death, xxxv.—

Of transmigration, ib.-Of liberation or absorption, xxxvi.-Of the dis-
solution of the universe, the Hindoo and Greek opinions, xxxvii.-Of

VOL. IV.