Page images
PDF
EPUB

less succession of Lamas. We are persuaded indeed, that the more the ancient doctrines of Buddh are investigated, the more probable it will appear that Brahma was the sectary, and not Buddh, whose tenets have in fact been more widely spread over the face of the earth, than those of any other religion ancient or modern. The idea of one great ruler surrounded by a number of inferior agents to execute his will, has been prevalent for ages in every corner of the widely extended regions of Tartary. This is the basis of Boudhism, which exists under various modifications, from the Icy Sea to the Persian Gulph, and from the shores of the Caspian to the farthest verge of the Asiatic islands. The Buddh of Hindostan, the Pout of Thibet and Siam, the Godama of the Birmans, the Fo of China, the Buth of Japan, the But of the Cochinchinese, and the Bod of the Arabians, are unquestionably all meant for the same person. Sir William Jones, Mr. Chambers and others were of opinion, that even Odin or Woden was synonimous with Buddh. To this it has been objected, that no two characters would differ more, the one being distinguished by mildness and benevolence, the other by qualities of an opposite nature. It should be remembered, however, that the attributes ascribed to the Deity are likely to take their original colouring from the character of the votary; and we, therefore, do not think it very improbable that the same object of adoration which, among the pastoral natives of Tartary, whose subsistence depended on the preservation of animal life, was represented as a mild and benevolent being, should, among the hunters and fishers of Scandinavia, whose existence depended on the destruction of animal life, be represented under a character directly the reverse. We consider, however, the argument that has been advanced to prove their identity, from Wednesday being Buddh's day in all the eastern nations who use the hebdomadal division of time, as inconclusive and exceedingly puerile.

We know that, at the present day, Boudists exist in various parts of Siberia, and near the shores of the Caspian Sea. In the account given by Du Halde of the journey of the two Lamas, who were sent about the year 1712, by Kaung-Shee, the Emperor of China, in search of the source of the Ganges, it is observed that there was at Lassa, in Thibet, a Tartarian princess with her son, who dwelt to the north of the Caspian Sea, between Astracan, Saracot, and the river Jauk; and that a surprising multitude of strangers undertook long and painful journies from the most distant countries, to offer their adoration to the Grand Lama, and to receive his blessing.

We agree then entirely with Doctor Buchannan, that even so late

late as the birth of Christ, the governing power on the banks of the Ganges, was of the sect of Buddh, and that since this period the Brahmins have accomplished the change of the national religion. We are also persuaded, that however idle and ridiculous the legends and notions of the worshippers of Bouddha may be, they have been in a great measure adopted by the Brahmins; but with all their defects monstrously aggravated: Rajahs and heroes have been converted into gods, and impossibilities heaped on improbabilities.'

Colonel Kirkpatrick informs us, that at Nepaul he was fortunate enough to obtain a copy of that rare and valuable manuscript, the Boudh Pouran; and that he is not without the hope of being able at no very remote period, not only to explain at large the superstitious dogmas, rites, and ceremonies of the Newars; but also to be instrumental, at least, in throwing some light on the Boudhite system of theology, at present so little understood.'-p. 188. This is the second promise which Colonel Kirkpatrick has broken to his readers, which, however, may be the less regretted, as we believe he is no Sanscrit scholar; and a translation of a Purana must be of little value when communicated through the medium of the Persian.

6

The account which Bernini has given of the multitude of temples in the valley of Nepaul, is fully corroborated by Colonel Kirkpatrick, who informs us, that there are nearly as many temples as houses, and as many idols as inhabitants.' Twenty of the former of most consideration are named and briefly described; and he enumerates no less than sixteen remarkable yatras or festivals, that are annually celebrated, consisting of processions, ablutions, adorations, and oblations, some of which occupy so much time, that in fact, scarcely a day passes without the public performance of some religious ceremony. They have besides a grand occasional festival which lasts four months. 'It consists in visiting the shrines of all the gods in Nepaul, which are said to be two thousand seven hundred and thirty three.'-p. 196.

We are not told what is the ordinary number of priests to each temple or whether they dwell in monastic celibacy, like the Gy longs in the neighbouring nation of Bootan, where in some places no fewer than four thousand of them passed a life of indolence in religious retirement; where many families considered it as the greatest honour and good fortune to send a boy or two among them to be educated for the priesthood, and where one in every four was compelled to enter the monastic state. Such numbers thus withdrawn from society, and strictly interdicted all intercourse with the other sex, together with those drawn off to serve in the

armies,

armies, cannot fail to act as considerable checks to population. Yet this abstraction of the males would appear to have produced an effect on the state of connubial connection very different from that which might be expected: instead of polygamy, as in India and China, Captain Turner informs us, that polyandry is the common practice, that is to say, one female has many husbands, and frequently associates her fate and fortune with all the brothers of a family. Colonel Kirkpatrick just glances at the same custom.It is remarkable enough,' he says, 'that the Newar women may, in fact, have as many husbands as they please, being at liberty to divorce them continually on the slightest pretences.'-p. 187.

Whatever these gentlemen may tell us, we hold it impossible that so monstrous a practice, fraught with so many bad consequences, could possibly exist in any state of society. Both accounts have probably been too hastily adopted from that which was given by a Chinese Mandarin to Kaung-shee, on his return from Thibet, where he mentions an infamous custom prevailing in that country, which allows a woman to have several husbands at one time, without regard to consanguinity, and even to marry all the sons of the same parents. This anecdote has been promulgated by Du Halde, who had no judgment in the selection of his materials, and repeated by Grozier, who, with less excuse, was nearly as credulous as his predecessor. We can readily give credit to the. less preposterous custom of a landlord taking the wife of a ryot or peasant, as a pledge for rent, and keeping her till the debt is discharged; since we know, on the best authority, that their more polished neighbours, the Chinese, have found it necessary to enact a prohibitory statute against lending wives and daughters on hire.

With regard to literature, Colonel Kirkpatrick is of opinion, that there is no place in India where a search after ancient and valuable manuscripts in every department of Brahminical learning, would be more successful than in the valley of Nepaul, and particularly at Bhatgong, which would seem to be the Benares of the Ghorkhali territories.' He was told that in that city, the library of a private individual contained upwards of fifteen thousand volumes. We entirely concur with him in this opinion, which agrees. with one we ventured to give in a former Number, with regard to those Sanscrit works, which had been transferred into the Chinese language, prior to the Mahomedan invasion of Hindostan. If the Hindoos have any thing of value, it must be looked for in the secluded valleys of Nepaul and Boutan, in the upper regions of Thibet, or in the temples of Buddh in the Chinese empire..

The various alphabets of Nepaul, three of which are given by Colonel Kirkpatrick, are evidently modifications of the Devan

agari character, as the dialects are of the Sanscrit language, with the exception, however, of the Newar, which, though written in an alphabet evidently derived from the Devanagari, and containing several words of Sanscrit origin, appears to be a branch of a very different stem. That stem, we have no doubt, is the original Tartar, from whence the Newars themselves, as well as the Chinese, derive their origin. The favourite pursuit both of Newars and Hindoos, is that of consulting their destiny at the temples. 'Judicial astrology has so deeply and undistinguishedly infected every rank among them, that a stranger might be tempted to conclude that the horoscope and ephemeris determined in most cases the line both of civil and moral conduct, and that the people, in short, were universally directed by their soothsayers.— p. 220.

It is much to be regretted, that the extreme jealousy of the government of Nepaul, or rather of certain of its officers, prevented Colonel Kirkpatrick from visiting the several cities and towns of the valley of Nepaul. Not one of them, not even Catmandu, we have reason to believe, was he permitted to enter; for, although one of his letters, addressed to Lord Cornwallis, is dated from thence, it is evident from the narrative, that, with more than Chinese caution, he was confined to the temple of Sumbhoo-nath, one mile from Catmandu, during his week's residence in the valley. He could see nothing, therefore, of those wonderful and magnificent temples, or of the royal palace and gardens, of which Guiseppe speaks with such rapture. Among others one object is mentioned by the Jesuit, remarkable enough to excite curiosity. This is a large flat stone, standing upright against one of the walls of the palace, fifteen feet long, and four or five wide, covered with the characters of various languages. Some lines,' he says, contain the characters of the language of the country; others the characters of Thibet; others Persian, others Greek; besides several of different nations; and in the middle there is a line of Roman characters, which appears in this form AVTOMNEW INTER LHIVERT. This last inscription must, in all probability, be the work of some of the European missionaries, whose first appearance in Nepaul was about the beginning of the last century. None of them probably contain any thing of importance; yet a fac simile of the stone would be considered as a great curiosity.

6

The circumstances under which the information now laid before our readers was collected, are sufficient to disarm criticism of its severe character. Our wishes may have led us to expect more; but our disappointment shall not make us so fastidious as to receive with indifference or ingratitude, the few additions which

Colonel

Colonel Kirkpatrick has made to our former stock of information, concerning the secluded valley of Nepaul.

ART. III. Magna Britannia; a concise Topographical Account of the several Counties of Great Britain. By the Rev. Daniel Lysons, A.M., &e. Rector of Rodmarton, in Gloucestershire, and Samuel Lysons, Esq. F. R. S. and F. A. S. Keeper of his Majesty's Records in the Tower of London. Vol. I.; and Vol. II. Parts 1 and 2. 4to. Cadel and Davies. London. 1810.

AN heroic neglect of the ordinary chances of human life, is

not unfrequently the parent of great and persevering undertakings. The conception of a vast plan, by stimulating exertion and calling forth latent powers, will often contribute to its own accomplishment; while in great works, like the present, the necessity of active research, and frequent locomotion, aided by another principle eminently favourable to length of days, namely, gentle engagement of mind, and the gratification of a strong original propensity, will sometimes carry forward the undertakers to the close of their work, vigorous, occupied, and happy.

With such probabilities for and against them, two respectable persons, as nearly allied in taste as in blood, have projected a new Britannia. The southern part of this island, it may however be objected, has already been illustrated with sufficient diligence and exactness. Whatever the stores of ancient learning could pour upon the subject, had been collected and concentrated by Camden, whose original text has served as a nucleus for stratum upon stratum of additional matter, which the industry of successive editors has gathered about it. But of these the last, and incomparably the best, has not succeeded in exhausting the mine; neither are his three ponderous folios without numerous errors, as well as deficiencies, of which the former would have been corrected, and the latter supplied, had the work been completed in his earlier and happier days. It is probably owing to the same cause, that in a work where accuracy, particularly in dates, was of primary importance, so little attention has been paid to the operations of the press. Of the name of Mr. Gough we wish to speak with reverence--he was the father of English antiquaries in his day--he generously patronized rising merit in others-he devoted his own life and ample fortune to the pursuit of antiquities, and he still lives in the affections of many surviving friends. But the Sepulchral Monuments are the proper depositaries of Mr. Gough's reputation; and we scruple

« PreviousContinue »