VEDAS OF THE HINDOOS.

47

"O Thou who givest sustenance to the world, thou sole mover of all, thou who restrainest sinners, who pervadest yon great luminary, who appearest as the son of the Creator! hide thy dazzling beams, and expand thy spiritual brightness, that I may view thy most auspicious, most glorious, real form."

"Let my soul return to the immortal spirit of God! and then, let my body, which ends in ashes, return to dust!"

"O Spirit, who pervadest fire, lead us in a straight path to the riches of beatitude! remove each foul taint from our souls; who approach thee with the highest praise, and the most fervid adoration!

God, who is perfect wisdom, and perfect happiness, is the final refuge of the man who has liberally bestowed his wealth, who has been firm in virtue, and who knows and adores that Great One!"

"Remember me, O Om, Thou divine Spirit!"

In Sir William Jones's Institutes of the Hindoo laws, after stating some blemishes, and a few absurdities in the system, that excellent orientalist observes, "nevertheless, a spirit of sublime devotion, of benevolence to mankind, and of amiable tenderness to all sentient creatures, pervades the whole work: the style of it has a certain austere majesty, that sounds like the language of legislation, and extorts a respectful awe; the sentiments of independence on all beings but God, and the harsh admonitions, even to kings, are truly noble; and the many panegyrics on the Gâyatri, the mother, as it is called, of the Vedas, prove the author to have adored (not the visible material sun, but) that divine and incomparably greater light, to use the words of the most venerable text in the Indian Scriptures, which illumines all, delights all, from which

??

Janyásí

48

FAKEERS, OR YOGEES.

all proceed, to which all must return, and which alone
can irradiate (not our visual organs merely, but our
souls, and) our intellects. Whatever opinion, in short,
be formed of Menu and his laws, in a country
may
happily enlightened by sound philosophy and the only
true revelation, it must be remembered, that those
laws are actually revered as the word of the, Most
High, by nations of great importance to the political
and commercial interests of Europe, and particularly,
by many millions of Hindoo subjects, whose well
directed industry adds largely to the wealth of Britain,
and who ask no more in return than protection for
their persons and places of abode, justice in their
temporal concerns, indulgence to the prejudices of
their own religion, and the benefit of those laws which
they have been taught to believe sacred, and which
alone they can possibly comprehend."

The fakeers, or yogees, of the Senassee tribe, are a set of mendicant philosophers, who travel all over Hindostan, and live on the charity of the other casts of Hindoos. They are generally entirely naked, most of them robust handsome men: they admit proselytes from the other tribes, especially youth of bright parts, and take great pains to instruct them in their mysteries. These Gymnosophists often unite in large armed bodies, and perform pilgrimages to the sacred rivers and celebrated temples; but they are more like an army marching through a province, than an assembly of saints in procession to a temple; and often lay the countries through which they pass under contribution.

Many yogees, and similar professors, are devotees of the strictest order, carrying their superstition and enthusiasm far beyond any thing we are acquainted with in Europe: even the austerities of La Trappe are light

RELIGIOUS DEVOTEE.

49

in comparison with the voluntary penances of these philosophers; who reside in holes and caves, or remain under the banian trees near the temples. They imagine that the expiation of their own sins, and sometimes those of others, consists in the most rigorous penances and mortifications. Some of them enter into a solemn vow to continue for life in one unvaried position; others undertake to carry a cumbrous load, or drag a heavy chain; some crawl on their hands and knees, for years, around an extensive empire; and others roll their bodies on the earth, from the shores of the Indus to the banks of the Ganges, and in that humiliating posture, collect money to enable them either to build a temple, to dig a well, or to atone for some particular sin. Some swing during their whole life, in this torrid clime, before a slow fire; others suspend themselves, with their heads downwards, for a certain time, over the fiercest flames.

I have seen a man who had made a vow to hold up his arms in a perpendicular manner above his head, and never to suspend them; until he at length totally lost the power of moving them. He was one of the Gymnosophists, who wear no kind of covering, and seemed more like a wild beast than a man: his arms, from having been so long in one posture, were become withered and dried up; while his outstretched fingers, with long nails of twenty years' growth, had the appearance of extraordinary horns: his hair, full of dust, and never combed, hung over him in a savage manner; and, except in his erect position, there appeared nothing human about him. This man was travelling throughout Hindostan, and being unable to help himself with food, women of distinction among the Hin

jinéo

50

LIFE OF THE BRAHMINS.

doos contended for the honour of feeding this holy !! person wherever he appeared.

I saw another of these devotees, who was one of the phallic worshippers of Seeva; and who, not content with wearing or adoring the symbol of that deity, had made a vow to fix every year a large iron ring into the most tender part of his body, and thereto to suspend a heavy chain, many yards long, to drag on the ground. I saw this extraordinary saint, in the seventh year of his penance, when he had just put in the seventh ring; and the wound was then so tender and painful, that he was obliged to carry the chain upon his shoulder, until the orifice became more callous.

I could recite many other facts; with a variety of superstitious as well as indecent rites and painful ceremonies, which these mistaken votaries practise, in hopes of appeasing the Deity. Such austerities ought to make us more highly prize the pure and holy tenets of the Christian religion; and should fill our hearts with love and gratitude to HIM who brought life and immortality to light through his Gospel; and offered Himself as an all-sufficient atonement for the sins of a fallen world!

The Brahmins at the Hindoo temples seldom wear a turban, and the upper part of their body is generally naked; but they never appear without the zennar, or sacred string, passing over them from the left shoulder; and a piece of fine cotton is tied round the waist, and falls in graceful folds below the knee. Their simple diet consists of milk, rice, fruit, and vegetables; they abstain from every thing that could enjoy life, and use spices to flavour the rice, which

CHANDALAHS, OR PARIARS.

51

is their principal food; it is also enriched with ghee, or clarified butter.

We cannot but admire the principle which dictates this humanity and self-denial: although, did they through a microscope observe the animalcula which cover the mango, and compose the bloom of the fig; or perceive the animated myriads that swarm on every vegetable they eat, they must, on their present system, be at a loss for subsistence. Some of the Brahmins carry their austerities to such a length, as never to eat anything but the grain which has passed through the cow; which being afterwards separated from its accompaniments, is considered by them as the purest of all food; in such veneration is this animal held by the Hindoos.

From the religious order of Brahmins, I descend to the caste of Chandalahs, or Pariars. These people are Chhan considered so abject, as to be employed in the vilest offices, and held in such detestation, that no other tribe will touch them; and those Hindoos who commit enormous crimes are excommunicated into this caste, which is considered to be a punishment worse than death.

But I will dwell no longer on particular castes; being desirous to draw a portrait of the Hindoos, where they bear a more general resemblance with each other: for although each caste, as I have already mentioned, does not differ in dress, and has a few peculiar customs, and rules for ceremonial and moral conduct, yet they all agree in the fundamental tenets of their religion, and the principal duties of life.

They are commonly of the middle stature, slight and well proportioned, with regular and expressive features, black eyes, and a serene countenance. Among the