LIBRARY or TlIK Theological Seminary PRINCETON, N. J. Lase Shelf -"^ .Ji\.\ G> Bftok ' : . ... Z^SO. TRANSLATION Ol' SliVlillAL I'KINCirAL BOOKS, PASSA(iE8, AND TKXTS THE VEDS. ^ TRANSLATION OF SEVERAL PRINCIPAL BOOKS, PASSAGES, AND TEXTS THE VEDS, SOME CONTROVERSIAL WORKS BRAHMUNICAL THEOLOGY. BY RAJAH RAMMOHUN ROY. SECOND EDITION. LONDON: r A U n U R Y, ALLEN, & C O., LKAUKNHALL STKEET. 1832. I,0 N n () N: •'riiUfil by .1. 1,. (OX ami Sr)N, CtcM t.'ucpii Stlcel, LiiKoln'sInu I'iolih. CONTENTS. Translation of an Abridgment of the Vedant, or Rosolntion of all the Vods ; tho most celebrated and revered Work of Brivliminical Tlic(>lof>y; cstablisbin^ the Unity of the Su- preme Beinff, :md lliat lie alone is the object of Propi- tiation and Worship .. •. .. -. •• •• 1 Translation of the Mooaduk-Oopunishud of the Uthurvu- Ved 23 Translation of the Cona Upanishad, one of the Chapters of the Sania V^da 41 Translation of the Kut'li-Oopunishud of the Ujoor-Ved .. 55 Translation of the ishopunishud, one of the Chapters of the Yajur Veda .. .. •. .. .. -• ..HI A Translation into Enfjlish of a Sungskrit Tract, inculcating the Divine Worsliip; esteemed by those who believe in the Revelation of tlio Vt-ds, as most appropriate to the Nature of the Supreme Bcinp^ .. .. .. .. ..107 A Defence f)f lliiuloo TIu'Imii, in rv-plv to the Attack of an Advocate for Idolatry, ;it Madras .. ll!» vi CONTENTS. Page A Second Dcfonco of iho Monothoistioal System of the Vods ; in reply to an Apology for the present State of Hindoo Worship .. •• •- -• •• •• ..153 An Apology for the Pursuit of Final Beatitude, independently of Bralununieal Observances •- •• •• .- IJl Translation of a Conference between an Advocate for, and an Opponent of, the practice of Burning Widows Alive; from the original Bnngla .. .. .- •• •• 15)7 A Second Conference between an Advocate for, and an Oppo- nent of, the practice of Bm-ning Widows Alive .. 215 Abstract of the Arguments regarding the Burning of Widows, considered as a Religious Rito . • • • • • • • 257 Brief Remarks regarding Modern Encroachments on the Ancient Rights of Females, according to the Hindoo Law of Inheritance •• •• •• •• •• •• 2^7 INTRODUCTION. Several of my friends having expressed a wish to be possessed of copies of my Transla- tion of the Veds, and Controversies with those Brahmuns who are advocates for idolatry, 1 have collected for republication such of those tracts as I could find, either among my own papers or those of my friends who happened to have brought them from India, and now otfer them to the public in their original form. I feel induced to set forth here, briefly, tlie substance of these writings, to facilitate the comprehension of their purport, as being foreign to the generality of European readers. Tiie Veds (or properly speaking, the spiritual parts of them) uniformly declare, that man is prone by nature, or by habit, to reduce the object or objects of his veneration and worship (though admitted to be unknown) to tangible forms, as- cribing to such objects attributes, supposed excellent according to his own notions; whence idolatry, gross or refined, takes its origin, and perverts the true course of intellect to vain Vlll INTRODUCTrON. fixncies, Tliesc authorities, therefore, hold out precautions against framing a deity after human imagination, and recommend mankind to direct all researches towards the surrounding objects, viewed either collectively or individually, bear- ing in mind their regular, wise, and wonderful combinations and arrangements ; since such re- searches cannot fail, they afhrm, to lead an unbiassed mind to a notion of a Supreme Exis- tence, who so sublimely designs and disposes of them, as is every where traced through the universe. The same Veds represent rites and external worship addressed to the planets and elementary objects, or personified abstract no- tions, as well as to deified heroes, as intended for persons of mean capacity; but enjoin spiritual devotion, as already described, benevolence, and self-control, as the only means of securing bliss. IIAMMOHUN ROY. London, July 23, 1832. P.S. In all the fbllovviiig Tianslation.s, except the Cena Upanishad, tlie nioile of spcUiiii; Sanscrit \v(»rcls in English, adopted by Dr. J. Ji. Gilchrist, has been observed. TRANSLATION OP AN ABRIDGMENT OF THE V E D A N T, OR RESOLUTION OF ALL THE VEDS; THi: MOST CELEBRATED AND UEVERED WOUK OF * li>rafjmmical ^fjrologi); F.sTABMsm\(i riir, i'mty oi' Tiir. sii'ukmk mkinc;; and that HE ALONE IS TIIK niMKCT or I'HOIMTIATION AND \Vf)l!SlII I'. CALCUTTA IS16. TO THE BELIEVERS OF THE ONLY TRUE GOD. The greater part of Brahmins, as well as of other sects of Hindoos, are quite incapable of justifying that idolatry which they continue to practise. Wiien ques- tioned on tlie subject, in place of adducing reasonable arguments in support of their conduct, they conceive it fully sufficient to quote their ancestors as positive authorities ! And some of them are become very ill- disposed towards me, because I have forsaken idolatry for the worship of the true and eternal God ! In order, therefore, to vindicate my own faith and that of our early forefathers, I have been endeavouring, for some time past, to convince my countrymen of the true meaning of our sacred books; and to prove, that my aberration deserves not the opprobrium which some unreflecting persons have been so ready to throw upon me. The whole body of the Hindoo Theology, Law, and Literature, is contained in the Veds, wiiich are affirmed to be coeval with the creation ! These works are extremely voluminous; and being written in the most elevated and metaphorical style, are, as may be well supposed, in many passages seemingly confused and contradictory. Upwards of two ihousantl years ago, b2 INTRODUCTION. the great Byas, reflecting on the perpetual difficulty arising from these sources, composed with great dis- crimination a complete and compendious abstract of the whole ; and also reconciled those texts which appeared to stand at variance. This work he termed The Feclant, which, compounded of two Sungscrit words, signifies The Besolution of all the Veds. It has continued to be most highly revered by all the Hindoos ; and in place of the more diffuse arguments of the Veds, is always referred to as equal authority. But from its being concealed within the dark curtain of the Sungscrit language, and the Brahmins permitting themselves alone to interpret, or even to touch any book of the kind, the Vedant, although perpetually quoted, is little known to the public : and the practice of few Hindoos indeed bears the least accordance with its precepts ! In pursuance of my vindication, I have to the best of my abilities translated this hitherto unknown vvoi'k, as well as an abridgment thereof, into the Hindoostanee and Bengalee languages; and distributed them, free of cost, among my own countrymen, as widel}^ as circum- stances have possibly allowed. The present is an endeavour to render an abridgment of the same into English, by which I expect to prove to my European friends, that the superstitious practices which deform the Hindoo religion have nothing to do with the pure spirit of its dictates ! I have observed, that both in their writings and con- versation, many Europeans feel a wish to palliate and soften the features of Hindoo idolatry ; and are inclined to inculcate, that all objects of worship are considered by their votaries as emblematical representations of the INTilOnUCTKIN. ISiipreine Divitiity ! — If this were indeed the case, I might perhaps be led into some examination of the subject : but the truth is, the Hindoos of the present day have no sucli views of the subject ; but (irmly believe in the real existence of innumerable gods and goddesses, who possess, in their own departments, full and independent power; and to propitiate them, and not the true God, are temples erected and ceremonies performed. There can be no doubt, however, and it is my w hole design to prove, that every rite has its deriva- tion from the allegorical adoration of the true Deity ; but at the present day all this is forgotten, and among many it is even heresy to mention it ! I hope it will not be presumed that I intend to establish the preference of my faith over that of other men. The result of controversy on such a subject, however multiplied, must be ever unsatisfixctory ; for the reasoning faculty which leads men to certainty in things within its reach, produces no elfect on questions beyond its comprehension. I do no more than assert, that, if correct reasoning, and the dictates of common sense, induce thcbelief of a wise, uncreated Being, who is the supporter and ruler of the boundless universe, we should also consider him the most powerful and supreme existence ; — far surpassing our powers of comprehen- sion or description ! — And, although men of nncnlti- ra^erf minds, and even some /m/vifr/ individuals, (but in this one point blinded by prejudice,) readily choose, as the object of their adoration, any thing which they can always see, and which they pretend lo/cel ; the absur- dity of such conduct is not thereby in the least degree diminished. INTRODUCTKm. My constant reflections on the inconvenient, or rather injurious rites, introduced by tlie peculiar practice of Hindoo idolatry, which, more than any other Pagan worship, destroys the texture of society, together with compassion for my countrymen, have compelled me to use every possible effort to awaken them from their dream of error: and by making them acquainted with their scriptures, enable them to contemplate with true devotion the unity and omnipresence of Nature's God. By taking the path which conscience and sincerity direct, T, born a Brahmun, have exposed myself to the complainings and reproaches, even of some of my relations, whose prejudices are strong, and whose tem- poral advantage depends upon the present system. But these, however accumulated, I can tranquilly bear ; trusting that a day will arrive when my humble endea- vours will be viewed with justice — perhaps acknow- ledged with gratitude. At any rate, whatever men may say, I cannot be deprived of this consolation: my motives are acceptable to that Being who beholds in secret and compensates openly ! ABRIDGMENT THE VEDANT The illustrious Byas,* in his celebrated work, the Vedant, insinuates in the first text, that it is absolutely necessary for mankind to acquire knowledge respecting the Supreme Being, who is the subject of discourse in all die Veds, and the Vedant, as well as in the other Systems of Theology. But he found, from the follow- ing passages of the Veds, that this inquiry is limited to very narrow bounds, viz. " The Supreme ]3eiug is not " comprehensible by vision, or by any other of the or- " gans of sense ; nor can he be conceived by means of " devotion, or virtuous practices !" i' " He sees every " thing, though never seen ; hears every thing, though " never directly heard of! He is neither short, nor is "he long ;t inaccessible to the reasoning faculty; not " to be compassed by description; beyond the limits of " the explanation of the Ved, or of human conception !"§ Byas, also, from die result of various arguments coin- ♦ The greatest of tlie Indian thcologists, pliilosophors, and poets, was begotten by the celebrated Purasur and Sutyubutoo. Byas collected and divided the Veds into certain books and chapters, he is therefore commonly called Vedu Byas. 'I'he word Byas is composed of the preposition hi and the verb nss to divide. t Munduc. J IJrih'darunnuf. k Cutbubnlli. 8 AlMUOGiMENT OF ciding with the Xcd, found that the accurate and posi- tive knowledge of the Supreme Being is not within the boundary of comprehension ; i. e. that ivhat, and hoiv, the Supreme Being is, cannot be definitely ascertained. He has therefore, in the second text, explained the Su- preme Being by his effects and works, without attempt- ing to define his essence; in like manner as we, not knowing the real nature of the sun, explain him to be the cause of the succession of days and epochs. " He " by whom the birth, existence, and annihilation of the *' world is regulated, is the Supreme Being !" We see the multifarious, wonderful universe, as well as the birth, existence, and annihilation, of its different parts; hence, we naturally infer the existence of a being who regulates the whole, and call him the Supreme : in the same man- ner as from the sight of a pot, we conclude the existence of its artificer. The Ved, in like manner, declares the Supreme Being thus : " He from whom the universal " world proceeds, who is the Lord of the Universe, and " whose work is the universe, is the Supreme Being !" * The Ved is not supposed to be an eternal Being, though sometimes dignified with such an epithet; be- cause its being created by the Supreme Being is de- clared in the same Ved thus : " All the texts and parts " of the Ved were created :" and also in the third text of the Vedant, God is declared to be the cause of all the Veds. The void Space is not conceived to be the independent cause of the world, notwithstanding the following de- claration of the Ved, " The world proceeds from the " void space ;"f for the Ved again declares, " By the * 'J'uitturccu. + CIiluDulogiiu. THE VEDA NT. » *' Sii))reme Being the voitl spiice was procluced." And the Vedanl* says: " As the JSiiprcnie jjciiig is evi- *' deiitly declared in the \'ed to he the cause of the *' void Space, Air, and Fire, neither of them can be " supposed to be the independent cause of tlie uni- " verse." Neither is Air allowed to be the Lord of tlie Uni- verse, althougii the Ved says in one instance, " In Air "every existing creature is absorbed;" for the Ved again affirms, that " Breath, the intellectual power, all " the internal and external senses, the void Space, Air, " Light, Water, and the extensive Earth, proceeded " from the Supreme Being !" The Vedantf also says: " God is meant by the following text of the Ved, as " a Being more extensive than all the extension of " Space;" viz. " That breath is greater than the exten- " sion of Space in all directions," as it occurs in the Ved, after the discourse concerning common breath is concluded. Light, of whatever description, is not inferred to be the Lord of the Universe, from the following assertion of the Ved : " The pure Light of all Lights is the Lord " of all creatures;" for the Ved again declares,;}: that " The sun and all others imitate God, and borrow their " light from him;" and the same declaration is found in the Vedant.§ Neither can Nature be construed by the following texts of the Ved, to be the independent cause of the world: viz. " Man having known that Nature which is " an eternal being, without a beginning or an end, is * Fourteenth text, 4th sec. l.^t <-li;i|). + Sih, 3(1, 1st. : .Moonduc. § J_'(l, :{(1, Ibt. 10 ABniDGMF.NT OF " delivered from the j^rasp of death !" and, " Nature " operates lierself !" because the Vcd affirms that " No " bein£T is superior or equal to God !"* and the Ved commands, " Know God alone !"f and the Vedantf thus declares : " Nature is not the Creator of the world, " not being represented so by the Ved," for it expressly says, " God has by his sight created the Universe." Nature is an insensible Being, she is, therefore, void of sight or intention, and consequently unable to create the regular world. § Atoms are not supposed to be the cause of the world, notwithstanding the following declaration : " This " (Creator) is the most minute Being." Because an atom is an insensible particle, and from the above authority it is proved, that no Being void of understanding can be the author of a system so skilfully arranged. The Soul cannot be inferred from the following texts, to be the Lord of the Universe, nor the independent Ruler of the intellectual powers; viz. "The Soul being joined " to the resplendent Being, enjoys by itself," " God and " the Soul enter the small void space of the heart ;" be- cause the Ved declares that "He (God) resides in the Soul as its Ruler," and that " The Soul being joined to the " gracious Being, enjoys happiness." || The Vedant also says, " The sentient soul is not understood to reside as " ruler in the Earth, because in both texts of the Ved " it is differently declared from that Being who rules the " Earth:" viz. " He (God) resides in the faculty of the " understanding," and " He, who resides in the Soul, " &c." * Cuthu. t Mooiuluc. X 5th, 1st, 1st. § Culhu. II 2(lth, 2(1, 1st. THE VEDANT. 11 No God or Goddess of the Earth c:in be meant by the tbllowing text, as the ruler of the Earth, viz. * " He " who resides in the Earth, and is distinct from the Earth, " and whom the Earth does not know," &c. : because the Ved affirms that, "This (God alone) is the ruler of " internal sense, and is the eternal Being;" and the same is asserted in the Vedant.f By the textAvhich begins with the following sentence: viz. " This is the Sun," and by several other texts testi- fying the dignity of the sun, he is not supposed to be the original cause of the universe, because the Ved de- clares, thatj " He who resides in the Sun (as his Lord) " is distinct from the Sun," and the Vedant declares the same.§ In like manner none of the celestial Gods can be in- ferred from the various assertions of the Ved, respect- ing their deities respectively, to be the independent cause of the Universe ; because the Ved repeatedly affirms, that " All the Veds prove nothing but the unity of the " Supreme Being." By allowing the Divinity more than one Being, the following positive affirmations of the Ved, relative to the unity of God, become false and absurd: "God is indeed one and has no second. "|| " There is none but the Supreme Being possessed of ** imiversal knowledge." U " He who is without any *' figure, and beyond the limit of description, is the " Supreme Being." '^ * " Appellations and figures of all " kinds are innovations." And from the authority of many other texts it is evident that any being that bears • Brih'daruiinuo. t l^^tli, lM, 1st. ♦ IJiiliManumuc. § 2l8t, 1st, 1st. II Cuthu. H Biiirdanuiiiuc. ** Chhandoggu. 12 ABRIDGMENT OF figure, and is subject to description, cannot be the eternal independent cause of the universe. The Veds not only cull the celestial representations Deities, but also in many instances give the divine epithet to the mind, diet, void space, quadruped animal, slaves, and flymen : as, " The Supreme JBeing is a qua- " druped animal in one place, and in another he is full " of glory. The mind is the Supreme Being, it is to '' be worshipped," " God is the letter ku as well as " khu," and " God is in the shape of slaves and that " of flymen." The Ved has allegorically represented God in the figure of the Universe, viz. " Fire is his " head, the sun and the moon are his two eyes,"* &c. And also the Ved calls God the void space of the heart, and declares him to be smaller than the grain of paddy and barley : but from the foregoing quotations neither any of the celestial Gods, nor any existing creature, should be considered the Lord of the Universe, because the "I* third chapter of the Vedant explains the reason for these secondary assertions thi s : " By these appella- " tions of the Ved which denote the diffusive spirit of " the Supreme Being equally over all creatures by " means of extension, his omnipresence is established :'' so the Ved says, " All that exists is indeed God,"J i. e. nothing bears true existence excepting God, " and " whatever we smell or tfaste is the Supreme Being," i. e. the existence of whatever thing that appears to us relies on the existence of God. It is indisputably evident that none of these metaphorical representations, which arise from the elevated style in which all the Veds are written, were designed to be viewed in any • Mondiic. + 3Sth text, 2cl see. \ f'hliaiKldoj^^ii. ; THE VEDANT. I.i Oilier liii. t iTtii, itb, :w. J 1st, 1st, 4tli. THE VF.DANT. 19 The Vetlanl shews that moral piinciple is a part of the adoration of God, viz. " A command over our *' passions and over the external senses of the body *' and good acts, are declared by the Ved lo be indis- *' pensable in the mind's approximation to God, they " should therefore be strictly taken care of, and attended *' to, both previously and subsequently to such approxi- " mation to the Supreme Being;"* i.e. we should not indulge our evil propensities, but should endeavour to have entire control over them. Reliance on, and self- resignation to, the only true Being, with an aversion to worldly considerations, are included in the good acts above alluded to. The adoration of the Supreme Being produces eternal beatitude, as well as all desired advantages ; as the Vedant declares : " It is the firm *' opinion of Byas that from devotion to God all the " desired consequences proceed ;"f and it is thus often represented by the Ved, " He who is desirous of pros- " parity should worship the Supreme Being. "| " He " who knows God thoroughly adheres unto God." " The souls of the deceased forefathers of liim who *' adores the true Being alone, enjoy freedom by his " mere wish."§ " All the celestial gods worsliip him *' who applies his mind to the Supreme Being;" and " He, who sincerely adores the Supreme Being, is " exempted from further transmigration." A pious householder is entitled to the adoration of God equally with an Uti:|| The Vedant says, that • 27tli, 4th,;3e of God, the origin of the soul: for the way to the know- ledge of God is considered by wise men difficidt as the passage over the sharp edge of a razor. The Supreme Being is not organised with the faculties of hearing, feeling, vision, taste or smell. He is unchangeable and eternal ; without beginning or end ; and is beyond that particle which is the origin of the intellect : man know- ing him thus, is relieved from the grasp of death. A wise man reading to Brahmuns, or hearing/>om a teacher, this ancient doctrine imparted to Nuchiketa by Yumu, is absorbed into God. He who reads this most secret doctrine before an assemblage of Brahmuns, or at the time of offering ob- lations to his forefathers, enjoys innumerable good con- sequences. The end of the third Bidlee. God has created the senses to be directed towards external objects; they consequently are apt to perceive outward things only, and not the eternal spirit. But a wise man being desirous of eternal life, withdrawing his 72 kut'h-opunishud of senses from their natural course, apprehends the omni- present Supreme Being. The ignorant seek external and desirable objects only; consequently they are subjected to the chain of all-seizing death. Hence the wise, knowing that God alone is immortal and eternal in this perishable world, do not cherish a w'l^h fur those objects. To him, owing to whose presence alone the animate beings, composed of insensible particles, perceive objects through vision, the power of taste, of feeling, and of hearing, and also the pleasure derivable from sexual intercourse, nothing can be unknown : he is that ex- istence which thou desiredst to know. A wise man after having known that the soul, owing to whose pi'esence living creatures perceive objects, whether they dream or wake, is great and extensive, never grieves. He who believes that the soul, which enjoys the fruits of good or evil actions, intimately connected with the body, originates from and is united with God, the Lord of past and future events, will not conceal its nature : he is that existence which thou desiredst to know. He who knows that the prime sensitive particle, which pro- ceeded from God prior to the creation of water and the other elements, having entered into the heart, exists united with material objects, knows the Supreme Being. He is that existence which thou desiredst to know. That sensitive particle which perceives objects, and includes all the celestial deities, and which was created with all the elements, exists, entering into the space of the heart, and there resides. It is that existence which thou desiredst to know. THE LJOOU VKl). 73 Tlie sacred fire, the receiver of oblations, after the wood has been kindled below and above, is preserved by its observers with the same care as pre<^nant women take of their fix?tus: it is praised daily by prndent ob- servers, and men habituated to constant devotion. That atmosphere from whence the sun ascends, and in which he goes down, on which all the world, including Jire, speech^ and other things, rests, and independently of which nothing exists, is that existence which thou de- siredst to know. Whatever individual intellect there is connected with the body, is that intellectual principle, which is pure and immaterial existence, and the intel- lectual overspreading principle is the individual intel- lect ; but he who thinks here that they are difl'erent in nature, is subject to repeated transmigrations. Through the mind, purified hy spiritual instructions, the knowledge that the soul is of divine origin, and by no means is dilferent//o;w its source, shall be acquired, whereby the idea of duality entirely ceases. He who thinks there is variety of intellectual principle, under- goes transmigration. The omnipresent spirit, extending over the space of the heart, which is the size of a finger, resides within the body ; and persons knowing him the Lord of past and future events, will not again attempt to conceal his nature: He is that existence which thou desircdst to know. The omnipresent spirit which extends over the space of the heart, the size of a finger, is the most pure light. He is the Lord of past and future events; He alone pervades the universe now and ever ; He is that existence which thou desircdst to know. In the same way as 74? kut'h-opunishud of water falling on uneven ground disperses throughout the hollow places, and is lost, so a man who thinks that the souls of different bodies are distinct in nature from each other, shall be placed in various forms by trans- migration. As water falling on even grounds remains un- changed, so the soul of a wise man of steady mind is always pure, freed from the idea of duality. End of the fourth Bullee. The body is a dwelling with eleven gates, belonging to the unborn and unchangeable spirit, through whose constant contemplation man escapes from grief, and acquiring absorption, is exempted from transmigration. He is that existence which thou desiredst to know. That spiritual Being acts always and moves in hea- ven ; preserves all material existence as depending on him ; moves in space ; resides in fire ; walks on the earth ; enters like a guest into sacrificial vessels ; dwells in man, in gods, in sacrifices; moves throughout the sky ; seems to be born in water, as fshes, Sfc. ; pro- duced on earth, as vegetables, on the tops of mountains, as rivers, and also as members of sacrifices : yet is he truly pure and great. He who causes breath to ascend above the heart and peditum to descend, resides in the heart : He is adorable ; and to him all the senses offer oblation of the objects which they perceive. When the soul, which is connected with the body, leaves it, nothing then remains in the body which may preserve the system : It is that existence which thou desiredst to know. THE UJOOll VED. 75 Neither by the help of breath, nor from the presence of other powers, can a mortal exist: but they all exist ovvinjr to that other existence on Avhich both breath and the senses rest. I will now disclose to you the secret doctrine of the eternal CJod ; and also how man, void of that knowledge, O Goutum ! transmigrates after death. Some of those ivho are ignorant of this doctrine enter after death the womb of females to appear in the ani- mal shape, while others assume the form of trees, ac- cording to their conduct and knowledge during their lives. The Being who continues to operate even at that time of sleep, when all the senses cease to act, and then creates desirable objects of various descriptions, is pure and the greatest of all ; and he alone is called eternal, on whom all the world rests, and independently of whom nothing can exist: He is that existence which thou desiredst to know. As fire, although one in es- sence, on becoming visible in the world, appears in various forms and shapes, according to its different locations, so God, the soul of the universe, though one, appears in various modes, according as he connects himself with different material objects, and, like space, extends over all. As air, although one in essence, in becoming opera- tive in the body appears in various natures, as breath and other vital airs, so God, the soul of the universe, though one, appears in different modes, according as he connects himself with various material objects, and, like space, extends over all. As the sun, though he serves as the eye of all living •76 kut'h-oi'unisiiud of creatures, yet is not polluted externally or internally hy being connected with visible vile objects, so God, the soul of the universe, although one and omnipresent, is not affected by the sensations of individual pain, for he is beyond its action. God is but one; and he has the whole world under his control, for he is the operating soul in all objects: He, through his cmniscience, makes his sole existence appear in the form of the universe. To those wise men who acquire a knowledge of him who is operative on the human faculties, is eternal beatitude allotted, and not to those who are void of that knowledge. God is eternal amidst the perishable universe ; and is the soui'ce of sensation among all animate existences; and he alone assigns to so many objects their respective purposes : To those wise men who know him the ruler of the intellectual power, everlasting beatitude is allot- ted ; but not to those who are void of that knowledge. How can I acquire that most gratifying divine know- ledge, which, though beyond comprehension, wise men, by constant application of mind, alone obtain, as if it were present? Does it shine conspicuously? — and does it appear to the human faculties? Neither the sun, nor the moon, nor yet the stars can throw light on God: Even the illuminating lightning cannot throw light upon him ; much less can limited fire give him light: But they all imitate him, and all borrow their light from him— that is, nothing can injlii- ence God and render him perspicuous .• But God himself imparts his knowledge to the heart freed Jrom passion and desire. End of theffth Bidlee. THE UJOOR VED. Tf The world is a fig-tree of long duration, whose origin is above, and the branches of which, as different species^ are below. The origin alone is pure and supreme; and he alone is eternal on whom all the world rests, and independently of whom nothing can exist. — He is that existence which tiiou desiredst to know. God being eternal existence, the universe, whatsoever it is, exists and proceeds from him. He is the great dread of all heavenly bodies, as if he were prepared to strike them with thunderbolts; so that none of them can deviate from their respective courses established by him. Those who know him as the eternal power acquire absorption. Through his fear fire supplies M5 with heat; and the sun, through his fear, shines regularly ; and also Indru, and air, and fifthly, death, are through his fear con- stantly in motion. If man can acquire a knowledge of God in this world, before the fall of his body, he becomes happy for ever : Otherwise he assumes new forms in different man- sions. A knowledge of God shines on the purified intel- lect in this world, as clearly as an object is seen by reflection in a polished mirror: In the region of the deified Progenitors of mankind it is viewed as obscurely as objects perceived in the state of dreaming; and in the mansion of Gundhurvus, in the same degree as the reflection of an object on water; but in the mansion of Bruhma it appears as distinctly as the difference between light and darkness. A wise man, knowing the soul to be distinct from the senses, which proceed from different origins, and also from the state of waking and of sleep, never again ffrieves. 78 kut'h-opunishud of The mind is more refined than the external senses ; and the intellect is again more exalted than the mind. The prime sensitive particle is superior to the intellect; — nature, the apparent cause of the universe, is again superior to that particle unaffected by matter : Superior to nature is God, who is omnipresent and without material effects : by acquisition of whose knowledge man becomes extricated from ignorance and distress, and is absorbed into Him of ter death. His substance does not come within the reach of vision ; no one can apprehend him through the senses: By constant direction of the intellect, free from doubts, he perspicuously appears ; and those who know him in the prescribed manner, enjoy eternal life. That part of life wherein the power of the five external senses and the mind are directed towards the Supreme Spirit, and the intellectual power ceases its action, is said to be most sacred; and this steady control of the senses and mind is considered to be Yog (or withdratuing the senses and the mind from icorldly objects): Man should be vigilant in the acquisition of that state ; for such control proceeds from constant exercise, and ceases by neglect. Neither through speech, nor through intellectual power, nor yet through vision, can man acquire a knowledge of God ; but, save him who believes in the existence of God as the cause of the U7iii'erse, no one can liave a notion of that Being. A man should acquire, first, a belief in the existence of God, the origin of the universe; and next, a real knowledge of him ; to wit, that he is incomprehensible; for the means which lead men to acquire a knowledge of his existence^ graciously THE UJOOR VED. 79 conduct tliem to the belief of his incomprehensibility. When all the desires settled in the lieart leave man, the mortal then become immortal, and acquire absorp- tion even in this life. When the deep ignorance which occasions duality is entirely destroyed, the mortal become immortal : This is the only doctrine which the J'edant inculcates. There are one hundred and one tubes connected with the heart, one of^ which, called Sookhumna, proceeds to the head : The soul of a devotee proceeding through the hundred and first, is carried to the mansion of the immortal Bruhma ; and those of others, which ascend by other tubes, assume dilTerent bodies, according to the evil or e help of one articulation, is the symbol of the Supreme Spirit. It is derived from the radical ^ ^ to preserve, with the affix M^ . " One " letter (Om) is the emblem of the Most Uighy—Mioioo, II. 83. •' This one letter, Om, is the emblem of the Supreme Being." — Bhuguvudgeeta. It is true that this emblem conveys two sounds, that of and of to, nevertheless it is held to be one letter in the above sense ; and we meet with instances even in the ancient and modern languages of Europe that can justify such privileges ; such as s and Y, reckoned single letters in Greek, and Q, W, X, in English and others. But when considered as a triliteral word consisting of 3f "5 ^ Om implies the three Veds, the three states of human nature, the three divisions of the universe, and the three deities, Bruhma, Vishnu and Shivu, agents in the creation, preservation, and destruction of this world; or, properly speaking, the three principal attributes of the Su- preme Being personified as Bruhma, Vishnu, and Shivu, In this sense it implies, in fact, the universe controlled by the Supreme Spirit. 110 DIVINE WOIlSHIl' IJY .MEANS OF " also the Gayutree, consisting of three measured " lines, must be considered as the entrance to divine « bliss."* " Whoever shall repeat them day by day, for three *' years, without negligence, shall approach the most " High God, become free as air, and acquire after death " an ethereal essence." *' From the three Veds the most exalted Bruhma " successively milked out the three lines of this sacred " text, beginning with the ivord Tut and entitled Savi- " tree or Gayutree." Yogee Yajnuvulkyu also declares, " By means of "Om; Bhooh, Bhoovuh, and Swuh ; and the Gayu- " tree, collectively or each of the three singly, the most " High God, the source of intellect, should be wor- " shipped." " So Bruhma himself formerly defined Bhooh, In all the Hindoo treatises of philosophy (the Poorans or didactic parables excepted), the methodical collection or expansion of matter is understood by the term creation, the gradual or sudden perversion of order is intended by destruction, and the power which Avards off the latter from the former is meant by preser- vation. The reason the authors offer for this interpretation is, that they, in connnon with others, are able to acquire a notion of a Super- intending Power, though unfelt and invisil)le, solely through their observation of material phenomena; aud that should they reject this medium of conviction, and fcu'ce upon themselves a belief of the production of matter from nothing;, and of its liability to entire annihilation, then nothing would remain in the ordinary course of reasoning to justify their maintaining any longer a notion of that unknown Supreme Superintending Power. • The last clause admits of another interpretation, viz. " must " be considered as the nioutii, or priiiciixil part of the Veds." THK GAYUTHKF.. Ill " Blioovuh, Swiili, (Earth, Space, Heaven) as the " body of the Supreme Intelligence; hence these three " words are called the Defined." [Those that maintain the doctrine of the universe being the body of the Supreme Spirit, found their opinion upon the following considerations : 1st. Tliat tliere are innumerable millions of bodies, properly speaking worlds, in the infinity of space. •idly, 'i'hat they move, mutually preserving their regular intervals between each other, and that they maintain each other by producing effects primary or secondary, as the members of the body support each other. 3dly. That those bodies, when viewed collectively, are considered one; in the same way as the members of an animal body or of a machine, taken together, constitute one whole. 4thly. Any material body whose members move methodically, and afford support to each other in a manner sufficient for their preservation, must be ac- tuated either by an internal guiding power named the soul, or by an external one as impulse. 5thly. It is maintained that body is as infinite as space, because body is found to exist in space as far as our perceptions, with the naked eye or by the aid ol" instruments, enable us to penetrate. Gthly. If body be infinite as space, the power that guides its members must be internal, and therefore styled the Soul, and not external, since there can be no existence, even in thought, without the idea of location. Hence this sect suppose that the Supreme all-per- vading [)o\ver is the soul of tlie univeise, both existin"- 112 DIVINE WonSHII' BV ."MEANK OF from eternity to eternity ; and that the former has somewhat the same influence over the universe as the individual soul has over tlie individual body. They argue further, that in proportion as the inter- nally impelled body is excellent in its construction, the directing soul must be considered excellent. There- fore, inasmuch as the universe is infinite in extent, and is arranged with infinite skill, the soul by which it is animated must be infinite in every perfection.] He (Yajnuvulkyu) again expounds the meaning of the Gayutree in three passages : " We, say the adorers of the Most High, meditate " on the Supreme and omnipresent internal spirit of *' this splendid Sun. We meditate on the same " Supreme spirit, earnestly sought for by such as dread " further mortal birth ; who, residing in every body as " the all-pervading soul and controller of the mind, " constantly directs our intellect and intellectual ope- *'' rations io'^ardiS the acquisition of virtue, wealth, phy- " sical enjoyment, and final beatitude." So, at the end of the Gayutree, the utterance of the letter Om is commanded by the sacred passage cited by Goonu-Vishnoo : " A Brahmun shall in " every instance pronounce Om, at the beginning and "at the end; for unless the letter Om precede, the " desirable consequence will fail ; and unless it follow, it " will not be long retained." That the letter Om, which is pronounced at the beginning and at the end of the Gayutree, expressly sig- nifies the Most High, is testified by the Ved : viz. *' Thus through the help of Om, you contemplate the " Supreme Spirit." {Moonduk Oojmnishud.) TIIC GAYUTREE. 113 Munoo also calls to niiiul the purpoi't of the same passage : " All rites ordained in the Ved, such as ob- " hition to fire and solemn offerings, pass away; but " the letter Om is considered that which passes not " away; since it is a symbol of the most High the Lord " of created beings." " By the sole repetition of Om and the Gayutree, " a Brahmun may indubitably attain beatitude. Let " him perform or not perform any other religious rites, " he being a friend to all creatures is styled a knower of « God.' So Yogee Yajnuvulkyu says : " God is declared to " be the object signified, and Om to be the term sig- " nif\'ing: By means of a knowledge even of the letter " Om, the symbol, God becomes propitious." In the Bhuguvudgeeta : " Om* (the cause), Tut t " (that), Sut| (existing), these are considered three " kinds of description of the supreme Being." • " Om" implies the Being on whom all objects, either visible or invisible, depend in their formation, continuance, and change. t " Tut" implies the being that can be described only by the de- monstrative pronoun " that," and not by any particular defination. X " Sut" implies what " truly exists" in one condition inde- pendent of others. These three terms collectively imply, that the object contemplated through " Om" can be described only as " that" which " is existing." The first term " Om" bears a striking similarity, both in sound and application, to the participle " a/v" of the verb "i/^i**" to he, in Greek ; and it is therefore not very improbable that one might have had its origin from the other. As to the similarity in sound, it is too obvious to require illustration ; and a reference to the Septuagint will shew that um like " Om" is applied to Jehova the ever existing (Jod. E.\odu8, iii. 14. " Ey« «/^/ o fiir." '• o n* I 114 mviNF. woiisHiP r,Y means or In the concluding part of the commentary on the Gayutree by the ancient Bhuttu Goonu-Vishnoo, the meaning of the passage is briefly given by the same author. " He, the spirit who is thus described, guides us. " He, as the soul of the three mansions {viz. earth, " space, and heaven), of water, light, moisture, and " the individual soul, of all moving and fixed objectsj *' and of Bruhma, Vishnoo, Shivu, the Sun, and other " gods of various descriptions, the Most High God, " illuminating, like a brilliant lamp, the seven man- " sions, having carried my individual soul, as spirit, to " the seventh heaven, the mansion of the worshippers " of God called the True mansion, the residence of " Bruhma, absorbs it (my soul), through his divine " spirit, into his own divine essence. The worshipper, " thus contemplating, shall repeat the Gayutree." Thus it is said by Rughoonundun Bhuttacharyu, a modern expounder of law in the country of Gourr, when interpreting the passage beginning with " Pru- nuvu Vyahritibhyam :" — " By means of pronouncing " Om and Bhooh, Bhoovuh, Swuh, and the Gayutree, " all signifying the Most High, and reflecting on their " meaning, the worship of God shall be performed, and " his grace enjoyed." And also in the Muha Nirvan Tuntru : " In like " manner, among all texts the Gayutree is declared to " be the most excellent: the worshipper shall repeat it " when inwardly pure, reflecting on the meaning of it. " If the Gayutree be repeated with Om and the Vyah- " riti {viz. Bhooh, Bhoovuh, Swuh), it excels all other " theistical knowledge, in producing immediate bliss. THE OAYUTREE. 115 *' Whosoever repeats it in ihc morning or evening or " {lining the night, while meditating on the Supreme " Being, being freed from all past sins, shall not be *' inclined to act unrighteously. The worshipper shall *' first pronounce Om, then the three Vyahritis, and *' afterwards the Gayutree of three lines, and shall *' finish it with the term Om. We meditate on liim '• from whom proceed the continuance, perishing, and *' production of all things ; who spreads over the three '* mansions ; that eternal Spirit, who inwardly rules the *• sun and all living creatures; most desirable and all- " pervading ; and who, residing in intellect, directs the " operations of the intellectual power of all of us mate- *' rial beings. The worshipper, by repeating every day " these three texts expressing the above meaning, ** attains all desirable objects, without any other reli- " gious observance or austerity. ' One only without a *' ' second' is the doctrine maintained by all the Oopuni- " shuds: that imperishable and incomprehensible Being " is understood by these three texts. Wlioever repeats " them once, or ten, or a hundred times, either alone or " with many others, attains bliss in a proportionate " degree. After he has completed the repetition, he " shall again meditate on Ilim who is one only without *' a second, and all-pervading: thereby all religious *' observances, though not performed, shall have been " virtually performed. Any one, whether a house- *' holder or not, whether a Brahmun or not, all have' *' equal right to the use of these texts as found in the *' Tuntru." Here On, in the first instance, signifies that Supreme Being who is the sole cause of the continuance, perish- i2 116 niVINE WORSHIP BY MEANS OF ill!.', and jn'odiiction of all worltls, " lie from whom " these creatures are produced, by whom those that are " produced exist, and to whom after death they return, " is the Supreme Being, whom thou dost seek to know." — The text of the Ved quoted by the revered Shunkur Acharyu in the Commentary on the first text of the Vedant Durshun. The doubt whether or not that cause signified by " Om" exists separately from these effects, having arisen, the second text, Bhoor Bhoovuh Swuh, is next read, explaining that God, ilie sole cause, eternally exists pervading the universe, " Glorious, invisible, " perfect, unbegotten, pervading all, internally and " externally is He the Supreme spirit." — Moonduk Oopu- nishud. It being still doubted whether or not livinfj creatures large and small in the world act independently of that sole cause, the Gayutree, as the third in order, is read. " Tut Suvitoor vurenyum, Bhurgo devusyu dheemuhi, " dhiyo yo nuh pruchoduyat." We meditate on that indescribable spirit inwardly ruling the splendid Sun, the express object of woi'ship. He does not only in- wardly rule the sun, but he, the spirit, residing in and inwardly ruling all us material beings, directs mental operations towards their objects. " He who inwardly " rules the sun is the same immortal spirit who inwardly " rules thee." {Chhandoggu Oopunishud.) — " God resides " in the heart of all creatures. ' — Bhugiivudgeeta. The object signified by the three texts being one, their repetition collectively is enjoined. The following is their meaning in brief. " We meditate on the cause of all, pervading all, and Tin: GAYUTilEE. 117 " internally lulini; all material ol)jeels, tioiii the sun " down to ns and others." [The rollo\vin( tlino toiisonants, dfii\od (Vom li/iii, to sliinc; mm, to deli^^lit; LY TO Tin-: AITACK OF AN ADVOCATE FOR IDOJ.ATRV AT MADRAS. CALCUTTA 1827. PREFACE The following sheets contain some remarks in reply to a publication which appeared in the " Madras Courier" of November last, under the signature of San- kara Sastri, in answer to my abridgment of the Vedant and my Preface to the translation of the Ishopanishad, as well as to my Introduction to the Cenopanishad. The length to which the arguments of the controvertist ex- tended having precluded their appearance in the Cal- cutta prints, I have taken the liberty of reprinting them along with my own observations on them, in order that the discussion may be brought fully before the public, to whose decision the merits of the question must now be left. Ti) THE EDITOR OF THE MADRAS COURIER. Sir, On reading your paper, dated 19th November 1816, I found a publication in it taken from a Calcutta paper, respecting the theological doctrines of Ram Mohun Roy, on which I shall proceed to make a few obser- vations. In the first part of this publication it is stated : " this " eminently learned and indefatigable reformer is pro- ** ceeding, with unremitting exertions, in the laudable " work of enlightening his countrymen, and reclaiming " them from their debasing system of idolatry. Having, " for the instruction of the Hindu population of these " provinces, translated into Bengalese the principal " chapters of the Veds, he has now done a few of them " into English, for the gratification of such European " gentlemen as interest themselves in the improvement " of their fellow-creatures." In a former paper, also, it was stated that tlie learned person here mentioned, had " discovered" that the doctrine of the Unity of the Godhead was taught in the Puranas and Tantras as well as the Vedas. Tiie worship of llic All-pervading and Supreme Beinij is the oriy;inal doctrine lounded on I he V^edai^, 124- A DEFENCE OF Purnas, Sec, and is known in general in this, as well as in the othei' parts of the Peninsula : — this faith is known by the name of Adwaitam, which being derived from dwita duality, by affixing the privative a is the opposite of dwiatam, the term usually applied to the belief that admits of more than one first cause : it is impossible to say when it was first revealed, yet, among various con- jectures, the probability is, that the revelation of this faith is to be ascribed to Brahma, the ci-eating power alone, and that it is as ancient, therefore, as the exist- ence of the world. People of limited understanding, not being able to comprehend the system of worshipping the Invisible Being, have adopted doctrines, and by that means con- founded weak minds in remote times ; but due punish- ment was inflicted on those heretics, and religion was very well established throughout India by the Reverend Senkaracharyam and his disciples, who, however, did not pretend to reform or discover them, or assume the title of a reformer or discoverer. There are an immense number of books, namely, Vedas, Sastras, Puranas Agams, Tan tr as- Sutras, and Itihas, besides numerous commentaries compiled by many famous theologians, both of ancient and modern times, respecting the doctrine of the worship of the Invisible Being. They are not only written in Sanscrit, but rendered into Pracruta, Tenugu, Tamil, Guzerat, Hindoostani, Mai'atta, Canari, &c. languages, and im- memorially studied by a great part of the Hindu nation attached to the Adwaitam faith, and so our ancestors left no room to any person to make " discoveries " on the subject, or " io proceed with unremitting exertion in HINDOO THEISM. 125 " the laudable work of enlightening his countrymen^ and " redaimimj them from their debasing system of idolatry:* From my stating these doctrines to have been an- ciently translated, I beg it may not be construed that those translations are universally admitted. On the contrary, they are rejected by some and admitted by others, for reason recited as follows : — First.— If the reader of them doubts the truth of the principles explained in the translation, the divine know- ledge he ac(piired by them becomes a doubtful fliith, and that doubt cannot be removed unless he compare them with the original work ; in that case the know- ledge he lastly actpiired becomes superior, and his study in the first instance becomes useless, and the cause of repeating the same work. Second.- Reading the Scriptures in the vulgar lan- guages is prohibited by the Puranas, Third. — These translations are omitted by others as useful and interesting in general, and particularly to those who have not sufficient knowledge in Sanscrit. Not wishing to trouble my readers with the obser- vations necessary to reconcile these three controversial points, I think it proper to leave it to them to judf^e which of them is admissible. The Sutra 13hashyam, or the Commentary on the Theological Sutrams of Veda Vyasa, and those on the Uponishets, &c. are in this part of India constantly read and taught by the Brahmins all over the country. Lectures and themes are delivered in the various au- diences frequently and purposely held by the Rajahs, Pundits, and other respectable men in the country. The ascribing of the "discovery" of a religious tenet T26 A DEFF.NCE OF SO well known and celebrated, to a learned native, cannot therefore be here admitted by a Hindu, and he will not be more astonished at it than he would at hearing that a man had one head and two eyes. Previously to my proceeding to make any observa- tions respecting idolatrous worship, I think it proper to state how the Supreme Being is defined. The Vedas, Purans, Sec. say that this Being is infinite, eternal, self-intelligent, indivisible, inconsumable, per- vading, universal, inconceivable, invisible, unalterable, and almighty. It is not subject either to the mind or senses. The translation of the following Sanscrit slo- kanis will serve to form an idea of its nature. " He is eternal, he is the splendour of splendour. " He is supreme and glorious. " The sun shines not with respect to him, nor the " moon nor fire." " Thou hearest without ears, " Thou smellest without a nose, " Thou walkest without legs, " Thou seest without eyes, " Thou tastest without a tongue. " Thou hast no gotram, nor birth, nor name, nor " shape, nor state, nor place. " Though thou art thus, yet thou art the Lord of " the earth and the heaven. " In the same manner as the illusive appearance of " water, produced by the reflection of the rays in the " mirage : *' So the universe shines in theC; the real and intel- " ligent spirit." HINDOO THEISM. 127 " Thou canst not be known cither b}' the organs or " by the mind, as tlioii art self-resplendent and distinct " from elemental being. " If ignorance be annihilated by knowledge, as dark- " ness by the dawn, thy light will shine like the sun." " The whole had its birth in thee, " The whole rests in thee. " The whole obtains its destruction in thee, like " bubbles in water." The difficulty of attaining the knowledge of this in- visible and Almighty Spirit, is evident from the preced- ing verses, and all the Scriptures and other authorities affirm that the soul, propelled by Maya towards ex- ternal objects, and obscured by the ignorance of indi- viduality, cannot obtain mocaham (salvation) unless it is freed from every impression either of vice and vir- tue, the illusions of Maya; and until that time, it will continue to undergo various transmigrations, and par- take of misery and happiness, the result of its vices and virtues, in the terrestrial, celestial, and infernal worlds. The eating food, slumbering, fear, love, and other animal functions and propensities, are common and natural both to the human and brute creation ; they both seek for food and are subject to slumber. Out of the fear of death, Sec. they either attack or fly when opposed by an enemy; but though the intellectual powers of both races are the same in general, and en- tirely directed towards external objects, yet one human race is endowed with the powers of reason and deter- mination. These, if applied, serve to reason — who is 128 A DEFENCE OF himself? from whence he is come? what is the con- nexion between him and the Supreme Being ? how the spirit in him is illusively inspired, and illusively beheld, and illusively divided from the pervading spirit. The mental powers of every corporeal being are, from the time of its birth, attracted by external ob- jects, and they cannot be inverted towards the indivi- dual spirit, or the object meant by the word " I," without great labour, practice, mental exercise, puri- fication, and the divine assistance, or favouring grace, of the Deity, without which a complete knowledge of his atmd or spirit cannot be obtained. It is said in the Scripture, that the person void of this knowledge does not only remain self-ignorant, but it is decreed by the authorities that he is a self-deceiver, and his ignorance finally proves fatal to himself. In order to save the human race from the utter de- struction occasioned by self-ignorance, Brahamii de- livered the divine precepts in the Vedas, both for the use of men of enlightened and limited understanding. These precepts are divided into two parts, namely, Carmocandam, Or works, and Gnanacandam, or know- ledge, or faith, as European writers express it ; these words I understand to mean essentially the same thing, for what is faith without adequacy of knowledge ? The first prescribes the mode of performing Yagam or Sacrifice, bestowing Danam or Alms, treats of pe- nance, fasting, and of worshipping the Incarnations, in which the Supreme Deity has appeared on the eartli for divine purposes. The ceremonies performed ac- cording to these modes, forsaking their fruits, are affirmed by the Vcdas to be mental exercises and men- HINDOO THEISM. 129 tal purifications, necessary to obtain the knowledge of the divine nature. Tile latter part treats on Tiieology and Metaphysics, on the nature of spirit, of mental abstraction, the sub- jugation of the passions, &c., the meaning of which the student must attain by reasoning, and must impress it well on the understanding by reflection ; he must be- hold the Supreme Spirit alike in all things ; he must constantly contemplate the union of his own atmd^ or soul, with the Universal Supreme Spirit, which he must consider unconnected though in all connections, and inactive in all things in action, and must compre- hend the whole universe in him alone. The Gnani, or the man that has attained divine knowledge in this manner, should be unaffected in all his actions ; the same in praise and insult, in friendship and in enmity, in honour and dishonour, in pleasure and pain, in cold and heat; all his passions should be subdued, and his mind constantly 'fixed and united with the universal Spirit. I must here introduce another extract from the pub- lication to which I have referred. " We understand that " on all the great Hindoo festivals the Friendly Society, " established by him, holds meetings, not only with the " view that its members may keep aloof from the idola- " trous ceremonies of their countrymen, but also to " renew and strengthen their own faith in the purer " doctrines which they affirm to be establi^iied in the " Veds. At these meetings they have music and danc- ' ing, as well as their more superstitious bretliren ; " but the songs are all expressive of the peculiar tenets " of the Monotheists." 130 A DEFENCE OF It is evident from wliat is said above of the precepts in the Vedam, that divine knowledge cannot be ob- tained without purifying the soul, and such purification cannot take place without performing Yagams, bestow- ing Danams, by penance, worship, reading theology, and comprehending and reasoning on its meaning; but the holding of meetings, j)laying music, singing songs and dancing^ which are ranked among carnal pleasures, are not ordained by scripture as mental purification. It may be asked why purification cannot be attained by these songs, music, &c. since they are all intended to be expressive of the tenets of Monotheism ? I an- swer, that the completion of every undertaking in the world must take place by its respective means: for example, the thirst must be quenched by water, milk, and such like, but not with sand. These, the aforesaid means for quenching thirst, are known by human ex- perience and usage : but the means to purify the un- known and invisible powers of the intellect cannot be ascertained by human understanding, but by the pre- cepts revealed by divine wisdom. Therefore, the set- ting aside the proper means, such as Yagam, penance, worship, &c., and substituting dancing, music, and songs, appear in no way preferable by any doctrine. What has hitherto been said, applies only to the ob- servations of the writer in the Calcutta Paper, for which Ram Mohun Roy cannot be answerable; 1 must, however, make a few remarks on the " Inti'o- " duction," as it is stated to be, to his " translation of " one of the chapters of the Sama Veda." The author states that it is " a general characteristic of each Ved, " that the primary chapters of each branch treat of inxnOO THEISM. lol " astronomy, medicine, arms, and other arts and " sciences." All the Brahmans in tiiis part of the Peninsula are stndyinf. sulmans, for a period of upwards of a thousand years, respecting Mohummud, whom they call mercy of God upon all his creatures. The learned gentleman in the conclusion of his observations has left, as he says, the doctrines of pure allegory to me. It would have been more consistent with justice had he left pure alle- gory also to the Veds, which declare, ''appellations " and figures of all kinds are innovations," and which have allegorically represented God in the figure of the universe : " Fire is his head, the sun and the moon are " his two eyes," 8cc. ; and which have also represented all human internal qualities by different earthly objects ; and also to Vyas, who has strictly followed the Veds in these figurative representations, and to Sankaracharjya, who also adopted the mode of allegory, in his Bhashya of the Vedant and of the Upanishadas. SECOND DEFENCE ■J'llE MOiNOTIIEISTICAL SVSTKM THE VED8; IN REPLY TO AN APOLOCIY FOR THE PRESENT STATE HINDOO WORSHIP. CALCUTTA 1817. ADVERTISEMENT. Two publications only have yet appeared witii the professed object of defending Hindoo idolatry against the arguments which I have adduced from the Vedanta, and other sacred authorities, in proof of the erroneous- ness of that system. To the first, which appeared in a Madras Journal, my reply has been for some time be- fore the public. The second, which is the object of the present answer, and is supposed to be the produc- tion of a learned Brahmun now residing in Calcutta, was printed both in Bengallee and in English ; and I have therefore been under the necessity of preparing a reply in both of those languages. That which was intended for the perusal of my countrymen, issued from the press a few weeks ago. For my European readers I have thought it advisable to make some additional remarks to those contained in the Bengallee publica- tion, which I hope will tend to make my arguments more clear and intelligible to them than a bare trans- lation would do. SECOND DEFENCE, ; |). 2, 1. 17; \k ID and 20, luargin. t P. 1 ; p. 3, I. !) ; p. .S. 1.17; ,,. 38, I. 11 ; p. 4S, I. 19, &c. &c. : P. 13,1. M. 158 SECOND nEFENCE OF THE qualnted with the real tenets of the Vedant, might on a superficial view form a very unfavourable opinion of that theology, which, however, treats with perfect con- sistency of the unity and universality of the Supreme Being, and forbids, positively, treating with contempt or behaving ill towards any creature whatsoever. As to the satire^ and abuse, neither my education permits any return by means of similar language, nor does the system of my religion admit even a desire of unbecoming retaliation : situated as I am, I must hear them tranquilly. Besides, a sect of people who are apt to make use of the most foul language, when they feel angry with their supposed deities,f cannot of course be expected, when irritated with contradiction, to pay due attention, unless checked by fear, to the propriety of the use of decent expressions, either in common conversation or in religious controversy. The total sum of the arguments, set forth as far as page 13, of the translation of this treatise (however in- consistent they are with each other), seems intended to prove that faith in the Supreme Being, when united with moral works, leads men to eternal happiness. This doctrine, I am happy to observe, strongly cor- roborates every assertion that I have made in my trans- • Vide the " Apologfy," passim. t As may be observed when at the annual festival of Juggun- nath, the car in which he is conveyed happens to be impeded in its progress by any unseen obstacle In this case, the dithculty is supposed to be occasioned by the malicious opposition of that god, on whom the most gross abuse is liberally bestowed by his de- votees. MONOTHEISTICAL SYSTEM OF THE VEDS. 159 lation ; a few paragraphs of which I beg leave to repeat here for the satisfaction of my readers. In the abridg- ment of the Vcdant, page 11th: " The Vedant shews " that moral principle is a part of the adoration of " God, viz. a command over passions and over the " external senses of the body, and good acts are de- *' clared by the Ved to be indispensable in the mind's " approximation to God ; they should therefore be " strictly taken care of, and attended to, both pre- " viously and subsequently to such approximation to " the Supreme Being; that is to say, we shoulil not in- " dulge our evil propensities, but should endeavour to " have entire control over them : reliance on, and self- " resignation to the only true Being, with an aversion " to worldly considerations, are included in the good " acts above alluded to." In the introduction to the Ishopanished (page 5) : " Under these impressions, " therefore, I have been impelled to lay before them " genuine translations of parts of their scriptures, which " inculcate not only the enlightened worship of One " God, but the purest principles of morality." But the learned Brahmin asserts, in two instances, among arguments above noticed, that the worship of a fa- voured deity and that of an image are also considered to be acts of morality. The absurdity of this assertion will be shown afterwards, in considering the subjects of idol-worship. To English readers, however, it may be proper to remark, that the Sungscrit word which sig- nifies works, is not to be understood in the same sense as that which it implies in Christian theology, when works are opposed to faith. Christians understand by works, actions of moral merit, whereas Hindoos use the 160 SFX'OND DEFENCE OF THE term in their theology only to denote religious rites and ceremonies prescribed by Hindoo lawgivers, which are often irreconcilable with the commonly received maxims of moral duty; as, for instance, the crime of suicide prescribed to widows by Ungeera, and to pil- gz'ims at holy places by the Nursingh and Koorma Poorans. I do not, therefore, admit that works, taken in the latter sense (that is, the different religious acts prescribed by the Sastra to the different classes of Hindoos respectively) are necessary to attain divine faith, or that they are indispensable accompaniments of holy knowledge ; for the Vedant in the chapter 3d, section 4, text 37th, positively declares that the true knowledge of God may be acquired without observing the rules and rites prescribed by the Sastra to each class of Hindoos; and also, examples are frequently found in the Ved, of persons, who, though they neglected the performance of religious rites and cere- monies, attained divine knowledge and absorption by control over their passions and senses, and by contem- plation of the Ruler of the universe. Menu, the first and chief of all Hindoo lawgivers, confirms the same docti'ines in describing the duties of laymen, in the texts 22d, 23d, and 24th of the 4th chapter of his work; and in the Bhashya, or commentaries on the Ishopanishad, and on the other Upanishads of the Veds, the illustrious Sankaracharjya declared the at- tainment of faiih in God, and the adoration of the Supreme Being, to be entirely independent of Brah- minical ceremonies; and the Ved affirms that " many " learned true believers never worshipped fire, nor any " celestial god through fire." The learned Brahmun, MONOTHEISTICAL SYSTEM OF THE VEDS. 161 although he has ackiiowledgetl himself, in p. 9th, line fith, of his treatise, that, " in the opinion of San- " karacharjya the attaimnent of absorption does not " depend on works of merit" (or, properly speaking, on religious rites), yet forgetting the obedience he has expressed to be due to the instruction* of that cele- brated commentator, has inunediately contradicted his opinion, when he says in p. 9, 1. 9: " It has also been " ascertained that acts of merit (Brahminical rites) " must be performed previously to the attainment of " divine knowledge;" for, if divine knowledge; were to be dependent on the observance of Brahminical rites, and absorption dependent on divine knowledge, it would follow necessarily that absorption would depend on Brahminical rites, which is directly contrary to the opinion of the commentator quoted by the learned Brahmun himself. Moreover, the learned Brahmun at first states (p. 11, 1. 12) that, " in the ancient writers we *' read that a knowledge of Brahm, or holy knowledge, *' is independent of acts" (religious rites); but he again contradicts this statement, and endeavours to explain it away (p. 11, 1. 24): "Thus when the " Sastras state that absorption may be attained even " though the sacrificial fires be neglected, the praise of " that holy knowledge is intended, but not the depre- " ciationof meritorious acts" (Brahminical rites). Here he chooses to accuse his scripture, and ancient hoi}' writers, of exaggerated and extravagant praise of holy knowledge, rather than that the least shock should be • 1'. .i. I. 14. 162 SECOND DEFENCE OF THE given by their autliority to the structure of paganism and idolatry. From this instance, the public may per- ceive how zealous the learned Brahmun and his brethren are, in respect to the preservation of their fertile estate of idolatry, when tiiey are willing to sacri- fice to it even their own scriptural authorities. Upon a full perusal of the treatise, it appears that the arguments employed by the learned Brahmun have no other object than to support the weak system of idol-worship; inasmuch as he repeatedly declares, that the adoration of 330,000,000 deities, especially the principal ones, such as Siva, Vishnu, Kali, Gunesh, the Sun and others, through their several images, has been enjoined by the Shastras, and sanctioned by custom. I am not a little suprised to observe, that after having perused my Preface to the Ishopanishad in Bengali (of which during the last twelve months I have distributed nearly five hundred copies amongst all descriptions of Hindoos), the learned Brahmun has offered no objection to what I have therein asserted, relative to the reason assigned by the same Shastras, as well for the injunction to worship these figured beings, as for the general prevalence of idol-worship in this country. In that work, I admitted that the worship of these deities was directed by the Shastra ; but, at the same time, I proved by their own authority, that this was merely a concession made to the limited faculties of the vulgar, with the view of remedying, in some degree, the misfortune of their being incapable of comprehend- ing and adopting the spiritual worship of the true God. Thus, in the aforesaid Preface, I remarked : " For they MONOTHEISTICAL SYSTEM OF THE VEDS. 103 " (the Poorans, Tuntras, &c.) repeatedly declare " God to be one, and above the apprehension of the " external and internal senses. They indeed expressly " declare the divinity of many gods, and the mode of " their worship ; but they reconcile those contradict- " ing assertions by affirming frequently, that the dl- " rections to worship any celestial beings are only " ajiplicable to those who are incapable of elevating " their minds to the idea of an invisible being." And, with the view to remove every doubt as to the correct- ness of my assertion, I at the same time quoted the most unquestionable authorities, a few of which I shall here repeat " Thus corresponding to the natures of " different powers and qualities, numerous figures have " been invented for the benefit of those who are not " possessed of sufficient understanding." " The vulgar " look for their gods in water ; men of more extended " knowledge, in celestial bodies ; the ignorant, in wood, " bricks, and stones ; but learned men in the universal " soul.'' " It is impossible for those who consider " pilgrimage as devotion, and believe that the divine " nature exists in the image, to look up to, communi- " cate with, to petition, and to serve true believers in « God." Such indeed is the prevalent nature of truth, that when to dispute it is impossible, the learned Brahmun has not been always successful in concealing it, even when the admission is most fatal t* his own argument. In p. 28, 1. 31, he says : " But to those it is enjoined " who, from a defective under standing ^ do not perceive " that God exists in every thing, that they should " worship him through the medium of some created M 2 164 SECOND DEFENCE OF THE " object." In making this acknowledgment, the learn- ed Brahmun has confirmed the correctness of all my assertions ; though the evident conclusion is, that he and all his followers must either immediately give up all pretensions to understanding, or forsake idolatry. In my former tract, I not only proved that the adoration of the Supreme Being in spirit was pre- scribed by the Ved to men of understanding, and the worship of the celestial bodies and their images to ijrnorant, but I also asserted, that the Ved actually prohibited the worship of any kind of figured beings by men of intellect and education. A few of the passages quoted by me in my former publications, on which this assertion rests, I also beg leave to repeat. " He who worships any God except the Supreme " Being, and thinks that he himself is distinct and " inferior to that God, knows nothing, and is con- " sidered a domestic beast of these gods." " A state " even so high as that of Brahma, does not afford real " bliss." " Adore God alone. None but the Supreme " Being is to be worshipped; nothing excepting him " should be adored by a wise man." I repeat also the following text of the Vedant : " The declaration of the " Ved, that those that worship the celestial gods are " the food of such gods, is an allegorical expression, " and only means that they are comforts to the celes- " tial gods, as food to mankind ; for he who has no " faith in the Supreme Being, is rendered subject to " these ""ods ; the Ved affirms the same." No reply therefore is, I presume, required of me to the argu- ments adduced by the learned Brahmun in his treatise for idol-worship; except that I should offer some MONOTHEISTICAL SYSTEM OF IHE VEDS. 165 additional authorities, confirming exclusively the ra- tional worship of the true God, and prohibiting the worship of the celestial figures and their images. I beg leave accordingly to quote, in the first instance, a few texts of the Ved : " Men may acquire eternal " beatitude, by obtaining a knowledge of the Supreme " Being alone; there is no other way to salvation."* — " To those that acquire a knowledge of Him, the " Ruler of the intellectual power, who is eternal " amidst the perishable universe, and is the source " of sensation among all animate existences, and who " alone- assigns to so many objects their respective " j)urposes, everlasting beatitude is allotted; but not " to those who are not possessed of that knowledge. ""f" And in the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th texts of the Cenopanishad, the Ved has, five times successively, denied the divinity of any specific being which men in general worship; and has affirmed the divinity of that Being solely, who is beyond description and compre- hension, and out of the reach of the power of vision, and of the sense of hearing or of smelling. The most celebrated Sankaracharjya, in his commentary upon these texts, states that, lest people should suppose Vishnu, Mahadeba, Poven, Indra, or any other, to be a supreme spirit, the Ved in this passage disavows positively the divinity of all of them. — Again, the Ved says '.% " Those that neglect the contemplation of the " Supreme Spirit, either by devoting themselves solely to " the performance of the ceremonies of religion, or by " living destitute of religious ideas, shall, after death, • Saoctu. t r'iitliii. I I.shnp;iiiisli;i(l. 166 SECOND DEFENCE OF THE " assume the state of demons, such as that of the celestial " it^ods, and of other created beings, which are sur- " rounded with the darkness of ignorance." It will not, I hope, be supposed inconsistent with the subject in question to mention in this place in what manner the Vedant treats of these celestial gods, and how the Ved classes them among the other beings. The Vedant (c. 1st, s. 3d, t. 26th) has the following passage : " Vyas affirms that it is prescribed also to a celestial " gods and heavenly beings to attain a knowledge of " the Supreme Being, because a desire of absorption " is equally possible for them." And the Ved, in the Moonduc Upanishad, thus declares : " From Him, " who knows all things generally and particularly, and " who only by his omniscience created, the universe, " Bruhma, and whatever bears appellation, and figure " as well as food, all are produced." " From Him (the " Supreme Being) celestial gods* of many descriptions, " Siddha, or beings next to celestial gods, mankind, " beasts, birds, life, wheat, and barley, all are pro- " duced." In the Debee Mahatmya, a work which is as much in circulation among the Hindoos as their daily prayer-book,-|- (c. 1st, t. 66th) the creation of Vishnu, Brahma, and Mahadeva, is most distinctly affirmed. Munoo, the best of all the commentators of the • The Ved, having in the first instance personified all the attri- butes and powers of the Deity, and also the celestial bodies and natural elements, does, in conformity to this idea of personification, treat of them in the subsequent passages as if they were real beings, ascribing to them birth, animation, senses, and accidents, as well as liability to annihilation. + Pooja Fatal, MONOTHEISTICAL SYSTEM OF THE VEDS. 167 Veds, says (chap. 12th, text 85th): "Of all those " duties, answered Bhrigoo, the principal is to acquire "//•ow the Upanishad a true knowledge of the one " Supreme Spirit, that is, the most exalted of all " sciences, because through that knowledge eternal " beatitude is obtained." And tiie same author, in the conclusion of his work on rites and ceremonies, thus directs (t. 92d, c. 12th) : " Thus must the " chief of the twice-born, though he neglect the cere- " monial rites mentioned in the Shastras, be diligent "in attaining a knowledge of God, in controlling his " organs of sense, and in repeating the Ved." In the Coolarnuva, " absorption is not to be effected by " the studies of the Veds nor by the reading of other " Shastras : absorption is effected by a true knowledge " of the Supreme Being, O ! Parbutee, except that " knowledge there is no other way to absorption." " Cast or religious order belonging to each sect, is not " calculated to be the cause of eternal beatitude, nor is " the study of Durshuns or any other Shastras, suffi- " cient to produce absorption : a knowledge of the " Supreme Spirit is alone the cause of eternal beati- " tude." Mahanervana : " He who believes that from " the highest state of Brahmii to the lowest state of a " straw, all are delusions, and that the one Supreme Spi- " rit is the only true being, attains beatitude." " Those " who believe that the divine nature exists in an image "made of earth, stone, metal, wood, or of other ma- " terials, reap only distress by their austerities ; but " they cannot, without a knowledge of the Supreme " Spirit, acquire absorption." I am really sorry to observe that, notwithstanding 168 SECOND DEFENCE OF THE these autliorities and a thousand others of a similar nature, llie learned Brahmun appears altogether unim- pressed by the luminous manner in which they incul- cate the sublime simple spiritual belief in, and worship of, one God, and that, on the contrary, he should ma- nifest so much zeal in leading people into an idolatrous belief in the divinity of created and perishable beings. Idolatr}', as now practised by our countrymen, and which the learned Brahmun so zealously supports as conducive to morality, is not only rejected by the Shastras universally, but must also be looked upon with great horror by common sense, as leading directly to immorality and destructive of social comforts. For every Hindoo who devotes himself to this absurd wor- ship, constructs for that purpose a couple of male and female idols, sometimes indecent in form, as represen- tatives of his favourite deities ; he is taught and en- joined from his infancy to contemplate and repeat the history of these, as well as of their fellow deities, though the actions ascribed to them be only a conti- nued series of debaucher}', sensuality, falsehood, ingra- titude, breach of trust, and treacheiy to friends* There can be but one opinion respecting the moral conduct to be expected of a person, who has been brought up with sentiments of reverence to such beings, who re- freshes his memory relative to them almost every day, and who has been persuaded to believe, that a repe- tition of the holy name of one of these deities,* or a trifling present to his image or to his devotee, is suffi- cient, not only to purify and free him from all crimes whatsoever, but to procure to him future beatitude. * Vide Note at the ciul. MONOTHEISTICAT. SYSTI.M OF THE VEDS. 169 As to the custom or practice to wliicli the learned Brahmun so often refers in defence of idolatry, I have already, I presume, explained in the Preface of the Ishopanishad, the accidental circumstances which have caused idol-worship to flourish ihrouiifhout the greater part of India; but, as the learned Brahmun has not condescended to notice any of my remarks on this sub- ject, 1 beg leave to repeat here a part of them. " Many learned Brahmuns are jierfectly aware of the " absurdity of idolatry, and are well informed of the " nature of the pure mode of divine worship; but as in " the rites, ceremonies, and festivals of idolatry they find " the source of their comforts and fortune, they not " only never fail to protect idol-worship from all at- " tacks, but even advance and encourage it to the " utmost of their power, by keeping the knowledge of " their scriptures concealed from the rest of the people." And again : " It is, however, evident to every one pos- " sessed of common sense, that custom or fashion is " quite different from divine faith ; the latter proceed- " ing from spiritual authorities and correct reasoning, " and the former being merely the fruit of vulgar ca- " price. What can justify a man, who believes in the " inspiration of his religious books, in neglecting the " direct authorities of the same works, and subjecting " himself entirely to custom and fashion, which are " liable to perpetual changes, and depend upon po- " pular whim ? But it cannot be passed unnoticed, '• that those who practise idolatry, and defend it under " the shield of custom, have been violating their eus- " toms alnn>st every twenty years, lor the sake of a 170 Sf:cONU DEFENCE OF THE " little convenience, or to promote their worldly ad- " vanta2;es/' Instances of this sort are mentioned in the preface of the Ishopanishad, and to those I beg leave to recal the attention of the learned Brahmun. Every reader may observe, that the learned Brahmun in his treatise, written (as he says) on the doctrines of the Vedant, has generally neglected to quote any au- thority for his assertions ; and when he cites the Ved or the Vedant (which he does sometimes) as his au- thority, he carefully omits to mention the text or part to which his assertion refers. The validity of theological controversy chiefly depends upon Scriptural authority, but when no authority is offered, the public may judge how far its credibility should extend. I shall, however, make a few remarks on the absurd and contradictory assertions with which the treatise abounds. The learned Brahmun observes :'" " But if the divine " essence itself, and not the energy be extolled, it will « be adored under the forms of Brahma, Vishnu, and " Indra, and other male deities." And in other places, (p. 30, 1. 27) : " So by paying adoration to any material " object, animate or inanimate, the Supreme Being " himself is adored." If the truth of the latter assertion be admitted (namely, that God himself is adored by the adoration of any thing whatsoever), no mark of dis- tinction between the adoration of any visible objects and male deities will exist ; and the former assertion re- specting the adoration of the Supreme Being through the male deities only, will appear an absurd restriction. • P. 14,1. 14. MONOTHEISTICAL SYSTEM OF THE VEDS. 171 The learned IJrahmun states (p. 19, 1. 31), that, "If " you believe on the authority of the Scriptures, that " there is a Supreme Being, can you not believe that " he is united to matter ?" A belief in God is by no means connected with a belief of his being united to matter: for those that have faith in the existence of the Almighty, and are endued with common sense, scruple not to confess their ignorance as to his nature or mode of existence, in regard to the point of his re- lation to matter, or to the properties of matter. How, therefore, can a belief in God's being united to matter, be inferred as a necessary consequence of a belief in his existence ? The learned Brahmun again contradicts himself on this point, saying (p. 38, 1. 19) : " The divine " essence being supernatural and immaterial, a knovv- " ledge of it is to be acquired solely from revelations." The learned Brahmun (in p. 18, 1. 4): states that, " A quality cannot exist independently of its sub- " stance, but substance may exist independently of any " quality." Every one possessed of sensation is con- vinced, that a substance is as much dependent on the possession of some quality or qualities for its existence, as a quality on some substance. It is impossible even to imagine a substance divested of qualities. Despoil it as much as you please, that of magnitude must still remain. I therefore trust that the public will not sup- pose the above stated doctrines of the learned Brahmun to have been derived from those of the Vedant. It is again stated (p. 21, 1. 4) that, " In point of " fact, if you admit the existence of matter, as far as it " regards yourself, with its twenty-four accidents, as " confirmed by universal experience, you can easily 172 SECOND DEFENCE OF THE " conceive that the same properties belong to the Su- " prenie Being." It is easy enough for the learned Brahniun to conceive that the twenty-four properties which are peculiar to animals, and among which all sources of carnal pleasures are included, belong to his supposed deities; but it is difficult, or rather impos- sible, for a man untainted with idolatrous principles, to ascribe to God all such properties as he allows to exist in himself. The learned Brahmun has drawn an analogy between the operation of the charms of the Veds, and that of magic; whereon he says (p. 18, 1. 1): " Cannot the " charms of the Veds operate as powerfully as th( se " of magic, in producing effects where the cause is not " present ?" If the foundation of the Veds is held not to be stronger, as the learned Brahmun seems to con- sider it, than that of magic, I am afraid it will be found to rest on so slender a footing, that its doctrines will hardly be worth discussion. In p. 24, 1. 10, the learned Brahmun states that *' The Vedant itself, in treating of the several deities, " declares them to be possessed of forms, and their " actions and enjoyments are all dependent on their " corporeal nature." But (p. 21, 1. 19) he says : " Be- " cause the male and female deities, wliose being I " contend for, are nothing more than accidents exist- " ing in the Supreme Being." He thus at one time considers these deities as } os- sessed of a corporeal nature, and at another declares them to be mere accidents in God ; which are quite in- consistent with the attribute of corporeality. I am really at a loss to understand, how the learned Brahmun MONOTHEISTICAL SYSTEM OF THE VEDS, 173 coiikl admit so dark a contradiction into his ^^ Lunar " liyht of the Vedant." The learned Brahmun (in p, 27, 1. G) thus assimi- lates the worship of the Supreme Bein^ to that of an earthly kinji;, saying " Let us drop the discourse con- " cerning a Supreme and Invisible Being ; take an " earthly king. It is evident that, to serve him, there " must be the medium of materiality. Can service to " him be accojnplished otherwise than by attendance *' on his person, praising his qualities, or some similar " method ?" Those who believe God to be an almighty, omniscient, and independent existence, which, pervad- ing the nniverse, is deficient in nothing ; and also know the feeble and dependent nature of earthly kings, as liable to sudden ruin, as harassed by incessant cares and wants, ought never, I presume, to assimilate the contemplation of the Almighty power with any corpo- real service acceptable to an earthly king. But as by means of this analogy, the learned Brahmun and his brethen have successfully persuaded their followers to make, in imitation of presents and bribes offered to princes, pecuniary vows to these supposed deities, to which it would seem none but the learned Brahmun and his brethren have exclusive claim, — and as such analogy has thus become the source of their comforts and livelihood, I shall say no more upon so tender a subject. He further observes (in p. 22, 1. 27) : " In reverting " to the subject, yon affirm, that you admit the exis- " tence of matter in human beings, because it is evident " to your senses ; but deny it with respect to God, bc- " cause it is not evident to your senses," &c.; and, "If 174- SECOND DEFENCE OF THE " this be your method of reasoning, it would appear " that your faith is confined to those objects only " which are evident to your senses." As far as my recollection goes with respect to the contents of my publications, both in the native language and in Eng- lish, I believe I never denied the materiality of God, on the mere ground of its not being evident to our senses. The assertion which I quoted, or made use of in my former treatises, is, that the nature of the God- head is beyond the comprehension of external and internal senses;* which, I presume, implies neither de- nial of the materiality of God, on the sole ground of his being invisible, nor the limitation of my faith merely to objects evident to the senses. For many things that far surpass the limits of our senses to per- ceive, or experience to teach, may yet be rendered credible, or even demonstrated by inferences drawn from our experience. Such as the mutual gravitation of the earth and moon towards each other, and of both to the sun ; which facts cannot be perceived by any of our senses, but may be clearly demonstrated by reason- ing drawn from our experience. Hence it appears, that a thing is justly denied, only, when found contrary to sense and reason, and not merely because it is not perceptible to the senses. I have now to notice the friendly advice given me by the learned Brahmun (in p. 23, 1. 16). " But at all the " events, divest yourself of the uneasy sensations you " profess to experience, at witnessing the worship paid " to idols, prepared at the expense and labour of • The Preface to the Ishopanishad, p. 2, 1. 9; p. 3, 1. 2. The Abridgment of the Vedanf, p. ] and 2. MONOTHEISTICAL SYSTEM OF THE VEDS. 175 " another." In tlianking liim for his trouble in offering me this counsel, I must, however, beg the learned Brahmun to excuse me, while I acknowledge myself unable to follow it ; and that for several reasons. 1st. A feeling for the misery and distress of his fellow crea- tures is, to every one not overpowered by selfish mo- tives, I presume, rather natural than optional. 2dly. I, as one of their countrymen, and ranked in the most religious sect, of course participate in the disgrace and ridicule to which they have subjected themselves, in defiance of their scriptural authority, by the worship of idols, very often under the most shameful forms, ac- companied with the foulest language, and most indecent hymns and gestures. 3dly. A sense of the duty which one man owes to another, compels me to exert my ut- most endeavours to rescue them from imposition and servitude, and promote their comfort and happiness. He farther observes (p. 30, 1. 19) : " In the like " manner, the King of Kings is served equally by those " worshippers who are acquainted with his real essence, " and by those who only recognize Him under the forms " of the deities; but in the future distribution of re- " wards a distinction will be made." As the learned Brahmun confesses, that the same reward is not pro- mised to the worshippers of figured deities as to the adorers of the Supreme Being, it seems strange that he should persist in alleging that God is truly worshipped in the adoration of figured gods; for if the worship be in both cases the same, the reward bestowed by a just God must be the same to both ; but the rewards are not the same to both, and therefore the worship of figured deities cannot be considered equal to the adoration of God. 176 SECOND DEFENCE OF THE In the same page (1. 7), he compares God to a mighty emperor; saying, "As a mighty emperor " travels through his kingdom in the garb of a peasant, " to effect the welfare of his subjects, so the King of " Kings pervades the universe, assuming a divine, or " even a human form, for the same benevolent pur- " pose." This comparison seems extremely objection- able, and the inference from it totally inadmissible. For a king being ignorant of things out of the reach of his sight, and liable to be deceived respecting the se- crets and private opinions of his subjects, may some- times be obliged to travel through his kingdom, to acquire a knowledge of their condition, and to promote their welfare personally. But there can be obviously no inducement for an omnipotent being, in whose omniscience also the learned Brahmun, I dare say, be- lieves, to assume a form in order either to acquaint himself with the affairs of men, or to accomplish any benevolent design towards his creatures. He again observes, that these figures and idols are representations of the true God, a sight of which serves, as he alleges, to bring that Being to his recol- lection (p. 30, 1. 5) : " They are as pictures, which recal " to the memory a dear and absent friend, or like the " worship of the moon, reflected in various waters." This observation of the learned Brahmun, induces me to suppose that he must have formed a notion of Godhead quite strange and contemptible: for it is almost impossible for a man, who has a becoming idea of God's superiority to all creatures, to represent Him, as the Hindoos very often do, in a form so shameful, that a description of it is prohibited by common de- MONOTHEISTICAL SYSTEM OF THE VEDS. 177 ceucy, or in a shape so ridiculous, as that piebald kite called Kshyeiiuinkuree, and that of another bird called Neelkunth, or of jackals, &c. And it is equally diffi- cult to believe that a rational being can make use of such objects to bring the All-perfect Almighty Power to his recollection. He further says (p 31, 1.32): " If any one assert " that the case is otherwise, that the deities, mankind, " the heavens, and other objects, have an existence in- " dependent of God, that faith in him is sufficient " without worship, that they (the deities) cannot meet "with reverence, how can that person affect to disbe- " lieve the doctrine of independent existence, or assert " that he is a believer in universality, or a follower of "the V^edant?" To acquit myself from such gross but unfounded accusation as that of my believing mate- rial existence to be independent of God, I repeat a few passages from the abridgment of the Vedant. (P. 6, \. ^•) : "Nothing bears true existence ex- " cepting God." Again in 1. 9, " The existence of " whatever thing that appears to us, relies on the exis- " tence of God." Besides, there is not, I am confi- dent, a single assertion in the whole of my publication?, from which the learned Brahmun might justly infer that I believed in the independent existence of deities, mankind, the heavens, or other objects. The public, by an examination of these works, will be enabled to judge how far the learned Brahmun has ventured to brave public opinion, in the invention of arguments for the defence of idolatry. He again says (p. 34, 1. 28): " If, by the practice of " the prescribed forms in a church, a temple, or a N Its SECOND DEFENCE OF THE " mosque, God be worshipped, how can he be dis- " honoured by being worshipped under the form of an " imase, however manufactured ?" Those who con- template God in a church or mosque, or elevate their minds to a notion of the Almighty Power in any other appropriated place, for the sake of good example, never pay divine homage to these places ; but those that pretend to worship God under the form of an image, consider it to be possessed of divine nature, and at the same time, most inconsistently, as imbued with immoral principles. Moreover, the promoters of the worship of images, by promulgating anecdotes illustrative of the supposed divine power of particular idols, endeavour to excite the reverence of the people, and specially of pilgrims ; who, under these superstitious ideas, are persuaded to propitiate them with large sacri- fices of money, and sometimes even by that of their own lives. Having so far entered into this subject, the learned Brahmun will, I hope, be convinced of the im- propriety of the analogy which he has drawn between a worship within a certain material object and a wor- ship o/" a material object. As to his question (p. 34, 1. 32), " Is the sight of " the image unpleasing ?" My answer must be affir- mative. It is extremely natural that, to a mind whose purity is not corrupted by a degrading superstition, the siffht of images which are often of the most hideous or indecent description, and which must therefore excite diso-ust in the minds of the spectator, should be un- pleasing. A visit to Calighaut,* or Barahnagur,t which • The temple of Kali. t Where there are twelve temples dedicated to Siva. MONOTHEISTICAL SYSTEM OF THE VEDS. 179 are only distant four miles from Calcutta, will suffi- ciently convince the reader of the unpleasant nature of their beloved images. He again asks in the same page, (1. 33) : " Will a beloved friend be treated with disre- " spect by being seated on a chair, when he arrives in " your house, or by being presented with fragrant " flowers and other offerings ?" To which 1 shall say no ; but at the same time I must assert that a friend worthy of reverence would not, we may be sure, be at all pleased at being exhibited sometimes in a form,* the bare mention of which would be considered as a gross insult to the decorous feelings of the public; and sometimes in the shape of a monkey,i* fish, J hog,§ or elephant, II or at being represented as destitute of every virtue, and altogether abandoned. Nor would he be- lieve his host to be possessed of common sense, who, as a token of regard, would altogether neglect his guest, to go and lay fruits and flowers before his picture. It is said (p. 39, 1. 23) : " In the accounts of ancient " Greece we meet with the worship of idols, and the " practice of austerities; but these acts have been " contemned by the more enlightened moderns." I am really glad to observe that the learned Brahmun, more liberally and plainly than could be expected, con- fesses that idolatry will be totally contemned as soon as the understanding is improved. I, however, beg leave to remark on this instance, that though the idolatry practised by the Greeks and Romans was certainly just • Under which Siva is adored. f llunoonian. I The first incarnation of \'^ishnii. § Tlip tliird incarnation of ditto. || Giinesh. N 2 180 SECOND DKFKNCi: OF I'UE as impure, absurd, and puerile as that of the present Hindoos, yet tlie former was by no means so destruc- tive of the comforts of Hfe, or injurious to tlie texture of society, as the latter. The present Hindoo idolatry being made to consist in following certain modes and restraints of diet (which according to the authorities of the Mahabharut and other histories were never ob- served by their forefathers), has subjected its unfortu- nate votaries to entire separation from the rest ot the world, and also from each other, and to constant in- conveniences and distress. A Hindoo, for instance, who affects particular purity, * cannot even partake of food dressed by his own brother, when invited to his house; and if touched by him while eating, he must throw away the remaining part of his meal. In fact, owing to the observance of such peculiar idolatry, directly contrary to the authorities of their scripture, they hardly de- serve the name of social beings. The learned Brahmun further says (p. 23, 1. 3) : " If you affirm that you are not an infidel, but that " your arguments are in conformity with those of the " philsophers who were ignorant of the Veds," &c. A remark of this kind cannot, I am sure, be considered as at all applicable to a person, who has subjected him- self to this writer's remarks only by translating and publishing the principal parts of the Ved, and by vin- dicating the Vedant theology ; and who never ad- vanced on religious controversy any argument which was not founded upon the authorities of the Veds and • A person of this description is distinguished by the nuiuc of S^-ayun^- p:ik, one who is his own cook. MONOTIIKISTKAI, SYS'IK.M OK llli; XEDH. 181 their celcl)r;itL'(l coimiicntators. Il is, however, re- markable that, although the learned IJrahmuii aiul hi > brethren rre(|uently quote the name of the Vcds and other Shastras, both in writing and in verbal diseus- sion, they pay little or no attention in })raetice to their precepts, even in the points of the most important nature, a few of which I beg leave to notice here. 1st, The adoration of the invisible Supreme Being, al- though exclusively prescribed by the Upanishads, or the principal parts of the Veds, and also by the Ve- dant, has been totally neglected, and even discounte- nanced, by the learned Brahmun and his followers; the idol-worship, which those authorities permit only to the ignorant, having been substituted for that pure worship, 2dly, Ungeera and Vishnu, and also the modern Ilughonundun, authorize a widow to burn herself voluntarily along with the corpse of her hus- band: but modern Brahmuns, in direct opposition to their authority, allow her relations to bind the mourn- ful and infatuated widow to the funeral pile with ropes and bamboos, as soon as she has expressed a wish to perform the dreadful funeral sacrifice, to which the Brahmuns lend a ready assistance. 3dly, Although an acceptance of money or of a present in the marriage contract of a daughter is most strictly prohibited by the Veds and by Munoo (text 1)8 and 100 of chap. 9), yet the sale of female children under pretence of mar- riage is practised by nearly two-thirds of the Brahinuns of Bengal and Tirhoot, as well as by their followers generally. 4thly. Yagnyubulkya has authorized the second mar- riage of a man, while his former wife is livinji ; but 182 SECOND DEFENCE OF THE only under certain circumstances of misconduct or misfortune in the latter, such as the vice of drinking wine, of deception, of extravagance, of using disagree- able language, or shewing manifest dislike towards her husband ; long protracted and incurable illness, barren- ness, or producing only female offspring. In defiance, however, of this restraint, some of them marry thirty or forty women, either for the sake of money got with them at mai'riage, or to gratify brutal inclinations. Madhosingh, the late Rajah of Tirhoot, through com- passion towards that helpless sex, limited, I am told, within these thirty or forty years, the Brahmuns of that district to four wives only. This regulation, although falling short both of the written law and of that of reason, tends to alleviate in some measure the misery to which women were before exposed, as well as to dimi- nish in some degree domestic strife and disturbance. 5thly. According to the authority of Munoo (text 155, chap. 2d), respect and distinction are due to a Brahmun, merely in proportion to his knowledge; but on the contrary amongst modern Hindoos, honour is paid exclusively to certain families of Brahmuns, such as the Koolins, &c., however void of knowledge and prin- ciple they may be. This departure from law and justice was made by the authority of a native prince of Bengal, named Bullalsen, within the last three or four hundred years. And this innovation may perhaps be considered as the chief source of that decay of learning and virtue, which, I am sorry to say, may be at present observed. For wherever respectability is confined to birth only, acquisition of knowledge, and the practice of morality, in that country, must rapidly decline. MONOTHEIS'I'ICAL SYSTEM OF THE VEDS. 183 The learned Brahmun objects to the term indescri- bable, :iltht)Ui(h universally assi<^iiecl to the Supreme Being by the Ved, and by the \'edant theology, say- ing (p. 37, 1. 20), " it is a wonderful interpretation of " the Vedant to say that God is indescribable, although " existing, unless indeed he be looked upon as the " production of magic ; as existing in one sense, and " non-existent in another." And again (1. 14), " he, " therefore, who asserts that the Supreme Being is " indescribable and at the same time existing, must " conceive that He, like the world, is mutable," &c. In answer to which I beg to refer the learned Brahmun to the 11th text of the 3d Brahmun of the 4th chapter of the Brehdarunyuc, the principal part of the Ujoor Ved, as commented upon by the celebrated Sunkara- charjya : " The Ved having so far described God, by ''various absolute* and relative epithets, f was con- " vinced of its incapability of giving a real description " of the nature of the Godhead : language ca)i convey " a notion of things only either by the appellations by *' which they are already known, or by describing " their figure, accidents, genus, and properties ; but " God has none of these physical circumstances: the " Ved therefore attempted to explain him in negative " terms;" (that is, by declaring that whatever thing- may be perceived by the mental faculties, or the exter- nal senses, is not God.) " The Ved's ascribing to God " attributes of eternitv, wisdom, truth. J^c, shews that " it can explain him only by ascribing tliose attributes, " and applying those epithets, that are held by man • As ctciiiiti, true, and intolliociil. t As creator, preserver, and (le>ti'iiver. 184 SECOND DEFENCE OF THE " in the highest estimation, without intending to " assert the adequac}' of such description. He is the "only true existence amidst all dependent existences, " and the true source of our senses." Also in the text 3d of the Cenopanishad : " Hence no vision can " approach him ; no language can describe him ; no in- " tellectual power can compass or determine him. We " know nothing of how the Supreme Being should be " explained : He is beyond nature, which is above com- " prehension : our ancient spiritual parents have thus " explained Him to us." It cannot, however, be in- ferred, from our acknowledged ignorance of the nature and attributes of the Supreme 13eing, that we are equally ignorant as to His existence. The wonderful structure and growth of even so trifling an object as a leaf of a tree, affords proof of an Almighty Super- intendent of the universe ; and even the physical world affords numerous instances of things whose exist- ence is quite evident to our senses, but of whose nature we can form no conception ; such as the causes of the sensations of heat and vision. The learned Brahmun attempts to prove the impossi- bility of an adoration of the Deity, saying (p. 33, 1. 15): " That which cannot be conceived, cannot be wor- " shipped." Should the learned Brahmun consider a full conception of the nature, essence, or qualities of the Supreme Being, or a physical picture truly repre- senting the Almighty power, with offerings of flowers, leaves, and viands, as essential to adoration, I agree with the learned Brahmun with respect to the impos- sibility of the worship of God But, should adoration imply only the elevation of the mind to the conviction MONOTHEISTICAL SYSTF.M OF THE VEDS. 185 of the existence of the Omnipresent Deity, as testified by His wise and wonderful works, and continual con- templation of His power as so displayed; together with a constant sense of the gratitude which we naturally owe Him, for our existence, sensation, and comfort, — I never will hesitate to assert, that His adoration is not only possible, and practicable, but even incumbent upon every rational creature. For further explanation, I refer th.e learned Brahmun to the text 47, sect. 4, chap. 3, of the Vedant. To his question,* " what are you yourselves ?" I sup- pose I may safely reply for myself, that I am a poor dependent creature; — subject, in common with others, to momentary changes, and liable to sudden de- struction. At p. 45, 1.30, the learned Brahmun, if I rightly understand his object, means to insinuate, that I have adopted the doctrines of those who deny the responsi- bility of man as a moral agent. I am quite at a loss to conceive from what part of my writings this inference has been drawn, as I have not only never entertained such opinions myself, but have taken pains to exj)lain the passage in the Ved on which this false doctrine is founded. In page 93 of the Preface to the Ishopani- shad, I have said that, " the Vedant by declaring that " God is every where, and every thing is in God, means " that nothing is absent from God, and that nothing " bears real existence except by the volition of God." And again, in the same page I quoted the example of the most revered teachers of the Vedant doctrine, who, • P. 47, 1. 4 186 SECOND DEFENCE OF THE " although they declared their faith in the Omnipresent " God, according to the doctrines of the Vedant, as- " signed to every creature the particular character and " respect he was entitled to." I omitted to notice the strange mode of argument which the learned Brahmun (at p. 29) has adopted in defence of idolatry. After acknowledging that the least deficiency in judgment renders man incapable of looking vip to an Omnipresent Supreme Being, whereby he mistakes a created object for the great Creator, he insinuates that an erroneous notion in this respect is as likely to lead to eternal happiness, as a knowledge of truth. At 1. 5, he says : " And although *' a person through deficiency in judgment, should be " unable to discover the real nature of a thing, does " it follow, that his error will prevent the natural effect " from appearing ? When a man in a dream sees a " tiger, is he not in as much alarm as if he saw it in " reality?" This mode of claiming for idol-worship a value equal to that of pure religion, which it can never be admitted to possess, may have succeeded in retaining some of his followers in the delusive dream, from which he is so anxious that they should not be awoke. But some of them have. I know, begun to inquii'e into the truth of those notions in which they have been instructed ; and these are not likely to mistake for true, the false analogy that is in the above passage attempted to be drawn ; nor will they believe that, however powerful may be the influence of imagination, even under false impressions, future happiness, which depends on God alone, can ever be ranked amongst its effects. Such MONOTHEISTICAL SYSTliM OF THE VEDS. 187 enquirers will, I hope, at last become sensible that the system of (/;eaw«'w^ recommended by the learned Brah- muii, however essential to the interests of himself and of his cast, can bring to them no advantage, either substantial or eternal. As instances of the erroneous confidence which is placed in the repetition of tiie name of a god to efiect purification from sins, noticed by me in p. 168, I may quote the following passages. He who pronounces " Doorga" (the name of the goddess), though he constantly practise adultery, plun- der others of their property, or commit the most heinous crimes, is freed from all sins.-' A person pronouncing loudly, " reverence to Huri," even involuntarily, in the state of falling down, of slip- ping, of labouring under illness, or of sneezing, purifies himself from the foulest crimes.f He who contemplates the Ganges, while walking, sitting, sleeping, thinking of other things, awake, eat- ing, breathing, and conversing, is delivered from sins.if The circumstances alluded to in p. 168 of this trea- tise, relative to the wicked conduct of their supposed deities, are perfectly familiar to every individual Hindoo. But those Europeans who are not acquainted with the particulars related of them, may perhaps feel a wish to be in possession of them. I therefore, with a view to gratify their curiosity and to vindicate my assertion, beg to be allowed to mention a few instiinces in point, with the authorities on which they rest. As I have already noticed the debauchery of Krishna, and his • \ idc Ooorfjct nam Mahatiuyu. t Vide Bhafjuvut. J Vide Mahabliarutli. 188 SECOND DF.FENCE OF THE gross sensuality, and that of liis fellow deities, sucli as Siva and Bruhma, in the 14.7th, 148th, and 150th page of my reply to the observations of Sunkarasastri, instead of repeating them here, I refer my readers to tliat reply, and also to the tenth division of the Bhaguvut, to the Hurybungsu or last division of the Mahabharuth, and to the Neijnms, as well as to the several Asums, which give a detailed account of their lewdness and de- bauchery. As to falsehood, their favourite deity Krish- na is more conspicuous than the rest. Jurra-Sundh, a powerful prince of Behar, having heard of the melan- choly murder of his son-in-law perpetrated by Krishna, harassed, and at last drove him out of the place of his nativity (Muthoora) by frequent military expeditions. Krishna, in revenge, resolved to deprive that prince of his life by fraud, and in a most unjustifiable manner. To accomplish his object, he and his two cousins, Bheema and Urjoona, declared themselves to be Brah- muns, and in that disguise entered his palace; where finding him weakened by a religious fast, and sur- rounded only by his family and priests, they challenged him to fight a duel. He accordingly fought Bheema, the strongest of the three ; who conquered and put him to death. — Vide Subha Purba or , to rest during the night, under the personal care and protection of Mahadeva. That deity having, however, been cajoled by the flattery offered him by Uswathama, one of the friends of the unfortunate Doorjodhun, not only allowed him to destroy the whole army that was asleep under the confidence of his pro- tection, but even assisted him with his sword to accom- plish his bloody purpose — ^iV/e Sousuptik Purb, or eleventh hook of the Maha-Bharuth. When the Ussoors, at the churning of the ocean, gave the pitcher of the water of immortality in charge to Vishnu, he betrayed his trust by delivering it to their step-brothers and enemies, the celestial gods. — Vide first hook, or ddi Purb of the Maha-Bharuth Instances like these might be multiplied beyond number : and crimes of a much deeper dye might easily be added to the list, were I not unwilling to stain these pages by making them the vehicle of such stories of immorality and vice. May God speedily purify the minds of my countrymen from the corrupt- 190 SECOND DEFENCE, &C. ness wliich such tales are too apt to produce; and lead their hearts to that pure morality, wiiich is inseparable from the true worship of Him ! AN APOLOGY PURSUIT OF FINAL BEATITUDE, INUEl'ESDKNTI.Y OF BRAHMUNICAL OBSERVANCES. CALCUTTA 1820. AN APOLOGY PURSUIT OF FINAL BEATITUDE. SooBRAHMUNYU Shastree, a diligent observer of Brahmunical tenets, wishing to prove that those Brah- niuns who do not study the Veds with their subordinate sciences, are degraded from the rank of Brahmunism, prepared and offered an Essay on that subject to the Brahniuns of the province of Bengal, who are generally deficient in those studies. In this, he has advanced three assertions : which, however, have no tendency to establish his position. He alleges 1st, that, " to a " person not acquainted with the Veds, neither tem- " porary heavenly enjoyments, nor eternal beatitude, " can be allotted." 2dly, that, " he only who has " studied the Veds is authorized to seek the knowledire " of God ;" and 3dly, that " men must perform with- " out omission all the rites and duties prescribed in " the Veds and Smritis before acquiring a thorough " knowledge of God." On these positions he at- tempts to establish, that the performance of the duties and rites prescribed by the Shastrus for each class ac- cording to their religious order, such as the studies of the Veds and the offering of sacrifices, &c., is absolutely necessary towards the acquisition of a knowledge of o 194 AN APOLO(iV Foil THE God. We consequently take upon ourselves to offer in our own defence the following remarks, in answer to those assertions. We admit that it is proper in men to observe the dutes and rites prescribed by the Shastru for each class according to their religious order, in acquiring know- ledge respecting God, such observance being condu- cive to that acquisition ; an admission which is not inconsistent with the authorities of the Veds and other Shastrus. But we can by no means admit the necessity of observing those duties and rites as indispensable steps towards attaining divine knowledge, which the learned Shastree pronounces them to be ; for the great Vyas, in his work of the Vedant Durshun, or the explana- tion of the spiritual parts of the Veds, justifies the at- tainment of the knowledge of God, even by those who never practise the prescribed duties and rites, as ap- pears from the following two passages of Vyas in the same Durshun. " Unturachapitoo tuddrishteh," — " Upichu shmuryute." The celebrated Shunkur Acharyu thus comments upon those two texts : "As " to the question. Whether such men as have not the " sacred fire, or are afflicted with poverty, who profess *' no religious order whatsoever, and who do not belong " to any cast, are authorized to seek divine knowledge *' or not? On a superficial view, it appears, that they " are not permitted to make such attainments, as the " duties prescribed for each class are declared to lead *' to divine knowledge, and to those duties they are " altogether strangers. Such doubt having arisen, the " great Vyas thus decides : Even a person who pro- " fesses no religious order, is permitted to acquire a PURSUIT OF FINAL BEATITUDK. 195 '* knowled'^e of God ; for it is found in the Veds that " Riiekyu, Baclniknuvee, and others, who, like them, " did not belong to any class, obtained divine know- " lodge. It is also mentioned in the sacred tradition, " that Sumvurtu and others, living naked and totally " independent of the world, who practised no pre- " scribed duties, assumed the rank of the highest " devotees." Besides the texts of the Ved, such as " Tuyorhu Miietreyee Bruhmubadinee," &c. and *• Atma va Ure," &c. show that Miietreyee and others, who, being women, had not the option of studying the Ved, were, notwithstanding, qualified to acquire divine knowledge ; and in the Sniriti as well as in the Com- mentary of tlie celebrated ShunkurAcharyu, Soolubha and other women are styled knowers of the Supreme I3eing. Also Bidoor, Dhurmubyadhu, and others of the fourth class, attained the knowledge of God with- out having an opportunity of studying the Veds. All this we find in the sacred traditions: hence those who have a thorough knowledge of the Veds and Smriti, can pay no deference to the opinion maintained by the learned Shastree, that those only who have studied the Veds are qualified to acquire the knowledge of God. Moreover, to remove all doubt as to Soodrus and others being capable of attaining Divine knowledge without the assistance of the \ eds, the celebrated Commentator, in illustrating the text " Sruvunadhyun," &c., asserts, that " the authority of the Smriti, stating that ' to all " ' the four classes preaching should be offered,' &c. " shews that to the sacred traditions, and to the Poo- " rans, and also to the Agunis, all the four classes have " equally access." Thus establishin that the sacred o 2 196 AN APOLOGY, &C. traditions, Poorans, and Agum without distinction, can impart divine knowledge to mankind at large. From the decided opinion of Vyas, and from the precedents ffiven l)v the Veds and sacred traditions, and also from tlie conclusive verdict of the most revered Commenta- tor, those who entertain respect for those authorities, will not admit the studies of the Veds and other duties required of each class to be the onl}^ means of acquir- ing knowledo;e of God. Hence the sacred tradition, stating that a person, by studying the Geeta alone, had acquired final beatitude, stands unshaken ; and also the positive declaration of the great Muhadevu with regard to the authentic and well-accepted Agum Shas- trus, as being the means of imparting divine knowledge to those who study them, will not be treated as incon- sequential. If the spiritual parts of the Veds can enable men to acquire salvation by teaching them the true and eternal existence of God, and the false and perishable being of the universe, and inducing them to hear and constantly reflect on those doctrines, it is con- sistent with reason to admit, that the Smriti, and Agum, and other works, inculcating the same doctrines, afford means of attaining final beatitude. What should we say more ? TRANSLATION CONFERENCE AN ADVOCATE FOR, AND AN OPPONENT OF, THE PRACTICE OF BURNING WIDOWS ALIVE: ORIGINAL BUNGLA, ADVERTISEMENT. The little tract, of which the following is a literal translation, originally written in Bungla, has been for several weeks past in extensive circulation in those parts of the country where the practice of Widows burning themselves on the pile of their Husbands is most prevalent. An idea that the arguments it con- tains might tend to alter the notions that some Euro- pean Gentlemen entertain on this subject, has induced the Writer to lay it before the British Public also in its present dress. Nov. 30, 1818. CONFERENCE BETWEEN AN ADVOCATE FOR, AND AN OPPONENT OF, THE PRACTICE Of BURNING WIDOWS ALIVE. Advocate. — I am surprised that you endeavour to oppose the practice of Concremation and Postci'ema- tion of Widows,* as long observed in this country. Opponent. — Those who have no rehance on the Shastru, and those who take delight in the self-destruc- tion of women, may well wonder that we should oppose that suicide which is forbidden by all the Shastrus, and by every race of men. Advocate. — You have made an improper assertion, in alleging that Concremation and Postcremation are forbidden by the Shastrus. Hear what Unggira and other saints have said on this subject : " That woman who, on the death of her husband, *' ascends the burning pile with him, is exalted to hea- " ven, as equal to Uroondhooti. " She who follows her husband to another world, • When a widow is absent fntni her husband at tlie time of his death, she may in certain cases burn herself alon^ with some relick representing the deceased. Tliis practice is called Unoo- murun or Postcremation, 202 CONFEUENCK ON THE I'HACTICE " shall dwell in a region of joy for so many years as " there are hairs in the human body, or thirty- five " millions. " As a serpent-catcher forcibly draws a snake from " his hole, thus raising her husband by her power, she " enjoys delight along with him. " The woman who follows her husband expiates the " sins of three races; her father's line, her mother's line, " and the family of him to whom she was given a virgin. " There possessing her husband as her chiefest good, " herself the best of women, enjoying the highest de- " lii;hts, she partakes of bliss with her husband as long " as fourteen Indrus reign. " Even though the man had slain a Brahmun, or re- " turned evil for good, or killed an intimate friend, the " woman expiates those crimes. *' There is no other way known for a virtuous woman " except ascending the pile of her husband. It should " be understood that there is no other duty whatever " after the death of her husband." Hear also what Vyas has written in the parable of the pigeon : " A pigeon devoted to her husband, after his death " entered the flames, and ascending to heaven, she " there found her liusband." And hear Hareet's words : " As long as a woman shall not burn herself after her " liusband's death, she shall be subject to transmigra- " tion in a female form." Hear too what Vishnoo the saint says : " After the death of her husband a wife must live as " an ascetic, or ascend his pile." OF BURNING WIDOWS ALIVE. 203 Now hear the words of the Bruhinu Pooran on the subject of Postcremation : " If her lord die in another country, let the faithful " wife place his sandals on her breast, and pure enter " the fire." The faithful widow is declared no suicide by this text of the Rig Ved : " When three days of impurity " are gone she obtains obsequies." Gotum says : " To a Brahmunee after the death of her husband, " Postcremation is not permitted. But to women of the " other classes it is esteemed a chief duty." " Living let her benefit her husband ; dying she " commits suicide." " The woman of the Brahmun tribe that follows her " dead husband cannot, on account of her self-de- " struction, convey either herself or her husband to " heaven." Concremation and Postcremation being thus esta- blished by the words of many sacred lawgivers, how can you say they are forbidden by the Shastrus, and desire to prevent their practice ? Opponent. — All those passages you have quoted are indeed sacred law ; and it is clear from those authori- ties, that if women perform Concremation or Post- cremation, they will enjoy heaven for a considerable time. But attend to what Munoo and others say respecting the duty of widows : " Let her emaciate her " body, by living voluntarily on pure flowers, roots, " and fruits, but let her not, when her lord is deceased, ** even pronounce the name of another man " " Let her continue till death forgiving all injuries, " performing harsh duties, avoiding every sensual plea- 201. CONFERENCE ON THE PRACTICE " sure, and cheerfully practising the incomparable rules " of virtue which have been followed by such women as " were devoted to one only husband." Here Munoo directs, that after the death of her husband, the widow should pass her whole life as an ascetic. Therefore, the laws given by Unggira and the others whom you have quoted, being contrary to the law of Munoo, cannot be accepted ; because the Ved declares, " whatever Munoo has said is wholesome ;" and Virhusputi, " whatever law is contrary to the law " of Munoo is not commendable." The Ved especial- ly declares, " by living in the practice of regular and " occasional duties the mind may be purified. There- " after by hearing, reflecting, and constantly meditat- " ing on the Supreme Being, absorption in Bruhmu " may be attained. Therefore from a desire during " life of future fruition, life ought not to be destroyed." Munoo, Yagnyuvulkyu, and others, have then, in their respective codes of laws, prescribed to widows the duties of ascetics only. By this passage of the Ved, therefore, and the authority of Munoo and others, the words you have quoted from Unggira and the rest are set aside ; for by the express declaration of the former, widows after the death of their husbands may, by living as ascetics, obtain absorption. Advocate. — What you have said respecting the laws of Unggira and others, that recommended the practice of Concremation and Postcremation, we do not admit : because, though a practice has not been recommended by Munoo, yet, if directed by other lawgivers, it should not on that account be considered as contrary to the law of Munoo. For instance, Munoo directs the per- OF IJURNING WIDOWS ALIVE. 205 fonnance of Sundhya, but says nothing of calling aloud on the name of Huri ; yet Vyas prescribes calling on the name of Huri. The words of Vyas do not contra- dict those of Munoo. The same shonld be understood in the present instance. Munoo has commended wi- dows to live as ascetics ; Vishnoo and other saints di- rect that they should either live as ascetics or follow their husbands. Therefore the law of Munoo may be considered to be applicable as an alternative. Opponent. — The analogy you have drawn betwixt the practice of Sundhya and invoking Huri, and that of Concremation and Postcremation, does not hold. For, in the course of the day the performance of Sundhya, at the prescribed time, does not prevent one from in- voking Huri at another period ; and, on the other hand, the invocation of Huri need not interfere with the performance of Sundh^'a. In this case, the direc- tion of one practice is not inconsistent with that of the other. But in the case of living as an ascetic or undergoing Concremation, the performance of the one is incompatible with the observance of the other. Scil. Spending one's whole life as an ascetic after the death of a husband, is incompatible with imme- diate Concremation as directed by Unggiraand others; and, yece v<7*5a, Concremation, as directed by Unggira and others, is inconsistent with living as an ascetic, in order to attain absorption. Therefore those two autho- rities are obviously contradictory of each other. More especially as Unggira, by declaring that " there is no " other way known for a virtuous woman except '• ascending the pile of her husband," has made Con- cremation an indispensable duty. And Hareet also, in his code, by denouncing ivil conseq\iences, in his 2()() CONFERENCE ON THE PRACTICl- declaration, that " as long as a woman shall not burn " herself after the death of her husband, she shall be " subject to transmigration in a female form," has made this duty absolute. Therefore all those passages are in every respect contradictory to the law of Mu- noo and others. Advocate. — When Unggira says that there is no other way for a widow except Concremation, and when Hareet says that the omission of it is a fault, we reconcile their words with those of Munoo, by considering them as used merely for the purpose of exalting the merit of Concremation, but not as prescribing this as an indis- pensable duty. All these expressions, moreover, con- vey a promise of reward for Concremation, and thence it appears that Concremation is only optional. Opponent. — If, in order to reconcile them with the text of Munoo, you set down the words of Unggira and Hareet, that make the duty incumbent, as meant only to convey an exaggerated praise of Concremation, why do you not also reconcile the rest of the words of Ung- gira, Hareet, and others, with those in which Munoo prescribes to the widow the practice of living as an ascetic as her absolute duty ? And why do you not keep aloof from witnessing the destruction of females, instead of tempting them with the inducement of future fruition? Moreover, in the text already quoted, self-destruction with the view of reward is expressly prohibited. Advocate, — What you have quoted from Munoo and Yagnyavulkyu and the text of the Ved is admitted. But how can you set aside the following text of tlie Rig Ved on the subjectof Concremation ? " O fire ! let " these women, with bodies anointed with clarified " butter, eyes coloured with collyrium, and void of OF BURNING WIDOWS ALIVE. 207 " tears, enter thee, the parent cjf water, that they may " not be separated from their husbands, but may be, in " unison with excellent husbands, themselves sinless " and jewels amongst women." Opponent. — This text of the Ved, and the former passages from Hareet and the rest whom you have quoted, all praise the practice of Concremation as leading to fruition, and are addressed to those who are occupied by sensual desires; and you cannot but admit that to follow these practices is only optional. In repeating the Sunkulpyu of Concremation, the desire of future fruition is declared as the object. The text therefore of the Ved which we have quoted, offering no gratifications, supersedes, in every respect, that which you have adduced, as well as all the words of Unggira and the rest. In proof we quote the text of the Kutho- punishut: '' Faith in God which leads to absorption " is one thing ; and rites which have future fruition for " their object, another. Each of these, producing dif- " ferent consequences, holds out to man inducements " to follow it. The man, who of these two chooses " faith, is blessed ; and he, who for the sake of reward " practises rites, is dashed away from the enjoyment of " eternal beatitude." Also the Moonduk Opunishut: " Rites, of which there are eighteen members, are all " perishable : he who considers them as the source of " blessing shall undergo repeated transmigrations; " and all those fools who, immersed in the foolish " practice of rites, consider themselves to be wise and " learned, are repeatedly subjected to birth, disease, " death, and other pains. When one blind man is " guided by another, both subject themselves on their " way to all kinds of distress." 208 CONFERENCE ON THE PRACTICE It is asserted in the Bhugvut Geeta, the essence of all the Smritis, Poorans, and Itihases, that, " all those " ignorant persons who attach themselves to the words " of the Veds that convey promises of fruition, consider " those falsely alluring passages as leading to real hap- " piness ; and say, that besides them there is no other " reality. Agitated in their minds by these desires, " they believe the abodes of the celestial gods to be *' the chief object; and they devote themselves to those " texts which treat ox" ceremonies and their fruits, and " entice by promises of enjoyment. Such people can " have no real confidence in the Supreme Being." Thus also do the Moonduk Opunishut and the Geeta state that, " the science by which a knowledge of God " is attained is superior to all other knowledge." There- fore it is clear, from those passages of the Ved and of the Geeta, that the words of the Ved which promise fruition, are set aside by the texts of a contrary import. Moreover, the ancient saints and holy teachers, and their commentators, and yourselves, as well as we and all others, agree that Munoo is better acquainted than any other lawgiver with the spirit of the Veds. And he, understanding the meaning of those different texts, admitting the inferiority of that which promised fruition, and following that which conveyed no promise of grati- fication, has directed widows to spend their lives as ascetics. He has also defined in his 12th chapter, what acts are observed merely for the sake of gratifi- cations, and what are not. " Whatever act is performed " for the sake of gratifications in this world or the next " is called Pruburttuk, and those which are performed " according to the knowledge respecting God, are OF BURNING WIDOWS AI.IVE. 209 " called Niburttuk. All those who perform acts to " procure gratifications, may enjoy heaven like the "gods; and he who peiTorms acts free from desires, " procures release from the live elements of this body ; " that is, obtains absorption." Advocate. — What you have said is indeed consistent with the Veds, with Munoo, and with the Bhuguvut Geeta. But from this I fear, that the passages of the Veds and other Shastrus, that prescribe Concremation and Postcremation as the means of attaining heavenly enjoyments, must be considered as only meant to de- ceive. Opponent. — There is no deception. The object of those passages is declared. As men have various dis- positions, those whose minds are envelopetl in desire, passion, and cupidity, have no inclination for the dis- interested worship of the Supreme Being. If they had no Shastrus of rewards, they would at once throw aside all Shastrus, and would follow (heir several inclinations, like elephants unguided by the hook. In order to re- strain such persons from being led only by their incli- nations, the Shastru prescribes various ceremonies; as Shuenjag, for one desirous of the destruction of the enemy ; Pootreshti for one desiring a son ; and Justish- tom for one desiring gratifications in heaven, 8cc. ; but again reprobates such as are actuated by those desires, and at the same moment expresses contempt for such gratifications. Had the Shastru not repeatedly repro- bated both those actuated by desire and the fruits de- sired by them, all those texts might be considered as deceitful In proof of what I have advanced I cite the following text of the Opunishut: "Knowledge and r 210 CONFEllENCE ON THE I'RACTICE " rites together offer themselves to every man. The *' wise man considers which of these two is the better " and which the worse. By reflection, he becomes con- " vinced of the superiority of the former, despises rites, " and takes refuge in knowledge. And the unlearned, " for the sake of bodily gratification, has recourse to " the performance of rites." The Bhuguvut Geeta : " The Veds that treat of rites are for the sake of those " who are possessed of desire ; therefore, O Urjoon ! " do thou abstain from desires." Hear also the text of the Ved reprobating the fruits of rites : " As in this world the fruits obtained from cultivation and labour perish, so in the next world " fruits derived from rites are perishable." Also the Bhuguvut Geeta : " All those who observe the rites " prescribed by the three Veds, and through those " ceremonies worship me and seek for heaven, having " become sinless from eating the remains of offerings, " ascending to heaven, and enjoying the pleasures of " the gods, after the completion of their rewards, again " return to earth. Therefore, the observers of rites for " the sake of rewards, repeatedly ascend to heaven, and " return to the world, and cannot obtain absorption." Advocate. — Though what you have advanced from the Ved and sacred codes against the practice of Con- cremation and Postcremation, is not to be set aside, yet we have had the practice prescribed by Hareet and others handed down to us. Opponent. — Such an argument is highly inconsistent with justice. It is every way improper to persuade to self-destruction, by citing passages of inadmissible authority. In the second place, it is evident from OK BURNING WIDOWS ALIVE. 211 your own authorities, and the Sunkulpu recited in con- formity with them, that the widow should voluntarily quit life, ascending the flaming pile of her husband. But, on the contrary, you first bind down the widow along with the corpse of her husband, and then heap over her such a quantity of wood that she cannot rise. At the time too of setting fire to the pile, you press her down with large bamboos. In what passage of Hareet or the rest do you find authority for thus binding the woman according to your practice ? This then is, in fact, deliberate female murder. Advocate. — Though Hareet and the rest do not in- deed authorize this practice of binding, &c., yet were a woman after having recited the Sunkulpu not to per- form Concremation, it would be sinful, and considered disgraceful by others. It is on this account that we have adopted the custom. Opponent. — Respecting the sinfulness of such an act, that is mere talk : for in the same codes it is laid down, that the performance of a penance will oblite- rate the sin of quitting the pile. Or in case of inabi- lity to undergo the regular penance, absolution may be obtained by bestowing the value of a cow, or three kahuns of kowries. Therefore the sin is no cause of alarm. The disgrace in the opinion of others is also nothing : for good men regard not the blame or re- proach of persons who can reprobate those who ai)- stain from the sinful murder of women. And do you not consider how great is the sin to kill a woman ; therein forsaking the fear of God, the fear of conscience, and the fear of the Shastrus, merely from a dread of the reproach of those who delight in female murder? V 2 212 CONFKItENCE ON THF. PRACTICE Advocate. — Tliough t3ing down in this manner be not authorized by the Shastriis, yet we practise it as being a custom that has been observed throughout Hindoosthan. Opponent. — It never was the case that the practice of fastening down widows on the pile was prevalent throughout Hindoosthan: for it is but of late years that this mode has been followed, and that only in Ben- gal, which is but a small part of Hindoosthan. No one besides who has the fear of God and man before him, will assert that male or female murder, theft, &c., from having been long practised, cease to be vices. If, according to your argument, custom ought to set aside the precepts of the Shastrus, the inhabitants of the forests and mountains who have been in the habits of plunder, must be considered as guiltless of sin, and it would be improper to endeavour to restrain their habits. The Shastrus, and the reasonings connected with them, enable us to discriminate right and wrong. In those Shastrus such female murder is altogether forbidden. And reason also declares, that to bind down a woman for her destruction, holding out to her the inducement of heavenly rewards, is a most sinful act. Advocate. — This practice may be sinful or any thing else, but we will not refrain from observing it. Should it cease, people would generally apprehend that if wo- men did not perform Concremation on the death of their husbands, they might go astray; but if they burn themselves this fear is done away. Their family and relations are freed from apprehension. And if the husband could be assured during his life that his wife would follow him on the pile, his mind would be at ease from apprehensions of her misconduct. OF BURNING WIDOWS ALIVE. 213 Opjionent. — What can be done, if, merely to avoid the possible daiigei" of disgrace, you are unmercifully resolved to commit the sin of female murder. But is there not also a danger of a woman's going astray during the life-time of her husband, particularly when he re- sides for a long time in a distant country ? What re- medy then liave you got against this cause of alarm ? Advocate. — There is a great difference betwixt the case of the husband's being alive, and of his death ; for while a husband is alive, whether he resides near her or at a distance, a wife is under his control; she must stand in awe of him. But after his death that autho- rity ceases, and she of course is divested of fear. Opponent. — The Shastrus which command that a wife should live under the control of her husband during his life, direct that on his death she shall live under the authority of her husband's family, or else under that of her parental relations ; and the Shastrus have authorized the ruler of the country to maintain the observance of this law. Therefore, the possibility of a woman's going astray cannot be more guarded against durinff the husband's life than it is after his death. For you daily see, that even while the husband is alive, he gives up his authority, and the wife separates from him. Control alone cannot restrain from evil thoughts, words, and actions ; but the suggestions of wisdom and the fear of God may cause both man and woman to abstain from sin. Both the Shastrus and experience show this. Advocate. — You have repeatedly asserted, that from want of feeling we promote female destruction. This is incorrect, for it is declared in our \'ed and codes of 214 CONFERENCE ON TIIi: PRACTICK, &C. law, that mercy is the root of virtue, and from our practice of hospitality, &c. our compassionate dispo- sitions are well known. Opponent. — That, in other cases you shew charitable dispositions is acknowledged. But by witnessing from your youth the voluntary burning of women amongst your elder relatives, your neighbours, and the inhabi- tants of the surrounding villages, and by observing the indifference manifested at the time when the women are writhing under the torture of the flames, habits of in- sensibility are produced. For the same reason, when men or women are suffering the pains of death, you feel for them no sense of compassion. Like the woi- shippers of the female deities, who, witnessing from their infancy the slaughter of kids and buffaloes, feel no compassion for them in the time of their suffering death; while followers of Vishnoo are touched with strong feel- ings of pity. Adi'ocate. — What you have said I shall carefully con- sider. Opponent. — It is to me a source of great satisfaction, that yo I are now ready to take this matter into your consideration. By forsaking prejudice and reflecting on the Shastru, what is really conformable to its pre- cepts may be perceived, and the evils and disgrace brought on this country by the crime of female murder will cease. SECOND CONFERENCE AN ADVOCATE FOR, AND AN OPPONENT OF, THE PRACTICE OF BURNING WIDOWS ALIVE. CALCUTTA; 1820. TO THE MOST NOBLE THE MARCHIONESS OF HASTINGS, COUNTESS OF LOUDOUN, &f. &c. The following tract, being a translation of a Ben- galee Essay, published some time ago, as an appeal to reason in behalf of humanity, I take the liberty to dedicate to Your Ladyship; for to whose protection can any attempt to promote a benevolent purpose be with so much propriety committed? I have the honour to remain, with the greatest respect, Your Ladyship's Most obedient servant, THE AUTHOR. February 26, 1820. ON CONCREMATION; A SECOND CONFERENCE BETWEEN AN ADVOCATE AND AN OPPONENT OF THAT PRACTICE. Advocate. — Under the title of Vidhayuk, or Pre- ceptor, I have offered an answer to your former argu- ments. That, no doubt, you have attentively perused. I now expect your reply. Opponent. — I have well considered the answer that, after the lapse of nearly twelve months, you have offered. Such parts of your answer as consist merely of a repetition of passages already quoted by us, require no further observations now. But as to what you have advanced in opposition to our arguments and to the Shastrus, you will be pleased to attend to my reply. In the first place, at the bottom of your 4th page you have given a particular interpretation to the following words of Vishnoo, the lawgiver : " After the death of her husband a woman shall become an ascetic, or as- cend the funeral pile," implying that either alternative is optional. To this, you say, eight objections are found in the Shastrus, therefore one of the alternatives must be preferred : that is to say, the woman who is unable to ascend the flaming pile shall live as an ascetic. This you maintain is the true interpretation ; and in proof you have cited the words of the Skundu Pooran and of Ungira. I answer : In every country all persons 220 SECOND CONFERENCE ON THE I'HACTICE observe this rule, that meanings are to be inferred from the words used. In this instance the text of Vishnoo is comprised in five words : 1st, Mrite, " on death," 2d, bhurturi, " of a husband;" 3d, bruhmuchuryum, " asceticism ;" 4th, tudunwarohunum, " ascending his " pile ;" 5th, va, " or." That is, " on the death of a " husband, his ividow should become an ascetic, or " ascend his pile." It appears, therefore, from asceti- cism being mentioned first in order, that this is the most pious conduct for a widow to follow. But your interpretation, that this alternative is only left for widows who are unable to ascend the flaming pile, can by no means be deduced from the words of the text ; nor have any of the expounders of the Shastrus so ex- pressed themselves. For instance, the author of the Metakshura, whose authority is always to be revered, and whose words you have yourself quoted as authority in p. 27, has thus de- cided on the subject of Concremation : " The widow " who is not desirous of final beatitude, but who wishes " only for a limited term of a small degree of future " fruition, is authorized to accompany her husband." The Smartu Bhuttacharjyu (Rhughoo Nundun, the modern law commentator of Bengal) limited the words of Ungira, that " besides Concremation there is no " other pious course for a widow," by the authority Of the foregoing text of Vishnoo ; and authorized the alternative of a widow living as an ascetic, or dying with her husband ; explaining the words of Tngira as conveying merely the exaggerated praise of Concre- mation. Secondly. From the time that Shastrus have been OF BURNING WIDOWS ALIVE. 221 written in Sungskrit, no author or man of learning has ever asserted, as you have clone, that the person who, desirous of the enjoyments of heaven, is unable to per- form the rites leading to fruition, may devote himself to the attainment of final beatitude. On the contrary, the Shasirus uniformly declare that those who are unable to pursue final beatitude, may perform rites, but with- out desire; and persons of the basest minds, who do not desire eternal beatitude, may even perform rites for the sake of their fruits. As Vusishthu declares : " The person who does not " exert himself to acquire that knowledge of God " which leads to final absorption, may perform ceremo- " nies without expectation of reward." " To encourage and improve those ignorant persons, " who, looking only to pleasure, cannot distinguish be- " twixt what is God and not God, the Srooti has pro- " mised rewards." Bhuguvud Geeta. " If you are unable to acquire by degrees divine *' knowledge, be diligent in performing works with a " view to please me, that by such works you may ac- " quire a better state. If you are unable even to per- " form rites solely for my sake, then, controlling your " senses, endeavour to perform rites without the desire " of fruition." Therefore, to give the preference to self-inunolation, or to the destruction of others, for the sake of future reward, over asceticism, which gives a prospect of eternal beatitude, is to treat with contempt the autho- rities of the Veds, the Vedant, and other Durshuns, as well as of the Bhuguvud Geeta and many others. As 222 SliCOND CONFERENCE ON THE I'UACTICE tlie Ved says : " Knowledge and rites both offer them- " selves to man ; but he who is possessed of wisdom, t' taking their respective natures into serious conside- " ration, distinguishes one from the other, and chooses t' faith, despising fruition ; while a fool, for the sake of " advantage and enjoyment, accepts the offer of rites." Without entirely rejecting the authority of the Geeta, the essence of all Shastrus, no one can praise rites performed for the sake of fruition, nor recommend them to others; for nearly half of the Bhuguvud Geeta is filled with the dispraise of such works, and with the praise of works performed without desire of fruition. A few of those passages have been quoted in the former conference, and a few others are here given. " Works performed, except for the sake of God, " only entangle the soul. Therefore, O Urjoon, for- *' saking desire, perform works with the view to please " God." " 'J'he person who performs works without desire of " fruition, directing his mind to God, obtains eternal " rest. And the person who is devoted to fruition, " and performs works with desire, he is indeed inex- " tricably involved." " Oh, Urjoon, rites performed for the sake of frui- " tion are degraded far below works done without " desire, which lead to the acquisition of the know- " ledge of God. Therefore perform thou works with- '* out desire of fruition, with the view of acquiring " divine knowledge. Those who perform works for the " sake of fruition are most debased." " It is my firm opinion, that works are to be per- " formed, forsaking their consequences, and the pros- " pect of their fruits." OF BURNING WIDOWS ALIVE. 223 The Geeta is not a rare work, and you are not unac- quainted with it. Why then do you constantly mislead women, unacquainted with the Shastrus, to follow a debased path, by holding out to them as temptations the pleasures of futurity, in defiance of all the Shas- trus, and merely to please the ignorant? You have said, that eight objections are to be found in the Shastrus to the optional alternative deduced from the works of Visiinoo. To this I reply, First. To re- move an imaginary difficulty, a violation of the obvious interpretation of words, whose meaning is direct and consistent, is altogether inadmissible. Secondly. Former commentators, finding no such objection to the inter- pretation given to the words of Vishnoo, as allowing the optional alternative of asceticism or concremation, have given the preference to asceticism. The author of the Metakshura, quoting this text of Vishnoo in treating of Concremation, makes no allusion to such an objection, but finally declares ia favour of asceticism. Thirdl3\ Even allowing an optional alternative to be liable to the eight objections, former authors have on many occasions admitted such an alternative. For example : — Srooti. " Oblations are to be made of wheat or of " barley." But the meaning of this is not, according to your mode of interpretation, " That if it cannot be *' made of barley, an offering is to be made of wheat." " Burnt offering is to be made at sunrise or before *' sunrise." In this iiistauce your mode of explanation may be applied; but no authors have ever given such an interpretation, but all have admitted the alternative to be optional. 224 SECOND CONFERENCE ON THE TRACTICE Here also, according to your opinion, the meaning would be, that if you cannot worship Shivu you should worship Vishnoo. But no authors have ever given such an interpretation to those words, and to give more or less worship to Shivu than to Vishnoo is quite con- trary to the decision of all the Shastrus. Fourthly. — The following text has also been quoted by you in opposition to the optional alternative in question, taken as you assert from theSkundu Pooran: — " On the death of her husband, if by chance a woman " is unable to perform Concremation, nevertheless she " should preserve the virtue required of widows. If she *' cannot preserve that virtue, she must descend to " hell." To confirm this text you have quoted the words of Ungira : " There is no other pious course for a widow besides *' Concremation ;" which you have interpreted, that " for a widow there is no other course so pious." I answer, the words of Ungira are express, that there is no other pious course for a widow than Concremation. And the Smartu commentator, having thus interpreted the text, in reconciling it with the words of Vishnoo already quoted, declares, that it conveys merely exag- gerated praise of Concremation. But you, in opposition to the true meaning of the expression and to the interpretation given by the Smartu commentator, have explained those words to suit your own argument, that there is no other course more pious than that of Concremation. Perverting thus the meaning of the Shastrus, what benefit do you propose by promoting the destruction of feeble woman, by holding up the temptation of enjoyments in a future state .'* This I am at a loss to understand. oi' liuuNiNc; wiuou's Ai.ivi:. 225 If the passage you have quoted from the Skunihi Pooian really exist, the mode in which the Smartu commentator has explained the words of Ungira (" there " is no other virtuous course,") must be applied to those of the Skundu Pooran, viz. that the text of the Skundu Pooran which contradicts Munoo, Vishnu, and others, IS to be understood as merely conveying exaggerated praise; because, to exalt Concremation, which leads to future enjoyments that are treated as despicable by the Opunisluuls of the Veds and Smriti, and by the Bhuguvud Geeta, above asceticism, in which the mind may be purified by the performance of works, without desire that may lead to eternal beatitude, is every way inadmissible, and in direct opposition to the opinions maintained by ancient authors and commentators. Section II. In the latter end of the 7th page you have ad- mitted, that the sayings of Ungira, Vishnoo. and Ha- reet, on the subject of Concremation, are certainly at variance with those of Munoo ; but assert, that any law given by Munoo, when contradicted by several other lawgivers, is to be considered annulled :— there- fore, his authority in treating of the duties of widows is not admissible, on account of the discord existing between it and passages of Hareet, and Vishnoo, and others. With a view to establish this position you have advanced three arguments— the first of them is, that Vrihusputi says, " whatever law is contrary to the 8 226 SECOND CX)NFERENCE ON THE PRACTICE " law of Munoo, is not commendable ;" in which the nominative case, " whatever law," as being used in the singular number, signifies, that in case laws, given by a single person, stand in opposition to those of Munoo, they are not worthy of reverence ; but if several persons differ from Munoo in any certain point, his authority must be set aside. I reply, it has been the invariable practice of ancient and modern authors, to explain all texts of law so as to make them coincide with the law of Munoo; they in no instance declare that the au- thority of Munoo is to be set aside, in order to admit that of any other lawgiver. But you have, on the con- trary, set aside the authority of Munoo, on the ground of inconsistence with the words of two or three other authors. In this you not only act contrary to the prac- tice of all commentators, but moreover, in direct oppo- sition to the authority of the Ved : for the Ved declares, *• whatever Munoo lays down, that is commendable ;" which text you have yourself quoted in p. 7. And as to what you have said respecting the words of Vri- husputi as being in the singular number, and therefore only applicable to a case in which Munoo is opposed by only one lawgiver, it is obvious that the word " whatever," being a general term, includes every par- ticular case falling under it; and therefore his law must be followed, whatever number of authors there may be who lay down a different direction. And the reason of this is expressed in the former part of the verse of Vri- husputi, that " Munoo has in his work collected the " meaning of the Veds " From this it follows, that whatever law is inconsistent with the code of Munoo, which is the substance of the Ved, is really inconsistent OF BURNING WIDOWS AT.IVE. 227 with the Ved itself, and tlierefore inadmissible Adniit- tinfjj the justice of your explanation of Vriliusputi's text, that the authority of any individual lawniver, who is inconsistent with Munoo, must be set aside ; but that when several authorities coincide in laving; down any rule inconsistent with his law, they are to be followed ; one might on the same principle give a new explanation to the following text: — " The person who attempts to strike a Brahmun " goes to the hell called Sutnuyat, or of a hundred " punishments; and he who actually strikes a Brahmun, " goes to the hell of Suhusruyat, or a thousand punish- " ments." Here, also, the noun in the nominative case, and that in the accusative case also, are both in the singular number; therefore, according to your exposition, where two or three persons concur in beating a Brahmun, or where a man beats two or three Brahmuns, there is no crime committed. There are many similar instances of laws, the force of which would be entirely frustrated by your mode of interpretation. You have argued in the second place, that the prac- tice of Concremation is authorized by a text of the Rig Ved, and consequently the authority of Munoo is su- perseded by a higher authority. I reply: in the 12th line of the 9th page of your tract, you have quoted and interpreted a text of the Veds, expressing that " the " mind may be purified so as to seek a knowledge of " God from which absorption may accrue, by the per- " formance of the daily and occasional ceremonies, "without the desire of fruition; therefore, while life " may be preserved; it ought not to be destroyed." Q2 228 SF.COND CONFEUENCi; ON THE PRACTICE With tliis then and all similar texts, there is the most evident concord with the words of Munoo. Notwith- standiniT your admission to this effect, you assert that the authority of the Veds contradicts the declaration of Munoo. From the text already quoted, " that what- " ever Munoo Ikis declared is to be accepted," it fol- lows that there can be no discrepancy between Munoo and the Ved. But there is certainly an apparent in- consistency between the text quoted from the ceremo- nial part of the Rig Ved authorizing Concremation, and that above quoted from the spiritual parts of the Ved, to which the celebrated Munoo has given the prefe- rence ; well aware that such parts of the Ved are of more authority than the passages relating to debased ceremonies. He has accordingly directed widows to live, practising austerities. The text of the Rig Ved, of course, remains of force to those ignorant wretches who are fettered with the desire of fruition, which de- bars them from the hope of final beatitude. This too has been acknowledged by yourself, in p. 11, 1. 17, and was also fully considered in the first Conference, p. 13, line 18. You cannot but be aware too, that when there is a doubt respecting the meaning of any text of the Ved, that interpretation which has been adopted by Munoo, is followed by both ancient and modern au- thors. In the Bhuvishyu Pooran, Muhadev gave in- structions for the performance of a penance for wilfully slaying a Brahnuni ; but observing that this was at va- riance with the words of Munoo, which declare that there is no expiation for wilfully killing a Brahmun, he does not set aside the text of Munoo founded on the Veds by his own autiiority, but explains the sense OF BUllN'ING WIDOWS ALIVE. 229 in which it is to be accepted. " The object of the de- " duration of jNIunoo, that there is no exj)ialion for tlie " wilful murder of a Brahniun, was the more absolute " prohibition of the crime; or it may be considered as " applicable to K^hutrees, and the other tribes." The great Muhadev, then, did not venture to set aside the words of Munoo, but you liave proposed to set up the texts of llarcet and Ungira as of superior authority. Tiiirdly. — You have quoted, with the view of doing away with the authority of Munoo, the text of Juemini, signifying that if there be a difference of opinion re- specting a subject, tlien the decision of the greater number must be adopted ; and therefore, as the autho- rity of Munoo, in the present instance, is at variance with several writers, it must yield to theirs. I reply; it is apparent that this text, as well as connnon sense, only dictates, that where those who differ in opinion are equal in point of authority, the majority ought to be followed ; but if otherwise, this text is not applicable to the case. Thus the authority of the Ved, though single, cannot be set aside by the concurrent autho- rities of a hundred lawgivers; and in like manner the authority of Munoo, which is derived immediately from tiie Ved, cannot be set aside by the contradicting authorities of the others either singly or collectivelv. Moreover, if Ungira, Hareet, Vishnoo, and Vyas, au- thorized widows to choose the alternative of Concre- niation, or of living as ascetics; on the other hand, be- sides Munoo, Yugnyuvulkyu, Vusishthu, and several other lawgivers have prescribed asceticism only. M'hy, therefore, despising the authorities of Munoo and others, do you persist in encouragitig weak women to 230 SKCONU CONFEUENCE Ol' THE PRACTICE submit to murder, by holding out to them the temp- tations of luture pleasures in heaven? Section III. The quotations from the Moonduk Opunishud and the Bhuguvud Geeta, which we quoted in our first conference, to shew the light in which rites should be held, you have repeated ; and have also quoted some texts of the Veds directing the performance of certain rites, such as, " He who desires heavenly fruition shall perform the "sacrifice of a horse."— In page 17 you have given your final conclusion on the subject to this effect : " That rites are not prohibited, but that pious works " performed without desire are preferable to works " performed for the sake of fruition ; and he also who " performs those works without desire, is superior to " him who performs works for the sake of fruition." — If then works without desire are acknowledged by you to be superior to works with desire of fruition, why do you persuade widows to perform works for the sake of fruition, and do not recommend to them rather to follow asceticism, by which they may acquire eternal beatitude ? And with respect to your assertion, that " rites are not prohibited," this is inconsistent with the Siiastrus ; for if all the texts of the Veds and lawgivers, prohibiting I'ites, were to be quoted, they would fill a large volume : (of these a few have been already quoted by me in pp. 5 and 6.) — There are indeed Shastrus directing the performance of rites for the sake of or uuKNiN(; wiuou-s alive. 231 tVuitioii, but these are acknowledf^ed to be of less authority tluiu those which prohibit such rites; as is proved by the following text from the Moonduk Opunishud : " iShastrus are of two sorts, superior " and inferior; of these the superior are those by " which the Paternal God is approached." In tiie Bhuguvud Geeta Krishnu says : " Amongst " Shastrus, I am those which treat of God." In the Sree Bhaguvut is the following text : '' 111- " minded persons, not perceiving that the object of " the Ved is to direct us to absorption, call the " superficially tempting promises of rewards their prin- " cipal fruit; but such as know the Veds thoroughly " do not hold this opinion." The passages directing works for the sake of frui- tion are therefore adapted only for the most ignorant. Learned men should endeavour to withdraw all those ignorant persons from works performed with desire, but should never, for the sake of profit, attempt to drown them in the abyss of passion. llughoo Nundun quotes and adopts the following words : " Learned men should not persuade the ignorant to " perform rites for the sake of fruition ; for it is written " in the Pooran, that he who knows the path to " eternal happiness will not direct the ignorant to " perform works with desire, as the good physician " refuses to yield to the appetite of his patient for " injurious food." 232 SKCOND CONFERENCE ON THE I'RACTICE Section IV. In p. 17, 1. 13, of your treatise, you have said, that tlie Shastru does not admit that widows, in giving up the use of oil, and betel, and sexual pleasures, &c. as ascetics, perform works without desire, and acquire absorption. And for this you advance two proofs: the first, that it appears that Munoo directs that a widow should continue till death as an ascetic, aiming to practise the incomparable rules of virtue that have been followed by such women as were devoted to only one husband. From the word aiming, it follows, that the duties of an ascetic, to be practised by widow^s, are of the nature of those performed with desire. Secondly* From the subsequent words of Munoo it appeal's, that those widows who live austere lives ascend to heaven like ascetics from their youth ; therefore, from the words ascending to heaven, it is obvious that the aus- terities that may be performed by them are for reward. 1 reply ; I am surprised at your assertion, that austeri- ties practised by widows cannot be considered as per- formed without desire, and leading to absorption; for whether austerities or any other kind of act be performed with desire orwithout desire, must depend on the mind of the agent. Some may follow asceticism or other practices for the sake of heavenly enjoyments, while others, forsak- ing desire of fruition, may perform them, and at length acquire final beatitude. Therefore, if a widow prac- tise austerities without the desire of fruition, and yet lier acts are asserted to be with desire of fruition, this amounts to a setting at defiance both experience and the Shastrus, in a manner unworthy of a man of OF BURNING WIDOWS ALIVE. 233 learning like yourseU". As to what you have observed respecting the word aiming m the text of Munoo, it never can be inferred from the use of that word, that the asceticism of widows must necessarily be with de- sire; for with the object of final beatitude, we prac- tise the acquisition of the knowledge of God, which no Shastru nor any of the learned has ever classed amongst works performed with desire of fruition. For no man possessed of understanding performs any movement of mind or body- without an object : it is those works only, therefore, that are performed for the sake of corporeal enjoyments, either in the present or in a future state of existence, that are said to be with desire, and that are, as such, prohibited, as Munoo defines : " Whatever act is performed for the sake " of gratifications in this world or the next is called " Pruberttuk; and those which are performed ac- ** cording to the knowledge of God are called Ni- " burttuk." As to your second argument, that widows leading an ascetic life are rewarded by a mansion in heaven, I reply ; that from these words it does not appear that austerities should necessarily be reckoned amongst works performed for reward ; for a mansion in heaven is not granted to those alone who perform works with desire, but also to those who endeavour to acquire a knowledge of God, but come short of attaining it in this life. They must after death remain for a long time in the heaven called the Brumhulok, and again assume a human form, until they have, by perfecting themselves in divine knowledge, at length obtained absorption. The Bhuguvud Geeta says distinctly : 33I' SECOND CONFERENCE ON THE PUACTICE " A man whose devotions have been broken off' by " dealli, having enjoyed for an immensity of years the " i-ewards of his virtues in the regions above, at length is " born again in some holy and respectable family." Koo- look Bhuttu, the commentator on Munoo, says expressly, in his observations on the text of his author, that those ascetic widows ascend to heaven like Sunuk Balukhilyu and other devotees from tlieir youth. By this, it is clearly shewn, that those widows ascend to heaven in the same way as those pious devotees who have already acquired final beatitude, which can only be attained by works performed without desire. And hence the aus- terities of widows must be reckoned amongst works without desire. Section V. In page 18, you have asserted that a widow who undergoes Concremation has a higher reward than she who lives as a devotee ; for the husband of the woman who performs Concremation, though guilty of the mur- der of a Brahmun, or of ingratitude or treachery towards a friend, has his sins, by her act, expiated, and is saved from hell, and her husband's, her father's, and her mother's progenitors, are all beatified, and she herself is delivered from female form. —I reply, you have stated, in page 27, commencing at the 3d line, that works without desire are preferable to those performed for the sake of fruition ; while here again you say, that Concremation is preferable to asceticism. You have, however, assigned as a reason for your new doctrine, that Concremation saves progenitors as well as the OF BURNING WIDOWS ALIVE. 235 Iiusbaiul. I have already sliewn, that such promises of reward are merely held out to the most ifrnorant, in order to induce them to follow some kind of religious observance, and to withdraw from evil conduct. There- fore, to prefer works performed with a desire of frui- tion, to works without desire, merely on the ground of such exaggerated promises, is contrary to all the Shastrus. If, in defiance of all the Shastrus, you main- tain that such promises of reward are to be understood literally, and not merely as incitements, still there can be no occasion for so harsh a sacrifice, so painful to mind and body, as burning a person to death in order to save their lines of progenitors ; for, by making an offering of one ripe plantain to Shivu, or a single flower of Kurubeer, either to Shivu or to Vishnoo, thirty millions of lines of progenitors may be saved. " He, who maketh an oblation of a single ripeplan- " tain to Shivu, shall with thirty millions of races of " progenitors ascend to the heaven of Shivu." " By presenting a single Kurubeer, white or not " white, to Vishnoo or Shivu, thirty millions of races of *' progenitors are exalted to heaven." Nor is there any want of promise of reward to those who perform works without desire. In fact, rather more abundant rewards are held out for such works than those you can quote for the opposite pra nice. " Those who have acquired knowledge in the pre- " scribed mode can, by mere volition, save any number *' of progenitors ; and all the gods offer worship to the " devotees of the Supreme Being." A volume filled with texts of this kind might be easily written. More- over, should even the least part of any ceremony per- 236 SECOND CONFERENCE ON THE PRACTICE formed for reward be omitted or mistaken, the fruits are destroyed, and evil is produced. But there is no bad consequence from a failure in works performed without desire, for the completion of these, even in part, is advantageous. In proof I quote the Bhuguvud Geeta : " Works without desire, if only commenced, " are never without advantage ; and if any member be " defective, evil consequences do not ensue, as in works " performed with desire. And the performance of even " a small portion of a work without desire brings " safety." There is evidently a possibility of a failure in some portion of the rites of Concremation or Post- cremation, particularly in the mode in which you per- form the ceremony contrary to the directions of the Shastrus. What connection is there betwixt that mode and the enjoyment of temporary heavenly gratifications — a mode which only subjects the widow to the conse- quences of a violent death ! Section VI. Again in p. 17, 1. 3, you admit it to be more com- mendable for a widow to attend to the acquisition of knowledge than to die by Concremation ; but after- wards, in order to persuade them to the practice of Concremation, and to prevent them from pursuing the acquisition of knowledge, you observe, that women are naturally prone to pleasure, are extremely devoted to works productive of fruits, and are always subject to tiicir passions. To persuade such persons to forsake or m'ltxiNc; widows ai.ive. 237 Concremalion, in order lo attempt the acquisition of knowledge, is to destroy tlieir hopes in both ways. In support of your opinion you have quoted tiie Gceta: " Those ignorant persons who are devoted to works " ought not to be dissuaded from performing them." I reply; your object in persuading women to burn themselves may now be distinctly perceived ; you con- sider women, even of respectable classes, as prone to pleasure, and always subject to their passions; and therefore you are apprehensive lest they should lose both prospects of hope, by giving up Concremation, and attempting to acquire knowledge. For this reason you lead them to the destruction of their lives, by hold- ing out to them the temptation of future reward. It is very certain tliat all mankind, whether male or female, are endowed with a mixture of passions; but by study of the Shastrus, and frequenting the society of respect- able persons, those passions may be gradually subdued, and the capability of enjoying an exalted state may be attained. We ought, therefore, to endeavour to with- draw both men and women from debased sensual plea- sures, and not to persuade them to die with the hope of thcrehv obtaining sensual enjoyments, by which, after a certain period of gratification, they are again immersed in the pollutions of the womb, and subjected to affliction. The Shastrus have directed those men or women, who seek after a knowledge of God, to hear and reflect upon his doctrine, that they may escape from the grievous pain of this world; and they have also prescribed daily and occasional riles to be per- formed without the hope of reward by those who do not seek after divine knowledge, in order that their 288 SECOND CONFERENCE ON THE PRACTICE minds may be purified, and prepared to receive that knowledge. We, therefore, in conformity with the Shastru, make it our endeavour to dissuade widows from desiring future base and fleeting enjoyments, and encourage them to the acquisition of that divine know- ledge which leads to final beatitude. Widows, there- fore, by leading an ascetic life in the performance of duties without desire, may purify their minds and ac- quire divine knowledge, which may procure for them final beatitude. And consequently there is no reason why they should lose both objects of future hope by forsaking Concremation. " Oh, Urjoon, by placing their reliance on me, " women and those of the lower classes of Vueishyu " and Soodru may obtain the highest exaltation." You, however, considering women devoted to their passions, and consequently incapable of acquiring divine knowledge, direct them to perform Concrema- tion ; and maintain that, if any amongst them should not burn with their husbands, according to your final decision from the Shastrus, they must lose the hopes that belong to both practices; because, according to your opinion, they are entirely incapable of acquiring divine knowledge, and by not adopting Concremation, they give up the prospect of future gratifications. As to your quotation from the Geeta, to show that persons devoted to works ought not to be dissuaded from the performance of them, it may be observed that this text applies only to riles offered without desire of reward, though applied by you to works performed for the sake of future enjoyment, in direct inconsistency with the authority of the Geeta. The object of this, as well as OF HURNING WIDOWS ALIVE. 239 of all texts of the Geeta, is to dissuade men from works performed with desire. The Geeta and its Commen- taries are both accessible to all. Let the learned de- cide the point. You have quoted the followinj^ text of Vusishthu : " He who, being devoted to worldly pleasures, boasts, " saying, ' I am a knower of God,' can neither obtain " the consequences procurable from works, nor attain " final beatitude, the fruit of divine knowledge." I admit the force of this text. For whether a man be devoted to worldly pleasures or not, if he be a boaster, either of divine knowledge or of any other acquire- ment, he is indeed most despicable; but I am unable to see how this text, which forbids vain-glory, is appli- cable to the question before us, which relates to the Concrcmation of widows. Section VII. In your 20th page, you have stated for us, that we do not object to the practice of Concrcmation, but to the tying down of the widow to the pile before setting it on fire. I reply ; this is very incorrect, for it is a gross misrepresentation of our argument; because Concrc- mation or Postcremation is a work performed for the sake of future reward, which the Opunishud and the Geeta, and other Shastrus, have declared to be most contemptible. Consequently, relying on tiiose Shas- trus, it has been always our object to dissuade widows from the act of Concrematiou or Postcremation, that they might not, for the sake of the debased enjoyment 240 SKCOND CONFERENCE ON THE PllACTICE of corporeal pleasures, renounce the attainment of divine knowledge. As to the mode in which you murder widows by tying them to the pile, we do exert ourselves to prevent such deeds, for those who are wit- nesses to an act of murder, and neglect to do any thing towards its prevention, are accomplices in the crime. In justification of the crime of burning widows by force, you liave stated, towards the foot of the same page, that in those countries where it is the custom for widows to ascend the flaming pile, there cannot be any dispute as to the propriety of following that mode : but where that is not the mode followed, and it is the practice for those that burn the corpse to place a por- tion of fire contiguous to the pile, so that it may gra- dually make its way to the pile, and at that time the widow, according to the prescribed form, ascends the pile ; in this mode also there is nothing contrary to the Shastrus. You have at the same time quoted two or three authorities to shew, that rites should be per- formed according to the custom of the counti'y. I reply ; female murder, murder of a Brahmun, parri- cide, and similar heinous crimes, cannot be reckoned amongst pious acts by alleging the custom of a coun- try in their behalf; by such customs rather the country in which they exist is itself condemned. I shall write more at large to this purpose in the conclusion. The practice, therefore, of forcibly tying down women to the pile, and burning them to death, is inconsistent with the Shastrus, and highly sinful. It is of no conse- quence to affirm, that this is customary in any particu- lar country — if it were universally practised, the mur- ders would still be criminal. The pretence that many OF HURNINd WIDOWS ALIVE. 241 are united in the commission of such murder will not secure tliem from divine vengeance. The customs of a country or of a race may be followed in matters where no particular rules are prescribed in the Shas- trus; but the wilful murder of widows, prohibited by all Shastrus, is not to be justified by the practice of a few. From the Skundu Pooran : " In those matters " in which neither the V'eds nor lawgivers give either " direct sanction or prohibition, the customs of a *' country or of a race may be observed." If you insist that the practice of a country or of a race, though directly contrary to the directions of the Shastrus, is still proper to be observed, and to be reckoned amongst lawful acts, I reply, that in Shivukanchee and Vish- nookanchee it is the custom for the people of all classes of one of those places, whether learned or igno- rant, mutually to revile the god peculiarly worshipped by the people of the other — those of Vishnookanchee despising Shivu, and of Shivukanchee in the same manner holding Vishnoo in contempt. Are the inha- bitants of those places, whose custom it is thus to revile Shivu and Vishnoo, not guilty of sin ? For each of those tribes may assert, in their own defence, that it is the practice of their country and race to revile the god of the other. But no learned Hindoo will pretend to say, that this excuse saves them from sin. The Raj- poots, also, in the neighbourhood of the Dooab, are accustomed to destroy their infant daughters; they also must not be considered guilty of the crime of child- murder, as they act according to the custom of their country and race. There are many instances of the same kind. No Pundits, then, would consider a heinous B 242 SECOND CONFERENCE ON THE PRACTICE crime, directly contrary to the Shastrus, as righteous, by whatever length of practice it may appear to be sanctioned. You have at first alleged, that to burn a widow after tying her down on the pile, is one of the acts of piety, and have then quoted our argument for the opposite opinion, that " the inhabitants of forests and moun- " tains are accustomed to robbery and murder : but " must these be considered as faultless, because they " follow only the custom of their country ?" To this you have again replied, that respectable people are not to be guided by the example of mountaineers and foresters. But the custom of burning widows, you say, " has been sanctioned by the most exemplary Pundits " for a length of time. It is the custom, then, of re- " spectable people that is to be followed, and not that " of men of no principles." I answer ; respectability, and want of respectability, depend upon the acts of men. If the people of this province, who have been constantly guilty of the wilful murder of women by tying them to the pile in which they are burnt, are to be reckoned amongst the respectable, then why should not the inhabitants of mountains and forests be also reckoned good, who perpetrate murder for the sake of their livelihood, or to propitiate their cruel deities? To shew that the custom of a country should be fol- lowed, you have quoted a text of the Ved, signifying that the example of Brahmuns well versed in the Shastrus, of good understanding, and whose practice is in conformity with reason and the Shastrus, not subject to passion, and accustomed to perform good works, should be followed. And you have also quoted the OF BURNING WIDOWS ALIVE. 243 words of Vyas, signifying that the authorities of tlic Veds and Shastrus, as well as of reason, being various, the practice pointed out by illustrious men should be adopted. I reply ; you have shewn that the example of men versed in the Shastrus, and who act in conformity with reason and the Shastrus, should be followed; but can you call those who, in defiance of the Shastrus, wilfully put women to death by tying them down to the pile on which they are burned, illustrious, acquainted with the Veds, and devoted to acts prescribed by the Shastrus and by reason ? If not, their example is to be disre- garded. If you can call those, who wilfully tie down women to put them to death, righteous and illustrious, then there is no instance of unrighteousness and depra- vity. I have already said, that when any act is neither directly authorized nor prohibited by the Shastrus, the custom of the country, or of the race, should be the rule of conduct; but in the present case, the words are express in prescribing that the widow shall enter the flaming pile. But those who, in direct defiance of the authority of the Shastrus, act the part of woman-mur- derers, in tying down the widow to the pile, and, sub- sequently applying the flame, burn her to death, can never exculpate themselves from the sin of woman- murder. As to the words you have quoted from the Skundu Pooran, signifying that the arguments of one who has no faith in Shivu and Vishnoo can have no weight in the discussion of the legality of facts, I reply, this text is applicable to those who worship images. Those who worship forms under any name, and have no faith in Shivu and Vishnoo, their worship is vain, and their words to be disregarded. In the same way the K 2 244 SECOND CONFERENCE ON THE PRACTICE words of the Koolarnuv : " He. whose mouth does not " give out the smell of wine and flesh, should perform " a penance and be avoided, and is as an inferior ani- " mal. This is undoubted." These words are appli- cable only to those who follow the Tuntrus ; and if all such texts are considered otherwise applicable than in relation to the sects to whom they are directed, there is no possibility of reconciling the variances betwixt the different Shastrus. The Shastru, treating of God, con- tains the following words : " Acts and rites that origi- " nate in movements of the hands, and other members " of the body, being perishable, cannot effect beatitude " that is eternal." " Those that worship forms under appellations, con- " tinue subject to form and appellation ; for no perish- " able means can effect the acquisition of an imperish- " able end." " That man who considers the Being that is infinite, " incomprehensible, pure, extending as far as space, " and time, and vacuity, to be finite, perceptible by " the senses, limited by time and place, subject to pas- " sion and anger, what crime is such a robber of Divine " Majesty not guilty of?" That is, he is guilty of those sins which are considered as the most heinous, as well as of those that are considered ordinary sins. There- fore the words of so sinful a person can have no weight in the discussion of the legality of rites. OF BURNING WIDOWS ALIVE. 245 Section VIII. You have stated in p. 2, that in the same manner as when part of a viUage or of a piece of cloth has been burnt, the village or piece of cloth is said to be burnt, so if a |)ortion of the pile is inflamed, the whole pile may be said to be flaming. Therefore, it may with pro- priety be affirmed, that widows do in this country ascend the flaming pile. I reply ; you may afford gratification to those who take delight in woman-murder by such a quibble, but how can you avoid divine punishment by thus playing upon words ? — for we find in the text of Hareet and of Vishnoo, the phrase " pruvivesh hootasunum," which means entering into flames, and the term " Sumarohed- " dhootasunum," signifying ascending the flames. You have interpreted these directions in this way ; — that, at a considerable distance from the pile, fire may be placed, and a piece of grass or rope may connect the fire with the pile ; and that thus, by ascending the pile, which has not been in the smallest degree affected by the fire, the widow may fulfil the direction of ascending and en- tering the flaming pile. But I beg to remark, that both in the vulgar dialect and in Sungskrit, the word " Pruvesh" expresses only the introgression of one sub- stance into another ; as for example, " Grihu pruvesh " koriachhilam," I entered the Jiouse : the word entered cannot be used unless I actually passed into the house. If a long bamboo be attached to the house and a rope be fastened to that bamboo, no one can in any lan- guage say, that in merely touching that roj)e or bamboo he has entered that house. If a single billet of wood 246 SECOND CONFERENCE ON THE PRACTICE belonging to the pile were indeed inflamed, then you might say, according to your quibble regarding the burning of the cloth and of the village, that the pile was inflamed, and the flaming pile entered ; but even this is by no means the case, in the mode in which your pile is used. Unless, however, the pile is so completely in fire that the flames may surround the whole of her body, the woman cannot be said to enter into flame. You must then, before you can justify your murder of helpless women, prepare a new dictionary ; but there is no great probability of its interpretations being adopted by men of knowledge. Towards the end of the 28th page you assert, that those who tie down the woman to the pile according to the custom of the country, are not guilty of violation of the Shastrus : for it is to be understood from the words of Hareet before quoted, that until her body be burnt, the widow cannot be delivered from female form, which implies that her body ought to be completely consumed ; and that it is on this account that those who burn her make her fast to the pile, lest by accident any part of the dead body should fall out of the pile, and fail of being consumed, and in that case the burn- ing be incomplete. This practice of tying down, there- fore, is also conformable to the Shastru ; and those who, in burning the woman, make her fast to the pile, are not therein guilty of any sin, but rather perform a pious act. In support of this assertion you have quoted the words of Apustumbu, signifying that he who per- forms an act prescribed by the Shastrus, or he who persuades or permits another to perform a prescribed act, ascends to heaven ; and he who commits an act OF BURNING WIDOWS ALIVE. 247 forbidden by the Sliastru, or who persuades or permits another to perform a prohibited action, sinks to hell. I reply ; you mean to say, that it is not in order to avoid the danger of the widow's flying from the pile from fear of the flames, or from pain, that she is made fast — but merely, lest any fragments of the body should fall from the pile unburnt, that she is tied down to the pile while alive. I ask, is it with an iron chain that the woman is made fast, or with a common rope ? For by securing the body by means of iron, the danger of portions of it being scattered from the pile may un- doubtedly be avoided. But if, on the contrary, the body is bound with a common rope, the rope will be con- sumed before life has altogether quitted the body, and the rope, when so burned, can be of no use in retaining within the pile the members of the body. So far have Pundits been infatuated, in attempting to give the ap- pearance of propriety to improper actions, that they have even attempted to make people believe, that a rope may remain unconsumed amidst a flaming fire, and prevent the members of a body from being dis- persed from the pile. Men of sense may now judge of the truth of the reason to which you ascribe the practice of tying down widows. All people in the world are not blind, and those who will go and behold the mode in which you tie down women to the pile, will readily per- ceive the truth or falsehood of the motives you assign for the practice. A little reflection ought to have con- vinced you of the light in which such an argument must be viewed, even by those of your friends who have the smallest regard for truth. As for the text you have quoted from Apustumbu, it might have, with more pro- 248 SECOND CONFERENCE ON THE PRACTICE priety, been cited by us, because it is established by that passage, that those who commit, persuade to, or permit an improper action, descend to hell ; for those that are guilty of wilful woman-murder, by tying women down with ropes, and burning them to death, a practice unauthorized by the Shastrus, and considered as most heinous, and those who persuade or permit others to do so, are certainly obnoxious to the denunciation of Apustumbu. The pretext of custom of the country, or of the object of preventing portions of the body from being scattered, will not exculpate them. You have written, in page 29, that those who, by the permission of the widow, increase the flames by throw- ing wood or straw on the pile, are meritorious : for he who without reward assists another in a pious act, is to be esteemed most meritorious. In confirmation, you have quoted an anecdote of the Mutshyu Pooran, that a goldsmith, by affording his gratuitous assistance in a pious act, obtained a great reward. To this I have already replied : for if those who voluntarily commit woman-murder, by tying down a widow to the pile, and holding her down with bamboos to be burnt to death, are to be reckoned as performers of a pious act, those who assist them in so doing must be esteemed meritorious : but if this be a most heinous and debased crime, the promoters of it must certainly reap the fruits of woman-murder. In your concluding paragraph you have quoted three texts, to prove the continual observance of this practice during all ages. The first recounting, that a dove en- tered into the flaming pile of her deceased husband. The second, that when Dhriturashtru was burning in OF HURNING WIDOWS ALIVE. 249 the flames of l)is hermitage, his wile, Gaiulharee, threw herself into the fire. Tlie wives of Busoodev (the father of Krishnu), of Buluram, of Priulyoomnii, and of others, entered the flaming piles of their respective husbands. These three instances occurred, as narrated by the Pooran writers, within intervals of a few years towards the close of the Dwapur Yoog. You ought then to have quoted other instances, to shew the continual ob- servance of this practice throughout all ages. Let that be as it may, you yourself cannot fail to know, that in former ages there were, as in later times, some who devoted themselves to the attainment of final beatitude, and others to the acquisition of future pleasure. Some too were virtuous, and some sinful ; some believers, some sceptics. Amongst those, both men and women, who performed rites for reward, after enjoying plea- sures in heaven, have again fallen to earth. Those Shastrus themselves declare this fact ; but in the Shas- trus that teach the path to final beatitude, the per- formance of rites for the sake of reward is positively forbidden. According to these Shastrus, numberless women, in all ages, who were desirous of final beatitude, by living as ascetics, attained their object. Evidence of this is to be found in the Muhabharut and other works : " The widows of the heroic Kooroos, who fell va- " liantly with their faces to the foe, and were translated " to the heaven of Bruhmji, performed only the pre- " scribed ceremonies with water," and did not burn themselves on the piles of their husbands. I have moreover to request your attention to the fact, that in the three instances you have quoted, the very words " entered into fire" are used. In those three cases. 250 SECOND CONFERENCE ON THE PRACTICE then, it appears that the widows actually entered the flames, and therefore, whatever widow in the present time does not enter the fire, but is burnt to death by others tying her down to the pile, lias not performed the ceremony according to the ancient practice you have instanced ; and from rites so performed she cannot even be entitled to the temporary enjoyment of hea- venly pleasures ; and those who tie her down, and, pressing on her with bamboos, kill her, must, according to all Shastrus, be considered guilty of the heinous crime of woman-murder. Section IX. Advocate. — I alluded, in p. 18, 1. 18, to the real reason for our anxiety to persuade widows to follow their husbands, and for our endeavours to burn them, pressed down with ropes : viz. that women are by nature of infei'ior understanding, without resolution, unworthy of trust, subject to passions, and void of vir- tuous knowledge; they, according to the precepts of the Shastru, are not allowed to marry again after the demise of their husbands, and consequently despair at once of all worldly pleasure : hence it is evident, that death to these unfortunate widows is preferable to ex- istence ; for the great difficulty which a widow may ex- perience by living a purely ascetic life, as prescribed by the Shastrus, is obvious ; therefore, if she do not per- form Concremation, it is probable that she may be guilty of such acts as may bring disgrace upon her OF BURNING WIDOWS ALIVE. 251 paternal and maternal relations, and those that may be connected with her husband. Under these circum- stances, we instruct them from their early life in the idea of Concremation, holding out to them heavenly enjoyments in company with their husbands, as well as the beatitude of their relations, both by birth and mar- riage, and tiieir reputation in this world. From this many of them, on the death of their husbands, become desirous of accompanying them ; but to remove every chance of their trying to escape from the blazing fire, in burning them we first tie them down to the pile. Opponeiit. — The reason you have now assigned for burning widows alive is indeed your true motive, as we are well aware; but the faults which you have im- puted to women are not planted in their constitution by nature; it would be, therefore, grossly criminal to condemn that sex to death merely from precaution. By ascribing to them all sorts of improper conduct, you have indeed successfully persuaded the Hindoo com- munity to look down upon them as contemptible and mischievous creatures, whence they have been sub- jected to constant miseries. I have, therefore, to offer a few remarks on this head. Women are in general inferior to men in bodily strength and energy; consequently the male part of the connnunity, taking advantage of their corporeal weak- ness, have denied to them those excellent merits that they are entitled to by nature, and afterwards they are apt to say that women are naturally incapable of acquirin<>" those merits. But if we give the subject consideration, we may easily ascertain whether or not your accusation against tiiem is consistent with justice. As to their in- 252 SECOND CONFERENCE ON THE PRACTICE ferioiity in point of understanding, when did you ever afford them a fair opportunity of exhibiting their natural capacity? How then can you accuse them of want of understanding? If, after instruction in knowledge and wisdom, a person cannot comprehend or retain what has been taught him, we may consider him as deficient; but as you keep women generally void of education and ac- quirements, you cannot, therefore, injustice pronounce on their inferiority. On the contrary, Leelavutee, Bha- noomutee (the wife of the prince of Kurnat), and that ofKalidas, are celebrated for their thorough know- ledge of all the Shastrus : moreover in the Vrihudar- unyuk Opunishud of the Ujoor Ved it is clearly stated, that Yagnuvulkyu imparted divine knowledge of the most difficult nature to his wife Muitreyee, who was able to follow and completely attain it ! Secondly. You charge them with want of resolution, at which I feel exceedingly surprised : for we con- stantly perceive, in a country where the name of death makes the male shudder, that the female, from her firm- ness of mind, offers to burn with the corpse of her de- ceased husband ; and yet you accuse those women of deficiency in point of resolution. Thirdly. With regard to their trustworthiness, let us look minutely into the conduct of both sexes, and we may be enabled to ascertain which of them is the most frequently guilty of betraying friends If we enume- rate such women in each village or town as have been deceived by men, and such men as have been betrayed by women, I presume that the number of the deceived women would be found ten times greater than that of the betrayed men. Men are, in general, able to read OF BURNING WIDOWS ALIVE. 253 and write, and manage public affairs, by which means they easily promulgate such faults as women occa- sionally commit, but never consider as criminal the misconduct of men towards women. One fault they have, it must be acknowledged ; which is, by con- sidering others equally void of duplicity as them- selves, to give their confidence too readily, from which they suffer much misery, even so far that some of them are misled to suffer themselves to be burnt to death. In the fourth place, with respect to their subjection to the passions, this may be judged of by the custom of marriage as to the respective sexes; for one man may marry two or three, sometimes even ten wives and up- wards ; while a woman, who marries but one husband, desires at his death to follow him, forsaking all worldly enjoyments, or to remain leading the austere life of an ascetic. Fifthly. The accusation of their want of virtuous knowledge is an injustice. Observe what pain, what slighting, what contempt, and what afflictions their virtue enables them to support ! How many Kooleen Brah- mins are there who marry ten or fifteen wives for the sake of money, that never see the greater number of them after the day of marriage, and visit others only three or four limes in the course of their life. Still amongst those women, most, even without seeing or receiving any support from their husbands, living dependent on their fathers or brothers, and suffering much distress, continue to preserve their virtue ; and when Brah- mans, or those of other tribes, bring their wives to live with them, what misery do the women not suffer ? At 254 SECOND CONFERENCF. ON THE PRACTICE marriasfe the wife is recognized as half of her husband, but in after-conduct they are treated worse than inferior animals. For the woman is employed to do the work of a slave in the house, such as, in her turn, to clean the place very early in the morning, whether cold or wet, to scour the dishes, to wash the floor, to cook night and day, to prepare and serve food for her husband, father and mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, brothers-in law, and friends and connections ! (for amongst Hindoos more than in other tribes relations long reside together, and on this account quarrels are more common amongst brothers respecting their worldly affairs.) If in the preparation or serving up of the victuals they commit the smallest fault, what insult do they not receive from their husband, their mother-in-law, and the younger brothers of their husband ! After all the male part of the family have satisfied themselves, the women con- tent themselves with what may be left, whether sufficient in quantity or not. Where Brahmuns or Kayustus are not wealthy, their women are obliged to attend to their cows, and to prepare the cow-dung for firing. In the afternoon they fetch water from the river or tank ; and at night perform the office of menial servants in making the beds. In case of any fault or omission in the performance of those labours, they receive injurious treatment. Should the husband acquire wealth, he indulges in criminal amours to her perfect knowledge, and almost under her eyes, and does not see her per- haps once a month. As long as the husband is poor, she suffers every kind of trouble, and when he becomes rich she is altogether heart-broken. All this pain and affliction their virtue alone enables them to support. OF BURNING WIDOWS ALIVE. 255 Where a husband takes two or three wives to live with him, they are subjected to mental miseries and constant quarrels. Even this distressed situation they virtuously endure. Sometimes it happens that the husband, from a preference for one of his wives, behaves cruelly to another. Amongst the lower classes, and those even of the better class who have not associated with good com- pany, the wife, on the slightest fault, or even on bare suspicion of her misconduct, is chastised as a thief. Respect to virtue and their reputation generally makes them forgive even this treatment. If, unable to bear such cruel usage, a wife leaves her husband's house to live separately from him, then the influence of the husband with the magisterial authority is generally sufficient to place her again in his hands ; when, in revenge for her quitting him, he seizes every pretext to torment her in various ways, and sometimes even puts her privately to death. These are facts occurring every day, and not to be denied. What I lament is, that, seeing the women thus dependent and exposed to every misery, you feel for them no compassion, that might exempt them from beine: tied down and burnt to death. ABSTRACT ARGUMENTS RF.CARDIKG THE BURNING OF WIDOWS, CONSIDERED AS A RELIGIOUS RITK. CALCUTTA 1830. ABSTRACT THE ARGUMENTS, &c. Several Essays, Tracts, and Letters, written in de- fence of or against the practice of burning Hindoo widows alive, have for some years past attracted the attention of the pubHc. The arguments therein ad- duced by the parties being necessarily scattered, a com- plete view of the question cannot be easily attained by such readers as are precluded by their immediate avo- cations from bestowing much labour in acquiring in- formation on the subject. Although the practice itself has now happily ceased to exist under the Government of Bengal, " nevertheless, it seems still desirable that the substance of those ]^nblications should be condensed in a concise but comprehensive manner, so that en- quirers may, with little difficulty, be able to form a just conclusion, as to the true light in which this practice is viewed in the religion of Hindoos. I have, therefore, made an attempt to accomplish this object, hoping that the plan pursued may be found to answer this end. Thn administration to wliicli this distinguislicd merit is due, consisted of Lord W. C. Bontinck, f^overnor {rencral ; Viscount Combermere, conininnder in t-liicf ; W. B. Baylev, Esq., and Sir C. T. Metcalie, nienibors of cownril. s2 260 ABSTRACT OF ARGUMENTS The first point to be ascertained is, wliether or not the practice of burning widows alive on the pile and with the corpse of their husbands, is imperatively en- joined by the Hindoo religion. To this question, even the staunch advocates for Concremation must reluc- tantly give a negative reply, and unavoidably concede the practice to the option of widows. This admission on their part is owing to two principal considerations, which it is now too late for them to feijjn to overlook. First, because Munoo in plain terms enjoins a widow to '■'■ cGntinue till death forgiving all injuries, performing " austere duties, avoiding every sensual pleasure, and " cheerfully practising the incomparable rules of virtue " vvhich have been followed by such women as were " devoted to one only husband;" (ch. v. ver. 158.) So Yagnuvulkyu inculcates the same doctrine: " A widow " shall live under care of her father, mother, son, bro- " ther, mother-in-law, father-in-law, or uncle; since, " on the contrary, she shall be liable to reproach." (Vide Mitakshura, ch. i.) Secondly, because an attempt on the part of the advocates for Concremation to hold out the act as an incumbent duty on widows, would ne- cessarily bring a stigma upon the character of the living widows, who have preferred a virtuous life to Concremation, as charging them with a violation of the duty said to be indispensable. These advocates, there- fore, feel deteri'ed from giving undue praise to a few widows choosing death on the pile, to the disgrace of a vast majority of that class preferring a virtuous life. And in consideration of these obvious circumstances, the celebrated Smarttu Rughoonundun, the latest com- mentator on Hindoo law in Bengal, found himself com- iu:(;Ai{niN(; hurninc. or widows. 201 pelled to expouiul the following passage of Unggira : " there is no other course for a widow beside Concre- " mation ;" as " conveying exaggerated praise of the " adoption of that course." The second point is, that in case the alternative be admitted, that a widow may either live a virtuous life, or burn herself on the pile of her iiusband ; it should next be determined, whether both practices are esteemed equally meritorious, or one be declared preferable to the other. To satisfy ourselves on this question, we should first refer to the Veds, whose authority is con- sidered paramount ; and we find in them a passage most pointed and decisive against Concremation, de- claring that " from a desire during life, of future frui- " tion, life ougiit not to be destroyed." (Vide Mitak- shura, ch. i) While the advocates of Concremation quote a passage from the Veds, of a very abstruse nature, in support of their position, which is as follows : " O fire, let these women, with bodies anointed with " clarified butter, eyes coloured with collyrium and " void of tears, enter thee, the parent of water,* that " they may not be separated from their husbands, " themselves sinless, and jewels amongst women." This passage (if genuine) does not, in the first place, enjoin widows to offer themselves as sacrifices. Secondly, no allusion whatever is made in it to voluntary death by a widow icith the corpse of her husband. Thirdly, the phrase "these women*" in the passage, literally implies women then present. Fourthly. Some commentators consider the passage as conveying an allegorical aliu- • In Suiij^bkrit writings, wiilor is n'piesunted a.^ oi iijinatin}; in lire. 262 AIJSTRACT OF ARGUMENTS sion to the constellations of the moon's path, which are invariably spoken of in Sungskrit in the feminine gentler :— butter implying the milky path; collyrium meaning unoccupied space between one star and an- other ; husbands signifying the more splendid of the heavenly bodies ; and entering the fire, or, properly speaking, ascending it, indicating the rise of the con- stellations through the south-east horizon, considered as the abode of fire. Whatever may be the real purport of this passage, no one ever ventured to give it an in- terpretation as commanding widows to burn themselves on the pile and with the corpse of their husbands. We next direct attention to the Smrittee, as next in authority to the Veds. Munoo, whose authority supersedes that of other lawgivers, enjoins widows to live a virtuous life, as already quoted. Yagnuvulkyu and some others have adopted the same mode of ex- hortation. On the other hand, Unggira recommends the practice of Concremation, saying : " That a woman " who, on the death of her husband, ascends the burning ^^ pile with him, is exalted to heaven as equal to Uroon- " dhooti." So Vyas says, " a pigeon devoted to her " husband, after his death, entered the flames, and, as- " cending to heaven, she there found her husband." " She who follows her husband to another world, shall " dwell in a region of glory for so many years as there " are hairs in the human body, or thiity-five millions." Vishnoo, the saint, lays down this rule : " After the " death of her husband, a wife should live as an ascetic " or ascend his pile." Hareet and others have followed Unggira in recommending Concremation. The above quoted passages from Unggira and others, REGARDING BURNINd OF WIDOWS. 263 recommend Concremation on the part of widows, as means to obtain future carnal fruition; and, accord- ingly, previous to their ascent on the pile, all widows invariably and solemnly declare future fruition as their object in Concremation. But the Blnigvudgeeta, whose authority is considered the most sacred by Hindoos of all persuasions, repeatedly condemns rites performed for fruition. I here quote a few passages of that book. " All those ignorant persons who attach themselves to " the words of the Shastrus that convey promises of " fruition, consider those extravagant and alluring " passages, as leading to real happiness ; and say, be- " sides them there is no other reality. Agitated in " their minds by these desires, they believe the abodes " of the celestial gods to be the chief object, and they " devote themselves to those texts which treat of cere- " monies and their fruits, and entice by promises of " enjoyment. Such people can have no real confidence " in the Supreme Being." " Observers of rites, after " the completion of their rewards, return to earth. " Therefore they, for the sake of rewards, repeatedly " ascend to heaven and return to the world, and cannot " obtain eternal bliss." Munoo repeats the same : " Whatever act is per- " formed for the sake of gratification in this world or " the next, is called Pruvurtuk, as leading to the tem- " porary enjoyment of the mansions of gods ; and those " which are performed according to the knowledge " respecting God are called Nivurtuk, as means to pro- " cure release from the five elements of this body ; that " is, they obtain eternal bliss." The author of the Milakshura, a work which is con- 264 ABSTRACT OF ARGUMENTS sidered as a standard of Hindoo Law throughout Hindoostan, referring on one hand to the authority of Munoo, Yagnuvulkyu, the Bhugvudgeeta, and simihir sacred writings, and to the passages of Unggira, Hareet, and Vyas on the other hand, and after having weighed both sides of the question, declares that " the widow " who is not desirous of eternal beatitude, but who " wishes only for a perishable and small degree of " future fruition, is authorized to accompany her hus- " band." So that the Smartu Rughoonundun, the modern expounder of law in Bengal, classes Concre- mation among the rites holding out promises of frui- tion ; and this author thus inculcates : " Learned men " should not endeavour to persuade the ignorant to " perform rites holding out promises of fruition." Hence Concremation, in their opinion, is the least virtuous act that a widow can perform.* • Hindoos are persuaded to believe tliat Vvas, considered as an inspired writer among the ancients, composed and left behind him numerous and voluminous works under different titles, as Muha Poorans, Itihashes, Sunghitas, Smriti, &c. &c., to an extent that no man, during the ordinary course of life, could prepare. These, however, with a few exceptions, exist merely in name, and those that are genuine bear the commentaries of celebrated authors. So the Tuntrus, or works ascribed to Shivu as their author, are esteemed as consisting of innumerable millions of volumes, though only a very few, comparatively, are to be found. Debased cha- racters among this unhappy people, taking advantage of this cir- cumstance, have secretly composed forged works and passages, and published them as if they were genuine, with the view of in- troducing new doctrines, new rites, or new prescripts of secular law. Although they have frequently succeeded by these means in working on the minds of the ignorant, yet the learned have never admitted the authority of any passage or work alleged to be sacred, unless IlEOAllDING HURNINC; OF WIDOWS. 265 The third and tlie last point to be ascertained is, whether or not the mode of Concremation prescribed by Hareet and others was ever duly observed ? The passages recommending Concremation, as quoted by these expounders of law, require that a widow, resolv- ing to die after the demise of her husband, should voluntarily ascend* and enter the flames I" to destroy her existence ; allowing her, at the same time, an oppor- tunity of retracting her resolution, should her courage fail from the alarming sight or effect of the flames, and of returning to her relatives, performing a penance for abandoning the sacrifice, or bestowing the value of a cow on a Brahmun. Hence, as voluntarily ascending upon and entering into the flames, are described as in- dispensably necessary for a widow in the performance of this rite, the violation of one of these provisions unless it has been quoted or expounded by one of the acknow- ledged and authoritative commentators. It is now unhappily reported, that some advocates for the destruction of widows, find- iivr their cause unsupported by the passages cited by the author of the IMitakshura, by the Smarttu Rughoonundun, or by other ex- pounders of Hindoo law, liave disgracefully adopted the trick of coining passages in the name of the Poorans orTuntrus; con- veying doctrines not only directly opposed to the decisive expo- sitions of these celebrated teachers of law, but also evidently at variance with the purport of the genuine sacred passao-es which they have cpjoted. The passages thus forged are said to be cal- culated to give a preference to Concremation over virtuous life. 1 regret to understand that some persons belonging to the party opposing this practice, are reported to have had recourse to the same unworthy artifice, under the erroneous plea that stratagem justifies stratagem. • Unggira. t Vyas. 266 ABSTRACT OF ARGUMENTS, &C. renders the act mere suicide, and implicates, in the guilt of female murder, those that assist in its perpetration, even according to the above quoted authorities, which are themselves of an inferior order. But no one will venture to assert, that the provisions, prescribed in the passages adduced, have ever been observed ; that is, no widow ever voluntarily ascended on and entered into the flames in the fulfilment of this rite. The advocates for Concremation have been consequently driven to the necessity of taking refuge in usage, as justifying both suicide and female murder, the most heinous of crimes. We should not omit the present opportunity of offering up thanks to Heaven, whose protecting arm has rescued our weaker sex from cruel murder, under the cloak of religion ; and our character, as a people, from the contempt and pity with which it has been re- garded, on account of this custom, by all civilized nations on the surface of the globe. BRIEF REMARKS KEGAUUING MODERN ENCROACHMENTS ANCIENT RIGHTS OF FEMALES, accohding to THE HINDOO LAW OF INHERFrANCE. CALCUTTA 1822. BRIEF REMARKS, S:C. &C. &C. With a view to enable the public to form an idea of tlie state of civilization throngliout the greater part of the empire of Ilindoostan in ancient days,* and of • At an early staple of civilization, when the division into casts was first introduced among- the inhabitants of India, the second tribe, who were appointed to defend and rule the country, having- adopted arbitrary and despotic practices, the others revolted against them ; and under the personal command of the celebrated Purusooram, defeated the royalists in several battles, and put cruelly to death almost all the males of that tribe. It was at last resolved that the legislative authority slioiild be confined to the first class who could have no share in the actual government of the state, or in managing the revenue of the country under any pre- tence ; while the second tribe should exercise the executive autho- rity. The consequence was, that India enjoyed peace and har- mony for a great many centuries. The Brahmuns having- no expecrtation of holding an office, or of partaking of any kind of political promotion, devoted tiieir time to scientific pursuits and religious austerity, and lived in poverty. Freely associating with all the other tribes, they were thus able to know their sentiments and t(( ajjpreciate the justness of their complaints, and thereby to lay (low n such rules as were required, which often induced them to rectify the abuses that were practised by the second tribe. But after the expiration of more than two thousand years, an ab.solute form of government came gradually again to prevail. The first class 270 BRIEF REMARKS REGARDING the subsequent gradual degradation introduced into its social and political constitution by arbitrary authori- ties, I am induced to give as an instance the interest and care which our ancient legislators took in the pro- motion of the comfort of the female part of the commu- nity, and to compare the laws of female inheritance which they enacted, and which afforded that sex the opportunity of enjoyment of life, with that which moderns and our cotemporaries have gradually in- troduced and established, to their complete privation, directly or indirectly, of most of those objects that ren- der life agreeable- All the ancient lawgivers unanimously award to a mother an equal share with her son in the property left by her deceased husband, in order that she may spend class having" been induced to accept employments in political departments, became entirely dependent on the second tribe, and so unimportant in themselves, that they were obliged to explain away the laws enacted by their forefathei-s, and to institute new rules according to the dictates of their cotemporary princes. They were considered as merely nominal legislators, and the whole power, whether legislative or executive, was in fact exercised by the Rajpoots. This tribe exercised tyranny and oppression for a period of about a thousand years, when Moosulmans from Ghuznee and Ghore, invaded the country, and finding it divided among hundreds of petty princes, detested by their respective subjects, conquered them all successively, and introduced their own tyran- nical system of government, destroying temples, universities, and all other sacred and literary establishments. At present the whole empire (with the exception of a few provinces) has been placed under the British power ; and some advantages have alreadv been derived from the prudent management of its rules, from whose general character a hope of future quiet and happiness is justly entertained. The succeeding generation will however be more adequate to pronounce on the real advantages of this government. THE ANCIENT RITES OF FEMALES. 271 her remaining days independently of her children ; as is evident from the following passages: Yagnuvul Kyu. " After the death of a father, let a " mother also inherit an equal share with her sons in " the division of the property left by their father" Kotyayumi. " The flither being dead, the mother " should inherit an equal share with the son." Narudu. " After the death of a husband, a mother " should receive a share equal to that of each of his « sons." Vihmoo the legislator. " Mothers should be re- " ceivers of shares according to the portion allowed to " the sons." Vrihusputi. " After his (the father's) death, a mo- " ther, the parent of his sons, should be entitled to an " equal share with his sons; their step-mothers also to " equal shares; but daughters to a fourth part of the " shares of the sons." Vyasu. " The wives of a father by whom he has no " male issue, are considered as entitled to equal shares " with his son.s, and all the grand-mothers {including the " mothers and step-mothers of the father), are said to be " entitled as mothers." This Mooni seems to have made this express decla- ration of the rights of step-mothers, omitting those of mothers, under the idea that the latter were already sufficiently established by the direct authority of pre- ceding lawgivers. We come to the moderns. The author of the Dayubhagu and the writer of the Dayututwu, the modern expounders of Hindu law 272 BRIEF RF.MAUKS HEciARDING r (wliose opinions are considered by tlie natives of Bengal as standard authority in the division of property among heirs) have thus limited the rights allowed to widows by the above ancient legislators. When a person is willing to divide his property among his heirs during his life-time, he should entitle only those wives by whom he has no issue to an equal share with his sons; but if he omit such a division, those wives can have no claim to the property he leaves. These two modern expounders lay stress upon a passage of Yagnuvulkyu, which requires a father to allot equal shares to his wives, in case he divides his property during his life ; whereby they connect the term "of a father," in the above quoted passage of Vyas, viz., "the wives of a " father, &c." with the term " division" understood ; that is, the wives by whom he has no son, are con- sidered in the division made by a father, as entitled to equal shares with his sons ; and that when sons may divide property among themselves after the demise of their father, they should give an equal share to their mother only, neglecting step-mothers in the division. Here the expounders did not take into their considera- tion any proper provision for step-mothers, who have naturally less hope of support from their step-sons than mothers can expect from their own children. In the opinion of these expounders, even a mother of a single son should not be entitled to any share. The whole property should, in that case, devolve on the son ; and in case that son should die after his succes- sion to the property, his son or wife should inherit it. The mother in that case, should be left totally depen- THE ANCIENT RIGHTS OF FEMALES. 273 dent on her son or on her son's wife. Besides, accortl- in<5 to the ojiinion of these exponiulcrs, if more than one son should survive, they can deprive their mother of her title, by continuing to live as a joint family (which has been often the case), as the right of a mother depends, as they say, on division, which depends on the will of the sons. Some of ourcotemporaries (vvhoseopinion is received as a verdict by Judicial Courts) have still further re- duced the right of a motiier to almost nothing ; declar- ing, as I understand, that if a person die leaving a widow and a son or sons, and also one or more grand- sons, whose father is not alive, the property so left is to be divided among his sons and his grandsons ; his widow in this case being entitled to no share in the property ; though she might have claimed an equal share, had a division taken place among those surviving sons and die father of the grandson while he was alive.* They are said to have founded their opinion on the above passage, entitling a widow to a share when pro- perty is to be divided among sons. In short, a widow, according to the expositions of the law, can receive nothing when her husband has no issue by her ; and in a case he dies leaving only one son by his wife, or having had more sons, one of whom happened to die leaving issue, she shall, in these cases, • This exposition has been (I am told) set aside by the Supreme Court, in consequence of the judges having prudently applied for the opinions of other Pundits, which turned out to be at variance with those of the majority of the regular advisers of the court in points of Hindoo law. T 274- 151!IF.F UKMAItKfi UEdARDING also have no claim to the property ; and again, should any one leave more than one surviving son, and they, being unwilling to allow a share to the widow, keep the property undivided, the mother can claim nothing in this instance also. But when a person dies leaving two or more sons, and all of them survive and be in- clined to allot a share to their mother, her right is in this case only valid. Under these expositions, and with such limitations, both step-mothers and mothers have, in reality, been left destitute in the division of their husband's property, and the right of a widow exists in theory only among the learned, but unknown to the populace. The consequence is, that a woman who is looked up to as the sole mistress by the rest of a family one day, on the next becomes dependent on her sons, and sub- ject to the slights of her daughters-in-law. She is not authorized to expend the most trifling sum, or dispose of an article of the least value, without the consent of her son or daughter-in-law, who were all subject to her authority but the day before. Cruel sons often wound the feelings of their dependent mothers, deciding in favour of their own wives, when family disputes take place between their mothers and wives. Step-mothers, who often are numerous on account of polygamy beino- allowed in these countries, are still more shamefully neglected, in general, by their step-sons, and sometimes dreadfully treated by their sisters-in-law who have for- tunately a son or sons by their husband. It is not from religious prejudices and early impres- sions only, that Hindoo widows burn themselves on the THE ANCIENT RIGHTS OF FEMALES. 275 piles of their deceased husbands, but also from their witnessing the distress in which widows of the same rank in life are involved, and the insults and slights to which they are daily subjected, that they become in a great measure regardless of existence after the death of their husbands : and this indifference, accompanied with the hope of future reward held out to them, leads them to the horrible act of suicide. These restraints on female inheritance encourage, in a great degree, polygamy, a frequent source of the greatest misery in native families; a grand object of Hindoos being to secure a provision for their male offspring, the law, which relieves them from the necessity of giving an equal portion to their wives, removes a principal re- straint on the indulgence of their inclinations in respect to the number they marry. Some of them, especially Brahmuns of higher birth, marry ten, twenty, or thirty women, "^ either for some small consideration, or merely to gratify their brutal inclinations, leaving a great many of them, both during their life-time and after death, to the mercy of their own paternal relations. The evil consequences arising from such polygamy, the public may easily guess, from the nature of the fact itself, without my being reduced to the mortification of parti- cularizing those which ai-e known by the native public to be of daily occurrence. • Tlic lioiTor of this practice is so painful to the natural feel- ings of man, that even Madhuv Singh, the late Rajah of Tirhoot (though a Brahmun himself), through compassion took upon him- self (I am told) within the last half century, to limit Brahnians of liis estate to four wives only. 276 BRIEF REMARKS REGARDING To these women there are left only three modes of conduct to pursue after the death of their husbands. 1st. To live a miserable life as entire slaves to others, without indulging any hope of support from another liusband. 2dly. To walk in the paths of unrighteous- ness for their maintenance and independence. 3dly. To die on the funeral pile of their husbands, loaded with the applause and honour of their neighbours. It cannot pass unnoticed by those who are acquainted with the state of society in India, that the number of female suicides in the single province of Bengal, when compared with those of any other British provinces, is almost ten to one : we may safely attribute this dispro- portion chiefly to the greater frequency of a plurality of wives among the natives of Bengal, and to their total neg- lect in providing for the maintenance of their females. This horrible polygamy among Brahmuns is directly contrary to the law given by ancient authors ; for Yag- nuvulkyu authorizes second marriages, while the first wife is alive, only under eight circumstances: — 1st. The vice of drinking spirituous liquors. 2dly. Incurable sickness. 3dly. Deception. 4thly. Barrenness. 5thly. Exti'avagance. 6thly. The frequent use of offensive language. 7thly. Producing only female offspring. Or, 8thly. Manifestation of hatred towards her hus- band. Munoo, chap. 9, v. 80. " A wife who drinks " any spirituous liquors, who acts immorally, who " shows hatred to her lord, who is incurably diseased, " who is mischievous, who wastes his property, may at " all times be superseded by another wife." 8lst. " A " barren wife may be superseded by another in the THE ANCIENT RIGHTS OF FEMALES. 277 " eighth year; she, whose cliilchen are all dead, in the *' tenth ; she, who brings forth vnly daughters, in the " eleventh ; she, who is accustomed to speak unkindly, " without delay." 82d. " But she, who, though afflicted " with illness, is beloved and virtuous, must never be " disgraced, though she may be superseded by another *' wife with her own consent." Had a magistrate or other public officer been autho- rized by the rulers of the empire to receive applica- tions for his sanction to a second marriage during the life of a first wife, and to grant his consent, only on such accusations as the foregoing being substantiated, the above law might have been rendered effectual, and the distress of the female sex in Bengal, and the num- ber of suicides, would have been necessarily very much reduced. According to the following ancient authorities, a daughter is entitled to one-fourth part of the portion which a son can inherit. Vrihusputi. — " The daughters should have the fourth " part of the portion to which the sons are entitled." Vishnoo. — " The rights of unmarried daughters shall " be proportioned according to the shares allotted to " the sons." Munoo, ch. ix. ver. 118. — " To the unmarried daugh- " ters let their brothers give portions out of their own " allotments respectively. Let each give a fourth part " of his own distinct share, and they who feel disin- " clined to give this shall be condemned." Yagnuvulkyu. — " Let such brothers as are already " purified by the essential rites of life, purify, by the 278 BRIEF REMARKS REGARDING " performance of those rites, the brothers that are left " hy their late father unpurified ; let them also purify " the sisters by giving them a fourth part of their own " portion." Katyayunu. — " A fourth part is declared to be tlie " share of unmarried daughters, and three-fourths of " the sons ; if the fourth part of the property is so small " as to he inadequate to defray the expenses attending their " marriage, the sons have an exclusive right to the pro- " perty, but shall defray the marriage ceremony of the " sisters." But the commentator on the Dayubhagu sets aside the right of the daughters, declaring that they are not entitled to any share in the property left by their fathers, but that the expenses attending their marriage should be defrayed by the brothers. He founds his opinion on the foregoing passage of Munoo, and that of Yagnuvulkyu, which, as he thinks, imply mere donation on the part of the brothers from their own portions, for the discharge of the expenses of marriage. In the practice of our cotemporaries, a daughter or a sister is often a source of emolument to the Brah- muns of less respectable cast (who are most numerous in Bengal), and to the Kayusths of high cast: these, so far from spending money on the marriage of their daughters or sisters, receive frequently considerable svims, and generally bestow them in marriage on those who can pay most.* Such Brahmuns and Kayusths, I • Rajali Krissenchundru, the great-ji^randfcither of the present ex-rajah of Nudia, prevented this crue^ practice of the sale of daughters and sisters throughout his estate. THE ANCIENT RIGHTS OF FEMALES. 279 regret to say, frequently marry tlieir female relations to men having natural defects, or worn out bv old age or disease, merely from pecuniary ctmsiderations; whereby they either bring widowhood upon tiiem soon after marriage, or render their lives miserable. They not only degrade themselves by such cruel and unmanly conduct, but violate entirely express authorities of Munoo and all other ancient lawgivers ; a few of which I here quote, Munoo, ch. 3d, v. 51. " Let no father, who knows " the law, receive a gratuity, however small, for giving "his daughter in marriage; since the man who, " through avarice, takes a gmiu'ity Jbr that purpose^ is a " seller of his offspring." Ch. 9th, V. 98. " But even a man of the servile " class ought not to receive a gratuity when he gives *' hisdaugiiter in marriage; since a father who takes a " fee 071 that occasion, tacitly sells his daughter." V. 100. " Nor, even in former births, have we heard " the virtuous approve the tacit sale of a daughter for a " price, under the name of nuptial gratuity." Kashyiipu. " Those who, infatuated by avarice, " give their own daughters in marriage for the sake " of a gratuity, are the sellers of their daughters, " the images of sin, and the perpetrators of a heinous " iniquity." Both common sense and the law of the land, designate such a practice as an actual sale of females; and the humane and liberal among Hindoos lament its existence, as well as the annihilation of female rights in respect of inheritance introduced by modern 280 BRIEF REMARKS REGARDING expounders. They, howevei*, trust that the hu- mane attention of Government will be directed to tljose evils which are chief sources of vice and misery, and even of suicide among women : and to this they are encouraged to look forward by what has already been done in modifying, in criminal cases, some parts of the law enacted by Mohummudan legislators, to the happy prevention of many cruel practices formerly established. How distressing it must be to the female community, and to those who interest themselves in their behalf, to observe daily that several daughters in a rich family can prefer no claim to any portion of the property, whether real or personal, left by their deceased father, if a single brother be alive; while they (if belonging to a Kooleen family or Brahmun of higher rank) are exposed to be given in marriage to individuals who have already several wives and have no means of main- taining them. Should a widow or a daughter wish to secure her right of maintenance, however limited, by having recourse to law, the learned Brahmuns, whether hold- ing public situations in the courts or not, generally divide into two parties, one advocating the cause of those females, and the other that of their adversaries. Sometimes, in these or other matters respecting the law, if the object contended for be important, the whole community seems to be agitated by the exertions of the parties and of their respective friends, in claiming the verdict of the law against each other. In genera], however, a consideration of difficulties attending a law- THE ANCIENT RIGHTS OF FEMALES. 281 suit, which a native woman, particularly a widow, is hardly caj)able of surmounting, induces her to forego her right; and if she continue virtuous, she is obliged to live in a miserable state of dependence, destitute of all the comforts of life ; it too often happens, however, that she is driven by constant unhappiness to seek refuge in vice. At the time of the decennial settlement in the year 1793, there were, among European gentlemen, so very few acquainted with Sungscrit and Hindoo law, that it would have been hardly possible to have formed a committee of European oriental scholar's and learned Brahmuns, capable of deciding on points of Hindoo law. It was, therefore, highly judicious in Government, to appoint Pundits in the different Zillah Courts and Courts of Appeal, to facilitate the proceedings of Judges in regard to such subjects ; but as we can now fortunately find many European gentlemen, capable of investigating legal questions, with but little assistance from learned natives, how happy would it be for the Hindoo community, both male and female, were they to enjoy the benefits of the opinion of such gentlemen, when disputes arise, particularly on matters of inhe- ritance. Lest any one should infer from what I have stated, that I mean to impeach, universally, the character of the great body of learned Hindoos, I declare, posi- tively, that this is far from my intention: I only main- tain, that the native community place greater confi- dence in the honest judgment of the generality of European gentlemen, than in that of their own coun- 282 BRIEF REMARKS, &C. trymen. But, should the natives receive the same ad- vantages of education that Europeans generally enjoy, and be brought up in the same notions of honour, they will I trust be found, equally with Europeans, worthy of the confidence of their countrymen, and the respect of all men. THE END. LONDON I'linted by J. L. COX and SON, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's-Inn Fields. 7, LtadenhtiU Street. NEW AND STANDARD WORKS RELATING TO INDIA, PUBLISH 1-.U ]!Y PARBURY, ALLEN, & CO. 1. 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MOVES, 28, CA3TI,E STJIEET, tBlCBSTim SfiLARE. DATE DUE DEMCO 38-297 I BL1115.R16 Translation of several principal books, Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library