fince, after publishing an Effay on Natural Hiftory, I remained ftill undecided. At length the profpectus of the researches alluded to having been lately announced, I had occafion to cite a few paffages of the Bagavadam. This circumftance induced me to fend it to the prefs. It would have been unnatural for me to have appeared to borrow from another what was really my own, and to borrow it too, disfigured by palpable blunders. Befide, I flattered myself that this piece of Indian mythology would merit the attention of an enlightened public. The copy which found its way into Europe in 1769 or 1770, could not but be faulty, and often ambiguous and obfcure. This is fufficiently clear from the quotations of the learned who have confulted it. Thefe quotations, though very fhort, have given rife to errors, of which I fhall produce two or three fpecimens.'

The following is one of these specimens:

The greater part of the scholars above mentioned appear to have adopted an idea fuggefted by tome note of the Indian interpreter, that the Vedam, the Pouranam, in fhort, all the facred books of all the nations in thefe vaft regions, are pofterior to the final establishment of the Mahometans in the country. Having perfonal opportunities of comparison, and of rectifying his errors, I encouraged the interpreter, feeing in him fome qualifications which fitted him for his fituation. But, born a deferter from the religion of his fathers, full of narrow prejudices, and deftitute of the principles of criticifm, he was only paid for tranflating the original phrafes as literally as poffible. I may be permitted to employ a few lines in diffipating the delufion into which the too eafy faith of thefe fchọlars has betrayed them.-Outrage, vexation, the fear of death, and the temptations of ambition united, could immediately gain but a very few diftinguifhed profelytes to Mahometanifm. The miferable, the degraded, and fuch tribes only as were held in univerfal contempt, are almoft the only ones who have listened to the doctrines of Mahomet. It is no objection to the truth of this affertion, that the many defcendants of thefe miferable profelytes have fince been promoted to eminent pofts. What then? Are the canonical writings, the facred repofitories of the religious worship of an ancient and civilized nation, always zealously attached to the inftitutions of their ancestors, are thefe only of yesterday? pofterior to the establishment of the Mahometans in India? No-this is the very epoch in which thefe facred books were concealed or burned-when the ftatues of the Indian gods were mutilated, and many of their temples deftroyed-The fuperb monuments which call on us to wonder at the boldness and the labour which erected them-monuments made to brave the ravages of fucceffive ages, have been long fince abandoned; yet there we admire the idols ftill worshipped by the different fects; and, at the feet of fome of them, we difcover infcriptions in characters now unknown. The moft rapid glance is here fufficient evidence-every thing attefts the antiquity of the canonical writings of thefe nations, and of the legends they contain.

The improper tranflation of two words feems to have led to the mifapplication of them in the prefent queftion. The word Toulouker was rendered by the Indian, Turks, and Miletcher, Moors, which a

a pre

a pretended explanatory note connected with the laft invafions.-But Toulouker means Tartars, with whom the Indians had wars from time immemorial; though the more ignorant Indians of the fouthern parts now give this name to the Mahometans in general. Miletcher is a term of reproach, fignifying any thing impure, ignoble, or one who eats of all things indifferently. Hence the modern Indians apply this name to the Mahometans-and hence the error of the Indian interpreter, and of those who have followed him.'

We leave it to the juftice of our readers to determine the quantum of punishment due to this fraudulent dealer in literature, and to their penetration to discover who are the fcholars that have been mifled by his mistakes. We can furnish them with no fuller information than we have ourselves been able to obtain, viz. That the Indian, whofe character is thus branded by the French tranflator, is, we believe, Meridas Poullé, chief interpreter to the fupreme council of Pondicherry-That his verfion of the Bagavadam was addreffed to M. Bertin, minifter and fecretary of state in 1769; and that, in the year 1772, a * memoir on the fubject of this work, by M. DE GUIGNES, appeared in the 38th vol. of the Hiftory of the Royal Academy of Infcriptions and Belles Lettres, to which, we apprehend, fome paffages in the preliminary difcourse particularly allude. The opus palmarium of our tranflator, in the profpectus of which he had occafion to quote the Bagavadam, is, as we learn from an advertisement at the end of the volume, relinquifhed for want of a fufficient number of fubfcribers.

The work before us will probably intereft the curiofity of those who are converfant with the religion of the Hindoos, or rather with the imperfect and often difcordant accounts which are given of it. To fuch readers we might content ourselves with announcing it as a tranflation of one of thofe Indian compofitions diftinguished by the name of Pourans, or Pouranam. But as the tranflator has prefixed an hiftorical catalogue of the volumes held moft facred in India, we fhall briefly give the fubftance of it, without reconciling or even comparing it with what has formerly been written on the subject.

The Indians, he says, pretend that, toward the end of the periodical age of the world immediately preceding the present, a Bramin, called Viaffen, the fon, or rather the defcendant of Brahma, collected together the Vedam, which had been long before compofed by his divine progenitor. This celeftial production comprehended all the fciences, whether fupernatural or human, to the amount of fixty four. In the time of Viaffen, its fragments were widely fcattered and extremely rare. fense was become obfcure, and, but for his pious care, its very memory muft foon have been loft. He formed it into one body of doctrine, which he divided into four books, as honourable

See Review, vol. Iviii. p. 549.

Its

embleme

emblems of the four faces of Brahma. One of the books was foon after loft, or concealed by a monfter of impiety born in the facerdotal order.

Viaffen afterward wrote the 18 Pouranam, or facred hiftories in verfe. Tradition alfo attributes to him the Mahabaratam*, a facred epic poem, which celebrates the atchievements of the houfe of Bourout, a monarch who was the ancestor of the empe ror Paricchitou. Laftly, Viaffen is fuppofed to have compofed the feveral + Chafiram, or Allegorical Commentaries, with the defign of freeing religion from the ruft of mythological legends. In this refpect, however, our tranflator is difpofed to reject the teftimony of tradition. He thinks it impoffible that Viaffen fhould have compofed all the books afcribed to him; and adds, that the Pouranam betray many internal marks which evince that they were not all the works of the fame author. They differ materially in explaining the doctrines of the Vedam: nay, fome of them confider Vichnou as the fupreme God, while others give the fame fupremacy to Brahma, and others again to Chiven.

With refpect to the dates of thefe facred books, that of the Vedam baffles all chronological refearch. The Indian literati believe it to be as old as the original production of the univerfe. Brahma, fay they (i. e. wifdom perfonified), proceeded from the bofam of God, and the Vedam (i. e. all fciences, and all truth) appeared on his lips.

The Pouranam, or Coll. tions of Sacred Hiftory, were probably committed to writing by feveral learned Bramins, about a century after the commencement of the æ a of Ca'youguin, or the prefent age of the world (about 4788 years ago). It is faid

* See more on this work, in the article of Ayeen Akbery, in this Appendix.

The reader will obferve, that we have retained the French tranflator's fpelling of the Indian names.

In the 38th page of the Bagavadam the origin of the Vedam is defcribed we shall fubjoin a tranflation of the paffage, though we certainly do not intend it as an explanatory note,

From the heart of the fun proceeded a living emanation, from which have been produced the four acts of the fpirit. From their re-union proceeded feven principles, and the mixture of their varying fhades, or tints, are the luminous forms of the Vedam Brahma united them to his four faces. They iffued forth by his word, which is Truth. Viaffen, the fon of Brahma, collected the Vedam together, and divided it into four parts, which he called Roucou, Samam, Efrou, and Adarvanam. He taught them to his difciples Vayafambazen, Samion, Soumanden, and Baileu, who feverally taught them to other eminent perfons.'

We are elfewhere informed that Viaffen compofed a fifth book of the Vedam, to which he gave the name of Baradam This was intended for the ufe of the ith tribe, who were prohibited from read. ing the other four.

that

that the Pouranam contain mutual quotations from each other, a circumftance which, if true, will fhew them to have been compofed nearly about the fame time. The Chaftram is generally fuppofed to be of the fame date with the Pouranam : though the inhabitants of the north of India think its antiquity ftill higher.

Thefe different works, all of which are efteemed canonical and infpired, were compofed in the Sanfkreet; but fome of them have been fince tranflated into Tamoul Chendamil, a dialect, which, in the fouthern parts of India, is appropriated to fcientific and religious fubjects. The natives boaft much of the fcrupulous fidelity of thefe verfions, which are venerated equally with the originals as a rule of faith. It is from the Tamoul Chendamil that our French traveller profeffes to have made his tranf lation of the Bagavadam, of which we must now give a more particular account.

From feveral paffages of the work itself we learn, that a Bramin, named Soukuen, the fon and difciple of Viaffen, committed the Bagavadam to writing, under the direction of his father, its original author. He was patronifed on this occafion by Paricchitou, the firft emperor of Indoftan, for whofe inftruction he engaged in the undertaking. At length, under the hands of Souden, who was alfo defcended from Viaffen, it affumed the form of a dialogue, which it ftill retains.

The general heads of its contents are indeed expreffed in the title page. The tranflator tells us, that it prefents the outlines of knowlege both human and divine, together with the hiftory of ancient penitents and venerable fages: That it is the ftandard of faith to the Vaichtnaven, or adorers of l'ichnou: That it exhibits moft clearly and unquestionably many material articles of their creed; the exiftence of one fupreme Being, and his various incarnations, with the divifion of thefe incarnations into thofe of fuperior importance, and others merely accidental

The fucceffive productions, prefervations, and deftructions of the univerfe- l'he origin of a mythological hiftory of the fubaltern deities, giants, and other illuftrious characters of antiquity. It contains alfo an abridged defcription of the different modes of worship, and of the various methods of conciliating the favour of heaven. It points out which of these deferve the

The first book of the prefent Bagavadam, which feems to be a kind of prefatory dialogue prefixed by Souden, afcribes the original compofition of Viafen's work to the following circumftance: In his other writings, Viajen had omitted to relate the hiftory of Vichnou. In the depth of religious forrow for fo heinous a neglect, he was vifited by the Patriarch Naraden, by whofe advice he compofed the Bagavadam, as an atonement for his crime,

pre

preference, and conftantly afferts the unity of the Godhead, under the name of Vichnou.

Very few of our readers would wifh us to analyze fuch a work, and none can deem it an easy, if a practicable task. For thefe reafons, we shall add nothing to the tranflator's account of the Bagavadam, the fubftance of which we have juft given, but immediately fubjoin fuch tranflated fpecimens as may poffibly be perufed without difguft by the common reader, while they contain fome information for the lover of Indian literature and antiquities.

The following extract conveys a far more favourable idea of Indian religion and morality, than the general tenor of the Bagavadam will permit us to acquiefce in:

Duties are either incumbent on all men without any exception, or confined to particular tribes, or different individuals. . The duties incumbent on men in general are, to worship God, to remember the tutelar deities and invoke their affiftance, to behave with tenderness and affability to every one, to commiferate and fuccour the afflicted, to bear adverfity with patience, to deteft falfehood, to diftinguish between what is lafting and what is perishable, to ob'ferve the faits appointed by religion, to give alms, to preferve conjugal love unfpotted, to abhor adultery, to fpeak little, to read the facred hiftories, or to liften to them attentively when read or repeated by others.'

The following are the duties peculiar to the feveral tribes:

The Bramins, who confecrate themfelves to the service of religion, are bound to ftudy and teach the doctrines of the Vedam, to offer facrifices, or caufe them to be offered, to receive alms and to diftribute them to others.

The Rajas, who compofe the fecond tribe, ought to study the Vedam, to offer facrifice and give alms, to defend their country, and to be always ready to march against the enemies of the state.

The third tribe is that called Vaffiar, and is divided into three claffes: they are obliged to be acquainted with the precepts of the Vedam, to offer facrifices, to give alms, and to apply themfelves to the exercise of their refpective avocations. Thus the husbandman must cultivate the foil, the shepherds and others who have the care of cattle must attend to the increase of their flocks and herds, and the bankers muit alfo pursue their bufinefs with activity and diligence.

Those who compofe the fourth tribe, called Choutrer, are bound in duty to ferve the three former. The duties of women are, to be good housewives, to fuit their drefs to the taste of their husbands, whom they must cheerfully obey, to conciliate the affection and efteem of their parents and relations.-The wife cannot plead the profligacy of her husband in juftification of her own faults.-She ought rather to adopt fuch a conduct as may contribute to his reformation.-She must even regard him as her god, and for this fhe fhall be rewarded both in the prefent and in the future life. The potter, the bleacher, the painter, the barber, the oilman, and other tradesmen, are all

bound