ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

lutely satisfactory or conclusive to a sensible reflecting mind, to account for the numerous contradictions pointed out, as well in the VEDAS themselves as in the principles and practices of the BRAMINS, and intended to reserve the final attempt to resolve the difficulty, till I should have reached that period of the early Hindoo history, when I knew an opportunity would offer for a complete developement of the plan, which I own, to myself, has ever appeared both plausible and defensible. My reasons for adopting it will be given at large in their proper place; and it is for the sake of perspicuity alone, during the remaining, and otherwise inexplicable, pages of the theological Dissertation, that I shall in this chapter briefly submit the outlines to the candid consideration of my readers.

It is, however, previously necessary that we should enter and more minutely explore the internal regions and decorations of those temples, an account of the external construction of which engrossed former portions of the Bramin theology. The Indians having broken their grand Triad into three separate deities, it remains that we consider the worship paid, at the present day, to each; their peculiar rites, the sacred utensils made use of,

and

1

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

and the different oblations performed, in their respective temples. Thus will this curious subject, so far as it is yet known, be fully before the reader, and this final portion of it conclude to his entire satisfaction, when he is assured that nothing important, on a topic so interesting, has been omitted. Before it closes, however, an astonishing and stupendous scene will be unveiled to his view, such as no country beside ever witnessed, and no religion ever yet displayed to the contemplation of the philosopher.

In a former volume we left an innumerable multitude assembled, at sun-rise, before the door of a great pagoda, who, after having bathed in the tank of ablution below, and left their sandals on its margin, impatiently awaited the unfolding of those doors by the mi nistering Brahmins. Before they can enter, however, another indispensable ceremony takes place, which can only be performed by the hand of a Brahmin, and that is, the impressing of their foreheads with The tiluk, or mark of different colours, as they may belong either to the sect of Veeshnu or Seeva. If the temple be that of Veeshmu, their foreheads are marked with a longitudinal line, and the colour used is vermilion; if it be the

temple

1

It is

temple of Seeva, they are marked with a parallel line, and the colour used is turmeric or saffron. But these two grand sects being again subdivided into numerous classes, both the size and the shape of the TILUK are varied in proportion to their superior or inferior rank. In regard to the TILUK, I must observe, that it was a custom of very antient date in Asia to mark their servants in the forehead. alluded to in Ezekiel, ix. 4: where the Almighty commands his angel to go through the city, and SET A MARK ON THE FOREHEADS of the men, (his servants, the faithful,) who sighed for the abominations committed in the midst thereof.* The same idea again occurs in the Revelations, vii. 31. Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the SERVANTS OF OUR GOD IN THEIR FORE

HEADS. With respect to the colour with which the Hindoos are marked, I cannot but consider this rite as a remnant of the old Sabian superstition, in which, the reader has been informed, the Chaldæan devotees painted their idols according to the colour of the planet or star adored: and it seems to be no more than right that the servant of the deity should bear the same mark and be distin

guished

* Consult Lowth and other commentators on this curious text.

1

guished by the same colour with which that deity was designated. In fact, all the idols of the Indian pagodas are at this day gaudily painted, and that paint is renovated by the priest whensoever he renews his devotion ; for, speaking of the private pooja, or worship of the Indians in their houses, Mr Crauford informs us, that the Brahmin who performs the ceremony, occasionally ringing the bell and blowing the shell," gives the TILUK, or mark on the forehead, to the idol, by dip ping his right thumb in a mixture prepared for the purpose."* Indeed, Hamilton, giving us an account of the great stone idol of Jaggernaut, after saying he had two rich diamonds near the top to represent eyes, adds, that his nose and mouth were painted with vermilion; a proof that the Jaggernaut pogoda was erected to Veeshnu. I have no doubt that originally this mark was the mark of the hermetic cross, the celebrated symbol in all the Gentile world; and, for reasons which will hereafter be unfolded, I am induced to agree with Lowth, that the passage, above-cited from Ezekiel, originally stood, in the Septuagint, not ro oqueiov, a mark; but Tau onusov, THE MARK TAU, or great T. Let us now

Sketches, vol. i. p. 231.

enter

enter the pagoda with the devout and purified Hindoo, and see him pay his obeisance to the Deity through the symbols that represent him.

Involved in darkness, scarcely less than the subterraneous caverns before-described, from having only one low door for the entrance, and filled with the most disgusting effluvia, arising from the stench of lamps kept continually burning and the oil used in the sa crifices, the Indian pagoda exhibits, on the first entrance, the appearance of a polluted dungeon, whose walls are covered with animals monstrous in shape and terrible in aspect, These, it was before observed, are symbolical representations of the attributes of the Deity; his WISDOM being represented by a circle of heads; his STRENGTH, by the elephant; his GLORY, by horns, imitative of the solar ray; his CREATIVE POWER, by the male of animals of a prolific kind, as the bull or goat; his BENEVOLENCE, by the sacred cow, whose milk nourishes the gentle Hindoo; while the combination of these animals or parts of animals was intended to designate his united wisdom, power, glory, and benevolence. Degrading, I observed, to the divine nature as these representations appear to be, and as they really VOL. V. I h

are,

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »