works ' of the famous •Balharas, as of any'imaginary Hiiidod emperors,
who only exift in the wild imaginations-of the Bramins... The ruins, of
Perfépolis eMncethatthe edifice child hot5 havehéeó'ërefted finceHHe
Mahometans cdnquered that coufatry in the fevétith eent-ury.'r; "Put
wlfëfé the fèSptih continued pagió,'>andüa fpleftdid- nativeföoa&ftfy
exifted till thé fixteenth century, to anyfober enquirer it: will "appear
moré rational to conclude that thefe monument^ belong' to the ffftedttth
century after Chrift,’ rather than5 to the üfteerith eehtü-r4p%|f0fè. -AfflÖ
this opinion will remain equally firing tif all
duration by millions or billions of years., • In like manner the 'detached
temples in the fouth may prefent magnificent prooM Of Hindöó ar-
chitééïure in the feventeenib centuryi That the Hindoos could both
make and dye linen and cotton • is no proof of great focial progrefs.
The ancients traded tb India forfpfeeS,- precious ’hones, and filkp but
ifia'nüfaöiürétï goods are fcarcely mentioned-, The uhcertain antiquity
of Hindoo literature has been already difcuflèd. 5;- As tö the Tcièiices,
the want of chronology is "equally felt; and" it is probable!‘that the
Hindoos might derive fome knowledge from the Greeks ofBaéiria.
Thé abfurd ftudy óf aftrology, fiill in the* higheft repute-am'cÉïgThè
Bramins, has of courfe occafioned a particular attention to be paid5 to
aftronomy; but the Chinefe, and perhaps"even the Sitó^ïer
Hindobö in thiff fcience, in which it is ëafy; to calculate 'tables backward
to any epoch ;* and the Bramins perhaps have fuffitSéai' pÖ^^éfe1'
tö compdté ecfipfcs,* Sec. which muft have happened, if this* planet? h¥d
exifted ten millions of years, 'f 6. In the laft place, "ourmoft iearbéd and
refpliftifite
# The Cali Yug was, like the Julian period, fixed by retrofpe&ive computation." It begins,
about 3aoo yeaf8 before the ebriffian sera. Af. Ref. iii. 224.
-f The whole arguments of M. Bhilly and others for the antiquity of the Hindoo aftronomy
_ feem at length to be completely overturned by a learned differtation of Mr. Bentley, publifhed in
the Afiatic Refearches 17.99, (**• 5 4Q> 8vo edit.) to which the curious reader is reftrVed. ■ The
refult is, that the fyftem fo eagerly applauded, and fuppofed by M. Bailly, Dr. Robertfpn,-'
and others, to be of fuch remote antiquity, cannot be of a greater age than /even hundred and
th irty-one years. In other words, it was compofed about A. D. 10.68',. “ Therefore any Hindu
work in which the name of Varaha or his fyftem is mentioned, muft evidently be modern ; and
this circUmftance alone totally deftroys the pretended antiquity.of many of the Purans, and other
‘hooks, which through the artifices of the Brahminical tribe have been hitherto deemed the moft
ancient in exiftence.” Thus the chief pillar of the antiquity of Hindoo fcience has been tom
C H A P . I. G 'E'\N E R A -L V I E W . '151
refpetftable author 'cRmhidefe' the'■'religious’ itiftitufions of the Hindo»s" as
a pfobf of/eatly.ahd «high dBVafizatiofc&vf’ Yet feWjtdKHl little1 fiag’ular
that all Iws'argUtnerits'cOticeFriiBg the regularity, ofi thOtfyftemj the-mag.*
r iffcent^tfempileS, ■ &<?, -might h’aYe been ’appltedJdo the Roimanbeathfelic
fyftem in Sd&hdLnhvia,''in'the year at which time it hkd'not
there exifted..1 abotfe -two ^cents^fesh ^-Tlie mythology- dff Hkidoftafi'is
probably as ancient- as Sts fifiV population-,- and has been «gradually ex*
i^ d d d -a tid fteftned; like. But'rtbei recent, difcpvery)
that the-worfhip, "of Baodh-pretended- that of -Brahma,! tedttlid not have
been forefeen ; and-dt'ds probable »that* in ‘many;refp8(ft^:the' aricient
fyftem differed fUoft. effeatially from theimodem^ii'1 ■,
- -So much fdr tfee-ancidn-t cLvil-izastioinof the Hindbo^' who»are aevep-
thelefs a-t "preftot in genetal’b’fghly civilized-}'-and pf-thfe moft- gentle and
amiatflfe manners'. "Butvpefhaps -in no fafOnter fcience’are they equal
tQ the Ghinefe' er Japanefej- and i-n moft are ioonfeffedly" greatly-
Inferior. r
d • THehllhf uBiverfity in-the north istbitof #-fcoft c||^rated
and ancient«fchOOh' now'-included in the- EngKftl In* the
Deccanfthe- "academy of Tricing on the Malabar ebaft, isSklfo in’greai
fffjiute, £ and according to our authoT; v“‘- A t ’ha Carnate\
there/is5 ftilP a_helebrated" Brahman 'fchoo'l, whichy>'"a,Qeordi% to the
• teftinaoayidfftSeinys* exiftediin the'>fkft -century/ optthe; oht/iftian-;Eera»;
and* its- members are icertaiuly equal in .e^ebrity to- the Brahmans:of
Vattar^ or 'B en a r e s? 13 ■ It Tsditot be hoped .thatf •our?i'te-ceot acquifitions j
in' the fouth will-,dead to the .difcovery of new-: literary, treafures kgthaf
quarter, wbere/iois-to-be-expedtedtthat'-ndtive'knolwledg^^naore pure
and perfedti than in the - north,, where it wasr fodong trampled under
foot, by* the rMahom-etaEteOqBgqua'Oll^ i 11
jdb«rn.b.y.tlus .tnodem;.Sa.ra.pfou, .and many antiquaries have pprifhed in the ruins. Perhaps the«
Vedas may be found to have been compofed by the artful Bramins, in imitation of the. Kpfan, or
of ,th'e 'b'ook's'afcrib'ecl. iSe^ancients do not "mention any facred Hindoo' code.-
Mehu-may haye beenaan. hpneft-.-lawiyer ..of the"i 3th, century; :.and the iyyhole Hindoo aftsr and,
fpiences,; except weaving, be found.to he derived from their neighbours. We may then exclaim
as the Egyptian prieft-s idid ' to’ Plato, “ Ye Hhidoos, .and.
•nd remain children,.”
Wefdin, 283»
; W i th ; .