clothes, &c. for twelve months; gold; cows; elephants; horses; palanqueens; a road; a copy of a pooranŭ ; a mountain of gold, silver, brass, rice, or other articles; land;t a person's whole property; yca, even his life.

There are three ways of presenting a gift, one in which the person worships the receiver; another in which he gives as an act of benevolence; and the last, in whichr the giver prays for some blessing on presenting his gift. If a shoodru wish to present a gift to a bramhun, he bathes, and carries it fasting: on arriving in the presence of the bramhún, he sprinkles the gift with water, repeating an incantation that it may be thereby purified, and then presents it with such words as these: Sir, I have presented to you this gift: let me have your blessing, that I may obtain hea ven, or, that my father may obtain heaven, or that it may be imputed to me as an act of merit."

If a man present land to bramhuns, he will obtain heaven; if a cow, he will after death ride on a cow across the river Voiturǎnee; if water, after death he will find refreshing water in his journey to Yumalŭyů (the residence of Yumu, the regent of death); if a house to bramhums, he will obtain a palace in heaven; if an umbrella to a bramhun, he will not suffer in another world from the rays of the sun; if shoes, in his way to heaven he will not suffer from the heat of the ground; if perfumes to bramhuns, he will never after death receive an offensive smell; if medicine to the blind, he will be delivered from darkness hereafter; if a daughter to a bramhŭn without a fee, he will gain as much as if he had given the whole world.

* The height of these mountain-gifts is given in the Pooshkŭrů-khůndů of the Pudmapooranů. It must not be supposed that they are very large; but it is necessary that figures of trees, deer, &c. should be seen on them. In one of the smritees is an account of a prostitute who offered a mountain of gold. About the year 1794, Chunooghoshů, a kaisť’hŭ of Midnapore, gave to the bramhuns an artificial mountain of gold. A litte before this, Gopalč-krishnů, a voidyŭ of Rajč-nĭgŭrů, presented to the bramhuns three mountains, one of gold, another of rice, and another of the seeds of sesamum.

+ It is very common for rich land-owners to make presents of land to bramhuns. At a shraddhŭ for a father or a mother, a piece of land, or its value in money, is invariably given to bramhŭns, unless the person be poor. Many of the Hindoo rajas sought out poor bramhůns, and gave them grants of land. A story is related of Keertteechŭndră, raja of Burdwan, who once found a poor fatherless boy, the son of a bramhun, tending cattle; he gave him a village, with as much land as he could run over without stopping; and disinherited the shōōdrŭ who had dared to employ the son of a bramhun in so mean an occupation. The same raja ordered a man to be cut in pieces for refusing to restore to a bramhŭn a grant of land which the former had bought in a lot offered for sale.

SECTION XVIII.

Entertaining Bramhuns.

AS might be expected, in a system formed by bramhuns, honouring them with a feast is represented as an act of the highest merit. At the close of all religious ceremonies, bramhuns are entertained; private individuals, during particular holidays, make a feast for one or more bramhŭns; a person on his birth-day, on the anniversary of the day in which he received the initiating incantation, or at the full moon, or at any feast, entertains bramhŭns. During the whole of the month Voishakhŭ, it is very meritorious to give feasts to bramhuns.

SECTION XIX.

Various works of merit.

THE Hindoo lawgivers have established several customs which, if separated from idolatry, would be worthy of the highest commendation: they promise to the obedient the greatest rewards in a future state.

Among these we may place hospitality to strangers.* The traveller, when he wishes to rest for the night, goes to a house, and says, 'I am ŭtit'hee,' i. e. I am to be entertained at your house. The master or mistress of the house, if of a hospitable disposition, gives him water to wash his feet, a seat, tobacco, water to drink, &c. After these refreshments, they give him firewood, a new earthen pot to cook in,† rice, split peas, oil, spices, &c. The next morning he departs, sometimes without

Minoo says, 'No guest must be dismissed in the evening by a house-keeper: he is sent by the returning sun, and whether he come in fit season or unseasonably, he must not sojourn in the house without entertainment. Let not himself eat any delicate food, without asking his guest to partake of it: the satisfaction of a guest will assuredly bring the house-keeper, wealth, reputation, long life, and a place in heaven.'

Almost every Hindoo is either constantly or occasionally his own cook.

In the houses of the poor or

saying any thing, and at other times he takes leave.* the covetous, a stranger meets with worse entertainment. Not unfrequently the mistress of the house excuses herself to a person wishing to become a guest, and among other things alleges, that there are none but women and children at home. It is not very uncommon, for a traveller to go to several houses, and to be refused at all. This is partly owing to fear, that the stranger may plunder the house in the night. Where persons have porches at the outside of their houses, they have less fear, as the stranger is then kept at a distance. This hospitality to strangers is indeed sometimes abused by a thief, who robs the house and decamps. Yet if a person refuse to entertain a stranger, the shastră declares that all the sins of the guest become his, and his works of merit become the guest's. The traveller sometimes murmurs on going away, exclaiming that the people of this village are so depraved, that they refuse a handful of rice to a traveller. If a family are unable through poverty to entertain a guest, the shastrů orders that they shall beg for his relief. The stranger after eating must take nothing uncooked from the house.

A

person of the name of Golükŭ-Chůndră-Rayŭ, of Serampore, formerly sirkar to the Danish East India Company, has particularly distinguished himself in the present day as the most eminent Hindoo in Bengal for liberality to strangers. Upon an average, two hundred travellers or mendicants were formerly fed daily at and from his house; and it is said that he expended in this manner fifty thousand roopees annually.

* The Hindoos have no word for 'thank you,' in their common language, and gratitude itself appears to constitute no part of their virtues. The greatest benefits conferred very rarely meet with even the least acknowledgment. I have known European physicians perform the most extraordinary cures on the bodies of the natives gratuitously, without a solitary instance occurring of a single individual returning to acknowledge the favour. Amongst the higher orders of Hindoos, however, the master of a house sometimes says to a guest on his departure, ‘You will excuse all inattention,' and the guest replies, Oh! Sir, you are of a distinguished cast! What shall I say in return for the manner in which I have been entertained: Such food! such a bed! But this is like yourself. No one entertains a guest as you do. May Lukshmëē (the goddess of riches) ever dwell in your house.'

I suppose, that in all Eastern countries it is a custom for guests to be thus entertained at private houses. The address of our Lord to his disciples seems to intimate that such was the case among the Jews: "And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. And whosoever shall not receive you, when ye depart out of that house,” &c.

Another work of charity is the digging of pools by the side of public roads, to supply the thirsty traveller with water. The cutting of these ponds, and building flights of steps in order to descend into them, is in many cases, very expensive: four thousand roopees are frequently expended in one pond, including the expence attending the setting it apart to the use of the public; at which time an assembly of bramhüns is collected, and certain formulas from the shastrus read by a priest, amongst which, in the name of the offerer, he says, 'I offer this pond of water to quench the thirst of mankind.' At the close of the ceremony a feast is given to the assembled bramhuns, who are also dismissed with presents. It is unlawful for the owner ever afterwards to appropriate this pond to his own private use. If the water be very clear and sweet, the offerer is complimented as a person with whose merits the gods are pleased. A person of Burdwan, of the name of Ramu-pală, is mentioned as having prepared as many as a hundred pools in different places, and given them for public use. Persons inhabiting villages where water was scarce, used to petition this public benefactor to cut a pool for them, and, after obtaining leave of the raja, he bestowed upon them this necessary blessing.*

The planting of trees to afford shade to travellers is another act of merit among the Hindoos, and, in a hot climate like this, deserves to be classed among actions that are commendable. Some trees also are considered as sacred, and the planting of them is therefore deemed a religious act. The trees thus planted are generally the ushwūt❜hů,1 the vŭtů,2 vilwů,3 ŭshoků, vükoolů,5 plükshů,6 oodoombŭră,7 shingshupa, tumalů, jeevn-pootree,10 &c. At the time of planting these trees, no religious ceremony takes place, but when they are dedicated to public or sacred uses, the ceremony called protisht'ha is performed. The person who plants one ŭshwůt'hŭ,11 one nimbŭ,12 two chumpuků,18 three nagukéshwůru,14 seyen talŭ,15 and nine cocoa nut trees, and devotes them with their fruit, shade, &c. to public uses, is promised heaven.

* Cuting wells made a man famous in patriarchal times: a well, said to be Jacob's well, existed in Samaria at the commencement of the Christian æra. John iv. 6, 12.

About twenty years ago, a land-owner of Patŭ-dăhů, about fourteen miles from Calcutta, planted an orchard by a public road, placed a person to keep it, and dedicated it to the use of travellers of all descriptions, who are permitted to enter it, and take as much fruit as they can eat on the spot. Krishnů-vůsoo, of Calcutta,

made a road* from Kütŭků to the temple of Jugunnat'hŭ in Orissa, and planted a double row of fruit trees on the sides of this road for the use of pilgrims going to the temple. The pilgrims cook their food, sleep under the shade of these trees, and eat the fruit which they yield. He also cut a large pool near the temple, to supply these pilgrims with water. Raja Sookhŭ-muyŭ of Calcutta, who died in the year 1811, left 100,000 roopees to be appropriated to the repairs and improvement of the road to the temple of Jugănnathŭ in Orissa, and to assist pilgrims going there in paying the tax to government.

In some parts, in the sultry months Voishakhŭ and Jyoisht'hů, rich Hindoos, as an act of merit, erect sheds by the public roads, and supply travellers gratis with water and other refreshments.

For the comfort of travellers, lodging-houses are erected by opulent Hindoos on the side of public roads, in some of which travellers are supplied with refreshments, gratis.

SECTION XX.

Reading and hearing the Pooranus.

AT the close of most of the pooranus, the writers affirm, that it is an act of the greatest merit, extinguishing all sin, for the people to read these works, or hear them read. Those principally recited in Bengal, as an act of merit, are the Mühabharŭtu, the Shree-bhagŭvůtů, the Kaliků pooranů, the Ootkŭlu and Kashee khundus.+

* There are very few good public roads in Bengal. These two last works are parts of the Skundů poorană.