sure, from the popular idolatry, instead of producing any good effects, drew men away from the practice of all the social duties included in the second table, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;' and left the mind a prey to pride, moroseness, and ignorance. It should also be observed that many of these austerities were both senseless and cruel in the extreme: one tŭpushwee is represented as hanging for hundreds of years with his head downwards; another, as living on leaves; another, on air; another, as surrounding himself with four fires, and enduring intolerable heat and thirst; another, as standing up to the neck in water; Valmēēkŭ, it is said, stood in one posture, repeating the name of Ramu, till the white ants (termes bellicosus) surrounded his body with a case of earth, and devoured the flesh from his bones.

These tupushwēēs are supposed to have been the authors of the most ancient of the Hindoo writings; in some of which, it is admitted, sentiments are to be found which do honour to human nature. But it is equally certain that these sages were very little affected by these sentiments; and perhaps the same might be said of almost all the heathen philosophers. Vushisht'hŭ inflicted on himself incredible acts of severity; but in the midst of his devotions he became attached to a heavenly courtezan, and cohabited with her 5,000 years P. Pŭrashůru, an ascetic, violated the daughter of a fisherman, who was ferrying him over a river; from which intercourse sprang the famous Vyasă, the author of the Muhabharůtů. The father of Rishyŭ-shringŭ cohabited with a deer, and his son had deer's horns'. Kŭpilů, an ascetic, reduced king Sagŭrŭ's 60,000 sons to ashes, because they mistook him for a horse-stealers. Brigoo, in a

P Mŭhabharůtů.

Ibid. • Ramayǎnǎ.

• Muhabharůtů.

fit of passion, kicked the god Vishnoo on the breast. Richēēku, for the sake of a subsistence, sold his son for a human sacrifice". Doorvasa, a sage, was so addicted to anger, that he was a terror both to gods and men*. Ouryvů, another sage, in a fit of anger, destroyed the whole race of Hoihuyŭ with fire from his mouth; and Doorvasa did the same to the whole posterity of Krishnů". Javalee, an ascetic, stands charged with stealing cow's flesh at a sacrifice: when the beef was sought for, the saint, to avoid detection, turned it into onions; and hence onions are forbidden to the Hindoosa. The pooranus, indeed, abound with accounts of the crimes of these saints, so famous for their religious austerities: anger and lust seem to have been their predominant vices.

As it respects the modern devotees, none of them expect absorption: they content themselves with performing the popular ceremonies, and thus fall under the censures of Krishnŭ, who says, 'Numbers prefer a transient enjoyment of heaven to eternal absorption.' It is true, now and then a poor wretch is seen, naked, covered with ashes, and his hair clotted with dirt, whose vacant, brutish looks indicate that he is approaching a state of complete abstraction, and that he may soon hope to enter into this perfect state, viz. to live in a world full of wonders, without a single passion left to be affected by them. Yet even this abstraction, or contempt of the world, if it can deserve such a name, is brought on by shunning the presence of man, and continually smoking intoxicating herbs.

CHAP. IV.

OF FUTURE PUNISHMENTS.

THE Shree-bhagůvůtů contains the following account of the punishments endured in different hells:-The person guilty of adultery or fornication, the thief, and the stealer of children, are to be cast into the hell Tamisrů, and continually famished and beaten. He who defrauds others, is to be cast into a hell of darkness. The proud person, who also neglects the ceremonies of religion, is to be tormented by the animals Rooroo. The glutton, who has also been guilty of destroying animals, is to be thrown into a hell of boiling oil. He who disregards the védů and bramhŭns, is to be punished in a hell of burning metal for 3,500,000 years. He who injures a man of a superior order, is to be torn by swine. The unmerciful are to be tormented by snakes, flies, deer, birds, lice, wasps, &c. The bramhăn, bramhunēē, brumhŭcharée, voishyŭ, or king, who drinks spirits, shall be thrown into pans of liquid fire. He who despises a religious devotee, shall be punished by sticking fast in mud with his head downwards. He who kills a man, and offers him to the gods; and he who devours any animal, without having slain it in sacrifice; are to be fed on flesh and blood. He who betrays and afterwards destroys a person, is to be pierced with spears and arrows. The person who causes sorrow to others, is to be bitten by snakes with five heads. He who is inhospitable to guests, must have his eyes torn out by vultures and other ravenous birds. The covetous are to be fed with impure substances. He

who cohabits with a woman of another cast, or a virgin, or the wife of another man, is to be inclosed in the arms of an iron female image made red hot. The person who professes different religions, and is familiar with all casts, is to be punished by being continually cast down from lofty trees. The bramhun who commits adultery with the wife of a bramhŭn, is to be fed with blood. Highway robbers, those who burn houses, or poison others, are to be bitten by dogs with enormous teeth. False-witnesses are to be cast from

rocks 800 miles high.

I here insert the names of some of the Hindoo hells:Tamisrů, or the hell of darkness; Undhŭ-tamisrů, the hell of great darkness; Roúrůvů, a hell full of animals called Rooroo; Muha-rourůvů, a similar but more dreadful hell; Koombhēē-paků, a hell of boiling oil; Kalu-Sōōtrů, a hell of burning copper; Usipŭtrů-vůnů, a wilderness in which criminals are punished by the thorns of the talu-tree; Shookrů-mookhů, a hell where criminals are bitten by animals having the faces of swine; Undhu-kōōpů, a hell dark and full of reptiles; Krimee-bhojŭnů, where criminals become worms feeding on ordure; Sundungshů, where sinners are burnt with hot irons; Tuptu-shōōrmee, in which adulterers are tormented in the embraces of a red hot-iron female image; Vůjrů-kuntŭkŭ-shalmŭlee, where men are thrown on trees full of dreadful thorns; Voiturůnēe, a river full of filth; Pōōyodů, a similar hell; Pranŭ-nirodhŭ, where sinners are pierced with arrows; Vishŭsunů, where they are beaten with clubs, &c.; Lala-bhŭkshŭ, where they are fed

It is to be understood, that punishments in hell may be prevented in many cases by offering the appointed atonement. Punishment by the magistrate is also considered as an atonement, exempting the culprit from sufferings in a future state. What good news this would be to English malefactors, who die by the hands of the executioners—if they could believe it.

with saliva, &c.; Sharŭ-méyadůņu, in which dogs continually bite the wicked; Uvēē-chimŭyŭ, where false witnesses are thrown headlong upon a hard pavement; Patŭnů, where sinners are pinched with hot tongs; Ksharŭ-kůrddůmu, where they are hurled into mire; Rŭkshyogănů-bhojunů, where cannibals feed on the flesh of sinners; Shōōluprot'hu, where the wicked are punished by spears and birds of prey; Dundŭ-shōōků, where snakes with many heads bite and devour sinners; Ŏvůtů-nirodhůnů, where offenders are punished in darkness with the fear of the approach of wild beasts; Upŭrya-vůrtunů, where the eyes of sinners are picked out by birds of prey; and Sōōchēē-mookhu, where sinners are pricked with needles. Beside these, the Shrēē-bhagŭvůtů says, there are 100,000 hells, in which different kinds of torments are inflicted on criminals, according to the directions of the shastrus, and the nature of their guilt.

The Hindoos in general manifest great fear of future punishment. Sometimes, after committing a dreadful sin, these fears are expressed to a friend in some such words as these: I have committed a shocking crime, and I must endure great and long-continued torments: but what can I do? There is no remedy now.' Sometimes these fears are so great that they drive a man to perform many works of merit, particularly works of atonement. If the offender be rich, they extort large sums of money from him, which are expended in gifts to bramhŭns, or in religious ceremonies. If he be poor, he bathes in the Ganges with more constancy, or goes on pilgrimage to different holy places. The Hindoos consider some sins as sending whole generations to hell. A false witness is to suffer future torments, and with him fourteen generations of his family; the man who swears by the waters of the Ganges involves himself and B b

VOL. II.