corn; but which is not of fo hard a fubftance, nor fo ftrong a flavour, as that of Bantam, or the Malabar coaft. I am much furprised that the government has not hitherto taken any pains to profecute the cultivation of the fugar-cane in the islands of Amboyna; for it grows as luxuriantly, and as full of fap here, as in Java, or any where elfe; which I know by having frequent ly feen and examined the canes which have been planted here and there for their own ufe. This would not .only alleviate the poverty of the Amboynefe, as their clove-trees are deftroyed from year to year; but it would, on the other hand, be no lefs profitable to the Company, as the article would be conveyed hence, without any additional expence, by the clove ships, on board of which it could be ftowed as a lower tier, and ferve for ballaft. Perhaps, however, this has never been put in practice, in order that the competition of the fugars from Amboyna might not be of preju dice to the fugar-works of Jaccatra, in which, perhaps, the gentlemen in the direction of affairs are interefted. Coffee, likewife, grows here in fufficient luxuriance to encourage the Amboynefe in the cultivation of it; and the quality of it is by by no means inferior to that of Java. An Account of the Religion and Civil Inftitutions of the Birmans. (From Lieut. Colonel SYMES's Embassy to Ava.) AFTER what has been written, there can be little neceffity to in. form my readers, that the Birmans are Hindûs not votaries of Brahma, but fectaries of Buddha, which latter is admitted by Hindûs of all defcriptions to be the ninth Avatar*, or defcent of the Deity in his capacity of preferver. He reformed the doctrines contained in the Vedas, and feverely cenfured the facrifice of cattle, or depriving any being of life: he is called the author of happiness: his place of refidence was difcovered at Gaya, in Bengal, by the illuftrious Amara t, renowned amongst men, "who caufed an image of the fupreme Buddha to be made, and he worshipped it: Reverence be unto thee in the form of Buddha! reverence be unto thee, Lord of the earth! reverence be unto thee, an incarnation of the Deity! and, eternal one, reverence be unto thee, O God, in the form of Mercy!" Gotma, or Goutum, according to the Hindûs of India, or Gaudma, among the inhabitants of the more eaftern parts, is faid to have been a philofopher, and is by the Bir. mans believed to have flourifhed above 2300 § years ago: he taught, * Sir William Jones on the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India. See the tranflation of a Sanferêet infcription, on a ftone found in the temple of Buddha, at Gaya, by Mr. Wilkins. Afiat. Ref. Vol. I. Sir William Jones on the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India. This agrees with the account of the Siamese computation given by Kampfer. 1 taught, in the Indian schools, the heterodox religion and philofophy of Buddha. The image that reprefents Buddha is called Gaudma, or Goutum, which is now a commonly received appellation of Buddha himfelf: this image is the primary object of worship in all countries fituated between Bengal and China. The fectaries of Buddha contend with thofe of Brahma for the honour of antiquity, and are certainly far more numerous. The Cingalefe in Ceylon are Buddhaifts of the pureft fource, and the Birmans acknowledge to have originally received their religion from that ifland*. It was brought, fay the Rhahaans, first from Zehoo (Ceylon) to Arracan, and thence was introduced into Ava, and probably into China; for the Birmans affert with confidence that the Chinese are Buddhaifts. This is a curious fubject of inveftigation, and the concurrent teftimony of circumftances, added to the opinions of the most intelligent writers, feem to leave little doubt of the fact. It cannot, however, be demonftrated beyond the poffibility of difpute, till we fhall have acquired a more perfect knowledge of Chinese letters, and a readier accefs to their repofitories of learning. Little can at prefent be added to the lights caft on the fubject by the late Sir William Jones, in his difcourfe delivered to the Afiatic So *The Birmans call Ceylon, Zehoo. ciety on the Chinese. That great man has expreffed his conviction in pofitive terms, that "Buddha was unquestionably the Foe of China," and that he was alfo the God of Ja. pan, and the Woden of the Gothis; an opinion which correfponds with, and is perhaps grafted on, the information of the learned and laborious Kæmpfert, corroborated af terwards by his own Refearches. On whatever grounds the latter inference refts, it will not tend to weaken the belief of his firft pofition, when I obferve, that the Chinese deputies, on the occafion of our introduction to the Seredaw or high priest of the Birman empire, proftrated themfelves before him, and afterwards adored an image of Gaudma, with more religious fervour than mere politeness, or acquiefcence in the cuftoms of another nation, would have excited: the Bonzes alfo of China, like the Rhàhaans of Ava, wear yellow as the facerdotal colour, and in many of their customs and ceremonies there may be traced a ftriking fimilitude. Whatever may be the antiquity of the worship of Buddha, the wide extent of its reception cannot be doubted. The most authentic writert on the eaftern peninfula calls the image of Gaudma, as worshiped by the Siamefe, Somona-codom: being unacquainted with the language of Siam, which, from fo fhort a + Speaking of the Budz, or Seaka, of the Japanese, Kampfer fays, "I have ftrong "realon to believe, both from the affinity of the name, and the very nature of this re"ligion, that its author and founder is the very fame perfon whom the Bramans call "Buddha, and believe to be the effential fpirit of Withna, or their deity, who made "his ninth appearance in the world under this name; the Peguers call him Samana "Khutama." Hift. Japan. Book IV. Ch. 6. Treating of the introduction of Buddha into China, the fame author fays, "About "the year of Chrift 518, one Darma, a great faint, and twenty-third fucceffor on the holy fee of Seaka (Buddha), came over into China from Seitenleku, as the Japanese "writers explain it, that is, from that part of the world which lies weltward with re"gard to Japan, and laid, properly fpeaking, the first firm foundation of the Bual"doim in that mighty empire.” Book IV. ch. 6. + Loubere. a refidence as four months, it was impoffible he could have acquired, he confounds two diftinct words, Somona, and Codom, fignifying Codom, or Gaudma, in his incarnate ftate; the difference between the letters C and G may eafily have arifen from the mode of pronunciation in different countries; even in the Birman manner of uttering the word, the diftinction between these letters is not very clear. The Buddha of the Indians and the Birmans, is pronounced by the Siamefe, Pooth, or Pood; by the vulgar, Poo; which, without any violence to probability, might be converted by the Chinese into Foe*; the Tamulic termination en, as Mr. Chambers remarks, creates a ftriking refemblance between Pooden and the Wooden of the Goths; every person who has conversed with the natives of India, knows that Buddha is the Dies Mcrcurii, the Wednef. day, or Woden's day, of all Hindûs. Chronology, however, which muft always be accepted as a furer guide to truth, than inferences drawn from the resemblance of the words, and etymological reafoning, does not, to my mind, fufficiently eftablish that Buddha and Woden were the fame. The period of the ninth incarnation of Vishnu was long antecedent to the existence of the deified hero of Scandinavia. Sir William Jones determines the pe. riod when Buddha appeared on the earth, to be 1014 years before the birth of Chrift. Odin, or Woden, flourished at a period not very diftant from our Saviour, and was, ac VOL. 2. cording to fome, a cotemporary of Pompey and of Julius Cæfar. The author of the Northern Antiquities places him 70 years after the Chrif. tian era. Even the Birman Gaudina, conformably to their account, must have lived 500 years before Woden. So immenfe a fpace can hardly be fuppofed to have been overlooked: but if the fuppofition refers, not to the warrior of the north, but to the original deity Odin, the attributes of the latter are as widely oppofed to thofe of Buddha, who was himself only an incarnation of Vishnu, as the dates are incongru ous, The deity, whofe doctrines were introduced into Scandinavia, was a god of terror, and his vota. ries carried defolation and the fword throughout whole regions; but the Ninth Avatar + brought the peaceful olive, and came into the world for the fole purpose of preventing fanguinary acts. Thefe apparent inconfiftencies will naturally lead us to hesitate in acknowledging Buddha and Woden to be the fame perfon: their doctrines are oppofite, and their eras are widely remote. Had that diftinguifhed genius ‡, whofe learning fo lately illumined the Eaft, been longer fpared for the inftruction and delight of mankind, he would probably have elucidated this obfcurity, and have removed the dufky veil that ftill hangs over the religious legends of antiquity. The fubject §, as it now ftands, affords an ample field for indulging in pleafing theories and fanciful fpeculations; and as the probability increases of being able to trace G all *M, Gentil afferts that the Chinese admit, by their own accounts, that Foe, their object of worship, was originally brought from India. See the account of the Ninth Avatar, by the Rev. Mr. Maurice, in his History of Hinduftan. Vol. II. Part 3. I need hardly obferve that I mean Sir William Jones. General Vallancey, fo juftly celebrated for his knowledge of the antiquities of his country, has expreffed his perfect conviction that the Hindus have been in Britain and in Ireland. See Major Oufeley's Oriental Collections, Vol. II. Much attention is certainly due to fuch refpectable authority. " all forms of divine worship to one facred and prineval fource, the inquiry in proportion becomes more interciting, and awakens a train of ferious ideas in a reflecting mind. It would be as unfatisfactory as tedious to attempt leading my reader through the mazes of mythological fable, and extravagant allegory, in which the Hindu religion, both Braminical and Buddhaic is enveloped and obfcured; it may be fufficient to obferve, that the Birmans believe in the Metempfychofis, and that after having undergone a certain number of tranfimigrations, their fouls will at last either be received into their Olympus on the mountain Meru*, or be fent to fuffer torments in a place of divine punishments. Mercy they hold to be the first attribute of the divinity: "Reverence be to thee, ́O God, in the form of Mercy!" and they worship God by extending mercy unto all his creatures. The laws of the Birmans, like their religion, are Hindû; in fact, there is no feparating their laws from their religion: divine authority revealed to Menu the facred principles in a hundred thoufand locas, or verfes; Menu promu!, gated the code; numerous commentaries on Menu were compof. ed by the Munis, or old philofophers, whofe treatifes conftitute the Dherma Saitra, or body of law. The Birmans generally call their code Derma Sath, or Saftra; it is one among the many commentaries on Menu: I was fo fortunate as to procure a tranflation of the most remarkablé paffages, which were rendered into Latin by Padre Vincentius Sangermano, and, to my great furprife, I found it to correfpond clofely with a Perfian ver. fion of the Arracan code, which is now in my poffeffion. From the inquiries to which this circumstance gave rife, I learned, that the laws, as well as the religion of the Bir mans, had found their way into the Ava country from Arracan, and came originally from Ceylon. The Birman fyftem of jurifprudence is replete with found morality, and, in my opinion, is diftinguished above any other Hindû commentary for perfpicuity and good fenfe; it provides fpecifically for almott every fpecics of crime that can be committed, and adds a copious chapter of precedents and decifions to guide the inexperienced in cafes where there is doubt and diffi. culty. Trial by ordeal and impre cation are the only abfurd paffages in the book; but on the fubject of women it is, to an European, offen, fively indecent like the immortal Menu, it tells the prince and the magiftrate their duty, in language auftere, manly, and energetic; and the exhortation at the clofe is at once * Meru properly denotes the pole, and, according to the learned Captain Wilford, it is the celeilal north pole of the Hundus, round which they place the garden of Indra, and describe it as the seat of delights. + The code of Gentoo laws, tranflated by Mr. Halhed, I am informed, is a compilation from the different commentaries on Menu, who was "the grandlon of Bramah, the fift of created beings," and whofe work, as tranflated by Sir William Jones, is the ground of all Hindû jurisprudence. . As an incontefible proof that the Birmans acknowledge the fuperior antiquity of the Cingalefe, and the reception of their religion and laws from that quarter, the King of Ava has fent, within thefe few years, at feparate times, two meffengers, per fons of learning and refpectability, to Ceylon, to procure the original books on which their tenets are founded; and, in one inftance, the Birman minifter made an official application to the Governor-General of India, to protect and affift the person charged with the commiffion. 1 once noble and pious: the follow- men: "Thus have the learned fpoker, and thus have the wife decreed, "that litigation may ceafe among "A country may be faid to re"femble milk, in which oppref"fion is like to water; when "water is mingled with milk, its fweetnefs immediately vanishes : "in the fame manner oppreffion "deftroys a fair and flourishing 66 country. The royal Surkaab* "will only inhabit the clearest "ftream; fo a prince can never "profper in a distracted empire. "By drinking pure milk the body "is ftrengthened and the palate is "gratified; but when mingled" "with water, pleafure no longer "is found, and the fprings of "health gradually decline. "A wife prince resembles a fharp fword, which at a fingle "ftroke cuts through a pillar with "fuch keennefs that the fabric "ftill remains unshaken; with equal keennefs his difcernment "will penetrate advice. " "A wife prince is dear, to his people, as the phyfician is to "the fick man; as light to those "that are in darkness; as unex"pected fight to the eyes of the "blind; as is the full moon on a "wintry night, and milk to the "infant from the breaft of its mo"ther." The commentator then proceeds to denounce tremendous judgments against an oppreffive prince and a 'corrupt judge; the latter is thus curioufly menaced : "The punishment of his crimes, "who judges iniquitously, and de"cides falfely, fhall be greater "than though he had flain one "thousand women, one hundred "priefts, or one thousand horfes." The book concludes as follows: men, and contention be banished "the land: and let all magiftrates "and judges expound the laws as "they are herein written; and, to "the extent of their understand. "ing, and according to the dic"tates of their confcience, pro"nounce judgment agreeably to "the tenor of this book: let the "welfare of their country, and "the benefit of their fellow-creatures, be their continual study, "and the fole object of their atten. tion: let them ever be mindful of the fupreme dignity of the "Roulah + and the Bramans, and pay them that reverence which is "due to their facred characters: "let them obferve becoming re"fpect towards all men, and they "fhall fhield the weak from op preffion, fupport the helpless, and, "in particular cafes, mitigate the "feverity of avenging juftice. 66 "It fhall be the duty of a "prince, and the magistrates of a prince, wifely to regulate the "internal police of the empire, to "affist and befriend the peafants, "merchants, farmers, and thofe who "follow trades, that they may "daily increase in worldly wealth "and happiness: they fhall pro"mote all works of charity, en courage the opulent to relieve "the poor, and liberally con"tribute to pious and lauda"ble purposes: and whatfoever "good works fhall be promoted "by their influence and example, "whatfoever shall be given in cha"rity, and whatfoever benefit shall accrue to mankind from their "endeavours, it fhall all be pre"ferved in the records of heaven, * G 2 "One * Bittern. Surkaab is a Perfian term, used by the Mahommedan tranflator. + The Arracan name for Rhahaan. |