APPENDIX.

A. [p. 33.] Effects of Education among the

Hindus.

"WITHIN the last few years European knowledge has been widely spread among the natives. The rich treasures that may be found in the English language have been liberally bestowed upon them-History, by depicting before their eyes the actions of men from the earliest stages of society, opened to them the mysteries of the Greek and Roman Mythologies, and they accordingly were led to discover the follies of their own by comparing them together. Geography by unfolding to them the nature, form, and shape of the globe had a tendency to destroy their prejudices. European science led them to throw off their bigotry and superstition by expanding their minds and elevating their intellects. Knowledge spread her benign influence over them; the vanishing of ignorance was the vanishing of superstition, and, therefore, will also be the vanishing of moral degra dation. Light dawned upon them to the great perplexity of those who 'hated it because their deeds were dark'. The wileful deceiver will soon be thunderstruck when his tricks will be more particularly discovered. Education is working on, and the 'School Master is abroad'. More will soon be effected than perhaps now anticipated. If improvement goes on in the same ratio in which it has lately come-if in a few years and under so many disadvantages that had a wicked tendency to crib and confine the intellect,-if in in spite of the boy's being prevented by authority from availing himself of a fair field for discussion on religious topics he has asserted his responsibilty as a moral agent, and his independance as a man-what more must we expect now that so many means are open to the Hin

du Youth and so much assistance is afforded him in delivering his mind from the prejudices of his forefathers!-Our anticipations go far when we reflect upon these. We feel ourselves transported into pleasant and happy scenes; we perceive that the Hindu begins to assume a more liberal spirit in his dealings with the world; we foresee that he gives up his weak conformities to old customs and speak with a reformed voice. Accordingly if such a pleasing and a happy field is before us, the reformer should bring into actions all the energies his mind is capable of. Let this be brought to a happy close. Let there be no pause, or fearful halt-before the object is gained-till the triumph is complete”.—Calcutta Enquirer, Dec. 23, 1831.

Every philanthropist must rejoice at this happy issue, and these glorious prospects. It is deeply to be regretted, however, that from the Anglo-Indian College, which has been principally instrumental in bringing about the changes adverted to, the Christian religion has hitherto been altogether excluded; and that a most unjust and injudicious attempt was made a few months ago by the managers of that institution, to prevent the attendance of the students on a series of lectures delivered by the Rev. Messrs. Duff and Hill. It is to be hoped that the Honorable Company, and the Native and European Subscribers, will speedily perceive it to be both their duty and their interest to encourage the only religious system, which can speak peace to the sinner, and which can prepare immortal souls for the enjoyment of eternal felicity. It is more than rumoured that important measures of improvement are in contemplation.

B. [p. 34.] Remarks on Brahma.

If we take the Shástras as a ground of judgement, we must admit that the Hindus have exceedingly confused and derogatory ideas of the Unity of the God-head. In addition to the remarks contained in the text, it may not be improper to introduce an extract from Mill's History of India:

"Few nations shall we find without a knowledge of the Unity of the Divine Nature, if we take such expressions of it as

abound in the Hindu writings for satisfactory evidence. By this token Mr. Park found it among the savages of Africa.

"In pursuance of the same persuasion, ingenious authors have laid hold of the term Brahme, (or Brahma,) the neuter of Brahma, the Masculine name of the creator. This they have represented as the peculiar appellation of the one God; Brahmá, Vishnu, and Siva, being only names of the particular modes of divine action. But the supposition (for it is nothing more) involves the most enormous inconsistency; as if the Hindus possessed refined notions of the Unity of God, and could yet conceive his modes of action to be truly set forth in the characters of Brahmá, Vishnu, and Siva; as if the same people could at once be so enlightened as to form a sublime conception of the Divine Nature, and yet so stupid as to make a distinction between the character of God, and his modes of action. The parts of the Hindu writings, however, which are already before us, completely refute this gratuituous epithet of praise, applied to various gods; and no are more indicative of refined notions of the Unity, or any perfection of the Divine Nature, than other parts of their panegyrical devotions. We have already beheld Siva decorated with this title. Vishnu is denominated the Supreme Brahme in the Bhagvat-Gítá. Nay, we find this Brahme, the great, the eternal ONE, the supreme soul, employed in rather a subordinate capacity. "The Great Brahm", says Crishna, "is my womb. In it I place my fœtus; and from it is the the production of all nature. The great Brahm is the womb of all those various forms which are conceived in every natural womb, and I am the father who soweth the seed". In one of the morning prayers of the Brahmans, cited from the Vedas by Mr. Colebrooke, water is denominated Brahme. "The sun", says Yajnyawalcya, "is Brahme; this is a certain truth revealed in the sacred Upanishats, and various sac'has of the Vedas. So the Bhawishya Purána, speaking of the sun: Because there is none greater than he, nor has been nor will be, therefore he is celebrated as the supreme soul in all the Vedas". Air, too, receives the ap

pellation of Brahme. Thus, says a passage in the Veda; "That which moves in the atmosphere is air, Brahme. Thus again; "Salutation unto thee, O air! Even thou art Brahme, present to our apprehension. Thee I will call, 'present Brah. me': thee I will name, 'the right one': thee I will pronounce, 'the true one'. May that Brahme, the universal being entitled air, preserve me". Food too is denominated Brahme; so is breath, and intellect, and felicity. Nay it is affirmed, as part of the Hindu belief, that man himself may become Brahme; thus in the Bhagvat-Gita Crishna declares: "A man being endowed with a purified understanding, having humbled his spirit by resolution, and abandoned the objects of the organs; who hath freed himself from passion and dislike, who worshippeth with discrimination, eateth with moderation, and is humble of speech, of body, and of mind; who preferreth the devotion of meditation, and who constantly placeth his confidence in dispassion; who is freed from ostentation, tyrannic strength, vain glory, lust, anger, and avarice; and who is exempt from selfishness, and in all things temperate, is formed for being Brahme".

Some Missionaries have used the term Brahma as equivalent to the word GoD; and Col. Vans Kennedy, has proposed that it should be employed in this sense in translations of the sacred Scriptures. The most serious objections, however, must be urged against the adoption of the word. "In the first place", observes my friend Mr. Law, whose attainments in Sanskrita literature are of the very first order, “Brahma is of the neuter gender; so that if in order to express the idea of the Supreme Being, it is necessary to have recourse to the Hindu philosophy, Paramatma would be preferable, and has, 1 believe, been employed in some versions. But such terms are as remote as possible from conveying any thing like the true notion of God, considered as the moral governor of the universe; being always employed in Sanskrita works to designate the all-pervading Spirit, the Anima Mundi, of which neither personal, nor any active attribute can be predicated. It would,

indeed, have been quite as reasonable for the Seventy Interpreters, through a fear of confounding the true God with the objects of national idolatry, to have adopted from the Grecian Philosophical Sects, some such term as "to pleroma", "to en", in order to express the supreme Being, as for the modern translator of the sacred Scriptures into Sanskrita, to employ any such terms as Brahma for the same purpose. Yet the impropriety

of the former supposion is sufficiently obvious.

"Besides, as Dr. Mill correctly observes. "The word expressing God in any language should be such as in enunciating the proposition "God is one"-Deus Unus-should convey a marked denial of the polytheistic proposition, Dei plures sunt; or there are more Gods than one". But it is evidently impossible, without a glaring solecism, to speak of Brahma in the plural number. Would not the first commandment, for instance, translated in this manner, appear to be sheer nonsense?

अहमीश्वरोवद्ब्रह्मामद ते अन्यब्रह्माणिनधायसे

"It is urged that when Deva is employed in Sanskrita to express the Supreme Being, its bearing that signification is only determined by the context. But will not the context of Scripture be sufficient to point out in what sense Devu is to be understood?" Oriental Christian Spectator, September 1831.

C. [p. 39.] Contradictory Character of the Puránas.

Some of the Shlokas which I have quoted in reference to the claims of the different Hindu Divinities have been extracted from Mr. H. H. Wilson's interesting essay on the Hindu Sects, contained in the sixteenth volume of the Transactions of the Asiatic Society. As the circulation of this volume has hitherto been limited, on account of its not having been repub lished like its predecessors in England, the following extract will not prove unacceptable.

"In further illustration of our text, with regard to the instrumentality of the Puránas in generating religious distinctions amongst the Hindus, and as affording a view of the Vaishnava