together, and alike magnificent in their ruins, overturned on the same spot by the ruthless hand of the Mahomedan conqueror.

It therefore appears the more reasonable conjecture, that the religion of Buddha commenced in Majadha, or Bahar, in the early centuries of the Christian era, and had its mythological origin in what is called the ninth avatar of Vishnu, or, in reality, in some wise or holy persons, who instituted, or practised, under the benevolent fiction of the power and sanctity of that deity, a mild and beneficent doctrine, in opposition to the sanguinary practices, and probably oppression, of the Brahmanical priests. The new doctrines may not, in the beginning, have excited any considerable degree of jealousy, or may have been too powerfully protected to be for a time attacked; but when, in the course of years, their extensive effects may have been more sensibly felt by a rapacious priesthood, uncompromising sectarial differences, (under political changes which begat opposing interests that led to attempted independence on one side, and intolerance and persecution on the other), may have arisen. The Brahmans were triumphant in Hindustan; the Buddhas spread their reformed, but atheistical, doctrines in the border and more distant countries, where the power and faith of their opponents were less potent and acknowledged. Persecution having then nothing more to feed upon, may have ceased, although enmity and its accompaniments, occasional wars, may have still remained; till dissensions among the powerful princes of the Hindus themselves may have checked that which the Persian and Tartar conquerors finally put a stop to, the contentions of the rival sects. But even at the present day their hatred still continues; the Buddhas considering the Brahmans as a set of devils, and the latter returning the compliment, by viewing the Buddhas as a race of vile and abominable heretics, infinitely worse than the Mahomedans.

In hazarding the foregoing conjectures, it must at the same time be acknowledged, that many very strong and sensible arguments have been adduced on the other side of the question. It may be, however, worthy of remark, that the conquests of the Brahmans over the Buddhas, towards the

south, appear to have terminated in the island of Ramisaram, one of the chain of rocky islands called Adam's Bridge, lying between the southern extremity of the hither peninsula of India and Ceylon. The island is about two miles from the main. The pagodas or temples of this sacred isle, for such it is considered to be, are extensive, and are visited by pilgrims from very distant countries, whose donations, added to the munificence of the neighbouring rajahs, render unnecessary all kinds of labour in this highly favoured spot. Among the objects of worship, the emblem of Siva is one of the most prominent. According to the late Colonel Mackenzie, a custom prevails in this island, which is not uncommon in the southern parts of the continent of India, by which the territorial chief of the island (a member of a family of Byraages, or devotees, to whom the guardianship of it belongs) is doomed to a life of perpetual celibacy; the succession being carried on by his sisters or collateral relations, who are permitted to marry.

The island of Manaar is separated from the shore of Ceylon, like that of Ramisaram from the main land, by a channel about two miles in width. Here the doctrines of Buddha prevail: so that the narrow channel between these two islands would appear to have opposed an unsuperable barrier to the farther progress of Brahmanical intolerance and persecution. There are, however, the ruins of Hindu temples, and others which once belonged to the Hindus now used for the worship of Buddha, in several parts of Ceylon, so that that religion must have extensively prevailed in the island previous to the contests between the two sects. The emblems of Mahadeo appear to be more common than others. Of these buildings and emblems the Cingalese, at the present day, appear to know but little, as they ascribe them to the agency of evil spirits.

Leaving this doubtful point of antiquity to the judgment of the reader, I will proceed to describe, as briefly as I can, the very extensive sect (perhaps the most extensive that is known) of Buddha, whose doctrines are now acknowledged in Ceylon, some parts of Hindustan, Nepal, Thibet, some of the provinces of Tartary, the empires and their dependencies of China and Japan, the kingdoms of Ava and Siam, and most of the various countries. which are situated on the shores of the China Sea.

In this vast extent of country Buddha is known under numerous names, and has been identified by learned European writers, alike with the patriarchs of our own sacred history, the sovereigns of Egypt, and the princes of Hindustan. Some have supposed him to have been Noah, Moses, &c.; others Sesac or Sesostris of Egypt; while others, again, have imagined him to have been the same with Woden, the god of the Scandinavians, whose worship extended during the barbarous ages over the various kingdoms of the west. It will be unnecessary to discuss these theories, as it is my object to describe the practices and the creeds of the Hindu religions, as far as I can comprehend them, as they actually prevail, rather than to enter upon abstruse arguments, which, after all, would be only heaping another conjecture upon the unstable pile that has already preceded it.

Buddha is now worshipped in Ceylon and the Burman empire, under the name of Gautama or Gaudama. It is variously spelt, but there is no distinct difference in the sound. He has many names, some of which are derived from the postures in which he is placed. In Siam he is called Pout and Sommonokodum; Pott or Pote, in Thibet; Saka, in China; Xaka, in Japan; and Chacabout, in Tonquin China. Neither Xaka nor Chacabout, at the time of the Hollanders' embassies to Japan, or Taverner's visit to Tonquin China, appear to have been held either in exclusive worship or in the first estimation. The image of Xaka, as represented in Japan, will be seen in fig. 4, plate 37, and noticed farther under the article JAPAN. In the same degree of consideration, according to Dr. F. Buchanan, Buddha would appear to have been held by the Cochin Chinese; but according to Mr. Finlayson, who accompanied Mr. Craufurd's mission in 1821-2, they seemed to have had no religion at all; at least none that he could comprehend; unless a belief in charms, putting raw meat on their altars, and scattering scraps of gilt and painted paper, could be termed such.

Various data have been assigned to the period of Buddha's existence on earth. The most correct seems to be about five hundred and fifty years before the birth of Christ.

Whatever pretensions to divinity Buddha may have had previous to his appearance on earth, Gautama (or under what other name he may be known)

the present Buddha, was born the son of Soododama Rajah, king of Giamba Dwipa. His mother was Maya Maha. He lived in a most happy, and of course correct manner with his queen Yessadra and forty thousand concubines for thirty-one years, when he turned ascetic for six years, to become a god or something like one. In this brief space of time his sanctity and austerities swept away all preceding peccadilloes. He was then Buddha for forty-five years, when he died, and ascended to the "hall of glory." His government on earth has been since that time, and will be for about two thousand five hundred years more, administered by his regent, Maha Brahma.

But whatsoever Buddha may have been, the doctrines that he inculcated were those of virtue, justice, and benevolence: so that those related of the ninth avatar, and those now ascribed to common practice, are in perfect accordance with each other. His commandments were originally only five; but were afterwards increased to eight, some say to ten. The first five are considered necessary towards salvation; the others are meritorious, but not imperative. The five are:

1st. Not to kill a living creature of any kind.

2d. Not to steal.

3d. Not to commit adultery.

4th. Not to speak an untruth on any occasion.

5th. Not to use intoxicating liquors or drugs.

The meritorious commands are to abstain from female intercourse on the eighth and fifteenth days of the moon's increase, these days being sacred; not to eat after mid-day; and not to sleep on costly, soft, or elevated beds, but on clean mats. The others inculcate, generally, virtue and benevolence, and the practice of individual abstinence.*

* Although Gautama, in the second and fourth commandments, imperatively enjoins honesty and truth, it would appear that, like Vishnu, he did not think cunning and fraud to be sins of a very heinous nature, if they were exercised to answer an end which he deemed good. We accordingly find him practising both against the Assura Nat, to expel them from their heavenly abode Mienmo, in alluring them to drink wine, which he also pretended to do himself, but drank another beverage of a harmless quality. The Assuras followed, as they imagined, the example

The Buddhas do not, as has been before stated, believe in a creation of a world, but in a succession of worlds, the beginning or end of which Gautama did not obtain a knowledge of. The present universe is composed of many worlds. In the centre of these is a large stone (as it is termed), or country of vast extent, in which dwells Buddha. Around this stone is water, and on the outside of that is another stone; and around these again, others: some of which are inhabited by the planets and celestial bodies, and others are uninhabited. Among these outer circles are four other stones or countries, whose inhabitants possess very superior claims to our consideration: one race of them having faces like half moons; another (Giambu, or in Ava Zabudabar, the earth), triangular faces; a third, perfectly round faces; and a fourth, those of an entirely square formation. These stones are severally red, green, yellow, and white, of which colours the complexions of their inhabitants partake, only our defective organs of vision will not allow us to perceive it. The country which we inhabit is the most southern of these stones, and the age of man in it is eighty years. In two of the other islands the inhabitants live to five hundred years, and are in the one nine, and in the other six cubits high; but in the fourth, or northern island, called Unchigru, the people live for a thousand years a life of enchanting and unchequered ease and enjoyment. For labour there is no occasion, as luxuries of every kind spring spontaneously from a tree called the Padeza Bayn, which instead of fruit produces precious garments, and rice, and meats of most exquisite flavour and in every variety, to suit the particular taste of each individual, ready cooked. Of this food, such is its nature, a person need partake only once a week. In this enviable and happy spot, ease and gratification are the order of the day; for no sooner is the repast finished, than the remains of it in a moment disappear. Danger and sickness are here unknown, while unfading youth casts over the countenances of all the perennial sunshine of happiness and tranquillity.

I am almost afraid to proceed with my abstract of the description given

of the god, and became intoxicated. Gautama then called his followers, and dragged them neck and heels away from Mienmo. This story, if it have not the same foundation, is much upon a par with that related of Vishnu at Kashi.