entertained about rank and caste blinded the mind, and perverted the judgment; so that any just and impartial standard on the real merit and demerit of moral action was out of the question. It is so now. It is difficult for the exclusive and the proud to arrive at the full conviction and acquiescence of the truth that all men are on an equality; that the principles of equity are like the light, pure and universal, not one thing in the palace and another in the lowly hut, but one in application to the principles of action, whosoever the actor may be. I have heard the flexible and dangerous expedient of doing evil that good may come defended with much subtlety by men of great ability and learning, and apparently with the full persuasion that they were in the right. Their reasonings, or rather sophistry, and their writings, very often transform vices into virtues and virtues into vices.

On the subject of grammar, rhetoric, and poetry, the Hindus possess admirable treatises both in Sanscrit and in the vernaculars. Grammatical rules of the most exquisite structure, comprising within the most sententious brevity wonderfully comprehensive matter, are a distinguishing peculiarity in their philology. Their short, obscure, and technical sentences are happily compared in one of the Tamil grammars to the retina of the human eye, which, although one of the smallest of superficies, is capable of receiving and containing the multiform and varied objects of a boundless prospect, the countless beauties of nature's expanded panorama. There is much in their rhetorical works that would not be applicable to similar treatises in the West; yet to the student who wishes. to acquire facility and effectiveness in address, they are invaluable. It is not necessary to say that poetry of every kind, some of it of the most remarkable character, abounds both in the learned Sanscrit and in the other languages.

CHAPTER V.

HINDU LITERATURE CONTINUED.-SOME ACCOUNT OF THE HEROIC POEMS RAMAYANA AND MAHABHARAT. -THE HINDU DRAMA, MEGHADUTA, THE CLOUD MESSENGER.-SACANTOLA, THE FATAL RING. THE NALODAYA.-HEEREN'S OPINION OF HINDU AND GERMANIC POETRY.

THE great national epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharat, have been referred to as the most invaluable productions in the Sanscrit language. I shall here, with as much brevity as possible, present some notices of their contents. A glance at the first two books of the gigantic Ramayana will suffice to give an insight into the whole work, and serve also as a specimen of the numerous productions which, in imitation thereof, have been written in the Sanscrit, and also in the vernaculars. The subject of the Ramayana is the victory of the divine hero Rama over Ravana, prince of the Rakshas, or evil genii. It is not an allegorical representation of good triumphing over evil, but a real epic. Rama was no doubt a historic person. The Rakshas had obtained supremacy over the benevolent deities, and could not be overcome because they retained a promise of invulnerability. In this emergency the gods invoke the aid of Vishnu, and pray him to become incarnate for Ravana's subjugation. Vishnu complies, and becomes incarnate in four brothers. The chief hero is therefore a god-man; he overcomes Ravana, and puts him to death, and returns to his celestial mansions with his subjects. This is the principal matter of this most popular poem, and it is treated in a manner so rich and copious as to merit comparison with the most splendid productions of the muse.

Rama appeared as the son of Dasaratha, a wise and pious prince who dwelt at Ayodya. The description of the royal city is one of the most striking pieces of composition. This city, the modern Oude, is said to have been founded by Manu, the first sovereign who ruled over mankind. Its streets, well arranged, were refreshed by ceaseless streams of water; its walls, variously ornamented, resembled the chequered surface of a chess-board. It was filled with merchants, dramatists, elephants, horses, and chariots. The clouds of fragrant incense darkened the sun at noon-day, but the glowing radiance of the resplendent diamonds and jewels that adorned the persons of the ladies, relieved the gloom. The city was decorated with precious stones, filled with riches, furnished with abundance of provisions, adorned with magnificent temples, whose towers, like the gods, dwelt in the heavens,-such was their height-palaces, whose lofty summits were in perpetual conflict with the clouds,—baths, and gardens. The air was embalmed with incense, with the perfume of flowers, and the fragrance of sacrificial offerings. It was inhabited by the twin-born, the regenerate, profoundly instructed in the Vedas, endowed with every good quality, full of sincerity, zeal, and compassion, and like the venerated sages.

Then comes an episode. The King, who was engaged in the efficacious sacrifice of a horse, was instructed to secure, in order to its success, the marriage of his daughter Shanta with an ascetic who dwelt in the solitudes of a forest. He was enticed by a company of maidens who assumed the guise of sages to abandon his ascetic life, and he became the husband of Shanta. Vishnu becomes incarnate. The gods beseech Brahma to engage on their behalf against Ravana. Vishnu then arrives on an eagle dazzling in splendour like the sun on a cloud. Vishnu promises an incarnation of eleven thousand years for the destruction of Ravana. Eventually the four brothers were born. A sage, aware that none but Rama the son of Dasaratha could overcome the evil genii

that prevented the sacrifice he wished to perform, is introduced to the aged monarch. He obtains a promise of being accepted in his petition. He requests the aid and company of Rama. The father is distressed at this, and cannot imagine that the beloved strippling can cope with demons in conflict. The sage, witnessing his reluctance, becomes incensed, at which the earth quaked, and amazement seized the gods. He prevails : the King kisses his sons Rama and Lakshman, and confides them to Visva Mitra the sage. A shower of odoriferous flowers intimates the approbation of heaven, and a choir of celestial choristers celebrates the event with songs of joy. The journey affords the poet a new and exuberant subject. Rama obtains from Visva Mitra weapons, as Achilles did from Thetis. The weapons, however, are of a different description; they are ever ready at his call on pronouncing a formula; they become personified, and converse with their master. The Ganga is reached, and described as descending from the Himalaya to purify the world and to replenish the ocean. Rama's marriage is described. He is introduced to Sita's father, and accepted. He had promised that whosoever could bend a certain bow he had, should be favoured with the hand of Sita. It is brought on an eight-wheeled car by the united efforts of eight hundred men. Rama breaks it. Sita is obtained, and her sister becomes the wife of Lakshman. They return to Ayodya. Eventually the expedition against Ravana is undertaken in consequence of his having carried off Sita. Hanuman, a Simian hero, obtains an interview with her, and delivers a message. The sea between the Indian Peninsula and Lankra (Ceylon) is filled up by mountains uptorn by Hanuman the leader of marshalled monkeys, and a bridge is thus constructed. The army passes over, and besieges the fortress of Ravana. The description of the conflicts between the armies of Rama and Ravana is the most graphic and exciting, minute in detail, and crowded with everything that renders war terrible. Ravana is overthrown. Sita is recovered. She is subjected to the ordeal of fire at

Romisseram to prove her innocence. Brahma and his attendant celestials appear, and he pronounces his benediction on them. Dasaratha the father arrives, and they all proceed in company to Ayodya, where Rama places his brother Lakshman on the throne, and ascends to heaven. Such in part is the scheme of this wonderful poem.

The other great epic, known as the Mahabharat, is a work of great ability. It is considered by competent judges one of the richest specimens of epic poetry that any age or nation has produced, and eminently distinguished for majesty of style. It is highly venerated by the Hindus of every sect, and is at once the most popular and voluminous of their writings. Its comprehensiveness is proverbial in Bengal, as appears in the proverb, "Apart from the Bharat, what narratives are there?" The varied style of this epic, and the number of subjects therein discussed, would lead us to suppose that the hypothesis once entertained, but now abandoned, respecting the Iliad and Odyssey, might be more successfully tested in regard to the Mahabharat. The immense extent of the poem precludes the possibility of its being the work of one author. Yet, according to the compiler, we have but a fragment of what was recited before the assembly of the gods.

“The subject of the poem is the struggle that took place between the Pandus and Kurus for regal supremacy: the former are the sons of the old blind king, Dhritarashtra, and are one hundred in number: the Pandus are five, Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, and the twin brothers Nakula, and Sahadeva, the Castor and Pollux of Oriental mythology. The first of these, Yudhisthira, is the Agamemnon of his day; he claims emphatically to be the King of men,' and performs a sacrifice in proof of his claims to universal dominion: at the same time his right, if allowed, must have more resembled the feudal authority of a powerful chief over others of lesser note, than the paramount sway of a mighty sovereign. Bhima and Arjuna are the heroes of the fight. The former is of a