sway in a community where a knowledge of religious worship, from its complex variety, becomes a task of arduous labour; and where, at the same time, a performance of the rites of his religion, is deemed an obligation indispensably incumbent on the Hindoo, in his acquisition of future happiness. These employments were judged of sufficient magnitude to occupy the whole attention of the Bramin, and he was strictly interdicted from all temporal affairs. The authority of exercising the functions of royalty, seems to have devolved without reserve on the Chittery or Rajah, and his possessions were held hereditary in the line of legitimate male primogeniture. The youngest branch of this race was employed in the army, and entrusted with the charge of the forts and strong holds of the country. The occupation of a merchant, with the transactions of traffic, was committed to the Bhyse, or Banian, and it was declared unlawful for the other tribes. to engage in commerce. The husbandman, the artisan, the private soldier, and the labourer, compose the Looder, or the fourth cast of Hindoo; and each of these respective professions was exclusively pursued. Thus, distinctly arranged, and on the severest penalties prohibited from extraneous mixture, or the admission of proselytes, the Hindoo government

acquired an uniformity and vigour, the natural result of its principles*.

WERE an analogy ascertained between the mythology of the Hindoos and Egyptians, perceptible traces of which are occasionally presented, it might then become a matter of doubt which people, for the greatest space of time, have been the most polished and enlightened. From the examples which have been brought forward for the explanation of some of the most conspicuous parts of the mythology of the Hindoos, and to demonstrate the probable antiquity of that nation, it may seem. that I favour the belief of Egypt's having received a portion of her stock of science and religion from India. With a deference to popular opinion, and disclaiming all fabrication of system, I must avow an inclination to this opinion. One fact amongst some others, afforded me a fair proof of the high antiquity of the Hindoos, as a civilized nation, and marks a strong disapprobation of a foreign inter

course.

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Many of the fences that marked the limits of the respective tribes, are now broken down. The Bramins of the Decan and Punjal, have taken up the sword, and are seen crowding the ranks of an army; the Chittery occasionally takes himself to traffic, and the Sooder has become the inheritor of principalities. Mararow, the gallant Marhatta officer and chief of Ghooty, was of the fourth, cast of Hindoos.

THEY are forbidden to cross the river Attoc, the name of which, in certain dialects of their language, signifies prohibition; and should they pass this boundary, they are held unclean, and in the strict sense of religious law, forfeit their rank in the tribes they may be classed in. They were also, either forbidden from embarking on the ocean, or they were deterred from undertaking marine expeditions, by the difficulties incurred in procuring at sea, the requisite diet for a Hindoo. The probability therefore is not apparent, that any part of a people fenced in by, this restriction, and who were so proudly centered in themselves, as to reject with abhorrence, the admission of proselytes, would have emigrated into a distant country, and brought from thence a system of religious worship; nor does any probable tradition authorize the belief of an Egyptian colony having been established in India. The capacious space which Hindostan occupies on the face of the globe, the advantages it derives from soil and climate, and from its numerous rivers, some of them of the first class of magnitude, may be adduced as reasonable arguments of its having been peopled at a more early period of time than Egypt, which does not possess the like local benefits. If the degree of perfection which manufactures have attained, be received

VOL. I.

as a criterion to judge of the progress of civilization, and if it be also admitted as a test of deciding on the antiquity of a people, who adopt no foreign improvements, little hesitation would occur, in bestowing the palm of precedence on Hindostan, whose fabrics of the most delicate and beautiful contexture, have been long held in admiration, and have hitherto stood unrivalled. Let me conclude this comparative view, with observing, and I trust dispassionately, that when we see a people possessed of an ample stock of science of well digested ordinances, for the protection and improvement of societyand of a religion whose tenets consist of the utmost refinement, and variety of ceremonyand, at the same time, observe amongst other Asiatic nations, and the Egyptians of former times, but partial distributions of knowledge, law, and religion-we must be led to entertain a supposition, that the proprietors of the lesser, have been supplied from the sources of the greater fund. These reflections which have been furnished by experience and various information, will perhaps afford more satisfaction, than the laboured and perplexed' proofs of dates and etymology, which are often framed, as they most commodiously accord with some favourite hypothesis.

AMONGST the Hindoos, marriage, when it' can be performed with any degree of conveniency, is deemed an indispensable duty, and' it is believed, that propagating the species in that state, entitles parents to singular marks of the Divine favour. They shew a disapprobation of celibacy by many marks of opprobrium and scorn; and I have frequently observed, that when a Hindoo, from question, or other causes, has been brought to the affirmation of his single state, he has appeared disconcerted and ashamed, and immediately attributed his solitary condition to ill fortune, or some domestic inconveniency. It is to this institution, which is strongly recommended, and, I may say, even enforced, that the generally extensive population of Hindostan and its speedy recovery from the calamities of war and famine, may be largely ascribed. The entire system of domestic ordinance and economy of the Hindoos, is founded on a firm, yet simple basis; from which arise effects, happy in themselves, and powerfully operative in uniting the bonds of society. By the ancient laws of the country, the wife depends for the enjoyment

* This word, used in the Sanscrit language, is often termed Callian, which signifies pleasure. The Hindoos, in common usage, have but one wife, and when this rule is deviated from, it is considered a species of indecency. There is a set, though not numerous, of mendicants, called Joguees, or Byraghees, who live in a state of celibacy.

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