nan), in his "Journey through Mysore." He mentions also a third class, the Numbi, or priests, who officiate in temples, and debase themselves by receiving monthly wages, and by 'performing menial duties to the idols.' But it appears from a subsequent passage*, that the Numbi are an inferior class of the Vaidika, who act in the temples as Pujaris.

The second error into which Mr. Mill has fallen, is the assertion, that the administration of justice by the king in per'son, stands in the sacred books as a leading principle of their 'jurisprudence,' into which 'primeval practice,' the revolu tion of ages has introduced no change †.

'Mr. Mill here makes a considerable mistake, if, as seems from the context, he supposes that, in Hindu states, it is, or was, the practice to administer justice only in the presence of the king. It is true, that, in the Hindu governments, there was always an Aula Regis, or court, at the seat of government, in which the king was supposed, according to the letter of the laws, to preside in person; though he might appoint a deputy, and always had assessors; but it is doubtful how far the practice was kept up; and at all events, it is certain, that there were three other principal courts known to the Hindu laws, and fifteen sorts of inferior courts, all having their several jurisdictions clearly defined, and many of them bearing a striking resemblance to the courts of the English common law.'

pp. 10, 11.

The third instance of alleged mistake relates to Mr. Mill's. representation, that the Hindoos acknowledge nothing as law, but what is found in some one or other of their sacred books;' that where these are silent, custom or the momentary will of the judges,' can alone supply the deficiency; and that consequently, in the majority of cases, the Hindoos are left to all the uncertainty and disadvantage of unwritten law. In opposition to this statement, we are told, that the Institutes of Menu, being a mere text-book,' is never used as an authority in Hindoo courts; and that the commentaries of the Hindoos are considered more decidedly by them to be integral parts, of the body of their law, than any commentary in England.' If this be the case, and these Commentaries are actually referred to in Hindoo practice as authorities, it is strange that: the Abbé Dubois (of whom the Madras literati seem to think so highly) should give the following account of the administration of justice in Southern India. The authority of the

* Buchanan's "Journey through Mysore", &c., vol. i. pp. 308,

333.

t. This assertion, cited as it stands in the original edition of Mr. Mill's work, is considerably modified in the last edition, vol. i. p. 183.

6

Hindu princes, as well as that of the vile emissaries whom they keep in the several provinces of their country, for the purpose of harassing and oppressing the natives in their name, being altogether despotic, and knowing no other rule but their own arbitrary will, there is nothing in India that re•sembles a court of justice. Neither is there a shadow of public right, nor any code of laws by which those who administer justice may be guided. The civil power and the judicial are ge'nerally united, and are exercised, in each district, by the collector or receiver of the imposts.'* We confess that the Abbé does not stand very high with us, either as a well-informed or a trust-worthy witness; but Mr. Mill is not to blame, if, on such a point, his authorities have misled him. After all, the errors pointed out with so much eagerness and some severity, do not affect the substantial accuracy or merit of his luminous and masterly analysis of the Hindoo laws and government.

The subject of the second article will again come before us in noticing a paper in the third volume of the Bombay Transactions. Captain Young was told by a mussulman, that the graves in question, which are called by the natives the habitations of the Racshasas or Giants,' are those of a race of Malays who came from the Eastern islands, and settling on the coast of Masulipatam, afterwards spread into the interior. In them, as in the coolies of Malabar, were found chatties ́of different sizes, containing bones; and from this circumstance it is inferred as probable, that the bodies were in the first instance burned, and the ashes and bones afterwards collected and lodged in the chatties as urns; a mode of burial resembling that which is practised by the inhabitants of Otaheite. The external shape of these graves is invariably circular: the largest of them measured twenty-five feet in diameter.

Nos. III. and VII. contain some useful geological information, but which will not admit of analysis.

The most curious and interesting paper in the volume, is the fifth, On the origin and antiquity of the Hindu Zodiack;" the object of which is to prove, that the Indians have borrowed the dodecatemory division of the heavens, with the figures, &c. of the zodiacal constellations, immediately from the Greeks. This hypothesis was first started by M. Montucla, but was derided as a notion bordering on frenzy;' and Sir W. Jones tells us, that the Brahmans were always too proud to borrow their science from either Greeks, Arabs, or

Dubois's Manners and Customs, p. 493. Cited in Mill's India, vol. i. p. 246.

any nation of foreigners. So far is this from being correct, that it is acknowledged among Hindoos, that their earliest • astronomical rules were those of Maya,'-a foreigner, from a country of Mleschahs (barbarians), an Asurah, or species of divinity, and born in Romaka.

Was Assyria, pronounced Asuria, then, the birth-place of the Maya (Magus), the Asurah, the first astrologer, who propagated the science of the heavens and the influences of the heavenly bodies among the Hindus ?' p. 71.

Yavana, or Yavaniswarah (lord of the Yavans), the second great authority in astronomy among the Hindoos, was also a foreigner; and there can be little doubt that he was a Greek.

'Though a Mlescha, a barbarian or foreigner, he was received as a Rishi (saint) on account of his extensive knowledge and the purity of his character. Having arrived in India, in the early ages of their history, he is reported to have been the bosom friend of Garga, the sanctified Guru (teacher) of Krishna. Fable apart, he was an illustrious teacher of enthusiastic scholars. His words were received as holy truths. In astrology, in astronomy, in ethics, and even in points of religious ceremonies, and the magical influence of charms, his ordinances, as proceeding from divinity, were immediately committed to their immortal language by his learned pupils, and now form a large volume, the basis of Hindu science. They are still extant, either as a collection by themselves, or scattered in the numerous commentaries of Hindu works of science; and I feel much confidence in proposing the question, "Shall not the investigator of Yavaniswarah's sayings discover the golden verses of Pythagoras?"

pp. 74, 75.

The arguments by which the learned Writer supports his hypothesis, appear to us very little short of conclusive; but on such a point, we speak with great diffidence. It is very possible, that the Hindoo and Greek zodiacal systems had a common origin; yet, the identity of proper names seems to warrant the opinion, that one was immediately borrowed from the other, and Mr. Whish adduces strong reasons for his conclusion, that the Greek zodiac was the original. We have already seen the close resemblance which the philosophy of the Hindoos bears to that of the elder Greek schools. Between the Sanscrit and the Greek, there is also a philological affinity too close to be accidental: the resemblance is apparent, not merely in the number of declensions, in the numerals, and many of the monosyllabic roots, but in the general concord and government. No philologist acquainted with both languages, Sir W. Jones says, could help believing them to have sprung from some common source, which perhaps no longer exists.'

It is

not, however, in the language itself, so much as in the artificial

forms and rules of its structure as perfected by the grammarian, that this resemblance is so striking. Grammar implies the previous existence of a literature; and the Sanscrit must therefore be the cultivated form of a vernacular dialect more ancient than itself. Like the Arabic of the Koran, it may be questioned whether the pure Sanscrit was ever vernacular Whence then did the first Hindoo grammarians derive their system? Was it their own invention? Or was it, like their zodiac, borrowed from the Greeks?

Indian tradition invariably points to the north-west as the quarter from which their institutions, learning, and religion emanated. Cashmeer, which is holy land to the Hindoo, when first drained of its waters by Casyapa, was peopled with gods who descended from heaven for that purpose. Prior to this event, which is said to have taken place at the commencement of the present manwantara, or cycle, the whole valley was covered with a lake. Such is still the tradition of the country; and Bernier, while he rejects the legend, that the outlet was formed by human art, is not disposed to deny that this region was once covered with water. This Casyapa, or Kasheb, as "Bernier calls him-while Major Wilford makes his name to mean the lord of the Chasyas, and is inclined to identify him with the classical Cassiopaus-this lord of Cashmeer is transformed by the Mohammedans into King Solomon, who has one of his many takhts or thrones on a hill overlooking the capital; while another tradition makes Moses to have died at Cashmeer! There are, indeed, Bernier tells us, many marks of Judaism to be found in the country; and the Jewish appearance of the villagers is mentioned by several European travellers. This is not more remarkable than that the Afghauns, who appear to have descended from the Indian Caucasus or Mount Chasyas, should lay claim to an Israelitish descent. They " maintain, that they are descended from Afghaun, the son of Ismia or Berkia, son of Saul, king of Israel; and all their his'tories of their nation begin with relating the transactions of 'the Jews from Abraham down to the captivity.'+ The Arabs call them Solimaunee; and whoever the Solomon was who headed them, he has bequeathed his name to the range of mountains known under that appellation. We are not at all disposed to think that Casyapa was a Jew, or to assign a Jewish origin to the Hindoo philosophy,--although it is singular enough, that both Pythagoras and Zoroaster have been supposed to have

The Cashmerian is said to make the nearest approach to the ancient Sanscrit.

+ Elphinstone's Caubul. Vol. i. p. 248.

been indebted to Hebrew literature for their purer theology. The inference, however, which we are disposed to draw from the seconcurrent fables and traditions, is this; that there existed, in remote times, in some region to the north-west of India, a focus of civilization, which attracted to itself all the treasures of ancient wisdom, sacred or profane, and from which the Persian, Greek, and Hindoo science diverged; and that the ubiquitous children of Israel found their way thither, whether as captives, traders, or emigrants, in the wake of conquest or commerce. Upon this subject, the following observations, taken from a work probably familiar to most of our readers, may serve to throw a ray of light.

Besides the maritime trade' (carried on by the ports of the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea in the earliest times), a commercial communication with India appears to have been maintained by the Persians and Assyrians, by way of Bactria and the Caspian provinces; and this was probably the most ancient of all. Of the existence of an early intercourse between Persia and India, there are abundant traces in the language, legends, and religion of the respective nations. The Zend, the sacred language of ancient Persia, is only a dialect of the Sanscrit; and between the Kourdish and Loorish dialects and the Hindostanee, there is a considerable affinity. The Sabian idolatry appears to have been common to the two countries; and what is still more remarkable, a famous resort of Hindoo fireworshippers is found on the western shores of the Caspian*. Balkh, the mother of cities, the Mecca of the Magians, the capital of Persia in the ages of fable, and, in later times, of a Greek kingdom, could not have owed to any other cause than its advantageous position for commerce, its consequence and wealth. Every thing points to Bactria as to the very centre of early civilization," the key of central Asia, and the link between the east and the west." It was, in fact, the grand rendezvous on the high road from the Caspian gates, not only to the country of the Indi, but to Sogdiana and Serica; and by this route, a commercial intercourse was maintained between China and ancient Europe. The produce of India was, in like manner, transported on the backs of camels from the banks of the Indus to those of the Oxus, down which river they were conveyed to the Caspian Sea, and distributed, partly by land-carriage and partly by navigable rivers, through the different countries lying between the Caspian and the Euxine. The magnitude and value of this commerce may be inferred from the circumstance mentioned by Pliny, that Seleucus Nicator, at the time of his assassination, entertained thoughts of forming a junction between the two seas by means of a canal. A branch of this commerce was carried on overland by way of the Caspian gates and the great caravan routes to

According to Texeira, the province of Ghilan bore the appellation of Hindu-al-asfar, Yellow India.-As. Res. vol. iii. p. 78.