: 


= 


ede Oe 


uy 


ASTATIC RESEARCHES; 


ORs 


Crausactions of the Society, 
INSTITUTED IN BENGAL, 


FOR ENQUIRING INTO 


THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES, THE ARTS, AND 
SCIENCES, AND LITERATURE 


OF 


A SL A, 


VOLUME XVI. 


Cae Ay 
a gay 
Teutta; 
FROM THE GOVERNMENT GAZETTE PRESS, No. 1, MISSION ROW, 
BY G. H. HUTTMANN. 


1828. 


ve Reta ; 
Ks 


al 


CONTENTS OF THE 16th VOLUME. 


I, 
A Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus. By H. H. Wilson, Esq. ae ane 


II. 
Statistical Sketch of Kamaon. By G. W. Trazll, Esq. +10 soe coe cov 000 ave 


III. 
On a new method of determining the Longitude, from the Observed Interval between 
the Transit of the Moon’s Enlightened Limb, and that of the Sun, or of one or 
more Stars. By Captain P. W. Grant, .. en vee eos see eee 


IV. 
Notice of the Khyen Tribe, inhabiting the Yuma Mountains, between Ava and Aracan. 
2 By Lieutenant T. A. Trant, e00 200 e00 o00 ooo 00 ooo 


V. 
Translation of an Inscription on the Great Bell of Rangoon, with Notes and Illustra- 
tions. By the Reverend G. H. Hough, .. eve voe cos ove ooo 


VI. 
Sanscrit Inscriptions at Abi. By Horace Hayman Wilson, Esq. eee oo 


Vil. 
On the Geography and Population of Asam. By Captain John Bryan Neufville, 


137 


261 


270 


284 


ool 


il j CONTENTS. 


VIII. 
Fiistorical and Statistical Sketch of Aracan. By Charles Paton, Esq. aoe toe 


IX. 
On the Sehr Mohereh, or Snake Stone. By Captain J. D. Herbert, ae one 


X. a 
Notice of the Occurrence of Coal and Lignite in the Himalaya. By Lieutenant 
Cautley, eo0 eoe eoe ooo eee @oo oon eoo eee 
XI. 


Notice on the Occurrence of Coal, within the Indo Gangetic Tract of Mountains. By 

Captain J. D. Herbert, see ee soe aa At ous bop 
XII. 

Notices of the Languages, Literature, and Religion of the Bauddhas of Nepal and 

Bhot. By B. H. Hodgson, Lsq. eee Bs eee 


PGUb B 
Notice of Three Tracts received from Nepal. By Horace Hayman Wilson, Esq. 


LIST OF PLATES. 


1. Inscription on the Bell at Rangoon, eee ove oe see eo 
2. A Sinhpho Hut and Arms, &c. ... ese te ove ove we 
3. Letters current in Nepal and Bhote, ese ose oes see one 
4. Different Alphabets known in Nepal, ee woe eee soe vee 
a. 


Bauddha Divinities, &c. ses 


Page. 


358 


387 


397 


409 


450 


TRANSACTIONS 


OF THE 


ASIATIC SOCIETY. 


I. 


A Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus. 


By HORACE HAYMAN WILSON, Ese. Sec. As. Soc. 


INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 


THE Hindu religion is a term, that has been hitherto employed in a-collec- 
8 ploy 
tive sense, to designate a faith and worship of an almost endlessly diversified 


description: to trace some of its varieties is the object of the present enquiry. 


An early division of the Hindu system, and one conformable to the ge- 
nius of all Polytheism, separated the practical and popular belief, from the 
speculative or philosophical doctrines. Whilst the common people addressed 
their hopes and fears to stocks and stones, and multiplied by their credulity 
and superstition the grotesque objects of their veneration, some few, of deep- 
er thought and wider contemplation, plunged into the mysteries of man and 

B 


2 ELIGIOUS SECTS 


nature, and endeavoured assiduously, if not successfully, to obtain just no- 
tions of the cause, the character and consequence of existence. This distinction 


prevails even in the Védas, which have their Karma Kanda and Jnydna 


Kanda, or Ritual and Theology. 


The worship of the populace being addressed to different divinities, the 
followers of the several gods, naturally separated into different associations, 
and the adorers of BraumA, Visunu, and Siva or other phantoms of their 
faith, became distinct and insulated bodies, in the general aggregate: the 
conflict of opinion on subjects, on which human reason has never yet agreed, 
led to similar differences in the philosophical class, and resolved itself into 


the several Dersanas, or schools of philosophy. 


It may be supposed, that some time elapsed before the practical wor- 
ship of any deity was more than a simple preference, or involved the asser- 
tion of the supremacy of the object of its adoration, to the degradation or 
exclusion of the other gods:* in like manneralso, the conflicting opinions 
were matters rather of curiosity than faith, and were neither regarded as 
subversive of each other, nor as incompatible with the public worship: and 
hence, notwithstanding the sources of difference that existed in the parts, 
the unity of the whole remained undisturbed: in this condition, indeed, the 
apparent mass of the Brahmanical order at least, still continues: professing 
alike to recognise implicitly the authority 6f the Védas, the worshippers of 


Siva, or of Visunu, and the maintainers of the Sdnk’hya or Nydya doctrines, 


* One division of some antiquity, is the preferential appropriation of the four chief divinities to 
the four originai casts; thus Siva is the Adideva of the Brahmans, Visunu of the Kshettriyas, 
Braun of the Vaisyas, and Ganrsa of the Stdras. 


formazan: afsarat ag area: | 
SATA HATAGTA era weaTaR | fe aay 


OF THE HINDUS. 3 


consider themselves, and even each other, as orthodox members of the Hindu 
community. 

To he interwal incongruities of the system, which did not affect its in- 
tegral existence, others were, in time, superadded, that threatened to dissolve 
or destroy the whole: of this nature was the exclusive adoration of the old 
deities, or of new forms of them ; and even it may be presumed, the introduc- 
tion of new divinities. In all these respects, the Purdnas and Tantras were 
especially instrumental, and they not only taught their followers to assert the 
unapproachable superiority of the gods they worshipped, but inspired them 
with feelings* of animosity towards those who presumed to dispute that supre- 


* Thus in the Bhagavat. 
HqaAAUTIay BY qT aPAqAAT: | 
qr fwae vay wegreaufcafea: | 


Those who profess the worship of Buava, (Siva,) and those who follow their doctrines, are 
heretics and enemies of the sacred Séstras,—Again. 


qqear arcaas fear YauAay 
qIUAUAAT: UAV TATA: | 


Those desirous of final emancipation, abandoning the hideous gods of the devils, pursue their 
devotions, calm, blameless, and being parts of NARAYANA. 
The Padma Purdna is more personal towards VIsHNU. 


fauzunarae faagre: WaATaa I 
fxasreraqeetr aca ura crew | 
aarafarwarany aawel RATTAN 
From even looking at Visunu, the wrath of Siva is kindled, and from his wrath, we fall assuted- 


ly into a horrible hell; let not, therefore, the name of VisuNu ever be pronounced. The same work 
is, however, cited by the Vatsunavas, for a very opposite doctrine. 


qaed afctay asameaqaraa | 
gia wraedidtad wats cata: | 


He who abandons VAsupreva:and worships any other god, is like the fool, who being thirsty, 


4, RELIGIOUS SECTS 


macy: in this conflict the worship of Braum& has disappeared,* as wellas, in- 
deed, that of the whole pantheon, except Visunu, Siva and Saxt1, or their 
modifications; with respect to the two former, in fact, the representatives 
have borne away the palm from the prototypes, and Krisuna, RAma, or the 
Linga, are almost the only forms under which Visunu and Siva are now 


adored in most parts of India.t 


The varieties of opinion kept pace with those of practice, and six here- 
tical schools of philosophy disputed the pre-eminence with their orthodox bre- 
thren: we have little or no knowledge of these systems, and even their names 
are not satisfactorily stated: they seem, however, to be the Saugata or 


Baud@ha, Arhata, or Jain, and Varhaspatya, or Atheistical, with their several 


subdivisions.t 


sinks a well in the bank of the Ganges—The principle goes still further, and those who are inimical 
to the followers of a Deity, are stigmatised as his personal foes—thus in the Adi Purdna, Visunu 
says : 
APRA TAHT GWA FT Ua aa FAA II 
wert waar aie wa wet waza! 
He to whom my votary isa friend, is my friend—he who is opposed to him, is no friend of 


mine—be assured, Dhananjaya, of this : 


* Siva himself, in the form of K ALA BHAIRAVA, tore off Braum i's fifth head, for presuming to say, 
that he was Branmg, the eternal and omnipotent cause of the world, and even the creator of Siva, 
notwithstanding the four Vepas and the personified Omkéra, had all given evidence, that this great, 
true and indescribable deity was Siva himself. The whole story occurs in the Kast hand of the 


Shénda Purdna, and its real signification is sufficiently obvious. 


+ The great text-book of the Vaishnavas is the Bhégavat, with which it may be supposed the 
present worship, in a great measure, originated, although, the Mahabharat and other older works had 
previously introduced this divinity. The worship of the Zingam is, no doubt, very ancient, although 
it has received, within a few centuries, its present degree of popularity: the Kési Khavd was evident- 
ly written to enforce it, and at Benares, its worship entirely overshadows every other ritual. 


{ In a work written by the celebrated Médhava, describing the different sects as they existed 
in his day, entitledthe Sarva Daréana; the Vérhaspatyas, Lokayatas, and Charvdkas are identified, 


OF THE HINDUS. 5 


Had the difference of doctrine taught in the heretical schools been con- 
fined to tenets of a merely speculative nature, they would, probably, have en- 
countered little opposition, and excited little enmity among the Brahmanical class, 
of which, latitude of opinion is a very common characteristic. The founder 
of the Atheistical school, however, VrinaspatTi, attacks both the Védas and 
the Brahmans, and asserts that the whole of the Hindu system is a contrivance 
of the Priesthood, to secure a means of livelihood for themselves,* whilst the 
Bauddhas and Jainas, equally disregarding the Védas and the Brahmans, 
the practice and opinions of the Hindus, invented a set of gods for themselves, 
and deposed the ancient pantheon: these aggressions provoked resentment : 
the writings of these sects are alluded to with every epithet of anger 
and contempt, and they are all anathematised as heretical and atheistical : 
more active measures than anathemas, it may be presumed, were had recourse 
to: the followers of Vrinaspati, having no worship at all, easily eluded the 
storm, but the Bauddhas of Hindustan were annihilated by its fury, and the 
Jainas apparently evaded it with difficulty, although they have undoubtedly 


survived its terrors, and may now defy its force. 


The varieties thus arising from innovations in practice and belief, have 
differed, it may be concluded, at different eras of the Hindu worship. To trace 


and are really advocates of an atheistical doctrine, denying the existence of a God, or a future state, 
and referring creation to the aggregation of but four elements. The Baudd’has according to the same 
authority, admit of four subdivisions, the Madhydmikas, Yogécharas, Sautrdntikas and Vaibhéshicas. 
The Jains or Arhats, as still one of the popular divisions, we shall have occasion to notice in the text. 


* Vrihaspati has the following texts to this effect : 
afaera aaraet ac wuaiss| 
afgirertiarnspiaafaqeata 


“ The Agnihotra, the three Vedas, the Tridanda, the smearing of ashes, are only the livelihood 
Cc 


6 RELIGIOUS SECTS 2 


the character of those which have latterly disappeared, or to investigate the 
remote history of some which still remain and are apparently of ancient date, 
are tasks for which we are far from being yet prepared : the enquiry is, in itself 
so vast, and so little progress has been made in the studies necessary to its elu- 
cidation, that it must yet remain in the obscurity in which it has hitherto been 
enveloped; so ambitious a project as that of piercing the impenetrable gloom 
has not instigated the present attempt, nor has it been proposed to undertake 
so arduous a labour, as the investigation and comparison of the abstruse notions 
of the philosophical sects.* The humbler aim of these researches has been 
that of ascertaining the actual condition of the popular religion of the inha- 
bitants of some of the provinces subject to the Bengal Government; and as a 
very great variety prevails in that religion, the subject may be considered as 
not devoid of curiosity and interest, especially as it has been left little better 
than a blank, in the voluminous compositions or compilations, professing to 


give an account of the native country of the Hindus. 


The description of the different sects of the Hindus, which I propose to 


offer, is necessarily superficial : it would, indeed, have been impossible to have 


of those who have neither intellect nor spirit.” After ridiculing the Sraddha, shrewdly enough, he 

Says : ee t 
aagmaaraarargefateafers | 

qaatmaarante aaaaaateq 


Hence it is evident, that it was a mere contrivance of the Brahmans to gain a livelihood, to or- 
dain such ceremonies for the dead, and no other reason can be given for them. Of the Vedas, he says: 


2ar eee Rarer aes ye fear att: tN 
The three Authors of the Vedas were Buffoons, Rogues, and Fiends—and cites texts in proof of 
this assertion. 


* Something of this has been very well done by Mr. Ward, in his account of the Hindus: and 
since this Essay was read before the Society, the account given by H. T. Colebrooke, Esq. in the 
first part of the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, of the Sankhya and Nydya Systems, 
has left little more necessary on this subject. 


OF THE HINDUS. is 


é 


adopted the only unexceptionable method of acquiring an accurate 
knowledge of their tenets and observances, or of studying the numerous 
works in Sanserit, Persian, or the provincial dialects of Hindi, on which they 
are founded. I have been obliged to content myself, therefore, with a cursory 
inspection of a few of those compositions, and to depend for. much of my in- 
formation on oral report, filling up or correcting from these two sources, the 
errors and omissions of two works, on this subject professedly, from which 


I have derived the ground work of the whole account. 


The works alluded to are in the Persian language, though both were 
written by Hindu authors: the first was compiled by Sirat Sinn, Munshi to the 
Raja of Benares ; the second by Matuurd Navn, late librarian of the Hindu 
College, at the same city, a man of great personal respectability and eminent 
acquirements : these works contain a short history of the origin of the various 
sects, and descriptions of the appearance, and observances, and present condi- 
tion of their followers : they comprise all the known varieties, with one or two 
exceptions, and, indeed, at no one place in India could the enquiry be so well 
prosecuted as at Benares.* The work of Marnura NAru is the fullest and 
most satisfactory, though it leaves much to be desired, and much more than I 
have been able to supply. In addition to these sources of information, I have 
had frequent recourse to a work of great popularity and extensive circulation, 


which embodies the legendary history of all the most celebrated Bhaktas or 


* The acknowledged resort of all the vagabonds of India, and all who have no where else to 
repair to: so, the dst K’hand. 


afagfafarir Qararercfaafitar: | 
ara aurea asrarcrwatafa: 1 


To those who are strangers to the Sruéi and Smriti, (Religion and Law) , to those who have 
never known the observance of pure and indispensable rites ; to those who have no other place to 
repair to ; to those, is Benares an asylum.” 


8 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


devotees of the Vaishnava order. This work is entitled the Bhakta Mald. The 
original, in a difficult dialect of Hindi, was composed by NAsuis1, about 250 
years ago, and is little more than a catalogue, with brief and obscure references 
to some leading circumstances connected with the life of each individual, and 
from the inexplicit nature of its allusions, as well as the difficulty of its style, 
is far from intelligible to the generality even of the natives. The work, in its 
present form, has received some modifications, and obvious additions from a 
later teacher, NArAyan Dis, whose share in the composition is, no doubt, consi- 
derable, but cannot be discriminated from NAsuisi’s own, beyond the evi- 
dence furnished by the specification of persons unquestionably subsequent to 
his time. —NArAyan Dis probably wrote in the reign of Su4n Jenin. The bre- 
vity and obscurity of the original work pervade the additional matter, and to 
remedy these defects, the original text, or Mula, has been taken as a guide for 
an amplified notice of its subjects, or the Tika of Krisuna DAs; and the work, as 
usually met with, always consists of these two divisions. The Tikd is dated Sam- 
wat, 1769 or A. D. 1713. Besides these, a translation of the Z%kd, or a version 
of it in the more ordinary dialect of Hindustan, has been made by an ano- 
nymous author, and a copy of this work, as well as of the original, has furnish- 
ed me with materials for the following account. The character of the Bhakta 
Mala will best appear from the extracts of translations from it to be hereafter 
introduced: it may be sufficient here to observe, that it is much less of a his- 
torical than legendary description, and that the legends are generally insipid 
and extravagant: such as it is, however, it exercises a powerful influence in 
Upper India, on popular belief, and holds a similar place in the superstitions of 
this country, as that which was occupied in the darkest ages of the Roman 
Catholic faith, by the Golden Legend and Acts of the Saints.* 


* In further illustration of our text, with regard to the instrumentality of the Purdzas in ge- 
nerating religious distinctions amongst the Hindus, and as affording a view of the Vaishnava feelings 
on this subject, we may appeal to the Padma Puréna. In the Uttara Khanda, or last portion of 


OF THE HINDUS. 9 


SECTION II. 


STATE OF THE HINDU RELIGION, ANTERIOR TO ITS 
PRESENT CONDITION. 


Although I have neither the purpose nor the power to enter into any 
detail of the remote condition of the Hindu faith, yet as its present state is 


of comparatively very recent origin, it may form a not unnecessary, nor 


this work, towards the end of it, several sections are occupied with a dialogue between Srva and 
PArvATf, in which the former teaches the latter the leading principles of the Vaishnava faith. Two 
short sections are devoted to the explanation of who are heretics, and which are the heretical works. 
All are Pashandas, Stva says, who adore other gods than Visunu, or who hold, that other deities 
are his equals, and all Brahmans who are not Vaishnavas, are not to be looked at, touched, nor 
spoken to :— 

=~ wi yoeesnee > = : ® 

4a Sa qtaa araqaraarfear: | 

S a 9 
ATUAUTSHAATAT MS WAIST RAT: 
e~N . yD 
ae meray o4 qyUgile Sadi: | 
rN ~ ~ 
ena feQaa wae wl HAET I 
SNe, Cen ‘ 
fAAFISATAT ATSU Vas wat: | 
T QT FT IMAM AFTA RET TA 
Srv, in acknowledging that the distinguishing marks of his votaries, the skull, tiger’s skin, and 

ashes, are reprobated by the Vedas (Srutigerhitam) states, that he was directed by Visunu to in- 
culcate their adoption, purposely to lead those who assumed them into error.—Namucur and other 
Daityas had become so powerful by the purity of their devotions, that InpRa and the other gods 
were unable to oppose them. The gods had recourse to VisuNnu, who, in consequence, ordered Siva 
to introduce the Saiva tenets and practices, by which the Daityas were beguiled, and rendered 
“ wicked, and thence weak.” 


In order to assist Srva in this work, ten great Sages were imbued with the Zamasa property, or 
property of darkness and ignorance, and by them such writings were put forth as were calculated to 
disseminate unrighteous and heretical doctrines, these were KanApa, GauTama, Saxt1, UPAMas 
NYU, JAImMINI, Kapica, DurvAsas, Mrixanpa, WRiHASPATI, and BHARGAVA. 

D 


10 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


uninteresting preliminary branch of the enquiry, to endeavour to determine 
its existing modifications, at the period immediately preceding the few cen- 
turies, which have sufficed to bestow upon it its actual form: it happens, also, 
that some controversial works exist, which throw considerable light upon the 
subject, and of which the proximity of their date, to the matters of which 
they treat, may be conjectured with probability or positively ascertained. Of 
these, the two principal works, and from which I shall derive such scanty infor- 
mation as is attainable, are the Sankara Digvijaya of ANANDA Girt, and the 


Sarva Dergana Sangraha of MApuwavAcnArya, the former a reputed disciple of 


By Srva himself, the Pasupata writings were composed; KAN ADA is the author of the Vaisheshika 
Philosophy. The Nydya originates with GAutaMa. KapiLa, is the founder of the Sénkhya School, and 
Varinaspati of the Charvaka. Jaimint, by Stva’s orders, composed the Méimdnsa, which is heretical, 
in as far as it inculcates works in preference to faith, and Srva himself, in the disguise of a Brahman, 
or as VyASA, promulgated the Vedanta, which is heterodox in Vaishnava estimation, by denying the 
sensible attributes of the deity. Visunvu,as Buppua, taught the Bauddha Sdstra, and the practices of 
going naked, or wearing blue garments, meaning, consequently, not the Bauddhas, but the Jainas, 
(FTE UTaAAaa CHA AAUNATST fea ) The Purdnas were partly instrumental in this 
business of blinding mankind, and they are thus distinguished by our authority and all the 


Vaishnava works. 


The Matsya, Kaurma, Lainga, Saiva, Shénda and Agneya, are Tamasa, or the works of 
darkness, having more or less of a Saiva bias. 


The Vishnu, Naradiya, Bhagavat, Gérura, Padma and Vardha, are Sadtwika, pure and true ; 
being, in fact, Vaishnava text books. 


The Brahménda, Brahma Vaivertta, Mérkandeya, Bhavishya, Vamana and Bréhma, are of 
the Rdjasa cast, emanating from the quality of passion. As far as I am acquainted with them, they 
lean to the Sékta division of the Hindus, or the worship of the female principle. The Markandeya 
does so notoriously, containing the famous Chandi Path, or Durgé Mahdimya, which is read at the 
Durga Pujé; the Brahma Vaivertia, is especially dedicated to KrisHna as GovinDA, and is prin- 
cipally occupied by him and his mistress RApuA. It is also full on the subject of Prakriti or 


personified nature. 


A similar distinction is made even with the Smritis, or works on law. The codes of VAsIsHTHA 
HARrita, VASA, ParAsara, BHARADWAJA and KaSyapa, are of the pure order. Those of Yas- 
NAWALKYA, Arri, Tirtiri, Daksa, KAtyAyvANA and Visunu of the Rajasa class, and those of 
GAUTAMA, VRiHASPATI, SAMVARTTA, YAMA, SANKHA and Usanas, are of the Zamasa order. 


OF THE HINDUS. i 


Sanxara himself, and the latter a well known and able writer, who lived in 


the commencement of the 14th century. 


The authenticity of the latter of these two works, there is no room to 
question; and there is but little reason to attach any doubt to the former. 
Some of the marvels it records of Sankara, which the author professes to have 
seen, may be thought to affect its credibility, if not its authenticity, and either 
Awnanpa Girt must be an unblushing liar, or the book is not his own: it is, 
however, of little consequence, as even, if the work be not, that of Ananpa 
Girt himself, it bears internal and indisputable evidence of being the compo- 


sition of a period, not far removed from that at which he may be supposed 


The study of the Puranas and Smritis of the Sdtwika class, secures Mukti, or final emancipation, 
that of those of the Rdjasa obtains Swerga, or Paradise ; whilst that of the Témasa condemns a per- 
son to hell, and a wise man will avoid them. 

faaaasaraa goes afaat 
ATHRT ATA ASA ATA ASST I 

The Vaishnava writers endeavour to enlist the Védas in their cause, and the following texts are 

quoted by the Tatparya Nirnaya 
TAH AWA BAMA AQ A UAT | 


NARAYANA alone was, not BRAHMA nor SANKARA. 


qBrSar at TVAT SAMA AQ A WY WET! 
Or Vasuprva was before this (universe,) not BRAHMA nor SANKARA. 
The Saivas cite the Vedas too, as 
VSI FT UTA Vara: fra: 1 
The Lord who pervades all things, is thence termed the omnipresent Siva. 
Rudra is but one, and has no second— 
uarfaest a fate: 1 
These citations would scarcely have been made, if not authentic ; they probably do occur in the 


Vedas, but the terms Néréyana and Vasudeva, or Siva and Rudra, are not to be taken in the 
restricted sense, probably, which their respective followers would assign them. 


12 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


to have flourished, and we may, therefore, follow it as a very safe guide, in our 
enquiries into the actual state of the Hindu Religion about eight or nine 


centuries ago. 


_ The various sectaries of the Hindu Religion then existing, are all intro- 
duced to be combated, and, of course, conquered, by SanxKara: the list is 
rather a long one, but it will be necessary to go through the whole, to ascer- 
tain the character of the national faith of those days, and its present modifi- 
cations, noticing, as we proceed, some of the points of difference or resem- 


blance between the forms of worship which then prevailed, and which now 


exist. The two great divisions of Vaishnavas and Saivas were both in a ~ 


flourishing condition, and each embraced six principal subdivisions: we shall 
begin with the former, who are termed; Bhdktas, Bhdgavatas, Vaishnavas, 


Chakrinas, or Panchardtrakas, Vaik’hdnasas and Karmahinas. 
But as each of these was subdivided into a practical and speculative, or 
Kerma and Jnydna portion, they formed, in fact, twelve classes of the followers 


of Visunu, as the sole and supreme deity. 


The Bhaktas worshipped Visunu as VAsupEva, and wore no character- 


istic marks. The Bhdgavatas worshipped the same deity as Buacavar, and 


impressed upon their persons the usual Vaishnava insignia, representing the 
discus, club, &c. of that divinity; they likewise reverenced the Sdlagrdém 
stone, and Z'ulast plant, and in several of their doctrinal notions, as well as in 
these respects, approach to the present followers of RamAnusa, although they 
cannot be regarded as exactly the same. The authorities of these three sects 
were the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gité. The names of both the sects still 
remain, but they are scarcely applicable to any particular class of Vaishnavas : 
the term Bhakta, or Bhagat, usually indicates any individual who pretendsto a 


more rigid devotion than his neighbours, and who especially occupies his mind 


OF THE HINDUS. 13 


with spiritual considerations: the Bhdgavat is one who follows particularly the 


authority of the Sri Bhdgavat Purana. 


The Vaishnavas adored Visunu as NArAyawa, they wore the usual marks, 
and promised themselves a sort of sensual paradise after death, in Vatkunt’ha, or 
Visunu’s heaven; their tenets are still current, but they can scarcely be con- 


sidered to belong to any separate sect. 


The Chakrinas, or Panchardtrakas were, in fact, Sdktas of the Vaishnava 
class, worshipping the female personifications of VisaNu, and observing the 
ritual of the Pancharatra Tantra: they still remain, but scarcely individualis- 
ed, being confounded with the worshippers of KrisuNa and RAma on the one 


hand, and those of Sakti or Devi on the other. 


The Vaik’hénasas appear to have been but little different from the Vaish- 
navas especially so called; at least Ananpa Grrr has not particularised the 
difference ; they worshipped NArAyaNa as supreme god, and wore his marks. 
The Karmahinas abstained, as the name implies, from all ritual observances, 
and professed to know Vishnu as the sole source and sum of the universe, 
wa farAa SATA they can scarcely be considered as an existent sect, 
though a few individuals of the Ramanwiya and Rdmdnandi Vaishnavas may 


profess the leading doctrines. 


The Vaishnava forms of the Hindu faith, are still, as we shall hereafter 
see, sufficiently numerous ; but we can scarcely identify any one of them with 
those which seem to have prevailed when the Sankara Vijaya of ANnanpa 
Giri was composed. The great divisions, of RAmAnusa and RAMANAND—the 
former of which originated, we know, in the course of the 11th century, 
are unnoticed, and it is also worth while to observe, that neither in this, 


nor in any other portion of the Sankara Vijaya, is any allusion made to the 
E 


14 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


separate worship of Krisuna, either in his own person, or that of the infantine 
forms in which he is new so pre-eminently venerated in many parts of India, 
nor are the names of RAma and Sir{, of Laxsumana or Hanum&y, once par- 


ticularised, as enjoying any portion of distinct and specific adoration. 


The Saiva sects are the Saivas, Raudras, Ugras, Bhaktas, Jangamas, and 
Pdsupatas. Their tenets are so blended in the discussion, that it is not possible 
to separate them, beyond the conjectural discrimination which may be derived 
from their appellations: the text specifies merely their characteristic marks : | 
thus the Saivas wore the impression of the Linga on both arms; the Raudras 
had a Trisula, or trident, stamped on the forehead ; the Ugras had the Da- 
maru, or drum of Siva on their arms, and the Bhdkias an impression of the 
Linga on the forehead—the Jangamas carried a figure of the Linga on the 
head, and the Pasupatas imprinted the same object on the forehead, breast, 
navel, and arms. Of these sects, the Saivas are not now any one particular 
class—nor are the Raudras, Ugras, or Bhdktas, any longer distinct societies : 
the Jangamas remain, but they are chiefly confined to the south of India, and 
although a Pdsupata, or worshipper of Stva as Pasupati, may be occasionally 
encountered, yet this has merged into other sects, and particularly into that 
of the Kdnp’hata Jogis: the authorities cited by these sects, according to 
AnanpDa Girt, were the Siva Gitd, Siva Sanhitdé, Siva Rahasya and Rudra 
Ydmala Tantra: the various classes of Jogis are never alluded to, and the work 
asserts, what is generally admitted as a fact, that the Dadis, and Dasnami 


Gosains originated with Sankara ACHARYA. 


Worshippers of Brana, or HiranyaGarBua, are also introduced by 
Ananpa Girt, whom now it might be difficult to meet with: exclusive ador- 
ers of this deity, and temples dedicated to him, do not now occur perhaps in 
any part of India; at the same time it is an error to suppose that public 


homage is never paid to him. Brauma is particularly reverenced at Pokher, 


OF THE HINDUS. 15 


in Ajmer, also at Bithir, in the Doab, where, at the principal Ghat, denomi- 
nated Brahmavertta Ghat, he is said to have offered an Aswamedha on com- 
pleting the act of creation: the pin of his slipper left behind him on the oc- 
casion, and now fixed in one of the steps of the Ghat, is still worshipped there, 
and on the full moon of Agrahayana (Novr. Decr.) a very numerously attended 
Mela, or meeting, that mixes piety with profit, is annually held at that 


place. 


The worshippers of Acnr no longer form a distinct class: afew Agnihoira 
Brahmans, who preserve the family fire, may be met with, but in all other res- 


pects they conform to some mode of popular devotion. 


The next opponents of Sankara Acuanrya were the Sauras, or worship- 
pers of the sun, as the creator and cause of the world: a few Sauras, chiefly 
Brahmans, still exist as a sect, as will be hereafter noticed; but the divisions 
enumerated by Ananpa Girt, are now, it is believed, unknown: he distinguishes 


them into the following six classes. 


Those who adored the rising sun, regarding it as especially the type of 
Brauma or the creative power. ‘Those who worshipped the meridian sun as 
Iswara, the destructive and regenerative faculty; and those who reverenced 


the setting sun, as the prototype of VisHnu, or the attribute of preservation. 


The fourth class comprehended the advocates of the Trimurti, who ad- 
dressed their devotions to the sun in all the preceding states, as the compre- 


hensive type of these three divine attributes. 


The object of the fifth form is not quite clearly stated, but it appears to 
have been the adoration of the sun asa positive and material body, and the 
marks on his surface, as his hair, beard, &c. . The members of this class so far 


16 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


correspond with the Sauras of the present day, as to refrain from food until 


they had seen the sun. 


The sixth class of Sauras, in opposition to the preceding, deemed it un- 
necessary to address their devotions to the visible and material sun: they pro- 
vided a mental luminary, on which they meditated, and to which their adoration 
was offered : they stamped circular orbs on their foreheads, arms, and breasts 
with hot irons; a practice uniformly condemned by Sankara, as contrary 
to the laws of the Védas, and the respect due to Brahmanical flesh and 
blood. 


Ganesa, as well as Surya, had formerly six classes of adorers; in the pre- 
sent day he cannot boast of any exclusive worship, although he shares a sort 
of homage with almost all the other divinities: his followers were the 
worshippers of Mani Ganapati, of Haripra Ganapati, or Duunpr Rag, 
who is still a popular form of Ganzsa, of Ucn’cutsutua G, of Navanita 
G of Swrerna G and of Santina G. The left hand sub-division of the 
Ucn’cnisutHa Ganapati sect, also called Hairamba, abrogated all obligatory 


ritual and distinction of caste. 


The adorers of the female personifications of divine power, appear to have 

been fully as numerous as at present, and to have worshipped the same objects, 

_or Buavinf, Maud Laksumf, and Saraswati: even as personifications of these 
divinities, however, the worship of SirA and RApu4, either singly, or in con- 

junction with Rima and Krisnna, never makes its appearance. The worship- 
pers of Sakti were then, as now, divided into two classes, a right and left hand 

order, and three sub-divisions of the latter are enumerated, who are still well 


known—the Purndbhishiktas, Akritarthas and Kritakrityasamas. 


There can be little doubt, that the course of time and the presence of 


OF THE HINDUS. 17 


foreign rulers, have very much ameliorated the character of much of the Hindu 
worship: if the licentious practices of the Sixras are still as prevalent as ever, 
which may well be questioned, they are, at least, carefully concealed from ob- 
servation, and if they are not exploded, there are other observances of 2 more 
ferocious description, which seem to have disappeared. The worship of Buat- 
rava, Still prevails amongst the Sdktas and the Jogis ; but in upper India, at 
least, the naked mendicant, smeared with funeral ashes, armed with a trident or 
a sword, carrying a hollow skull in his hand, and half intoxicated -with the 
spirits which he has quaffed from that disgusting wine-cup, prepared, in short, 
to perpetrate any act of violence and crime, the Kdpdlika of former days, is 
now rarely, if ever, encountered. Inthe work of Ananpa Girt, we have two 
of these sectaries introduced, one a Brahman by birth, is the genuine Képdiika : 
he drinks wine, eats flesh, and abandons all rites and observances in the spirit 
of his faith, his eminence in which has armed him with supernatural powers, 
and rendered Buatrava himself, the reluctant, but helpless minister of his 
will. The other Kdpdlika is an impostor, the son of a harlot, by a gatherer of 
Tari, or Palm juice, and who has adopted the character as an excuse for throw- 
ing off all social and moral restraint. ‘The Kdpdlkas are often alluded to in 
controversial works, that appear to be the compositions of a period at least 


preceding the tenth century.* 


The next classes of sectaries, confuted by Sankara, were various infidel 
sects, some of whom avowedly, and perhaps all covertly, are stillin being: the 
list is also interesting, as discriminating opinions which, in the ignorance sub- 
sequent to their disappearance from Hindustan, have very commonly been, and, 
indeed, still are frequently confounded. ‘These are the Chdrvakas, or Stinya 


Vadis, the Saugatas, the Kshapanakas, the Jainas, and the Bauddhas. 


* See the Prabodha Chandrika, translated by Dr. Taylor. 
F 


18 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


The Charvakas were so named from one of their teachers, the Munz 
Cuirnvixa. From Vrinaspati—some of whose dogmas have been quoted 
from the work of Mapuava, they are termed also Varhaspatyas. The appella- 
tion Suinya Vadi, implies the asserter of the unreality and emptiness of the unt. 
verse, and another designation, Lokdyata, expresses their adoption of the tenet, 
that this being is the Be-all of existence : they were, in short, the advoeates of 
materialism and atheism, and have existed from a very remote period, and 


still exist, as we shall hereafter see. 


The Saugatas are identified even by MApnava with the Bauddhas, but 
there seems to have been some, although probably not any very essential dif- 
ference: the chief tenet of this class, according to Ananpa Giri, was their 
adopting the doctrine taught by Sucata Muni, that tenderness towards ani- 
mated nature comprehends all moral and devotional duty, a tenet which is, in 
a great measure, common to both the Bauddha and Jaina schisms: it is to be 
feared, that the personal description of the Saugata, as a man of a fat body 
and small head, although possibly intended to characterise the genus, will not 
direct us to the discovery of its origin or history. The AKshapanaka again has 


always been described by Hindu writers as a Bauddha, or sometimes even a 


Jaina naked mendicant : in the work before us he appears as the professor of a. 


sort of astrological religion, in which* time is the principal divinity, and he 
is described as carrying, in either hand, the implements of his science, or a 


Gola Yantra, and Turya Yantra, the former of which is an armillary sphere, 


* Time is the Supreme Deity. Iswara cannot urge on the present. He who knows time 
knows BrauME, Space and time are not distinct from God. 


fag we. Wada raqaey ald TatTAeAT; | 
aufarrgafeia fare aque aa 


OF THE HINDUS. 19 


and the latter a kind of quadrant, apparently for ascertaining time;* from 
the geographical controversy that occurs between him and Sankara, it 
appears that he entertains the doctrine regarding the descent of earth in 
space, which is attributed by the old astronomers to the Bauddhas, 
and controverted by the author of the Surya Siddhdnta,t and sub- 
sequently by BuAskara: the former is quoted by Sanxara, according to 
our author. ‘These doctrines, the commentators on BuisKara’s work, and 
even he, himself, commenting on his own text, say, belong to the Jainas, not to 
the Bauddhas ; but, possibly, the correction is itself an error, it does not appear 
that the Kshapanaka of Ananpa Girt argues the existence of a double set of 
planetary bodies, which is, undoubtedly, a Jaina doctrine,} and the descent 
of the earth in space may have been common to all these sects. 


The Jainas that existed in the time of Ananpa Giri appear as Digamba- 
ras only ; he does not notice their division into Digambaras and Swetambaras, 
as they at present are found, and existed indeed prior to the age of MApuava. 
The Bauddhas are introduced personally, although it may be questioned whe- 
ther they were very numerous in India in so comparatively modern a period : 
according to Ananpa Girl, a persecution of this sect, and of the Jainas, took 
place in one part of the peninsula, the state of Rudrapur, during SANKARA’s 


life time, but he, as well as MApuava,§ excludes Sankara from being at 


* qed wea aatrafaas | 
The. Turya Yantra, is the fourth part of an orb. 
asada aa aa awe Seraaaraa aaa BTA | 


Fixing above it two pins, and looking between them, the time is ascertained by science. 
+ A. R. XIL: 229. 


4 A. R. IX: 321. 


§ Preface to Wilson’s Sanscrit and English Dictionary. 


20 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


all concerned in it. He ascribes its occurrence to the same source, the insti- 
gation of a Bhatta, from the north, or, in fact, of Cumanit Buarta, a Bengali, 


or Maithil: Brahman. 


A long series of sectaries then ensues, of a more orthodox description, 
and who only err in claiming primeval and pre-eminent honors for the objects 
of their adoration—none of these are to be found ; and, although, to a certain 
extent, the places of some of them may be supplied by the local deities of the 
villagers, and by the admission of others to a participation in the worship paid 
to the presiding deities of each sect, yet there can be little doubt, that a large 
portion of the Hindu Pantheon formerly enjoyed honours, which have for some 
centuries past been withheld. In this predicament are Inpra, Kuvera, Yama, 
Varuna, Gartpa, Sesua, and Soma, all of whom, in the golden age of Hindt 
idolatry, had, no doubt, temples and adorers : the light and attractive service of 
the god of love, indeed, appears to have been formerly very popular, as his tem- 
ples and groves make a distinguished figure in the* tales, poems, and dramas 
of antiquity: it is a feature that singularly characterises the present state of 
the Hindu religion, that if in some instances it is less ferocious, in others, 
it has ceased to address itself to the amiable propensities of the human 
character, or the spontaneous and comparatively innocent feelings of youthful 
natures. ‘The buffoonery of the Hol, and barbarity of the Cherak Puja, but 
ill express the sympathies which man, in all countries, feels with the vernal 
season, and which formerly gave rise to the festive Vasanotsava of the Hindis, 
and the licentious homage paid to Sakéz and Buarrava, has little, in common 
with the worship, that might be supposed acceptable to KAma and his lovely 
bride, and which it would appear they formerly enjoyed. 


Besides the adorers of the secondary divinities, we have a variety of 


* In the Vrihat Kethié—Dasa Kumdra, Mélati Madhava, Mrichch'hakati, &. 


OF THE HINDUS. 2) 


sects who direct their devotions to beings of a still lower rank, and of whom 
none, at present, exist as distinct bodies, although individuals may be found, 
either detached or comprehended in other classes, who, more or less, rever- 
ence similar objects. ‘Thus, the worship of Akés,* or Ether, as the supreme 
deity, is still occasionally met with: all classes pay daily homage to the Pitris 
or Manes, and a few of the Tanétrikas worship the Siddhas, or Genii, in the 
hope of acquiring super-human powers: the same class furnishes occasional 
votaries of the Vasus, Yakshas, and Gandharbas, and even of the Vetdlas and 
Bhitas, or goblins and ghosts, and the latter also receive still, from the fears 
of the villagers, propitiatory adoration. It does not appear, that in any form, 
the worship of the moon and stars, of the elements, and divisions of the 
universe, is still practised, although that of the Zérthas, or holy places and 


rivers, is as popular as ever. 


We have thus completed the enumeration of the sects as described by the 
author of the Sankara Vijaya, and have had an opportunity of observing, that, 
although the outlines of the system remain the same, the details have under- 
gone very important alterations, since the time at which this work was 
composed: the rise of most of the existing modifications, we can trace 
satisfactorily enough, as will hereafter appear, and it is not improbable, 
that the disappearance of many of those, which no longer take a part.in 
the idolatry of the Hindus, may be attributed to the exertions of Sankara 
and his disciples : his object, as appears from the work we have hitherto follow- 
ed, was by no means the suppression of acts of outward devotion, nor of the 
preferential worship of any acknowledged and pre-eminent deity : his leading 


tenet is the recognition of Brahme Para Brahme,t as the sole cause and 


* T have encountered but one Professor, however, of this faith, a miserable mendicant, who 
taught the worship of Ether, under the strange name of Baghela. 


+ Asinthesetextsof the Vedas@eaq CMaACAT areal and IT qr at can UNTAAMAl 


G 


Q2 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


supreme ruler of the universe, and as distinct from S1va, VisHNu, BrauMi, or 
any individual member of the pantheon: with this admission, and in regard 
to the weakness of those human faculties, which cannot elevate themselves 
to the conception of the inscrutable first cause, the observance of such rites, 
and the worship of such deities, as are either prescribed by the Vedas, or the 
works not incompatible with their authority, were left undisturbed by this 
teacher ;* they even received, to a certain extent, his particular sanction, 
and the following divisions of the Hindu faith were, by his express permis- 
sion, taught by some of his disciples, and are, consequently, regarded by the 
learned Brahmans in general, as the only orthodox and allowable forms in 
the present day.t The Satva faith was iustituted by Paramara KaLANata, 
who is described as teaching at Benares, and assuming the insignia that 
characterise the Dariis of modern times. The Vaishnava worship was: 
taught at Kdnchi, or Conjeveram, by Laxsumana AcHArya and Has- 
TAMALAKA 3; andthe latter seems to have introduced a modified adoration of 
Visunu, in the character of Krisuwa. ‘The Saura sect was continued under 
the auspices of Divixara, Brahmachari, and the Sakta, under those of the 
Sanyasi, TRIPURAKUMARA :. the Gdnapatya were allowed to remain under the 


presidence of GirigapuTra, and from such persons as had not adopted either 


* qaafretequararacy ATTRA TATE: | sare cada tage \ 


Ordinances founded on the Zantras, the Purdnas, or historical record, are adaiecble if 
accordant with the Vedas ; they must be rejected if repugnant. 


taerafaat aT WrTETT Ely aay = ghuerciaaeeieg 
ar afa: qaifradfear waif fare wacay aura afiawary 
Vaan MRIewaarager wy cafaqaiay faafraars | 


In the present impure age, the bud of wisdom being blighted by iniquity, men are inadequate 
to the apprehension of pure unity; they will be apt, therefore, again to follow the dictates of their 
own fancies, and it is necessary for the preservation of the world, and the maintenance of civil and 
religious distinctions, to acknowledge those modifications of the divine spirit which are the work of 
the Supreme. These reflexions having occurred to SANKARA, he addressed his disciples, &c. 


OF THE HINDUS. 93 


of the preceding systems, Baruxanatu, the professor of the Kdpdlika, or 
Bhairava worship, was permitted to attract followers : all these teachers were 
converts and disciples of Sankara, and returned to his superintending guid- 


ance, when they had effected the objects of their missions. 


The notice that occurs in the Serva Dersana of any of the sects which 
have yet been mentioned, has been already incidentally adverted to: this work 
is less of a popular form than the preceding, and controverts the speculative 
rather than the practical doctrines of other schools: besides the atheistical 
Bauddha and Jaina sects, the work is occupied chiefly with the refutation of 
the followers of Jaimini, Gautama, and Patanjala, and we have no classes of 
worshippers introduced but those of the Vaishnavas who follow RAminusa, 
and Madhwacharya, of the Satvas, the Padsupatas, the followers of Asur- 
nAvaA Gupta, who taught the Mantra worship of Siva; and the alchemical 
school, or worshippers of Siva’s type in quicksilver, and the Rasendra Linga: 
most of these seem to have sprung into being in the interval between the 10th 
and 13th centuries, and have now either disappeared, or are rapidly on the 
decline: those which actually exist, we shall recur to in the view we are now 
prepared to take of the actual condition of the Hindu faith. 


SECTION III. 


PRESENT DIVISIONS OF THE HINDUS, AND OF THE 
'  -VAISHNAVAS IN PARTICULAR. 


The classification adopted by the works, I especially follow, if not unex- 
ceptionable, is allowable and convenient, and may, therefore, regulate the fol- 
lowing details: it divides all the Hindus into three great classes or Vaishnavas, 
Saivas, and Sdktas, and refers to a fourth or miscellaneous class, all not com- 


prised in the three others. 


24, RELIGIOUS SECTS 


The worshippers of Visunu, Siva, and Saxts, who are the objects of the 
following description, are not to be confounded with the orthodox adorers 
of those divinities: few Brahmans of learning, if they have any religion at 
all, will acknowledge themselves to belong to any of the popular divisions of 
the Hindu faith, although, as a matter of simple preference, they more especi- 
ally worship some individual deity, as their chosen, or Zshta Devata : they 
refer also to the Vedas, the books of law, the Puranas, and Tantras, as the 
only ritual they recognise, and regard all practices not derived from those 
sources as irregular and profane: on the other hand, many of the sects seem 
to have originated, in a great measure, out of opposition to the Brahmanical 
order : teachers and disciples are chosen from any class, and the distinction 
of casts is, in a great measure, sunk in the new one, of similarity of schism : 
the ascetics and mendicants, also, in many instances, affect to treat the Brah- 
mans with particular contempt, and this is generally repaid with interest 
by the Brahmans. A portion, though not a large one, of the populace is still 
attached to the Smarta Brahmans, as their spiritual guides, and are so far dis- 
tinct from any of the sects we shall have to specify, whilst most of the fol- 
lowers, even of the sects, pay the ordinary deference tothe Brahminical order, 
and especially evince towards the Brahmans of their own fellowship, of whom 
there is generally abundance, the devotedness and submission which the ori« 


\ 


ginal Hindu Code so perpetually inculcates. 

Excluding, therefore, those who may be regarded as the regular worship- 
pers of regular gods, we have the following enumeration of the several spe- 
cies of each class: 


VAISHWAVAS, 


1 Ramanyjas, or Sri Sampradayis, or Sri Vaishnavas. - 


2 Ramanandis, or Ramawats. 


OF THE HINDUS. an 


3 Kabir Panthis. 
4 K’hakis. 

5 Maluk Dasis. 
6 Dadu Pant’his. 
7 Raya Dasis. 
8 Senais. 

9 Vallabhacharis, or Rudra Sampradayis. 
10 Mira Bais. 

11 Madhwacharis, or Brahma Samprad4yis. 
12 Nim4wat, or Sanakadi Sampradayis. 

13 The Vaishnavas of Bengal. 

14 Radha Vallabhis. 

15 The Sak’hi Bhavas. 

16 Charan Dasis. 

17 Harischandis. 

18 Sadhna Panthis. 

19 Madhavis. 

20 Sanyasis, Vairagis and Nagas. 


SAIVAS. 


1 Dandis and Dasnamis. 

2 Jogis. 

38 Jangamas. 

4. Paramahansas. 

5 Urdhabé’hus, Akas Muk’his, and Nak’his. 
6. Gadaras. 

7 Ruak’haras, Sak’haras and Uk’haras. 

8 Kara Lingis, 

9 Sanyasis, &e. 


26 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


SAKTAS. 
Dakshinis. 


Vamis. 


tO pet 


Kancheliyas. 


9 


4 Kararis. 
MIscELLANEOUS SECTS. 


p=5 


GAnapatyas. 


ccs) 


Saurapatas. 
3 Nanak Shahis of seven classes. 
1 Udasis. 
2 Ganjbakhshis. 
8 RAémrayis. 
4 Suthra Shéhis. 
5 Govind Sinhis. 
6 Nirmalas. 
7 Nagas. 
4 Jainas of two principal orders. 
1- Digambaras. 
2 Swetambaras. 
5 Baba Lalis. 
6 Pran Nathis. 
7 Sadhs. 
8 Satnamis. 
9 Siva Narayinis. 


10 Stnyabadis. 


These will be regarded as varieties enough, it may be presumed, especial- 
ly when it is considered, that most of them comprise a number of sub-divisions, 
and that besides these acknowledged classifications,.many individual mendi- 


cants are to be found all over India, who can scarcely be included within the 


OF THE HINDUS. a7 


~ 


limits of any of them, exercising a sort of independence both in thought and 
act, and attached very loosely, if at all, to any of the popular schismatical 
sects.* 


——eee 


VAISHNAVAS. 


1 Sri Sampradéyis, or Ramanyas. 


Amongst other divisions of less importance, the Vaishnavas are usually dis- 


tinguished into four principal Sampraddyas, or sects;+ of these, the most 


* Some of the popular works adopt a different classification, and allude to 96 Péshandas, or 
heresies, which are thus arranged :— 


Amongst the Brahmans,....+.sese0. tears Siete lela cist elsielciars 24 
SANYASIS, 0-00 secccees slcle s niece ee sececesccrsssses sieieecses: (12 
» WAIN DISH isca'cle'e'e/eelslelciele cacioce Sele a's atsleiarelsiatie eis die ice'sieie Sisceeoe hae 
SAUL AS Aceier rere creue alleles wlehielokersuerevavelialolsialelehete lescibesie cs eleis enstaicie qowereue, LS 
JANGAMAS, 2s eeccesce sisiartetaenets pinelelstedclereretersivetaveleisisieieicversiese 18 
CLOPUstistay sate leralejetsiaisiis’e clalsis)eiep aiclausialcve)loiaieie eis aisha ec /e eVele.casspic-ea, poe 


{ Thus the Bhakta Malé, WAS Waa VIC Ty WaT BT AAT AE altaya waz | 
MCAAIT Sait Qarfafs aaa aac | fewer sfeafsy arc acAHT 
HATCH Faia TCH wr fran featiea walla AEt waa qefcar 
HARA WATA waUMeayM wali Wale waa “fesariei « Hany, 


in preceding ages, assumed twenty-four principal shapes, but four were manifest in the Kali Yug: 
the magnanimous Rdémdénwa, a treasure of Ambrosia and terrestrial tree of plenty : the ocean of 
kindness and transporter across the sea of the universe, Vishnu Swami: Madhu Achérj, a rich 
cloud in the autumnal season of piety : and Mimbdditya, asun that illumined the cave of ignorance ; 
by them acts of piety and obligation were divided, and each sect was severally established.” There 
are also Sanscrit texts authorising the different institution, and characteristic term of each 
Sampraddya, one of these is from the Padma Purana. 


waera fadiet 8 ar afionaraa: | aaaNais WarCewMTaa: I 
Maregjirzerarawar: fafyraan: | WaTTS Heart Sf VapaRa WAT: ti 


r 


98 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


ancient and respectable is the Sri Sampraddya, founded by the Vaishnava re- 
former Ramdnuja Acharya, about the middle of the twelfth century.* 


The history of RAmAnuza, and his first followers, is well known in the 
south of India, of which he was a native, and is recorded in various legendary 


tracts and traditional narratives. 


According to the Bhargava Upapurana, RAMANUSA is said to have been 
an incarnation of the serpent Sesha, whilst his chief companions and disciples 
were the embodied Discus, Mace, Lotus, and other insignia of Vishnu. 
In a Kanara account of his life, called the Divya Charitra, he is said to have 
been the son of Sri Kesava Acharya and Bhimi Devi; and, as before, an in- 


carnation of Sesha. He was born at Perumbur, and studied at Kédnchi, or 


Conjeveram, where also he taught his system of the Vaishnava faith. He 


«« Those Mantras, which belong to no system, are of no virtue; and, therefore, in the Kali age, 
there shall be followers of four sects. Sri, Maddhwi, Rudra and Sanaka, shall be the Vaishnavas, 
purifying the world, and these four, Dévi, ( Siva speaks,) shall be the institutors of the Sampradéyas 
in the Kali period.” We may here observe in passing, that if this text is genuine, the Padma Purdna 


must be very modern: another similar text is the following : 


Taras Wea aarawsgqe! Aawafades farleeagans: it 

Laxsumi selected Raménuja; Brauma Madhwdcharya ; Rudra gave the preference to Vishnu 
Swami, and the four Sanakas to Nimbdditya.” The cause of the election is not very evident, as the 
creeds taught by those teachers, have little connexion with the deity who lends the appellation to 


the sects. 


1127. A note by Colonel Mackenzie on an inscription, given in the Asiatic Researches 9, 270, 
places the birth of RAMANuJA in A. D. 1008 : various accounts, collected by Dr. Buchanan, make 
it 1010 and 1025 (Buchanan’s Mysore, 2,80) and 1019 (Ibid, 3,413,) Inscriptions make him alive in 
1128, (Ibid) which would give him a life of more than a century : according to Cot. WiLKs, indeed, 
(History of Mysore 1,41, note and appendix), he was alive in 1183. The weight of authority 
seems to be in favour of the more recent date, and we may conclude that he was born about the 
end of the eleventh century, and that the first half of the twelfth century was the period at which 


his fame, as a teacher, was established. 


* The Smriti Kala Taranga places the date of RAMANUJA’s appearance in Saka—1049 or a. p. 


OF THE HINDUS. ag 


afterwards resided at Sri Ranga, worshipping Vishnu as Sri Ranga Nat’ha, and 
there composed his principal works: he then visited various parts of India, 
disputing with the professors of different creeds, overcoming them of course, 
and reclaiming various shrines, then in possession of the Saivas, for the wor- 


shippers of Vishnu, particularly the celebrated temple of T'ripetz. 


On his return to Sri Ranga, the disputes between the Vaishnava and Sai- 
wa religions, became exceedingly violent, and the Chola monarch, who, accord- 
ing to some accounts, was at that time Kerrkiia Cuoxa, subsequently named. 
Krimi Konpa Cuoxa, being a devout worshipper of Siva, commanded all the 
Brahmans in his dominions to sign an acknowledgement of the supremacy of 
that divinity, bribing some of the most refractory, and terrifying others into 
acquiescence. RAmANnusA, however, was impracticable, and the king sent 
armed men to seize him. With the assistance of his disciples, he effected his 
escape, and ascending the Ghats, found refuge with the Jai sovereign of My- 
sore, ViraLA Deva, Veldla Raya. In consequence of rendering medical ser- 
vice to the daughter of this prince, or in the terms of the legend, expelling 
an evil spirit, a Brahma Rakshasa, by whom she was possessed, he obtained 
the monarch’s grateful regard, and finally converted him to the Vaishnava 
faith. The Raja assumed the title of Vishnu Verddhana. RAmAnvusa remain- 
ed several years in Mysore, at a temple founded by the Raja on Yadava Girt, 
now known as Mail Cotay, for the reception of an image called Chavala Raya, 
a form of Ranachhor, or Krishna, which the local traditions very ridiculously 
pretend he obtained from the Mohammedan sovereign of Delhi. RAmAnusa 
resided here twelve years, but on the death of his persecutor, the Chola king, he 
returned to Sri Ranga, on the Kaveri, and there spent the remainder of his 


life in devout exercises and religious seclusion. 


The establishments of the RamAnujiyas are numerous in the Dekhin still, 
and the same country comprehends the site of the Gaddi, the pillow or seat of 


I 


30 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


the primitive teacher ; his spiritual throne, in fact, to which his disciples are 
successively elevated.* ‘This circumstance gives a superiority to the Acharyas 
of the Dekshina, or south, over those of the Uttara, or north, into which they 


are at present divided. 


The worship of the followers of RAmAnusa, is addressed to Visunu and 
to Laxsumi, and their respective incarnations, either singly or conjointly ; 
and the Sr Vaishnavas, by which general name the sect is known, consist of 
corresponding subdivisons, as NARAyANnA, or Laksui, or Laksumi NArAyan, 
or RAma, or Srra, or Sira Rama, or Krisuna, or Ruxmrni, or any other modi- 
fications of Vishnu, or his consort, is the preferential object of the venera- 
tion of the votary.t The Sri Vishnava worship in the north of India, is 
not very popular, and the sect is rather of a speculative than practical nature, 


although it does not require, in its teachers, secession from the world: the 


* According to information obtained by Dr. Buchanan, RAmANuysa founded 700 Matts, of 
which four only remain; one of the principal of these is at Mail Cotay, or Dakshina Badarikasrama, 
the Badari station of the south. RAMANvsA also established .74 hereditary Guruships amongst his 
followers, the representatives of which still remain and dispute the supremacy with the Sanydsi 
members of the order; these last, however, are generally considered of the highest rank, (Buch. My- 
sore, 2,75). In another place (1, 144), he says that 89 Guruships were established, 5 in,the San- 
yasi class, and 84 in the secular order: the Matams of the five former are Ahobalem, Totadri, 
Raméswara, Sri Rangam, and Kanji. 


+ Mr. Colebrooke, A. R. 7, says the Ramdnajas are of three classes, those who worship RAMA 
alone, Srr4 alone, and SirA and Rama conjointly. One of my authorities, Mathura Nath, says, they 
worship Mahé Lakshmi, and other information agrees with his ; from the texts quoted in the Serva 
Dersana Sangraha, Visuxu as V AsupevaA, is the deity to be worshipped, but no doubt all the varie- 
ties exist : without, however, affecting the identity of the sect, the real object of whose devotion is 
VisHNu, as the cause and creator of the world, and any of his, or his Sakti’s, more especial manifes- 
tations, are consequently entitled to reverence. The term Sri Vaishnavas, most commonly applied to 
them, denotes an original preference of the female deity or Mahd Lakshmi : the worship of RAMa is 
more properly that of the Rdmdnandis, and they may be the persons intended by Mr. Colebrooke’s 
informants, as those of the Rdmdnujiyas, who worship RAma only (A.R. 7, 281). It may also be 
observed, that the Rdmadnijiyas unite with Krisuna, Rukmint, not Rddhd, the latter being his mis- 
tress only, not his wife, and being never named in the Bhagavat, except in one ambiguous passage. 


OF THE HINDUS. 31 


teachers are usually of the Brahmanical order, but the disciples may be of any 


cast.* 


Besides the temples appropriated to Visunu and his consort, and their se- 
veral forms, including those of Krisuna and Rima, and those which are ce- 
lebrated as objects of pilgrimage, as Lakshmi- Balai, Ramnath, and Ranganath, 
inthe south; Badarinat’h, in the Himdélaya, Jagannat’h, in Orissa, and Dwaraka, 
on the Malabar coast, images of metal or stone are usually set up in the houses 
of the private members of this sect, which are daily worshipped, and the tem- 


ples and dwellings are all decorated with the Sdlagrdma stone and Tulasi plant. 


The most striking peculiarities in the practices of this sect, are the 
individual preparation, and scrupulous privacy of their meals: they must not 
eat in cotton garments, but having bathed, must put on woollen or silk: the 
teachers allow their select pupils to assist them, but, in general, all the Raémé- 
nujas cook for themselves, and should the meal during this process, or whilst 
they are eating, attract even the looks of a stranger, the operation is instantly 
stopped, and the viands buried in the ground: a similar delicacy, in this res- 
pect, prevails amongst some other classes of Hindus, especially of the Rajaput 


families, but it is not carried to so preposterous an extent.t 


The chief ceremony of initiation in all Hindu sects, is the communication 
by the teacher to the disciple of the Mantra, which generally consists of the 


name of some deity, or a short address to him; it is communicated in a whis- 


* The Mantra, and mark, are never bestowed on any person of impure birth. — Buch. 
Mysore, 1, 146. 


+ It is said, however, that there are two divisions of the sect, one called Avarani, from 


Avarana, screening, or surrounding, and the other Andvarini, from the members not observing such 
punctilious privacy. 


32 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


per, and never lightly made known by the adept to profane ears. The Man- 
tra of the RAMANUvsA sect is said to be the six-syllable Mantra—or Om Ramaya 


namah ; or Om, salutation to Rima.* 


Another distinction amongst sects, but merely of a civil character, is the 
term or terms with which the religious members salute each other when they 
meet, or in which they are addressed by the lay members. ‘This amongst 
the Ramdnwas is the phrase, Ddasosmi, or Daséham ; I am your slave ; accom- 
panied with the Prandm, or slight inclination of the head, and the application 
of the joined hands to the forehead. To the Achdryas, or supreme teachers of 
this sect, the rest perform the Ashtanga Dantdawat, or prostration of the body, 
with the application of eight parts—the forehead, breast, hands, knees, and 


insteps of the feet, to the ground. 


The Hindu sects are usually discriminated by various fantastical streaks 
on their faces, breasts, and arms: for this purpose, all the Vatshnavas employ 
especially, a white earth called Gopichandana, which, to be of the purest des- 
cription, should be brought from Dwdarakd, being said to be the soil of a pool 
at that place, in which the Gorfs drowned themselves when they heard of 
Krishna’s death. The common Gopichandana, however, is nothing but a 


Magnesian or Calcareous Clay. 


The marks of the Rdmdnwas are two perpendicular white lines, 
drawn from the root of the hair to the commencement of each eye-brow, 


and a transverse streak connecting them across the root of the nose: in 


* In giving the Mantras, as they have been communicated to me, it may be necessary to 
suggest a doubt of their accuracy ; a Hindu evades what he dislikes to answer, and will not scruple » 
a falsehood to stop enquiry ; men above prejudice, in other respects, find it so difficult to get over that 
of communicating the Mantra, that when they profess to impart it, even their sincerity can scarcely 
be admitted without a doubt. 


OF THE HINDUS. 33 


the centre is a perpendicular streak of red, made with red Sanders, or Roli, 
a preparation of Turmeric and Lime ; they have also patches of Gopichandana, 
with a central red streak on the breast, and each upper arm: the marks are 
supposed to represent the Sank’h, Chakra, Gadd, and Padma,* of Shell, Dis- 
cus, Club, and Lotus, which Visunu bears in his four hands, whilst the cen- 
tral streak is Sri, or Laxsumf:t Some have these objects carved on 
wooden stamps, with which they impress the emblems on their bodies, and 
others carry their devotion so far as to have the parts cicatrized with heated 
metallic models of the objects they propose to represent, but this is not 


regarded as a creditable practice:t besides these marks, they wear a 


* The Vaishnava is thus described, in the Bhakta Mald, the text is probably that of the Bhd- 
gavat — 


B aweaqaaaaaenTaaT ae: Rarmgentctate rag ar | 
ATTA SITaATATZIGTS uaqaaaargaaaata | 


“: They who bear the Tulasi round the neck, the rosary of Lotus seeds, -have the shell and discus 
impressed upon their upper arm, and the upright streak along the centre of the forehead, they are 
Vaishnavas, and sanctify the world.” 


+ The efficacy of these marks is very great: we are told in the Kést Khand, that Yama 
directs his ministers to avoid such as bear them, and the same work observes, that no sin can exist 
in the individuals who make use of them, be they of whatever caste. 


aay: waa ae: gar at afe aac. Gayafasargar sa: waaay Ti 
wguatiea as fexadalat | Wilwea fears cesasd aa 


{ The Vrihat Néradiya Puréia sentences every. Brahman adopting the practice to endless 
degradation, and even to the infernal regions. 


aafe wars wets fay BaaIe:! FV TTAATATA RTS TARTS: 
a fasi carga fagiigads ET: daragerca ara Qa SRTAIST TI 

The reason also occurs— AT AUG ATS aT WaSqrarArey at | at Yaarfear THs 
faq qwaz YAH The body of a Brahman is the abode of all the Gods, if that is con- 


sumed, where shall we abide? It appears, however, that stamping the mark with a hot iron, is 
commonly in use in the Dekhin. A similar practice seems to have been known to some of the 
early Christians, and baptizing with fire, was stamping the cross on the forehead with a hot iron. 


K 


34 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


necklace of the wood of the Tulasi, and carry a rosary of the seeds of the same 


plant, or of the Lotus. 


The principal authorities of this sect, are the comments of the founder on 
the Svitras of Vy4sa, and other Vaidika works: they are written in Sanscrit, 
and are the Sri Bhashya, the Gita Bhashya, the Véddrtha Sangraha, Védanta 
Pradipa, and Vedénta Sara: besides these, the works of Venkata Acharya, are 
of great repute amongst them, as the Stotra Bhashya, and Satadushini, and 
others: the Chanda Maruta Vaidika, and Trinsatadhydinam, are also works of 
authority, as is the Panchardtra of Narepa: of the Purdnas they acknowledge 
only six as authorities, the Vishnu, N: drediya, Garura, Padma, Varéha and. 
the Bhdgavat: the other twelve are regarded as Tamasi, or originating in the 
principles of darkness and passion, as we have already observed. Besides these, 
the Rémdnujas have a variety of popular works in the dialects of the South, 
one of which the Guru Para, containing an account of the life of RAminusa, 


was procured by Dr. Bucuanay, in the course of his statistical researches in 


Mysore. 


The chief religious tenet of the Ramdanwas, is the assertion that Vishnu 
is BrAuME; that he was before all worlds, and was the cause and the creator 
of all, Although they maintain that Vishnu and the universe are one, yet, 
in opposition to the Védanta doctrines, they deny that the deity is void of 
form or quality, and regard him as endowed with all good qualities, and with 
a two-fold form: the supreme spirit, Paramdimd, or cause, and the gross one, 
the effect, the universe or matter. The doctrine is hence called the Visishthd- 
dwaita, or doctrine of unity with attributes, In these assertions they are fol- 
lowed by most of the Vaishnava sects. Creation originated in the wish of 
Visunu, who was alone, without a second, to multiply himself: he said, I will 
become many; and he was individually embodied as visible and etherial light. 


After that, as a ball of clay may be moulded into various forms, so the grosser 


OF THE HINDUS. , 35 


substance of the deity became manifest in the elements, and their combina- 
tions: the forms into which the divine matter is thus divided, are pervaded 
by a portion of the same vitality which belongs to the great cause of all, but 
which is distinct from his spiritual or etherial essence; here, therefore, the 
Rémdanujas again oppose the Védéntzkas, who identify the Paramdimé and 
eeind, or etherial and vital spirit: this vitality, though endlessly diffusible, 
is imperishable and eternal, and the matter of the universe, as being the same 
in substance with the Supreme Being, is alike without beginning or end : 
PurusHottama, or NArAyay, after having created man and animals, through 
the instrumentality of those subordinate agents whom he willed into existence 
for that purpose, still retained the supreme authority of the universe: so that 
the Ramdnujas assert three predicates of the universe, comprehending the 
deity : it consists of Chit, or spirit, Achit, or matter, and Zéwara, or God, or 
the enjoyer, the thing enjoyed, and the ruler and controuler of both. Besides 
his primary and secondary form as the creator, and creation, the deity has 
assumed, at different times, particular forms and appearances, for the benefit of 
his creatures: he is, or has been visibly present amongst men, in five 
modifications : in his ArcuA, objects of worship, as images, &c.; in the 
Vibhdvas, or Avatdras, as the fish, the boar, &c.; in certain forms called 
Vythas, of which four are enumerated, VAsuprva, or Krisuna, Batarima, 
Prapyumna, and AniruppHa; fourthly, in the Sukshma form, which, 
when perfect, comprises six qualities: Viraja, absence of human passion; Vi- 
mrityu, immortality ; Visoka, exemption from care or pain; Vijighatsd, absence 
of natural wants; Satya kama, and Satya Sankalpa, the love and practice of 
truth ; and sixthly, as the Antardima, or Antarydémi, the human soul, or 
individualised spirit: these are to be worshipped seriatim, as the ministrant 
ascends in the scale of perfection, and adoration therefore is five-fold; 
Abhigamanam, cleaning and purifying the temples, images, &c.. Upddénam, 
providing flowers and perfumes for religious rites; Jjy@, the presentation 


of such offerings, blood offerings being uniformly prohibited, it may be 


36 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


observed, by all the Vaishnavas ; Swadhydya, counting the rosary and repeat- 
ing the names of the divinity, or any of his forms; and Yoga, the effort to 
unite with the deity: the reward of these acts is elevation to the seat of 
Visunu, and enjoyment of like state with his own, interpreted to be perpetual 
residence in Vaikunt’ha, or Vishnu’s heaven, in a condition of pure ecstasy and 


eternal rapture. 


The Ramdanujas are not very numerous in the north of India, where they 
are better known as Srz Vaishnavas; they are decidedly hostile to the Saiva 
sect, and are not on very friendly terms with the modern votaries of KrisHna, 


although they recognise that deity as an incarnation of Visunu.* 


RAMANANDIS, OR RAMAWATS., 


The followers of RAmMAnanp are much better known than those of Ri- 
mANUJA in upper Hindustan: they are usually considered as a branch of the 
RAmAnuga sect, and address their devotions peculiarly to RAmacuanprRa, 
and the divine manifestations connected with Visunu in that incarnation, as 


Srra, Laksumana, and Hanuman. 


' * Dubois, in his 8th Chapter, has some details of the Vaishnava mendicants, as met with 
in the Dekhin : his account, however, does not apply to the Rémdnwa, or any other Vaishnava sect, 
as known in these provinces, although a few of the particulars may be true, if confined to the Vaish- 
nava Vairagis—the Dekhint Vaishnavas must be, therefore, a very diffexent class from those that are 
met within any other part of India, or the Abbé must have mixed, as is not unusual with him,a small 
quantum of truth, with a very large portion of error: it is, indeed, impossible to think him correct, 
when he states, that “ the sectaries of Vishnu eat publicly of all sorts of meat, except beef, and 
drink spirituous liquors without shame or restraint, and that they are reproached with being the 
chief promoters of that abominable sacrifice, the Sakti Piyjd:” now, it is not true of any sect in 
Upper India, that the practices the Abbé mentions occur at all, except in the utmost privacy and 
secrecy, and if even in that way they do occur, it is certainly not amongst the Vaishnava Vai- 
régis, but with very different sects, as we shall hereafter see. 


2 


OF THE HINDUS. 37 


RAMANAND is sometimes considered to have been the immediate disciple 
. of RAminusa, but this appears to be an error: amore particular account makes 
him the fifth in descent from that teacher, as follows—the pupil and successor 
of RAmAnuga was Devananpa; of DevAnanpné, Harinanna; of Harinanpa, 
RAcuavananp, and of this last, RAmANanp, an enumeration which, if correct, 
would place RAm&nanp about the end of the 13th century :* there is great 
reason, however, to doubt his being entitled to so remote a date, and con- 
sequently to question the accuracy of his descent from RAmAnusa: we shall 
have occasion to infer, hereafter, from the accounts given of the dates of other 
teachers, that. RAmMANAND was not earlier than the end of the 14th, or begin- 
ning of the 15th century. 


According to common tradition, the schism of RAMANAND originated in 
resentment of an affront offered him by his fellow disciples, and sanctioned by 
his teacher. Itis said, that he had spent some time in travelling through vari- 
ous parts of India, after which he returned to the Maz’h, or residence of his 
superior: his brethren objected to him, that in the course of his peregrina- 
tions, it was impossible he could have observed that privacy im his meals, 
which is a vital observance of the Rémdnwa sect, and as RiguavAnanp ad- 
mitted the validity of the objection, RAMANAND was condemned to feed ina 
place apart from the rest of the disciples : he was highly incensed at the order, 


and retired from the society altogether, establishing a schism of his own. 


The residence of RAmMAnanp was at Benares, at the Pancha Ganga Ghdat, 
where a Mat’h, or monastery of his followers is said to have existed, but to have 
been destroyed by some of the Musselman princes: at present there is merely 


a stone plat-form in the vicinity, bearing the supposed impression. of his feet, 


* The enumeration inthe Bhakta Mala is different : it there occurs 1 RAmANusA, 2 DEvA- 
cHARJ, 3 RAGHAVANAND, 4 RAMANaND; making him the fourth. 


L 


38 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


but there are many Mai’hs of his followers, of celebrity at Benares, whose Pan- 
chait, or council, is the chief authority amongst the Ramdwats in Upper India: 
we shall have frequent occasion to mention these Mai’hs, or convents, and a 


short account of them may, therefore, here be acceptable. 


Most of the religious sects of which we have to give an account, com- 
_ prise various classes of individuals, resolvable, however, especially into two, 
whom (for want of more appropriate terms) we must call, perhaps, 
Clerical and Lay: the bulk of the votaries are generally, but not 
always of the latter order, whilst the rest, or the Clerical class, are 
sometimes monastic, and sometimes secular: most of the sects, especially 
the Vaishnavas, leave this distinction a matter of choice: the Vallabhdachiris, 
indeed, give the preference to married teachers, and all their Gosains are men 
of business and family : the preference, however, is usually assigned to teach- 
ers of an ascetic or coenobitic life, whose pious meditations are not distracted 
by the affections of kindred, or the cares of the world: the doctrine that intro- 
duced similar unsocial institutions into the Christian church, in the fourth 
century, being still most triumphantly prevalent in the east, the land of its na- 
tivity ; the establishments of which we are treating, and the still existing prac- 
tices of solitary mortification, originating in the “specious appearance and 
- pompous sound of that maxim of the ancient philosophy, that in order to 
the attainment of true felicity and communion with God, it was necessary that 
the soul should be separated from the body even here below, and that the body 


was to be macerated and mortified for that purpose.” (Mosheim. i. 378.) 


Of the ccenobitic members of the different communities, most pursue an 


erratic and mendicant life: all of them, indeed, at some period have led such 


a life, and have travelled over various parts of India singly or in bodies, sub-. 


sisting by alms, by merchandise, and sometimes, perhaps, by less unexception- 


able means, like the Sarabaites of the east, or the mendicant friars of the Latin 


OF THE HINDUS. 39 


Church: they have, however, their fixed rallying points, and are sure of finding, 
in various parts of their progress, establishments of their own, or some friendly 
fraternity where they are for a reasonably moderate period lodged and fed. 
When old or infirm, they sit down in some previously existing Mat’h, or 


establish one of their own. 


The Mat’hs, Asthals, or Akaras, the residences of the monastic commu- 
nities of the Hindus, are scattered over the whole country: they vary in 
structure and extent, according to the property of which the proprietors are 
possessed ; but they generally comprehend a set of huts or chambers for the 
Mahant,* or Superior, and his permanent pupils; a temple, sacred to the deity 
whom they worship, or the Samédh, or shrine of the founder of the sect, or 
someeminent teacher ; and a Dharma Séla, one or more sheds, or buildings for 
the accommodation of the mendicants or travellers, who are constantly visiting 
the Mat’h: ingress and egress is free to all; and, indeed, a restraint upon 
personal liberty seems never to have entered into the conception of any of the 


religious legislators of the Hindus. 


_ The Ma?’h is under the entire controul of a Mahant, or Superior, with a 


certain number of resident Chélas, or disciples ; their number varies from three 


* The following description of the residence of Manpana Misra, from the Sankara Vijaya of 
ANANDA Girl, is very applicable toa modern Mav’h. . 

« At the distance of four Yojanas, west from Hastinapur, was a square plot of ground, extending 
a cos on each side, in the centre of it stood a large mansion, constructed of the timber of the Tal, and 
exactly facing it another a hundred cubits in length ; upon the top of this last, were many cages full 
of parrots, and within it resided five hundred pupils, occupied in the study of various Sdstras: the 
first was the dwelling of the Teacher, like Brahma with four heads, like the Serpent King, with a 
thousand faces, and Rudra, with a five-fold head, amongst his disciples like the waves of the ocean, 
and enabling them to overcome the universe in unparalleled profundity and extent of knowledge: he 
was attended by numerous slaves of both sexes: attached to his dwelling, were wells and reservoirs, 
and gardens and orchards, and his person was pampered with the choicest viands procured daily by 
his disciples. In his court-yard were two Temples, on a circular mound, for the worship of the Vis- 
wadevas and the Sélagrdm, in the form of Lakshmi Naréyana. 


40 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


or four to thirty or forty, but in both cases there are always a number of 
vagrant or out-members: the resident Chélas are usually the elders of the 
body, with a few of the younger as their attendants and scholars; and it is 
from the senior and more proficient of these ascetics, that the Mahant is 


usually elected. 


In some instances, however, where the Mahant has a family, the situa- 
tion descends in the line of his posterity: where an election is to be 
effected, it is conducted with much solemnity, and presents a curious picture 
of a regularly organised system of church policy, amongst these apparently 


unimportant and straggling communities. 


| The Maths of various districts look up to some one of their own order 
as chief, and they all refer to that connected with their founder, as the com- 
mon head : under the presidence, therefore, of the Mahant of that establish. 
ment, wherever practicable, and in his absence, of some other of acknowledg- 
ed pre-eminence, the Mahants of the different Mai’hs assemble, upon the 
decease of one of their brethren, to elect a successor. For this purpose they re. 
gularly examine the Chélas, or disciples of the deceased, the ablest of whom 
is raised to the vacant situation : should none of them be qualified, they choose 
a Mahant from the pupils of some other teacher, but this is rarely necessary, 
and unless necessary, is never had recourse to. The new Mahant is then regu- 
larly installed, and is formally invested with the cap, the rosary, the frontal 
mark, or Tika, or any other monastic insignia, by the president of the assem- 
bly. Under the native Government, whether Mohammedan or Hindi—the 
election of the superior of one of these establishments was considered as a mat- 
ter of sufficient moment, to demand the attention of the Governor of the pro- 
vince, who, accordingly, in person, or by his deputy, presided at the election : 
at present, no interference is exercised by the ruling authorities, and rarely. 


by any lay character, although occasionally, a Raja, or a Zemindar, to whose 


OF THE HINDUS. 41 


liberality the Mai’h is indebted; or in whose lands it is situated, assumes the 


right of assisting and presiding at the election. 


The Mahants of the sect, in which the election takes place, are gene- 
rally assisted by those of the sects connected with them : each is attended by 
a train of disciples, and individuals of various mendicant tribes repair to the 
mecting ; so that-an assemblage of many hundreds, and sometimes of thou- 
sands, occurs: as far as the resources of the Mat’h, where they are assem- 
bled, extend, they are maintained at its expense ; when those fail, they must 
shift for themselvés; the election is usually a business of ten or twelve days, 
and during the period of its continuance, various points of polity or doctrine 


are discussed in the assembly. 


Most of the Mait’hs have some endowments of land, but with the excep- 
tion of a few established in large cities, and especially at Benares, the indivi- 
dual amount of these endowments is, in general, of little value. ‘There are few 
Mai’hs in any district that possess five hundred Bigahs of land, or about one 
hundred and seventy acres, and the most usual quantity is about thirty or 
forty Bigahs only: this is sometimes let out for a fixed rent; at other times, 
it is cultivated by the Math on its own account ; the highest rental met with, 
in any of the returns procured, is six hundred and thirty rupees per annum. 
Although, however, the individual portions are trifling, the great number of 
these petty establishments renders the aggregate amount considerable, and as 
the endowed lands have been granted Maf, or free of land tax, they form, al- 


together, a serious deduction from the revenue of each district. 


Besides the lands they may hold, the Mai’hs have other sources of sup- 
port: the attachment of lay votaries frequently contributes very liberally to 
their wants: the community is also sometimes concerned, though, im general, 


covertly, in traffic, and besides those means of supply, the individual members 
M 


42 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


of most of them sally forth daily, to collect alms from the vicinity, the aggre- 
gate of which, generally in the shape of rice or other grains, furnishes forth 
the common table : it only remains to observe, that the tenants of these Ma?’hs, 
particularly the Vatshnavas, are most commonly of a quiet inoffensive charac- 
ter, and the Mahants especially are men of talents and respectability, although 
they possess, occasionally, a little of that self-importance, which the conceit of 
superior sanctity is apt to inspire: there are, it is true, exceptions to this inno- 
cuous character, and robberies, and murders, have been traced to these _reli- 


gious establishments. 


The especial object of the worship of RAMAnanv«’s followers is Visuxu, as 
RAmAcuanpra: they, of course, reverence all the other incarnations of VisHNu, 
but they maintain the superiority of RAma, in the present or Kali Yug ; hence 
they are known collectively as Ramdwats, although the same variety prevails 
amongst them, as amongst the Ramdniyas, as to the exclusive or collective 
worship of the male and female members of this incarnation, or of Rama and 
Sita, singly, or jointly, or Sita Rama :* individuals of them also pay par- 
ticular veneration to some of the other forms of VisuXu, and they hold in like 
estimation, as the Ramanuwjas, and every Vaishnava sect, the Sdlagram stone 
and Tulasi plant: their forms of worship correspond with those of the Hindus 
generally, but some of the mendicant members of the sect, who are very nu- 
merous, and are usually known as Vairdagis, or Viraktas, consider all form of 


adoration superfluous, beyond the incessant invocation of the name of Kris#- 


Wa and RAma. 


The practices of this sect are of a less precise nature than those of the 


Riminusas, it being the avowed object of the founder to release his disciples 


* Amongst the temples of this sect at Benares, are two dedicated to Radha Krishha, 
although attached to Maz‘ks belonging to the Admdvat order, and not at all connected with the 
followers of VALLABHA, or of CHAITANYA and NITYANAND. 


OF THE HINDUS. 43 


from those fetters which he had found so inconvenient: in allusion to this, 
indeed, he gave, it is said, the appellation Avadhuta, or Liberated, to his scholars, 
and they admit no particular observances with respect to eating or bathing,* 
but follow their own inclination, or comply with the common practice in these 
respects. The initiatory Manira is said to be Sri Rama—the salutation is Jaya 
Sri Rama, Jaya Ram, or Sitéd Ram: their marks are the same as those of the 
preceding, except that the red perpendicular streak on the forehead, is varied, 
in shape and extent, at the pleasure of the individual, and is generally narrow- 


er than that of the RAMANUJAs. 


Various sects are considered to be but branches of the Raménandi Vaish- 
navas, and their founders are asserted to have been amongst his disciples: of 
these disciples, twelve are particularised as the most eminent, some of whom 
have given origin to religious distinctions of great celebrity, and, although 
their doctrines are often very different from those of RAmMAnanp, yet the po- 
pular tradition is so far corroborated, that they maintain an amicable inter- 


course with the followers of RAMAnanp, and with each other. 


The twelve chief disciples of RAMAnanp are named, as follows—Asinanp, 
Kasir, the weaver, Rarpis, the Chamar, or currier, Pfra, the Rajaput, Sur- 
SURANAND, SUKHANAND, BHAVANAND, Dyanna the Jat, Sena, the barber— 
ManAnanp, PARAMANAND, and SrfAnanp,t a list which shews, that the 
school of RAmAnanp admitted disciples of every caste: it is, in fact, assert- 
ed in the Bhakta Mala, that the distinction of caste is inadmissible according 


* The Vairdgis of this sect, and some others, eat and drink together, without regard to 
tribe or caste, and are thence called Kulatut, or Verna Tué. 


+ The Bhakta Méld has a rather different list: 1 Racuuta’tH, 2 ANANTANAND, 3 Kasir, 
4 Sux’nAsur, 5 Jiva, 6 PapmMAvat, 7 Piea, 8 BHAVANAND, 9 RarpAs, 10 Duanna, 11 Seva, 
12 Sursura. His successors, again, were somewhat different, or 1 RacuunA’rH, 2 ANANTANAND, 
JoGANanp, RAmpAs, Sri Ranga, and Naranant. 


44 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


to the tenets of the Rdmdnandis: there is no difference, they say, between 
the BuacavAn and the Bhakt, or the deity and his worshipper ; but Buaca- 
van appeared in inferior forms, as a Fish, a Boar, a Tortoise, &c., so therefore 
the Bhakt may be born as a Chama, a Kori, a Cl’hipi, or any other degraded 


caste. 


The various character of the reputed disciples of RAMANAND, and a con- 
sideration of the tenets of those sects which they have founded, lead to a con- 
clusion, that this individual, if he did not invent, gave fresh force to a very 
important encroachment upon the orthodox system: he, in fact, abrogated the 
distinction of caste amongst the religious orders, and taught, that the holy cha- 
racter who quitted the ties of nature and society, shook off, at the same time, 
all personal distinction—this seems to be the proper import of the term Ava- 
a’huta, which RAm{nanp is said to have affixed to his followers, and they were 
liberated from more important restraints than those of regimen and ablution : 
the popular character of the works of this school, corroborates this view of 
Riminanpa’s innovation; Sankara and RAmAnusa writing to and for the 
Brahmanical order alone, composed chiefly, if not solely, Sanscrit commenta- 
ries on the text of the Védas, or Sanscrit expositions of their peculiar doctrines, 
and the teachers of these opinions, whether monastic or secular, are indispen- 
sably of the Brahmanical caste—it does not appear that any works exist which 
are attributed to RamAnanp himself, but those of his followers are written in 
the provincial dialects, and addressed to the capacity, as well as placed within 
the reach of every class of readers, and every one of those may become a 


Vairdgi, and rise, in time, to be a Guru or Mahant. 


We shall have occasion to speak again particularly of such of the above- 
mentioned disciples of RAmAnaND, as instituted separate sects, but there are 
several who did not aspire to that distinction, and whose celebrity is, neverthe- 


less, still very widely spread throughout Hindustan: there are also several 


OF THE HINDUS. : 45 


personages belonging to the sect of particular note, and we may, therefore, 
here pause, to extract a few of the anecdotes which the Bhakta Mala relates 
of those individuals, and which, if they do not afford much satisfactory infor- 
mation regarding their objects, will at least furnish some notion of the cha- 


racter of this popular work. 


Pira, the Rajaput, is called the Raja of Gangaraon: he was originally a 
worshipper of Devi, but abandoned her service for that of Visunu, and 
repaired to Benares to put himself under the tuition of RAmAnanp. Having 
disturbed the sage at an inconvenient season, RAmANAND angrily. wished that 
he might fall into the well of his court yard, on which Pipa, in the fervour 
of his obedience, attempted to cast himself into it to accomplish the desire 
of the saint. This act was with difficulty prevented by the by-standers, and 
the attempt so pleased RAMANaAND that he immediately admitted the Raja 
amongst his disciples. 


Pipa, after some time abandoned his earthly possessions, and accom. 
panied by only one of his wives, named Siri, as ardent a devotee as himself, 
adopting a life of mendicity, accompanied RAmAnanp and his disciples to 
Dwarakad. Were he plunged into the sea to visit the submarine shrine of 
Krisuna, and was affectionately received by that deity ; after spending some 
days with him, Pipa returned, when the fame of the occurrence spread, and 
attracted great crowds to see him. Finding them incompatible with his 
devotions, Pipa left Dwdrakd privately: on the road some Patans carried 
off his wife, but Rima himself rescued her, and slew the ravishers. The 
life of this vagrant Rdjd is narrated at considerable length in the Bhakta 
Méild, and is made up of the most absurd and silly legends. On one oc- 
casion the Raja encounters a furious lion in a forest; he hangs a rosary 
round his neck, whispers the Mantra of Rama, and makes him tranquil in a 
moment; he then lectures the lion on the impropriety of devouring men. 

N 


46 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


and kine, and sends him away penitent, and with a pious purpose to do so 


no more. 


Of SursurAnanp we have a silly enough story of some cakes that were 
given to him by a Miechch’ha being changed when in his mouth into a Tulasé 
leaf. Of Dana, it is related that a Brahman, by way of a frolic, gave him 
apiece of stone, and desired him to offer to it first, whatever he was about to 
eat. Duana obeyed, looking upon the stone as the representative of Visniu, 
who being pleased with his devotion, appeared, and constantly tended the 
cattle of the simple Jat: at last he recommended his becoming the disciple of 
RAmAnanD, for which purpose he went to Benares, and having received the 
Mantra, returned to his farm. RacguuNnATH, or in the text ASANAND, succeed- 
ed RAMANAND in the Gaddi, or the Pillow of the Mahant. Narauarti or HaryA- 
NAND was also a pupil of RAmAnanp, whom it is difficult to identify with any — 


one in the list above given: we have a characteristic legend of him. 


Being one day in want of fuel to dress his meat, he directed one of his 
pupils to proceed to a neighbouring temple of Devf, and bring away from it 
any portion of the timber he could conveniently remove: this was done, to the 
great alarm, but utter helplessness of the goddess, who could not dispute the 
authority of a mortal of HaryAnanp’s sanctity. A neighbour who had observ- 
ed this transaction laboured under a like want of wood: at the instigation of 
his wife, he repaired also to the temple, and attempted to remove one of the 
beams, when the goddess, indignant at his presumption, hurled him down and 
broke his neck : the widow hearing of her husband’s fate, immediately hastened 
to the temple, and liberally abused the vindictive deity. Devt took advantage 
of the business to make a bargain for her temple, and restored the man to life, 


on condition that he would ever afterwards buy fuel for HaryAnanp. 


The legends of such other disciples of RAmAnanp as occur in the Bhakta 


OF THE HINDUS. 4 


Mélé will be given in their proper places, and it will be sufficient here to con- 
fine our further extracts from that authority to NAsuiy, the author, Sur Dis, 
and Tuas Das, to whose poetical talents the late version of it is largely in- 


debted, and JAyapEvA, whose songs have been translated by Sir William Jones. 


Nisuisi, the author of the Bhakta Mala, was by birth a Dom, a caste 
whose employ is making baskets and various sort of wicker work. The early 
commentators say he was of the Hanuman Bans, or Monkey tribe, because, 
observes the modern interpreter, Baner, a monkey, signifies in the Marwar 
language, a Dom, and it is not proper to mention the caste of a Vaishnava by 
name: he was born blind, and when but five years old, was exposed by his 
parents, during a time of scarcity, to perish in the woods: in this situation 
he was found by Acrapis and Kft, two Vaishnava teachers: they had com- 
passion upon his helplessness, and Kit sprinkled his eyes with the water of 
his Kamandalu, or water pot, and the child saw: they carried NABuAys1 to their 
Math, where he was brought up, and received the initiatory Mantra from 
Acrapas: when arrived at maturity, he wrote the Bhakia Mala by desire of 
his Guru. The age of NAsuasr must be about two centuries, or two and a half, 
as he is made cotemporary with MAn Sinu, the Raja of Jaynagar, and with 
Axper. He should date much earlier, if one account of his spiritual descent 
which makes him the fourth from RAMANAND* be admitted, but in the 
Bhakta Mala, Krisuna DAs, the second in that account, does not descend in 
a direct line from RAmAnanp, but derives his qualifications as teacher from the 
immediate instructions of Visunu himself: there is no necessity, therefore, to 
connect Nisyisr with RAmAnanp. The same authority places him also 
something later, as it states that Tunasi DAs, who was cotemporary with Suan 


J EHAN, Visited NABuAsi at Vrindavan. It is probable, therefore, that this writer 


* 1 RAmANaNnD, 2 AsAnanp, 3 KrisuNa DAs, 4 Kin and AcrapAs, 5 NaBHAJI, see 
the next division of this section. 


48 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


flourished at the end of AxsEr’s reign, and in the commencement of that 


of his successor. 


The notices we have of Sur DAs are very brief: he was blind, a great 
poet, and a devout worshipper of Visunu, in whose honour all his poems are 
written : they are songs and hymns of various lengths, but usually short, 
and the greater number are Padas, or simply stanzas of four lines, the first 
line forming a subject, which is repeated as the last and the burthen of the 
song, Padas being very generally sung, both at public entertainments, and the 
devotional exercises of the Vaishnava ascetics. Sur DAs is said to have 
composed 125,000 of these Padas: he is almost entitled to be considered as 
the founder of a sect, as blind beggars carrying about some musical instru- 
ments, to which they chaunt stanzas in honour of VisHNu, are generally termed 
Stir Dasis. The tomb of Sur Dis, a simple mound of earth, is considered to 
be situated in a tope near Sivpur, a village about two miles to the north of 
Benares. There is also an account of a saint of the same name in the Bhakta 
Mala, who is possibly a different person from the blind bard. This was a 
Brahman, Amin, or collector of the Pergunnah of Sandiia, in the reign of AxBEr, 
and who with more zeal than honesty made over his collections to the shrine 
of Mapana Mouana, a form of Krisna, at Vrindavan, and sent to the 
treasury chests filled with stones:* the minister Toprr Mutt, however, 
although a Hindu, was not disposed to confirm this transfer, and he had the 


defaulter arrested and thrown into prison. Sur DAs then applied to AksEr: 


¥ 


* He accompanied them also with the following rhyme, atz wig Ula wus aq 
waa faa Teal ACaTe ATAATSEA BrM cra FE FSH which may be thus 


rendered : 
The Saints have shared Sandilas taxes, 
Of which the total thirteen lacks is, 


A fee for midnight service owen, 


By me Sur Das to Madan Mohen, 


OF THE HINDUS. | 49 


and the good natured monarch, who probably thought his collector more 
fool than knave, set him at liberty. He retired to Vrindaban and there con- 


tinued to lead a religious and ascetic life. 


The account of Tuxast Dis in the Bhakta Maid, represents him as having 
been incited to the peculiar adoration of RAma by the remonstrances of his 
wife, to whom he was passionately attached: he adopted a vagrant life, visited 
Benares, and afterwards went to Chitrakita, where he had a personal interview 
with Hanuman, from whom he received his poetical inspiration, and the power 
of working miracles : his fame reached Dehlt, where SHau JEHAN was emperor: 
the monarch sent for him, and desired him to produce the person of Rima, 
which Tutas1 Dis refusing to do, the king threw him into confinement; the 
people of the vicinity, however, speedily petitioned for his liberation, as they 
were alarmed for their own security: myriads of monkies having collected 
about the prison, and begun to demolish it, and the adjacent buildings. Suan 
JEHAN set the poet at liberty, and desired him to solicit some favour as a 
reparation for the indignity he had suffered: Tuiasi DAs, accordingly requested. 
him to quit ancient Dehli, which was the abode of RAma, and in compliance 
with this request the emperor left it, and founded the new city, thence nam- 
ed Shah Jehanabad. After this, Tutasit Dis went to Bindraban, where he had 
an interview with Nizuan: he settled there; and strenuously advocated the 


worship of Sit@ Rama, in preference to that of Radhé Krishna. 


Besides these legendary tales of this celebrated writer, whose works exer- 
cise more influence upon the great body of Hindt population, than the whole 
voluminous series of Sanscrit composition, we have other notices of him collect- 
ed from his own works, or preserved by tradition, that differ in some respects 
from the above. From these it appears, that Tutast DAs was a Brahman of the 
Serwariah branch, and a native of H@japur, near Chitrakuta ; when arrived at 
maturity, he settled at Bendres, and held the office of Dewan to the Raja of 

fy) 


50 RELIGIOUS SECS 


that city: his spiritual preceptor was JAGANNAT’H DAs, a pupil, as well as Na- 
puAsi of Acravis: he followed this teacher to Goverdhan, near Bindraban, but 
afterwards returned to Benares, and there commenced his Hindi version of the 
Réméyata, in the year of Samvat 1631, when he was thirty-one years of age— 
besides this work, which is highly popular, Tuxasi DAs is the author of a Sat 
Sai, or collection of one hundred stanzas on various subjects: of the Rém Gu- 
ndvalt, a series of verses in praise of Rama, of a Gitdvali, and Vinaya Patriké, 
poetical compositions of a devotional or moral tendency, and of a great variety 
of Hymns—as Ragas, Kavits, and Padas, in honour of his tutelary deity and 
his consort, or RAma and Sith. Tuxasr DAs continued to reside at Benares, 
where he built a temple to Szé@ Rama, and founded a Ma?’h adjoining, both 
which are still in existence: he died in the year of the Samvat era, 1680, or 
A. D. 1624, in the reign of JeEuAncrr,* and the legendary story therefore 


of his intercourse with Suan JEHAN, is consequently an anachronism. 


J AYADEVA was an inhabitant of a village called Kinduvilwa, where he led an 
ascetic life, and was distinguished for his poetical powers, and the fervour of 
his devotion to Visunu. He at first adopted a life of continence, but was 
subsequently induced to marry. A Brahman had dedicated his daughter to 
JAGANNATH, but on his way to the shrine of that deity was addressed by him, 
and desired to give the maiden to JayapEvA who was one with himself. The 
saint, who it should appear had no other shelter than the shade of a tree, was 
very unwilling to burthen himself with a bride, but her father disregarded his 
refusal, and leaving his daughter with him departed. Jayapreva then addres- 
sed the damsel, and asked her what she proposed to do, to which she replied ; 
‘¢ whilst I was in my father’s house, I was obedient to his will; he has now 


presented me to you, and I am subject to your pleasure; if you reject me, 


* According to this memorial verse— 


aaa Sree ae oA HMR AT) aU war UAA FAA as WOT 


OF THE HINDUS. 51 


what remains for me but to die.”’? The saint finding there was no help, turned 
householder, and removed the image he had worshipped in the air into his 
dwelling, by desire, it is said, of the object of his adoration. In his new con- 
dition he composed the Gitd Govinda, in which Krisuna himself assisted, for 
on one occasion, JAYADEVA being puzzled how to describe the charms of 
Rivwi, laid down the paper for a happier moment, and went to bathe. 
KrisHna, assuming his person, entered his house, and wrote the requisite des- 


cription, much to the poet’s astonishment on his return home. 


Of the Gité Govinda it is said, thatthe Raya of Nildchala (Orissa) composed 
a poem similarly named, but when the two works were placed before Jacan- 
wATH, he took the work of Jayapzeva to his bosom, and threw that of the Raja 
out of his temple. It is also said, that the Git@ Govinda was sung in the court 
of Vikram, thus assigning to it an antiquity which there is no reason to suse 


pect it can justly claim. 


Jayaprva being desirous of performing a particular rite for his idol, re- 
sumed his erratic habits, and succeeded in collecting a considerable sum of money 
for this purpose: on the road, he was attacked by Thegs, or thieves, whorobbed 
him, and cut off his hands and feet. In this state he was found by a Raja 
who took him home, and had his wounds healed. Shortly afterwards the 
thieves, disguised as religious mendicants, came to the court of the Raja. 
JAYADEVA recognized them, and overwhelmed them with benefits. On their 
departure, two of the Raja’s people were sent to attend them to the confines 
of the Raj, who on their way asked them how they had merited the saint’s 
particular regard. To this they replied, that they had been his fellows 
im the service of a Raja, who had ordered them to put him to death: they 
however only mutilated him, and his gratitude for their sparing his life was 
the reason he had treated them so kindly. They had no sooner uttered these 
words, than the earth opened and swallowed them. ‘The servants of the 


52 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


re 


Raja returned, and reported the occurrence, when a fresh miracle took place 
—the hands and feet of Jayaprva sprouted forth again. The Raja being 
filled with astonishment, requested the saint to explain these events, which 


he did by narrating what had befallen him. 


After remaining some time with the Raja where he restored to life his 
own wife PapmAvati, who had voluntarily put an end to herself, he returned 
to Kinduvilwa. Here the Ganges, which was then eighteen cos distant, and 
to which he went daily to bathe, requested him not to undergo so much 
fatigue, as she would rather come to him. ‘The proposal was accepted by the 


saint, and according to our guide, the river now runs close to the village. 


The ascetic and mendicant followers of RAmMAnanD, known indiscrimi- 
nately as Raménandis or Raméwats, are by far the most numerous class of sec- 
taries in Gangetic India: in Bengal they are comparatively few: beyond this 
province, as far as to Allahabad,* although perhaps the most numerous, 
they yield in influence and wealth to the Sazva branches, especially to the 
Aitits : hence, however, they predominate, and either by themselves, or their 
kindred divisions, almost engross the whole of the country along the Ganges 
and Jumna : in the district of Agra, they alone constitute seven-tenths of the 
ascetic population. The Rémdnandis have very numerous votaries, but they 
are chiefly from the poorer and inferior classes, with the exception of the 
Réjaputs and military Brahmans, amongst whom the poetical works of Sur DAs. 


and Tutasi DAs, maintain the pre-eminence of Rdma and his Bhakts. 


* Some of the principal Mat’hs at Benares are the following: Ramuir, Mahant, a temple of RAMA. 
MAyva Ram Mahant, a temple of Rama. RAmAnusA, Khaki, Mahant, a temple of Sirs RAM. Pu- 
RUSHOTTAMA Das, K’héki, Mahant, a temple of Rama. PirAmpara Dis, Mahant, Sita Ram ; this 
is the Mandir of Tulasi Dés. Govinp DAs, Mahant, Rédhé Krishna. RAMACHARAN, ditto ditto. 

-At a late meeting (1820) to elect a Mahant of one of the Vaishnava Maths, in the vicinity of 
Benares, about 5000 Mendicants of the various branches of the sect attended; of these at least 
3000 were Rdmdwats, the rest were Sri Vaishnavas, Kabir Pant'his, and others. 


OF THE HINDUS. oS 


KABIR PANT’HIS. 


Amongst the twelve disciples of RAmAnanp, the most celebrated of all, 
and one who seems to have produced directly or indirectly, a greater effect 
on the state of popular belief than any other was Kazpir: with an unpre- 
cedented boldness he assailed the whole system of idolatrous worship, and 
ridiculed the learning of the Pandits, and doctrines of the Sastras, in a style 
peculiarly well suited to the genius of his countrymen to whom he addressed 
himself, whilst he also directed his compositions to the Musselman, as well as 
to the Hindu faith, and with equal severity attacked the Mulla and Koran. The 
effect of his lessons, as confined to his own immediate followers, will be shewn 
to have been considerable, but their indirect effect has been still greater ; 
several of the popular sects being little more than ramifications from his stock, 
whilst Nanak Shah, the only Hindu reformer'who has established a national 
faith, appears-to have been chiefly indebted for his religious notions to his 


predecessor Kapir.* ‘This sect therefore claims particular attention. 


* Matcoum says, that NANAK constantly referred to the writings of the celebrated Mo- 
hammedan Casir, (A. R. XI. 267.) and the Kabir Pant his asserts, that he has incorporated several 
thousand passages from Kabir’s writings. As to Kabir’s being a Mohammedan, I shall allude to the 
improbability of this, I may say impossibility, in the text, nor is Cor. MatcoLm more accurate 
when he calls him a celebrated Sz, for his doctrines have nothing in common apparently with 
that sect ; indeed I think it not at all improbable that no such person as Kazir ever existed, and that 
his name is a mere cover to the innovations of some freethinker amongst the Hindus: perhaps some 
one of those considered as his principal disciples: his names are very suspicious, and Jnydni, the 
sage, or Kabir, the greatest, are generic rather than individual denominations: at any rate, even if 
the individual were distinct, we must suppose that the name which occurs in his writings is nothing 
more than the Zak‘hallus or assumed name, under which both Musselman and Hindu poets have 
been accustomed to send their compositions into the world. To return, however, to the obligations 
which the popular religions owe to the real or supposed Kasrr, I find him avowedly or unavowedly 
cited by Baba ZLdl, and in the writings of the Sddhs, the Satndmis, the Sri Nardinis and 
Sunydbadis, and 1am told that the Dédu Panthis, and Derya Désis are equally indebted to him. 


P 


54 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


The origin of the founder of this sect is variously narrated, although in 
the main points, the traditions are agreed: the story told in the Bhakta Mala, 
is, that he was the son of the virgin widow of a Brahman, whose father was a 
follower of RAminann’: at his daughter’s repeated request, he took her to see 
RAmAnanp, and that teacher, without adverting to her situation, saluted her 
with the benediction he thought acceptable to all women, and wished her the 
conception of a son: his words could not be re-called, and the young widow, 
in order to conceal the disgrace thus inflicted on her, contrived to be privately 
delivered, and exposed the child: it was found bya weaver and his wife, and 


brought up as their own. 


The followers of Kanir do not admit more than the conclusion of this 
legend: according to them, the child, who was no other than the incarnate deity, 
was found floating on a Lotus in Lahartaldb, a lake, or pond near Benares, by 
the wife of a weaver, named NimA, who, with her husband Nuri, was attend- 
ing a wedding procession: she took the child up, and shewed it to her hus- 
band, who being addressed by the child, and desired to take him to Kasi, 
fled with terror, thinking they had got hold of some incarnate demon: after 
having run to the distance of about a mile, he was surprised to find the child 
before him, by whom his fear was tranquillised, and he was persuaded to re- 
turn to his wife, and bring up, without anxiety or alarm, the infant they had 


so marvellously discovered. 


All traditions concur in making Kasir the disciple of RAmMAnanp, al- 
though various stories are narrated of the method by which he obtained that 
distinction, and overcame the objections started to him as a man of low 
caste, or, according to very general belief, of the Mohammedan persuasion : 
he succeeded at last by surprise, having put himself in the way of that 
teacher on the steps of the ghdt down which he went at day break to bathe, 


so as to be struck with his foot, on which RAMANAND exclaimed Ram, Ram, 


fh 
# 


OF THE HINDUS. 55 


words that Kasrr assumed, and RAmAnanp acknowledged to be the initiatory 


Mantra, which forms the bond of union between a Guru and his disciple. 


The story of Kazir’s being a disciple of RAmAnawp, however told, and, 
although perhaps not literally true in any fashion, may be so far correct, that 
Kasir was roused by the innovations of that sectary to adopt and extend the 
schism, and seems to place at contiguous periods the eras at which they flou- 
rished: according to the Kabir Pant’his, their founder was present in the 
world three hundred years, or from 1149 to 1449,* but of these dates we 
cannot admit the accuracy of more than one at most, and as the latter is the 
more recent, it is the more probable: agreeable to this, is the connexion of 
Kasir’s writings with the faith of Nanak Suan, who began to teach about 
1490, and it also confirms a particular account, current amongst his followers, 


of his openly vindicating his doctrines before SEKANDER SHAu,t in whose 


* gad aTceea at ure Bt wrt fear faarci arm afe waz war we 
HUT THAT ll AAT UTTENT AM Ga At ATT Har WaT) AVA Ble area 


faz qagqt aT qs Wi In the Sambat 1205 JnyAnt meditated, was manifest at Kés?, and declared 
the text called Taksér: in the Sambat 1505 he journied to Magar, and on the I1th of the light 
fortnight of Aghan, air mixed with air. 


+ There is a Ramaini to that effect, and the following story is told, with the usual marvel- 
lous embellishments, in the Bhakia Malé ; in that work it is said, his mother complained to SrKAan- 
DER Padshah of her son’s having deserted the true faith, on which the king sent for him; he ap- 
peared with the Tika and Jala, and when told to make the customary Salam, he replied, “I know 
none but dm, what use is there in prostrating myself to a monarch.” Enraged at his behaviour, 
the king ordered him to be chained hand and foot, and thrown into the river. The water bore him 
to shore. He then commanded him to be cast into fire, but the flames played harmless round him. 
He then directed him to be trodden to death by an elephant, but as soon as the animal saw the 
sage, he turned tail and ran away. The king mounted his own elephant, resolved to execute his 
commands in person, but when he approached, Kasrr transformed himself into a lion. The Monarch 
then convinced of his divine character alighted, and falling at his feet, offered him any lands and 
villages he might chuse; these offers he declined, saying, “ Ram is my wealth: of what avail are 


56 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


time Ferrsuta has noticed, that some religious disputes, possibly connected 
with the history of Kazrr, or that of some of his disciples, did occur. 


These circumstances, connected with the acknowledged date of his death, 
render it exceedingly probable that Kadir flourished about the beginning of 
the 15th century—and as it is also not unlikely that his innovations were con- 
nected with the previous exertions of RAMANaAND, consequently that teacher 


must have lived about the end of the 14th. 


According to one account, Kanrir was originally named Jnydni, the 
knowing or wise. The Musselmans, it is said, claim him as one of their persua- 
tion, but his conversancy with the Hindu Sdstras, and evidently limited 
knowledge of the Mohammedan authorities in matters of religion, render 
such a supposition perfectly unwarrantable : at any rate tradition represents 
it to have occasioned a contest between them and the Hindus respecting the 
disposal of his corpse, the latter insisting on burning, the Musselmans, on bu- 
rying it; in the midst of the dispute, Kazir himself appeared amongst them, 
and desiring them to look under the cloth supposed to cover his mortal 


remains, immediately vanished: on obeying his instructions, they found 


worldly possessions, but to set father, and son, and brother, at deadly variance:” he returned to his 
abode, and remained unmolested. 

CotoneL Maxcorm in the note before cited, places him in the reign of Suir SHau; this is, 
however, at variance with his own statements; NANAK was in the heighth of his career in 1527, 
(A. R. XI. 206.) then imparting to Bazer, tenets which he had partly borrowed from the writings of 
Kagsir, and which must. consequently have been some time previously promulgated: but Suir SHAH 
did not commence his reign till 1542, and it was ‘therefore impossible for Kasrr to have lived in his 
reign, and at the same time to have instigated by his own innovations, the more successful ones of 
NAnaAk. Kasir’s being contemporary with SEKANDER, is also mentioned in Priya Dasa’s expan- 
sion of the Bhakia Mélé: it is likewise stated in the Kholasset al tawdrikh, and is finally established 
by Asutrazz, who says that Kasrr the Unitarian, lived in the reign of Sultan Secanpzr Lonr, 
(Ay: Ac: 2.38.) 


OF THE HINDUS. 57 


nothing under the cloth, but a heap of flowers : one half of these Baninz 
Raja or Brrstnna Raja, then Raja of Benares, removed to that City, 
where they were burnt, and where he appropriated the spot now called 
the Kabir Chaura to the reception of their ashes, whilst Brgy1n1 Kuan 
Patan, the head of the Mohammedan party, erected a tomb over the 
other portion at Magar near Gorakhpur, where Kazir had died. ‘This 
latter place was endowed by Mansur Ati Kuan with several villages, 
and it divides with the Chaura the pilgrimage of the followers of this 


sect. 


The Kabir Panthis in consequence of their Master having been the reput- 
ed disciple of RAmAnanp, and of their paying more respect to VisHnu, than 
the other Members of the Hindu triad, are always included amongst the 
Vaishnava sects, and maintain with most of them, the Rdmdwats especially, a 
friendly intercourse and political alliance : it is no-part of their faith, however ; 
to worship any Hindu deity, or to observe any of the rites or ceremonials of 
the Hindus, whether orthodox or schismatical; such of their members as are 
living in the world conform outwardly to all the usages of their tribe and 
caste, and some of them even pretend to worship the usual divinities, although 
this is considered as going rather farther than is justifiable. Those how- 
ever who have abandoned the fetters of Society, abstain from all the ordi- 
nary practices and address their homage, chiefly in chanting Hymns, ex- 
clusively to the invisible Kase : they use no Mantra nor fixed form of 
salutation ; they have no peculiar mode of dress, and some of them go nearly 
naked without objecting however to clothe themselves in order to appear 
dressed, where clothing is considered decent or respectful—the AZahants 
wear a small scull cap: the frontal marks, if worn, are usually those 
of the Vaishnava sects, or they make a streak with Sandal, or Gopi- 
chandan along the ridge of the nose, a necklace and rosary of Tulasi 
are also worn by them, but all these outward signs are considered of no 


Q 


58 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


importance, and the inward man is the only essential point to be attended 


to.* 


The doctrines of Kazrr are taught in a great variety of works in differ. 
ent dialects of Hindi; they are the acknowledged compositions of his disci- 
ples and successors, but they are mostly in the form of dialogues, and profess 
to be of his utterance, either in his own words, with the phrase, Kahkdhi Kabir, 
‘ Kazir verily says,’ or to the same substance, which is marked by the qualifica- 
tion, Kahai Kabir, ‘ Kabir has said,’ or they are given in the language of his 
followers, when the expression Dés Kabir, the slave of Kabir, is made use of. 
The style of all their works is very peculiar, they are written in the usual forms 
of Hindi verse, the Doha, Choupai and Samai ; and are very voluminous as 
may be inferred from the following collection, preserved as the Khas Grantha, 
or Lhe Book at the Chaura. 


1. Suk’h Nidhan. 

2. Goraknat’hit Ghshthi. 
3. Kabir Panyji. 

4. Balak’hki Ramaini. 

5. Rédmédnandki Goshthi. 
6. Anand Ram Sagara, 


* To avoid unnecessary contention, and its probable concomitant in other days, persecution, 
was the object probably of the following prudent maxim, one of the Séi’Ais of their founder 
wa a fefere aq & fies ag art fair” ats) Ur METH wae fa} aa ares 
WATT ll “ Associate and mix with all, and take the names of all; say to every one, yes Sir, yes Sir. 
Abide in your own abode.”—They do not admit that taking the names of all, implies the invocation 
of the illusory deities of the Hindu Pantheon, but means that they should reply.as they are 
addressed, whether the phrase be Bandagi, Dandéwat, or Rim Rém: the proper salutation of an 


inferior to a superior amongst them, if any be particularly proper, is Bandagi Sahib, Service Sir ; 
to which the latter replies, Guru Ki Dayd, the mercy of the Lord be upon you. 


OF THE HINDUS. 59. 


7. Sabdévali, containing 1,000 Sabdas, or short doctrinal expositions. 

8. Mangala, 100 short poems, amongst which is the account of Kanir’s 
discovery as given above. 

9. Vasant, 100 hymns in that Rdge. 

10. Holi, 200 of the songs, called Hol. 

11. Rék’htas, 100 odes. 

12. Jhulanas, 500 odes, in a different style. 

13. Kahdras, 500 odes, in a different style. 

14. Hindolas, 12 ditto ditto. The subject of all these odes, or hymns, 
is always moral or religious. ) 3 

15. Bédrah Masa, the 12months in a religious view, agreeably to Kasir’s 
system. 

16. Chancharas 22. 

17. Chautisas 2: the 34 letters of the Nagart alphabet, with their reli- 
gious signification, 

18. Alefnimah, the Persian alphabet in the same manner. 

19. Ramainis, short doctrinal or argumentative poems. 

Sak’ his 5,000, these may be considered as texts, consisting of one stanza 
each, 

20. The Vijek, in 654 Sections.* 


* There are two Bijeks, however, only differing in the occasional omission“of some passages 
and introduction of others; the longer of the two, they say, was communicated by Kazir himself 
to the Raja of Benares. I rather suspect, however, that the varieties are only those common to 
most Hindu Manuscripts, and that many more than two varieties are to be found. A curious Italian 
work on the Kabir Panvhis, entitled, but not accurately, Mulapanci, intending no doubt Mulapanéhi, 
or Radical disciple, not as rendered, Della Radice, is published in the third-volume of the Mines of 
the East: it was found amongst the papers of the Propaganda, and is communicated by Monsignore 
Monter, Bishop of Zealand, in Denmark; an eminent Scholar, the author of a valuable 
work on the Sahidic Version of the N. T. &c. It is to be presumed, that it is intended to be 
a translation of some Kagirt work, but how correctly it deserves this character, may be questioned ; 
much of the phraseology of the sect is indeed closely followed, but the minute and ridiculous 


60 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


There are also a variety of stanzas, called Agams, Banis, &c. composing 
a very formidable course of study to those who wish to go deep into the doc- 
trine of this school, and one in which the greatest proficients amongst the 
Kabir Pant’ his are but imperfectly versed. A few Sak’his, Sabdas and Rékh’tas, 
with the greater portion of the Vyek, constituting their acquirements : these, 
however, they commit to memory, and quote in argument with singular readi- 
ness and happiness of application; the Gosh?’his, or disputations of Kasir with 
those opposed to him, as GorakuNnaTH, RAMANAND, and even in spite of chro- 
nology with Mohammed himself, are not read till more advanced, whilst the 
Suk’h Nidhdn, which is the key to the whole, and which has the singularity of 
being quite clear and intelligible, is only imported to those pupils whose stu- 


dies are considered to approach perfection. 


The author or compiler of the Byek or Vijek, was Bhagodas,* one of 
Kasir’s immediate disciples: it is the great authority amongst the Kabir 
Pan?’ his in general; it is written in very harmonious verse, and with great 
ingenuity of illustration: its style, however, is more dogmatical than argumen- 
tative, and it rather inveighs against other systems than explains its own: in 
the latter respect it is, indeed, so inexplicit and obscure, that it is perhaps, 
impossible to derive from it any satisfactory conclusion as to the real doc- 


trines of Kasrr. The followers of the Secf admit this obscurity, and much 


difference of opinion prevails amongst them in the interpretation of many 


passages : some of the teachers have a short work professedly written as:a 


key to the most difficult parts, but this is in the hands of a chosen few: it is of 


——————————— mrad 


details of its cosmogony, are, with very few exceptions, exceedingly different from those notions 
entertained by the followers of Kabir, as explained in the Bijeks, or Suk’h Nidhan. The extract 
published in the Mines, appears to be a portion, the second book, of some work, thus described “ Il 
libro primario dei Cabiristi (Specie di riforma della gentilita,) si chiama Satnam Kabir: questo libro 
e fra le carte di Propaganda.” 


* Of the shorter work: it is undoubtedly the one most generally current. 


OF THE HINDUS. 6h 


no great value, however, as it is little less puzzling than the original, of a few 
passages of which the following translations will best exemplify the descrip- 


tion thus given : 


Ramaini THE Ist.—God, light, sound, and one woman; from these have sprung Ha- 
ri, BraumA, and TripurArr. Innumerable are the emblems of Siva and Buavanf, which 
they have established, but they know not their own beginning nor end: a dwelling has been 


prepared for them: Hari, Brand, and Srva, are the three headmen, and each has his own 
village: they have formed the Khandas and the egg of Brahma, and have invented the six 
Dersanas—and ninety-six Pashandas : no one has ever read the Védas in the womb, nor 
has any infant been born a member of Islam, ¢ The woman,’ relieved from the burthen of 
the embryo, adorned her person with every grace. I and you are of one blood, and one life 
animates us both; from one mother is the world born: what knowledge is this that makes 
us separate, no one knows the varieties of this descent, and how shall one tongue declare 
them; nay should the mouth have a million of tongues, it would be incompetent to the task. 
Kabir has said, I have cried aloud from friendship to mankind ; from not knowing the name 


of RAma, the world has been swallowed up in death. 


_ In this Ramazni, the first passage contains an allusion to the notions of 
the sect regarding the history of creation. God is called Anrrr, Znner, that 
which was in all, and in which all was, meaning the first self-existent and all 
comprehensive being. Jyotish is the luminous element, in which he manifested 
himself, and Sabda, the primitive sound or word that expressed his essence-— 
the woman, is Mdyd, or the principle of error and delusion: the next passage 
relates to the impotence of the secondary gods, and the unnatural character of 
religious distinctions : “ the woman,” is MAyA. the self-born daughter of the 
first deity, and at once the mother and wife of Braumi, VisuNu, and Siva. 
* Tand you, &c.”’ is addressed by her to them, “ no one knows, &c.”’ is an allu- 
gon to the blindness of all worldly wisdom, and the passage winds up with a 
word of advice, recommending the worship of RAma, implying the true God, 


agreeably to the system of Kania. 


62 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


The style of the whole Bijek is of this kind: straggling allusions to the de- 
ceits of iMdy4, to the errors of other sects, and the superiority of their own, 
being strung together with very little method: it will not, however, be neces- 
sary to analyse any more of the passages, and they will become clear by refer- 
ence to the general view of the system, with which we shall be furnished from 
the Suk’h Nidhén : it may be sufficient here to observe, that the doctrines of 
Kabir, are said to be conveyed in four-fold language, or that of Mdyd, Aimé, 


Man or intellect, and the Védas. 


Ramarni THE 6TH.—(Mayas’ account of the first being, and of herself.) | What is his 
colour, form, and shape; what other person has beheld him; the Omkdra did not witness his 
beginning, how then can IJ explain it; can you say from what root he sprang; he is neither 
the stars, nor sun, nor moon; he has neither father, nor mother: he is neither water, nor - 
earth, nor fire, nor air: what name. or description can I give of him: to him is neither day 
nor night, nor family nor caste; he resides on the summit of space; a spark of his substance 


was once manifest, of which emanation I was the bride; the bride of that being who needs 


no other. 


Saspa THE 56TH.—To Aur and. RAma we owe our existence, and should, therefore, 
shew similar tenderness to all that live: of what avail'is it to shave your head, prostrate 
yourself on the ground, or immerse your body in the stream; whilst you shed blood you 
call yourself pure, and boast of virtues that you never display: of what benefit is cleaning 
your mouth, counting your beads, performing ablution, and bowing yourself in temples, when, 
whilst you mutter your prayers, or journey to Mecca and Medina, deceitfulness isin your 
heart. The Hindu fasts every eleventh day, the Musselman during the Ramazan. Who 
formed the remaining months and days that you'should venerate but one. Ifthe Creator 
dwell in Tabernacles, whose residence is the universe ? who has beheld Rama seated amongst 
images, or found him at the shrine to which the Pilgrim has directed his steps? The city 
of Hara is to the east, that of Axr to the west; but explore your own heart, for there 
are both Rama and Karim. Who talks of the lies of the Véds and Tebs; those who un- 
derstand not their essence. Behold but one in all things, it is the second that leads you 


astray Every man and woman that has ever been born is of the same nature with yourself. 


OF THE HINDUS. 63 


He, whose is the world, and whose are the children of Ali and Ram, He ismy Guru, He 


is my Pir. 


The following Sahda, is peculiarly illustrative of the mystical and un- 
intelligible style of parts of the Bijek ; the explanation of the terms is taken 
from the key above referred to, but the interpreter is, perhaps, the most 


unintelligible of the two. 


SaBpa THE 69TH.— Who is the (1) magistrate of this city, (2) the meat (3) is exposed, 
and the (4) Vulture sits guarding it, the (5) Rat is converted into a (6) boat, and the (7) Cat 
is in charge of the helm; the (8) Frog is asleep, and the (9) Snake stands sentinel, the (10) 
Ox bears; the (11) Cow is barren; and the (12) Heifer is milked thrice a day; the (13) 
Rhinoceros is attacked by the (14) Jackall; very few know the (15) station of Kabzr. (16) 


Key. 1. Maz the pride of intellect. 2. The body. 3. The Védas, or scriptural 
writings of any sect, which teach the true nature of God. 4. The Pandit, or worldly ex- 
pounder of divine truths. 5. Man or intellect. 6. A mere vehicle for the diffusion of 7. Maya, ° 
illusion and falsehood. 8. The Siddha or saint. 9. Paraméswara, the supreme being. 
10. Vishtu. 11. Miyé or Devi. 12. Paraméswara, the supreme. 13. A holy man. 14. Intel- 


lectual or doctrinal pride. 15. The divine nature. 16. God identified with man and nature. 


a 


The Sak’his of Kabir deserve, perhaps, a more copious exemplification : 
they are very gradually current even amongst those not his followers, they con- 
tain much curious matter, and they have often been referred to without their 
character being duly understood; there are some thousands of them, of which 
the Biyjek comprehends between three and four hundred : one hundred will be 
sufficient, as a specimen of the whole: they are taken with one or two excep- 


tions, from the Byek of the Kabir Chaura, in the order in which they occur. 


Sak’his. 
1, When man springs from the womb, he is void of every care: pass but the sixth 


day, and he feels the pains of separation. 


64 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


2. My word is of the word; hear it, go not astray; ifman wishes to know the truth, let 
him investigate the word. 

3. My word is from the first; the word has been deposited in life; a basket has been 
provided for the flowers; the horse has eaten up the Ghee. 

4, My word is from the first; meditate on it every moment; you will flourish in the 
end like the Joar plant, which shews externally but beards and leaves. 

5. Without hearing the word, it is utter darkness; say, whither shall any one go; 
without finding the gate way of the word, man will ever be astray. 

6. There are many words, but take the pith of them; he who takes not the essence, 
saith Kasir, will live a profitless life. 

%. For the sake of the word, some have died, and some have resigned dominion: he 
who has investigated the word, has done his work. 

g. Lay in your provender, and provide your carriage, for if your food fail, and feet be 
weary, your life is in the hands of another. 

9. Lay in provender sufficient for the road, whilst time yet serves: evening comes on; 
the day is flown, and nothing will be provided. 

10. Now is the time to prepare, henceforth the path is difficult: the travellers all 
hasten to purchase where there is neither trade nor market. 

11. He who knows what life is, will take the essence of his own; such as it is now, he 
will not possess it a second time. 

12. If you know how mankind pass their lives, you will live according to your 
knowledge; fetch water for your own drinking, nor demand. it from others and 
drink. 

“13. Why go about to offer water; there is abundance in every house: when man is 
really thirsty, he needs no solicitation, but will drink by force. 

14. The goose (the world or life) sells pearls; a gold vessel is full of them; but 
with him who knows not their value, what can be done. 

15. The goose abandons the lake, the body is withered and dry: Kabir has called 
aloud, here is a path, there is a resting place ! 

16. The goose abandons the Lake, and lodges in a water jar. Kadir calls aloud, re- 
pair to your village, nor demolish your habitation. 

17. The goose and the paddy bird are of one colour, and frolic in the same pool: the 


goose extracts the milk from the water, and the paddy bird drinks the mire. 


OF THE HINDUS. 65 


2g. Why comes the feeble doe to the green pool; numerous foes lie in wait for her ; 
how should she escape. 

19. The three worlds form a cage; vice and wirtue spread a net; life is the prey; 
and time the fowler. 

20. The half of a Sdi’hz is sufficiently arduous, if duly investigated ; of what avail are 
the books of the Pandit, or incessant study. 

21. Having combined the five elements, I found one offspring 5 ; now I ask the Pandit, 
whether life or the word be the greater. 

22. Of the five elements, the body was formed: when the body was formed 
what was done: subservient to action, it is called life, but by action, life is 

destroyed. 

r 23. The offspring of the five elements is called Man ; if one element be withdrawn, 
the whole compound is destroyed. 

24, With the five elements is the abode of a great mystery; when the ee is decom- 
posed, has any one found it ; the word of the teacher is the guide. 

25, Colour proceeds from colour, yet behold all‘are but one: of what colour then 
is life: think well of this. | 

26. Life is wakefulness: the word is like Borax, white: who has séen the yellow drop, 
saith Kabir, that has turned the water of that colour. 

27. There is a mirror in the heart; but the face is not visible in it: then only will the 
face be reflected there, when doubleness of heart shall disappear. 

28. The dwelling of Kad:r is on the peak of a mountain, and a narrow path leads to 
it, an ant cannot put its foot upon it, but the pious man may drive up an ox. 

29, The blind man talks of a district, which he has not seen; they are possessed of a 
salt pit, and offer camphor for sale. 

30. The road that Sanaxa and his brethren, that Braumi, Visunv, and Manesa 
have travelled, is still traversed by mankind: what advice can I bestow. 

31. The plough ascends the hill; the horse stops in the village: the bee seeks for 
honey, where there are no flowers: declare the name of the plant: : 

32. Sandal! restrain thy fragrance: on thy account, the wood is cut down; the living 
slay the living, and regard only the dead. 

33. The sandal (the soul,) is guarded by serpents, (passion;) what can it effect? every 
hair is impregnated with venom; where shall Ambrosia enter. 


8 


66 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


34, The seizer (death,) lets not go his hold; though his tongue and beak be scorched : 
where it deems a dainty, the Chakor devours the burning coals. 
35. ‘The Chakor (hill partridge,) in its passion for the moon, digests the burning coal, 
Karir declares it does not burn him, such is the fervour of his affection. 
36. The village is on the top of a mountain, and so is the abode of the stout man. 
Choose, Kabir, one for your protector, who can really give you an asylum. 
37. The crowd has taken the road travelled by the Pandit: Kabir has ascended the 
steep defile, where lies the abode of Ram. 
38. What, ho! Kadzr, descend, together with your car and provender ; your provender 
will fail, your feet will grow weary, and your life will be in the hands of another. 
39. From the contest of swinging and being swung, no one has escaped. Goraxk’H 
(the founder of the Jogis,) was stopped at the city of time; who shall be called exempt. 
40. Goraxk’H, enamoured as he was of RAma, is dead; his body was not burnt: 
(the Jogis bury the dead,) the flesh has decayed, and is turned to clay, and such rank as the 
Kauravas enjoy, does he obtain (bodily annihilation.) 
41. The young camel flying fiom the wood, has fallen into the stream; how shall the 
animal proclaim its misfortune, who shall learn it ? 
42. After a search of many days ‘an empty shrine is raised: the camel’s calf has stray- 
ed into a pit, and repents its heedlessness, when assistance is far off. 
43. Kasrr (mankind) has not escaped error, he is seized in various forms: without 
knowledge of its lord the heart will be but ashes. 
44, Although not subject to fine, a heavy fine has been imposed rpon the world: it 
has proved unprofitable: avarice has disposed of it; the juice of the cane yields both 


clayed and candied sugar. 
45. In the confines of the Malaya Mountain (where Sandal grows) the Palés 


(Butea) tree acquires fragrance, were the Bamboo to grow there for ages, it would never 
gain perfume. 

46. In the Woods of the Malaya -Mountain grow trees of every kind, they may be 
called Sandal, but they yield not the Sandal of Malaya. 

AY. Walking, walking still, the feet are weary ; the city is yet far off, a tent is erected 


by the road side; say, who is to blame. | 
48. The end of the journey is sun set, but night comes on mid-way: it is from the 


embrace of many lovers that the wanton is barren. 


y 


OF THE HINDUS. 67 


49. Man (the pride of intellect) enquires, when may I be allowed to go; the heart 
asks when shall I go: the village (truth) that I have been these six months in quest o 
(investigating in the six Dersanas, or systems), is not half a mile remote. 

50. He has left his dwelling as an Ascetic, and goes to the thickets to practice pe- 
nance: tired of the Pan-box, he beats the betle vender, and eats split pease. 

51. When a man (intending, however, here a Jogi) becomes acquainted with the 
name of RAm, his body becomes a mere skeleton; his eyes taste no repose; his limbs retain 
no flesh. 

52, Hewho sows RAm, never puts forth the buds of wrath: he attaches no value 
to the valueless; he knows neither pleasure nor pain. 

53. The cut mango will not blossom, the slit ear cannot be reunited ; whose loss is 
it, if they apply not the philosopher’s stone, that Gorax’u had. 

54, They have not regarded good advice, but have determined for themselves. Kabir 
says and cries aloud, the world has passed away like a dream. 

55. When fire (evil) burns amidst the ocean, (the world) no one sees the smoke : 
he is conscious of the fire who lighted it, and he who perishes in the flame. 

56. The incendiary orders the fire to be kindled, and he who lights it singes his 
wings: he expiates his own act: the thatch escapes, but the house is burned. 

57. .When fire (truth) burns in the ocean (the mind), as it burns, it clears away the 
rubbish (worldly care). Pandits from the east and from the west have died in the discussion. 

58. When fire blazes in the ocean, the thatch of the house falls to pieces. Mankind 
weep as they resign their breath, and the inestimable jewel is lost. 

49, That a drop falls into the ocean, all can perceive; but that the drop and the 
ocean are but one, few can comprehend. 

60. The poison still remains in the soil, although the latter has been a hundred times 
sprinkled with ambrosia—man quits not the evil practices to which he has been long ad- 
dicted. 


61. The bellows is applied to the damp wood, which calls aloud with pain: if again 


"itis caught in the blacksmith’s forge, it will be burned the second time. 


62. The soul that pines in absence, vainly flies to medicaments for relief; sigh fol- 
=, 
lows sigh; it faints repeatedly and recovers, to exist, restless and distressed. 
63. The separated (spirit) is like the moist fuel which smokes and blazes by fits: 


then only will it be exempted from pain, when all is utterly consumed. 


68 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


64. An invitation has been issued in metre, and no ong has understood the stanza; 
~ fortunate is the scholar who comprehends the word. 

65. Take the true word of Kad:r to your heart; the mind has received, but not un- 
derstood it, although it has been divulged throughout the four ages. 

66. Ifyou area true dealer, open the the market of veracity; keep clean your in- 
ward man, and repel oppression to a distance. 

67. The house is of wood, fire is all around it; the Pandit, with his learning is burnt : 
the prudent man makes his escape. 

68. Drops fall from heaven on the verdure of Srévan : all the world are Vaishnavas, 
no one listens to the teacher. 

69. The bather dives nor comes up again; I think within myself, should sleep sur- 
prise him in the stream of fascination, what will befall him. | 

70. The Sékhi (text) is uttered, but not obeyed; the road is pointed out, but not 
followed: the stream of fascination sweeps him away; he finds no place to put his 
feet, 

71. Many there are that talk, but few that take care to be found: let him pass on 
without regard, who practices not what he professes. 

%2. One by one, let each be considered, and adhered to, so shall error be stopped: 
he who is double faced like a drum, shall he slapped (like a drum) on both cheeks. 

73. He who hasno check upon his tongue, has no truth in his heart; keep him not 
company: he will kill you on the high way. 

74. Life has been destroyed by the repeated falsehoods of the tongue; it has strayed 
the path of pride, and been whirled in the swing of time. 

~ %5. Puta check upon the tongue; speak not much; associate with the wise; inves- 

tigate the words of the teacher. te 7 

46. The body is wounded by a spear, the head is broken off, and left in the flesh; 
it cannot be extracted without the load stone: a thousand other stones are of no avail. 

“7. At first the ascent is difficult, but afterwards the way is easy; the beauty is be- 
hind the curtain, far from the pregnant woman. 

%8. Worldly existence is the season for reflecting what is the Yoga: the season is 
passing away; think, ye, who have understanding. 

%9, Doubt has overcome the world, and ne one has triumphed over doubt: he will 


refute doubt, who has investigated the word. 


OF THE HINDUS. 69 


80. The eyes see dimly from incessant babbling, Kanrr cries aloud, and says, 
understand the word that is spoken. 

81. Life is the philosopher’s stone, the world is of iron: Pdrsi (Méyé4,) comes from 
Péras, (God,) the mintage is of the former. 

82. Affection is the garment in which man dresses for the dance: consign yourself 
hand and foot to him, whose body and soul are truth. 

83. In the concavity of the mirror, the image is formed: the dog seeing his likeness 
barks at it till he dies. 

84, But as a man viewing his reflexion in a mirror, knows that it and the original 
are but one, so should he know that ¢izs element, is but that element, and that thus the world 
proceeds. 

85. Kazi cries aloud to his fellows, ascend the sandal ridge; whether there be a road 
prepared or not; what matters it to me. 

86. Truth, provided there be truth in the heart, is the best of all; there can be no 
happiness without truth, let man do as he will. 

87. Let truth be your rate of interest, and fix it in your heart ; a real diamond should 
be purchased, the mock gem is waste of capital. 

88. Truth is the best of all, if it be known for truth—when truth combines with truth 
then a real union is effected. 

89. No act of devotion can equal truth; no crime is so heinous as falsehood; in the 
heart where truth abides, there is my abode. 

90. The net of error catches the heron; the simpleton falls into the snare: Kapir de- 
clares, that he will escape the toils, who has discrimination in his heart. 

91. Like the harlot companion of the minstrel is life, (Jzv) associated with intellect, 
(man) at his command, she dances various steps, and is never separated from him. 

92. This pride of intellect is manifold ; now a swindler, now a thief; now a liar, now 
a murderer; men, sages, gods, have run after it in vain; its mansion has a hundred 
gates. 

93. The snake of separation has attached itself to the body, and darted its fangs into 
the heart: into the body of the Séd’h, it finds no admission: prepare yourself for what may 
happen. 

94. How is it possible to reach the city when the guide cannot point out the road: 
when the boat is crazy, how shall the passengers get clear of the Ghat. 


T 


a 


10 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


95. When the master is blind, what is to become of the scholar : when the blind leads 
the blind, both will fall into the well. 

96. Yet the master is helpless when the scholar is unapt : it is blowing through a bambu, ) 
to teach wisdom to the dull. 

97. The instruction of the foolish is waste of knowledge ; a maund of soap cannot wash 
charcoal white. 

98. The tree bears not fruit for itself, nor for itself does the stream colléct its waters: 
for the benefit of others alone, does the sage assume a bodily shape. 

99. I have wept for mankind, but no one has wept with me; Ae will join my tears, 
who comprehends the word. 

100. All have exclaimed, master, master, but to me this doubt arises; how can they 


sit down with the master, whom they do not know. 


The preceding will serve as exemplifications of the compositions of this 
school: they are necessarily unsatisfactory, as amongst some hundreds of similar 
passages, the business of selection, when confined to the few admissible in 
this place, is unavoidably perplexing and incomplete : they are, however, suf- 
ficient for the present purpose, as the perusal of the entire work from which 
they have been selected, would not convey any more positive notions of the 
doctrines of Kabir: these we shall now proceed to state according to the 
authority of the Suk’h Nidhan. 


_ The Suk’h Nidhan is supposed to be addressed by Kabir himself to Dher- 
madds, his chief pupil, and a follower of Ramdnand’s doctrines ; it is said to be 


the work of SrutTcoPaL, the first of Kaxir’s disciples. 


From this authority it appears, that although the Kabir Pant’his have 
withdrawn, in such a very essential point as worship, from the Hindu commu- 
nion, they still preserve abundant vestiges of their primitive source ; and that 
their notions are in substance the same as those of the Pauranic sects, espe- 


cially of the Vaishnava division. They admit of but one God, the creator of the 


- 


OF THE HINDUS. “1 


Y 


world, and in opposition to the Veddnta notions of the absence of every 
quality and form, they assert that he has a body, formed of the five elements 
of matter, and that he has mind endowed with the three Gunas, or qualities 
of being ; of course of ineffable purity and irresistible power: he is free from 
the defects of human natures, and can assume what particular shape he 
will: in all other respects he does not differ from man, and the pure man, 
the Sadh of the Kabir sect, is his living resemblance, and after death is 
his associate and equal; he is eternal, without end or beginning, as in fact is 
the elementary matter of which he consists, and of which all things are 
made residing in him before they took their present form, as the parts of the 
tree abide in the seed, or flesh, blood and bone, may be considered to be 
present in the seminal fluid: from the latter circumstance, and the identity 
of their essential nature, proceeds the doctrine, that God and man are not only 
the same, but that they are both in the same manner, every thing that lives 
and moves and has its being: other sects have adopted these phrases literally, 
but the followers of Kabir do not mean by them to deny the individuality of 
being, and only intend these texts as assertions of all nature originally parti- 


cipating in common elementary principles. 


The Paramapurusha was alone for seventy-two ages, for after the Pauraniks 
the Kabir Pani’his maintain successive and endless creations: he then felt a de- 
sire to renew the world, which desire became manifest in a female form,* 
being the Mayda, from whom all the mistaken notions current amongst man- 
kind originate: with this female the Adi Bhavani Prakriti or Sakti, the 
Parama Purusha, or first male, cohabits, and begets the Hindu triad, 


Brahma, Vishnu and Siva: he then disappears, and the lady makes advances 


* These notions are common to the whole Hindu system—diversified according to the fa- 
vorite object of worship, but essentially the same in all sects ; we shall have occasion to discuss them 
more fully under the division Sékias, or worshippers of SAKTI. 


72 RELIGIOUS SECTS. 


to her own sons: to their questions of her origin and character, she tells 
them, she was the bride of the first great invisible being, without shape 
and void, and whom she describes agreeably to the Veddnté notions ; that she 
is now at liberty, and being of the same nature as themselves, is a fit associate 
for them : the deities hesitate, and Vishnu, especially putting some rather puz- 
aling queries to Mdyd, secured the respect of the Kabir Pant’his, and excited 
the wrath of the goddess: she appears as Maha Mayd, or Durga, and frightens 
her sons into a forgetfulness of their real character, assent to her doctrines, 
and compliance with her desires: the result of this, is the birth of Saraswati, 
Lakshmi and Uma, whom she weds to the three deities, and then establishing 
herself at Jwdlamuk’hi, leaves the three wedded pairs to frame the universe, 


and give currency to the different errors of practice and belief which they 


have learnt from her. 


It is to the falsehood of Méyé and her criminal conduct that the Kabir 
Pant’his perpetually allude in their works, and in consequence of the deities 
pinning their faith upon her sleeve, that they refuse them any sort of reveren- 
tial homage: the essence of all religion is to know Kabir in his real form, a 
knowledge which those deities and their worshippers, as well as the followers 
of Mohommed, are all equally strange to, although the object of their reli- 


gion, and of all religions is the same. 


Life is the same in all beings, and when free from the vices and defects 
of humanity, assumes any material form it pleases: as long as it is ignorant of 
its source and parent, however, it is doomed to transmigration through ane 
ous forms, and amongst others we have a new class of them, for it animates 
the planetary bodies, undergoing a fresh transfer, it is supposed, whenever a 
star or meteor falls: as to heaven and hell, they are the inventions of Mayé, 
and are therefore both imaginary, except that the Swerga of the.Hindus, and 
Bihisht of the Musselmans, imply worldly luxury and sensual enjoyment, whilst 


OF THE HINDUS. "3 


the Narak and Jehannam are those cares and pains which make a hell upon 


earth. 


The moral code of the Kabir Pant’his is short, but if observed faithfully is 
of a rather favourable tendency. Life is the gift of God, and must not there- 
fore be violated by his creatures; Humanity is, consequently, a cardinal virtue, 
and the shedding of blood whether of man or animal, a heinous crime. Truth 
is the other great principle of their code, as all the ills of the world, and 
ignorance of God, are attributable to original falsehood. Retirement from the 
world is desirable, because the passions and desires, the hopes and fears which 
the social state engenders, are all hostile to tranquillity and purity of spirit, 
and prevent that undisturbed meditation on man and Ged which is neces- 
sary to their comprehension. The last great point is the usual sum and sub- 
stance of every sect amongst the Hindus,* implicit devotion in word, act, and 
thought to the Guru, or spiritual guide: in this, however, the characteristic 
spirit of the Kaber Pand’his appears, and the pupil is enjoined to scrutinize 
his teacher’s doctrines and acts, and to be first satisfied that he is the sage he 
pretends to be, before he resigns himself to his controul. This sect, indeed, is 
remarkably liberal in this respect, and the most frequently recurring texts of 
Kabir are those which enforce an attentive examination of the doctrine, 
that he offers to his disciples. ‘The chief of each community has absolute 
authority over his dependants: the only punishments he can award, however, 
are moral, not physical—irregular conduct is visited by reproof and admoni- 
tion: if the offender does not reform, the Guru refuses to receive his salutation ; 


if still incurable, the only further infliction is expulsion from the fraternity. 


* The Bhdgavat declares the Deity and Guru to be the same. 
5 ° 4 iN 2 , ™ Qa ; 
aaa a Antaaaaaa ae | TANTMTSGa WsraAAaAy i 
Nasnagi declares the Deity, Guru, worshipper, and worship, to be four names and one substance. 
afannaada Fx WaaTa ay TAN 
. U 


14, | RELIGIOUS SECTS 


The doctrine of outward conformity, and the absence of visible objects 
of worship have prevented this sect from spreading very generally through- 
out India: it is, however, very widely diffused, and as I have observed, has 
given rise to many others, that have borrowed its phraseology, and caught a 
considerable portion of its spirit: the sect itself is split into a variety of sub- 
divisions, and there are no fewer than twelve branches of it traced up to the 
founder, between which a difference of opinion, as well as descent prevails : 
the founders of these twelve branches, and the position of their descendants, are 
the following :— 

1. Srurcopat DAs, the author of the Suk’h Nidhdn : his successors pre- 
side over the Chaura at Benares, the Samadh at Magar, an establishment at 
Jagannat’h, and one at Dwéarakd. 

2. Bhago Dds, the author of the Bijek, his successors reside at Dhanauti. 

3. Narayan Das, and 

4. Churdman Das; these two were the sons of Duzrma DAs, a merchant 
of the Kasaundhya tribe, of the Sri Vaishnava sect, and one of Kabir’s first 
and most important converts; his residence was at Bandho near Jebbelpur, 
where the Mai’hs of his posterity long remained: the Mahants were family 
men, thence termed Bans Gurus: the line of NAriyan DAs is extinct, and 
the present successor of Churdman, being the son of a concubine, is not ac- 
knowledged as a Mahant by all the other branches. 

5. Jaggo Das, the Gaddi or Pillow at Cuttack. 

6. Jtvan Das, the founder of the Setnémé sect, to whom we shall again 
have occasion to advert. 

7. Kamél.—-Bombay : the followers of this teacher practise the Yoga. 
Kamal himself, is said to have been the son of Kabir, but the only authority 


for this is a popular and proverbial phrase.* 


m eat at GANT AT STSTSAT Ga ATS «The Race of Kabir became extinct. 
when his son KAMAL was born,” KamAt adopting, on principle, a life of celibacy, or being a 
person of worldly appetites.—Roxrpuck’s Proverss, 2. 1. 656. 


OF THE HINDUS. 


cane 
Or 


8. Tak Sdli.—Baroda. 

9. Jnydni.—Majjhni near Sahasram. 

10. Saheb Dés.—Cuttack : his followers have also some distinct notions, 
and form a sect called Mila Pant’ his. 

11. Netydnand. 

12. Kamal Néd: these two settled somewhere in the Dekhin, but my 
imformant could not tell me exactly where. ‘There are also some popular, 
and perhaps local distinctions of the sect, as Hansa Kabiris, Dana Kabiris, and 
Mangréla Kabiris, but in what respect, except appellation, they differ from the 


rest has not been ascertained. 


Of these establishments the Kabir Chaura, at Benares, is pre-eminent in 
dignity, and it is constantly visited by wandering members of the sect, as well 
as by those of other kindred heresies: its Mahant receives and feeds these 
visitors whilst they stay, although the establishment has little to depend upon, 
except the occasional donations of its lay friends and followers. Batwant 
Sinu, and his successor, Curir Sinu, were great patrons of it, and the latter 
granted to the Chaura a fixed monthly allowance. Curir Sinu also attempted 
to form some estimate of the numbers of the sect, and if we may credit the 
result, they must be very considerable indeed, as at a grand meeting, or Mela, 
which he instituted near Benares, no fewer than 35,000 Kabir Pant’his of the 
Monastic and Mendicant class are said to have been collected. There is no 
doubt that the Kabir Pant’his, both clerical and lay, are very numerous in all 
the provinces of upper and central India, except, perhaps, in Bengal itself: 
the quaker-like spirit of the sect, their abhorrence of all violence, their 
regard for truth, and the inobtrusiveness of their opinions, render them very 
inoffensive members of the state: their mendicants also never solicit alms, 
and in this capacity even they are less obnoxious than the many religious 
vagrants, whom the rank soil of Hindu superstition and enervating operation 


of an Indian climate so plentifully engender. 


vis) RELIGIOUS SECTS 


KHAKIS. 

This division of the Vaishnavas is generally derived, though not immedi- 
ately, from RAMANAND, and is undoubtedly connected in its polity, and prac- 
tice, with his peculiar followers. The reputed founder is Kin, the disciple of 
KrisHnapDAs, whom some accounts make the disciple of Asinanp, the disciple 
of RimAwnanp, but the history of the Khdki sect is not well known, and it 
seems to be of modern origin, as no notice of it occurs in the Bhakia Mild, or 
in any other work that has been consulted: the sectaries, though believed to 
be rather numerous, appear to be either confined to a few particular districts, 
or to lead wholly an erratic life, in which latter character they are confounded 
with the class of Bairdgis: as no written accounts have been procured, and 
the opportunities of obtaining oral information have been rare and imperfect, 


a very brief notice of this sect is all that can here be offered. 


The Khékis, as the name implies, are distinguished from the other Vaish- 
navas, by the application of clay and ashes to their dress or persons: those 
who reside in fixed establishments generally dress like other Vaishnavas, but 
those who lead a wandering life, go either naked or nearly so, smearing their 
bodies with the pale grey mixture of ashes and earth, and making, in this 
state, an appearance very incompatible with the mild and decent character of 
the Vaishnava sects: the Khakis also frequently wear the Jat4, or braided hair, 
after the fashion of the votaries of Siva, and, in fact, it appears that this sect 
affords one of the many instances of the imitative spirit common amongst the 
Hindu polytheists, and has adopted, from the Saivas, some of their charac- 
teristic practices, blending them with the preferential adoration of Visunu, 
as Raghunath or Rama: the Khakis also worship SirA, and pay particular vene- 


ration to HanuMAN. 


Many Khdkis are established about Farakhabad, but their principal seat 
on this side of India is at Hanuman Gérh, near Ayudhya, in Oude: the Samadk 


OF THE HINDUS. vit 


or spiritual throne of the founder, is said to be at Jaypur : the term Samadh ap- 
plied to it, however, would seem to indicate their adopting a like practice with 
the Jogis, that of burying their dead, as the word is more generally used to 
express a tomb or mausoleum.* | 

MALUK DASIS. 

The Maluk Désis form another subdivision of the Réménandi V. aishnavas, 
of comparatively uncertain origin and limited importance : they are generally 
traced from Raémdénand in this manner: 1. Ramanand, 2. Asdnand, 8. Krishna 
Das, 4. Kil, 5. Mahik-Dds ; making the last, consequently, contemporary 
with the author of the Bhakia Mala, and placing him in the reign of Axzzr, 
or about 250 years ago. 


We had occasion, in the notice taken of N ABHAJI, to shew that the spiri- 
tual genealogy now enumerated could scarcely be correct, foras RA&MANAND 
must have flourished prior to the year 1400, we have but three generations be- 
tween him and the date even of AKBER’s succession 1555, or a century and a 
half: it was then mentioned, however, that according to the Bhakta Mélé, 
Krisuna DAs was not the pupil of As&nanp, and consequently the date of suc- 
cession was not necessarily uninterrupted : we might therefore place Maitx Dis 
where there is reason to place NAsuisi, about the end of AKBER’s reign, as far 
as this genealogy is to be depended upon, but there is reason to question even 


its accuracy, and to bring down Mattx Dis toa comparatively recent period : 


* The:little information given in the text, was obtained from the Superior of a small, but neat 
establishment on the bank of the river, above Bisrdnta Ghat, at Farakhabad. The Ghdt and Math 
had been recently erected by a merchant of Lucknow: the tenants, three or four in number, were a 
deputation from Ayudhya, in Oude, and were but little acquainted with their own peculiarities, 
although not reluctant to communicate what they knew; other A’hakis encountered here were 
_ Nagas and Brahmacharis, with whom no satisfactory communication was attainable; there were 
other establishments, but time did not permit their being visited. 


Vv 


78 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


the uniform belief of his followers is indeed sufficient testimony on this head, ~ 


and they are invariably agreed in making him contemporary with AuRENGzEB.. 


The modifications of the Vaishnava doctrines introduced by Mart Dis, 
appear to have been little more than the name of the teacher, and a shorter 
streak of red upon the forehead: in one respect indeed there is an important 
distinction between these and the Rémdnandi ascetics, and the teachers of the - 
Malik Désis appear to be of the secular order, Grihasthas, or house-holders, 
whilst the others are all coenobites: the doctrines, however, are essentially the 
same: VISHNU, aS Rama, is the object of their practical adoration, and their 
principles partake of the spirit of quietism, which pervades these sects: their 
chief authority is the Bhagavat Gita, and they read some small Sanscrit 
tracts, containing the praise of Rama: they have also some Hindi S4h’his, 
and Vishnu Padas attributed to their founder, as also a work in the same 
language, entitled the Dasratan: the followers of this sect are said to be 
numerous in particular districts, especially amongst the trading and servile 


classes, to the former of which the founder belonged.* 


The principal establishment of the Malik Dasis is at Kara Manikpur, 
the birth-place of the founder, and still occupied by his descendants;t+ 


* A verse attributed to Marx DAs is so generally current, as to have become proverbial, 
it is unnecessary to point out its resemblance to Christian texts BAW AC A BARC GSl He 


4 ara l ere Aaal Ot RE Va Ar STAT LTA ll The snake performs no service, the bird ~ 
discharges no duty. .Mar6x DAs declares, RAm is the giver of all, 


+ There is some variety in the accounts here, Mar’nura NAtu says, the Tomé is at Kara ; 
Puran Das asserts, that it is at Jaganndth, and the birth-place at Kara—he has been at 
both: the establishment at Jaganndt'h is of great repute; it is near to a Math of Kazir PAnT'HIs, 
and all ascetics who go to this place of pilgrimage, consider it essential to receive the Malik Déds 
ka Tukra, from the one, and Kabir ka Tarani, from the other, or a piece of bread and spoonful — 
of sour rice water. This and most of the other particulars, were procured for me from the present 
Mahant, by a young officer, Lizut. W1xToy, stationed for a short time at Kara, 


OF THE HINDUS. 7) 


the present Mahant is the eighth in descent from him: the series is thus enu- 


merated. 


1 Maxrtx Dihs. 2 Rimsandur. 3 Krisunasniur. 4 Tuaxur DAs. 
§ Gorkt Dis. 6 Kuns Benhri. 7 RamsiuG. 8 Seopreshp Dis. 9 Ganca 


Pressp DAs, the present Mahant. 


The Mat’h at Kara, is situated near the river, and comprises the dwell- 
ings of the Mahant, and at the time it was visited, of fifteen resident Chelas, 
or disciples, accommodations for numerous religious mendicants who come 
hither in pilgrimage, and a temple dedicated to Ramachandra: the Gaddi, or 
pillow of the sect, is here, and the actual pillow originally used by Max Dis, 
is said to be still preserved. Besides this establishment, there are six other 
Mat’hs belonging to this sect, at Allahabad, Benares, Bindraban, Ayudlya, 
Lucknow, which is modern, having been founded by Gomati Das, under the 
patronage of Asef al Daula, and Jagannat’h, which last is of great repute as 
rendered sacred by the death of Maxx DAs. 


| DADU: PANT’ HIS. 
This class is one of the indirect ramifications of the Rdmdnandi stock, 
and is always included. amongst the, Vishnava schisms: its founder is said 
to have been a pupil of one of the Kabir Pant’hi teachers, and to be _ 


the fifth in descent from RAmAnanp, according to the following genea- 


logy :— 


1 Kabir. | 4. Bimal. 
2 Kamal. 5 Buddhan. 
83 Jamal. 6 Dadu. 


The worship is addressed to Rama, but it is restricted to the Japa, or repetition 
of his name, and the Rama intended is the deity, as negatively described in 
the Vedanta theology: temples and images are prohibited. 


80 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


Dédu was a cotton cleaner by profession: he was born at Ahmedabad, 
but in his twelfth year removed to Sambher, in Ajmer: he thence travelled to 
Kalydnpur, and next removed to Naraina, in his thirty-seventh year, a place 
four cos from Sambher, and twenty from Jaypur. When here, he was admo- 
nished, by a voice from heaven, to addict himself to a religious life, and he 
accordingly retired to Baherana mountain, five cos from Naraina, where, after 
some time, he disappeared, and no traces of him could be found. His follow- 
ers believe he was absorbed into the deity. If the list of his religious descent 
be accurate, he flourished about the year 1600, at the end of Akber’s reign, or in 
the beginning of that of Jehangir. The followers of Dadu wear no peculiar 
frontal mark nor Maid, but carry arosary, and are further distinguished by a 
peculiar sort of cap, a round white cap, according to some, but according to 
others, one with four corners, and a flap hanging down behind ; which it is es- 


sential that each man should manufacture for himself. 


The Dédu Pant’his are of three classes: the Viraktas, who are religious 
characters, who go bare-headed, and have but one garment and one water 
pot. The Négas, who carry arms, which they are willing to exercise for hire, 
and, amongst the Hindu princes, they have been considered as good soldiers. 
The third class is that of the Bister Dhdris, who follow the occupations of 
ordinary life. A further sub-division exists in this sect, and the chief branches 
again form fifty-two divisions, or Thambas, the peculiarities of which have 

_not been ascertained. The Dddu Pant’his burn their dead at dawn, but their 
religious members not unfrequently enjoin, that their bodies, after death, shall 
be thrown into some field, or some wilderness, to be devoured by the beasts 
and birds of prey, as they say, that in a funeral pile insect life is apt to be 
destroyed. 


The Ddédu Pant’his are said to be very numerous in Marwar and Ajmer : 


of the Naga class alone, the Raja of Jaypur is reported to entertain as soldiers 
: 


a 


ee & 


OF THE HINDUS. ; 81 


more than ten thousand : the chief place of worship is at Naraina, where 
the bed of Ddadu, and the collection of the texts of the sect are preserved 
and worshipped: a small building on the hill, marks the place of his disap- 
pearance—a Mela, or fair, is held annually, from the day of new moon to that 
of full moon in Phalgun, (Feb.—March) at Naraina. The tenets of the sect are 
contained in several Bhasha works, in which it is said a vast number of pas- 
sages from the Kabir writings are inserted, and the general character of which 
is certainly of a similar nature.* The Dddu Pané’his maintain a friendly in- 


tercourse with the followers of Kabir, and are frequent visitors at the Chaura. 


RAI DASIS.. 


Riz DAs was another of RAmAnAnp’s disciples, who founded a sect, con- 
fined, however, it is said, to those of his own caste, the Chamars, or workers in 
hides and in leather, and amongst the very lowest of the Hindu mixed tribes: 
this circumstance renders it difficult, if not impossible to ascertain whether 
the sect still exists: the founder must once have enjoyed some celebrity, as 
some of his works are included in the Adi Grant’h of the Sikhs; he is there 
named Ravi Disa, which is the Sanscrit form of his name: some of his com- 
positions also form part of the collection of hymns and prayers used by that 
sect at Benares: there appears to be but little known of him of any authentic - 
character, and we must be contented with the authority of the Bhakta Maia, 


where he makes a rather important figure: the legend is as follows :— 


* I had prepared a list of the contents of one of their manuals, and a translation of a few 
passages, but the Manuscript has been mislaid. The work was lent me for a short time by one of the 
sect, who would on no account part with it. The above notice was taken partly from a statement in 
Hindi, procured at Naraina by Lieut. Col. Smith, and partly from verbal information obtained at 
Benares. Daddu is not mentioned in the Bhakia Mald, but there is some account of him in the 
Dabistan. 


“ W 


/ 82 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


One of RAm&nanp’s pupils was a Brahmdchdéri, whose daily duty it was 
to provide the offering presented to the deity : on one of these occasions, 
the offering consisted of grain, which the pupil had received as alms from a 
shop-keeper, who supplied chiefly the butchers with articles of food, and his 
donation was, consequently, impure : when RAmAnanp, in the course of his 
devotions, attempted to fix his mind upon the divinity, he found the task 
impracticable, and suspecting that some defect in the offering occasioned 
such an erratic imagination, he enquired whence it had been obtained: on 
being informed, he exclaimed, J7@ Chamaér, and the Brahmichari soon 
afterwards dying, was born again as Rar Ds, the son of a worker in hides 


and leather. 


The infant Rar DAs retained the impression left upon his mind by his old 
master’s anger, and refused to take any nourishment: the parents, in great 
affliction, applied to RAmAnanp, who, by order of the deity, visited the child, 
and recognising the person at once, whispered into his ear the initiating Man- 
tra: the effect was instantaneous: the child immediately accepted the breast, 


and throve, and grew up a pious votary of RAma. 


For some time the profits of his trade maintained Rar DAs, and 
left him something to divide amongst the devout; but a_ season of 
scarcity supervening, reduced him to great distress, when Bhagavan, in the 
semblance of a Vaishnava, brought him a piece of the Philosopher’s stone, and 
shewing him its virtue, made him a present of it. Rar DAs paid little regard 
to the donation, replying to the effect of the following Pada, as since versified 
by Sur Das. 


Pada. “ A great treasure is the name of Hari to his people: it multiplieth day by 
day, nor doth expenditure diminish it: it abideth securely in the mansion, and neither by 
night nor by day, can any thief steal it. ‘The Lord is the wealth of Sti Dds, what need 
hath he of a stone.” . 


OF THE HINDUS. : 83 


The miraculous stone was thrown aside, and when, thirteen months 
afterwards, Vishnu again visited his votary, he found no use had been made 
of it: as this expedient had failed, the deity scattered gold coin in places 
where Raz DAs could not avoid finding it : the discovery of this treasure filled 
the poor Currier with alarm, to pacify which Krishna appeared to him, ina 
dream, and desired him to apply the money either to his own use or that of 
the deity, and thus authorised, Rar DAs erected a temple, of which he consti- 
tuted himself the high priest, and acquired great celebrity in his new charac- 


ter. 


The reputation of Rai DAs was further extended by its attracting a perse- 
cution, purposely excited by Vishnu to do honour to his worshipper, the 
deity well knowing that the enmity of the malignant is the most effective 
instrument for setting open to the world, the retired glory of the pious: he 


therefore inspired the Brahmans to complain thus to the king. 


Sloka (Sanscrit stanza). ‘* Where things profane are reverenced, where 
sacred things are profanely administered, there three calamities will be felt, 


famine, death, and fear.”’ 


A Chamér, oh king, ministers to the Sdlagram, and poisons the town 
with his Prasad ;* men and women, every one will become an outcast ; banish 


him to preserve the honour of your people. 


The king accordingly sent for the culprit, and ordered him to resign the 


sacred stone. Rar DAs expressed his readiness to do so, and only requested 


* The Prasad is any article of food that has been consecrated by previous presentation to 
an idol, after which it is distributed amongst the worshippers on the spot, or sent to persons of con- 
sequence at their own houses. 


84 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


the Raja’s presence at his delivery of it to the Brahmans, as, he said, if after 
being given to them it should return to him, they would accuse him of 
stealing it. The Raa assenting, the Sdlagréam was brought, and placed ona 
cushion in the assembly. The Brahmans were desired to. remove it but 
attempted to take it away in vain: they repeated hymns and charms, and 
read the Vedas, but the stone was immoveable. Rar DAs then addressed it 
with this Pada :— | 


Pada. © Lord of Lords, thou art my refuge, the root of Supreme happiness art 
thou, to whom there is none equal : behold me at thy feet: in various wombs have I abided, 
and from the fear of death have I not been delivered. I have been plunged in the deceits 
of sense, of passion, and illusion ; but now let my trust in thy name dispel apprehension of 
the future, and teach me.to place no reliance on what the world deems virtue. Accept, oh 


God, the devotions of thy slave Rar DAs, and be thou glorified as the Purifier of the sinful. 


The saint had scarcely finished, when the Sdlagrém and cushion flew 
into his arms, and the king, satisfied of his holy pretensions, commanded the 
Brahmans to desist from their opposition. Amongst the disciples of Rar Dis 
was JHALI, the Rani of Chitore: her adopting a Chamadr, as her spiritual pre- 
ceptor, excited a general commotion amongst the Brahmans of her state, 
and, alarmed for her personal safety, she wrote to Rar D&s to request his 
counsel and aid. He repaired to her, and desired herto invite the Brahmans toa 
solemn feast: they accepted the invitation, and sat down to the meal provided 
for them, when between every two Brahmans, there appeared a Rar DAs. This 
miraculous multiplication of himself had the desired effect, and from being 


his enemies and revilers, they became his disciples. 


Such are the legends of Bhakta Mala, and whatever we may think of 
their veracity, their tenor, representing an individual of the most abject class, 
an absolute outcast in Hindu estimation, as a teacher and a saint, is not withe 
out interest and instruction. 


OF THE HINDUS. 


co 
&y 


SENA PANT’HIS. 
Send, the barber, was the third of Ramdnand’s disciples, who established 
a separate schism ; the name of which, and of its founder, are possibly all 
that now remain of it. SrnA and his descendants were, for sometime, how- 
ever, the family Gurus of the Rajas of Bandhogerh, and thence enjoyed con- 
siderable authority and reputation: the origin of this connexion is the sub- 


ject of a ludicrous legend in the Bhakia Maid. 


Sen, the barber of the Raja of Bandhogerh, was a devout worshipper of 
Visunu, and a constant frequenter of the meetings of the pious: on one of 
these occasions, he suffered the time to pass unheeded, when he ought to 
have been officiating in his tonsosial capacity, and Visunu, who noticed the 
circumstance, and knew the cause, was alarmed for his votary’s personal in- 
tegrity. The god, therefore, charitably assumed the figure of Szn&, and equip- 
ping himself suitably, waited on the Raja, and performed the functions of the 
barber, much to the Raja’s satisfaction, and without detection, although, the 
prince perceived an unusual fragrance about his barber’s person, the am- 
brosial odour that indicated present deity, which he supposed to im- 
pregnate the oil used in lubricating his royal limbs. The pretended barber 
had scarcely departed, when the real one appeared, and stammered out his 
excuses: his astonishment and the Raja’s were alike, but the discernment of 
the latter was more acute, for he immediately comprehended the whole 
business, fell at his barber’s feet, and elected for his spiritual guide, an 


individual so pre-eminently distinguished by the favour and protection of the 


deity. 


RUDRA SAMPRADAYIS, OR 
Vallabhacharis. 
The sects of Vaishnavas we have hitherto noticed, are chiefly confined. 
to professed ascetics, and to a few families originally from the south and west 


X 


86 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


of India, or as in the case of the Rémdwats and Kabir Panthis, to such amongst 
the mass of society, as are of a bold and curious spirit ; but the opulent and 
luxurious amongst the men, and by far the greater portion of the women, 
attach themselves to the worship of Krisuna and his mistress RApuA, either 
singly, or conjointly, as in the case of Visunu and Laxsumr, amongst the 
Ramanujas, and Sira and Rim, amongst the Ramdwats. ‘There is, however, . 
another form, which is perhaps more popular still, although much interwoven 
with the others. This is the Bata GopAta, the infant Krrsuwna, the worship 
of whom is very widely diffused amongst all ranks of Indian society, and 
which originated with the founder of the Rudra Sampraddyi sect, VALLABHA 
Acu&rya ; it is, perhaps, better known, however, from the title of its teachers, 


as the religion of the Gokulasi’ha Gosains. 


The original teacher of the philosophical tenets of this sect, is said to 
have been VisHnu SwAmI, a commentator on the texts of the Védas, who, how= 
ever, admitted disciples from the Brahmanical cast only, and. considered the 
state of the Sanydsz, or ascetic, as essential to the communication of his doc- 
trines. He was succeeded by Jny4na Deva, who was followed by NAma Deva 
and Tritocuana, and they, although whether immediately or not does not 
appear, by VaLuasna Swimi, the son of Laxsumana Buart, a Tailinga 
Brahman : this Sanyds: taught early in the sixteenth century: he resided 
originally at Goku, a village on the left bank of the Jumna, about three 
cos to the east of Mathura: after remaining here sometime, he travelled 
through India as a pilgrim, and amongst other places he visited, according to 
the Bhakta Mala, the courtof Krisuna Deva, king of Vijayanagar, apparent- 
ly the same as KrisawA Ravyanu, who reigned about the year 1520, where he 
overcame the Smdria Brahmans in a controversy, and was elected by the 
Vaishnavas, as their chief, with the title of Achdrj : hence he travelled to - 
Ujayin, and took up his abode under a Pipal tree, on the banks of the Sipra, 
said to bestillin existence, and designated as his Beit’hek, or station. Besides 


OF THE HINDUS. 87 


this, we find traces of him in other places. There is a Beit’hek of his amongst 
the Ghats of Mutira, and about two miles from the fort of Chunar, is a place 
called his well, Achdxj hudén, comprising a temple and Ma?’h, inthe court yard 
of which is the well in question; the saint is said to have resided heresometime. 
After this peregrination, VAaLLaBHA returned to Vrindavan, where, as a 
reward for his fatigues and his faith, he was honoured by a visit from Krisuna 
in person, who enjoined him to introduce the worship of Balagopdl, or Gopal 
Lai, and founded the faith which at present exists in so flourishing a condition. 
VALLABHA is supposed to have closed his carrier in a miracle: he had finally 
settled at Jé?’han Ber, at Benares, near which a Ma?’h still subsists, but at 
leneth, having accomplished his mission, he is said to have entered the Ganges 
at Hanuman Ghat, when, stooping into the water, he disappeared: a brilliant 
flame arose from the spot, and, in the presence of a host of spectators, he 


ascended to heaven, and was lost in the firmament. 


The worship of Krisuna as one with Visunu, and the universe, dates 
evidently from the Mahabhdrat,* and his more juvenile forms are brought pre- 
eminently to notice in the account of his infancy, contained in the Bhdgavat,t 
but neither of these works discriminates him from Visunu, nor do they recom- 
mend his infantine or adolescent state to particular veneration. At the 
same time some hints may have been derived from them, for the institution 


of this division of the Hinpu faith. In claiming, however, supremacy for 


* The well known passage in the Bhagavad Gité, in which Ansuna sees the universe in the 
mouth of Krisuna, establishes this identity. 


+ Particularly in the tenth book, which is appropriated to the life of Krisuna. The same 
subject occupies a considerable portion of the Hari Bans section of the Mahabharat, of the 
Pétdla section of the Padma Purdna, the sixth section of the Vishnu Purdna, and the whole 


of the Adi Upapurdna. 


+ Thus in the Vana Parva of the Mahdbhérat ; MArKanpryA Mount, at the time of a minor 
destruction of the world, sees, ‘‘ amidst the waters, an Indian Fig tree of vast size, on a principal 


88 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


‘Krrsuna, the Brahma Vaivertta Purdna is most decided, and this work 
places KrisHNA in a heaven, and society exclusively his own, and derives 


‘from him all the objects of existence. 


According to this authority, the residence of Krisuna is denominated 
Goloka ; it is far above the three worlds, and has, at five hundred miliions of 
Yojanas below it, the separate Lokas of Visunu and Siva, Vaikuntha, and 
Kaildés. This region is indestructible, whilst all else is subject to anni- 
hilation, and in the centre of it abides Krisuna, of the colour of a dark cloud, 
in the bloom of- youth, clad in yellow raiment, splendidly adorned with celes- 
tial gems, and holding a flute. He is exempt from Méyd, or delusion, and all 


qualities, eternal, alone, and the Paramdtmd, or supreme soul of the world. 


Krisuna being alone in the Goloka, and meditating on the waste of crea- 
tion, gave origin to a being of a female form endowed with the three Gunas, 
and thence the primary agent in creation. ‘This, was Prakriti, or Mayda, and 
the system so far corresponds with that of the other Vaishnavas, and of the 
Puranas generally speaking. ‘They having adopted, in fact, the Sdnkhya 


system, interweaving with it their peculiar sectarial notions. 


branch of which was a bed ornamented with divine coverings, on which lay a child with a 
countenance like the moon.” The saint, though acquainted with the past, present, and future, cannot 
recognise the child, who therefore appears of the hue, and with the symbols of Krisuna, and 
desires the sage to rest within his substance from his weary wanderings over the submerged world. 


In the Bhdgavat it is stated, that when first born, VAsuprva beheld the child of the hue of a 
cloud, with four gaeoe dressed in a yellow garb, and bearing the weapons, the jewels and the diadem 
of VIsHNU. 


aaa TARA IT WAAS VQATYSITG shagaai we arfararagey 
Aarae segue Bravsi awdigdedzeenfauafcanawagad 


weraa asics (es wfactraarad waza taal 


and the same work describes YasonA, his adoptive mother, as seeing the universe in the mouth of | 
the child, 


OF THE HINDUS. 89 


Crude matter, and the five elements, are also made to issue from Keniibeingh 
and then all the divine beings. NArdyana, or Visunu proceeds from his right 
side, MauApeva from his left, Braumé from his hand, Duarma from his 
breath, Saraswati from his mouth, Laxsumf from his mind, Dunes from his 
understanding, RapuA from his left side. Three hundred millions of Gopis, or 
female companions of RApui, exude from the pores of her skin, and a like 
number of Gopas, or companions of Krisuna, from the pores of his skin: the 
very cows and their calves, properly the tenants of Goloka, but destined to in- 


habit the Groves of Vrindavan, are produced from the same exalted source. 


In this description of creation, however, the deity is still spoken of as 
a young man, and the Purdna therefore affords only indirect authority in the 
marvels it narrates of his infancy, for the worship of the child. Consider- 
ing, however, that in this, or in any other capacity, the acts of the divinity 
are his Lild, or sport, there is no essential difference between those who worship 
him either as a boy or as a man, and any of his forms may be adored 
by this class of Vazshnavas, and all his principal shrines are to them equally 
objects of pilgrimage. As the elements and chief agents of creation are 
thus said to proceed from the person of Krisuwa, it may be inferred that the 
followers of this creed adopt the principles of the Veddnta philosophy, and 
consider the material world as one in substance, although in an illusory man- 
ner with the supreme. Life is also identified with spirit, according to the 
authority of a popular work.* ‘None of the philosophical writings of the chief 
teachers of this system have been met with. 


* According to the Vérttd, VaruaBua advocated this doctrine with some reluctance, by 
the especial injunction of the juvenile Arishna. 


aa NMA ASIAN FT VEST Ta Ma A PATA TAA BI ers da Sl at aa 
MW WaT AT VTS | aI Al AVITAL STHT ST WE BT Qa Ma Sr 
Fe Wa RUS faa A aPlare ATTN 
* Then Achdrj Ji said, you know the nature of Life, it is full of defects, how can it be 
Y 


90 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


Amongst other articles of the new creed, VALLABHA introduced one, 
which is rather singular for a Hindu religious innovator or reformer: he 
taught, that privation formed no part of sanctity, and that it was the duty of 
the teachers and his disciples to worship their deity, not in nudity and hunger, 
but in costly apparel and choice food, not in solitude and mortification, but 
in the pleasures of society, and the enjoyment of the world. The Gosains, or 
teachers, are almost always family men, as was the founder VaLiasua, for af- 
ter he had shaken off the restrictions of the monastic’order to which he origi- 
nally belonged, he married, by the particular order, it is said, of his new god. 
The Gosains are always clothed with the best raiment, and fed with the dainti- 
est viands by their followers, over whom they have unlimited influence: part of 
the connexion between the Guru and teacher, being the three-fold Samarpan, 
or consignment of Tan, Man, and Dhan, body, mind, and wealth, to the 
spiritual guide. ‘The followers of the order are especially numerous amongst the 
mercantile community, and the Gosains themselves are often largely engaged, 
also, in maintaining a connexion amongst the commercial establishments of 
remote parts of the country, as they are constantly travelling over India, under 
pretence of pilgrimage, to the sacred shrines of the sect, and notoriously re- 
concile, upon these occasions, the profits of trade, with the benefits of devo- 
tion: as religious travellers, however, this union of objects renders them more 


respectable than the vagrants of any other sect. 


The practices of the sect are of a similar character with those of other 
regular worshippers : their temples and houses have images of Gorit, of Krisu- 
wa and RApuwi, and other divine forms connected with this incarnation, of 
metal chiefly, and not unfrequently of gold: the image of Krisuna represents 
a chubby boy, of the dark hue of which Visunu is always represented : it is 


richly decorated and sedulously attended; receiving eight times a day the 


combined with you: to which Sré Thakur ji (KRIsHNA) replied; Do you unite Brahme and Life in 
what way you will, I shall concur, and thence all its defects will be removed.” 


OF THE HINDUS, 91 


homage of the votaries. These occasions take place at fixed periods and for 
certain purposes, and at all other seasons, and for any other object, except at 
stated and periodical festivals, the temples are closed and the deity invisible: 
the eight daily ceremonials are the following :— 

1. Mangala ; the morning levee : the image being washed and dressed, 
is taken from the couch, where it is supposed to have slept during the night, 
and placed upon a seat, about half'an hour after sun-rise: slight refreshments 
are then presented to it, with betel and Pan: lamps are generally kept 
burning during this ceremony. ; 

2. Sringdra; the image having been anointed and perfumed with oil, 
camphor, and sandal, and splendidly attired, now holds his public court: this 
takes place about an hour and a half after the preceding, or when four Gheris 
of the day have elapsed. 

3. Gwala ; the image is now visited, preparatory to his going out to at- 
tend the cattle along with the cow-herd ; this ceremony is held about forty- 
eight minutes after the last, or when six Gheris have passed. 

4. Rdja Bhoga ; held at mid-day, when Krisuna is supposed to come in 
from the pastures, and dine: all sorts of delicacies are placed before the image, 
and both those, and other articles of food dressed by the ministers of the tem- 
ple, are distributed to the numerous votaries present, and not unfrequently 
sent to the dwellings of worshippers of some rank and consequence. 

5. Utthépan; the calling up ; the summoning of the god from his siesta : 
this takes place at six Gheris, or between two and three hours before sun-set. 

6. Bhoga ; the afternoon meal, about half an hour after the preceding. 

7. Sandhya; about sun-set, the evening toilet of the image, when the 
ornaments of the day are taken off, and fresh unguent and perfume applied. 

8. Sayan; retiring to repose; the image, about eight or nine in the even- 
ing, is placed upon abed, refreshments and water in proper vases, together with 
the betel box and its appurtenances, are left near it, when the votaries retire, 


and the temple is shut till the ensuing morning, 


() RELIGIOUS SECTS 


Upon all these occasions the ceremony is much the same, consisting in 
little more than the presentation of flowers, perfumes, and food by the priests 
and votaries; and the repetition, chiefly by the former, of Sanscrit stanzas in 
praise of Krisuna, interspersed with a variety of prostrations and obeisances. 
There is no established ritual, indeed, in the Hindu religion, for general use, 


nor any prescribed form of public adoration. 


Besides the diurnal ceremonials described, there are several annual festi- 
vals of great repute observed throughout India: of these, in Bengal and Orissa, 
the Rath Jétra, or procession of JAGANNAT’H in his car, is the most celebrat- 
ed, but itis rarely held in upper India, and then only by natives of Bengal, 
established in the provinces: the most popular festival at Benares, and gene- 
rally to the westward, is the Janamashtami, the nativity of Krisuna, on the 


eighth day of Bhdadra. (August*) Another is the Rds Yéira, or annual 


* Great difference of practice prevails on occasion of this observance. KrisHNa was born 
on the eighth lunar day of the waning moon of Bhddra, at midnight, upon the moon’s entrance into 
Rohini, in commemoration of which a fast isto be held on the day preceding his birth, terminat- 
ing, as usual, in a feast ; but the day of his birth is variously determinable, according to the adoption 
of the civil, the lunar, or lunar-sydereal computations, and it rarely happens that the eighth 
lunation comprises the same combination of hours and planetary positions, as occurred at Krisuna’s 
birth. Under these circumstances, the followers of the Smriti, with the Satvas and Sdktas, com- 
mence their fast with the commencement of the lunation, whenever that takes place; the Admd- 
nujas and. Mddhwas, observe such part of the eighth day of the moon’s age as includes sun rise; 
and forms the eighth day of the calendar, or civil day, whilst some of the Rdémdnujas, and the 
Nimdawats regulate the duration of their fast by the moon’s passage through the asterism Rohini. 
The consequence is, that the Smarétas often fast on the 7th, one set of Vaishnavas on the 8th, and 
another on the 9th, whilst those who affect great sanctity, sometimes go thirty hours without 
food; an extract from last year’s calendar will very well exemplify these distinctions. 

3rd Bhadra, 17th August 1825, Tuesday, Saptami, 10 Dandas 17 Palas. The Janméshtami 
Vrata and a Fast. 

4th Bhédra, 18th August, Wednesday, Ashtami 9 Dandas 18 Palas. Fast according to the 
Vaishnavas of Vruj. 

5th Bhadra, 19 August, Thursday, Navami, 7 Dandas, 4 Palas. Rohini Naksshatra, till 10 Dan- 
das, 52 Palas, at which hour Pérana, the end of the fast. 


OF THE HINDUS. OS 


@ 


commemoration of the dance of the frolicksome deity with the sixteen Goris. 
This last is a very popular festival, and not an uninteresting one: vast crowds, 
clad in their best attire, collecting in some open place in the vicinity of the 
town, and celebrating the event with music, singing, and dramatic repre- 
sentations of Krisuna’s sports: all the public singers and dancers lend their 
services on this occasion, and trust for a remuneration to the gratuities of the 
spectators : at Benares, the Rds Yatra is celebrated at the village of Sivapur, 
and the chief dancers and musicians, ranging themselves under the banners of 
the most celebrated of the profession, go out in formal procession: tents, huts, 
and booths are erected, swings and round-abouts form a favourite amusement 
of. the crowd, and sweetmeats and fruits are displayed in tempting profusion : 
the whole has the character of a crowded fair in Europe, and presents, 
in an immense concourse of people, an endless variety of rich cos- 


tume, and an infinite diversity of picturesque accompaniment, a most lively 


‘ 


Now the 3d day of the Solar Bhédra was the 7th of the Lunar Month, but it comprised 
little more than ten Dandas or four hours of that lunation: as it included sun-rise, however, it was 
the 7th of the calendar, or civil day. The eighth Tithz, or lunation, therefore, began about that 
time, or four hours after sun-rise, and the Smértas, Saivas, and Séktas, observed the fast 
on that day ; they began with sun-rise, however, as there is a specific rule for the Sankalpa, or 
pledge, to perform the usual rite at dawn. This Ashtami comprised midnight, and was the more 
sacred on that account. 


The 4th of Bhédra was the Ashtami, or eighth of the Vaishnavas, although the lunation only 
extended to 9 Dandas, or less than four hours after sun-rise, but they are particularly enjoined to 
avoid the Sapiami, or the Ashtamé conjoined with it, and therefore they could not commence their 
fast earlier, although they lost thereby the midnight of the eighth lunation, which they were, conse= 
quently, compelled to extend into the night of the ninth. They fasted till the next morning, unless 
they chose to eat after midnight, which, on this occasion, is allowable. 


The 5th of Bhddra was the Navami, or ninth of the calendar, but it included a portion of the 
moon’s passage through Zohiné, and the strict Vaishnavas of the different sects should not have per- 
formed the Pérana, the close of the fast, earktr, or before 10 Dandas and 52 Palas after sun-rise, 
or about nine o’clock. Those Vaishnavas, however, who wholly regulate their observance by the 
Asterism, and referring also to the necessity of commencing it with sun-rise, would only have begun 
their fast on the calendar Mavami, and have held the Pérana on Friday the 10th, the third day 
after the proper birth-day of their deity. : 

Z 


4 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


and splendid scene. The same festival is held from the tenth day of the light 
half of Kudr (Septr. Octr.), to the day of the full moon, at Bindraban, where 
a stone plat-form, or stage, hasbeen built for the exhibition of the mimic 
dance, in a square near the river side. Besides their public demonstra- 
tions of respect, pictures and images of Gorfia are kept in the houses of 
the members of the sect, who, before they sit down to any of their meals, take 
care to offer a portion to the idol. Those of the disciples who have performed 
the triple Samarpana, eat only from the hands of each other; and the wife 
or child that has not exhibited the same mark of devotion to the Guru, can 


neither cook for such a disciple, nor eat in his society. 


The mark on the forehead consists of two red perpendicular lines, meeting 
in asemicircle at the root of the nose, and having a round spot of red be- 
tween them. The Bhaktas have the same marks as the Sri Vazshnavas on the 
breasts and arms, and some also make the central spot on the forehead with a 
black earth, called Sydmabandi, or any black metallic substance: the necklace 
and rosary, are made of the stalk of the Tulast. The salutations amongst them 
are, Srikrishna.and Jaya Gopal. 

The great authority of the sect is the Bhégavat, as explained in the Subod- 
hint, or Commentary of VaLLaBuAcuirya: he is the author also of a Bhashya 
on part of Vyisa’s Sitras, and of other Sanscrit works, as the Siddhanta 
Rahasya, Bhagavat Lila Rahasya, and Ekdnta Rahasya ; these, however, are 
only for the learned, and are now very rare. Amongst the votaries in 
general, various works upon the history of Krisuna are current, but the 
most popular are the Vishnu Padas, stanzas in Bhdsha, in praise of Visunu, 
attributed to VaLuaBua himself; the Bruj Bilas, a Bhakha poem of some 
length, descriptive of Krisuna’s life, during his residence at Vrindaban, by 
Brus Bast Dis; the Ash’ta Chhap, an account of VaLLasua’s eight chief 


disciples, and the Varid, or Bartd, a collection in * Hindustani of marvellous 


OF THE HINDUS. 95 


and insipid anecdotes of Variaswa and his primitive followers, amounting 
to the number of eighty-four, and including persons of both sexes, and 
every class of Hindus. ‘The Bhakia. Mala also contains a variety of 
legends regarding the different teachers of this sect, but it is less a text book 
with this sect than any other class of Vaishnavas, as the Barté occupies its 
place amongst the worshippers of Gopal. ‘The following are specimens of this 


work, and by no means the most unfavourable :— 


DiAmopar Das, of Kanoj, was a disciple of Sri AcuArya, (VaLLApuAcuarya.) Like the 
rest of the members of this sect, he had an image of Krisuwain his house. One day it was 
exceedingly hot, and when night came, Sr2 Thdékur ji (the image,) woke the maid servant, 
and desired her to open the doors of his chamber, as it was very warm. She obeyed, and 
taking a pankha, fanned him—FEarly in the morning, DAmopar DAs observed the doors of the 
chamber open, and enquired how this had happened: the girl mentioned the circumstance, 
but her master was much vexed that she had done this, and that Srz Thékur ji had not called 
him to do it. Sri Thékur jt knowing his thoughts, said; I told her to open the doors, why 
are you displeased with her; you shut me up here in a close room, and go to sleep yourself 
onan open and cool terrace. Then DAmopar DAs made a vow, and said, I will not taste 
consecrated food until I have built a new temple, but his wife advised him, and urged, this is 
not a business of five or six days, why go without the consecrated food so long. Then he 
said, I will not partake of the consecrated sweetmeats, I will only eat the fruits, and 50 he - 
did, and the temple was compleated, and Sri Thakur jt was enshrined in it, and DAmo- 


pak Das distributed food to the Vaishnavas, and they partook thereof. 


Sri Thékur jt had a faithful worshipper in a Mahratta lady, whom, with the frolicsome- 
ness of boyhood, he delighted to teaze. One day, a woman selling vegetables having passed 
without the Baz noticing her, Sri Thékur ji said to her, will younot buy any vegetables for 
me to-day; she replied, whenever any one selling them comes this way, I will buy some ; to 
which he answered, one has just now passed. The Baz replied; no matter, if one has gone 
by, another will presently be here: but this did not satisfy the little deity, who leaping 
from his pedestal, ran after the woman, brought her back, and, after hageling for the price 


with her himself, made his protectress purchase what he selected. 


96 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


As RawAvyis and JAGANNATH, two of VattapHAcHArya’s disciples, were bathing, a 
woman of the Rajput caste came down to the river to burn herself with her husband; on which 
JaGANNATH said to his companion, what is the fashion of a woman becoming a Sati. RANA~ 
vyAs shook his head, and said, the fruitless union of beauty with a dead body. The Rajputanz 
observing RAnAvy4s shake his head, her purpose at that moment was changed, and she did 
not become a Saéz7, on which her kindred were much pleased. Some time afterwards, 
meeting with the two disciples, the Rajputani told them of the effect of their former inter- 
view, and begged to know what had passed between them. RAN AvyAs being satisfied, that the 
compassion of Srz Achérj was extended to her, repeated what he had said to JagANNATH, 
and his regret that her charms should not be devoted to the service of Sré Thakur Jt, rather 
than be thrown away upon a dead body. The Rajputanz enquired how the service of Tha*ur jz 
was to be performed, on which RAnAvyAs, after making her bathe, communicated to her the 
initiating prayer, and she thenceforth performed the menial service of the deity, washing his 
garments, bringing him water, and discharging other similar duties in the dwelling of RA- 
NAvyAs, with entire and fervent devotion, on which account, she obtained the esteem of S72 


Achéij, and the favour of the deity. 


RAm DAs was married in his youth, but adopting ascetic principles, he refused to take 
his wife home : at last, his father-in-law left his daughter in her husband’s dwelling, but RAm 
DAs would have nothing to say to her, and set off on a pilgrimage to Dwéraké : his wife fol- 
lowed him, but he threw stones at her, and she was compelled to remain at a distance from 
him. At noon, he halted and bathed the god, and prepared his food, and presented it, and 
then took the Prasdd and put it in a vessel, and fed upon what remained, but it was to no 
purpose, and he was still hungry. Thus passed two or three days, when Ranacwyor ap- 
peared to him in a dream, and asked him why he thus ill-treated his wife. He said, he was 
Virakta, (a coenobite), and what did he want with a wife. Then Ranacnuor asked him, ~ 
why he had married, and assured him that such an unsocial spirit was not agreeable to Srz 
Achérya, and desired him to talce his wife unto him; for RanacHwor could not bear the 
distress of the poor woman, as he has a gentle heart, and his nature has been imparted to the 
Achérya and his disciples. "When morning came, Rdm Das called to his wife, and suffered 
her toaccompany him, by which she was made happy. When the time for preparing their 
food arrived, Ram DAs prepared it himself, and after presenting the portion to the image, 


gave a part of it to his wife. After a few days, RanacuwHonr again appeared, and asked him, 


OF THE HINDUS. 97 


why he did not allow his wife to cook, to which RAm Das replied, that she had not received 
the initiating name from Svi Achérya, and was, therefore, unfit to prepare his food. 
RaANAcHHOR, therefore, directed him to communicate the Nam (the name) to his wife, and 
after returning to the Achdrya, get him to repeat it. Accordingly, RAm DAs initiated his 
wife, and this being confirmed by the Achdrya, she also became his disciple, and, with her 


husband, assiduously worshipped Siz Thakur ji. 


VALLABHA was succeeded by his son VirraLa Nitu, known amongst the 
sect by the appellation of Sri Gosain Ji, Vatiasya’s designation being Sri 
Acharj Jt. Virraua Nit’u, again, had seven sons, GirpHaAri RAI, Govinp Rat, 
Bixa Krisuna, Goxut NAt’u, Racuunitu, Yapunit’n, and GuanassyAma 3 
these were all teachers, and their followers, although in all essential points the 
same, form as many different communities. Those of GoxuLNir’H, indeed, are 
peculiarly separate from the rest, looking upon their own Gosains as the only 
legitimate teachers of the faith, and withholding all sort of reverence from the 
persons and Ma?’hs of the successors of his brethren: an exclusive preference 
that does not prevail amongst the other divisions of the faith, who do homage 
to all the descendants of all Virrata NAv’H’s sons. 

The worshippers of ‘this sect are very numerous and opulent, the mer- 
chants and bankers, especially those from Guzrat and Malwa, belonging to it: 
their temples and establishments are'numerous all over India, but particularly 
at Mathura and Bindraban, the latter of which alone is said to contain many 
hundreds, amongst which are three of great opulence. In Benares are two 
temples of great repute and wealth, one sacred to Lal ji, and the other to Puru- 
shottama jt.* Jagannath and Dwdarakd, are also particularly venerated by this 
sect, but the most celebrated of all the Gosain establishments is at Sri Ndi’h 


Dwar, in Ajmer. The image at this shrine is said to have transported 


* Many of the bankers of this city, it is said, pay to one or other of the temples a tax of 
one-fourth of an ana, on every bill of exchange, and the cloth merchants, half an ana on all sales. 


Aa 


98 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


itself thither from Mathurd, when Aurengzeb ordered the temple it was 
there placed in to be destroyed—The present shrine is modern, but 
richly endowed, and the high priest, a descendant of Goxun NAt’n, a 
man of great wealth and importance.* It is a matter of obligation with 
the members of this sect to visit Sri Nat’?h Dwar, at least once in their 
lives; they receive there a certificate to that effect, issued by the 
head Gosain, and, in return, contribute according to their means to the 
enriching of the establishment: it is not an uncurious feature in the 
notions of this sect, that the veneration paid to their Gosains is paid solely to 
their descent, and unconnected with any idea of their sanctity or learning ; 
they are not unfrequently destitute of all pretensions to individual respecta- 
bility, but they not the less enjoy the homage of their followers; the present 


chief, at Srindih Dwar, is said not to understand the certificate he signs. 


MIRA BAIS. 


These may be considered as forming a subdivision of the preceding, 
rather than a distinct sect, although, in the adoption of a new leader, and the 
worship of Krisuna under a peculiar form, they differ essentially from the 
followers of VaLLasHa: at the same time, it is chiefly amongst those secta- 
rians, that Mfrd Bar and her deity, Ranacu’nor, are held in high veneration, 
and, except in the west of India, it does not appear that she has many imme- 


diate and exclusive adherents. 


Mira Bir is the heroine of a prolix legend in the Bhakta Mala, which isa 


* Every temple is said to have three places of offering; the image, the pillow of the founder, 
and a box for Sri Néth Dwar. 


OF THE HINDUS. 99 


proof at least of her popularity : as the author of sacred poems addressed to the 
deity, as Vishnu, she also enjoys a classical celebrity, and some of her odes are 
to be found in the collections which constitute the ritual of the deistical sects, 
especially those of Nanak and Kabir: according to the authority cited, she 
flourished in the time of Akbar, who was induced, by her reputation, to pay 
her a visit, accompanied by the famous musician Zén Sen, and it is said, that 


they both acknowledged the justice of her claim to celebrity. 


Miri was the daughter of a petty Raja, the sovereign of a place called 
Merté ; she was married to the Rina of Udayapur, but soon after being taken 
home by him, quarrelled with her mother-in-law, a worshipper of Devi, res- 
pecting compliance with the family adoration of that goddess, and was, in 
consequence of her persevering refusal to desert the worship of Krisuna, ex- 
pelled the Rana’s bed and palace: she appears to have been treated, how- 
ever, with consideration, and to have been allowed an independant establish- 
ment, owing, probably, rather to the respect paid to her abilities, than a notion 
of her personal sanctity, although the latter was attested, if we may believe 
our guide, by her drinking unhesitatingly a draught of poison presented to 
her by her husband, and without its having the power to do her harm. In her 
uncontrouled station, she adopted the worship of RaANacw’Hor, a form of the 
youthful Krisuna ; she became the patroness of the vagrant Vaishnavas, and 
visited, in pilgrimage, Bindraban and Dwéraka : whilst at the latter, some 
persecution of the Vaishnavas, at Udayapur, appears to have been instituted, 
and Brahmans were sent to bring her home from Dwdraké : previously to de- 
parting, she visited the temple of her tutelary deity, to take leave of him, 
when, on the completion of her adorations, the image opened, and MirA leap- 
ing into the fissure, it closed, and she finally disappeared. In memory of this 
miracle it is said, that the image of Mira Bat is worshipped at Udayapur, in 
conjunction with that of Ranacu’uHor, The Padas that induced this marvel, 


and which are current as the compositions of Miri Bat, are the two following: 


100 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


Pada 1.—Oh, sovereign Ranacnw’uor, give me to make Dwdrakd my abode : with thy 
shell, discus, mace, and lotus, dispel the fear of Yama: eternal rest is visiting thy sacred 
shrines; supreme delight is the clash of thy shell and cymbals: I have abandoned my love, 
my possessions, my principality, my husband. Muin4, thy servant, comes to thee for refuge, 


oh, take her wholly to thee. 


s 


Pada 2.—If thou knowest me free from stain, so accept me: save thee, there is none 
other that will show me compassion: do thou, then, have mercy upon me: let not weariness, 
hunger, anxiety, and restlessness, consume this frame with momentary decay. Lord of 


Mrri4, Girpuara her beloved, accept her, and never let her be separated from thee. 


BRAHMA SAMPRADAYIS, orn MADHWACHARIS. 


This division of the Vaishnavas is altogether unknown in Gangetic 
Hindustan. A few individuals belonging to it, who are natives of southern 
India, may be occasionally encountered, but they are not sufficiently nume- 
rous to form a distinct community, nor have they any temple or teachers of 
their own. It isin the peninsula, that the sect is most extensively to be 
found, and it is not comprised, thérefore, in the scope of this sketch: as, how- 
ever, it is acknowledged to be one of the four great Sampradayas, or religi- 
ous systems, such brief notices of it as have been collected will not be 


wholly out of place. 


The institution of this sect is posterior to that of the Sri Vatshnavas, or 


Ramanuyjas: the founder was Mapuwicuarya,* a Brahman, the son of Mapuicr, 


* In the Sarvadersana Sangraha he is cited by the name Purna Prajna—a work is also quot- 
ed as written by him under the name of Medhya Mandira. Reference is also made to him by the 
title, most frequently found in the works ascribed to him, of Ananda Tirtha. 


OF THE HINDUS. 101 


BuAtTtTa, who was born in the Saka year 1121 (A.p. 1199,) in Tuduva : according 
to the legendary belief of his followers, he was an incarnation of Véyu, or 
the god of air, who took upon him the human form, by desire of NAr&yana, 
and who had been previously incarnate as Hanumén and Bhima, in preceding 
ages. He was educated in the convent established at Ananteswar, and, in his 
ninth year, was initiated into the order of Anchorets, by Acnyuta Pracua, a 
descendant of Sanaxa, son of Brauma. At that early age also he composed 
his Bhashya, or commentary on the Giéd, which he carried to Badarikdsrama, 
in the Himalaya, to present to Vepavyasa, by whom he was received with 
great respect, and presented with three Sdlagréms, which he brought back 
and established as objects of worship, in the Maths of Udipi, Madhyatala, 
and Subrahmanya—he also erected and consecrated at Udipi, the image of 
Krisuna, that was originally made by Arsuna, of which he became miracu- 
lously possessed. 


A vessel from Dwéraké, trading along the Malabar coast, had taken on 
board, either accidentally or as ballast, a quantity of Gopichandana, or the 
sacred clay, from. that city, in which the image was immersed : the vessel was 
wrecked off the Coast of Tuluva, but Mapuwa receiving divine intimation’ 
of the existence of the image, had it souglit for, and recovered from the place 
where it had sunk,* and established it as the principal object of his devotion 
at Udipi, which has since continued to be the head quarters of the sect. 
He resided here for some time himself, and composed, it is said, thirty-seven 


works.t After some time, he went upon a controversial tour, in which he 


* This story is rather differently told by the late Colonel Mackenzie in his account of the 
Marda Gooroos, published in the Asiatic Annual Register, for 1804. ; 


+ The principal of these are—the Gita Bhséhya, Satra Bhsahya, Rig-bhashya, Desopanishadh 
Bhashya—Anuvakanunaya Viverna, Anuvedanta Rasa Prakarana, Bharata Tétparya Nirnaya, — 
Bhagavat-tatparya, Gitatatparya—Krishnamrita Maharnava, Tantra Sara. 


Bb 


102 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


es 


triumphed over various teachers, and amongst others, it is said, over Sankara 
Acharya—he finally, in his 79th year, departed to Badarihdsrama, and there 


continues to reside with VyAsa, the compiler of the Vedas and Puranas. _ 


Before his relinquishing charge of the shrine he had established, Mapuwi- 
cHArya had very considerably extended his followers, so that he was enabled 
to establish eight different temples, in addition to the principal temple, or that 
of Krishna, at Udipi : in tliese were placed images of different forms of Vishnu,* 
and the superintendance of them was entrusted to the brother of the founder, 
and eight Sanydsis, who were Brahmans, from the banks of the Godavert. 
These establishments still exist, and, agreeably to the code of the founder, 
each Sanydsi, in turn, officiates as superior of the chief station at Udipi for two 
years, or two years and a half. ‘The whole expense of the establishment devolves 
upon the superior for the time-being, and, as it is the object of each to outvie 
his predecessor, the charges t are much heavier than the receipts of the insti- 
tution, and, in order to provide for them, the Sanydsis employ the intervals of 
their temporary charge in travelling about the country, and levying contri- 
bution on their lay votaries, the amount of which is frequently very large, and 
is appropriated for the greater part to defray the costs of the occasional pon- 
tificate. 

The eight Maths are all in Tuluva, below the Ghats,t but, at the same 
time, MapuwAcnArya authorised the foundation of others above the Ghats, 
under PapmanAsyHa TirtH4, to whom he gave images of Rima, and the 
Vydsa Sdlagrdm, with instructions to disseminate his doctrines, and collect, 


money for the use of the shrine at Udipi : there are four establishments under 


* Ramatwith Sita.—2. Sita and Lakshman.—3. Kaliya Mardana, with two arms—4. Kaliya 
Mardana, with four arms.—5. Suvitala—6. Sukara.—7. Nrisinha.—8. Vasanta Vitala. 

+ Buchanan states them at 13,000 Rupees at least, and often exceeding 20,000. 

~ They are at Kandr, Pejéwer, Admar, Phalamar, Krishnapur, Sirdr, Sode, and Putti. 


OF THE HINDUS. 103 


the descendants of this teacher above the Ghats, and the superiors visit Udipi 


from time to time, but never officiate there as pontiffs. 


The superiors, or Gurus of the Madhwa sect, are Brahmans and Sanydsis, 
or profess coenobitic observances: the disciples, who are domesticated in the 
several Maths, profess also perpetual celibacy. The lay votaries of these 
teachers, are members of every class of society, except the lowest, and each 
Guru has anumber of families hereditarily attached to him, whose spiritual 


guidance he may sell or mortgage to a Brahman of any sect. 


The ascetic professors of MapuwAcuirva’s school, adopt the external ap- 
pearance of Dandis, laying aside the Brahmanical cord, carrying a staff and a 
water pot, going bare-headed, and wearing a single wrapper stained of an 
orange colour with an ochry clay: they areusually adopted into the order from 
their boyhood, and acknowledge no social affinities nor interests. ‘The marks 
common to them, and the lay votaries of the order, are the impress of the 
symbols of Vishnu, upon their shoulders and breasts, stamped with a hot iron, | 
and the frontal mark, which consists of two perpendicular lines made with 
Gopichandana, and joined at the root of the nose like that of the Sri Vaish- 
navas ; but instead of a red line down the centre, the Madhwadcharis make a 
straight black line, with the charcoal from incense offered to Nédrdyana, ter- 


minating in a round mark made with turmerick. 


The essential dogma of this sect, like that of the Vatshnavas in general, is 
the identification of Vishnu with the Supreme Spirit, as the pre-existent 


cause of the universe,* from whose substance the world was made.t This 


* In proof of these doctrines, they cite the following texts from the Srurr, or VEDAS, 
Tat aTCTaey Baa a HSll AY WET | Nerdéyana alone was; not Brahma nor Sankara. 
Alaee THVATY SAAT AU: ae. | Happy and alone before all was Nérdyana the Lord. 


+ The whole world was manifest from the body of Visunu, fawia sara facaal 


104 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


primeval Vishnu, they also affirm to be endowed with real attributes,* most 
excellent, although indefinable and independant. As there is one indepen- 
dant, however, there is also one dependant, and this doctrine is the charac- 
teristic dogma of the sect, distinguishing its professors from the followers of 
RAmAnusa as well as Sankara, or those whomaintain the qualified or absolute 
unity of the deity. Thecreed of the Médhwas, is Dwaita, or duality.t Itis 
not, however, that they discriminate between the principles of good and evil, 
or even the difference between spirit and matter, which is the duality known 
to other sects of the Hindus. Their distinction is of a more subtle character, 
and separates the Jivdtmd from the Paramdtmé, or the principle of life from 
the Supreme Being. Life, they say, is one and eternal, dependant upon the 
Supreme, and indissolubly connected with, but not the same with him.t 
An important consequence of this doctrine is the denial of Moksha, in itsmore 
generally received sense, or that of absorption into the universal spirit, and 
loss of independant existence after death. The Yoga of the Saivas, and Sa- 


yujyam of the Vaishnavas, they hold to be impracticable.§ 


* Visunu is independant, exempt from defects, and endowed with all good qualities.— Tatwa 
oN SSO. ~ 
Virck, SAAT AMAT fafseTaTUgT VZT: | 
+ Independant and dependant, is declared to be the two-fold condition of being.—Tatwa Vivek. 
eaanaaas feauaafaad 


{ As the bird and the string, as juices and trees, as rivers and oceans, as fresh water and salt, 
as the thief and his booty, as man and objects of sense, so are God and Life distinct, and both are 


ever indefinable.— Mahopanishat. QAI QNAAT AAT TATA AA AT; VATA WTe 
~ ~ FN 6 ~ ™~ wN 

wataar | Bitraerary wat yfaweraly aur Hawi fear wasateaaar ui 
§ In confirmation of which they adduce texts from the Purdénas and Vedas. 


“ From the difference between Omniscience and partial knowledge, Omnipotence and inferior 
power, supremacy and subservience, the union of God and Life cannot take place.”—Garura Pu- 


rina. PAACUAATRGLMGIVU AT | MAMI Caarar sayraraasaan 
WaT KES \\ “ Spirit is Supreme, and above qualities ; Life is feeble and subordinate.” —Bhéllavaga 


Upanishad. TATE ALASAT ALATA RAT SHAACPAAT | AT Ut 


OF THE HINDUS. 105 


The Supreme Being resides in Vackuntha, invested with ineffable splendour, 
and with garb, ornaments, and perfumes of celestial origin, being the husband 
also of Lakshmi, or glory, Bhimi, the earth, and Nilé, understood to mean Devi, 
or Durga, or personified matter. In his primary form, no known qualities can 
be predicated of him, but when he pleases to associate with Mayda, which is 
properly his desire, or wish, the three attributes of purity, passion, or igno- 
rance, or the Satwa, Raja and Tama Gunas, are manifested, as Vishnu, Brahma, 
and Siva, for the creation, protection, and destruction of the world. ‘These 
deities, again, perform their respective functions through their union with the 
same delusive principle to which they owed their individual manifestation. 
This account is clearly ailegorical, although the want of some tangible objects 
of worship has converted the shadows into realities, and the allegory, when 
adapted to the apprehensions of ordinary intellects, has been converted into 
the legend known to the followers of Kadir, of the Supreme, be getting the 


Hindu Triap by MAyA, and her subsequent union with her sons.* Other 


* Colonel MacKenzie, in his account of the sect, gives this legend ina different and rather 
unusual form, and one that indicates some relation to the Saiva sects. It is not, however, admitted 
as orthodox by those members of the sect whom I have encountered, nor do any traces of it appear 
in the works consulted. 


“ The Lord of the Creation, by whose supremacy the world is illuminated, and who is infinitely 
powerful, creating and destroying many worlds in a moment, that Almighty Spirit, in his mind, con- 
templating the creation of a world for his pleasure, from his. wishes sprung a goddess, named Itcha 
Sacktee; at her request, he directed her to create this world. Then the Sacktee, by the authority 
of God, immediately created three divine persons, generally called’ by Hindus, the Moortee-triam, 
by their several names of Brahma, Vishni: and Siva, committing to them, separately, their respective 
charges in the expected world ; Surstee, Sthutee, and Sayom, or the power of creating, nourishing, 
and destroying. When she had made these three lords, she requested of one after the other, that 
they might be her consort; but Brahma and Vishnia, disapproving of her request, she cons umed them 
with the fire of her third eye, and proposed the same thing to Siva; then Sadaseevi, considering in 
his mind that her demands were not agreeable to the divine law, replied that he could not be her 
consort, unless she granted her third eye to him. The goddess was pleased with his prudence, and 
adorned him with her third eye. Sosoonas Siva was possessed of that, he immediately destroyed 


cc 


106 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


legends are current amongst the MApuwas, founded on this view of the 
creation, in which Brauma and Siva, and other divinities, are described as 
springing from his mind, his forehead, his sides, and other parts of his body. 
They also receive the legends of the Vaishnava Puranas, of the birth of 
Braumi from the Lotus, of the navel of Visunxv, and of Rupra, from the tears 


shed by BraumA on being unable to comprehend the mystery of creation. 


The modes in which devotion to Visunu is to be expressed, are declar- 
ed to be three, Ankana, Namakarana, and Bhajana, or marking the body with 
his symbols,* giving his names to children, and other objects of interest, 
and the practice of virtue in word, act, and thought; truth, good council, 
mild speaking, and study belong to the first; liberality, kindness, and 
protection, to the second, and clemency, freedom from envy, and faith, to 


the last. These ten duties form the moral code of the Mddhwas. 


The usual rites of worship,t as practised by the Vaishnavas of this 


Cy 


her by a glance of the flaming eye, and revived Brahma and Vishni, and of her ashes made three 
goddesses, Saraswatee, Latchmi, and Paravatee, and united one of them to each of the Trimoortee.” 
| [ Account of the Marda Gooroos.— Asiatic Annual Register, 1804.] 


This legend is probably peculiar to the place where it was obtained, but the ideas and the 
notions adverted to in the text appear to have been misunderstood by Dr. Buchanan, who observes, 
that the Marpas believe in the generation of the gods, in a literal sense, thinking Visunu to be 
the Father of Bkanma, and Brauma the Father of Srva.—Mysore, vol. i. 14, 

* Especially with a hot iron, which practice they defend by a text from the Vepas. Whose 

. . . Ss =~ = 
body is not cauterised, does not obtain liberation. Badd tid a taraa AG i 
To which, however, Sankarécharya objects, that Zapta does not mean cauterised, but purified with 
Tapas, or ascetic mortification. 

+ The daily ceremonies at Udipi are of nine descriptions: Malavisarjana, cleaning the tem- 
ple, 2 Upasthéna, awaking Krishna, 3 Panchdmrita, bathing him with milk, &c. 4 Udvertiana, clean- 
ing the image, 5 Tirttha Piya, bathing it with holy water, 6 Alankdra, putting on his ornaments, 
7 Avritta, addressing prayers and hymns to him, 8 Mahdpijé, presenting fruits, perfumes, &c. with 
music and singing, 9 dirt Piyd, nocturnal worship, waving lamps before the image, with prayers, 


offerings, and music. 


OF THE HINDUS. 107 


sect, are observed, and the same festivals. In the Pijd, however, there is one 
peculiarity which merits notice, as indicative of a friendly leaning towards 
the Saiva sects ; the images of Siva, Durc4, and Ganesa, are placed on the 
same shrine with the form of Visunu, and partake in the adoration offered 
to his idol. Rites are conducive to final happiness only, as they indicate a de- 
sire to secure the favor of Visunu. The knowledge of his supremacy is essen- 
tial to the zeal with which his approbation may be sought, but they consider 
it unnecessary to attempt an identification with him by abstract meditation, as 
that is unattainable.*—Those who have acquired the regard of Visunu are, 
thereby, exempted from future birth, and enjoy felicity in Vatkuntha, under 
four conditions, as Sdrupya, similarity of form, Sdlokya, visible presence, 


Sdnnidhya, proximity, and Sdrsh?hz, equal power. 


Besides the writings of the founder, the following works are considered 
as forming the Sdstra, or scriptural authority of this sect. The four Vedas, 


the Mahabharat, the Pancharatra, and the genuine or original Rdmdayana. 


It seems not improbable, that the founder of the Mddhwa sect was, ori- 
ginally, a Sazva priest, and, although he became a convert to the Vaishnava 
faith, he encouraged an attempt to form a kind of compromise or alliance be- 
tween the Satvas and Vaishnavas. . Mapuwa was first” initiated into the faith 
of Siva, at Ananteswar, the shrine of a Linga, and one of his names, ANANDA 
Tint’, indicates his belonging’ to the class of Dasnaémi Gosains, who were 
instituted by SanKarAcuirya; one of his first acts was to establish a Salégram, 
a type of VisuNu, at the shrine of SuBRAHMANYA, the warrior son of Siva, and, 


as observed above, the images of Siva are allowed to partake, in the Médhwa 


* Emancipation is not obtained without the favour of Visunu. His favour is obtained from 


knowledge of his excellence, and not froma knowledge of his identity. —Sruti. 


ATTA AUSSI ALT F AMA AUT ATCT AHI AA ST TAT ATA | 


(108 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


temples, of the worship offered to Visunu. The votaries of the Méadhwa Gurus, 
and of the Sankardéchari Gosains, offer the Namaskar, or reverential obeisance, 
to their teachers mutually, and the Sringert Mahant visits Udipi, to perform his 
adorations at the shirne of Krisuna. It is evident, therefore, that there is an 
affinity between these orders, which does not exist between the Savas and 
Vaishnavas generally, who are regarded by the Mddhwas, even without ex- 
cepting the Ramdnwas, as Pashandis, or heretics, whether they profess the 


adoration of Visunu or of Siva. 


SANAKADI SAMPRADAYIS, OR NIMAWATS. 


This division of the Vaishnava faith is one of the four primary ones, 
and appears to be of considerable antiquity : it is one also of some popularity 
and extent, although it seems to possess but few characteristic peculiarities be» 


yond the name of the founder, and the sectarial mark. 


Nimpipitya is said to have been a Vaishnava ascetic, originally named 
Bhaskara Acharya, and to have been, in fact, an incarnation of the sun, for 
the suppression of the heretical doctrines then prevalent: he lived near Vin- 
drdvan, where he was visited by a Daidi, or, according to other accounts, by a 
Jaina ascetic, or Jatz, whom he engaged in controversial discussion till sun- 
set : he then offered his visitant some refreshment, which the practice of either 
mendicant renders unlawful after dark, and which the guest was, therefore, 
compelled to decline: to remove the difficulty, the host stopped the further 
descent of the sun, and ordered him to take up his abode in a neighbouring 
Nimb tree, till the meat was cooked and eaten: the sun obeyed, and the 
saint was ever after named Nimbérka, or Nimbdditya, or the Nimb tree sun. 


The Niméwats are distinguished by a circular black mark in the centre of © 


the ordinary double streak of white earth, or Gopichandan: they use the neck- 


OF THE HINDUS. 109 


lace and rosary of the stem of the Tulasi: the objects of their worship are 
Krisuna and RApwi conjointly : their chief authority isthe Bhdgavat, and 
there is said to be a Bhashya on the Védas by Nimpirxa: the sect, however, is 
not possessed of any books peculiar to the members, which want they attribute 


to the destruction of their works at Mathuré in the time of Aurengzeb. 


The Niméwats are scattered throughout the whole of Upper India. They 
are met with of the two classes ccenobitical and secular, or Viraktas and Grihas- 
thas, distinctions introduced by the two pupils of Nimparxa, Kesava Buarr, 
and Hari VyAs: the latter is considered asthe founder of the family which 
occupies the pillow of NrmzirKa at a place called Dhruva Kshetra, upon the 
Jumna, close to Mathura: the Mahant, however, claims to be a lineal des- 
cendant from Nimpirxa himself, and asserts the existence of the present 
establishment for a past period of 1400 years: the .antiquity is probably 
exaggerated : the Niméwats are very numerous about Mathura, and they are 
also the most numerous of the Vaishnava sects in Bengal, with the exception 


of those who may be considered the indigenous offspring of that province. 


VAISHNAVAS OF BENGAL. 


The far greater number of the worshippers of Visunu, or more properly 
of Krisuna, in Bengal, forming, it has been estimated, one-fifth of the popula- 
tion of the province,* derive their peculiarities from some Vaishnava 
Brahmans of Nadiya and Santipur, who flourished about. the end of the 


fifteenth century. The two leading men in the imnovation then instituted, 


* Warp on the Hindus, 2. 175. In another place he says five-sixteenths. p. 448. 


pd 


110 RELIGICUS SECTS 


were ADWAITANAND and NityAnanp, who, being men of domestic and settled 
habits, seem to have made use of a third, who had early embraced the ascetic 
order, and whose simplicity and enthusiasm fitted him for their purpose, and 
to have set up Cuarranya as the founder and object of a new form of Vaish- 


nava worship. 


The history of Cuarranya has been repeatedly written, but the work most 
esteemed by his followers is the Chaitanya Charitra of Vrinp&van DAs, which 
was compiled from preceding works by MurAri Gupra and DAmopara, who 
were the immediate disciples of Cuarranya, and who wrote an account, the first 
of his life as a Grihastha, or the Adi Lila, and the second of his proceedings 
as a pilgrim and ascetic, or the Madhya and Anta Lilé. An abridgement of 
the composition of VrinpAvan DAs, under the title of Chaitanya Charitémrita, 
was made by Krisuna DAs about 1590: although described by the author as 
an abridgement, it is a most voluminous work, comprising, besides anecdotes 
of Cuarranya and his principal disciples, the expositions of the doctrines of 
the sect: it is written in Bengali, but’it is interspersed most - thickly with the 
Sanscrit texts on which the faith is founded, and which are taken from the 
Brahma Sanhitd, the Vishnu Puran, the Bhigavat Gita, and, above all, the Sri 
Bhagavat, the work that appears about this period to have given a new aspect 
to the Hindu faith, throughout the whole of Eindustan: the accounts we 
have to offer of Cuarranya and his schism, are taken from the Chaitanya 
Charitamrita. 

Cuartanya was the son of a Brahman settled at Nadiya, but originally 
from Srihatta, or Silhet. His father was named JaGanniru Misra, and his 
mother Sacut: he was conceived in the end of Magha 1484, but not born till 
Phalgun 1485, being thirteen months in the womb—his birth was accompanied 
by the usual portentous indications of a super-human event, and, amongst 


other circumstances, an eclipse of the moon was terminated by his entrance 


OF THE HINDUS. Iii 


into the world. Carranya was, in fact, an incarnation of Krisuna, or Bha- 
gavdn, who appeared for the purpose of instructing mankind in the true 
mode of worshipping him in this age: with the like view he was, at the same 
time, incarnate in the two greater teachers of the sect as principal Ansas, or 
portions of himself, animating the form of ApwarTinanp, whilst NiryAnanp 
was a personal manifestation of the same divinity, as he had appeared for- 
merly in the shape of Batarima: the female incarnation was not assumed on 
this occasion, being, in fact, comprised in the male, for RApuA, as the Purna- 
Sakti, or comprehensive energy, and Krisuna, as the Purna-Saktimdn, or 


possessor of that energy, were both united in the nature of the Nadiya saint. 


The father of Cuarranya died in his son’s childhood, and his elder bro- 
ther, Viswartpa, had previously assumed the character of an ascetic: to take 
care of his mother, therefore, Cuairanya refrained from following his incli- 
nations, and continued in the order of the Grihastha, or householder, till the 
age of twenty-four, during which time he is said to have married the daughter 
of VartapHacuarya. At twenty-four,* he shook off the obligations of so- 
ciety, and becoming a Bairdgi, spent the next six years in a course of peregrina- 
tions between Mathura and Jagannath, teaching his doctrines, acquiring fol- 
lowers, and extending the worship of Krisuna. At the end of this period, hav- 
ing nominated ApwairAcHArya and Niryananp to preside over the Vaish- 
navas of Bengal, and Rupa and Santana over those of Mathura, CHAITANYA 
settled at Nilachal, or Cuttack, where he remained twelve years, engaging déep- 
ly in the worship of Jagannai’h, tawhose festival he seems at least to have 


communicated great energy andrepute.t The rest of his time was spent 


* Not forty, as stated by Mr. Warp, (2. 173.) his whole life little exceeded that age, as 
he disappeared at forty-two. 


+ It may be observed, that in the frequent descriptions of the celebration of the Rat’ Yé- 
éra, which occur in the work of Krisuna DAs, no instance is given of self-sacrifice, amongst the 


112 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


we 


in tuition and controversy, and in receiving the visits of his disciples, who 
came annually, particularly the Bengalis, under Apwarra and NiryAnanp, to 
Nildchal, in. the performance of acts of self denial, and in intent meditation on 
KrisHwa: by these latter means he seems to have fallen, ultimately, into a state 
of imbecility approaching to insanity, which engendered perpetually beatific 
visions of Krisuna, RApwA, and the Goris: in one of these, fancying the sea 
to be the Jumna, and that he saw the celestial cohort sporting in its blue wa- 
ters, he walked into it, and fainting with ecstasy, would have been drowned, if » 
his emaciated state had not- rendered him buoyant on the waves: he was 
brought to shore in a fisherman’s net, and_recovered by his two resident dis- 
ciples, Swarupa and RAmAnanp: the story is rendered not improbable, by 
the uncertain close of CHairanya’s career: he disappeared: how, is not known: 
of course his disciples suppose he returned to Vatkunt’ha, but we may be al- 
lowed to conjecture the means he took to travel thither, by the tale of his ma- 
rine excursion, as it is gravely narrated by Krisuna DAs: his disappearance 
dates about A. D. 1527. 


Of Apwarrinanp and NiryAnanb, no marvels, beyond their divine perva- 
sion, are recorded : the former, indeed, is said to have predicted the appearance 
of Krisuna as Cuairanya ; a prophecy that probably wrought its own comple- 
tion: he sent his wife to assist at the birth of the saint, and was one of his first dis- 
ciples. ApwaiTAnanp resided at Santipur, and seems to have been a man of 
some property and respectability: he is regarded as one of the three Prabhus, 
or masters of the sect, and his descendants, who are men of property, residing 


at Santipur, are the chief Gosains, or spiritual superiors, conjointly with those 


. 


numerous votaries collected, neither is there any passage that could be interpreted, as commendatory 
of the practice : it is, in fact, very contrary to the spirit of Vaishnava devotion, and is probably a 
modern graft from Saiva or Sékta superstition. ABULFAZL does not notice the practice, although 
he mentions that those who assist in drawing the car, think thereby to obtain remission of their sins. 


OF THE HINDUS. 113 


of NiryAnanp, of the followers of this faith. NrryANanp was an inhabitant of 
Nadiya, a Rarhiya Brahman, and a householder: he was appointed especially 
by Cuarranya, the superior of his followers in Bengal, notwithstanding his 
secular character, and his being addicted to mundane enjoyments :* his de- 
scendants are still in existence, and are divided into two branches : those of 
the male line reside at Kharda, near Barrackpore ; and those of the female at 
Balagor, near Suk’hsdgar: there are other families, however, of nearly equal 
influence in various parts of Bengal, descended from the other Gosains, the 


Kavirgqas and original Mahants. 


Besides the three Prabhus, or Cuattanya, ApwartTa, and NityANAnpb, 
the Vaishnavas of this order acknowledge six Gosains as their original and 
chief teachers, and the founders, in some instances, of the families of the Go- 
sains now existing, to whom, as well as to the Gokulast’ha Gosains, hereditary 
veneration is due. The six Gauriya, or Bengal Gosains, appear. to have all set- 
tled at Vrindavan and Mathura, where many of their descendants are still 
established, and in possession of several temples: this locality, the agree- 
ment of dates, and the many points of resemblance between the institu- 
tions of VaLLapHa and Cuairanya, render it extremely probable that 
their origin was connected, and that a spirit of rivalry and opposition gave 


rise to one or other of them. 


* Thus, according to Krisana DAs, when RaGuunat’H DAs visits him, he finds him ata 
feast with his followers, eating a variety of dainties; amongst others a dish called Pulina, and when 
he good humouredly notices it, NiryANAND replies :— 


Haat wife zxcttotree BP TUS a eet CORA acH ||“ Tam of the 
Gopa caste, (i.e. fig: a companion of Krisuna, the cow-herd,) and am amidst many Gopas, and such 
as we are, consider Pulina a delicacy.” A verse is also ascribed to him, said to have become proverbial; 


ma cal aifeacstall Aare coiataca 2faafa caval Let all enjoy fish, 
broth, and woman’s charms—be happy, and call upon Hart. 


Ee 


114 . RELIGIOUS SECTS 


The six Gosains of the Bengal Vaishnavas, are Répa, Sandtan, Jiva, 
BRacuunit,H Buatt, Racuunit,u Dis, and Gorit Buat?. Rbva and Sani- 
Tan,* were brothers in the employ of the Mohammedan governor of Bengal, 
and were hence regarded as little better than Mlech’has, or outcasts, them- 
selves: the sanctity of Cuarranya’s life and doctrine induced them to become 
his followers, and as it was a part of his system to admit all castes, even Mus- 
sulmans, amongst his disciples, they were immediately enlisted in a cause, 
of which they became the first ornaments and supports: they were men of 
learning, and were very indefatigable writers as we shall hereafter see, and the 
foundation of two temples at Vindraban, the most respectable reliques of the 
Hindu faith existing in upper Hindustan, is ascribed to their influence 
and celebrity.t Jrva was the nephew of the preceding, the son of their 
younger brother: he was likewise an author, and the founder of a temple at 
Vindraban, dedicated to Radha Damodara. Racuunit’n Buaitt and Racuv- 
wiht’H DAs were both Brahmans of Bengal, but they established themselves 
in the vicinity of Mathura and Vindraban. Gorat Buatit founded a temple 
and establishment at Vindraban, which are still maintained by his descendants; 


the presiding deity is RApH& Ramana. 


* From the indistinct manner in which they are conjointly described in the Bhakta Mala, it 
might be thought that Rupa Sandiana was but a single individual, but, in one passage, the work 
indicates their being two brothers, conformably to the Charitémrita, and the tradition in general 
currency. : 

+ The temples of Govind Deva and Ladanmohan, both in ruins; a Sanscrit inscription in 
the former, however, attributing it to Man Sinn Deva, a descendant of Priruu Rao, is dated 
Sambat 1647, or A. D. 1591. Besides the authority of Krisana DAs, for these two brothers being 
cotemporary with CuarranyA, who died in 1527, I have a copy of the Vidagdha Madhava, of 
which Rupa is the author, dated 1525 ; it is not therefore likely, that SanaTAN actually founded 
the temple of Govind Deva, although he may have been instrumental to its being undertaken. The 
interior of this temple is far superior to any of the religious structures to be met with along the 
Ganges and Jumna, and may almost be considered handsome: the exterior of that of Madanmohan is 
remarkable for its being built something after the plan of the pyramidical temples of Tanjore ; or rather 
its exterior corresponds with that of the temples at Bhuvaneswara in Cuttack. As. Res, vol. xv. plate. 


OF THE HINDUS. | 115 


Next to the six Gosains, several learned disciples and faithful companions 
of Cuarranya are regarded with nearly equal veneration : these are Srinipis, 
GapApuar Pandit, Srt Swartea, RAMANAND, and others, including Harr 
Dis: the last, indeed, has obtained almost equal honour with his master, being 
worshipped as a divinity in some places in Bengal—it is recorded of him, that 
he resided in a thicket for many years, and during the whole time he repeated 
the name of Krisuna three hundred thousand times daily. In addition to 
these chiefs, the sect enumerates eight Kavi Rdjas, or eminent and orthodox 
bards, amongst whom is Krisuna Das, the author of the Chaitanya Charité- 
mrita, and they also specify sixty-four Mahantas, or heads of religious 


establishments. 


The object of the worship of the Cuarranyas is Krisuna: according to 
them he is Paramdimd, or supreme spirit, prior to all worlds, and both the 
cause and substance of creation : in his capacity of creator, preserver, and des- 
troyer, he is Brauma, Visunu, and Siva, and in the endless divisions of hissub- 
stance or energy, he is all that ever was or will be : besides these manifesta- 
tions of himself, he has, for various purposes, assumed specific shapes, as Ava- 
tars, or descents; Angas, or portions; Ansdnsas, portion of portions, and so on 
ad infinitum: his principal appearance, and, in fact, his actual sensible mani- 
festation, was as Krisuwa, and in this capacity he again was present in Cuat- 
* TANYA, who is therefore worshipped as the deity, as are the other forms of the 
same god, particularly as GopAt, the cow-herd, or Gorinit’n, the lord of the 
milk maids of Vindraban ; his feats, in which juvenile characters are regarded, 


are his Lila, or sport. 


It is not worth while to enter upon the prolix series of subtle and un- 
meaning obscurities in which this class of Kaisuna’s worshippers envelop their 
sectarial notions: the chief features of the faith are the identification of 


Vishnu with Brahme, in common with all the Vaishnava sects, and the assere 


116 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


tion of his possessing, in that character, sensible and real attributes, in opposi- 
tion to the Vedanta belief of the negative properties of God: these postulates 
being granted, and the subsequent identity of Krisona and Cuarranya be- 
lieved, the whole religious and moral code of the sect is comprised in one 
word, Bhakti, a term that signifies a union of implicit faith with incessant 
devotion, and which as illustrated by the anecdote of Hari Dis, above given, 
is the momentary repetition of the name of KrisHna, under a firm belief, 


that such a practice is sufficient for salvation. 


The doctrine of the efficacy of Bhakti seems to have been an important 
innovation upon the primitive system of the Hindu religion. The object of 
the Vedas, as exhibiting the Veddnta, seems to have been the inculcation of 
fixed religious duties, as a general acknowledgement of the supremacy of the 
deities, or any deity, and, beyond that, the necessity of overcoming material 
impurities, by acts of self denial and profound meditation, and so fitting the 
spiritual part for its return to its original sources; in a word, it was essentially 
the same system that was diffused throughout the old pagan world. But the 
fervent adoration of any one deity superseded all this necessity, and broke 
down practice and speculation, moral duties, and political distinctions. Krisuna 
himself declares, in the Bhégavat, that to his worshipper, that worship presents 
whatever he wishes—paradise, liberation, Godhead, and is infinitely more effica- 
cious than any or all observances, than abstraction, than knowledge of the: 
divine nature, than the subjugation of the passions, than the practice of the 
Yoga, than charity, than virtue, or than any thing that is deemed most meri- 


torious.* Another singular and important consequence results from these 


*Qq aaa Wraatiway aa aaa cravaw Rarfafcacchsi 
ayagiaaria agit waa swe Baran agraatya ufe afin 
Bhaigavat, \1th Section. 


OF THE HINDUS. 117 


premises, for as all men are alike capable of feeling the sentiments of faith and 
devotion, it follows, that all castes become by such sentiments equally pure. 
This conclusion indeed is always admitted, and often stoutly maintained in 
theory, although it may be doubted whether it has ever been acted upon, 
except by CHAITANYA himself and his immediate disciples, at a period when 
it was their policy to multiply proselytes.* It is so far observed, however, 
that persons of all castes and occupations are admitted into the sect, and all are 
at liberty to sink their civil differences in the general condition of mendicant 
and ascetic devotees, in which character they receive food from any hands, 
and of course eat and live with each other, without regard to former distinc- 
tions. As followers of one faith, all individuals are, in like manner, equally 
entitled to the Prasdd, or food which has been previously presented to the 
deity, and it is probably the distribution of this, annually, at Jaganndt’h, 
that has given rise to the idea, that at this place all castes of Hindus eat 


together : any reservation, however, on this head is foreign to the tenets of this 


* CHAITANYA admitted amongst his followers five Pat’‘héns—who purposed to attack and 
plunder him, but were stopped by his sanctity, and converted by his arguments: one of these, who 
was a Pir, henew-named RAm DAs; another, their leader, was a young prince (a Rdéjdkumér,) 
whom he named Bil Khén. CuHaiTanyA communicated the Upadesa, or initiating Mantra 


to them, and they all became famous Vuaishnavas; “fda CaWAfaACLA srarnrfs | 


CHAITANYA uniformly maintains the pre-eminence of the faith over caste: the mercy of God, he 
says, regards neither tribe nor family ; RaAcaa Sriaife Saqatifz NIT || Krisuna did not 
disdain to eat in the house of Vidura, a Sudra, faqcaa Ucd €B Slat cSyAA I] and he 


cites Sanscrit texts for his authority—as ufvagta feafa: asaeatta ama: | Gur 
ar sfay ea: Arar qacairyq arf: WW“ The Chanddla, whose impurity is consumed by the 


chastening fire of holy faith, is to be reverenced by the wise, and not the unbelieving expounder 


of the Vedas.” Again; 4A UAQIIG ARM: VIVE: | AM ed dal aa FT 
Feat Gat ae \l_ The teacher of the four Vedas is not my disciple ; the faithful Chandéla enjoys 
my friendship ; to him be given, and from him be received: let him be reverenced, even as I am 
reverenced. These passages are from the Chaitanya Charitémrita, where many others of similar 
purport may be found. 


Ff 


118 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


sect, as well as of the Ramdnandi Vaishnavas,* and in both, community 
of schism is a close connecting link, which should, in deed, as well as word, 


abrogate every other distinction. 


The Bhakti of the followers of this division of the Hindu faith is supposed 
to comprehend five Rasas or Raiis, tastes or passions: in its simplest form it is 
mere Sénta, or quietism, such as was practised by the Yogendras, or by sages, 
as SANAKA and his brethren, and other saints: ina more active state, it is servi- 
tude, or Dasya, which every votary takes upon himself; a higher condition is 
that of Sékhya, a personal regard or friendship for the deity, as felt by Buima, 
Arjguna, and others, honoured with his acquaintance. Bétsalya, which is a 
higher station, isa tender affection for the divinity, of the same nature as the 
love of parents for their children, and the highest degree of Bhakti is the 
Méddhiurya, or such passionate attachment as that which pervaded the feelings 


of the Gopis, towards their beloved Krisuna. 


The modes of expressing the feelings thus entertained by his votaries to- 
wards Krisuna, do not differ essentially from those prevalent amongst the fol- 
lowers of the Gokulast’ha Gasains: the secular worshippers, however, pay a less 
regular homage in the temples of Krisuna, and in most. parts of Bengal, his 
public adoration occurs but twice a day, or between nine and twelve in the 
morning, and six and ten at night: occasionally, however, it does take place in 
a similar manner, or eight times a day. The chief ritual of the Bengal Vaish- 
navas of the class is a very simple one, and the Ndma Kiré’tana, or constant re- 
petition of any of the names of Krisuna, or his collateral modifications, is de- 
clared to be the peculiar duty of the presentage, andthe only sacrifice the wise 


are required to offer; it is of itself quite sufficient to ensure future felicity : 


* See remark on the Rdmdnandi Vaishnavas ; page 44. 


OF THE HINDUS. 119 


however, other duties, or Sédhanas, are enjoined, to the number of sixty-four, 
including many absurd, many harmless, and many moral observances ; as fasting 
every eleventh day, singing and dancing in honour of Krisuna, and suppressing 
anger, avarice, and lust. Of all obligations, however, the Guru Padddsraya, or ser- 
vile veneration of the spiritual teacher, is the most important and compulsory : 
the members of this sect not only are required to deliver up themselves and 
every thing valuable to the disposal of the Guru, they are not only to entertain 
full belief of the usual Vaishnava tenet, which identifies the votary, the teach- 
er, and the god, but they are to look upon the Guru as one and the present 
deity, as possessed of more authority even than the deity, and as one whose 
favour is more to be courted, and whose anger is more to be deprecated, than 
even that of Krisuna himself.* We have already had occasion to observe 
that this veneration is hereditary, and is paid to the successor of a deceased 
Gosain, although, in the estimation perhaps of his own worshippers, he is in his 
individual capacity more deserving of reprobation than of reverence. This blind 
and extravagant adoration of the Guru is, perhaps, the most irrational of all 
- Hindu irrationalities, and it is but justice to the founders of the system to acquit 
them of being immediately the authors of this folly. The earliest works incul- 
cate, no doubt, extreme reverence for the teacher, but not divine worship; they 
direct the disciple to look upon his Guru as his second father, not-as his God: 


there is great reason to suppose, that the prevailing practice is not of very 


* On this subject, the following text occurs in the Upésana Chandramriia, Maa: TIT, 
VT ar NEG a uitqe \\ The nee is manifest in the Guru, and the Guru is Hane 
himself. aq 0H qa TR qoreraza HaTVa | “ First, the Guru is to be worshipped, then 
Tam to be worshipped.” FELT ATL HBTHVITHTA: att qa efceqs: 


MTyT HRaTASH: | «The Guru is always to be worshipped: he is most veceellent Fic 
being one with the Mantra. Hart is pleased when the Gurz is pleased ; millions of acts of homage 
else will fail of being accepted.” Again. Set ae Teetar er RE ARYA |“ When 
Hant is in anger, the Guru is our protector, when the Guru is in anger, we have none.” These 
are from the Bhajanamrita. 


120 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


remote date, and that it originates chiefly with the Sr: Bhégavat: it is also 
falling into some disrepute, and as we shall presently see, a whole division of 


even Cuairanya’s followers have discarded this part of the system. 


Liberation from future terrestrial existence is the object of every form of 
Hindu worship. ‘The prevailing notion of the means of such emancipation is 
the re-union of the spiritual man, with that primitive spirit, which communi- 
cates its individual portions to all nature, and which receives them, when 
duly purified, again into its essence. On this head, however, the followers of 
CHAITANYA, in common with most of the Vaishnava sects, do not seem to have 
adopted the Vedanta notions; and, although some admit the Séyujya, or 
identification with the deity, as one division of Muktz, others are disposed to 
exclude it, and none acknowledge its pre-eminence: their Moksha is of two 
kinds; one, perpetual residence in Swerga, or Paradise, with possession 
of the divine attributes of supreme power, &c. and the other, elevation to Vai- 
kunt’? ha—the heaven of Visunu, which is free fromthe influence of Mayé, and 
above the regions of the Avatdrs, and where they enjoy one or all of the 
relations to Krisuna, which have been enumerated when speaking of the fol- 


lowers of RAMANusgA and MapuwAcHArya. 


The doctrines of the followers of Cuarranya are conveyed in a great 
number of works, both in Sanscrit and Bengali. The sage himself, and the two 
other Mahdprabhus, Niry&nanp and Apwarra, do not appear to have left 
any written compositions, but the deficiency was amply compensated by Rvt- 
PA and SanATAan, both of whom were voluminous and able writers. To RUpA 
are ascribed the following works; the Vidagdha Méddhava, a drama; the 
Lalita Madhava, Uyala Nilamani, Dina Kéli Kaumudi, poems in celebration 
of Krisuna and RApui; Bahusiavdvali, hymns; Ashtédasa Lilt Khand ; Pad- 
médvali, Govinda Virudéval, and its Lakshana, or exposition ; Mathura Mahét- 


mya, panegyrical account of Mathurd, Ndtaka Lakshana, Laghu Bhégavat, an 


OF THE HINDUS. 121 


abridgement of the Sri Bhdgavat, and the Vriga Vilas Vernanam, an account 
of Krisuna’s sports in Vrindavan. SANATAN was the author of the Harz 
Bhakti Vilés, a work on the nature of the deity and devotion, the Rdsé- 
mrita Sindhu, a work of high authority on the same subjects, the Bhaigavat 
Amrita, which contains the observances of the sect, and the Siddhdnia Séra, 
a commentary on the 10th Chapter of the Srz Bhdgavat. Of the other six Go- 
sains, Jiva wrote the Bhdgavat Sanderbha, the Bhakti Siddhanta, Gopdla 
Champu, and Upadesdémrita, and Racuunat’n Dis, the Manasstkshé and 
Gunalesa Suk’hara. These are all in Sanscrit. In Bengali, the Rdga 
Maya Kéna, a work on subduing the passions, is ascribed to RGpa, and 
Rasamaya Kaliké, on devotedness to Krisuna, to Sanatan. Other Sanscrit 
works are enumerated amongst the authorities of this sect, as the 
Chaitanya Chandrodaya, a drama, Stava Mala, Stavamrita Lahari, by 
ViswanATH CuHakravertTi; Bhajandmrita, Sri Smarana Derpana, by Ram- 
cHanpra Kavirdja ; the Gopipremamrita, a comment on the Krishna Kernamrita, 
by Krisuna Dis Kavirdja; and the Krishna Kirtana, by Govinp Dis and 
VipyArati.—The biographical accounts of Cuarranya have been already 
specified in our notice of the Chaitanya Charitdmrita, and besides those, there 
enumerated, we have the Chaitanya Mangala, a history of the saint, by 
Locuana, and the Gauragandddesa dipikd, an account of his chief disciples. The 
principal works of common reference, and written in Bengal, though thickly 
interspersed with Sancrit texts, are the Updsanachandramrita, a ritual, by LAt 
Dis, the Prémabhakti Chandrika, by Tuaxur Gosain, the Paéshanda Dalana, 
a refutation of other sects, by RApHAMApHAvVA, and the Vaishnava Verddhana, 
by Darvax1 Nanpana. There are no doubt many other works circulating 
amongst this sect, which is therefore possessed of a voluminous body of 
literature of its own.* . 

Peete 1D Mallee BAe Falmer orn pi gtifonies clam hog als 


| * The particulars of the above are taken chiefly from the CHAITANYA CHARITAMRITA, 
others from the Updsané Chandrdmrita, and afew from the list given by Mr. Ward—Account of 
the Hindus, Vol. 2. 448. 


| Gg 


122 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


The Vazshnavas of this sect are distinguished by two white perpendicular 
streaks of sandal, or Gopichandana, down the forehead, uniting at the root of 
the nose, and continuing to near the tip; by the name of Radhé Krishna stamped 
on the temples, breast andarms; a close necklace of Tulasi stalk of three strings, 
and arosary of one hundred and eight or sometimes even of a thousand beads 
made of the stem of the Tulasi; the necklace is sometimes made of very minute 
beads, and this, in upper India, is regarded as the characteristic of the Chaitanya 
sect, but in Bengal it is anly worn by persons of the lowest class. The Chaitanya 
sectaries consist of every tribe and order, and are governed by the descendants 
of their Gosains. They include some Uddstnas, or Vairdgis, men who retire 
from the world, and live unconnected with society in a state of celibacy and 
mendicancy : the religious teachers are, however, married men, and their dwel- 
lings, with a temple attached, are tenanted by their family and dependants. 
Such coenobitical establishments as are common amongst the Rdménandis and 


other ascetics, are not known to the great body of the Chaitanya Vaishnavas. 


Besides the divisions of this sect arising from the various forms under 
which the tutelary deity is worshipped, and thence denominated Radhdérama- 
ms, Rddhipalis, Viharyi and Govindjz, and Yugala Bhaktas, and which distinc- 
tions are little more than nominal, whilst also they are almost restricted to 
the Bengal Vaishnavas about Mathira and Vindravan, there are in Bengal: 
three classes of this sect, that may be regarded as seceders from the principal 


body, these are denominated Spashtha Dayakas, Karta Bhajas and Sahujas. 


The Spashtha Dayakas are distinguished from perhaps every other Hindu 
sect in India by two singularities—denial of the divine character, and despotic. 
authority of the Guru, and the, at least professedly, platonic association of: 


male and female ccenobites in one conventual.abode.* 


* Like the brethren and sisters of the free spirit, who: were numerous in Europe in the 13th 
century—See Mosneim 38. 379. 


OF THE HINDUS. 193 


The secular followers of this sect are, as usual, of every tribe, and of the 
Grihast’ha, or householder order : the teachers, both male and female, are 
Udéasna: or mendicants and ascetics, and lead a life of celibacy: the sectarial 
marks area shorter Ti/aka than that used by the other Chaitanyas, and a 
single string of Tulasi beads worn close round the neck: the men often wear 
only the Kaupina, and a piece of cloth round the waist, like an apron, whilst 
the women shave their heads, with the exception of a single slender tress : 
those amongst them who are most rigid in their conduct, accept no invita- 


tions nor food from any but persons of their own sect. 


The association of men and women is, according to their own assertions, | 
restricted to aresidence within the same inclosure, and leads to no other 
than such intercourse as becomes brethren and sisters, or than the community 
of belief and interest, and joint celebration of the praise of Krisuna and 
Cuaitanya, with song and dance: the women act as the spiritual instructors 
of the females of respectable families, to whom they have unrestricted access, 
and by whom they are visited in their own dwellings: the institution is so 
far political, and the consequence is said to be actually, that to which it ob- 
viously tends, the growing diffusion of the doctrines of this sect,in Calcutta, 


where it is especially established. 


The Karta Bhajas, or worshippers of the Creator, are a sect of very mo- 
dern origin, having been founded no longer than thirty years ago by Rama 
Saran Piua, a Gwéla, aninhabitant of Ghospara, a village near Sukh Sagar, in 


Bengal.* The chief peculiarity of this sect, is the doctrine of the absolute 


* See Mr. Ward’s account of this sect, Vol. 2. 175.; inanote he has given a translation 
of the Mantra, “ Oh! sinless Lord—Oh! great Lord, at thy pleasure I go and return, not a moment 
am I without thee, Iam even with thee, save, Oh! great Lord:” the following is the original :— 


Sei witeg wie aft cotnia Aca vf fela forts wim Biel ate AIA 
COMCCH UZ MAS At “AS || This is called the Solah ana Mantra, the Neophyte 


124 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


divinity of the Guru, at least as being the present Krishna, or deity incarnate, 
and whom they therefore, relinquishing every other form of worship, vene- 
rate as their Zshta Devata, or elected god: this exclusive veneration is, how- 
ever, comprehended within wide limits: we have seen that it prevails amongst 
the followers of Chaitanya generally, and it need scarcely have been adopted 
as a schismatical distinction: the real difference, however, is the person, not 
the character of the Guru, and the innovation is nothing, in fact, but an art- 
ful encroachment upon the authority of the old hereditary teachers or 
Gosains, and an attempt to invest a new family with spiritual power: the 
attempt has been so far successful, that it gave affluence and celebrity to the 
founder, to which, as well as his father’s sanctity, the son, RAmpuLAL PAt has 
succeeded. It is said to have numerous disciples, the greater proportion of 
whom are women. The distinctions of caste are.not acknowledged amongst 
the followers of this sect, at least when engaged in any of their religious cele- 
brations, and they eat together in private, once or twice a year: the initiat- 
ing Mantra is supposed to be highly efficacious in removing disease and bar- 
renness, and hence many infirm persons and childless women are induced to 
join the sect. 


The remaining division of the Bengal Vaishnavcas allow nothing of them- 
selves to be known: their professions and practices are kept secret, but it is 
believed that they follow the worship of Sakti, or the female energy, agreea- 
bly to the left handed ritual, the nature of which we shall hereafter have 
occasion to describe. 


The chief temples of the Bengal Vaishnavas, besides those which at Dwd- 


raké and Vrindévan, and particularly at Jaganndth, are objects of universal 


paying that sum, or sixteen annas for it: it is, perhaps, one singularity in the sect, that this Mantra 


is in Bengali, a common spoken language—in all other cases it is couched in Sanscrit, the lane 
guage of the gods. 


Pra 


OF THE HINDUS. 125 


reverence, are three, one at Nadiya, dedicated to Cuairanya, one at Ambik4, 
to NiryAnanp and the same, and one at Agradwipa, dedicated to Gorinit’n : 
at the latter a celebrated Méla, or annual fair, is held in the month of March, 


at which from 50 to 100,000 persons are generally collected. 


“RADHA VALLABHIS. 


Although the general worship of the female personifications of the Hindu 
deities forms a class by itself, yet when individualised as the associates of 
the divinities, whose energies they are, their adoration becomes so linked with 
that of the male power, that it is not easy, even to their votaries, to draw a pre: 
cise line between them: they, in fact, form a part of thesystem, and Lakshmi 
and Sité@ are the preferential objects of devotion to many of the followers of 


RAminuya and RAMAnaAnD, without separating them from the communion of 


the sect. 


In like manner RApui, the favourite mistress of Krisuna, is the object 
of adoration to all the sects who worship that deity, and not unfrequently 
obtains a degree of preference that almost throws the character from whom 
she derives her importance into the shade: such seems tobe the case with the 
sect now noticed, who worship Krisuna as Rddhé Vallabha, the lord or 


lover of RApuHA. ne 


The adoration of Rapw4 is a most undoubted innovation in the Hindu 
creed, and one of very recent origin. ‘The only RapuA that is named in the 
Mahdbhérat is a very different personage, being the wife of Duryopuana’s 
charioteer, and the nurse of Kerna. Even the Bhégavat makes no parti- 
cular mention of her amongst the Gopis of Vrinddévan, and we must look 

Hh 


126 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


to the Brahma Vaivertta Puréna, as the chief authority of a classical charac- 
ter, on which the pretensions of RApuA are founded ; a circumstance which 
is of itself sufficient to indicate the comparatively modern date of the 


Purana. 


According to this work, the primeval being having divided himself into 
two parts, the right side became Krisuwa, and the left RApunA, and from their 
union, the vital airs and mundane egg were generated. RApui being, in fact, 
the Ich’ché Sakti, the will or wish of the deity, the manifestation of which 


was the universe. 


RApwA continued to reside with Krisuna in Goloka, where she gave 
origin to the Gopis, or her female companions, and received the homage of all 
the divinities. The Gopas, or male attendants of Krisuna, as we have formerly 
remarked, were in like manner produced from his person. The grossness of 
Hindu personification ascribes to the Krisuna of “the heavenly Goloka, the 
defects of the terrestial cowherd, and the RApuA of that region is not more 
exempt from the causes or effects of jealousy than the nymph of Vrinddévan. 
Being on one occasion offended with Krisuya for his infidelity, she denied 
him access to her palace, on which she was severely censured by SupAmA, a 
Gopa, and confidential adviser of Krisuna. She therefore cursed him, and 
doomed him to be born on earth as an Asura, and he accordingly appeared as 
Sankuacuura. He retaliated by a similar imprecation, in consequence 
of which RApxHA was also obliged to quit her high station, and was 
born at Vrindavan on earth, as the daughter of a Vaisya, named VRisHaABHANU, 
by his wife Kanivatr. Krisuna having, at the same time, become incarnate, 
was married to her at Vrinddévan, when he was fourteen, and she was twelve 
years of age: asa further result of the imprecation, she was separated from 
him after he attained maturity, until the close of his earthly career; when 


she preceded him to the celestial Goloka, and was there re-united with him. 


OF THE HINDUS. 124 


The following is a further illustration of the notions of RADHA entertained by 
- this sect. It isthe address of Ganesa to her, in the Brahma Vaivertia Pu- 


rana, after she had set the example of presenting offerings to him. 


“‘ Mother of the universe, the worship thou hast offered affords a lesson to all man- 
kind. Thou art of one form with Brakme, and abidest on the bosom of Krisuna. Thou 
art the presiding goddess of his life, and more dear than life to him, on the lotus of whose 
feet meditate the gods Brahma, Siva, Sesha, and the rest, and Sanaka and other mighty 
munis, and the chiefs of the sages, and holy men, and all the faithful. RApuw4 is the creat- 
ed left half, and MApuava the right, and the great Lakshm?, the mother of the world, was 
made from thy left side. ‘Thou art the great goddess, the parent of all wealth, and of the 
Védas, and of the world. The primeeval Prakritz, and the universal Prakriti, and all the 
creations of the will, are but forms of thee. Thou art all cause and all effect. That wise 
Yog?, who first pronounces thy name, and next that of Krisuna, goes to his region; but he 
that reverses this order, incurs the sin of Brahminicide.* Thou art the mother of the 
world. The Paramditmé Hart is the father. The Guru is more venerable than the father, 
and the mother more venerable than the Guru. Although he worship any other god, or even 
Krisuwa, the cause of all, yet the fool in this holy land who reviles RApurKA, shall suffer 
sorrow and pain in this life, and be condemned to hell, as long as the sun and moon endure. 
The spiritual preceptor teaches wisdom, and wisdom is from mystical rites and secret prayers ; 
but they alone are the prayers of wisdom, that inculcate faith in Krisuna and in you. 
He who preserves the Mantras of the gods through successive births, obtains. faith in Dur- 
GA, which is of difficult acquisition. By preserving the Mantra of DurcA, he obtains Sam- 
BuU, who is eternal happiness and wisdom. By preserving the Mantra of SamBuu, the 
cause of the world, he obtains your lotus feet, that most difficult of attainments. Having 
found an asylum at your feet, the pious man never relinquishes them for an instant, nor is 
separated from them by fate. Having with firm faith received, in the holy land of Bharata, 
your Mantra (initiating prayer,) from a Vaishnava, and adding your praises (Stava) or 


charm, (Kavacha) which cleaves the root of works, he delivers himself (from future births) 


* Accordingly the formula used by the Rédhé Vallabhi sect, and the like, is always RApDHA 
Krisuna, never Krisuna RADHA. 


128 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


with thousands of his kindred. He who having properly worshipped his Guru with clothes, 
ornaments, and sandal, and assumed thy Kavacha, (a charm or prayer, carried about the 


person in a small gold or silver casket,) is equal to Visunu himself.” 


In what respect the Rddhd Vaillabhis differ from those followers of the 
Bengali Gosains, who teach the worship of this goddess in conjunction with 
Krisuna, does not appear, and perhaps there is little other difference than that 
of their acknowledging separate teachers. Instead of adhering to any of the. 
hereditary Gosains, the members of this sect consider a teacher named Harr 
Vans, as their founder. This person settled at Vrindavan, and established a 
Math there, which in 1822 comprised between 40 and 50 resident ascetics. 
He also erected a temple there that still exists, and indicates, by an inscription 
over the door, that it was dedicated to Sri Radha Vallabha by Hart Vans, in 
Samvat 1641, or A. D. 1585. A manual, entitled Radha. Sudha Nidhi, which 
is merely a series of Sanscrit verses in praise of RApuwi, is also ascribed. to.the 
same individual. A more ample exposition of the notions of the sect, and of 
their traditions and observances, as well as a collection of their songs or hymns, 
is the Seva Sakhi Vini, a work in Bhdkha, in upwards of forty sections. There 
are other works in the vernacular dialects, and especially in that of Bruj, or 
the country about Mathura and Vrindivan, which regulate or inspire the devo- 


tion of the worshippers of Radha Vallabha. 


SAKHI BHAVAS. 


This sect is another ramification of those which adopt KrisHNna and 
Rapua for the objects of their worship, and may be regarded as more parti- 
cularly springing from the last named stock, the Rédhd Vallabhis. As R&v’ui 
is their preferential and exclusive divinity, their devotion to this personifica- 


tion of the Sakti of Krisuna is ridiculously and disgustingly expressed. © In 


' OF THE HINDUS. 129 


order to convey the idea of being as it were her followers and friends, a cha- 
racter obviously incompatible with the difference of sex, they assume 
the female garb, and adopt not only the dress and ornaments, but the 
manners and occupations of women: the preposterous nature of this assump- 
tion is too apparent, even to Hindu superstition, to be regarded with any 
sort of respect by the community, and, accordingly, the Sak’hi Bhévas ave of 
little repute, and very few in number: they occasionally lead a mendicant life, 
but are rarely met with: it is said that the only place where they are to be 
found, in any number, is Jaypur: there are a few at Benares, and a féw in 


Bengal. 


- CHARAN DASIS. 


Another Vaishnava sect conforming with the last, in the worship of 
Rddhé and Krishna, was instituted by Cuaran DAs, a merchant of the Dhusar 
tribe, who resided at Dehli in the reign of the second Atremerr.. Their doc- 
trines of universal emanation, are much the same as those of the Vedanta 
school, although they correspond with the Vaishnava sects in maintaining the 
great source of all things, or Brahme, to be Krisuna: reverence of the Guru, 
and assertion of the pre-eminence of faith, above every other distinction, are 
also common to them with other Vaishnava sects, from whom, probably, they 
only differ in requiring no particular qualification of caste, order, nor even of 
sex, for their teachers: they affirm, indeed, that originally they differed from 
other sects of Vaishnavas, in worshipping no sensible representations of the deity, 
and in excluding even the T'wlasi plant and Sdlagrémstone from their devotions: 
they have, however, they admit, recently adopted them, in order to maintain a 
friendly intercourse with the followers of RAmAnanp: another peculiarity in their 
system is the importance they attach to morality, and they do not acknowledge 
faith to be independant of works: actions, they maintain, invariably meet 


Ii 


130 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


with retribution or reward: their moral code, which they seem to have borrow 
ed from the Médhwas, if not from a purer source, consists of ten prohibitions. 
- They are not to lie, not torevile, not to speak harshly, not to discourse idly, not 
to steal, not to commit adultery, not to offer violence to any created thing, 
not to imagine evil, not to cherish hatred, and not to indulge in conceit or 
pride. The other obligations enjoined, are, to discharge the duties of the pro- 
fession or caste to which a person belongs, to associate with pious men, to put 
implicit faith in the spiritual preceptor, and to adore Harr as the original 
and indefinable cause of all, and who, through the operation of MAyA, created 
the universe, and has appeared in it occasionally in a mortal form, and parti« 


cularly as Krisuna at Vindravan. 


The followers of Cuaran DAs are both clerical and secular; the latter are 
chiefly of the mercantile order; the former lead a mendicant and ascetic 
life, and are distinguished by wearing yellow garments, and a single streak of 
sandal, or Gopichandana, down the forehead; the necklace and rosary are of 
. Tulasi beads: they wear also a small pointed cap, round the lower part of 
which they wrap a yellow turban. Their appearancein general is decent, and 
their deportment decorous ; in fact, although they profess mendicity, they are 
well supported by the opulence of their disciples; it is possible, indeed, that 
this sect, considering its origin, and the class by which it is professed, arose 


out of an attempt to shake off the authority of the Gokulast?ha Gosains. 


The authorities of the sect are the Sri Bhégavat and Gitd, of which they 
have Bhdasha translations: that of the former is ascribed, at least in parts, to 
Cuaran Dis himself: he has also left original works, as the Sandeha Ségar and 
Dharme Jihaj,in a dialogue between him and his teacher, Suk’H Deva, the same, 
according to the Charan Dasis, as the pupil of Vyas, and narrator of the.Pu- 
ranas. The first disciple of Cuaran p(s was his own sister, Sauast Bat, and. 


she succeeded to her brother’s authority, as well as learning, having written 


OF THE HINDUS. 1351 


the Sahaj Prakés and Solah Tat Nirnaya: they have both left many Sabdas and. 
Kavits : other works, in Bhasha, have been composed by various teachers of the 


sect. 


The chief seat of the Charan Dasis is at Delhi, where is the Samdadh, or 
monument of the founder : this establishment consists of about twenty resident 
members: there are also five or six similar Mat’hs at Dehli, and others in 
the upper part of the Doab, and their numbers are said to be rapidly 


increasing. 


HARISCHANDIS, SADHNA PANT’HIS AND MADHAVIS. 


These sects may be regarded as little more than nominal. The 
two first have originated, apparently, in the determination of some of the 
classes considered as outcaste, to adopt new religious as well as civil dis- 
tinctions for themselves, as they were excluded from every one actually 
existing. ‘The Harischandis are Doms, or sweepers, in the western provinces : 
their name bears an allusion to the Paurdnik prince Harischandra,* who, 
becoming the purchased slave of a man of this impure order, instructed his 
master, it is said, in the tenets of the sect. What they were, however, is not 


known, and it may be doubted whether any exist. 


SaDUNA, again, was a butcher, but it is related of him, that he only sold, 
never slaughtered meat, but purchased it ready slain. An ascetic rewarded 
his humanity with the present of a stone, a Sdlagram which he devoutly wor- 


shipped, and, in consequence, Visunu was highly pleased with him, and con- 


* See the Story of Harischandra in Ward, Vol. 1, p. 16. Note. 


132 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


ferred upon him ail his desires. Whilst on a pilgrimage, the wife of a Brah- 
man fell in love with him, but he replied to her advances, by stating, that a 
throat must be cut before he would comply, which she misinterpreting, cut 
off her husband’s head: finding Sapuna regarded her on this account with in- 
creased aversion, she accused him of the crime, and as he disdained to vindi- 
cate his innocence, his hands were cut off asa punishment, but they were 
restored to him by JacannAtu. ‘The woman burnt herself, on her husband’s 
funeral pile, which Sapuna observing, exclaimed ; ‘‘ No one knows the ways 
of women, she kills her husband, and becomes a Sati,” which phrase has 
passed into a proverb. What peculiarity of doctrine he introduced amongst 


the Vaishnavas of his tribe, is no where particularised. 


MApuo is said to have been an ascetic, who founded an order of men- 
dicants called Mddhavis: they are said to travel about always with a Saroda 
or Balian, stringed instruments of the guitar kind, and to accompany their 
solicitations with song and music: they are rarely if ever to be met with, and 
their peculiarity of doctrine is not known. The founder appears to be the 
same with the MApuost of the Bhakta Mald, who was an inhabitant of Gara- 
gerh, but there are several celebrated ascetics of the same name, especially a 
MApuo Dis, a Brahman of Kangj, who was aman of considerable learning, 
and spent some time in Orissa and Vrindavan. We was probably a follower 
of CHAITANYA. | 


SANYASIS, VAIRAGIS, &c. 


Much confusion prevails in speaking of the mendicant and monastic 
orders of the Hindus, by the indiscriminate use of the terms prefixed to this 
division of our subject, and from considering them as specific denominations. 


They are, on the contrary, generic terms, and equally applicable to any of 


OF THE HINDUS. 183 


the erratic beggars of the Hindus, be they of what religious order they may: 
they signify, in fact, nothing more than a man, who has abandoned the world, 
or has overcome his passions, and are therefore equally suitable to any of 
the religious vagrants we meet with in Hindustan: the term Lakir is of 
equally general application and import, although it is of Mohammedan 


origin, and in strictness, more descriptive of the holy beggars of that faith. 


Although, however, Sanydsis and Vairdgis, and other similar denomina- 
tions are used, and correctly used in a wide acceptation, yet we occasionally 
do find them limited in meaning, and designating distinct and inimical bo- 
dies of men. When this is the case, it may be generally concluded, that the 
Sanydsisimply the mendicant followers of Siva, and the Vairdgis those of 
VIsHNU. f 

The distinction thus made requires, at its outset, a peculiar exception, for 
besides the indiscriminate application of the term Sanydst to the Vaishnavas, 
as well as other mendicants; there is a particular class of them to whom it 


really appertains, these are the T'ridandis, or Tridanii Sanydsis. 


The word Davida originally imports a staff; and it figuratively: signifies 
moral restraint ; exercised in three ways especially, or in the control of speech, 
body, and mind ; or word, deed, and thought: a joint reference to the literal and 
figurative sense of the term has given rise to a religious distinction termed 
Dania Grahanam, the taking up of the staff, or adopting the exercise of the 
motal restraints, above-mentioned, and carrying, as emblematic of such a 
purpose, either one, or, as in the present instance, three small wands or staves: 


Tridandi designates both these characteristics of the order. 


The Tridandi Sanydsis are such members of the Raminuja, or Sri Vaish- 
nava sect, as have past througli the two first states of the Brahmanieal order, 


K k 


134 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


v 


and entered that of the Sanydst, or the ascetic life: their practices are, in some 
other respects, peculiar: they never touch metals nor fire, and subsist upon 
food obtained as alms from the family Brahmans of the Sri Vaishnava faith 
alone: they are of a less erratic disposition than most other mendicants, and 
are rarely met with in upper India: they are found in considerable numbers, 
and of high character, in the south: in their general practices, their religious 
worship, and philosophical tenets, they conform to the institutes and doctrines 


of RAMANUSA. 


VAIRAGIS. 


The term Vairagi implies a person devoid of passion,* and is. there- 
fore correctly applicable to every religious mendicant, who affects to have 
estranged himself from the interests and emotions of mankind. Virakta, 
the dispassionate, and Avadhiita, the liberated, have a similar import, and are 
therefore equally susceptible of a general application : they are, indeed, so used 
in many cases, but itis more usual to attach a more precise sense to the 
terms, and to designate by them the mendicant Vaishnavas of the Rdémdanandi 


class, or its ramifications, as the disciples of Kagir, Danv, and others. 


The ascetic order of the Ramdanandi Vaishnavas, is considered to have 
been instituted especially by the twelfth disciple of RAmAnanp, Sri ANAND: 
they profess perpetual poverty and continence, and subsist upon alms: the 
greater number of them are erratic, and observe no form of worship, but they 


are also residents in the Mai’hs of their respective orders,t and the spi- 


* From V2 privative prefix, and £dga passion. 


+ The Ramdnandi Vairdgis, although indigenous in upper India, have established themselves 
in the Dekhin, as mentioned by Buchanan, (Mysore, 2. 76.) the account he gives there of the Dekhinz 


OF THE HINDUS. 135 


ritual guides of the worldly votaries; it is almost impossible, however, to give 
any general character of these Vatrdgis, as, although united generally by the 
watch-word of Visunu, or his incarnations, there are endless varieties both of 
doctrine and practice amongst them : those who are collected in Mat’hs, are of 
more fixed principles than their vagrant brethren, amongst whom individuals 
are constantly appearing in some new form with regard to the deity they 


worship, or the practices they follow.* 


NAGAS.. 
All the sects include a division under this denomination. The Nagas are 


of the same description as the Vairagis, or Sanydsis, in all essential points, but in 


Vairdgis, is an excellent illustration of the confusion that prevails respecting the application of the 
term ; as he has blended with the Rdémdnandi ascetics, who are accurately entitled to the designation, 
a variety of religious vagrants, to some of whom the name is rarely, and to others never applied : as 
Paramahansas, Digambaras, or Nagas, Urddhavéhus, and even Aghoris ; the latter are not named, 
but, they, or similar Sativa mendicants, are the only individuals “ who extort compassion by burning 
themselves with torches, and cutting themselves with swords.” 


* Such are the Sité Padres, Ramati Réms, and others; also the new and scarcely yet 
known sects Gulal Dasis, and Derya Désis: mention is also made in the Dabistan, of a number of 
Hindu mendicants, who are no longer numerous, if ever to be encountered. It is not possible in 
general, however, to discriminate the classes to which they belong, as in the descriptions given by 
the writer, he usually confines himself to a few peculiarities of practice that afford no guide to the 
principles of the sect, and as in the case of the Dhers, he confounds the distinction of caste, or 
occupation with that of religious belief. Many of the vagrant ascetics whom he notices, belong 
also rather to the Mohammedan, than the Hindu religion, as in the followers of SHrikH BEDIA AL 
Din Mepar—who, although they credit the divine mission of Mohammed, disregard the established 
forms of the Musselman faith, chew Bheng, and go naked, smearing their bodies with Vibhut, or 
the ashes of burnt cow-dung, and twisting their hair into the Jaté, or braid worn by Hindu ascetics 
—except as professed worshippers of Mirayan, or the indescribable deity, and a belief in magic, 
these mendicants have little in common with the Hindu religion, or perhaps with any, although, with 
a facility of which innumerable instances occur in Hindustan, they have adopted many of the Hindu 
practices. The tomb of Skeikh Medar is still to be seen at Makhenpur, near Firozabad, in the 
Doab—where, at the time of the Dabistan, an annual meeting of his disciples was held. The tomb is 
an extensive building, though in decay. The Dabistan, although it contains many curious, and 
some correct notices of the Hindu religion, affords too loose and inaccurate a description to be con- 
sulted with advantage. 


136 RELIGIOUS SECTS 


their excess of zeal, they carry their secession from ordinary manners so far, 
as to leave off every kind of covering, and, as their name signifies, go naked; 
there are, however, other points in which they differ from the general charac- 
ter of Hindu mendicants, and they are unquestionably the most worthless and 


profligate members of their respective religions. 


A striking proof of their propensities is their use of arms. They always 
travel with weapons, usually a matchlock and sword and shield, and that these 
implements are not carried in vain has been shewn on various occasions: the 
sanguinary conflicts of opposite sects of Hindu mendicants, have been des- 
cribed in several publications, with the customary indistinctness as to the 
parties concerned: these parties are the Vaishnava and Saiva Nagas chiefly, 
assisted and probably instigated by the Vairdgi and Sanydsi members of those 
two sects, and aided by abandoned characters from all the schisms connected 
respectively with the one or the other:* it would, however, be doing an-in- 
justice to the mendicant orders of any sect, to»suppose that they are univer- 


sally or even generally implicated in these atrocious affrays. 


* As. Res. vi. 317, and xii. 455 ; an occurrence of a similar nature is recorded by the author © 
of the Dabistan, who mentions, that in 1050 of the Hijra, a severe conflict took place at Dwaraka, 
between a set of Vaishnava ascetics termed Mundis, from shaving their heads, and the Sanyasis, in 
which a great number of the former were slain. 


| 


II. 


STATISTICAL SKETCH 


OF 


KAMAON. 


By GEORGE WILLIAM TRAILBL, Esa. 


Commissioner for the Affairs of Kamaon. 


Kamaon, with the annexed territory of Gerhwal, forms almost an 
equilateral parallelogram facing N. E. and 8. W. On the north, where it is 
separated from Tartary by the Himalaya, the frontier extends from Long. 
79° 15’ Lat. 31° 4’, to Long. 80° 45’ Lat. 30°10’, giving a line of about 100 
miles: the eastern boundary which is formed by the river Kal, or Sarde, gives 
a line of 110 miles, extending from Lat. 30° 10’ Long. 80° 45’, to Lat. 26° 2’ 
Long. 80°. On the west, the province is divided from the Raj of Gerhwal by the 
rivers Kali and Alakananda, with a line of frontier of about 110 miles, stretch- 
ing from Lat. 31° 4’ Long. 79° 15’, to Lat. 29° 55’ Long. ‘78° 10’; and 
on the south, the province joins on Rohilkund, the line of demarcation 
being nearly parallel and equal to that on the north. 


ca 


138 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


Within the Boundaries above detailed, the horizontal superficial con- 


tents of the province may be stated at 10,967 square miles, of which the fol- 
lowing is the estimated distribution :— 


SOWA er eecrcicccssscaew ences sacwersacerews —4. 2924 square miles. 


H 
eS 


Barren and incapable of cultivation, +5, 3655 % 
Cultivation wre ehaih onc ceccheensanes <5 2193 9d 
Win cultivateda. tes. cers cers ce cesses secceees > 2193 39 


The whole province consists of numerous ranges of mountains, the 
general run of which are in a parallel direction to the northern and southern 
line of frontier: they are, however, by no means uniform or parallel to each 
_ other in their whole course, while innumerable branches of various height and 
extent, strike off from each range in every point and direction. ‘The 
intervals between the bases of the mountains are every where extremely 
small, and the whole country, when viewed from a commanding position, 
exhibits the appearance of a wide expanse of unconnected ravines, rather 


than of a succession of regular ranges of mountains. 


The peaks and ridges necessarily vary in height: commencing from 
the plains of Rohilkund, estimated at 500 feet above the sea, the first range 
gives an elevation of 4,300, while the second range, called the Ghagar, attains 
the height of 7,700 above the sea. This elevation is no where exceeded 
throughout the center of the province, but as the ranges approach the Hi- 
malaya, their altitude rapidly increases, till it reaches in the lofty peaks of the 
latter range, an extreme height of 25,500 feet. 

The valleys (if the narrow intervals between the mountains can as- 
pire to that designation,) are lowest on the banks of the largest rivers, and it 


is in the same situations that the greatest portion of level land is generally 


OF KAMAON.. 139 


to be met with: these spots, however, in no instance exceed, and in few. cases 
equal half a mile in breadth: the site of the town of Srinagar, on the banks of 
the Alakananda, is of this description, and is only 1,500 feet above the level of 


the sea. 


The Tarai, or Bhawer, included in this province, is very unequal in 
extent; under the Gerhwal pergunnas it averages only from two to three 
miles from the foot of the hills, while in Kamaon proper it is no where less 
than from 12 to 15 miles in breadth. Bron Kotedwara, Long. '78° 20’, to near 
Bhamouri, Long. '79° 20’, the Bhawer is divided from Rohilkund by a low range 
of hills, which contains numerous passes, some of them practicable for wheel 
carriages: the remaining Bhawer, to the east and west of these points, is wholly 
open to the plains. ‘The Bhawer is at present only partially cultivated, and | 


consists almost wholly of thick forest, of Sal, Sisu, and Bamboos. 


The quantity of land calculated for cultivation, as afforded by nature, is, 
within the hills, extremely small, and in order therefore to remedy this defi- 
ciency, the sides of the mountains admitting of such an operation, have 

been cut down into terraces, rising above each other in regular ‘succession, 
and having their fronts supported by slight abutments of stones. These 
terraces necessarily vary in breadth and length, according to the form and 
slope of the mountain on which they are situated, but as a great portion of 
every mountain, more particularly near the summit and ridges, is not sufficiently 
productive to warrant the expense and labor of the operation, those spots are 
clothed with grass, and generally covered with forest, consisting chiefly of pines, 
oaks, and rhododendrons, whilst some parts, from their rocky and precipitous 


nature, are wholly barren, or only partially sprinkled with tufts of rank grass. 


A few lakes are to be found in various parts, the most remarkable of 
which are Nagni Tal, Bhim Tal, and Now Kunitia Tal, situated in the 


140 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


Chakata district, near the Bhamouri pass. The first, which is the largest, mea- 
sures, one mile in length and three quarters of a mile in breadth. The water of 
this and other lakes is perfectly clear, being the produce of internal springs, and 
the depth in the centre is represented as being exceedingly great. ‘The Hima- 


laya range also presents several lakes, which are fed from the melted snow. 


The bases of the mountains are invariably separated from each other 
by streams of greater or less magnitude, formed principally by the innume- 
table springs and fountains which pour down on each side. Of these the 
principal, entitled to the rank of rivers, commencing from the N. W., are the 
Kali, or Mandakini, the Bishenganga, the Duli, the Nandakini, and the | 
Pindar, all rising in the Himalaya, and forming, after a junction with each 
Other, the united stream of the Alakananda or Ganges, which river, in its 
course throughout the province, from the depth and impetuosity of its cur- 
rent, is no where fordable. To the east, the Kali, the Dhauli, the Gauri, 
the Ramganga, and the Sarju, having also their origin in their snowy range, 
form, by their junction, the Sarda; or Gogra, and in addition to these, are the 
Ramganga, two Nyars, the Kosilla, the Suab, the Gourmati, the Ladhia, and 
the Ballia, all of which derive their source from springs in the interior of 


the province. ‘The small Nullas are extremely numerous, but do not merit 
particular detail. 


The hill rivers in their descent to the plains, immediately on entering 
the Tarai, lose a considerable portion of their body of water, and, in numerous 
instances, totally disappear at that point, during the hot and cold season, when 
the bed of the river continues perfectly dry for the space of nine to ten miles, 
after which it again fills; while at the same distance from the hills, numerous 
other petty nullahs are formed by the copious springs which gush out of the 
earth. ‘These phenomena may be accounted for by the nature of the soil at 


the foot of the hills, which consists of a deep bed of alluvial shingle. 


OF KAMAON. 141 


It is by the beds of the rivers that access into this province from 
the plains on the south, and from the table land of Tartary on the north, is 
afforded, and the frequented passes into the hills from these points, will always 
be found to follow, in the first instance, the opening formed by the course of 
some river, and those ghats which have no facilities of this nature are inva- 


riably difficult, and rarely available for commercial intercourse. 


The passes through the Himalaya, are Mana, Niti, Jowar, Darma, and 
Byani, which will be hereafter described when treating of Bhote ; the principal 
ghats of the plains frequented by trade, are Bilasni, Bhori, Sigdhi, Chokt, 
Kotdwara, Palpir, Babli, and Kangra, in Gerhwal; Dhikili, Kota, Bham- 


ourt, Timli, Birmdeo, in Kamaon. 


Besides these, there are many Chor ghats leading to individual villages, 


and seldom travelled except by the neighbouring inhabitants. 


The roads of communication throughout the province, consist mere- 
ly of narrow foot paths, which are only partially practicable for laden cattle, 
while rocky precipices frequently present themselves, which are scarcely 
passable for cattle in any state. These paths, from the nature of the country, 
are seldom direct, but wind along the faces of the mountains or pass over 
them, according as facilities of ascent and descent are afforded. No attempt 
would appearto have beenever made by former governments to facilitate 
commercial intercourse by the construction of roads calculated for beasts of 
burthen : fragments of old roads are to be met with leading to some of the 
principal temples, but as they always proceed directly up the steepest accli- 
vities by means of flights of stone steps, they could only have been intended for 
foot passengers. A road was also made under the Gorkha government through 
the centre of the province from the Kali, or Gogra, to the Alakananda, and 
passing through A/mora to Srinagar, which formed the continuation of a 


Mm 


142 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


military road of communication extending from Nipal, and was regularly 
measured and marked off with coss stones : the construction was left to the 
Zemindars of the nearest villages, and therefore little more was done than re- 
pairing the existing path: it is, in consequence, not superior to the common 
cross paths of the province. ‘The heaviness of the autumnal rains within the 
hills, must ever have rendered it difficult to keep any kind of road in tolerable 
repair, as at that season clefts in the sides of the mountain frequently take 
place. Military roads of communication have been formed under the British 
government, from the plains to the posts of Almora and Petoragerh, through 
the ghats of Bhamourt and Lirmdeo. The latter road passes through the 
Cantonment of Lohd ghat, while a further new road connects that post with 
Almora. All these roads are practicable throughout for beasts of burthen. 
A commercial road from the plains through the Dhikul pass, has also been 


commenced. 


The rapidity of the mountain rivers offers great impediment to com- 
munication and intercourse, more particularly during the rainy season, when 
(in the absence of bridges,) the traveller, his baggage and cattle can only be 
crossed over the large rivers by the assistance of the ghat people, who 
swim supported on gourds. ‘The bridges are of four kinds: the first, 
consists of a single spar thrown across from bank to bank; the second, 
is formed of successive layers of timbers, the upper gradually pro- 
jecting beyond the lower from either bank towards each other, in the 
form, of an arch, until the interval in the centre be sufficiently reduced to 
admit of a single timber being thrown across the upper layers, the ends of the 
projecting timbers being secured in the stone piers ; these bridges, which are 
called Sangas, are usually from two to three timbers wide, and have 
sometimes a railing on each side. The third description of bridges, 
called the Jhila, is constructed of ropes; two sets of cables being 


stretched across the river, and the ends secured in the banks, the road- 


' OF KAMAON. : 143 


way, consisting of slight ladders of wood two feet in breadth, iS SUS- 
pended parallel to the cables by ropes of about three feet in length. 
By this arrangement, the horizontal cables form a balustrade to sup- 
port the passenger, while reaching from step to step of the ladders. ‘To 
make the Jhdla practicable for goats and sheep, the interstices of the lad- 
ders are sometimes closed up with twigs laid close to each other. <A con- 
struction of this kind necessarily requires a high bank on both sides, and 
where this evident advantage may be wanting, the deficiency of height is 
supplied by a wooden gallows, erected on the two banks over which the ends 
of the cables are passed. ‘The fourth and most simple bridge consists merely 
of a single cable stretched across the stream, to which is suspended a basket 
traversing on a wooden ring, the passenger or baggage being placed in this 
basket, it is drawn across by a man on the opposite side by means of a rope 


attached to the bottom: this is termed a Chinka.* ‘The two last descriptions 


of bridge are constructed at a very trifling expense, as the ropes used are 


made of a silky species of grass, which is produced in abundance in every part 
of the province. Iron chain’ bridges, as described in Turner’s Thibet, would. 
appear to have been used in this province at a remote period, but no remains 
of them now exist. A considerable number of bridges (Sangas) have been 
erected under the British government, and many, from the want of durability 
in the timbers, have had to be renewed after three or four years, so that it 
will no doubt be eventually found advantageous to resort to the plan of iron 


chain bridges. 


The constant succession of falls and rapids, joined to the rocky nature of 
their beds, render the hill rivers impracticable for boats at any season, while, 


during the rains, a further obstacle is presented in the extreme impetuosity 


* Meaning, it is supposed, éemporary, being derived from the Sanskrit term Ashanika, 


14.4 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


of the current. The only boat to be found within the hills is a small canoe, 
which plies as a ferry during six months of the year at Srinagar, on the 
Alakananda. 


The buildings of every description throughout the province are con- 
structed of stone laid in clay. ‘The private houses are usually of three or 
more stories, having slated roofs with gable ends. In towns, the lower story 
forms the shop, and is left open towards the street, but in the interior this part 
is appropriated to the cattle. ‘The wood used in buildings, is commonly some 
description of pine ; but, where easily procurable, toon is preferred. The floors 
are made of clay beat down: in some parts of the province, where slates are 


not at hand, shingles, or planks of pine are substituted for them in roofing. 


The temples are nearly all built in the same style of architecture: the 
principal part, in which the idol is placed, consists of an octagon, from ten to 
twelve feet in diameter ; from the height of eight or nine feet, the sides are 
made gradually to incline inwards, till they meet; thus forming a cone, the 
apex of which is surmounted by an ornament in the style of a Turk’s cap, and 
has, sometimes, a slight square projecting roof covered with slates or sheets of 
copper: in one side of the octagon is the door, and from this generally projects 
a small vestibule, having a pent roof of slate or copper, with a door of entrance 


in the gable end. 


The Baulis, or covered fountains, are not remarkable either for their size 
or beauty: the bounty of nature, which has furnished innumerable springs 
on every mountain, renders excavation in search of water unnecessary, 
and all therefore that is required isa reservoir, enclosed in a small covered 
building, to secure the water from waste and contamination: such are the 
Baulis, built at the expense of individuals; a few are, however, to be met 


with, erected by former Rajahs, which exhibit some architectural ornaments 


OF KAMAON. 145 


being surrounded by light verandas, supported by pillars, and having their 
interior decorated with sculpture. The construction of a Bauli being con- 
sidered a meritorious work, numerous buildings of this description are to be 


found in the neighbourhood of all villages, and along roads of particular resort. 


The only buildings which remain to be described, are the forts, which, 
from the state of internal government under the ancient Rajas, were ex- 
tremely numerous, but the greater number are now mere ruins. They were 
usually built of large blocks of hewn stones, neatly fitted to each other, with 
loop holes in the walls for matchlocks, or small jénjals, and were always situ- 
ated on the peak of some mountain, from which circumstance no doubt they 
derived their name of Kalanga. ‘The choice of their position depended on the 
difficulties of approach, the steepness of the sides of the mountains, and the 
proximity of water. The mountain, towards the summit, was rendered as per- 
pendicular as possible by scarping, and where the ridge approaching the peak 
admitted, a trench was dug across, which was passable only by means of -a 
removable bridge. Having thus described the form and nature of the build- 


ings in this province, the number and extent of its towns will now be noticed. 


The slender and diffused nature of the resources, joined to the difficulties 
of transport in these mountains, by rendering the supply of provisions to a 
large community precarious, must ever have checked the establishment of 
towns or large villages. It was consequently, at the immediate seat of governe 
ment alone, that a population to any extent was ever collected, and such was 
the origin of Almora, Srinagar, Champdéwat, and Joshimath, the only towns in 
this province. The latter, though never the place of residence of the actual 
sovereign, yet owed its existence to the presence of the Rawal, and the 
numerous establishment of the temple of Badarinath, and as the Rdwal pos- 
sessed absolute authority in the districts round Joshimath, and had always the 
disposal of a considerable annual income, he may be considered in the light of 


Nn 


146 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


a petty prince. With the exception of these four places, there is not a single 


place that can boast of a permanent bazar, or that contains 120 houses. 


Almora, situated in latitude 29° 24’, longitude '79° 39’, is built on the top 
of a ridge, running east and west, and elevated 5400 feet above the sea: it was 
founded about three centuries and a quarter ago, by a Raja of the last dynasty, 
who, at that period, having extended his dominion over the western districts, 
removed his court from Champdwat to Almora, as a centrical point of his king- 
dom. From the nature of its situation, it is confined to a single street, nearly 
three quarters of a mile in length, paved with stone, and consisting of two ba- 
zars, divided from each other by Fort Almora, and the ancient palace of the 
Rajas. Detached houses, chiefly inhabited by Brahmins, are scattered along 
each face of the mountain below the town. At the western extremity, and 
immediately joining on the town, are the lines of the regular troops, in the 
rear of which is the fortification now termed Fort Moira: at the eastern ex- 
tremity is a small martello tower, called St. Mark’s. ‘The palace of the 
Rajas consisted of a confused pile thrown together in an irregular style, and 
as the whole wasin a state of considerable decay, it was in consequence knocked 
down, and the materials appropriated to the public works: the principal 
part of the ground on which it stood, is now occupied by the jail. ‘There are 
several temples in Almora, but none requiring any particular mention. 
By an enumeration in 1821, the number of houses in the town and suburbs was 


found to be 742, divided among the different classes and castes as follows :— 


Hindus, suideiseieavaiceliseeencesc co Doms, eocoee O80 Coe coven lO Mohammedans, @€08080 e00008 5 


Brahmins, ‘serssecsssgrecereyeeo | StONC!CUEDS; \aechlesscaene tl | LLAGESINEN, ss sacdecoecsereiect OU 


Merchants and Bankers,..184 | Masons and Carpenters, 33 | Not engaged in trade,..00 18 


Goldsmiths, .:.000 cocsesere 40 | Blacksmiths, ..cies icovese 27 | 


Petty Traders, .sseccessess 53 | Copper Smiths, ... 000 oss 


Dancing Girls, seneneney ens Oe Curriers, 006020 000 CoG 800 00 


Not engaged in trade, ... 19 


OF KAMAON. f 147 


The number of inhabitants will hereafter be detailed under the head of 


population. 


The Kacheri and other civil buildings are at Almora, but the houses of 
the civilians are at Hawelbagh, which is considered as the civil station, 
and at which the provincial battalion is cantoned: this place is five miles 
north of Almora.. The town of Almora, from having become the station for 
the regular troops and the civil establishments, has, during the last six years, 
much increased in the number of its inhabitants, and many new houses have 
been erected during this period. Under the Gorkha government, the town 


was fast hastening to decay. 


Srinagar, the antient capital of Gerhwal, is situated in lat. 30° 14’, long. 
78° 37’, and is built in a valley on the bank of the Alakananda, the principal 
branch of the Ganges. _ It owes its origin to an ancestor of the present Raja of 
Gerhwal, who, about three centuries past, having established the monarchy of 


Gerhwal, founded the town of Srinagar, and established it as the capital. 


As the whole trade of Gerhwal soon centered there, it would appear at 
one period to have attained a very flourishing condition, and far exceeded 
Almora in extent and population; but during the last twenty years, this 
town has suffered most severely from the successive calamities of earth- 
quake, flood, and invasion, and to these must now be added the decrease of © 
trade: by the recent partition of Gerhwal, it has lost all share in the trade 
of that portion of the country made over to the Raja, while the greater part 
of the traffic from the eastern district, which formerly centered in Srinagar, 
now flows direct through the more convenient passes of Kamaon. From 
these causes, the merchants are daily deserting to Almora or Tir, (the 
capital of the Raja) and the few who remain are retained there principally 


by the influx of pilgrims, who annually pass through the town in their route 


148 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


to Badarianath. The town contains one bazar, running north and south. In 
1821, the number of houses was 562, distributed as follows : 


Doms, 2068209000 900000 260606 96 Mohammedans, .or000000008 28 Findus, Gs08ese00C00 wedgsacecdoo 


Brabmiys;, scsccecsccescereonleo. 


Merchants and Gold 


Smiths; cesices ceacence : 
Dancing Girls, ..... wares . 30 
ae Gosaens, eoeoesgeee egneeeoee 3 


Petty Traders and not 
122 


engaged in trade, ... 


The number cf Hindu temples is very great: nearly forty receive 
allowances from the government, but none of these buildings are deserving 
of description. ‘The palace of the Raja must once have been a handsome 
structure, and, considering the poverty of the country and difficulties of 
building here, is certainly deserving of admiration. It consisted of an exten- 
sive quadrangle, having three grand fronts, each four stories high, with pro- 
jecting porticoes, the whole of the lower part being profusely ornamented with 
sculpture neatly executed. The materials consist of large wrought blocks of a 
close grained black stone, laid in mortar. The greater portion of this building 
has been thrown down by earthquakes, and the three porticoes abovemen- 
tioned, are now alone standing. The native establishments for the revenue 
and police of the western half of the Gerhwal districts are stationed in 
Srinagar, and there are two Jhulas and a canoe for crossing the Alakananda 


established, and in the immediate vicinity of the town. 


Champéwat, in long. '79° 28’, lat. 29° 19’, and elevated five thousand 
four hundred and seventy feet above the sea, is situated in the district of Ka- 


likamaon, near the extremity of the province: it was originally a village, 


OF KAMAON. 149 


the residence of the principal Zemindar of that quarter, but became, 
between six and seven centuries past, the capital of a small independent 
principality, established by the Zemindar in question, out of the wrecks of 
the Kittar monarchy destroyed at that period: it subsequently became the 
entrepot for the trade of Tartary, passing from the Dharma ghat to Belhary, 
in the plains; and to this circumstance must be ascribed its continued 
existence as a town, and its retention of a bazar, after it had ceased to be 
the residence of the court. The present number of houses is sixty-one, of 
which forty-six are shops: the antient palace of the Rajas, and the fort in 
which it stood, are now a heap of ruins. The Kacheri of the Tehséldar, for 
the eastern districts of Kamaon, is stationed here, and three miles north of the 
town, at a place called Lohu ghat, is a military cantonment, at which is station- 
ed a force for the protection of the frontier. Another post of the same kind 
is established twenty-two miles north of Lohu ghat, at Petoragerh. ‘Two small 


fortifications have been recently erected at these posts. 


Joshimath, long. '79° 32’, lat. 30° 33’, is situated near the junction of the 
Bishenganga and Dauli, (branches of the Ganges) and is elevated ‘7,500 
feet above the sea. The Réwal, and other attendants of the temple of 
Badarinath, reside here during half the year, when the temple is blocked up 


with snow. ‘There are 119 houses, distributed as follows: 


Brahmins, Mgrs. Vas 21 
Merchants; 2.02 225. wee «14 
Cultivators; Cais ts. .25 68 
Doms 02; UA a UO NG 


Some trade is carried on from this town with Tartary, through the 


Mana and Niti passes. 


Bageswar, situated at the conflux of the river Savju and Gomati, long. 
79° 35’, lat. 29° 50’, contains a bazar consisting of forty-two shops, which 


0 OC 


450 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


are all the property of the Almora merchants, erected solely with a view to 
the Tartar trade, two considerable fairs taking place here annually: as 
these houses are only inhabited during two or three months in the year, they 
must be considered rather as coming under the description of a temporary 
Gunj, than of a town. From the great improvement in the Tartar trade, 
within the last six years, the number of houses in this place has greatly 


increased, 


Some notice of the size of the villages may now be taken. From the na- 
ture of the arable land in this province, as already described, it rarely occurs 
that such quantity exists in any one spot, as to require the labor of a 
large resident population : the villages are consequently, with a few excep- 
tions, universally small, and are, in fact, nothing more than detached hamlets, 
scattered along the sides and bases of the mountains, wherever facilities for 


cultivation are afforded. 


The total of inhabited villages and hamlets, as will be seen by the accom- 
panying statement (a) amounts to 9034, while the whole number of houses 
contained in them, is only 44,569, giving an average of nearly five houses to 
each village. ‘The number of hamlets consisting of one house is very great, 
while only 25 villages are to be found in the province, which exhibit more 
than 50 houses, and the largest village exhibits 115 houses. On this head, I 
regret that it is not in my power to offer more certain information than such 
as is derived from an estimate of the average of inhabitants to each house 
throughout the province. An attempt was made to ascertain the amount by 
actual enumeration, and, as far as related to the towns, this measure was exe- 
cuted without difficulty, but in the interior, obstacles occurred which rendered 
the attempt nugatory. The revenue officers, from the extent of their jurisdic- 
tions, and the smallness of their establishments, were necessitated to call in 


the aid of the Kamins and Seyanas, and the returns furnished through this. 


OF KAMAON. : 151 


assistance, exhibited such extraordinary incongruity, both with respect to 
the proportion of males and females, and to the average rate of inhabitants 
to each house in different villages, that no reliance could be. placed on them. 
This inaccuracy must be ascribed, no doubt, to a suspicion on the part 
of the land-holders, that the information was required solely with a view to 
some fiscal arrangement, as, under the former government, the amount of the 
cultivating population had formed one of the principal grounds in the adjust- 
ment of the village assessment. A recourse to the mode now adopted was, 
therefore, found to be unavoidable; and it remains to consider the principle 


on which the estimated ‘average has been founded. 


The state of population in the towns does not afford an exact criterion 
on which to form a judgment of that in the interior, as the inhabitants of the 
former, from thé difficulties of procuring grain, are compelled to maintain a 
part of their family in villages. To this cause must be ascribed the smallness 
of the average exhibited in Admora and Srinagar, the former being five and a 
half, and the latter not quite four and a quarter to each house, a rate which by 
no means corresponds with the size of the houses, or can be reconciled to the 
custom of the country. The erection of a house, from the nature of its mate- 
rials, requires a very considerable outlay : this consideration tends greatly to 
check the subdivision and separation of families, and many generations are 
constantly to be found residing under the same roof. Under these circum- 
stances, the proportion now assumed, of six and a half residents to each house, 
will not perhaps be thought excessive. Taking, therefore, the number of 
houses in Kamaon and the annexed pergunnas of Gerhwal, as exhibited in 
statement (a) at 44,569, the above average will yield a population for the 
imterior, including Bhote, 289,698 souls. ‘To this must be added the inha- 
bitants of the towns, amounting to ‘7348, and if a further addition of 4000 
be made for troops, camp ‘followers, and civil establishments, the total of 
the residents in the province may be estimated at 300,046, giving about 274 


152 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


to the square mile. As however 4 of the province, consisting of 4 snow in 
the north, and ;'- turrace in the south, is almost wholly uninhabited, the pro- 
portion in the remaining parts will be about 403 persons to the square mile. 
The proportion of Mohammedans is extremely small, as they are only 
to be found in the towns of Almora and Srinagar, and in two or three 
villages along the Ghats to the plains; the former amount to 494, and the 
latter 1545 to these may be added the troops and camp followers of the same 
sect, estimated at 100, and the total will then stand at 748. 


A detail of the inhabitants of the towns is here subjoined: 


Houses. Males. Females. Children. 


Almora, eseess’: (4a 1369 1178 968 
Srinagar, Seeass. VOI 945 S887 512 
Champawat, —esesee 61 338 details not given. 

Joshimath, etevee - “182 225 322 101 


The great proportion of females to males in the latter town, may be ase 
cribed to the number of female slaves, the property of the temple of Bada- 
drinath. 

On the Zoology of the province, it is not pretended to offer scientific 
descriptions, but merely to notice any peculiarities to be found among the 
animals in these mountains. The animals of the Bhawar or Tarai are too 
well known to require any notice; but it maybe stated, that the elephants 
im that quarter are numerous, and many of the herds are represented by the 
Zemindars as very large. A few of these animals are annually caught by 
means of Kumki elephants, at the expense of the Nawab of Rampur. The 
practice of digging pits is forbidden, and as the elephants are now little 
molested, it is to be hoped that they may, at some future period, prove avail- 


able to the service of the state. The domestic animals are the same as in the 


OF KAMAON. 153 


plains, but of smaller size : horses and asses must, however, be excepted, for 
of the former there are only a few ponies, which are imported from Tartary, 
and of the latter there are none. The hill sheep have invariably short tails 
like deer. Further notice will be taken of the cattle, when on the subject 
of agriculture. ‘The wild animals are tigers, by whom great numbers of 


people are annually destroyed, leopards, bears, jackals, wild cats, weasels, 


flying squirrels, moles, porcupines, rats, and mice, monkeys, two varieties, 
the bender and langiér. The beasts of chase are wild boars, and five species 


‘of deer, two, the jarao and sarao, large, and three, the thar or chamois, the 


ghirer and the khaker, small ; also hares. ‘The animals peculiar to the Hima- 
laya will, hereafter, be noticed in a separate article. Among the birds are, 
one eagle, vultures, kites, hawks, ravens, crows, daws, jays, wood-peckers 


and an endless variety of small birds. The game birds are pheasants, five 


varieties, all differing from the Europe, jungle fowl, partridges, three sorts, 


quails, woodcocks, peacocks, snipes, and wild fowl. ‘The latter, as well as 
other aquatic birds, are very rare, owing, in all probability, to the rapidity of 
all the mountain rivers. ‘The common barn door fowlis bred by the inha- 


bitants of low caste, ‘ 


Reptiles are by no means numerous. The snakes are of three or four 
kinds, but all harmless excepting the Cobra capella: this last is, however, only 
to be met.with in low hot situations, such as Srinagar, where fatal accidents 
occasionally occur from its bite. This remark applies also to scorpions, those 
on the tops of the mountains being very small, with little or no venom. ‘The 


remaining reptiles are gosamps, armadillos, lizards, asps, frogs, toads, &c. 


The rivers and lakes, in these hills, offer very few varieties of fish, not 
probably exceeding seven or eight, among which are the trout and eel: 
alligators and turtles are not found higher than the Tarai. Land crabs 
are common, ‘The rivers, for some distance from the Himalaya, are entirely 

Pp 


154 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


free from every description of fish, owing, probably, to the coldness of the 


water from the snows. 


The insects are extremely numerous, but offer no new or peculiar varie- 
ties; and it will therefore be sufficient to mention the bees, which are of two 
kinds. ‘The domestic bee varies only in size from that of Europe, being 
considerably smaller. The hives for their reception, which are to be met 
with in almost every village, consist merely of a log of wood, hollowed 
out, and the ends stopped with pieces of boards fitted in, and so fastened 
as to admit of being easily removed. A swarm of bees being procured 
in the common mode, the hive is then built into one of the outer walls of the 
house, and a small hole is made at one end for the egress and ingress of 
the bees. When the honey is considered as ready, the bees are driven out 
by a continued knocking on the inner end of the hive, the hole of entrance 
is then stopped to prevent their immediate return, and the board at the back 
being removed, the honey is taken out ; after which the hive is restored to its 
original state, and the bees suffered to retake possession. The quantity 
of wax afforded by these bees is trifling ; the honey is, however, remark- 
ably white and fine flavored. ‘The wild bee, which exactly corresponds 
with the humble bee of Europe, builds its nest on the rocks and in the caves 
at the base of the snowy mountains: as their honey is not an object, the 
nests are not taken till voluntarily evacuated, and being thus unmolested the 
bees continue, year after year, to build at the same spot. ‘The nests in ques- 
tion yield from two to eight seers of wax each. It may be remarked, that 
locusts rarely visit these hills : some considerable flocks made their appear- 
ance in 1820, after an interval of twenty years, but they were almost immedi- 


ately destroyed by rain. 


As the diversity of temperature and climate to be found at the various 


degrees of elevation on the mountains, tends so greatly to multiply the 


OF KAMAON. 155 


varieties of vegetable products, some description of the former appears 


requisite. 


The heat is generally moderate, as will be seen from the annexed state- 
ment of the average range of the thermometer in the shade, throughout the 
twelve months. 

TAM. 2P.M. TAM. 27. ™M. 
January, ecrercore 35° 47° July, rerecoreersoes, 72° 78° 
February,....... 37° 559 AUgUSE, verereeee 72° 79° 
March,... «26. 46° 61° September,...... 67° 75° 
April, ccssosee 54° 66° October, 0... 55° 69° 
May, sscconssesee 57? 73° November,...... 42° 60° 
JUNC Licakispec, (WSC Te December,...... 34° 52° 


These observations were taken at Hlawil Bagh, an elevation of 3887 feet 


_ above the sea. The heat necessarily diminishes, as the height increases. At 


Almora, which is, as already stated, 5400 feet above that level, the difference 
is between two and three degrees less than the above average, and so on 
in proportion. During the cold season, on the contrary, from the greater 
evaporation, the thermometer, before sun-rise, is always lowest in the valleys, 
and the frost more intense there than on hills of moderate height, (that is 
below 7000 feet,) while at noon the sun is more powerful. The extremes, 
in twenty-four hours, have been more than once 18° and 51°, being adif- 
ference of 33°; an inequality which proves destructive of horticulture, 
and highly injurious to trees until they have attained a certain age, 
after which they are no longer affected by such changes. Snow by 
no means falls equally every season; the natives fix every third year as 
likely to be snowy. No year, however, passes without its partial occurrence. 
The snow never lies but on the mountain tops and ridges, and from 


thence it soon disappears, unless sheltered from the sun by forests : where the 


156 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


latter are thick, it remains many months. It may, in most years, be found on 
the summit of the Ghagar range, between Almora and the plains, so late as 
the middle of May. 


No month in the year is without rain: the periodical season for 
its fall is from the middle of September, and there usually occur five 
or six days of continued rain in the end of February,,or beginning of 
March. During the remainder of the year, it is partial and uncertain. In 
April and May, the rain is usually attended with violent storms of thunder 
and of hail. From the result of observations made with a pluviameter at 
Hawil Bagh, it may be assumed that, one year with another, the average quan- 
tity of rain in the twelve months, is between forty and fifty inches. Thunder 
is frequent and always loud; buildings are often struck, and lives occasion- 


ally destroyed by lightning. 


The soil on the ridges and sides of the mountains is generally poor and 
stony, while the depth of earth is seldom great, and rock is commonly to be 
met with at a few feet from the surface : in such situations, therefore, the aid 


of frequent supplies of manure is required to renew the fertility of the land. 


In the valleys, which consist almost wholly of alluvial soil, deposited by the 
rivers, or washed down from the mountains by the rains, the land is tolerably 


productive, though not to be compared with that in the Tarai or the plains. 


Among the trees, the most numerous are the pines, affording eight varie- 
ties, some of them remarkable for their size and qualities. The oak also 
offers six or seven species, all differing from the Europe oak, with the excep: 
tion of the ilex, which is similar. ‘To these may be added. therhododendron, 
two sorts, white and red, horse chesnut, toon, &c., an endless variety, some 


common to the plains, and others peculiar to the hills, The fruit trees include 


| 
| 
| 


OF KAMAON. 157 


the apple, pear, apricot, cherry, walnut, pomegranate, mulberry, peach, mango, 
guava, orange, lemon, two kinds, citron, four kinds, plaintain, arbutus or 
tree strawberry, raspberry, barberry, grape vine, blackberry, and giwain, be- 
sides some peculiar to the hills, as the bhamora, and the chiiri, or butter tree, 
which produces a small edible fruit in the shape of a pear, containing a stone, 
from the kernel of which is formed the butter, while from the saccharine 
matter contained in the flowers, a species of sugar is also manufactured. ‘To 
conclude the list of fruits, the strawberry, the water melon, and pumpkin, 
may be added. Among the shrubs it will be only necessary to mention the 
dog rose and hawthorn, sidhbartia, from the bark of which paper is manu- 
factured, and the dalchini, (the wild cinamon.) Garden vegetables were con- 
fined to onions, turnips, sweet potatoes, egg plants, and cucumbers, all re- 
markable for their size and flavor; spinach was also much cultivated. 
Potatoes have now been introduced with partial success, but the greater num- 
ber of Europe vegetables have been found to thrive extremely well. The 
flowers are extremely numerous; the most remarkable are lillies, many va- 


rieties, flags, pionies, wild tulips, &c. &c. 


Hitherto the only minerals discovered, are the coarse metals, viz. copper, 
iron, and lead. The copper is produced in many parts of the province, though 
not always in the same species of soil, the matrix in some of the mines being 
a dark sandy stone, and in others a white soapy rock. The principal mines now 
worked, are Gangoli and Sira, in Kamaon, Nagpur and Dhanpur, in Gerhwal. 
Each mine consists of a horizontal shaft, run into the side of a mountain: 
these shafts are about 35 feet high by 21 feet wide, and have their floors gra- 
dually declining towards the mouth, to prevent the water from lying and ac- 
cumulating. Where a rich vein is discovered, traverses of the same descrip- 
tion as the shaft are struck off, and when the ore is exhausted a new mine is 
commenced near the old one. This measure is adopted also when the old mine, 


from earthquake, or other cause, becomes blocked up by the falling in of the 


od 


158 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


roof. Some of these shafts are carried for a very considerable distance into the 
bosom of the mountain. The period of mining is during the cold and hot wea- 
ther, when the produce is collected at the mouth of the pit, where it is wash- 
ed by the women and children, a small stream being always conveyed thither 
for the purpose: the clean ore is then carried to the houses of the miners, 
where the greater part remains for smelting till the rainy season. Two 
or three men only are employed in working at the same'time, and 
these are relieved every hour. The ore is brought out of the mine on buf- 
faloe hides, which are dragged along the ground by boys, with a rope tied to 
one end, and passed round their bodies. ‘The instruments used are merely — 
hammers, small iron wedges, and crow bars; strips of turpentine fir are 
used for light. The copper usually sells on the spot for sixty rupees the 


maund. 


Iron exists in all parts of the province, and as the process of extracting 
it is extremely simple, a great number of mines are constantly worked. 
The ore is found near the surface, in extensive strata of rocks, but vary- 
ing very materially in appearance at different mines. In preparing the iron, 
the ore is, in the first instance, broken small, and roasted by the miners, until 
the whole quantity adheres together, forming a single mass: in this state it 
is delivered by them, for the further process, to the blacksmiths, by whom 
the roasted ore is once more broken small, and then exposed in crucibles to 
a strong heat, sufficient to fuse the vitreous matter, which runs off through a 
hole left for that purpose. The metal remains in the crucible, and is then 
beaten up into small bars for the market, where it sells at a price fluctuating 
between 3-8 and 4. rupees per maund. The common produce at the differ- 
ent mines is from 40 to 50 per cent. So imperfect, however, is the smelting, 


that from 114 to 14 is, subsequently, lost in working up this iron. 


Of lead, a few mines exist in the province, but none of them are worked. 


, 


OF KAMAON. 159 


The rocks of the southern and midland parts of the province offer little 
variety, consisting almost uniformly of coarse mica, containing nodules of 
quartz, sand stone, and slate. In the northern districts, the prevailing kinds 
are granite, quartz in large masses, and white marble. Garnets, of an in- 
ferior description, are to be found every where embodied in quartz or mica. 
Rock chrystal exists in plenty in the Himalaya. Organic remains and fossil 
bones are also found in that part of the country; the former consists of madre- 
pores and salagrams ; the bones would appear to have belonged to some large 
animal of the ox species, probably the yak. Bitumen is found on the sum- 
mits of many of the high mountains in the province: it ‘exudes from the 
crevices in the rock, and is of a dark black color, with a strong unpleasant. 


odour. It is used in medicine by the natives, under the name of Szlajit. — 


A white saponaceous stone, resembling and used for the same purposes 
as pipe clay, is produced in many places. In Gerhwal, various vessels are 


turned from it, which, when polished, have the appearance of marble. 


_ They retain liquid, but being extremely brittle, are little used. 


If volcanic appearances are ever discovered, it will no doubt be in the 
Himalaya range : afew hot springs are to be met with in the passes through 


it ; the heat of these vary; one at Badarinath, where it issues from the ground, 


‘shows a heat of 138° Fahrenheit. The inhabitants residing at the base of the 


range in question, state that smoke is occasionally seen to rise from the in- 
terior. The frequent occurrence of earthquakes renders it possible, that some 
volcano is situated there, but the inaccessible nature of the interior of the 
Himalaya, must ever render it impossible to ascertain its existence by actual 


inspection. 


With respect to the origin of the inhabitants, recourse can only be had to 


vague traditions and conjectures, The country, from its situation, must 


160 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


necessarily have been peopled from the table land of Tariary, or the plains 
of Hindustan. Judging, however, from the personal appearance of the inhabi- 
tants, their religion, and language, the latter appears the most probable, as 
had the first. settlers been Zartars, some communication would doubtlessly 
have been maintained with the mother country, by subsequent migration from 
thence. ‘The original occupants of the country, whenever they may have 
come, would appear to have been completely uncivilized, and wholly igno- 
rant of agriculture and of the common arts of life. At a period, comparatively 
speaking, not very remote, the celebrity of the Himalaya, in the Hindu 
Mythology, by inducing a constant resort of pilgrims, led to the gradual colo- 
nization of the country, by natives of various parts of Hindustan, who intro- 
duced their religion and knowledge ; and the ¢ountry having, by these means, 
been rendered an object of competition, its invasion and conquest soon 
followed. Such are the current traditions, and their simplicity entitles them 


to consideration. 


Of the aborigines, a small remnant, pertinaciously adhering to the customs 
of their ancestors, are to be found in the Rawats or Rais. They are now 
reduced to about twenty families, who wander in the rude freedom of savage 
life, along the line of forests situated under the eastern part of the Himalaya, 
in this. province. In all probability the outcastes, or Doms, are in part 
descendants from them ; a conjecture that is founded chiefly on two 
circumstances, first, the great difference in the personal appearance of the 
Doms from the other imhabitants, many of the former having curly hair, 
inclining to wool, and being all extremely black, and secondly, the almost 
universal state of hereditary slavery in which the Doms are found here. 
With the origin of this slavery, even the proprietors are unacquainted, it 
may, however, easily be explained, by supposing a part of the aborigines 
to have been seized, and reduced to that condition by the first colonists 
above-mentioned, 


OF KAMAON. 161 


The sanctity of the Himalaya in Hindu mythology, by no means neces- 
-sarily implies the pre-existence of the Hindu religion in this province, as 
the enormous height and grandeur of that range visible from the plains would 
have been sufficient to recommend it as a scene for the penances of gods and 
heroes. The worship of Vishnu would appear to have been introduced into 
this province by missionaries, from the peninsula of India. All the most cele- 
brated shrines and temples dedicated to the incarnations of that deity, owe 
their undoubted foundation to the former princes of that quarter, and to the 
present moment these temples, including Badarinath, Kedarnath, Raghunath,* 
at Deoprag, Narsinh, at Joshimath, &c., are exclusively administered to by 
priests, natives of the peninsula. To the polytheism of the Hindu creed, has 
been here superadded a variety of local superstitions, and the great bulk 
of the population are now Hindus in prejudices and customs, rather than in 
religion. Hvery remarkable mountain, peak, cave, forest, fountain and rock 
has its presiding demon or spirit, to which frequent sacrifices are offered, and 
religious ceremonies continually performed by the surrounding inhabitants at 
small temples erected on the spot. ‘These temples are extremely numerous 
throughout the country, and new ones are daily erecting; while the temples 
dedicated to Hindu deities, in the interior, are, with a few exceptions, deserted 
and decayed. The ceremonies peculiar to the local deities are uninterest- 
ing: on particular festivals, dancing forms a principal part, when the 
dances are performed by any number of men, who move round in a circle 
with various contortions, their motions being regulated by the slow measure of 


song, which is sung by the leader of the party, the rest joining in the chorus. 


The former government, together with the principal people of the pro- 


* Although it is scarcely possible that the author of this paper should have been misinformed, 
yet the general impression derivable from original authorities is, that some of these are shrines of 
Siva, not of Vishnu.—H. H. W. 


Rr 


162 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


vince, and the inhabitants of the towns, professed the pure Hindu Brahminical 
tenets. Either from the absence of any intimate connection with Mchammedan 
powers, or from an abhorrence of the excess committed by Mohammedan 
invaders against the Brahminical worship, in this and other countries, strong 
prejudices were ever entertained against that sect. The profession of the 
Mohammedan religion was rather tacitly permitted, than openly tolerated in 
both Kamaon and Gerhwal, and no public processions, Tazias, &c., were ever 
suffered to take place either at Almora or Srinagar, at which places only 
Mohammedans are to be found in any number. 


The institution of caste exists here, among the upper ranks, in its utmost 
rigour, and any infringement of its ordinances or restrictions is immediately 
followed by degradation, nor can a restoration to the privileges of caste be 
obtained, but by undergoing various prescribed penances agreeable to the nature 
of the offence. In the interior, the inhabitants are comprised under three 
classes only, Brahmins, Rajputs, and Doms: in the towns, other castes and 
branches are to be found. The principal classes of Brahmins are Joshis, 
Panths, and Pandes, in Kamaon, and Khandiris and Dobhals, in Gerhwal, 
all of which are extremely scrupulous and prejudiced. Among the lower 
ranks of Brahmins, great latitude is taken in regard to labor, food, &c., and 
their claim to the distinction of that caste is, in consequence, little 
recognised: the mass of the labouring population, from similar causes, 
have still less pretensions to the designation of Rajputs, which they assume. 
The Doms are, of course, out castes, and to them are left the whole of 
the inferior trades, those of carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, coppersmiths, 
quarriers, miners, tailors, musicians, &c., and by them also are performed the 
most menial offices. 


The ceremonies and periods at which marriages are concluded, are 


almost wholly similar to those followed by the Hindus in the plains. A sum 


OF KAMAON. 163 


of money is, however, invariably paid by the suitor to the nearest relation of 
the bride, a practice reprobated in the plains. ‘This sum varies from twenty- 
five to a thousand rupees, according to the rank and property of the parties, 
and from this amount are defrayed the expences of the marriage ceremonies, 
and of the bride’s portion. In equal marriages, among the high classes of 
landholders and merchants, and among the Brahmins, the disbursement 
generally exceeds the sum received from the bridegroom. In cases of 
second and subsequent engagements entered ‘into by persons of this 
description, the new bride is received on terms of inferiority to the first 
wife, and the dower, and other expences, are less proportionate to the sum paid. 
The latter observation applies to all contracts of this nature, which take 
place in the remaining classes of the population, such transactions being, in 
point of fact and custom, one of regular sale, conveying to the husband and 
his heirs, the free and disposable property in the person of the wife, a right 
which, though now not recognised, was, under the former governments, daily 
put in practice. When the means of the suitor are insufficient to satisfy the 
demands of the parents, an equivalent is sometimes accepted in the personal 
services of the former, for a given period of years. ‘The marriage is complet- 
ed on the signing of the contract, and at its expiration, the contractor is at 


liberty to carry away his wife. 


The custom of many brothers having one wife in common, has long 
ceased to be practised in any parts of this province, but the widow of an elder 
brother is commonly re-married to the next brother. 

The dead bodies are here burnt, with the usual Hindu ceremonies. 
Where death may have ensued from any disorder supposed to be contagious, 
the body is usually buried in the first instance, and after the lapse of two or 
three months, the remains are dug up and burnt on a pile. Satis were 


numerous under the former government, but have now greatly decreased, 


164 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


and the annual average does not now amount to three. As this practise is 
now confined wholly to the Rajput families of the highest class (which are 
by no means numerous) it may be expected to become daily more rare. The 
other classes have almost invariably proved most ready to listen to the per- 
suasions of the public native officers, and have been satisfied with the salvo 
offered to their character, by the ostensible intention and preparation with- 


out proceeding to the completion of the sacrifice. 


There are no public institutions of the nature of schools, and private 
tuition is almost wholly confined to the upper classes. ‘The teachers are 
commonly Brahmins, who impart to their scholars the mere knowledge of 
reading, writing, and accounts. The children of respectable Brahmins are 
also taught Sanscrit, and are occasionally sent to Benares to complete 
their studies, where they pass through the usual course of Hindu education, 
consisting of theology, astronomy, judicial astrology, and sometimes medicine. 
The Pundits here, however, by no means appear to excel in any one of these 
branches, as the most learned usually resort to the courts of the Hindu native 
princes in the plains. The colloquial language is pure Hindi, derived chiefly 
from the Sanscrit, without any admixture of Persian. The terminations and 
punctuations are, however, extremely corrupt, more particularly in the 
northern pergunnas. ‘The language used in Gerhwal differs very considerably 
from that of Kamaon. ‘The bulk of the population in both parts are, however, 


acquainted with Hindustani, as spoken in the plains. 


In the division of time, the Hindu mode is exclusively followed, and the 
years in use are also Hindu, being the Sambat and Saka. ‘The latter is the 
most generally adopted in written documents: it differs from the Sambat by 


a period of thirty-five years. 


The religious establishments are numerous, and the lands assigned for 


OF KAMAON. 165 


their support amount to about one-fifteenth of the total arable lands of the 
province. Under the former government, large sums were distributed on 
particular occasions, and festivals to the temples of the favorite deities, a few 


of which will be here particularly noticed. 


The shrine of Badarindth, dedicated to an incarnation of Vishnu, and one 
of the most sacred in the Hindu mythology, is situated within the Himalaya, 
in the Mana pass, immediately below the village of that name. ‘The temple 
is built on the bank of the Bishenganga, immediately over the site of a 
hot spring, the existence of which no doubt led to the original selection of 
this remote spot. The present building, a, modern erection, is small and 
neat, the material being a hard white stone, and the roof formed of copper 
tiles. ‘The constant danger from avalanches, renders a contracted style 
of building indispensable, and even with these precautions, many former 
temples have been overwhelmed and destroyed. The Rawal, or chief priest, 
who administers this institution, is invariably a Brahmin from the Carnatic, 
or Malabar coast, no other description of Brahmin being allowed to touch the 
idol. ‘To prevent any inconvenience or cessation of the religious rites, in the 
event of the sickness or death of the Rdwal, a Brahmin of the same caste 
remains in attendance at Joshimath. The Rdéwal has a regular establishment 
of vizirs and secretaries, treasurers, &c., to manage the temporal concerns of 
the institution, and under the former Rajas, this personage exercised supreme 
and uncontrouled authority in the villages attached to the temple. ‘The 
shrine, notwithstanding its extraordinary sanctity, is far from rich. The 
idol is adorned with only one jewel, a diamond of moderate size, in the 
middle of its forehead, while the whole paraphernalia, including ornaments, 
dresses, gold and silver utensils, &c., do not exceed 5,000 rupees in value. 
As some explanation of this comparative poverty, it may be stated, that on 
the Gorkha invasion of Gerhwal, the Raja took jewels and plate to the 
amount of 50,000 rupees, as aloan from the temple. The revenues of the 


" ss 


166 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


temples are derived from two sources—the offerings of votaries, and the 
rents of assigned lands; but the difficulties of access, by checking the resort 
of rich pilgrims, renders the first branch less productive than might have been 
expected. ‘The season of pilgrimage commences at the beginning of May, 
when the temple is opened, and concludes in November, when it is again 
closed: in ordinary years, the number of pilgrims varies from seven to ten 
thousand, of which, however, the greater portion are Jogis and Byragis. The 
offerings in such years, amount to between 4 and 5,000 rupees, but at the Kz, 
and half Kim, the numbers and receipts are proportionably greater. In 
1820, the pilgrims who reached the temple, amounted to 27,000, while 
many thousands turned back from the fear of the cholera, which then raged 
in Gerhwal, or fell sacrifices to that distemper on the road. The receipts, at 
the same time, were 15,750 rupees, exclusive of gold and silver ornaments 
and vessels, to the value of near three thousand more. The revenue derived 
from land by no means corresponds with the number of villages with which the 
temple is endowed. The institution possesses no less than two hundred and 
twenty-six villages, one hundred and seventy in Gerhwal and fifty-six in Kamaon. 
Of the former, many are large and populous, and were acquired rather from the 
poverty than the piety of the former Rajas, having been assigned in satisfaction 
of considerable loans. The rents are paid partly in produce and partly in money, 
agreeably to the specification in the original grants. As the proprietors of 
these villages were almost universally Brahmins, the assessment was fixed in 
permanency at avery low rate in the deeds in question. The value of the 
proceeds of every description from these villages, may be estimated at 2,000 
rupees ; 1,500 from Gerhwal, and 500 from Kamaon. The expenditure is re- 
gulated, in some measure, by the receipts, and consists chiefly in the support 
of the Rawal and numerous establishment, inthe daily distribution of food 
and alms to pilgrims, and in the regular allowances to Brahmins on various 
festivals. In ordinary years, the disbursements exceed, by a few hundred 


rupees, the gross income, as above estimated, at between 6 and 7,000 rupees, 


OF KAMAON. 167 


in which case the deficiency is supplied by loans, which are liquidated by the 
surplus proceeds of productive years. In the year 1820, the sum of 7,500 
rupees was, in this manner, devoted to clear off former incumbrances. These 
statements have been formed from the original detailed accounts, which, from 
the various checks that exist in their formation, must be generally accurate. 
During the winter months, the temple is blocked up and covered with snow, 


and the attendants remove to Pandkesar and Joshimath. 


The temple of Kedarndth, similarly situated in the Himalaya, is also 
dedicated to an incarnation of Vishnu. The present building is larger and 
handsomer than that at Badari, and has only recently been completed at 
the expense of Kajee Amer Sinh and his family. The Rdwal here is also 
invariably a native of the Malabar coast, of the Lingam* sect. He does not, 
however, perform the religious ceremonies in person, but resides constantly 
at Ukhimath, and sends his deputy (of the same class) to Kedarnath. The 
season of pilgrimage, and the number of pilgrims, are nearly the same 
at both temples, a previous visit to Kedarnath being considered a necessary 
preparation to the pilgrimage to Badarinath. A few pilgrims annually 
devote themselves to destruction there, either by precipitating themselves 
from the summit of a particular rock, or by penetrating into the Himalaya, 
till overwhelmed in the snow. The receipts and disbursements of this temple 
may be taken at one-third of those of Badarinath. There are also several 
charitable endowments, for distribution of food .to pilgrims proceeding to 
Kedarnath and Badarinath, which are supported by lands exclusively 
assigned for the purpose, the greater part, during the Gorkha government ; 
at each of which the pilgrims receive one day’s food either going or re- 


turning. 


* How is this reconcileable with its being a Vaishnava shrine? H. H. W. 


168 : STATISTICAL SKETCH 


The village of Pdchasao, in the Jawar pass, is in Sadawart, for pilerims 
S Pp § 


proceeding to Lake Manasarovara. 


Kamaleswar at Srinagar, and Jageswar near Almora, are the only other 
religious establishments in this province, which deserve consideration from 


the extent of their endowments. 


The remaining temples, holding one or more villages, are extremely nu- 
merous. Raj Rajeswari in Dewalgerh, Gerhwal, receives an annual allowance 
from government, amounting to rupees 652, and several other temples at 


Srinagar and Almora also enjoy each a small money pension. 


The junctions of all large streams offer sacred objects for pilgrimage, of 
these the principal are Deoprag, Rudraprag, Karnaprag, Nandprag, and 
Bishenprag, situated at the confluence of the Ganges, with the Bhagirathi, 


Mandakini, Pendur, Nandakini, and Bishenganga, respectively. 


Bageswar, at the junction of the Gomatz, and Rameswar, at the junction 
of the Ramganga with the Sarju, respectively, are most celebrated in Ka- 


maon, and have each their periodical fairs. 


The Government consisted of a simple monarchy, but the power of the 
sovereign was, in point of fact, far from absolute, being ever controuled in a 


greater or less degree by the will of the aristocracy. 


The latter, from the poverty of the country, was confined to a small num. 
ber, consisting merely of the civil and military officers of the state, and of a 
few principal landholders. Many of the chief offices of government com- 
prising Diwans, Defterees, Bhendaris, Vizirs, Foujdars, Negis and Thokdars, 


had become hereditary in particular families, a circumstance which rendered 


‘ 


OF KAMAON. 169 


the influence of their holders boundless in their several departments. The 
Raja’s authority was still further circumscribed by the corrupted state of 
feudal tenure which existed here. ‘The country was allotted in separate divi- 
sions for the payment of troops, to the commander of which was entrusted 
the civil administration of the lands assigned. ‘The revenues of some districts 
were originally reserved for defraying the expences of the court, but these had 
been nearly absorbed by grants of the junior members of the royal family, to 
the civil officers of government, and to the attendants of the court, all of 
whom, from the highest to the lowest, were supported and remunerated in 
land. <A further alienation of the royal domains had taken place, in the 
frequent donations to Brahmins and temples by successive Rajas, so that 
with these numerous deductions, the actual amount of rents which reached 


the treasury was extremely small. 


A portion of the most fertile land in the neighbourhood of the capital 
was retained for the exclusive supply of grain to the Raja, being cultivated 
at his own expence, but the principal source of the ordinary revenue 
of the sovereign, consisted in the frequent offerings presented by his 
subjects at the several Hindu festivals, and on occasions of extraordi- 
nary disbursement, such as the marriage of the reigning prince, or of his 
son or daughter, a general impost was levied to defray them, from all 
the assigned lands of the country.’ With all these aids, the sovereign was 
ever poor, and during some of the latest reigns was frequently reduced 
to absolute indigence and want: a fact confirmed to me by the present 
Raja of Gerhwal. ‘The sovereign had the undoubted prerogative of resum- 
ing all grants of land of every description, but as this right could only 
be enforced by the concurrence of the prevailing party in the state, its 
exercise afforded him little personal advantage, the resumed lands imme- 


diately passing to some one of the party in question as the price of its 


|. assistance. 


Tt 


170 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


The judicial administration formed one source of the revenue of the 


state. 


In the interior, justice was administered in civil and petty criminal cases 
by Foujdars, or governors, while cases of magnitude, and those originating in 
the capital or neighbourhood, were determined in the Raja’s court, under the 


superintendance of the Dewan. — 


Under the Gorkha government, the former duty was entrusted to the’ 
commandant of the troops holding the assignment, and the latter was execut- 
' ed by the governor of the province, assisted by those military chiefs who 
might be on the spot. As the commanders of the troops were seldom present. 
in their respective assignments, they delegated their powers to deputies, called 
*‘ Becharis,”” who either farmed the dues‘on law proceedings at a specific 
sum, or remaineda ccountable for the full receipts. The forms of investigation 
and decision, under both governments, were the same. <A simple viva voce 
examination of the parties and their witnesses, usually sufficed to elucidate 
the merits of the case, and where doubts or contradictions occurred, an oath 
was administered by laying the Haribans, (a portion of the Mahabharat, ) 
on the head of the deponent. In intricate suits, such as disputes regarding 
boundaries, or where no occular testimony could be produced to substantiate 
the claim or defence, recourse was had to ordeal, the modes of which will be 
hereafter noticed. The case being adjudicated, a copy of the judgment, 
under the seal of the officers composing the court, and witnessed by the by- 
standers, was delivered to the party in whose favor it had been pronounced, and 
the losing party was, at the same time, subjected to a heavy fine, proportioned 
to his means, rather than to the value of the cause in action. Private arbitra- 
tion, or Panchait, was frequently resorted to, more particularly for the adjust- 
ment of mutual accounts among traders or for the division of family property 


among heirs. Claims, when nearly balanced, were sometimes decided by lot 


OF KAMAON. 171 


in the following manner: the names of the parties being written in separate 
slips of paper, these were rolled up, and laid in front of an idol in a temple, 
the priest of which was then employed to take up one of the rolled slips, and 


he whose name appeared, gained the cause. 


Criminal offences of magnitude, were tried at the seat of government, 
and accusations might be proved or rebutted by ordeal. The usual punish- 
ments for almost every degree of crime were fines or confiscations, and 
even murder was rarely. visited with death, the convict, if a Rajput, being 
heavily mulcted, and if a Brahmin, banished. ‘Treason was, however, gene- 


rally punished capitally. 


Grevious offences against the Hindu religion, and system, such as the 
wilful destruction of a cow, or the infringement of the distinction of caste by 
a Dom, such as knowingly making use of a hukka, or any other utensil be- 
longing to a Rajput or Brahmin, were also capital. The mode of inflicting 
capital punishment was either by hanging or beheading; the Gorkhas 
introduced impaling, and sometimes put convicts to death with the most cruel 
tortures. Under the Raja’s government, executions were very rare, and con- 
fined almost wholly to prisoners of the Dom caste ; during the last government, 
they became far more numerous and indiscriminate. In petty thefts, restitu- 
tion and fine were commonly the only penalties inflicted; in those of magni- 
tude, the offender was sometimes subjected to the loss of a hand or of his nose. 
Crimes of the latter description have ever, in these hills, been extremely rare; 
and did not call for any severe enactments. Acts of omission or commission, 
involving temporary deprivation of caste, as also cases of criminal inter- 
course between parties connected within the degrees of affinity prescribed by 
the Hindu law, offered legitimate objects of fine. Adultery, among the 
lower classes, was punished in the same manner. Where, however, the hus- 


band was of rank or caste, the adulterer was commonly put to death, and 


472 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


the adulteress deprived of her nose. The revenge of the injury was, on these 
occasions, left to the husband, who, by the customs of the country, and by the 
existing principles of honour, was authorized and required to wash off the 
stain on his name by the blood of the offending parties, and no lapse of time, 
from the commission or discovery of the crime, proved a bar to the exaction 
of this revenge. Convicts were occasionally condemned to labour on the 
private lands of the Raja, to whom they, from that period, became hereditary 
slaves. Criminals also settling at a royal village in the Tarai, called Gergaon, 
received a free pardon, whatever might have been their offence. In cases of 
self-destruction, the nearest relations of the suicide were invariably subjected 


to a heavy fine. 


The most oppressive branch of the police, and that which proved the 
most fruitful source of judicial revenue, consisted in the prohibitions issued 
under the late government against numerous acts, the greater part of which 
were, in themselves, perfectly unobjectionable. The infringement of these 
orders were invariably visited with fines: indeed, they would‘appear to have 
been. chiefly issued with such view, as among the many ordinances of this 
kind, it may be sufficient to specify one, which in Gerhwal forbade any woman 
from ascending on the top of a house. ‘This prohibition, though apparently 
ridiculous, was, in fact, a very serious grievance : a part of the domestic econo- 
my hitherto left to the women, such as drying grain, clothes, &c., is perform- 
ed there, and fire-wood and provision for immediate consumption are stored 
in the same place, and the necessity for men superintending these operations, 


by withdrawing them from their labour in the fields, was felt as a hardship. 


Three forms of ordeal were in common use: Ist, The “Gola Dip,” 
which consists in receiving in the palms of the hands, and carrying to 
a certain distance, a red hot bar of iron. 2d, The ‘“ Karat Dip,’ in 


which the hand is plunged into a vessel of boiling oil, in which cases 


OF KAMAON. | 173 


the test of truth is the absence of marks of burning on the hand. 3d, 
“ Tarazu ka Dip,” in this the person undergoing the ordeal was weighed, 
at night, against stones, which were then carefully deposited under lock and 
key, and the seal of the superintending officer; on the following morning, 
after a variety of ceremonies, the appellant was again weighed, and the sub- 
stantiation of his cause depended on his proving heavier than on the preced- 


ing evening. 


The “ Tir ka Dip,’ in which the person remained with his head sub- 
merged in water, while another ran the distance of a bowshot and back, was 
sometimes resorted to. The Gorkha governors introduced another mode of 
trial by water, in which two boys, both unable to swim, were thrown into 
a pond of water, and the longest liver gained the cause. Formerly, poison 
was, in very particular causes, resorted to as the criterion of innocence: a 
given dose of a particular root was administered, and the party, if he 
survived, was absolved. A further mode of appeal to the interposition of the 
deity was by placing the sum of money, or a bit of earth from the land in 
dispute, in a temple before the idol, either one of the parties volunteering 
such test, then with imprecations on himself if false, took up the article in 
question. Supposing no death to occur within six months in his immediate 
family, he gained his cause ; on the contrary, he was cast in the event of being 
visited with any great calamity, or if afflicted with severe sickness during that 


period. 


The collection of rents from the assigned lands was, as already stated, 
left to the commanders, and as these, from their military duties, could seldom 
be present for any length of time in their respective assignments, they were 
under the necessity of employing deputies, and as the most simple and 
economical plan, entrusted the details of assessment and collection to some 
one of their principal landholders, whom they made responsible for the amount 


UU 


174 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


of the rents. Hence the original of Kamins in Kamaon, and Sianas in Gerhwal. 
The latter, again, appointed one of the proprietors of each village, under 
the designation of Padhan, to levy and account directly to them for its cess. 
These officers were both removeable, the first at the pleasure of the assignee, 
the second at the will of the Kamin and Siana. ‘The influence once obtained 
in the situation, generally led to its continuance in the same family, even 
when the individual holder was changed, and, in some instances, the Kamins 
themselves eventually succeeded in obtaining a grant of the feud under the 
usual conditions, which arrangement led to the nomination of Under Kamins 
and Sianas, who are to be found in some pergunnas. The remuneration 
of the Kamins and Sianas, consisted in a trifling Nazerdna from each 
village, and in offeringsfrom the Padhdns on certain festivals, and on 
occasion of births and marriages in their own families. They were also 
entitled to a leg of every goat killed by the Padhdns in their division, 
and enjoyeda portion of land, rent-free, in their own village. ‘The dues 


of Padhans were exactly similar, but leviable only from their own tenants. 


In the reserved districts, the royal domains were managed by the Vizirs 
and Bhandaris, (treasurers,) and the rents of the alienated villages were col- 
lected by the grantees. No establishment of Kamins or Sianas existed in these 


pergunnas. 


A general record of the arable lands of the country, their extent, appro- 
priation, &c. was kept in the office of the Defteris. To render these accounts 
more complete, these officers had deputies in each district, whose duties cor- 
responded, in a great measure, with those of the pergunna Kanungos in the 
plains. To defray the expences of this establishment, the Defteris were enti- 
tled to a percentage of half an anna in the rupee on the rent of every village ; 
and for their own support, they received grants of lands in common with the 


other public servants. 


OF KAMAON. 175 


The full property in the soil has here invariably formed an undisputed 
part of the royal prerogative, and on this right was founded the claim of the 
sovereign, either in person or through his assignees, to a large fixed portion of 
the produce, both of agriculture and mines. ‘The power in the crown, of 
disposing of such property at its will, has never been questioned, but has 
been constantly enforced, without consideration to any length of occupancy 
or other claims in individual holders. The peculiar nature of the country 
rendered the exercise of this right frequent in the neighbourhood of the 
capital. The difficulties of procuring supplies in this province, have been 
already alluded to: individuals settling at Almora or Srinagar, under the 
auspices of the reigning prince, in consequence, received the gift of a 
small portion of land for the establishment of their families. The mer- 
chants and principal artisans falling under the above description, as being: 
commonly emigrants from the plains, were particularly favoured in this 
respect, and many of the attendants of the court, who were of the same origin, 
required and received the same assistance. The commandants and officers 
of the regular troops stationed at the frontiers, or in forts, enjoyed similar 
grants of land in the vicinity of their posts. ‘The tenure on which grants 
of this kind. were made, is called Thdt, which conveyed, in the first 
instance, a literal freehold, as it vested the grantee with an hereditary 
property in the soil as well as in the produce. The rents of these lands 
have, at subsequent periods, been almost wholly resumed to the rent roll, but 
the property in the soil has been generally suffered to remain with the heirs 
of the grantee. The term that is used here, is synonimous with Zemindari 
in the plains, and it is on grants of this nature, that the rights of a large 
body of the occupant landholders are founded. The land, in the interior, 
seldom changed proprietors : the greater part of the present occupants there, 
derive their claims to the soil, solely from the prescription of long establish- 
ed and undisturbed possession ; and this remark applies also to many indivi- 


duals, more particularly Brahmins, whose ancestors having, originally, obtained 


176 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


estates on grants, not conveying any property in the soil, their descendants 
have, subsequently, by the migration of the actual occupants, come into the 


full possession both of land and produce. 


In assignments of the revenue of villages to individual servants of go- 
vernment, both public and private, the deed specified the class and descrip- 
tion of service in consideration of which the grant was made, as. ‘‘ Kamin. 
chari, Negichari,’’ &c., and in these cases, also, the actual occupancy in the 
land, frequently became vested in the descendants of the assignee, by the mode 
noticed in the preceding paragraph. Grants to individuals not holding any 
particular employment, were in “ Khang?,” or, when Brahmins, in “ Vrata ;” 
to the latter also, and to religious establishments, grants in perpetuity were 
made with various ceremonies, under the terms of ‘‘ Sankalp” and ‘* Bishenpirt.”? . 
Under the Nipal government, the terms of ‘ Mana Chaul,” and “ Gint,” 
were introduced, the former meaning, literally, ‘* a seer of rice,” was used 
in grants, for services to individuals, and under the latter tenure were includ- 


ed all lands and endowments belonging to religious establishments. 


The modes of private transfer are, first, by absolute sale, called ‘* Dhali 
Boli,” in which the purchaser becomes vested with the same rights, and 
under the same obligations, as the vender. In the second mode, termed 
“‘ Mat,” the purchaser receives the land rent-free, the vender making himself 
responsible for the annual amount of its assessment during his life, and on his 
death, the purchaser becomes answerable for the demand. There was another 
species of “‘ Mat,” in which the sale was not absolute, right of redemption being 
reserved to the mortgager and his heirs, on payment of the amount advanced, 
but till this took place, the latter continued to pay the revenue. When no heir 
of the mortgager remained forthcoming, as in the former case, the rent fell on 
the mortgagee. The fourth form was that of simple mortgage, or “* Bandhak,” 


in which right of redemption was, sometimes, expressly barred, after the 


OF KAMAON, 177 


expiration of a given term of years; most commonly it was reserved indefinite- 
ly. ‘The landed proprietors, however, ever evince the most tenacious attach- 
ment to their estates, whatever be their extent, and never voluntarily alienate 
them, except under circumstances of extreme necessity. ‘This, joined to the 
repeated family partitions arising under the Hindu law of inheritance, has 
reduced landed property throughout the country to the most minute state of 


subdivision. 


The intersection of the country in every point by rivers, would have af- 
forded prominent boundaries for local division, had the state of government 
been originally such as to admit of the establishment or continuance of a re- 
gular arrangement of that nature, but the existence of numerous petty 
principalities, the chiefs of which were engaged in constant aggressions on 
each other, necessarily led to frequent changes in the division of the country, 
as the conquered villages, in receiving a new master, were incorporated in his 
own district, or formed into a separate pergunna, under some new name. 
The ultimate union of the country under one monarch, produced no re- 
medy, as the distribution which took place among the feudal tenants of the 
crown, led only to a multiplication of subdivisions, without producing order 
in their demarcation, Every new grant to these military chiefs tended to 
further perplexities, as from that moment, the villages in the grant, whatever 
might be their actual situation, became an integral part of the district in 
which the previous assessment of the grantee lay. Various services of 
the state, which were provided for by allotments of country, gave their 
names to such districts. Thus, two lots of villages dispersed over the whole 
province appropriated to the gun-powder manufactory and magazine, formed 
the pergunnas of Stédkhana, and Mahriuri; while a line of villages, extend- 
ing from the snowy mountains to Almora, was known as a separate 
division, under the designation of Hitin Pal, being appointed for the supply 
of snow to the Raja’s court. These incongruities ceased in a_ great 


WW 


178 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


measure under the Gorkha administration, when the country was regularly 
assessed and settled, though in many of the subdivisions, the former arbitrary 
mode was continued, the villages of a pergunna being frequently classed 
into Pattis, according to the caste of the owners, without reference to actual 
situation. It may be here noticed, that the word pergunna was not in use 
here, the terms being Gerkha, Pal, Row, Patti, Kote, Al, &c. 


The mode of calculation in use throughout the hills is, by the estimated 
quantity of grain which the land will require to sow it. The adoption of _ 
so uncertain a standard is doubtless to be ascribed to the nature of the 
arable lands, the actual measurement of which would have required greater 
perseverance and science than the natives of this province ever possessed. 
The denominations by which landis computed in Kamaon are extremely 
numerous, and vary in different parts, and it may therefore be presumed, that 
they were established at a remote period, when the country was divided into 
several petty independant principalities. In calculating the extent of villages, 
only such lands as had been rendered capable of cultivation by the operation 
already described, were taken into consideration. These have been gradually 
augmenting, and as no revised survey has recently been made, the existing 
records by no means correspond with the actual quantity of arable land in 
each village. 


The most common denomination is the Bist, which has now been 
adopted as a general standard. ‘The regular Bist ought, as its name 
implies, to contain land requiring twenty Nalis of seed; its actual extent, 
therefore, varies according to the quality of soil, as the grain is sown much 
wider in poor lands near the summit, than in rich lands at the base of the 
mountains. With every allowance of this kind, villages are invariably 
found far to exceed their nominal rukba, when computed by this standard. 
It also varies in the same district, a portion of the land being calculated by 


OF KAMAON. 179 


one description, and the remainder by another description of Bis?, which 
incongruity arose from the practice of former Rajas, of doubling or other- 
wise augmenting the nominal rukba of rent-free land in the deed of grant. 
Such encreased rukba became, from that time, permanently enrolled and fixed 
in the record. <A further mode of calculation is, by the estimated produce 


of land in bilkas, or sheaves, the number of which ought to correspond with 


the number of Nailis in each b7s2. 


It will now be sufficient to detail the different denominations in use in 


Kamaon, with their computed contents, without entering into further expla- 


nation. 
Jala, various = 12 9 6 and 3 Bisis. 


i] 
se 
oe 
as) 
lel 
ee] 
eN 
ee 
wR 


Nanay es sc se Seats 3 

JN ESS SA wosoet einen ec Disiss 
BISA, i) Betloasi dicey u hiawnist = nae 405 Bisisy 
BANA Clie oecanty Ni late oo es = 1 Bisi. 
IN ality cre’ cards weap tends) Dish 
Maka, geben a soiv's (SSS) b6t0 nest 
Miasasi laciedeit k «pees w Siiess:) # Bish. 
Rinibo ivesrses! ili ie sass 6S see bey Bist 


In the Bhadwar, actual measurement is used, and the calculation is made 
either in Bighas or Hothas. ‘The former corresponds to the Bigha of the 


plains, the latter contains 1600 square paces. 


Another mode of computation is by the plough of two yoke of bullocks, 
twenty being required for one Bisa: a plough of land contains the quantity 


which can be turned in one day. 


In Gerhwal, the only denomination in use is the Jzla, which is divided 


180 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


into Chukris, or 4ths, and Anas, or 16ths: it varied in its extent, according to 
the description of person holding the land, as will be seen in the following 
detail : 


Jala Thakurali (chiefs,)  .....- Soe Oiles TENS =16 Dhons. 
Ditto Thani, (principal landholders,) 4.4... sss. =12. ditto: 
Ditto Rowlia, (padhan mukaddem,) ...... see =S8iditto, 
Ditto Chakar, (tenantry,) eile ver Liatelenbebbiete JN = 4 ditto. 
Ditto Tyargain, (temporary cultivators,) —...... =16 ditto. 
Ditto Unirai; (courtiers, )) 2 vires. se ha ees ee = 8 ditto. 
Ditto Kotkarki, (militia, ) Sees RE COR =12 ditto. 
Ditto Tob, (regular troops,) ...s0. vere * anaees =10 ditto. 
Ditto Kotya, (ollowers,)'" Weccm SO 0 st Cu ts = 6. ditto: 
Ditto Topchi, (huntsmen,) ..... Be seek ies Oe = 4 ditto. 
Ditto Setk, (personal servants, ) vldecwlanee wselea ser Remi AGIGEOs 


Ditto Jaghirdar, (rent free to private individuals,) =12 ditto. 


The implements of husbandry are similar to those in use in the plains, 
and the different operations of ploughing, harrowing, sowing, weeding, reap- 
ing, &c. are carried on in the same way. The land being first manured, is 
usually ploughed three times, or oftener, and harrowed previously to being 
sown: the drill plough is not used. In coarse grains, the harrowing is gene- 
rally repeated when the plants have sprouted two or three inches above the 
ground. In the finer grains, at the same period, additional manure is com- 
monly scattered over the fields, which are then weeded with spuds. During 
the rebbi crop, the fields, where irrigation is practicable, are usually watered 
every third or fourth day. <A regular routine of crops is pursued; following 
the native arrangement. In the first, or kharif crop, rice is sown in April, 
and reaped in September, the land being immediately re-prepared, receives 
a crop of wheat, which ripens in April or early in May; to this succeeds 


acrop of Mandéa, and as the last is not fit for the reap hook before the 


OF KAMAON. i 181 


end of November, too late for sowing wheat, the land is then suffered to re- 
main fallow till the following spring, when it is again prepared for rice. 
Different kinds of pulse and vetch are occasionally substituted for one or 
other of these grains. Where land, which has been fallow, is newly broken 
up, a crop of Mandua, or other coarse grain is first taken. ‘Transplantation 
is adapted in regard to rice wherever the land can be easily flooded; in other 
parts the rice is sown as other grains. Irrigation is performed by means of 
aqueducts or small streams, which are either branches of large streams, or 
are formed of a collection of many small springs. These aqueducts are 
frequently carried a very considerable distance, and at much expence along 
the sides of the mountains. In places where precipitous rocks occur, troughs 
of wood are made use of, and where the soil is too loose, walls of stone, 
having a channel at the top, made water tight with clay, are built. The 
manure used, is commonly the dung and refuse of the cattle shed, which 
is collected in a regular dunghill with that view. Where the quantity 
of this may be insufficient, leaves collected from the jungles, are placed in 
heaps to rot in the fields. Asa further substitute, bushes and branches of 


trees are laid on the land, and when sufficiently dry to burn, are reduced to 
ashes. 


There is a species of periodical cultivation, which deserves notice: this 
consists in cutting down the forest, and clearing patches of land along the sum- 
mits of the ridges : the trees are left for a few months to dry, and being chiefly 
pine, are then easily consumed, and the ashes used for manure; as the decli- 
vity of these spots is usually too great to admit the use of the plough, the 
land is prepared with a hoe. 


Only one, or at most two crops are taken from each spot, after which it is 
abandoned for another, and not again touched till after the lapse of from six 
to twelve years, according to the nature of the soil; such land is termed Kala 


X X 


182 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


Banyar. The cultivators, who descend during the winter to the Tarai, take 
land in farm from the. Zemindars there also, and have thus two crops on the 
ground in different parts at the same moment. ‘This they are enabled to 
_ effect by the difference in the period of harvest in the plains and hills; the 
Rebi crop in the former being sown later, and ripe earlier than in the 
latter. . 


The following is a statement exhibiting the various products, together 
with the average rate of their return, as collected from reports of every per- 


gunnah in the province. 


The three kinds of land are, 1st. The sera, or valley, fully capable of 
irrigation; 2nd, not irrigatable, but in low situations ; 3rd, near tops of moun- 
tains. ‘The average price of each kind of grain, during the last six years, 
at Almora is also added. In the interior, particularly of Gerhwal, where 


the demand is smali, the prices are infinitely lower. 


KHARIF, OR FIRST CROP. 


Grains. Best Land. Middling. Worst. Remarks. 
Rice, Seers is 
i incest 82 cesece 20 crores Tile 28 
Mandia, ... DO skee se AO Dee SOME. LUO 
Jangora, or 

t DOr ce cscac OO) coun co10 42 
Manora, ... 
Kownf,...0. o0. Lom Ara BO On tee BASS Mote 40 
Chinajes.. 323 CO: PL ae, AQ SS socal 40 
Chia, or 

t WOO Mecsas OO) oeccete fe acces 40 
Marsa, ; 


Kodtsucee ee. 16 s.aee 12 s.ssee 10 4... 30 Partially cultivated. 
Ugal jsived. eee 99 000900 25 ooe00e 15 0009008 16 Ditto ditto, 


OF KAMAON. 183 


Bajra, .cccoe 99 eer0es 159 ) IN Al 7 A ae 26 Partially cultivated. 
Juwar, . See Okay 1 PSE 36 Ditto ditto. 
Makae, or ; ; 
t BOn coca oa cee 10 ..... 24 Ditto ditto. 
Boota, 


ae ee only in Bhawar 


Ganra, ... SO sce. 
at both seasons. 


PULSE 
ids sseestsih Our aie Ly Wilds oat 18 
habs se. ito 083 12 SOs. dale’ Q4 
Gahat,...... PPV Sis NM | ee WA re a Lon Os 24 Partially cultivated. 
RR YaS52)7. 00 Sis ve sgl Aigvsinivtie HL /.252,)-22 Ditto, ditto. 
Be cc Shee Toa Cy linas 20 Ditto ditto. 
Arher, 
iran ge. 65 3110) 212 iS Ohicaate. OL se 16 
Goranse,... 16 ...... MO theta. Ou ic ceeg 22 Ditto ditto. 
Aiitinga, ope lOy. co. Lasts, (Simei. ee 30 Ditto ditto. 
OIL SEEDS. 
Sersonest3940 :.3..02 BOL detest 1 Sy ees 60 At both crops. 
Re AVM ABi os. BO. bation: DDG 2.) a 12 Partially cultivated. 
BE ininy ings: & VO. 2S. 2. 000i seu 10 Ditto ditto. 
REBBI, OR SECOND CROP. 
Wiheat ioc 185.680: Opes tk Onge.ns. 222 
Bamleyatecsy Qi ck set STO. a D1S. bens 28 
Ganra, iO ONacaactels 6O ...... 5) +++e6. 30 Only in Bhawer. 
PULSE. 
Ts tes 25h semen OOuenss to NS ysias 20 


ena we iA... 0.565 Oi derselpa/iicee<eeul' 7, partially, cultivated: 


o 


184 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


Kalau 
16 oea0ee@ 10 ©2060808 8 @eeeee 18 
Mutter t . 


OIL SEEDS. 
Aitsin ss coises WOT soccis) D4e cesses 12 scene 16 
Serson...... 40 ..2. 30 ...0. 15 .4.... 32 Cultivated chiefly in Bhawer. 


Coéton is not much grown in the hills: the produce is, however, of excel- 
lent quality, and by native judges is said to be superior to that of the plains, 
in softness of texture, gloss of color, and length of fibre. 

Hemp: the growth of this article was, at one time, considerable, as the 
Company procured an annual investment of it from this province: these pur- 
chases have now ceased; the demand for it for the manufacture of cloth, of 
which much is consumed in the province, still encourages the cultivation. 
The quality of the hill hemp has been always much praised: the plant 
attains the height of from 12 to 14 feet, and the fibre is extremely strong ; 
other advantages are derived from a crop of hemp, which will be best shown 
in astatement of the produce ; taking a pucka bigha to require 8 seer of 
seed in wheat, 16 seers of hemp seed would be necessary to sow the 
same extent, the produce of which would be in the first place, 4 sers of Chiras, 
the inspissated juice of the leaf, value 8 rupees; 4 maunds of hemp value 8 
rupees, and 48 seers of seed capable of yielding 6 seers of oil, value 1.8.0, 
giving a total money return of 178 rapees the bigha. The. cultivation of hemp 
is confined almost entirely to Gerhwal, and. is only to be occasionally met 


with in Kamaon proper. 


Sugar cane is raised in some parts of the province where the land is 
particularly good, but the total quantity of sugar manufactured in the pro- 
vince is very trifling. 


a 


OF KAMAON. 185 


Ginger, Turmeric, Cheraiia, and some other plants and roots used in 
native medicine are grown chiefly with a view to exportation. Ginger yields 
7 fold, about 40 maunds to the bigha, and turmeric 8 fold, or 45 maunds: 
the prices on the spot are respectively 2 and 1. 12. 0 rupees per maund. 


The Ginya, or sweet potatoe, is grown on a very extensive scale in the 
Bhéwar, the net produce is commonly 40 maunds per bigha, and the value 
one rupee per maund. Tobacco is raised for private consumption, in small 
quantities. 


The Kharif crop is the most extensive and important as affording the 
staple articles of food (Rice and Mandua) to the population. The Rebdi crop, 
owing to the confined means of irrigation, is very uncertain: in the event of a 
sufficiency of rain not falling during the cold weather, the ears of the wheat 
do not fill, and occasionally the grain is rotted from the opposite cause. Since 
1815, two years of failure have occurred, one from drought, the other from 


too much rain. 


Having completed the detail of agricultural products, the other branches 
of rural economy may now be noticed. 


The cattle in this province, as already stated, are small, and are almost 
universally black or red. The herds are driven each morning to the ridges of 
the mountains for pasture: at night they are kept in the ground story of the 
house, or if numerous, a temporary shed is erected for them near the village. 
Chaff is never prepared for them, but after the wheat harvest has been 
cut, they are turned into the fields to eat down the straw, which is left stand- 
ing; merely the ears being cut off and carried away; the dry hay of the 
grain, urd, &c. is also given to them in an unchopped state. Coarse grass and 


branches of trees are also cut for feeding the bullocks employed in ploughing. 


Noy, ™ 


186 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


During the later winter, and the summer months, the pasture, from frost 
and sun, becomes very scanty : at this period, therefore, the inhabitants of the 
southern and midland districts of Kamaon send down their cattle to the 
forests in the Tarai, reserving only a few cows for milk, when a great part of 
the inhabitants accompany them: this migration commences in November, 
after the sowing of the wheat is completed, and the return is delayed till the 
end of April, or beginning of May, when the crop is ready for reaping. 
While in the Bhdwar, the inhabitants of two or three neighbouring vil- 
lages, and sometimes of a whole pergunna, canton together for mutual protec- 
tion against decoits. As this custom has existed from time immemorial, each 
community has its own particular tract of forest to which it annually returns. 
Some parts of the Tarai affording little or no grass; the Zemindars, in such 
situations, cut boughs of trees for their cattle. ‘The temporary villages called 
Got’hs, which they occupy, are mere sheds, formed of branches of trees, and 
covered with leaves or grass. The site of them is changed according as the 
pasture in the immediate neighbourhood is exhausted. During the season 
that the cattle remain in the forests, a very large quantity of ghee, remarkable 
for its goodness, is made by the Zemindars, and exported to the plains. In 
the northern pergunnas, where the forest lands are more extensive, the 
necessity for sending the cattle to the Tarai does not exist, and in the sum- 
- mer months, abundance of fine pasture is produced on the summits of the high 
mountains after the snows have melted. The practice is very little followed 
in Gerhwal, which may be ascribed to the greater proportion of waste land 
that is to be found there: the cattle are, however, remarkably poor and bad 
conditioned, and consequently die off rapidly. Few buffaloes are reared in 
that part of the country. 


Neither bullocks nor buffaloes are here used for commercial transport, 
but they are employed to carry the baggage of the cultivating classes in their 
annual migration to the Bhéwar. 


OF KAMAON. 187 


Cows and bullocks vary in price, from 5 to 12 rupees each; the latter, 


when broken for the plough, fetching the highest. 
Female buffaloes sell for 15 to 20 rupees. 


The number of cattle, agreeably to enumeration in 1822, was as follows ; 


giving a total of 241,314 animals. 


Cows. Bullocks. Buffaloes. 
Kamaon, 58,280 ... ... 36,938 ... ... 42,959 
Gerhwal, 66,355 ... ...'28,546 ... .... 8,236 


The goats in this province are, generally speaking, low, and stout made: 
those bred in the northern pergunnas attain, however, a very fair size. The 
rearing of these animals is difficult, as during the rainy months they are liable 
to many disorders, and are frequently poisoned by eating the rank weeds. 
As there is considerable demand for goats, both for religious sacrifices and for 
food, they bear a high price, full grown males and females selling for from 
two to eight rupees each, and half-grown kids in proportion. The goats of 
the northern pergunnahs, which are used for carriage in the Tartar trade, 


sell for four to ten rupees each. 


The breeding of sheep is confined to the northern pergunnahs: the same 
causes which check the rearing of goats, prove equally fatal to the sheep, and 
they are bred only with a view to sale, for carriage to the Bhotias, who 


willingly pay from three to six rupees each for them. 


The grain is ground by means of water mills, which are extremely nu- 
merous: the declivity of the rivers, which is always considerable, greatly aids 


the erection of these machines. A small stream being diverted from the 


188 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


main channel, is carried on a level along the bank, until a sufficient height is 
obtained to admit of a fall of eight or ten feet : the mill is then erected below, 
and the stream is directed by an inelined wooden trough on an over shot 
wheel. The mill stones are commonly from one anda half to two feet in dia- 
meter: the grain is placed in a funnel-shaped bag, suspended over a hole in 
the centre of the upper stone, and drops gradually from it as in an hour glass. 
By a simple contrivance the shoot of water can be increased or diminished at 
pleasure, and the wheel is stopped by removing the wooden trough, when the 
water passes through a channel under the wheel. A mill requires but one 
person (usually a boy,) to attend it, and will grind from three to four maunds 
in the day. Where the diverted stream is sufficiently large, two or more 
mills are erected together, and worked by separate branches from it. The 
charges for grinding are usually two to three seers in the maund, includ- 
ing wastage: this, however, is small, as the flour is not cleared from the 


bran. 


The public revenue under the former Rajas, arose from duties on com- 
merce, agriculture, mines and law proceedings. An impost was laid on ghee, 
payable by the owners of cattle, at a fixed rate for each animal, amounting 
to four annas on a female buffaloe. The weavers throughout the province, 
were also subject to a separate tax. ‘The assessment of land was, generally 
speaking, light, the government demand on agriculture being rated at only 
one-third of the gross produce in ordinary lands, and at one half in the very 


fertile. In mines, the royal share amounted to one half. 


The collection was made in two forms—being imposed one year on the 
land, and a second year levied by a capitation tax on the inhabitants. As 
these, however, consisted solely of persons connected with agriculture, the 
source from which the payments were made, was necessarily the same, 
though the mode and detail of cess varied. 


OF KAMAON. 189 


As the records of the above period, yield little or no information of the 
rents of lands and villages, rent free to individuals in tenure of service, or 
assigned to temples, it is impossible to form any correct account of the 
income derived from the country by the government or their representatives. 
Judging, however, from the very superior degree of population and cul- 
tivation which then existed, the sovereign’s share of the gross produce of the 
country may be computed at about four lacks kucha rupees for Kamaon, and 
two for the districts of Gerhwal. The extraordinary revenue was levied in the 
form ofa general house tax, and, of course, varied in its amount according to 
the nature of the emergency on which it was imposed. To account for the 
subsequent deterioration in the resources of the country, a short view of the 


Gorkha revenue administration is necessary. 


On the successive conquests of Kamaon and Gerhwal, by that power, 
the existing system was continued, and the country, including all the villages 
hitherto reserved for the support of the court and their attendants, was par- 
celled out in separate assignments to the invading army, and as this was kept 
up on a large scale, with the view to further conquests, the value of each 
assignment was estimated at an excessive rate, to meet the expenditure. The 
consequences may be easily surmised: the troops considering themselves 
merely as temporary holders, and looking forward to a change of as- 
signment on every new acquisition, felt no interest in the condition or welfare 
of the land holders made over to them The emigration, in the first instance, 
of a large portion of the principal Zemindars, tended still further to increase 
the evil. ‘The villages were every where assessed rather on a consideration 
of the supposed means of the inhabitants, than on any computation of 
their agricultural produce. Balances soon ensued, to liquidate which, the 
families and effects of the defaulter were seized and sold; a ready market 
for the former presenting itself in the neighbouring towns of Rohil- 
khand. 

2A 


190 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


The consequent depopulation was rapid and excessive; as is fully proved 
in the numerous waste villages deserted at that period, and in the incomplete 
state of cultivation which prevails generally in the villages still inhabited. 
After the conquests of the Nipal government had been further extended, 
and the subjection in this quarter fully established, measures were adopted to 
remedy these disorders. A commission was accordingly deputed immediate- 
ly from Katmandu, for the purpose of fixing the revenues at an equitable 
rate. The settlement was formed on actual inspection of the resources of each 
village, but as the estimated profits of the trade carried on by the residents 
were taken into consideration, the assessment must be viewed rather as a tax 
founded on the number of inhabitants, than on the extent of cultivation. On 
the completion of this survey, a detailed account of each pergunna, showing 
the numbers, names, size, and extent of the villages, was submitted for the 
approbation of the Court of Nipal. From thence a copy, under the seal of 
state, was issued to the Kamins, or principal landholders, as a standard of the 
revenue demandable from their respective patiis, corresponding instructions 
being issued to the Officers holding assignments. The form of these accounts, 
together with the names and nature of the items, of which the revenue was 
composed, will be seen in statement (B) which gives an abstract of the total 
revenue as fixed for Kamaon and the Gerhwal districts by the commissioners 
in question. The demand thus authorized, generally speaking, was by no 
means excessive or unreasonable, but the absence of a controuling power on 
the spot, rendered the arrangement almost nugatory, and the military chiefs 
were enabled to evade it by the power vested in them, of imposing fines, at 
their own discretion, in the administration of the interior police. In Gerhwal, 
where the conquest had been more recent, these exactions were more heavy : 
the Jama imposed, soon exceeded what the country could yield, the deficiency 


annually increasing from the attempt to enforce the full demand. 


The silver metallic currency in this province consists, principally, of new’ 


OF KAMAON. 191 


Furruckabad rupees. A few old Furruckabad and Barelly rupees are to be 


met with in circulation, as also Mahendar Mullees, a Gorkha coin, which 
passes for six annas. ‘The copper coin is pice, 176 of which equal one Fur- 
ruckabad rupee: cowrees are not used. In Gerhwal, in addition to the above, 
there is a three anna piece called Timashi, which is a favorite coin there. 
Under the former government, a mint for stamping the Timashi, existed 
at Srinagar: this has now been abolished, and this description of mo- 
ney having, in consequence, become scarce, has been greatly enhanced in its 
nominal value. Five only, instead of six, as formerly, are now procurable for 
the new Furruckabad rupees, the intrinsic worth is not much above two annas. 
The current rupee of account, throughout the province, is the same, being 
equivalent to 12 annas, new Furruckabad rupees. Gold coins are merely 
purchased for their metal, for making ornaments ; a Calcutta sicca gold 
mohur sells, in the market here, for 19 new Furruchkabad rupees, and other 
gold mohurs in proportion. The Tartar gold does not fetch more than from 14 
to 15 rupees the fo/a. In Gerhwal, copper, in weight, would appear to have 
been once the principal medium of exchange. This circumstance, no doubt, 
arose from that metal forming the staple commodity of the country. In 
adherence to old usages, the Zemindars of Gerhwal, even now, in many of 
their contracts, stipulate a part of the price in a given weight of copper, but 


as this is no longer plentiful, the whole amount is paid in silver coin. 


Grain, salt, and such articles are sold chiefly by measures of capacity. In 
Kamaon, the measure in use is the nal, equal to about two seers of 83 
Furruckabad sicca weight ; fifteen nals make one perai, and twenty nalts’ 
make one rini: In Gerhwal, the nali, there called patha, is subdivided 
into manas. 

Thus, 4 Manas = 1 Patha. 
16 Pathas = 1 Dhon. 
20 Dhon = 1 Khari. 


192 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


In the sale of metals, cotton, &c. the products of the country, the 
weight is commonly ascertained by the steel-yard. In this instrument the 
weight is fixed, and the object to be weighed, is moved along the lever, which 
is divided into puis and pice. 

83 Pice making 1 Pul, and 
20 Puls making 1 Dam. 


This latter forms the maximum weight of the steel-yard, and is equal to about 
100 Furruckabad rupees. In measuring cloth, the cubit is generally adopted. 
At Almora and Srinagar, the weights and measures ‘of the plains, on a 
reduced scale, were also inuse. These have now been fixed at a regulated 
standard, the seer weighing 84 Furruckabad milled rupees, and the guj, equal 
to the English yard. 


The manufactures in these hills are so trifling, as scarcely to deserve par- 
ticular mention. ‘The principal are blankets, made in the northern pergun- 
nas, pankhis, a coarse woolen camblet, also made there, and in Bhote, ban- 
gelas, ahempen cloth, manufactured in the midland parts of Gerhwal, where 
it forms the principal materials for clothes to the inhabitants during the hot 
season. Wooden vessels, of various forms and shapes, and made from several spe- 
cies of wood. Coarse cotton cloth is weaved in small quantities. Mats and 
baskets, of all kinds, are prepared from the small male bamboo, in a very neat 
style. The artisans universally exhibit great want of neatness and finish in 
the execution of their work, more particularly the smiths in iron and copper 
utensils which are invariably rough and ill-formed. ‘The potters throughout 
the province, excepting those at Srinagar, are unacquainted with the use of 
the wheel. ‘The turning lathe, the large saw, and the plane, are unknown 
- here: planks are split from the tree by the axe, and then partially smoothed 
by the adze. It may be mentioned as a’curious fact, that the spirit blow pipe 


is to be met with in Gerfwal, where it is sometimes used by goldsmiths : this 


- OF KAMAON. 193 


instrument is composed of iron, and filled with whisky distilled from rice, 


and when used it is placed on a brazier of burning charcoal. 


The traffic of the province is divided into two branches: first, the sale of 
the produce of the hills, and secondly, the carrying trade with Tartary: this 
latter again passes through two hands, the Bhoteas, who hold direct inter- 
course with the Tartars, and the hill traders, who furnish returns and receive 
the Tartar merchandize in barter : the nature of the former of these transac- 
tions will be reserved for a separate article. The migratory habits of the 
Zemindars of the southern pergunnas, have given rise to a very general diffu- 


sion of commercial enterprise among them, and every individual ‘possessed 


of a small capital, either singly or jointly with others, engages in traffic. 


With an investment composed of iron, copper, ginger, turmeric and other 
hill roots and drugs, the adventurer proceeds to the nearest mart in the 
plains, and there receives in barter for his merchandize, coarse chintz, cotton 
cloths, gz, tobacco, colored glass beads and hardware, which return, after 
supplying the wants of himself and friends, is disposed of at the villages in 
the midland and northern pergunnas, or is reserved for sale till a fair occurs 
in the neighbourhood. ‘Those, again, whose credit or resources are more con- 
siderable, enter eagerly into the Tartar trade. ‘The imports from the plains 
are, in this case, the same as above enumerated, as fine manufactures or expen- 
sive articles are only brought up when previously bespoke; from the Bhoteas 
they receive in exchange, partly cash and partly Tartar and Bhote 
productions. The latter comprise hawks, musk, pankhis, (coarse camlets) 
wax, masi (frankincense) kutki, and a variety of other roots and drugs. 
The Tartar products consist of borax, salt, gold-dust, and chawr tails. 
The zeal and industry evinced by this class of traders, in the execution 
of commissions, is very great, as they frequently proceed in person as 
far as Furruckabad and Lucknow, in search of the articles required from 
them. 
> 28 


194 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


The commerce carried on by merchants, is of the same nature as that 
last described, the only additional merchandize, not included in the above des 


tail, supplied or received by them, in barter with the Bhoteeas, consists of 


Deliveries. Receipts. 
Fine Sugar Candy. Shawl Wool. 
Spices of all kinds. Coarse Shawls. 
Europe Broad Cloth. Ditto China Silks. 
Corals. Saffron. 
Bulgar Hides. 
Ponies. 


An enumeration of the exports and imports, from this province to the 
plains, is given in the appendix. As the value of the former by no means 
equals that of the latter, the deficiency is made up in specie. No transit duties 
being collected, it is impossible to form any correct estimate of the total value 
of the imports and exports : between four and five lacks for the first, and from 
three lacks to three lacks and a quarter for the other, is probably within the 


actual amount. 


There can be no doubt that every branch of commerce in this pro- 
vince, more particularly that with Tartary, has experienced very great im. 
provement during the last six years, and has probably been augmented in the 
proportion of full two-fifths. The only check to trade which now exists, arises 
from the expence and difficulties of carriage. At present, every kind of 
merchandize is transported on coolies, who carry from thirty seers to one maund 
pakha. ‘The hire from Almora to Kasipur, the nearest mart in the plains, 
is two rupees and eight annas to each man, and the Almora merchant, accord- 
ingly, adds twenty-five per cent. on the Kasipur invoice price, to cover 


this and other incidental charges, and to allow him a profit. Proceeding 


OF KAMAON. 195 


further in the interior, the prices gradually rises; and at the foot of the 
Himalaya, may be stated at from fifty to seventy-five per cent. above the 
cost in the plains. With the formation of public roads, practicable for beasts — 


of burthen, these obstacles will: gradually cease. 


It now only remains to mention the marts of principal resort for the hill 
trade. To the east, the Mandi of Belhari is frequented by the merchants of 
Champawat, and the traders of the eastern district; whilst the commerce 
of Almora and of the remainder of Kamaon (proper) is carried on with 
Kasipur and the Chilkia Mandi; to these also now flows that of the eastern 
pureunnas of Gerhwal. Afzelgerh is the market for the midland and Najibabad 
for the western parts of Gerhwaland for Srinagar. Since the establish- 
ment of the British government, the petty traders by no means confine their 
transactions to these marts, but visit also most of the principal towns of 
Rohilkhand for the purposes of traffic. ‘The merchants of Almora and 
Srinagar have no established correspondents at any town in the plains, 
with the exception of the marts above enumerated. There are no village 
marts for the disposal of agricultural and other produce, but the periodical 
melas, or fairs, at religious places of pilgrimage, to which the traders resort, 


are frequent in all parts of the country. 


The foregoing view comprises only the commerce of the hills; a further 
branch in this province is that of the timbers, bamboos, terra japonica, &c., 
the produce of the forests in the Bhadwar. This trade is engrossed by the 
inhabitants of the towns and villages of Rohilkhand, bordering on the Tarai, 
from whence, as the hill Zemindars have no transport, they are obliged to sell 
the articles on the spot at a low price, very inadequate to the labor expended 
in cutting and preparing them. The carriage inuse, consists of hackeries 
and large buffaloes : tatoos are also used for the conveyance of light articles. 


The foregoing remark applies equally to the traffic in Kuth, or terra 


196 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


japonica, though not from the same cause: this article is prepared only by 
persons of the lowest, or Dom cast, who, having no capital of their own, are 
obliged to work on advances, either at a given rate for the produce, or in the 
shape of wages. ‘These speculations prove extremely profitable, and the re- 
turns are always quick. ‘The Kuth does not cost the capitalist more than 
from five to eight rupees the maund, while in Rampur and other large towns 
of Rohilkhand, the price is commonly from ten to fourteen rupees the maund. 
The trade in timber, &c., proves equally advantageous; a hackery load, 
the original cost of which may have been two rupees, with an additional ex- 
pence of eight annas, government impost, sells for more than double at the 
nearest mart. ‘The continuance of these high profits is, no doubt, to be attri- 
buted to the almost universal dread entertained of the climate of the Tarai 
forests. ‘The people who now carry on the trade, are, with few exceptions, 
invariably Mohammedans. For the convenience of the purchasers, the hill 
Zemindars have established small Mandis, or marts, at which the timbers and 
bamboos are collected, when cut and prepared; they are conveyed thither by 
manual labor. ‘The forests nearest the plains being now totally exhausted 
of timber, the traders are obliged to come almost to the foot of the hills, 
where a supply of the finest timbers, calculated for the consumption 
of years, presents itself. Szsw forms an exception, as large trees of this 
species are becoming scarce in every part of the Kamaon forests. A list 
of the productions exported from the Tarai forests, will be found in the 


appendix. 


A short view of the present Judicial and Revenue Systems, will now be 
taken. The first calls for little notice, as the general absence of crimes in 
this province, renders this branch of administration of minor importance. 
Exom the Ist January, 1820, to the 31st December 1821, the total of 
criminals confined in jail, amounted to sixty-five, for the undermentioned 
offences.— 


) / 
OF KAMAON. 197 


No. of Prisoners. No. of Crimes. 
Nicene Siw i505 i oh i Sek dean dote be Rola elli 
Thefts above 50 rupees, ...... 8 g 
OTGCHY Bais.) Meee ewer ise th rett i MENT pew Dhgeagit iad 2.80 
emir Varn Vachyhbiee Wuidso beset see? L Hp aeE LY Boece lel 
Xcunltenysl Me lygnl See iin att Shani OO Tee joni: Ales oS 
Petty thefts and receiving stolen 
property, I x. alba, babes a 


Assaults, defamation, and me ag 


OO ine Ae 


y e@oe eae eee eee e@oce 15 
petty misdemeanors, ... 2... 


—ee Se 


Total, eee eve 65 eco 46000 860 e eee 43 


In addition to the preceding, one murder, ana two thefts above fifty 
rupees were perpetrated, in which the offenders eluded apprehension. A ffrays 
of a serious nature are of very rare occurrence, and even petty assaults are 
not. frequent. Decoities sometimes take place in the Bhéwar or Tarai, 
perpetrated by robbers from the neighbouring districts of Rohilkhand, to 
which they return immediately after the commission of the crime. The 
offence of adultery is, from the lax state of morals, extremely common among 
the lower orders, but it seldom forms a subject of complaint in the court, 
except when accompanied by the abduction of the adultress. Infanticide was 
formerly practised among some Rajput families of high caste, attached to the 
Raja’s court at Srinagar, but since the emigration of these persons on the 
Gorkha invasion, no case has ever occurred in the province. Suicide is very 
prevalent among females of the lower classes. ‘The commission of this act is 
rarely found to have arisen from any immediate cause of quarrel, but is com- 
monly ascribable solely to the disgust of life generally prevalent among these 
persons. The hardships and neglect to which the females in this province 
are subjected, will sufficiently account for this distate of life, as with a trifling 


Qc 


198 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


exception, the whole labor of the agricultural and domestic economy is left to 
them, while food and clothing are dealt out to them with a sparing hand. 
Suicide is never committed by males, except in cases of leprosy, when, as in 
other parts of India, the leper sometimes buries himself alive. Deaths from 
wild beasts are very frequent ; they probably do not fall short of one hundred 
annually. Complaints against individuals for sorcery and witchcraft are very 
common indeed ; an infatuated belief in the existence of such power, pervading 
the whole body of the inhabitants of this province. All cases of unusual or 
sudden sickness and mortality, are immediately ascribed to witchcraft, and 
individuals are sometimes murdered, on suspicion of having occasioned such 
calamities. Applications to the court on the subject of caste are numerous: 
these are invariably referred to the Pundit of the court, whose decree de- 
livered to the party concerned, is always conclusive. These references are, no 
doubt, a consequence of the practice established under the former govern- 
ments, by which the cognizance of cases involving deprivation of caste, was 
confined to the Government Court. The public at large still appear to con- 
sider such reference as the only effectual means for obtaining restoration and 


absolution. 


The management of the Police in the interior, is entrusted to the Tah- 
sildars, and the only establishments exclusively devoted to this duty, are the 
Thanas at Almora, and at the five principal Ghats, towards the plains, namely, 
Kotdwara, Dhikuli, Kota, Bhamouri and Timlf. ‘The expence of thesé estab- 
lishments amounts to three thousand and sixty-two rupees per mensem ; the 
charges under the same head, on the ist May, 1816, stood at eight hundred 


and seventy-two rupees per mensem. 


The provincial battalion is also available for police duties, and during 
the healthy season, from November to April inclusive, a line of guards, ex- 


tending along the frontier of Rohilkhand, are stationed for the protection of 


OF KAMAON. 199 


the Tarai from Decoits. ‘These posts have superceded the Chokis formerly 
occupied by the Hert and Mewatt Chokidars, who, under the former go- 
vernments, engaged, on certain considerations, to repress robberies in the 
Tarai, and made themselves answerable for the restoration of all property 
which might be stolen within their respective jurisdictions. The remunera- 
tion for this service consisted in a fixed tax leviable on all persons, mer- 
chandize, or cattle, passing certain limits. On the introduction of the British 
government, it was found, that the system itself was far from efficient, and 
that numerous abuses were daily practised in the collection of the authorized 
Chokidari dues. Thefts of cattle were frequent, and suspicion attached to the 
Chokidars themselves, of being participators, if not principals in their perpetra- 
tion. The responsibility of the head Chokidar proved merely nominal, as res- 
titution of the stolen property was, in most instances, evaded. The system 
was, on these grounds, totally abolished in the year 1817, and the advantages 
resulting from this measure have been fully evinced, in the almost total sup- 
pression of robberies and other outrages, hitherto so prevalent in that part of 
the country : the Tarai under the Gerhwal Pergunnas, which is almost wholly 
in the Moradabad jurisdiction, must be excepted in this remark. No class of 
people answering to the village Chokidars in the plains, are to be found in this 


province. 


In Civil Judicature, the simple forms of the preceding government have 
been generally retained. The petition originating the suit, is required to be 
written on an eight anna stamp, but no institution or other fees are levied: a 
notice, in the form of ztala nama, is then issued, which process is served by the 
plaintiff, and in three cases out of four, produces a compromise between the 
parties: where ineffectual, it is returned by the plaintiff into court, when 
the defendant is summoned. ‘The parties then plead their cause in person, 
and should facts be disputed on either side, evidence is called for. Oaths 


are never administered, except in particular cases, andat the express desire of 


Hey, 


200 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


either of the parties. Suits, for the division of property, or settlement of 
accounts, are commonly referred to arbitrators selected by the parties. In 
the issue and execution of decrees, the established forms are followed, but 
the leniency of the native creditors renders imprisonment and sales, in 
satisfaction of decrees, uncommon: since the introduction of the British go- 
vernment, only eight debtors have been confined in the Almora jail, six at the 
suit of individuals, and two on public demands in the commercial and com- 
missariat departments. At present, only one court (the commissioner’s) exists 
in the province for the cognizance of civil claims, and the absence of fees 
and simplicity of forms, as therein practised, joined to its frequent removal to 
every part of the country, have hitherto tended to prevent any inconvenience 
being experienced from the want of Moofusil courts. The gratuitous 
administration of justice, has not been found to excite litigation, as the 
absence of native pleaders, and the celerity with which causes are decided, 
operate as checks to such an abuse. ‘The number of civil suits enter- 
tained during the year, from 1st January to the 31st December, 1822, 
amounted to 1,462, of which only four hundred and thirty-eight proceeded 
to the summons of the defendant; of the latter, one hundred and thirty-one 
were subsequently withdrawn, by Razinamas, and three hundred and seven 
finally adjudicated. Disputes regarding land, form the greater portion of 
suits instituted. The value of those in action rarely exceeds one hundred 
rupees. The proceedings of the court are written in the Hindi, with the 
exception of the examinations, which, for the sake of expedition, are recorded 


in the Persian. 


The revenue administration is here conducted on the same principles as 


are in force in the plains. On the conquest of the province, as a temporary 


_ arrangement, the revenue of each Pergunna was farmed for one year to 


the Kamin or Siyana. ‘The receipts of the preceding year, as exhibited in 


the Kanongo returns, were assumed as a standard, a deduction of twenty-five 


OF KAMAON. 201 


per cent. being allowed for the difference of currency. The Jumma thus 
fixed, amounted to 123,577 Furruckabad rupees. At the expiration of this 
settlement, the Padhins were called upon to engage for the assessment of 
their respective villages : as this mode of collection was, in some degree, 
novel, and as the individual responsibility of the Padhdns remained to 
be ascertained, the arrangement in question was only partially introduced, 
and the leases restricted to one year, at a Jumma of 1,37,949 rupees. 
The success with which this experiment was attended, and the punctuality 
with which the revenue was realized, led to an extension of the system on 
the third settlement, which was fixed for a period of three years, at a Jumma 
of 1,60,206 rupees. ‘The present settlement was formed on the same prin- 
ciple, and from the reluctance of the Médlguzdrs to engage for a longer 
period, was again fixed fora term of three years. ‘The objections preferred 
against a longer lease were founded on the migratory habits of the lower 
class of cultivators. The Jumma of the Ist year, or 1877, amounted to 1,69,394 
rupees, which has been raised in the last year of the term, 1879, by the 
‘rents of new villages, to 1,76,664 rupees. ‘This sum is collected from 7883 


Malguzars, and is comprised of the following items :—~ 


Wess om Agriculture; ies i.e é sdsesie) 1,69,566 
Ditto ditto Copper Mines, cueae SMAn ivi S5360 
Ditto ditto Iron Mines, Wisco osleces tt LLOO 
Ditto ditto Pasturage, AS ME roes 2,638 


A further branch, at former settlements, consisted of cess on the profits 
of trade, under which head 7000 rupees were annually collected from the 
Bhoteas. ‘This source was forgone at the last settlement, and a remission 
to that amount made to the Bhofeas. ‘The revenue derived from timbers, 
bamboos, kuth, &c., in the Tarai forests, may also be included in the land 
assessment, as, although leyied in the shape of duties fromthe exporters, it 


2D 


202 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


is, in fact, the government share in the value of the national products of 
those forests, all of which are public property. ‘These duties have been 


hitherto let to farm on annual leases, at the undermentioned Jumma :— 


1816-17 17-18 18-19 19-20 20-21 21-22 22-93 
1,721 2,841 3,200 3,987 4,850 5,503 6,302 


The total improvement which has taken place in these various branches of 
assessment, since the conquest, falls little short of 60,000 rupees, without 


taking into account the remission of 7,000 rupees above-mentioned. 


Notwithstanding the general lightness of the government demand, a very 
extensive revision of the detailed assessment has been found indispensable at 
each succeeding settlement. ‘This necessity has arisen from the contracted 
state of the laboring population, which renders it difficult for any Malguzdér 
to replace sudden casualties among his tenants. In the present state of 
minute village assessment, the death or desertion of even a single culti- 
vator, adds greatly to the burthen of the remaining tenants: where 
further losses occur, immediate remissions are generally made to save the 
village from total desertion. Such defalcations are supplied from a cor- 
responding improvement in other estates, and as contingencies of this 
nature are best known. to the surrounding Mélguz4rs, the distribution 
of the Pergunnah assessment has been, hitherto, intrusted to the Padhéns 
themselves. ‘This measure is executed in a general assembly, or Panchait, of 
the parties concerned in the scale of the expired Jumma: the increase is, sub- 
sequently, laid on in the shape of a percentage. The general equity with which 
these mutual assessments have been conducted, is sufficiently evinced in the 
facility and punctuality with which they have been realised. The village 
settlements are formed with the established Padhdn in all cases, except 


where objected to, on sufficient grounds, by the remaining sharers on the 


OF EAMAON. 903 


estate. The nature and dues of the above office have already been described : 
the small parcels of land attached to it, are particularly specified in the lease 
as Hek Padhdnchdri; the total of such lands in Kamaon proper amounts to 
about 5000 standard, Bisis, being recorded at 6970 nominal Bisis. In Gerhwal, 
no public allowance of this nature exists, but a similar arrangement has always 


been made by the joint proprietors of the estate in favor of the Padhdn. 


It now only remains to be considered how far the rents paid by the actual 
cultivators correspond with the public demand. A large portion of the pro- 
vince, not less, probably, than three-fourths of the villages, are wholly cul- 
tivated by the actual proprictors of the land, from whom, of course, nothing can 
be demanded beyond their respective quotas of the village assessment. In 
these cases, the settlement is, literally speaking, Ryatwara, although the lease 
is issued only in the name of one, or at most of two sharers in the estate. 
The remaining part of the province may be comprised under two descrip- 
tions of estates : First; Those villages in which the right of property is recogniz- 
ed in the heirs of former grantees, while the right of cultivation remains with 
the descendants of the original occupants. Jn these, the rents are commonly 
paid in “ Kit,” or kind, at an invariable rate, as fixed at the period of the 
grant. Secondly; All villages in which the right, both of property and oc- 
cupancy, have become vested in one and the same individual. In these, the 
Mialguzar has necessarily the discretion of demanding the full extent of the 
“ Malik Hissa,” or government share, supposing no fixed agreement to have 
been made between him and his tenants; but such improvidence on the part 
of the latter rarely occurs, and the great competition which exists for cultiva- 
tors, in consequence of the contracted state of the labouring population as 
compared with the extent of the arable land, will long secure favourable terms 
and treatment to this important class of the community. Under this descrip- 
tion of villages are included those newly brought into cultivation, and the 


Pachasht lands ; of the first, the proprietary right is always granted to the 


204 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


reclaimer, in consideration of the expence incurred by him in the enterprise. 
By the term Paekasht, is implied all lands which are cultivated by non-resident 
tenants. In the Tarai, the system of rents is, in some respects, different. The 
estates there are, generally speaking, of large extent, but none are permanently 
inhabited with the exception of the villages of the Tharus and Bogsas, in the 
low Tarai, adjoining Rohilkhand. In these, the rents are calculated by the 
plough of land at an easy rate, never exceeding the proportion of one-tenth 
of the gross produce. In the upper parts of the Tarai, the farms are tempo- 
rarily occupied by the hill Zemindars during the cold season ; during the re- 
mainder of the year, the danger of the climate occasions their almost total 
desertion. ‘The rabi crop, consequently, forms the chief source of rent to the 
Médiguzar: the individual rates vary from four annas to three rupées the 


plough, according to the supply of water available for irrigation. 


The local divisions having been found inconveniently numerous for the 
purposes of account and management, many of the petty divisions have re- 
cently been united to the adjoining pergunnas, of which they will, in future, 
form sub-divisions, while a few districts, composed of villages dispersed in va- 
rious parts of the province, have also been broken up, and their villages re- 


incorporated with their original pergunnas. 


By these arrangements, the number of pergunnas has been reduced to 


twenty-six, as detailed in statement (A.) 


The revenue establishments now consist of four Tahsildaris, the relative 


extent and expence of which are as follows :— 


No. of Villages. | Annual Jumma.|Annual Expence. 


Kamaon Hazur Tahisil,: o.6:555.cis'e'sjs; + olelsyere A421 90253 8030 
KalisKamaons Ss ci oe test. 1162 28940 2106 
Gerhwal Srinagar, ........ Bip vie seiqinvsiaia « 2241 28149 2148 
Chandpur oi. eo a ee ogee 1210 293520" 2148 


| Total, ..| 9034 176663 9432 


OF KAMAON. 205 


On the ist June, 1816, the number of Tahsildaris was eight, at an annual 
expense of 20,216 rupees; since that period a reduction has also been effected | 
in the Sudder native establishment, the yearly total of which is now 7488, in- 
stead of 9840, as it then stood. ‘The Defteris, or Kanongos, nine in number, 
receive salaries to the aggregate of 3009 rupees per annum. Nine pergunna 
Patwaris have been established with a monthly stipend of five rupees each. 


The revenue of the resumed nankar lands has fully covered these allowances. 


Of the mode of collections, it is only necessary to state, that the demand 
is divided into four kists, three of which fall on the kharjf; and -one on the 


tabi crop. No talabana is levied from the mélguzars. 


Transit duties of every description were finally abolished in this province 
in 1818. The consumption of spirituous liquors and drugs is trifling, and the 
revenue from that source correspondingly small, the present not exceeding 
500 rupees annually. The use of stampt paper has been partially introduced 
in Judicial proceedings, during the last two years. The annual receipt on 
this account now amounts to 2000 rupees. A comparative view of receipts 
and expenditure of the province in the years 1815-16 and 1822-23, will be 


seen in the Appendix, statement E. 


The rent-free lands may be classed under two heads, first the ‘‘ Grint,” 
or religious assignments, and secondly, those granted to individuals. ‘The 
* Gunt’’ villages amount to 973, and contain about 1-15th of the arable lands 
of the province, all of which are permanently alienated from the rent-roll of 
government. ‘There are 175 villages enjoyed by individuals, the rakba of which 
may be estimated at 3000 bisis, or 1-70th of the arable lands of the province : 
the terms on which these lands are held are various, mostly for life. The 
largest rent-free estate in the possession of an individual yields about 1,000 Rs. 
per anium, and is held on a grant from the Nipal government in tenure of 


PHD 


206 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


perpetuity. The total revolution which took place in the government at the 
Gorkha conquest, and the comparative recentness of that event, will explain 
the small extent of the Jagir lands. At that period, all grants in favor of the 
public and private servants of the former Rajas were resumed, and. subse- 
quently, the Jagirs of private individuals, including even those of the Brah- 
mins, were, with few exceptions, subjected to the same measure. During the 
last seven years, upwards of 150 villages, including those in Nankar, have been 
re-annexed to the rent-roll. The greater part of these had been surreptitiously 
abstracted from the public assessment, by the connivance of the executive of- 
ficers of the Nipal government. The pensions chargeable on the revenues of 
this province, amount to 21,670 rupees per annum, according to the following 


distribution : 
Per annum. 


Pensions of ) In perpetuity to Religious Establishments. 2,152 
former nk life torindividtalss:) assias. 2 litsa deed pgSes 

Granted by } For life in Political Department. ... ... 9,600 
- British sete do. Military Invalid allowances. ... 9,570 


It now only remains to offer a few concluding observations on the State of 


the Province and of its Inhabitants. 


The deterioration which had taken place under the Gorkha governinent, 
has already been mentioned. On the conquest in 1815, cultivation was 
found at its lowest ebb, the rent-free villages alone exhibiting a thriving 
appearance. ‘The laboring classes had been reduced to the extremest 
indigence, while the Kamins and Siyanas were, for the greater part, over- 
~whelmed with debts, contracted for the liquidation of the public demands. 
Since that period, a variety of causes have combined to ameliorate the 
condition of the industrious portion of the community. Light assessments, 


attended with constant high prices of produce, have more than doubled the 


OF KAMAON. : 207 


profits of agriculttre, while the increased competition which has taken place in 
the trade with this province, has considerable enhanced the value of its exports. 
To the laboring classes, more particularly those in the neighbourhood of 
the military posts, the public works and the transport of stores have afforded 
continued sources of employment. ‘The aggregate expenditure under these 
heads, during the last eight years has, probably, not been muchshortof 4 lacks 
of rupees, a large sum as compared with the amount of the population by which 
it will have been absorbed. It cannot, however, be denied, that the demand for 
labor on these accounts has, at some periods, been so excessive as to prove the 
occasion of inconvenience and hardship to the people concerned. Partial re- 
-ductions in the military force, and the augmented resources of the province, 
have, in some measure, counteracted the evil. The whole province exhibits 
ample proofs of improvement; indeed it may be fairly stated, that the 
present cultivation exceeds that of 1815, in the proportion of full one-third. 
From the subdivided state of landed property, which here exists, few 
individual landholders have the means of acquiring wealth, but though all 
connected with the soil are confined toa state of equality, their condition, as 
a body, is no doubt superior to that of any similar class of tenants, in any part 
of the Company’s territories. A knowledge of these advantages has induced 
a continual emigration of cultivators from the adjoining previnces of the 
Rajas of Nipaland Gerhwal. To some of the principal Kamins and Brahmins, 
the introduction of the British government, by destroying their former 
influence, has proved a cause of regret, but to the great bulk of the popula- 


tion, this event has been a source Of unceasing benefits and congratulation. 


ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS. 


Page 137. The Province of Kamaon, as now formed, comprises the whole 
of the Raj of that name, together with a large portion of the principality 
of Gerhwal. Strictly speaking, the name of Kamaon is applicable only to 
the country lying between the Kali, or Gogra, and the Ramgangd, to which 
tract it was given by the Rajas of the last race, who sprung originally from a 
Chieftain of the Pergunna of that name. The appellation of Gerhwal is said 
to have been derived from the number of Gerhs (Fort) formerly existing 
there. Almora is said to have been so named from the abundance of wild 


sorrel (Almort) which grows in its vicinity. 


Page 153. A remarkable variety of snake is the ‘‘ Churao,” a species of 
Boa of immense size, found only on high mountains, and in the wildest soli- 
tudes. -It is said to prey chiefly on deer and other wild animals, but occa- 
sionally seizes and swallows cattle which may have approached its cave. By 
the lower orders, more particularly the herdsmen, fabulous powers and features 
are ascribed to this animal: among other wonders, it is said to possess a long 
flowing mane of red hair, and to make use of a large pine tree as a walking 
stick, when descending the mountains. Of the real existence of the Churao, 
"(stripped of these wonderful attributes) there can be no doubt, as it is occa- 


sionally killed by hunters. 


OF KRAMAON. ; 209 


The “ Gola,” or ** Gosamp,”’ is nearly white in the northern parts of the 
hills, and its skin, which is extremely hard, and forms a handsome material 
for sword scabbards, is rendered the more valuable from the scarceness of 


the animal. 


Page 160. They represent themselves as being the descendants of one 
of the aboriginal princes of Kamaon, who, with his family, fled to the jungles 
to escape the destruction threatened by an usurper: under the pretension to 
royal origin, the Rdawats, or Rajis, abstain from offering to any individual, what- 
ever his rank, the usual eastern salutation. ‘The orgin of this tribe, howsoever 
the claim to regal descent be disposed of, must certainly be referred to some 
race of inhabitants anterior to the settlement of the present race. The great 
difference in customs and religion from the Hindu tenets, which exists 
among the Rais, might be ascribed to the savage mode of life pursued by 
them and their ancestors for so long a period, but the total dissimilitude of 
language, which renders the Raji and present Kumaya wholly unintelligible 
to each other, cannot be accounted for in the same mode, and can only be 
attributed to a separate origin. A conjecture may be hazarded, that the out- 
castes, or Doms, are in part descended from the aborigines. A marked dif- 
ference exists in the personal appearance of this class and of the Hindu 
inhabitants ; the former being, for the most part, extremely dark, almost black, 
with crisp curly hair: they are, at the same time, in a state of nearly universal 
slavery, a circumstance which, from its extent, can scarcely be ascribed wholly 
to the mere process of purchase, but which may be explained by supposing a 
part of the aboriginal inhabitants to have been seized by the first Hindu 


colonists, and reduced to slavery, in which state their descendants have since 


remained. 


Page 161. The name “ Badari,’’ is derived from Badar7, Sanscrit, the 
Beri or Jujube. The legends respecting the origin of this idol differ: by 


QFE 


o~ 


210 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


one account, it is said to have been, in remote ages, an object of peculiar ve- 
neration and worship in the adjoining province of Thibet, from whence it 
fled, about seventeen centuries past, to the spot on which the temple now 
stands: the second, and more probable legend, represents the idol to have been 
originally found in the river near the temple, which was then erected and de- 
dicated to it by Sankardchdri, a missionary from the peninsula of India: the 
appearance of the idol, which bears scarcely any resemblance to the human 
form, and exhibits evident traces of having been once worn, and polished by 


the action of water, gives strength to this tradition. 


Keddarndath, an incarnation of Sadasheo, is not a form of Vishnu,* but the 
word ‘** Kedar,’’ is divided from “ Ke,”’ Sanscrit, water, and ** Dér,” abound- 
ing with: the worship of this idol, at its present site, is carried back to the 
remote of fabulous ages, being ascribed originally to the Pandavas. These 
brothers, after their battles with the giants, are said to have proceeded to 
Haridwar, with a view to expiations and to worship Sadaseo. ‘That god, 
alarmed at their approach, fled under the form of a buffalo, and was pursued 
by them to Kedar, at which spot he dived into the earth, leaving only his 
posteriors visible above ground. ‘This part, of which the Pandavas established 
the worship, continues to receive the adoration of the pilgrims at Kedar. 
The remaining portions of the body of the god receive worship at the tem- 
ples of ‘ Kalpeswar,” “ Madhyameswar,” ‘ Rudrandth,” and “ Tungandath,’ 
all situated along the Himdlaya chain, and which, together with Keddrnith, 
form the Panch Kedar, a peculiar object of pilgrimage to pious votaries, but 


which, from the difficulties of the roads, few are able to accomplish. 


In the rear of Kedar is the Himdlaya peak of “‘ Maha Panth,’’ cele- 
brated in Hindu Mythology, as the point at which the Pédndavas devoted 


-* This correction of the original passage, by the author himself, had not been received when 
page 161 was printed.—H. H. W. 


OF KAMAON. 211 


themselves, and from whence they were taken up to heaven: a similar blessing, 
itis believed, will be conferred on every virtuous and pious person, who may 
reach the peak, or perish in the way ; from twenty to twenty-five votaries an- 
nually sacrifice themselves in the attempt to ascend the Mahé Panth, or Great 
way, or by throwing themselves over a precipice, called Bhyrava Jhamp, in the 
neighbourhood: by suicide, at the latter spot, the votary expects to have realized 
in his future state, that object and wish for which he expressly devotes himself. 
These suicides are chiefly from Guzerat and Bengal, and commonly leave their 
houses for the avowed purpose of proceeding to Mahi Panth, and such sacrifices 
by hill-people are rare ; it may, therefore, be reasonably presumed, that they are 
not occasioned by the influence or suggestions of the priest and attendants 


of the temple. 


Page 164. The personal appearance of the inhabitants varies in a marked 
degree, in different parts of the hills, though the same general caste of counte- 
nance, alank face, with prominent features, prevails throughout. In the north- 
ern districts, the people are short, stout-made and fair, while in the southern 
hills, the stature is somewhat greater, the form spare, and the complexion 
sallow: the natives of the midland pergunnas, present a medium appearance 
between the two first mentioned classes. The children of both sexes are, 
generally speaking, every where fair and handsome, but as the boys approach 
to manhood, their features become coarse, and their face loses its fullness. 
The females, from constant exposure to the weather, and from incessant la- 
bor, lose all pretensions to good looks at an early age, and when advanced 
in life, are commonly remarkable for their extreme ugliness. Women of the 
higher ranks, not subject to such vicissitudes, must be excepted, as they are 


invariably fair and often beautiful. 


A similar variation in costume exists in the hills. In the northern dis- 


tricts, the principal article of dress, consists of an unsewn web of cloth, 


212 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


either of hemp or wool. Inthe males, this is thrown over the shoulders, 
and descends.down behind to the knees, from whence it is doubled, and 
carried back over the shoulders ; the two ends are fastened on the breast, by 
wooden or metal pins, the corners being passed over and under the opposite 
shoulder, the sides are drawn forward, so as to meet over the body, and are 
secured in that situation, by a kamerband of cotton or hempen cloth. A 
narrow strip of cloth passed between the legs and fastened by a string 
round the waist, and a skull cap, complete the suit. The arms and legs are 
thus left bare and unincumbered; in rigorous weather, however, blanket 
trowsers are partially worn. ‘The women fasten the web of cloth, in a some- 
what different mode, as it reaches to the heels, and hangs full like a petticoat, 
and in addition, they wear commonly a boddice of dark coloured chintz, and 
a narrow scarf of white cloth. In other parts of the province, the dress of 
both sexes resembles that of the corresponding classes in the plains, except- 


239 


ing, that the turban is little used, and the “jaguli,” or “jdma,” reaches 
only to the knees. It may be observed, generally, of the hill people, that they 
are extremely indifferent in regard to the state of their every-day apparel, 
and continue to wear their clothes till reduced to mee shreds and tatters, 
but on holydays and festivals, individuals of either sex prefer absenting 


themselves from the festivities, to appearing in a worn out garment. 


The great bulk of the population subsists on the coarse grains, such 
as Mandta, Jangura, Koni, Chena, Mana, &c., and the inferior kinds of 
pulse, Urd, Gahat, Bhat, Raens, &c. The Mandua is either made into 


’ 


bread, or is dressed as porridge, “ bari,’ and seasoned with ‘‘ jholi,”? but- - 
termilk and turmeric boiled together—the Chena and Koni, are also made 
into bread, or boiled whole, and eaten as rice. When travelling, the lower 
classes live chiefly on ‘‘ Sazu,’’ the meal of parched barley, of which every 
individual carries a supply with him: this article requires only the addition 


of a little water to prepare it for eating. Rice forms the favorite food of all 


OF KAMAON. 913 


those who can afford to purchase it. Wheat is only in partial consumption, 
chiefly on occasions of entertainments at marriages, &c., when the peculiar 
scruples of Hindus prevent the use of rice. Vegetables of all kinds, both 
cultured and wild, are objects of universal consumption; among the latter 


description, not already noticed, may be mentioned the nettle, fern, tulip, 


-mali, &c., of which the shoots, root, and bean, respectively, are eaten : the 


list of herbs, roots, and leaves, considered edible by the natives, is endless : in- 


deed, from their indiscrimination in this respect, fatal cases of poison some- 


times occur. During the periodical residence of the agricultural classes in 


the Tarai, their principal food is ‘“‘ Guya,” or sweet potatoes, boiled, and 


eaten with butter-milk. 


Animal food is in much request among all classes; with the exception 
of those animals, the use of which, as food, is prohibited by their religion, 
and excepting also reptiles of all descriptions, and carrion birds or beasts, 
every sort of animal is converted to food, in some part or other of the hills: 
by the southern Gerhwalis, rats and mice are considered as dainties. The 
favorite flesh is that of the goat, or of the sheep, where bred: against the 
sheep of the plains, an universal prejudice exists, its long tail rendering it, in 
the eye of the Highlander, a species of dog. No scruple as to the mode of 
decease exists, and animals dying a natural death from disease, or other 


cause, are eaten by the Hindus, as well as by the Doms. 


Tobacco is smoked by all, but the highest caste Bramins, who substitute 
Chir-ras, the inspissated juice of the hemp plant : they, however, chew the 
leaf pounded and mixed with lime, a practice which prevails also among the 


other classes. 


The use of spirituous liquors is, in Kamaon, confined to the lowest class 
or Doms: in Gerhwal, the Hindus are less scrupulous, and excepting a few 
2G 


O14. STATISTICAL SKETCH 


Brahmin families, all drink a species of whisky there manufactured, either 
from rice or barley: at the same time, they will not touch the common kinds 
of spirit, as prepared in the plains ; the objection to the latter arising from the 
mode in which the liquor is made, as well as from the caste of people by 
whom the manufacture is carried on, whereas the Gerhwal spirit is prepared 
by Hindus of the Rajput caste, and is fermented by the juice of particular 
roots, against the. use of which no religious prejudice prevails. Intoxication 


is rare, and takes place only at the religious festivals. 


The mildness of the temperature of the hills would lead to the expecta- 
tion, that the inhabitants would enjoy an exemption from most of the diseases 
incident to less favored countries, and that a different state takes place, is 
doubtless to be attributed, in a great measure, to the people themselves. By 
their avocations, the labouring classes are occasionally compelled to descend 
into the vallies, the air of which.is invariably noxious during half the year. 
The purity of the natural atmosphere, is also counteracted by the state in 
which the villages are kept: the dung heap forms a prominent object in front 
of, and contiguous to every farm: the villages are commonly buried in dense 
crops of gigantic hemp, while the houses are enveloped with a profusion of 

‘scandent vegetables, such as cucumbers, water-melons, pumpkins, &c. &c. 
From the united operation of these causes, during the worst season of the 
year, general sickness prevails throughout the hills, in the shape of quotidian, 
tertian and quartan fevers. Contagious and typhus fevers occasionally break 
out, generated, no doubt, from an excess of thesame cause. ‘These always 
exhibit the rapid. and malignant features of plague, as does also the small 
pox, which ‘proves extremely destructive whenever it visits the hills. 
Rheumatism is common during the cold weather. Cutaneous eruptions of 
various kinds are universally prevalent among all ranks, and are ascribed by. 
the inhabitants to the use of spring water. Leprosy does not appear so com- 


mon as in the plains. To the above, must be added affections of the spleen and 


. 


OF KAMAON. Q15 


of the lungs, bowel complaints, stone and dropsy, all of whith are frequent. 
A general disinclination prevails among the lower classes to the use of phy- 
sick, on the avowed principle, that from the pureness of their general diet, 
their stamina is not sufficiently strong to stand the effects of powerful reme- 
dies: cooling drafts and restoratives are, however, taken without hesitation : 
those in most general use, are infusions of fennel seed, black pepper, or cherayta, 
in water. In most disorders, recourse is had to cauterizing, performed by the 
application of lighted balls of tow, or of some other similar-substance, either 
to the back of the neck, the breast, or the pit of the stomach. Firing by 
means of an iron, is also resorted to in cases of strains, swellings, or rheuma- 
tism. In all diseases, the principal reliance for their cure is placed on charms 
tied to the person of the patient, om magnetism, and on various superstitious 
ceremonies and sacrifices. Inoculation is never thought of in the interior, 
till the small-pox actually appears in the village itself, or in the immediate 
neighbourhood, and then, from the unskilful manner in which it is perform- 
ed, or from the use of virulent matter, the precaution proves, in frequent ins- 
tances, ineffectual. In the case of this, and of other contagious distempers, 
nonintercourse is found, by the inhabitants, to be the best preventative, and with 
this view they sometimes abandon their villages, and retreat, temporarily, to 
the summit of an adjoining mountain, and there continue for some days, 
till they presume the contagion to have passed away. Considering the rude 
state of medical science in these hills, it is somewhat remarkable, that litho- 
tomy should be in common practice : this operation is performed on subjects 
of all ages, and apparently with very general success. The operators are 
from among the low caste Dom, and the only instruments used, are a razor 
and a pair of common forceps. Some notice may here be taken of the Goitre, 
which is eon at in these hills, although it is here a disease which in- 
jures only the personal appearance, and not the bodily health or mental facul- 
ties of the subject. ‘This affection has been ascribed to various local peculi- 


arities, or to a peculiar susceptibility in the constitution of mountaineers, but 


216 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


the example of these hills fully demonstrates, that it cannot be referred ex- 
clusively to any one of the commonly assigned causes. The Govtre is here 
found among the residents of most elevated villages, as well as among those 
of the low vallies, in spots where snow is never seen, as well as in those 
near which it for ever lies; in districts where no minerals are known to 
exist, as well as in those abounding with mines; among people who drink 
none but river water, as well as among those who use only springs ; among 
the rich equally with the poor; and lastly, it attacks individuals recently 
from the plains, as well as the natives of the hills. A conjecture may 
be hazarded, that the Gottre is in part produced by the effects. of the keen 
mountain air acting on the exposed throat; acovering to that part seems at 
any rate to be the most effectual remedy as well as preventative ; in cases of 
incipient Goitre, the natives have immediate recourse to the use of a neck- 
cloth, formed of offer skin, or some other warm substance, which is worn till 
the swelling has wholly subsided ; and although instances have occurred here 
of European females and children being attacked by Goitre, no case of any 
European male being so afflicted has yet taken place. Various nostrums and 
remedies are prescribed by the native practitioners: among the latter, a sim- 


3 


ple sold in the bazar, under the name of ‘ Gellur Patta,’’ is in most request. 
Outward applications, cauterizing, and issues, are also resorted to, but all, no- 
toriously, without the slightest prospect of success in any but incipient cases. 
In closing this subject it may be observed, that the practice of the ‘* Baids,” 
or Brahmin physicians, among the upper classes, is on a par with that in the 
plains, whither such practitioners are originally sent to study medicine. 
Musk appears to form an ingredient in almost every remedy administered by 
them, and, indeed, the inhabitants of the hills universally entertain thegreate st 


confidence in the medicinal virtues of that drug. 


The population of the interior, as has been already stated, is comprised 


almost solely of the agricultural classes. From the nature of the country, the 


OF KAMAON. 217 


communication, between villages is commonly both tedious and laborious, and 
the intercourse of the inhabitants of even adjacent hamlets is confined to the 
periodical festivals which occur at neighbouring temples: on these occa- 
sions again, the meeting is composed wholly of the villagers of the surround- 
ing district, and the presence of individuals from other parts of the hills is 
viewed almost as an intrusion. This state of restricted intercourse, continued 


through ages, has tended to preserve a distinctness of character and manners 


_ among the mountaineers, who accordingly still exhibit the compound of vir- 


tues and defects commonto agricultural tribes ina rude stage of society. Ho- 


| 
| 
| 
| 


| 
| 
| 
| 


nest, sober, frugal, patient under fatigue and privations, hospitable, good hu- 
moured, open, and usually sincere in their address, they are, at the same time, 
extremely indolent, fickle, easily led away by the counsel of others, hasty in 
pursuing the dictates of passion, even to their own immediate detriment, 
envious of each other, jealous of strangers, capable of equivocation and petty 
cunning, and lastly, grossly superstitious. To personal courage, the lower 
order make no pretensions ; the high Rajput families, who are most part de- 


scended from western adventurers, are in no way deficient in the inherent 


spirit of their race. Conjugal affection has scarcely any existence in the hills ; 


wives are universally considered and treated as part of the live stock, and 
little or no importance is attached to the breach of female chastity, except- 
ing when the prejudices of caste may thereby be compromised. To their 
children, they, however, evince strong affection, and instances of suicide, by 
fathers as wellas mothers, from grief for the loss of a child, are far from 
uncommon. The indolence of the male sex is insuperable, even by the pros- 
pect of gain, and the whole labor of the domestic economy and of agriculture, 
excepting only ploughing and harrowing, is left to the women ; and a rate of 
wages, greater by one half than that which exists in the plains, fails in induc- 
ing the voluntary attendance of day labourers: the people of this class will, 
however, without hesitation wander hundreds of miles, and spend weeks to 
gain a few annas by peddling the commodities of the plains. All mountaineers 


Qu 


018 : ' STATISTICAL SKETCH 


unite in an excessive distrust of the natives of the low country, whom 
they regard as a race of swindlers and extortioners: the jealousy with which 
the mountaineers of one pergunna view those of another, amounts to a spirit 
of clanship, which feeling may, doubtless, be ascribed to the state of govern- 
ment that, at one time, existed in these hills, when every pergunna and sub- 
division formed a separate and independant principality. Local attachments 
are very predominant, and an eventual return to their natal village continues ~ 
to be the cherished hope of those, whom the want of means of subsistence 
| may have compelled to migrate : from the same sentiment, the petty landed 
proprietors entertain an overwhelming affection for their hereditary fields. 
Of the honesty of the hill people, too much praise cannot be given: property 
of all kinds is left exposed in every way, without fear and without loss: in those 
districts whence periodical migration to the Tarai takes place, the villages 
are left with almost a single occupant during half the year, and though a 
great part of the property of the villagers remains in their houses, no precau- 
tion is deemed necessary, except securing the doors against the ingress of 
animals, which is done by a bar of wood, the use of locks being as yet con- 
fined to the higher classes. In their pecuniary transactions with each other, 
the agricultural classes have rarely recourse to written engagements, bargains 
concluded by the parties joining hands, (“ Hath Marna’’) in token of assent, 
prove equally effectual and binding, as if secured by parchment and seals. 
If exceptions to this general character for honesty exist in the hills, they are 
to be found only in the class of Doms, or outcastes, who are commonly of 
loose and dissipated habits, confirmed, if not acquired, by continued inter- 
course with the plains. At a former period, the higher orders would appear 
to have been rapacious, oppressive, and vindictive, and acts of violence and 
bloodshed, perpetrated from motives of rapine or revenge, were of common 
occtrrence. The impotence of the government, which had neither the power 
to repress outrages, nor to redress injuries, was doubtless the principal cause of 


these disorders, which, under the strong and vigorous system of the Gorkhas, 


OF KAMAON. 219 


soon ceased, and all classes are now equally conspicuous for their order and 
submission to public authority. The mountaineers are of a lively disposition, 
much inclined to singing, dancing, and sports ; they are also fond of hearing 
and relating tales, and of puzzling one another with riddles ; games of ball are 
prevented by the nature of the country, but sports of other kinds are nu- 
merous ; and among them the Englishman will recognize Hocky, and many 
other games familiar to his youth. The most common sedentary amusements 
are Bag,h Bakri, fox and geese, Ramchir, drafts and chowper; chess and 
cards (Ganjifa,) are played by the higher classes at Almora and Srinagar, 
among whom, more particularly the Brahmins, an inclination for gambling is 
generally prevalent. The style of dancing has been noticed among the religi- 
ous ceremonies. ‘The singing is of three kinds, each, with its peculiar time 
and measure. 1st.—The Bharao, a species of dramatic recitation, in which 
two or more characters are brought forward, the measures varying with the 
subject. In this class are also comprised the hymns, in honor of the local 
gods and demigo. 2d.—The Josa ballads, composed on popular and pass- 
ing events, the time of which is quick and lively, more particularly in the 
chorus. 3d.—The Byri, or Bhagnaol, a species of duet, sung commonly 
by a male and a female, who respond to each other in extemporary stanzas 
alternately. ‘The subject has commonly reference to the situation or actual 
occupation of the parties, clothed in numerous metaphors and_ similies, 
drawn chiefly from vegetable products : where the parties are skilful, the Byrz 
is made the vehicle of personal praise or satire: this style of singing is high- 
ly popular in the Kamaon pergunnahs, and it is there a common saying, that 
no female heart can withstand the seductions of an accomplished Byr7 singer. 


The measure is slow and plaintive. 


The only musical instruments in common use, are drums of various kinds, 
as in the plains, and the shepherd’s pipe; this latter is rude and simple, formed 


from the small hill bambu: its power, as well as that of the performers, appears 


220 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


to be confined to a few notes continually repeated and prolonged: when heard 


in the glens and dells, the melody of this instrument is wild and pleasing. 


An attempt to collect the numerous superstitious beliefs current in these 
hills, would be an endless task, the result of which would by no means repay 
the labor bestowed, as these beliefs are for the most part rude and gross, dis- 
playing neither imagination nor refinement in their texture. The moun- 
taineers believe implicitly in the existence of the various tribes of ghosts, 
evil spirits, demons, goblins, fanes, elves, &c., and have, moreover, the fullest 
evidence in the powers of sorcery and witchcraft : a few of the most current 


superstitions, under these several heads, may be stated. 


The ghost tribe is divided into numerous varieties: the first and most 
formidable is the Bhit, or ghost: individuals who may have died a violent 
death, whether by murder, execution, drowning, and to whose remains 
due funeral honors may not have been paid. The Bhit continues to haunt 
his descendants for generations in an invisible shape, and requires to be occa- 
sionally appeased by sacrifices and offerings. JZasdan, or Imps, are the ghosts 
of young children, the bodies of whom are buried, and not burnt, and who 


prowl about the villages in the shape of bears and other wild animals. 


Tola, or Will of the Wisps, are the ghosts of bachelors, that is of males, 
who may die at mature age unmarried. ‘The society of the Tolas is supposed 
to be contemned by all other classes of ghosts, and they are, accordingly, 


seen only in wild and solitary places. 


Airi, the ghost of a person killed in hunting, is believed to haunt the 
forest in which the accident may have occurred, and is heard, from time to 
time, hallocing to its dogs. To hear the voice of the Air, portends some 
calamity to the hearer. | 


OF KAMAON. 221 


Acheri, or fairy, the ghosts of young female children; these reside 
on the tops of the mountains, but descend at dusk to hold their revels in 
more convenient spots. ‘To fall in with the train, at the time, is fatal, as the 
Acheri-punish such intrusions with death: they occasionally also molest 
those who may cross the sites of their abodes during the day, more particu- 
larly females, who may have any red articles of dress on their person at the 
time, the Achert bearing a peculiar antipathy to that color. When female 
children are taken suddenly ill, it is immediately concluded that the 
Acheri have cast their spell or shadow (Chéyé) on the child, with the view 
of adding her ghost to their numbers. ‘he optical illusions and shadows, 
seen in various mountainous countries, are also occasionally visible on 
some of the mountains in this province, which are accordingly celebrated as 
the peculiar resort of the Acheri, as the processions of elephants, horses, 
&c. which sometimes appear on the summits, are naturally ascribed to those 
ideal beings. sta hill opposite to Srinagar, is celebrated in this respect; the 
train of shadows which, from time to time, appears to move along its ridge, con- 
tinues visible for some minutes, and is, in consequence, viewed by numbers of 
the inhabitants of the town. It is therefore certain, that these shadows origi- 
nate in physical causes, and are not created by the imagination of individuals. 
The theory, by which this illusion is explained in other places, is particularly 
applicable here, as the shadows in question, are invariably seen at the same 


hour, that is, when the sun is sinking below the horizon. 


The Deos, or demons, form a numerous class, and scarce a village 
but has its particular Deo: some of the tribe are obnoxious to men, others 
to women or children, while a more ignoble race vent their malice on cate 
tle. An account of one of these Deos will serve as a description of the 
whole tribe. This demon, called Rdnia, haunts the north pergunnas of 
Kamaon, removing occasionally from one place to another; in his migra- 
tions, he makes use of a large rock for a steed, on which also he nightly 

21 


222 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


perambulates the villages in the vicinity of his residence. Though invisible to 
the eye, his approach is indicated by the clattering of his massive courser : he 
molests only females: should he, in his excursions, fall in with, and take a fan- 
cy to any woman, her fate is assured: from that moment she is haunted by 
him incessantly in her dreams, and gradually wasting away, she falls eventu- 
ally a victim to his passion. Such is the ancient belief regarding Rdnia, and 
an infatuated conviction of having become the object of his choice, is not 


uncommonly attended with a fatal termination. 


The power of occasioning sickness, and even death, by means of incan- 
tations, Ghdt, is ascribed to those skilled in witchcraft. The. Bogsa, or 
Sorcerer, is further supposed to be capable of assuming the form of a wild 
beast, (as the man-wolf of Germany,) for the purpose of destroying his 
enemies. An old man residing near Srinagar, and practising as a physician, 
is a most notorious Bogsa, and is believed by his neighbours to be not 
less than two hundred years old: the reputation of having devoured many in- 
dividuals, under the form of a tiger, cost him the loss of his teeth, many 
of which were extracted, by orders of the then Riya, to render him less 


formidable in his future metamorphoses. 


The evil eye has its effects here, as elsewhere, and many cases of sick- 
ness are ascribed to its operation. In Gerhwal, a peculiar superstition exists, 
which ascribes to inanimate objects the same effects as the evil eye. This is 
called Bed,h Hona, literally ‘‘ becoming a mark to;’’ as where a new house, 
from being built on an eminence, or from its superior height, becomes a pro- 
minent object to, and overlooks other houses, the latter, in respect to it, are 
said to be Bed,h Luga, or ‘‘ struck,” and the sickness or death of the in- 
mates can only be prevented by the lowering or total removal of the obnoxious 
building. ‘This prejudice has no connexion with the jealous feelings regarding 


privacy, common to the east, as similar effects are ascribed to houses, and even 


OF KAMAON. 223 


rocks on opposite and distant mountains, as well as to erections in the imme- 
diate vicinity. With so many imaginary sources of calamity and sickness, 
‘independant of natural causes, the population must have become extinct, had 
not the means of prevention and cure for the former existed, possessing the full 
confidence of the inhabitants. Religious ceremonies, sacrifices, exorcism, and 
counter-charms are resorted to, in all cases of sickness ascribed to the malice of 
ghosts, demons, fairies and witches. In cases of temporary affection, such as 
fits, &c., the devil is driven out either by flogging the possessed with nettles, or 
by fumigation with some horrible odour. A belief in the temporary and 
occasional presence of a deity in the bodies of individuals, is here universally 
prevalent, and the superstition applies equally to all the local deities, and to 
persons of both sexes, of all castes and classes. Individuals subject to the in- 
spiration of some particular deities are, on such occasions, consulted as oracles, 
but in most instances, the fit evaporates in dancing: this consists in the motion 
of the head or body, at first slow, and gradually quickening, till it becomes 
convulsive, and beyond the controul of the inspired, and is thus continued till 
utter exhaustion : during this ceremony, the excitement is created and kept up 


by the music of a drum beat by one of the spectators. 


Drought, want of fertility in the soil, murrain in cattle, and other cala- 
mities incident to husbandry, are here invariably ascribed to the wrath of 
particular gods, to appease which, recourse is had to various ceremonies. In 
the Kamaon districts, offerings, and singing, and dancing are resorted to 
on such occasions: in Gerhwal the measures pursued with the same view, 
are of a peculiar nature, deserving of more particular ‘notice. In 
those villages of which Kal: is the tutelary divinity, a sacrifice of bull 
buffaloes is offered up: the number of animals slaughtered on such occasions 
varies with the means of the inhabitants: each buffalo is successively led to 
the door of the temple for decapitation: the first stroke is inflicted by the 


principal Zemindar, and if not immediately fatal, is followed up by repeated 


224 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


blows from the surrounding crowd, until the animal is despatched, or rather 
hacked to pieces. In villages dedicated to the protection of Mahddeva, propi- 
tiatory festivals are held in his honor; at these, Badis, or rope-dancers, are 
engaged.to perform on the tight rope, Lang, or to slide down an inclined 
rope stretched from the summit of a cliff to the valley beneath, and made 
fast to posts driven into the ground. The Bédz sits astride on a wooden 
saddle, to which he is tied by thongs: the saddle is similarly secured to the 
bast, or sliding cable, along which it runs, by means of a deep groove; sand- 
bags are tied to the B4di’s feet sufficient to secure his balance, and he is then, 
after various ceremonies, and the sacrifice of a kid, started off. ‘The velocity 
of his descent is very great, and the saddle, however well greased, emits a vo- 
lume of smoke throughout the greater part of his progress. The length and 
inclination of the bast necessarily vary with the nature of the cliff, but as 
the Bédi is remunerated at the rate of a rupee for every hundred cubits, 
hence termed a fola, a correct measurement always takes place: the long- 
est bast which has fallen within my observation was twenty-one éola, or 
2100 cubits in length. From the precautions taken as abovementioned, the 
only danger to be apprehended by the Bédi is from the breaking of the 
rope, to provide against which, the latter, commonly from one and a half to 
two inches in diameter, is made wholly by his own hand: the material used is 
the bhdber grass. Formerly, if a Badi fell to the ground in his course, he 
was immediately dispatched with a sword by the surrounding spectators, but 
this practice is now of course prohibited: no fatal accident has occurred from 
the performance of this ceremony since 1815, though it is probably celebrated 
at not less than fifty villages in each year. After the completion of the sliding, 
the Bart, or rope, is cut up, and distributed among the inhabitants of the 
village, who hang the pieces as charms at the eaves of their houses. The 
hair of the Bidi is also taken and preserved, as possessing similar virtues. 
In being thus made the organ to obtain fertility for the lands of others, the 
Bad: is supposed to entail sterility on his own; and it is firmly believed, that 


OF KAMAON. 225 


‘no grain sown with lis hand can ever vegetate. Each district has its heredi- 


tary Bédi, who is supported by annual contributions on grain from the inha- 


bitants, and by remunerations for his performance, at the occasional festivals 


in question. 


In the Kamaon districts, a practice prevailed at the festival of the Bag- 
wali, of the males of several villages meeting together at a particular spot, 
and there, divided into two parties, engaging with slings. Each party took 
post on the opposite bank of a stream, the passage of which formed the object 
of contest: as the mountaineers are generally expert in throwing stones with 
this instrument, bones were frequently broken, and even fatal accidents some- 
times occurred in this sport. The apprehension of incurring a charge of 
murder in the event of such fatal termination, has led to the almost total ces- 


sation of the practice since 1815. 


226 


STATISTICAL SKETCH 


APPENDIX. 


LiST OF EXPORTS FROM THE HILLS TO THE 


Grain, of all kinds. 
Pulse, ditto ditto. 

Oil Seeds, ditto ditto. 
Turmeric. 

Ginger, green and dry. 
Saffron, Cashmere. 
Ditto, Hill, (Nagkesar.) 
Hill, Cardamums. 
Mari, (Frankincense.) 
Katki. 

Laljiri. 

Nirbissi, Zedoary. 
Archa, Rhubarb. 


Cheraita. 

Mitha. 

Various kinds of Bark. 

Roots and Herbs, used 
either for dyes or medi- 
cines. 

Tej-Pat, leaves of wild 
Cinamon. 

Red Pepper. 

Dannas, hill Pomgranates. 

Walnuts and Hazel Nuts. 

Pine Almonds. 

Sweet Potatoes, (Giya.) 


Hemp. 

Hempen Cloth. 
Chirras. 

Opium. 

Ghee. 

Oil. 

Honey. 

Wax. 

Musk. 

Hawks. 

Borax. 

Silajit, (Bitumen.) 
Khara Mitti (Chalk.) 


PLAINS. 


Harital. 

Birch bark. 

Hill Paper. 

Hill Bambus. 
Wooden Vessels. 
Hides. 

Cowtails, (Chaurs.) 
Ponies. 

Cattle. 

Gold-dust. 

Tron, 

Copper, in bars. 
Coarse Serges, (Pankhis.) 


PRODUCE OF THE TARAI, EXPORTED TO THE 


Timbers. 

Rafters. 

Planks. 

Bambus. 

Oil and Sugar Mills. 
Ebony. 

Fire-wood. 


Wooden Vessels. 
Charcoal. 

Lime. 

Gum. 

Gum Lak,h. 
Kat,h. 

Ghee. 


Oil. 

Grain, of all kinds. 
Pulse, ditto ditto. 

Oil Seeds, ditto ditto. 
Sweet Potatoes, (Giya). 
Turmeric. 

Red Pepper. 


PLAINS. 


Baber. Grass. 
Ming ditto. 
Tat. 

Bara. 
Roghen. 
Banslochan. 


Cotton Piece Goods, coun- 
try and Europe. 

Cotton Prints, ditto ditto. 

Silk Goods. 

Broadcloth. 

Cotton, & Cotton Thread. 

Wool. 

Blankets. 


-LIST OF IMPORTS FROM THE PLAINS. 


Tobacco, raw & preserved. | Indigo, Lakh & other Dyes. 
Gir,softSugar,SugarCandy| Alum, Potas, &c. 


Salt. 

Spices of all kinds. 
Betelnut. 
Cocoanuts. 

Dried Fruits. 
Soap. 


Sulphur, andvarious drugs, 

Hard Ware, of all kinds. 

Copper in sheets,( Europe). 

Toys, Beads, Looking-glas- 
ses, &¢. 

Tin. 


Kanch. 

Lead. 

Gun-power. 

Coral. 

Pearls, and Jewels, 

Gold and Silver Laces, and 

thread. 

| Country Paper and Ink. 


OF KAMAON. 


STATEMEN T A, shewing the number of Villages, Houses, and Cattle, in the 


Baramandal, 

-Chouger Kha, 
Phalda Kote, 
Dhania Kote, 


Gangoli, 
Kota Chakata, 


Katoli Marori, 


Juar Bhote, 


Kali Kamaon, 


Dhianirow, 
Shor, 
Sira Askot, 


Danpoor, “0 


NAMES OF PERGUNNAS. 


Total of Hazar Tehsil 


a ee ee 


Tahsildari Kali Kamaon, 


Kamaon Pergunnas, 


ooo ooo eve 


_ 310 


3640} 120) 424 


Kamaon Purgunnas. 


4184 


ia) 
RS 
a 
05 
© 


4963] 148] 472 


3 3 ra 
aS 3 8» 
Soh 3 SIs 
sie) a] ee 
NS 1S RS) re 
° a is aa gz 
~ 3 ~~ , 8 ee 
3 | 8} Se, ws 4 
2 = KS ° an & 
BSH Saray ee & S 
rn es g | a 
i} Ss 2 
Se eS ch Sis 
1101 2| 23} 1126); 2889 2) 
768| 45) 56 869)| 3625} 176 
409} 25), 91 525|| 1847, 47 
188 2 3 193)| 1314] 16 
87 (0) 0 87|| 1152} Oo 
342 5} 71 418 835 8 
435| 37] 53 525|) 1018} 44 


26 


In Assigned Villages. 


699 


Derait or VILtacrEs. Derai or Houses. 


Total of Houses. 


23222) 449/1595{ 25266/142959| 58280} 36938 


Deraw or Carry. 


Total of Cattle. 


3 = 
ae 


20956 


7117 20332 


3767 15767 


4134 10297 


4368] 4148] 1744) 10269 
571| 2188} 1433) 4192 
237). 2057; 1076) 3370 


nS 
an 
to 
to 


15688 


3965 


33296]. 45728] 25803|104827 


138177 


228 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


STATEMENT A, shewing the number of Villages, Houses, and Cattle, in the 
Gerhwal Pergunnas. 


DeratL or VILLAGES. Derait or Housss. Derait oF Carttir, 


! 3 S S a 
| 3 80 eS 8 s So > 
i 8 B S BO) asl as g 
: Sy Nae see) & |B | as s 
{| NAME OF PERGUNNAS. SS IS i AS ris = 
ty 3 2 a0 a 
{| &] 2| =] 2) fi el =] 2 BS 
a 8 & ar S RS N 3 & g s ce 
i= Ss S 2 = = = 
Rtas | oS OG HS] St oS) Be el Bak Ss [Os 
ERSGREMKES UEC Se me — 
IAF ASCOSs Wee | each eccle ices) lees! ieee these 569 8 47; 624)| 3013 24) 259] 3306 1298} 7051); 4764) 13113 
22! 204) 1536 21 97) 1654 Bel 4852| 2767) 7974 } 


I Dewal Garb, Wis «cif Fanless eae 78 
27} 342 16901 0}: 151] 1841/| g20| 5172 


S Choundkote,. vv. tisat ion UerelacaiNect [12315 2729} 8729 | 


4 
0) 
| Nagpur, cea iewlesl nt lessiuere! iesals ieee) Lessl [tod 7| 221) 579|| 2356 64) 1547) 4007} 2093] 15277; 4749 22119 | 
oO 
i¢) 


| Ganga Salam) viele 2-5.ylfices) tevsintess) Wess 441 11 452) 1831 19) 54, 1885| 373] 8964] 2655! 11992 § 


h) Puenkhanda, | 49.5%.:5) Gos) Ae. eae 28 18 46] 461 oO] 13) 474] 54) 1168] 682] 1904 | 


| 


SE RS SY SSS I | cay es | SG Se | cp CRS |e men |e we | 


eee 


i 
\ 


! Tahsildari Srinagar, ose ase oe | 1882 19 ad 2247|10887| 109) 2171/13167| 5002] 42483! 18346! 65831 | 


SS ee ee = 


43) 2007] 958! 6869} 3159] 10996 


| 


113] 1347| 679| 4055| 2112] 6846 | 


Chandpury= °c. - weet arses Ses sen eee | 338 


1124] 556} 7011} 2299) 9866 | 


0 

| Badhan, HAO CE ee CHET Loo ECE eco! uel | ets) O| 32) 280!) 1234 
Talla-Sikan seh: seem edelnbcoos Sener-crei evel 26S 
0 


1) 
10) 

19] 284|) 1066 0 58 
0 


f Mulla Salam, ~ 060 ssc e ge> ote, eee [sees | 196 1009] 457] 3218! 1829] 5504 | 


Si Massoliteness ueect. .ccthic sn’ Poremeese ilk ces (0) 8} 88) 96 


| 43| 606} 649] 584, 2719] 791] 4094 


i?) 
1210}| 5260 43, 833) 6136) 3234) 23872] 10200) 37306 


| Tahsildari Chandpur, ...  ...  ... | 1047 8] 155 

id ok ss ee a | 

| | 

| Gerhwal Pergunnas, ... ... «+. «+. | 2929 27| 501| 3457|116147, 152] 3004/19303'| 8236 663551 28546/103137 | 


—— 


601 4599, 44569 eeepc 103293! 241314 
i | 4 


\ Total’ Province, (%2. 50:05. (Js2 see [veoe' 17902 


Q 


OF KAMAON. 


STATEMENT B, shewing the Abstract detail and amount of Revenue fixed 


by the Gorkha Government, for’ the district now forming the Province of 


Kamaon, in the Sambat year 1868, corresponding with 1812. 


ssaadnay 
Loppoy pognyyodny Us 70707, 


‘soadnyy nYyLO) UL anuanay 70707, 


(-saunnafio.y pun sauy 
paqouss 40) VWpung ruDUsp 


ssulogsng fo aarisnpoxa ‘wahng 


(°s00q 
“UD pun sLaquuy, to) ‘sung yoy 


(ssqoyany yny 10) Qnsuanyy 


‘SINT MYT Pun 
sauipy uo Yusyny Suny zz DQUDE, 


*sUmLojsny 0 wahvg 


ssaoUDMonyE” 
osuouny to uagfagy uunypy 


“sypa 
“Usay uo yay 40 SunSnygy vhuogy 


(‘swooT uo rz 10) unypuny, 


(‘swoog uo ang, wo) aanyligg 


(-aynp uo any, 40) ‘unyoayQ 


(‘Dun.vrnpy to) eunjng 


NAMES OF 
DIVISIONS. 


| 


PONUIAIY PU Lae & | 


7500 


1360} 4222 


oS | = 
Q i) 
a Ww 
bu x 
© | o 
te} = 
8 8 
i=} 

aYo) 

=] i) 
£3) fo) 
& | 8 
= Qa 
S S 
Qn © 
Lal 

S 

s | £ 
iss] e 
ie) 

So = 
So So 
a bn 
i} Q 


: 


1495 


| 


9 | 9 
a o 
xs ao 
= a 
——<—_—___._____._! 
Low! iss) bond 
So Lal & 
6 Ys) 
Lael Ron Ww 
nN WwW io 
= | = | = 
Qa 
& ¢ 8 
qq iss] 
Os SNS Se ee 
se) rT { fo) 
a s DD 
i- aed | oo) 
a Lal ioe) 
» © | ol 
8 g 5 
i) nN i ~ 
eG 2 | © 
— 
Se 
3 : : 
: é o 
. e =) 
g 4 & 
g Z 2 
© 3 Fy 
3 z 4 
€ =| = 
Ss a fo} 
Bogie gi 


268977 


4500 


1800) 362 


5717} 18400} 4801\3370 


+9) 


we 


30 


STATISTICAL SKETCH 


STATEMENT C, ewhibiting the quantity of Arable Land, contained, in the 
Province, agreeable to the recorded Rakba, as reduced, by estimates, fo one 


common standard. 


Derait or VILLAGES. 


= 
& 
NAMES OF = 
lea} 
PERGUNNAS. a 
S 
& 
K 
Pali, eee nee coe or 1101 
# Baramundab, ... ..«< ».. |-968 
Chouger Kha, ... ew | 409 
| Phalda Kote, O00 - | 188 
} Dhania Kote, Soaittines 87 
4 Danpoor, .. 0 wes | 342 
| Gangoli, 5... ove 435 
| 
| Kota, o60 ves -- | 310 
\ Kali Kamaon, sentences 547 
Dhianirow, ine scl LOY 
Shor, see me 217 
}Sira, ss 238 
] 
| Juar, res ar) 153 
# Dharma, wae 61 
4 
i Katoli, eee ceo (ee 10) 
| Kamaon, es 4963 


Present Nominat Ruxkea. 


ea 

é. SVR UE] S|. 

Ss : & E 8 < 

|S /8 Leos [ais S| 
2, 23) 29) 1155||'7967|] 17| 295} 4841 8763 
45| 56} 8] 877]| 7423] 467) 542, 1161 8584 
25) 91} 136) 661|| 5485) 253] 622] 1716] 8076 
2| 3! oO} 193)| 2609} 20! 11 0} 2640 
ol of 2, 8s'| 2272} of of 14) 2286 
5} ‘71{ 73] 491]| 3716] 384] 994) 378) 4772 
37| 53) 359] 884]| 3127 sl 203} 1169| 4707 
of 2i io sd 113611 oO : 64} 11447 
29) 81] 663]/11970] 219] 594) 1158] 13941 
o| 1! 5] 113/| 1819} 3 ‘| 36| 1864 
o| | 139} 364; 9094] ‘o 177| 1769} 11044 
oO} 9] 161] 408|] 5112] Oo 1398} 6708 
8} 1] 59} 221]) 6624) 507) 21! 917} 8069 
14) O} 76} 151]| 6266, 254; 50} 2939] 9509 
4| 125} o! 129 o| 36/1132 0} 1168 
| a ee 
148] 472/1137| 6720]|84949/2368]4197|12158|103672 


Nomrinat Ruxsa AS REDUCED § 
To STANDARD BEESEE. 


ae) SR et 
15034, 34] 590 oa 17526 | 
7423| 467| 542) 116} 3548 | 
5485| 253] 622] 1716] 8076 
5218| 40} 21 0} 5280} 
4544, 0 ol 2s] 4572 | 
3716| 384, 294] 378 4772 | 
3127| 208] 203] 1169] 4707 | 
16502 0| 741 96} 16762 | 
11970] 219] 594| 1158; 13941 
1819} 3 6| 36] 1864 
no 0} 177| 1769} 11044 
5112} 0} 198] 1398] 6708 
6624] 507} 21) 917] 8069 
6266} 254, - 50] 2939; 9509 
Oo} 72 0] 2169] 2336 
101924/2441] 5557|12688/122610 


OF KAMAON. | 231 


STATEMENT C, exhibiting the quantity of Arable Land, contained in the 
Province, agreeable to the recorded Rakba, as reduced, by estimates, to one 
common standard. 


Present Nominat Ruxsa || Nominat Ruxgsa as REDUCED TO 


VILLAGES. 
in Joowas. BrrsErs. 


NAMES OF S 5 SS ies 
ty N ta eat! on ar 
PERGUNNAS.."l 2 |. Sin 2 & E ah Fir ialemulpeeltes 
& 3S | .80 5 Ss 
SISIS ISS] S]S]S} 8] 5 |e] 8 | 8} a] & 

Baraseo, ... 569| s| 47| 66| G90l| ssol 10 65| 71] 1035|| 11868] 120/ 780] 852| 12490 
Chundkote, ee Bar iy yee sb) OQ} 27) 32) 374 431 Oo} 16 29 476|| 5124 0; 192 348 5712 
Dewal Gerh, Bad vee (LTS) 4| 22' 163) 357 447 8} 26) 160 641 5364 96} 312] 1920 7692 
Nagpur, see ove Seek ool '7| 221} 291} 870 326 5} 208} 193 732|| 9312 60] 2496] 2316 8784 
Gunga Sulan, sv. vee | 44) Oo} 11} 61) 513 616 0 8} 106 730|| 7392) C8) 48} 1272 8760 
Puenkhunda, ae pve 24 Oo} 18 19 65 312 O} 34 19 369]| . 3744 O| 256 228 4428 
Chandpoon, ee MARY f ceetsts) p O| 15 tA 419) 726 O} 12) 329) 1067 8712 O| 144) 3943} 12804 
Buddhan, Cee ood vos | 248 QO}. 32 : 328 506) O} 40) 503} 1039, 6072 O} 480) 6036] 12468 
Tulla Sulan, es aoe | 265 O; 19) 180) 414 344 O} 12) 204 560 4128 O|} 144) 2448 6720 
Mulla Sulan,... 1196, of 1) 7 204i] 299) o| 2] 6s] 2eai| 2388 o| 24): sie} 3228 
(9) 8} 88 iu 119 O} 17} 334 92 443 0 204} 4008) 1104 5316 
Gurhval, ACA Bod ese (2929) 27) 501 0 4363]| 4786} 40} 761) 1774] '7367|| 57432) 480] 9132] 21288] 88332 
Total Province, wale .-. 17892] 175! 973 sto 10) 0) 10) (0) 0}|159356| 2921)14689} 33976) 210942 


232 STATISTICAL SKETCH 


STATEMENT D, exhibiting the Pergunna Land Assessment for each Year, 
from the Conquest, and also for the last Goorkha Settlement. 


\ 
R 
i 
Ht 


‘| 


3 S = s 2 i. s g 
_ o gy Sy a S ” 
BS 5 of = § = = S 3 
i ~ ve) LX we BS 2 | 
2 oe cS Es 8 = FS , 
; ca . ; = 
83 oe e3 of a $3 2 xf Be 8 3 
a 8a a°S t S 0 3s 
: Seal 278 Res Be oO ost as Ag s 
NAMES OF PERGUNNAS. g S38 3 a ore Bt =o 5 sa 
, v — A = += et 3 f 
Rope ie Se. San eet See ee 
oie in] SS \) 
ai Ss lige e8 = = 2 = S = -f 
; 2 BA = s S = 5 2 
S S S 3 3 5 $ S = 
a | a S Ss 5 s S s in 
eee ee) ee ee ee Pee shes eH LE 


} Pali, 9... ove, new, wee ewe |: 1101 | 15934] 27500} 21075 | 21179 | 25057 | 30024 | 31294] 1282 
Baramandab, ... «oe | 768 | 7223} 14873 | 9496 | 10250] 11213] 14557 | 14967 716 | 
| Chouger Kha, ... 0. os ss | 409 | 5485] 6812] 4119] 4531} 5098] 6749] 6969 429 
| Phalda Kote, ...  .. s «| 188] 5218] 9254] 6432} 6665| 7181] ‘7686 | 7754 171 | 
| Dhania Kote, 24.0 ee eee wee 87| 4544] 9075] 4922! 5700] 6518] '7332| 7394 116 } 
| Danpoor, ... on ws | 842] 97161 6313 | 3489| 3888} 4170} 4356 | 4478 251 
| Gangoli, ... 9.0. ese eee ots | 485 | 8197] 5547 2702 | 3801 8307 | 3876 3973 406 |} 
ieKota,. Pacin: Galen salle es + «| 310] 16592] 8045] 5196 5900 | 6372 | 8079 9611 223 | 
| Kali Kamaon, ... 0. ose eee oe | 547] 11970 | 17235 | 8696] 9477] 10387 | 12022 | 12400 610 | 
| Dheeaneerow, ..2 ose Ber rie 107 1819 7885 4374 4578 5171 5596 6000 134 
Shor, (occ ces tee wee see | BIT] (90941, 5684 | “S501 4001 4574 | ° 5487 | 5515 356 f 
Seera, Ge. Ms: ves eee Wess 2aai eaTTg 5346 | 2655} 3076] 3301 3755 | 3774 177 | 
| Juar, is ene Res ose sane oS 6624 | 12890 5001 5633 5313 2546 2779 103 | 
| Dharma, 0. see eee wee ae 61 6266 | 13405] 4956] 5470} 4816] 1181 1225 35 
FKamaon, ... 1 se eee see eee | 4963 | 101924 | 149864 | 86071 | 99722 | 102385 | 113246 | 118153 | 5009 | 
| Baraseo, ... 0 « ‘es sso | 569) 11868 | 12018 4577 6055 | 6670}, 7972 8002 450 | 
[| Choundkote, ... 0 «| 315] 5124] 6025) 3069 3629 | 3933] 4526 4559 254 
f Dewal Gerh, ... 01. vee vee | -178 5364 1957 1334 1790 | 2068 2399 2503 159 
PNaopuruc cies uticss) dees alesse lol 3912 | 11104] 3033] 3900 | 4305] 5214} 5355 268 
| Ganga Salam, |... (c.-0 see tee | 4 9392 | 11634] 5384 5891 6454 | 7687 7730 439 
Paenkhanda, wc) sc) Connie. 28| 3744] 4700} 1750 1750{ 1750} 1039 1040 29 
Chandpur, tee es eee | 338 | 8712] 20826 | 7763} 8744] 8765} 10676 | 10938 348 
| Badhan, ... ... ene wes wee | 248 | 6072] 9902] 3612] 4305] 4721 5660 5920 338 
| Talla Salan, ... .. «| 965} 4198| 5960] 3147| 3586] 9083] 4922] 6195 354 
| Mulla Salam) it: tvjsfechovseey | Sete 11964]. » 2888 4] ,.27082,) 4087 4574} 5172] 5753 | 6269 235 
Gerhwal, ... ese eee eee vee eee | 2929] 57432] 91258 | 37506 44204 | 47821 sos | 58511 2874 | 
§ Total Province, ... ... ss. «es | 7892 | 159356 | 241122 | 123577 | 137946 | 150206 | 169994 | 176664 | 7883 | 


OF KAMAON. 233 


Comparative Statement of the Total Receipts in the years 1815-16 and 1822-23, 


Abkaree and Drugs. 
Customs, including 
Bhote Duties 


3 
& 
3 
; 
é 2 
3 S 
= Ss 
3 aS 
is N 
g 
3 $ 
Ss Ss 
Le) o 


Profit and Loss. 


1815—16 116577 | 1100 oo £) X92 Spl aa |} 14016 ace 132723 


1822-—23 176664 6302 500 2100 Abolished, 1861 : 


| 


Comparative Statement of Expence of the Native Establishments in 1815-16 
and 1822-23. 


lishment 


Revenue Establishment. } 
Total Annual Estab- 


Sudder Establishment. 
| Police Establishment. 


Decrease. 


1815—16 9840 20216 10464 40520 
i 


1822-—23 7488 9432 4344 21264 19256 


23-4 STATISTICAL SKETCH OF KAMAON. 


SUPPLEMENTARY STATEMENT. 


Exhibiting the Result of the Survey of the Khalsa Lands, and of the 
Quingquennial Settlement formed in 1824. 


NAMES OF PERGUNNAS. 


Settlement. 


Settlement. 


Bisis in Cultivation. 
Jumma of the Quinquennial 


Bisisin Hek Padhan. 
Jumma of the last Triennial 


Bisis Waste. 


| 
| 


| Baramandal, 23805 4744 1829 
Pali Pachaon, 15700 2062 974 
| Chowgarkha, _ 11761 7678 1377 
Phuldakote, cc. . oy 9888 2695 886 
} Dhaniakote, 4415 769 337 
Kota Chakata, A 36034 51330 306 
Ramgarh, _... 1134 287 90 
} Danpir, eve 5475 5336 664 


| Gangoli, : 4277 3197 446 
Kali Kamaon, . 26555 51615 2168 
} Dhianirow, c 6564 12160 346 
Shor, eee wee 7740 4804 715 
Sira Askote, eee add eae 8176 4686 673 


Total Kamaon Pergunnas, ... aes ee | 161523 151378 20815 

Baraseo, o»e 6843 

Choundkote,_- 7 2588 
} Dewelgarh, ... ss 2281 
} Nagpur, — eve : 4791 
| Ganga Salan, 4220 
f Chandpur, — oe. . 10518 
} Badhan, «es 74:70 
| Malla Salan, 3251 
1 Talla Salan, ov. . 4.239 


8017 
4563 
2504 
5354 
7736 
10938 
5919 
6002 
6461 


| eoeooococoeoecoo 


| Total Gerhwal Pergunnas, . 46205 30135 : 0 57498 
Bhot Mehals, See A 5 5760 675 5042 


} Total Province, 215310 187273 11490 176856 201258 


Hil. 


ON A NEW METHOD OF DETERMINING 


THE LONGITUDE, 


From the Observed Interval between the Transit of the Moon’s Enlightened 


Limb, and that of the Sun, or of one or more Stars. 


By CAPTAIN P, W. GRANT, 


Survey Department. 


THE subject of this Memoir has engaged the attention of the most illustri- 
ous astronomers of modern times; and, it has called forth the most splendid 
efforts of genius, to investigate and to determine with precision, those ele- 
ments from which the motions of the heavenly bodies, and their true places 
in the heavens, at any instant of time, are computed. For this purpose, it was 
necessary to ascertain the general laws by which the motions of the sun and 
planets are regulated, and the numerous disturbing forces by which their 
mean motions are affected. Kepler, Newton, and Braddely, were the first to 
discover and define the most important of these laws, but it remained for the 
astronomers of a later period, to complete the fabric of which these illustri- 
ous men had laid the foundation. La Place and others, have exhausted the 


236 A NEW METHOD OF 


utmost resources of the most refined analysis, in investigating the numerous 
disturbing forces, and lunar inequalities which could arise from the theory of 
gravity, and to the labors of Dr. Maskelyne, are we mainly indebted for the 
successful application of these and similar researches, to purposes of eminent 
practical utility. Of the several methods which have been employed for the 
purpose of determining the longitude on land, the eclipses of Jupiter’s satel- 
lites have, till lately, been considered as “ affording the readiest and, for gene- 
ral practice, the best method of settling the longitudes of places.” But 
experience has shown, that this is by no means true to the extent implied, 
and that, although it be perhaps the readiest method of approximating to the 
truth, it is, nevertheless, very imperfectly adapted for giving results “ with 
that degree of accuracy, which the present state of modern astronomy re- 
quires.”’. The reader who wishes to make himself acquainted with the history 
of the meridional transits of the moon, may refer with advantage to the Me- 
moirs of the London Astronomical Society, in which the subject is accurately 
illustrated. ‘The method explained by Mr. Baily, refers, however, to corres- 
ponding observations of the moon’s transit over two different meridians*. The 
method which it is the object of this memoir to explain, is that adopted, (and 
I believe originated) by the Rev. Mr. Fallows, the Astronomer at the Royal 
Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope. ‘* To the scientific world,” as has 
justly been observed by the Rev. Dr. Pearson, “ the talents of Mr. Fallows 
are too well known and appreciated, to require eulogium,”’ and I perform a 
pleasing duty, in availing myself of this opportunity of acknowledging the 
great obligations which I owe to that distinguished astronomer, for the in- 


struction and information which I derived from frequent converse and personal 


* In Tilloch’s Philosophical Magazine for 1803, a rule is given by Mr. Lowe, for determining 
the difference of longitude from the observed transits of the moon over two meridians. In substance, 
the rule is correct, only that the moon’s motion in twelve hours, uncorrected by the equation of 1G 
diffs. is adopted, instead of her motion, in the absolute interval between the times of transit. 


DETERMINING THE LONGITUDE. 237 


communication with him. ‘The new method to which I allude, is found- 
ed on the principle of determining the right ascension of the moon’s centre 
from the observed transit of her limb, compared with that of the sun and one 
or more stars, and then to find, fiom the Nautical Ephemeris, at what time 
at Greenwich, the moon had the same right ascension. ‘The accuracy of this 
method depends partly on that of the catalogues of right ascension of such 
Zodiacal or other stars, as may be used to compare with the moon’s transit: 
hence only those stars should be used, whose right ascensions are accurately 
determined. With a good clock or chronometer, therefore, adjusted to sidereal 
or mean time, (the former is most convenient) and a transit instrument, placed 
in the plane of the meridian, the longitude of any place may be determined 
in two nights, within 15° of the truth. During the whole course of my 
experience, the observations of any one night seldom differed more than this 
quantity, from the mean result of the observations of several consecutive 
nights; and I may safely affirm, that with a good clock or chronometer, and 
a transit instrument properly adjusted, one observation of the transit of the 
moon, compared with two of the sun (when their declinations do not differ more 
than 10°) one the noon preceding, and the other on the following noon, will 
give the longitude probably within 10°. Some of the Greenwich stars, too, 
whose apparent right ascensions are computed for every tenth day, will 
always be visible on the meridian, and if the rate of the chronometer be 
uniform, will, without further trouble, afford a more correct result, and one 
more to be depended upon, than a series of observations of the eclipses of 


Jupiter’s satellites. 


With respect to errors, which may be supposed to arise from the imper- 
fection of the Lunar Tables, I have already adverted to the pre-eminent ser- 
vices rendered to practical astronomy, by the late Astronomer Royal. This 
fact is, in no instance, more strikingly illustrated, than in the distinguished and 
unequalled excellence of the Astronomical Ephemeris. The perfection to 

2M 


a 


038 A NEW METHOD OF 


d 


which the Solar and Lunar Tables have attained, scarcely leaves a desideratum 
on this head. It is true, that several equations in the Lunar theory, still re- 
main unknown, but there is every reason to believe, that the amount of error 
which is superinduced from the omission of these equations, will not, for many 
years to come, involve any perceptible error in the Lunar Tables. The 
accuracy of the Lunar and Solar Tables being thus established, and the moon’s 
motion, in right ascension, being more rapid than that of the other planets, it is 
evident that the determination of her position in the heavens, at any instant of 
time, under any meridian, must afford the readiest, and one of the most accurate 
methods of determining the difference of longitude between that meridian 
and any other, for which the moon’s place bas been computed. This object 
may be attained in two ways—one of which is by observing the interval that 
elapses between the transit of the moon’s limb, and of one or more stars,* 


whose right ascensions are well determined. 


From a comparison of the results deduced from this method, and that of 
theeclipses of Jupiter’s satellites, it has been found, that the longitude deduc- 
ed from the latter, is generally in excess of that deduced from the lunar tran- 
sits. This remark is grounded on my own experience, but I should not have 
hazarded it, had not other observers drawn the same conclusion. It may, 
perhaps, be difficult to point out the sources of error in either. ‘This much, 
however, may be said, that the data from which the Lunar Tables are construct- 
ed, (excepting, of course, the errors of computation, ) are as correct as theory, 
combined with observation, can make them, and that the right ascensions of 
the stars, which may be selected, for comparison, from Pond’s Catalogue, have 


no error that is likely to come within the range of ordinary observation, or 


v 


* The other method alluded to, will form the subject of a separate Essay. It is as accurate 
as that of the Trans.t Instrument. 


DETERMINING THE LONGITUDE. 239 


that can materially influence results. But this is not the case with respect to 
the data from which eclipses of Jupiter’s satellites are computed. ‘The pre- 
cision of the tables of that planet, is by no means such as to dispel all doubt ; 
the results deduced from observations of immersions and emersions, are liable 
to be vitiated by many extrinsic circumstances, such as the state of the atmos- 
phere, different powers of vision in the observers, and the uncertainty from 
these and similar causes of the appearance and disappearance of tlie satellites. 
In these remarks, I am fully borne out by the testimony of Mr. Francis Baily, 
whose high attainments as an astronomer and mathematician, entitle his 
opinion, on all subjects connected with practical astronomy, to the utmost 
deference. But it is unnecessary to quote the sentiments of any particular 
individual. ‘there would appear then to be no question, as to the superiority 
of lunar transits on the principle recommended by the Cape Astronomer. 
The errors of the Lunar Tables must, in general, be very trifling; and in the 
hands of a skiiful observer, the transit instrument cannot partake of what is 
usually termed instrumental error. But neither are the tables of Jupiter’s 
satellites to be depended upon in the same degree, nor can the best and most 
experienced observer control the circumstances, which should render his 


observations free from the errors to which I have adverted. 


Having premised these observations, in illustration of the superiority of 
lunar transits, I shall now proceed to explain, in as concise a manner as possi- 


ble, the method of deducing the longitude from the transit of the moon’s limb. 


It is presumed, that the reader has made himself acquainted with the se- 
veral adjustments necessary to the portable transit instrument previous to its 
being placed in the meridian. ‘These adjustments consist, first, in setting the 
vertical wires truly perpendicular to the horizon; secondly, in rectifying the 


parallax of the telescope and the line of collimation; and lastly, in levelling 


the axis of the instrument. 


240 A NEW METHOD OF 


When these adjustments are made, there is no difficulty within the 
northern tropics in bringing the instrument into the plane of the meridian. 
The small altitude of Polaris, renders almost the first adjustment by that star 
unsusceptible of any further correction ; and it seldom happens that some 
distant object may not be found intersected by one of the wires, which may 
always be referred to as a meridian mark. To adjust the instrument by Pola- 
ris, the observer should have a chronometer, whose rate is uniform and well- 
determined, and he may, if he knows the equatorial interval between the 
wires, calculate the exact instant it _should intersect the first and second 


wires, which will prepare him for the final adjustment to the central wire. 


The transit instrument is the most perfect that has been invented for 
the improvement of astronomy. Instruments for measuring angles, no effort 
of art can render perfectly free from errors of centering, division, &c. But 
the transit instrument is not susceptible of any instrumental error that may 
not be obviated. When the instrument is accurately adjusted to the meri- 
dian, it will be advisable for the beginner to select from the catalogues, those 
stars which he thinks best adapted, allowing an interval of at least 3". or 4”. 
between each. He should make a list of them under the heads of their names. 
Right ascensions for the beginning of the year, and their declinations and 
altitudes ; since by means of the computed altitudes, the instrument is elevat- 
ed to the same altitude on the circle, and he will find the star to be observed, 
in the field view of the telescope. Having observed the transit of the first star, 
the difference in right ascension of those that follow, will indicate nearly the 
time that will elapse before the second or third star may be expected to ap- 


pear in the field view. 


When the observer becomes accustomed to the instrument, and expert in 
directing it, and in noting the times of transit, he may then observe the tran- 


sit of as many stars as can be done conveniently, within a given distance from 


DETERMINING THE LONGITUDE. 241 


the equator, by merely giving the instrument a sweep slowly along the meri- 
dian, noting the times of transit and the altitude, or zenith distance ofeach 
star on the circle. From the altitudes, he computes the approximate declina- 
tion of the star, and knowing also, from the time of its transit, the approximate 
right ascension of the star, he will, on reference to the catalogues, be able to 


discover its name and character. 


It may, however, be laid down as a rule, that when an observer can select 
from ten to fifteen or twenty good stars, that is, stars whose right ascensions 
have been recently determined,* some before and some after the moon’s 
transit, and within two or three hours, a desirable degree of accuracy will be 
attained ; and when a good clock or chronometer is used, the interval may be 
extended to five or even six hours; but when a watch is used, whose rate is 
not uniform, the interval ought not to exceed one hour, or at most two hours ; 
and it should ever be borne in mind, that one good observation of a star whose 
ARn. is well determined, is far preferable to a hundred observations of stars, 


whose ARns. are imperfectly ascertained. 


It has elsewhere been observed, that when a star is on the meridian, the 
right ascension of that star is the right ascension of the meridian; it follows, 
that when the moon’s limb is on the meridian, the right ascension of that limb 
is the right ascension of the meridian. But the right ascension of the meri- 
dian may be deduced from the interval in sidereal time that elapses between 
the transit of a star, and any given instant of time; consequently, if at any 
known interval, before or after the transit of a star, the moon’s limb be on 


the meridian, the right ascension of the meridian deduced from that interval, 


* Pond’s Catalogue of 400 stars is, probably, the mast accurate that has been published, and 
I have used it in preference to any other. 


Qn 


84,2 A NEW METHOD OF 


must be the right ascension of the moon’s limb at that instant of sidereal time, 
and, if we know the ARn. moon’s limb at any given instant of time, we easily 
deduce that of her centre, for the ARn. moon’s centre== ARn. moon’s limb-k 
Semid. in ARn. at the same instant. But the ARn. moon’s centre, when her 
limb is on the meridian, is not the same as when her centre is on the meridian. 
The difference no wise depends on the time the moon takes in passing over 
the meridian, nor is it affected, as has been supposed, by the augmentation; 
for the semi-diameter in right ascension is the angle subtended by the moon’s. 
radius at the centre of the earth, and measured on the equator. Nor does the 
apparent augmentation of ‘the semi-diameter affect the right ascension of her 
limb on the meridian, by accelerating or retarding its approach. Now, the 
right ascension of the moon’s limb, when on the meridian, is the same as the 
right ascension of the meridian ; in other words, it is the same as the sidereal 
time at which the moon’s limb ison the meridian. Also, apparent time is the 
difference between the right ascension of the meridian, and the right ascension 
of the sun’s centre at the same instant; and knowing the ARn. moon’s limb 
on the meridian, we deduce the apparent time, by subtracting from it the 


sun’s ARn. given in the Nautical Almanac. 


Such, briefly, is the process of deducing the ARn. of the moon’s limb and 
centre, and thence the apparent time of observation, from the intervals be- 
tween her transit and that of one or more stars, whose apparent right ascen- 
sions-are known. Trom these data, the longitude of the place of observation 


is deduced in the following manner.* 


Rute Ist.—Having, in the manner already explained, found the right 


ascension of the moon’s limb, find also the apparent time of observation, 


* This method was first communicated to the late Colonel Blacker, by the Author, on his return 
from the Cape of Good Hope, in May, 1825, 


DETERMINING THE LONGITUDE. 243 


corresponding to this ARn., in other words, at what apparent time the moon’s 


‘limb was on the meridian. First, compute from the Ephemeris, the right 


ascension of the sun at noon, at the place of observation, which subtract from 
the ARn. moon’s limb, as above found, the remainder is the approximate time 
of transit. From this quantity, subtract the proportional part of the sun’s 
daily increase of right ascension, according to the number of hours and 
minutes elapsed, and the second remainder is the apparent time of the transit 
of the moon’s limb, true to the fraction of a second. 

Rue 2p.—In order to find the ARn. of the moon’s centre at this appa- 
rent time, take out the semi-diameter, as given in the Ephemeris, and either 
multiply it by the natural secant of the moon’s declination, or if there be no 
fable of natural secants present, then, to the Logm. of the horizontal semi- 
diameter, add the Logm. secant of tlie moon’s declination, the sum is the 


Logm. of the semi-diameter in ARn., which added to, or subtracted from 


‘the observed ARn. of her limb, gives the ARn. of ‘her centre, when her 


limb was on the meridian. 


Route 3p.—Having thus found the right ascension of lier centre, the next 


and last process is, to compute from the Ephemeris, at what apparent time at 


. Greenwich, the moon’s centre had the observed right ascension; the difference 


of these apparent times is the difference between the right ascension of the 
meridian of the place of observation, when the moon’s limb passed it, and that 
of the meridian of Greenwich, at the same instant of time= to the angle at the 
pole, formed by the two meridians, measured on the equator= the difference 


of these meridians in sidereal time= to the longitude from the first meridian. 


A few examples will render the method perfectly. intelligible to any per- 
son who has the slightest knowledge of nautical astronomy. I shall first 


compute one transit, observed near Calcutta. : 


BAA A NEW METHOD OF 


S0ru May, 1825. 


The moon’s western limb passed the meridian per solar chronometer at 11: 33 : 10.5) 
Antares ditto, aoe ve ee ee ee wos 12't' 38) 12S 
pe ee i 
Interval in solar time, ve eo le are ate ne aes Ts. 05:3. 12.70 
Acceleration of sidereal on solar time, oe oe ee wee aes 10.68 | -s 
x 
Interval in right ascension between transit of moon and Antares, we ot 05: 23.381 3 
Right ascension of Antares per Ephemeris, wee ae os -- 16: 18: 45.87 P 6 
i) 
SAGA Teta cS 
Rn. moon’s limb, 5 we 15: 13: 22.49 1S 
> 's Sem. 167: 11” Dec. 20c: 35 and 16’. 183 x 1. 008=17. 3=17': 18" 4 Wee) 9520 
l 
Right ascension of moon’s centre, when her limb was on the meridian, ... 15: 14: 31.69 | 
ARn. moon’s limb, — ... ye ae so Det AS Se 22. oe = °228° : 37.55 ) 
Sun Rn. at noon at Greenwich, ae = sey, | ANS Ot 3 O48 
Approximate time, oe es ee we 10: 453. 27.7 2 : 
= 4h.: 52m.: 28s. Greenwich time, we ae Vide Rule Ist. 
P.Pt. increase of sun’s ARn. for 4h. 52m. «6 as. — 40.0 
Apparent time at place of observation, oe, eee 102) 4h 2 A707 


Moon ARn. from Ephemeris :— 
29th May Midn... 218: 8: 31 Ist difference. 
30th May Noon.. 225: 35: 33=:7: 26: 42 2d difference Mean. 
_ 80th May Midn... 233: 7:58 7: 32:45 6: 03 ) Mean 
3lst May Noone. 240: 44. 33° 7: 36: 35 3: a —A: 5G. 


Moon’s motion in 12 hrs.7: 32%. 45”. 


Ditto 4h. oe ee 2°: 30 47 and 5h.— - 3°: 08: 37. 


Vide Rule 3d. 


a er So yy ee ee 


Eqn. 2d diffs. .. — 27 for V- hours — 29. 
pe es aRE cil ARTOIS | FSR eeegMnSO Cie LOH DESH MN cen gees Ne ee eS NS uPS 
MVE Rees eee acs 2: 30. 14/V. P.M... 3: O08: 08. 
ARn. at Noon... 225: 35: 03) 1V. P.M... 2: 30: 14. 
Moon’s Rn. at) | Moon’s 
IV. P.M. at 228: 5: 27} hourly ' 37’: 54 
Greenwich, .. motion. 8%. 9. 
Moon observed Rn. at Calcutta, wel fice ate ae ee co eae LAO SNOB 
Moon Rn. at Greenwich, at 1V. P. M. ee ae ae Hs Be S28 Fe SO" 
Difference, oe nial ns ones eo eee Ser 2OM 
Then, eo @o ae se @®@ eee 32. AD 
Hourly motion. 
As 37’. 9: 60m. ::32’% 47: 5lm.: 23s. 
Time at Greenwich, when the moon’s centre 
had right ascension, wisieoise see0 15h: 14m: 31-69 is 4h: 51m: 23s. 
Time at Calcutta, °  .... Briere wists Hai eoes (102 442: ~47, 7, 
Longitude, Bie ies Widity Hoelialonanianieonass access Sigicees) ! Os TO Gio eine Hone 
Place of Observation East of Fort “William Flag- 
Staff, Deoasecce 200808 eo 00 © © ovo eves eo 7. 0. 


Longitude of Flag Staff, anes eves Rec aa os oo 92:00 2 AT. Te 


DETERMINING THE LONGITUDE. Q45 


This longitude agrees with that deduced from several Transits observed 
about the same time, and is probably within 10°. of the truth, 5: 53: 17.7. 


being in excess. 


Such, briefly, is the process of deducing the Longitude from the transit of 
the moon’s limb, and stars near her. It obviously is the simplest, ‘the most 


convenient, and one of the most perfect methods that can be employed.* 


It is presumed, that every person who ventures to use the transit instru- 
ment, has made himself acquainted with the elements of astronomy ; that he 
knows the distinction between apparent and mean right ascension, and that 
he is conversant with the uses of the tables, for giving the corrections for 
precession, aberration, solar and lunar nutation. The tables used most com- 
monly for this purpose, are those of Dr. Woollaston, but these are not so cor- 
rect as could be desired. Correct tables will be found in DeLambre’s Astro- | 
nomie Théorique ét Pratique, also in Biot’s Astronomie Physique, and in the — 
“© Portable Tables,”’ of Baron Zach, published at Florence in 1809. Neverthe- 
less, all of these are tedious to ordinary computers, who do not always know 
how to apply the negative and affirmative signs of an argument. ‘The easiest 
and most convenient are those prepared by the Reverend Mr. Fallows,t con- 
sisting of only five tables. One great advantage these tables possess is, that of 


giving the correction for precession, without reference to the annual variations, 


_ * In the above example, the equation of IIId. differences is omitted, as being unimportant. 
In the 38th Number of the Journal of Science and Arts, Mr. Henderson has inserted two con- 
venient tables for finding the correction of IIId. and IVth. differences. 

+ These tables are contained in Dr. Pearson's Introduction to Practical Astronomy, which con- 
tains the most complete and useful selection of astronomical tables that has ever been, published. 
To undertake the compilation and publication of so laborious, and so expensive an undertaking, re- 
guired all the talents of that distinguished astronomer, and a degree of enthusiasm for science, of 
which there are but few examples. 


20 


246 A NEW METHOD OF 


so that the approximate right ascension and declination of any star, are 
used as arguments of simple entry, to give the correction.* The annual va- 
riations contained in La Caille and Mayer’s catalogues, will be found inaccu- 
rate at this time, because they depend upon the right ascensions and declina- 
tions, which are variable quantities, and from the time that has elapsed since 
the construction of these catalogues, (from forty to seventy years) these 
quantities have considerably changed. It follows, that those stars ought to be 
preferred whose right ascensions are founded on recent ebservations, or 
which have been computed with reference to the changes produced in the 
annual variation, by the motion of the equinoctial points, and the secular di- 


minution of the obliquity of the eliptic.t 


When the transits of several stars are observed, it will not be necessary to 
compute the correction for each star separately ; all that need be known, is 
the mean right ascension of each star, for the beginning of the year, and it 
will be sufficient to know the declination within one minute. The following 


rules explain the method which I have adopted for reducing my observations : 


Rule. Ist. Add together the times of transit of all the stars per chro- 
nometer, also all the mean right ascensions, and all the mean declinations for 


the beginning of the year, and divide each sum by the number observed. 


Rule. 2d. From the mean of the times of transit, subtract the time per 


chronometer of the moon’s transit, the difference, when corrected for the rate 


* The argument is tabular No. (1.3362 x Sin. Arn.) multiplied by tangent of star’s declination, 
and added to 3.0678.-—Care must be taken in the application of the Sin. Arn. which, in the two last 
quadrants, that is, between twelve and twenty-four hours, is minus. 


+ These observations were written previously to the appearance in India of the Id. vol. of the 
Memoirs of the Astronomical Society of London, containing the admirable tables of Mr. Baily. 


DETERMINING THE LONGITUDE. 24:7 


of the chronometer, is the interval in mean solar time, which, corrected by 


the acceleration of sidereal on solar time, will be the interval in right ascension. 


Rule. 3d. Now, with the mean of all the mean right ascensions, and the 
mean of all the declinations, compute from Mr. Fallows’ Tables the corrections 
for precession, aberration, and nutation, and which, applied to the said mean, 
according to its sign, the sum, or difference, is a mean of the apparent right 
ascension of the stars. 

Rule. 4th. To this apparent right ascension, add the interval found by 
Rule 2d, if the time of the moon’s transit is greater than the mean of the times 


of the star’s transit, otherwise, subtract the interval, the sum, or difference, is 


the right ascension of the moon’s observed limb, from which that of her centre, 


is deduced as before. 


The following example is cited in illustration of the proposed method. 


OBSERVATORY AT PROME IN AVA. 


137rH Novemser, 1825. 


Names and Cha- | Times of Transit per | Mean Afin. of Stars sipigs 
(7) 7 
25 2 racters of Stars. Chronometer. for 1825. Pecknaton, 
-_ aay a ae See here 
a 36 Aquarius 7: 3:44. 5 22 chins Los 08 12°; 25 
= At Ub ditto. 7: 45: 51. 0 22: 43: 28. 73 8):32:3:2 
4% 1 h. ditto eNOS ies 22: 56: 10. 75 8: 40 
3: 2 h. ditto. 7: 58: 32.0 22: 56: 10. 54 8: 43 
3 ig 3 h. ditto. 7: 59: 06. 2 22: 56: 46. 15 8: 55 
‘eg 1 3 ditto 8: 09: 02. 0 23: 06: 41. 84 10: 08 
as - 3 h.ditto 8: 12:.07. 0 23: 09: 51. 40 10: 40 
SIG Ve ee OL AS ee AO OT ee OORT 98 het 
eS Sum 55: 06: 44. 7 159: 50: 16. 34 68: 03 

Meany ae Ws 62's 23°51 22: 50: 02. 33 9°; 43 

Moon’s transit. ... 8:3) 162/13. 70 

Difference, Bp 00: 23: 50. 19 

Rate, losing, .. + .05 

Acceleration, OT neat 


Interval in ARn. -- 00: 23: 54’ 15 


Correction for Precession, &c. + eo. 2 o O03. 81 


Apparent right ascension, eer; = 08 ee |) es ee 22: 50: 06, 13 


248 i A NEW METHOD OF 


Brought over, Apparent right ascension, .. ee e+ «+ oe 22: 50; 06. 13 
Interval, s+ ene 2a) 4. 25 
ARn. Moon’s limb, .. 23:,14: 00. 28 
Ditto Moon’s semi. .. + 59. 20 


Ditto Moon’s centre,e. 23: 14: 59. 48 
= 348°: 44°: 52” 


Moon’s horary motion is, .- oof wach MP tene 
Moon’s right ascension at Greenwich, at 1 p. M.is, | 348°: 387: 06” 
Observed at 7: 35: 20. 28 — 348: 44. 52 
In advance of 1 P. mM. eee siete’ eee sosiiei6 46 
Hence, Bo anchets aicine eee Oe Lt 


Ag 27s5: 60m. 2: 6.772" 14m8 Abe; 
ARn. Moon’s limb... 23h.: l4in.: 00s. 28 
Ditto Sun, ..  .. 15: 38: 40. 00 


Hs OM: S. 
Apparent time at Prome, 7: 35: 20. 28 
Ditto at Greenwich, .. 1: 14: 45. 00 


Longitude, eo oa (Om 20s 7:30 


When a great number of stars has been observed, whose declinations 
differ from one another, it will be proper to divide them into sets, each set to 
comprehend those stars, whose declinations approach to one another closely, 
and the longitude should be deduced from each series separately, as in the 


subjoined example. 


The subjoined transits of twenty-two stars were observed. on the 18th 
February 1826. The moon’s first limb culminated per chronometer at 3h. : 
20m.: 05s. 7. declination 20° : 30’: Hor. Semi=15/ : 27”, and semi-diameter 
in ARn.=I1m.: 5s. 93. 


The stars are divided into three classes or series, according to their decli- 
nations, and the mean of the approximate right ascensions and declinations 
of each series, is used as the argument to find the correction for the precession, 
aberration and nutation of that point of the heavens which corresponds to the 
ARn. and declination. The tables used are those of Mr. Fallows. If other 


DETERMINING THE LONGITUDE. 249 


tables be used, the correction for precession must be found by the rule given 


in a preceding note. 


Thus, from series first, we obtain the mean of all the right ascensions = 
5h.: 36m.: 36s. and of all the declinations 16°: 32.—With these two argu- 
ments, and the sun’s longitude =10s: 20°: 30’/—enter the tables, and take 
out the numbers opposite to each, from which are obtained the corrections for 
precession, aberration, solar and lunar nutation, the Algebraic sum of which 
is the correction for the apparent right ascension of the stars, whose approxi- 
mate right ascension is 5: 37: 25. 99. and declination 16°: 32, and which is 


found to be 2s. 22. 


This would also be the correction for any one star, whose right ascension 
and declination were respectively 5h.: 37: 26 and 16°: 32’. Proceeding in 
the same manner with series 2d and 3d, the correction is found to be 2s. 43 for 
the former, and 2s. 50 for the latter. The labor of finding the corrections for 
each of the twenty-two stars separately, is thus reduced to three operations. 
But the labor of computing the corrections for each star, would be greatly 
diminished, if we possessed tables contaning the maxima of aberration and 
nutation ; desiderata, which it is the author’s intention to supply on the prin- 
ciple adopted and recommended by Mr. Fallows, in Dr. Pearson’s Intro- 


duction to Practical Astronomy.* 


When the stars observed are to be arranged in series, it will be proper, in 
the first place, to compute from each star, the approximate ARn. of the moon’s 
limb, in order to detect any error that might inadvertently have been intro- 


duced in noting the times of transit. The most careful observer is liable to 


* The Tables alluded to, comprehend all the moon culminating stars contained in Pond’s 
Catalogue, and computed for 1835. 


Q2p 


950 A NEW METHOD OF 


mistake in noting the minute or the 10th second, for, in counting, he may 


commence from 20s. instead of 10s. and so forth. 


I will further add, that when a meridian mark is not visible at night, the 
adjustment of the instrument, during the time of observation, should be veri- 
fied by observing the transits of two or more stars differing considerably in | 


declination. 


Thus the same night in which the annexed transits were 
observed, Capella culminated, °-s2.-- ee eee bee SA ae EIS 46S OFS 
DITIUS vce “ese cee ede - d¥ ev LOS CPO OOF 


Difference in solar time,...... ... 1: 33: 21.0 
Acceleration 0.5 00. Use 23. Ub 15.53 


Observed difference of ARn. ... 1: 33: 36.53 
Per Tables Capellas ARn. is ...-..5 «2. 5: 383: 53. 76 
Sirius... és 6:87 31. 200 

Difference comptted, (25.0.5. a8. Fs 33's O74 


Error in 62°=00: 00: 00.71 


J ics J 


Also Capella culminated;, 2... 20 ope4 sme. es? 112 4627/0155 
Migel! 55 5hS ee Oe ORE 9S9° OUP BP RRs G9, F 
Observed difference ear dee ta ae are ee MEO OO) 

Acceleration + 35 


Difference in ARn. ... ,.. ... OO: 2: 18.55 


Difference per Tables, ... os. 2: 18. 80 
Difference ‘or error ~ 4.5. 63. 3%: 00°. 25 


DETERMINING THE LONGITUDE. 251 


And, making allowances for errors of observation, it is evident that the in- 
strument was well adjusted. The method of adjusting a transit instrument 
by circumpolar stars, is seldom or ever practicable in low latitudes. I have 
already stated, that in India the Pole Star is best adapted for this purpose, and 
the adjustment may be verified by computing from the equatorial interval 
between the wires, the instant that Polaris should bisect the 1st, 2d, and 3d 


wires. 


I beg to remark, in conclusion, that I have deemed it unnecessary to in- 
troduce into this Memoir, analytical formulae of demonstration, which often 
perplex the student, who is not well grounded in Mathematics, and which, 
perhaps, not unfrequently deter him from pursuits in Practical Astronomy 
and Geography. My object is, to render easy and intelligible, what may be 
accounted difficult by those who know little more than the rules and prac- 


tice of Nautical Astronomy, and who yet may have excellent opportunities 


of multiplying Observations, for the improvement of Geography ;—in short, 


to recommend the more general use of the Transit Instrument, in preference 


to any other method for determining the longitude on land. 


But, although I am decidedly of opinion, that the method of lunar 
transits here explained, is to be preferred to eclipses of Jupiter’s satellites, 


yet I would not be understood to invalidate the utility and expediency of 


embracing every opportunity that offers, of observing them. 


The results deduced from corresponding observations of immersions and 
‘emersions, made under different meridians, I consider to be unexceptionable ; 
while those deduced from a comparison, with the computed times given in 
the Ephemeris, clearly show, that the Tables of Jupiter, have not yet attain- 
to that degree of perfection, which is indispensably necessary to ensure gene- 


ral confidence. 


252 A NEW METHOD OF 


FIRST SERTES. 


| Name and Cha-| Times of Transit Mean Approzimate 
racter of Stars. per Chronometer. Afin’s. 1826. Declinations. | 


a ee 


ic 1M 


4 29s; WSR /4 15s) anZder | 
[o- 2M dics FOO IM TOS OTet at Onno. 
m ‘Tauri de 57s, 09. 80), Lore 23. 
51 Gemi ... Ms);' 0821:225 ‘BO, ahGs weer 


PAY Ditto OG. 7s O85 5"O5:2:03 16: -5h 


Sum ... 


: Mean eee eco 


28: O7: O09. 94 82: 38. 


Oa Os, 20899. 10m a3: 


| y's’ Dransit....: .2. 182) "2027305. '7 
Interval ...... 1::-00: -35...3 
Acceleration 9. 94 1: 00: 45. 24 | 


a 


1: OO: 45. 24 


See 


| Approximate ARn. »’s Limb.......... 6: 388: 11. 23 


Corrections....... see | 2, 22 


ARni::p’s: Limb, .s.000d08 6: 38: ° 13. 45 


DETERMINING THE LONGITUDE. 953 


-SbuCeOuNI DS $i, BYR. TEs. 


| Name and Cha-| Times of Transit Mean Approximate 
racter of Stars. per Chronometer. ARn’s. 1826. Declinations. 

11: 14: O04 0 4; 381: 48. 48 22 35 

1s Shs DOR 7 4905 52s, .4 0.1 96 21 19 

118-593: 19) SO Os1.) U7eot VE... 05 21 46 

esvelk sia 823262) -08t.0 5: 44: O4. 73 20 13 

12: 463 23, .O 62)-2 0400 7 22. 4.2 22 33 

TWAS lita RO LOPS th 2) Os 112: -) 25. 87 |. 2O 19 

13: 35:- 39, 5 62° 53:7 46. 83 20 49 

13:2 5120'33)) 0 7: O95 43. 28 29 18 

132695327 30) (0 Weit1132.1 40. 36 20 46 

132) 592 1B... 5 Ta L732 2k. .05 21 48 


—— 


1283152, O77 90 Gl: 15: O9...03:.| 214s 26 


eee 


mos ro d--49--49---80. 99-1. G:..-07:.80..91.| 21:.. . 26 
See bee 13260203705), 7 bo, 


Interval 
Acceleration 


Ad 91 
4, 93 +. 80: 39. 93 
~ 09 fe 


Approximate : : 
ARn. »’s Limb, 6: 38: 10. 84 


Correction,... 


ARn. Moon’s Limb 6: 38: 13. 27. 
Pai 9) 


O54 A NEW METHOD OF 


oe 


THIRD SERIES. 


Name and Cha- | Times of Transit Mean Approximate 
racter of Stars. per Chronometer. ARn’s. 1826. Declinations. 


Taure 3. Sh. Veit 25726 26, Srp lor il]: 75". O8en a 96 


Ditto .. 12: 11: 04 2) 5: 28: 57. 09] 25 
wee 12: 24: 27 S| 5: 42: 23. 42 | a7 
Gemi ... 12: 35: 34 53: 82. 57 | 25 


SUM. 4.2 90: 27:. 24:2 4 AS19332 (29... 87 | 187: 


Mean ... 12: 55: 20. 5 6:,138: 21. 41 26: 


p's ‘Transit:| ... 13: 20: O05. 247 


Interval ... 24, 45. 2 
4, 1 24: 49. 30 
24: 49. 8 


Approximate ARn. »y’s Limb............ 62:88: 10. 71 


Correction..cccccccses 2. 50 


ARn. »’s Limb.......0006. 6: 88: 13. 21 


DETERMINING THE LONGITUDE. 255 


Rules for deducing the Right Ascension of the Moon’s Limb from the 
Observed Transit of the Sun and Moon, and thence the Longitude. 


If the sun’s motion in the Ecliptic were uniform, that is, if his daily mo- 
tion was equal to the acceleration of the fixed stars (3" 55° 9), the inter- 
val, in‘mean solar time, between the transits of the sun and moon, would be 
equal to the difference of their right ascensions at the instant of the moon’s 
transit; but, as this is not the case, as the sun’s daily motion in ARn. is some- 
times greater and sometimes less, than the mean acceleration of sidereal on 
solar time, it follows, that the interval in solar time must be corrected by the 
daily difference of the equation of time given in the Ephemeris. When the 
daily difference of the sun’s right ascension exceeds 3” 56°, the proportional 
part of the daily difference of the equation of time is subtractive, otherwise 


additive to the interval. 


Thus, after the 2d November 1825, the sun’s daily motion is greater than 
3 55S 9.—F or instance, between the 18th and 19th, it is 4" 10°, being about 
14° in excess, which is the daily difference of the equation of time nearly. 
Hence it appears, that an apparent day, or twenty-four hours of apparent time, 
on the 18th and 19th, was in excess of a mean solar day, by 14°, and so on, 
till about the middle of February, when an apparent day becomes less than a 


mean solar day. Hence,— 


1.— With a solar chronometer, correct the observed interval for the rate, 


and then we have the interval in mean solar hours. 


2.—If an apparent day is in retardation of mean solar time, that is, if the 


interval between two transits of the sun, exceeds twenty-four hours mean 


256 A NEW METHOD OF 


solar time, then the corrected interval is to be diminished in proportion to 
twenty-four hours. Thus, if the interval is 6": 29" 59°, in mean solar time, 
and the daily difference of equation of time, (which is the retardation of ap- 
parent on solar time) 14°, the correction would obviously be as 24”: 14° :: 6": 
59°: 3°. 25, because 6": 29": 59°, mean solar time, is equal to only 6°: 29": 
55°. 75, of apparent time, but this quantity in apparent time is equal to the 
sun’s distance in right ascension from the meridian at the time of the transit 
of the moon’s limb, and therefore, the sun’s right ascension at that apparent 
time, plus, this distance from the meridian, is equal to the right ascension 
of the meridian at the same instant, equal to the right ascension of the moon’s 


limb, at that instant. 


One or two examples will be sufficient,—and one set of observations will 


generally give the longitude within 10° or 15°, when the proper precautions 
are used. 


OBSERVATORY AT PROME, 
1l¢tuH Novemser. 
Hic Melis. 
ten Hiei Eee 4Oe ZG. 22 
eer ase sen vee on Gzedilry S5PO 


The sun passed the meridian per chronometer, 
Moon’s limb, ditto ditto, 


Interval per chronometer, 
Rate 2. 5 in 24°, 


vee Sou eee vy CLOG: 11 E 25.058 
eee eee eeo0e + 7 


RS er eT ED 


Interval in mean solar time, ss see ee wr. OG? 11s 2655 
By reduction, the daily difference of the equation of 
time is 12°. 5 per day, and in 6": 11™ an apparent day, = — 3.7 
is; = 2400 : 12. 5 solar time, 


Sun’s meridional distance, APE 63211 252228 


“9 eo eoe eee 


DETERMINING THE LONGITUDE. Q57 


Now, the assumed longitude is 6": 21", and 6": 11°:— 
6": .21™ = nearly 23": 50 at Greenwich. Sun’s apparent > 15: 30: 06. 9 
ARn. at Prome, at 6": 11" : 22°=(23: 50at Greenwich) is, § 


~ 


een ere 


@ 


Right ascension moon’s limb ees ie ose) 16Obe Abd) 20.07, 
Add moon’s semidiameter in right ascension, sii Sie L201 1 
Right ascension moon’s centre, Ha Pe wae 21: 42+ 30.8 


‘Now let us compare the moon’s transit with that of the sun, on the fol- 
lowing noon, and we must then reverse the operation, and take a mean of the 


two observations. 


Moon’s' limb passed: meridian on 17th, 4... 0...) see wee 62815055. -O 


puns citto ppassed: 18 thy, js. -)\e0.) See)! ec cee eee Sieh o4¢, e24ee AO? (88,18 
Mercerville: oe oe BON Pea eens ana Pi els h aon eel prude AGS. S 


Kate, semel oes seehiogsis eek bese +1. 8 


Interyal in mean: solarstime, «cc. oe005 bel dee Vile Deaths 1% 1248-45606 


Daily acceleration, 12. 5, and correction for 17": 48™. is, ... — 9 4 


Complement, nes cae Rel isle Seen MOS wale 2S, 8 


Q2 


Sun siright ascension as DELALE;) | eee well pe ese | eee, 15: 80: 06. 9 


ichivascension MOON’S,limb,.. jo ec: ces eas qeer0sme “LL? 41 2°30s “7 


Wiwengswmemii:CHamMCtery. oss.) ccc) as wen Gon) con) dew. e'vt LOL, Al 


958 A NEW METHOD OF 


ARn. moon’s centre hy last transit, ...0 6 ac ee QD: 42281. 8 


Ditt6 first: ditto, $ oR. ORGS IAG 8 Be OTe sos 


Mean, eee @o0o eee @ee eee eee eee Tiles AQ : SH 3 
Now the time at Greenwich, when the moon’s centre ee: 
this:ARn. is computedito be, “uta ee. Se! 


And thertime-at Prome is, ccc soa eee ees o8s- each see OR, ELS 23 


Longitude, dt caw Caen ates! a eaen.(oeet REE tte cae ee nO CORE OS 


Now the true Longitude, as deduced from lunar transits, is,.. 6: 20: 40 


The practical superiority of this method over that given by several writers, 
is obvious, for the two consecutive transits of the sun, one preceding, and the 
other subsequent to the moon’s transit, will determine the correction for rate, 
and an horizontal deviation of 5’ in the transit instrument, will superinduce 


an error of only 0’. 5 in right ascension at the most. 


Another method equally accurate may. be. adopted, but it is more tedi- 
ous. In this method, we may deduce the apparent time from the moon’s 
right ascension ; independently of the correction for acceleration, or retarda- 
tion of solar on apparent time, but then we must use - the sun’s right ascen- 
sion as an element. Or we may compute the apparent time, in the way shown 
-in the example. Neither of these methods are so commodious as the first 
method. 

PROME OBSERVATORY, 
171TH January, 1826. é 
Sun passed meridian, .+. ose see cee cee cee) ee eee © 00: 08: O07. 6 
Moon) --rss cad iwia: aoe’ wel Oraee Loi tO nSb.0 2 


6: 34: 47. 60 


DETERMINING THE LONGITUDE. 259 


Erought forward ... 6: 84: 47. 60 


Rate, ee0o eee oo eee eee v@o@o eee +. 4.0 
i 59. 14 

ACCElESAHONS «25M C oe wees? vee a 
5.75 


in¢egval msidercal times iS eee) Fane ede vese, | see 62853 52. 89 
Sun’s ARn... 19: 55: 56. 6 f 19: 54: 48. 80 
PP: Mee ST O78 
ee An. Noon stimb, e05.-5.2 22280: 4.69 
19: 54: 48. 8 || ARn. Sun’s from Ephemeris, 19: 55: 56. 60 


Gy Bair) At 6! GOT ka abt | 6S B43: 45; 09 
Correction for 14°:45°, sub. p. p. sun’s daily motion, 2.70 


Pexmparent times oh ne Gi Be 42. BO 


OR, 
Mean solar time from apparent noon when sun passed 
Net t 6: 34: 48. 0 
PINETACEATI ST ee teh Mean Maar egy com lori 

Bguavionpat NOON; QS..\ stile leagues ty ces yay ote 10: 20. 0 
Mean solar time when the moon’s limb was on meridian, .,. 6: 45: 08. O 
Equation of time at 6: 34: 48 p. M., the daily variation 

: t 10: 25. 67 
being 20°, eee eco ee3o eoo0f eee 220 eee voce eae 


6: 34: 42. 4 


260 A NEW METHOD OF, &c. 


OR BY METHOD FIRST. 


Mean solar time from apparent moon when moon’s impy 
passed meridian, 


Acceleration of solar on apparent time=to daily dif- ' 
ference of equation of time, (20° in 24")= ... .. 


eee 


Apparent time, or sun’s meridional distance, 


ARn. moon’s limb, 


doe: dpe wee sO ose: 
Sun’s ARn. at 6: 34: 42. 5 (=0": 14": 00 Greenwich,) 19: 55: 


eee eee eee eee eee eee eee @ee Qe 30: 


: 48. 


cos) 


IV. 


NOTICE 


OF THE 


KHYEN TRIBE, 


INHABITING THE YUMA MOUNTAINS, 


BETWEEN 


Soa ands Ararat, 


By LIEUTENANT T. A. TRANT, 
u Fis Majesty's 38th Regiment of Foot. 


ON the march from Yandaboo to Aeng, in 1826, across the Yuma moun- 
tains, an opportunity first occurred of obtaining some personal knowledge 
of the people by whom those mountains are inhabited, and the following brief 
notices of them may, perhaps, not be thought uninteresting. 

The people who inhabit the range of mountains that separate Ava from 
Aracan, and who are termed Khyén, are very different in character and ha- 
_ bits from their Burman neighbours: in appearance, the men are much inferior 
to the Burmese, their countenances being flatter, and not so regular : the dress 
also differs; it is very simple; a black cloth, striped with red and white, is 
thrown over the shoulders, a black cloth is worn round the loins, and a black 
jacket is occasionally used, They bind their hair with a fillet of black or 

2s 


262 NOTICE OF THE 


white cloth, and with a spear, or. cross-bow, anda quiver full of arrows, a 
Dah, and a pouch to contain tobacco and betel, their dress is complete. The 
women merely wear a black petticoat, reaching to the knees, and adorn their 
necks, and the hem of their garments, with couries and glass beads: all the 
menial offices of the house devolve upon them:—they procure water for 
daily consumption, pound paddy, and dress the food of the men, who are ge- 
nerally employed in fishing and tilling the land. The young Khyén girls are 
rather pretty, than otherwise, but a custom, which has been handed to them 
by their ancestors, stamps many of them with the brand of ugliness, and ren- 
ders them most hideous objects. This consists in tattooing the whole face in ~ 
segments of circles, with a blue mixture, leaving the neck of its natural colour, 
and thus giving them the appearance of wearing masks, were it not that the 
deadly aspect of the white space round the eyes, and the livid color of the lips, 
indicated the transformation to be indelible. The Khyéns nearest the plains are 
a quiet inoffensive set, and must be distinguished from the Khyéns of the further 
mountains, inasmuch as they have placed themselves under the Burman govern- 
ment, and are liable to be called upon for their quota of men in case of war, and 
pay taxes; whereas, the others are quite independant, residing in the most re- 
mote and unfrequented recesses of the mountains. Those Khyéns hold them- 
selves aloof from, and are entirely independant of the rest of mankind, whom 
they consider their enemies and lawful prey, and acknowledge no sovereign: 
they herd together in small parties of thirty and forty, and ‘select some 
fertile spot.in the neighbourhood of a mountain stream, sufficiently large to 
cultivate grain for their consumption. There they erect their miserable 
dwellings, and, with the produce of the land, consisting of rice and turmeric, 
contrive to support themselves : the rivers furnish them with abundance of 


fish, and they will eat any animal, however disgusting it may be. 


The origin of the Khyéns is lost in fiction, and of the details of their early 


history, the present race know little, except from vague traditions, verbally 


KHYEN TRIBE. | 263 


> transmitted from one generation to the next. They, however, say, that in 
former days, the plains of Ava and Pegu were peopled by their race, and were 
under the dominion of one of their kings, when a horde of Tartars made a 
sudden irruption from the northward, and overran the country. For some time, 
the interlopers kept up the appearance of friendship with the aborigines of the 
soil, but, becoming daily more formidable, and having secured a footing in the 
land, they threw off the mask, and, electing a king amongst themselves, declar- 
ed themselves independant of the Khyén king. The Tartar chief then sent 
to the Khyéns, and desired their allegiance, stating, that it was contrary to the 
dictates of nature, that two kings should reign, or that two races of people 
should exist in the same land, and having deposed the Khyén king, and put 
many of the chieftains to death, they obliged the others to seek for refuge in 
flight. The remaining chiefs, therefore, with their attendant villagers, collecting 
all their cattle and other valuables, availed themselves of the first opportunity 
of escaping from the thraldom in which they were held, and fled to the lofty and 
remote mountains on the frontiers of Siam, China, and Arracan, where they 
considered themselves safe from the persecution of their conquerors, whom 
they left in undisputed possession of the plains. With them went some members 
of the royal family, but, in the course of time, and from deaths and changes of 
residence, all traces of them were lost, and the Khyéns of this country know 
not whether any of the royal blood exist or not. Divested, as they now were, 
of a common head, to whom they could look up for advice, they, in each vil- 
lage, selected from the community one who, either from age or experience, 
was deemed worthy to be their chief, and in this independant state they 
have since remained, each little hamlet considering itself as perfectly distinct 


from those adjoining. 


These small republics have since resisted all attempts at much inter- 
course with their more civilized neighbours, and have preserved unsullied 


their innate love of liberty. 


264 NOTICE OF THE 


Only one trace still exists of supreme authority, and this is m the person ~ 
of the Passine, or head of their rude religion. _'This personage resided near 
the source of the Moh river, on a mountain, called the Poyon, and by his de- 
scendants, in the male and female line, the office of prophet or soothsayer is 
filled. Writing being unknown, their mandates are delivered verbally, and im- 
plicitly obeyed: to them, every dispute of importance is referred for arbitration, 
and in cases of sickness or marriage they are always consulted. The tenets of 
the Khyén faith are most simple. They have no idea of the Supreme Being, 
nor have they any tradition respecting the creation: they are the children 
of the mountains, and nature alone has any claim on their feelings. In con- 
sonance with this idea, they consider, that every thing which is useful to them, 
or conduces to the luxuties of life, ought.to be held in the highest veneration. 
The principal object of their adoration is a thick bushy tree, bearing a small 
berry, and called by them Subri, and under the shade of its branches they, at cer- 
tain seasons of the year, assemble with all the members of the family, and offer 
sacrifices of oxen and pigs; on which they afterwards feast : their cattle accom- 
pany them during these excursions, and participate in the respect paid to the 
tree, as being the most useful of those blessings which have been so sparingly 
bestowed upon them. Another object of adoration is the thunder bolt, or ra- 
ther, perhaps, the meteoric stone: whenever a thunder storm occurs, the Khyéns 
watch, with the utmost anxiety, the spot where the lightning strikes, and when 
the weather is again calm, they proceed to the place they had marked, and exa- 
mine all the trees, to observe whether any has been scathed by lightning: 
should they be so fortunate as to find one, they immediately dig the ground 
under the injured bough, and commence searching for the sacred stone, 
whichis generally of the size of the hand, and is, by them, imagined to fall from 
_heaven. This stone is supposed to possess the most supernatural qualities, , 
and its appearance is hailed by the sacrifice of a hog and a bullock, after 
which it is delivered over to the care of the Passine, who keeps it as an 


infallible talisman against every sort of disease. 


KHYEN TRIBE. 265 


Their ideas of the difference between good and evil consist in supposing 
that those who honor and respect their parents, take care of their children or 
cattle, and eat most meat and drink spirits to the greatest excess, will be well 
provided for hereafter, and their souls transferred into the bodies of oxen 
or pigs, whilst those whose sensual appetites are not so great, and who do 
not enjoy to the utmost all the good things of the earth, which may be thrown 
in their way, are considered unworthy of a future reward, looked down upon 
and condemned. Although it is evident the Khyens partly profess the doc- 
trine of transmigration, yet it seems most extraordinary that they should not 
only feel no compunction in killing their cattle, but deem it a meritorious act. 
It must however be observed, that the sanction of the Passine is necessary be- 


fore an animal can be slain. 


When any one dies, the event is hailed as a joyful circumstance, and the 
relations give a grand feast, to which all the village is invited, when the degree 
of affection borne to the deceased is shewn by dancing, eating, and drinking, in 
prodigious quantity. Should the defunct be a man of property, his body is 
burned, and the ashes being collected, are placed in a basket, and either taken to 
the mountain of Keyoungnatyn, on the way from Shoechatoh, or to the moun- 
tain of Yehantoung, and there deposited: the latter mountain is very sacred and 
very lofty, for, to use the native phraseology, ‘‘ from its summit the whole world 
can be seen.”’ Over the tomb of a chief, a house is erected, and people are left to 
watch and defendit from malevolent spirits, and a log, rudely carved, to represent 
the deceased, is laid there for the same purpose. ‘The poor people, if not in 
the immediate neighbourhood of Yehantoung or Keoungnatyne, are buried 


any where in the vicinity of their own village. 


Matrimony with the Khyéns is purely a civil contract, unhallowed by 
any religious ceremony. The contracting parties proceed, in the first instance, 
to the Passine, whose advice is requested respecting the match. If his opinion 

22 


266 NOTICE OF THE 


is favourable, the bridegroom sends the parents of the damsel a present, com- 
posed of a pig, an ox, a spear, a tomtom, a dah, and calabash full of a spi- 
rituous liquor distilled from rice. A grand feast is then given, at which all 


the relations attend, and the marriage is considered duly solemnized. 


Should the lady, after marriage, prove false to her marriage vows, and the 
gay deceiver be discovered, he is obliged to present a hog, an ox, and a spear 
to the injured husband, and a fine string of cowries to adorn the neck of the 
fair one, who, after this peace-offering, is considered quite exonerated from any 
blame, and is re-admitted to her husband’s favour, without her reputation being 
in the least degree tainted. 


In the case of any illicit intercourse being discovered between the young 
Khyens, the man is obliged to pay a bullock to the girl, but if she becomes a 
mother, she claims him as her husband, and if he refuses, another bullock is 
the penalty inflicted on him: he takes the child into his own charge, and the 


damsel is restored to her fair fame. 


The virtue of a chieftain’s daughter is estimated at a much greater value ; 
no less than three bullocks being the fine for leading her astray from the path 
of rectitude, and the same number, should the offender refuse to make repara- 
tion by marriage. Marriage is not permitted in nearer consanguinity than 
cousins, but incest, although a crime but seldom heard of, is absolved by 


paying only one bullock to the father. A divorce can be procured at the 


same expence. 


If a murder is committed, the perpetrator is immediatly seized by the 
village chief, who obliges him to give up three of his friends or relations, as 
slaves to the family of the deceased, or ransom them at the rate of thirty 


rupees a man, thus estimating human life at the moderate sum of ninety 


_ KEHYEN TRIBE. 267 


rupees, but if the murderer is unable to pay the fine, or procure his sureties, he 
is himself kept in servitude. Should he escape, and take refuge in another vil- 
lage, the inhabitants of it immediately return him, if they have a proper sense 
of propriety, but if they do not, and refuse to send the culprit back when de- 
manded, war is denounced against them, and their village destroyed. The 
murderer, if taken, is re-committed to slavery, it being expressly recommended 


them by the Passine, not to shed the blood of each other. 


Theft is not considered a very heinous crime, but should corn be purloin- 
ed, the offender is obliged to purchase his own freedom, either by finding a 


substitute, or paying thirty rupees. 


The Khyéns have no knowledge of medicine, but, on the contrary, appear 
tohold it in great contempt. When, therefore, a man is taken ill, he is taken 
to the Passine, who first partaking of a feast prepared by the friends of the 
invalid, recites incantations over him, and uses the meteoric stone as a charm 
against all the ravages of the disease. If these do not prove efficacious, the 


man is left to his fate, and no further exertion is made to save him, 


Hospitality ‘is a virtue which it is difficult to ascertain whether they 
would put in practice or not, shunning as they do, all intercourse with strangers, 
the manner in which one intruding on their haunts would be received, seems 
rather problematical. They however state, that if a foreigner was to fall in 
with one of their villages, he would not be ill treated, but they did not recollect 


such a visit ever having taken place. 


From the wild cotton growing in the mountains, the Khyén women fabri- 
cate their own clothes, and even make enough to become an article of traffic 
with the low-landers. Silver is not procured in the mountains, but iron ore 


is found in considerable quantity, and with honey and dried fish, forms the 


268 NOTICE OF THE 


principal articles of trade: these they carry into Aracan and Ava, and ex- 
change for money, or such articles of food and clothing as their own wilds 


have denied them. 


With the use of fire arms they are, generally speaking, unacquainted, and 
seem to hold them in great awe: their own weapons are the spear, dah, and 
the cross-bow, with a quiver full of arrows. The latter are made of bamboo, 
with the point hardened by fire, and doubly barbed; they are deeply poisoned, 
and the slightest touch inflicts instant death. This poison is vegetable, and 
procured by making an incision in the bark of certain trees, and collecting 


the liquor which exudes. 


The frightful custom of tattooing the faces of the women, derives its ori- 
gin from a very curious story, and one that reflects much credit on the inhabi- 
tants of the mountains. At the period when the Tartars conquered the 
plains, and drove the Khyéns to the mountains, they imposed an annual tri- 
bute on this persecuted race, and in default of payment, used to seize the 
prettiest of the mountain beauties, and collecting a considerable number, 
presented them to their despotic sovereign, who selected from the groupe those 
whom he deemed worthy to adorn his seraglio. . To such an extent was this 
monopoly at last carried, that the Khyéns, in order to save their race from 
extermination, persuaded all their young women to sacrifice those personal 
charms which drew such a dangerous distinction on them. <A proposition 
with which they immediately cheerfully complied, and tattooed their faces. 
When these hideous creatures were presented to the monarch, he sent them 
back in great wrath, and ordered a fresh search to be made for new objects 
to fill his haram : it, however, proved fruitless, as all the girls had undergone | 
the test of freedom, and none remained unblemished, save old women and 
children, Foiled thus in his attempt to destroy the happiness of the inoffen- 


sive’Khyéns, the tyrant turned his views elsewhere, and no longer molested 


KHYEN TRIBE. 269 


them, the custom, however, still remained, and it is only latterly that it is 


falling into disuse. 


From the little that was seen of the Khyéns, they appear to be a quiet 
race, and entirely devcted to agricultural pursuits ; but as those individuals met 
with, are mostly all living in a comparatively civilized state, under the British 
and Burman governments, it would not be a fair criterion to characterise the 
generality by particular classes, as all accounts agree in stating the former to 
be savage, and addicted to plunder and rapine. To judge, however, by their 
simple code of laws, they are not by any means deficient in the knowledge of 
right and wrong, and are quite aware of the footing on which men stand with 
each other. It is therefore highly probable, that with lenity and kindness, they 
might be induced to mix with their more civilized neighbours, and become 


useful members of society. 


270 INSCRIPTION ON THE 


Vv. 


TRANSLATION 


INSCRIPTION 


ON THE 


GREAT BELL OF RANGOON, 


WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. — 


By Tue Rev. G. H. HOUGH. 


‘¢ DURING the period of four Then-khyé,* and one hundred thousand mun- 
dane revolutions, having perfectly fulfilled the ten virtues in their thirty 
sub-divisions, being one who has not an equal in the three mansions of Nats, 
men, and Brahmas, by means of the twelve Atstendéya,* and being per- 
fect in beneficence, the supreme of all conquerors, Deity, who vanquishes the 
five tyrants,? having delivered, during forty-five years,* countless multitudes 
of intellectual beings from the changes of this transmigratory state, and con- 
ducted them to the golden region Maha Niekbana Abarapiura,* having mercy 
upon the collective number of rational beings, experienced in the rotatory 
transitions of the three states of being,® as during the course of five thousand 


years, the fifty-nine divisions of the Damma Kanda,’ which conduct to desired 


GREAT BELL OF RANGOON. 271 


felicity, diffuse light, and as the globe of the sun disperses mist, and illuminates 
the four islands, so has he mercifully committed to rational beings, the splendour 
of the eternal moral law, to remove the foul mist overspreading men, Nats, 
and Brahmas,’ through lust, ignorance, and false doctrine, from his entering 
into the everlasting enjoyment of Niekban, at the root of the two Eng-gyeng 
trees? in the garden of the Malla Kings, in Kukthien-nd-yon,'° 2320 years, 
of the establishment of the religious dispensation (of Gautama), common era 
1138, Sunday, 9th day of the decrease of the moon Nayon,"' by means of 
power above all royal dominions on the surface of Zam-pu-di-pa, in circum- 
ference 10,000 Ydizana,'* and by means of beneficent attributes, which 
diffuse fragrance beyond the limits of the mansion of the Brahmas, the 
celestial apex, the Great Bell, eminently named Maha Ganda, metal weigh- 
ing 15,555 Piektha,'* diameter five cubits, height seven cubits and twelve 
inches, circumference fifteen cubits, thickness twelve inches, the successor of 
the monarchs of Engwa, the golden city, the city Ya-fa-na-pira,'* the conquer- 
ing place, having the inscription ‘‘ twelve walled,”’ the resplendent golden city 
and palace, the supreme capital Ya-ta-na-pura Shwe Engwa, the confluence of 
five rivers, like the tongues of lions,’> the fame of the incomparable golden 
palace, whose glory is religious merit, the lord of life and rightful monarch, 
Maha Damma Razadepate,'® and transcendently glorious, who maintains the 
prosperity of religion and the great kingdom, and makes the perfection of his 
authority to equal the perfect orb of the newly risen sun, who bestows com- 
plete benefactions, and fulfils the precepts of incarnate divinity and of holy 
men, who practises the ten royal virtues,’’ and possesses the seven moral quali- 
ties of the pious, purity of intention, circumspection, modesty, tenderness 
of conscience, knowledge, charity, wisdom; who erects and gilds royal 
works of merit"® in his empire, far and near, monasteries, monuments (to 
the memory of Bid’h,) and colonnades of images, who supports and gilds 
memorials raised in honor of the deity, preserves the three divisions of the 


84,000 scriptures, and the monasteries of five, four, and three successively 


a79 INSCRIPTION ON THE 


rising roofs for the priesthood, in order to promote piety, learning, and religion, 
by the influence of his power, wisdom, authority, might and glory, (orders to 
be cast.) The various countries in Sam-pi-diek,'® which the father, grandfather, 
and great grandfather, lords of the white elephant, proprietors of life, rightful 
kings, have taken possession of, and govern by their wisdom, authority, and 
glorious arm, viz. the kingdom Thundparanta, in which are situated the pro- 
vinces Saki, Saleng, T’heleng, Yau, and S’hau. The kingdom Thirik’ hétarama, 
in which are situated the provinces Tha-ré-kéttaré and Ugadarit. The king- 
dom Nayawattana, in which are situated the provinces Kétumadi, Dwdrdwait, 
and Zéyawadt. The kingdom Ayuda’ haya, in which are situated the provinces 
Thaukkatai and Piekthalauk. The kingdom Péwéyaka, in which are situated 
the provinces Sandapuri, Sammdthenkahmoing, and Salon. The kingdom 
Harimunsa, in which are situated the provinces Zengmay, Labon, Anan, and 
Bhayau. The kingdom K’hémdwara, in which are situated the provinces 
Kyington and Kyingmay. The kingdom Zanyarauti-Nagara, in which are 
situated the provinces Kuwingyon and Muingsay. The kingdom Kambausa, 
in which are situated the provinces Monai, Nyoungshwé, and Ongbaung. 
The kingdom Mahithaka, in which are situated the provinces Zikok and 
Ryatpyen. The kingdom Aauriya, in which are situated the ports Afauko, 
viz. Muingmau, Waik’hwerg, and Hothalatha. The kingdom Shien, in 
which are situated the provinces Banmau, K’rwélon, and Katk’hyo. The 
kingdom Alawi, in which are situated the provinces Mohnyen, Mosit, and 
Mokaung. The kingdom Manipiira, in which are situated the provinces 
Kathay and Mweéyeng. The kingdom Zampadipa, in which are situated 
the provinces Arimaddana, Pugan, Myensuing and Yengya. In these 
various kingdoms, the prosperity of religion and the prosperity of the 
people have been beyond measure manifest, and objects of royal patron- 
age and care. In the city Rangoon, the three Talung territories, and king- 
dom Rdminya, in which are situated the provinces Moktama, Hanthawati, 


Puthien, and Myaungmya, anciently the city Kinya, and country (called) 


GREAT BELL OF RANGOON. 273 


Paunkk’harawati, in order that the religious dispensation (of Gautama) might 
be established during the period of five thousand years, to the merchant bro- 
thers Tapoktha and Pallika, (he), deity, conqueror of the five tyrants, with 
his golden hand, stroking his head, gave eight hairs, that to those coming to 
pay their respects and homage to the monument’? in which they are enshrined, 
with the three divine relics of the three deities, on the summit of this hill 
Tampakokta, the monumental depository of the divine relic of the great 
Budd’ha, Gautama, the immense advantages of merit might be extended. 
The four images of the four deities, Kakuthan, who was revealed in the 
eighth succession of king Maha Thamata ;** moreover, in the ninth, eightieth, 
and one hundred and tenth succession, Kaunagon, Kathapa, and Gautama,** 
denominated, by excellence, conquerors of the five tyrants, near the monu- 
ment fronting the four faces of heaven, together with a beautifully gilded 
temple, in the form of one divinely speaking,*? he (the king) has erected. 
The multitudes of men and Nats coming to pay homage to the monument, 
hair, and image, striking this bell, the meritorious work of royalty, the sound 
of which is pleasant and delightful, make sonorous their offering, and their 
prayer. for the attainment of the state of Nats and Niekban. Year of the 
religious dispensation 2322, common era 1140,7* 11th day of the increase of 
the moon Zabotwai, after the third watch, the position of the stars being pro- 
pitious, with metal weighing 15,555 Piektha, diameter 5 cubits, height 7 cubits 
12 inches, circumference 15 cubits, thickness 12 inches, the Bell is cast, and 
to the monument of the divine hair, the King presents it an act of homage. 
For this meritorious gift, replete with the virtue of beneficence, may he be 
conducted to Niekban, and obtain the destined blessing of men, Naés and 
Brahmas, (obtained) by means of divine perfections. May he obtain in his 
transmigrations, only the regal state among men and Nats. May he have a 
pleasant voice, a voice heard at whatever place desired, like the voice Kutha- 
meng, Ponnoka, and Alamaka,?> when he speaks to terrify, and like the me- 
lodious voice of Karaweik, king of birds, when he speaks on subjects which 
2w 


O74 INSCRIPTION ON THE 


' Nats, men and Brahmas delight to hear. Whatever may be his desire, at the 
thought of his heart merely, let that desire be fulfilled, Let him not, in the 
least, meet with that, towards which he has no mental disposition, and for 
which he has no desire. When the deity Arimadeya,*® shall be revealed, let 
him have the revelation, that he shall become Withidi Nat, supreme of the 
three rational existences. In every. state of existence, let him continually and 
truly possess the excellence of wisdom, and according to his desire, in prac- 
tices pertaining to this world, and to the divine state, so let it be accom- 
plished. ‘Thus, in order to cause the voice of homage, during the period of 
5000 years, to be heard at the monument of the divine hair, in the city of 
Rangoon, let the reward of the great merit of giving the Bell, called Maha 
Ganda, be unto the Royal Mother Queen, the Royal Father, Proprietor of 
Life, Lord of the White Elephant, the Royal Grand-Father, Aloungmeng, 
the Royal Uncle, the Royal Aunt Queen, the Royal Sons, the Royal Daugh- 
ters, the Royal Relatives, the Royal Concubines, the Noblemen, the Mili- 
tary Officers, and Teachers. Let the Nats who guard the religious dispen- 
sation 5000 years, the Nats who guard the royal city, palace and umbrella ;77 
the Nats who, all around, guard the empire, provinces and villages; the Nats 
who guard the monument of the divine hair, around the hill Tampakokta, 
together with the Nats governing Bomma and Akatha,**® and all rational be- 


ings throughout the universe, utter praises and accept the supplications. 


GREAT BELL OF RANGOON. 


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NO Ty Bes: 


(*) An Athenk’hyé (Sanscrit, Asankhyeya) has the one hundred and 
forty-first place from units. A mundane revolution, or Kaba, (Sanscrit, Kalpa,) 
is a period of an indefinite, and vast number of years. 

© ** Atsiendéya,” an attribute or perfection belonging only to a Bid’h. 

(3) ‘ The fivetyrants’”’—These are animal constitution, influence of natu- 
ral operations, passion, mortality, and the most powerful evil Nat or demon. 

(*) ‘ Forty-five years’—The period of Gautama’s doctrinal ministra- 
tions. He entered into holy orders at thirty-five, and died at the age of eighty 
years. _ 

(3) “ Maha Niekbana Ab’harapira,” the region of annihilation. After 
passing into which, according to the Bad’hist doctrines, there canbeno further 
transmigration. The popular belief is, that Niekb4n (Sanscrit, Nirvan) is equally 
exempt from joy and misery, and, in fact, the termination of existence. But 
amongst the learned of the Burmese there is a difference of opinion on this sub- 
ject; some agreeing with the vulgar belief, but others considering Niekban as a 
place of perfect felicity. ‘The latter, therefore, are not strict Badd’hists. It 
is with reference to the popular doctrine that some images are represented 
sleeping. ‘There has been for several years a learned, but heretical teacher in 
Shwétoung, a few miles below Prome, who has taught the doctrine, that death 
is annihilation, and that transmigration is an absurdity. ‘Those of his school 
are not numerous. In fact, the fear of persecution operates powerfully 
- against an open and practical dissent from the popular faith. Religious con- 


troversy, however, may be carried on, provided it do not endanger the estab- 


276 INSCRIPTION ON THE 


lished creed. ‘The teacher above alluded to, a short time previous to the 
late war, with some of his disciples, was summoned to answer to a charge of 
heresy. Their consciences, however, on the pressure of the occasion, met 
with but little difficulty in conforming to the external modes of worship, as 
those acts were external merely, and could not affect the main point of faith 
called in question, which was annihilation at death. 

(°) Three states of being’’—The state of Brahmas, of Nats, and of 
Men. 

(7) * Dhamma-K’handa”’ Sanscrit, Dharma Khanda—The collection of the 
sacred writings of the Badd’hists is so called. These different writings or books 
are saidto amount to 84,000. The religion which they inculcate, or the dispensa- 
tion of Gautama, is to continue 5000 years. Nearly half that period had elapsed. 

(8) ‘ Men, Nats, and Brahmas’’—The system of the universe, according 
to the Bidd’hists, consists of one high mountain in the centre, called in the Bur- 
mese language Myenmu, or Mrenmu, and in the Pali, Mahé Meru, surrounded 
by four islands, of which the southern, called Sampudiek, (Sanscrit, Jambudwipa) 
is our world. ‘The three other islands are also inhabited by human beings 
differing in features both from us, and among themselves. The inhabitants of 
the universe are said to consist of three classes of beings, viz. Men, Nats, 
and Brahmas, the Nats being superior to Men, and the Brahmas to the Nats. © 

(°) ‘* Engyeng trees’—lI have not been able to ascertain any particu- 
lars of this tree, excepting from report. It is described to be large, and its 
substance very hard and durable. Its blossoms are numerous, small, flat, 

turned upwards at the edges, indented, and highly odoriferous. The wood- 
petrefactions, found in considerable quantities at Prome, and adjacent places, 
are of this tree. 

C¢°) Malla Kings’—The Kings and country here alluded to, are sup- 
posed to be Indian. 

(") . Era 1138, &c.”’—-The bell, by this account, was cast forty years 
ago, in the reign of Sengki, grandson of Alung-p’hira. Sunday is a literal 


GREAT BELL OF RANGOON. 277 


translation of the Burmese word for the same day of the week, which is called 
Tanenganwéné, called so from the sun, considered as a planet. 

(‘*) A Yuzana, is a distance very little less than thirteen miles ; thus, the 
circumstance of the Great Southern Island, which is our earth, is 130,000 miles. 

(3) 15,555 Piektha”—The Piektha, called by Europeans a viss, is 366 
pounds avoirdupoise, and therefore the weight of the bell is within a trifle of 
twenty-five tons. 

('*) “ Engwa’’—“ Yatanapira”—Enewa is what is corrupted by Euro- 
peans into Ava. Eng means a fish-pond, and wa an entrance or opening. 
The town was constructed on the site of seven fish ponds, and derived its name 
from this circumstance. ‘The Kings are called after the capital city, and in- 
deed, there isno common name for the country inhabited by the Burmese 
nation. Yatana, or Ratanaptra, is the City of Gems. By the Burmese, the 
word ra is not only commonly sounded like ya, but in writing, the two letters 
are frequently used interchangeably. 

('5) ‘* Like the tongues of Lions’’—The words in the original are both 
Pali and Burmese; the former is Thiha, a corruption of the Sanscrit word 
Singha. The lion is not a native of the Burmese country: there are in it, 
however, images in great numbers, said to be representations of that animal ; 
though it is difficult to find any traces of resemblance. A short time before 
the breaking out of the late war, the King received a present of a lioness. 
On the commencement of hostilities, it was considered a bad omen to have at 
the capital an animal, whose figure was painted on the English banner. She 
was doomed, therefore, to the same treatment as a Kala, or foreigner, that is 
to say, was closely imprisoned and starved. 

(°) “ Maha Damma Razadipate,” is the Prakrit form of Maha Dherma 
Rajadhipati, or Supreme Lord of virtuous kings.—H. H. W. 

(‘7) “Ten royal virtues,”,—These are donations for religious purposes, 
practice of religious precepts, beneficence, integrity, gentleness, temperance, 
suppression of anger, lenity, forbearance, condescension. 


Bax. 


278 INSCRIPTION ON THE 


(*8) _ Royal works of merit’”’-—The works of merit, enumerated, are all 
dedicated to religious purposes, and not one of public utility is even hinted 
at. The whole country, indeed, is singularly destitute of roads, bridges, 
tanks, aqueducts, and, indeed, of every public work conducing to the comfort 
or convenience of the people. 

('°) « The various countries in Sampiidiek’’—~Here we have an enume- 
ration of the different countries and kingdoms (on the great southern island,) 
over which the sovereignty was claimed by the Kings of Ava, forty years ago. 
The names of the kingdoms are all in the Pali language, and those of the 
provinces in the Burmese; many of the latter being rather the names of 
tribes, than of countries.—Thundparanta is a country on the right bank of 
the Erawati, lying west of Pugan Myo.—Thirih’hetarama is a country lying 
east of Prome, on the left bank of the Eraéwait.—Nayawattana, or Nayawad- 
d’hana, is believed to be the present province of Taungi.—Ayudd haya is 
the Burmese and Pali name for Stam, two of the principal northern provinces 
are given, viz. Thaukkatai and Piekthalouk, known by the names Sukatat 
and Piseluk.—Pdweyaka is a portion of Lao.—Harimunsa is the north-west 
portion of Lao.—Khémiwara is also a portion of Lao.—Zanyaruti-Nagara, is 
a portion of Lao also—Kambausa is a part of LLao.—Mahithaka is a country 
lying north of Ava, the second province of which, Kyatpyin, is the place in 
which the famous ruby and sapphire minés exist. ‘These mines are six days 
journey from the capital—A/auriya is, again, in Lao.—Shain is a country 
lying north of Ava: Banmo, one of its provinces, is the place where the cele- 
brated Chinese fair is held. It is thirteen marches distant from Ava.—Alawi 
is a portion of Lao, lying east of Ava.—Manipira ; the Sanscrit or Pali name 
is given here to the kingdom of Cassay ; the latter, under the name of Kathay, 
being considered a province.—Tampadipa is a country which embraces the 
present province of Pugan and others.—Yamanya is the kingdom of Pegu, or 
the country of the Taluings, comprehending Hanthawati, Bassein, Myaung- 
mya, and Martaban. 


GREAT BELL OF RANGOON. 279 


(7°) +‘ Monument’”—This edifice, and others of similar form, have been 
generally, but improperly, called Pagodas. They are solid masses of brick, 
and are erected to the memory of Gautama. Images are not necessary ap- 
pendages to them, although many of them have a small niche, in which one is 
situated. If there are any buildings in the country properly denominated 
temples, they are those erected of wood, for the accommodation of the large 
images of Bud’h, and within which acts of adoration are performed. 

(**) “ Maha Thamata”—This appears to have been, in ancient times, 
a common name for a succession of kings in some part of Hindostan. 

(**) Three of the five Bauddhas recognised by the Cingalese, or of the 
seven known to the Bauddhas of continental India. The names are in 
Sanscrit Kanaka, Kasyapa and Gautama.—H. H. W. 

(73) ‘Inthe form of one divinely speaking’’—This is the form in which 
all the images of Bad’h are represented. | 

(74) <« Era 1140”’—By this date it appears that the Bell was completed 
in about two years and a half, from the time the royal order for casting it was 
issued. 

(75) ‘ Kuthameng, &c.’’—King Kutha was an extraordinary man, who 
lived in the former age, or world, whose vociferations could be heard through- 
out the great southern island. ‘The voices of the other two were equally so- 
norous. . 

Gade os Arimadéya”—The fifth Bud’h. He is supposed to be now ov 
Myenmu, in one of the regions of the Nats. The age of man is now dimi- 
nishing, and he will hereafter become old at ten vears 5 thence his years will 
increase to the number ofa Thenk’hyé (see note 1,) and them diminish again 
. to 100,000 years ; at that time Arimadéya wil! appear. 

(77) ‘“ Umbrella’’—A white umbrella is a badge of royalty in Ava, 

(78) ‘ Bomma and Akatha”—-The former is the earth, and the latter 
ethereal space. ! 

They are clearly the Sanscrit Bhiwni and Akdsa.—. HH. W, 


280 INSCRIPTION ON THE 


ADDITIONAL REMARKS. 


Among the Burmese, the two objects of religious worship, are monu- 
ments erected to the memory of Gautama, and images of Bud’h. The monu- 
ments are built with bricks and clay, covered with lime ; are quadrangular at 
the base, and being raised several feet in this manner, take a cylindrical and 
tapering form, until they come toa point, on which a cap or crown of open 
iron-work is fixed. Many of them are covered with gold leaf. In each side 
of the quadrangular base, of a large proportion of them, is a small room or 
niche, only sufficiently commodious for a small image of Bud’h. The monu- 
ments vary in height, not being less, generally, than thirty feet. The large 
images of Bud’h are ill-formed representations of a human figure, sitting on 
a base or throne, in a cross-legged posture, the palm of the right hand plac- 
ed upon the knee of the same side, and the left hand resting upon the lap, 
with the palm turned upwards. ‘These are also built of bricks and mortar, 
and are not unfrequently covered with gold leaf. These two are the only 
proper objects of religious adoration, being considered as substitutes for deity 
or Bud’h. Besides these, are images carved in wood, of various and ludicrous 
forms, not necessary to the devotional part of religion, but are imaginary 
representations of Nats, or good and evil genii. These genii are invisible, 
and dwell in solitary places, large trees, near tanks, &c. Insanity, uncom- 
mon diseases, peevishness in children, and many of the evils men endure, are 
attributed to their evil influence ; ceremonies are performed, and offerings 
made to eject or appease them. There appears to be some similarity between 
the Jewish superstition of demoniacal possession, and the Burmese notions of 


the influence of Nats. 


GREAT BELL OF RANGOON. 281 


There are also images of beings who lived in former times, and are 
said to have been anthropophagi. ‘These images are monstrous in their for- 


mation, and disgusting in their appearance. 


The large monument situated near Rangoon, called Shwe-da-gon, is the 
most celebrated in the country. It is antecedent to all others, about two 
thousand three hundred years having elapsed since its foundation was laid, 
and the first building formed. It is a solid mass of mason work, and is 
somewhat more than three hundred feet in height. Its circumference, at the 
base, is nine hundred cubits, or one thousand three hundred and fifty-five feet. 
The area on which it stands, is about eight hundred feet square, and is acces- 
sible on each side by stone steps varying in number, the least of which is 
eighty. The monument is covered with gold leaf. ‘The cap, or crown, sur- 
mounting it, is thirty-six feet in height, and contains of gold, thebodily weight 
of his late Majesty. The original monument was small, and has been en- 
larged to the present dimensions by successive additions. It is not, however, 
the magnificence of this immense pile that renders it, for so it is, peculiarly 
an object of national respect and veneration. Underneath its massy weight 
are deposited the relics of the four last Bud’hs, viz. the staff of Kauk-ka-than, 
the water-dipper of Gau-na-gon, the bathing garment of Ka-tha-pa, and eight 
hairs from the head of Gau-ta-ma. Five Bud’hs belong to the present system of 
the world, and Arimadéya, the last, is to appear many millions of years hence. 


In the Burmese account of the origin of the world, it is stated, that 
after the dissolution of the former system, which was effected by a flood 
of waters, a lily of immense height and size arose, having on its top five 
buds, and. four branches extending from the sides of the stalk. The 
five buds contained each a Thengan (the yellow cloth of a priest) and were 
indicative of the number of Bi/dh’s pertaining to the system. Four of these, 
as mentioned before, have ‘ opened,’’ or ‘* blossomed,” as the Burmese 

ZY 


282 INSCRIPTION OF THE 


express it, alluding to the expansion of the buds.. The stalk, by natural pro- 
cess, formed the great central mountain Myenma, on which are situated the 
happy regions of the Nats. The four branches and their leaves were trans- 
formed into the four great islands, severally surrounded with five hundred 
small ones. Gaufama appeared about five hundred and forty years before 
Christ. He was the son of Thoddaudana, king of a country in Hindostan, 
called Kappilawot, and was heir to the throne. But at the age of thirty-five 
years, relinquishing all his worldly prospects, he, by the practice of self-de- 
nial and religious austerities, during forty-five years, but more on account of 
the fund of religious merit, which he had accumulated during his previous 
states of existence, attained his destined perfection at the age of eighty years, 
and expired in the certain hope of annihilation. When he was near his death, 
two brothers, Tapaktha and Palika, merchants from the kingdom of Yamanya, 
(now Pegu) and the city of Ukkalaba (the site of which was near the place 
on which Rangoon now stands) being on a journey, for the purposes of trade, 
happened to be near the place where Gautama then was, and being in- 
formed, in a miraculous manner, of his having arrived to the state of 
Bu@h, and of his having fasted during forty-nine days, they went to make 
him a religious offering of food, and pay him homage. When the god 
had satisfied his appetite, they desired him to give them some relic of 
himself, that their countrymen might enjoy the benefit of paying it ador- 
ation. He accordingly extracted eight hairs from his head, and, giving 
them to the merchants, directed that they should be deposited with the 
relics of his three divine predecessors, in the place where they should be 
found. Having received from him the intimations necessary for the ac- 
complishment of their object, they left him, and although they were deprived 
of four of the hairs at two different places, they arrived at Ukkalaba, and 
found to their great joy, that they had still the full number of eight! Traces 
of the moat of this ancient city are still visible near Rangoon, called Ukka- 


laba moat. After searching with due assiduity, and receiving many extraor- 


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GREAT BELL OF RANGOON. 283 


dinary revelations, directing them towards the objects of their pursuit, the 
relics were found on a hill about a mile from the town, and were, at the same 
place, deposited in a cell dug for that purpose, with the eight hairs, and a 
monument erected over them. ‘The account also states, that vast treasures 


were deposited with them. 


Bells are commonly suspended near monuments of the largest class, or 
which have, for particular reasons, any celebrity. They are not considered as 
necessary appendages to the monuments, but are merely offerings, and are used 
by worshippers, to make it more extensively known among men and Naés, 
that an offering has been presented, and an act of worship performed. ‘They 
are suspended a few feet from the ground, and rung by striking them on the 
outside. ‘The first bell of which we have any particular account of being pre- 
sented as a religious offering to the monument of Shwé-da-gon, was given by a 
king of Pegu, some say more than three hundred years ago. Its weight was 
555,550 picktha, or viss, 5 tickals and 5 moos, about 407 tons, 19 cwt. 2 quarters 
and 6 lbs. Its diameter was about twenty feet, the depth of the inside twenty- 
six feet, and its circumference a little more than sixty feet. ‘The sound of 
this bell was tormenting to the ears of the heretical world ; it became, also, an 
object of plunder. A foreigner, whose name was Zenga, with a fleet of se- 
ven vessels, came, and with his armed force, succeeded in taking it down, and 
conveying it as far as a large creek, about a mile to the eastward of Rangoon, 
and when attempting to put it on board, it sunk, and was irrecoverably lost. 
The large bell now suspended near Shwé-da-gon, met with almost a similar 
fate during the late war. While an attempt was making to put it on board a 
ship, itsunk ; but after remaining several months at the bottom of the river, it 
was taken up and restored to its former situation. The inscription, of which 
the two first sheets contain a copy, is cut in twelve lines of large characters 
round the circumference of the bell. | 

Rangoon, June, 1826. 


284 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


VI. 


SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


ABU. 


By HORACE HAYMAN WILSON, Ese. Sec. As. Soe. 


AN extensive collection of Sanscrit inscriptions has been found upon the 
mountain Arbuda, or, commonly, Abuz,* copies of which have been presented 
by Captain Speirs, Political Agent at Sirohi, to the Society: to each inscrip- 
tion is attached a brief notice in Hindi, stating the position which the monu- 
ment occupies, or specifying its character. The inscriptions themselves are 
too voluminous to admit of translation, nor is the greater number of them of 
such importance as to deserve it. It will, therefore, be sufficient for all useful 
purposes, to offer a concise description of the series, translating, in detail, 


those only which appear to afford materials to history. 


* A mountain, or rather mountainous range, about eighteen miles south west of Sirohi. Ac- 
cording to Major Tod, the summit is five thousand feet above the sea. He calls it a place of won- 


ders, independent of the temples with which its sides are covered. ‘Trans. Royal As. Soc. 1. 139. 


AT ABU. 285 


No. I. is of this class. It is inscribed on a black slab on the left side 
of a temple of Achaléswara, or Siva, in the usual form of a Linga, as Lord 
(Iswara) of the mountain (Achala): the benedictory stanzas, at the commence- 
ment, are too much injured to be intelligible, the remainder, however, with a 


few exceptions, apparently of no great moment, is perfect, and runs thus: 


Om! Glory to Sarvesa. 
4, 


who caused these repairs to be made, his praise is recorded by me. 

5. By whom the repairs were made in the temple of Achaleswara, his exalted Agara* 
race is first recorded. 

6. Formerly, the illustrious families of the sun and moon were eminent upon earth. 
Upon their extermination, the lord+ Vachchha, through fear of crime, meditated profoundly. 

7. From his meditation, in holy combination with the moon, there appeared upon 
earth ----- of the great Sage, beholding the Daityas spread through all thé regions. 

8. He destroyed the chief demons with his weapons, and appeared the indignant 
Vachha, from worshipping whom the name Vi dchhya was derived, and from the —————= 


Chandravansa.t 


of moon 
9. This mighty race, and pure family, thence originated, for the preservation of mili- 


tary virtue from shame, and by the will of fate displayed extraordinary desert. 


10. In the excellent race, the most eminent for virtue, 


by whose splendor all tribes were over-cast, renowned for- 


merly as SIND’HUPUTRA. 


* This word may possibly be the original name of the tribe known as Agarwdls, who, accord- 
ing to Major Tod, though now traders, claim a princely origin. It is, however, of provincial use, 
and has no meaning in Sanscrit : in one place it appears to be the name of a city; in another, it 
appears to be intended for Akara, a mine, the change of a consonant to corresponding hard conso-. 
nant, as from k to g, is not an uncommon peculiarity in the dialects of India. 

+ The phrase Bhagavdn, rather implies a deity, but in the next verse, Maharshi seems appli- 
cable to this personage. 

$ One tribe of Rajputs bears the name of Chandravansi, and another of Vackcha Goti, proba- 
bly for Vachha Gotri, of the Gotra, or family of Vachcha, the locality of the name and legend, as 
well as the chasms that occur here, render the purpose of the passage far from aiadhct 


Qi; 


286 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


11. After him 


LaxsuMana, the possessor of all auspi- 


cious signs 


12. The hero, named M4nixya, whose distinguished capital was Sakambhari, delight- 


ed the world by his prudence and prowess;s—————————_—— 


ee 


13. To him succeeded Apuiriga, his heroic son. His son, Hiraktasata,* was the 
ornament in the race upon earth. 

14, Maninpuv, best amongst the most elevated, the reputation of his house upon earth, 
after whom in this family the prudent SrnpuuRAsA was renowned. 

15. Obtaining, by his valour, the high station of Mahindu, KuLAvIVERDDHANA 
exalted the glory of these princes. 

16. In like manner, as Raghu, the founder of his family, shone upon earth, the hero 
of the descendants of the sun, so Prasuurdsa RAJA, by his valour, did justice to his name. 

17. After him was Danpana, the mighty, a King of the Chahumdna race,} and his 
son was KirrripALa, whose fame is spread throughout the world. | 

18. SAMARASINHA maintaining the purport of his name,{ destroyed his enemies in 
battle, as a lion slaughters the deer. 

19. He had two sons, following their father’s steps like a lion’s cubs, of whom Upaya 
Sinwa bore the burthen of the kingdom of his father. 

20. His excellent son MAnava Sinua, was distinguished for his liberality, and was the 
independant lord of all the Kshetriya tribe. 

21. After him Prardépa, the pride of his race, was the delight of the empire, a 
Chéhuman, entitled to reverence by the regard he paid to his fame, and a consuming fire to 


his foes. 


* This is a strange name, and is most probably an error: the original is racaTaTax 
HA WHT ABA: 


+ Chahumdn, Chahuvan, or, as it occurs in the dialects, Chauhan, is well known as the family 
name of a Ltqjput tribe: it should seem, as if the line of succession was here changed, for the Chauhan 
Rdputs pretend to belong to the solar, not the lunar branch of the Ashetriyas. 


t The lion of war. 


AT ABD. 287 


22. His son, of unprecedented excellence, was named Dasasyanpawna,* and of auspici- 
ous seed, he bore four seeds of royalty, through the favour of Herz. 

23. Hischerished consort was Namatua Devt, in splendor equal to Aditi,+ she brought 
forth four heroic brothers of like desert, sustaining the burthen of the immoveable earth ; 

24, LAvanya Kerna, Lunpwa,t Laxsumana, and LonavermAé, and the eldest 
ruled the kingdom. 

25. A prince who, without considering himself, performed acts for the benefit of 
others alone, and faithfully served Gopdia, the deity of his race, till he was taken by the gods 
to their abode. 

26. Lavanya Kerwna being gone to heaven, his next brother, Lunpua Deva, succeed- 
ed; a hero, who was a tree of bounty to his friends, and governed various regions, won by 
the valour of his arm. 

27. Having slain his enemies, upon their repeated discomfiture, as the Sovereign of 
the immortals exterminates the foes of the gods, he acquired the district of Chandrdvati, 
and the pleasant mountain Arbuda. 

28. In that time, and in those realms, there was not his like in the field of battle, 
and even Sambhu, armed for combat, had proved inferior to LuNpHaGa in conflict. 

29. The Lord of countless hosts, he performed on Arbuda, acts worthy of his triumph, 
and placed in the presence of Achaléswara statues of his queen and himself. 7 

30. Thus the pure mine of virtuous merit, and chief of men, LunpuHa, of the house 
of Agara, repaired, in the kali age, the temple of Suréswara.§ 

31. The wise monarch, the restorer of holy shrines and temples on the mountain 


Arbuda, \ike another paradise, the resort of the Serpent King : 


* Or Dasaratha, the name of the father of Rdma and three other princes, the analogy of 
whose birth may have suggested the appellation, or it may have accidentally occurred. 

+ The mother of the gods. 

{ This name again occurs Lundhaga, Luniga, Lundhi, and Lundhagara, as well as Drirha, 
and Tundhi. Lundha seems to be the right reading, and Lundhaga, with the pleonastic ga, instead 
of ka, and Lundhagara, the family name added, are admissible. 

§ There is so much quibbling on the word Agara here, that this is little better than a conjec- 
tural translation, QAMATACTAC: TIAL: ATTAL, AATATALITA AMUrgyte 
Scat tt Suréswara, the Lord of the Gods, is Siva. 


288 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


32. Rebuilt the temple of Achaléswara, and consecrated it with the customary holy rites. 

33. By that devout Prince, was Hetuny?, village, granted for the perpetual support of 
the temple of Achalésa. 

34. As well as an annual grant in perpetuity to Achalésa, for the support of the tem- 
ple, out of his affection and firm faith. 

35. This encomium was written by Mauipuara, the chief of the place, a Brahman, 
by origin of a pure and holy family, and the city of dgara.* 

+ May fortune be propitious |! Samvat 1377. (A. D. 1321,) on Monday the eighth of the 
light fortnight of Vazsdch, in the reign of LunpyAcara, residing in Bdhunda, near to 
Chandrévati, the great temple of Achaléswara, on Arbuda mountain, was repaired by 


Sri Lunpuaaa, of the imperial race.t 


No. II. This inscription occurs on a Biyek, or a Slab, below the eight 


hundred and eight Lingas, in the temple of Achaléswara. 


It is slightly defective at the commencement: it then proceeds with no 
interruptions, of any consequence, to the twentieth stanza: from this to the 
forty-seventh, it is much broken ; and it terminates abruptly: the latter part, 
comprising the date, being illegible in the original monument. The defi- 
ciences are, however, of no consequence, as, from what is perfect, it ap- 


pears, that the Inscription commemorates some public act of Maia Deva and 


* Tn the original, QA THAT ATATALT au: faatia aeycy I) He is called 
in the first half of the stanza, a Dwiya. 


+ Verse 36, which precedes the date, is a perfect riddle, not worth decyphering : it continues the 
encomiastic Epithets of the preceding. 


& 


{ A sentence intervenes here, partly defective and otherwise unintelligible—the name, Mahdn- 
dé Sinh, and title, Karanddhipa, apparently occur in it. The whole inscription is written in a very 
defective style, and is full of errors and obscurities. 


AT ABU. ; 289 


his brothers, a full detail of whose descent is given in No. XVIII, dated A. D. 
1231: the date of this inscription must therefore be the same, as well as 
its general tenor, and it would have been unnecessary to have particularised 


it further, except for two circumstances. 
Mi 


The first, is its position under a groupe of Lingas, indicating its erection 
by a worshipper of Siva, in concurrence with which it opens with a Stanza, 
the purport of which is the invocation of that deity. The object of the grant, 
however, and the creed of the granters, are Jaina, and their connection with 
the types, and formule of the Satva religion, presents a curious and unex- 


pected amalgamation. 


The other peculiarity is the detail it gives of the royal house of Guzerat. 
As this forms the ground work of some observations, to be made generally 
on the deductions derivable from the inscriptions, the passages are trans- 


lated. 


The first verse is simply benedictory : of the second, the first half of the 
Stanza is nearly complete, and contains the names Chola and Chaulukya, as 
well as what appears to be a proper name, Mtta RAza ( Aayrawarar aay 
FATT) The second half is wholly wanting, and may either contain a proper 
name, or the epithets of the individual referred to in the first. The first part 
of the Stanza is also deficient, but Chamunda Raya (WMAWUIAITE awa) 
plainly appears, after which the inscription then proceeds thus. 


& 


3. 
from him VatiasHa RAsh, the Lord of the sea shore, became the friend of the 


world. 
4. After him Duruasya Raga enjoyed the world, acquired by the valour of his arm, 
and after him Burma maintained the integrity of his kingdom. 


oA 


290 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


5, Katapeva his Son, supported the burthen of the earth.*-————- —__—_—-—_— 


nS RS SS RES EES SERS 


= 


6. His successor was Sippua RAézé, eminent for his virtues, and sustaining the 
universe, through which his fame was spread. 

7. Deva KumAra PAxa, after him protected the earth: his fortune was upheld by 
two supporters, equity and virtue. 

8. By whose attention to propriety, the vices injurious to a state were enfeebled.—— 

9. After whom, AsayapAta reigned, whose son was Méra Rig: his younger bro- 


ther,+ the illustrious Burma, supports the burthen of the earth. 


The rest of the Inscription records the descent of the posterity of Dutma 
R&si, precisely in the same order as in No. XVIII, only not so fully. 


No. III. Inscription number three is written in Bhakha: it records 
the repair or embellishment of a Meskhald, or Pedestal of a Sta Linga, in 
Arbuda Gerh, on the face of which is engraved; By command of Mahé Rao 
Seo Sinh, in Samvat 1877 (A. D. 1821.) 


No. IV. Is inscribed on a black Slab, in the embankment of a tank, 
behind the temple of Achaléswara : it records the construction of the reservoir, 


by different individuals, in the Government of Trsa Sinua over the districts of 


Chandrévati, and the reign of Munfnpra (<TH aaqyec aera fais 
<Tsy ) in the year 1387. (A. D. 1331.)t 


* The last half of the verse is wanting, and there may be aname omitted here. Abulfazi, 
as we shall hereafter see, has a prince named Kurrun, immediately before Sudh or Shid Raj. 

+ Such is the usual meaning of the original term, Anwanmad, as it, however, implies merely, 
“ born after,” it may possibly signify Son, a sense which there are some reasons for preferring. 

{ If this date is correctly given, the ruler of Chandrdvati must be a different person from the 
Tega Srnua of Inscriptions VIII and X.- The name of the paramount Lord is rather unusual, but 
it scarcely admits of being regarded as an Epithet only. 


AT ABU. 291 


No. V. Is a short inscription on a Pedestal of Nandi, the Bull of 
Siva, in front of Achaléswara, recording its fabrication by order of the Rawel, 
in 1464, (A. D. 1408.) 


No. VI. A brass image of a Charan, or Bard, in front of Nandi, bears 
record upon its pedestal of its being one of two such images presented by two 
persons of the Chéran tribe, the Bhdts, or Bards, of Western India, in the year 
1689, (A. v. 1633.) 


No. VII. A Bhdakhi inscription on an iron Trident, states its being 
presented by different individuals in 1468 (a. p. 1422.) 


No. VIII. <A figure of Paramara, (see No. X.) upon the embank- 
ment of the Mandakini, with the images of three buffaloes, with an inscription, 
stating that the former was set up by the Paramdra, DuirAversHa, in the 
reign of Tres Sinua,* 1342, (a. D. 1286.) 


No. IX. <A Sanscrit inscription, dated 1630 (a. p. 1574,) occurs upon 
a Bijek, or slab, in a temple called the temple of Man Sink. It records the 
construction of the building, and its dedication to Achaleswara, with the erece 


tion in it of an image of the Raja, by his widow Dhara Bai. 


No. X. A long inscription on a black stone, ina Ma?’h, behind the 


temple of Achaleswara. ‘This requires translation. 


* This may possibly be the same as the Try Srnwa of No X, although the date of that is 
the same, in the reign of his son SaMARA Srnun. This DaARAversHaA, however, must be a differ- 
ent person from the Chief so named in Inscription XVIII, who must have flourished about the end 
of the 12th Century. 


292 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


Om. Glory to Siva. 

1. May that Achaleswara ever grant us good fortune through affection for mankind. 
He is the Lord who dissolves the well-framed universe, whose body is free from illusion, 
and whose but partially known essence, claims the praises of Brahmd, and the deities who 
delight in mortification. 

2. May He ever abide with us, who carries in his lotus hand, the fifth head of 
Brahma, torn from its station, and deriving beauty from the wounds inflicted by the formi- 
dable talons of the victor, and who, in olden time, was born of a black and crimson hue, 
of the universal form, as he offered his own body in his lotus throne, an oblation to fire, to 
obtain dominion. ; 

3. May that Elephant-headed deity be propitious to you, upon the mountain of whose 
projecting forehead, the clustering bees pay their devotions, murmuring their meditations in 
low and indistinct song, and impatient of all other pursuit, as they forego their glossy 
colour in the dews exuding from his temples. 

4, May that leap of Hanuman over the sea, preserve you, which at a period, when 
the end of the Kalpa had not arrived, agitated the universe, as if the end of all things was 
at hand, the stability of the egg of Brahma was subverted, the sphere and sky were 
about to fall together, and the earth trembled as if the crumbling mountains rent the yawn- 
ing main. 

5. The liberal race of Guhila* high raised upon the foreheads of the princes of the 
earth, adorned with all good qualities, gave lustre to the five regions,} and followed the path 
of virtue through all its ramifications. 


6. In that race is the king and lord Ndrdyana ever honoured, and no wonder, therefore, 


that it is illustrious, as by what other cause should it become the refuge of kings. 


* GuHILA, or GoHAL, is mentioned by ABuLFazL (Ay. Ak. 2.72.) as a race of Rajputs, it is 
also one of the chief Rajput tribes in Guzerat, (Macmurno, Bombay Transactions vol. 1. 259.) 


+ Panchavibhishitd’sah, by whom the five A’sas, or quarters, were adorned, but the most 
usual number is Zen, not five, the points of the compass, with the intermediate bearings, and the 
Zenith and Nadir : possibly the four cardinal points and the Zenith are here intended. 


{ The latter part of this verse is unintelligible. 


AT ABU. 293 


~%, That family skilled in removing the afflictions of mankind by removing the dis- 
tress of their heart, and overcoming the wicked in war, derived honor from VapraxKa, and 
the possession of Meddpaia,* whose beauty surpassed that of the city of the immortals, and 
humbled the pride of the city of Sesha. 

8. There is anextensive city named Négahrada, where HArfra R sit performed 
penance, and rendered the vicinity the resort of the devout.t 

9. Some for the good of mankind commencing prescribed rites, propitiated here the 
lord Agni, by pure oblations, shedding supreme lustre, and others excelling in the know- 
ledge of restraining respiration, and seeking truth in holy and lonely places, beheld the 
universe in themselves. 

10. In this grove, the holy sage being liberated from all bonds, and perfect in abstrac- 
tion, and having seen present the visible tree of the universe, HArfra, the abode of perfec- 
tion, on separating from his own body obtained union with Siva; having presented to Vappa, 
his votary, the glory of dominion. 

11. Vappaxa, by his devotion to the feet of the sage, obtained from HArita a high 
rank as a Kshetriya, having passed through that of a Brahman under the plea of the 
service of the Muni. The Princes of this racé now ornament the earth like the military vir- 
tues embodied. 

12. The son of VapraKa, the chief guide of Policy, was named Guna, whose name 
is attached to the Princes who have been born in his race. : 

13. From him was born Buosa, the King of men, the worshipper of Vishnu, whose 
intellect was lovely as the moon, whose ornament was the ambrosia of science, whose 
delightful appearance surpassed that of the pure KAma, and by whom the pride of ocean, 
in its depth and height, was humbled. 

14. Affable, and grasping, as in sport, his formidable sword, the fortune of his foes was 
wooed by Buosa, who contemplated difficulties and danger with delight, as if he were the 


personified energy of heroism. 


* Medépdtdbhidhim ddhattesma. It elsewhere appears that Meddpdta is the name of a country 
or district, (See No. XIII.) and Paéa occurs in No. XIX. as a city, or its dependence, as Anahilla 
Paia. 

+ RAsr occurs elsewhere as a family name, or more probably, the common epithet of a set of 
religious characters. 

{ Tapovana, a grove of penance. 


2904 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


15. His son was K4rannosa, fierce with the mighty, a foe as destructive as time, @ mo- 
narch, the familiar friend of policy, the effacer of the beauty of the Chora women, the de- 
capitator of the heads of hostile princes, the chastiser of the lord of Kerndia, and delight of 
those connected with him by friendship. 

16. His arms were the bolt that secured the mansion of pleasure, associating women 
with couches, and trees with flowers, peopling the world with the pious, and the branches of 
trees with birds. 

His son was Buarrripyara, the lord of the earth,* a splendid scyon of this stem, 
humbling the pride of the tree of heaven. 

17. His waist might be grasped with the hand, his breast was as broad as a gate, in 
his presence kings were afraid, as wild elephants of the lion. 

18, By the birth of SamanAvtxa, the king of serpents obtained a companion, and a 
friend, in bearing the burthen of the earth, and higher raised his head: in the sparkling 
flames of the fire of his wrath, adverse princes, their intellects being confounded by the de- 
struction of their partisans, were consumed like moths. 

19. After him the cloud-like sword of KuummAna, sprinkled the warriors with bril- 
liant drops in the storms that wafted the dust of earth to heaven, staining the safflower on 
the breast of their wives, with the collyrium washed from their eyes by their tears—an ap- 
pearance that excites astonishment in the judgments of the wise. 

20. Anata was his son, who in war resembled irresistible fate, whose dreadful scymi- 
tar swept away, as if in sport, the hostile host. 

21. NaravAnana succeeded him, who seized in battle the cars of the assembled _prin- 
ces, by whom Sankara was reverenced with profound humility, and who was formidable to 
his enemies. 


22. After him Saxrtr 


was born, whose fame was as bright as the stars, 
whose good qualities were manifold, and from whose valour hostile warriors shrunk with 
dismay. 

23. The prince that succeeded him was SucuiverMA, who appeared clothed with terror 
on the field of battle to his foes, and like Visdkha, the son of Sambhu, at whose feet the 


towering heads of kings lay prostrate, united fortune with prowess. 


* This may be his name, Avanipdla ; not an epithet only. 


AT ABU. | 695 


24. When the might of SucuiverMA excited in heaven, the admiration of Indra, 
and was the burthen of the songs of the brides of the sweet-voiced Gandharbas, the egg 
of Brahmé was irradiated by the splendid fame of NaraverMA, divesting the cheeks of the 
wives of his foes of the hue that excited desire. 

25. When he tasted pleasure in the embraces of the damsels of paradise,* Kfnrrrt 
Verma, like another Indra, protected the earth. 

26. This prince having felt compassion for the flames which reduced their delicate 
forms, and sported with the beautiful- browed damsels of the sky, in the celestial Ganges, the 
King of the world haying slain the associates of his foes, compelled them to bow their fore- 
heads to his footstool.+ 

27. This king having passed away, his enemies being utterly overthrown, Vari Sin 
established in the world his claim to that appellation. 

28. Broad-chested, slender-waisted, unappalled by the shouts of conflict, Visaya 
Srnwa next destroyed his elephant-like enemies. 

29. Of the wives of his foes, the beauty was dissipated along with the tint of their per- 
sons, and by the passion of their hearts, through separation from their lords, whence the state 
of the Kernikdra was produced, which possesses internally redness, and is externally yellow: 
a change of colour suitable to its cause. 

30. After him, Ari Srna inscribed the eulogium of his fame on all regions, with the 
ink blackened with the smoke of those fires of his prowess, in which the monarchs, his 
enemies, had been consumed. 

31. By whom the collyrium of the wives of his enemies stained with tears, was applied 
as an unguent to the eye-lashes of the brides of the immortals. 

32. His person was as splendid as the sun, and his golden eight-footed footstool 
was illuminated by the diadems, set with gems, which bound the brows of the prostrate 


Crota monarch.t 


* By this expression, and that in the preceding verse, we are to understand that these princes 
fell in battle : elevation to InpRa’s heaven, and the charms of its nymphs being the reward of those 
who fall in fight. 

+ There is, however, something wrong in the verse, and it seems likely that we should have the 
proper name in it of another prince. Kshonitswara may be a proper name, instead of an epithet, but 
it is not ordinarily so used. 

{ Or the four-footed ; he being on his hands and knees; the ashtapdda pddapitha having the 
chatushpat Chora nareswara, for the sake of the antithesis. 


296 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


33. His son was Vixkrama Sinna, who obliterated the tale of the valour of his ad- 
versaries, who compelled fate to avert his countenance, and whose sword, in battle, clove the 
brows of opposing elephants. 

34. Who eradicating all thorns from every quarter, by the sport of his heroic arms, 
established prosperity on earth. 

35. Whose glory is hymned by the delighted sprites of darkness, as on the field of 
battle, making cups of the bowels of slaughtered warriors, they exclaim, drink, drink, and 
wandering about in pairs, with hollow skulls, mantling with the intoxicating draught, 
they quaff the sanguine beverage, and dance inebriate over the slain. 

36. SAmanrta Sinua was his son, by whose valour all other warriors were humbled, 
and by whose beauty the charms of KAma were surpassed. 

37. KumAra Sinua having baffled repeatedly hostile hosts, made the earth resplen- 
dent, and united Laskshmi inseparably with the race of Guhila, and made her ashamed to 
part from the descendants of KuomAna. 

38. The next king was the victorious Matuana Sina, who humbled his enemies, 
and derived his appellation* from the slaughter of adverse troops. 

39. Whose sword when sheathed, drank not the blood of his foes, and when unsheath- 
ed, returned not to its scabbard without drinking their blood, and when opposed to his _re- 
doubtable antagonists, was grasped with both hands. 

40. After this the land of Medépdia} was protected, and delighted by PapMa Sinn, 
whose power was as unbounded as that of Sesha. 

41. This scholar traced the praise of tne prowess of his arms on the plate of the field 
of fight, in letters made with the pearls fallen from the cleft brows of the fierce elephants of 
his enemies. 


42. When he took his seat by the side of the sovereign of the gods JarTra Srnua, 


undermining the fortune of the arms of and proving an Agas- 
éya to the Sea of the Zurushka armies, protected the earth.t} 

43. The goblins that delight in the field of battle, celebrate the victorious arms of 
JAITRA SINHA, as they are asked with an embrace by their infernal consorts, drunk with 


the frontal moisture, for the tusks of the fallen elephant. 


* Maihanam, killing. 
+ This name is borne out by a foregoing verse, No. 7. 
t+ The Mohammedans. 


AT ABU. 207 


44, After him the munificent Trgya Suvua, the terror of adverse princes whitened the 
universe with his holy fame. 

45, Having sprinkled the scattered pearl seeds on the earth of liberality with the wa- 
ter of the frontal exudation, he reaped the fruit by the diligent cultivation of the true Su- 
preme. ‘The augmented rays of his fame combined with the fortune plucked by this Prince 
from amidst myriads of swords spread through the regions. 

46. The son of Trya Sinua, whose body was like that of the primeval boar, and 
bright sword, sharp as his tusks, upraised upon its point the kingdom of Gurjara for a 
moment deluged by the Turushka armies. He, Sri Samara, the first of kings, now up- 
holds the burthen on the earth, of BAL1 and Kerna.* 

Ait, ‘The imps of darkness drunk with the blood of his enemies celebrate his fame, 
when entering on the field of battle, as they dance with headless trunks in their hands strik- 
ing with their palins responses to the sound of the trumpets. 

48. ‘The excellent form of the King adorned with myriads of good qualities, cannot 
be here eulogised through fear the panegyric be too unlimited in extent. 

49, Arbuda mountain shews a gem of the chief mountains cherished by the. Gods. 
Where Vasisurua freed from the sixteen consequences of mutability performed penance. 

50. In which mountain, the husband of Bhavani, and inapprehensible by his omni- 
presence and permeation of all things, assumed formerly the state of AcHaLa.t 

51. .Where Siva meriting eternal devotion resides; a wonderful assemblage of ex- 
quisite beauty. 

52. Where some pious anchorites, mortals, and divinities, have obtained union with the 
Supreme Being through all periods. Of which the Pawranics celebrate the height, and 
which sustains the Lakshmi of the three worlds under pretence for three moments. 

53. The chief of Kings, Srr Samara, repaired this temple, commanded by his destiny, 
for the purpose of securing his prosperity, and this charitable and devout Prince, also gave 
to the four Munis, in affection, dwelling and maintenance. 

54, Samara the King, observing life to be as transient as the wind, caused the golden 


staff of the lofty Achalésa to be made. 


* Both Prinoes, renowned for their liberality. + Either fixidity, or a mountain. 


oC 


298 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


55. BudvAcnt was formerly the chief of the place, who had eradicated the seed of the 
world by observance of Pasupatt, 

56. By the force of whose devotions, lions and elephants intent on obtaining emanci- 
pation; their forms being purified from their instinctive animosities, became united in 
friendship, and learned to feel compassion for mankind. 

5%. Hisdisciple Buava Sanxara, the Brahmdchdri, in order to obiain union with 
Siva performed arduous penance. 

58. The trees of Arbuda mountain, bearing fruit and flowers at all seasons, teach the 
efficacy of the devotion which abandons all objects, to their fellow sages. 

59. By the advice of Buava Sankara, the temple (Math) on Arbuda, with the gol- 
den staff, was erected by Samara SINHA. 

60. Hewho set up a Linga in the temples of CuaxraswAmi, the chief of the Sa- 
madhi, which are celebrated through the three worlds, Vepa Serma, the son of Priyapata, 
by him a Brahman of the Ndgara tribe residing on Chitrakita, this encomium was com- 
posed, clear, with many merits, and delighting the hearts of all the wise. 

61. As long as AcHALEsa enjoy union with the Arbuda mountain, so long may this 
encomium be read by the learned. 

62. This inscription was written by SupHA Cuanpra, and engraved by the skilful 
artist Kenma Srnua. Samvat 1342, (A. D. 1286,) on the first of the light fortnight of 


Margasirsha. 


No. XI. Is a class of single names inscribed on some small brass images 
of horses of which a number are found about the mountain, one is dated 
1660. (A. D. 1604.) 


No. XII. Records the erection in the year 1566, (A. D. 1510,) in the 
reign of Jagmal, of a copper image of Adi Ndth, at the north entrance of a 
temple of Chaturmukha (Brahma) built by a number of individuals of the 
Jain persuasion on Achala Gerh. 


No. XIII. Is an inscription on another door-way of the same building, 
forty-eight years earlier in date than the preceding, or in 1518, (A. D. 1462,) 


AT ABU. 299 


and in the reign of Kumpua Kerna. It records the erection of an image of 
Adi Nath also by Jains, inhabitants of Dungerpur, governed by the Rawal 
Soma Dis, and further specifies the situation of the temple in the fort (Durga) 
of Kumbhalamere, in Medapdia, terms that indicate the existence of a strong 
hold on the mountain Arbuda, and the position of this mountain in the dis- 
trict of Meddpdia. 


No. XIV. Specifies the erection of an image of Santi Nath by the same 
persons, and at the same period as the last : it occurs over the third gate-way 


of the same temple. 


No. XV. Is the fourth inscription of the same series occurring on the 
fourth gate-way, and records the erection of another image of Adi Nath ; the 
date differs, being 1529, (A. D. 1473): the king is not named; the Rawel of 


Dungerpur is Soma Dis ; the parties are still Jain. 


~ A note at the foot of this, apparently part of it, runs thus; : Images 


twelve : large, four; small, eight ; Mans, (Maunds?) 1444. 


No. XVI. Is an inscription of some interest upon a Biek, or slab, in the 


temple of Kanakhaleswara, near Duriga village ; the following is a translation : 


1. May the three-eyed god protect you, that deity, who incorporated half his essence 
in the form of the toe of Murari (Vishnu), separating from his other half,* for the pur- 


pose of making manifest the double nature of mankind, incapable of real knowledge, whose 


* Quitting his feminine half, Pérvati, the male portion became Vishnu, or Hari Hardtmaka, 
Hari essentially Hara: the illusion refers to Siva, in his Androgynous form as Ardhandriswara. 


300 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


throat is of the black hue of the autumnal cloud, which comes to drown the universe, and 
on whose forehead gleams the lunar crescent. | 

2. Avanti (Ougein), the asylum of warriors preserves the world by the valour of its 
heroes, purifies it by the holy practices of its Brahmans, followers of the Vedas, exhilarates 
it with the odours of youth sporting in the lake of love, and is the cherished asylum of the 
affluent. . 

3. In this city, the Guru of the shrine of Chandikd, named TAmasa, though replete 


with radiance,* having performed devotion to science in the new convent, firm of soul, the 


pride of the Chdpaliya race, the follower of the path leading to final emancipation, 
the daily worshipper of Chandisa, 


4. ~The disciple of that Muni, was the ascetic discriminator of virtue and science, 
the enemy of luxury, and devout servant of his Guru, BArKata RAst.t 

5. His son was JyEsurua RAsr, whose mind was exclusively devoted to IsAna, from 
whom sprang YocEeswara RAst, the diligent worshipper of Trilochana, (the three-eyed Srva.) 

6. His son was the Saint Munz RAst, skilled to dispel the darkness of wrath from 
the two worlds, illuminated by the rays of the sun. His female disciples, Sapakshini, Vijay- 
ini, and Yogéswari, wore the resemblance of the trident-armed goddess, in the attributes of 
resignation, meekness, and compassion.t | 

7%. His successor was DurvAsé RAs, equal to DurvAsas, and who, by arduous pen- 
ance, became as one of the Munzs. 

8. His son was KrpAra RAst, the full moon of the night of religious observance, the 
fame of whose many merits spread to all quarters, and the Tilaka (the ornamental mark 
on the forehead,) of those sages, who were most eminent in the pure family of Chapala. 

9, This holy personage repaired the temple of Koteswara, the Guru of the Lord of 
the three worlds; (Indra.) He raised the lofty edifice, with full faith in the efficacy of the 
holy shrine Kanakhaila.§ 


* Alluding to his name, which means darkness. 

+ Radi here designates a succession of priests, being assumed as a title, like Gir, Puri, §c. 
no ascetics in eastern Hindustan are met with of this appellation—they appear to have been Yogis 
or Jogis. See also Ins: X. 

+ This association of male and female ascetics is curious. (See also verse 11.) It is not com- 
mon now, though it does occur occasionally. 

§ The village of Kanakhala, near Haridwar. 


AT ABU. 301 


10. He constructed the fabric, (fort, or Kota,) so as to inspire terror in the capricious 
breasts of the birds of the Kali age, with walls whose towering height obstructed the cha- 
riot of the sun, in his diurnal course. He renewed the old temple of Arutanitu,* whose 
image was the representation of his own desert, and he built two spacious temples dedicated 
to the trident-armed deity, in front of the Lord of Kanakhala in this place. 

ll. His sister Mokshéswdri, pure, and leading a life of holy continence, constructed 
also here a pleasant temple of Siva. 

12. The sage, most eminent in the awful rites of sacrifice, erected a new pillar like 
an image in the temple, and constructed a column of pure touch-stone, decorated with fes- 
toons, in the residence of KANAKHALA SAMBHU. 

13. As long as this Arbuda mountain bears literature on its breast, so long may it en- 
joy reputation in the world. 

14. As long as the cow yields milk, as long as the earth bears corn, as long as the 
mystic tortoise supports the universe, as long as the sun and moon endure, as long as the 
stanzas of the first of bards remain, and those of Vydsa are studied, so long may these 
encomiastic verses, the composition of Lakshmidhara, be preserved. 

Samvat 1265 (A. D. 1209,) on Tuesday, the 15th of the light fortnight of Vazsakha, 
in the victorious reign of the supreme sovereign Bufma Deva, the illustrious exalter of the 
Chaulukya race. Sri Karana, the minister, and other illustrious persons contributing to the 
work,+ the Governor and Lord of Chandrévati, being Sri DuArAversua and like Sambhu 
among the gods, uniting the earth under one umbrella, and the Prince Srf PrauiAépanat 
Drva,§ whose voice delights with the melody of the Koil, being Yuvardja in that time, this 


composition was inscribed by order of KepAra RAs1, by the artist PRAHLANA. 


No. XVII. A figure of brass of Risuasua Deva bears an. inscription, 


dated Samvat 1525, recording its erection by the Jains of Dungerpur. 


* The unequalled God. 

+ The original is very indistinct, and may be erroneously rendered. 

{ Chandrévati Ndatha Mandalika, the Mandalika most probably corresponds to Mandaleswara, 
Lord, or Ruler of .a Mandal, or district. 

§ Prakiadana Deva is the brother of Dhdérdéversha, See Inscription No. XVIII. 38. 


3D 


302 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


No. XVIII. A long and important inscription in the second temple of 


VastuTita and Trsa PAA. 


1. I salute the goddess Saraswati, who pervades the minds of the learned, and is to be 
attracted only by that intellect in which she takes up her abode. 

2. May that Siva, who sees all things in the twinkling of his eye, glowing with the fire 
of wrath, alone to be appeased by consuming the body of Kéma, be propitious to you, toge- 
ther with the son of Siva ( Ganesa ).* 

8. There is a city named Anahilla, the reservoir of happiness to the people, protected 
by the Chulukyas, equal to Raghu, where the moon-like loveliness of the females irradiates 
the dark half of the lunar revolution, and banishes the gloom of the fortnight. | 

A, In that city was Cuanpapa, the gem of the Prdgvdéta race, whose fame was as white 
as the flower of the Jasmine, and by whose liberality the all-bestowing tree of heaven was 
overcome ; the fruit of the maturity of his virtue.t 

5. His son was CuanpaprasApaA, the golden pillar of the palace of his family, a wide 
spreading banner of glory. 

6. Delighting the pious by the rays of his virtue, Soma was born from him, like the 
moon rising from the depths of the friendly ocean of milk. 

%. From him was born AswarAgsa, devoting his mind to undeviating faith in the 
supreme deity, Jina; his beloved queen was KamatA Devi, like the consort of the enemy 
of Tripura, the mother of Kumara. 

8. The first son of these two was named Mantri Lunica, who, while yet a child, 
obtained from fate an interview with Jndra.t 

9. Who is reckoned by the learned, a councillor amongst those possessed of eminent 
merits, and by whose chafiless intellect the wisdom of Vrihaspati was confounded. 

J0. Srr Matta Deva, his next brother, who worshipped Malladeva,§ was an excellent 


minister, whose well-governed understanding had no thought of the wealth or wives of others. 


* This is a singular invocation for a Jaina inscription; see also the next inscription. 

+ It appears from the Ins. No. 2, that CHAanpapa was one of the ministers, Mantrimandala 
Khandais Chandapa Prathama Pumén, of the Guzerat Princes of the same family. 

+ It may be inferred from this, that he was dead at the date of the inscription , 

§ The 19th of the twenty-four Jinas. 


AT ABU. 303 


11. Whose rival in confirming morals, concealing the defects of the kingdom, and re- 
conciling adversaries, was not created by the Creator. 

12. The whiteness of the fame of Matiapzva, surpassing that of the moon, emerging 
from a cluster of black clouds, has laid violent hands on the tips of the tusks of the ele- 
phant of Indra. 

13. The younger brother of this self-restricted sage, the pious VastupAua, a shower 
of delight, marvellously laden with the nectar of eloquence, effaces those letters that indi- 
cate misfortune, on the foreheads of the learned. 

14, The chief Vasrupsia amongst the ministers, and poets of the Chulukya race, 
filches not the property of others, either in fortune or in fancy. 

15. Trsa Pda, the youngest of the whole, is celebrated, throughout the universe, the 
chief of ministers, he shines, augmenting the radiance of his Lord, the terror of the wicked. 

16. But who shall describe the glories of Trgya PAta, or of Visunu, within the 
recesses of whose wisdom the three-fold world is equally enshrined. 

17. There were also seven sisters of these Princes, Jaut’a, Mao, Sao, DuanabeEvf, 
Sou4cA, VavyukA and AmaLapDEvi.* 

18. The sons of Aswarasa, are as the four sons of DasaratHa, who have been de- 
sirous of again taking a. terrestrial birth in a common womb. 

19, Whose heart is not delighted by VasrupAta, accompanied by his younger bro- 
ther, Trsa PAna, like the month Madhu, by spring. 

20. Let no one pursue a path alone, remembering this law, the two brothers travel 
in company along the road of equity, arresting the fascination of impropriety. 

21. May ever be increased the prosperity of ‘the united arms, which bear this yoke 
conjointly, the arms of that virtuous couple by which, in this fourth age, the golden age is 
restored.+ 

22. Long may these brothers enjoy health and life, by whose fame the bracelet of the 


world is set with pearls. 


* A strange string of names with the exception of two, which are pure Sanscrit. Sohaga and 
Vayyaka, are still names known in the west, and are the Prakrit form of Saubhagydé and 
Vaidyandathd. - 


+ A set of puns upon the word Yuga, meaning a pair, a yoke, and an age. 


304 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


_ 23. Of which two able brothers, employed as hands in the cooking of virtue, neither 
was the left. 

24. By this pair the whole world has been impressed with virtue, and the iniquitous 
Kali age been trodden under foot. 

25. Again. A distinguished scion of the branch of Chaulukya heroes was ARNA, an 
illustrious Prince. 

26. After him, with uninterrupted radiance LavanaprasApa, his enemies being 
broken, obtained the earth, and his fame having traversed the salt ocean, shone as white as__ 
the lucid shell, that gems the river of heaven. 

27. The son of the Prince the descendant of KAxutstnHa, Dasaratua, was Vira- 
DHAVALA, whose power swallowed up the hostile Princes of the earth, in the current of whose 
fame the fortune of those females, whose minds were agitated with passion, was drowned at 
the period of improper assignation. 

28. The eminent Chaulukya, VirapHavaLa admitted not in his ear the reports 
of informers affecting these two ministers; by whom the dominion of their lord was 
irradiated with prosperity, and the courts of the palace were crowded with elephants 
and steeds. 

29. By this couple of ministers placed at his knees, I well know, that this Prince 
holds prosperity as with his two arms in delightful embrace again. 

30. This mountain, Arduda, the Peak of clustered Hills, is the progeny of the father- 
in-law of the bridegroom of Gaur7z, the brother-in-law of Saszbhrit, who bears the 
Mandékini as an ornament in the thick and tangled tresses of his head. 

31. In this mountain, if the ascetic, desirous of emancipation, behold the lovely dam- 
sel wandering, he yields his heart to passion; but those minds which are agitated with ele 
sire, forego their wordly propensities when they observe these holy shrines, reverenced by 
the sages. | 

32. On a certain time, from the holy fire-altar of the excellent VasisHTHa*, a man 


arose, whose form was more resplendant than the rays of the son of Mrikanda. 


* Inscription No. II. says Maztravarunt or Agastya, but, according to one legend, they are 
the same. Vasishtha perishing by a curse of Mimi, and being re-born of Mird and Varuna, or as 
Maitravaruna. Bhégavat Ch. 9th. 


AT ABU. 305 


32. The repository of the Vedas knowing that the only pleasure of this being, was 
the destruction of his foes, gave him the name of Paramdra,* and from him the race so 
named originated. 

33. Duoma Raga was the first Prince descended from him, a mortal JIndra in the 
royal race, who made the monarchs of the earth acquainted with pain by clipping their 
wings.t 

34. DuunpuxKa, Durvva, and other heroes were born in this family, the overthrowers 
of the elephants of their foes, and at last was born the lovely RAma Deva, who surpassed 
Kdma in appearance. — . 

35. His son was YASoDHAVALA, who was not overcome by Prapyumna, and the 
waves of whose fame, tossing in the depth of heaven and earth, washed away the white 
splendors of the moon: who defeated VaLAuat the King of Mélava, when engaged in 
hostilities against the Chaulukya Kum4nra Péuxa.§ 

36. Duara Versa, the subject of universal praise, was his son; his sharp sword was 
ever vigilant to assail the throats of his foes, who being incensed and firm in the field of 
battle, the wives of the King of Concan shed watery drops from their lotus eyes. 

37. He, with undiminished splendour, came upon earth as the son of DasaraTHa, 


and asin enmity to Marich7, pursues the chase with unrelaxing speed. 


* Para, an enemy, Mara, a destroyer: a race of Rajputs is still known so named, and is famous | 
in middle Indian History, under the name of Pamdr, or Pawar. 


+ These are puns again on Paksha, a partisan and a wing, and Bhubjrit, a king, or a mountain. 
+ VavAta is said to have been the Patron of Kdlidds, after Bhoja, when the Poet left the 
Court of the latter in displeasure; a verse in praise of him is cited in the Kuvalayananda. 
qaaeiwae aefeaant waa feu Awaea carquacae 
CTPFICUFT PATH feat ATCT ASC AGM wWatal WAR Barat 
eraarad HqATITS WAVE faa « Valdla, in the city of your foes, a woman of the 
9 oN 


wilds, wandering unmolested, collects the scattered jewels, taking them for lighted coals, she piles 
the sandal sticks upon them, and, with twinkling eyes, blows them with her breath, imagining the 
clustering bees, attracted by the spreading odours, to be smoke.” ‘These conceits were never the 


composition of Kalidds. 
§ The prince was sovereign of Guzerat at the end of the 12th century. 
q Sce Inscriptions VIII and XVI. 
3 E 


306 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


38. His younger brother was PRanLApaNa, whose sword was sharp in the defence 
of the sovereign of Gurjara, when his power was curbed in the field of fight by Samanra 
Sinua,* and who displayed the excellencies of the mighty conqueror of the son of Danu. 

39. I doubt whether the goddess, who holds her seat in the lotus, or.the all-bestowing 
parent of the kine, have assumed a mortal form, and appeared on earth as PRAHLADANA; 

40. The son of DuAraversuHa was Soma Sinua, who inherited valour from his 
father, wisdom from his uncle, and liberality from both. 

4.1. Having exonerated the Brahmans from taxes, and conquered all his foes, there 
was only this that he could not obtain: though his fame, with the radiance of the moon 
illuminated the surface of the earth, it could not remove the toil of enmity from the counte- 
nances of his foes. j 

42, Like Krishna, the son of Vasudeva, his son was Krisuna RasAveva of surpass- 
ing splendour, and dear to fame and mercy.+ 

43. In race, in manners, in learning, in valour, and in virtue, where is the mortal 
who has appeared in my eyes like VastupéLa. | 

44, Latrré Devi, his beloved bride, had by this lord of ministers, a son of unequal- 
led merit, by name Jayawnra Srvu, like Jayanta, the son of Indra, by the daughter of Puloma. 

45. Who, even in childhood, which is unfavorable to decorum, and barren in intelli- 
gence, possessed prosperity, and modesty, and merit : he surpassed, in personal appearance, 
the charms of the mind-born deity, and whose heart does not Jarrra SrnHA engage. 

46. May Jarrra Srxn, the son of VasrupAta, live to the end of the Kalpa, whose 
form surpasses imagination, whose bounty exceeds desire. 

47. May the devout TrsapAua live for ever, by whom all men are delighted, and 
gratified as if by Chintamani. : 

48. The previous creation of the learned councillors clothed with wisdom, Chénakya, 
Vrihaspati, Indra, and Sukra, was only the work of Brahma, in order to prepare for the 
creation of this minister, but whence did he obtain his superiority over the former ? - 

49. ‘The young brother of VastupAa, Tesapita is the abode of the prosperity of 


mortals, and the protection of the tribute of the provinces: a receptacle of virtues, he 


* Quere—is this a name or an epithet—the lion of heroes. 


+ Puns, dear to Yasoda, the mother of Krishna, Yasodayd, or Yaso and Dayd, fame and 
clemency: 


AT ABU. 30% 


thinks slichtly of himself; and yet, having seen him, the Kémandaka and Chanakya cease to 
surprise.* 

Again. 

An account of the family of Anépamé Devi, the wife of Tryapaua. 

50. There is a sage named GAcaa,} the tiara of the ornaments of the Pragvd}a race, 
a resident of the splendid Chandrdvati ; with the waves of his merit, who is not delighted: 
what head does not shake ; whose hair does not stand an end ? 

51. His son DuaranfeA, followed his father’s steps, who was bound to his Prince’s 
heart by the chain of his merit. : 

52. His wife was Triputvana Devi, whose virtues were famed in the three worlds, 
their forms were two, but their hearts were one. 

53. Their daughter was ANGPAMA Devi, like the daughter of Daxsia in virtue, who 
was married to TryapALa, was born a flower of celestial beauty, whose whole family was 
distinguished for propriety, modesty, wisdom, decorum, liberality, and talent. 

55. Their son was Lavanya Srna, overcoming, in agility, the steeds of Indra, who, 
having the favour of the fish-bannered god,t proceeds on the path of virtue alone. 

56. Who does not praise the good qualities of Léna Sinu,§ the son of TesapAua, by 
which bonds holding fortune fast, the eminence of his fame is securely bound in the three 
worlds. 

57. A plighted vase, full of wealth, not surrounded by venomous snakes, which drawn 
upon, by the virtuous, remains eternally replenished. 

58. The son of Matiabeva by Lituka, was Porna Srnwa, his son by AnLANI Devs, 
was. the abode of virtue, Peruana. 

59. Theson of the minister Tesapsta by ANGrpaMA Devi, was the fortunate LAVANYA 
SINHA. 

60. For securing the happiness of his wife and son, TrsapAta erected the temple 


of Neminath on the mountain Arbuda. 


* Works on the political duties of Princes. 

+ Gdggabhad is known, in the upper Provinces, as the author of several Sdstras, medical and 
others. 

{ Love. 

§ Luna and Ldvanya, are the same. 


308 _ _ SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


61. TrsapAua, the friend of the king of the earth, erected the temple of Nemindth 
with massive stones, as white as the conch, the jasmine, or the lunar ray: in front of it he 
constructed a pavilion: by the side of it, fifty-two places for the reception of the chief 
Jainas; a Batdnaka* in the front. 

62. Theson of Cuanpapa was CHapaprasApa ; Soma, was his son, and his son was 
AswarAga; his four sons were Lunica, Mattapeva, VasrupAta, and TrsapALa: JAITRA 
Sinua was the son of VasrupAua and LAvanya Sinu, the son of Persea 

63. ‘The figures of these ten, riding on female elephants, like the regents of the ten 
spheres, coming to see the Jina, are here resplendent. fs . 

64. Behind the figures mounted on elephants, there are also there ten persons, accom- 
panied by their wives, sculptured on a clear stone. The younger brother of VastupAua, 
_ the wise TegsapAua, the unequalled friend of the Chaulukya Prince, Vira Duavata, had 
these executed. | 

65. Trgapaxa by the side of Vasrup‘ta, the friend of the people flourishes like 
a mango tree in fruit, upon the borders ofa lake. 

66. Of the temples, altars, pools, groves, fountains, wells, and reservoirs, in moun- 
tains or roads, in villages and towns, that have been constructed by these two brothers, or 
embellished or repaired, the number is not known, and the earth alone can tell. 

6%. Hewhocan count the respirations of Sambhu, or tell the twinklings of the eye 
of Mérkanda Muni, may be able to reckon up the number of the public works of these two 
brothers, if he forego all other occupation; but even he must abandon the detail of cele- 
brating their virtuous acts. : 

68. May the fame of Aswa Raga last for ever, whose posterity have so well known 
how to distribute bounty and do good. 

69. The Guru of the family of Cuanpapa was Manenpra Suri, of the Gachcha of 
Narendra, a jewel in the crest of fortune, a possessor of unsought exaltation. He had two 
sons radiant as the sun and moon: the marvellously virtuous Santi Surr and ANANDA 
Dama Sort. 

70. From the last, sprang the illustrious purifier from sin, Harirupra Suri, the new - 


cloud shedding on the world, the waters of the holy Jaina doctrine, an indescribable 


* The meaning of this word is not known. 


AT ABU. 309 


Physician for the diseases inspired by the odour of learning, from whom descended the 
Muniswara Visava SENA. 

71. The vessel of the benedictions of this sage, is Upaya-PraByié Séri, as the 
light of the ocean, is communicated to the scattered pearls. 


72. May this holy place and its founder be renowned as long as the mountain Arbuda 
uprears its head. 

73. Sri Soma Deva, by whom the feet of the Chulukya Monarch are honoured, com- 
posed this resplendent panegyric on this holy place. 

74. May this euloguim of the race of Vasrupéua, be propitious through the favor 
of the mother of Nemn Arua. This eulogy was engraved by the artist CHANDESWARA, 
the son of Duanpuava, the son of Kiniana, and the consecration was performed by 
Visaya Sena Sort, on the mountain Arbuda, on Sunday the third of the light fortnight 
of Phalgun, in the year of Vikrama 1287, (A. D. 1231). 


No. XIX. Is another Jong inscription, in the same temple, of the like 
date (Samvat 1287) as the last. It particularises also the same persons as 


contemporaries, defining their stations more precisely. 


The Mahé Rdjddhirdj, or Supreme Monarch, is Burma Deva. Soma 
Sinua, is a Mahé Mandaleswara, a governor, or feudatory, probably, and 
VIRADHAVALA, with the title Ranaka, or Réana, is another. The Mudra Vya- 
pari, the keeper of the Seals literally, meaning the Minister, is as in the pre- 
ceding, Tryapiua, by whom it is recorded, that a Chattya, or Jaina tem- 
ple and convent,* dedicated to NemINATHA, were erected and endowed on 


Arbuda mountain, and named after his brother Lunica Sanixi. 


The inscription then proceeds to specify the persons to whom, and to 


whose descendants certain privileges are to be attached. ‘The posterity 


* Or perhaps a groupe of temples ; see the following, 


3 F 


310 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


of Treyarhva, his brothers, their wives, and their kindred, are to have the 
right, in perpetuity, of bathing and worshipping here at all seasons. Another 
set of the inhabitants of Chandrdavati, transmit to their posterity the right of 
bathing, &c. on the third of Chaitra, at the festival of Nemivatu ; another set 
on the fourth, and so on. The inscription presents a list of very extraordinary 
names, both of places and persons. The former are the villages Kdasahrada, 
Brahmdna Dhauli, Munda Sthala, a Tirtha, Handa-d-dra, Maréhara, Sihil 
wira, Detl wara, on the Arbuda-hills, Matamahabu, Yawuya, Urdsa, Utara- 
chha, Sihara, Sala, Hetavinji, Akhi, and others readily verifiable, perhaps, on 
the spot: the names of the persons are too numerous, and unimportant 


to be recapitulated. 


Besides the appropriation of privileges, the document records the assent of 
the Brahmans and Rajaputs, of the same district and village, to the arrange- 
ments made by Tesaraua, and their guarantee of the reservation of the tem-: 


ple, to the Jain worship, as long as the sun and moon shall endure. 


No. XX. Although considered as one number, is a set of small inscrip- 
tions, to the extent of forty-six, apparently on separate divisions round the 
temple of NeminArua :* they record the construction of Kulikds, or shrines, of 
the different Jinas, of their images, and of grants for their worship by different 
Jain individuals, but chiefly TrsapAua, or some of his kindred, and are dated, 


accordingly, from Samvat 1287 to 1293. One, in some provincial dialect, which 


* The original calls them Mandirs. Quere—if small temples are intended, or only the separate 
shrines of the figures. afer Be ana wal yeraur H 3 In the outset, the description is 
aT ae a BqT @ AAA fads, the latter seems most likely by the term afaar, 


a little house—a niche. 


AT ABU. Sil 


is but very scantily intelligible, recording some grant to the Chaiiya of 
Neminiru, by some Jainas, is dated in S. 1360, (A. D. 1304). 


No. XXI. A broken Bhdkhd inscription on a female figure, without 
the gate of the temple of NemrnAtu : it records some benefaction, apparently, 
of the Dungar Rina Kumpua Karana, to the temples of Api-nAru and 
Nemindtu in S. 1509. 


No. XXII. Is another series of small inscriptions, fifty-three in 
number, they are thus collectively described: ‘* There isa figure of Vimala 
Sah, on horseback ; in front of which is the temple of Adi Ndtha,* erected 
by him, and in which inscriptions are engraved on the surrounding 


shrines.”’ 


The greater number of these inscriptions record grants made, or images 
set up, by private individuals of the Jain faith, about S. 1378: the longest, 
regulating certain dues, payable to the Jain temple, is dated in §. 1350, A. D. 
1294—and specifies Siranca Deva, as sovereign of Andhilla Pata and VisaLa 
Deva, as governor, under him, of eighteen hundred mandals, residing at 
Chandrdvatt. One inscription bears date S. 1201, but as nothing else is de- 
cypherable, it is of no further value. Another, in like manner, shews a date 
S. 1309, but nothing else. In Mandir 17, an inscription, partly undecy- 
pherable, occurs, but the following is made out: 


* pfiwe ae A ahi Gs wax fae & waa fae area aie raat 
aft qarat 3 faua vafeur ar afetr wa faor 2 


512 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


“‘ Samvat 1088, (A. D. 1032,) by the blessing of Ambao, Vimata San, 
built the temple of Adi Natha: this plate records its repair in the year S. 1379, 
(A. D. 1313,) on Monday, the 9th of the light fortnight of Jyeshth.” 


Several of them, dated in 1245, (A. D. 1189,) specify grants made to 


Santi Nath and Ara Nath, by Yasopuavata or his family, as follow : 


“31. Samvat 1245. Thursday, the 5th of the dark half of Chattra, Bh.* 
Stva Devau, Bh. Jasapnavata, of the race of Prdgvdta (the image under- 


stood) of Santi NATH, was set up.” 


«© 32. Samvat 1245, Thursday, the 5th of the dark half of Vaisakh, Bha. 
YasopuavaLa, and Bha, Satecena Deva of the Pracvara family, caused 
this image of Ara NAru to be erected for the sake of prosperity. May — 


Aranitu, or Arbuda~Tiriha, confer good fortune upon all.” 


There are some other small inscriptions in and about this temple : one 
over a figure, dated S. 1631, two in the vestibule, dated S. 1520 and S. 1523, 
and one on a stone, dated S. 1408, the first specify the erection of Jina figures 
by private persons, the last is illegible beyond the date. 


No. XXIII. Over the door of the temple of Vara SAua, is a string 
of Hindi names, with the date S. 1821. 


No. XXIV. There are four Mandirs of the four faced Brant, but no 
date is recorded. 


* QT An abbreviation probably for Bhattdéraka, a Prince, as AS for Maharaja and 3° for 
Sreshtha, which occur, both abridged and at full length, very frequently in the inscriptions, 


AT ABU. 313 


No. XXV. Isarather long, but imperfect inscription, recording the 
erection of a Jain temple, by different individuals of the Swetdmbara branch of 


the Jains, in 1494, (a. D. 1438), the building is in ruins. 


No. XXVI. A ruined temple of Visunu, near Rasiya Watem, contains 
an imperfect inscription, dated Saka 1390, (a. D. 1468,) recording the re- 


pair of the temple by some private persons. 


No. XXVII. <A Bhékhé inscription, dated Samvat 1497, recording va- 


rious grants to ADINATH. 


No. XXVIII. This is a note by the copyist, of various images found on 


Arbuda mountain, viz. 
A black figure of Arbuda Bhavani. No date. A work of the Sat Yug! 


A lion and an image of CuAmunp§, two figures of Ganesa, figures of the 


seven Matris, two Siva Sakiis. 


In the open air is a slab with this inscription, ‘* Samvat '727, (a. p. 671,) 
On Saturday, the 3d of the light half of Phalguna, the artist GirpHar, the son 


of Lap, caused these repairs to be made.” K 


There is an inscription also on the pedestal supporting the feet of Brat- 
RAVA: “The temple of Buarrava was repaired in the victorious reign of 
Kaunara Deva. Samvat 136.” This date, however, is erroneous, as might 
be conjectured, but the mistake is probably unintentional, and the third or 
fourth figure may have been omitted in transcribing. A subsequent inscription 

3G 


314 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


in the reign of KAuwara Deva, bears date S. 1394. The figure of Buarrava 


is also, in the estimation of the transcriber, a work of the golden age! 


No. XXIX. Is an inscription in the temple of Vasishtha, with various 
dates: the first is S. 1394, recording the erection of the temple by Mahadeva 
Parhi, by the patronage of KAuNnarA Deva, the son of Trsa Sinn, the Chahu- 
man and Prince of Chandrdvati, as wellas the grant of several villages by Trsa 
Sinu, KAunara Deva and the Chouhan Simanva Sinua. The priest is an enemy 
to the Jaina sect, as he congratulates the world, upon the recovery of religion 


from heretics and opposers of the Srutis and Smritis. 


In 8S. 1506. The Rana Kumspya Kerna—the son of Maukata Rana, 


grants a village for the celebration of the Apn1 NAru JArrA. 


In 1589. The Mahé Raja Axue, erects a temple or a fountain. 


No. XXX. An inscription in the same temple, dated S. 1523 and: 
S. 1524, consists of a panegyric of the Muni VasisuHTua, and narrates 
his bringing <Arbuda originally from the Himdlaya range, of which 
it was a part: it records also some pecuniary grants made by different chiefs, 
by the Maha Rana, Kurta, and Vira Ravwel. 


No. XXXI. Is an inscription on a fountain or well, near the temple of 
Vasishtha, recording the modern repair of ‘the old building, and erection of 
others, by command of Gumn Siu, the son of Mahdréo Szo Sinu, of Sirohi, 
in 1875, (a. D. 1819.) 


i} AT ABU. 315 


No. XXXII. Records some modern establishments of a Linga, Sara- 
neswar, by Haren Sinu and others, apparently of the Szrohi family, the date is 
Samvat 1819, (A. D. 1763.) 


No. XXXIII. Is an inscription ofa similar nature, dated 18'73, (A.D. 1817.) 


No. XXXIV. Is a double inscription on each side of an ornamented 
gate-way or arch, apparently over a Lingam, called Sri Maid: the Torana or 


arch was erected in 1792, (A. p. 1736) by the Maharaja Umep Sinu. 


No. XXXV. A short inscription recording the erection of a figure: ‘ of 
or by’ the Maha Rao Pritut Sinn, 8. 1868. | 


No. XXXVI. Another to the same purpose, dated also S. 1868, gives the 
name of the Rdo Varrt SAL. 


No. XXXVIL. In 1872, records the erection of an image of Champavai, 
by the wife of Mahé Rado Varni SAu. 


No. XXXVIII. An image of Vari Sit in the Chatri, is dated 1798. 
No. XXXIX. The date S. 1860, on the pedestal of an image of Nandi. 


No. XL. A number of brief notices, rarely, indeed, more than the date 
occur upon the door-ways of some ruined or deserted chambers, the dates 
vary from 8. 1707 to S. 1876, or from a. p. 1651 to 1820: a number of 


elevated terraces, without date or inscription occur. 


No. XLI. An inscription on a temple of Mahddeva, in Stroh, called 
Lakhma Bari, recording some grant by the wife of the Raya SuraTay, in 
S. 1649: the inscription is incomplete. 


316 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


No. XLII. Is an inscription on a pavilion near a reservoir, dated 1603, 


recording the consecration of a figure of UpEBHAN Raya. 


No. XLIII. Consists of a series of inscriptions in fourteen temples, or 
the remains, in the town of Sirohi ; those of the two first are undecyphered. A 
temple of Nemindath has two, one dated S. 1683, and the other dated S. 1718, 
recording the completion of the temple by private persons, in the reign of 
Axsuaya Raga, of Sirohi. In the fourth, are several inscriptions, one imperfect, 
dated S. 1644, one recording the erection of an image of Adi Nath, in S. 1721, in 
the reign of Axsuaya Rasa, and another of the same period, commemorating 
the erection of a figure of Suparswandth. There are no inscriptions in the fifth 
and sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth temples, dedicated severally to Sambhu 
Nath, Adi Nath, to Gambharaji (?.) Sitala Nath, and Béman Warji (?): the 10th 
temple contains an inscription, recording the erection of an image of Kiértéé 


Nédth, by different individuals, in 1653, (a. p.1597,) in the reign of AKBER. 


The 11th bears record of the erection of an image of Sankheswar Pars. 


wandth, by different Jains of Szrohi, in the reign of Varri SA 1736 (a. D. 1680.) 


The 12th commemorates the erection of a temple and image of Gauri 


Pérswandth, by PapMaretna Suri, in the reign of Prirur Sinn, in 1808, 
(a. D. 1752.) 


No. 18. Is an inscription in the temple of the four-faced Adi Nath, 
recording itserection by different Jaznas, inthe government of SuraTAna, under 


the patronage of his son Ras Sinu, in Samvat 1634 (a. v. 1578.) 


No. 14. The last is simply a date in the temple of Sénia (Sénti) 
Nath, 1007, (a. D. 1551.) 


AT ABU. ; 317 


REMARKS. 

The results afforded by the inscriptions, which have been found upon 
the mountain Arbuda, are not without an interesting relation to the domestic 
History of the Hindus. They throw considerable light upon the religious 
and political history of a place, which, although new to us, is of high consi- 
deration in the west of India, and they elucidate the early career of different 
dynasties, of which a few individuals are pre-eminent in the annals of the 


Hindus, and traces are still to be found in several Rajput tribes. | 


The following classification of the principal inscriptions, according to their 
dates, and the religious divisions to which they belong, will prepare us to appre- 


ciate the light they reflect upon the history of the public faith in this part of 
India. 


JAIN INSCRIPTIONS. SAIVA INSCRIPTIONS. 
No. XXII. S. 1245 A.D. 1189 Yasopuavaua. No, XXVIII. S. 727 A.D. 671 
os Il. ,, 1287 ,,. 1231 Tespava. i XVI.,, 1265 ,, 1209 Brina. 
3 XVIII, ——- 5, —— Pe Sian VIII. ,, 1342 ,, 1286 Tres SINE. 
os XIX., —— , -—~--—--—- of X.,, 13842 ,, 1286 Samara SINK. 
a XX. , — » -—— cali I. ,, 1377 (,, 1321 Lunpwacara. 
rs ——— |: 1297. ,,, 1241 ——— - Soh Le Ms, BE 1S87 O90 9 183k 4Ter Sinn. 
be XXIE. ,, 1350 4, 1294 os XXIX. ,, 1394 ,, 1338 Kannara Deva, 
A ee T360" s, 1804 fs V.,, 1464 4, 1408 The Rawel. 
a Se MS TBliue ile See hs WD 38! 1468 1" gs 1412 
ey ASTON.) WLBOS i >. 9.6, GR ee nnn Cr 
i XXV.,, 1494 4, 1438 Ki SS oa 1468 
By Ne, VM U1 BRN a Cee e Ala ee ah Ue af IX. ,> 1633. ,, | 1577 Man Sina. 
Ps XXI.,, 1509 4, 1453 KumpyaKkerna, aa XLI.,, 1649 ,, 1593 Suraran. 
a XVII. ,, 1525, 1469 APACER EROORTV, Curali79ol eee Tasg 
eA MOVE LDS a TAGS » XXXII. ,, 1819 ,, 1753 Haren Sinn. 
5 XIU. ,, 1518 4 1462 KestBHakerna, » AXXXIX,, 1860 , 1804 
ay XII. ,, 1566 ., 1510 Jacmat. » XXXII ;, 1873 ,, 1817 
i NLM lGOt i | 1SSL wan XXX... 1875 5, 1819 Sro Sis. 
hs » 16384 4, 1578 SurRavan. aa Ill. ,, 1877 ,,, 182) — 


— , 1644 , 1588 
— , 1653 , £1597 
—— , 1683 4 1627 
—, 1718 4, 1662 s 
— , 1736 , 1680 
» —— , 1808 ,, 1752 


318 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


The circumstances under which the Arbuda mountain first acquired a 
character for sanctity, are only obscurely alluded to in the inscriptions, with 
one exception. In the inscription in the temple of Vasisutua, (No. RX XK.) 

it is narrated, that the Muni, after finishing his devotions in the Himdlaya, 
obtained the permission of Srva, to transplant with him a favourite por- 
tion of the range to the seat of his own destination. This portion formed 
Arbuda in its preseat site. Other inscriptions are contented to shew, 
that the mountain was the scene of VasisurHa’s devotions, and of 
the miraculous origin of a regal race; the descendants of Paramdra, who 
sprang from the sacrificial fire in which the Muni offered his oblations. A 
Rajput tribe, called Paraméra, or Pamar, does exist in Guzerat, and is the 
same with the Puar or Powér tribe, and is of considerable importance in the 


traditions which Abu/fazi has preserved. 


The greater number of the inscriptions are Jain; but even ‘their ge- 
neral tenor bears testimony to the original appropriation of the mountain to 
the worship of Siva as AchaléSwara, the Lord of the mountain, or as a Linga, 
with such a denomination. This form of the Hindu religion may have existed 
as early as the 7th century, of which period-one fragment bears indication in 
the date Samvat 727, (4. p. 671, No. XXVIII.) From the abundant reliques 
of the same system of religious belief that occur upon the mountain, it seems 


probable that the Saiva faith enjoyed considerable popularity through a pro- 
tracted period upon this spot. 


According to the recordof one inscription, dated a.p. 1313; (No. XXII.) 
the Jain faith appears to have been engrafted upon the sanctity of the Arbuda 
mountain in the commencement of the eleventh century (Samvat 1088, A. pD. 
1032,) when Vimata Sau constructed there a temple of Adindth, the first 
of the Jinas, or Jaina sages. Of this Vimata Sau, we have no other 
notice, nor is there any further account elsewhere. About a century anda 


half from this, the vestiges of the Jaina faith are frequent, and in 1245, 


_ AT ABU. 819 


(A. D. 1189,) we have the images of Ara and Santi Nath, erected by a prince, 
who appears to be connected with the royal house of Guzerat, YAsoDHAVALA. 
This circumstance is conformable to other accounts, and is quite consistent 
with the conversion of Kumira PAxa, the sovereign of Guzerat, by Hema 
Cuanora, in S. 1230, as described by the late Lieut. Macmurdo, in the Ist 
volume of the Bombay Transactions. 


The Jaina monuments, although thus introduced, did not supplant those 
‘originating with the Sava sect, asin a. pD. 1209, a new temple of Kanak- 
haleswera was built,.and one of Koteswara was repaired by Saiva priests. 
(No. XVI.) It is clear, however, that although sanctioned, these acts were 


not patronised by the persons in authority. 


The most flourishing period of the Jaina religion on the mountain, imme- 
diately followed this, and the sons of Aswar4sa, the minister of the subordi- 
nate orfeudatory chief of Chandrdvati, VasrupAua and TesaPaua, were munifi- 
cent benefactors of this spot in the beginning of the 13th century, or about 
1231. They built temples of the Jaina saints, particularly of Nemnith, re- 
paired and embellished others with statues of the Jinas, or of themselves, and 
prescribed certain privileges to be attached to the various Jaina families 
who were associated with them in these pious works. It is very remarkable, 
however, that the documents commemorating and eulogizing their munifi- 
cence, and the sanctity of the Jaina Suris, or teachers, are the compositions, 
apparently, of Brahmans, and comprehend the benedictory formule of the 
Saiva faith, with frequent reference to that divinity and to Pauranic legends. 
They are also found in temples dedicated originally to Sativa worship, and 


in conjunction with emblems peculiar to that modification of Hinduism. 


From that time till the end of the century, the Jaina religion seems to 


have possessed the predominating influence ; but in a. p. 1286, various grants, 


Ss 


320 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


of a Sativa character, appear under the patronage of a new ruler, the son of Trsa 
Sinu. Thenceforward, the two religions divided the occupancy of the place 
for some time: a number of Jaina grants being dated in a.p. 1822, whilst the 
temple of Achaleswara was repaired in 1321, and in 1338, one of Vasishtha erect- 


ed: in the latter, a disposition decidedly hostile to the Jains is manifested. The 


Jain religion, in fact, was probably falling rather into disfavour, as we have no more 


grants for a century, whilst those of the Sava persuasion continue till a.p. 1412. 


The sway of a prince, named Kumpna KERNA, seems again to have turned 
the balance in favour of the worshippers of Jina, and from a. p. 1412 to a. D. 
1577, we have only one inscription, No. XXX. of a Saiva character, relating to 
Vasishtha, whilst those of the Jaina description, are numerous throughout this 
imterval. They continue frequent, indeed, to the middle of the 17th century, 
and occur.as late as the middle of the 18th (or a.p,1752). It isnot impossible 
there are Jain monuments even more recent, amongst the many pavilions, the 
character of which is not explained: of late, however, the ascendancy of the Saiva 
religion seems to have been recovered, and inscriptions of that class date as re- 


cently as a. D. 1821, commemorating grants made by Szo Sinn, Raja of Sirohi. 


The political relations of the mountain Arbuda will, perhaps, be considered 
of greater interest. It was evidently, for a long period, a dependancy of the 
kingdom of Guzerat, and the city of Anihilla, which we learn from A bulfazil, 
was the original name of Patten, the ancient capital of that kingdom. _ Under 
them, it was immediately subject to the governors and feudatory chiefs of 
Chandr avait, but, subsequently, was transferred to another family, the rulers 
of Meda, or Medapdia : in more recent times, it appears to have fallen into the 
hands of the Rajas of Sirohi. 

2 

The inscriptions present us with several different dynasties of some im- 

portance: these are the Chaulukya family, or sovereign house of Guzerat ; 


AT ABU. 321 


a subordinate branch which may be distinguished, although perhaps not very 
accurately, as that of Anahilla, and another branch, termed the Pragvdia; a 
tribe connected with the Guzerat sovereigns, termed Paramdra : the rulers of 
Meda, apparently the same as those of Dhar, and the house of Agara, or 
Vachha, who, at one time, seem to have been the sovereigns of Sikambhari, by 


which, in this place, Chitore most probably is to be understood. 


The following are the principal genealogies which may be derived from 
the inscriptions, the authenticity of which we may afterwards proceed to 
canvas, as compared with other authorities. 


CHAULUKYA. 


Royvat House oF Patran, BRANCH PRAGVATA 
NEHRWALA, OR GUZERAT. oF ANAHILLA. BRANCH. 


1 Mala Raja. 

2 Chamunda, A. D. 1011* 1025.F 
3 Vallabha., 

4 Durlabha, A. D. 1023.* 


5 Bhima. 
6 Kaladeva. 
7 Siddha Raja, A. D. 1094 to 1 Chandapa. 
1145. * 

8 Kumara Pala, A. D. 1174. [ 2 Chandaprasada. 
9 Ajaya Pala. 1 Arna. 3 Soma. 
10 Mila. 2 Lavanaprasada. 4 Aswaraja. 
11 Bhima, ....A.D. ....1209.]| 3 Viradhavala, A. D, 1231.* 5 Liniga, .ossecee From 

to 1231.|| Malla, ... s...€ A.D. 1231 * 


Teja Pala, 2.00 to 
Vastu P4la, ...4 A. D. 1237 * 
6 Jaitra Sinha. 


Lavanya Sinha. 
S4ranga Deva, .. A. D. 1294.7 


* * * Major Tod, Transactions of * Ins: KVIIl. XIX. 
Royal Asiatic Society, I. 
222. 

+ Colonel Wilford, A. R. IX. 188. 

$ Lieutenant Macmurdo, Transac- 

tions Bombay Society, I. 183. 

|) || Inserip. XVI., and in Ins: II. ** Ins: I. XVIVI. XIX, XX. 
v. 9 

q Ins; XXII. No. 14, 


322 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


PARAMARA. GUHILA. VACHHHA. 
Rurers or Chandravati. Houser or Mepa. SAKAMBHARI CHAUHANS. 
Dhama. 1 Vappaka, Vachha. 

Dhundhuka. 2 Guhila. 
Dhruva, &c. 3 Bhoja. 


4 Kalabhoja. 
5 Bhartribkata. 
6 Samahayika. 
Md 
8 
9 


Khummana. 
J] Ramadeva. Allata, 
2 Yasodhayala, ... A. D. 1174 * Naravahana. 
to 1189+ 10 Saktiverméa. 
3 ; Dharéversha, 2 A.D. 1209 ¢ 11 Suchiverma. 1 Sindhuputra. 
€ Prahlédana, ) 12 Naraverma. 2 Lakshmana. 
4 Soma. 13. Kirttiverma. 3 Manikya. 
5 Krishna Deva,...A.D.1231.* 14 Vairi Sinha. 4 Adhiraj4. 
oe 15 Vijaya Sinha. 5 Mahindu. 
Visala Deva, ... A. D. 1294. 16 Ari Sinha. 6 Sindhurajé. 
17 Vikrama Sinha. 7 Kulaverddhana. 
Chauhan Princes 18 Samanta Sinha, A. D. 1209. * 8 Prabhurasa. 
of Chandravati. 19 Kumara Sinha. 9 Dundana Chouhéa. 
Teja Sinha... A. D. 1331. || 20 Mathana Sinha. 10 Samara Sinh. 
Kéhnara Deva, 21 Padma Sinha. 11 Udaya Sinh. 
Samanta Sinha A. D. 1338. || 22 Jaitra Sinha. 12 Manava Sinh. 
Ranas 23 Teja Sinha. 13 Pratapa Sinh. 
of Chandravati. 24 Samara Sinha, A. D, 1286. 14 Dasaratha. 
Maukala, ... A. D. 1450. 15 § Lavanyakerna, 
Kumbhakerna. Lundha, .. .A. D. 1321. * 


* * Inscr. XVIII. : 
+ Nos. 31 and 33 of Inscr. XXII. 
in which he is styled ofthe Prage * Ins: XVIII. v. 38 


vata race. 
¢ As cotemporary with Bhima. Ay. Ak. + Ins: X. 
{l [| Inser. X XIX. ; * Inser. I. 


The Chaulukya dynasty is evidently the same as that termed Solunky, 
in the translation of the Ayin Akberi, and Solanki in the two interesting dis- 


sertations upon various points of Rajput history, by Major Tod, in the first 


AT ABU. 323 


volume of the Transactions of the Royal: Asiatic Society. The succession 
of the Princes, as given in the inscriptions, and by Adbulfazl, very exactly 
corresponds, and in general agrees with that of a list quoted and commented 
on by the late Col. Wilford, (As. R. IX. 178): a few of the instances are 
confirmed by Major Tod. 


Inscriptions Ay. Ak. Cov. WILFORD. Masor Too. 

Mila Raja Mool Raj Mula 

Chémund Jamand Vallabha Chaond deposed A. D. 1011. 
Vallabha Beyser Durlabha 

Durlabha Durleb Bhima Durlabh abdicated A. D. 1021. 
Bhima Bhim Visala or 

Kaladeva Kurrun Kera Deva 

Siddha Raja  Sudh Raj Siddha Raja Siddha Raya from A. D. 1094 to 1145. 
Kumara Péla Kunwar Kumara Pala 

Ajaya Pala Ajee Pal Aja Pala 

Mila Lakhmool Luk Mula 

‘Bhima Bhala Bhima Deva A.D. 1209 


The inscriptions present no dates for the earlier princes, but the last, 
Buima, is placed in Samvat 1265 (a. p. 1209), and 1287 (a. pv. 1231,) which 
correspond well enough with Major Tod’s dates, allowing an interval of eighty- 
six years for the last four reigns, from 8S. 1201, (a. p. 1145,) to S. 1287 (a.D. 
1231). 


Colonel Wilkes, quoting the authority of the manuscripts of the late 
Colonel Mackenzie, states, that the Chaulukya dynasty was one of very high 
antiquity. This appears to be more than doubtful. We may infer, from the 
inscription, that Mura Raga was the first of this family, and, according to 
Abulfazi, he went from Delhi about fifty years before the invasion of Manmup 
of Ghizni, to seek his fortunes in the west of India. His being the first of 


the family, is also inferrable from a passage in the Mahdvira Cheritra, of the 


324 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


celebrated teacher and Yati, Hemacuanpra, in which the epithet Muiardy- 
dnvayaja, born in the race of Muda, is ascribed to Kumira Pita. Major Tod 
seems to consider CHaAmunpa as the founder; but, in either case, we may look 
upon it as satisfactorily established, that the Chaulukya dynasty of Guzerat, 


commenced in the end of the tenth century. 


The inscription No. I. in which the list is given, furnishes no record of 
the transactions of these princes, and we are indebted to Abu/fazl, to Colonel 
Wilford, and Major Tod, for almost all we know of them. According to the 
former, M6ua RAJA was the grandson of SAmanr Sinu, by his daughter, whom 
he had given in marriage to Skt DounpHUKA CHaAuLukya, a descendant of 
the Rajas of Delhi. Mt1a RAsh obtained the crown by conspiring against the 
life of his grandfather. | 


All the authorities concur in the deposure of Cuimunpa, by Maumup. 
The Persian writers state, that he was succeeded by a prince of a different 
family, which is at variance with the Hindu accounts. Colonel Wilford consi- 
ders VALLABHA to be their Debsalim, who was a member of the former royal 
family. The inscription leaves it uncertain, what degree of relationship sub- 
sisted been CHAmunpaA and his successor, as the term Asmat, from him, may 
imply either genealogical or chronological descent: the epithet, Lord. of the 
Shore, ( Tatinipati) is remarkable. According to Colonel Wilford, who follows 
the Mohammedan writers, CoAmunpA was deposed in a. D. 1025, or fourteen 


years later than the date given by Major Tod. 


Durvasna, according to Major Tod, abdicated the throne, but Abulfazl 
refers this abdication to Kumara PAxa. In place of the Karaprva of the 
inscription, Col. Wilford has a VisaLa, or Kerna Deva, who he considers to 
be the prince mentioned on the Lat of Firoz Shah, A. R. VII. but this seems to 
be quite unfounded. The Visata Deva, of the Dehli inscription, is the son of 


AT ABU. ~ 325 


‘Wetwa, but Kanapeva is the son of Bufma. He must have reigned also before 
A. D. 1100, but the inscription on the Zé is dated 1164. Itclearly, therefore, 
has noreference toa Prince of Guzerat. According to Major Tod, Sippua 
Raza, termed Jaya Srnua, wasa warlike and victorious sovereign, who subdued 
the territory of Naraverma, the grandson of Buosa, and took him prisoner. 
We shall have occasion to revert to this subject. NaAraverMa, as it appears 
from inscriptions found at Ujayin, and translated by Mr. Colebrooke, 
(R. A. S. T. i. 232,) died in S. 1190, (4. p. 1134,) and his defeat and capture, 


by Srippwa Rasa, were therefore possible occurrences. 


KumAra PAua, according to Abuifazi, made choice of a private station 
during his predecessor’s reign, on what account does not appear. This prince 
is remarkable for his conversion to the Jain faith, and patronage of the cele- 
brated teacher and writer, Hemacuanpra. We learn from a paper in the first 
volume of the Bombay Transactions, that he reigned at Putten, in S. 1230, or 
A. D. 1174, which harmonises well enough with the dates derived from other 
authorities. Hremacuanpra acknowledges the patronage of Kumira PAtyv, 
and composed his account of the different Jinas, and their principal followers, 
at his express desire. He makes this prince entitle Sippua Raga, his elder 
brother, (Asmat Parvaja Siddha Raja) so that Major Wilford was wrong in 


supposing him to be the lawful heir, in preference to that monarch. 


The period that follows the reign of AsyAyapAta, offers some particulars, 
which it is difficult to reconcile with the accounts given by the Mohammedan 
writers. The last prince of the dynasty, mentioned in the inscriptions, is 
Buima, the younger brother of Mdtxa, the son of AsayapAua, who was him- 


self the paramount sovereign in A. D. 1209 and 1231. 


According to Abulfazl, however, the dynasty terminated with Méua, 
or, as he terms him, Lakumuvt, after a reign of eight years, and a sovereign of 


ook 


$26 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


a different family succeeded, named Birp Moot, who reigned twelve years; 
to him succeeded Biipeo, who reigned thirty-four, and he was succeeded by 
Buima, who reigned forty-two years. Computing his series of years, from 
the deposition of Jamunp, in a.p. 1025, Laxumur must have reigned from 
A.D. 1186 to 1194, and Bufma from a. p. 1240 to 1282. The Buima of his 
list, can scarcely be that of the inscriptions, therefore, by whom the whole 
of the interval, during which he states Brrp Moor and Brirpro to have 


reigned, must have been occupied, agreeably to the dates of those records. 


Again, we find from other authorities, that, instead of the limited reign 
assigned by Abulfazl to Laku Mut, there is reason to extend it very con- 
siderably, and the LacAm Raya of Mrtrxuonp, whose account is translated 
by D’Hersetor, and who is clearly the same with Laxn Mout, is said to have 
reigned eighty years, until attacked and deposed by Monammerp Kuriy, 
which Colonel Witrorp supposes might have happened about a. p. 1209. 
It is very doubtful, however, if Monammep Kuitsf ever invaded Guzerat, 
although Monammep Guort and Kurres ap Din led their armies against the 


province at periods which are the source of some further perplexity. 


Mouammep Guort is said to have been defeated in a. p. 1178, by Bufma 
Deva, the King of Guzerat, which carries that prince, therefore, further back 
than his predecessor, Mua, in Abulfazl’s chronology. KutrEes was encountered 
at various dates between 1193 and 1202, which, according to Mirkhond, would 
fall also in the reign of Ma, by the same prince, or Buima Deva, whose 
reign, from the joint testimony of the different records, is thus made to extend 
from 1178 to 1231, or #7 years, including the period assigned by Abulfazl to 


five princes, or all those from Jay Sivu to the Buima, who succeeded Bem Deo. 


It is not unlikely that Bufma, when first opposed to the Mohammedans, was 


only his brother’s general, orhe might have been associated in the govern- 


AT ABU. 327 


t 


ment as Yuva Raja, or young king. In1209 he reigned alone, and it is not 
impossible that he continued to reign sometime after 1231, so that the joint 
reigns of himself and his brother may have afforded some foundation for the 
leneth of the supposed reign of Lacam Raya. In the list of Guzerat prin- 
ces consulted by Cotonen Witrorp, he found but one prince corresponding 
to Mora, called BaLumuLa, who was succeeded by Busta Buima Deo, and 
this last, he considers to have furnished Abulfazl with his Bem Dro and 
Buim. It seems very possible, therefore, that instead of the four princes of 
the Ayin Akberi, we should have but two, Mixa, named Laxsumana, or Vira 
and Buima Deva. ‘There must, however, have been a second prince of the 
latter denomination, or his reign must have extended much beyond the limit 
of the inscriptions, and to a period of very improbable duration, if we are to 
place any trust in the chronology of Abulfazi. It cannot be very far wrong, 
from the accuracy with which it approximates to the date of a succeeding 


prince. 


We have another prince in the list of apparently paramount sovereigns, 
ina different inscription, and at an interval, which implies some intermediate 
prince or princes, SAranca Deva, in whose reign an edict is promulgated by 
VisaLa Deva, governor of Chandrévati dated S. 1350 (a. p. 1294). ‘There is 
also an apparent allusion to a person named Krerena, who, with others, was in 
opposition to the sovereign, but the passage is incerrectly transcribed : and its 
exact purport cannot be made out. Sarane Deo and Kurravy, are the two 
last Hindu princes in Abulfazi’s list, and reigned from a. p. 1292 to 1320. 


It was in the reign of the latter, that the kingdom fell a prey to Mohammedan 
invaders. 


The Chaulukya House appears, in these inscriptions, to have been divided 
into several collateral branches, and, besides the main line, the sovereigns of 


Guzerat, we have two subsidiary dynasties. One of these is here distinguished 


328 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 


as the Anahilla branch, for want of a better designation, but as one with 
Patten, that city was the capital of the royal branch. The last-named in 
this family, VirapuavaLa, however, is described as a Mahamandaleswara in 
the reign of Buima, and the especial patron of the hereditary ministers, 
Try Paixa and Vastu Piura, who were inhabitants of Anahilla. VirAaDHAVALA 
also bears the title of Rdna. The ministers are declared to be members of 
the Prégvita race, which is possibly a division of the Chaulukyas, the name 


not having been met with as that of a distinct tribe. 


The rulers of Chandrévati, a city” at the foot of the western face of 
the Arbuda mountain, about fountcen miles east of Abu, appear to bea dis- 
tinct race, the Paramdra, or Puar Rajputs, who are, at present, one of the 
military tribes of Guzerat. The inscription No. XVIII. v. 32, describes the 
legendary orgin of this tribe, from the sacrificial fire of VasisHTHa, on the 
mountain Arbuda. According to Major Tod, the founder of this family, 
was Arpala, or Adipati, but no mention of him occurs in the inscription. 
YasoDHAVALA, the individual named there, was, in all probability, the first 
who was associated in the alliance or service of the Guzerat prince, Kumara 
PAua, having defeated VatAua, the king of Mdlava, in his invasion of the 
country. His sons, Duiriversua and Praniapana, were also military chief. 
tains in the same service, and encountered enemies more formidable than 
their Mdélava neighbours. According to Ferisura, Kurres, the general of 
Mouimmep Gort, sustained, about 1192, a severe defeat in Guzerai, by the 
prince of Narwalla and his allies. In 1196, he revenged his disgrace by a 
victory over the combined armies of Buim Deo, with his allies Walin and 
Daraparis, in the first of whom we recognise the Bufma, and in his allies, the 
PrauLipan and Duiriversua of the inscription.(XVI.) which is dated 
A.D. 1209, or thirteen years later. Major Tod was misinformed in stating 
Duiriversua as the last of the ParamAras, as his son and grandson are named 


in inscription XVIII. 


AT ABU. 329 


The inscription No. X. (v. 42 and 46,) records the successful aid given by 
two chiefs of another tribe, ofthe Guhila Rajputs, to the Guzerat prince, against 
the Mohammedans. It is possible that the first, Jarrra Sinn, was one of the 
confederacy against Kurrss, butit isnot clear to what aggression SaMARa SINH, 
the son of Trga Stnu, could have been opposed; as the period at which he 
flourished, about a. p. 1286, preceded, by eleven years, the nearest invasion 
on record, thatof ALLAuppIN. ‘The events might have occurred in the reign 
of Barry, although we are told his policy was directed to oppose the Moguls, 


rather than encroach upon his Hindu neighbours. 


The Guhila Rajputs, called Gohel by Abulfazl, and Goil by Lieutenant 
Macmurpo, are one of the leading tribes of Guzerat: their genealogy is very 
fully detailed in inscription No. X.and it comprehends a name of great note in 
the traditions of the Hindus, that of Buosa, the third of the line. The precise 
_ date of the prince’s reign is not yet determined upon sufficient data, but we may, 
perhaps, be allowed to take it at a.p. 1030. From Buosa to Samara Srnu, are 
twenty-one reigns, and the date of the latter, according to the inscription, is A.D. 
1286; giving, therefore, 256 years, or something more than twelve years to a 
reign. An average, no doubt, rather low, but not below the possible proportion 
on a long line of martial chiefs, and not suficient, therefore, to invalidate the 


identity of this Boga, with the celebrated monarch of Dhar. 


A more weighty objection, however, arises to their identification, fromthe 
tenour of an inscription found at Madhukara Gher, by Major Tod, the sub- 
stance of which is given by him (T. ht. A.S.i.223) and by which it appears, that 
the son of Buosa was named UbayAoirya, and that his son was NaraverMA, 
who, by an inscription found at Ujayin, diedin S. 1191, or a. pv. 1135. If the 
Madhukara mscription be correctly interpreted, then Buosya could not have 
died much earlier than 1070, and we can scarcely suppose that twenty-one reigns 
occurred in 216 years, or at the rate of little more than ten years to a reign. 

3 L 


330 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS AT ABU. 


Even if this were admitted, the variety of names is not to be reconciled, and the 
Buosa of Dhér, and of our inscriptions, must be different persons. It is worthy 
of notice, however, that the Uayin inscriptions, which name UpayApirya 
and his descendants, make no mention of Buosa, and it seems rather singular, 
that the Madhukara inscription should omit the name of Muwsga, Buosa’s 
predecessor. It may be observed also; that the Bhqja Cheritra, as quoted by 
Major Tod, calls the sons of Ruoss, Deva Rasa and Vacuna Rasa (p. 224). 
In our list, we have a Naraverm§, and the next name, KirtriverM(, is of pre- 
cisely the same import, as the YAsoverm& of Major Tod’s inscription. Whe- 
ther they are the same, cannot be averred, and the resemblance of names goes 
no further than’in these two instances out of the five, which occur in the Uj- 


jayin grants. (p. 281.) 


From the possession of Arbuda, by Samara Sinuna, the last on the Guhila 
roll, the district of Chandrdvatt had probably been made the reward of his 
aid to the Guzerat prince. ‘This district, however, whether as an indepen- 
dant principality, or a fief, did not long remain with this family, and Chandré- 
watt, with the mountain Arbuda, came under the power of the Chauhan, Lunp- 
na Deva, in a. D. 1321: the final subversion of the Guzerat kingdom, by the 
Mussulmans, no doubt having paved the way for the dismemberment of that 
monarchy and its dependencies, by every petty aggressor. We may probably 
extend this line, by adding to it other two princes, as Trsa Sinh and his son 


KAunara Deva, who was lord of Chandrévati, in Samvat, 1394 (a. p. 1338. 2: 


Beyond this date we cannot trace, with any continuity, the fortunes of 
the holy mountains. It has, no doubt, since undergone a frequent change of 
masters, the record of which belongs to modern history, and may, no doubt, 


be easily traced upon the spot, if it should be thought to merit investigation. 


VI. 


ON THE 


GEOGRAPHY AND POPULATION 


OF 


ASAM. 


By CAPTAIN JOHN BRYAN NEUFVILLE, 


Deputy Assistant Quarter Master General. 


In taking a survey of the information lately acquired with regard to the 
Geography* and Population of Asam, it may be necessary to premise, that prior 
to the. occupation of Rangpur, the capital of Asam, during the late war, 
all accurate knowledge of these subjects terminated at that point, and that 
the course of the Brahmaputra had been almost invariably laid down by 
Hydrographers from a northerly direction and origin, where it was supposed to 


derive its source from the range of mountains which gives birth to the Ganges. 


* Subsequently to the date of this Memoir, much additional information has been collected 
with respect to the Geography of Asam. Several points, however, of much interest remain to be 
determined, on which account, any notice of them is, for the present, suspended. When the investi- 
gation is compleat, some of those members of the Society who are conversant with Geographical 
enquiry, will, it is be to hoped, com municate the result.—Nole by the Secretary. 


3M 


332 GEOGRAPHY AND 


Experience recently acquired dissipates this favourite hypothesis, and it 
now appears far more probable, (as indeed, has been asserted by the inhabi- 
tants of Eastern Asam,) that the original rise of the Brahmaputra, or Lohit, 
takes place at the same point, whence flows the Zrawadi to the southward, 


through the heart of the Burman empire. 


The general course of the Lohit above Rangpur, is ina north-east direc- 
tion, gradually inclining to the eastward on approaching Sadzya, and is- 
suing through the hills from the Reservoir of the Brahmakund, situated in 
about the ninety-sixth degree of Longitude, and twenty-seventh degree north 
Latitude—beyond it, masses of snowy mountains extend to the eastward, 
whence, at a considerable distance, the Lohit is supposed to draw its first 


source. 


In more tranquil times, the Brakmakund was a place of great pilgrimage, 


and is still held in reverence by the Hindus, as possessing peculiar sanctity. 


Having thus adverted to the general course of the stream, I shall pro- 
ceed in detail, commencing from the mouth of the Dikho river, where the 


map drawn by Ensign (now Lieutenant-Colonel Wood,) terminates. 


Quitting the mouth of the Dikho river, which flows from the southern 
hills, past Ghargaon and Rangpur, the channel of the Brahmaputra is 
found to pursue a northerly direction, inclining to east, for a considerable dis- 
tance, having on its left bank deep jungle and high trees, which mark the 
site of former populous villages now desolate, and their inhabitants carried 


into slavery by the Sinh-phos and other predatory tribes. 


The Disang also unites at the mouth of the Dikho, flowing from the 


south-east, and passing the Bor Hath. 


POPULATION OF ASAM. 833 


On the right bank is the island, called Majauli, formed by the separa. 
tion of the Lofzt into two branches, about twenty miles above Rangpur, 
and re-uniting at Solal Pat, near Maura Mukh: it was formerly populous 
and thickly studded with villages, of which there are now scarcely any vestiges. 
At the head of the Mojauli, on the right bank is the district of Sis?, be- 
longing to Asam proper, which has suffered much from plunder and rapine 


during the late convulsions. 


Ascending the Lohit, after a certain space, the mouth of the Bort Dihing 
appears on the left bank, which runs by Jaypur and Digh Ghat on the 
route pursued by the Burmese, and furnishes water-carriage thus far for the 
canoes of the country. The Bort Dihing flows from the hills consider- 
ably to the eastward and south of the Brahmakund, throwing off the Nowa 
Dihing in its course, which latter stream takes a north-west direction, and 
intersecting the Sinh-pho territory, empties itself into the Mohit, near 
Sadiya : numerous tributary streams from the southern line of hills of the 
Nagpur tribes, flow into the Bori Dining in its course, which cross the 
road followed by the Burmese, and materially add to the diffiulty of transit 


during the rainy season. 


Continuing on the left bank, which is every where covered by deep grass 
and forest jungle, the mouth of the Dibirdé Nala presents itself, mark- 
ing the western boundary of the district inhabited by the tribe called 
Morans, Mutteks, or Mowamarias, tributary to Asam. The limits of this 
tract are bounded on the south by the Bor/ Dihing River, on the west by a 
line drawn between that stream and the mouth of the Dibiru, on the north 
by the Brahmaputra, and on the east by a line drawn from the Bori Dihing 
to a point opposite to the Kundil Nala, near Sadiya. ‘The portions at present 
inhabited are entirely on the banks of the Dibiéird, which takes its rise near 


the north-east angle, and intersects diagonally the entire tract. 


D34t GEOGRAPHY AND 


The Mowamarias, or Morans, are subject to one Chief, called the Bar. 
senapati, who also acknowledges allegiance to his Lord Paramount, the 
Rajah of Asam : he has successfully maintained his independance, and _ pre- 
served his country from ravage during all the late convulsions, as well from 


the Burmese, as the Sinh-phos, and all the neighbouring predatory tribes. 


The Mowamarias are Hindus, worshippers exclusively us Vishnu ; but they 
appear very negligent of the proper observances, and religious opinions of 
their faith, and are scarcely considered by the natives from our Provinces, as 
within the pale of Hinduism. They are almost as much addicted to plunder, 
as the wild tribes surrounding them, and were held in equal dread by the 
Asamese. ‘The present place of residence of the Barsenapati, is Banga Gora, 
onthe Dibiérd, and is nearly centrical. ‘The former capitals, called Bara and 


Chota Sakri, near the head of the river, being too near the Sinh-pho border. 


Resuming the right bank above the head of the Mojouli, and the Siti 
district, the river pursues a act now quite barren of culture, and covered 
with trees and jungle, until it approaches the first line of hills, and washes the 
country inhabited by the tribe of Méiris, a nearly barbarous race, rudely 

rmed with bows and arrows, and differing altogether in language, appear- 


ance, and manners from the inhabitants of Asam proper. They have some 


villages on the bank, of which Motgaum is principal, having been recently 
e-peopled by the Gaum, or chief, who resumed his allegiance to the 
‘overnment, and claimed protection from the hill Adors, his neighbours 
Che Miris, as well as the Abors, are very cxpert in the manacenient 
‘the how: they make use of a deadly vegetable poison to tip ¢! 


vhich grows in the hills of the Mishmi and Bor Abor abe and is Sack 
orized : they employ it also to kill wild animals, whose flesh is not rendered 
mwholesome by its operation. The country inhabited by the Miris, ex- 


ends from the Sist district to the Dikong river, which. flowing from the 


POPULATION OF ASAM. : 335 


northern hills, empties itself into the summit near Sildni Mukh, (so called 
from the numerous fragments of rock and stones). The accounts given by all 
of the course of the Lohit, from the Brahmakund, and above this point, are 
so corroborative, and so supported by geographical appearances, that I enter- 
tain little doubt as to the general accuracy of our knowledge regarding it, 
and have ceased to consider that stream, as any longer possessing claims to 
paramount interest. I therefore pause at the Dihong, the very great bulk of 
which, added to many peculiar circumstances related of its supposed source 
and passage, unite in rendering it an object of the greatest importance in the 
pursuit of scientific enquiry, as to it alone can we look for any prospect of the 
realization of the generally received theory, attributing a northern origin to 


_abranch of the Brahmaputra. 


_ The existence of a very large river called the Sri Lohit, (or sacred stream) 
running at the backiof the mountainous ranges, appears to be too generally 
asserted to be altogether void of foundation, but Iam totally unable to ascer- 
tain the direction of its course, and can only reconcile the contradictory ac- 
counts by supposing it to separate into two branches taking opposite channels ; 
one of these flowing from east to west, is said to discharge its waters into the 
Dihong, periodically with the rainy:season, and the arguments in favour of 
this statement, are supported by very strong data. .-The opening in the 
mountainous ranges through which the Dihong issues, is sufficiently defined 
to authorize the opinion of its being the channel of a river, and that there is a 


communication with the plains of the north, has been shewn by fatal experience. 


In the reign of Raseswar, little more than half a century ago, a sudden 
and overwhelming flood poured from the Dihong, inundating the whole 
country, and sweeping away, with a resistless torrent, whole villages, and 
even districts: such is described to have been its violence, that the general 
features of the country, and the course of the river, were materially altered 

3.N 


336 GEOGRAPHY AND 


by it. . This flood continued for about fifteen days, during which time vari- 
ous agricultural and household implements, elephant trappings, and numerous 
articles belonging to a race, evidently social and civilized, of pastoral and 


agricultural habits, were washed down in the stream. 


This citcumstance, which does not seem to admit of any doubt, must 


establish satisfactorily, the existence of a passage from the north to a stream > 


connected with the Brahmaputra, and its communication, either perennial, 
periodical, or occasional, with a considerable river of the northern plains. 
All the accounts received by me, concur in calling this river the Sri Lohit, 
and that it takes its original rise from the upper or inaccessible Brahma:- 
kund, (as recorded in their sacred traditions,) at the same spot with the 
Buri Lohit, or Brahmaputra. It must be a stream of great importance, 
as it is familiar to all the various tribes with whom I have held intercourse. 
The Dihong river, therefore, as being supposed to unite with it, I consider 


as the point of keenest interest in the extension of geographical knowledge. 


Near the confluence of the Dihong with the Lohit, is also that of the 
_ Dibong, (a minor stream) which also issues from the northern hills, but 


considerably to the eastward of the Dikong, and the hilly space between is 


inhabited by the Abors, a rude hill race, populous and independant, of whom 


the more powerful, called Bor Abors, occupy the inner, more lofty, and se- 


cure ranges. Of the manners and customs of these savage tribes, we have, 


as yet, but little information, for up to the period of my quitting Sadiya, 
none of them had been inspired with sufficient confidence to visit us. A list 
of the names of chiefs on the first, or lowest range, as given to me, will be 
found inthe Appendix. (1.) eget 


Above the mouths of the Dihong and Dibong, and the Miri teifitosys 


the river passes through the district of Sadiya, the capital of which, of 


POPULATION OF ASAM. 337 


the same name, is situated about six miles inland, on the Kundil Nala. 
This district is also tributary to Asam, and properly a part of it, but is now 
nearly laid waste, and inhabited principally by refugee Khamptis and Ma- 
tuks, driven by the Sinh-phos from their original seats to the south-east. 
It is governed by a Khampti Prince, who has assumed the Asamese title of 
Sadia Khawa Gohein, claiming the same descent from the god Zndra, with 
the Rajas of Asam, the chiefs of the Mowamarias, Shams, &c. 


The Khampitis of Sadiya and its neighbourhood emigrated towards the 
plains, now occupied by the Simh-phos, in the reign of Raseswar, or Raja 
GavRInATH, within the last half century, at which time that part of the terri- 
tory remained in its original integrity. They obtained permission to esta- 
blish themselves on the Theinga, and settled at Laffa-bori, where they re- 
mained till the flight of Raja Gaurinitn, during the civil wars, when they 
took forcible possession of Sadiya, ejecting the then Sadiya Khawe 
Gohein, and reducing the Asamese inhabitants to slavery—they have main- 
- tained it, uniting with the Burmese interest, during their invasion and oc- 
cupation. They seem to be a tall, fair, and handsome race, particularly in 
the higher classes, far superior, in personal appearance, to the tribes surround- 


ing them. 


In their religious worship and observances, there is no perceptible dif- 
ference between them’ and the Burmese Shans, who are all Buddhists. 
‘The only idols adored are Gautama, and his sainted disciples, but they seem 
extremely ignorant of the principles and tenets of their own faith. The 
Khamptis assert, that from the opposite sides of a lofty mountain, called 
Doi Sao Pha, rising from the midst of four others of stupendous altitude, 
to the eastward of Asam, and separating it from their country, spring the 
Sri Lohit, the Lohit of Asam, or the Brahmaputra, and the Irawadi, the 
last flowing south to Ava. About twelve miles to the north-east of 


338 GEOGRAPHY AND 


Sadiya is Sonapur, formerly a strong frontier post of the Asam Government, 
beyond which the river ceases to be navigable, except to the canoes of the 
country. The surface of the Sadiya district consists chiefly of rich allu- 
vial soil, admirably adapted to the cultivation of rice and other produce 
requiring moisture: it furnishes two crops annually, but the inhabitants sel- 


dom till a sufficiency of land, to ensure them against scarcity and famine. 


Returning to the left bank of the Lohit, opposite the district of Sadiya, 
- and where that of Sena Pati ends, lies the country inhabited by some tribes of 
Sinh-phos, accessible principally by two rivers, the Now Dehing and. Theinga, 
which issue from the eastern and south-eastern hills, and fall into the Brahma- 


putra, about ten miles above the Parallel of Sadiya. 


The tract of country on this side of the hills, now occupied by the Sinh- 
pho tribes, was originally part of Asam, and inhabited by the native subjects 
of that Government. ‘These were dispossessed by the encroachments of their 
hill neighbours, commencing with a period of about forty years, until the 
latter eventually established themselves on the fertile low lands which they at 
present hold. As utter havoc and desolation marked their progress, they 
formed new settlements, bearing the names of their original seats in the high 
lands, or, more properly speaking, taking the designation of the chiefs, by 
which it appears their place of residence is always known, as Bisa Gaum, 
Daffa Gaum, &c. which are the patronymics of the chief, and are also used as 
the names of their principal towns. The Sink-phos are nominally divided into 
twelve Gaums, or clans, and the term ‘‘ The Twelve Chiefs,” is used to ex- 
press the collected body of the race. Of these, Bisa Gaum, Daffa Gaum, Satu 
Gaum, and Latiora, are considered the most influential, but have no authori- 
ty, by right, over the others: each is governed by its own chief, called Ghai 
Gaum, and all act separately, in concert, or adversely, as circumstances and 


inclination may dictate: indeed, they seem.to be held together by no bond of 


POPULATION OF ASAM. 339 


union or fraternity, and rarely to co-operate, except for some temporary pur- 
pose of plunder. Of late years they have taken advantage of the weakness 
of the Asam Government, and have carried their ravages with fire and 
sword beyond the capital, Rangpur, laying waste the whole country, as far as 
Jorhdath, and carrying off the wretched inhabitants into slavery: both banks 
of the river have been swept by their depredations, and the number of cap- 
tives stated to have been carried off appears almost incredible. Of these the 
greater part have been sold to the hill Sinh-phos, Khamiis, Shams, &c., but 
many of those retained for domestic and agricultural services in the Asamese 


lowlands, were liberated by the advance of the British detachments. 


In the hills to the eastward of the pass to Ava, (the western hills being 
inhabited by the Nagas) and the country beyond them, are the original pos- 
sessions of the Sinh-phos, whence, as before stated, they have descended into 
upper Asam. In endeavouring to trace their manners, customs, and tradi- 
tions, there is great discrepancy and contradiction between the accounts of the 


different chiefs, although, in some material points, they agree. 


The statement given by the Bisa Gaum, the most intelligent of them, 
appears to be the most consistent, and I therefore follow it, leaving the fabulous 
portions to be brought up in the Appendix (No. II.) By his account, in which 
he agrees with the others, the Sinh-phos were originally created and establish. 
ed on a plain at the top of the mountain, called Mujai Singra Bhim, situated 
at a distance of two months journey from Sadiya, between the country of the 
_ Bor Khamiis and the border of China, and washed by a river called Sri Lohit, 
flowing in a southerly direction to the Zrawadi: during their sojourn there, 
they were immortal, and held celestial intercourse with the planets and all 
heavenly intelligences, following the pure worship of one supreme being; but 
on their descending to the plains, they fell into the common lot of huma- 
nity, and having been obliged to embrue their hands in the blood of men 


(2) 


Jv O 


340 GEOGRAPHY AND 


and animals, for subsistence and in self-defence, soon adopted the idolatries 
and superstitions of the nations around them, since which period twenty-one 


generations have passed away. 


In their migration from east to west (following the account of the Bisa 
Gaum,) they reached [after a certain number of stages (App. IIT.)] the stream 
called Turung Pani, near old Bisa Gaum, or the Byanin-yua of our maps, which 
takes its rise on the south side of the range, called Patkoi, between Asam and 
the Sham country, runing to Hukhung (old Bisa) Munkhung, or Mogaum, and 
eventually to the Jrawadi, where it takes the names of Samokhtura. The north 
side of the Patkoi hill is also said to give birth to the Nowa and Bori Dihing. 


The leading chiefs in this expedition are said to have been those of Bisa, 
Kultung, Satao, and Nanla, whose descendants are now widely spread over the 


country. 


They appear to have been independant of the powerful nations around 
them, and their form of Government to have consisted in a number of sepa- 
rate chiefships, or Gawms, of equal rank and authority, yet occasionally pos- 
sessing comparative weight and influence, from superior ability or resources. 
The principal division amongst them appears to be into two classes. The 

' Sinh-phos proper, and the Kdszus, the latter being an inferior, though not ser- 
vile race, and distinguishable only by name. The Sinh-phos, as far as I could 
understand, seem to be divided into four nominal castes, or tribes, called 


Thengai, Mayang, Lubrang and Mirip. 


When in their own country, and before the plunder of Asam furnished 
them with slaves, they appear to have cultivated their lands, and carried on 
all other purposes of domestic life, by means of a species of voluntary servitude, 


entered into by the poorer and more destitute individuals of their own people, 


POPULATION OF ASAM. 341 


who, when reduced to want, were in the habit of selling themselves into bond- 
age, either temporarily, or for life, to their chiefs or more prosperous neigh- 
bours. They sometimes resorted to this step, in order to obtain wives of the 
daughters, and in either case, were incorporated with the family, performing 
domestic and agricultural service, but under no ‘degradation. Sinh-phos, in 
this state of dependance, were called Gim Lao. In the succession to patrimo- 
nial property, the mode of division, as described by them, appears most sin- 
gular; the eldest and youngest sons dividing every thing between them; 
the eldest taking the landed estate, or place of settlement, with the title ; the 
latter, the personals ; while the intermediate brethren, where any exist, are en-« 
tirely excluded from all participation, and remain with their families, attach- 
ed to the chief, as during the life time of the father. 


As a striking example of this custom, the Gaums of Bisa and Satao, 
from whom I derived my information, adduced the case of their common an- 
cestor, a Satao Gaum, seven generations back, who at his death, left three 
sons, from whom the families of the present Satao Gaum, Bisa Gaum, and 
Wakyait Gaum, are descended. Of these, Satao Gaum, the eldest, succeeded 
to the chiefship and land, while Wakyait Gaum removed to another part of 
the country, taking all the cattle and personal property, and leaving the 
Bisa Gaum to seek his own fortune: the descendants of this last have now 
acquired, by their own enterprize or ability, an ascendancy both in wealth and 


influence over the others. 


The Gaum of Sdtorais a Kaku, but has elevated himself by his re- 
sources to an equality of estimation with the Stnh-pho chiefs, and .is consi- 


dered as amongst the most influential. 


The religion of the Sinh-phos, appears to be a strange mixture of all the 


various idolatries and superstitions of the nations, with whom they have inter- 


342 GEOGRAPHY AND 


course, and to have no fixed principles common to the whole tribe. The osten- 
sible worship is that of Gautama, whose temples and priests are found in all 
their principal villages, and have evidently, as also by their own account, been 
borrowed from the Shdms and Khamtis. They are also in the habit of deify- 
ing any Sinh-phos whom they may chance to killin action, during a fray with 
some other tribe or village, and of sacrificing to them as their penates; and in 
every case of emergency, such as famine, pestilence, or danger, they make of- 
ferings to the Megh Deota, god of the elements, of clouds and stones, (called 
also Ningschis ) sacrificing buffaloes, hogs, and cocks. ‘The skulls of buffaloes so 


offered up are, afterwards, hung up in their houses, in memorial of their 
piety. 1 

Polygamy, without restriction, is followed by the Simh-phos, and they 
make no distinction between the children born to them of Asamese or foreign 
mothers, and those of the pure Sinh-phos. They reject, with horror, the 


idea of infanticide, under any shape or pretext. 


The custom observed in their funerals varies according to the quality of 
the deceased, and the manner of his death. Those of the lower classes being 
buried almost immediately, while the chiefs are generally kept in state for 
two or more years, the body being remove: to some distance during the pro- 
gress of decomposition, after which it is placed in a coffin, and again restored 
to the house, where it remains surrounded by the insignia of rank used dur- 
ing life.* The body of the Gaum of Gakhind, was found by us in this state, 
on taking possession of the stockade in June last, and had lain there more 


than two years. © 


* In the Narrative of Captain Cook’s first Voyage to Otaheite will be found a remarkable coin- 
cidence between the Funeral ceremonies of the Islanders, and those now described of the Sinh- 
phos. 


7 : L ; : 
A 14. Morrizerrerté Of a S irsipheo Chice L619 o. Sheth of the Dha 
ee The Dhaa be WNhrteld. 


asialic Lith ye Comps Press 


. 


POPULATION OF ASAM. 343 


The reason assigned by them for this custom is, to avoid the danger of 
drawing down on them feuds with the more remote branches of the family, 
spread in different directions, who would consider it a deadly insult, were the 
corpse to be interred without due intimation being given, and they thus delay 
performing the final rites until replies shall have been received from every 
member entitled to that compliment. At the proper time, the corpse is in- 
terred, and a monument of earth, confined by bamboo matting, of a peculiar 


form, erected over it. 


If the deceased met his fate by any violent means, they also sacrifice a 
buffaloe, the head of which they fasten as a memorial in the centre of a large 
cross of wood of the Saint Andrew’s form—but, if on the contrary, the case 
is one of natural death, they omit this ceremony, saying, that the gods have vo- 


luntarily taken him to themselves. 


The native arms of the Sinh-phos are the Dhao, a short square-ended 
sword, an ablong wooden shield, the spear and bow, but they are partial 
to musquets of which they have a few, but are unable to preserve in an effici- 
ent state.. The soil of the Asamese lowlands, occupied by the Sinh-phos, 
is extremely fertile, consisting almost entirely of a surface of rich alluvial earth, 
ona gravelly basis. It yields two crops annually, and is adapted in an admire 
able degree to rice cultivation, being well watered by numerous streams. 
The sugar-cane, indian-corn, &c. &c. would also thrive. The depopulation 
of the district, and the predatory habits of its present occupants, however, 
have materially diminished cultivation, and the greater part of the country is 
now overrun with the rankest jungle—nor is this evil likely to be remedied 
under a considerable lapse of time, the assumption of their Asamese slaves 
having reduced the Sinh-phos to the necessity of their own exertions, either 
in the raising or purchase of grain. To the former, though attended with 
little comparative labor from the natural fertility of the soil, the present 

3 P 


S44 GEOGRAPHY AND 


generation seem very averse, never personally engaging in either pastoral or 
agricultural pursuits, which were conducted by the slaves, who bore a pro- 
portion to their masters, of at least fifty to one. The Sinh-pho ‘chiefs 
seem, at the same time, fully sensible of the value of the possessions they have 
acquired on the fertile plains over their original seats in the hills, and I have 
no doubt, but that seeing the necessity of submitting, they will settle into 
order and tranquillity, and that, by a gradual amelioration in their habits and 


character, their descendants may become peaceable and valuable subjects. 


The post of Sadiya is nearly encircled, at a distance of from thirty to 
fifty miles, by lines of mountains, behind which are more lofty ranges covered 
with eternal snow—from which the Dihong and Dibong rivers flow from 
the north, the Lohit east, and the Theinga and Now Dihing, more to the 
southward, where the hills decrease in height, and present the pass to Ava, 
of which I shall speak hereafter. 

The portion of hills of the lower ranges, between the heads of the Dihong 
and Dibong, I have already described as the territory of the Abors : more to the 


eastward of them, on the line of hills including the opening of the Brahmas 


kund, is the district of Mishmis, another numerous hill tribe, differing only- 


in name from the others. (Appendix No. IV.) 


Beyond this mountainous region extends the grand field of enquiry and 
interest, if any credit be due to the opinion universally prevalent here respect- 
ing the nations inhabiting those tracts. The country to the eastward of 
Bhot, and the northward of Sadzya, extending on the plain beyond the 
mountains, is said to be possessed by a powerful nation called Kolitas, or 
Kultas, who are described as having attained a high degree of advancement 
and civilization, equal to any of the nations of the East. The power, domi- 


nion, and resources of the Kulta Raa are stated to exceed by far those of 


POPULATION OF ASAM. 845 


Asam, under its most flourishing circumstances, and in former times, a coms 
’ munication appears to have been kept up between the states, now long discon- 


tinued. 


To this nation are attributed the implements of husbandry and domes- 
tic life, washed down by the flood of the Dihong before mentioned. Of their 
peculiar habits and religion, nothing is known, though they are considered to 
be Hindus, a circumstance which, from their locality, I think most unlikely, 
and in all probability arising merely from some fancied analogy of sound, 
the word Kolita being used in Assamese to signify the Khaet caste. There 
is said to be an entrance to this country from upper Asam, by a natural tunnel 
under the mountains; but such is obviously fabulous, at least to the assumed 
extent. All accounts agree in stating, that a colony of Asamese, under two 
sons of a Bara Gohein, about eight generations back, took refuge in the 
country of the Kolitas, on the banks of the Sri Lohit, whence, till within 
about two hundred years, they, at intervals, maintained a correspondence with 
the parent state. They were hospitably received by the Kulta Raja, who 
assigned lands to them for a settlement, and they had naturalized and inter- 
married with the inhabitants. Since that period, however, no trace either 
of them, or of the Kulias, had been found until the flood of the Dihong exhi- 
bited marks of their existence, or of that of a nation resembling them in an 


acquaintance with the useful arts. 


The plains to the eastward of the Kulta country, beyond the Mishmis, 
is well known as the country of the Lama, or the Yam Sinh Raya, a 
nation also independant, and said to be frequently engaged in hostility with 
Kultas. The inhabitants are described as a warlike equestrian race, clothed 
something after the European manner, in trowsers and quilted jackets, and 
celebrated for their breed of horses. There is a pass to the Lama country, 


through the Mishmi hills, a little to the northward of the Brahmakund, a jour- 


346 GEOGRAPHY AND 


ney of twenty days, which was described by a man, who accomplished seven- 


teen: it is practicable only toa mountaineer, and appears to present almost 


insuperable difficulties. He states, that on two occasions, the traveller is 


obliged to swing himself across precipices by the hands and feet, on a rope 


of cane stretched from rock to rock. (Appendix No. V.) 


To the southward of that tract, and eastward of the Brahmakund, lies 
the country inhabited by the Bor Khamiis, from whom the Khamiis of 
Sadiya are sprung. ‘They are Buddhists, of the same worship as the Bur- 
mese, Shams, &c., and claim divine origin. ‘Through their country, they 
state, the Zrawadi flows towards Ava, taking its rise from the hills, dividing 
them from Asam and the Mishmis. I have been furnished with a route 
from Sadiya by the Theinga. (Appendix No. VI.) 


The principal difficulty which I have experienced in tracing the route 
from Rangpur into Ava, from various sources of information, has arisen less 
from any actual differences of statement than from the discordant dialects and 
mode of pronunciation of the people. ‘Thus, although, the Asamese, the 
Khamtis, Sinh-phos, and Burmese, from whom I made enquiries, all seem 
to agree as to the general distance and direction, yet each gave a different 
route, and seemed to have no acquaintance with those of the others. Two 
rallying points, however, became established, namely, Namrup, or Namhog, 


second of the map, on this side of the hills, and old Bisa, or Bijanun Yua, 


on the other. 


The first correction requisite in the Burmese route, laid down in the 
map, is at the commencement, quitting Rangpur, whence the road should 
take a north-easterly direction, until it reaches the entrance of the pass near 
Bisa Gong, at the junction of the Bort and Nowa Dihing rivers. ‘This road, 


after crossing the Disang, near Bor Hath, and the Bort Dihing at Jypur, 


POPULATION OF ASAM. 347 


skirts the northern base of the Naga hills, and follows the course of the Bort 
Dihing. The names of many stages in the map being clearly traceable. 
Thus, Borhaps Chowka, for the Asamese Bor Hath Chokey ; Tapan, the 
Tipang Nala, Tuongria and Namhog, for Kuonkreea Namroop, Phake 
Yua for Wakyet, and Namhog second, for the valley and post of Namrup, in 
the entrance to the passes. This should more properly be placed about the 
twenty-seventh degree of north latitude, and 95° 40’ east longitude. Tapha 
Kamyua, 1 conclude to be old Daffa Gawm, which is situated in that direc- 
tion. Nun Nun is common to both. Poa-puo is the Patkoz hill, near which 
the original boundary of Asam and the Sham country was fixed. Thiki- 
taon (a high hill!) is called, by the Khamtis, Takka, and the Thekkee Nala, 
Tashyait. Beejanoonyooa, or Hukhing, of the Burmese, is old Bisa Gaum, 
the original seat and possession of the Sinh-phos of that tribe and name, 
where some of them still remain, and preserve their allegiance to the present 
chief, whose influence extends through the entire intermediate space in the 
passes. The distance from Némrup to old Bisa, notwithstanding the 
difficulties of transit, accomplished by all in ten days, by marches described as 
from day-break till noon. It has been regularly traversed for a series of years, 
and is universally asserted to present no difficulties of any formidable nature: 
indeed, the greater part is described as being excellent, winding round the 
high hills, and, except in one or two instances, with no very great angle of 
acclivity. Water is in abundance throughout, except at two places, the 
fourth halt from Ndamrup, and at the hill of Thikitaon, where it is scarce, but 
not altogether deficient. Further particulars of this route, from different 
authorities, will be found in the Appendix No. VII. 


APPENDIX. 


No. I. Page 336. 


Villages of the Abor Chiefs, on the lower range from the West to East. 

Tani Gaom, nearly north of Silan Mukh, between the Bingoomade and Salang Hills. 
Tasi Tarin Gaom, between the Salang and Dokhang Hill. 

Takbang Gaom, on the Alluremah Hill. 

Takriim Gaom, on the Bohmadi Hill. 

Bassinpong Gaom. 

Tabit Gaom. 

Litung Gaom. 

Tibang Gaom. 

Lalli Gaom. 


Pear Done wo Oe 


fy 
= 


Tangépisang Gaom. 
Mia Rekhia Gaom. 


= 
Oo = 


Tengi Pah Gaom. 


=) 
oo 


Kangirn Gaom. 
Tepokh Gaom. 


—_ 
> 


No. II. Page 339. 


By the Bisa Gam, or Chief of the Singh-pho Clan of Bisa. 

In the beginning, the Great Gosein, (the Supreme Being,) created man, and regarded him 
with especial kindness and favour. He gave him the whole earth to dwell in and enjoy, but for- 
bade him bathing or washing in the river called Kdmsita, under a threatened penalty of being 
devoured by the Rakhas, (Demon,) and totally destroyed as the forfeit of his disobedience. That 
if, on the contrary. he refrained, Rakhas should have no power over him, and he should inherit the 


earth eternally. 


- APPENDIX. 849 


Mankind, however, soon disobeyed the injunction, and the whole race was devoured by Ré- 
khas, with the exception of a man called Stiri Jia, and his Wife Phaksat. 

These were seated under a tree, when the Gosein caused a Parrot, perched on a bough, to 
speak, and give them warning to avoid the North, and fly to the Southward, by which they would 
escape from Rdkhas’s hands. The man Siri Jia obeyed, but Phaksat took the other road, 
and fell into the clutches of Rdkhas. When Siri Jia saw Phaksat in the power of the De- 
mon, he was divided from them by the river lam Sita, the forbidden stream, and forgetting, or 
disregarding the prohibition, he immediately crossed it to her rescue, and was also taken by Rakhas, 
who prepared to devour them. In the act, however, of lifting them to his mouth, a flame issued 
from all parts of his body, and consumed him on the spot, since which time no Rdkhasas have been 
seen on the earth, in a palpable shape. 

The great Gosein having then fully instructed Siri Jia and Phaksat in all useful know- 


ledge, placed them on the Mijat Sangra-bhim hill, and from them, the present race of men are 


descended. 


By the Satao Gam, or Chief of the Clan Satao of Sinh-phos. 

The Sinh-phos came originally from a place situated two months’ journey from Satao Gaom, 
and peopled the earth. 

The race of man having killed and roasted buffaloes and pigs, which they devoured, without 
offering up the prescribed portions in sacrifice to the gods, the Supreme Being, in his anger, sent an 
universal deluge, which covered the earth, and destroyed the whole race of man, with the exception 
of two men called Kung-litang and Kuliyang, and their Wives, whom he warned to take re- 
fuge on the top of the Singra Bhim Mill, which remained above the waters: from them the present 
race are descended. 

A Brother and Sister belonging to a race superior to man were also saved. The Supreme 
Being directed them to conceal themselves under a conical mound of earth, taking with them two 
cocks, and nine spikes of bamboo, the latter they were to stick through the sides of the mound, and 
pull them out one by one daily. They did'so for eight days, but the cocks took no notice. On 
drawing out the ninth, the light appeared through, and the cocks crew, by which they knew that the 
waters had subsided. ‘They then went out, and as they were in search of fire they encountered the 
old woman belonging to the Demon #dkhas, who endeavoured to seize them: they, however, effected 
their escape to the ninth heaven, where they were deified, and are sacrificed to by the Sinh-phos, 
with cocks and pigs, 

The name of the brother is Kai-jan, and the sister Giung. 


350 APPENDIX. 


By the Sadiya Khawa Gohein, the Khamti Prince of Sadiya. 

The race of men having fallen into every kind of iniquity, the Supreme Being, “called by us 
Soari Mittia, but worshipped by all nations under different names”* determined on destroying it, 
and creating it anew. With this view, he gave warning in a vision to four holy Goherns, directing 
them to take shelter in the heaven, Meru (called by the Khamtis Moi Sao Pha,) and then caused 
seven suns to appear, which burnt up the whole earth, and destroyed every thing onit. After which, 
there came violent rains which washed away all the cinders and ashes, and refreshed and re-fertilized 
the earth. 


The four Goheins then descended, and re-peopled it with a new race. 
No. III. Page 340. 


Migrating from East to West, the Sinh-phos first established themselves on the plain of Kun- 
diyung, on a branch of the Sri Lohit. 

Thence to the hills, called Nangbrang-book, which are situated South-east from Hukhing 
(or Bija-ntin-yda, of the map) East of Bhanmo, and four or five days’ journey from the Chinese 
border. : 

Thence to the Kultobing Hill. 

Thence to Pisa-Pani, Eastward of Hukhing. 

Thence to Mining Pani, where they had an action with the Burmese and Shams, and were 
victorious. 


Thence to Tuking Pani and old Bisa, or Hakhing (Bija-nin-yiia.) 
No. IV. Page 344. 


~ The Villages of the Mishmis, from West to East. 
1. Padi Mishmi, near the Dibong N. 
2. Gurai Mishmi. 
3. Tamagar. 
4. Digarti Mishmi, North of the Brahmakund : thence proceeding Easterly, within the Hilly 


ranges, are, 


* Literal interpretation of his words. 


1. 
2. 


APPENDIX. 351 


Misa Gaom. 


Kursang Myyung, a \arge populous place : to the district of the Bor Mishmis, or more 


powerful, and thence to the confluence of a river called Mamni, with the Samkté, which runs 


south, through the Khamti country, to Ava, on the banks of which are the Mishmi villages of 


1. 


Oo DANAE ww 


Namnu Gaom. 
Darku Gaom. 
Kundon Gaom. 
Bisan Gaom. 
Bangu Gaom. 
Sikyuet Gaom. 
Ninkhepoh Gaom. 
Kisoul Gaom. 


Buding Gaom. 


No. V. Page 346. 


Route through the MZéshmi hills to the country of the Lama. 


Quitting the Brahmakund, cross a cataract of the Lohit, by a rope of cane suspended across 


the precipice, to Philsa Gaom. 


2 


So Sree? 


7. 


Cross the Tidang, also by a rope bridge, to Philsa Gaom. 
Nittingbang Gaom Mishmi. 

Sanga Gaom. 

Tasi T. ibang Gaom. 

Leba Gaom. 


Midu Arwa; occupying seventeen days: thence three to the Lama city and fort on this 


aide of the Sri Lohit. 


Sree ee 


« 


No. VI. Page 346. 


From Sadiya to the mouth of the Theinga, and cross the Brahmaputra. 
On the left bank of the Theinga to Satao Gaom. 

To Stmum Gaom. 

To Satora Gaom. 


To Laffa Bari. 
3 R 


35% 


6. 
ee 
| 8. 
i= 4 
| 
Kl 


Hills 


9: 
0. 


ql. 


APPENDIX. 


Cross the Thetxga and Khope rivers. 

Pass between the Lashang and Chiklai hills, and cross the Khope Nala, to the Phukkan 
Nala. 

Pass the village of Didamria Beter, and cross the Tumut Nala to the Tangut Naia, 
(all these Nalas run into the Now Dihing in the hills.) 

Cross the Tappan to the Tamgut. 

Pass the Namshung hill, and cross the Mukkotat Nala to Kamhu Gaom. 

Cross the Daffa Pani, pass the village of Bujan, and cross the Nalahs of Juki Pani, Jan 


Pani, Khope Panee, Lua Pani, Namaug Pani, and the Dihing, to Phakhung Gaom and Nimna Gaom. 


12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 


To Namshi Pani. 
To Suoppang. 
To the Bor Maliks. 


To the Lshang hill, thence three days to the Bor Khamiis country; the route, during the 


Jast stages, being very winding and between lofty hills. 


No. VII. Page 347. 


From Ndémvup to 


PPAR wo N - 


a) 
S 


11. 
12. 


Khaeka. 

Nampai. 

Nun Nun. 
Sakyep. 

Patkot (Poa Puo.) 
Khoi Chu. 
Kathang. 

Kuah. 

Takkah (Thikitaon, a high hill.) 
Hatak. 

Tashytet ( Thekki.) 


Hikhing, or old Bisa Gaum, (Bijanoon yooa,) where the hills end, and the route 


passes through a fine, populous, cultivated country : crossing the Nampeo Nala, the Tunkoh Nala, 


(Thaonka of the map), and descending the small hill of Chambuo (Mount Samu,) to Khunglof, 


cross the Namkung Nala, (Nampua,): in all eight days from Bisa or Bijanun, to Munghing 


or Mogaum, from whence are both open road and water transit to Amerapura. 


VIII. 


HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL 


SKETCH OF 


ARACAN. 


By CHARLES PATON, Esa. 


Sub-Commissioner in Aracan. 


Tue following particulars relating to the newly acquired province of Ara- 
can, are the result of a tour made through its several subdivisions, and such 
communication, with the people of the country, as an imperfect command of 
the language would permit. I have, however, in all cases, endeavoured scru- 
pulously to satisfy myself of the correctness of the information, by personal 


inspection, and by the fullest corroborative evidence that was procurable. 


The ancient history of Aracan, has been chiefly extracted from Magh 
manuscripts, in the possession of the late Commissioner, Mr. Robertson. That 
of more recent periods has been gathered also from written records, but espe- 
cially from the oral communications of individuals, who were implicated in 


the transactions, or who witnessed their occurrence. 


B54 HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL 


The topography of the country has been derived from personal obser- 
vation, and the communications of Officers employed in the Quarter-Master’s 
or Survey Departments, and the population from a census, taken by Mr. Ro- 
bertson and myself. My own experience, and frequent intercourse with the 
most intelligent natives, have enabled me to offer a description of the pro- 


ductions of the country, and the character of the people. 


The province of Aracan and its dependencies, Ramree, Cheduba, and 
Sandaway, lie between eighteen and twenty-one degrees of north latitude, and 
may be averaged at about sixty miles in breadth ; bounded on the east and 
south by the Yaémadang mountains, on the west by the Bay of Bengal, and on 
the north, by the Naf, and the mountains of Wyli, at the source of the Mrosa, . 
covering an extent of about eleven thousand square miles, of which there are 
not, at present, more than four hundred in a state of cultivation. The greater 
part of the country, from the bottom of the mountains, drawn to the sea is a 
Sunderban, and the only possible way of communicating with the different 


villages, is by water. 


The Province of Aracan, exclusive of the capital, includes fifty-five vil- 
lage divisions, or districts: each district, or division, containing, according to 
its size, from two to sixty paras, or small villages: each division is placed 
under the control of a Sirdar, who is held responsible for the good conduct 
of the paradas of his division, who are, generally, appointed by the suffrage 
of the villages. ‘Thetown of Aracan was divided, by the Burmese, into 
eight wards, according with the number of outlets from the fortifications, 
each ward had its own Police, but all were placed under the Meosugri 
and Acherang, of the city, who received the daily reports: if any complaint 
was preferred, not cognizable by them, it was referred to the Judicial Court, 
consisting of the Akwenwon, (Collector of land revenue) Akowon, (Collector 


of Port Customs) two Chikaydos, law officers, and two Nakhandos, (royal 


SKETCH OF ARACAN. 395 


reporters, ): if the case could not be settled by them, an appeal was made to 
the Raja, whose decision was final in all cases, not affecting the officers of 
the state or Kheuks of village divisions, who had the privilege of appealing to 
the Shaway Whlotdo, or Court of the King in Council. In capital offences, the 
friends of the criminal, if able to pay a handsome sum of money, rarely failed 
to effect the release of the culprit, and often, even, at the place of execution. 
In many cases, plaintiff and defendant were both made to pay fees and costs, 
of which the officers of the police had their share, and in consequence the ut- 
most vigilance and efficiency were kept up, rendering it almost impossible for 


crime to be committed without the knowledge of the civil officers of the state. 


The province of Ramree including Amherst Island, is divided into twen- 
ty-five village divisions. The Island of Cheduba has always been considered as 
one district, and contains ten paras. The provinces of Ramree, Sandaway, and 
Cheduba, had each a Deputy Governor, but all were subordinate to the Raja 
of Aracan, whose situation was the best in the gift of the King of Ava, and 
always bestowed upon some relation, or as a reward for eminent service ren- 
dered to the state by the individual invested with that high honor, who was 
only required to remit a portion of the revenue to Ava for the support of the 
white elephant, never exceeding one hundred and twenty biswas of silver, 
equal to about sicca rupees eighteen thousand, six hundred and sixty-three : 


the remainder became his sole perquisite. 


The Governor and Deputy Governors were, generally, relieved every 
third or fourth year. When their successors arrived, the Kheuks, or head men 
of village divisions, were summoned to the seat of Government, when a heavy 


fee was exacted for confirming them in all their former rights and privileges. 


According to the Chronology of the Mughs, the present year of our 
Lord 1826, corresponds with 1188 of their era, which was established in honor 
38 


356 HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL 


of Goapma (Gautama) who introduced the worship of Buddha into these 
regions, during the reign of Cuanpa Sorea Gora,* and built the famous 
temple of Mahamuryicha. When the religion of Buddha had been universally 
adopted, Goapma told the King, that he intended visiting other nations 
of the earth, for the purpose of propagating the true religion, and solicited 
his permission to depart, which was granted, on his allowing the King to take 
a caste of his figure in mixed metals; all the cunning artificers in the king- 
dom having been convened, the work was commenced on a Wednesday 
morning, and on the following Friday, the caste was complete, when Goan. 
MA disappeared, and the image was set up in his stead. The image is stated 
to be composed of equal parts, gold, silver, copper, brass, lead, tin, iron, steel 
and tutenague, and of the following dimensions : 

Pedestal, of the same metals as the image, four cubits broad. 

Figure, in a sitting posture, eight cubits high. 

Cuanpa Sorea Gora, the first Raja on record, after a long and happy 
reign, died in the sixty-third year of the Mugh era. 


His successors were Sorea Kanoo, who died in the Mugh era 117 


Mana Jyne, badges Bee Je olalsarsis eg B54 
SoREA CHANDA, Ist .....6 stbas stews Selewee) (O26 
Moira Tyn Cuanpna, ...... t Bis BLO, sbieee 2268 
Butea CHanpna, Beeb ais Shstoe th PSS Seeds i288 
Karta CuHanpba, eee aR EtS wets Seeves) BMT. 
THata CHANDA, Ist ..ceee AgesaS seeees ecerss’ GAO 
SorREA Cuanpa, 2d... tee? VIO E. ! ive? BOS 
Sikut Rasa, aOR site| afte, odihse) GSH 


* Possibly for Surya Gotra, the Solar dynasty, or the whole may imply the Kings of the Solar 
and Lunar races, or the periods during which those dynasties were in existence, rather than any 
particular individual. It is to be observed, however, that in either case, the Mugh Chronology will 
not correspond with that of the Puranas.—H. H. W. 


SKETCH OF ARACAN. 357 


~ He was succeeded by Tuata Cuanna, 2d, who being a great favorite of the 
gods, they sent him an enchanted spear, Dhao, and magic ring, from the 
invisible world. In the year 387, he went on an expedition against China, 
leaving the magic ring with his wife, asa safeguard to her virtue, and 
charm against the influence of evil eyes, with this injunction, that in the 
event of his not returning, she should raise that person to the throne, whose 
forefinger the ring would fit, knowing it would accommodate itself only to 
him, who was blessed with the favor of the gods, and that he should there- 
by not only secure a good husband for the queen, but a wise ruler for the 
people. The Raja having effected the object of his expedition, was acciden- 
tally drowned on his way back : the mournful intelligence was conveyed to the 
Queen, by the minister, who tried every artifice to ingratiate himself into the 
Queen’s favor, with the hope of being raised to the sovereignty : the Queen 
told him of the late King’s injunction, relative to the ring, and stated that he 


whose forefinger the ring fitted, should be raised to the throne, whether a 


‘prince, ora peasant. She accordingly presented the ring to him in full dur- 


bar, and he made every effort to put it on, but in vain: it was then tried by 
the nobles, who all suffered a similar mortification: at length, the story 
of the ring having spread far and wide, two brothers, by name Amra Tr and 
Amra Ko, of the Jhim caste, inhabitants of the Kaladyne hills, came to try 
their fortune, and both found the ring to fit. The Queen made choice of Amra 
Te, and raised him to the throne, who shortly afterwards becoming jealous of 
his brother, slew him ; upon which Bay Bay Wty, Amra Ko’s son fled to the 
mountain of Phi* Bhong Tong, between Aracan and Ava. About this pe- 
riod, S6 Butne Put, King of Ava, being irritated on hearing that the 
Queen of Aracan had raised a Jhim to the throne, resolved to make war 


upon Amra Tg. On his way to dracan, he fell in with Bay Bay Ws, who 


_* Yoomadong. 


358 HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL 


volunteered his aid against his uncle : when they arrived at the village of 
Parendyng, in Aracan, Bay Bay Wn remained to fast and pray for three 
days, and entreated the gods, that if it was decreed he should become the 
Raja of Aracan, and be permitted to revenge his father’s death, they would 
send him three armed boats from the invisible world : on the third day his 
prayers were attended to, and the war boats appeared ; but he was instructed, 
first to attack the King of Ava, and then march against his uncle. Having 
worsted the King of Ava, who retired to his own kingdom, he advanced to- 
wards the capital. Amra Te fell sick and died in 392, after a reign of only 
five years. Bay Bay Won held the reins of government undisturbed, till the 
year 405, when Anwaro Tuneza, King of Ava, to revenge the defeat of S6 
Butwe Puu, invaded Aracan with a large army, and having defeated Bay Bay 
Won, in a pitched battle, compelled him to retire to Phosant Kang, where 
he recruited his forces, and renewed the contest; and, after various engage- 
ments, succeeded in recovering the western half of his kingdom: the Bur- 
mese holding the eastern. During this divided rule, there appear to have been 
continual disputes, which lasted till the year 423, when Kamano Tapone (the 
son of King Tmaia Cuanpa, who was drowned in returning from China), came 
from the hills of Wyli, near Gurjenia, where he had been long secreted, with 
an army of Jhums, and attacked, defeated, and killed the Burmese Raja: about 
this time Bay Bay Ww died, and Namone Tapone became Raja, and held 
his Court in the city of Chambolao till the year 438, when he died, upon which, 
the Minister raised a descendant of the ancient Rajas, by name Kanu San, 
to the throne, and he ruled till the year 443: his immediate successors were as 
follows : 
Cuawnpa San, brother of the late Raja, who reigned till the year 449 


Manik Ranerrt, son of Cuanpa San Lae nas ood OO 


He was succeeded by his son Mauna Strix, who reigned till the year 


462, when his brother Stafn obtained the sovereignty, and ruled till 464 : 


SKETCH OF ARACAN. 359 


he was succeeded by his son Ptsaxf, who held the reins of government 
till the year 468, when a person named Nani6x Frtcfri became Raja, and 
ruled till the year 4'70, when his minister CHANGsaBAu raised a rebellion in the 
kingdom, and having put the Raja to death, assumed the reins of govern- 
ment: he held them only for one year, having been deposed by his own 
minister, who placed a son of Nanik FrGcfiri, by name Manix Kyn Lap, upon 
the throne, who ruled till the year 476, and was succeeded by Mantx Sav, Ist, 
who ruled till the year 479: his successor was Manik Kawa, who governed till 
the year 481, when Manik Patong, Ist, ascended the throne, who was deposed 
and put to death in 485, by his own minister San Kyane, who held the 
government till the year 487. About this period two of Manik Puatonea’s 
sons fled and took refuge with the King of Ava: their names were Manik 
San, 2d, and Manik Zapf: on the death of San Kyane, they held the 
government till the year 492, when Lnyya San, grand son of Manrx PHatone, 
Ist, assisted by an army from the King of Ava, invaded Aracan, defeated 
and killed Manrx Zapf, and possessing himself of the reins of govern- 
ment, ruled till the year 498: his descendants and successors governed as 


follows :-— 
Leyva San, tillthe year... .-.. 900 
Mana Raseirf, ‘ 502 
Leyva Wyneirf, Ist, ee kis 142510 
Leyra Wanert, Ne PS Met ea nes 7-10) 


Kowa.ea next ascended the throne, and reigned till the year 530: this 
Raja built the temple of Mahazi, and set up in it the large and famous idol 
of that name: he appears to have ruled over a part of China, the whole of 
Ava, Siam, and Bengal, and to have been possessed of five white elephants. On 
his death, his son Dassa became king, and held possession of all his father’s 
dominions till the year 542, when he died : this prince is stated to have been 


lord of sixty white elephants: his successors were as follow :— 
Sam 


360 HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL 


AnGANG, who ruled till the year tae (odd: 
Manik Farexsa, fli Pee eeprel op 049 
Myne JAxar, Fath a wen(arypood 
Kynotrua Rést,  .... ee po Rape 


During the reigns of these Princes, China, Ava, and Siam, appear to have been 
wrested from the Government of Aracan. Cuiane Bisst, the minister, taking 
advantage of the imbecility of Kynerua Rsv, put him to death, and usurp- 
ed the Government ; but the people not being pleased with this wicked act, 
openly rebelled, and having killed CuALane Bisst, raised By San, a son of 
Kyno tua Ree, to the throne, who re-conquered all the countries lost in 
the four former reigns. This Prince died in 564, and the following were his 


immediate successors :— 


NarAsan Manix, who ruled till wees 966 
Tapy. KAVNG is cos! ayaa) cade aehende, oor 
INAKUAIGUNG  wahccs diy, sauce 4. manne deena gente 
NacHao, ehstate steushis Shea: seis, 149 
Nacnawai San, egies ee ae jee «afl OGO 
Manik KonakGiIRi, .... ..-. sete - (OSL 
Manik Kunkxf, eee wee ope ey OBZ 
Kuynera LAUNG-GIRI, he fee ..2. 588 
Kuynra Loune-nf,_ .... 5a Ya ys GRE & Wie B4 


This Raja having been deposed and killed by his minister, was succeed- 
ed by his son Lryya Wyneirf, whoruled till the year 589; his successor 
was SANA PuanFrté, who governed till the year 600. This Raja’s first son, 
Nanaga, held the sovereignty for the first six months, and his second son, 
Nira Laune, for the last six months, of the year 601, when a decendant of 
the old Raja’s, by name ALowa Nasr, son of Nanix Kunkxf, obtained the 


government, and reigned till the year 607. This Prince’s rule extended as far 


SKETCH OF ARACAN. 361 


as the city of Murshedabad, which was in his possession. His successors were 
Rasa Laxai, who ruled till 610, and Cuowa Laxri, 615; and another son of 
Atowa Nasrt, whose name is not preserved, held the reins of government 
till 623: he was succeeded by J6mi Sirf, who reigned till the year 630, 
when Nynxacfaf ascended the throne, and ruled till 633. This Raja’s go- 
vernment proving tyrannical and oppressive to the people, they rebelled and 
put him to death, but raised his son Manik Puatong, the second, to the throne, 
and he held the government till the year 637, when he was deposed and slain 
by his minister Cuzmyn, who assumed the sovereignty, and held the rule till 
the year 648, when his subjects rebelled, and having put him to death, set 
Manix Jy, son of Manik Puatons, a boy of about seven years old, upon the 
throne : he ruled till the year 744, a period of 96 years : his successors were as 


follows, viz. 


Usana Gfrt, who ruled till, .... .... 749 
SAYWA, .... ere sae, Lie'3 (G7H2 
Syngawat Manik, SINERE eye, beh. a ATH 7 


Rasa Las ascended the throne in 758, but his minister, Cuysaman, hav- 
ing stirred up a rebellion, obliged him, after one or two successful engage- 
ments, to fly the kingdom, and usurped the government, which he held till 
the year '760. Inthe year 761, the people of Aracan being dissatisfied with 
CHYNGSAMAN’s government, deposed him, and brought Rasa Las back, who 
ruled till the year 762, and was succeeded by his brother Cuanpa Las, who 
reigned till the year 766: the son of Cuanpa Las, J6mtGwaf, succeeded to the 
throne ; in the year 768, Mone Butne Raja, of Ava, threw off the yoke, 
and, having assembled an army, invaded Aracan. Jtémtwai not being 
able to oppose him, left the kingdom, and took refuge with the King of 
Hindustan, leaving Mone Butne to take quiet possession of the government. 
JoémGwai having ingratiated himself with the King of Hindustan, by teaching 


his people the proper way to catch wild elephants, made bold to solicit his 


362 HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL 


aid in recovering the throne of Aracan. The King sent one of his ministers, 
by name Warf Kuan, with an army for that purpose, and he succeeded in 
driving the Burmese out of the kingdom; but, instead of placing Jéméwa 
upon the throne, he threw him into prison, and usurped the government 
himself. Kuiixane JémGwai’s brother managed to bribe the officer, in whose 
custody he was, and they both fled to the King of Hindustan, who, on hearing 
what had occurred, sent for Sapfk Kuan, the son of Warf Kuan, and 
ordered him to proceed in company with two of his ministers J6 Basa, and 
Daim Basa, with strict injunctions to replace Joméwafi on the throne, and put 
his own father to death. The King’s orders were duly obeyed, Jéméwat was 
reinstated, and Wari Kuan decapitated. In the year 792, JomGwai removed 
the seat of government from Chambalai to the town of Aracan, built a stone 
fort, and surrounded the town with a strong wall, measuring about nine miles : 
the labour of this work must have been immense, as, in many places, mounds of 
earth are thrown up to fill the spaces between contiguous hills; in others, the 
hills are joined to each other by a mound faced, on both sides, with stone work, 
averaging, in height, from fifty to one hundred feet. This Prince appears to 
have paid, annually, one lac of rupees to the King of Hindustan, which was 
continued by his successor, AL1 Kuane, and by his son Kata SHama, until 


the year 854, his successors were as follows :— 


Jar, who ruled till the year rad bot. . EB SS 
Manixra Bone, for only .... Benin .... SIX months. 
CuHauank Ka, till Bae 1s peels Ge Ok. BH 868 
Manik Raja, Lia Rie te cae ¥ Sh! LBS8O 
Kora BuppeEEr, ae; aaa A wile 1887 
Manix Cuawacirt, es: Wn -... six months. 
Sua Rasa, till G8 SON hs eahe f, 528898 
MAMBAY 0) (O.tes. Laat nhs § sigue inte, SOUS 
Manik Da, JOR aa Dhan QULRBU OTT 


His brother, whose name is not preserved, Je GORE HAS 926 


SKETCH OF ARACAN. 363 


Manik Puarax, .... Sieve, » foe 2 coll LROkL 3955 
Manik Rageiri, .... Lo ie RS Res ane ie we ONS 
Wara Tuyn, Shana igs ais Sh ecaht LALA ra chon 984 
S6r1 St THyn,  .... gen, a Bvow .... 1000 


Ménesant ruled only twenty-eight days, when he either died of disease, 
or was put to death by his minister Nana Bappicrnrt, who held the sovereign. 
ty during the year 1007, and was succeeded by his son Sanu Tuyn, who 
governed till the year 1022, and was succeeded by Cuanpa Tuao Cuyn. It 
was in this reign that Stsa, the brother of Auranezes, sought refuge in 
Aracan, and was kindly received by the Raja, who supported him and his fol- 
lowers for five years. Notwithstanding the Raja’s hospitality and kindness, 
S6sa was not content, and actually set up a faction in the kingdom ; he re- 
paired to the hills of the Kaladyne, and having been joined by many malcon- 
tents, set the Raja at defiance : in 1043, a battle took place between the 
Raja and the Moghul Chief, in which the former was not only worsted, but 
obliged to give up his claim to Chittagong and Tippera, so long held by his 


predecessors. 


In 1047, S6r1 Lao Tuyy, the second son of the former Raja, ascended the 
throne, but being a man of no ability, through his imbecility the whole king- 
dom fell into disorder : he, however, shortly after died, and was succeeded by 
his son Wara Tuyy, who ruled till the year 1054: this Prince, however, did 
not in any way ameliorate the condition of his subjects: his immediate suc- 
cessors and descendants, Mani SuHao and Sapt Wownc, held the reins of 
government till the year 1058, when, on the death of the latter, Tapone, a 
Wazir, became Raja, but he was deposed the following year by a Chief, 
named Moraory, who only held the rule for eight months, having been de- 
posed by a Chief, named Kata Mayra, who, in 1062, was expelled by Narati 
Po, and he again by Kzosanc, who ruled till 1068, when he was deposed 

3.U 


364 HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL 


by Suan Dovuta, who governed till the year 1072. After this a chieftain, 
known by the name of the Kana Raja, obtained the supremacy, and by his 
bravery and good management, not only put down all factions in his king- 
dom, but regained the district of Chittagong and Tippera, and ruled till the 
year 1093, when his son-in-law, SGrya, aided by a party of conspirators, de- 
posed and slew him, and assumed the Government of Aracan, but could not 
retain that of Tippera and Chittagong : he died in 1095, and was succeeded 
by his son Norati Bappi, who governed for one year, when he was depos- 
ed by his uncle Nara Pawa, who only held the Government during the year 
1097. In 1098, his son Usaxa ascended the throne, and after ruling for 
six months, was killed by a Musselman, named Kata, who also ruled for six 
months, when he was killed by a Mug Chieftain, named Mamparat, uncle 
of Usata Raja, who reigned till the year 1104, and was succeeded by his 
uncle Usnaya, who, in 1109, sent an expedition under his son-in-law, SaEn 
Twansa, against Ava, the result of which is not recorded. In 1113, Aca 
Baxir, the Dacca Nawab, having been worsted in a contest near Dacca, 
by a Chief named Umana, applied to the Raja of Aracan for assistance : 
he sent a Sirdar, by name LayA Mtrane, with one thousand war boats to 
the aid of the Nawab, and enabled him to gain the victory. In 1123, 
Raja Uspnaya died, and was succeeded by his son Sirf S6, who only 
held the reins of Government for forty days, when his brother Pura- 
man assumed the Raj, and held it till 1126, in which year he was deposed 
and killed by Manwarasa, a Chieftain, who had married a daughter of Raja 
Usuaya. This Manaragsa ruled till 1135, when he was deposed and killed by 
Saomana, the son of the Sirdar who, under Usuaya’s Government, had car- 
ried an armament to Dacca to the assistance of Aca Baxrr. Soamana ruled 
till the year 1139, in which year a person named Putrf, who was the head 
musician at Aracan, went privately to Sandoway, and having collected 
a number of men in the jungles, attacked and killed SoAMANA, and held 


the sovereignty for forty days, after which he was deposed, and compelled 


SKETCH OF ARACAN. 365 


to become a Rault (priest,) by Tayn Mont, a native of Ramree, who ruled 
till 1144. On his death, Samana, son of his aunt, ascended the throne, 
but in consequence of his bad Government, several attempts were made to 
depose him, and a Chief named Synepoway, formed a plan, in concert with 
Saceya Touneza, the Meo-sugri of Ramree, to make the Government of 
the country over to the Burmese. Cueneuza, then King of Ava, rejected 
their proposal on the plea of the unhealthiness of the climate of Aracan, 
stating, that he did not wish to expose his army to the pestilential effects of 
that country. On the death of Curneuza, in the year 1145, and on Puapo 
Puura ascending the throne, Synepoway and his colleague went privately to 
Ava, and solicited his Golden Footed Majesty to take Aracan and its depen- 
dencies under his protection, upon which the King sent three of his sons, Hi- 
say Mrenc, Pusay Mena, and Toneu Meng, with an army in three divisions, to 
take possession of the country. The conspirator Synepoway conducted the 
main body into Aracan, by the Talak route ; Samapa Raja, on hearing of the 
approach of the Burmese, fled, and concealed himself on the island of Maway- 
dong-do, near Ramree, leaving the fate of his kingdom in the hands of his. 
minister Keo Baway, who opposed the invaders at the village of Kin, 
about. seven coss to the southward of the fort of Aracan: he was 
worsted, and the Burmese got possession of the country. The divisions 
under Pusay Mene and Toneu Mene entered the provinces by the routes 
of Toungo and Sandoway : the Mugh Chief at Sandoway, by name Kurowart, 
offered resistance, but not being able to oppose the Burmese, fled to Chota 
Anak, on the Naf, where he was afterwards killed. The Surdar of Ramree, by 
name JacsHi1 Menc Tuatcuyneri, having also been defeated, the Burmese 


got possession of the kingdom. 


In 1146, when the Government of the Burmese had been firmly establish- 
ed, Raja Samapa was seized, and with his family, jewels, and treasure, and the 


famous image of Godmah, conveyed to Ava. Nanpa Bacyan, a Surdar, who 


366 HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL 


had accompanied the expedition, was made Governor of Aracan, and another 
chief, by name Nara Samacyo, was put in charge of Ramree, and its depen- 
dency, Cheduba. Nanpa Kamanf was made Governor of Sandoway, and the 
conspirator SyNeDAWAY, was appointed Meo-sugri of Aracan, and his col- 
league Saccya Touneza, was confirmed in his former situation of Meo-sugri 


of Ramree. 


Nanpa Bacyan is stated to have been a man of conciliating manners, and 
was much liked by the people : he put the Ta/ak route into repair, and settled 
the country : this Chief died in 1149, and was succeeded by Anonk PuEKrTI- 
xwon, who ruled till the year 1152 : during his government, the tyranny of the 
Burmese proving intolerable, several of the Mug Sirdars revolted; but finding 
themselves unequal to the contest, they solicited aid from the British Govern- 
ment, which was refused: at length, being driven to desperation, they display- 
ed the banner of rebellion, and being headed by two enterprising chiefs, Sone- 
sH1 and’Cuamrri, and joined by a number of the Mug inhabitants, they as- 
sembled at Pragyonla Pawbra, near to Ooreateng, on the eastern side of the ri- 
ver, and advanced upon Aracan, which they besieged for five weeks, and 
nearly succeeded in taking the place ; but their chief leader, Soncsu1, having 
been accidentally shot through the head, the Mugs lost all confidence in 
themselves and dispersed : the Sirdars fled to the Company’s territories, and 
the Ryots returned to their villages. 


On the arrival of Mone Pasi, arelation of the Royal family, ANonx 
PHEKTIKWwon returned to Ava. Mone Past only ruled for one year, when 
he died in 1153, and was succeeded by a chieftain named JyNGDAWwON : 
during this Sirdar’s rule, the King of Ava invaded Yudra, or Siam, 
and his troops suffering much from the want of provisions, one of the 
Secretaries of state, by name Moneni, was sent to Aracan with a fleet 


of boats for grain: he was attacked at the village of Ankhur Chykwa Kheon, 


SKETCH OF ARACAN.  . 367 


in the district of Sandoway, by a large party of Mugs under three Surdars, 
Patonc, Kuworrek, and Kuroway JaconcNyNnG, who defeated Moonenrt, 
and got possession of all the boats: shortly after this they prepared to 
attack Aracan. On their artival at MJahati, JyNcDAWON advanced to meet 
them, but they had dispersed before his arrival, in consequence of being 
hard pressed by a fleet of war boats from Ramree. ‘The Mug Surdars 
fled into the Chittagong district, and their followers returned quietly to their 


villages. ‘ 


In 1155, Jynepawon was recalled, and Myneua Raja, a relation of the 
King, appointed his successor. During this chief’s rule, the King of Ava sent 
a large army, under Myngi Kuropone, to demand the three Mug Surdars, 
Patone, Kuworrex, and Kuzoway JaconcNyNnG, who had taken refuge 
in the Company’s territories, who were delivered up. Patone and Kuworrex 
were shut up in a dark cell, and starved to death. Kuroway JAGonGNYNG 
managed to make his escape, and again returned to Chittagong, where he 
still resides. 


In 1157, Mynora Rajah was recalled, and Myngt Kuropone appointed 
his successor. In 1160, KuyneBerrine and his father, the Meosugri, with 
several other Surdars, stirred up a rebellion, taking advantage of the 
absence of Myngi Kureopone, who had been called upon by the King to 
take command of the army employed in the conquest of the Yudra country. 
The King, on hearing of the insurrection, sent for KuyNGBERRING’s brother 
Sanecuaway, who was then at Ava, and after acquainting him with the trea- 
chery of his father and brother, put him to death, and ordered Myngi Kuro- 
DONG immediately back to Aracan, placing under his command three thou- 
sand chosen troops. The Mugs, onhearing of his approach, became alarmed, 
deserted their leaders, and dispersed. The Meosugr? and KuyncBERRING 
with other Surdars, fled towards Chittagong. The Meosugri falling sick 

3 WwW 


868 HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL 


on the way, died at the village of Mraosik Kheon (Chota Anak). After this, 
nothing particular occurred till the year 1173, when Kuyneserrine, with 
other Surdars, formed a resolution to attempt the expulsion of the Burmese, 
and having collected about five hundred Mugs, invaded Aracan in twenty- 
five boats, and landed at the village of Mway, the Kheouk of which place 
immediately joined them with about four hundred men : they then proceeded 
to Oreatong, attacked the Burmese Thannah, and put them all to death. On 
information reaching the Raja of Aracan, he would not at first believe it : 
the next day Kuynoperrine arrived with a fleet of war boats, at Babudong 
Ghat, where he was met by the Raja, and defeated. After this, Myngt Kuro- 
pone turned every Mug out of the town of Aracan. KuyncBerrine, al- 
though worsted in his attack upon Aracan, had still a considerable force 
under his command, part of which he detached under some steady Surdars to- 
wards Talak, with orders to destroy all the villages that did not joinhim. They 
burnt Niong Khwakan and Talak, which created such terror amongst the 
Mugs, that they all declared for him, and joined his standard, and he very 
shortly overrun the province of Aracan and its dependancies. Myngt KueEo- 
DONG, not being able to oppose him inthe field, applied his means for the 
protection of the capital. The Cheduba Raja, with a force of about three 
thousand men, attempted to reinforce the Burmese troops, but he was at- 
tacked by a party of Mugs, under Mayox Tunesuay, near the village of 
Nattong, about two days journey from Aracan, killed, and his force com- 
pletely defeated, with the loss of about one thousand men: the rest fled into 
jungles, and escaped. Shortly after, the Governors of Ramree and Sandoway 
came to retrieve the Burmese character, and punish the insurgents, with a 
force consisting of about five thousand men, in two hundred war boats. 
The Mugs waited for them at the village of King Nawa, near to where 
they had defeated the Cheduba Raja. ‘The Mug fleet consisted of eighty 
large boats, under KHyNGBERRING in person, attacked the Burmese with 


such bravery and skill, as completely to defeat them with great loss, and 


SKETCH OF ARACAN. 369 


following up the advantage, got possession of Ramree, Cheduba, and Sando- 
way, at all of which places he left a considerable force, and then returned 
to Oreatong, where he built a large stockade for the reception of his army, 
and having completely hemmed in Myngi Kuropone, by a chain of stock- 
ades round the capital, he sent a Vakil, by name Mouammep Hussary, for- 
merly Kazi and Shahbandar of Aracan, to the British Government in 
Calcutta, to solicit its countenance and aid, which were refused. Myngi 
Kuropone finding himself hard pressed for provisions, and no prospect 
of relief, resolved to attack the Mug stockade at Loungra Toungmo, to the 
southward of the fort, which he succeeded in carrying; three days after- 
wards, he attacked the Mug post at Layyamring, near to Babdong Ghat, 
and was equally successful; upon which, KuyncBErrine assembled all his 
forces near Chambalay, on the bank of the Khamong, about six cos from 
Aracan, where the Burmese attacked and defeated him with great loss, 
upon which he retreated, and shut himself up, with the remainder of his 
forces, in the stockade at Oreatong. About this time, a reinforcement of 
five thousand men arrived from Ava, via Rangoon, in war boats: on their 
reaching Sandoway, they attacked the Mug stockade, and were repulsed, 
upon which the commander, Jynepa Won, one of the former Rajas of 
Aracan, told his Surdars, if they did not carry the place next day, he would 
put them all to death. The followingmorning, at day light, they again stormed 
the place, which had, in the mean time, been reinforced by a party from 
Ramree, notwithstanding which, the Burmese succeeded in carrying it. After 
their loss of Sandoway, the Mugs left their stockades at Ramree and Che- 
duba, and took to their war boats, and gave the Burmese battle near 
‘Khiohimo, on the Ramree frontier, in which they were worsted. When 
Knynezerrine heard of this disaster, he sent all his disposable force 
to their aid, who met their defeated friends near to Mribong, about one 
day’s journey on this side of Talak, where they waited the approach of the 


victorious Burmese. Another engagement took place, in which the Mugs 


370 HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL 


were defeated with great loss, and being now quite disheartened, they dis- 
persed. KuyNGBERRING, on hearing of the discomfiture of his forces, fled 
towards Chittagong, and took refuge, with about twenty trusty follow- 
ers, on the island of Muscal where he began to form plans for attacking 
Aracan. In the month of Katshon, (May) 1174 Mug era, KuyncBrerrine 
having assembled about one thousand five hundred Mugs, again invaded 
Aracan; partly by water with twenty war boats: the rest of his force march- 
ing by land, and succeeded in surprising the Burmese post at Lawaydo, 
where they found a large depdt of grain. ‘ The Raja of Aracan, as soon as he 
heard of Kuynesrrrine’s approach, sent a Surdar, by name Naxynso, with a 
detachment of one thousand men to oppose him. ‘The Mugs gave him 
battle near to Mangdu, and were completely routed and dispersed, Kuyne- 


BERRING escaping only with seven followers. 


The Raja of Aracan supposing that Kuyneperrine’s incursions were 
connived at, assembled a large force at Mangdu, and senta Vakil to the 
officers commanding at Chitfagong, to state, that if KuyncBrErrIne and 
his followers were not given up, a war between the kingdom of Ava and the 
British Government would be the inevitable consequence. The Aun onities 
at Chittagong assured the Vakil, that Kuyncserrrne’s incursions were made 
without the knowledge or connivance of the British Government, and thus 
the matter terminated, but not to the satisfaction of the Raja of Aracan. 
Shortly after this, KuyneBerrine having collected a number of malcontents, 
commenced marauding on the plains, and was meditating another attack 
upon Aracan, but falling in with a British detachment, under Lieutenant 
Young, near Core’s Bazar, his party was dispersed : he, notwithstanding, very 
shortly managed to collect them again, and invaded Aracan with about forty 
war boats. On his arrival at the village of Majay, he was joined by the 
head man, and the greater part of the inhabitants. The Raja of Aracan im- 


mediately sent a fleet of war boats against him, and an engagement took place 


SKETCH OF ARACAN. 371 


near Majay, in which the Mugs were again worsted. After this defeat, 
KuyNneserrinc made only one more attempt to gain the sovereignty of 
Aracan: having got together about three thousand men, he took up a 
position in the Kaladyne mountains, which he strongly stockaded. | The Bur- 
mese sent a force against him, and a battle took place in which he was defeated 
with great loss: his followers deserted him, and he was put to the greatest 
shifts for the means of subsistence. After having been hunted by the Burmese 
from one fastness to another, and being quite worn out with watching and 
fatigue, he closed his eventful career in the Mayngdon,a mountain near to 


the village of Chakaria, in the Chittagong district. 


Myngi Kuropone having ruled over Aracan for eighteen years, died in the 
year of the Mug era 1175, and was succeeded by Myngi Mana Noratua, 
father-in-law of the former King of Ava. The only extraordinary event during 
his rule, is the purchase of a very large diamond in Calcutta, for the King, 
through the agency of Susan Kazi. After having held the government for 
five years, he was recalled, and Myngt Maua Kurpone appointed his suc- 
cessor, who took charge of his office in 1181. Nothing particular occurred dur- 
ing his government, excepting the exportation of a large quantity of rice to 
Rangoon, for the use of the Burmese army, then engaged inawar with the 
Yudra people. This Raja was recalled in 1183, and Myngi Maua Kurosawa 
TAaRrawyn, was appointed his successor in 1185, of the Mug era. During the 
month of Tonthalong, corresponding with August 1823, a person named 
Kouneakay, Kheouk of the village of Majay, having oppressed the Ryots, 
they complained against him to the Raja, who decided in their favor; in 
consequence of which the Kheouk left the province, and fled into the Chitta- 
gong district, turned corn dealer, and set the Raja at defiance. The Ache- 
rang at Mangdu, by name Naay, was ordered by the Raja to establish a choki 
at Shapuri, for the purpose of seizing KouncsaKay whilst navigating the 
Naf. His boat, on one occasion, happened to pass laden with rice, when Naay 

3 xX 


372 HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL 


called to him to stop, telling him that a choki had been established by the 
Burmese, and that each boat passing must pay two rupees. KouNnesakay re- 
plied, Shapuri belongs to the Company, you have no right to establish a 
choki on it, and I will not allow you to search my boat ; upon which Naay’s 
people fired into the boat, and KounesaxKay was killed: the boatmen imme- 
diately pulled over to the Chittagong side, and reported the circum- 
stance to the Thannadar, at Tek Naf, who brought the affair to the no- 
tice of the Magistrate, Mr. Ler Warner, who sent a party of Sepoys to 
take possession of the Island of Skapuri. This was immediately made known 
to the Raja of Aracan, who, after some deliberation, sent a detachment of 
five hundred men to retake it, which they did, and this originated the 
war. Previous, however, to resorting to open hostilities, negotiations were 
attempted by the British Government, to settle the differences, and define the 
frontier of the two states, but in vain; shortly after the declaration of war, 
the Burmese entered our provinces in force, and cut up a Detachment at 
Ramu, under Captain Noton, when they stockaded themselves; but as soon as 


Sir A. Campsexy took Rangoon, they were recalled for the defence of Pegu. 


Division and Population —The province of Aracan, as has been observed, 
consists of four divisions, Aracan proper, Ramree, Sandoway and Cheduba. At 
the time of the first settlement of these districts, they were found to contain, 
the first, fifty-eight villages or hamlets ; the second, twenty four; the third, seven- 
teen; and the last, ten; besides the capital of Aracan, and the town of Ramree. 


The population of Aracan and its dependancies, Ramree, Cheduba, and 


Sandoway, does not, at present, exceed a hundred thousand souls, and may be 
classed as follows : 


Mugs, six-tenths. 


Musselmans, three-tenths. Total, 100,000 souls. 
Burmese, one-tenth. § 


SKETCH OF ARACAN. 373 


The Musselman Sirdars generally speak good Hindustani, but the lower 
orders of that class, who speak a broken sort of Hindustani, are quite 
unintelligible to those who are not thoroughly acquainted with the jargon 
of the southern parts of the Chittagong district. The universal language 
of the provinces is the Mug, which, although differing in some respects 
from the Burma, particularly in pronunciation, is written and spelt in the 
same way, and with the same character. Almost every one is able to 
write, and as females are not precluded from receiving instruction, they 
are often shrewd and intelligent. The Mugs being particularly fond of 
hunting and fishing, do not make such good farmers as the Musselmans ; how- 
ever, as Banias and shop-keepers, they surpass the Bengalis in cunning, 
and, on all occasions try, and very often successfully, to overreach their cus- 
tomers: stealing is a predominant evil amongst them, yet they are not given 
to lying: when detected after the commission of any felonious act, however 
serious, they almost invariably, and with the utmost frankness, confess the 
crime, and detail with the greatest minuteness the manner in which it was 


perpetrated. 


Customs in Marriage—The Burmese follow the example of European 
nations, and court their wives: after the consent of the parents has been 
obtained, a day is fixed for the wedding, and all the relations and friends of 
the parties invited to a festival, in the bride’s father’s house. After the pre- 
liminaries of the dowry have been settled, the whole sit down to the feast ; 
the bridegroom and bride eat out of the same dish, which binds the contract, 
and they are declared to be man and wife; when the son-in-law becomes a 
member of the family, till his wife’s shyness has worn off, and she wishes to 
have a house of her own. The Mugs go through the same ceremony, with 
the exception of not having the pleasure of courting. The young folks are 
not allowed to think of marriage, unless the match be arranged by the 


parents. 


B74: HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL 


Should the husband wish to separate from his wife, against her will and 
inclination, he must give up all the property, and take upon him all her 
debts, and quit the house with nothing on but his dhotz, but should the 
wife wish for a divorce, she has only to summon her husband before the 
Magistrate, and tender to him twenty-five rupees, which, by their law, he must 
accept, and the release is effected, by the wife breaking a pén leaf in two, 
eating one half herself, and giving the other to her husband: should they have 
any children, they are divided according to their sexes, the father obtaining 
the boys, and the mother the girls: should man and wife separate by mutual 


consent, the property is equally divided, and both are at liberty to remarry. 


Slavery.—Amongst the Burmese and Mugs, slavery is tolerated in all 
shapes. Slaves brought from the Khyengs, ox hill people, cannot redeem them- 
selves by money, without the consent of the owners; every other species 


of slave has the privilege of ransom. 


It is acommon custom amongst the lower orders, when a man wants 
money, to pawn his wife for a certain period, or until the debt be liquidated ; 
should the woman become pregnant whilst in pawn, the debt is rendered 
null and void, and the husband can reclaim his wife, and if he choose take 
the child also, and a fine of sixty rupees from the father: such practices are 
shocking to the civilized mind, but the barbarous and dissolute habits of 
these people, reconcile to them all sorts of prostitution and vice: a woman 
loses nothing of reputation by the frequent change of her husband, and is as 


much respected by the community generally, as those who continue constant, 


The Burmese and Mug women having equal liberty with the men, 
are fond of dress, and appearing in public: the dress worn by the wo- 
men, consists of a red binder, wrapt tightly round the bosom, over which 


a robe comes down as far as the knee: the lower garment, or what ought to 


SKETCH OF ARACAN. 375 


be a petticoat, is an oblong piece of cloth, only sufficiently wide to meet and 
fasten in one side of the waist, so that every step a fashionable female takes, 
exposes one limb completely : they are, however, not backward in shewing 
their shapes and well-formed persons to the best advantage, always taking care 
to conceal as much as possible the appearance of the feet. 

Funeral Ceremonies.—The Mugs have no prescribed form for disposing 
of the dead: some burn the bodies, others bury them: the coffins of the 
wealthy are richly gilt, and made inthe shape of asarcophagus. The chief 
priests and men in power are generally embalmed, and their bodies preserved 
for many years : the method of cleaning the intestines is by quick silver: mu- 
sic and dancing take place at the funerals of those whose friends can afford to 
pay for the entertainment, and although the people are, by their sastras, pro- 
hibited from the use of liquor on any occasion, it often happens, that a fune- 


ral is the scene of dissipation and riot. 


The musicians are all registered, and placed under a Sirdar, styled by the 
Rajah, Sancipo Saway, and no one can procure a set without an applica- 
tion to him, who charges according to the number of instruments: the 
Sancfpo SAWAY pays a considerable sum, annually, to the Raja, for this pri- 


vilege. 


Import and Export Duties ——The Custom House was at Aracan, which 
had five detached chokis, established at the following places, one at Rala, 
one at Pikheon, one at Oreatong, one at Mingbra, and another at Lanri 
Kheon. When boats or vessels arrived at Oreatong, which was the chief 
choki, and not farmed out, the Darogah, after taking an inventory of the 
cargo, put a Peon on board to conduct the vessel to the Custom House, 
where duties were levied, in kind, at the rate of ten per cent., unless a pecuni- 
ary arrangement had been entered into, which was not an uncommon custom. 

3 Y 


376 HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL 


All the other chokis were leased out yearly, but the rent paid every six 
months: the revenue realized from Import and Export. Duties may be 


averaged at fifty thousand rupees per annum. 


Ferries—There were five public Ferries in the Province, one at Tek 
Naf, one at Chiikadong, alias Babadong Ghat, one at Lengrakkado, one at 


Mongbomay, and one at Radong Nyongbong Kado, which were all farmed out. 


The revenue derived from the Ferries, amounted to about Sicca Rupees 


four hundred per annum. 


The seventeen large Nullahs viz, the Kaladyne, Uskalyng, Namada, 
Belyn Kheon, Mi Kheon, Temma Kheon, Yan Kheon, Anik Yan Kheon, 
Trendan Kheon, Murasay Kheon, Limrti Kheon, Pymarang Kheon, Ashay Lim- 
ru Kheon, Taraway Kheon, Jong Kheon, Talak Kheon and Yuanaway Kheon, 
were also farmed out, with the privilege of a monopoly of all the bees’ wax, 
timber, tobacco, cotton, and bamboos, grown on the hills, and also of the 
Pijiing, a sort of twilled cloth made by the hill people, and much prized by 
the inhabitants of the plains. 


The revenue derived from this source, averaged about Sicca Rupees 


eight thousand per annum. 


Mint.—The Mint was in Avacan, and any person was allowed to take bul- 
lion. to it, for the purpose of being coined, paying five per cent to the state: 
the process of coining was very tedious; the silver, after being melted, was cut 
into small pieces, then weighed. and beat out to the proper size: the coin was 
then placed between two dyes, and with a few strokes of a heavy hammer, the 
impression was effected : when the whole of the establishment was employed, 


they could with difficulty make two thousand rupees per day. » 


SKETCH OF ARACAN. 377 


Land Revenue.—It appears, that the only land assessed, was that on 
which sugar cane, hemp, indigo, onions, garlic and turmeric were grown: 
the annual tax upon a piece of land, one hundred and fifty feet square, sown 
with sugar cane or indigo, was two rupees, and one rupee for hemp on the 
same measurement: onions, garlic, and turmeric, on a slip of ground, one 
hundred and fifty long by three feet wide, paid eight annas. Revenue on 
the produce generally was levied at one uniform rate throughout the king- 
dom; every plough drawn by buffaloes was assessed at ten Jayngs, but ploughs 
drawn by bullocks paid only ten ¢anyngs annually. The average number of 


ploughs employed annually, amounted to about three thousand. 


Fisheries.—¥or the privilege of using or fishing in the tanks or fresh water 
lakes, two rupees were annually exacted from every thirty houses ; nets used 
in the rivers, were assessed according to their size, averaging from two to 
» ten rupees each per annum ; where stakes were used, the taxation was regu- 
lated according to the nature of the bank, and the distance staked in: the 
revenue derived from the fisheries, amounted to about two thousand rupees 


annually. 


Productions.—Teak timber is to be had in the hills, at the source of the 
Kaladyne and Murasay rivers, but the difficulty in bringing it down to the 
plains, so much enhances the price, that it is found a cheaper plan to import 


it from Rangoon and Laymeana, in the district of Bassein. 


The Garjan tree called Kanyeng, red Jarul, and Tin, abound on the 
banks of the Naf and Meyd, near the foot of the mountains. 


The pine apples and plantains of this Province are, perhaps, the finest 
flavored in the world, and procurable in the greatest abundance. Mangoes, 


jack fruit, sweet limes, and cocoa-nuts, are also abundant; but oranges are 


378 HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL 


scarce, Bhangans, red pepper, cucumbers, water melons, Papeyas, and Raktdlus, 


are very plentiful. 


Sugar-cane grows most luxuriantly, and might be cultivated to a great 


extent. 


The indigo plant is as rich and flourishing as any in Bengal, but the art of 
manufacturing it is unknown to the inhabitants, and, consequently, the culti- 
vation of the plant is almost entirely neglected. Oil from the 77 plant, is pro- 
duced in considerable quantities in the plains, but mustard-seed oil, is chiefly 


used. Cotton and tobacco are cultivated on the banks of the hill streams. 


The staple articles of produce are rice and salt. In plentiful seasons, 
rice used to sell for three Mug rupees the hundred arries, or thirty maunds, 


and the latter from fifteen to eighteen arries. 


The cultivation of rice may be carried to any extent, and as the 
population increases, will be extended, and tend not only to render the 
climate and country more healthy, but, becoming an article of great trade, 


will encrease the revenue considerably. 


Black Pepper grows wild at deng and Sandoway, and if cultivated, might 
beeome an article of trade, and yield a handsome revenue to Government. 


Lime-stone is to be had in abundance on the islands of Ramree, Cheduba 
and Jaggu, and as the soil of the country answers for brick-making, there 
will be no difficulty in introducing brick-buildings into these provinces ; 
during the rule of the Mugs and Burmese, no one was allowed to build 
brick or stone houses, those materials being appropriated solely for the con- 


struction of temples and the repair of fortifications: all the houses were 


SKETCH OF ARACAN. 379 


of wood, and no Surdar could build one that did not correspond with his 
rank, the plan of which was, in the first instance, submitted for the approval of 


the Prince. 


Gold dust and Silver, in grains, are found in the nullahs at Bassein : all 
those employed in gathering the precious metals pay each twelve rupees in 
gold, for the privilege, as no one is allowed to collect the dust without a pur- 
wannah from the King. The process is managed by a tray, about half an inch 
deep, which is filled with sand, and taken into the stream, where the sand is 


moved about, and carried away by the water, the metals remaining at the bottom. 


The soil of Cheduba is well adapted for the cultivation of Cotton, which 
may be introduced with advantage. Sandoway, Aeng, and various parts of 
the province of Aracan, appear favourable for the cultivation of Coffee, 
and I would recommend the immediate introduction of the plant into 
these provinces: the land-holders are very desirous to improve and add to 
the productions of the country, and ought to meet with every encourage- 
ment : if a nursery, on a small scale, under an experienced superintendent, 
was established to rear the Coffee plant, I have no doubt the experiment 


would prove successful. 


The land revenue of Aracan and its dependancies, for the first five years, 
may be estimated at ...... -..... Rupees 150,000 per annum. 
Import and export duties at ...... sss. 50,000 
Gourtdees and fines ab 7 oe. le woo 20,000 


Total, ... ... Sa. Rs. 220,000 per annum, exclusive of 
what may be derived from the manufacture of Salt, and the sale of Opium. 
After that period, there is every reason to hope the resources will be more 


considerable. 
32 


380 HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL 


Chronological Table of the Rajas of Aracan down to the Conquest of ‘the 
Burmese. 


z A 
ad & 
No. Names. ie 5 No. iNtaaiegs Mug BS S 
Ss Era. | “8 
— = s 
A. D. 
1 | Chanda Sorea Gota, . 63} 7Ol 58 | Alowa Nasri oat 
2 Ss oe. wee 2 aC : asru, oes vee 607 1245 
gel oeeecicueaas a es ot es en PS Brome akeh dao one 615 | 1253 
5 | Moila Tyn elena at Po celee Bee Ae hes ey ASU, secs) eset | mices 623 | 1261 
6 BulealCHanda, a se ee See Aon ae Nynk : at, ove eee tee 630 | 1268 
7 | Kala Chand ha "+ 3i7 | 95 eagitt, wd OL. ESSA C1271 
8 Thala Chan a a oes oe ae e Manik “Phalong, Qos cee) Meeceyl eG oaleleD 
9 | Sorea Chanda, 2d, ce 368 | 1006 66 Manik J) ies telnet ie GOH) ee 
10 Sikhi Raja, ) as ie: e 384 1022 67 Vian Gis eve eee = ave | 746 1284 
11 ' Thala Chanda, 2d 387 | 1025 68 JADA fF pices ehse 749 | 1287 
lel Avira hele ac Teele atest aieo: Soe vos ose | 752>| 1290 
13 | Bay Ba Wan, pas 163 we o Synjaw al Manik, Be aa 757 | 1295 
a i eancarsdene See i S gon ae f nae Las, Ist. one ose 758 | 1296 
15 Namong Tadone Fs 4.38 1076 792 p/h telah cee mien eee 760 1298 
16 Kadu ae ae rie i nie Wel ae Atle Las, 2d. eee cece ove 762 1300 
17 | Chanda eas Pet, a 446 i087 Tals pence Las, +O aes 766 | 1304 
18 | Manik Rangiré,” A249 | t007 |) 7 Le bah PEC] Elgg 3'1 306 
20 Siri d ee ae as a6 Ali Khang, 
22 | Nanidit Frigi, a | 470 | 1108 | 79 | Mant “+ | 856 | 1494 
95 MGhanoel tates eae oe Manikra Bong, 6 months, ove 
24 | Nanik Fragitf, | 476 | 1114 || 81 Manik Rane pimaliseec Daath fea 
25 | Manik San, Ist 479 | 1117 anix Iaja, . .. oes < 885 | 1523 
26 | Manik Kala iol a es re ue eS Kora Buddee, pat eee 887 | 1525 
27 | Manik Phalong Ist. uy x 485 1123 84. Manik Chawagiri, 6 months, 
So tec anes a EES EES este aes a nae eee ae 00 oop 893 | 1531 
29 | Manik San, 2d. ae pes eee aie eee 914 | 1552 
30 | Manik Zadi, fo Set) (402 i|' 1180 iiiges| geen a pete netty) eligi ley lees 
31 | Leyya 2 7 | Name not known, «. «| 933 | 1572 
Bau Mesa Santo) lee 498 | 1186 | 88 | Manik Chukeea, 
Qc ee Rajoiei hae aa ae Re &9 Manik Phatak, aes ek 955 | 1593 
34 | Leyya Wyngiri, Ist. eo 510 | 1148 a nents Reser) iets -- | 975 | 1613 
35 Leyra Wapeti ° ; 520) 1] ry Wara Thyn, eS ose eee 984 1622 
36%[akgwalentanth alt uel cares 58 | 92) Stari Sa Thyn, ist... s | 1000 | 1638 
Sale , ae see) valess 530 1168 93 | Mangjani, 28days,  , 4 
a5 Antake, tie hae eee Died hepIceR | ae ca ee aa ee eee 
39 ) Manik Fatekja oa, ae 549 1187 i Sadu Thyn, 2. Jere idee 11022 M1660 
40 | Myng Jakar,... on fan Or sie ean ee erect Gm DE erro NOG) | IC 
41 | Kyngtha Raba, oh fae 1189 | 97 | Siri Lao Thyn, 2d... +» | 1047 | 1685 
42 ; Chalang Bisst, ae ae 99 Mani Sree se oe ove | 1054 | 1692 
#3 | Bit San | Guo | gt | 1208 | 100 | sad Wong, $v» | 1058 | 2600 
S eco eee 6 Q 
45 | Tabu Khyng, ts iar is 1 : Tasong, en alent econ TOS aL GGG; 
46 | Naku Kun n74 | 1215 Kala Mayta, .. «. es | 1062 | 1700 
47 | “Nachao ? oes DOB O0G rile oie 103 Narati Po, &s O00 a Liee 
48 We ciaeat San, pane ue Pan oe tee a ; ee ee ooo 1068 1706 
49 Manik Konakgiri, ae 2m 581 1219 106 Kane Rai a, 60 ceo ooo 1072 1710 
50 | Manik Kunki, ve we | 582 | 1220 |] 107 Sanya Brags. | ge tga ene aaa 
51 | Khynfa Laung-giri, ...  ..- bs Se Les : oe eee | 1095 | 1733 
bo: | Khigntadioune nig tel asta Pe, ipee laes Norati Badd, se ew ae | 1096 | 1734 
53 | Leyya Wyngiri 589 | 1227 ara Pawa, — .. se one | 1097 | 1735 
54 Leyya Wrneni ; ey, ee ae 110 | Ujala, 6 months, ove aes 
5 ey) TEM ove ves 599 | 1237 |) 111 | Kala,3 days, .. ... 
5 | Sana Phanfrt oe 600 | 1238 ¢ sine eee 
56 | Nanaja 2 : wee es pendares ane: oe oo | 1104 | 1742 
rv | Nita Tone ¢ cach sixmonths, 601 | 123 ‘ bhaya oes Rose ae 5 
of | Nita Laung, 5 , 2s Lee yo el ee 


SKETCH OF ARACAN. 381 


e | ~ 
Mug |S 8 Mug Ss 
6 T7 ~~ ~ 
No. Names. Fes = S No. Names. Era, \2 5 
S 8 
A. D. A. D. 
115 | Puraman, eee ee one | 1126 | 1764 Anonk Phektikwon, ... .. | 1152 | 1790 


Mong Pasi, ... see, ress fh MSS Pil 
Jyngdawon, ... seo ee | SD, OS 
Myngla Raja eee) ese) s 
Myngi Kheodong ses) fess § 
Myngi Maha Noratha ... ... | 1180 | 1818 
Myngi Maha Khidong, .. ... i 
Myngi Maha Kheojawa 
fern ees { 1186 | 1824 


116 | Maharaja, ces soe ere kool NS | 
117 1 Seamana,... S00 ret LNSS! MAN, 
118 | Phdari, forty days, ... o. 

1i9 | Thyn Mori, see ooe | 1144 | 1782 
120 | Samada, en aes oo | 1146 | 1784 


Governors of Aracan, under 
the Burmah Government. 


i | Nanda Bagyan, oce ove | 1149 | 1787 


© ONAL 0 


| 


382 ON THE ZEHR MOHEREHR, 


IX. 


ON THE 


ZE HR MO 2 beR ho, 


OR SNAKE STONE. 


By CAPTAIN J. D. HERBERT. 


In the 13th Volume of the Transactions of the Asiatic Society, is a paper, 
giving the results of an Analytical Examination of what are called Snake 
Stones, by Dr. Davy. The author has not stated by what appellation those 
which he examined were distinguished, but from the remarks appended by the 
Secretary, it is presumed that they are, if not identical, yet to be classed with 
the Bezoar of Europe, or what is more commonly in India known as the Zehr 
Mohereh, or Poison Stone. The Zehr Mohereh is stated, in the appended 
remarks, to be of two different kinds, the one of animal, the other of mineral 
origin. The former are supposed to be calculous concretions formed within 
the stomach or intestines of an animal, and are of rather various composition. 
M. Vauquelin analysed several, and there is a short account of his results un- 
der the article Bezoar, in Ure’s Chemical Dictionary. ‘The Bezoar is of a 
concentric lamellar structure, as might be expected from the manner in which 
it is formed. ‘The Mineral Bezoar is stated, in the above paper, to be of simi- 


lar structure and appearance, only differing in its origin. 


OR SNAKE STONE. 388 


Having obtained, from three different sources, several specimens of the 
mineralvariety, for the distinction is familiar to those who sell these stones, 
I have thrown together the following particulars, the result of a cursory and 


somewhat hasty examination of them. 


It is to be regretted that Dr. Davy omitted stating the specific gravity 
of those he examined. ‘The determination of the specific gravity affords one 
of the easiest, and I may say most certain methods, of recognising substances 
possessing any thing like definite composition. ‘The importance of the cha- 
racter for discrimination begins to be generally acknowledged, and it is from 
a failure in noting this, and otherequally obvious particulars, that many of our 
published analyses cannot, with certainty, be referred to the substance operated 
on. An examination of the specific gravity of the several specimens which 
I possess of this production, has satisfied me, that more than one substance is 
sold, and passess current asa mineral Bezoar. My collection contains at least 


two marked varieties, which I shall endeavour to discriminate as follows. 


No. 1. Obtained through the kindness of G. W. Trail, Esq., Commis- 
sioner in our Northern Mountains, from the people of Jowahir, who say that 
it is found with detritus, in a cave or natural quarry, in the road, leading into 
the valley of the Setlg. It is stated to be procurable in sufficient quantity. 


These specimens offer the following characters. 


The specific gravity is 2-31, the hardness 3. It is in smooth flat 
pieces of middling size, two and half inches by one. ‘These have the 
surface varied by conchoidal depressions, or hollows. Other pieces are of an 
irregularly ellipsoidal figure, though I have since had reason to believe, that 
these are, in reality, a distinct substance. The former are, externally, of an 
olive green color, and have a waxy lustre, being polished by frequent attrition, 
when worn, as they are used to be, round the neck asacharm. Internally, 

4A 


384 ON THE ZEHR MOHEREH, 


they are dull, of a greenish grey color, fine earthy composition approaching to 
impalpable, but nothing, in the most distant degree, resembling the lamellar 
structure is to be detected. The fracture is perfect conchoidal. It is not, 
however, obtained without difficulty, and the parts separate suddenly without 
giving fragments. The character is quite peculiar to this substance. The 
edges of the fracture, though sharp to the eye, feel quite smooth. The smell 
is peculiar, and I may say indescribable. It is partly earthy, but this term alone 
does not convey an adequate idea of it. Acids appear scarcely to have any ef- 
fect, even when the powdered mineral is digested with them. Some iron, 
however, is evidently taken up, as the solution, tested with Prussiate of Potassa, 


assumes immediately a blue color. 


Before the Blow, Pipe it is infusible : when first exposed to its action, it 
blackens, but the black color is dissipated by a continuance of the heat, and is 
succeeded by a light buff, something similar to that of Wedgewood’s ware. 
In this operation it loses-its peculiar smell. If the heat be continued, the 
edges assume a white ashy appearance, but undergo no further change. 
With Borax, on the wire, it fuses with considerable intumescence, and imparts 
to the salt an illdefined, dirty, green color. With Soda, it fuses into a hard 
brittle scoriaceous mass—with an increased dose, it forms an opaque bead, hav- 


ing a dirty yellow or light brownish tinge. The bead gelatinises with acids. 


Leisure was wanting for a regular analysis, which, however, I propose 
hereafter making. The above is quite sufficient to shew that it is perfectly 
distinct from those examined by Dr. Davy. Like them, however, it would 
appear to contain some Animal or Vegetable matter, at least if weare tojudge. 
by the transient black color, which it assumes under the Blow Pipe. It ap- 
pears also to contain Protoxide of Iron, but by far the greatest proportion 
of its substance must consist of Silica. It is unnecessary to say, that the 


above characters equally separate it from every known Mineral substance. 


OR SNAKE STONE. 385 


No. 2, was purchased in the Bazar of Nujeebabad, and No. 3, which 
I class with it, from an itinerant dealer at Haridwar. They are irregular pieces, 
apparently broken from a larger mass. The first has a specific gravity of 
2-58, hardness 3-5; the latter, a specific gravity of 2-68, with a hardness 4. 
They have both that unctuous aspect which is discriminative of Magnesian 
Stones. ‘The fracture is imperfect conchoidal, sometimes unevenor irregular. 
The only difference between them, besides that of specific gravity, is in color. 
The latter is of a bright greenish yellow, including to Sulphur yellow, the 


other a dull or oil green. 


There appears to be little doubt, in considering the above description, 
that these specimens are Serpentine, the specific gravity of which is given 
by Professor Mohs, as 2-5 to 2-6 and hardness 3. Much uncertainty has 
hitherto prevailed as to the realcharacter of this rock, and many very different 
substances have been confounded under this term. So great has been the 
latitude in consequence given to the characters, that many Mineralogists have 
doubted whether there be a distinct Mineral species entitled to this name, 
or whether it be not always, as it certainly is very often, a compound Rock. 
The whole natural order of Magnesian Minerals is, even yet, in great confu- 
sion ; but the precision which has been introduced into this Science by Pro- 
fessor Mohs, and the admirable artificial arrangement proposed by him, bid 
fair to throw a general and strong light on this, and other obscure parts of 


this interesting Science. 


We see in the remarks by the Secretary appended to the paper before 
mentioned, that the Bezoarhas been called Piérre de Serpent, Pedra del 
Serpente, and Snake Stone. It is equally clear, that the Mineral called Ser- 
pentine is frequently sold for the Bezoar, and supposed to possess all its 
virtues. The origin of the term Serpentine, has never been satisfactorily 


accounted for. It has been said to owe its name to the resemblance which 


386 ON THE ZEHR MOHEREH, X&c. 


its color and spotted delineations bear to those of a Snake’s skin; but there 
is not, in reality, the slightest resemblance to justify such a derivation. In 
fact, it has been taken for granted, that the Modern Serpentine is the same 
as Pliny’s Ophites, whereas it seems much more probable, that the latter term 
was applied to that rock which is the green Porphyry of the Moderns. May 
it not, in reality, have derived its name from having originally appeared in 
Europe as the Mineral type of the Snake Stone, Lapis Serpentis, whence other 
Stones resembling it, obtained also the same name. 


I may observe, that the Stones which have formed the subject of this 
communication, were termed Zehr Mohereh, corrupted into Jarmor, by those 
who were ignorant of the learned languages. They were considered, from 
the people from whom they were obtained, to possess mysterious virtues, and 
particularly to furnish an Antidote to Poison. They are sold by weight, and 
the price is very high. 


X. 


NOTICE 


OF THE OCCURRENCE 


OF 


C QO ALL,» AONeD. Lol GoNvL-TsE 


IN THE 


ENE Agel, ALY A. 
By LIEUTENANT CAUTLEY. 


To the Secretary of the Asiatic Society. 


Sir,—Near the small village of Sildn?, in the lowest range of mountains 
westward of the Karda Valley, about four miles from the point here the 
river Choura Pani opens into the plains, a Geological exposé of some import- 
ance has been developed by the slipping of the right bank of the Jajar Nadi, 
(which, at the point of fracture, rises from '70 to 80 feet) into the bed of the 
stream. In a series of alternations of indurated clays, and white micaceous 
sand-stone, seams of coal, varying from 4 to 24 or 3 inches in breadth, are a 
prominent feature; their general position being at an angle of 80°, or there- 
abouts, though frequently interrupted by partial slips and sinkings of superin- 
cumbent and contiguous strata, which, together with their extreme minuteness, 
gives the seams more the appearance of a venous, than an alternating structure. 

4 3B 


385 COAL AND LIGNITE 


A stratum of a tenacious blue* clay, alternating with this micaceous 
sand-stone, appears to develope the greatest deposit of the above mineral, 
‘although the distribution of it throughout the bank is by no means confined to 
this particular spot, a similar deposit taking place about 200 yards lower 
down the stream, in the total absence of the blue clay, where the white sand- 
stone, of an extremely friable quality, is perforated with (to all appearance) 
veins of coal, having in its immediate contact a distribution of light earth, 


highly impregnated with native Sulphur. 


From its appearance and mineral feature, I should class it in that variety 
which exists in the transition from common brown to pitch coal, a classifica- 
tion authorized by its alluvial position, &c. although the casual observation 
made by myself, urges me to confess, that the remark is made with consi- 
derable diffidence. 

Color, velvet black, lustre resinous; principal fracture in the small fi- 
brous, great, slaty ; cross fracture smooth, and even in the friable speci- 
mens ; in the large perfectly conchoidal; brittle and easily frangible, break- 
ing into splintery, rhomboidal, or trapezoidal fragments; specific gravity 
1.34; Burns slowly with a Bituminous (and in those parts which have been 
in contact with the white sand-stone a highly Sulphureous) odour; when 


# «Shale clay,’ Color denominated green bice verging to blue; texture foliated, unctuous and 


greasy feel. Breaks down by exposure to weather in rhomboidal, and irregular four-cornered pieces, 
adheres to the tongue, and plastic. 


The stratum above mentioned had been partly excavated by the village people, who use it, as I 
was informed, in cleaning the floors and walls of their huts after solution in water. 


Another species of indurated clay, or rather Shale, into which it passes, of a reddish color, and 
unctuous and greasy feel, containing imbedded nodules of the above blue clay, forms a great por- 


portion of the bank. The coal deposits, however, appear to be solely in alternation and junction with 
the blue clay, and white micaceous sand-stone. 


IN THE HIMALAYA. 389 


ignited in open fire, it leaves behind a residue of a reddish brown color ; 
does not soil with the touch ; contains minute crystals of Pyrites. The ge- 
neral structure appears to consist of thin lamina parallel to the line of seam, 
jointed. 


It is a matter of little doubt, that an excavation at the point where these 
seams have been discovered would produce a result highly satisfactory in 
the exposure of a greater deposit ; as itis a circumstance not to be passed. 
over, and well known to Geologists, that the presence of Shale, or the tena» 
cious blue clay into which it decomposes, is supposed to be the strongest indi- 
cation of the existence of a coal formation in its vicinity ; and Aiken, in making 


the above remark, concludes: 


** There are few situations in which this shale or clay occurs, where an 
** accurate search will not discover detached fragments of coal, and often the 
** crop or outburst of the seam itself; and even should these be wanting, it 
*« will be well worth while to employ the borer, and pierce through the shale ; 
“ immediately beneath which a seam will be found, if it belongs to the coal 


‘s formation.” 


To the Secretary of the Asiatic Society. 


Srr,—In continuation of the paper, which I had the honor of presenting 
relative to the appearance of coal in the Jajar Nadi, it is necessary for me 
to observe, that although the mineral, of which specimens are presented, 
bears undoubtedly the character of coal in a mineral sense, and as a speci- 
men, may be admitted as such into a cabinet, there may be doubts whether, 
geologically speaking, its position, and the formation in which it has been 
discovered, would entitle it to a higher rank amongst the Bituminous 
minerals, than the intermediate grade between coal and peat, or a Ligneous 


deposite under various degress of Bituminization. 


390 ; COAL AND LIGNITE 


The presence of marine remains, which is supposed to be an essential 
distinction between the Lignite and Coal series, would leave but little doubt 
of the classification of the mineral in question: unfortunately, a very strict 
search has not discovered organic remains of any description: in conformity 
therefore to the experience of others, and particularly of Mr. McCulloch, 
who remarks, that marine remains occur in adi the Lignites, I decline giving an 
opinion on a subject intricate in itself, and upon which so much uncertainty 


prevails even amongst the first Geologists. 


The certainty of this mineral being coal, is rendered also less clear, 
from a further discovery of a carboniferous deposit in the same range of 
hills; in the proximity of similar rock formations; and in the presence, 
of a variety of the blue clay or shale, described in my last notice, which 
bears so decidedly the character of a Ligneous deposit, from the abso- 
lute exposure of trunks or roots of trees in a state more or less Bituminized, 
as to leave little doubt in my mind, that the venous appearance of the 
seams at Silani, which I did not satisfactorily account for at the time, 
was nothing further than the appearance natural to the ramification of minute 
branches or roots of trees ;* more particularly, as the extreme high angle 
at which they were placed, together with the irregularity that prevailed 
in their position, would make it difficult to reconcile the arrangement with the 
outcrop of regular seams of coal: allowing, therefore, the possibility of an 
excavation discovering a coal series at this point, we may with safety refer 
the mineral found, either to Lignite itself, as defined by McCulloch, and 
with which it agrees in every respect, with the exception of the proximity 
of marine remains; or to some of the intermediate grades existing before 


the approach to coal. 


* Coal pipes, English Mines. 


IN THE HIMALAYA. $91 


'-’ "That thesehills contain abundance of this matter is evident, and although 
in my visits to a number of the Ghats or passes, I have only discovered three 
deposits, viz. one at Stlani, andtwo in the Kalawala Pass, eastward of the Jumna 
river, of which I hereafter make mention, I find so little difference in the 
rock, which constitutes the formation, and so much of the blue, red, and 
purplish clays and shales throughout the whole line, that a search more strict 
than my time or duties will allow, would, I am convinced, enable me to 
place these carboniferous strata amongst the general formations of the lower 


ranges. 


Without entering into a detailed Geological Survey, it may be necessary, 
in elucidation of the present subject, to state, that these hills consist entirely 
of clays, sand-stones, and diluvial beds of various thickness, alternating one 
with the other without any appearance of regularity, inclining to the horizon 
at an angle of from 20 to 35° N. E. ‘The sand-stone, more or less micaceous, 
occasionally abounding in white mica to such a degree as to modify the 
appearance of the rock, and as frequently bearing in its composition minute 
specks of black mica alone, varies from extreme pliablity, to a compact- 
ness, which, together with its slaty character, adapts it to use in build- 
ings. It alternates, as I before remarked, with clays of various colours, 
and of various consistency, and also contains imbedded nodules of these 
clays from the size oF a pea to a foot in diameter. The color, indeed, of 
the sand-stone, appears to be in a measure dependant on that of its adjoining 
stratum of clay, which frequently gives a consistency of extreme toughness 
when in connection, terminated by a conglomerate of clay, sand-stone, and 
frequently carbonate of lime, entangled in a confused mass. ‘This conglome- 
rate appears to be a leading feature throughout, appearing in distinct strata 
of variable thickness, and from the adhesive qualities imparted by the clay, in 
projecting points and abutments to the stream, where the sand-stone, unable 
to withstand the continued attrition, has been removed entirely. 

4c 


COAL AND LIGNITE 


ws) 
ie) 
cS) 


The cement of this sand-stone may be considered as argilloferuginous, 
though, from the intimate mixture of calcareous matter that partially takes 
place, it effervesces with acids in a greater or less degree. In the white and light 
colored varieties, carbonate of lime appears to be the sole cementing ingre- 
dients, and throughout the whole of the formation, although partially admitted, 
calcareous matter may be considered as a general accompaniment. The 
springs from this cause, carry a quantity of lime in solution, sufficient to give 
a coating to the rocks over which they pass, as well as to form considerable 
deposites of Tuffa, though not in sufficient abundance, to form masses capable 
of being turned to account in lime burning. I have in my possession, speci- 


mens of Stalactites formed by these springs. 


The enormous strata of diluvial gravel, rising at an angle of from 20 to 
35 degrees, which add a feature to these hills of such great interest, are, in 
many parts, by the intervention of the calcareous ingredients, formed into a 
solid conglomerate, cemented by the chastest and purest lime. In conclu- 
sion, I cannot pass over a singular decomposition that takes place in these 
gravel beds; Boulders of the hardest and most compact rocks, amongst which 
I may enumerate granite, gneiss, mica slate, hornblende schist and green-stone, 
being reduced to a perfect state of friability by the decomposition of the fels- 
par: a point upon which the limits of my letter will not allow me to enter, and 
which, therefore, is left to be described by those of greater experience and re- 


search. 


Having given a cursory description of the formation itself, I now 
come to the first position, in which the carboniferous matter was found at 
the Kalawala Pass: the second, was found at some distance in the same 
line of hill, containing branches and roots much less bituminized, and 
more clearly defined in the impression of vegetable- remains than the 


former. 


IN THE HIMALAYA. 393 


The deposit consists of a stratum of loose arenaceous sand-stone, varying 
in color from white, which is generally in contact with the mineral, to 
various shades of red and yellow. The Lignite (by which name I shall call 
the substance in question) appearing in horizontal layers, frequently Corie 
torted, varying from minute threads to the thickness of one and two inches. 
At other places, transverse sections of trunks of trees, evidently flattened by 
a vast pressure, and the interior of which has been displaced by the ingredi- 
ents of which the stratum is formed, are scattered indiscriminately : the 
state of carbonization to which they have arrived is various, some specimens 
of a reddish hue, appear as if half charred, soiling the fingers with an ochry 
powder, and of a texture hard and tough; whilst others, brittle, and giving 
way on exposure, present an appearance altogether similar to a coal deposit. 
To describe the appearance of this stratum, I can compare it with great cor- 
rectness to the variegated mixture of color of a Tiger’s hide, the stratum itself 
posessing a color precisely corresponding with the whitish red, while the 
position of the Lignite completes the resemblance in the addition of the 


black stripes. 


This stratum lies between two others of conglomerate formed of clay and 
the calcareous sand-stone, of a quality extremely tough, under which is the 
blue clay, much inclined in position to the adjoining strata, which stratum is 
about a foot in depth, of a blue slaty colour, and globular concretionary 
structure, effervescing strongly with acids, and crumbling to pieces on ex- 
posure: the inferior strata consist entirely of a bluish sand-stone which ter- 
minates the section to the bed of the river. From the general inclination 
of the strata throughout these hills, it may be inferred, that an angle from 


20 to 30 N. E. is the actual dip longitudinally. 


In drawing a comparison between this and the coal at Silini, indepen- 


pendant of the difference in position, and contiguity of the blue clay with the 


894 COAL AND LIGNITE 


coal, it may be remarked, that a very material difference exists, which may be 
considered as favorable to the latter being admitted as a member of the coal 
series. The Sildni coal, although equally brittle at parts, comes out in masses, 
giving a large conchoidal fracture, is accompanied by Pyrites, as well as na- 
tive sulphur, the result of its decomposition, circumstances not met with in 
the present deposits. ‘The former may be accounted for, by the Kalawala not 
having arrived at that state of bituminization, which characterises that at Silani ; 
but the latter, if it proves to be the case, that sulphur is totally absent at Ka- 
lawala, is an indication upon which we may forma very warrantable decision 
on its approximation and dependence on the Lignite family. The only doubt 
therefore that arises is, in the classification of the Szlani mineral: that at the 
Kalawala Pass bears so decidedly the character of a submerged deposit of ve- 
getable remains, bounded by the limits of its own peculiar stratum, that it 
may be placed with those carboniferous substances so frequently met with 
in diluvial beds, and the secondary sand-stones. From a point above the yellow 
stratum, in which a mixture of conglomerate had taken place, I extracted a 
specimen of a branch of a tree, the charring of which was so trivial, as to 
give it the appearance of a petrefaction: the diameter of the branch was 
about an inch; but the discovery of this alone, even had there been doubts 
before of the family to which it was allied, would, I conceive, have removed 
all difficulties on the subject. Throughout the whole, however, it may be 
observed, that the outer coating of the wood appears to have been the 
only part that has undergone the chemical change, the interior being in 
almost every instance replaced by the sand-stone or the rock in which it ig 
imbedded. 


The Second deposit at the Kalawala Pass, corresponds so closely with the 
description already given of the preceding, that it would merely be a repeti- 
tion were I to enter into the details: ‘The sand-stone, however, in which it is 


imbedded is of a bright yellow color arising from the same source, as the 


IN THE HIMALAYA. $95 


coloring principle, throughout the formation, which appears to be oxid of 


Iron, as the presence of Sulpur could not be detected.” 


In writing this notice, my object is to give local information alone, with- 
out any intention of entering into theoretical detail, or pronouncing an 
opinion on the origin of this stratum, or of the inclined position of the strata 
of gravel, which form such an extraordinary and unaccountable feature of 
these Hills: both of these subjects are worthy of a better pen, and I feel 
unequal to attempt such a description as would merit the notice of the 


Society. 


~The sand-stone formation, which extends from the entrance into the Hills 
to the clay slate that skirts the valleys of Dehra and Karda, and con: 
stitutes the mountain of that range, on which stands the Fort of Jytek, ob- 
tains in its proximity to the clay slate, a highly argillaceous aspect, as’ well 
as 4 tenacity adapting it to use in building, and to architectural purposes 
generally ; its structure, moreover, depending on the smaller portion of the 
Mica, admits of its being easily worked, and formed into blocks of any thick- 
ness. A purplish and greenish color distinguishes the sand-stone in the 
Nahn and Jytek vicinity, from that of the lower ranges, as well as the pre- 
sence of a metallic oxid, which, together with a variety of iron-stone, is found 
in nodules throughout the mass. Iam not aware that this sand-stone forma- 
tion has, as yet, been compared with that of England or other countries: to 
desire information therefore upon a subject which has, as yet, been little 
attended to, and in the hope of promoting an enquiry, as well as a strict Geos 


logical examination of the series to which this sand-stone may be referred, I 


* Although I have been unable to detect Sulphur in this sand-stone, I am strongly of opinion 
that it exists, as specimens in my possession have every appearance, as far as color is concerned, 
of its presence. 


4 D 


396 COAL AND LIGNITE, &ec. 


shall conciude with an opinion, that it approximates to the red marl, or new 
red sand-stone of English Geologists. That it is daily forming, is a matter 
of no doubt whatever, but we must refer those beds alternating with the in- 
clined gravel strata, to a catastrophe which has totally inverted the order of 
things, and evidently placed the Dehrah and Karda valleys between the 
debris and the parent rocks of the primary ranges. The vast slips and 
fallings of these Hills, provide boulders and gravel for the beds of the moun- 
tain streams, which must, of course, be undergoing a proportionable degree of 
elevation, in the depressions of the Hills themselves. This annual supply of 
new gravel may also account for the quantity of lime stone which is found 
in the beds of these streams, and which, after the annual rains, leads mer- 
chants and lime burners to the Ghats for the purpose of collecting and burn- 


ing the stone. 


A total absence of organic remains, a feature of the new red sand- 
stone of England, with the variety in color, impregnation with calcareous mat- 
ter, and presence of carbonaceous, are points of comparison, assimilating it 
with the red marl of England. 


It may also be observed, that a singular and striking peculiarity of these 
Hills exists in their peaked and pointed tops, resembling the outline of a pri- 
mitive formation, more than that of simple stand-stone and its accompaniments. 
This peculiarity of appearance is, I consider, owing to the extensive distribu- 
tion of clay and carbonate of lime, which protects it from undergoing the 
rapid decomposition and disintegration that would necessarily attend upon 


the sand-stone, if unaccompanied by these ingredients. 


XI. 


NOTICE 


ON THE 


OCCURRENCE OF COAL, 


WITHIN THE 


INDO GANGETIC TRACT OF MOUNTAINS 


By Caprams J. D. HERBERT, Sur. Min. Survey. 


Tue discovery of Coal in India, may be considered a recent occurrence. 
The first notice of this mineral, appears to have been in the Burdwan dis- 
trict, about sixty or seventy miles from the town of that name; where the 
late Mr. Jones, who formerly owned the works known as the Albion Mills, 
conceived, and executed the spirited design of rendering available, whatever 
supply of the mineral might eventually be found; and thus of introducing 
into general use in India, a substance, which, perhaps, more than any other, 
has exercised, and will exercise, an influence in advancing the prosperity of 
nations. He appears to have made an examination of the ground, by bor- 
ing ; before venturing on an experiment, which would require some outlay of 
capital, and, according to the report which I had of his proceedings, these 


preparatory trials gave indications of a very extensive bed of Coal; having 


398 OCCURRENCE OF COAL, 


considerable thickness, and but little removed from the surface. Of his suc- 


cessor’s proceedings, I can give no account ; but at the time I visited the 
mines (the beginning of 1823,) the works had attained a considerable degree 
of forwardness, upwards of ninety-three thousand maunds of Coal having been 


raised to the surface. 


These mines are situated in the undulating low country, which hes 
at the foot of that mountain range, along which part of the new road from 
Calcutta to Benares runs. The road begins to ascend it at Bankora, where 
an earthy decomposing Granite may be seen at the surface, intermixed with 
Gneiss, which appears to be the prevailing rock on the line thence to Katkam 
Sandi, a little beyond which the descent is made to the plain country, by 
tlie Dangai Pass. Mica slate is also found in many places.» The Gneiss 
often contains Granite veins, (Katham Sandi,) the Felspar of which is of a 
reddish hue. In the Mica slate, (and Gneiss also, probably) is found dis- 
seminated abundance of octahedral iron ore, in grains, and the sand of 


some of the nullahs is highly charged with it. 


These mountains then belong, beyond doubt, to the Primary class 
of formations—whether bounded along their whole extent by secondary 
rocks, I cannot say; but on the banks of the Damuda, we have at the 
mine, and but a few feet below the surface, a micaceous sand-stone frequent- 
ly of a reddish hue, very tender and friable, and under it, the regular bitu- 


minous shale of the coal strata. 


The next notice of coal, as far as I am aware, is that found by 


Mr. D. Scott, on the Sylhet frontier, which appears in the Geological Trans. 


actions, (New Series, vol. 1.) The specimens were all derived from very 
small masses, having, in some instances, all the appearance of an imbedded 


tree or plant, frequently in very thin seams. It is described as occurring in 


a 


IN THE INDO GANGETIC MOUNTAINS. 399 


the sand-stone, which there borders the great mountain zone, forming the 
continuation in that quarter of the Himdlaya. ‘This formation, I should be 
inclined to consider as equivalent to one sand-stone of the Indo Gangetic 
tract, were it not that it is said to contain beds of bituminous shale, a rock 
never observed in this quarter. The statement is important, and well de- 
serves verification, as, if not originating in some mistake, it may be consi- 
dered to hold forth a well-grounded hope of discovering profitable beds of 
Coal. 


A third notice appeared in the Newspaper, of Coal, found in digging 
a well at Sagar, or Jebbelpur, (I forget which): of the nature of the rock, or 
mode of occurrence of the Coal, I have never been able to learn any further 


particulars. 


The fourth notice of Coal in India, is one lately submitted to the So- 
ciety, by Lieutenant Cautley, Assistant to the Superintendent of the Doab 
Canal : specimens of the Coal, and including rock, were obligingly submitted to 
my inspection by that officer. Having myself also, discovered several other 
localities of this mineral, I have thought it might not be altogether uninter- 
esting, to submit to the Society the several particulars which I have thrown 


together on the subject. 


The Coal found by Lieutenant Cautley, in the vicinity of Nakn, is 
part of a series of thin seams or flat veins, which are traceable along the whole 
line of sand-stone hills, that he at the foot of the great Himdlaya chain or 
system, and form the transition to the plain country. This sand-stone is 
(1 think it almost certain) part of an extensive secondary formation, which, 
on the one hand, includes the sand-stone hills of Sylhet, and on the other, the 
saliferous range of Lahore. ‘This latter opinion, if founded in fact, would 
tend to establish the identity of this range with the rock marl of England, 

45 


400 OCCURRENCE OF COAL, 


the rock which, in most of the Coal fields, immediately overlies the Coal. It 
possesses coincidences in Mineralogical and Geological character, which add 
strength to the supposition—such are its argillaceous and conglomerate beds, 
its low degree of consistence, &c. &c.; but leaving this question for the present, 
as one for the determination of which further evidence is required, I shall 
proceed to give the result of my examination of this rock, along nearly the 
whole of its extent within the British possessions in this quarter, adding such 
particulars with regard to the occurrence of Coal in it, as I am in possession 
of. 


Along the whole of this tract, which is bounded by the Setlej and 
Kéli rivers, this sand-stone forms the common boundary of the plain, and 
mountain countries. It does not attain to any considerable elevation: its 
highest peaks, which are between the Jumna and the Ganges, rising about 
two thousand feet above the plains at their feet, or three thousand above the 
sea. In other quarters, as at Ropar on the Sele, it is scarcely elevated one 
hundred above the bed of that river, which itself is about one thousand feet. 
It is found under three very distinct and well marked types. 1. The first is 
a Micaceous sand-stone of a grey color, containing also scales of Chlorite, 
and not unfrequently a minute proportion of Carbonate of Lime. When the 
latter is at all considerable, it possesses great hardness and tenacity, but it is 
friable and incoherent very often, and little better than loose sand. This type 
_is rarely of the conglomerate structure, and never to any depth. 2. Argil- 
laceous beds of a reddish color with particles of Mica, and also of Chlorite 
disseminated, which may be separated by mechanical analysis from the finer 
portion, a reddish bole, composed of Alumina and Silica, colored by oxid of 
iron. A small portion of Carbonate of Lime is alsofound, and when this is 
more abundant, it assumes the hardness and sonorous qualities of the more well- 
defined rocks. The Carbonate of Lime is generally found in greatest quantity 


in the hard tubercular masses of every size, which are peculiar to these and 


IN THE INDO GANGETIC MOUNTAINS. 401 


the sand-stone beds. They also contain thin seams or veins of the bole, 
‘which forms the finer part of the general basis. These beds, if seen un- 
connected with the other strata, would be described as a deposit of brick earth. 
They occasionally pass into a well defined reddish shale, having a perfect 
schistose structure, and in hard specimens frequently not distinguishable 
from some varieties of the older slates. 3. Conglomerate Beds, which 
consist of the preceding reddish earth as a basis, with perfectly rounded frag- 
ments of Quartz Rock, Grey Wacke, Granite, Horn-blende Rock and Lime. 
stone. ‘The first constitutes nine-tenths of the number, the last is the most 
rare of all. The arrangement of these water-worn fragments though not 
agreeable to the position which gravity would assign them, as far at least as 
size is concerned, is yet very regular, both as regards the definiteness of each 
stratum, and the parallel position to the stratiform, which those fragments 
hold that have any thing of a flat shape: some of these layers alternating with 
argillaceous beds, or occasionally with sand-stone strata, are not above three 
inches thick, while others are fifty feet. It is not unusual to see them gra- 
dually extenuated till they disappear, thus forming what are called Lens- 


shaped strata. Sand-stone occasionally, but rarely, forms the basis.* 


It is then in this rock that the Coal occurs, in every instance but 
one, in the sand-stone type. Its mode of occurrence, as far as I have been able 
to judge, is in flat veins or seams, more or less inclined to the horizon. The 
quantity is never considerable, the largest vein yet discovered, being about 
nine inches or a foot in thickness. In general they are much smaller, and 
some are not more than one-twentieth of aninch. ‘The line of contact with 
the sand-stone is always sharp, and well defined, there being nothing inter- 


posed analogous to the shale of the Coal formation, and the only peculiarity 
Penny OF Skh NOOR) (OA Ae OMOae EL  ey eee 


* In strictness perhaps, there are but two types, the Argillaceous and the Arenaceous—the 


Conglomerate being considered a modification of either. 


4.02 OCCURRENCE OF COAL, 


observable in the sand-stone, being an ochreous stain, extending to a certain 
distance, but strongest in the immediate contact of the vein. In one loca- 
lity, a saline efflorescence accompanies it, as also, sulphurous incrustations. 
Specimens have been obtained from another locality, with disseminated 


pyrites. 


The specific gravity varies from 1. 32. to 1. 58. The latter being 
too high from adhering stand-stone. The hardness rather exceeds that of 
Selenite : 2. 0. to 2. 5. of Mohs’ system, may represent the limits: it is of a 
jet black color, possesses considerable lustre, particularly the smaller veins, 
which are extremely beautiful. The composition is, in general, impalpable, 
but it has sometimes the ligneous structure—in the latter case, the lustre is 
low in the direction of the fibres, and the fracture less like that of true 
Coal. The transverse fracture has, however, the usual lustre, and when 
reduced to fragments, it is not distinguishable from the other kinds. Where 
the ligneous fibre has disappeared, the fracture is perfect conchoidal, and 
uneven, the former being frequently marked with concentric circles, similar 
to what is observed in Cannel Coal. The fragments are indeterminately 
angular, approaching to wedge-shaped. It burns with flame, giving out a 
thick smoke and bituminous smell, which, in some specimens, is accompanied 
by the odor of sulphurous acid. It leaves a reddish brown ash, of equal 


bulk with the original fragment. 


This general account of its properties, enables us to refer it at 
once to the Bituminous Coal of Mohs. The specific gravity, in some of the 
specimens, is a little higher, but this is obviously the effect of impurities. 
It is more difficult to discover, with which of the numerous sub-species and 
kinds of former writers, it is synonimous. ‘The descriptions are so vague, 
and there is so much similarity in the few particulars that approach to defi- 


niteness, that one cannot but consider the greater part of them as merely 


IN THE INDO GANGETIC MOUNTAINS. 403 


different shades of the same substance.’ If it were necessary to fix its place 
-amongst a series of fanciful divisions that have no reference either to science 
or utility, I would say, that some specimens appear to approach nearest to 
the Conchoidal brown Coal of the Wernerians, were it not for the obvious ab- 
surdity of calling a substance brown, the color of which is in reality of the 
most perfect black. Other specimens, the smaller veins for instance, bear 
considerable resemblance to jet, and a third set to Cannel Coal, thus showing, 
that in reality, these are distinctions without differences. The two species of 
Mohs are, however, well marked, and, therefore, easily discriminated; and 
this not only by their chemical properties, but also by the more accessible 
character of specific gravity. The bituminous Coal, when not contaminated 
with foreign earthly ingredients, has a specific gravity below 1-4, the non- 
bituminous, above. ‘To the former, our mountain Coal belongs, and its pro- 
portion of volatile ingredients, which I determine to be fifty-four per cent., 


assigns it a place near the most perfect Coal. 


A practical division of the varieties of Coal has been: 1. Those which 
burn with much flame, but do not coke, or leave cinders, the refuse being 
alight ash. 2. Those which burn with Jess flame, but coke and leave 
cinders. 3. Those which, like charcoal, burn without flame, and leave 
a bulky and heavy ash. The first, which is comprehended under the 
bituminous species of Mohs, includes the Cannel Coal of Scotland, and 
Wigam Coal of Lancashire. ‘The second division is also comprehend- 
ed under the bituminous species of Mohs, and includes New Castle, West- 
moreland, and Staffordshire Coal. ‘The third is the non-bituminous Coal; 
the examples are Kilkenny Coal, Welsh Coal, and some varieties of Scotch 
Coal. The Burdwan Coal belongs to the first division, as do also some 
specimens of our mountain Coal, others again seem to burn with less 
flame, besides having a higher specific gravity than belongs to Coals of this 
class. 

4 ¥ 


404 OCCURRENCE OF COAL, 


The localities of the mountain Coal yet discovered, are: 1. That men- 
tioned in Lieutenant Cautley’s communication, which has been already 
submitted to the Society. This vein or seam, I am told by Dr. Govan, was 
originally discovered, when the British army were encamped under NA4han, 
at the opening of the Gorkha war. 2. In the Timlt Pass, leading into the 
Dehra Din, in a stratum of conglomerate. This Coal has the ligneous struc- 
ture almost perfect, and differs but little in appearance from common Char- 
coal. ‘The site is rendered remarkable by the saline efflorescence, and sul- 
phurous incrustations which accompany it. Who was the first to observe this 
Coal, I cannot say ; but in 1817, I made notes of its occurrence, and in that 
year or the following, I sent specimens of it, by desire of a friend, to Mr. 
Ricketts, which the late Dr. Voysey pronounced to be the brown Coal 
of Werner. 3. In the Kheri Pass, where it occurs in sand-stone, both 
in the form of an imbedded tree or log, with the ligneous structure al- 
most perfect, and in numerous thin seams, having a strong resemblance 
in lustre and compactness to jet. This locality I discovered in April last: it 
is much more productive than either of the others : the principal vein, which I 
have compared to an imbedded tree, may be about twelve inches square. 
The product of this seam has a specific gravity of 1,4984. It is inflammable, 
but not without a high heat. It is most remarkable for its want of lustre till 
reduced to fragments, in which state it is not distinguishable from the jet-like 
variety : another curious peculiarity is the ease with which it is reducible into 
fragments of a certain size, and the resistance it opposes to any further com- 
minution. In this property, its lustre in fragments, and its high specific gra- 
vity, it is easily distinguished from Charcoal, which it, in other respects, so 
closely resembles, as to be liable to be mistaken for it. It contains about 
fifty-four per cent. volatile matter, which being driven off, leaves a brilliant 
looking Coke, part of which was found to have a specific gravity exceeding 
that of water, part, less; this induces the supposition, that the proportion of 


volatile ingredients is underrated, although it was found that, in the last hour 


IN THE INDO GANGETIC MOUNTAINS. 405 


of the experiment, only 1,45 grain was lost, though exposed to a very consi- 
-derable heat : the original quantity being one hundred grains. ‘The retort 
broke at this period, and leisure was wanting for the repetition of the experi- 
ment. From the appearance of the products, which consisted of water, car- 
buretted hydrogen, and an oily looking dark colored fluid, I should infer its 
resemblance to the Bovey Coal of England, from which, however, in external 
appearance, and in specific gravity, it differs sufficiently. ‘The more resinous- 
looking varieties from this locality, in which the ligneous structure has dis- 
appeared, havea specific gravity of 1,386, a higher lustre, and are more 
inflammable. 4. In the same Pass, about half a mile from the preceding 
locality, my assistant, Captain Manson, discovered several other small veins, 


the Coal of which has a high lustre and conchoidal fracture. 


The fifth locality, and the one best worthy of notice, is on the ascent 
from Bhimauri to Bhim Tal, in the bed of the Balia, close by the bridge over 
that stream. This vein was shown me by a Native, who also furnished me 
with a specimen, the half of which was Pyrites. The rock is sand-stone, and, 
as remarked of that in the Kheri Pass, is much discolored in the neighbour- 
hood of the vein. The vein is about four inches in thickness, (that is, the 
largest, for there are several) and the Coal has a high lustre, and occasionally a 
perfect conchoidal fracture. No traces of organic structure are visible, the 
composition being impalpable. It is remarkable, as indeed are all the varieties, 
for its extreme brittleness, which is such, that no specimen of any size is ob- 
tainable. Were it not for this defect, many of them might be used as substi- 
tutes for jet, to which frequently they bear no inconsiderable resemblance. 
The present variety has, however, the aspect rather of Cannel Coal, and like 
that, when cut with a sharp knife, the surface is left full of small conchoidal 
depressions, which give it very much the appearance of a spongiform structure. 
This Coal burns with the most brilliant flanfe of any: occasionally being in- 


crusted with sulphur, it developes the odour of that substance in combustion. 


406 OCCURRENCE OF COAL, 


I shall here enumerate, for comparison, my determinations of the 
specific gravity of these specimens, with these of the best defined varieties, as 


distinguished by Mineralogists. 


The Balia Coal, ....0..s00e0+1 3236 Splent Coal, (Govr, Colin.) 1 2903 
Another picleyreccicsepeop reed) S287 The following are from Books. 
ANU Inds! ee honis ys sfeverele eye soya 335 Bovy Coal, by Hatchett,....1 13 B 3 
Av fourth, ovens sie cise ee oeeeel 3435 Glasgow Coal, by Ure, ....1 23 3 

The Kheri Coal, (ligniform)....1 A984 New Castle Coal, by Wat- e 
Another piece,.e. +. eoceo sel 43° SOM see ooeeisietele leltveicieteererd Q7 = 
A third, (piciform).......--.21 386 Kilkenny Coal, by Thom- ? § 
Burdwan Coal, (Slaty)....1 493 SOM, sie ew sen ecvececed 43 > q 
Cannel Coal, (Govr. Colln,.) 1 278 Ditto, by Mushet,...........01 ea) S 


It will be, perhaps, asked; is this Coal, of which the traces are pro- 
bably widely diffused in our sand-stone range, likely to prove of any value, 
or do these many indications afford any ground to hope for the discovery of 
more extensive and profitable deposits? To this it may be replied, that 
the considerations on which are founded the hope of discovering, in the 
neighbourhood of these mountains, the true Coal formation, are quite in- 
dependent of its occurrence under this type and in this form. If any thing, 
perhaps, they are rather unfavorable to the expectation of eventually dis- 
covering beds of the true Coal formation. For it has been noticed, that in 
those countries in which the Coal beds are most largely developed, as in Eng- 
land, the traces of the mineral, in the superincumbent sand-stone, are rare, 
if not altogether wanting ; while on the Continent, where the true Coal 
beds do not occur, small seams or veins are frequently met with in this 


rock. 


But taking into consideration the arrangement of the surface in India, 


and the fact, that we have a trough, or basin, as it were, situated between 


IN THE INDO GANGETIC MOUNTAINS. 407 


the great Himdlaya system on one side, and the table land of Malwa on 
the other, bounded, too, by rocks that are always found associated with the 
Coal measures, it does not appear improbable that a valuable deposit of this 
mineral may yet be found somewhere between the line of secondary sand- 
stone described in this paper, and the primary sand-stone, which makes its ap- 
pearance at Dehli and other places. But, for the full and correct consideration 
of this question, data are still wanting. The above are the containing rocks 
of the Coal formation ; it being never found above the one or below the other, 
and in this fact, combined with the configuration of the surface, are contained 
the true grounds on which the discovery may be looked for. Certainly not in 


the occurrence of the trifling veins and seams above noticed. 


The grey-wacke formation being considered, by most Geologists, as 
synonimous with the old red sand-stone, the occurrence of Coal, under- 
neath the former rock, does not invalidate the truth of the opinion, which 
assigns a fixed place to the Coal measures in the general arrangement of for- 
mations. It would appear, however, that the Coal found subordinate to grey- 
wacke is, generally, of the non-bituminous species. Another fact connected with 
the occurrence of Coal, as associated with this rock, is the prevalence of trap 
rocks. In the Indo Gangetic tract of mountains, grey-wacke supplies the 
place of the old red sand-stone, lying immediately on the rock described in 
this paper, believed to be the new trap rocks, which have not, however, yet 
been traced to any extent, although there are certainly indications of them in 
more than one place. The Coal found in the Balia does, certainly, lie very 
near the junction of the two rocks, and there are undoubted trap rocks in the 
immediate neighbourhood. In particular, I may enumerate a green stone, 
a felspar porphyry, and a porphyry, with a greenish grey basis, almost compact, 
with imbedded crystals of felspar. These circumstances bear some kind of 
resemblance to those described, as belonging to the Welch coal-fields ; but in 
the greater elevation of our grey-wacke, and the absence of every thing like a 

4G 


408 OCCURRENCE OF COAL, &c. 


Coal basin, the comparison fails: the Welsh Coal is, however, of the non-bitu- 
minous kind, and therefore not so valuable. The circumstances too, here no- 
ticed, on which, after all, no great stress can be laid, are only found in the neigh- 
bourhood of this single locality; all the others being far removed from the 


grey-wacke formation, and having no trap rocks in their vicinity. 


XII. 


NOTICES 


OF THE 


LANGUAGES, LITERATURE, AND RELIGION 


OF THE 


BAUDDHAS OF NEPAL 
AND BHOT. 


By B. H. HODGSON, Ese, Crvim Service, 


Assistant to the Resident at Katmandoo. 


TE various contributions which I have had the honour to forward to 
the Library and Museum of the Asiatic Society, and the lists by which they 
have been accompanied, will have put the Society in possession of such 
information as I have been able to collect respecting the articles presented. 
Some connected observations, suggested by the principal of them, may, how- 
ever, be not unacceptable, as derived from enquiry on the spot, and communi- 
cation with learned Nepalese. I do not pretend to offer a complete or detailed 
view of the Literature or Religion of the Nepalese, as derivable from con- 
versancy with the sacred authorities, the study of which is obstructed, not 
only by inherent difficulties, but by considerations of a local nature, originating 
in the displeasure expressed by the Nepalese Government towards such of its 
subjects as are suspected of imparting to Europeans the knowledge they 
possess. A few general remarks are all, therefore, that can be attempted at 


present, and may prepare the way, it is hoped, for further investigation. 


410 LANGUAGES, &c. OF THE 


The proper language of Nepal, or the Newari, has much, in common, with 
that of Bhot or Tibet. It may have been, perhaps, an inferior and poorer dialect, 
which has, consequently, been obliged to borrow more extensive aid from the 
copious introduction of Sanscrit. The following is a comparison of a few terms 


in both dialects : 


English. Newari. Bhotiya. 
The World, *(s.) Sansar, ee 
God, (s.) Bhagwan, Jobi, Sanghiah, Laha. 
Man, ~ (s.) Manno, or Majan, Khiyogu. 
Woman, Misa, Bemi. 
Quadruped, (s.) Pasu, — _ 
Bird, Gango, (k.) Djia. 
Insect, (s.) Kicha, 25 
A Worm, Dalambi, Patten n 
Fire, Mih, Mha. 
Air, (s.) Phoy, Lhiphu. 
Earth, Chah, (K.) Sha. 
Water, P. Lo. C. Long. B. Gna, Cha. 
The Sun, (s.) Saraj Deo, +Karma, possibly Sunshine. 
The Moon, Timla Deo, Nima. 
The Stars, (s.) Naga, + Nima. 
A Mountain, (s.) Gah, Rajhi. 
A River, Khussi, Yamu Chung. 
Father, Boba and Opju, Ava and Aba. 
Mother, Ma, Amma. 
Grand-father, Adjhu, Adjhu. 
Grand-mother, Adjhama, Adzhi. 
A Child, Mocha, Nama. 
A Boy, Kay Mocha and Bhaju, Phi. . 
A Girl, Miah Mochu and Mejia, Pamié. 
Uncle, (plural) Kakka, Aghu. 
Aunt, (ditto) Mamji, Ibi. 


Summer, 


(s.) Tapulla, 


er ee 


* The (s.) indicates a Sanscrit origin. 

+ Mr. Kuaprorn, in his Comparative Vocabulary, applies Karma to Stars, and Nima to the 
Sun. The former, as observed by Mr. Hopeson, signifying Sunshine, may be connected with the 
Sanscrit Gherma, warm. I have added a few words from the Tibetan Vocabularies of the Asia Poly- 
glotta, which are marked (k.) It is to be observed, however, that the Bhotiyaterms do not always corres- 
pond with those given as Tibetan, by Mr. Kiaprorts, although they do occasionally agree —H. H. W. 


English. 
Winter, 
Grain, 
Rice, 
Wheat, 
Barley, 
Marriage, 
Birth, 
Death, 

A House, 
A Stone, 
A Brick, 
A Temple, 


An Image, (of a man or beast,) 


A Bridge, 
A Tree, 

A Leaf, 

A Flower, 
A Fruit, 

A Horse, 
A Bull, 

A Cow, 

A Buffaloe, 
A Dog, 

A Cat, 

A Jackal, 
A Sister, 

A Brother, 
Kindred, 
Strange Folk, 
The Head, 
The Hair, 
The Face, 
The Eye, 
The Nose, 
The Mouth, 
The Chin, 
The Ear, 
The Forehead, 
The Body, 
The Arm, 
The Leg, 
Right, 


Newari. 
Chylla, 
Uan, 
Jaki, 
Cho, 
Tacho, 
Biah, 
Macha Bolo, 
Séto, 
Chah, 
Lohu, 
Appa, 
Dewa, 
Kata Malli, 
Tapha, 
Simah, 
Sihau, 
Swong, 
Si, 
Sallo, 
Doho, 
Masa, 
Miah, 
Khicha, 
Rhow, 
Dhouh, 
Kihin, 
Kinja, 


Thajho, and Tha Mannu, 


Kato and Miah Pi, 
Chong, 
Song, 
Qua, 
Mekha, 
Nhiya, 
Mhiid, 
Mino, 
Nhiapo, 
Kopa, 
Mho, 
Laha, 
Titi, 
Jon. 


BAUDDHAS, &. OF NEPAL. 


Bhottya. 
(x.) Gun. 
Soh. 
Bra. 
Tho. 


Pama. 
Kiowa. 
Shesin. 
Khim. 
Ghara. 
Zhobu. 
Lha. 


(K,) Ston—bba. 
(k.) Loma. 
Meto. 


Tapu. 
Palang. 
Lango. 
Mye. 
Khigo. 
Gure. 
Kipchang. 
Chamu. 
Chou. 


(K.) Wu. 
Tra. 
Tongba. 
Mi. 
Gna. 
Kha. 
Koma. 
Nhamjo. 
Prdla. 
Zhabi. 
Lakhpa. 
Kangba. 
Yumma. 


411 


4.12 LANGUAGES, &c. OF THE 


English. Newari. Bhotiya. 
Left, Kho, Yabba. 
A Month, La, Lawa and Dagwa. 
A Year, Dat’chi, Lochik. 
Day, Gniuh or Gni, (x.) Nain. 
Night, Cha, (K.) Chan. 


With regard to the Newari words, I can venture to say they may be relied 
on, though they differ somewhat from KirKPATRICK, whose vocabulary, made 
in a hurry, exhibits, unavoidably, some errors, especially that of giving 
Sanscrit words instead ofthe vernacular. It is remarkable that the Newars 
(those that pretend to education, and those who are wholly illiterate) are apt, 
on all occasions, to give to a stranger, a Sanscrit instead of their 
own Newéri name, for any object to which their attention is called for 
the purpose of naming it. This trick owes it origin partly to vanity, 
and partly to the wish to be intelligible, which they fancy they cannot 
be in speaking their own tongue. The real poverty of the Newari is also, 
no doubt, another cause, and its want of words expressive of general ideas : 
thus, Creation, God, have no Newari names, and the Sanscrit ones have there- 
fore been borrowed of necessity ; the like is true of, mankind, for which, as 
well as for the two former words, I have not been able, after great pains, to 
obtain any vernaculars. When a Newar would express the idea of God, with- 
out resorting to Sanscrit, he is driven to periphrasis, and says Adjhi Deo, 
which word is compounded of Adjhu, a Grandfather, and Deo, and thus, by 
reverence for ancestors, he comes to reverence his maker, whom he ealls, li- 
terally, the father of his father, or the first father. 


As for the Bhotiya words, I cannot always vouch for them, few as they 
are, having obtained them from a Lama, who was but little acquainted with 
Newari or Parbattiya, The twelfth word in the Newari column, or Water, is 
given according to the dialects of the valley. Wateris Lo, at Patan, Long 
at Katmandu, and Gnd, at Bhatgong ; these places being the capitals of as 
many kingdoms before the Gorkha conquest. 


BAUDDHAS, &c. OF NEPAL. 


413 


With respect to the numerals of the decimal scale, the resemblance is 


strikingly close. 


SDA TN S&S WY YD ~ 


i 
i=) 


il 
12 
13 


Bhotiya. 

Che. 

Gne. 

Sam. 

Zghe. 

Gnah. 

Takh. 

Tan. 

Gheah. 

Gi. 

Cha (Thampah 
an __ expletive 
merely.) 
Chu-che. 
Chu-gne. 

Chu. (p.) Sain 
(the letter (p.) 
written, but 
scarcely audi- 
bly uttered.) 
Cha (p.) Zhe. 

Cheanga. 
Chiara. 
Chuptin. 
Chopkia. 
Chirko. 

Né sh@ (tham- 
bah.) 


NUMERALS. 


Newari. 
Chi. 
Na shi. 
Swong. 
Peh. 
Gniah. 
Khu. 
Nha, or Nhasso. 
Chiah. 
Gin. 


Sanho. 


Sanche. 
Saran Nassi. 
Saran Swong, 


Saran Pih. 
Saran Gniah. 
Saran Khu. 
Saran Nha. 
Saran Chiah. 
Saran Ghitu. 


Saran Sanho. 


Ni Chy. 
Ni Nassi, 
Ni Swong. 
Ni Pih. 
Ni Gniah. 
Ni Kha. 
Ni Nhi. 
Ni Chiah. 


Bhotiya. 
29 
30 Samcha (tham- 
bah.) 
31 
32 


40 Zhe-chu(thame 
pah.) 


50 Gnah-chu 
(thampah.) 


60 Tukh-chu 
(thampah.) 
70 Tun do. do. 
80 Gheah do. do. 
90 Gu (p.) do. do. 
100 Gheah (tham- 
bah.) 
1000 Tong.tha-che. 
100,000 Thea. 


10,00,000 Bam.* 


Newari. 
Ni Gin. 
Ni Saénho. 


Swi Chi. 
Swi Nassy. 
Swi Swong. 
Swi Pih. 
Swi Gniah. 
Swi Khu. 
Swi Nha. 
Swi Chiah. 
Swi Gin. 
Swi Sanho. 


Pi Chi. 

Pi Nassi. 

Pi Swong. 

Gniayé or Gnifu, or 
Pi-sanho, or merely 
by pausing on the 
last letter of Gniah, 
or 5: and thus also 
60,70, &c. are forme 
ed out of 6, 7, &e. 


Qut. 


Nhitw. 
Chiuh-uu. 
Goo,-t. 
Sachy. 


* The first ¢en, of the Bhot numerals, as well as 100 and 1000, are precisely the same as the 


Tibetan numerals of the Asia Polyglotta, with reference to the different modes of representing the 
same sounds, adopted by Mr. Honason and Mr. Kiarrotn.—H. H.W. 


414s LANGUAGES, &«. OF THE 


Nor is the variation, after passing the ¢en, of any importance, the principle 
of both being still the same ; that is, repetition and compounding of the or- 
dinals, thus ten and one, ten and two, are the forms of expression in both, and 
so, twice, &c. The Bhotiya word thampa, postfixed to the decimally increas- 
ing series, is amere expletive, and often omitted in speech. The Newari 
names of the figures from one to ten, as given by Kirkpatrick, are not correct, 
and hence the difference between the Newari and Bhotiya names has been 
made to appear greater than it is: in fact, it seems to me, that even the little 
difference that remains in the present specimens, may be resolved into mere 


modes of utterance, according to the genius of the two languages. 


Although the following offer no verbal resemblances, the principle on 


which they are formed presents several analogies. 


Bhotiya and Newari names of the twelve months and days of the week. 
Bhotiya names of months. 


Newari. Bhotiya. 


February, Dagaw, or Lawa, Tangbu. 
March, Chongchola, or Challa. (Lawa), ,, Gnipa, 
April Bachola, As Nela. (Lawa), ,, Sumba. 
May, Tuchola, 5 Swola. (Lawa), 4, Zhiba, 
June, Dilla, ; Péla. (Lawa), ,, Gnappa, 
July, Gung’la, Be Gniala. (Lawa), ,, Tuakpu, 
August, Yung’'la, i Kholu. (Lawa). ,, Dumba, 
September, Koula, F Nhila, (Lawa), ,, Gnappa. 
October, Kozla, 7% Chala. (Lawa), ,, Guabbu, 
November, Thingla, ” Gungla. (Lawa),  ,, Chuba, 
December, Puéla, Pi Sela. (Lawa), ,, Chu-chikpa, 
January, Sel’la, re Zhin’chala. (Lawa), ,, Chu-gnipa. 
February. Chel’la, rH Zhin’nala. 


The second set of Newari names is formed merely by compounding the 
word L4, a month, with the names of the cardinals, one, two, &c. As for 


BAUDDHAS, &c. OF NEPAL. 4S 


the first set of names; here too, we have the final La, and the prefixes are pro- 
bably mere charactistic epithets of the seasons, thus February is called Chella, 
but Chella means also the cold month, or winter. Further, however, I cannot 


explain the meaning of the compounds. 


The Bhotiyas, like the Newars, have no simple names for the months, but 
call them periphrastically the first, second, &c. month. Dagwa and Léwa, 
both mean a month ; but in speech this word is never prefixed, save in speak- 
ing of the first Bhotiya month, or February, for from February their year 
begins. What Tangbu means, I know not, unless it be the same with Thampa, 
the word that always closes the series of numbers, 10, 20, 30, &c. The names 
of all the others are easily explained, they being compounds of the numbers 
2, 3, &c. with the syllable pa, or ba, evidently the La of the Newars post fixed. 


Newari names of the seven days of the week. 


Sunday, (s) Adhwina, or  Chunna. 
Monday, (s) Swomwa, 3 Neno. 
Tuesday, (s) Ongwa, 9» Swono. 
Wednesday, (s) Budhwa, BS Peno. 
Thursday, (s) Bassowa, ve Gniano. 
Friday, (s) Sukrawa, RS Khonno. 


Saturday, (s) Sonchowa, »  Nhiano. 


The first are wholly corrupt Sanscrit, and the second is formed by com- 
pounding the word N/z or Gni, a day, with the cardinals: the Newars have no 


simple words of their own, expressive of the seven days. 


The Pérbatiiya Bhdsha is one of the Indian prakrits, brought into these 
hills by colonies from below, and is so generally diffused, that in the provinces 
west of the Gogra, it has nearly eradicated the vernacular tongues; and 
though less prevalent in those east of that river, it has, even among them, 

4 1 


416 LANGUAGES, &c. OF THE 


divided the empire of speech almost equally with the local mother tongues ; 


which too are daily, yet further, giving way before it. 


The Gorkhas speak this Parbattiya dialect; and to their ascendancy is 
its prevalence, in latter times, to be partly ascribed. The valley of Nepal 
is indeed almost the only spot, not remote from the plains, where the 
vernacular speech of the people has maintained its ground: the Newari 
being, in substance, distinct from all the numerous dialects of Sanscrit 


original. 


Now, as these dialects (to say nothing of their conquests along the whole 
line of hills) have penetrated to the districts. close around the valley, to the 
countries directly. north of it; and have even long had a footing in the valley 
itself, one is apt to ask, why its vernacular tongue has not given way before 
them, as in so many other instances? 


The causes of its escape are, probably, these three: 1st. The fertility of 
the valley enabled the people to multiply rapidly, and soon to give tolerable 
consistency to their own speech. 


2d. Its uniform surface made communication. between all its inhabi- 
tants easy and frequent; whence the speech was further advanced, provided 
with.a tolerable stock of words, and: formed, into a. sort of national lan- 


guage. 


3d. Its numerous people early adopted a religious persuasion (. Buddhism) 
which made them look on the Hindu colonists with jealousy. Those colonists 
were commonly of the Brahmanical and Kshetriya. tribes—tribes, which, in 
the more fervid days of yore, could as. ill, endure a. Buddhist.as.a Buddhist 
could them. 


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| BARR aps No) I Ly 23H A Ry we 2 "PAB A | 
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—— 
ro 


BAUDDHAS, &c. OF NEPAL. : 417 


All these circumstances were reversed in regard to the mountainous 
tracts, whose people were comparatively few, and those few cut off from easy 


commerce with one another by huge barriers every where intervening. 


Hence they remained so long poor in words and ideas, that when the 
Hindu colonists (probably in the 15th century, in greatest numbers) came 
among them, those colonists were enabled, without much difficulty, to make 


their own speech and creed prevail over those of the aborigines. 


A variety of characters is met with in the Nepalese books, both Newari 
and Bhotiya, some of which are now obsolete, and are undecypherable. A 
manuscript, of which a copy is forwarded, contains a collection of these 
Alphabets, each bearing a separate designation, and differing, in some degree, 
from those now in use. Of the Newari, three kinds of letters are most fami- 
liarly known, and four of the Bhotiya.* 


The three Newari alphabets are denominated Bhanjin Mola, Ranja, and 
Newari. Whether these three sorts of letters were formerly used by the 
Siva Margi Newars, I cannot say, but old Bauddha works exhibit them all, 
especially the two former. Newari alone is now used by both sects of Newars 
for profane purposes, and for sacred, both often employ the Devandgari, 
oftener the Newdri. If the Sioa Margi Newars ever used (which I doubt,) 
Bhanjin Mola, or Ranga, at least, they do so no longer, or the Bauddhas having 
long ceased ordinarily to employ those letters, in making copies of their scrip- 
tures, few Bauddhas can now write them ; and the learned only (who are ac- 


customed to refer to their old works of religion,) can read them with facility. 


In regard to the origin of these letters, we may, without hesitation, refer 
the Newari to Ndgari ; but the other two present more difficulties: Dr. Carey 


% See Plates. 


Letters. 


418 LANGUAGES, &c. OF THE 


was, some time back, of opinion, that they are mere fanciful specimens of cali- 
graphy. This notion is refuted by the fact of their extensive practical applica- 
tion, of which Dr. Carry was not aware, when he gave that opinion.* By com- 
paring one of them (the Ranja) with the fourth alphabet of the Bhotiyas, it will 
be seen, that the general forms of the letters have a striking resemblance. Of 
the Bhanjin Mol, I can say little: it has a very ornate appearance, and possibly, 
if the apparently ornamental parts were stripped from the letters, they (as 
well as the Ranja) might be traced to a Devandgari origin, from the forms of 
which alphabet the Bauddhas might possibly alter them, in order to use them 
as a cover to the mysteries of their faith. ‘The Bauddhas are, originally, In- 
dians: now, though probability may warrant our supposing that they might 
alter existing alphabetical letters, for the purpose above hinted at, it will 
hardly warrant our conjecturing, that they would undergo the toil of in- 
venting entirely new characters. All follow the Devandgari arrangement, 
and, upon the whole, I should not hesitate to assign them a Devandgari 


origin. 


Of the Bhotiya characters, four kinds are distinguishable ; but only two 
of them are known by name to the Newars: they are called Uchhen and 
Umen. ‘The third kind seems to be only a broken, or epistolary form of the 
second, and the fourth, as already observed, bears some affinity to the Ranja. 
There is also a character in use ascribed to the Sokhphos, who are said to 
be a fierce and powerful people, living on the confines of Northern China 


proper.t 


* It is quite obvious, that both the Alphabets referred to are the Devanagari, fancifully and 
slightly modified.—H. H. W. 


+ Of these, the first is the character known as that of Tibet. Some of the letters bear a resem- 
blance to those of the Devanagari alphabet, but the rest can scarcely be referred to the same source, 
and were probably invented by the Bauddha Missionaries after quitting India. No resemblance to 
most of them is traceable in ancient inscriptions. —H. H. W. 


TArHeWARG AS SH 
I 
welds Deut) AAASAl 
Saeed iene Ss 2 


AL OEHcgey coy METS EAT | 
£9] aoe Sf meaty we | 


Rniiacisar Rola ETE aL | 


AibpReCREREE LEwtRe 
Bie aac oal | 


ERE RA ERIERERE SEER! 


Sra eS VARESE MACH AERA GOO Resse 
B5U “SASL SSERL AHFAl ai ecmeneen 


)) Ha X) SOAS] 5 LAR pea) 8&2 4} | 
| =i seal rae ul “mister eaoapie: ak oat Baa cou 
i = a.  * 4 Ba), 
| preteens PAS | FARSL ase Samad sete 

wR A yy LE ee , 3 Em. AI PPS? ie es el a he mA A] 


a ——— 


aa Om HEIL ae subsurCBeBbr g ae ia eat - aadieg 


ET CAIRO | 


| ijer8 ASAP l seid DeSAll Falhelal sia a 
| "Sues ee a hy ceiae FAR RAI ange 4a sal 


BAUDDHAS, &c. OF NEPAL. 419 


The great bulk of the literature of Nepal, as well as of Bhot, relates to 
the Bauddha religion, and the principal works are only to be found at tem- 
ples and monasteries ; but numerous books of inferior pretensions, are to be 
obtained from the poor traffickers and monks, who annually visit Nepal on 


account of religion and trade. 


The character of the greater part of these is, probably, that of popular 
tracts, suited to the capacity and wants of the humbler classes of society, 
among whom it isa subject of surprise, that literature of any kind should 
be so common in such a region as Bhof, and more remarkably so, that it 
should be so widely diffused as to reach persons covered with filth, and 
destitute of every one of those thousand luxuries which (at least in our 


ideas) precede the great luxury of books. 


Printing is, probably, a main cause of this great diffusion of books. Yet 
the very circumstance of printing being in such general use, is no less striking 
than this supposed effect of it; nor can I account for the one or other fact, 
unless by presuming that the hordes of priests, secular and regular, with which 
the country swarms, have been driven by the tedium vite to these admirable 


uses of their time. 


The invention of printing, the Bhotiya priests, probably, got from China, 
but the universal use they make of it is a merit of their own, the poorest 
individual who visits this valley from the north, is seldom without his Poth, 
and from every part of his dress dangle charms, (Jantras) made up in slight 


cases, whose interior exhibits the neatest workmanship in print. 


Some allowance, however, should also be made for the very familiar power 
and habit of writing possessed by the people at large, another feature in the 
moral picture of Bhot, hardly less striking than the prevalence of printing or 

4K 


Literature. 


4.20 LANGUAGES, &c. OF THE 


the diffusion of books, and which I should not venture to point out, had I 
not had sufficient opportunities of satisfying myself of its truth among the 


annual sojourners in Nepal. 


In the collections forwarded to the Society, will be founda vast number 
of manuscripts, great and small fragments, and entire little treatises, all 
which were obtained (as well as the small printed tracts) from the humblest 
individuals. ‘Their number and variety will, perhaps, be allowed to furnish 
sufficient evidence of what I have said regarding Bhotiya penmanship, if due 
reference be had, when the estimate is made, to the scanty and entirely casual 


source whence the writings were obtained in such plenty. 


The many different kinds of writing which the MSS. exhibit will, pere 
haps, be admitted yet further to corroborate the general power of writing 
possessed by almost all classes of the people. Or, at all events, their various 
kinds and infinite degrees of penmanship, present a curious and ample spe- 
cimen of Bhotiya proficiency in writing, let this proficiency belong to what 


class or classes it may. 


Something of this familiar possession of the elements of education, which 
I have just noticed as characterising Bhot, may be found, I believe, also in 
Indian ; but more in the theory of its institutions than in the practise of its 
society, because of the successive floods of open violence which have, for 
ages, ravaged that, till lately, devotedland. ‘The repose of Bhot, on the 
other hand, has allowed its pacific institutions full room to produce their na- 
tural effect ; and hence we see a great part of the people of Bhot able to 
write and read. 


In whatever I have said regarding the Press, the general power and habit 
of writing, or the diffusion of books, in Bhot, I desire to be understood by 


BAUDDHAS, &c. OF NEPAL. 421 


my European readers with many grains of allowance. ‘These words are names 
importing the most different things in the world in the favoured part of Eu- 
rope, and in Asia. ‘The intelligent resident in Hindustan will have no dif- 
ficulty in apprehending the exact force which I desire should be attached to 
such comprehensive phrases, especially if he will recollect for a moment 
that the press, writing, and books, though most mighty engines, are but en- 
gines; and that the example of China proves to us indisputably, they may con- 
tinue in daily use for ages in a vast society, without once falling into the hands 
of the strong man of Milton ; and consequently, without awaking one of those 
many sublime energies whose full developemeat in Europe has shed sucha 


glorious lustre around the path of man in this world. 


The printing of Bhot is performed by wooden blocks; which, however, 
are often beautifully graved, nor are the limited powers of such an instrument 
felt as an inconvenience by a people, the entire body of whose literature is 


of an unchanging character. 


Their writing, again, often exhibits fine specimens of ready and graceful 
penmanship. But then it is never employed on any thing more useful than a 
note of business, or more informing than the dreams of blind mythology, and 
thus, too, the general diffusion of books (that most potent of spurs to improve- 
ment in our ideas) becomes, in Bhot, from the utter worthlessness of the books 
diffused, at best but a comparatively innocent and agreeable means of filling 


up the tedious hours of the twilight of civilization. 


With respect to the authorities of the Bauddha religion, or their Sacred 
Scriptures, the universal tradition of the Nepalese Bauddhists, supported 
by sundry casual notices in their existing works, asserts, that the original 
body of those Scriptures amounted, when complete, to eighty-four thousand 


volumes. 


Religious 
Writings. 


4.22 LANGUAGES, &c. OF THE 


These works are known collectively, and individually, by the names Sttra 


and Dharma, and in the Piya kand, there is the following stanza : 


«© All that the Buddhas have said, as contained in the Mdha Yéan Siitra, 
and the rest of the Stras, is Dharma Ratna.’ Hence the Scriptures are also 
frequently called ‘* Buddha vachana,” the words of the Buddha. S&xya 
Sinua first reduced these words to writing ; and in this important respect, 
Sixya is to Buddhism what VyAsa is to Brahmanism. SAxya is the /as¢ of the 
seven genuine Buddhas. The old books universally assert this; the modern 
Bauddhas admit it, in the face of that host of ascetics, whom the easiness of 
latter superstition has exalted to the rank of a Zathdgata. ‘The sacred 
chronology is content with assigning SAKxya to the Kalz Yuga, and profane 
chronology is a science which the Bauddhas seem never to have culti- 
vated. In the subsequent enumeration, it will be seen that SAixya is the 
‘* Speaker” in all the great works. This word merely answers to ‘ hearer,” 
and refers to the form of the works, which is that of a lecture, or lesson, deli- 
vered by a Ruddha ta his Radhicatwac. ov Aiseiplos ‘Vhat Sixya Sryna first 
collected and secured, ina written form, the doctrines taught by his predeces- 
sors, and himself, is a fact for which I cannot cite written authority, but which 
seems sufficiently vouched by the general belief of all the Bauddhas of Nepal 
and of Bhot. Not one of them seems ignorant of it. The words Tanira 
and Purdna, as vaguely expressive of the distinction of esoteric and exoteric 
works, are familiar to the Bauddhas of Nepal; but it would seem that their 
own more peculiar, but not more precise, names are Upadesa and Vydkarana, 
Gatha, Jdiaka, and Avadan, seem to be rather subdivisions of Vydkarana than 


distinct classes. 


The word Sura is often explained Mula Grantha, Buddha vachana; and 
in this sense it has been held to be equivalent to the Sru¢i of the Brahmans, 


as has their Smriti to the Bauddha Vydkarana. But, apt as Buddhism is to 


BAUDDHAS, &c. OF NEPAL. 423 


forget the distinction of divine and human nature, the analogy must be 
essentially defective; and, in fact, the Sra of the Bauddhas often compre- 
hends not only their own proper Buddha Vachana but also Bodhisatwa and 
Bhikshu Vachana; which latter the Brahmans would denominate Rishi 
Vachana, and, of course, assign to the Smriti, or comments by holy men 
upon the eternal truth of the Srutz. The Newdrs and Bhotiyas are agreed, 
that of the original body of their sacred literature, but a small portion now 
exists. A legend familiar to both people assigns their destruction to SaNKARA 
AcuArya: and the incomparable Sankara of Sir W. Jonzs, is execrated by 


every Bauddha as a blood-stained bigot. 


Of the existing Bauddha writings of Nepal, by far the most important 
of the speculative kind, are the five Khands of the Racha Bhagavati, deno- 
minated the five Rachas, and the five Parmitas together with the Prajna 
Parmita of the narrative kind: eight of the nine works called the nine 
Dharmas, the ninth being the Prajna Parmita mentioned above ; and _ which, 
though classed with the Dharmas for ritual purposes, is, in its character, much 


more a-kin to the Rachas. 


The five Rachas are enumerated in order in the subsequent detail. Each 
contains twenty-five thousand stanzas, and the whole, consequently, one lac and 
fifty thousand. The Rachas are of a highly speculative character, belonging 
rather to philosophy than religion. ‘The cast of thought is sceptical in the 
extreme: endless doubts are started, and few solutions of them attempted. 
SAKyYA appears surrounded by his disciples, by whom the arguments on each 
topic are chiefly maintained, SAxya acting generally as moderator, but some- 
times as sole speaker. ‘The topics discussed are, the great first principles of 
Buddhism ; the tenets of the four schools of Bauddha Philosophy are mention- 
ed, but those of the Swabhdvika alone, largely discussed. ‘The object of the 
whole work seems rather to be proof of the proposition, that doubt is the end 

41 


424 LANGUAGES, &c. OF THE 


as well as beginning of wisdom, than the establishment of any particular dogmas 
of philosophy or religion: and from the evidence of this great work it would 


appear, that the old Bauddha philosophers were rather sceptics than atheists. 


The Prajnd Parmita is a work of the same character as the Racha 
Bhagavati, of which it is esteemed by some Bauddhas to be the etymon: 
and by those persons it is said, that the Racha Bhagavati is only an expansion 


of the principles and reasonings contained in the Prajna Parmita. 


The nine Dharmas are as follows : 
1 Prajna Parmita. 
2 Ganda Vyiha. 
8 Dasa Bhimeswara. 
4, Samadhi Raja. 
5 Lankdavatara. 
6 Sat Dharma Pindarika. 
7 Tathiégata Guhyaka. 
8 Lalita Vistara. 
9 Stbarana Prabha. 


Divine worship is constantly offered to these nine works, as the Nava 
Dharma, by the Bauddhas of Nepal, but why to them in particular, and not 
to all the works of the Bauddhas I cannot ascertain. With the exception 
of the first, they are chiefly of a narrative kind ; but interspersed with much 
occasional speculative matter. One of them (the Lalita Vistér) is the original 
authority for all those versions of the history of SAxya Srnwa, which have crept, 
though various channels, into the notice of Europeans. I esteem myself for- 
tunate in having been the first to diseover and procure copies of. these im- 
portant works. ‘To read and meditate them is not for me, but I venture to 


hint, that by so doing, only can a knowledge of genuine Buddhism be acquired. 


BAUDDHAS, &c. OF NEPAL. 4,25 


Buddhism is not a simple, but a vast and complicate structure erected, during 
ages of leisure, by a literary people. It has its various schools divided by vari- 
ous Doctors, nor is the Buddhism of one age less different from that of ano- 


ther, than the Brahmanism of the Vedas, of the Puranas, and of the Bhaégavat. 


Let it not be supposed, because these works were procured in Nepal, that 
they are therefore of a local character: the contrary is asserted by the Baud- 
dhas, and never disputed. The Sambhu Purana is the only local work of im- 
portance in the large collection which Ihave made. Perhaps it may be sur- 
mised, that if (as is stated) the fire of SanKara’s wrath consumed all, but some 
fragments of the sacred writings of the Buddhists, the ample works now pro- 
duced must be spurious. Let the exaggeration on either side be duly weigh- 
ed. The Bauddhas never had eighty-four thousand principal scriptures ; nor 
did Sankara destroy more than a few of those which they really possessed 
when he came to Nepal. The proof of the latter statement is, that Buddhism 
was long after SANKARA’s time the prevalent and national faith of the Nepalese 
princes and subjects; and that it is so still in regard to the people, notwith- 
standing the Gorkha conquest. Sankara may have converted, (I believe he 
did) one of the princes of the valley ; but the others remained Buddhists ; 
and, no doubt, took care of the faith and property of their subjects. All old 
Bauddha works are written in one of the three sorts of letters proper to 
Nepal, usually in Ranja and Bhanjin Mola, and on Palmira leaves. Copies of 
the Racha Bhagavati are very scarce. I am of opinion, after five years of 
enquiry, that there were but four copies of it in the valley, prior to my 
obtaining one copy, and a half: one copy more I got transcribed from an old 
one. No one had, for some time, been able to understand its contents: no 
new copy had been made for ages, and those few persons who possessed one 
or more Khands of it, as heir-looms, were content to offer to the sealed vo- 


lume the silent homage of their Pwja. Time and growing ignorance have 


been the chief enemies of Bauddha literature in Nepal. 


426 LANGUAGES, &c. OF THE 


The Bauddha Scriptures are of twelve kinds, known by the following 
twelve names: 1. Stdtra; 2. Geya; 3. Vydkarana; 4. Gathd; 5. Udan; 
6. Nidan ; ‘7. Ityukta; 8. Jétaka ; 9..Vaipulya ; 10. Adbhuta Dharma ; 
11. Avaddn ; 12. Upadésa. 


Sutras, are the principal scriptures, (Mzla Grantha) as the Racha Bhaga- 
vati and Ashta Sahasrika Prajnd Parmita : they are equivalent to the Vedas of 


the Brahmanists. 


Geyas, are works in praise of the Buddhas and Bodhisatwas, in modulat- 
ed language. The Gita Govinda of the Brahmanists is equivalent to our Gité 


Pushtaka, which belongs to the Geya. 
Vydakarana, are narrative works, containing histories of the several births 
of SAxya prior to his becoming Nirvdn. Sundry actions of other Buddhas 


and Bodhisatwas—also forms of prayer and of praise. 


Gathds, are narrative works, containing moral tales, ( Anék Dharmakathé ) 


relative to the Buddhas. The Lalita Vistara, isa Vydkarana of the sort called 


Gatha. 


Udén, treat of the nature and attributes of the Buddhas, in the form of 
dialogue between a Buddha Guru and Chela. 


Nidan, are treatises, in which the causes of events are shewn ; as for ex- 
ample, how did SAxya become a Buddha? reason or cause; he fulfilled the 
Dan, and other Parmitas.* 


* Parmita here means virtue, the moral merit by which our escape (passage) from mortality is 


obtained. Dan, or charity, is the first of the ten cardinal virtues of the Buddhas, “and other,” 
refers to the remaining nine. 


BAUDDHAS, &c. OF NEPAL. 427 


Ityukia, whatever is spoken with reference to, and in conclusion: the 


explanation of some prior discourse is Zéyukta. 
Jdataka, treat of the actions of former births. 


Vaipulya, treat of the several sorts of Dharma and Artha—that is of the 
several means of acquiring the goods of this world ( Artha ) and of the world 


to come (Dharma). 
Adbhuta Dharma, on preternatural events. 
Avadan, of the fruits of actions. Upadésa, of the esoteric doctrines. 


The following is an enumeration of some individual specimens of the 


preceding classes : 


First Khand of the Racha or Raksha Bhagavati. It isa Maha Yén Sutra Séstra. It begins 
with a relation (by himself) of how SAxya became Bhagavan ; and how he exhorted his disciples 
( Bodhisatwas) to read, and how he explained the doctrine of Avidya, that is, as long as Avidya 
lasts the world lasts, when Avidya ceases ( Nirodha) the world ceases; alice Pravrittt ends, and 
Mireritti begins. ‘Such are the general contents of the former part of this Khand; and the latter 
part of it is occupied with explanations of Sunyatd and Maha Sunyaté. SAxya is the speaker, the 
hearers are Supuurtr and other Bhikshukas: the style is prose ( Gadya.) 

Second and third Khands of the Raksha Bhagavati—contents the same as above. 

The Fourth Khand of the Raksha Bhagavati relates, how any one becomes Sarvakarmajna, 
or skilled in the knowledge of all things on earth and in heaven; in a word, omniscient : besides 
which, the subjects of the former Khands are treated of, more or less, in this. 

The Fifth Khand of the Raksha Bhagavati: besides Avidya, Sunya, and the other great 
topics of the prior Avands, the Khand contains the names of the Buddhas, Bodhi-satwas, &c. : the 
fith Khanda is also called* Vinssati Sahasrika Prajné Parmita. 
SSS 

* These prefixed epithets contradistinguish the two works, which are both known by the name 


Prajna Parmita. This name, however, properly belongs only to the latter, and when found alone 
indicates it, and never the fifth Khand of the Raksha Bhagavati. 


4M 


428 LANGUAGES, &c. OF THE 


These Five Khands are all in prose. 

Ashta Sahasrika Prajnd Parmita,a Mahé Ydn Sutra. A speculative work, treating of the 
transcendental topics discussed in the Racha Bhagavati, and further, of the doctrine of Nirvén. Tt 
is prose. SAxya is the speaker, and Susnuri, and other Bhikshukas the hearers. 

Ashta Sahasrika Vyékhya. This is a comment on the Prajnéd Parmita, by Hara Bhadra, in 
verse and prose. 

Ganda Vytha, Vydkarana Sdstra, contains forms of supplication and of thanksgiving, also 
how to obtain Bodhijnydn: prose: speaker SAkya: hearer SuDHANA KuMARA. 

Dasa Bhumeswara: a Vyéharana, containing an account of the ten Bhumis: prose: speaker 
SAxya: hearer ANanpA Bhikshuha. — - 

Samadhi Raja, a Vydkaran: an account of the actions by which the wisdom of Buddhism is 


acquired, and pf the duties of a Bodhisatwa, prose: speaker SAKya, and hearers RAvANA and 


\ 


others. 

Sat Dharma Pundarika ; Vydékarana; an account of the Mahé and other Dipa Dédnas, or 
of the lights to be maintained in honor of the Buddhas, Bodhisatwas, &c. 

Lalita Vistara. This is a Vydharana of the sort called Gathd. It contains a history of the 
several births of SAxya, and how, in his last birth, he acquired Bodhiznydn, and became a Buddha ; 
verse and prose: speaker SAkya: hearers Mairreya, and others. 

Guhya Samaga, otherwise called Yathdgata Guhyaka, an Upadesa or Tantra: contains 
Mantras and explanations of the manner of performing Puja: prose and verse: speaker BuaGaAvAN 
(i. e. SAxyva): hearers Vasra PAnt Bodhisatwa, and others. 

Suvorna Prabha, a Vyékarana Séstra, an account of LaKxsumr and other goddesses, and of 
the Bhagavat Dhdtu, or mansions of the deities: prose and verse : speaker SAKya : hearer Litsavr 
KuMARA. 

Swayambhu Purana the greater, a Vydkaran of the sort called Gidthé : an account of the 
manifestation of Swayambhu or Adi Buddha in Nepdl—and the early history of Nepal: verse: 
speaker SAxya: hearer Ananpa Dhikshuka. 

Swayambhu Purdna, the less, a Géthé: an account of Swayambhu Chaitya, (or Temple) 
verse and prose: speaker and hearer as above. 

Karanda Vytha,a Gdthé : an account of Lokeswara PapMA PAnr: prose: speaker and hearer 
as above. 

Guna Karanda Vyiha, a Gdtha : an amplification of the above in verse : speaker and hearer 
as before. | 

Vahdivostu, an Avaddn Sdstra, an account of the fruits of actions, like the Karma Vipdka of 


the Brahmins: prose: speaker and hearer as before. 


3) 
i 
Nj 


BAUDDHAS, &c. OF NEPAL. 4:29 


Ascha Avadan, an Avadan Sastra : an account of the Triratna, or Buddha, Dharma, Sanga, 
also of the Chaityas, with the fruits of worshipping them: verse: speaker Upacurta Bhikshuka : 
hearer Asoxa Raya. 

Bhadrakalpa Avadén, an Avaddin Sdstra : an account of the actions of SAxya, and of the 
wisdom which he thereby acquired: verse: speaker Urpacurta bhikshuka : hearer Asoxa Raja. 

Jétakha Mélé, a Jétaka Sdstra : an account of the various meritorious actions of SAKya in his 
several births, prior to his becoming a Tathdgata: verse and prose: speaker SAxyva: hearer ANAN- 
pa Bhikshu. 

Manichira, an Avaddn: an account of the birth of SAxya, and of the fruits of his actions: 
prose: speaker and hearer as above. 

Dwévinsati Avadén, an Avadin Séstra: an account of the fruits of building, worshipping and 
circumam bulating Chaityas: verse and prose: speaker SAxya : hearer Maitreya. 

Nandi-mukha Swaghosha, an Avaddén : an account of the great fast, called Vasundhara ; and 
of the fruit of observing it : prose: speaker SAkyA: hearer ANANDA. 

Bodhi-charya, an Avadin Sastra, of the sort called Kavya: contains a highly laudatory ac- 
count of Déna Parmita, and of the Bodhi-charyd, (or Buddhist duties), verse: speaker MAITREYA : 
hearer SupHANA KuMARA. 

Karuna Pundarika, an Avaddn: an account of Artvemi Raga ; of SuMADRA Renu, Purohit, 
of Ratna Garsua, Zathégata; and of AvaLoxireswara, (i.e. Padma Péni Bodhisatwa), 
prose: speaker SAkyA: hearers Marrreya, &c. 

Chandémrita Mald, a treatise of prosody, the measures illustrated by verses laudatory of 
SAxya SInHA: verse and prose: the author Amrita Bhikshu. 

Loheswara Sataka, a hundred verses in praise of PADMA PANI: verse: author Vasra Datta, 
Bhikshu. 

Saraka Dhéra, with a comment: a Kavya in praise of Arya Térd, Buddha Sakti: verse: 
author SAarvasJnA Mirrapana, Bhikshu. 

Aparimita Dhirani, an Upadesa, of the sort called Dhdrani:* contains many Dhdranis ad- 
dressed to the Buddhas, who are immortal (aparimtayusha Tathdgata,) prose: speaker SAKYA : 
hearer ANAND Bhikshu. 

Dhérani Sangraha, a collection of Dhdranis, as Maha Vairochana’s D. Maha Manjusri’s D. 


and those of many other Buddhas: verse: speaker SAkya: hearer Vasra Pant. 


* Diidranis, though derived from the Upadesa, are exoteric. They are short significant forms 
of prayer, sinvlar to the Panerénga of the Brahmans: whoever constantly repeats, or wears, made 
up in little lockets, a Dhdrani, possesses a charmed life. 


430 LANGUAGES, &c. OF THE 


Pancha Raksha, an Upadésa Dhdrani: an account of the five Buddha Suktis, called Prati- 
‘sard, &c. prose: speaker SAxya: hearer ANANDA. 5 

Pratyangiré Dhérani, an Upadésa Dhérani: an account of Pratyangira Buddha Sakti: prose: 
speaker Saxya: hearer ANANDA Bhikshu. 

Téré Satnédma, an Upadesa Dhérani: contains an account of Arya Tard, of her hundred 


names, her Vija Mantras, &c. verse: speaker PapMA Pani: hearer Vasra Pant. 


Sugatévadén, an Avadan Sastra: contains an account of the feast kept in honor of the © 


Sangas or Bodhisatwas: verse: speaker VAsuNDHARA Sodhisatwa: hearer Pusnpaketu &aj- 


Kumara. 
Sukhdvati Loka, the heaven of AMirAsuaA Buddha: verse: speaker SAKYA: hearers ANANDA 


and, others. 

Saptavara Dharani, an Upadesa of the sort termed Dhérani: an account of the seven Devis 
(Buddha Saktis) called, Vasundharé ; Vajra Viddrini; Ganapati Hridayd ; Ushnish Vijayé ; 
Parna Savari; Marichi; Graha Mdiriké, together with their Viya Mantras: prose: speaker 
SAxya : hearers ANANDA and others. 

Sriya Sangraha, an Upadesa : an account of the Tantrika ritual: prose: Speaker SAxya: hearers 
Vasra PAnt, &c. resembles the Mahodadhi of the Brahmans. 

Supanta Ratndkara, a Vydékarana, in the sense of the Brahmans; that is, a grammar; the 
part that treats of nouns; prose: author Durca Sinua. 

Sumaghavadan, an Avadén Séstra: an account of the Heaven (Bhuvan) of the Bhikshuhas; 
near the close is a story of the merchant Sumagua and his wife, whence the name of the work: 
prose: speaker SAkyA: hearer ANANDA. 

Chaitya Pungava, an Avadén, on-the worship of the Chattyas: prose: speaker SAxya : hearer 
Sucuetana, Bhikshuka. 

Kathinévadén, an Avadién Séstra: containing an account of the merit and reward of giving 
the* Pindapétra, Khikshari, Chivara and Nivdsa to Bhikshukas: prose: speaker SAxyA: hearer 
Kasyapa Bhikshu. 

Pinda-patravadén, an account of the begging platter of the Bhikshu, and of the merit of 
bestowing it on him: prose: speaker and hearer as above. 

Diwajagra Keyuri, an Upadesa, or Tantra Dhérani: an account of DuwaJAGRA KEyuRI, Bud- 


dha Sakti: prose: speaker SAxya: hearer Inpra Deva (the god.) 


* The begging platter, staff, and slender habiliments of the Bauddha mendicant, are called by 
the names in the text: the Chivara is the upper, the Nivdsa the lower garb. 


Ree 
{ 


BAUDDHAS, &c. OF NEPAL. 431 


Graha Matrika, a Tantra Dhérani: account of Graha Matrika, Buddha Sakti. Speaker 
SAxya: hearer ANANDA Bhikshu. 

Naga-pijd, a manual of Puja to the Nagas for rain. It is extracted from the Sddhana 
Mala. It is of the same character as the Vrata Paddhati of the Brahmans. 

Mahahila Tantra, an Upadesa: account of the Puja to be paid to MAuAKAvA: prose: 
Vasra Satwa Bhagavan (i. e. Buppwa) speaker : hearer, his Sakéi, named Vajra Sattwatmaki. 

Abhidhdnotiarottara, an Upadesa : account of the esoteric rites: prose: speaker Vasra Satwa, 
BHAGAVAN: hearer Vasra PAnr. The rites prescribed by this book resemble in character the 
Saiva ritual, and differ from it only in being addressed to different objects. 

Vineya Sutra, containing an account of the Bodhi charya (or Buddhism) author, CHanpRrA- 
KIRTI, Achdrya.* It is equivalent to the Vydsa Sutra of the Brahmans. 

Kalpalatavadan, an Avadén Sastra: a highly ornate account of the first birth of SAxya, and 
of the fruits of his actions in that birth: verse: author Ksuzminpra Bhikshu. 

Gita pushtaka Sangraha, a Geya: a collection of songs on Tantrika topics, by various hands. 

Stotra Sangraha, the praises of Buppua, Duarma, and SANGA, in verse of various measures, 
and by various authors. 

Divydvadén, an Avaddn Sdastra: containing various legends of the first birth of SAkya: verse 


and prose : speaker SAxya, hearers ANanpa Bhikshu and others. 
The following list is of a more miscellaneous description. 


Name; Stimachik. Author; TuéLa Zama. Place; where written; Khanam in Bhot. Sub- 
ject ; Jurisprudence. 

Name; Chama Dam. Author; Acu Cuu Lama. Place; Tia Nowa. Subject; the Sagun 
Pothi of the Hindoos. 

Name; Chariig. Author; Tu1vA Lama. Place; Geja Ketha. Subject; the Jndn Pothi of 
the Hindus, or divine wisdom. 

Name; Charige Chapah. Author; YE PAH REGREH Maha Lama. Place; Pargreh ah chu. 


Subject ; cure of all diseases. 


Be eo ee 


* Here is an instance of that confusion of divine and human things to which Buddhism is 
proved. This is confessedly the work of a mere priest, and is yet called a Maha Yan Sutra. See 
Prefatory Remarks. 

4,.N 


432 LANGUAGES, &c. OF THE 


Name; Tuchtrakh. Author; Suxa Lama. Place ; Jah-la Denih. Subject; read by Men- 
dicant Monks, to prosper their petition for alms. 

Name; Mani Pothi. Author ; Cuurit Lama. Place; Gumewan. Subject ; the use and vir- 
tue of the Mani, or praying Cylinder. 

Name; Chi Dam. Author; Grevicuor Lama. Place; Yeparkas. Subject; Medicine. 

Name ; Wapache Pothi. Author; Aperak Lama. Place; Jatu Lam. Subject; Physical 
Science, or the winds, rain, weather. 

Name; Kichak. Author; Ki Léan Lama. Place; Botehi. Subject; Witchcraft, Demon- 
ology, &c. 

Name; Zui takh la. Author; RakacuanpAn Lama. Place; Kubakh. Subject: Science 
of War. 

Name ; Dutakh-a-si. Author; Basacuix Lama. Place; Gnama. Subject; read by survivors 
on the death of a relation, that they may not be haunted by his ghost. 

Name; Seru-a-takh. Author; Taxacuix Lama. Place; Yipurké. To be read by travellers, 
during their wanderings, for sake of a safe return. 

Name; Sata-tu-mah. Author; Yisau-sekar Lama. Place ; Sebhala. Subject; read previous 
to sitting ona Panchaet, for a prosperous issue thereof. 

Name; Kerikh. Author; AMApATAKH Lama. Place; Ast. Subject; to be read for increase 
of temporal goods. 

Name; Mumbeh. Author; Ti-raxu Lama. Place; Bere-ga-kakh. Subject; to be read at 
time of gathering flowers for worship. 

Name; Dekmwjah. Author; Mén-raKe-Tan Lama. Place; Minka. Subject ; to be read 
previous to laying the foundation of a house. 

Name; Thaka-pah. Author; Ari-Lan Lama. Place; Baba-rekeh. Subject; to be read on 
the eve of battle. 

Name ; Chaka-sumah. Author; GAGA-MATAKH Lama. Place; Macha-lekoh. Subject; to be 
read whilst feeding the sacred fishes at the temples ; a very holy act. 

Name; Kusa. Author; NemAcHaLta Lama. Place; Yeparenesah. Subject ; to be read at 
the time of bathing. 

Name ; Lahassa-hi-pothi. Author; Uma Lama. Place; Lassa. Subject; to be read before 
eating, while dinner is serving up. 

Name; Chandapu. Author; Granau Lama. Place; Jubu-na-sah. Subject; to be read 
previous to making purchases. 

Name; Sdchah. Author; Ursana Lama. Place; Jadéin. Subject; o be repeated whilst 


exonerating themselves, that no evil spirit may come up. 


BAUDDAGAS, &c. OF NEPAL. 435 


Name; Bdchah. Author; JanapEcu Lama. Place; Maharah, Subject ; to be read by lone 
travellers, in forests and bye-ways, for protection. 

Name; AKajaw. Author; OLracHayan Lama. Place; Karah. Subject. to be read by a dead 
man’s relatives, to free his soul from purgatory. 

Name; Vidaram. Author; Macnwan Lama. Place; Sadurl. Subject; to facilitate inter- 
views, and make them happy in their issues. 

Name ; Ditakh. Author; CHopattan Lama. Place; Urasikh. Subject; to interpret the 
ominous croaking of crows, and other inauspicious birds. 

Name; Kardchak. Author ; Kuucuax Lama. Place; Pheragiah. 

Name; Chalah. Author; Gipu Lama. Place; Biddkh. Subject; to be read at time of 
drinking, that no ill may come of the draught. 

Name; Kegé. Author; Tupatuwo Lama. Place; Kabdjeh. Subject ; for increase of years, 
and a long life. 

Name; Chabeh. Author; Akaseu Lama. Place; Ari Kaléguh. Subject; to be read for 
removing the inclemencies of the season. 

Name; Kaghatukh. Author; Sucnau Lama. Place; Bolekachar. Subject ; to be read by 
horsemen, at seasons of journies, that they may come to no harm. 

Name; Licht. Author; Nowarau Lama. Place; Chagtirakahah. Subject ; to be read for 
increase of eloquence and knowledge of languages. 

Name; Githatenah. Author; Susanan Lama. Place; Seakuhah. Subject ; to be read by 
Archers for success of their craft. 

Name; The Baudhpothi, or history of the founding of the Temple of Kasacurr in Nepal, 
with other matters appertaining to Buppuism in Nepal. 

Name; Stri pothi. Author; Bisrakon Lama. Place; Jamatakh, a general form of prayer 


for rich and poor, sick and healthy, man and woman. 


Although an accurate estimate of the sources whence these works were 
derived, would require a long and laborious examination of their contents, yet, 
from their general character, as well as from local tradition, little doubt can be 
entertained, that Bhot obtained its literature and letters from India, through the 
Bauddha Missionaries, or Refugees from Hindustan. These individuals car- 
ried with them, and subsequently procured from India, many of the sacred and 


profane works of their sect, and, as was their wont, they immediately began to 


4:34: LANGUAGES, &c. OF THE 


instruct the people of Bhot in their own, that is in the Sanscrié letters and 
language. ‘They had, no doubt, some success in this measure in the first pe- 
riod of their emigration into Bhot; but in the end, the difficulties of Sans- 
crit, and the succession of Native teachers to the chairs of the original Indian 
emigrants, led to a preference of the Bhotiya language, and, consequently, a 
translation of all the Sanscrit works they had, into the vernacular tongue of 
the country. This resort to translation took place early; a circumstance 
which, aided by the lapse of time, and the further and further decline of the 
original literary ardour, inspired by the Indian Refugees, produced, at no 
distant period from the decease of the first Indian teachers, the oblivion of 
. Sanscrit, and the entire supercession of original Sanscrit versions by transla- 
tions into Bhotiya ; the Bhotiyas, however, although they thus soon lost the 
Sanscrit language, retained the Devanagari letters. The result of the whole 
is, that the body of Bhotzya literature now is, and long has been, a mass of 
translations from Sanscrit, its language native, its letters (like its ideas) In- 
dian. ‘To support this view of the case, I have to observe, that, even the 
Nepalese, much nearer as they are to India, and much more cultivated as 
they are, have resorted extensively to vernacular comments, and even trans- 
lations of their books, which also are Sanscrit ; and that, although the Newars 
have a good language of their own, they have no /e¢ters, but such as are clear- 
ly of Nadgari origin, and declared by themselves te be so: that all the Bhotiyas, 
with whom I have conversed, assure me, that they got all their knowledge 
from India, that their books are translations, that the originals, here and there, 
still exist in Bhot, but that now no one can read them: lastly, that several 
of the great Bhotiya classics proclaim, by their very names, the fact. 
These remarks are applied, of course, to the classics of Bhot: for, in regard 
to works of less esteem there, I believe such to be not translations, but 
originals ; chiefly legends of the Lamas, and in the-vernacular tongue, the 
best dialect of which is that spoken about Lassa and Digarchi ; but still, like 


the translated classics, written in letters essentially Indian. 


BAUDDHAS, &. OF NEPAL. 435 


An accurate view of the Bauddha system of belief would involve the | 
perusal of a number of the voluminous works above specified, and would demand 
more time than could be bestowed upon the task by any person, not otherwise 
wholly unemployed : the time and application necessary would, no doubt, also 
be unprofitably expended, as the works, from the short notice already given, are 
evidently filled with endless subtelties and subdivisions of the most puerile 
and interminable description : a very few observations must therefore suffice 


in this place, on the Religious notions of the Bauddhas of this part of India. 


Speculative Buddhism embraces four very distinct systems of opinion res- 
pecting the origin of the world, the nature of a first cause, and the nature and 


destiny of the soul. 


These systems are denominated from the diognostic tenet of each, Swab- 
havika, Aishwarika, Ydtnika, and Karmika, and each of these again admits of 
several subdivisions, comprising divers reconciling theories of the later Baud- 
dha teachers, who, living in quieter times than those of the first Doctors, and 
instructed by the taunts of their adversaries, and by adversity, have attempted 
to explain away what was most objectionable, as well as contradictory in the 


original system. 


The Swabhdvikas deny the existence of immateriality; they assert, that 
matter is the sole substance, and they give it two modes, called Pravritti, and 
Nirovritti, or action and rest, concretion and abstraction. Matter, they say, 
is eternal as a crude mass, and so are the powers of matter, which powers 
possess not only activity, but intelligence. The proper state of existence of 
these powers is that of rest, and of abstraction from every thing palpable and 
visible, (Nzrvrtti, )in which state they are so attenuated, on the one hand, and 
so invested with infinite attributes of power and skill on the other, that they 
want only consciousness and moral perfections to become gods. When 


40 


4356 LANGUAGES, &c. OF THE 


the powers pass from their proper and enduring state of rest into their casual 
and transitory state of activity, then all the beautiful forms of nature or of the 
world come into existence, not by a divine creation, nor by chance, but spon- 
taneously : and all these beautiful forms of nature cease to exist, when the same 
powers repass again from this state of Pravritti, or activity, into the state of 
Nirvritti, or repose. The revolution of the states of Pravritti and Nirovritti 
is eternal, and with them revolve the existence and destruction of nature or 
of palpable forms. The Swabhavikas are so far from ascribing the order and 
beauty of the world to blind chance, that they are peculiarly fond of quoting 
the beauty of visible form as a proof of the intelligence of the formative 
powers; and they infer their eternity from the eternal succession of new 
forms. But they insist that these powers are inherent in matter, and not im- 
pressed on it by the finger of God, that is, of an absolutely immaterial being. 
Inanimate forms are held to belong exclusively to Pravritti, and therefore to be 
perishable ; but animate forms, among which, man is not distinguished 
sufficiently, are deemed capable of becoming by their own efforts, associated to 
the eternal state of Nirvritti; their bliss, which consists of repose, or 
release from an otherwise endlessly recurring migration through the visibie 
forms of Pravritti. Men are endowed with consciousness, as well, I believe, 
of the eternal bliss* of the rest of Nérvritti, as of the ceaseless pain of the 
activity of Pravritti. But these men who have won the eternity of Nirvritti, are 
not regarded as rulers of the universe, which rules itself—nor as mediators 
or judges of mankind still left in Pravitti, for the notions of mediation and 
judgment are not admitted by the Swabhdvikas, who hold every man to be 
the arbiter of his own fate, good and evil in Pravritti being, by the constitu- 
tion of nature, indissolubly linked to weal and woe: and the acquisition of 


Niroritti being by the same inherent law, the inevitable consequence of such 


* The prevalent doctrine is that they are, some of them, however, say no: the question turns 
on the prior acceptation of Sunyatd, for which see on. 


BAUDDHAS, &c. OF NEPAL. 4377 


an enlargement of his faculty by habitual abstraction, as will enable a man 
to know what Nzrvritti is. ‘Toknow this, is to become omniscient, a Buddha, 
to be divinely worshipped as such, while yet lingering in Pravritti ; and to 
become, beyond the grave, or in Nirvritti, all at least that man can become, 
an all respecting which, some of the Swabhdvikas have expressed much 
doubt, while others of. them have insisted that it is eternal repose, and not eter- 
nal annihilation* (Sinyatd): though (adds this more dogmatical school, ) were 
it even Suznyatd, it would still be good: man being otherwise doomed to an 
eternal migration through all the forms of nature—the more desirable of 


which are little to be wished ; and the less so, at any price to be shunned, 


From the foregoing sketch it will be seen, that the most diognostic te- 
nets of the Swabhdvikas are the denial of immateriality, and the assertion that 
man is capable of enlarging his faculties to infinity. The end of this enlarge- 
ment of human faculties is association to the eternal rest of Nérvritti—res- 
pecting the value of which there is some dispute—and the means of it are 
Tapas and Dhyan—by the former of which terms, the Swabhdvikas understand 
—not penance, or self-inflicted bodily pain—but a perfect rejection of all out- 
ward (Pravrittika) things ; and by the latter, pure mental abstraction. In 
regard to physics, the Swabhavikas do not reject design or skill—but a designer, 
that is, a single, immaterial, self-conscious Being, who gave existence and 
order to matter by volition. ‘They admit what we call the laws of matter— 
but insist that those laws are primary causes, not secondary, are inherent 
eternally in matter, not impressed on it by an immaterial creator. They con- 
sider creation a spontaneity, resulting from powers which matter has had 
from all eternity, and will have to all eternity. So with respect to man, they 


admit intellectual and moral powers, but deny that immaterial essence or 


* This interpretation of the Srvabhdvika Sunyatd is not the general one, though their enemies 
have attempted to make it so: for the prevalent sense of the word among the Buddhas, see on. 


438 LANGUAGES, &c. OF THE 


being, to which we ascribe those powers. Animate and inanimate causation, 
they alike attribute to the proper vigour of nature or Swabhdva. I believe 
the Swabhdvika to be the oldest school of Bauddha philosophy, but that school 
has, from the earliest times, been divided into two parties, one called the Swa- 
bhavikas simply, whose tenets I have endeavoured to state above, the other 
termed the Prajnika Swabhévikas, from* Prajna, the supreme wisdom ; viz. 
of nature. The Prdéjnikas agree with the Swabhdvikas, in considering matter 
as the sole entity, in investing it with intelligence, as well as activity, and in 
giving it two modes of action and of rest. But the Prdajnikas incline to 
unitise the powers of matter in the state of Nirvritti, to make that unit deity ; 
and to consider man’s summum bonum, not as a vague and doubtful associa- 
tion to the state of Nirvritti; but as a specific and certain absorption into 
Prajna, the sum of all the powers active and intellectual of the universe. The 
Aishwarikas admit immaterial essence, a supreme, infinite, and intellectual 
Adi Buddha, whom some of them consider as the sole deity, and cause of all 
things, while others associate with him a co-equal and eternal material princi- 
ple: and believe that all things proceeded from the joint operation of these ¢wo 
principles. The Aishwarikas accept the two modes of the Swabhdvikas and 
Préjnikas, or Pravritts and Nirvriti. But though the Aishwarikas admit 
immaterial essence, and a god, they deny his proyidence and dominion, 
and though they believe Moksha to be an absorption into his essence, 
and vaguely appeal to him as the giver of the good things of Pravritti, they 
deem the connexion of virtue and felicity in Pravritti to be independant of 
him, and to be capable of being won only by their own efforts of Tapas and 
Dhydn, efforts which they too are confident will enlarge their faculties to 
infinity, will make them worthy of being worshipped as Buddhas on earth, 
and will raise them in heaven, to an equal and self-earned participation of 
the attributes and bliss of the supreme Adi Buddha: for such is their idea of 


* Prajna, from pra, an intensitive prefix, and Jnydna, wisdom, or, perhaps, the simpler jna. 


BAUDDGAS, &c. OF NEPAL. 439 


Moksha, or absorption into him—or, I should rather say, of union with him. 
All the Buddhas agree in referring the use and value of mediation, (earthly 
and heavenly,) of the rights and duties of mortality, and of the ceremonies 
of religion solely to Pravritti, a state which they are all alike taught to con- 
demn; and to seek, by their own efforts of abstraction, that infinite extension 
of their faculties, the accomplishment of which realises, in their own persons, 
a godhead as complete, as any of them, and the only one, which some of them, 
will acknowledge. The Kdrmikas and Ydinikas derive their names, respectively 
from Karma, by which I understand conscious moral agency, and Yana, 
which I interpret conscious intellectual agency. I believe these schools to 
be more recent than the others, and attribute their origin to an attempt to 
rectify that extravagant quietism, which, in the older schools, stripped the 
powers above (whether considered as of material or immaterial natures) of all 
providence and dominion ; and man, of all his active energies and duties : 
assuming as just, the more general principles of their predecessors, they seem 
to have directed their chief attention to the phenomena of human nature, to 
have been struck with its free will, and the distinction between its cogitative 
and sensitive powers, and to have sought to prove, notwithstanding the neces- 
sary moral law of their first teachers, that the felicity of man must be secured, 
either by the proper culture of his moral sense,* which was the sentiment of the 
Karmikas, or by the just conduct of his understanding, a conclusion which 
the Ydatnikas preferred: and this I believe to be the ground of distinction 
between these two schools, as compared with one another. As compared 
with their predecessors, they held a closer affinity with the Aishwarikas, than 
with the other schools, inclined to admit the existence of immaterial entities, 


and endeavoured to correct the absolute impersonality and quiescence of the 


* Notwithstanding these sentiments, which are principally referable to the state of Pravritti, 
the Karmikas and Yétnikas still held preferentially to the Zupas and Dhydn, the severe medita- 
tive asceticism of the older schools. 


4° Pp 


4.4.0 LANGUAGES, &c. OF THE 


Causa Causarum, (whether material or immaterial,) by feigning Karma or 
Yaina, conscious moral, or conscious intellectual agency, to have been with 
causation from the beginning. The Karmika texts often hold such a language 
as this: ‘* SAxya Sinna—who, according to some, (the Swabhavikas) sprang 
from Swabhava, and, according to others, (the Aishwarikas) from Adi Buddha— 


performed such and such Karmas, and reaped such and such fruits from them.” 


In regard to the destiny of the soul, I can find no moral difference be- 
tween them and the Brahminical Sages. By all, metempsychosis and absorp- 
tion are accepted. But absorbed into what ? into Braume, say the Brahmans 
—into Stinyata, or Swabhdva, or Prajna, or Adi Buddha, say the various sects of 
the Bauddhas ; and I should add, that by their doubtful Sunyata I do not, in 
general, understand annihilation, nothingness, but rather that extreme and 
almost infinite attenuation which they ascribe to their material powers or forces 
in the state of Nirvritti, or of abstraction from all particular palpable forms, 


such as compose the sensible world of Pravritti. 


How far, and in what sense the followers of these divers and opposite 
systems of speculation, adopted the innumerable deities of the existent Bud- 
dhist Pantheon, it must rest with future research to determine, when those 
ample works which it will be my happiness shortly to place within the reach of 
my curious countrymen, shall have been duly investigated. Suffice it at present 
to say, that the practical Buddhism of Nepal has long admitted a marked dis- 
tinction between those saints of mortal mould, who won the rank and powers of 


a Buddha by their own efforts, and the Buddhas of a celestial nature and origin. 


The former of these are seven,* and are denominated * Médnushi,’’ or 


human: the latter ‘‘ Anupapddakd,” without parents, and also ‘ Dhydni.”’ 


* Called Vipasyi, Sikhi, Viswabhi, Kakuhsanda, Kanaka Muni, Kasyapa, and Séhya Sinha. 


BAUDDHAS, &c. OF NEPAL. 441 


This second appellation is derived from the Sanscrit name for that abstracted 
musing which has found more or less favour with almost all the Asiatic reli- 


gionists, but which is peculiarly and pre-eminently characteristic of Buddhism. 


The epithet Dhydni, however, as applied toa class of Buddhas, is obvious- 
ly capable of an atheistic interpretation, indeed hardly less so than the Md- 
mshi, to which it is opposed: and what therefore I desire to observe is, that 
the Aishwarikas (beyond the bounds of Nepal too) ascribe this creative 


b) 


Dhydn to a self-existent, infinite, and ommiscient “ Adi Puddha,” one of 
whose attributes is the partial possession of five sorts of wisdom. Hence he 
is called ‘* Panchajnyana Atmiké ;’’ and it was by virtue of these five sorts of 
wisdom, -that he, by five successive acts of Dhydn, created from the begin- 


ning, and in the duration of the present world, the Pancha Buddha Dhyédni.’’ 


The names and graduation of these Jnyans, Dhydns, and Buddhas are thus: 


Jnydnas. Dhyénas. Buddhas. 
1. Suvisuddha Dharma Dhdtu. The Dhydn of creation is called 1. Vairochana. 
2. Adarshana. by one generic name Loka 2. Akshobhya. 
3. Prativekshana. Sansaryjana, and by five re- 3. Retnasambhava. 
4. Sdnta. petitions of this, the five 4. Amitabha. 
5. Kritydnushthan. Buddhas were created. 5. Amoghasiddha. 


It might be expected, that the supreme Buddha having created these five 
celestials, would have devolved on them the active cares of the creation and 
government of the world: not so, however; the genius of genuine Buddhism 
is eminently quiescent, and hence these most exalted zeons are relieved from 
the degradation of action. Each of them receives, together with his existence, 
the virtues of that Jnydn and Dhydn, to the exertion of which, by Adi Buddha, 

he owed his existence, and by a similar exertion of both, he again produces a 


Dhydéni Bodhisatwa. The Dhyéni Bodhisatwas are, one by one, in succession, 


44,2 LANGUAGES, &c. OF THE 


the tertiary and active authors of creation. ‘These creations are but perish- 
able, and since the beginning of time, three of them have passed away. 
The present world is, therefore, the work of the fourth Bodhisatwa, who is now 
Lord of the ascendant, and his worshippers in Nepal are wont to invest 
him with all the powers of a Supreme and sole God, the ‘ Praesens Divus 
being, as usual, every thing. When the existing system of worlds shall have 
run its course, the offices of creator and governor of the next will be assumed \_ 
by the fifth Bodhisatwa. The names and lineage of these Dhydni Bodhisatwas 


are as follows: 


Buddhas. Bodhisatwas. 
1. Vairochana. 1. Samantabhadra. 
2. Akshobhya. 2. Vajra Pani. 
3. Ratnasambhava. 3. Retna Pani. 
4. <Amitabha. 4. Padma Pani. 
5. Amoghasiddha, 5. Viswa Pani. 


The Dhyani Buddhas and Bodhisatwas are considered to stand in the 
relation of fathers and sons to each other, and as there are Dhydni Bodhi- 
satwas, so are there Mdnushi Bodhisatwas ; who again bear to their respec- 
tive Manushi Buddhas, the connexion of pupil to teacher, of graduate to 
adept, of the aspirant after the wisdom of Buddhism to him who possesses 
that wisdom. I should add, that it is competent for a mortal man to become 
a Buddha,* whilst he yet lingers in the flesh ; albeit, the entire fulfilment of 
the rewards, if not of the prerogatives of the transcendent character, is assign- 


ed to a more unearthly state, viz. the state of Nzrvriiti. 


The images of the Dhydéni Buddhas, which have been forwarded to 
the Society, occupy (and exclusively of all lower Buddhas) the base of 


* Hence the Divine Lamas of Bhot, though the original idea has been perverted somewhat. 


SPA Rn OA ars *a\ / 
i) a I DA 


Se iaeraae |e 


; Pe ae, 
hytotts Ota YAS 


i , , s ae y . zy . 
YLYEOSG?E whe rom fide fo ed LEE LE fiprte: Cues ZA terfioscte Cpocee# ey wey 
A 


BAUDDHAS, &. OF NEPAL. 443 


every Manuchaitya,* or highest order of temples in Nepal: and that those 
images are invariably distinguished by the respective differences exhibited 


in the specimens transmitted. 


The following list of Buddhas compleats all I have at present to offer on 
the subject. “I'wo lists were prepared for me, some time ago, by an old Baud- 
dha of Nepal, with whom I have long cultivated an acquaintance; but were 
then laid aside for future examination and explanation where opportunity 


should serve. 


I have accordingly had them compared, under my own eyes, with the 
scriptures, whence they were extracted, and that comparison has suggested 
the following brief elucidatory remarks. In the first place, the lesser list 
has proved to be superfluous, all its names being contained in the larger one. 
In the next place, the whole number of Buddhas in the greater catalogue has 
been found to amount to one hundred and thirty-one and not to one hundred 
and forty-five, as stated elsewhere ; the same name being repeated, in some 
instances, two and three times, by reason of this catalogue consisting of liter- 
alextracts from several independent works. And I have thought it better 


to leave it in statu quo, than to omit sundry names of one series because they 
occur in another. Such omission might have interfered with some established 
contiguity, time, place, or circumstances, in regard to the Buddhas, with 
which we are not acquainted; and with respect to the repetitions, these 
may be seen, in the list, at a glance, by the references attached to 
them. There is one deviation from the catalogues as found in the 


pothis whence they are drawn, and it is this. After the names of the 


* Chaitya, is the proper and sole name for a Bauddha abode of God. Vihdr, the proper and 
sole name of a Bauddha abode of the servant of God. In the former dwells the object of worship, 
in the latter the professed. 

; nae 


44.45 LANGUAGES, &c. OF THE 


six great Manushi Buddhas (Nos. 50 to 56) the name of Sfkxya SinwA; 
the seventh and last is given in my list, though not found at that place in the 
Lalita Vistara: probably because Séxya had not, when that work was com- 
piled, become Nirvdn and a Tathagata in the proper sense. His name, 
though occurring before, is notwithstanding, re-inserted in my catalogue in 
that place, in order to make up the complement of the now famous Sapta Bud- 
dha Manushi. Before each distinct series of names, the work, from which 


it is derived, is uniformly noted. 


In the works cited, many more names, besides those given in the cata- 
logue, are to be found, and from the whole of the books which have been pro- 
cured and transmitted to Calcutta, hundreds of new names might be drawn. 
In the SamApui Rasa,* SarvArrHa Sippwa, (SAkya, before he became a 
Buddha,) is asked by Mairreya and Vasra Pani, how he acquired Samadhi 
Jnydn : In reply, he begins by naming one hundred and twenty Tathagatas, who 
instructed him therein in his former births, and at the conclusion of this enu- 
meration of Buddhas, Sarvirrua SippHa observes, he has given so many 
names exempli gratia, but that his instructors were really no less in number 
than eighty crores. ‘There is a verse in the Aparimita Dharani (to be found 
in many other, and higher authorities) purporting that ‘* the Buddhas who 
have been, are, and will be, are more numerous than the grains of sand on the 
banks of the Ganges.”? Some of these Buddhas sprang divinely, not genera- 
tively from other Buddhas ; some from Akds, and some from the Lofos. 
These are in general evident nonentities, in regard to chronology and his- 
tory: yet it is often most difficult to distinguish them from their more sub- 
stantial compeers, the origin of the latter having been frequently traced up to 


Heaven by the vanity of superstition, while its grovelling genius, no less fre- 


* T have this list before me extracted from the Samddhi Raja; but I do not think it worth 
while to add it to the lists already given. 


BAUDDHAS, &c. OF NEPAL. 445 


quently drew down the lineage of the former to Earth. Again, among the 
Buddhas confessedly of mortal mould, there are three wide degrees, that of the 
Pratyeka Buddha, that of the Srévaka Buddha, and that of the Mahé Yénika 
Buddha. But the two former are regarded, even by their worshippers, as 
little more than mere men of superior sanctity ; and as infinitely inferior to the 
Maha Yanika Buddhas, such as Séxya and his six great predecessors. We have, 
however, multitudes even of this highest degree : and besides, the title belongs 
not only to the supreme Manushi Tathégatas, but also to all the Dhydnis in- 
discriminately. Upon the whole, then, it seems peculiarly desirable, in the pre- 
sent state of our information, to keep a steady eye upon the authoritative 


old scriptures, that SAxya is the seventh, and last of the Buddhas. 


It is very worthy of remark, too, that, according to those scriptures, the 
duration of these seven Buddhas fills the whole extent of time: the two first 
being assigned to the Satya Yuga ; the two second to the Treta; the two 
third to the Dwépara ; and Sixya and the Buddha yet to come, being the 
declared Lords of the Kali or present Yuga. It will hardly, I imagine, be 
considered an answer to this difficulty to observe, that the Chronology of the 


Buddhas, supposes an eternal world, and confounds time and eternity. 


It has not occurred to me at present to doubt the historical existence of 
SAxya’s six predecessors, but I have not failed to remark that, while the 
Buddha writings make ample mention of SAxya’s birth, sayings, and doings ; 
and while they ascribe to him, the arrangement at least, and scripture cf all 
the work, they are nearly silent with respect to the origin and actions of 
the six Buddhas, who went before him. ‘To go farther into this matter would 
lead me beyond the bounds I have prescribed myself on the present occa- 
sion. What I have said will suffice to shew why the catalogue has been so 


long withheld, and perhaps would justify the withholding of it still. — 


446 


LANGUAGES, &. OF THE 


* List of Tathégatas compiled from the Lalita Vistara, Kriya Sangraha and 
Raksha Bhagavati. 


ayTat 
WaT 
Auge 
quay 
AMAT 
=frza 
ATT 
BERT 
aqguta 
warfry 
Saaw 


Ooo NW’ Dare &© Ho = 


ee | 
- CF WO = © 


qasy 
ateq 
Waly 
~zftaa 
fara 
Sad 
ufaa 
SUAAT 
2 TRa 


wm WO NO Se et eS ee 
mie cwo wanton ao 


—P_——— 


Lalita Vistara, 1st Section. 


PADMOTTARA. 
DHARMAKETU. 
DfraNKARA. 
GUNAKETU. 
MAHAKARA, 
RIsHIDEVA. 
Sritpsa. 
SATYAKETU. 
VAJRASANHATA: 
SarvABHIBHE. 


HEMAVARNA. 


Aaa ATYUCHCHAGAME. 
Warseatact PRAVARASAGARA. 


PusHPAKETU. 
VARARGPA. 
SULOCHANA. 
RIsHIGUPTA. 
JINAVAKTRA. 
UNNATA. 
PUSHPITA. 
URNATESA. 


PusHKALA. 


9 
23 


27 


aca Surasmf. 

aya MANGALA. 
aqua SUDARSANA. 
aerfaeaat Manastnuates&. 


faqsigen STHITABUDDHI- 
DATTA. 


qaamafey VASANTAGANDAI, ~ 
wquafara SaTYADHERMAVI- 


ata PULAKIRTT#. 
fam TIsHYA. 
Ta PusHya. 
wrest Loxasunpara. 
fadiwae VistirNaBHEDA. 
canta RATNAKIRTTYI. 
sqast UGRATESA. 
aewyast BRAHMATEJA. 
wag SuGHOSHA. 
aga SUPUSHPA. 
qaaTaeargy SuMANOJNAGHOSHA 
WUE SucHESHTARUOPA. 
Weaana PRAWASITANETRA. 
TUT GunaRAsf. 


* These lists were sent by Mr. Honason, in the Devanagari character only, with a request 
that the Secretary would render them into their equivalent Roman characters agreeably to the 
orthoepy follswed in the Researches. This has accordingly been done, but it has been thought 
likely to be satisfactory to insert the names in the Devanagari letters also.—H. H. W. 


BAUDDHAS, &c. OF NEPAL. 4A7 
Lalita Vistéra, 1st Section.—(continued. ) 
A3 Hamat MEGHASWARA. 50 faqaai Vipasyf. 
44 Tar caw SUNDARAVERNA. 51 fray Sint. 
45 ATTRA AYUSTEJA. 52 aay VISWABHO. 
46 afaa@agaral Savivacasachinet. | 53 RAHA KAKUTSANDA. 
47 wratfaatiad LoxisniAsuira. 54 waTRAla KANAKAMUNI. 
48 fray JITASATRU. 55 @Isgqy KAsyapa. 
49 aafaa SaMPvUsITA. 56 wraqata SAKYAMUNI. 
Lalita Vistara, 13th Section. 
o7-1 Aarau AMOGHADARSf. 73-17 Raat J NANAMERU. 
3 aqtraa V AIROCHANA. 74-18 aazay SATYADARSI. 
59-3 <<afrat DunvuBHIswaRA. | 75-19 ataemt NAcavarra. 


60-4 qaqc  Duarmeswara. 
61-5 wamew Samanraparsi. 


62-6 Bul fae MAHARCHISKAN- 


f= DHI. 
63-7 warqa Duarmavuwasa. 
64 8 TART J NANAKETU. 
65-9 tafr@t Rernasixut. 
66-10 qaatfa Papmayont. 
67-11 war fary SsarvABHIBHO. 

(See No. 10.) 

68-12 aract SAGARA. 
69-13 Tat, PapMAGARBHA. 


70-14 Wess SALENDRARAJA. 
71-15 ufeaa Pusnrita. (See 
No. 20.) 


72-16 a@atzst YAsovarra. 


AR 


76-20 FAsaTA ATYUCHCHAGAME. 


77-21 
78-22 


79-23 wraqata 


80-24 
81-25 
82-26 
83-27 
84-28 
85-29 
86-30 
87-31 


88-32 


(See No. 12.) 
weTfaae Maniviytua. 


cfiacra Rasmiris. 
SAkxyamunti. (See 
No. 56.) 
TRH INDRAKETU. 
aera SGRYANANA. 
wafa Sumartt. 
aarti NAGABHIBHO. 
VIVA BHAISHAJYARAJ. 
fazaq SINHAKETU. 
quaa¢ra GuUNAGRADHARE. 
ATT Kasyapa. (See 
No. 55:) 


APRA ARCHIHKETU. 


443 


LANGUAGES, &c. OF THE 


Lalita Vistdéra, 13ih Section.—( continued. ) 


89-33 Barw<cta AKSHOBHYARAJ. 
90-34 aacfag! Tacarasixuf. 
91-35 agufey  SARVAGANDHI. 
92-36 wetwaiq Maniprapipa. 


93-37 Gatact  Papmorrara. 


Lalita Vistdra, 20th Section. 


95-1 faqmaara VIMALAPRABHASA. 


96-2 cathe Rernircaf. 


(See No. 1.) 

94-38 yaaa DanrMawetv. 
(See No. 2.) 

100-6 taafe ReTnayasntt. 


101 -7 Haar fra MeEGHAKOTABHI - 


97-3 yours laa PusHPAVALIVANA- faaar GARJITASWARA. 
ufagafa RAJIKUSUMITA- | 102-8 CARAT AR RETNACHHATRA - 
atlas BHIJNA. ata aT as BHYUDGATAVA- 

98-4 axqaren CHANDRASURYA - BHASA. 

ACV JIHMEKARAPRA- | 103-9 wamea SAMANTADERS£. 
BHA. 104-10 TWH GANENDRA. 
99-5 WUT GUNARAJAPRA- 
FaTs BHASA. 
Kriya Sangraha. 
105-1 atraq 4 Varrocnana.* 110-6 fafacur Vixrranosunf- 
(See No. 58.) wT SHA. 
106-2 aerate Manosunfsua. 111-7 ZezaTany Uncarosunfsna. 


107 -3 faatagar SiraTapatro- 
Me 

108-4 Aarcfme TersorAst. 

109-5 fasaraty Visavosunfsna. 


SHNfSHA. 


112-8 aatzat Manoncarosunt- 
wae 

113-9 faMarety Visavosunisna. 
(See No. 163.) 


SHA. 


* Note. This name, although a repetition, is numbered ; because the personage here indicated 
by the name Vairochan, is really Vairochan Avatér, Manjisri. The five celestial Buddhas of Nepal 
will be recognised in this list, but commenting were endless. 


BAUDDHAS, &c. OF NEPAL. 4.4.9 


Kriya Sangraha.—(continued.) 


114-10 warez AKSHOBHYA. 124-20 afaara AmiITABHA. 
(See No. 85.) 125-21 aqua VAJRADHERMA. 
115-11 aqaa VAJRASATWA. 126-22 aqdatem VasratiksHna. 
116-12 aqursa |= Vasrariasa. 127-23 ag®q  VaspaKertv. 
117-13 aqcra = VAS RARAGA. 128-24 aq7uTH VasRABHASHA. 
118-14 qyary VAJRASADHU. 129-25 warafeg AmocuasiDDHA. 
119-15 <a@aaya Rernasameuava. | 130-26 aqan  Vasrakerma. 
120-16 qaqact@q 2s VAS RARETNA. 131-27 qyQ@XTd VAJRARAKSHA. 
121-17 qTaea VAJRASURYA. 132-28 aga VASRAYAKSHA. 
122-18 aGARq VAJRAKETU. 133-29 agufsf VasRASANDHI. 


123-19 aqeta  Vasranisa. 


Rakshé Bhagavati. 

134-1 tatact ReETNAKARA. 139 -6 quAwe SURYAMANDALA- 
Tale § PRABHAsOT- 
aa TAMA. 

140-7 Waea  Exacunarra. 

141-8 warfaee SamAvuinasty- 

137-4 Wax JAYENDRA. WCU UTTARASRE. 

138-5 qaracs Papmorrarasrf. | 142-9 uz Papassf. 

(See No. 1.) 143-10 aveat = Nanpasrf. 


135-2 aatasi Asoxasrf. 
136-3 tata Retnircuf. (See 
No. 90.) 


XIU. 


NOTICE 


OF 


THREE TRACTS RECEIVED FROM NEPAL. 


By HORACE HAYMAN WILSON, Ese. 


Secretary to the Asiatic Society. 


THE accounts hitherto published of the Religious System of the Nepalese, 
are far from being comprehensive or satisfactory. ‘They only establish the 
general conclusion that there are two predominant forms of belief, as well as 
two principal divisions of the People, the Parbatiya, or Mountain Hindus, who 
follow the faith of the Brahmans, and the Newdrs, or original inhabitants, who 
adhere to the worship of Buddha. 


The indistinctness and inaccuracy that pervade the descriptions of 
KirkPaTRick and BucHANAN, are not however, in all probability, the fault of 
the describers. Much is, no doubt, attributable to their want of access to 
original authorities, on which alone dependance can be placed for a correct 
view of any mode of faith in India. The Spirit of Polytheism, always an 
accommodating one, is particularly so in this country, and the legends and 
localities of one sect are so readily appropriated by another, that it speedily 


becomes difficult to assign them to their genuine source. In like manner, 


BAUDDHA TRACTS FROM NEPAL, 451 


formule and ceremonies very soon become common property, and whatever 
may be the ruling principles, the popular practice easily. adopts a variety of 
rites that are peculiar to different creeds. ‘This is every where the case 
throughout Hindustan, and the sectaries of Visunu often assimilate to those 
of Siva, whilst the worshippers of the female Principle are constantly identi- 
fiable with both. Nepal, evidently, constitutes no exception, and the worship 
of Siva, and Tanéra rites, are so widely blended with the practices and notions 
of the Bauddhists, that an accurate appreciation of the latter is no longer 
derivable from any but original and authentic sources, or the ancient works 


of the Bhotiyas in which the pure and primitive doctrines are enshrined. 


Of the number and character of those works which are the authorities of 
the Bauddhas of Nepal, the only description on which any reliance can be 
placed is contained in the preceding communication, from Mr. Honeson, to 
whose active and intelligent zeal the Society is so largely indebted. It yet 
remains, however, to estimate the contents of the volumes he has enu- 
merated;*and which for the far greater part, it is beliewed, are written in the 
language of Tibet, and not in Sanscrit, as he seems to suppose. We must wait 
therefore for the acquirement of this language by European scholars, before 
we can pronounce with confidence upon the character and contents ot the 
Bauddha Scriptures, and how far they may be originals or translations. If the 
latter, which, except to a limited extent, is very unlikely, we may safely 


assert, that the Sanscrié originals are no longer procurable in Hindustan. 


The paper already referred to, furnishes us also with the only outline of 
the Bauppua philosophy and mythology that can be consulted with advantage, 
for, although some of the particulars are to be found in Grorer’s ponder- 
ous volume, they are so obscured by his parade of learning, and spirit of 
theory, that they are to be selected only with great trouble and uncertainty. 
The account given by Patias, as quoted by Bucuanan, seems also to be 
derived from oral information only, and to be confined to superficial and 

As. 


\ 


452 NOTICE OF 


popular details. ‘To what extent the Doctrines or Divinities of Bhot Baud- 
_ dhism are of local origin or modification, can only be determined when the 
condition in which this form of faith exists in other countries is more authen- 
tically explained ; but as far as we may infer from what has yet appeared in 
the Asiatic Researches, or elsewhere, on the Bauddhism of Ceylon and ie. 
many and important varieties occur between the heavenly hierarchy of those 
countries and of Bhof. Of the scale of Buddhas which prevails in the latter, 
we have no tract whatever in the communications of BucHanan, Manony and 
Jomnvitte. Their enumeration of the human Buddhas, the only Buddhas of 
whom they speak,.differs also from that of Mr. Hopeson. Amidst. the per- 
plexity that this disagreement is calculated to occasion, any further illustra- 
tion that is available will be, no doubt, welcome to the Society, and I 
have therefore thought that the following notice of the only works sent 
down by Mr. Honeson, which I have been able to distinguish as connected 
with the religion of Nepal in any language known to me, might not be uns 
acceptable. ‘The works are short, and are evidently of a popular, not a scrip- 
tural character. As anthorities, therefore, they are of no great value, although 
they may be taken as guides to common and corrupt practice and_ belief. 
They evidently, however, spring from the mythological system sketched by 
Mr. Hopeson, and so far corroborate his statements, as well as derive confir- 
mation from his remarks, whilst they serve also to shew how far the Buddha 


creed has been modified by Tantrika admixture. 


The works in question are three tracts, comprised in one volume, and 
severally entitled—Ashtami vrata Vidhan, Ritual for the religious observance 
of the Eighth (day of the lunar fortnight.) Natpdliya Devata Kalyana Pan- 
chavinsatika, Twenty-five Stanzas invocatory of the favor of the Deities of 
Nepal—and Sapta Buddha Stotra, Praise of the seven Buddhas. ‘The text of 
these tracts is Sanscrit, interspersed with a gloss in Newari, copiously infused 
with pure Sanscri¢t terms. The two latter are so short that they may be 


translated entire. A specimen of the first will be sufficient. 


_ BAUDDHA TRACTS FROM NEPAL. 453 


TRANSLATION. 
SAPTA BUDDHA STOTRA. 


*© TY adore Jinendra, the consuming fire of sorrow, the treasure of holy 
knowledge, whom all revere, who bore the name Vieaswi, who was born in 
the race of mighty monarchs, in the city Bandumati, who was for eighty 
thousand years, the preceptor of gods and men, and by whom endowed with 
the ten kinds of power, the degree of Jinendra was obtained at the foot of a 
Patald tree. 


‘* T adore S1xuf, the mine of heavenly wisdom, the supreme sage who 
crossed the boundaries of the world, who was born of a royal race in the 
great city Aruna, whose life, adorned with every excellence, extended to the 
term of 70,000 years, by whom, out of affection for mankind, holy wisdom was 
obtained at the foot of a Pundarika. 


“I adore ViswAsut, the friend of the universe, the king of virtue, who was 
born in Anupama, of a race of illustrious monarchs, whose life lasted 60,000 
years, and who, having triumphed over earthly afflictions, obtained immor- 


tality at the foot of a Sd tree. 


~~ T adore Krakucucuanpa, the Lord of Munis, the unequalled Sugata, 
the source of perfection, who was born in Kshemavati, of a family of 
Brahmans, revered by kings, the life of that treasure of excellence was 
40,000 years, and he obtained, at the foot of a Sirisha tree, the state 


of Jinendra, with the weapons of knowledge that annihilate the three 


worlds, 


454 NOTICE OF 


“J adore Kanaxa Muni, the sage and legislator, exempt from the blind- 
ness of worldly delusion, who was born in the city Sobhanavait, of a race of 
Brahmans honoured by kings. His resplendent person existed thirty thousand 
years. ‘The degree of Buddha was obtained by him, munificent as the moun- 


tain of gems, at the foot of an Udumbara tree. 


** T adore Kasyara, the Lord of the world, the most excellent and eminent 
sage, who was born at Benares, in the family of Brahmans venerated by 
princes, the life of his illustrious frame endured 20,000 years, and the waters 
of the three worlds were dried up by the lamp of divine wisdom, which he 
acquired at the foot of a Nyagrodha tree. 


‘ T adore SAxya Srna, the Buddha, the kinsman of the Sun, worshipped 
by men and gods, who was born at the splendid city of Kapilapur, of 
the family of the chief of the Sdkya kings, the life of which best friend 
to all the world lasted 100 years. Having speedily subdued desire, 
unbounded wisdom was acquired by him at the foot of the Aswattha 


tree. 


** T adore the Lord Marrnreya, the chief of Sages, residing at Tushitapur, 
who will assume a mortal birth at Ketumatz, in the family of a Brahman 
honoured by the king, and who, endowed with immeasurable excellence, will 
obtain the degree of Buddha, at the foot of a Naga tree, his existence will 


endure 8000 years. 


‘* Having praised the seven Buddhas, supreme over all, and resplendent 
as so many Suns, as well as the future eighth Buddha, Marrruya, dwelling at 
Lushitapur, may the merit of such praises be quickly productive of fruit, 
_ So that having divided all corporal bonds I may speedily obtain the final 
liberation of the holy Sages.” 


BAUDDHA TRACTS FROM NEPAL. Rags 


REMARKS. 


The enumeration given in these verses is, therefore, very different from 
that of Dr. Buchanan and Capt. Mahony, and instead of five or six we have 
eight deified Buddha teachers or human Buddhas : the former writer has only 
specified two names, GAuTAMA and Sixya, of which the first does not occur 
in the Nepal list, whilst in another place he observes that SAxya is considered, 
by the Burmese Bauddhists, as an impostor: the latter has mentioned the 

names of the Buddhas, and they are evidently the same as the last five of the 
Nepal Stotra. 


KAKOOSONDEH, or KRAKUCHHANDA, 
KonaGAMMEH, aA Kanaka, 
KaAsERJEPPEH, A Kasyapa, 
GoTTama, +f SAKYA, 
MaltTrEE, i MaIrTreEYA, 


possibly the other three are regarded as Buddhas of a different Kalpa, or period, 
and therefore only were omitted in the list furnished to Captain Mahony, 
(Asiatic Research. VII. 32.): the Nepal enumeration, however, is not a mere 
provincial peculiarity, nor of very modern date, and the same must have pre- 
vailed in Hindustan, when there were Buddhasin the country. Hemachandra, 
who wrote his vocabulary, probably in Guzerat, in the 12th century, specifies 
the same Buddhas as the Sapta Buddha Stotra, or Vipasyi, Sikhi, Viswabhi, 
Krakuchhanda, Kanchana, Kasyapa, and Sakya Sinha. 


How many of these Buddhas are real personages, is very questionable. 
Kasyapa is a character known to the orthodox system, and perhaps had once 
existence : he seems to have been the chief instrument in extending civilisation 
along the Himalaya and Caucasian mountains, as far as we may judge from the 
traditions of Nepal and Cashmir, and the many traces of his name to be met 


4 7 


456 NOTICE OF 


with along those ranges. SAxKyA, as identifiable with Gaurama, was, possibly, the 
founder of the Bauddha system as it now exists, in the sixth or seventh century 
before Christianity. ‘The names of the cities in which these Buddhas are said 
to have been born, orto have appeared in a human form, are not verifiable, with 
the exception of Benares. ‘They contribute therefore to throw doubt on the 
reality of the persons. The extravagant periods assigned to their lives is ano- 
ther suspicious circumstance. But these periods are, no doubt, connected with 
some legendary classification of the Kalpas, or ages of the world, in which man- 
kind enjoyed alength of life far exceeding any thing in these degenerate days. 
So Grorei states that, inthe second age of the world and the first of men, the 
limit of life was 80,000 years; in the third age it was 40,000; in the fourth 
it was 20,000, and in the fifth one hundred. The Buddhas therefore only 
partake of the longevity of the periods to which they belong. 


The omission of the name of Gautama proves that he is not acknowledged 
as a distinct Buddha by the Nepalese, and he can be identified with no other 
in the list than SAxya Sinus. The Newari comment adds, that the latter was 
born in the family of SupHopana Rasa, and Supopuana is always regarded as 
the father of Gautama. Other names in the text, which are translated as 
epithets, Aditya bandhu, the friend of the sun, and Lokaikabandhu, the sole or 
superior friend of the world, occur as synonimes of GauTAMA as well as SAKyaA. 
SinwA, as in the vocabularies of Amera and Hemachandra ; ‘* Sakya Muni, 
Sakya Sinha, Sarvarttha Siddha, Soudhodani, (the Son of Sudhodana) Gautama, 
Arkabandhu, (the kinsman of the Sun,) Mayadévi Suta. ‘‘ Amera Cosha.’” 
“The seventh uddha is named Sékya Sinha—Arkabandhava, the parent 
of Rahula, (Rahulasu,) Sarvarttha Siddha, Gotamanwaya, (of the family 
of Gotama,) Maya Suta, (the son of Maya,) Sudhodana Suta, (the son of 
Sudhodana, ) Devadatiagraja, (the elder brother of Devadatia, )’’ Hemachandra.” 
On what authority Bucwanan asserts that the Priests of Ava consider 
GAvUTAMA and SAxya as distinct, and the latter as a heretic, he has not men- 


ur Os, Cee 


BAUDDHA TRACTS FROM NEPAL. 457 


tioned ; but, as I have had occasion to remark elsewhere, no such distinction 
is made in the Pali version of the Amera Cosha, which is used by the Priests 
of Ava and Ceylon. Gautama, and SAxya Sinn, and Apitya Banpuu, are 


there given as synonimes of the son of SUDHODANA. 
** Sudhodani-cha Gotama Sakyasiha,tatta, Sakya Muni, ch’ Adichcha bandhu-cha.”? 


It may seem scarcely worth while to notice the mention made in these 
verses of the acquisition of the state of a Buddha, or of a condition exempt 
from the infirmities of humanity, under particular trees: the meaning is, ac- 
cording to the Translation, that the sages chose such spots for the perfor- 
mance of their Tapas, or course of religious austerities. The specification, 
however, may be turned probably to some account. It is often exceedingly 
difficult to discriminate between bauddha and Jain sculptures, and to decide 
to which sect, images and architectural remains belong—any characteristic 
peculiarity will therefore be very acceptable to Indian antiquarians and travel- 
lers, and a figure, in other respects, possessing the usual features, the spiral 
locks, thick lips, and large ears of a Jina, ora Buddha, engaged in devotion, 
under the shade of a tree, may generally, perhaps, be ascribed with safety to 
the latter. It is more common to find the Jain Pontiffs shaded by the ex- 
panded hoods of the many-headed snake. 


The next work takes a wider range than the preceding, in its enumera- 
tion of the objects of veneration in Nepal, and comprehends so many local 
peculiarities, that a correct translation of it is impracticable any where out of 
Nepal, except by a person familiar with the country and the system. The 
translation originally made was, therefore, referred to Mr. Hodgson, to whose 
revision and explanatory remarks, it is indebted for any pretension to accu- 
tracy—The notes appended to the translation, are almost wholly derived from 


communication with him on the subject of the text. 


458 NOTICE OF ; 


TRANSLATION. 
Naipaliya Devata Kalyana Panchavinsatikd. 


May the first-born, the Holy Swavampau, Amirarucui, AmMocua, AxKsHo- 
BHYA, the splendid Varrocuana, Manisuava, the King of sages and the Pure 
VasRASATWA,* preserve you in your sojourn in the world; may Sri PragnA, 
VasraDuAtwi, the all-bountiful holy TAr4, and the rest, * be propitious to 


you—lI adore them. 


2. May the goddesses Samrat Praph, GANAPATIHRIDAYA, VAJRAVIDRA- 


vinf, UsHNISHARPANA, KITIVARAVADANA, GRAHAMATRIKA, KoTILAKSHAKSHI, 


1, These, as will have been seen by the preceding dissertation of Mr. Hodgson, are the per- 
sonages of the Atswarik, or Theistical pantheon—the Adi Buddha, or self-existent original Creator 
—the five Dhydni Buddhas, under other appellations, corresponding severally to AMITABHA, 
AMoGHaAsIDDHA, AksHopHYA, VAIROCHANA, and RETNASAMBHAVA, (as in page 441), and a sixth 
Buddha, Vasrasatwa, emanating from Adi Buddha—the secondary agent in the creation of im- 
material substances—the other five being charged with the creation of material bodies. 


2. These female divinities are, in the vulgar Aiswarihka system, the wives of Adi Buddha 
and the Dhydni Buddhas. The powers of inert matter are typified by a Goddess in the Swabhd- 
vika system ; but neither in that nor the primitive Azswarika doctrine are the intellectual Essences 
of the divine Buddhas linked to female forms—either literally or figuratively, as their Saktis, or 
active energies. The complete list of these Goddesses, and their appropriation, are specified by Mr. 
Hodgson, as follows :— 


Avi Buppwa,. his Wife PRAJNA. 
VAIROCHANA, eA VAJRADHATWI. 
AKSHOBHYA, A LocHanad. 
RETNASAMBHAVA, 5 MaAmMukKuHI. 
AMITABHA Ss PANDARA. 
AMOGHA-SIDMHA, - TARA. 


VAJRASATWA BS VAJRASATWATMIKA. 


Cth , flee Diyare VEL 


i = = 


WEL ioe LAS Amnegha LLL 
a, 2 = q a / . 
Die sie Dhyne Lihue asp 
Vl 
AUN 


Sy Nee? TORY 
4 Ze 
SSS 


S 


a+ 
~ = - 


? \ Za a1 
Fp LER OCC CD a aD Lee 
MS SEES ao 


fh UTA 
i Uy Ts \, 
PLSh Tass) 


Pays ce. DlLtifer LDC 


a s ay oy 
(ab Masrecidthe ‘ Yara 


%; i AS 4 

Kis: Rts a 

ae ia Da Aah teh 

wv 
> 
= < 
= 
i 

oe HR Sag 


BAUDDHA TRACTS FROM NEPAL. 459 


with her train, and the protecting ? PancHaraxKsHa, be propitious to you— 


I adore them. 


38. May RetnacGersua, Dirankara, the Jina Manrxusuma, VIPASYI, 
Sixur, ViIsSwABHuU, Kaxursa, Kanaxa, the Muni of Munis Kasyapa, and SAKYA 
Sina, * the Buddhas past, present, and future, the ocean of whose excellence 


is not to be passed by the ten faculties, be propitious to you—I adore them. 


4. May the chief of sages and saints, the excellent son of Jina, AvAto- 
KEswARA, may Mairreya, ANANTAGANJA, VAsRAPANI, and the great chief 
Mansuniru, Sarvanivarana, and the illustrious pair Ksuitfc¢ersHa and 


KHAGERBHA, ° be propitious to you—I adore them. 


3. These Goddesses are considered by Mr. Hodgson, as belonging to the genuine Baud- 
dha system and the Swabhavika school—being spontaneous manifestations of matter, like other 
existent beings, man included. Some of them are known by other names, as SAMPATPRADA, the 
giver of wealth is also VasunpuARA, the earth—Kit1varavapana, the hog-faced, is also Maricut, 
perhaps intending Radiance; KorILAKHAKSHI, the innumerably-eyed, is named Pratincrra. The 
Pancharaksha, the five Rakshas, or protecting powers, are styled Pratisard, MauaAsAHASRAPRA+ 
MERDDINI, Manamayuri, Manaseravati, and ManamanrraAnusArini. Without possessing 
the legends attached, no doubt to each, it would be unsafe to analyse these terms. | 


4, We have here Yen mortal Buddhas. ‘The last seven have been already the object of 
remark. ‘The three first are assigned by some, not the best authorities, to the Satya yuga. 

5. These nine are Bodhisatwas, supposed to bear to the Dhydni, or celestial Buddahs, the 
relation of Sons: thus— 


AVALOKESWARA, is the Son of AMITABHA. 
NAITREYA, A VAIROCHANA. 
ANANTAGANJA, AKSHOBBYA. 
SAMANTABHADRA, VAIROCHANA, 
VAJRAPANI, e AXKSHOBHYA, 
MangunAtTu . Ditto. 
SARVANIVARANA VISH- 

KAMBHI, 5 AMOGHA. 
KsHITIGERBHA, - RETNASAMBHAVA, 
KHAcersua, AMITABHA. 


Of these, the first, who is the same with PapmapAnt, the fourth and the fifth, are included in original 
systems amongst the Dhyanibodhisatwas (sce page 542), but the others are of mortal origin, and, 
therefore, very inconsistently derived from. celestial progenitors, 


4 U 


460 NOTICE OF 


5. May that collective aggregate of the five Buddhas, preserve you, who, 
for the preservation of mankind, created, from his own abode, the one light * in 
the supreme Lotus, named Nagavasa, which sprang from the root planted by 
Virasyi, which being one portion became five-fold, and which plays eternally 


—I adore it. 


6. May that mysterious portion of Prasyna as Gunyrswanrt, 7 born of the 
Lotus with three leaves, by the will of Mansuprva, void of being, the personi- 
fication of desire, favourable to many, and praised by Brauma, VisHNuU, and 
Siva, who in Durea, the giver of boons, was manifested on the ninth day of 


the dark half of the month Mdrgasirsha, be propitious to you—I adore her. 


7. May SwayamsBuu, in a visible form as Reina Lingeswara, of the 


T4 


Srivatsa shape, the chief of the eight Vitaragas, * the raft by which the ocean of 


6. The object of invocation is the Adi Buddha, in the form of Light, manifested on the Sam- 
bhundth mountain ; the flame is said to burn eternally in the centre of the hemisphere of Sambhu 
Chaitya. 

7 The Sakti of Adi Buddha is here addressed as manifested in the element of water, the 
following legend is cited by Mr. Hodgson from the Sambhu Puréna—“ When MansunAtu had 
let off the waters, the luminous form of Buddha appeared. MansunArn resolved to erect a 
temple over it, but water bubbled up so fast that he could find no foundation. On his having 
recourse to prayer, the Goddess Gunyrswani appeared, and the water subsided —Gunyrswanl, the 
Goddess of the hidden form, is very like an adoption from Saiva mysticism. This, and the preceding 
verse, are both very obscure. 

8. This, and the following seven verses, refer to the eight Vétardgas of the nine Bodhisatwas 
addressed in verse four, all but the first, manifested portions of themselves under some visible but 
inanimate shape, thus. : | : 


MairreyA, was visible as a flame called Srivatsa. 


ANANTAGANJA, as a Lotus. 
SAMANTABHADRA, as a Flag. 
VAJRAPANI, as a Water Jar. 
MansunArtu, as a Chouri. 
VISHKAMBHI, as a Fish. 
KsHITIGERBHA, as a Umbrella. 
KHAGERBHA, as a Conch Shell. 


BAUDDHA TRACTS FROM NEPAL. 461 


life may be crossed, who was produced from a portion of Ma1TREYA uniting with 


the light of Ratnacuura ° in the forest rock, be propitious to you—I adore it. 


8. May Goxerneswara, the son’® of Kuacanysa, in the form of a Lotus, 
assumed on the bank of the Vagmati, by desire of LoxaNAtu, to preserve the 
wicked Gokrerna™ engaged in austere devotion, and who, for the benefit of 
mankind and their progenitors, is still at the confluence of the rivers, '* be pro- 


pitious to you—I adore him. 


9. May Mahkesa, named Kila, *? the Vitardga, emanating from SAMANTA- 


BHADRA, in the form of a flag, on the holy mountain, ‘* for the benefit of man- 


These are called Vitardgas, the exempt from Passion, or rather perhaps the liberators from Passion 
—as the compound admits of either sense. They are also called the eight Mangalas, or auspi- 
cious objects. They are found sculptured on Gauddha monuments, and especially on the stone or 
marble Feet, which are frequently placed in the temples of the sect. They appear to have been 
merely the symbols of the Bodhisatwas; but they have been connected evidently in popular belief 
with notions derived from the Hindu religion and local legends, and bear the character of so many 
Lingas erected by different individuals, some of whom are specified. 


9. RetrNacHuRA or Manicnura, he of the jewel-crest: he is said to have been a King of 
Saketa Nagar, on whose head grew a gem of inestimable value, which he offered to the Gods, 
and which was united with the portion of Marrreya to form the Jewel-Linga. The Srivatsa is, 
properly, the Jewel worn by Krisuna, but is here understood to imply a waving flame. Amongst 
the ancient Bauddha sculptures at Amaravati, on the Krishna, and removed thence by Colonel 
Mackenzie, was one of a Lingam, surmounted by a flame of this description. 

10. The Vitardgais styled Khaganja Tanaya, meaning, however, emanation or derivation, 
not literally son. 

11. GoxErna is said te have been a prince of Panchdla. The name of the Vitaraga, 
in conjunction with his appellation, is a clear indication of a Linga being intended. These sym- 
bols, throughout all India, being commonly named from some circumstance connected with their 
first erection; with Jswara, the pame of Siva affixed. Gokerneswara is, therefore, the Linga 
set up by Goxerna. It is probable, however, that Goxerna isa fabulous person, and that the 
real origin of the name is the existence of a similar Zingam on the Malabar Coast, which has 
been very celebrated for some centuries. 


12. Of the Vagmati and A:moghavati, where oblations to ancestors are offered. 
13. Or Kileswara. 
14, The text has Srigiri, which the comment calls Charugiri. 


462 or NOTICE OF 


kind, frightening, as with a stake, the fierce serpent Ktx1Ka, * the King of the 
Nagas. 


10.. May that Sarveswara, the son of the great Jina, holding a tri- 
dent and a bell, a portion of Vasrapini, in the form of a water jar, 
assumed at the command of Loxkrswara, to cherish SarvapApa, ‘® and 
left on earth for the benefit of mankind, *? be propitious to you—I adore 


him. 


11. May Garttesa, '* the all-bestowing form assumed by Mansu Deva, 
for a portion of himself, in order to awake the ignorant, and idle, and sensual 
Manjugartta,*® and convert him (it) to a profound and learned sage, (or re- 


gion) be propitious to you—I adore him. 


12. May that pious Sanvanivarana ViIsHKAmMBHI, desirous of the form 
of a fish, and decorated with the lord of snakes, who gave all to the sage 
Upiya, and throwing off a portion of himself became the passionless Vitaraga, 


Phanindreswara, *° be propitious to you—I adore him. 


15. Kutrxa is one of the eight chiefs of the Nagas, or serpents of Pdtdla. 
16. A sage also named VasrAcuAryA, but the term is also used in a generic sense. 
17. The Linga is called Ghateswara. 


18. The emblem of Mangu Deva is a Chowri; but Gartta is 9 cavern, a hole, or hollow. 
The text in this instance, therefore, does not preserve its symbolic consistency as in the preceding 
stanzas. 


19. The comment seems to understand by Manju-gertta, Nepal, the hollow or valley of 
MangupeEva, who, according to Mr. Hodgson, appears to be a historical personage. 


20. A fish is the symbol of Visuxameur; but it is clear that in this, as in other stanzas, 
the primitive symbol is lost sight of in the new Lingamite personification, which is more especially 
referred to in every instance, and which is not always alluded to under the same type. In this 
case it is the Lswara, or Linga, of the Lord of Hooded Snakes. 


BAUDDHA TRACTS FROM NEPAL. 463 


13. As UpryAwna, ** shaded by his umbrella, was engaged in devotion 
on the bank of the Vagmati, Prrruwicrrsua suddenly appeared and estab- 
lished that portion of himself, the Vitaraga Gandhesa, ** the friend of all, 
standing in the presence of LoxanAru, may he be propitious to you—I adore 


him. 


14. As Upryiwa, having obtained super-human faculties from his auste- 
rities, was delighted, remembering the son of Amira, and blowing the shell 
Kuacersna, his heart devoted to the will of Lokeswara, was manifest ; may 
he who, having established a portion of himself as Vikramesa, 7? returned to 


his own abode, be propitious to you—lI adore him. 


15. May the holy Tirtha** Punya, where the Naga obtained rest from 


21. The person mentioned in this, and alluded to, although not named (in the original) in the 
next verse, is no further specified than as an Achérya, or holy man. Loxanartu, Lokrswara, 
and the son of AmiTA, are considered by Mr. Hodgson to imply PapMAPANI, who is held to be 


the especial Lord of the eight Viéardgas. 


22. ‘The authors of this nomenclature seem to have been rather at a loss for an appropriate 
name, and haye apparently taken Gandhesa, the Lord of Odour, from smell being the property of 
the element of earth, from which the Bodhisatwa, named Prituwi and Ksuiti-GERBHA, derives 


the first member of his name. 


23, The same remark applies still more especially to this form— Vikrama, valour, prowess, 
being used to signify the austerities practised by the Sage. 


24. From this verse to the 18th, the twelve great Tirthas, or places of pilgrimage in Nepal, are 
addressed. They are all at the confluence of rivers, the greater number of which are mere moun- 
tain torrents. The circumstances from which they derive their sanctity, are briefly alluded to in 
the text ; the legends are related in the Sambhu Purdna, and are too prolix to be cited, the places 
themselves, which are still numerously frequented, are all identified by Mr. Hodgson as follows: 


Punya T ; at Gokerna, where the Vagmati and Amoghaphaladayini rivers unite. 

Santa T ; at Guhyeswart Ghat, where the Mandariké flows into the Vagmati. 

Sankara T ; immediately below Patan, at the confluence of the Vagmati and Manimati. 
Raa T ; at Dhantila, where the Raj-manjavi runs into the Végmati. 


4 Ww 


4.04 NOTICE OF 


. 
Tarxsuya; may the holy Tirtha Santa, where Parvati performed penance to 
allay dissension ; may the holy Tirtha Sankara, where Rupra, with his mind 
fixed on obtaining Parvati, practised severe austerities, be propitious to you 


—I adore them. 


16. May the holy Rajatirtha, where Virupa obtained the sovereign- 
ty of the earth; may the holy Kdmatirtha, where the hunter and deer 
went to Jndra’s heaven ; may the holy Tirtha Nirmalakhya, where the 
Sage VasrAcHArya performed his ablutions, be propitious to you—I adore 


them. 


17. May the holy Tirtha Akara, where treasure is obtained by the 
despairing poor; may the holy Jnydna Tirtha, where the only wisdom is 
obtained by the ignorant paying reverence to the stream; may the holy 
Tirtha Chintdment, where every desire is obtained by those duly performing 


ablutions there, be propitious to you—I adore them. 


18. May Pramoda Tirtha, where ablution secures pleasure ; may Satlaks- 
hana Tirtha, where waters engender auspicious attributes ; may Sri Jaya 
Tirtha, where BaiAsura bathed when he undertook to subdue the three 


worlds, be pr opitious to you—I adore them. 


. 


Kama T ; called in Newari Phusinkhel, at the junction of the Kesavati and Vimalavati; the 
former is now known as the Vishnuvati. 

Nirmala T'; at the junction of the Kesavati and Bhadravati at a place called Biyjisoko. 

Akara T; at the junction of the Kesavati and Suvernavati. 

JInydna T; at the confluence of the Kesavati and Pdpandsini. 

Chintamenit T; at Pachilivaivi, where the Kesavati and Vagmati unite, just we Oe the present 
capital—this i is the chief Sangam, or conflux of rivers in Nepal. 

Pramoda T; ata place called Danaga, where the Vagmati and Retnavati unite. 

Satlakshana T; at the junction of the Vagmati and Chérumati rivers. 

Jaya J’; at the junction of the Végmat and Prabhavati. 


— 


BAUDDHA TRACTS FROM NEPAL. 4.65 


19. May the goddesses VipyApuARI, AxAsAvocint, VAJRAYOGINI, and 
Hirirr; *3 may Hanumiy, Ganusa, Manaxana, *° and Coura Bhikshine ; *7 
may BrAumani and the rest, 78 with Sivnin1, VyAcurrini, 7? and Skanpa, 2° 


be propitious to you—I adore them. 


20. May the lesser Tirthas, the source and term of the Vagmai?, and the 


rest; 3" the Kesa Chaitya, on the Sankochcha 3* hill, the Laiita Chaitya, on the 


25. These four goddesses belong to the. Swabhavika system—according to one comment, 
Vidyddhari and Akdsayogini are produced from the Lotos in the Solar sphere—above Sumeru, 
which is above the earth, below the earth is the region of water—below that, of fire, and below that, 
of air— Vajrayogini is a goddess of a superior, Haréti, of an inferior rank. These goddesses resemble 
the YVoginis and Yakshinis of the Tdntrika system in their terrific forms, malignant disposition, 
and magical powers, and in having each her Vija Mantra, a mystical syllable, appropriated to 
prayers addressed to her. Hdéréti has a temple in the precincts of Sambhunath, and is worshipped as 
Situla, by the Brahmanical Hindus. 


26. These three divinities, adopted from the orthodox Pantheon, are great favorites with the 
Bauddhas of Nepal, the legends justifying their adoption being ingenious and popular. The pre- 
vailing notion of these and similar importations from the Brahmanical theocracy is, that they are the 
servants of the Buddhas, and are only to be reverenced in that capacity. It is related of HANUMAN, 
in the Lankdvatér, that when RAvan found himself overmatched by the monkey, he took refuge in 
a temple of SAkya. Hanumay, unable to violate the sanctuary, applied to RAMA, who recommend- 
ed him to go and serve the Buddha. In SAxya’s temple are found images of RAvan, HanuMAN, 
MauAxkAva and HAritf. ManAkAtLa is considered by the Swabhdvikas as self-born, and is 
invoked by them as Vajravira. The Aiswarikas regard him as the son of PArvari and Siva. 

27. CuAru Buiksuint is a female mendicant. Bauddha Ascetics are classed in four orders: the 
Arhan, or perfect saint, Srdvaka, studious sage, Chailaka, naked ascetic, and Bhik’shu, mendicant. 

28. Brahmani, and the rest are the Mdtrikas, the divine mothers, or personified energies of 
the Hindu gods. 

29. Sinhint and Vydghriné, or the Lion and Tiger-goddesses are inferior spirits attached to 


the Mairis. 


30. WSkanda is the Hindu deity, according to the Aiswarikas ; according to the Swabhavikas, 
self-engendered. — 


31. These are four pools at Vagdwdra, named Téra T., Agastya T., Apsara T., and Ananta 
T. —— Mr. Hodgson classes the source and term of the chief river Vdgmati, amongst the greater 
Tirthas, but the text cannot be so understood. 


32. Sankochha hill.is called, by the Gorkhas, Sivapura; by the Newars, Shipphucho: the 
Legend of Kesa Chaitya states, that Kraxucuouann Buddha here cut off the forelocks of 700 


466 NOTICE OF 


Jatochcha hill, 3? the Dev: of the Phullochha hill, ** and the Bhagavati, of the 
Dhydnaprochha hill, *> be propitious to us—I adore them. 


21. May the Chaytia of Sri Mansu hill, erected by his disciples; 3° may 
the five deities established in the cities founded by Sri Santa; 37 may the 
Puchhagra mountain, where SAxya expounded the unequalled Purana, ** be 


propitious to you—I adore them. 


22. May the King of Serpents, the Naga, the destroyer of Vighnarga, 
residing with his train in the Adhara lake ; 3° may the five Lords of the three 


worlds, #° ANANDA Lokeswara, HARIHARINARIVAHA Lokeswara, YAKSHAMALLA, 


Brahmans and Kshetriyas, or, in other words, made them Bauddhas A half the hair (esa) rose to 
heaven, and gave rise to the Késavaté river, the other half fell on the ground, and sprung up in 
numberless Chaityas of the form of Lingas. 

33. Lalita Chaitya is said to have been founded by the disciples of Vipasy1; the hill on 
which it stards is the Azyun of the Gorkhas, the Jamachho of the Newars. 

- 34. The goddess is Vasundhard, in the form of a conical stone: the hill is called, by the 
Gorkhas, Phulchok. ; 

35. Another goddess, a portion of Guhyeswarz, in the shape of a conical stone. The hill is 
called, by the Gorkhas, Chandragiri. 

36. Sremanju hill is the western part of mount Sambhu: between which and Srimanju 
there is a hollow, but no separation. 

37. SAnTasri, according to the Sambhu Purdna, was a Kshetriya King of Gaur, named 
PrAcCHANDA Deva, who, having come to Nipal, was made a Bauddha by Gunakar Bhikshu : the 
five divinities are VAsuNDHARA Devi in Vasupur, Aan Deva in Agnipur, VAvu Deva in Vayupur, 
NAcapeva in Négpur, and Guuyapsvirin Sdntapur. They are all on mount Sambhu, round the 
great temple. 

38. The Puchhdgra mountain is the hollow of mount Sambhu ; the Purdna intended is the 
Sambhupurdna. 

39. The Ndga here is Karxora, one of the eight Négas, who in Nepal, as well as in Cashmir, 
is reported to have resided in the waters which filled those vallies; when the country was drained, 
_ he repaired to a reservoir near Kathmandu. The Adhard tank is called, by the Newars, Tadahong. 

40. The five Lokeswaras regents of the worlds are Bodhisatwas: Ananta is called, by the 
Newars, Chobha Dev and Yakshamalla, Taye Khwa. — 


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BAUDDHA TRACTS FROM NEPAL. 4.67 


Lokeswara, AMocuarisa Lokeswara, and TRILOKAVASANKARA Lokeswara, be 


propitious to you—I adore them. 


23. May the divinities Hevasra, SaMvara, CuHanpavira, Tritoxka- 
virA and YocAmBARA, with their train; may the destroyer of Yama and the 
rest of the ten Kings of wrath, with all hidden and revealed spirits; may ApAR- 


IMIT-Avu and NAmsanaitT!, be propitious to you **"—I adore them. 


24. May Manguniru, ** who having come from Sirsha, with his disci- 
ples, divided the mountain with his scymitar, and on the dried-up lake 
erected a city, the pleasant residence of men, worshipping the deity sitting 


on the elemental Lotus, be propitious to you—I adore him. 


25. May Assapani, the chief of the companion train Hayacriva, and 
JATADHARA, *3 who came to the mountain Potala after having gone from 
Saukhavati to Venga, and being afterwards called by the King ** to remove 


accumulated evils, entered Lalifapur, be propitious to you—I adore him. 


41. Most of these belong to the Bauddha system and the Swabhdvika division. APARIMI- 
gtAyu and NAm Sanairtl, are both Buddhas, to each of whom various associates are attached. 


42. Some observations on the historical purport of this and the next verse will be subjoined 
to the text. j 

43. The construction of this passage might warrant the use of Jatddhara as the epithet of 
Hayaariva, the wearer of the Jata, or matted hair, denoting a follower of \Siva, particularly -as 
Hayacniva is said to be a Bhairava one of Siva’s attendants: but the comment calls Jatddhara 
a Lokeswara : according to Mr. Hodgson, also, HayaAGRIVA and JATADHARA are two of the menial 
attendants of ABsAPANr or PADMAPANI, one of the Dhydni Buddhas ; others are named Sudhana, 
Kuméra, Ajita, Aparajita, Marsainya, Varada, Ahdlamrityu, Jaya, Vijaya, Abhayaprada, and 
Dhanada, most of which names are well known to the Hindus as those of the attendants on Siva 


and Parvati. 
44, The Deva; the Comment says Narendra Deva, a King of Nepal. 
4x 


4.68 NOTICE OF 


REMARKS. 


Besides the peculiar purport of the allusions contained in the preceding 
verses, they suggest a few general considerations which may be here briefly 


adverted to. 


It is clear that the Bauddha religion, as cultivated in Nepal, is far from 
being so simple and philosophical a matter as has been sometimes imagined. 
The objects of worship are far from being limited to a few persons of mortal 
origin, elevated by superior sanctity to divine honours, but embrace a variety 
of modifications and degrees more numerous and complicated, than even the 
ample Pantheon of the Brahmans. A portion of the heavenly host is borrow- 
ed, it is true, from the Brahmanicallegends, but a sufficient variety is traceable 
to original sources, both amongst the Swadhdvikas and Aiswarikas, and either 
spontaneously engendered, or created bysome of the manifestations of the ddé 
Buddha, or Supreme Being. Such are the Bodhisatwas, and the Lokeswaras, 
and a number of inferior divinities, both male and female, that are not bor 


rowed from either the Sativa or Sdkta sects. 


It is a subject of important inquiry, in what degree these divinities are 
peculiar to Nepal, and whether they are acknowledged by the Bauddhas in 
other countries. ‘There can be little doubt, that they are recognised by the 
Bauddhas of Tibet and Chinese Tartary, and some of them are traceablein Chi- 
na. It is very doubtful, however, if they form part of the theocracy of Ceylon, 
Ava, and Siam. In the first of these we find inferior divinities, some of them fe. 
males, worshipped; but they do not, as far any description enables us to judge, 
offer any analogy to the similar beings reverenced in Nepal. In Ava and 


Siam, nothing of the kind apparently occurs, although in the existence of Nats, 


BAUDDUA TRACTS FROM NEPAL. 4.69 


it is admitted, that other animated creatures than man and animals exist. It 
has already been observed, that nething analogous to the Metaphysical, or 
Diydni Buddhas occurs in the Buddhism of Southern India. 


There is, however, some evidence to shew, that the whole of the Nepal 
hierarchy of heaven, even of the Swabhdvika class, is not confined to the 
nations of the North. Inthe vocabulary of Hemacuanpra, we have the 
names of sixteen goddesses, at a little distance from the synonimes of the 
Buddhas, entitled the Vidyadevis, who are unknown to the Brahmanical sys- 
tem. One of these is Prajndpli, who may be the same as the Prajna of our 
text. Ji is however, in the vocabulary, entitled the ZTrikanda Sesha, that the 
fullest confirmation occurs, that many of the inferior personages belonging to 
the Bauddhas were known in India, when that faith was current there. Be- 
sides the names of SAxya and those of general or individual Buddhas, as 
SwAYAMBHU, PApmApANnI, LoxanAtu, Loxesa, VitirAGA, AVALOKITA, and 
Mansusri, that work specifies a variety of goddesses, whose titles are found in 
the text as Tard, Vasudharaé, Dhanadé or Sampatpradé, Marichi, Lochand, and 
others. The vocabulary is Sanscrit, and is apparently a compilation of the 


tenth or eleventh century.* 


The allusions in the twenty-fourth and other verses to Mansu NATH seem 
to point to him as the first teacher of the Bauddha religion in Nepal. Tradi- 
tion assigns to him the same part that was performed by Kasyapa in Kashmir,t 
the recovery of the country from the waters by which it was submerged, by 
giving them an outlet through the mountains: this he performed, according to 
the text, by cutting a passage with his scymitar. He is described in the 


same stanza, as coming from Sirsha, which the Newari comment says is the 


* Introduction to Wilson’s Dictionary p. xxvii. + As. Res. vol. xv. 


470 NOTICE OF 


iountain of Mahdchin, and the Sambhu Purdna also states the same. ‘The 
city founded by Mawnsvu, called Manju Patian, is no longer in existence, but 
tradition places it half-way between Mount Sambhu, and the Pasupatt Wood, 
where the remains of buildings are often dug up. Both Bucuanan and Kirx- 
PATRICK advert to the legend of Mansv’s drying up the valley of Nepal, and 
express themselves satisfied that it is founded on the fact of the valley having 
once been an extensive lake—Mawsu, has a number of synonimes in the 
Trikanda, or Mansusri, Mansu Guosna, Mansupuapra, Kumira, the 
youth or prince; Nixa, the dark complexioned ; BAprrd3j, the King of contro- 
versy ; KHERGI, wearing a sword; Danpt, carrying a staff ; SixuADHARa, having 
a lock of hair on the crown of his head ; Stnnaxeut, who sports with a Lion; 
and SArptLAvAuANA, who rides on a Tiger: some of these epithets are, of 
course, not to be understood literally, but their general tendency is to assign 
to Mansvu the character of a Military Legislator, one, whose most convinc- 


ing argument was the edge of his sword. 


The religion introduced by Mansv and his disciples was, possibly, that of 
pure Buddhism, either in the Swabhdvika or Aiswarya form; but whence 
were the Brahmanical grafts derived. It is not extraordinary that we should 
have Siva, or VisuNu, or GANESA, or perhaps even HanumAn, admitted to 
some degree of reverence, for there is nothing in the Bauddha doctrines nega- 
tive of the existence of such beings, and the popularity of the legends relat- 
ing to them with the whole Hindu people, recommended them to the favour 
and adoption of their neighbours; but the Sadkta form of Hinduism is a com. 
paratively obscure and unavowed innovation, and had not therefore the same 
claims to consideration. It is, nevertheless, the chief source of the notions and 
divinities foreign to Buddhism with those Bauddhas, amongst whom the Pan- 
chavinsati isan authority. It could only have been brought to their knowledge 
by contiguity, for the Yantras, and Tdntrika Puranas, form a literature 


almost peculiar to the eastern provinces of Hindustan, the origin of which 


BAUDDHA TRACTS FROM NEPAL. AT] 


appears to be traceable to KAmArur or western Asam. There is no doubt 
that the system has principally prevailed in Bengal, Rungpore, Cooch Behar, 
and Asam ; and, following the same direction, has probably spread into Nepal. 
There seem to be some hints to this effect in the concluding stanza of the 
Tract that has been translated. 


The literal purport of this verse is, that AzyaprAnt, whoever he might be, 
came to Lalitapur, after having gone from Saukhavati to Banga. Saukhavati 
is called a Lokadhdtu, a peculiar Bauddha division of the universe, and proba- 
bly not in this world; but Banga desa is never applied to any country, except 
the east or north of Bengal. AxssapAni, or PapMAPANI, is.a metaphysical Bo- 
dhisatwa, but in the present work all these nonentities are converted into sub- 
stances, and he is therefore a mortal teacher of the Bauddha faith, or employed 
for the occasion in that capacity. He was invited, the tradition records, to reside 
in Nepal on the occasion of a famine, by NAarmnpRA Deva, Raja of Bhatgong, 
and Banpuupatta, a Vajrdcharya, and came in consequence. He comes 
attended by Bhairavas and wearers of Jatis, and may therefore he suspected 
of having come in the garb of a Sativa priest, if not as his identical self, yet as 
an Ansa, or portion, which the orthodox Bauddhas leave out of view. They 
have, however, no objection to the Siva Margis worshipping Apyapant, under 


any name they please, and his annual festival is attended by all sects alike. 


The invitation of a foreign teacher by NArenpra Deva, ‘is noticed by 


Colonel Kirkpatrick ; but the individual is called by him Matsyenpra NAru,* 


* An original legend sent me by Mr. Hodgson narrates, that the Lokeswara PaDMAPANI des- 
cended by command of Apt BuppHa as Martsyenpra. He hid himself in the belly of a fish, in 
order to overhear Siva teach Parvati the doctrine of the Yoga, which he had learned from Apr 
Buppua, and which he communicated to his spouse on the sea-shore. Having reason to suspect a 
listener, StvA commanded him to appear, and PApMaAPANI came forth, clad in raiment stained with 
ochre, smeared with ashes, wearing ear-rings, and shaven, being the chief of the Yogis; He was 


AY 


472 7 9 NOTICE OF 


one of the first propagators, apparently, of the Pdsupata form of the Saiva 
religion, which seems to be that prevailing in Nepal. There is also mention 
of some alteration of the national rites, by another Prince of the same deno- 
mination, by which it is recorded a fall of snow was obtained. ‘The first 
NARENDRADEO appears to have lived in the 7th, the second in the 12th century. 
The first would answer well enough for the introduction of the Pdsupata 
creed, which might have been popular in India about that time, and the latter 
date is that. about which the Zanirika ritual. seems to have obtained 
currency. It is not unlikely that the expressions in the Panchavinsati refer to 
one or other of these events, although, as usual, in all such appropriations of 
legendary history, the circumstances are adapted to the peculiar notions of 
those by whom they are borrowed. According to local traditions, the invita- 
tion of Padmapéni occurred in the fifth century, or 1381 years ago. 


ASHTAMI VRATA VIDHANA. 


This tract is of much greater extent, than either of the preceding, but is 
of less value for the illustration of ideas originally Bauddha. It belongs to 
that faith, but is still more copiously interspersed with notions from a foreign 
source than even the preceding, being, in fact, a ritual of the Ténétrika 
practices of persons professing the religion of Buddha. A few observations 
and extracts will be sufficient to give an idea of its character, and of the ob- 


servances it enjoins. 


called MatsyenprAa NATHA, from his appearance from a fish (Matsya), and his followers took the 
appellation Nath. We have inthis story a decided proof of, the current belief of a union between 
the Yoga sectaries, and, the Bauddhas, effected, perhaps, by the Yogi Marsyenpra, known in 
Hindustan as the pupil of GoRAKHNATH, but converted by the Bauddhas into a manifestation of 
one of their deified Sages, 


BAUDDHA TRACTS FROM NEPAL. 4°78 


The eighth lunar day of every half month is a day peculiarly appropriat- 
ed to religious ceremonies in the orthodox system. In the Vaidik creed, it 
was customary to fast, and offer oblations to the gods in general on this day, 
and the Pauraniks made it sacred to different divinities, particularly to VISHNU. 
_ The Tantrikas have devoted the eighth day of certain months to the celebra- 
tion of rites, which have no exclusive object, but are intended to secure the 
prosperity of the observer, and in this they have been apparently imitated 
by the Bauddhas of Nepal. 


The opening of the work, announcing the intention of the worshipper, 
refers briefly to several of the leading topics of the verses of the Panchavin- 
saiika. Thus; 


‘< In the period of the Tathagata SAxya Sinwa, in the Bhadrakalpa, in the 
Lokadhétu named Sahé, in the Vaiwaswata Manwantara, in the first quarter of 
the Kali age, in the Bharata division of the earth, in Northern Panchdla, in the 
Devasiika Kshetra, in the Upachhandoha Pitha ; in the holy land Aryavertta ; 
in the abode of the King of Serpents, Kerxora, in the lake called Nagavasa, in 
the region of the Chaitya of SwayamBuu, in the realm over which GuHYESWARE 
PraswA presides, and which the fortune of Mangu Srr protects, in the kingdom 
of Nepal, of the form of that of Sri Samvara, and invincible, encircled by the 
eight Vitardgas, Manilingeswara, Gokerneswara, Kileswara and Kumbheswara, 
Garitesvara, Phanikeswara, Gandhesa and Vikrameswara, watered by the four 
great rivers Vagmati, Kesavati, Manimati, and Prabhdvati, sanctified by the 
twelve greater and six lesser Tirthas, and by the edifices on the four mountains, 
governed by the seven Sages, honoured by the Yogznis, the eight Matrikas, 
the eight Bhairavas, Sinhini, Vydghrini, Ganesa, Kumara, Mahakdla, Hariti, 
Hanuman, the ten ministers of wrath. In sucha place, at such a time, before 
such a divinity, I (naming himself and family) perform this rite, with my wife 
and household.” The objects of the ceremony are then enunciated, generally, 


474 NOTICE OF 


aversion of all evils, the preservation of health, and the attainment of fortune. 
Most of the allusions have been already explained, and others belong to Brah- 
manical Hinduism. ‘The name of the Lokadhdtu, or division of the universe, 
Saha, is applicable apparently to the Himdlaya range, and includes Kashmir, 


as we know from the Raja Taringint.* 


The ceremonial of the Tantras, is distinguished by the repetition of 
mystical syllables, the employment of Yantras, or diagrams, a superabun- 
dance of gesticulations, the adoration of the spiritual teacher, or Guru, and 
the fancied identification of the worshipper with the divinity worshipped. 
In all these, as well as in the order and naturd of the presentations, the 
Ashtami Vidhéna is as applicable to Calcutta as to Kathmandu ; the only dif- 
ference being inthe object or objects addressed: in the present case, the princi- 
pal person propitiated is Amocuap(sa, apparently the same with SwayAMBHU 
NAirtua; but prayers are made, and offerings are addressed to all the person- 
ages of the Bauddha Pantheon, and toa great number of the divinities of the 
Hindus, especially to the terrific forms of Srva and Saxrtt, and to all the Bhi- 
tas, or spirits of ill, and the Yoginis and Déakinis, the perpetrators of all mis- 


chief : a few passages will substantiate the accuracy of these assertions. 


Tn the hall where the ceremony is held, various Mandalas,+ or portions 
are marked off and appropriated to the different objects of the rite, and a com- 


plete course of worship is addressed to each. ‘The following is that directed 


* See A. R. Vol. XV. p. 110, where Cashmir is termed, in the Nagari text, Sahalokadhdtu, 
rendered erroneously, ‘ the essence of the world,’ the admissible, although not the technical purport 
of Lokadhdtu, in composition with Saha, no available information then suggesting the latter to be 
a proper name, and the former, a division of the Universe in Bauddha Geography. 

+ The Mandala is sometimes an imaginary circle on the body of the worshipper; but it is 
defined here to be made with various substances, according to the means of the performer of the 
rite, as with gold dust, or pounded gems, or stone. 


BAUDDHA TRACTS FROM NEPAL. 475 


for the Buddha Mandala. The directions are, in general, in Newdri, the texts 
and prayers to be repeated, in Sanscrit. 


Let the sacrificer touch the Buddha Mandala with his fore-finger, repeat- 
ing: ‘The universal Tathagata, may all be propitious.” He is then to address 
himself to the Durva (or holy grass which is placed in the centre of the 
circle) “Om. I adore the *Vajra Durvié—glory be to it.” He is then to throw 
flowers, or Wave incense in the air, saying: ‘* May all the Buddhas residing in 
all quarters gather round me. I, such a one so named, observing this rite, have 
become a mendicant (Bhikshu.) Let all the Buddhas approach, who 
will grant me the permission of my desires. I wave this Vajra Pushpa, in 
honor of the auspicious teachers, the possessors of prosperity and the Lord ; 
LT invite them to appear.” 


The worshipper is then to present water to wash the feet, and to rinse 
the mouth (saying: ‘‘ Receive water for the feet of the Saint of Sri Buppua ; 
Swaha, Receive the Achamana ; Swéha.’’ 


The Pushpa Nyasa (presentation of flowers) next occurs; with these 
ejaculations: ‘Om! to the holy Vairocuana: Swéhd. Om! to the holy 
Axsnopuya: Swahd. Om! to the holy Retnasampuava: Swadhd. Om! 
to the holy Amitasua : Swéhd. Om! to the holy Amocua SippHa: Swéhd. 
Om ! to the holy Locnani: Swahd. Om! to the holy MAmAxi: Swéhé. 
Om ! to the holy Tara : Swahd.” 


This is followed or accompanied by the presentation of incense, lights, 


water, and whole rice. 


* The term Vajra, which signifies ‘ the thunderbolt,’ or ‘a diamond, is employed in these 
compounds, evidently in the sense of auspicious, holy, or sacred. 


nz 


46 NOTICE OF 


Then ensues the Svotre, or praise; ‘“ I ever ofter my salutation with my 
‘head declined ; To the holy benefactor of the world Vairocuana. To the 
holy AxsHosuya. ‘To the illustrious ReETNopBHAvA, the best of all Saints. 
To Amirisua, the Lord of the Munis. To the holy Amocua Srppuna, the 
remover of the ills of the Kali age. To Locuan4, To Mimaxtf, and To Tiri, 
named PxnpurA. J adore Sd&xya Sinua, the ruler of all, propitious, the 


asylum of clemency, the all-wise, the lotus-eyed, the comprehensive Buddha.” 


The DeSana, a sort of confession, is next performed. ‘ Whatever sin 
may have been committed by me, child, and fool that I am, whether 
originating in natural weakness, or done in conscious wickedness, I confess all, 
thus standing in the presence of the Lords of the world, joining my hands, 
afflicted with sorrow and fear, and prostrating myself repeatedly before them. 
May the holy Sages conceive the past as with the past, and the evil I have 


done shali never be repeated.” 


This is to be said by the disciple before the Guru placing his right 
knee in the Mandala on the ground ; He then continues: ‘J, such a one, 
having uttered my confession, take refuge with Bud-ha from this time for- 
‘ward, until the ferment of ignorance shall have subsided; for he is my pro- 
tector, the Lord of exalted glory, of an imperishable and irresumable form, 
merciful, omniscient, all-seeing, and free from the dread of all terrors; I do 


this in the presence of men.” 


To this the Guru is to reply repeatedly: ‘* Well done, well done, my 


son; perform the Nzrydtana.” 


The worshipper accordingly takes rice, flowers, and water, and performs 
the rite, or sprinkles them on the Mandala, with this text: ‘ This is the 
Lord Arnwat, the comprehensive Buddha, replete with divine knowledge, 


Sugata, knowing the universe, the supreme, the curber of the wild steeds of 


BAUDDHA TRACTS FROM NEPAL: 477 


human faults, the ruler of the mortals and immortals: Buddha. To him, 
gem of Buddhas, I address the rites performed to this flower Mandala.” 


The offering is then made with this formula: “Om! Namah to the 
gem of Buddhas, whose heart is laden with the burthen of compassion, the 
supreme spirit, the universal intellect, the triple essence, the endurer of ills 
for the benefit of existing beings, accept this offering, savoury and fragrant, 
and confirm me and all men in the supreme all-comprehending wisdom. 
Om, Am, Hrit, Hum, Phat, Swaha.’’ 


The whole of the above is thrice repeated, with what are called the 
Dherma, Sangha, and Mila Mandalas. The names of the Buddhas be- 
ing changed, and the prayers varied in length, though not in purport: these, 
however, form but a small part of the whole ceremony ; although it is made 


up entirely of such prayers and observances. 


After worship has been offered to the different Buddhas, Bodhisatwas, re< 
gents of the quarters, and other mythological beings, the ceremony concludes 


with the following address to the ‘ spirits of heaven and goblins damned.”” 


* Glory to Vasrasatwa—Gods and demons, Serpents and Saints, Lord 
of the plumed race, and all Gandharbas, Yakshas, Regents of the planetary 
orbs, and spirits that dwell upon the earth. Thus, kneeling on the ground, [ 
invoke you. Let all hearing my invocation, approach with their wives, and 
children, and associates. Hear Demi-Gods, who frequent the brow of Meru, 
the groves of Indra, the palaces of the Gods, and the orbit of the sun, spirits 
who sport in streams, in ponds, in lakes, in fountains, and the depths of the sea. 
Goblins, who dwell in villages, in towns, in the deserted temples of the Gods, 
in the stalls of Elephants, and the cells of Monks. Imps, that haunt the roads, 
the lanes, the markets, and where cross-ways meet. Ghosts, that lurk in wells 


and thickets, in the hollow of a solitary tree, in funeral paths, and in the ceme- 


478 NOTICE OF BAUDDHA TRACTS, &c. 


teries of the dead, and Demons of terrific form, who roam as bears and lions, 
through the vast forest, or rest in the mountain’s caverned sides. Hear and 
attend. Receive the lights, the incense, the fragrant wreaths and the offerings 
‘of food presented to you, in sincerity of faith; accept, eat and drink, and render — 
this act propitious. InpRa, the thunder-bearer, Acni, Yama, Lord of the earth, 
Lord of the main, God of the winds, Sovereign of riches, and King of spirits, 
“ (Iskna) Sun, Moon, progenitors of mankind, accept this offering of incense, 


this offering of lights. Accept, eat and drink, and render the act propitious. 


Krisuna Rupri, Mana Rupr, Siv4, Umi, of black and fearful aspect, at. 
tendants of Devi, Jayvé, Visayas, Avits, APARAJITA, BHADRAKALI, MAHAKALTI, 
STHALAKALI, Yocornf, Inpri, Cuanbi, GHorr, VipuHAtri, Dtri, JamBoxtf, Tri. 
DASEswaRt, KAmBosinf, Dipanf, CutsHinf, Guorartpé, Manhrtpi, Drisu- 
TARGPA, KAPALINf, KAPALAMALA MAuiIntI, KHatwancd, YAMAHARDDIKA, 
KHERGAHASTA, PARASUHASTA, VAJRAHASTA, DHANUHASTA, PANCHADAKINI, 
Mauatatwi. ‘The accomplisher of all acts, the delighter in the circle of the 
Jogis, the Lord of Vasre3wart, all hear and obey this the order of Vasra- 
saATWA, who was created by the Yoga of the unimpassioned form of Tathdgata. 
Om-Ka-ka-kerdana-kerdana! Kha-kha, khadana-khaddana! destroy, destroy, all 
obnoxious to me; Gha gha, ghdtaya ghétaya! cherish and preserve the life and 
health, the wishes and the prosperity of the sacrificer, the holder of the 
thunder-bolt, commands: Hrum, Hrum, Hrum, Phat, Phat Phat ; Swahé? 


Such is the nonsensical extravagance with which this and the Tédntrika 
ceremonies generally abound ; and we might be disposed to laugh at such 
absurdities, if the temporary frenzy, which the words excite in the minds of 
those who hear and repeat them with agitated awe, did not offer a subject 


worthy of serious contemplation in the study of human nature. 


APPENDIX. 


No. I. 


RULES OF THE ASIATICK SOCIETY. 


THE following is an abstract of the Rules of this Institution, which are now in force; 
including those printed in the Appendix to the sixth and subsequent Volumes of the 


Society’s Transactions. 


Original Rules adopted from the Founder’s Discourse, 15th February, 1784. 


1. The Institution shall be denominated the Aszatick Society: the bounds of its in- 
vestigations will be the geographical limits of Asta; and within these limits, its enquiries 


will be extended to whatever is performed by man or produced by nature. 


2. Periodical: Meetings shall be held for the purpose of hearing Original Papers read, 


on such subjects as fall within the circle of the Society’s enquiries. 


8. All curious and learned Men shall be invited to send their Tracts to the Secre- 


tary; for which they shall immediately receive the thanks of the Society. 


4. The Society’s Researches shall be published annually, if a sufficiency of valuable 


materials be received. 


5. Mere Translations of considerable length shall not be admitted, except of such 
unpublished Essays or Treatises as may be transmitted to the Society, by Native Authors, 


a 


ii APPENDIX. 


6. All questions shall be decided on a ballot, by a majority of two-thirds, and nine 


Members shall be required to constitute a Board for such decisions. 


7%. Nonew Member shall be admitted who has not expressed a voluntary desire to 
become so; and in that case, no other qualification shall be required, than a love of 


knowledge, and a zeal for the promotion of it. 


Subsequent Resolutions of the Society, which are in force. 


8. The future Meetings of the Society shall be held on the first Wednesday of each 
alternate Month; viz. in the Months of February, April, June, August, October, and Dee 


cember, at eight o’clock in the evening. » 
3 fo) fo) 


9. If any business should occur to require intermediate Meetings, they may be con- 
vened by the President; who may also, when necessary, appoint any other day of the 


week, instead of Wednesday, for the stated Meetings of the Society. 


10. As it may not always be convenient for the President to attend the Meetings of 


the Society, a certain number of Vice-Presidents shall be elected annually. 


ll. Incase the President and the Vice-Presidents are absent at any Meeting, a 
quarter of an hour after the fixed time, the Senior Member present shall take the Chair 


for the evening. 


12. Every Member of the Society shall have the privilege of introducing, as a 


Visitor, any Gentleman who is not usually resident in Calcutta. 


13. With a view to provide Funds for the necessary expenses of the Society, an Ad= 
mission Fee shall be established, to consist of Two Gold Mohurs, payable by every Member 
on his election; and each Member of the Society, resident in Zndia, (honorary Members 


excepted,) shall also contribute a Gold Mohur quarterly, in the first week of January, 


APPENDIX. lll 


April, July, and October. Any Member neglecting to pay his Subscription, for half a 


year after it becomes due, to be considered as no longer a Member of the Society. 


14, All Members returning to India, shall be called upon to pay their Subscriptions 


as usual, from the date of their return. 
15. A Treasurer shall be appointed. 


16. In addition to the Secretary, an Assistant Secretary, and a Librarian, shall be 


also appointed. 


17. A Committee of Papers shall be, appointed, to consist of the President, Vice- 
Presidents, Secretary, and nine other Members, to be elected annually ; and any number, 


not less than five, shall be competent to form a Committee. 


18. This Committee will select from the Papers communicated to the Society such 
_as may appear proper for publication; and superintend the printing of the Society’s 


Transactions. 


19. The Committee of Papers shall be authorized to draw upon the Treasurer for 
any sums requisite to defray the expense of publishing the Transactions; and an order, 
signed by a majority of the Committee, will be a sufficient warrant to the Treasurer for 


paying the same. 


20. The Committee of Papers is authorized to defray any small Contingent Expenses 


on account of the Society, which they may deem indispensable.- 


21. Every subscribing Member of the Society on application, shall be furnished with 
a copy of such volumes of the Researches as may be published whilst he continues a Mem- 


ber, in return for his contributions, without any further payment. 


22. With a view to the more general circulation of the Asiatick Researches in India, 


the price of the 12th and future volumes, to non-subscribers, shall be fixed ata Gold 


| 


iv APPENDIX. 


Mohur, and if several volumes of different years be purchased together, they shall be sold 


at Ten Rupees each. 


23. The Agents of the Society in England shall be desired to purchase and forward 
for the Society’s Library, Books of Science and Oriental Literature published in Europe, 
taking care, that those purchases at no time exceed the Funds arising from the sale of the 
Society’s Publications, unless otherwise provided. 


24. The Committee of Papers shall-be requested to furnish the Agents in Europe, 
with such further instructions as may appear requisite for their guidance in the selection of 


Books proper to be placed in the Library of the Society. 


LIBRARY. 


25. The Library is open from 10 to 4 o’Clock, between which hours, the 


Librarian is to be in attendance every day, Sunday excepted. 


26. None but the Members of the Society are allowed to borrow Books from the 
Society’s Library, and no Book is to be lent out of Calcutta without especial permission 


from the Committee of Papers. 


27. Books are to be borrowed by written or personal application to the Secretary : 
in either case, the person applying is to furnish a written receipt, specifying the name of 
the work, and the time for which it is borrowed, at the expiration of which, he is to return 


the Book borrowed, or renew his application for an extended loan of it. 


28. The Receipts for the Books shall be filed, and a Record kept of the Books lent 


out, to whom, and when lent out, and when returned. 


29. A list of the Books in the Library, and a Register of those lent out, are to be 


- kept ready for inspection. 


APPENDIX. Vv 


30. All persons borrowing Books, are to be answerable for their safe return, or are 


expected to replace them, if injured or lost. 


MUS EU M. 


31. On the 2d February, 1814, the Society determined “ upon forming a Museum 
for the reception of all Articles that may tend to illustrate Oriental Manners and History ; 
or to elucidate the particularities of Nature or Art in the East.” The following Resolu- 


tions were at the same time passed upon the subject. 


$2. That this intention be made known to the Public, and that Contributions be so- 


licited of the undermentioned nature : 


1. Inscriptions on Stone or Brass. 
Ancient Monuments, Mohammedan or Hindu. 
3. Figures of the Hindu Deities. 
4, Ancient Coins. 
5. Ancient Manuscripts. 
6. Instruments of War peculiar to the East. 2 
%. Instruments of Music. | 
The Vessels employed in Religious Ceremonies. 
Implements of Native Art and Manufacture, &c. &c. 
10. Animals peculiar to India, dried or preserved. 
11. Skeletons or particular Bones of Animals peculiar to India. 
12. Birds peculiar to India, stuffed or preserved. 
13. Dried Plants, Fruits, &c« 
14, Mineral or Vegetable Preparations in Eastern Pharmacy. 
15. Ores of Metals. 
16. Native Alloys of Metal. 
17. Minerals of every description, &c. &c. 


33. That the Hall on the ground floor of the Society’s House be fitted up for the 
reception of the Articles that may be procured. ‘The Plan and expenses of so doing to be 
b 


Vi APPENDIX. 


regulated by the Committee of Papers and Secretary; and the person under whose Super- 


intendance the Museum may be placed. 


34. That the expense which may be incurred in preparing Materials, furnished in a 


state unfit for preservation, be defrayed by the Society, within a certain and fixed extent. 


35. All Articles presented to the Museum, shall be delivered in the first instance to 
the Superintendent of the Museum, to enable him to make the acknowledgement directed 


in the Standing Rules of the Society. 


36. A Register of Donations to the Museum, shall be exhibited at each Meeting of © 
the Society. 


37. The Committee of Papers shall adopt such means as may appear proper, for 


making the intentions of the Society in this respect generally known. 


38. That the names of Persons contributing to the Museum or Library of the So- 


ciety, be hereafter published at the end of each volume of the Aséatich Researches. 


PHYSICAL COMMITTEE. 


Extract from the Proceedings of « General Meeting of the Society, 
held on the 2d of January. 


¢ 

‘‘ It having occurred to many of the Members of the Asiatic Society, that the General 
Meetings are held at intervals too remote, and for purposes of too formal and miscellaneous 
a nature, to be calculated to promote any particular branch of enquiry, especially, when of 
a Scientific character, in which the interest that may be taken must be restricted toa 


limited number of individuals ; 


And it having also occurred to them, or been brought to their knowledge, that many 


" persons anxious and qualified to contribute to Scientific enquiries, are deterred by diffidence, 


APPENDIX. Vil 


or by economical considerations, from becoming Members of the Asiatic Society, or 


presenting to it the results of their own investigations ; 


It having, likewise, appeared probable, that from the miscellaneous composition of the 
Asiatic Researches, and the necessary appropriation of a great portion of its pages to the 
Literature, Antiquities, Topography, and Statistics of India, it is a collection that will rare- 
ly be consulted by Scientific men; and, consequently, information addressed to them parti- 
cularly, may be long in finding its way to them through this medium: the interrupted pub- 
lication of the volumes, also necessarily excluding all notices of a temporary and progressive 


value, for which, therefore, no medium of communication can be said to exist ; 


_ These considerations have led to the conclusion, that much benefit may be expected to 
result from the revival of the Physical Committee of the Society. The objects of which shall 
be particularly the Zoology, Meteorology, Mineralogy, and Geolocy of Hindustan. This 
Committee shall meet at short intervals. It shall unite to itself as Corresponding Members, 
persons engaged or interested in its objects, although they may not be Members of the 


Asiatic Society, and shall prepare for publication separately, the results of its Proceedings. 


The following Resolutions are accordingly proposed :— 


Ist. That the Physical Committee of the Asiatic Society, be considered as in ex- 


istence, and for the same purposes as formerly, exclusively of medicine. 
2d. That all Members of the Society be Members of the Committee. 


3d. That persons not belonging to the Society, may be elected as Corresponding 


Members of the Committee, ypon the recommendation of any three Members, without 


being liable to any charge. 
4th, That the Committée elect its own officers. 


5th. That the Committee frame its own Rules, subject, whenever likely to interfere 


with the Rules of the Society, to confirmation at a General Meeting. 


vill APPENDIX. 


Gth. That the Committee meet once a fortnight. 


“th. That the Proceedings of the Society and short Notices of any interest, be pub- 
lished, from time to time, as they accumulate, in such form, as may be hereafter found con- 


venient. 


Sth. That Papers of any extent or permanent interest, be published in the same 


type and form as the Researches, so as to admit of being bound up with them. 

9th. That the expense of these publications be borne by the Society. 

10th. ‘That the Physical Department of the Museum be considered under the espe- 
cial charge of the Committee, Mr. Tytler undertaking the care of the Osteological speci¢ 
mens, and Mr. Ross, of the Minerals. 

11th. That Sir Edward Ryan be President, and Mr. Calder, Vice-President, and 
Captain Jenkins, Secretary to the Committee. Resolved, that Mr. Ross be requested to 


officiate as Secretary, during the indisposition of Mr. Jenkins. 


12th. That these Proceedings be submitted to the next General Meeting, for the 


information and sanction of the Society. 


Resolved, that the Resolutions proposed to be adopted by the Committee, be sanctioned. 


APPENDIX. 1x 


No. IL 


List of the Donors and Donations to the Musewm of the Asiatick Society, 


from 1826 to March 1828. 


Carr. R. Burney.—Model of a floating Siamese House. 


James CaLpDER, Ksq.—Specimens of Iron Ore, from Burdwan. 


Lizut. Cauttey.—Specimens of Coal and Contiguous Strata, from Nahn. 


Cart. Srr R. Corqguuoun.—Two models of Malaya Prows, a specimen of the Sea Cow, 


and a large Centipede from the Eastward. 


Carr. P. Ditton.—Nutmegs, Almonds, and Poisoned Arrows, from Tucopia. Red Clay. 


The Cranium of an unknown animal, from New Guinea. A piece of Cloth, 
from Malicolo. ‘Twelve Spears from the Feejee and Friendly Islands. One 
ditto from New Zealand. Two ditto, set with Shark’s Teeth, from Simpson’s 
Island. One bunch of Poisoned Arrows, pointed with human bone. ‘Two ditto 
of ditto, wood pointed. ‘Three Mannicolo Clubs. Ten Clubs from the Friend- 
ly and Feejee Islands. One Club from the Island of Kothama. One ditto from 
Indenny, or Santa Cruz Island. One ditto from New Zealand. Six Feejee 
and Friendly Island Pillows. One Paddle from Mannicolo. One ornamented 
Stern of a New Zealand Canoe. One New Zealand Deity. One ditto Lady’s 
Work Box. Three Stone Axes, from Mangeer Island. One green Marble 
Battle Axe, from New Zealand. One ditto, made of whale-bone, answering to a 
Carving Knife. Two Mannicolo and Tucopia Trays. One ditto from Mangeer, 
Two ditto Mangeer Fans. One Porcupine Fish Cap, from Simpson’s Island. 
Five pieces of Cloth from Mannicolo, One New Zealand Nobleman’s Cloak, or 
Great Coat. Two bundles of Cloth, manufactured from the Mulberry tree of 


c 


x APPENDIX. 


the Friendly Islands. One basket of Silken Flax, from New Zealand. Three 
Beetle Nut Bags of Mannicolo. One War Cloak and Mask of Mannicolo. 
Large Stone Axe of Mangeer. Two hundred and eighty-five Shells of various 
kinds. One Neck Ornament of Mannicolo. One Earthern Jar. One New 
Zealand Lady’s State Dress. 


Rev. Mr. Garrow.—Two large Scorpions and Chameleons, in spirits. 


By Government.—Specimens of Himalayan Graphite. Ditto of Gypsum, from the Hi- 


malaya. 
N. Hatuep, Esq.—Several Silver Coins, dug up at Saswan. 


Tue Hon. J. H. Harineton, Esq.—Stufied specimens of the Musk Deer, with seve- 
ral of the Musk Bags. 


Cou. J. Harrior.—Minerals from Udayapur and Malwa, and a curious Insect from 
Nasirabad. 


Cart. J. S. Hersert.—Three bottles, containing specimens of Snakes in spirits. 


H. B. Hopeson, Esq.—The skin of a Flying Squirrel and a Rat, from the Himalaya 
Mountains. Two Horns of a species of Ther Deer. Two Skins of the same. 
Three skins of Cats, and two of some beautiful Birds. Six skins of various Birds. 


Six Buddha Images. 


Cart. F. Jenxins.—Specimens of Minerals from Cuttack. Ditto of @hrystals, &c. from 
Jubbulpore. Ditto of Rocks from Sylhet. Ditto of Minerals from the vici- 
nity of Jubbulpore. Ditto ditto, from Martaban. Ditto of Gypsum and 
Stalactite from the Dhera-Dhin. Ditto of Minerals from Molmeyne, Martaban. 
Ditto of Sand Stone and Iron Clay Rocks, in the Jumna River and Sands of 
Chunar. Ditto of Konkur, Lime-stone, &c. from Allahabad, Bundelkhund, 
Moorshedabad, Ajmere, Monghere, Rajmahl, Jangira, and Colgong. Ditto 
of Coal from Jubbulpore. 


APPENDIX. Xi 


Cart. J. Low.—Various specimens from Martaban. Magnetic Iron Ore from the Tayoy 
Province. Schistose specimens from Tennasserim. Chrystallized Quartz from 
Martaban. A Pebble encrusted with the Salt which was deposited on it, by 

the water of the Lankyan Hot Spring. Granular Iron Ore, in a Calcareous 
Gangue, with Mica. Black Limestone from Meechantaung. A striated Clay 

Slate, found in abundance betwixt Ye and Martaban. Concretion found near 

the Seinledaune Hot Well, in Martaban, 18th May, 1825. ‘Two petrified 

Crabs from Mergui. Marble from the Cave of Phababtaung, Martaban, 


18th May, 1825. Pearl Oyster Shells from the Mergui, or Tennasserim 
Archipelago. Specimens of granulated Tin Ore from Junkceylon, Phoonga, 
Mergui, and Tavoy. A piece of the Bark of a Tree called, by the Burmans, 
Chekha. Horn of a Wild Cow, shot in the forests near Wakroo district, on the 
route from Ye to Martaban. Specimens of Junkceylon and Tavai Tin Coins, 
four pieces. Halfof a Malayan Snake Stone. Stalactite from the Junkceylon, 
or Phoonga Pyramidal Rock. Unwashed Tin Ore from Mergui Hill. Ivon 
Ores, three pieces. Copper Ores, four pieces. Tin Coin of Junkceylon, one. 
Lead Ore, two pieces. Junkceylon Tin Ore, one. Coarse Granitic Mass from 
Seinledaung. Two bottles, filled with the water of Lankyen Hot Well, 
in Tavay. One ditto ditto with the water of Enbien Hot Fountain, ditto. 
One ditto ditto of Seinledaung Hot Fountain, in Martaban. One ditto ditto 
of a Petrifying Rivulet, in Mergui. One ditto ditto of Seinledaung Hot 


Fountain. 
J. Monspack, Esq.—Several Hindu Images. 
W. K. Orv, Esq.—Shoe of a Chinese Lady, and Model. 
Carr. J. R. Ousrry.—Coins from Hussingabad. 
J. W. Ba sirecimens of Coal from Pulo Auro and Singapore. 
Dr. Pearse.—Two specimens of Pudding Stones. 


Dr, Porreus.—A specimen of the Lacerta Alligator, 


| 


Xil APPENDIX. 


\ Mr. Ranceu.—Two small Animal Substances, said to be Mineral. 


Capr. Ranxin.—A stuffed Albatross. 


D. Ross, Esq.—Bow and Arrows from New Zealand. 

Capt. Ross.—Two Marble Statues from Pagahm Mew. 

Socirty, MrpicaL anp Puysicat.—Two stems of a Sponge Tree. 

A. F. Smitu, Esq.—A specimen of the Cap worn in the Friendly Islands. 


i. Stirtine, Esq.—A series of Minerals, a specimen of the Matrix of the Diamond of 


the Panna Mines, and a number of Copper Coins, found in Malwa. 
P. P. Srrone, Esq., mM. p.—A specimen of a young Shark. 


Dr, R. Tyrter.—Three Musical Instruments from Arracan. 1. A brass Statue of Go- 
tamah, from ditto. 2. Ditto ditto ditto, highly ornamented, and holding 
a pot with offerings. 3. Three brass Statues of Gotamah, crowned, holding 
offerings. 4. Ancient brass Model of a Temple, containing four Images of 
Buddha, with Nagas, or Serpents, over the entrance. 5. Ten brass Statues 
of Buddha from Arracan. 6. An iron Statue of Gotamah, highly ornamented. 
4. A brass ditto, with an attendant in an erect posture. 8. Ditto ditto of Kalika 
Avatar, mounted on a horse. 9. A tin Statue of Buddha, affording a correct 
Model of the front of some of the Arracan Temples. 10. A Siva Linga, wor- 
shipped by the Arracanese, procured in a Temple at Keykeraindong. 11. Thumb 
of a large Image of Gotamah at Arracan, made of solid stone. 12. Three stone 
Images of Buddha. 13. One white marble Statue of Buddha. 14. One stone 
Statue of Buddha, with Sanscrit Inscriptions. 15. A brass Syphon, used by the 
Priests of Arracan, for filling water into jars. 16. One wooden Image of a Fe- 
male, called the Wife of Gotamah, worshipped by the Arracanese. 17. Two 
wooden Female Devotees of Gotamah. 18. An impression of a Buddha’s foot, 


in wood. 19. A small Tile, representing the foot of Gotamah, impressed with 


APPENDIX. Xi 


the figures of Buddha. 20. A small brass box, containing small white pebbles, 


five of which are placed in the Statue of Buddha. 21. A bowl of a pipe, made 


of Argacan clay. 22. A Ginjal Ball, by which Gunner Fit was killed under the 
Burmese batteries, in March, 1825. 23. ‘Three specimens of Ginjal Balls. 24, Stone 
Shot, made use of by the Burmese. 25. Model of a brass Arracan Temple, used in 
the worship of Gotamah. 25. A wooden Statue of Gotamah, highly ornamented. 
27. Ditto ditto, plain and gilt. 28. A wooden Model of Gotamah’s Temple. 
29. A Tray used for presenting offerings to Buddha. 30. An Ornamented Cover 
for ditto. 31. A wooden Ornament of a Buddha’s 'Temple. 32. Ditto ditto, repre- 
senting the figure of a Serpent. 33. A set of Burmese Playing Cards. 34. A 


Quiver, filled with twenty Burmese Arrows. 35. Ditto ditto, twenty-seven, from 


the Fogey Island, on the West of Sumatra. 36. Specimen of a Creeper, from 
the forest of Sumatra. 37. Burmese MSS., in 5 vols. complete. Ornaments worn 
by the Natives of Marquisas Island. Several pieces of Shells from Van Dieman’s 
Land. Specimens of white Corals from ditto. Ditto of Calcedony from New South 
Wales. Ditto of Flints from ditto. Several brass Statues, Small Shell ofa Tortoise. 


Specimens of Rock Chrystals. Several Ancient Coins, Specimens of Sea Weeds. 
G. We ttestry, Esq.—A_ Statue of Santinath. 


Carr. Witp.—Copper Coins, from Rama Gaya. 


No. ‘III. 


Last of the Donors and Donations to the Library of the Asiatick Society, 
from September 1825 to March 1828. 


Amerrcan PrivosopuicaL Society.—Ist part of the 3d vol. of their Transactions. 


Anziquartan Socirty.—The 2d part of 20th vol. and the Ist and 2d parts of the 21st 
vol. of their Transactions. 


d 


XIV APPENDIX. 


Asiatic Society (Roya) or Great Britaiy.—Ist and 2d parts of the Ist vol. of their 


Transactions. 
; a 
Asiatic Society or Paris.—5 Nos: of Journal Asiatique, for 1825-26. Ditto, for De- 


cember 1826, and January and February 1827. 


Asiatic LirHograpHic Company.—Futawa Hamadee, an Arabic Work on Mohamme- 
dan Law, in 2 vols. An Arabic Table, exhibiting, in one connected view, the 
Divisions, Sub-divisions and Measures of Arabic Words, measuring 9-1 by 
2-10. The Odes of Hafez. A Catalogue of Indian ‘Medical Plants and 
Drugs. Map of Hindustan in the Persian Character. Ditto of the World in 
ditto ditto. Ditto ditto Nagree. Ditto ditto Bengalee. Ditto of Hindustan in 
Tamul. Ditto of the World in ditto. Illustrations of the Roads throughout 
Bengal, leading to some of the principal stations near Madras and Bombay, &c. 
A Vocabulary of the names of the various parts of the Human Body, and of 
Medical and Technical Terms in English, Persian, and Hindustani. ‘Twelve se- 
lect Views of the Seat of War, including Views taken at Rangoon, 'Cachar, and 
Andaman Islands. Panoramic View of the City of Benares. Chart of Aracan 


River. Ditto of Amherst ditto. 
AstRoNomicaL Sociery.—2d part of 2d vol. of their Transactions. 


J. Avpatut, Esq.—Johnson’s Rasselas in Armenian. An Enelish and Armenian Diction- 
9 sq gS 


ary. History of Armenia, translated into English, 2 vols. ‘The Novel of Atala. 
Baravian Society.—9 volumes of their Transactions. 


Carrarn W. Bruce.—A Burmese Manuscript. 


Proressor Bernsrein.—A specimen of the Hitopadesa, and an Introductory Dissertation 


to the Syrian Chronicle of Bar Hebrzeus. 


L. Buruint, Esq.—Reflections sur les Anciens Peuples, 2 vols. Lipsii Opera, 1 vol. 


APPENDIX. XV 


Capt. Burtton.—Three Burman Books. 


Councit or THE Cotteceor Fort Witiiam.—Viramitrodaya. Sabha Bilasa. Brij 
-Bhakha Vocabulary. Purush Pariksha. Harington’s Analysis, 3 vols. Quootbee. 
Dattaka Mimansa and Dattaka Chandrika. History of ‘imur. Hatem 
Ta,ee. Arabic Poem of Zoher. Yates’s Sanscrit Grammar. Grammar 
of the Nepalese and Newaree languages. Vyavastha Sangraha. Mitakshara. 


Muallaka. Prem Sagur New Ed. Vocabulary of ditto. Ditto of Turkish 


Words. Benealee Dictionary, 3 vols. Houch’s Burman Vocabulary. Wilson’s 
S ey g yy 


Sanscrit Dictionary. Morrison’s Chinese Grammar. Collection of Proverbs. 


Magha Kavya. Kiratarjuniya. Maratta Sinhasana Butteesee. Ditto Hi- 
topadesa. Ditto Raja Pratapaditya. Ditto Raghujee Bhoosala. Ulf Luela, 
Ist and 2d vols. Kamoos, 1 vol. Khird Ufroz. Roebuck’s Annals of the Col- 


lege. Kawaidi Farsee. Dattaka Kaumudi. 


Messrs. Donpey Dupre anv Son.—Choix de Fables en Turc avec une Version Francais. 
Conseils aux mauvais Poetes traduit de Hindustani de Mir Taki, par Gar- 
cin de assy. Dictionnaire Francais Wolof et Francais Bambara Suivi du 
‘Dictionnaire Wolof Francais, par Dard. Doctrine et devoirs de la Religion 
Mussulmane, par Garcin de Tassy. Le Coran, par Savary. Exposé de quel- 
ques articles de la ‘Theogonie des Brahmes,- par L’Abbé Dubois. Observations 
Grammaticales sur I’Essai sur le Pali, par E. Burnouf. Lettre a Mons. 
Remusat sur la langue Chinoise, par M. G. de Humboldt. Theorie du 
Sloka, par Chezy. Melanges Asiatiques, par Remusat. Memoires relalifs 
al Asie par Mons. Klaproth. Magasin Asiatique de Klaproth, 1, 2 and 3. 
Journal Asiatique, Nos. 56 and 58. Sur un Drame Indien, par Mons. 
Wilson Traduit par Mons. Dondey Dupré Fils. Voyage a Peking, par 
Timkowski, Traduit par Klaproth. Voyage d’Orenbourg a Boukhara, par 
Mayendorff. Six Mois en Russaie, par Anulot. Voyage a Madrid, par Blanqui. 
Glossarium Eroticum linguze Latins. Apologetique de Tertullian, par L’ Abbe 


Allard. 


Eprnsureu Sociery.—2d part of the 10th vol. of their Transactions. 


XV1 APPENDIX. 


Prorrsson Frmun.—Account of the Russians, by Ibn Foslan and other Arabian Tra- 
 yellers. ‘Treatise on an ancient Bulgharian Coin. Ditto on the origin of the 
Russian Word Dengi. Ditto on the Writing of the Arabs. Ditto select Cufic 

Coins of the Sprewitz Museum. De nummorum Bulgharicorum Antiquissimo. 

De origine Vocabuli Rossici Dengi. De Arabicorum Auctorum Libris. Nummi 


Kufici ex variis Museis Selecti. De Musei Sprewitziani Nummis Kuficis ineditis. 


Proressor Frank or Muntcu.—Vyasa, the first number of a Miscellany on the Lan- 


guage and Literature of the Hindus. 
Cot. Franxirn. —Researches relating to the Jeyns and Bauddhas. 


GroLocicaL Sociuty.—Ist vol. and Ist and 2d parts of the 2d vol. of their Transactions, 
2d Series. 


GEOGRAPHICAL Society or Paris.—The Travels of Marco Polo, in the old French and 
Latin Translation, and various Tracts. 
= / 


How’ste J. H. Harineron, Esq.— Catalogue of the Library of the College of Fort William. 


H. B. Honason, Esq.—Drawings of Hindu Temples in Nepal. Meteorological Register 
for April, May, August, September, November and December, 1827, and 
January, 1828. A Sanscrit Manuscript, the Moral Sentences of Chanakya, 


with a Newari Translation. A Manuscript, from Nepal. 


\HorvicutruraL Socrery.—From the Ist to the 5th part of the 6th vol. of their Transac- 


tions, together with a list of Members and Garden Report, for 1825. 


Cou, J. S. Harrior.—Soldier’s Manual, 2 vols. 


CouncELLor Von Hammerr.—A Copy of his Account of the Persian Poets, and a Disser- 


tation on the Persian MSS. in the Library of Turin. Ist vol. of his History 


s 


of the Ottoman Empire. 


APPENDIX. XVli 


Lizvutr. C. G. Haveuton.—A new edition of Menu. 


Wirtiam Hurrmann, Eso.—Remusat’s French-Japanese Grammar, 1826, and 10 Nos. 


of the Journal Asiatique. ” 


Mons. Jausert.—Turkish MSS. in English Character. 


Prorrssor JAamMEson.—Jameson’s Manual of Mineralogy, and 23d and 27th numbers of 


the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal. 


CHEVALIER DE Kerexuorr.—A description of the Collection of the Royal Academy of 


the Netherlands. 
Dr. Kennepy.—Notes on Cholera. 


Linnean Socrety.—3d part of the 14th vol. and Ist part of the 15th vol. of their Trans- 


actions, 
Lyceum or Naturau History or New Yorx.—The first volume of their Annals, and 
the two first numbers of the second half volume, an Essay on Salt, by Mr. Von 


Renssalaer, Statutes regulating the practice of Medicine and Surgery in New 


York, and Catalogue of Paintings of the American Academy. 


Bisuop Muntrer.—A Dissertation on the First Roman Pontiff, and a Dissertation de Re- 


bus Iturszeorum. 
Mepicau anp Puysicat Socrety.—2d and 3d vols. of their Transactions. 


Meprcat Boarp or Mapras.—A Report on the Fever at Seringapatam, in 1823, by Mr. 
Geddes. 


Manpras GovERNMENT.—The 4th volume of the Observations at the Madras Observatory. 
Witir1am Marsprn, Esq.—Bibliotheca Marsdeniana. 


Bricapirr O’ Hattoran.—Selden’s Tracts and Walpole’s Historic Doubts. 


e 


XVill APPENDIX. 
J. W. Paxton, Esq.—A copy of the Itineraire de Rome. Chart of the Tract of the Ship Atlas. 
“Mons. De Paravey.—A work upon the Letters and Numerical Signs of all Nations. 


J. Prinsep, Esq.—A Coloured Map of Benares. 

/ 
Proressor REINHARDT.—Anniversaria in memoriam Reipublice Sacre et Literariz. 
Bazsoo RampyHon Sen.—A Copy of the Ashbaho Nazair. 


Revven’s Verhandeline over drie groote steeren Beelden, with plates. 
oO to) ? p 


Roya Sociery.—115th to 117th vols. of their Transactions, or from 1824 to 1826, and 
Ist part of vol. 118, for 1827. 


Count Srernperc.—The 2d, 3d and 4th Nos. of his Geognostico Botanical Essay on the 
Flora of the Antidiluvian World. 


Proressor Von ScHLEGEL.-- The 2d, 3d, and 4th Nos. of the 2d vol. of the Indische Bibliothek. 

Socrety or Arts, &c.—42d, 43d and 44th vols. of their Transactions. 

Str Tuomas StrRANGE.—Elements of Hindu Law, 2 vols. 

Dr. R. Tytter.—Drummond’s Travels. Khell’s Numismata. Pomponius Mela, 2 copies. 
Pierres Tombées. New Testament, in Greek. Old ditto, in Hebrew. Vossius de 
Idolatria. Origine des Celtes, ‘Tytler’s Ancient Geography. De la Perouse, 
Voyage A la Recherche de, 2 vols.  Gillie’s Observations, 1 vol. Peck’s 
Desiderata, 1 vol. Hlarris’s Collection of Voyages. 


Cou. J. Warren.—Kala Sankalita. 


‘i. H. Witsoy, Esq.—Wilson’s Hindu Theatre, 3 vols. Documents of the Burmese 
War, 1 vol. Catalogue of the Mackenzie Collection, 2 vols. 


Captain WiLson.—Several Burman Manuscripts. 


APPENDIX. xix. 


No. IV. 


MEMBERS OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY, 
1828. 


Patrons. 
Tue Right HonorasBLe Lorp WILLIAM CAVENDISH BENTINCK, G. C. B., 
Governor General, &c. &ce. Sc. 
His Excertency GenerAL THE Ricur HonorasBLe Lorp Viscount 
COMBERMERE, G. C. B., Commander in Chief, &c. 5c. Se. (€ Members of the Supreme 
Tue Honorasie W. B. BAYLEY, Esa. Council. 
Tue Honoras_e Sir C. T. METCALFE, Bart. 
PRESIDENT.—Tue Honorasie Sir CHARLES EDWARD GREY. 
VICE-PRESIDENTS.—Tue Honoraste W. B. BAYLEY, Esa. 
Honorasce Sir J. FRANKS. 
Honoraste Sir E. RYAN. 
Hlonorasie Sin CHARLES METCALFE. 


Conimittee of Papers. 
THE PRESIDENT, VICE-PRESIDENTS, SECRETARY, AND NINE MEMBERS ;—Viz. 


J. ADAM, M. D. Magsor J. A. HODGSON. 
J. CALDER, Esa. W. H. MACNAGHTEN, Esa. 
Rev. Dr. W. CAREY. Rev. PRINCIPAL MILL, 

* Captain W. N. FORBES. A. STIRLING, Esa. 


J. GRANT, Esa. 


SrecreTARY.—HORACE HAYMAN WILSON, Esa. 
Treasurers.—Messrs. PALMER & CO. 

SUPERINTENDENT oF THE Musrum.—Dr. J. ADAM. 

LIBRARIAN AND ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT.—Dr. LOUIS BURLINI. 
CotLector.— Bazoo RAM COMUL SEN. 

AGeENr In Evrore.—H. T. COLEBROOKE, Esa. 

BooksELLER IN EnGranp.—J. MURRAY. 

Ditto ror THE ConTINENT.—DONDEY DUPRE & CO. 


MHpstcal Committee. 
PRESIDENT.—Sir E. RYAN. 
VICE-PRESIDENTS.—JAMES CALDER, Esa. 
A. STIRLING, Esa, 
SECRETARIES.—Caprain F. JENKINS. 
D. ROSS, Esa. 
All Resident Members of the Society are Members of the Committee. 


XX APPENDIX. 


Hilembers. 


Achmuty, J. 
Adam, Dr. J. | 
Ainslie, M. 
Ainslie, W. 
Alleyn, F. 
Allan, John 


Anbury, Lieut.-Col. Thomas 


Anderson, David 
Ashburner, J. 
Atkinson, J. 
Avdall, J. 


w 


Baillie, Col. John . 
Baird, P. C. 

Balfour, Francis, M. D. 
Barlow, Hon. Sir G. H. 
Bayley, Hon’ble W. B. 
Berry, Andrew, M. D. 
Biddulph, Robert 

Bird, W. 

Brown, Rey. Dr. 

Bruce, W. 

Brightman, E. 

Brooke, Thomas 
Bryant, Col. Jeremiah 
‘Buchanan, I’. (Hamilton) 
Buckley, Capt. W. 


Buller, Sir Ant ony, Knt. 


Burke, W. A., M. D. 
Burney, Capt. R. 
Burroughs, Sir Wn., Bart. 


LC 


Calder, J. 

Campbell, Lieut.-Col. C. H. 
Carey, Rev. W., D. D. 
Cautley, Lieut. P. T. 
Chester, G. 

Cleland, W. L. 

Cochrane, Hon. John 
Colebrooke, Sir J. E., Bart. 
Colebrooke, Major W. 
Colebrooke, H. T. 

Colvin, Alexander 
Compton, Herbert 

Conolly, J. J. 

Cooper, H. 

Crawfurd, J. 

Crisp, Capt. J. 

Coulthard, T. Capt. 


D. 
Daniel, Thomas 


Dickens, T. 
Dillon, P. 


- Dowdeswell, George 
Doyle, Lieut.-Col. C. J. 
Du Bois De Beauchesne 


E. 


East, Sir E. Hyde, Knt. 
Edmonstone, N. B. 
Kgerton, C. M. D. 
Ellis, Capt. E. S, 
Erskine, William 
Everest, F. Major 
Ewer, W. 


Farquhar, Robert 
Ferguson, J. H. 
Fleming, John, M. D. 
Fombelle, John 
Forbes, Gordon 
Forbes, W. N. Capt. 
Francis, R. B. 
Franklin, Capt. J. 


Franks, The Honorable Sir J. 


Fraser, J. B. . 
Fraser, Capt. J. 
Fullarton, John, M. D. 


G, 
Gerard, Capt. A. 
Garrow, Rev. M. 


Grey, The Honorable Sir C. E. 


Gilchrist, J. B., L. L. D. 
Goldingham, J. 


APPENDIX. 


| Goodwin, R. T. 


Gordon, G. J. 
Gordon, Lieut. A. D. 
Grant, William L. 
Grant, Dr. J. 


H. 
Haldane, Lieut.-Col. R. 
Haldane, Lieut.-Col. Henry 
Hale, KE. 
Hall, Capt. B. 
Halliday, F. J. 
Hamilton, Lieut.-Col. Wm. 
Hardwicke, Major-Gen. T. 
Hare, James, M. D. 
Hare, D. 
Hardy, J. 
Harington, J. H. 
Harriott, Col. J. S. 
Henderson, Capt. 
Herbert, Capt. J. D. 
Hewett, Dr. 
Hickey, Lieut. William 
Hodgson, Lieut.-Col. J. A. 
Hodgson, Henry 
Hogg, J. W. 
Home, R. 
Howison, James 
Hudell, D. H. 
Hunter, J. 


Jackson, Dr. A. R. 
Jenkins, Captain F. 


f 


KE 


KXil APPENDIX. 


Jenkins, R. Malcolm, Major-Genl. Sir J. | 


James, Right Rev. J. 'T.Bishop of Calentias | Marsden, William | 
Marshman, Rev. Joshua 
K. Marshman, J. C. 
Martin, William Byam 
Keating, Colonel C. H. May, J.S. 
Keene, Henry George McWhirter, John, M. D. 
Kelso, Alex. Hamilton Melville, Hon. W. H. L. 
Kennaway, Sir John, Bart. Mercer, Graeme 
Kennaway, Richard Metcalfe, Sir C. T. 
Kyd, James. Middleton, Nathaniel 
Mill, Rev. Principal W. H. 
L. Money, G. 
Moore, Major Edward, I. R. S. 
Lachlan, Capt. R. Morrison, Capt. M. - 
Larruleta, M. Montgomerie, W. 
Lewin, T. Mundt, Dr. C. 
Leycester, William Muston, W. P. 
Linton, William | 
Lloyd, Charles N. 
Lloyd, Licut-Col: Herbert | 
Low, Capt. J. Nicolson, Dr. Simon 
Lumsden, Dr. M. L. L. D. | Neave, R. 
M. | OS 
Macaulay, Colonel Colin Oliver, William 
Macdonald, Colonel Alex. Shak tae Ouseley, Sir Gore, Bart. 
Mackenzie, Holt | 
Mackenzie, Lieut. J., 8th Cav. | io) gs 
Mackillop, G. Palmer, John 
Macnaghten, Sir Fran. W. Knt. _ Parson, Rey. J. 
Macnachten, W. H. Paterson, Dr. G. M. 


Macan, Capt. T. Paton, C, 


Patterson, Col. William 
Paxton, J. W. 


Pearson, J. 


Pemberton, W. B. Lieut. 


Playfair, Major 
Price, Capt. W. 
Prinsep, H. T. 
Prinsep, C. 


R. 


Ricketts, Charles Milner 
Roberts, B. 


Robertson, Lieut.-Col. Thomas 


Renny, D. H. Esq. 


Robinson, Sir George A. 


Robinson, Ven. Archdeacon 


Robison, C. K. 
Romer, John 
Ross, James 

Ross, D. 

Royle, J. F. 
Russell, Sir Henry 
Russell, Alexander 
Rutherford, T. 
Ryan, Sir E. 


Schalch, EK. V. 
Scott, David 
Scott, H. 


Scott, Lieut.-Col, Richard 


Scott, Thomas 


APPENDIX. 


‘Sherer, John Walter 
Shoolbred, John, M. D. 
Smith, A. F. 

Smith, Courtenay 
Smith, R. P. 

Sotheby, H. 

Stewart, Col. Mathew 
Stewart, Major J. W. 
Stirling, A. 

Stirling, E. 

Stirling, Captain 
Strange, Sir Thomas 
Strong, F. P. 

Stewart, Honorable C. F. 
| Stewart, James 
Sutherland, J. C. C. 
Swinton, G. 

Stewart, D. 


T. 


Taylor, Captain R. 


Teignmouth, Right Hon’ble Lord 


Tennant, Rev. Wm. 
Thomason, Rev. T. 
Thomason, J. 
Thompson, John 
‘Thompson, George 
Tod, Major James 
Trail, Henry 

Trant, W. H. 
Trotter, Archibald 
Trotter, John 
Tucker, Henry St, George 


XXIV 

Turton, T. E. M. 
Twining, W. 

Tyler, Captain Charles 
Tytler, Robert, M. D. 
Tytler, J. 


Vv. 
Vaughan, Lieut.-Col. J. 
W. 


Walker, Capt. W. 
Wallich, N., M. D. 


Belanger, Dr. 
Chezy, Mons. 


Debassayn de Richmont, Baron 


Fitzclarence, Lieut.-Col. 
Professor Fischer. 
Professor Fraehn. 
Hammer, Joseph Von 
Professor John Jameson. 
Professor Oersted. 


Ouseley, Sir William 


APPENDIX. 


Warren, Lieut -Col. John 
Webb, Major W. S. 
White, Major F. S. 
Wilkins, Charles 
Williams, John Lloyd 
Wilson, H. H. 

Wynch, P. M. 


Yeld, T. 
Young, James 


Young, Rey. Dr. J. 


Honorary Members, 


Palmer, Sir R. 
Phillipart, Sir John 
Professor Rasmussen. 
Mons. Remusat. - 
Professor A. Schlegel. 
De Sacy, Baron Sylvester 


Mons. Garcin de Tassy. 


Vidua, Count 
Walker, General 


THE END. 


From the Govt. Gaxette Press, by G. H. Huttmann. 


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