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for their arriving at this state of invincible apathy must be evident to those who confider the danger of these devotees, who appear constantly in public without the smallest covering, and in whom the least apparent deviation from their profeffion of entire abstraction in spiritual objects would be confidered as an unpardonable crime; a crime for which they would be infallibly ftoned to death by the enraged populace. These people bear the disgusting but too-expreffive fymbol of their god around their neck or fastened to their arm; and they rub the forehead, breast, and shoulders, with ashes of cow-dung. They ufe cow-dung, I prefume, because it is the medium by which the barren foil is rendered prolific, and therefore reminds them of the famous Indian doctrine of corruption and re-production. They use it burnt to afhes, becaufe fire is another emblem of Seeva, as a destroyer, and it is fire that will finally reduce to ashes "the cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, the folemn temples, the great globe itself, and all which it inherits." It is very remarkable that the Affyrian Venus, according to Lucian, had also offerings of dung placed upon her altars. This custom could only originate in the Galli, her priefts, confidering her in the light of the

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great productive principle in nature perfonis fied, and connecting with that idea the maxim of the brahmins, that the apparent deftruction of an object is only the re-production of it in another form.

Such, furveyed in its general feature, is the vaft, the complicated, system of Indian, or rather of Afiatic, fuperftition. If fome parts of the brahmin ritual appear to have been blended with those adopted by the Jews, the difficulty can only be folved by one or other of the following fuppofitions; either, that, in the grand primeval theology of the venerable patriachs, there were certain myfterious rites and hallowed fymbols univerfally prevalent, the ufe of which has defcended to their posterity, fettled in the various regions of Afia, and retained among others by the progeny of the faithful Abraham; or elfe, that the fupreme Deity, in condefcenfion to the weakness of the Jews, and the predilection which they had unhappily formed in Egypt for the religious habits and ritual of that country, thought proper to indulge his favoured race in the adoption of a few of the most innocent of the Gentile ceremonies. The former of these fuppofitions is by far the moft agreeable to the hypothefis on which this book proceeds, and

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is by far the most consonant to the jealous honour of the God of Ifrael. After all, we must own, with Calmet, that the temple of the great Jehovah had many decorations fimilar to those in the less hallowed temples of Afia. He was ferved there, fays the laft-cited author, with all the pomp and splendor of an Eastern monarch. He had his table, his perfumes, his throne, his bed-chamber, his officers, his finging-men, and his finging-women.*

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The general view just exhibited of the rites practifed in the Indian temples will prove a proper introduction to the peculiar ceremonies of the different Poojas, which are numerous and varied according to the character and attributes of the Deity adored. Sonnerat has given an entire but concise chapter, in which the principal of these ceremonies is enumerated and described. As that author is not in the hands of every body, and was an eye-witness to the scenes which he relates, I fhall present my readers with it entire, as it ftands in the Calcutta edition of his voyage, without prefuming to make any

other alteration in it than the occafional one of a proper name to render it more confo000 2

nant

See Calmet's Critical Differtations on the Hebrew Mufic, P. 49. Quarto, 1727.

nant to my own orthography, in which, throughout this work, I have endeavoured as clofely as poffible to follow Mr. Wilkins.

OF THE DIFFERENT CEREMONIES USED IN THE INDIAN POOJAS.

"Under the name of Pooja," fays M. Sonnerat," all the ceremonies, which the different deities daily exact, are comprehended. They confist in bathing the god with water and milk, anointing him with butter and odoriferous oils, covering him with rich clothes, and loading him with jewels, which they change every day, as well as the other ornaments, when the pagoda is opulent. They alfo prefent him with lamps, where butter is ufed inftead of oil; and throw to him flowers of a particular fort, which are confecrated to him feparately, one after another: the number they throw is fixed in their facred books. During the whole time of the ceremony, the dancers move in meafured fteps before his ftatue to the found of inftruments. A part of the brahmins, with chouries of white hair, or peacocks feathers, keep off the infects, while the rest are em

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ployed in prefenting him the offerings; for, the Indians never come empty-handed to the temple. They bring ad libitum rice, camphire, butter, flowers, and fruit. When they have none of these, the brahmins give them flowers, of which they have always bafkets ready; and, after they have received payment, they offer them to the god in the name of the worshippers. It belongs to the brahmins alone to make the Pooja in particular houses, because the divinity must be prefent, and they alone have the right of making him defcend on the earth. On certain feftivals of the year, all the Indians are obliged to perform this ceremony, which consists in making offerings and a facrifice to God. For this purpose the brahmin prepares a place which is purified with dried cow-dung, with which the pavement is plastered; and the room is fprinkled with the urine of the fame animal. A vafe full of water, covered, is placed in the middle of the room, round which they light lamps filled with butter. When every thing is ready, the brahmin, fitting on the ground with his head uncovered, recites prayers, and from time to time flings flowers and rice upon the vafe; when the invocations are finished, the god fhould be found in the vale. They then make i

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