They suppose two souls, which may be termed the divine soul, and the vital soul. The former is a pure spirit; the other, more immediately united with our corporal substance, and possessing desires and affections: but we do not find that they consider the divine soul as an emanation of the Supreme Being, as almost all other Hindūs do. In addition to what has already been stated, the following passage from Dr. Taylor's work above cited,+ will still further illustrate the tenets of this sect. The Jainas, in their philosophical opinions, have been supposed to resemble the Sankhyas; but their tenets exhibit rather a mixture of the Sankhya and Mimangsa doctrines, than an exclusive adoption of either. Like the Mimangsa, they believe that the Supreme Being is motion, and that he is without figure, impassible, and all-pervading; and like the Sankhyas they believe in the eternity of the world, and conceive that the soul is only a refined species of matter, which possesses thought and understanding; and which, pervading the whole body, illumi, nates it as a lamp does the apartment in which it is kept. Wherever there is blood, say they, there is soul. As the infinite Being is indescribable and incomprehensible, they direct their worship to Tirthakars, or deified men. The great Being is omniscient, but the soul possesses only finite knowledge. Man is elevated to the state of the infinite Being, by renouncing secular concerns, and devoting himself to contemplation and divine worship; but, like the Mimangsa, they conceive that holy actions are required to secure eternal beati * Besides the authorities before quoted, see an article on the Jains, by Major Mackenzie, Asiat. Researches, vol. ix. p. 244; one by Mr. H. T. Colebrooke, ibid. p. 287;-and " Journey from Madras, through the countries of Mysore, Canara, and Malabar, performed by order of the Marquis of Wellesley, GovernorGeneral of India, by Francis Buchanan, M. D." † See Appendix to the Prabodh Chandro Daya. tude." But after examining all that is said in regard to the nature and existence of the soul, it appears to us, notwithstanding the obscurity of the subject, and seeming contradictions that occur, that the Hindūs in general believe in the existence of two souls, the vital and the divine soul; the former of which animates the mortal frame, and may be supposed to perish with it; while the other is an emanation of the spirit of God, but not a portion of that spirit; it is compared to the heat and light sent forth from the sun, which neither lessens nor divides its own essence.* The tenets and practices of the Sikhs will form the subject of a separate chapter. * See Laws of Menu, chapter 9th, on Transmigration and Final Beatitude, Jones, 8vo. edit. vol. viii. as well as other works; and various quotations of Gowtama, &c. in Craufurd's Sketches on the Hindus, vol. i. p. 262. OF THE SIKHS. THE Sikhs,* of much more modern origin than all the other sects we have mentioned, now occupy a considerable, and, from its situation, important territory in Hindūstan.† The founder of their religion, named Nanac Shah, was born in the year 1469 of our æra, at a village named Talvandi,* in the district of Bhatti, in the province of Lahore. His father, named Calu, was of the Cshatriya, or warrior cast. He left only two children, Nanac, and a daughter, called Nanaii, who married a Hindū named Jayaram. Nanac was also married at an early age to a young maiden of his own tribe, by whom he had two sons, named Srichand and Lacshmi Das. He is said to have been, from his infancy, of a religious turn; and many stories are told of the wonderful indications then given by him of extraordinary wisdom. About the age of twentyfive, quitting Lahore, he visited most of the holy places in the eastern parts of Hindūstan; in a second excursion he went to the south, passed over to Ceylon, returned to Lahore, and in a third journey went into Persia and Arabia, visiting the * The Sikhs derive their appellation from the Sanscrit root Sikh, to learn. + Hindūstan, in the general acceptation of the word by Europeans, is supposed to mean the whole countries lying between the Indus and the Ganges, from the Tartarian mountains, on the north, to the sea, where the land terminates in the point named Cape Comorin: but Hindūstan proper, or the country originally so denominated by the Persians, meaning the country of the Hindūs, extends no farther south, as has been observed, than the river Nerbudda, or to the parallel of about twenty-two degrees north latitude.-See Rennell. |