BOOK II. of India; and when to them we join the aversion of Pythagoras for animal food, and his prohibition of it unless when offered in sacrifices*, his injunctions to his disciples not to kill or hurt plants †, the long probation of his disciples, and their mysterious initiation, it is difficult to conceive that so remarkable an agreement can be produced by any thing short of direct imitation. Further coincidences might be mentioned, equally striking, though less important than those already adduced such are the affinity between God and light, the arbitrary importance assigned to the sphere of the moon as the limit of earthly changes, &c. and all derive additional importance from their dissimilarity to the opinions of all the Grecian schools that subsisted in the time of Pythagoras. ‡ Some of the tenets of both schools are said to have existed among the ancient Egyptians, and may be supposed to have been derived from that source both by Pythagoras and the Bramins. But * Enfield, vol. i. p. 377., and Stanley's School of Philosophy, p. 520. + Stanley, p. 520. See, for the Hindú notions on light, the various interpretations of, and comments on, the Gayatri, especially Sir W. Jones's Works, vol. vi. pp. 417. 421.; Colebrooke, Asiatic Researches, vol. viii. p. 400. and note; Rám Mohun Roy's translation of the Védas, p. 114.; Colebrooke, Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. ii. p. 26., and other places. For Pythagoras, see Enfield, vol. i. p. 394., and Stanley, p. 547.; in both of which places he is said to have learned his doctrine from the magi or oriental philosophers. The opinions of both the Hindús and Pythagoras about the moon and aerial regions, are stated by Mr. Colebrooke, in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 578.; for those of Pythagoras, see Stanley, p. 551. V. our accounts of these doctrines in Egypt are only CHAP. found in books written long after they had reached Greece through other channels. The only early authority is Herodotus, who lived after the philosophy of Pythagoras had been universally diffused. If, however, these doctrines existed among the Egyptians, they were scattered opinions in the midst of an independent system; and in Greece they are obviously adscititious, and not received in their integrity by any other of the philosophers except by the Pythagoreans. In India, on the contrary, they are the main principles on which the religion of the people is founded, to which all the schools of philosophy refer, and on which every theory in physics and every maxim in morality depends. It is well argued by Mr. Colebrooke, that the Indian philosophy resembles that of the earlier rather than of the later Greeks; and that, if the Hindús had been capable of learning the first doctrines from a foreign nation, there was no reason why they should not in like manner have acquired a knowledge of the subsequent improvements. From which he infers that "the Hindús were, in this instance, the teachers, and not the learners.” * * Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 579. It may, perhaps, be observed, that the doctrines of Pythagoras appear to belong to a period later than Menu. The formation of a society living in common, and receiving common initiation, together with the practice of burying the dead instead of burning them, seem to refer to the rules of the monastic orders; while the strictness regarding animal food has also a resemblance to the tendency of later times. BOOK BOOK III. STATE OF THE HINDÚS IN LATER TIMES, CONTINUED. FEW of the subjects which follow are noticed by Menu: we can, therefore, no longer attempt to mark the changes effected since his time, but must endeavour from other sources to trace the rise and describe the present state of each branch of inquiry as it occurs. CHAP. I. ASTRONOMY AND MATHEMATICAL SCIENCE. THE antiquity and the originality of the Indian astronomy form subjects of considerable interest. * The first point has been discussed by some of the greatest astronomers in Europe; and is still unsettled. Cassini, Bailly, and Playfair maintain that observations taken upwards of 3000 years before Christ are still extant, and prove a considerable degree of progress already made at that period. Several men, eminent for science, (among whom are La Place and De Lambre,) deny the authenticity of the observations, and, consequently, the validity of the conclusion. The argument is conducted entirely on astronomical principles, and can only be decided by astronomers: as far as it can be understood by a person unacquainted with science, it does not appear to authorise an award, to the extent that is claimed, in favour of the Hindús. All astronomers, however, admit the great an * Much information on these subjects, but generally with views unfavourable to the Hindús, is given in the illustrations, by different hands, annexed to Mr. Hugh Murray's Historical and Descriptive Account of British India, a work of great ability and value. CHAP. Antiquity of the tronomy. III. * BOOK tiquity of the Hindú observations; and it seems indisputable that the exactness of the mean motions that they have assigned to the sun and moon could only have been attained by a comparison of modern observations with others made in remote antiquity. Even Mr. Bentley, the most strenuous opponent of the claims of the Hindús, pronounces, in his latest work, that their division of the ecliptic into twenty-seven lunar mansions (which supposes much previous observation) was made 1442 years before our æra; and, without relying upon his authority in this instance, we should be inclined to believe that the Indian observations could not have commenced at a later period than the fifteenth century before Christ. This would be from one to two centuries before the Argonautic expedition and the first mention of astronomy in Greece. The astronomical rule relating to the calendar, which has been quoted from the Védas †, is shown to have been drawn up in the fourteenth century before Christ; and Parasara, the first writer on astronomy of whose writings any portion remains, appears to have flourished about the same time.‡ * See Pond's La Place System of the World, vol. ii. p. 252. + In Appendix I. See also Asiatic Researches, vol. viii. p. 489.; vol. vii. p. 282. This appears by his observation of the place of the Colures, first mentioned by Mr. Davis. (Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. p. 268.) Sir W. Jones, in consequence of some further information received from Mr. Davis, fixed Parasara in the twelfth century before Christ (1181, B. C.); but Mr. Davis himself afterwards explained (Asiatic Researches, vol. v. p. 288.) that, from the |