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INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER

ON

THE HINDOOS.

THE Mahabharut is the most celebrated historical work among the Hindoos. It was translated from the original Sanscrit into Persian verse, by Sheikh Abool Fuzl, the son of Sheikh Mobarik, by order of Akbur Padshah, and it consists of more than 100,000 couplets. Mahomed Kasim Ferishta, the author of this work, having made an abstract of that translation, has availed himself of it to form the introductory part of this history.

The philosophers and sages of India have related the formation of this earth differently, according to their own notions. Thirteen various accounts are given in the Mahabharut alone, not one of which is sufficiently satisfactory to induce us to adopt it in preference to another. The Hindoos divide time into four ages: 1st, Sutyoog; 2d, Tritayoog; 3d, Duwapuryoog; 4th, Kulyoog; and they assert, that the four ages continue in succession to all eternity; the present being the Kulyoog, which when at an end, the Sutyoog will re-commence. The earth, therefore, is by them d

VOL. I.

deemed eternal, without beginning and without end though some brahmins assert, that this world will have an end, and that a judgment-day will come.

The Sutyoog is said to have lasted during a period of 1,728,000 years; when virtue and truth prevailed, and man lived 100,000 years.

The Tritayoog is a period of 1,296,000 years; three parts of the creation, during that time, obeyed the word of God, and the life of man was 10,000 years.

The Dwapuryoog is a period of 864,000 years; during which half of the creation was wicked, and man only lived 1000 years.

The Kulyoog is a period of 432,000 years. Men, in this period, became sinful; only one quarter of the human race followed the dictates of God, and the life of man was curtailed to 100 years. According to the Hindoo account, in the present year (1015 of the Hijra), 4684 years of the Kulyoog have elapsed. *

In the beginning, God created the four elements; besides which the Hindoos reckon the æther as a fifth element; and after that, according to some accounts, he created man, whom he called Brumma; to whom he gave the power of creating every living

*It may be useful to state, that the Yoogs progress in an arithmetical ratio of 1, 2, 3, 4, from the smallest to the greatest number, and are divisible both by the common Indian cycle of 60 years, which is the usual divisor of time among them, as also by the figure 9, which is applicable both to time and things. These observations are intended to convey to the reader's mind the notion that the extravagancy of the Hindoo calculations are not without method, and require only the key to become intelligible and within the limits of our belief. This is not the place to discuss a question which would fill a volume.

thing. The Hindoos are of opinion, that the æther, which they consider an element, is immaterial; that air only moves round the earth; that the planets, which are emanations from the Deity, have appeared on earth as men; who, after terrestrial mortality, are translated into heaven, in reward of their holy works on earth, by which they approximate so nearly to the Divinity in excellence, as to partake of his glory. It would appear from some of their books, that they consider the firmament itself as the divine essence.

Brahma, in virtue of the power vested in him, created four tribes of the human race; viz. 1st, Brahman; 2d, Kshetry; 3d, Byse; and, 4th, Soodr. The first was charged with the worship of the divinity, and the instruction of the human species. The second was appointed to rule over mankind. The third was required to plough the ground, and perform all sorts of handicraft. The fourth was doomed to be servile to the other three tribes. Brahma then wrote the book to direct mankind, which he called Veda. This is a work on theology, composed of 100,000 slogs; each slog or couplet being four churun, each churun or verse containing not more than 26 or less than 21 letters. Brahma lived 100 years of the sutyoog, each year containing 360 days, each day being 4000 years of the present age, and each night the same. The brahmins unanimously agree, that there is but one Brahma; that he has appeared 1001 times; and of the life of the present Brahma 50 years and half a day have elapsed, and the other half is now in progress.

It is related, that in the latter end of the Dwapuryoog, in the city of Hustnapoor, Raja Bhurt, of the tribe of Kshetry, sat on the throne; after whom, seven rajas lineally descended from him reigned. The eighth was named Kooroo, and the Koorooket, or field of Tahnesur, is called after him. His descendants are denominated Kooroos. This dynasty reigned for six generations, till the accession of Veechitrveera Tej Raja, of the same line. He had two sons, the one D'hertrashtra, the Conqueror, and the other Pundoo (the Fair +); but the former, being blind, was put aside (although the elder), and his younger brother Pundoo sat on the throne, from whom is sprung the Pandoo dynasty. Pundoo left five sons; Yoodishteer (the Bold), called also Dhurma Raja; Bheema, and Arjoon, all born of one mother, called Koonty; while Nukool and Sahadeva were born of Madry. D'hertrashtra had 101 sons, 100 born of a daughter of the Raja Gand’har, the eldest of whom was called Dooryodhun, and another son called Yooyoocha, born of a plebeian's daughter. From the descendants of D'hertrashtra are the Kooroo tribe; while the descendants of his younger brother, Pundoo, are called Pandoos. Upon the death of Pundoo, D'hertrashtra, notwithstanding the circumstance of his blindness, was proclaimed raja, and his eldest son, Dooryodhun, became regent; and entertaining a jealousy of his cousins (the five Pandoos), he determined to put them to death. D'hertrashtra, too, was not without his ap

* A town of this name still exists about 45 miles N. E. of Dehly. The word signifies, literally, yellow.

prehensions from his nephews, the Pandoos, whom he commanded to build their houses outside of the town, in order to prevent family disputes. Dooryodhun bribed the architects to construct the houses with large quantities of pitch and bitumen, so that they might easily be consumed; but the Pandoos, anticipating his intentions, set fire to their habitations, and, with their mother, left Hustnapoor. In this conflagration a woman named Bheel*, together with her five sons, who had been bribed to commit the act, fell victims to the flames; but the Kooroos, on the next day, finding the remains of Bheel and her sons, concluded that they were those of the Pandoos. After this event, the Pandoos having withdrawn from Hustnapoor, travelled over great part of India, and fought several battles, accounts of which occupy the greater part of the Mahabharut. At length they reached the city of Kumpila †, where the five brothers, being married in succession to Drowpdy, the daughter of the raja of Kumpila, agreed that she should live with one of them for 72 days, by which means each contrived to enjoy her company for one-fifth part of every year. Some Hindoos, however, deny this fact. Be it as it may; Dooryodhun hearing the Pandoos were alive, determined to ascertain the truth; and unable to dispute their rights, he invited them to Hustnapoor, when he gave over to them Indra

* The Mahabharut states, that a woman of the tribe of Kisat (the appellation given to the Bheel tribe), with her five sons were accidentally sleeping on the premises, and were consumed.

+ On the banks of the Ganges.

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