PART V.

THE NATIVE POPULATION.

THE FIRST RELIGION OF INDIA.

THE religion of the first inhabitants of India consisted in the worship of local deities, some supposed to be benevolent, and some malevolent. They were originally supposed to be spirits of deceased persons, who still retaining the feelings they had when alive, haunted the places of their former residence, and gratified the feelings they still retained, or the feelings excited by what they heard and saw. They were believed to have the power of assisting their friends and of injuring their enemies. Thus able to interfere at pleasure in human affairs, they became objects of great anxiety. Rude images and symbols of them were set up in particular places, sometimes in small rudely constructed temples and under green trees, and prayers and offerings were made to them. The worship of them partook more of fear and dread of evil, than of hope and expectation of good from them. To these beings the people ascribed accidents, misfortunes, afflictions, and diseases, and so they resorted to various means to propitiate them, and to secure their favor.. They gave offerings of food, and made sacrifices of fowls and animals. They sometimes offered human victims in sacrifice, and parents in the fear of losing all their children in times of sickness, would sometimes devote one of them to some of the malevolent demons. And people would sometimes infliet tortures upon themselves, in the hope of appeasing these malevolent beings, or of exciting their compassion.

The authority for these opinions and rites, appears to have depended on traditions and local usages; for if they had any sacred books, none have come down to the present time, and none are mentioned in history. There was no hereditary priest

hood, but there were persons who, pretending to witchcraft, sorcery, and necromancy, acquired great influence in religious matters. These persons professed to have intercourse and influence with these supposed deities and demons, and they generally officiated in religious rites, especially on important occasions. The Bheels of Central India, the Coolees of Gujerat, the Goands of Berar, the Santals of Orissa, and the Shanars, and other tribes in the peninsula, are apparently the remains of these ancient inhabitants, and they retain among them many of their opinions and rites, the same as their ancestors had 3,000 years ago. The religion of these classes has but little affinity with the system commonly called brahminism. Among some of them the brahmins have never been acknowledged in their religious character, and have never become the officiating priests. And in many districts where brahminism is the commonly received system of religion, the places of worship and pilgrimage, the deities, rites, and ceremonies, are of a mixed character, clearly showing that the brahminical system in its progress, incorporated with itself many of the previously established local superstitions.

When any of these local deities were found to have a strong hold on the feelings of the people, they were declared or assumed to belong to the almost infinite number of the Hindu gods, and supplemental sections were added to some chapter in the Purans containing the popular legends concerning them, and thus authorizing their worship. Thus, as brahminism enlarged its borders and increased its votaries, it also increased the names and number of its recognized deities. And the system was well adapted to increase in this way, as the sacred books do not contain the names of a thousandth part of their gods, any one of whom, if he has revealed himself, becomes a proper object of worship. It is in part owing to this mixed origin, that brahminism is so different in its usages and ceremonies in different districts in India.

The first inhabitants of India, in their religious state and character, much resembled the aborigines of America and Africa, and the ancient inhabitants of Europe in a similar state of civilization. Their gods were local deities, originally the supposed spirits of deceased persons haunting the abodes

of their former residence, still retaining the feelings they formerly had, or experiencing in view of what they might see, similar feelings to what they would have had, if still living, and having power, more or less, to gratify these feelings. In all their worship, their prayers, their offerings, their sacrifices. and rites, superstitious fear and dread appear to have been the principal motives of the people, and hypocrisy and fanaticism appear to have formed the character of those who professed to be spiritual guides, and who officiated in their religious rites.

BRAHMINISM THE VEDAS.

There are no means of ascertaining at what period the system of religion, commonly called Brahminism, was introduced into India. It appears to have been the religion of a nation or people who invaded the country from the north-west, and established their government along the banks of the Jumna and the Ganges, as early as 1300 or 1400 years before the commencement of the Christian era. The books containing their religion at that time, are called the Vedas. Of these there are commonly reckoned 4, namely, the Rig, the Yajur, the Sama, and the Artharva. The Hindus believe that these books (the language of them) came directly from the mouth of Brahm, or the infinite Spirit, and that they were infallibly preserved by tradition till put into the state in which they now are. Their present order and arrangement are ascribed to a sage of great celebrity, called Vyas, and sometimes VedVyas, on account of this work. An analysis of their contents shows that they were compiled by different men, and at different times. There are no means of ascertaining when this compilation was made, but it is the general opinion of orientalists who have investigated this subject with great care, that they were put into their present state 1300 or 1400 years before the Christian era. They are written in the ancient style of the Sanscrit language, differing so much from the later or common Sanscrit, that only a small part of the educated brahmins can read them intelligibly. Each Veda consists of two parts; the first part is called the Sanhita, and consists of prayers, hymns, invocations, rites, ceremonies, etc.,

to be used in offering oblations, and performing sacrifices.* These prayers and hymns in the same Veda often differ but little from each other. And the same hymns with but little variation are found in the different Vedas. The second part is called Brahmana, and treats of the first cause, of the creation of the world and its inhabitants, moral precepts, religious duties, rewards, punishments, festivals, purifications, castes, ceremonies at births, deaths, etc.

These books have always been held in great veneration. In the early age of India, it was a part of the prescribed duty of the three highest castes to read the Vedas, but the fourth or lowest caste, including the great body of the people, were not allowed to read them, or to possess them, or to hear them read. If a shudra should read them, or hear them read, or

*The following is a translation of the first hymn of the Rig Veda. It was designed to be used in offering sacrifices to Agni, the god who presides over fire, and who manifests himself by it. Agni is also one of the names of fire, which, in the mystical and pantheistical notion of the Hindus, is sometimes worshipped, as the symbol of the god; so that in their worship the god and the element appear to be confounded together.

"I praise Agni, (the god of fire,) the high-priest of the sacrifice, the all resplendent, the conductor of the sacrificial rites, the chanter of the invocation hymns, and the chief holder of the precious gifts (that reward the sacrificers).

“Agni, when praised by the sages of ancient times, assembled the gods, and now when praised by us the modern sages, he will assemble them to our sacrifice.

'By means of Agni, the sacrificer obtains without fail, daily increasing wealth, and the fame connected with an army of heroes.

"O Agni, whenever a sacrifice proves fortunate, it is because thou art there to be the guardian on every side; also thou goest on high to convey it to the gods.

"Agni is the chanter of the invocation hymns, and the director of the sacrifice; he is faithful and possesses all possible renown; himself a god, let him now accompany the gods.

"O Agni, whatever benefits thou conferrest on the offerer, these will turn to thy own advantage; of this be assured, O god of fire.

“O Agni, daily, yea day and night, do we approach thee with reverential awe, prostrating ourselves in thy presence.

"We approach thee who flamest over the sacrifices, the preserver of truth, the grand illuminator, and who growest great in thy own sacred recess by our offerings.

"Cherish us, O Agni, as a father doth his children, and be with us to keep us in safety."

In

should commit any part of them to memory, or perform any rite or ceremony contained in them, the king or magistrate was directed immediately to put such a man to death. modern times the brahmins have been the depositaries of these sacred books. And so faithful were they to their trust and so cautious in their conduct, that it was not without great difficulty and much expense, Europeans could procure them. But copies of them are now to be found in public libraries in India and Europe, and translations are in the course of being made and published under the patronage of the East India Company.

There is a class of works called Upanishads, which contain extracts of certain portions of the Vedas, and commentaries upon the doctrines of theology contained in them. Of these extracts and treatises, there are said to be 52. Some of them are short. They are designed to exhibit, explain, and defend the doctrines of the Vedas. There is also a class of works called Upa-Vedas, which are supplementary to the Vedas. There are 4 of them. They treat of diseases and medicines, of music as an aid to devotion, of the use of arms and other implements of war, and of the mechanical arts. There is yet another class called the Vedangas, that is, members of or supplements to the Vedas. These treat of their pronunciation, the manner in which they should be read, etc.

There are also 6 works called Durshans, each professing to contain a system of theological philosophy. The doctrines, definitions, explanations, etc., of these professed systems, partly from their abstruse nature, their technical phraseology and the manner in which the subjects are treated, are very obscure and difficult to understand. They show how active the Hindu mind was at that early age in such philosophical speculations. But they are of as little consequence now as the speculations of the schoolmen of the middle ages would be to us at the present time.

There are several ancient works which profess to explain the meaning of the Vedas. Some of these are ascribed to Vyas, the reputed compiler of the Vedas. One of these works is called the Vedant Sar, which is said "to contain an abstract and quintessence of all the Vedas brought together." The Brahm