from the divine effence; and capable of an accidental and temporary conjunction with, and tranfmigration fixed on me alone. He is my beloved, of whom mankind is not afraid, and who is not afraid of mankind, who is unfolicitous about events, to whom praise and blame are as one, who has no particular home, and is of a fteady mind. The man who, performing the duties of life and quitting all intereft in them, placeth his affections upon BRAHM the Supreme, is not tainted with fin, but remaineth, like the leaf of the lotos, unaffected by the waters." KRISHEN, or Krishna, is the God Vishnoo in one of his various incarnations; in which capacity he is represented as a blooming and beautiful youth, with the characteristic appendage of a flute or lyre, refembling the Apollo of the Greeks; and, amongst many other striking analogies between the Indian and Grecian mythologies, defcribed as encircled by the fame number of graceful nymphs endowed with the fame divine accomplishments, ftyled the GOPIA, who are faid to have fixed their refidence in the delightful groves of Matra. In a hymn addreffed to Kama-diva, or the God of Love, in the Hindoo fyftem, fon of Maya, the power of attraction, we read, in the elegant translation of Sir William Jones Can men refift thy power when Krishen yields? Dances by moonlight with the Gopia nine. In the temples of Vishnoo this God is worshipped under the fymbol of an human figure, having a circle of heads and a multiplicity of hands, to denote the univerfality of his knowlege, prefence, and power. The moft ceicbrated of these temples or pagodas is fituated on the banks of the Coleroon, near the weftern extremity of the island of Seringham. It confifts of seven fquare inclosures, ftanding at three hundred and fifty feet asunder. migration to, any organical fyftem of matter; and into the fame infinite effence from which it origin ally In the inmoft inclosure are the altars and the image of the Deity. The grand entrance is richly ornamented with pillars of granite of prodigious fize. When the wars in the Carnatic between the French and English commenced, these rude invaders fcrupled not to profane, by the entrance of their troops, the first courts of this hallowed edifice. And we are told that, on their approach, a Brahman, ftanding on the fummit of the lofty portico of the temple, cried to them with a loud voice to defift from this impiety; but finding his menaces and fupplications equally difregarded, he threw himself down with violence upon the pavement below, and was inftantly dafhed to pieces. It is a fingularity of the Hindoo fyftem, that it refuses to admit profelytes; for the Hindoo philofophers maintain that the different modes of faith and worship established in different countries, when practised with a pure mind, are equally acceptable to the SUPREME, to whom they give the appellations of " the Principle of Truth," the Spirit of Wifdom," the "Univerfal Soul," whofe effence pervades all things, who fills all space, and who cannot therefore be juftly pourtrayed under any visible and distinct form. A celebrated Danish miffionary, M. Ziegenbalg, tells us "that the Brahmans uniformly affirmed to him that GOD was a Being wholly fpiritual and incomprehenfible; but that the adoration before idols being ordained by their religion, God would receive and confider it as adoration offered to himself-in the multitude of images they profeffed to adore One Divine Effence," M. Bernier, a French traveller in the laft century, who paffed fome time at the city of Benares, the facred feat of Indian fcience, affirms, that he was told, in a conference which he held with the chief of the Pundits, "that though they had, in their temples, numerous images or idols in order to fix the attention of the worshipper" afin qu'il y ait quelque chofe devant les yeux qui " ally sprang, after completing its destined series of tranfmigrations, it will be ultimately absorbed, The arrête l'efprit;" yet the honors paid to them were entirely to be referred to the Being whofe attributes they reprefented." And St. Francis Xavier, the great Apoftle of India, at a ftill earlier period, informs us, that a Brahman on the coast of Malabar revealed to him in confidence, "that one of the myfteries of the Hindoo doctrine confifted in believing that there was only one God, creator of the heavens, and of the earth; and that this God alone was worthy to be adored." The learned Brahmans, employed by Mr. Haftings-in his laudable attention, amidst the complicated cares of government, to scientific refearches for the purpofe of tranflating from the Sanferit to the Perfian language, the authentic records of their laws and cuftoms, fay, in the preliminary difcourfe affixed to their work, "From men of enlightened understanding, and found judg ment, who, in their researches after truth, have swept away from their hearts malice and oppofition, it is not concealed that the diverfities of belief which are caufes of enmity and envy to the ignorant, are in fact a demonstration of the power of the Supreme Being. The truly intelligent well know, that the difference and variety of created things, and the contrarieties of conftitutions, are types of his wonderful attributes, whose complete power formed all things in the animal, vegetable, and material world; whofe benevolence felected man to have dominion and authority over the reft, who having beftowed on him judgment and understanding, gave him fupremacy over the regions of the world, who having put into his hands the control and difpofal of all things, appointed to each nation its own religion, and who conftituted a variety of tribes, and a multiplicity of customs; but views, with pleasure, in every place, the mode of worship particularly appointed to it. He is with The general characteristics of this people are mildness, fimplicity, and indolence. They delight to repofe the attendants upon the mofque, in counting the facred beads; and he is at the temple with the Hindoos, at the adoration of the idols." The grand dogmas of Indian theology are exhibited with the blended energies of philofophy and poetry, in an ancient hymn, or divine ode, addressed to NARAYANA, or the Divine Intellect as it appears in the animated translation of Sir William Jones, from which these ftanzas are transcribed. SPIRIT of Spirits, who thro' every part Before heav'n was, THOU art! Ere fpheres beneath us roll'd, or spheres above, -Wrapt in eternal folitary shade, Th' impenetrable gloom of light intense, Ere fpirits were infus'd, or forms display'd, -Mountains whofe radiant fpires Prefumptuous rear their fummits to the fkies, Smooth meads and lawns, that glow with varying dyes Hence! vanish from my fight, repose under the romantic shade of their vast forests; or to refresh and purify themselves with frequent bathings and ablutions in their majestic and falubrious ftreams; especially coveting to immerge in the facred waters of the Ganges, for which celebrated river they univerfally entertain a superstitious and enthufiaftic reverence. The famous expedition of Alexander into India was rather a difcovery than a conqueft. But the more recent invafion of Tamerlane was attended with serious and lafting confequences. That illuftrious oriental victor, after fubduing the more confiderable northern provinces of the Peninfula, fixed his imperial throne at Dehli, where the Great Moguls his defcendants, now reduced to the mere phantoms and fhadows of royalty, ftill continue to refide. For feveral ages, however, they retained great power and authority, and the empire of Hindoftan was divided into extenfive kingdoms or provinces, which were governed by viceroys, ftyled Subahs, and fubordinate governors, under the appellation of Na Delusive pictures! unsubstantial shows! Hence planets learn their course; bobs |