which the evil acts of living beings proceed), samvara (whereby acts are collected or impeded), nirjará (penance), bandha (the integral association of life with acts), and moksha (liberation of the vital spirit from the bonds of action): all which are succinctly expounded. The sum of the Jain system, Mr. Wilson observes, may be collected from the details of the nine tatwas, but, he adds, "they form only the text on which further subtleties are founded, and they leave the end and scope of all the doctrine, or the attainment of ultimate liberation, singularly indistinct." Besides the religious notions revealed in the tatwas, the Jains are characterized by a subtle dialectical theory, a belief in the co-existence, or possible reconciliation, of seven contradictory propositions, viz. 1. A thing is. 2. It is not. 3. It is and it is not. 4. It is not definable. 5. It is, but is not definable. 7. It is and it is not, and is not definable. These positions are met by the Jains with the reply, "it may be so sometimes;" that is, whichever is advanced will be true in some respects and not in others; they are, therefore, not entitled to implicit trust, nor are they irreconcileable. The moral code of the Jains is expressed in five mahávratas, or great duties; refraining from injury to life, truth, honesty, chastity, and freedom from worldly desires. There are four dhermas, or merits;-liberality, gentleness, piety, and penance; and three sorts of restraints ;-government of the mind, the tongue, and the person. To these are superadded a variety of minor injunctions, amongst which is "never to eat in the dark lest à fly should be swallowed." "It is a curious The ritual of the Jains is as simple as their moral code. peculiarity in the Jain system, that they should have no priests of their own." The ministrant priest in a Jain temple is a brahman. The objects of worship are properly only the tirthankaras; but the Jains do not deny the existence of the Hindu gods, and even worship some. In different parts of India, their worship is more or less admixed with Brahmanism. Mr. Wilson has shortly investigated the question as to the origin and date. of this sect, but without being able to throw much additional light upon this obscure point. He considers it highly probable that it is the most recent. of all the systems in Hindustan. The attack on the Jain doctrines, in the Brahme Sútras, and by Sankara Acharya, will not carry the date back above ten or twelve centuries. The literature of the Jains is unfavourable to the notion of high antiquity: Hemachandra, one of their greatest writers, the recorder of the Jaina scriptures, flourished in the end of the twelfth century only, and a number of works seem to have been compiled during the reign of Akbar, in the sixteenth century. Jain monuments and inscriptions are exceedingly numerous in the south and west of India, and none, Mr. Wilson observes, are earlier than the ninth century. Col. Tod has, however, met with inscriptions in Rajast'han, in the character peculiar to the Jains "or Buddhists," dated as early as the seventh century. Mr. Wilson is satisfied that "the total disappearance of the Bauddhas in India Asial.Journ.N.S.VOL.12.No.46. N Proper is connected with the influence of the Jains, which may have commenced in the sixth or seventh century and continued till the twelfth." The Jains are divided into two principal divisions, whose mutual animosity is, as usual, of an intensity very disproportionate to its sources; namely, Digambaras and Swetámbaras, who are distinguished externally by dress: the latter also appear followers of Párswanáth, the former of Mahávíra. They are again distinguished into clerical and lay, or Yatis and Srávakas, the former leading a religious life and subsisting upon the alms supplied by the latter; who follow the usual practices of other Hindus; their homage is paid chiefly to the two last tirthankaras, namely, Párswanáth and Mahávíra. In comparing Mr. Wilson's account of these sectaries with that of Colonel Miles,* we find that the latter denominates the clerical Jains Sáď hus, and considers the Yatís or Jatis a subdivision of the Sád'hus, forming a kind of secular priesthood. In Upper Hindustan, the Jains are of one, or rather of no caste, properly so called, though they recognize a number of distinct nats or tribes, and eighty-four gachchas. Here, again, we observe a variation between Colonel Miles's and Mr. Wilson's accounts; the latter considers the term gachcha to denote 'race' or family division;' the former enumerates one hundred and fifty-nine nats or tribes, independently of which distinction, he says, "the Jains are divided into eighty-four religious sects, denominated guchch'ha or congregation.' There is evidently some confusion upon this head, for amongst the list of nats, or tribes, given by Colonel Miles, are denominations included in Mr. Wilson's list of gachchas; and in Colonel Miles's list of guchch'has, which is redundant, are included several names which occur in his list of nats. Colonel Tod, whose authority upon this point must be, from his general experience and accuracy of observation, almost conclusive, uses the term gatcha as equivalent to sect,' and affords good grounds for inferring that the nats (tribes or classes) are innumerable, by stating that a learned priest of the Jains (his own teacher), a descendant of Hemachandra, "who had for a series of years devoted his attention to form a catalogue, which then amounted to nearly eighteen hundred classes, renounced the pursuit, on obtaining from a brother priest, from a distant region, one hundred and fifty new names to add to his list."+ 6 We must pass rapidly over the remaining sects, which are the Bába Lális, followers of Bába Lál, who, about the middle of the seventeenth century, founded a faith, the basis of which seems to be the pure Hindu theory of "one god," with certain mystic additions from the Vedanta and Sufi doctrines; the Prán Náthis, originated by Prán náth, a khetriya, who, in the reign of Aurungzeb, attempted to blend or reconcile the Hindu and Moslem creeds; the Sádhs, or Puritans,' described by Mr. Trant and others; the Satnámís, a modern sect of unitarian quietists, who adore "the one god, creator of all things," but borrow their notions of creation from the Vedanta philosophy; the Siva Nárayanis, another mo Trans. R.A.S. vol. iii. art. 19. † Annals of Rajasthan, vol. ii. p. 166. dern sect of unitarians, whose worship is purer than that of the preceding, and which comprises even professed Christians from the lower classes; and the Súnyabádis, whose doctrines are atheistical, not materially differing from those of the Bauddhas and Jains. A modern writer, named Bakhtáwar, under the patronage of the raja of Hatrass, a few years back, endeavoured to give a popular character to this creed; his work, in Hindi verse, entitled the Sunisár, or essence of emptiness,' purports to show that all notions of man and God are fallacies, and that " nothing is." Mr. Wilson concludes his admirable sketch by some reflexions upon the actual state of the Hindu religion, which he considers to present an appearance very different from that which it originally wore. The corruptions, however, have not destroyed the primitive system, which is to be found in the Védas, and there can be little doubt that, with the diffusion of education, inquiry into the merits of the prevailing systems will become more universal and be better directed. "The germ is native to the soil; it has been kept alive for ages under the most unfavourable circumstances, and has been apparently more vigorous than ever during the last century. It only now requires prudent and patient fostering to grow into a stately tree, and yield goodly fruit." The next paper is a "Memoir of a survey of Asam and the neighbouring countries, executed in 1825-28," by Lieut. R. Wilcox. This memoir incorporates, along with new matter, the details, which have appeared in various newspapers and journals (our own included), of the geographical discoveries made on the N.E. frontier of our territories, in consequence of the operations against Ava; especially those connected with the course of the Brahmaputra: in making which discoveries, Lieut. Wilcox was one of the active agents. This paper is of very considerable length, detailing very minutely the proceedings which led to the successive discoveries, which were recorded, as they were published in India, in this journal. As a notice of this paper requires a considerable space, we shall take a future opportunity of examining its results with reference to M. Klaproth's theory respecting the identity of the Sanpo and Irawadi. A "Census of the population of the city of Benares," by Mr. James Prinsep, is the next paper. Benares was censed in 1802, by the kotwal, who returned the result at thirty thousand houses and six hundred thousand inhabitants. The accurate census of Mr. Prinsep has reduced the number of the population to one hundred and eighty-one thousand four hundred and eighty-two in the city, and about twenty thousand in Secrole and the vicinity. The tables appended to the paper contain valuable statistical data. Mr. Walter's "Journey across the Pandua Hills, near Silhet, in Bengal," the subject of the succeeding paper, contains some curious facts relative to the Cásias, or natives of the hills. They are described as a stout, athletic race, fair, as compared with the inhabitants of the plains, with mus. cular limbs. They are devoted to paun, very fond of spirituous liquors, and eat and drink whatever comes in their way. In religion, they follow some of the Hindu customs; they have no written character, and their language is different from that of the surrounding tribes; in moral character, they are very far superior to the natives of the plains. Mr. Walter examined the Cave of Bhúvan, in the Cásia Hills, of which trip the reader will find a full account (as well as an epitome of the paper before us) in our Journal.* A "Route from Cathmandu, in Nepaul, to Tazedō, on the Chinese frontier," by Amir, a Cashmiro-Bhotiah, communicated by Mr. Hodgson, follows. It contains some notices of the manners and habits of the people. A "Census of the City of Dacca," by Mr. H. Walters, includes a variety of statements and statistical tables, from whence it results, that the total native population (exclusive of military) amounts to 66,667, of which 31,429 are Hindu, and 35,238 Mohammedan; to which 322 Armenians and others being added, the total population is 66,989 souls, residing in 16,279 houses or chouks. Bishop Heber states the population of Dacca at 300,000, and the number of houses at 90,000! The details given by Mr. Walters of the decay and depopulation of Dacca, through the annihilation of the manufacture of fine muslins, will be read by all but those who glory in such results of free trade, with painful feelings. The art of making these delicate fabrics is now lost in 1820, a resident of Dacca procured the manufacture of two pieces on a special order from China; in 1822, the same individual received a second commission for two similar pieces, from the same quarter, but the parties who supplied the former had died, and the commission could not be executed.† The next paper is a "Description of Select Coins, from Originals or Drawings in the possession of the Asiatic Society," by the Secretary, Mr. Wilson, whose versatility of talent has enabled him to illustrate, to a certain extent, the very obscure subject of Indian numismatics. The most interesting coins found in India are those belonging apparently to the Bactrian kings, or to some foreign potentates who have ruled in Hindustan. The legends on these coins are, however, too imperfectly known to be at present intelligible; some of them are in a character which is found on monuments in various parts of India, but as little decypherable as the nail-headed; others are in Greek characters, but mostly unintelligible; others appear to be in ancient Nagari. No indication of a date is discoverable on these coins. Colonel Tod‡ and M. von Schlegel § have the merit of throwing some light upon the history of these Bactrian coins. Mr. Wilson has appended to the paper a few remarks upon the Tope of Manikyala, recently excavated by General Ventura,|| of Runjeet Singh's service, which he considers (with Mr. Erskine) to have been a Bauddha structure, and erected about the date of the Christian era. The last paper, from the same indefatigable pen, consists of "Remarks on the portion of the Dionysiacs of Nonnus relating to the Indians," in refutation of the notions entertained by Colonel Wilford and Sir William Vol. xxviii. O.S. p. 321. † See the details of the manufacture, in an epitome of this paper, in our seventh vol. p. 67. Trans. R.A.S., vol. i. p. 340. § Journ. Asiatique, Nov. 1828. Asiat. Journ. vol. iv. p. 158. Jones, the former of whom asserted that the Dionysiaca was really the history of the Maha Bhárata, or Great War; the latter was inclined to draw a parallel between them and the Rámáyana, and was confident that Dionysos (Bacchus) would prove to be identical with the Elder Rama. An analysis of the books of the Dionysiacs referred to, compared with the topics in the Hindu poem, completely disproves the hypothesis of these two scholars, and affords another proof of their unhappy proneness to such fanciful speculations. An epitome of Mr. Wilson's able and convincing paper may be seen in our sixth vol. p. 169. Having brought our imperfect notice of this volume to a close, we cannot refrain from again expressing our sense of the value and interest of its contents. Prefixed to it is an ably written and highly complimentary farewell address from the Asiatic Society of Calcutta, signed by the President, Sir Edward Ryan, to Mr. Wilson, and a reply by the latter, which, in style as well as sentiment, is a model for similar compositions. FROM THE GERMAN OF MATHISON, WHEN lone, by Evening's latest light, And o'er thee bend, in slumber laid; When, by the moon's uncertain ray, The dream of love thy senses scals; Or, felt as tranced Fancy weaves Her fairy spells o'er faded bliss, Thy lip, thy hand, a touch receives, Light as the zephyr's whispered kiss, While the lone lamp wanes, flickering, by- Or, heard beneath Eve's radiant star, Th' unchanging vow, for ever thine !" |