But, finding that of the
Hindoos inaccessible, he had recourse to art.
Hindoos inaccessible, he had recourse to art.
Camoes - Lusiades
The temples of India, which are numerous, are
filled with innumerable idols of the most horrid figures. The Brahmins
are allowed to eat nothing but what is cooked by themselves. Astrology
is their principal study; yet, though they are mostly a despicable set
of fortune-tellers, some of them are excellent moralists, and
particularly inculcate the comprehensive virtue of humanity, which is
enforced by the opinion, that Divine beings often assume the habit of
mendicants, in order to distinguish the charitable from the inhuman.
They have several traditions of the virtuous, on these happy trials,
being translated into heaven; the best designed incitement to virtue,
perhaps, which their religion contains. Besides the Brahmins, the
principal sect of that vast region called India, there are several
others, who are divided and subdivided, according to innumerable
variations, in every province. In Cambaya, the Banians, a sect who
strictly abstain from all animal food, are numerous.
{*} Though from the extracts given by Mr. Dow, the philosopher Goutam
appears to have been a very Duns Scotus or Aquinas in metaphysics, the
Pythagorean reason why the Brahmins abstain from animal food, is a
convincing proof of their ignorance in natural philosophy. Some will let
vermin overrun them; some of the Banians cover their mouth with a cloth,
lest they should suck in a gnat with their breath; and some carefully
sweep the floor ere they tread upon it, lest they dislodge the soul of
an insect. And yet they do not know that in the water they drink, and in
every salad they eat, they cause the death of innumerable living
creatures.
The sacred books of the Hindoos are written in a dead language, the
Sanskrit, which none but the Brahmins are allowed to study. So strict in
this are they, says Mr. Dow, that only one Mussulman was ever instructed
in it, and his knowledge was obtained by fraud. Mahummud Akbar, emperor
of India, though bred a Mohammedan, studied several religions. In the
Christian he was instructed by a Portuguese.
But, finding that of the
Hindoos inaccessible, he had recourse to art. A boy named Feizi, was, as
the orphan of a Brahmin, put under the care of one of the most eminent
of these philosophers, and obtained full knowledge of their hidden
religion. But the fraud being discovered, he was laid under the
restraint of an oath, and it does not appear that he ever communicated
the knowledge thus acquired.
[476] Kotwal, the chief officer of police in a town. --FORBES' Hindustani
Dictionary.
[477] _The monster forms, Chimera-like, and rude. _--Chimera, a monster
slain by Bellerophon.
"First, dire Chimera's conquest was enjoin'd,
A mingled monster of no mortal kind;
Behind, a dragon's fiery tail was spread,
A goat's rough body bore a lion's head;
Her pitchy nostrils flaky flames expire,
Her gaping throat emits infernal fire. "
POPE'S II. vi.
[478] _So Titan's son. _--Briareus.
[479] _Before these shrines the blinded Indians bow. _--In this instance,
Camoens has, with great art, deviated from the truth of history. As it
was the great purpose of his hero to propagate the law of heaven in the
East, it would have been highly absurd to have represented GAMA and his
attendants as on their knees in a pagan temple. This, however, was the
case.
filled with innumerable idols of the most horrid figures. The Brahmins
are allowed to eat nothing but what is cooked by themselves. Astrology
is their principal study; yet, though they are mostly a despicable set
of fortune-tellers, some of them are excellent moralists, and
particularly inculcate the comprehensive virtue of humanity, which is
enforced by the opinion, that Divine beings often assume the habit of
mendicants, in order to distinguish the charitable from the inhuman.
They have several traditions of the virtuous, on these happy trials,
being translated into heaven; the best designed incitement to virtue,
perhaps, which their religion contains. Besides the Brahmins, the
principal sect of that vast region called India, there are several
others, who are divided and subdivided, according to innumerable
variations, in every province. In Cambaya, the Banians, a sect who
strictly abstain from all animal food, are numerous.
{*} Though from the extracts given by Mr. Dow, the philosopher Goutam
appears to have been a very Duns Scotus or Aquinas in metaphysics, the
Pythagorean reason why the Brahmins abstain from animal food, is a
convincing proof of their ignorance in natural philosophy. Some will let
vermin overrun them; some of the Banians cover their mouth with a cloth,
lest they should suck in a gnat with their breath; and some carefully
sweep the floor ere they tread upon it, lest they dislodge the soul of
an insect. And yet they do not know that in the water they drink, and in
every salad they eat, they cause the death of innumerable living
creatures.
The sacred books of the Hindoos are written in a dead language, the
Sanskrit, which none but the Brahmins are allowed to study. So strict in
this are they, says Mr. Dow, that only one Mussulman was ever instructed
in it, and his knowledge was obtained by fraud. Mahummud Akbar, emperor
of India, though bred a Mohammedan, studied several religions. In the
Christian he was instructed by a Portuguese.
But, finding that of the
Hindoos inaccessible, he had recourse to art. A boy named Feizi, was, as
the orphan of a Brahmin, put under the care of one of the most eminent
of these philosophers, and obtained full knowledge of their hidden
religion. But the fraud being discovered, he was laid under the
restraint of an oath, and it does not appear that he ever communicated
the knowledge thus acquired.
[476] Kotwal, the chief officer of police in a town. --FORBES' Hindustani
Dictionary.
[477] _The monster forms, Chimera-like, and rude. _--Chimera, a monster
slain by Bellerophon.
"First, dire Chimera's conquest was enjoin'd,
A mingled monster of no mortal kind;
Behind, a dragon's fiery tail was spread,
A goat's rough body bore a lion's head;
Her pitchy nostrils flaky flames expire,
Her gaping throat emits infernal fire. "
POPE'S II. vi.
[478] _So Titan's son. _--Briareus.
[479] _Before these shrines the blinded Indians bow. _--In this instance,
Camoens has, with great art, deviated from the truth of history. As it
was the great purpose of his hero to propagate the law of heaven in the
East, it would have been highly absurd to have represented GAMA and his
attendants as on their knees in a pagan temple. This, however, was the
case.
