Page:A view of the history, literature, and mythology of the Hindoos (Vol. I).djvu/683

Rh increasing his habitual devotion: day by day, having bathed and being purified, let him offer fresh water to the gods, the sages, and the manes; let him shew respect to the images of the deities, and bring wood for the oblation to fire. Let him abstain from honey, from flesh-meat, from perfumes, from chaplets of flowers, from sweet vegetable juices, from women, from all sweet substances turned acid, and from injury to animated beings; from unguents for his limbs, and from black powder for his eyes; from sandals, and carrying an umbrella, from sensual desire, from wrath, from covetousness, from dancing, and from vocal and instrumental music, from gaming, from disputes, from detraction, and from falsehood, from embracing or wantonly looking at women, and from disservice to other men.”

The number of holidays among the Hindoos is a most serious drawback not only upon the industry but on the learning of the country: the colleges are invariably closed, and all studies laid aside, on the eighth of the waxing or waning of the moon; on the day in which it may happen to thunder; whenever a person or an animal passes between the teacher and the pupil while reading; whenever an honourable person arrives as a guest; at the festival of Sŭrŭswŭtēē, during three days; in some parts, during the whole of the rainy season, or at least during two months, which include the Doorga, the Kalēē, and other festivals,—and at many other times.

No reasonable person will deny to the Hindoos of former times the praise of very extensive learning. The varieiyvariety [sic] of subjects upon which they wrote prove, that almost every science was cultivated among them. The manner also in which they treated these subjects proves, that the Hindoo learned men yielded the palm of learning to scarcely any other of the ancients. The more their philosophical works and law books are studied, the more will the enquirer be convinced of the depth of wisdom possessed by the authors. It would be unjust to compare works, some of them written perhaps three thousand years ago, with those of the moderns, who must naturally be expected to have made greater advances in every department of science; but let the most learned and