Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/1001

 VII, ] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 985 as great curiosities, and one of them in par- ticular appears to be of very high antiquity, in form very much resembling the cup of the lotus, and the tune of it was uncommonly soft and melo- dious. I could not avoid being deepiy affected with the sound of an instrument which had been actually employed to kindle the flame of that superstition, which I have attempted to unfold. My transported thoughts travelled back to the remote period when the Brahmin religion blazed forth in all its splendour in the caverns of Elephan- ta: | was, for a moment, entranced and caught the ardour of enthusiasm. A tribe of venerable priests, arrayed in flowing stoles and decorated with high tiaras, seemed assembled around me, the mystic song of initiation vibrated in my ear; I breathed an air, fragrant with the richest per- fumes and contemplated the deity in the fire that ) symbolised him.’”’ Dr. Ward quotes this passage from an article written by the Rev. Maurice in the fifth volume of “ Indian Antiquities’’ and treats it with great contempt. But it is the last part of the article which most of all annoys him. This runs as follows. ‘She (the Hindu religion) wears the similitude of a beautiful and radiant cherub from heaven, bearing on his persuasive lips the accents of pardon and peace, and on his silken wings benefaction and blessing.’’* Dr. Ward also finds faults with Mr. Halhed of the Civil Service, the first writer on Bengali gram- mar, because he “seems to prefer Hinduism to Introduction, Page IXXVI. Pro-Hindu tendencies of Halhed and Jones.
 * ‘ Ward’s ‘on the Hindus,’ vol. II,