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literature. With this knowledge they are not in a state of mind to be carried into ecstasies over a fine piece of poetry, or an exhibition of refined skill in the niceties of grammar and logic, and are not likely to speak of them in terms of high commendation. When they draw a picture of any of these systems, there will of necessity be a dark background of practical heathen life that will impart more or less of its shade to the whole. On the other hand, our western philosopher and learned Orientalist, in the seclusion of his study, from which he steps into the most refined circles of Christian society, examines at his leisure a few of the masterpieces of the heathen poets and philosophers, and is rapt into admiration of them. It is not necessary to weigh one of these judgments against the other. Both may be right from the point of view in which the estimates are made.

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It is doubtless unjust to judge the Sanskrit literature by that of later and more enlightened times. Grant that science is found in it intermixed with fable; the same was true of that of all the ancient nations. Excepting perhaps the Greeks, as much credit is due for the successful cultivation of science and art to the Hindus as to any people of that age; and if we go back of the times of Herodotus, they stand without a rival in any department of ancient

learning. Professor Max Müller, in his history of Sanskrit literature, gives an interesting comparison between the characters of the Hindus and the

Greeks, a single paragraph from which I will quote. "Greece and India are indeed the two opposite poles in the historical development of the Aryan man. To the Greek, existence is full of life and reality; to the Hindu, it is a dream and illusion. The Greek is at home where he is born. All his energies belong to his country: he stands or falls with his party, and is ready to sacrifice even his life to the glory and independence of Hellas. The Hindu enters this world as a stranger; all his thoughts are directed to another world; he takes no part even where he is driven to act, and when he sacrifices his life it is but to be delivered from it." (p. 18.)

This is strikingly true. The Greeks were eminently a practical people. This characteristic stands out prominently from the very beginning of their national existence. The opposite is true of the Hindus. Their speculations in philosophy and religion are almost all connected with a preëxistent state in the past, or an equally shadowy one in the future, or with topics of pure imagination; and it is very remarkable how seldom their literature in any department has to do with the realities of this worldly

life. Hence that most singular fact noticed by the writer before quoted, that from the first hymn of the first Veda to the last chapter in the last of the Puranas, there is not in all that literature, extending over a period of three thousand years, a single page of plain matter-of-fact history unmixed with fable, or a single truthful biographical account of any poet, 'statesman, or philosopher, such as constitutes so valuable a portion of Grecian literature. Nor has the Sanskrit any chronology. It does not in all its extent furnish a single reliable date by which any event, or series of events, of which it treats, may be assigned its proper chronological place in the world's history. We are actually indebted to the Greek historians for the only trustworthy date that can be used as a starting-point in Hindu chronology. It is the fortunate occurrence of the name of an Indian prince in connection with the name of one of Alexander's successors that enables us to fix the date of that prince's reign, and from thence determine approximately that of other events, either before or after it, in the annals of that people.

While, however, we look in vain in the Sanskrit for any history or chronology asserting an earlier history of our race than we have been taught to believe, it may be asked whether the Sanscrit itself is not such evidence. There can be no doubt that

the Vedas are among the oldest of the extant writings of antiquity, perhaps the very oldest. It is an important inquiry, as bearing upon the subject in hand, What were their origin and their probable date?

In respect to their origin, the Hindus put forth various conflicting statements; and even in the later portions of the writings which are regarded as parts of the Vedas, it is ascribed to different sources. Thus it is alleged that they are eternal; that they issued from the mouth of Brahma at the creation; that they are the breath of Brahma, etc. It is said that the Rig-Veda was produced from fire, the Yajur-Veda from air, and the Sama-Veda from the sun; again, that the goddess Saraswati is the mother of the Vedas; still again, that they are derived from the mystical victim Purusha, or from the Gayatri, a sacred verse personified as a goddess, the wife of Brahma; or once more, that they

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* The GAYATRI, or holiest verse in the Vedas. This is merely a prayer, as follows: "Let us adore the supremacy of that divine sun, the godhead, who illuminates all, who recreates all, rom whom all proceed, to whom all must return, whom we invoke to direct our understandings aright in our progress towards his holy seat."- Rammohun Roy, p. 117.

This verse is preceded by a mysterious monosyllable (Om), a type of the three divinities Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, and the essence of the Vedas, and by the three scarcely less sacred

are the offspring of Time. This enumeration is not designed to be exhaustive.

These assertions show that there was much speculation among the Hindus regarding the origin of their sacred books; not, however, as implying any question as to their divine inspiration, which was never denied except by a single one of their schools of philosophy, and the heretical sect of the Buddhists. Nor did these statements, so far as I am aware, indicate speculations or discussions analogous to those held respecting the origin and inspiration of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, but rather as to the divine character and authority of these writings, in what the Hindus would call a higher sense.

Each sukta, or hymn, has for its reputed author

words, bhur, bhuwar, and swar, denoting earth, atmosphere, and heaven."

It is said, "Whoever shall repeat these lines, day by day, for three years, without negligence, shall approach the most high God, become free as air, and acquire after death an ethereal essence." Rammohun Roy, pp. 110, 117.

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"The Veda begins,” says Rammohun Roy, "and concludes with three peculiar and mysterious epithets of God: first, Om; second, TAT; third, SUT. The first of these signifies 'that being which preserves, destroys, creates.' The second implies 'that only being which is neither male nor female.' The third announces 'the true being.' These collective terms simply affirm, ONE UNKNOWN TRUE BEING IS THE Creator, Preserver, AND DESTROYER OF THE UNIVERSE.” —Trans. of the Vedas, p. 22.

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