VIDYA. SANSE. Learning. The Hindus have eighteen Vidya of true knowledge, or sciences, and sonae branches of knowledge, falsely so c.alled. The first four are the Vedas, which are entitled in one compound word, Rigyajush samat'harva, or, in separate words, Rig, Yujur, Sama, and At'llarvana. The Rig Veda consists of five sections, the Yajur Veda of eighty-six, the Sama Veda of a thousand, and the At'harvana Veda of nine, with eleven hundred shaela or branches!, in various divisions and subdivisions. The Veda& in truth are infinite, but were re duced by Vyasa to Alia number and order. The principal part of them is that which explains the duties of man in a methodical arrangement ; and in the fourth is a system of divine ordinances.
From these aro deduced the four Upa Veda (Upa Veda, Upanga, Upumu, are terms which infer a work deduced, respectively, from its principal ; up, like to sub, implies inferiority), namely, Ayush, Gandharva, Dhanush, and Sthapatya. The first of these, the Ayur Veda, was delivered to mankind by Brahma, Indra, Dhanwantari, and five other deities, and comprises the theory. of medicine, with the practical methods of curing diseases. The second, the Gandliarva, treats of music, was invented and explained by Bharata ; it is chiefly useful in raising the mind by devotion to the felicity of the divine nature. Dhanush, the third Upa Veda, composed by Viswamitra, was on the fabrication and use of arms and implements handled in war by the tribe of Kshdtriya. Viswa karma revealed the fourth, in various treatises on sixty-four mechanical arts, for the improvement of such aa exercise them. Six Anga, or bodi of learning, are also derived from the same source ; their subjects chiefly are-1. of the pronun ciation of vocal sounds; 2. detail of religions acts and ceremonies ; 3. grammar ; 4. prosody ; 5. astron omy ; 6. on the signification of difficult words and phrases in the Vedas. Lastly, there are four Upanga, called Pnrana, Nyaya, Mirnansa, and Dharmashastm. Eighteen Purana (that of Brahma and the rest) were composed by Vyaaa for the instruction and entertainment of mankind in general. Nyaya is a collection of treatises, in two parts, on metaphysics, logic, philosophy, etc. Mimansa is somewhat similar, divided into two parts; the latter, called Uttara, abounding in questions on the divine nature and other sublime speculations, was composed by Vy&sa in four chapters and sixteen sections. It may be con
sidered as the source of all the Anga; it exposes the heretical opinions of sophists, and, in a mariner suited to the comprehension of adepts, it treats on the true nature of Ganesa, Bhaskam or tho sun, Nilakanta, Lakshmi and other forms of one divine being. Tho l;ody of the law, called Smruti, consists of eighteen books, etc. etc., delivered for the instruction of the human species by 3Ienu and other sacred personages. As to ethics, the Vedas contain all that relates to the duties of kings- the Puranas, what belong to tho relation of hidand and wife; and tho duties of friendship and society (which coinplete the triple division) are taught succinctly in both. This double division of Anga and Upanga may be considered as denoting the double benefit arising from them in theory and practice. The Blutrata and Ramayana, which are both epic poems com prise the most valuable part of ancient history. Sancliya is two-fold. that with Iswara and that without Iswara, called Patanjala and Hapita the latter, in six chapters, on the production of all things by the union of Prakriti, or nature., and l'urusha, or the first male, etc. These books contain infinite contradiction& The Mimansit is iu two parts, the Nyaya in two, and Sanehya in two; and these six schools comprehend all the doctrines of the theists. Lastly appears a work written by Buddha ; and there are also six atheist ical systems of philosophy, entitled Yogachara, Sidhanta, Waibhashica, Madhyamica, Digambara, and Charvaka, all full of indeterminate phrases, errors in sense, confusion between distinct qual ities, incomprehensible notions, opinions not duly weighed, tenets destructive of natural equality, containing a jumble of atheism and ethics ; dis tributed, like all orthodox books, into a number of sections, which omit what ought to be ex pressed, and express what ought to be omitted ; abounding in false propositions, idle proposi tions, and impertinent propositions. The Vedas consist of three Kanda, or general heads namely, Carma, Gnyana, Upashasana, or Work's, Faith, and Worship, to the first of which the author of the Vidyadesa, or View of Learning, a rare Sanskrit book, wisely gives the preference ; as Menu himself prefers universal benevolence to the ceremonies of religion.—Cal. Review ; Wilford ; As. Res. ii. p. 302.