All the learning in India is in the hands of the Bramins; and they were so celebrated for their li terary and philosophical attainments in ancient times, that many of the most famous of the Grecian sages travelled into India to perfect themselves in know ledge. However this may be, India does not ap pear to be the storehouse of knowledge in modern times, and few would visit it, unless they had the prospect of bringing home something else than wis dom. it perhaps would be going ton far, to affirm, that we might as well look for the learning and re finements of ancient Egypt among the modern Copts and Marnelukes, as expect the knowledge of the ancient Gymnosophists among the modern Bramins but certainly we do not meet with any of their lite rary or scientific productions, which can in any de gree command our respect ; nay, even their most ancient and venerable records, to which some have been disposed to ascribe an almost unfathomable an tiquity, are of very little worth in a literary point of view, consisting of a tissue of incomprehensible alle gories, and extravagant fables, which no human saga city can unravel.
Of their science, we have few or no remains, ex cept their astronomical tables and trigonometrical methods which have made so great a noise in Europe. Respecting their tables, we have already ventured to give our opinion, (see ASTRONOMY, p. 585,) and have claimed for them a high antiquity, upon grounds which we think wid not easily be overturned. The Bramins cannot be allowed the credit of the observatory at Be nares,as, according to the best accounts, it was erect ed by the celebrated Alahometan emperor Ackber. It is now pretty well ascertained, that the arithmeti cal characters now employed in Europe, are of In dian, and not of Arabian origin, as was long suppos ed. The only learning which seems to be held in any degree of estimation amongst the Bramins, in modern times, is metaphysical subtlety and argu nictitation. This, indeed, seems, to have been the species of erudition in which they have always de lighted, as corresponding best with the indolence of their habits, and the acuteness of their genius. Ac cordingly, we find regular systems of logic and me taphysics, with all the niceties, distinctions, and classi fications, which arc to be found among the Grecian dialecticians; and it is doubdul whether Aristotle, the father of logic, did not derive both his materials and arrangement trout It dta. A histo rian, as quoted by Sir William Jones, records a curi ous anecdote corroborative of this conjecture. He mentions, that Callisthenes pro, ured a regular treatise on logic, in the Panjab, and transmitted it to Aris totle; and perhaps curiosity way yet be gratified by discovering, that the Grecian philosopher did not invent, hut translate and compile a system of dialec tics. One thing is certain, that there is scarcely a notion which has been advanced by metaphysicians, in ancient or modern times, but may be found assert ed and illustrated in some of the Braminical writings. We meet with materialists, atomists. pantheists, and intellectualists, if we may so denominate the followers of the subtle and ingenious system of Berkeley. There can be very little doubt that Pythagoras bor rowed most of his mystical philosophy, his notions respecting the transmigration of the soul, and the unlawfulness of eating animal lood, from the ancient Bramins ; for we find all these things pal ticmarly explained and enforced by the modern Bramins. They
still abstain from all kinds of animal food, except that in some provinces they cat a little fish, hut so disguised with rice and condiments, as scarcely to be discerned. The most sacred of all their animals is the cow, and to touch its flesh in the way of food, is regarded as the highest pollution, and involves a forfeiture of cast, even in the case of those who have been involuntarily guilty of this offence. Hence the tyrant Tippoo forcibly converted a great many of his Hindoo subjects to the \iussulman religion, by sprinkling them with cow broth : by this means they were for ever rendered unclean in the eyes of their countrymen, and were glad to seek an asylum from reproach, by embracing Mahometanism.
This veneration for the cow, points out an evident connection between India and Egypt, in which lat ter country, it is well known that the cow was the principal object of religions adoration : nay, in the account which Bartolomeo gives of a certain Indian festival which be witnessed, we recognize all the rites of Apis. We arc at a loss, however, to know what conclusion we are to draw from this fact ; and it must still be matter of conjecture, whether India has borrowed from Egypt, or Egypt from Lucia ; or whether both have not drawn from one common source.
The Bramins formerly made a great mystery of their tenets ; and there was nothing that they shun ned so much as communicating their dogmas in phi losophy and religion to strangers. The celebrated Ackber, the wisest of all the princes who ruled the Mahometan empire in India, was extremely anxious to get acquainted with the doctrines of the Bramins for this purpose, he made use of every argument which policy could suggest, to draw from them their hidden stores of knowledge : finding, however, all his efforts unavailing, he at last adopted the expedi ent of imposing on a celebrated Bramin, at Benares, a youth of the name of Feizi this he accomplish ed by persuading the Bramin that Feizi belonged to the cast of Bramins. The youth was joyfully re ceived, and instructed in all the mysteries of Shan scrit literature ; when the time, however, approach ed, that he should depart, and communicate to Ack ber the secrets which he had gained, he felt himself detained by a violent attachment to the Bramin's daughter : the ancient sage threw no obstructions in the way of their mutual passion ; he even offered his daughter in marriage to Feizi. The young man thinking it ungenerous any longer to deceive his be nefactor and instructor, fell down on his knees, and confessed the imposture which had been practised upon him. The Bramin, without uttering a word of reproach, drew a dagger, and was on the point of plunging it into his own breast, when Feizi prevent ed him, protesting that he would do whatever he re quired of him ; upon this, the Bramin imposed a so lemn oath, that he should never translate the Vedas, nor divulge the information which he had clandes tinely obtained.