The ancient music of Hindustan is supposed to have been superior to the modern, and to have been more cul tivated ; the modern scale comprehends seven sounds, and in the octave they reckon 22 quarters and thirds ; they also divide the seven natural sounds into 84 modes. Their instruments are very loud and disagreeable ; and consist principally of drums, trumpets, and pipes ; in their string ed instruments, the strings are made of iron or brass wire, and the fingers of those whn play on them are defended by thimbles ; hence the sounds emitted are harsh and un pleasant. There is no harmony in their songs ; one per son sings in a high and another in a low voice, beginning in a low tone, till, near the end of the verse, they break out into a loud noise. In the other fine arts they are equally deficient : in painting they are ignorant of per spective ; gaudy colours, especially red and blue, with the figures crowned with gold, are in their estimation the per fection of painting. Their sculpture and architecture are rich and elegant in ornaments, but rude and destitute of taste and judgment in their principles and grand outline ; the most ancient remains of these arts are the excavations and sculptured rocks in Elcphantaand.SaIsette, at Ellore; the seven pagodas, and in the Cave of Carli in the Mali ratta mountams. The Hindoos seem, from very remote antiquity, to have been acquainted with the construction and use of the arch. The modern pagodas or temples differ considerably in their style and ornaments in differ ent parts of Ilindostan ; those in the north are the most simple ; those on the coast of Coromandel are built in the style of the most ancient temples, of large square stones, so arranged and connected that they form a pyramid. The pagodas on the coast of Malabar are for the most part cir cular, and covered with plates of copper. There are se veral magnificent and very costly specimens of Alahomc dan architecture in various parts of Hindostan Proper, particularly near Agra, where Shah Jehan erected a mo nument of white marble to the memory of his wife, at Delhi, &c. See CIVIL ARCHITECTURE.
The claims of the Hindoos to an intimate knowledge of astronotny from very remote antiquity have been disputed. It is certain, however, that the ancient Hindoos were bet ter acquainted with this science than the Greeks and Ro mans; and that the rule for computing the circumference of a circle was known in India at a more early period than in Europe. The division of the zodiac is the same as ours. Their year is sidereal, beginning when the sun en ters Aries. The civil year and month begin at sunrise, instead of midnight. The day and night are divided into four day watches, and four night watches, the length of which must, of course, vary with the season. Each watch is subdivided into ghurries, which contain 24 minutes, which are again subdivided into smaller portions of time. These periods are measured by a brass cup with a hole at the bottom, placed in a large vessel filled with water, and marked with lines. As soon as the water rises in it to any of these lines, the watchman strikes a pan made of bell metal with a wooden mallet, indicating the number of the ghurrie. (See liononoGy.) Only very rich men have clocks : and there are no public clocks, except those at tached to the armies. See ASTRONOMY.
Beside the Hindoo inhabitants of India, there are Moors, Parsecs, Jews, and Christians. The Moors are most nu merous in Hindostan Proper, especially about Delhi. They may be divided into two classes : The first comprises the descendants of the conquerors, Tartars who are conti nually naturalising themselves by entering the armies, and Arabians and Persians, who settle in Hindostan for the purposes of commerce ; the second class comprehends all the descendants of converted Hindoos. Most of :he Mahomedans in India are of the sect of Shiali. The
Parsecs, who are very numerous in Guzcrat and Bombay, arc the descendants of the followers of Zoroaster ; they are a hardy, enterprising race of men, and some of them extremely rich. The Jews are very numerous, especially in the vicinity of Cochin, where they are divided into two classes ; the white or Jerusalem Jews, and the ancient or black Jews,—the latter are considered an inferior race.
Christianity established itself on the Malabar coast at a very early period. Before the arrival of Vasco de Gama there were 44 churches, all of the Nestorian persuasion, containing above 200,000 people. At present there are not above 40,009 of this persuasion ; but the number of all kinds of Christians on the Malabar coast is still about 200 000 ; of whom 90,000 are settled in the province of Travancore. In slime parts of this province Christian churches are much more numerous than Ilindoo temples. A great proportion of the fishermen on the coast are Christians.
The population of India has been differently estimated, nor is it possible to fix it with any degree of accuracy. According to Mr C. Butter, in his letter to the Court of Directors respecting the temple of Juggcrnauth, 19th May, 1813, the whole of the Hindoo population, as far as Cabul, is not much short of 200,000,000. This, however, is undoubtedly much too high an estimate. According to Mr Walter Hamilton, in his East India Gazetteer, there are in Nortkiern Hindostan, Hindostan Proper, the Decan, and the South of India, 101,000,000 ; of which there are 53,500,000 in British Hindostan, t7,500,000 in the territo ries of the Bristish allies and tributaries, 15,000,000 in the independent principalities, and the same number under the Rajpoots of Ajmeer, the Ameers of Sindee, the Ca bul government, the Rajahs of Bootan and Assam, &c. The Marquis Wellesley, however, in a recent debate on East India affairs, stated the population of British Hin dostan at only 40,000,000 ; and this is pobably nearer the truth. Supposing the area of this part of India to be 357,000 geographical square miles, this will give rather more than 112 inhabitants to the square mile. In the years 1800-1 and 1802, answers were sent to the Gover nor-General to several queries regarding the Bengal Pre sidency, one of which had relation to the population of its different districts. The following are the results : The following are some further particulars respecting the population of different parts of IIindostan, collected either from the parliamentary reports, or from sources equally authentic.
District of Chittagong 2987 square miles; 1,200,000 inhabitants; 3 Mahomedans to 5 Hindoos.
District of Rishnagur 764,430 inhabitants; 2 Mahome dans to 7 Hindoos.
The population of the province of Orissa is supposed to be about 41 millions ; of Hyderabad 2+ millions, the Ma homedans I to 10; of Khandeish 2 millions, the Mahotne dabs 1 to 6 ; of Nandere 4 million, the Mahomedans I to 10 ; of Berar 2 millions, the Mahomedans 1 to 10. In the ceded districts, in the year 1806, there were by actual muster 1,917,376, the males one-tenth more than females; in 1801, the population was one-fourth less. In the terri tories of the Mysore Rajah in 1804, there were 482,612 families, and 2,171,754 inhabitants: 17,000 of these fami lies were Mahomedans; 25,370 Brahmins; 72,627 Lin gait ; and 2063 Jains.
See Asiatic Researches ; Asiatic Registe-s ; Reports on the East India Company, laid before Parliament in Sessions 1812,1812 13,1813 14; Rennet's Memoir of a Map of Hin dostan; i\Iilburne's Oriental Commerce; Heyne's Tracts on India ; Mrs Graham's Journal and Letters ; Orme's History and Fragments ; Ferishta's History of Hindostan ; Wilke's History of the South of InVia ; Sonnerat's Voy ages ; F. Buchanan's Travels in•the Mysore ; Tennant's Indian Recreations ; Hamilton's East India Gazetteer.
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