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very zealous about proselyting the natives The Brahmans in this coimtry have no claim to the i ' riesthood , nor de ^ s it appear that they concern " them * selves much about religion . In gene ral , they are men of learning , and piofes < medicine , astronomy , divination , &c . by which they procure a livelihood .
They have a cast , and highly value-it ; but except in this case , no such thing exists in the country . As to civilization , the Burmans appear in some respects rather superior to the BengaJese . There are but few of the men . who cannot read and write , though the women in general are not so well educated .
The children are taught by the piiests gratis , who keep echools at their own houi . es . The priesthood is composed of a set of men quite distinct from the brahmans , and not under their control . The office is not hereditary like the brahman cast , but is entered upon by an initiatory ceremony . They live in societies , in places called Kyoums , a kind of
monasteries , continue in a state of celibacy , neVer cook , and are not allowed to touch silver or gold . Early every morning , they perambulate the streets , with a small vessel in their hands , to gather rice . Women or girls stand at almost every house , with some of the best that can be procured , and serve it out to them . Their influence on
certain occasions is such , that they will sometimes rescue a criminal who is about to be executed . The Burmans have four sabbaths in a month , which are regulated by the changes of the moon . The } are not very strictly observed- by the common people ; but no public business i * allowed to be transacted . They
have a great festival in Fcbmary and October , when the people flock together from all parts to worship at the golden temple near Rangoon . The climate of the country is one of the best in ^ the world ; and upon the whole the prospect of forming a missionary station at Rangoon i > promising .
The missionaries are proceeding in the study of languages and in translations . Mr . Myrshman thus states the relation which the different languages of the East bear to each other . " The
Sangskrit is the immediate parent of the Bengalee , the Mahratta , the Orissa , the Telinga , the Kurnata , ihe Gujuratte , and also the Malabar or Tamul language ; hence a knowledge of the Sangskrit juts all these in your power ,
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rendering the acquisition of them c&niparatively easy , e pecially after one or two of them have been acquired . The Sangskiit will generally furnish a person with the meaning of four words in fivd of the languages derived from it ; and the grammar and idiom of one gives him a
general idea of the others owing to the great similarity which exists between them . The peculiar grammar of one of these may "be- acquired in a couple of months ; and then the language lies open to him . The knowledge of four words out of five enables him to read
with pleasure ; and renders the acquisition of the few new words , as well as of the idiomatic expressions , a matter of delight rather than of labour . Thus the Orissa , though pos ^ es . dng a separate grammar and character , is so much like the Bengalee in the very expression , tjiat a Bengalee Pundit is almost equal
to the correction of an Orissa proofsheet ; and the first time that I read a page of Gujuratte , the meaning appeared so oHvious as to render it unnecessary to ask the Pundit questions . Brother De Granges has con , ^ ulted us respecting the meaning of several Telinga words * which were perfectly familiar with us ,
either as Bengalee or Sangskrit . —The Hindopstanee , in addition to the Sangskrit , borrows largely from the Persian ; the Mussulmans adopting a greater number of Persian words , and the Hindoos a smaller . With Persian , two or three
persons in our family are acquainted , and it is constantly taught in our school . I suspect that next to the Sang krit , as a parent language , we are to reckon the Chinese ; but I *> ha 11 venture no remarks on this till I understand it better . "
Mr . Carey gives the following account of the progress of the translations of the scripture ^ . " Brethren Marshman , Ward , myself , a :: d my son Felix , are as fully employed as we can be in translating and printing the scriptures . Felix overlooks the printing ; he examines the § angskrit proofs , having studied that language . The scriptures are
translating into eleven languages , six of which are in the press—namely , the Bengalee , ( old te > tament ) the Sangskrit , the Ooreea , the Mindosthanee , the Mahratta , and the Persian . In Bengalee , we are printing the seventeenth chapter of Ezekiel ; in Sangskrit , the fifth chapter of Luke ; in Ooreea , Matthew is nearly finished ; in Persian , about six chapters in Matthew . * - lfl
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630 Intelligence . — Baptist Mission in India .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1808, page 630, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2398/page/54/
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