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licence has been given , that a private * person sometimes marries thirty or forty wives , merely to satisf y his brutal desires . * Ideas of moraBty are still further debased by the superstition which attaches more vakie to vain observances
than to the precepts of the Taw of nature : thus , according to the . doctrine of the Brahmins , loss of caste , with all its privileges , is incurred by * the infringement of certain ceremonies , but not by murder , theft nor perjury . For these crimes there are easy means of expiation , most of whicn are a source of wealth to the Brahmins .
The mere difference of the material , the form and the efficacy of chaplets , and the manner of using them , is a boundless science , which would of itself furnish a large library . He who pronounces the word Doorga , a name of the goddess Colt
or Parvati , the wife of Siva , is justified , although he be living in adultery ; he who exclaims , even involuntarily , Salutation to Hari , and he who does but look at the Ganges , though thinking of some other object , are delivered from their guilt . We may fairly institute a comparison between these
privileges and the doctrine of Indulgences propagated in France by certain publications and missionaries . The Veds , or sacred books , containing the religion of the Hindoos , are extremely voluminous , and the subjects of which they treat often obscured
by a confused manner and metaphorical style ; the great Byas , according to our author , made a sort of harmony and abstract of these books upwards of , two thousand years ago . This abstract , entitled the Vedant , the authority of which is scarcely inferior tp that
of the Vedas , contains all the proof of the unity of God ; but as the Brahmins reserve to themselves the explanation olt it , Bammohun Roy has translated it into Hindoostanee and Bengalee , and gratuitously distributed the translation
among his coiintrymen . And , in order to convince his European friendp that the superstitious practices which deform the Hindoo worship are a departure from its primitive institutions , He last year published in
En-* 'S e £ •* Second Defence of the MonotheisticaJ System , pp . 44 , et seq- and p . 5 $ .
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glteli an Abridgment qf ' ihe Pedank . * The sum of his arguments is , ttaft God is an unknown Being , that he is the true Being , the Creator , the Prt server , and the Destroyer of the universe . ^ -
In the translation of the Ishopanishad , among the quotations from the sacred books of the Hindoos , we find the passage , / am what he is , \ similar to the text of Scripture : ego sum qui sum : je suis cetui qui est . It is well known that hi India there have been
preserved to the present time a vast number of traditions , facts , maxims and customj | to be found in our Holy Scriptures . William Jones has given examples of them - , Btirder has made them the subject of a work in 2 vols . 8 vo . $ § and Ward has lately entered into an extensive and curious investi
gation of tEese coincidences . || All the writings of Rammohun , which have been sent over by M . d'Acosta , are in English . Life is so short , time so precious , and everything relating to religion so worthy of attention , that , whilst lamenting the want of leisure to translate those works into
French , we shall , perhaps , be happy enough to inspire some learned ana zealous Christian with a resolution to execute that desirable project . Let us return to Rammohun Roy . The success he has already had leads us to
hope for still greater : nor are we without ground for hope , since we find that his perseverance is unabated , and that he has announced the speedy pub- * lication of other works of a similar tendency to the former . The moderatidiPwith which he repels the attacks
on' his writings , the force of his arguments , and his pfrojotind knowledge of the sacred bboks of tne Hindoos , are proofs of his fitness for the work he has undertaken ; and the pecuniary sacrifices hehaS'maidte , fehew a disinterestedness which cannot be admired and encouraged too toanfolyi .
* See Translation of ap Abridgment of the Vedant , &c , gvp . Ca 4 CU ^ 19 * 8 , t Ib . Pt 21 , , X See Translation of the Is . Honanls * p . 7 . " « ' " ' ' " ' " ' " ' ¦ ' ' " " ' ' ' . ¦ § See Oriental Customs , &c . by Sam . Burder 8 vo ; ¦ V London , 1 B 02 .
, If See AJtim 0 bf the Wyittogs ^ Religion atid Maiui&& of the Hmdoo ^ , - &C 4 by-W . Wtod , in 4 tow SeraBipo ^ , 18 My 4 Vols .
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6 Some Account of the Life nHd JPriimgs of Ramnibhun Rot / .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1820, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2484/page/6/
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