MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDUS.
MR. COLEMAN'S 211 ythology is an elaborate work, the fruit of -long study and experience, on a branch of learning which has strong claims upon the attention of this country. It relates to the religion of many millions of British subjects, whose faith, by its antiquity and its curiosity, is well worth the investigation of the student of the history of man. The Hindu popular faith is, as is well known, a Polytheism, in which the objects, signs, and images venerated, are almost innu- merable. Their characters resemble those of the Greek and Roman mythology,—for the gods of Polytheism are the mere deiff- cations of human wants, wishes, fears, and passions, and these are always the same : but the invention of the Hindus, while it has been more extravagant than that of the Pagans, wants all its grace.. They have Venus, and Mercury, and Bacchus; but where are the poets to give a life to these creations of genius, existing far beyond the time when they have lost their sanctity ? The godSof the Hindis can only be regarded as long as they are worshipped : when faith in them ceases, they will be perpetuated as the most lively and grace- ful personifications of the qualities they typify : they can never be- come the poets' deities after they beim ceased to be the peasants. But the Hindus have a faith within the faith of the people ; and in this they resemble the Egyptians, and perhaps too the Greeks, who, in the Eleusinian and other mysteries, are supposed to have taught the existence of one God, and the folly and falsehood of the .popular superstition. The language of the learned Brahmans, in describing the Deity, might be adopted by the purest Christianity- " BRAHM, the almighty, infinite, eternal, incomprehensible, self-existent being ; he who sees every thing, though never Seen ; he who is not to be compassed by description, and who is beyond the limits of human conception ; he from whom the universal world proceeds, who is the Lord of the universe; he who is the light of all lights, whose name is too sacred to be pronounced, and whose power is too infinite to be imagined, is Brahm ! the one unknown, true being, the crea- tor, the preserver, and destroyer of the universe."
Under such terms is the Deity acknowledged in the Veda, or sacred writings of the Hindus. "But while the Brahmans thus acknowledge and adore one God, without form or quality, eternal, unchangeable, and occupying all space, they have care- fully confined their doctrines to their own schools, and have taught in public a religion, in which, in supposed compliance with the infirmities and passions of human nature, the Deity has been brought more to a level with our own prejudices and wants ; and the incomprehensible attributes assigned to him, invested with sensible and even human forms."* The descriptions of the other deities, as they are given in words and plates, are generally sufficiently absurd. Such, probably, would have been a plain prose account of the popular notions of an early Greek; for it must be remembered we have the gods of • Greece as they were sung, and not as they were imagined in the gross minds of the people. Nevertheless, there are the seeds of morality, and often of a shrewd species of wisdom, to be detected in many of the attributes of these multifarious deities. The ac- count of Brigu, for instance, is an ingenious and amusing typifica- tion of gentleness and patience : it is another form of turning the other cheek to be smitten.
It is related of Brigu, that on being once asked, in an assembly of the gods, which was the greatest, Brahma, Vishnu, or Siva, he undertook the task of as- . certaining the puint by a somewhat hazardous experiment. He first proceeded to Brahma, whom he purposely neglected to treat with his customary respect and decorum ; which unusual proceeding drew upon him the indignation and lavish abuse of that deity. He then repaired to Siva, to whom lie behaved in a still more offensive manner;, which roused in a much greater degree the anger of that impatient and vindictive personage. Brigu, however, on both of these oc- .casions, by timely apologies made his peace, and retired. He finally proceeded to the heaven of Vishnu, whom he found asleep, with Sakshmi sitting by him. Knowing the mild temper of the god, he judged that the mere appearance of disrespect would not, as in the two former cases, be sufficient to try it ; he • -therefore approached the sleeping deity, and gave him a severe kick on the ' breast. On this, Vishnu awoke; and instead of being indignant, as Brahma and Siva had been, he not only expressed his apprehension awl regret lest he should have hurt his foot, but benevolently proceeded to chafe it. Brigu, on witnessing this, exclaimed, "This god must, be mightiest, since he overpowers all by goodness and generosity."
The plates arc abundant and curious; and the work is altogether an acquisition in the Oriental library, where a condensed and yet . complete account of this Mythology was wanted.
* Erskine.
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