Sects, Asiatic Researches, vol. 17, under the head "Dandis." These are
eagerly studied, but are not locked up from the people at large; for we
shall find excellent Sanscrit scholars among the Jangam gurus, and
many who are competent even to convey instruction in the Vedas.

They pretend to found their creed on the venerated Sanscrit treatises
now named. But after long inquiry, I find that their reliance on these
is fictitious. It is easy enough for them to adduce certain texts from
these books and the Vedas, on behalf of their creed,* and in particular
in justification of their assuming the name Jangama Lingam, or locomo-
tive image of the deity. Orthodox Bramins laugh at their pretended
proofs; especially at their claiming a right to give a secondary or spiri-
tual sense to particular commands. For instance, the Yajna, or burnt-
offering ordained in the Vedas, is by them explained as alluding to "our
passions, which must be sacrificed."

Another step which gives Bramins no small offence is the plea set up
by the Vira Saivas to superior orthodoxy. For these heretics assert that
they merely revert to the primeval faith, which the Bramins have per-
verted; and they very benevolently try to recall the Bramins to the
right way from which they have erred. In the Pandit Aradhya Chari-
tra, the author has laboured to convince Bramins from their own
Puranas that they are in error, and that they ought to embrace the Vira
Saiva creed. Such ratiocination is absurd enough, when we consider
that Basava set out by entirely setting aside braminical authorities.

The Purana and the Lila were originally written in Canarese, and have been translated into Telugu and Tamil. It has also, I hear, been written in Mahratta, in prose, as a catha or story. The Purana is an

We sometimes find a similar mode of argument in Christian writers. For instance, in the Vedanta Rasayanam, a well-known Telugu poem (in padya metre, in four books), written by Ananda, son of Mangala giri Timmaya, which is a little more than a century old. The beauty and poetical vigour of style exhibited in this work render it very attractive, but in the first book the learned author labours (as does the author of the Charitra) to confute Bramins and other idolaters on their own ground, adducing arguments from the Vedas and Puranas in support of his doctrine. Having omitted to mention this poem in a former essay, I will take the present opportunity to describe it. The second book brings the history only as far as the birth of our Lord: having commenced with the Fall. The third gives a brief selection from the Gospels, describing the baptism, the descent of the Holy Spirit (whom the poet, using Latin words, denominates Saneta Spirita), the temptation, some miracles, particularly the raising of Lazarus; the last supper: the departure to the Mount of Olives (which the author calls Nandana Vanam, as he names Peter Rayapa, from Rayi, a stone.' He calls James Yagappa, and John Arulappa. For martyrdom he uses martura). The betrayal of our Lord to the Jews concludes this book. The fourth book describes the crucifixion and subsequent events. The author now takes occasion to teach the doctrine of purgatory, for which he uses the Hindu phrase pitru-locam. This, and a few other passages, particularly the Salutations to the Virgin at the opening of the poem, shew that the poet was of the Romish faith. Then are described the Saviour's Resurrection and appearance to the Marys. The journey to Emmaus. Then follow brief accounts of the Ascension, and the Descent of the Holy Spirit. Then the beatification of the Virgin-Peter being left on earth as head of the Church. On the wrath of God and the intercession of the Redeemer. The Last Judgment-Conclusion, containing a summary of the points in the creed, with poetical version of the "ten" commandments. The writer has nowhere inculcated either the worship of Saints or the other peculiarities of the Church of Rome: at the same time he has courted the attention of Bramins by dwelling as little as possible on the distinguishing doctrines of Christianity.

This poem is written in a beautiful style, and though somewhat too learned for beginners, will afford most valuable aid to the advanced student of Telugu poetry, and will spare him the tedium of learning the language through the medium of braminical books. He should first read the third

canto.

Asiat.Journ.N.S.VOL.IV.No.19.

N

amusing composition, and particularly pleasing to one who has read usque ad nauseam in the braminical books. The Lila is in quite a different vein, and vastly superior. It is an allegorical poem of considerable beauty, and is particularly attractive from the pleasing manner in which it describes the female sex: neither as goddesses (as they are described in the braminical poems), nor as brutes, which is too often the style of the braminical Puranas. It is not only amusing, but written with such delicacy that any Hindu female might read it with gratification. The tendency of these two books is thus discriminated. Puranam is the Bhacti cánda, or attributes every gift to the force of faith. The Lila is the jnána cánda, or assigns wisdom to be the means of attaining future happiness.

The

The Chenna Basava Puran, the Mari Basava Puran, and many more Jangama legends, found under various names in Telugu and Canarese (nearly all of which are to be found in the Mackenzie Library), do not merit much notice. They are free from the pride, cruelty, and abominations that disgust the English reader in the braminical Puranas, but are merely wild vagaries, of which more than enough may be seen in the Basava Puran. With slight variations, they all run in one strain: that a certain saint, out of love to Siva, vows to earn money in some particular mode, and he then bestows it on Jangams, and becomes their servant. Accordingly, Siva appears to him, and carries him to Cailása. On other occasions, a "worthy" cuts off his wife's hands or nose, because she presumed to touch or smell flowers which he was about to offer to the lingam in adoration: Siva, as usual, appears, heals her, and carries the pious pair to Cailas. There are miracles in abundance, and some of them very entertaining.

There are other volumes inculcating the yoga system (tatwa bodha), which, to our ideas, is strange bewildering nonsense. Herein there is but one system, common to all, whether Bramins or their opponents; for this unmeaning mysticism pervades every sect of the Hindus, and is analogous to the Súfi reveries known among Musulmans,* and to the mysticism promulgated in France and Germany by the followers of Bourignon and Swedenborg. To lose one's senses (cum ratione insanire, as Terence says) seems to be its highest aim. Hindus who pretend to learning are fond of dealing in these idle topics, for the purpose of astonishing their hearers, but we shall find that their stock of phrases is soon acquired, and their fund of ideas is yet more slender.

The great theme perpetually reiterated by the Jangams, as well as by all the other followers of the reformer Sancar Achari, is the resolving our body and mind into spirit. That the atma (soul) is to be the linga,

* Vide Malcolm's Persia, vol. 2, chap. xxii., and Sir William Jones's Essay on Mystical Poetry. See also Extracts, by Sir William Jones, from Baxter in the Madras Journal, for October, 1836, p. 448. In Telugu, the favourite work on the Yoga Sastram is the Vasu Deva Mananam. It does not appear that Basava encouraged such reveries.

This mystic science is, indeed, an unfathomable profundity of nonsense, such as we may find in the Rabbinical Targum. (Vide Schottgen and Adam Clarke on 1 Cor. xv. 44.) In the Siddheswara Satacam (lately printed in Tulugu), and other volumes of devotion, the soul as a female addresses the deity as her lover and husband: as is often the mode of address used among the Persian Sufis (vide Madras Journal, vol. v., p. 129).

, be of

and thus to become one with the deity. This favourite theory is, in its
ulterior consequences, destructive of moral responsibility, for, if men
become the deity, he of course is sinless, and they are accordingly
absolved from sin. It must be acknowledged that we nowhere find
Basava inculcating this doctrine. It certainly forms the concluding
lecture of the Lila; but that is a work not pretending to authority,
but recording the opinions received in the national philosophy. This
shews what pitiable ignorance Hinduism is in its highest flights; for
they all acknowledge the yoga sastram to be the great means of obtaining
oneness with God.

It is clear that the Jangams are inconsistent enough in their belief;
for while they condemn the Bramins as misrepresenting the truth, they
are fond of perusing the various Saiva legends, wherein of course Siva
and Părvati are the deities, and there is no mention of Basava or his
disciples the Jangams. The most popular of these poems are the Cala-
hasti mahatmyam, or legend concerning the pagoda at Calahasti; the
Bhallana Charitra, wherein a king gains a blessing by making a present
of his wife to Siva, who visits him in the guise of a Jangam! and who
thereupon, as usual, carries both of them to Cailasa! the Vira Bhadra
Vijayam, the Bhanumad Vijayam, the Madhura Puran, also called
Halasya Mahatmyam or Socca Natha Lila (a high-flying Aradhya work),
and a few more Saivite legends.

They sometimes claim the poet Vemana as preaching their creed, but
though he evidently held the Bramins in detestation, and shews a par-
tiality to the tenets of Basava, he does not embrace the Vira Saiva
tenets. The insulting manner in which he speaks of the female sex
furnishes another proof that he could not be a Vira Saiva. He also
speaks of future transmigrations; but the Jangams believe transmigra-
tion to have terminated.

But these remarks on their literature cannot be concluded without a few observations on

who

The Tantras.

Bramins frequently allege that the Jangams are a depraved sect, are guided by the Tantras or heretical books. But we should not incautiously believe this. The Jangams are in all respects opposed to licentiousness, which is the main-spring of the Tantras. The Jangams came from the west; the Tantricas from the north. The Jangams adore the linga and abhor Maia, the goddess of Delusion (Venus or Cali, as Devi), who is expressly the goddess (Yoni, or Bhaga Mălini) of the Tantricas. The Tantricas take no notice of the lingam: they adore Betala (the devil), and other malevolent powers. The Jangams honour Siva as Daxina Murti, or the beneficent and loving deity. The Tantricas say they aim at a perfect release from fleshly lusts; the Jangams do the same. But the former, being hypocrites, pretend to yield to their passions as the path to freedom; whereas the Vira Saivas call on their votaries to deny themselves in all respects. They attend especially to the rules concerning funerals, marriage, and placing infants in the creed. On all these points, the Tantras are silent. The Tantras incul

cate the use of flesh, wine, magic, and debauchery; the Jangam creed abhors these. The Jangams are an avowed sect; the Tantricas assume the guise of Smartas. The Jangams train up their children in their creed; the Tantricas (like the Arreoys in older times in Tahiti) merely admit proselytes. The Jangams are sober, devout, and humble; the Tantricas are debauched, atheistical, and proud. The Jangams are rigid puritans; the Tantricas are licentious atheists. Herein their depravity resembles that of the worshippers of Isis in Rome, the Socialists of modern days in England, the St. Simonians in France, the Illuminati and other philosophers of Germany, the followers of Cagliostro in Italy, and the Nessereahs at Kerrund in Persia.*

With a few touches of his felicitous pencil, Shakspeare has given a view of their system, or philosophy, which is the Sacti Puja, or worship of Power.

"Thus every thing includes itself in Power :
Power into will:-will into Appetite :

And Appetite an universal wolf,

So doubly seconded with Will and Power,
Must make perforce an universal prey,
And, last, eat up himself."

Again, (Anthony and Cleopatra, II. 1.)

“Let witchcraft join with beauty, lust with both :

Tie up the libertine in a field of sweets:
Keep his brain fuming," &c.

Indeed, the sottish aspirations of Gonzala (Tempest, act II. scene 1) give a summary of the bacchanalian rites taught in the Tantras. And if the reader has any curiosity regarding their system of magic, he will find it in Dr. Herklots's English translation of the Canoon-e-Islam, or Customs of the Moosulmans of India.

Knowing the deserved odium that attaches to the Tantras, Bramins assert that these constitute the Jangam system. But were this the case, how does it happen that the Tantra volumes are found only in the possession of Bramins? The fact is, that both parties read the Tantras from motives of curiosity, just as a Protestant might read the Koran, without in any point adopting the Mahomedan faith. The Jangams honestly avow and vindicate all they do; they have no motive for concealment. The Bramin acts on an opposite principle, and assures us that the Jangams are a depraved and senseless set of heretics, who obey the levelling principles of the Tantras, and pay honour to the vilest castes. But two widely different principles govern them. The licentious Tantrica rejects caste, because it is an ordained rule of society; he degrades all men to the brutish level. The Jangam is no leveller; he, indeed, desires to abolish caste; but by raising from the lowest grade those whose faith shews them to be good men. Indeed, the imputations made against

* Regarding the Nessereahs, see Buckingham's Travels: cited in New Monthly Magazine, 1829, p. 259.

them are very similar to the infamous stories circulated among ourselves in older days, against the Puritans, the Quakers, and Moravians,* and investigation has shewn them to be equally false.

* See Southey's Life of Wesley, vol. 1, p. 359.

[The conclusion next month.]

Critical Notices.

The Portfolio. London. Maynard.

THIS is a monthly publication which seems to be growing into notice. It
is justly characterized as a work "which criticises, with manly honesty and
genuine patriotism, the opinions of public men, the measures of governments,
domestic and foreign, and the character and results of institutions affecting the
welfare of mankind." The style in which these subjects are overhauled, and
which often reminds us of Cobbett's, is of the sturdy and homely character,
suited to the fearless and unflinching criticism of the writers. Eastern topics
are included, and Lord Ellenborough experiences as little mercy as Lord
Palmerston.

The Wars of Jehovah, in Heaven, Earth, and Hell. In Nine Books. By
THOMAS HAWKINS, Esq. With Eleven highly-finished Engravings. London,
1844. Baisler.

THIS book is beautifully printed, elegantly illustrated by the pencil of Martin,
and luxuriously bound; but we acknowledge our inability to give a critical
opinion of the contents.

Waghorn's Overland Guide to India, by three Routes to Egypt. London, 1844.
Smith, Elder, and Co. Richardson.

THIS is a concise collection of necessary facts, given, as the author says, "off-hand," to enable passengers proceeding to India through Egypt to choose the route most convenient to them to the latter country.

The Counting-House Guide to the Higher Branches of Calculations. Part I., forming an Appendix to the Elements of Commercial Arithmetic. Part II,, forming a Supplement and Key to the New and Enlarged Edition of the Appendir. By WILLIAM TATE. London, 1844. E. Wilson.

THESE works form a new and improved edition of very useful counting-house books, full, concise, and cheap.

The Union-Jack of Great Britain: Dedicated to the Nation.
BARKER, the Old Sailor. London. Ackermann.

By M. H.

THIS is an ingenious analysis of the union-jack into its various flags (the history of which is given), the various combinations of which are shewn by a very simple contrivance.