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Article REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. ← Page 5 of 8 →
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Review Of New Publications.
Purification , and Women , 169 . VI . On Devotion , 97 . VII . On Govern-, merit , or on the Military Class , 2 . 16 . VIII . On Judicature , and on Law . Private and Criminal , 410 . IX . On the Commercial and Servile Classes , 33 6 . X On the Mixed Classes , and on Times of Distress , 131 . XI . OnPenanca and Expiation , __< S . XII . On Transmigration and final Beatitude , 126 . That the world are indebted for tbe possession of this curions work to the laudable zeal and unconquerable perseverance of Sir William Jones , we learn
from the following passage : c Should a series of Brahmens omit , for three generations , the reading of Menu , their sacerdotal class , as all the Pandits assure me , would , in strictness , be forfeited ; but they must explain it only to their pupils of the three highest classes ; ' and the Brahmen , who " read it with me , requested most earnestly , that his name might be concealed : nor would he have read it , for any considerationon a forbidden day of the moonor without the ceremonies
, , prescribed in the Second . and Fourth Chapters for a lecture 011 the Veda .- so great , indeed , is the idea of sanftity annexed to this book , that , when the chief native magistrate at Benares endeavoured , at my request , to procure a Persian translation of it , ' before I had a hope of being at any time able to understand the original , the Pandits of his court unanimously and positively refused to assist in the work ; nor , should I have procured it at all , if _ a wealthHindu at Gaya had not caused the version to be made bsome of his
y y dependents , at the desire of my friend , Mr . Law . ' The translation , thus with difficulty accomplished by the learned editor , was presented by him to the Government of Bengal , and by them ordered to be printed in the form in whicli it is now given to the world . . The narrow limits to which we are confined in our Critical Department prevents our laying before the reader , from the body of the work , any extra & s ,
¦ which would not be injured by being detached rwe shall , therefore , conclude this article with the following observations of Sir William Jones ; whose decision on Oriental subjects , whether of Law , History , or Poetry , the public have long been accustomed to consider as final : ' The work now presented to the European world contains abundance of curious matter , extremely interesting both to speculative lawyers and antiquaries , with many beauties which need not be pointed out , and with many
blemishes which cannot be justified or palliated . It is a system of despotism and priestcraft ; both , indeed , limited by law , but artfully conspiring to give mutual support , though with mutual checks ; it is filled with strange conceits in metaphysics and natural philosophy , with idle superstitions , and with a scheme of theology most obscurely figurative , and , consequently , liable to dangerous misconception ; it abounds with minute and childish formalities , with ceremonies generallabsurdand often ridiculous ; the punishments are
y , partial and fanciful ; for some crimes dreadfully cruel , for others , reprehensibly slight ; and the-very morals , though rigid enough on the whole , are , in one or two instances , ( as in the case of light oaths and pious perjury ) unaccountably relaxed : nevertheless , a spirit of sublime devotion , of benevolence . to mankind , and of amiable tenderness to all sentient creatures , pervades the whole work ; the style of it has a certain austere majesty , that sounds like the language' of legislationand extorts a respectful awe ; the sentiments of
inde-, pendence on ail beings but God , and tbe harsh admonitions even to kings , are truly noble ; and the many panegyrics on the Gayatre , the mother , as it is called , of the Veda , prove the author to have adored ( not the visible , material sun , but ) that divine and incomparably greater light , to use the words of the most venerable text in the Indian scripture , v / bicb illumines all , delights
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of New Publications.
Purification , and Women , 169 . VI . On Devotion , 97 . VII . On Govern-, merit , or on the Military Class , 2 . 16 . VIII . On Judicature , and on Law . Private and Criminal , 410 . IX . On the Commercial and Servile Classes , 33 6 . X On the Mixed Classes , and on Times of Distress , 131 . XI . OnPenanca and Expiation , __< S . XII . On Transmigration and final Beatitude , 126 . That the world are indebted for tbe possession of this curions work to the laudable zeal and unconquerable perseverance of Sir William Jones , we learn
from the following passage : c Should a series of Brahmens omit , for three generations , the reading of Menu , their sacerdotal class , as all the Pandits assure me , would , in strictness , be forfeited ; but they must explain it only to their pupils of the three highest classes ; ' and the Brahmen , who " read it with me , requested most earnestly , that his name might be concealed : nor would he have read it , for any considerationon a forbidden day of the moonor without the ceremonies
, , prescribed in the Second . and Fourth Chapters for a lecture 011 the Veda .- so great , indeed , is the idea of sanftity annexed to this book , that , when the chief native magistrate at Benares endeavoured , at my request , to procure a Persian translation of it , ' before I had a hope of being at any time able to understand the original , the Pandits of his court unanimously and positively refused to assist in the work ; nor , should I have procured it at all , if _ a wealthHindu at Gaya had not caused the version to be made bsome of his
y y dependents , at the desire of my friend , Mr . Law . ' The translation , thus with difficulty accomplished by the learned editor , was presented by him to the Government of Bengal , and by them ordered to be printed in the form in whicli it is now given to the world . . The narrow limits to which we are confined in our Critical Department prevents our laying before the reader , from the body of the work , any extra & s ,
¦ which would not be injured by being detached rwe shall , therefore , conclude this article with the following observations of Sir William Jones ; whose decision on Oriental subjects , whether of Law , History , or Poetry , the public have long been accustomed to consider as final : ' The work now presented to the European world contains abundance of curious matter , extremely interesting both to speculative lawyers and antiquaries , with many beauties which need not be pointed out , and with many
blemishes which cannot be justified or palliated . It is a system of despotism and priestcraft ; both , indeed , limited by law , but artfully conspiring to give mutual support , though with mutual checks ; it is filled with strange conceits in metaphysics and natural philosophy , with idle superstitions , and with a scheme of theology most obscurely figurative , and , consequently , liable to dangerous misconception ; it abounds with minute and childish formalities , with ceremonies generallabsurdand often ridiculous ; the punishments are
y , partial and fanciful ; for some crimes dreadfully cruel , for others , reprehensibly slight ; and the-very morals , though rigid enough on the whole , are , in one or two instances , ( as in the case of light oaths and pious perjury ) unaccountably relaxed : nevertheless , a spirit of sublime devotion , of benevolence . to mankind , and of amiable tenderness to all sentient creatures , pervades the whole work ; the style of it has a certain austere majesty , that sounds like the language' of legislationand extorts a respectful awe ; the sentiments of
inde-, pendence on ail beings but God , and tbe harsh admonitions even to kings , are truly noble ; and the many panegyrics on the Gayatre , the mother , as it is called , of the Veda , prove the author to have adored ( not the visible , material sun , but ) that divine and incomparably greater light , to use the words of the most venerable text in the Indian scripture , v / bicb illumines all , delights