The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-09 00:00:00

HINDOO SUPERSTITIONS.

The Hindoo mythology, originating in the grand
coneept'ons of the unity and power of the Deity
which formerly prevailed in Hindostan, as well as
in other E istern counties, has long since degene-
rated into a sytton of the most corrupt and
wretched polytheism, in which a motley and gro-
teique crowd of gods and goddesses, cows, monkeys,
rafs, crocodile,, asc., are worshipped in a ritual at
once silly, filthy, and cruel. The principal of their
super.,titions is that of caste, of which there are
four divisions, entitling tly.se who belong to
teem to different degrees of beatification in a
future state, and. constitetiog the peat bar to
the conversion of the Hinico to Christianity, the
fact of conversion csnstituting a forfeiture of
ca-te. The Hindoos are divided into four castes ;
Brahmins, who are occupied by religion and philo-
sophy ; Kshatriyas, whose bu4iness is war and go-
vernment ; the Vaisyas, who devote themselves to
commerce and agriculture ; and the Sudras, who
are artisans and labourers. There is a fifch class,
who rank far below even the Sudras, namely, the
Pariahs, or outcasts, who are the refuse of all the
other castes, and who are said to include one-fifth
of the population of Hindostan. These distinctions
lie at the base of the Hindoo religion, and date, ac-
cording to the legends contained in the mytholo-
gical books, from the creation of the universe by
Brahma. " The caste of Bramins proceeded with
the Vedas (the sacred books) from the mouth of
Brahma ; from his arms Kshatriyas sprung ; so
from his thigh Vaisyas ; from his foot Sudras."
Any of these can marry into the grade beneath
his own, but not vice versa ;_ and though from the
impossibility of each caste devoting itself solely to
the occupttions assigned it, and the freedom which
the members of each enjoy of amassing property,
some of the highest families of Hindostan are of
Sudra origin, while it is not uncommon to find
Brahmins discharging the duties of cooks in their
Isitchens ; yet the latter lose no particle of their
pride of caste, but walk among their fellowmen
with the air of superior beings. The Hindoo idea
of a future state is, that when a man dies, if he
has bean eminent for piety, his soul is at once ab-
sorbed info the soul of Brahma. This is the lot
of the most distinguished devotees, such as the
Yogi and Sunny apis. The souls of meaner mortals
undergo transmigration into other bodies ; the
good, into the bodies of heroic men, or the inferior
gods ; the bad, into those of beasts and reptiles,
descending from bad to worse, till the end of all
things arrives, when they, as well as the good, are
absorbed into the universal spirit. The ramifica-
tions of caste are almost infinite, and the funda-
mental laws—such as those forbidding the killing a
cow, eating food dressed on board ship, &c.—are
obligatory in the highest degree. The penances
practised by the Hindoo hermits are of the most
extraordinary. and revolting kind ; and the festi-
vals and pilgrimages of all bespeak an inrooted de-
votion to their debasing creed, which it is at once
melancholy and astounding to contemplate.-.
.Morning Advertiser.

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3

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Last Week of whirlwinds of gesticulated extacy.
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Attraction inere4sing every night. Great success of Mr. G.
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