The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1870-07-31

1 ICeatanssaj
4 IL u not our purpose 70 give here any
fuller developmsnt Of the points touched
upon in the fcrqgoing article, NOR 70 emu
mcrste tho sources from which our conyic-
tion Of their business il derived. Where
there are no monuments Of authentic his
tory, by which We can be guided, we have
TO trust, In our search for historic trnth, to
the falifble direction Of merely probable
conjecture. This 10 the best We can expect
nom inductive philosophy, whieh cannot
pos0DIy sufter any worse treatment in our
hands than it has in the hands Of those who
follow 1t as their exclusive system Of specu-
lation. In our historical research we shall
copfine ourselves to one particular nation,
since 1t is fitting that we should give at
least one example of the absolute and
primitive heterod0xy, which preceded the
two-fold manifestation of the Moral Law
we have already referred to. For this, in
order to have more light in our explora
tlons, it is necessary to go farther back
than we have gone as yet, and set out on
our voyage of discovery from more re
mote starting point. The latest researches
OF phllologists and psychologists induce us
to believe that the actual Brahmanism of
India differs in many important respects
from that which anciently obtained in that
extraordinary region. These two systems,
OF schools, of Brahmanism may be termed,
according to the books in which they are
respectively c0ntained-the one Vedic. and
the other Pwramic. The Vedas, particu-
iarly the three first, are written in an OBJ
scure and unpublished Sanscrit, Astounding in
Archaisms, and often unintelligible even to
Photographers. In them there is no mem
ton whatever of Lingam, nor of the Avatars,
nor OF Rama, nor of Krishna, nor of the
famous female divinities, which figure 80
conspicuously in Puranic legends. They
are utterly silent regarding the sati, or
burning of widows, as well as of the wor-
ship of images; and so far are they from
they, actually prescribe the
sacrifice of animals, particularly of the cow.
at this day held in peculiar generation.
Here we owe it to the reader to observe
that we are doing hardly any more than
quote from the celebrated English Oriental
ists,, Wilson, Colebrooke and Sykes, to
whose valuable researches we take it an
honor to be indebted for facts, even when
we reject the conclusions those profound
scholars have drawn from them.
The laws of Manu-, much more recent. "a
can be inferred from the style in which |
they are drawn up and the progress of |
superstition which they attest, make no |
at all to Lingam and Sati; but at |
one time permit, and at others prohibit, the
Staying of animals, and must therefore, if
more than mere interpretations,
mark the point of intersection common to |
both doctrines. The seat of this Brahman-
ism OF the vedas, unquestionably anterior
10 our era, it il diffcnlI to- determine. aimee 4
Or i've centuries before, and at least s
many after, the birth Of Christ, Buddhism
ndisputably prevailed through the whole
But as, on the other hand, Fa-
IAN, Chinese traveller, found, in the wear
II our Lord 4O2, the island of Java under
he exclusive domination of the Brahmans.
md travelled with them as far as Canton
md Tsing- tseu in his native country, we
annot agree with one of the learned
)rientalists referred to (Sykes), that their
eilgion was then, or for any length of time
'efore, confined to the comparatively mar
ow strip of land lying between the Indus
md the Djumna. We are of opinion that,
'efore the prevalence of Buddhism, the
doctrines of the Vedas overspread the
Whole of Dekkan; and this opinion is
lacked on one side by the poetic traditions
f the exploits of Rama, and, on the other
ide, accounts for the Brahmans, in order
o avoid the odious religion which sprung ,
p SO rapidly, seeking an asylum in the
indian Archipelago, where in the fifth CEN
ury the Buddhists had not-yet set foot. i.
tut even between the two periods we have
ndicated, Brahmanism could not possibly
ave been banished altogether from the
indian Peninsula; for, in the first place,
or determination, can never
g universal, and however false and SUPER Z
'itious religion may be, it's adherents .
ill cling to it the more tenaciously the g
lore violently it is assailed, and in the
'cond place, another Chinese writer, and =
3 too Buddhist, Yuen- tsang, who visited
lie Peninsula in the year $50, about two .
snturies after Fa- vans travels in Northern
ldia, found the Brahmanic heresy, as he =,
rmed it, surviving in many places. 1t is =,
1t likely that this heresy, if once com.