The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1885-08-15

).
completely obedient to government. It is
therefore proof Of the highly civilized
state of the Hindoo nation in the most
remote periods of antiquity.
The civil policy of the Hindoos Is another
proof of their ancient civilization. At the
time of Alexander the great India was divi-
ded into large and powerful Kingdoms,
governed by sovereigns whose dominion
was not absolute, but controlled by the
superior authority Of the Brahmins. A sys-
tenn of feudalism has ever prevailed in In
dia. The rights to land flow from the Sow
ereign, to whom certain duty is payable
by the class of tho husbandmen who trans
der the some tenure. Strabo and Diodorus
remarked three classes Of officers among the
Indians: One class whose department wns
the regulation of agriculture, tanks, high
ways; another which superintended the
the police of the cities; third which regu
lated the military department. The slime
policy prevails at this day under the Hin
doc princes. The jurisprudence of Hindoo-
stan is IN additional proof of the great an
tiquity and civilization Of Hindoostan.
The Ayen-Akbery, and still more the COM
pilation of Hindoo laws from tho ancient
Sanscrit records, made by order Of Mr..
Hastings, contain the Jurisprudence of re-
fined and commercial people, among whom
law had been a study and profession.
Many monuments exist in India of the
advanced state OF useful and elegant arts
in the remotest periods of antiquity. The
ancient pngodas, Of vast extent and mag
nifcence, whether cut in solid rock, az in
Elephanta and Salsette, or in the open air,
rs at Chilambrum and Seringham; tho
sumptuous residences of the Brahmins and
the ancient hill fortresses, constructed with
prodigious solidity, oyinco great advance
mont in the arts. Tho resort of the most
polished nations Of antiquity to Indin for
cotton clothes, fine linen and work in metal
and ivory proves these manufactures TO
have been superior to oil known Mt that
time in Europe.
Tho late translations from the Sanscrit of
several ingenious compositions of high an
| tiquity, rs the dramatic piece S1contolo,
| the Hitopadesu, a series of moral apollo
gies and fables, the Mahnba,,at, IN opic
| poem composed about 1000 years before the
Christian era, all concur in proof of simi-
| lar advancement in literature. Wo have
reason to believe, from such works ns are
of philosophical nature, that there is
scarcely tenet Of the Crock philosophy
which has not been antecedently the sub
ject of discussion among the Brahmins OF
| India. .5 ~ s.5S. = aF-55
The numerical ciphers first introduced
into Europe by tho Arabians were, Us those
authors confess, borrowed from the Indians.
Above century and half ago tho French
methematicians demonstrated by the evi-
dence ofG Sidh1ese fnanhscrips uonszining
tables for calculating the plnoes Of heav-
emily bodies, the astonishing advancement
made by these ancient people in the science
of astronomy. A set of astronomical ia
bles obtained from the Brahmins in 1896 by
M. Gentil, goes back to an era termed
| Catyoughan, commencing 3102 years be-
fore the Christian era. Those tables are
used by modern Brahmins, who are quite
ignorant of the principles on which they
have been constructed. NJ. Bailly has
proved that they are the same as those en-
ployed by the moderns, with which tho
Greeks and Chaldeans were utterly un-
acquainted.
Lastly, from the religious opinions and
worship of the Hindoos We must draw the
same conclusions as from all preceding
facts. One uniform system of superstition
pervades every religion in India, which is
supported by the most sagacious policy and
by everything that can excite the venera-
ton of it's votaries. The Brahmins, elevated
above every class of mon and exclusively
acquainted with the mysteries Of that relig-
ion which it is held impious for any other
class to attempt to penetrate; the implicit
reliance on the authority of these Brahmins;
the ceremonies of their worship, adapted
to impress the Imagination and affect the
passions, all concurred to fortify this po-
tent superstition, and to give its priests
supreme ascendency over the minds of the
people. But those priests, enlightened ns
they we're, rejected that false theology.
Their writings demonstrate that they en-
tertainod rational aud elevated conceptions
with regard to the Supreme Being and the
support of the universe. On the whole,
there is high probability that India was
the great school from which the most early
polished nations of Europe derived their
knowledge of arts, sciences and literature.
The celebrated Aurungzebe, who oocoa
pied the throne of Delhi at the com7R 1asr
ment of the eighteenth century.arn.tu TO
the year 1907 In hinr the spif!yof the great
Timur, from whom he was the eleventh in
but cruel. He attained great age, being
nearly hundred years old when he died,
having succeeded in rendering almost the
whole of the peninsula subject to his sway,
from the tenth to the thirty fifth degree Of
latitude and nearly % much of longitude.
C.
ITO be continued.
By remarkable process, now being OK
hibited in London, the Brin brothers,
French chemists, claim to be able to cheap
ly obtain oxygen from the atmosphere in
unlimited quantities. The mir is first freed
from its moisture and carbolic acid by
quicklime, reducing it to mixture OF OK