THE

CALCUTTA REVIEW.

ART. I.-1. The origin of Pagan Idolatry, ascertained from Historical testimony and circumstantial evidence. By George Stanley Faber. 3 vols. 1816.

2. Religions de L'Antiquite, par J. D. Guignaut. Paris, 1825. 3. Researches on the Tenets and Doctrines of the Jains and Buddhists, by W. Francklin. London, 1827.

4. Researches into the nature and affinity of Ancient and Hindu Mythology, by Vans Kennedy. London, 1831.

5. Fragmens Bouddiques, par M. J. Klaproth. Paris, 1831. 6. Budaic Sabism, or Adoration addressed to the Almighty. Calcutta, 1817.

7. Memoires, relatifs a l' Asia, par J. A. Klaproth. Paris, 1828. 8. Melanges Asiatiques, par A. Remusat. Paris, 1825.

9. Descriptive Catalogue of the Oriental Manuscripts of Col. Mackenzie's Collection, by H. H. Wilson. Calcutta, 1828. 2 vols. 10. Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, by Colonel Tod. London, 1829.

11. History, Antiquities, Topography and Statistics of Eastern India, by M. Martin. London, 1833.

12. Radjatarangini, ou histoire des rois du Kachmir, par A. Troyer. Paris, 1840. Deux tomes.

13. History of the Indian Archipelago, by Crawford. Edinburgh,

1820.

14. Epitome of the History of Ceylon, and the first 20 chapters of the Mahavanso, by G. Turner. Ceylon, 1836. 15. Foe Koue Ki ou Relation des Royaumes Bouddhiques, voyage dans la Tartarie, dans l'Afghanistan et dans l'Inde, executé a la fin du 4 me Siecle, par Chy Fa Hian, traduit du Chinois, par Messieurs Remusat, Klaproth et Landresse. Paris, 1836. 15. The Sacred and Historical books of Ceylon, by E. Upham. London, 1833. 3 vols.

16. Notes on the religious, moral and political state of India, before the Mohammedan Invasion, by Colonel Sykes. London, 1841.

H H

17. Illustrations of the Literature and Religion of the Buddhists, by B. Hodgson. Serampore, 1841.

18. Essai sur le Pali, par E. Burnouf et Chr. Lassen. Paris, 1826.

19. Transactions of the Bombay Literary Society, 1819-23.

20. The History and Doctrine of Buddhism in Ceylon. London, 1829.

21. Introduction a l'histoire du Bouddhisme Indien, par E. Burnouf. Paris, 1844.

IF to various subjects of physical science the term "boundless" may be applied, as denoting the wide and extensive scope they afford, the epithet is eminently appropriate to different branches of oriental research, and particularly so to investigations into Buddhism—in its origin, doctrines and affiliation with other systems of ancient mythology. When we find such a man as the late Abel Remusat of Paris, who devoted twenty years in the prime of life to the study of Buddhism in its esoteric and exoteric forms, confessing at the end of that period, that he was still an enquirer into the Arcana of Buddhist lore, it ought to make every writer who discusses the question enter on it with a feeling of modesty and in the spirit of an humble student, actuated by the cautious tone of the Baconian philosophy. We want more light to be shed on various points ;-when the numerous Jain MSS., which are now treasured up in the libraries of Jesselmir, Patan and Cambay, shall be thrown open to the investigation of the learned,-when analysis shall be made of the valuable MSS. in the possession of the Bombay Asiatic Society, when the stores of Buddhist history and philosophy now scattered throughout the wide empire of China, or buried in the monasteries of Tibet and Nepal, shall be presented to the perusal of the savans of France, Germany and England-then may it be hoped that several questions now obscured by the hoar of antiquity shall be solved, and that those mists shall be dispersed, which at present hover over many investigations connected with the religion of Buddha. As in geology, though there may be wide differences of opinion between the respective advocates of the Vulcanian and Neptunian theories, as to whether there are alternate periods of repose and convulsion, or of sudden revolutions in the globe-still all enlightened geologists coincide in their views on the principal points of the system,-so in Buddhism there are discrepancies among writers on this subject as to the precise year of Buddha's advent, the particular time when Buddhism spread to the countries bordering on India, &c. &c.

-but on the great historical events of Buddhism and the nature of its dogmas, there exists almost unanimity of opinion between the orientalists of the continent and those of England and India. Hence, the observation made by Whewell on the progress of physical science is applicable to Buddhism, "whatever farther advances may be made, the past will be the stepping stone to future discoveries, but can never be overturned by them."

Buddhism," the fairest branch of the religion of India," called also Samaneism, DESERVES THE ATTENTIVE STUDY OF EVERY PERSON, who agrees with the sentiment of the poet "Homo sum, nil humani a me alienum puto"-whether we consider it, in its extent, as a religion which has spread from the Indus to the Pacific and from Ceylon to the regions of Siberia; the religion of nearly half the human race-or in the influence of its doctrines, speaking of moral duty and justice to the wild conquerors that poured like a torrent over the fertile table lands of Asia. Through its agency the Nomadic tribes of Central Asia and the Tartars acquired the arts of civilization. "There are nations who owe all their intellectual culture to Buddhism from the alphabet to metaphysics." We see in the history of Buddhism the successful results of appealing to popular feeling in a religious creed. Buddhism opposed itself to the exclusiveness and monopoly of an hereditary hierarchy; it boldly proclaimed the grand truth of the equality of all men in the sight of God, and set its followers in array against the dogma of religious caste; by its adopting the cœnobite or monastic system in its propagandism, it imparted an esprit de corps to its missionaries and bore with immense moral force on the various regions where it was planted. Buddhism in former days united North with South India, Kashmir with Ceylon in the bonds of a common faith. Monsieur Landresse remarks-"Is it not a grand and wonderful spectacle to observe that religious doctrines, in which morals and metaphysics, cosmogony and psychology are continually blended, are established and perpetuated far from the regions where they have originated and independently of the influence of the causes which have produced them—reuniting, by a most abstract philosophical system, people placed at the two extremities of civilisation in Asia, and less separated by a wide interval of country than by the difference in climate, manners and language? What is more surprising than to see the same ideas, on the perfectibility of the human soul and its identity of nature with the Divinity, propagated ages ago with the language which is peculiar to them and the legends which consecrate them, from India to China, from Bengal to Tibet,

from the deep valleys of the Himalaya as far as to the snows of China? What is of greater importance within the domain of oriental literature than to penetrate the profound obscurity which envelopes the history of India previous to the Mussulman invasion; to observe the social condition and political division of the kingdoms of Central Asia prior to the Mohammedan conquests; to mark the relations which link these people to one another, whom general opinion represents as in a state of habitual isolation from one another?" Hodgson, to whom oriental scholars owe the deepest obligations for the zeal and enthusiasm with which he devoted twenty years at Katamandu to the exploring of those treasures of Sanskrit Buddhistical literature, which had for ages been buried in the libraries of the Tibetan monasteries, makes the following observations on this point: "The Bauddha religion demands our best attention, not less on account of its having divided with Brahmanism the empire of opinion for ages, within the limits of India proper, than for its unparalleled extension beyond those limits in more recent times, and up to the present day. It is probable that during four or five centuries at least, Buddhism was as influential within the bounds of the continent of India as Brahmanism; and it is certain that the period of its greatest influence there was synchronous with the brightest era of the intellectual culture of that continent. The Brahmans themselves attest, again and again, the philosophical acumen and literary abilities of their detested rivals."

In this article we do not profess to give more than an outline of a subject which is vast and comprehensive in its nature, and which would occupy half a life time in its thorough investigation. New light is being shed upon it every year; but, however obscure certain points may be, progress has been made to a considerable degree. To use the language of Locke—" it is well to know the length of your plummet, though you cannot fathom with it the depths of the ocean!" In the present age the arts, sciences and belles lettres are in a state of gradual advancement, and the same impulse has been communicated to investigations into Buddhistical literature. The researches of such men as Burnouf, Lassen, Wilson, Klaproth, Prinsep, &c., have altered the views of Orientalists considerably respecting Buddhism; as Mr. Turner, in his valuable introduction to the Mahavanso, remarks, "European scholars on entering upon their researches towards the close of last century, necessarily, by the expulsion of the Buddhists, came into communication exclusively with Hindu Pundits; who were not only interested in confining the researches of Orientalists to Sanskrit literature; but who, in

every possible way, both by reference to their own prejudiced authorities, and their individual representations, laboured to depreciate in the estimation of Europeans, the literature of the Buddhists." Hence the quotations of oriental scholars from Sanskrit works as to the history and dogmas of Buddhism deserve the same consideration as the testimony of Livy and the Romans to the Carthaginian character and Punica fides. Even Hodgson's remarks on Buddhism are in various respects erroneous, as they were derived from Sanskrit documents principally. Remusat warns every scholar to be very cautious in admitting the testimony of the Brahmans on the subject of Buddhism. As Edward the Third laid his ruthless hand on the archives and literary remains of the Scottish nation, in order to extinguish all national recollections and efface the remembrance of former glory, so did the Brahmans with the MSS. of the Buddhists in India. Faber's useful work on Pagan Idolatry is of very little value as an authority on Buddhism; inasmuch as when he wrote it, Brahmanical testimony was almost the only light that could be procured; hence his writings teem with fine spun theories. Bryant's work may be called a philosophic dream. Bentley could have known little of Eastern literature when he pronounced Hindu civilization to be of modern origin. Ward's View possesses little authority on Buddhist questions. Vans Kennedy and Colebrooke have pointed out many of its errors. Georgi, in his Alphabeticum Tibetanum, a book until of late years in great repute, devoted much labour to the attempt to prove that Buddha was the founder of Manicheism! while Barthelemi, who wrote in 1791, maintained he was a Greek deity! Sir W. Jones with that philosophic caution, which characterises all great minds, has given it as his opinion, that a complete account of Buddha will only then be obtained when access shall be had to the literature of China, Scandinavia and Japan. Even Colebrooke acknowledged that his reading and research were insufficient for investigating the subject accurately.

Wilford, by relying on Sanskrit authorities exclusively, became the dupe of Brahmanical subtlety, and penned his "laborious absurdities," respecting the Holy White Island of the west, which brought on him a severe fit of illness, when he discovered the cheat imposed on him by the Brahmans who made erasures in the MSS. Of late years the study is pursued in the spirit of Mr. Erskine's remark, "It is indispensably necessary to judge of the doctrines of the Buddhists by the accounts given of them by themselves, and not by the representations of their rivals." Facts and historical testimony must be taken as the basis of all research; "facts and not fables, historic lights, not poetic coruscations."