CHAPTER II. THE POLITICAL DEGENERACY OF INDIA. THE HISTORY OF THE HINDOOS INVOLVED IN MYSTERY-THE POLITICAL MORE DEGRADING THAN THAT OF NATIONS IN FORMER TIMES THAN THAT OF EUROPEAN KINGDOMS-THE EFFECTS OF IDOLATRY UPON THEIR MORALS,-ILLUSTRATED BY A SCENE IN THE HOUSE OF A GOOROO-BEAR A RESEMBLANCE TO VIEWS OF IDOLATRY GIVEN IN THE BIBLE. THE early history of India, like that of all other countries, is involved in the deepest obscurity. Fable has given millions of years to its inhabitants, to develope their energies, and to allow space for the wonderful performances of their gods. Little can be said of them prior to the days of Alexunder. Under the reign of the Princes of the Sun, or under the dominion of the Princes of the Moon, the people seem to have made advances in the arts and sciences, in civilization, and in the measures which are necessary to secure peace and order, and good government, unknown, at that time, among the nations of the west. But alas! this day of pros с perity seems to have been short, and was succeeded by a long night of terror, misrule, and degradation. Their own shasters and pooranas may serve to exhibit their career in as correct a light as it can perhaps be described. Ever and anon, the earth is brought into subjection to demons and to giants; peace and liberty and happiness are driven from the abodes of man; war, murder, rapacity, deeds of violence, and oppressions of every kind, make up the history of the age; monsters wrench the sceptre of rule from the hands of the inferior gods, and carry ruin, and devastation, through the universe; till the earth groans under this burden of impiety, sends forth a howl of lamentation to Vishnoo, entreats him to interpose for her deliverance, and obtains emancipation by his appearance in the form of Rama, of Chrishnu, or some other hero. An imaginative people, residing in Asia, and recording the exploits of their sages and their gods in poetry, were even more likely, than the poets of Greece, to convert their oppressors into giants, their heroes into deities, their national quarrels into wars between the powers of good and of evil, and their times of peace and tranquillity into the days of paradise. "Who," said a missionary one day to a Hindoo, "is to be the tenth incarnation of Vishnoo?" "Why," said the man, "do you not know that our European rulers are that incarnation?" This is a trivial circumstance, but it is a key, I conceive, to their whole system of mythology. While FABULOUS LEGENDS. 19 the Hindoo dynasties were supreme, there was sure to be among the protegées at every court, a poet whose business it was to celebrate the virtues of the prince, and as flattery is not more a national characteristic of Hindoos, than it is extravagant in its diction, and outrageous in its panegyric, there was no restraint upon the poet's fancy. The nature of the sovereign was divine; whatever might be his origin, some fortunate accident was sure to connect him and his ancestors with the gods; however inferior might be his talents and acquirements, he became, in the lines of the poet, another Vicramaditya; and perchance an epic poem consecrated his memory as an incarnation of Vishnoo. If in such countries as England and Ireland and Scotland, so enlightened and free, so blest with liberal institutions, and so highly favoured with the light of Christianity, it is impossible to trace with any confidence our origin and history, though we go back no further than two thousand years; why should we be surprised that nations whose origin, and customs, and language and annals are so mixed up with idolatry and crime, should be involved in oblivion, or enveloped in the absurdities of fable and romance? It is impossible to look at the political degeneracy of India, without grief and sorrow, and not to regard idolatry as the cause of its degra An illustrious prince who is thought to have reigned in India about the first century of the Christian era. 20 POLITICAL DEGENERACY. dation. As a nation, the Hindoos would have been more than men to have retained, under such a system of superstition, the spirit of freedom, the supremacy of their country, and their political rights and institutions. The very principles upon which the Bramins established their power, and the laws and usages with which they have endeavoured to support it, were sure to sap the foundations of any empire. To say that the habits and customs of the people are the same, that the laws and institutions are the same, that the divisions into castes is the same, that the system of idolatry is the same, which they were in the days of Alexander, is just to say that Hindoo society has been stationary, that right and liberty are long lost and forgotten, that the natives have been so long exposed to the fury and wrath of the invader, and that the sun of India's prosperity went down while it was yet day. As soon, therefore, as this system obtained an ascendency, there was no longer the hardy valour, and chivalrous exploits which characterise barbarians. The spirit and liberty which distinguish the ancient Germans and modern Caffers, were extinguished. Already enslaved by their superstition, they fell an easy prey to the violence and rapacity of the conqueror. Terrified at the signs of heaven, at the changes in the seasons, and at the fury of the elements which they had converted into deities, no wonder that they trembled at the sound of the warrior, and fancied that, in the forms of men like themselves, they be IDOLATROUS NATIONS. 21 held giants and furies. They confided more in the number of their chariots, their horsemen and their elephants than, in the valour and discipline of their troops, and entered the field, only to be overthrown. It has been so with every idolatrous nation, and in every age. Nineveh! where art thou? Once triumphant in battle, determined in council, and overwhelming in power, thou wast a scourge to the nations, thou didst seize the captive and didst divide the spoil; but idolatry was thy bane, and thou didst fall from the summit of dominion. Babylon! where art thou?-where now are thy gorgeous palaces, thy brazen gates, thy majestic walls, thy victorious kings and courageous armies? Thou gavest not God the glory; thou didst exalt the gods of silver and of gold, of wood and of stone, and therefore thou hast fallen never to rise. Mighty Rome ! where art thou ?-what has become of thy imperial senate, thy lofty Capitol, thy triumphal arches, the Cæsars that fought thy battles, and the legions that won thy victories, and thy heroes who wished to render thee immortal? Ah! they have fallen, and with thy superstition are buried in the grave ; thy liberties were not consecrated by Christianity; idolatry was thy curse and thy ruin. But in all these countries, liberty flourished for a season; their institutions were such, that they allowed the state time to respire; and their overthrow was more of a judicial kind, than inherent in the poli |