English
According to Philostratus the Gyn^nosophists of Ethiopia were descended from the Brahmins of India; having been expelled from that country for the murder of their king. Dear the Ganges.' It is probably for this reason that Lucian derives the science of astronomy from Ethiopia, by which we must understand him to mean from those Gymnosophists,^who brought their sciences with them into Ethiopia from Hindoostan, It cannot therefore but be deemed a valuable confirmation of the truth of this intelligence, collefted from such a variety of sources, and from authors, who have written at different times with such different views, to learn, that in the Arriani Indie ' Strabo, 1, 13. '^ PJiflostrat, in Vit, ApoU, 1, 3, c. 6, ajia \, 4, . 6. 11^ Sansfcl-it geography, this feseiAblance is accbuiited for in the most satisfaftory manner. It appeats that there are Wo Continents called the Coriti-' nerits bif Ciish j the one called the iiirier Conti- nent, comprehending' India, while Abyssinia and Ethiopia are styled the outer Coritifient : 'knd the Brahmins accomit, plausibly enough j fbt its name, by asserting thdt some of the descendants of Cush, being obliged to leaVe their country migrated thither, and gave to the hew settlemeiit, the name of their ancestor.* This circumstance ap- propriately confirms the observatioii of Josephus, that time has in no respefil: effaced the memory oif Cush, foi- among all the descendants of the Ammonian race, his name has obtained th4 highest veneration, while the traces of his progefty are easily and distin£tly ascertained,* That the Chinese belong to the same femily^ and were originally a colony from India, is another fa£l-, which if it Canrlot be supported by that accumulation of evidence, which the former car- ries with it, has notwithstanding a strong proba- bility in its favor. This nation, which has beeii extolled by some, as the wisest and most in- genious of the human race, while others ; have * Asiat. Res. V. 3. iit.Ii K t Joseiib.'Aiit. Ind. 1, 1, ci >^ }30 derided its .pretensions to antiquity and to civili- zitiuon, has been not less differently represented wif:h regard to its origin. Among the various opinions^ which have 43een advanced ,on tjhjs subr jeO:, that of the Brahmins^ is not .the, least arbi- trary: and if ,t}ie question were to be settled on their a|ijtbority, it would be decisively proved, that the Chinese, proceeded from the Indian stock. ; They assert that the Chinese were for- merly Hindoos of the military class, who, aban*- doning the privileges of their order, waiidered, in largfe bodies,, to the north-east of Bengal: and forge(;ting gradually the rites and ; institutions of tbeir ancestors, established there separate princi- palities. This is not only ]^e opinion of the modern Brahmins, who ttiight be induced to support it from motives of national vanity^ but is the unsuspicious testimony of the institutes of Menuw Nor is this aopinion wholly unstjpported by the authority of other aiicient historians. Pausanias gives a very interesting account of this people. He takes notice of the Indians under the deno- mination.'of the Seres, and describes two different lifltions, who were distinguished by this appel- lation. The first was situated on the great Erythrean or Indian ocean, or rather upon the 131 ^Ganges, being a province inclose^' by the branebes of that river. The other country of the Seres was farther removed, towards the East. It is the same as China, though spoken of byPausanias as an island, and it lies opposite to the island ofi Japan.* In attempting to confirm this opinion, by a comparison of the religion and philbso|)hy of the Chinese, tvith' those of India, various obstacles oppbse themselves. Their popular religion is known to have been iihported from India, at a period comparatively modern : and of their at- tainments in knowledge a learned traveller boldly asserts, that " the Chinese had no sciences," that is to say none 'which they had not received from other nations.' " ' v But thexe are, even yet, traces, though indeed jjnperfeft, in the names of the Beities, both of China and Japan, and in the mythology, with which they are attended, sufficiently clear to point Out the country, from which they were originally derived. , There is precisely that af- -iijiity, which favors the adoption of the opinion aupparted by the Brahmins, that the "Chinese -were apostates from the Brahminical^faith.- Aa ' Pausan. 1. 6. * k^nandot. >^ 132 author who cannot be accused of partiality iia favor of the sacred writings, after a Ibrig and Jaborious investigation, was led to think that '" the; puerile and absurd stories of the Chinese fabulis.ts contain . a remnant of ancient Indian history, and a faint sketch of the first Hindoo ages."* From which a conclusion may fairly be : drawn, that they were originally the same people ; :but that the Chinese have corrupted their lan- guage and their religion, by. a mixture with the Tartarian blood; while the Hindoos have preserv- ed both, by keeping their races uncontaminated. It now remains to point out the conne£lion between the inhabitants of India and that nation, which has disputed with them the palm of su- periority in speculative science and in pra£lical art; in those pursuits, which elevate and expand the mind, and in those institutions, which heighten and refine the enjoyoients of social life. - From an accurate survey .of the Brahminical religion, as we find it established in Indla^ it is impossible not to perceive its essential identity with that of the Egyptians, and therefore that both must have eraajiated from a common origin. . 1^3 Both nations were distinguished by a division- into various orders, of which the philosophers were the. most honourable'/ Each tribe adhered' to #he profession of its family, and never invaded the department of another. The fundamental |)rinciples of their iastroAomfical systems, woultj also : incline lis to suppose, that their sciences were derived from the same source. lUtn-j {isJaitj J,-, ,> li'i. ■ / - -.-ij j! ind: ; •M.-bas '' To explain this fa£l twa hypotheses hav^been adopted, and defended, with equal warmth, Th^ first, that the religion and sciences of Hindoostafl" were transported from that country' ihtb'Egypt j the second, which supports the; cohvc'rsecf this proposition, andi-.maintains, < that' the^ religidbs tenets of the Brahmins were brought -into liiSi^ from Egypt, at a comparatively recent period. It has been allegdd that in the remotest ag^S'to i^i^hich-'history reaches", we find the'Brahminidal religion established iin /.'Egypt ; but that <the feligi<Mlvof Boodhj^waslthexpTedominant and pririaJtrv^ejfaith ; festabli&hed in India,, though afters V?4tids>/subduedi ^ndf. neatly ifextirpaiif dig by tb©' pref)(^n4erating^influence ,of BfkjimLnisin,:"!??,^ "''■* '" If the first of th^fese-hypotheass eannot-bfe-fisJIy substantiated, 5 ;yet^ from :thp WSes iexf ■ es^IdattGe whi^h has beep 4iddii6;d? W6 •am'jiisUfied Ja vadi K3 cinding that the ancient Brahmins possessed a. knowledge of the countries situated on the bor^ 4ers of the Nile, and that an intimate connedrioi* once subsisted between India and Egypt. ->iiOrt gtill less satisfa'Sbry grounds has the cd'ntrary opinion been maintained. That the firahminic^ system, with'its division of castes, had been com- pletely established in India, at the time of Alex^ ander ; that it universally prevailed throughout all the,coUntries .situated between the Indus and ihe Ganges, are positions fotmded on the con-^ Currence of v historical testimony, whose force fjQuld not be resisted, even if a survey of the TeUgious edifices in India, and of the sculpture vrhjich adorns them, did not tend to corroborate their truth, 1 : : . f rThat by the Misra of the.Pur^nas must be intended Egypt> is a supposition which scarcely admits a doubt, when we know fhat;this coulitry \i3S so long retained, throughout the Easti the name of its original fovmder. It is related in the geography of the Brahmins^ that the coitolny of Egypt was peopted by a mixedjcace, consisting of various, tribes, who though living fOr their convenience in thersaroe regiotf, kept themselves distinct, and were perpetually disputing !bout \ their boundaries^ or whatiiaiOxe iprobable ^bojjt i las their religious opinions. This; account of thi miscellaneous origin of the Egyptians is^erfeQly consistfent with modern observation." Aceordibg f to the o|pinion of an emment anatomist,* the Egyptians may ibe divided into three distin^ classes ; the first, that of the Ethiopians in Africa ; the second, that of' the Hindoos ; and the last partaking of the nature of both. -A mixture so igerieral imust prove the accession of Hindoos to the Egyptians, and thstt in considerable numbers. Even if the islender evidence which has been brought to support the ' contrary opinion, that a colony of Egyptians had settled themselves " in i*HiijxJopstani; be admitted, yet we .may ^^fely conclude, that they visited the sages in India, as they 'themselves were afterwards visited by the sagfesJof Greece " rather to acquire than to impart knowledge 3 nor is it likely that the self- anifflcifent Brahmins would J have received them as their preceptors.* ,.gu jfil o'ni4(^^-gd. fi.-jFrom' a comparison, of the'se different fe£ls, ":^e,:fQU9wing will appear to be the . result r at jthe time of the general dispersion of ma'Akittd, some tribes migra&d^.ct^ards the Ei^ fai 'India, whlleaithdrst diyargedlb'WaFds the WefstW Egypt, '■• :!:?no-) ei tOoi'Cfi ai.ij\qv ■■''3. Qiii-''-iO .!',&,'< J Sf-i-i ^J &C a Paper byDr.BIumnjj4ch,ii>/toMtIivol,of *ephaosoph.TiM*a f SirW. lonei on tbe gods of Greece, Italy, and India. K.