DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9550#0189
HINDOO THEISM.
141
mture of the image, under whose form he is most
commonly adored.
The stories respecting him, which are read by his
devotees in the Tuntras, are of a nature that, if told
of any man, would be offensive to the ears of the most
abandoned of either sex. In the worship of Kali,
human sacrifices, the use of wine, criminal intercourse,,
and licentious songs are included: the first of these
practices has become generally extinct; but it is
believed that there are parts of the country where
human victims are still offered.
Debauchery, however, universally forms the prin-
cipal part of the worship of her followers. Nigam
and other Tantras may satisfy every reader of the
horrible tenets of the worshippers of the two latter
deities. The modes of worship of almost all the
inferior deities are pretty much the same. Having
so far explained the nature of worship adopted by
Hindoos in general, for the propitiation of their
allegorical attributes, in direct opposition to the mode
of pure divine worship inculcated by the Veds, I
cannot but entertain a strong hope that the learned
gentleman, who ranks even monotheistical songs among
carnal pleasures, and consequently rejects their ad-
mittance in worship, will no longer stand forward as
an advocate for the worship of separate and independent
attributes and incarnations.
iathly. The learned gentleman says, " that the
" Saviour," meaning Christ, " should be considered
" a personification of the mercy and kindness of God
(I mean actual not allegorical personification)." From
the little knowledge I had acquired of the tenets of
141
mture of the image, under whose form he is most
commonly adored.
The stories respecting him, which are read by his
devotees in the Tuntras, are of a nature that, if told
of any man, would be offensive to the ears of the most
abandoned of either sex. In the worship of Kali,
human sacrifices, the use of wine, criminal intercourse,,
and licentious songs are included: the first of these
practices has become generally extinct; but it is
believed that there are parts of the country where
human victims are still offered.
Debauchery, however, universally forms the prin-
cipal part of the worship of her followers. Nigam
and other Tantras may satisfy every reader of the
horrible tenets of the worshippers of the two latter
deities. The modes of worship of almost all the
inferior deities are pretty much the same. Having
so far explained the nature of worship adopted by
Hindoos in general, for the propitiation of their
allegorical attributes, in direct opposition to the mode
of pure divine worship inculcated by the Veds, I
cannot but entertain a strong hope that the learned
gentleman, who ranks even monotheistical songs among
carnal pleasures, and consequently rejects their ad-
mittance in worship, will no longer stand forward as
an advocate for the worship of separate and independent
attributes and incarnations.
iathly. The learned gentleman says, " that the
" Saviour," meaning Christ, " should be considered
" a personification of the mercy and kindness of God
(I mean actual not allegorical personification)." From
the little knowledge I had acquired of the tenets of