DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.641#0214
THE HINDOO MYTHOLOGY. 207
religion of India, and the bramhinical superstition the in-
vention of later times, and raised to predominancy by the
superior influence of the bramhuns with the princes of
Hindoost'hanu. The author, however, declines entering on
this subject, made so difficult by the want of authentic
historical evidence.
It is certain, that amongst the six schools of philosophy
formerly famous among the Hindoos, two of them inculcat-
ed doctrines respecting the First Cause of things that were
decidedly atheistical, or such as the followers of Booddhu
maintain at this day; and it is indisputable, according to
the Hindoo writings, that these two sects were numerous
before the appearance of Booddhu.
About 700 years before the commencement of the
Christian era, Veeru-Vahoo, of the race of Goutumu, a
person attached to one of these sects, destroyed his sove-
reign Bodhumullu, and immediately seized the throne of
Delhi. This king, and his three immediate successors,
reigned one hundred and eight years. Miihee-putee, or the
lord of the earth, was the name of the third of these
monarchs; and as most of the writers on this subject agree
in placing the era of Booddhu in the sixth century B. C, it
seems reasonable to suppose, that Booddhu was the son or
near relation of Muhee-piitee. If not connected with this
being confounded with nothing; the nearer man approaches to the nature
of a stone or log, the nearer he is to perfection ; in a word, it is in indo-
lence and immobility, in the cessation of all desires and bodily motion,
in the annihilation and suspension of all the faculties both of body and
sonl, that all virtue and happiness consist. The moment that man arrives
at this degree of perfection, he has no longer occasion to dread changes,
futurity, or transmigrations, becanse he hath ceased to exist, and is be-
some perfectly like the god Fo.'
VOL. II. E e
religion of India, and the bramhinical superstition the in-
vention of later times, and raised to predominancy by the
superior influence of the bramhuns with the princes of
Hindoost'hanu. The author, however, declines entering on
this subject, made so difficult by the want of authentic
historical evidence.
It is certain, that amongst the six schools of philosophy
formerly famous among the Hindoos, two of them inculcat-
ed doctrines respecting the First Cause of things that were
decidedly atheistical, or such as the followers of Booddhu
maintain at this day; and it is indisputable, according to
the Hindoo writings, that these two sects were numerous
before the appearance of Booddhu.
About 700 years before the commencement of the
Christian era, Veeru-Vahoo, of the race of Goutumu, a
person attached to one of these sects, destroyed his sove-
reign Bodhumullu, and immediately seized the throne of
Delhi. This king, and his three immediate successors,
reigned one hundred and eight years. Miihee-putee, or the
lord of the earth, was the name of the third of these
monarchs; and as most of the writers on this subject agree
in placing the era of Booddhu in the sixth century B. C, it
seems reasonable to suppose, that Booddhu was the son or
near relation of Muhee-piitee. If not connected with this
being confounded with nothing; the nearer man approaches to the nature
of a stone or log, the nearer he is to perfection ; in a word, it is in indo-
lence and immobility, in the cessation of all desires and bodily motion,
in the annihilation and suspension of all the faculties both of body and
sonl, that all virtue and happiness consist. The moment that man arrives
at this degree of perfection, he has no longer occasion to dread changes,
futurity, or transmigrations, becanse he hath ceased to exist, and is be-
some perfectly like the god Fo.'
VOL. II. E e