recording a self-evident absurdity, have represented an history extending to the middle of the last century, and containing in it the specification of the reign in which several portions of it were composed, to have "been in existence from the periods that the books of Ceylon were originally written."

In his preface to the same work, Mr. Upham distinctly "disclaims all pretension to the philological knowledge and local information, requisite to render discussion useful, and illustration pertinent." The spirit of candour in which this admission is made, would entitle Mr. Upham to be considered exclusively in the light of a publisher, irresponsible for any material defect the work he edites may contain. A fatality, however, appears to attach to the proceedings of every individual connected with the publication of these Ceylonese works, from which Mr. Upham himself is not exempt, if the introduction, and the notes appended, to the translation of "The SACRED AND HISTORICAL Books" are to be attributed to him.

Thus, p. 83, the translator states that "Mahindo was accompanied with his nephew Sumenow, a samanere priest, seven years old, the son of his sister Sangamittrah ;" and p. 97, "The first queen Anulah, and 500 other queens, having obtained the state of Sakertahgamy, and also 500 pleasure women, put on yellow robes; that is, became priestesses." But when this publisher touches upon the same subjec ́s in the following passage, p. 100, “in these days, the queen Anulah, together with 1000 women, were created priestesses by Sangamittrah, and obtained the state of rahat;" he thinks it necessary to enlighten his readers with a note: and forgetting altogether that he has to deal with "matron queens and pleasure women," he gravely remarks, that "priestesses, although not now existing among the buddhists, were at this period of such sanctity, that an offender when led forth to be put to death, who was so fortunate as to meet one of these sacred virgins, was entitled, at her command, to a pardon; and this privilege was subsequently copied, and adopted among the Romans, in the case of the vestal virgins.” Mr. Upham has no more valid authority for saying that these "matrons and pleasure women" were considered either to assume the character of "sacred virgins" by their ordination, or to have been held in greater veneration than the rahat priests, than that the privilege of demanding the pardon of offenders, was subsequently copied, and adopted among the Romans." Again, p. 222, in a note, he states correctly enough, that the "upasampadá were the priests of the superior quality." But at p. 300, where the ceremony of upasampadá (which simply signifies ordination) is mentioned, he forgets the former, and the correct rendering, and adds a note in these words: "this was the burning the various priests' bodies, and forming them into dawtoos, which had been preserved for that purpose." These instances of the same facts and circumstances being correctly stated in one, and incorrectly in another part, of both these publications, are by no means of infrequent occurrence; which only tend to aggravate the neglect or carelessness of the parties employed in conducting this publication. Where such inaccuracies could be committed in the "SACRED AND HISTORICAL BOOKS," when an occasional note only is attempted, it may readily be imagined what the result must be, when Mr. Upham is employed to write "The HISTORY AND DOCTRINE OF BUDDHISM from Sir A. Johnston's collection of manuscripts."

Imperfect as the information connected with buddhism possessed by Europeans at present is, it would not have been reasonable to have expected any connected and correct account of the metaphysical and doctrinal portions of that creed; and until the "pitakattaya," or the three pitakas, which contain the buddhistical scriptures, and the ancient commentaries on them, are either consulted in the original, or correctly translated, there must necessarily prevail great diversity of opinions on these abstruse and

intricate questions. But in the historical portion, at least, for which the data are sufficiently precise, and readily obtained, in the native annals of this island, "The HISTORY OF BUDDHISM" ought to have been exempt from any material inaccuracies. Even in this respect, however, the work abounds in the grossest errors. Thus, p. 1., in describing Ceylon, Mr. Upham speaks of "that island which the Buddha Guādma, this distinguished teacher of the eastern world, has chosen to make the scene of his birth, and the chief theatre of his acts and miracles: p. 2. refering to Adam's peak, he says, “it is celebrated for possessing the print of Buddha's foot left on the spot, whence he ascended to the Déwalóka heavens:" p. 73. "The buddhist temple of Mulgirigala on Adam's peak, is declared to be within this region (Jugandara Parwatte.”)

It is scarcely possible for a person, not familiar with the subject, to conceive the extent of the absurdities involved in these, and other similar passages. It is no burlesque to say, that they would be received, by a Ceylonese buddhist, with feelings akin to those with which an Englishman would read a work, written by an Indian, professedly for the purpose of illustrating the history of christianity to his countrymen, which stated, that England was the scene of the birth of our Saviour; that his ascension took place from Derby peak; and that Salisbury cathedral stood on Westminster abbey.

And yet these are the publications put forth, as correct translations of, and compilations from, the native annals of Ceylon. Such is the force, respectability, and apparent competency of the attestations by which "The SACRED AND HISTORICAL WORKS OF CEYLON" are sustained, that they have been considered worthy of being dedicated to the king, patrouised by the court of directors, and sent out to this island, by the secretary of state, to be preserved among the archives of this government !!

After this signal failure in Sir A. Johnston's well intentioned exertions, and after the disappointments which have hitherto attended the labors of orientalists, in their researches for historical annals, comprehensive in data, and consistent in chronology, I have not the hardihood to imagine, that the translation alone of a Páli history, containing a detailed, and chronologically continuous, history of Ceylon, for twenty four centuries; and a connected sketch of the buddhistical history of India, embracing the interesting period between B. c. 600, and B. c. 300; besides various other subsequent references, as well to India, as the eastern peninsula, would, without the amplest evidence of its authenticity, receive the slightest consideration from the literary world. I have decided, therefore, on publishing the text also, printed in roman characters, pointed with diacritical marks.

My object in undertaking this publication (as I have already stated) is, principally, to invite the attention of oriental scholars to the historical data contained in the ancient Páli buddhistical records, as exhibited in the Mahawanso; contrasted with the results of their profound researches, as exhibited in their various publications and essays, commencing from the period when Sir W. Jones first brought oriental literature under the scrutiny and analysis of European criticism.

Half a century has elapsed since that eminent person formed the Bengal Asiatic Society, which justly claims for itself the honor of having "numbered amongst its members all the most distinguished students of oriental literature, and of having succeeded in bringing to light many of the hidden stores of Asiatic learning." Within the regions to which their researches were in the first instance directed, the prevailing religion had, from a remote period, extending back, perhaps, to the christian era, been uninterruptedly hinduism. The priesthood of that religion were considered to be exclusively possessed of the knowledge of the ancient literature of that country, in all its various branches. The classical language in which that literature was embodied was SANSCRIT.

The rival religion to hinduism in Asia, promulgated by Buddhos antecedant to Gótamó, from a period too remote to admit of chronological definition, was buddhism. The last successful struggle of buddhism for ascendency in India, subsequent to the advent of Gótamó, was in the fourth century before the christian era. It then became the religion of the state. The ruler of that vast empire was, at that epoch, numbered amongst its most zealous converts; and fragments of evidence, literary, as well as of the arts, still survive, to attest that that religion had once been predominant throughout the most civilized and powerful kingdoms of Asia. From thence it spread to the surrounding nations; among whom, under various modifications, it still prevails.

Hinduism, as the religion at least of its rulers, after an apparently short interval, regained its former ascendency in India; though the numerical diminution of its antagonists would appear to have been more gradually brought about. Abundant proofs may be adduced to shew the fanatical ferocity with which these two great sects persecuted each other, a ferocity which mutually subsided into passive hatred and contempt, only when the parties were no longer placed in the position of actual collision. European scholars, therefore, on entering upon their researches towards the close of the 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 Sanscrit literature, but who, in every possible way, both by reference to their own ancient prejudiced authorities, and their individual representations, labored to depreciate in the estimation of Europeans, the literature of the buddhists, as well as the PA'LI or MA'GADHI language, in which that literature is recorded.

The profound and critical knowledge attained by the distinguished Sanscrit scholars above alluded to, has been the means of elucidating the mysteries of an apparently unlimited mythology; as well as of unravelling the intricacies of Asiatic astronomy, mathematics, and other sciences,-of analysing their various systems of philosophy and metaphysics,—and of reducing tracts, grammatical as well as philological, into condensed and methodised forms; thereby establishing an easier acquirement of that ancient language, and of the varied information contained in it.

The department in which their researches have been attended with the least success, is HISTORY; and to this failure may perhaps be justly attributed the small portion of interest felt by the European literary world in oriental literature. The progress of civilization in the west has, from age to age, nay, from year to year, added some fresh advancement or refinement to almost every branch of the arts, sciences, and belles lettres; while there is scarcely any discovery made, as hitherto developed in Asiatic literature, which could be considered either as an acquisition of practical utility to European civilization, or as models for imitation or adoption in European literature.

In the midst, nevertheless, of this progressively increasing discouragement, the friends of oriental research have proportionately increased their exertions, and extended the base of their operations. The formation of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and of similar institutions on the continent of Europe; and the more rapid circulation of discoveries made in Asia, through the medium of the monthly journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, during the last four years, afford undeniable proofs of unabated exertion in those researches. To those who have watched the progress of the proceedings of these institutions, no small reward will appear to have crowned the gratuitous labors of orientalists. In the pages of the Asiatic Journal alone, the decyphering of the alphabets, in which the ancient inscriptions scattered over Asia are recorded, (which is calculated to lead to important

chronological and historical results); the identification and arrangement of the ancient coins found in the Panjab; the examination of the recently discovered fossil geology of India; the analysis of the Sanscrit and Tibetan buddhistical records, contained in "hundreds of volumes," by M. Cosoma Korosi and professor Wilson; and the translation of the hindu plays, by the latter distinguished scholar;— exhibit triumphant evidence, that at no previous period had oriental research been exerted with equal success. Yet it is in the midst of this comparatively brilliant career, and at the seat of the operations of the Bengal Asiatic Society, that the heaviest disappointment has visited that institution. It has within the last year been decided by the supreme government of India, that the funds which "have hitherto been in part applied to the revival and improvement of the literature, and the encouragement of the learned natives of India, are henceforth to be appropriated to purposes of English education." In an unavailing effort of the Asiatic Society to avert that decision, the supreme government has thought proper to designate the printing of several standard oriental works, then in progress, to be "to little purpose but to accumulate stores of waste paper."

I advert not to these recent discussions in Bengal with any view to take part in them. My object is exclusively to show that the increasing discouragement or indifference, evinced towards oriental research, does not proceed either from the exhaustion of the stores to be examined, or from the relaxation of the energy of the examiners; and to endeavour to account for the causes which have produced these conflicting results. The mythology and the legends of Asia, connected with the fabulous ages, contrasted with those of ancient Europe and Asia Minor, present no such glaring disparity in extravagance,* as should necessarily lead an unprejudiced mind to cultivate the study and investigation of the one, and to decide on the rejection and condemnation of the other. Almost every well educated European has exerted the first efforts of his expanding intellect to familiarize himself with the mythology and fabulous legends of ancient Europe. The immortal works of the poets which have perpetuated this mythology, as well as these legends, have from his childhood been presented to his view, as models of the most classical and perfect composition. In the progress to manhood, and throughout that period of life during which mental energy is susceptible of the greatest excitement,-in the senate, at the bar, on the stage, and even in the pulpit,—the most celebrated men of genius have studiously borrowed, more or less of their choicest ornaments, from the works of the ancient poets and historians.

To those, again, to whom the fictions of the poets present no attractive charms, the literature of Europe, as soon as it emerges from the darkness of the fabulous ages, supplies a separate stream of historical narration, distinctly traced, and precisely graduated, by the scale of chronology. On the events recorded and timed in the pages of that well attested history, a philosophical mind dwells with intense interest. The rise and fall of empires; the origin, growth, and decay of human institutions; the advancement or arrest of civilization; and every event which can instruct or influence practical men, in every station of life, are there developed, with the fullest authenticity. Whichever of these two departments of literature-fiction or fact-the European student may find most congenial to his taste, early associations and prepossessions have equally familiarized either to his mind.

As regards oriental literature, the impressions of early associations never can, nor is to be wished that they ever should, operate on the European mind. Even in Europe, where the advantages of the spread of education, and of the diffusion of useful knowledge, are the least disputed of the great principles which agitate the public mind, there are manifest indications that it is the predominent opinion of the age, that into the scheme of that extended education—m more of fact and less of fiction-more of practical * Vide Appendix for a comparison of Mahanámo with Herodotus and Justinus.

E

mathematics and less of classics-should be infused, than have hitherto been adopted in public institutions. Mutatis mutandis, I regard the recent Indian fiat "that the funds which have hitherto been in part applied to the revival and improvement of the literature, and the encouragement of the learned natives of India, shall be exclusively appropriated to purposes of English education," to be conceived in the same spirit.

These early associations, then, being thus unavailing and unvailable, (if the foregoing remarks are entitled to any weight) the creation of a general interest towards, or the realization of the subsiding expectations, produced at the formation of the Bengal Asiatic Society, in regard to, oriental literature, seems to depend on this single question; viz.,

Does there exist now, or is there a prospect of an authentic history of India being developed hereafter, by the researches of orientalists?

On the solution of this question, as it appears to me, depends entirely, whether the study of oriental literature (with reference not to languages, but the information those languages contain) shall continue, like the study of any of the sciences, to be confined to the few whose taste or profession has devoted them to it; or whether it shall some day exercise an influence over that more extended sphere, which belongs to general history alone to exert.

This is an important, though not, perhaps, altogether a vital, question:-important, more especially at the present moment, as regards the interest it can create, and the resources it can thence derive, for the purpose of extending the basis of research; but not vital, in as much as there is no more reason for apprehending the extinction of oriental research, from its having failed to extend its influence over the whole educated community of the world, than that geology, mineralogy, botany, or any of the other sciences should become extinct, because the interest each individually possesses is of a limited character. Nor does the continuance of oriental research, conducted by Europeans, appear, in any degree, to depend on the contingency of the permanence of British sway over its present Asiatic dominions; for the spirit of that research has of late years gained even greater strength on the continent of Europe than in the British empire. But to return to the question:

Does there exist now, or is there a prospect of an authentic history of India being developed hereafter, by the researches of orientalists?

Preparatory to answering this question, I shall briefly touch on the published results of our countrymen's researches in the department of HISTORY; premising, that in the earlier period of their labors, their publications partook more of the character of theoretical or critical treatises, than accurate translations of the texts they professed to illustrate. This course was adopted, under the suggestion of Sir W. Jones; who in his preliminary discourse on the institution of the Asiatic Society, remarked: "You may observe I have omitted their languages, the diversity and difficulty of which are a sad obstacle to the progress of useful knowledge; but I have ever considered languages as the mere instruments of real learning, and think them improperly confounded with learning itself. The attainment of them is, however, indispensably necessary." Again, "You will not perhaps be disposed to admit mere translations of considerable length, except such unpublished essays and treatises as may be transmitted to us by native authors."

After a

Sir W. Jones himself led the way in the discusssion of the chronology of the hindus.* speculative dissertation, tending to an identification or reconciliation, in some particular points, of the

A. R. vol. i. p. 71.