The Dabistán, or School of manners, Volume 2 (of 3): translated from the original Persian, with notes and illustrations
Religion
The Dabistán, or School of manners, Volume 2 (of 3): translated from the original Persian, with notes and illustrations
Iran -- Religion; Religions
[316] In Sanskrit यति _yati_, called also _Séwra s_; they
are a body of pious mendicants, who live in celibacy, and in
general employ their time in the cultivation of medicine,
astrology, and divinity――(See _On the Jainas of Guzerat and
Marwar_, by Lieut.-Col. W. Miles. Transact. R. A. Soc., vol.
III. p. 335).
[317] मुण्ड shaved, bald.
[318] Hardwar, or _Hara-dwara_, “the gate of Hara,” is a
place in the province of Delhi, situated on the west side of
the Ganges, where this river issues from the northern hills.
Lat. N. 29º 57´; long. E. 78º 2´. The event above stated
took place in the 12th year of the reign of the emperor Shah
Jehan, who mounted the throne in the year 1628, and resigned
it to his son Aurengzeb in 1658.
* * * * *
SECTION THE NINTH: ON THE CREED OF THE CHA RVAK.[319]――This sect call
_rupa skandha_[320] whatever is perceived and understood by means of
the senses. What is ascertained by the perception of the senses is
named _vidyá[321] skandha_. Personality, consciousness, egotism, have
the denomination of _jnaná skandha_.[322] The knowledge of animal
nature is termed _jnapti skandha_.[323] Whatever enters the interior
part, that is, the mind, is entitled _sanskára skandha_.[324] They
say, out of these five skandhas just mentioned, there is no other
living principle, neither in man nor brutes;[325] the world and its
inhabitants have no creator, and there is no maker: this is clear:
because whatever has not entered into the field of manifestation, and
has not broken into daylight, cannot have the color of reality, and to
be high or low, proceeds from the nature of the universe; whatever is
written in the Vedas is not made public, and besides may be a lie
which rests upon no foundation; and a lie certainly proceeds from the
Vedas, inasmuch as they perform _hóm_, which is a ceremony in which
they throw rice and like matters into the fire, and recite prescribed
prayers, saying that this goes to the gods: now, whatever we throw
into the fire, after cremation, becomes ashes――how do these go to the
gods? It is also written in the Vedas, that they are to make an
offering of cooked meal to a dead man――who is to enjoy it? For
instance, when a person is gone from village to village, from one town
to another, and in his absence a meal destined for him is presented to
another person, the stomach of the former will not be filled. In the
same manner, when any thing is offered to a dead person, who,
according to the assumption of the followers of the Vedas, has been
translated to another world, what honor and profit will accrue from it
to him?
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