The doctrine of the immortality of the soul is an article of belief generally acknowledged as true by the philosophers, as well as by the common people in India. _Dhermaragia Guru_, the Peguan philosopher, explains himself on this subject as follows, in his short account of the _Barman_ laws[189]: “Those who honour the Deity, his laws and his priests will one day share the fate of all good men. For, in regard to the good and bad actions of every living being, the case is the same as with the shadow of our body, which never quits it, but follows it wherever it goes. Among all living creatures there are good and bad. Man becomes either a _Nat_ (dæmon), or an animal. The soul of the animal transmigrates either into a man or a _Nat_. The _Nat_ becomes either animal or man. In a word, all those who have not rendered themselves worthy of being admitted into the _Niban_ (the habitations of the blessed), go alternately upwards and downwards.” This transmigration of the soul from one body into another is called _Punar-genana_. The body in which the soul is purified and cleansed is _Yadana Dèba_, the body of affliction or torment. A person who is perfectly purified, glorified, and blessed, is called _Punnyadeha_. Virtues and meritorious actions are either _Ulkrsha_, great deserts; _Madhyama_, moderate; or _Samánya_, altogether trifling and common. Sins are divided in the like manner; and according to this gradation the soul has to endure a greater or less degree of torment. The gods, that is the dæmons, are subject to this metempsychosis also; and hence it happened that _Budha_ was obliged to wander from one body into another 999 times, _Vishnu_ ten times, and _Shiva_ and _Bhavani_ an infinite number of times. It is evident, that such transmigrations of the soul, or apparitions, can be considered properly as nothing else than repeated incarnation; and therefore the Greeks never said, “the Soul of Zoroaster, of Semiramis, or Pythagoras, has again become man, but that it has entered into another body.” When the soul has attained its full purity, it is then, according to the doctrine of the Indians, susceptible of five degrees of eternal joy and happiness: 1. _Sànitya_, the presence of God. 2. _Sàmipya_, approximation to God. 3. _Sàyugia_, union with God. 4. _Sàlocya_, holy contemplation of God. 5. _Sàrubhya_, participation in the divine essence. The damned, on the other hand, are exposed in _Naraga_ (hell) to the most dreadful torments. The _Preda_ or _Naragagendu_, that is, the souls of the damned, have to expect there: 1. _Tabana_, pain. 2. _Avici_, internal anguish. 3. _Samhàra_, sufferings and punishment for their sins. 4. _Kàlasùtra_, an extraordinary length of time, which does not end till full atonement has been made for their sins. 5. _Tipravèdana_, torments effected by fire. 6. _Pìdha_, a dreadful malignity and exasperation of their minds.