Hind (n ji;;iX, ayalah', Gen. xUx, 21 ; 2 Sam. xxii. 34 ; Job xxxiv, 1 ; Psa. xviii, 33 ; xxix, 9 ; Cant, ii, 7 ; iii, 5; Hab. iii, 19; or H^.'^N, aye'lethjVtoy. v, 19; Jer.
Female Deer.
xiv, 5; " Aijaleth," Psa. xxii, title), the ^/fjnofc of the hart or stag, " doe" being the female of the fallow-deer, and " roe" being soinetimes used for that of the roebuck. All the females of the Cer-ridee, with the exception of the reindeer, are hornless. See Deer. The hind is fre- quently noticed in the poetical parts of Scripture as em- blematic of activity (Gen. xUx, 21; 2 Sam. xxii, 34; Psa. xviii, 33 ; Hab. iii, 19), gentleness (Prov. v, 19), fem- inine modesty (Cant, ii, 7 ; iii, 5), earnest longing (Psa. xlii, 1), and maternal affection (Jer. xiv, 5). Its shy- ness and remoteness from the haunts of men are also noticed (Job xxxix, 1), and its timidity, causing it to cast its young at the sound of thunder (Psa. xxix, 9). The conclusion which some have drawn from the pas- sage last quoted, that the hind produces her young with great difficulty, is not, in reality, deducible from the words, and is expressly contradicted by Job xxxix, 3. It may be remarked on Psa. xviii, 33, and Hab. iii, 19, where the Lord is said to cause the feet to stand firm like those of a hind on high places, that tliis representa- tion is in perfect harmony with the habits of moiuitain stags; but the version of Prov. v, 19, "Let the wife of thy bosom be as the beloved hind and favorite roc," seems to indicate that here the words are generalized so as to include under roe monogamous species of ante- lopes, whose affections and consortship are perm.anent and strong; for stags are polygamous. The Sept. reads ln5"'X inGcn.xlix, 21, rendering it otlXixoq cnntfjikiov, " a luxuriant terebinth," an emendation adopted by Bo- chart. Lowth has proposed a similar change in Psa. xxix, but in neither case can the emendation be accept- ed. Naphtali verified the comparison of himself to a " graceful or tall hind" by the events recorded in Judg. iv, 6-9; V, 18. The inscription of Psa. xxii, "the hind of the morning," probably refers to a tune of that name. —Kitto; Smith. See Aijeletii.
Hindostan. See India.
Hinds, Samuel, bishop of Norwich, was born about 1798, on the isle of Barbadoes. At an early age he was sent to England, and educated at Oxford. In 1822 he took orders in the Church of England, and in 1849 he was appointed bishop of Norwich. Later, he was made vice principal of St. Alban's Hall, Oxford. He died in 1870. Bishop Hinds wrote The three Temples of the true Godi;,iitra.<f,,l (1830; 3d edit. 1857,8vo) -.—Inspira- tion ami A lit hnr 'ill/ <•/ Script. (1831, 8vo) :— (Sc?-?);/. and the A)ith„r;-.nl \-,rsiim of Script. (1853, 12mo) i—Catc- chisfs Miiiiiial ( -J.l ed. 1855, 12mo) ■.—Hist of Christian- ity (182',», ink;, l^.'ii*. 1853, 2 vols. 8vo), which was orig- inally contributeil to the Encyclop. MetropioUtana. — Al- libone, Diet, of British and A merican A nthors, i, 850 ; Ya- pereau. Diet, des Contemporains, p. 884. (J. H. W.)
Hinduism or Hindu religion, the name of the variety of creeds derived from Brahmanic sources. It is the religion of the ICast, professed, in some form or an- other, by nearly half of the human race (see Max Miiller, Chips from a German Workshop, i, 23), especially if
I
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Buddhism (q.v.) is iiicliided, or considered as a devel- opment of it. The different sects into ^vhich the Hin- dus (on the origin of the Hindus, and their gradual occupation of India, see Lassen, Ind. Altert/i. i, 511 sq. ; MUllcr, ASck'ncp oj' L(iiif/ua(/(', \). '240 S(i. ; Donaldson, Netv Cni/i/[i>s, p. 11^!, 111>, 2d ed.; Ilardwick, Christ and other Afmters, i, 171, 172, 2d ed.) arc divided at present .are of modern origin, and tlie system of theology taught by them differs very much from the religion of their fore- fathers.
I. tlistory. — For brevity's sake, we will divide Hindu- ism into three great periods, the Vedic, Epic, and Puran- ic. Our knowledge of the first is derived from the sacred books of the Hindus, the Veda (q. v.) ; that of the sec- ond from the epic poem Ramayana, and the great epos jMahaljliarata; and that of the third chiefly from the mythiilogical works, tlie Puranas and Tantras.
1. TIk' Vedic Period. — According to the hymns of the Veda, tlie Hindus of that period regarded the elements of nature as heavenly beings, and worshipped and re- vered them as such. Among these were first in order Arpii, the fire of the sun and lightning; Indrci, the bright, cloudless firmament; the iFuruts, or winds; Siin/d, the sun ; Ushas, the dawn ; and various kindred manifestations of the luminous bodies, and nature in general. "They arc supplicated to confer temporal blessings upon the worshipper, riches, life, posterity — the shortsighted vanities of human desire, which con- stituted the sum of heathen prayer in all heathen coun- tries" (Wilson, Lectures, p. 9, 10). The great contrast in this particular between heathen and Christian wor- shippers has been well commented upon by Stuhr (Re- ligions-Systeme d. heidnischen Vvlker d. Orients, Einleit. p. xii). Indeed, it is a fact worthy the notice of philos- ophers and of scholars in comparative science of religion that only a very small fraction of heathen prayers are offered for spiritual or moral benefits (compare Creuzer, Symholik, iv, 162 ; Hardwick, Christ and other Masters, i, 181, 182). "We proclaim eagerly, ^[uruts, your an- cient greatness, for the sake of inducing j-our prompt appearance, as the indication of (the approach of) the showerer of benefits ;" or, " Offer yoiu: nutritious viands to the great hero (^Indra), who is pleased by praise, and to Vishnu (one of the forms of the sun), the two invin- cible deities who ride nimn the radiant summit of the clouds as upon a well-trained steed. Imlra an<l I'ishnii, the devout worshipper glorifies the radiant approach of you two who are tlie granters of desires, and who be- sto^v upon the mortal who worships you an immediate- ly receivable (reward), through the distribution of that fire which is tlie scatterer (of desired blessings)." Such is the strain in which the Hindu of that period ad- dressed his gods. Ethical considerations are foreign to these religious outbursts of the mind. Sin and evil, indeed, are often adverted to, and the gods are praised because they destroy sinners and evil-doers; but one would err in associating with these words our notions of sin or wrong. A sinner, in these hymns, is a man who does not address praises to those elementary deities, or who does not gratify them with the oblations they receive at the hands of the believer. He is the foe, the robber, the daemon — in short, the borderer in- festing the territory of the "pious" man, who, in his turn, injures and kills, but, in adoring Agni, Indra, and their kin, is satisfied that he can commit no evil act.