V. Imar/es, Tem2Jks, etc. — The Hindus have images of their gods, but they are of a grotesque or fantastic kind ; some are represented with heads of animals (as Ganesa), others with superabundant limbs (as Brahma, wdth four arms), or disfigured, etc. Antiquity was more sparing in this hue, but afterwards the arts of India were aj iplied to the production of innumerable monstrosities. The lower orders of divinities are often represented under the form of animals (thus Hanuman is represented as an ape, ]\Iundi as a bull, etc.), and are generally considered as the steeds of the higher deities. These images of the gods are placed in the temples, which originally were grottoes ; they now are pagodas, built in the shape of a pyramid, ornamented with columns, statues, and symbolic figures ; they are divided into courts by means of colonnades, surrounded by high walls, and by the hab- itations of the priests. In the vestibide there is always an image of some inferior deity confronting the wor- shipper as he enters. Admission into these courts is only granted to the Kshattriyas and the Vaisi/as ; the interior of the pagoda is reserved for the Brahmins or priests, which, in each pagoda, are under the command of a head Brahmin, who admits as many assistants as the income of the pagoda wiU permit. In some of the tem])les there are as many as 3000 Brahmins. Their priestly duties consist in offering sacrifices and reading the Veda. The worship is accompanied by songs and dances from the two higher classes of dancing girls, the Devadasis and the Natakas.
VI. Literature. — See ]\Ioor, Hindu Pantheon (London, 1810); i\Amm,Mtithol. of Hindus (1832); Rhode, Utler reliij. BihhiMi. der Hindu (Lpz. 1827, 2 vols.) ; Wilson, Re- liff. Sects (fihe Hindoos (A s. Pes. xvi and xvii) ; Ess. and a Lect. on the Relig. of the Hind. (2 vols. 8vo) ; Vishnu Pii- rana, or Syst. of Bin. Mythol. (4 vols. 8vo) ; Colebrooke, Mitcell. Bssays (Lond. 1837, 2 vols.) ; Pelif/. and Philos. of the Hindoos (Lond. 1858, 8vo) ; Small, Ildbk. of San- skrit Lit. (Lond. 1869, 12mo) ; Wheeler, History of India (vol. i, Vedic period and the Mahabharata; vol. ii, the Ramyana, the Brahm. period, Lond. 1869, 8vo) ; Wuttke, Gesch. d. Heidenthums (2d ed. Berl. 1855, 2 vt)ls.) ; We- ber, Akadem. Vorles. ii. Lid. Literaturgesch. (Berl. 1862): Ind. Stud. (Beri. 1849-58, 1-4 vols.) ; Lul. Skizzen (Berl. 1857); Muller, On the Literat. of the Vedas (Lond. 1859,
HINDU LITERATURE
265
HINNOM
2 vols.) ; Chips from n German WorlcsJiojJ (N. Y. 1870, 2 vols. 12ino) ; Hardwick, Christ aiul other Masters (2d ed. Loud. 1863, 2 vols. 12mo) ; Scholten, Gesch. d. Rtliijkm u. Philos. (Elberf. 1X08, 8vo) ; Wrightson, Introd. Treatise on Sanskrit Ilagior/rapha, or the Sacred Literat. of the Jlindns (2 parts, 12nK)) ; Corkman's Fressensi',Jielir/iom hforc Christ, p. 44 si{. ; Barlow, Ess. on Sipnholism (Lend. 12mo), ch. iv and viii ; Williams, Ind. Epic Poet. (Loud. 8vo) ; Pierer, Univ.-Lex. viii ; Chambers, Cijclop, v, 540 sq. ; Revve d. deux Mondes, Jan. 1858 ; N. A m. Rev. April, 1858, p. 435. A clear and concise statement of the re- ligion of India is given by jVrthur, Mission to the My- sore, ch. ix (Lond. 1847, r2mo). For hulia as a Mission- field (by the Rev. T. J. Scott), see Methodist Quart. Rev. Jan. 18(39, p. 30; Eiblioth. Sacra, Apr. 1852, art. i. See also BiDDiiisji ; BrtAiiJiA; IxniA. (J. H.W.)
Hindu Literature. Sec Sanskrit Literature.
Hindu Philosophy is divided into six systems or sastra, namely, the Xi/di/a, ]'aiseshi/ca, Saydhi/d, Yoga, Mimdnsd, and Vedanta. Tlie SanlvhyS and Yoga agree in all essentials, except that the former is atheistic and the latter theistie. The systems generally unite on cer- tain points : 1. The Mimansa excepted, their end is to inculcate expedients for "salvation," which is deliver- ance from " bondage." 2. The soid, thougli distinct from the mind, the senses, and the body, yet identifies itself with them. As a consequence of this delusion, it con- ceives the thought of ownership in itself and others, and supposes that it receives pleasure and pain through the body. As a farther consequence, it engages in good and evil works, which have merit or demerit. As this merit or demerit must be awarded, the soul must pass to Ely- sium or Hell, and repeatedly be born and die. This is hondarje caused by ignorance, from which, ^vhcn the soul is delivered, it gains absorption into the deity, 3. As a conscipionce of the foregoing, good deeds and their re- ward are onh' a less curse than their oppositcs, and are to be deprecated, as they compel the soul till the award is experienced to abide in the bod_y of a god, or a man, or other superior being. 4. Release from transmigration can only be had through "riffht apprehension,^'' which consists, of course, in the recognition by the soiil of it- self as distinct from the mind and all else. To gain this " right apprehension" one must study the Shastras ; and, in order to clearness of intellect and heart for this work, such good works as sacrifices, alms, pilgrimages, repetitions of sacred words, and the like, are to be per- formed, but without desire for reward. 5. They all maintain that the soul has existed from everlasting, and that it is exempt from liability to extinction, though it may be again and again invested ^vith a corporeal body. 6, All the systematists teach the eternity of matter. 7. They all receive the words of the Veda as unquestionable authority. Sec Refutation of Hindu Systems, by N. (Jorc (Calcutta, 1862) ; Aphorisms of the Yorjd, Sun'khyd, etc. (Allahabad, India, 1 804), (J. T, (J.)