Sect. I.

OF THE HINDOO PHILOSOPHERS, AND THEIR OPINIONS.

Swayŭmbhoovŭ, or Mŭnoo.

This sage is known in the pooranŭs as the son of Brŭmha, and one of the progenitors of mankind. He is also complimented as the preserver of the védus at the time of the Hindoo deluge, and as having given an abstract of the contents of these books in the work known by his name, and translated by Sir William Jones. It does not appear improbable, that during the life of Mŭnoo, certain works were written, perhaps from tradition, which, after many additions, were called the védŭ or shroolee, “that which has been heard.” Perhaps Mŭnoo himself, and Ulŭrkŭ and Markŭndéyŭ, are to be considered as the compilers, from tradition, of what then existed of these books; for, we are not to suppose that the védŭs were all compiled at one period.

SECT. II.—Kŭpilŭ.

This sage, the grandson of Mŭnoo, was the founder of the Sankhyŭ sect, the author of the original aphorisms to which the sect appeals, and is mentioned in several works as the most eminent of all the ascetics, knowing things past, present, and to come, and, in fact, as able to accomplish whatever he wished. The Shrēē-bhagŭvŭtŭ speaks of him as an incarnation of Vishnoo, and declares, that his appearance on earth was to lead mankind to future happiness, by teaching the doctrines of that school of philosophy of which he was the founder.