CHAP. II

Summary

SECT. I.

The Hindoos arrange the whole of their learned works under eighteen heads, and speak of them as embracing eighteen kinds of knowledge.

The four védŭs, viz. the rik, the yŭjoosh, the samŭ, and the ŭt'hŭrvŭ.

The four oopŭ-védŭs, comprize the ayoo, on the science of medicine, drawn from the rig-védŭ; the gandhŭrvŭ, on music, from the samŭ-védŭ; the dhŭnoo, on military tactics, from the yŭjoosh, and the silpŭ, on mechanics, from the ŭt'hŭrvŭ.

The six ŭngŭs, viz. shikshyŭ, on pronunciation; kŭlpŭ, on ceremonies; vyakŭrŭnŭ, on grammar; chŭndŭ, on prosody and verse; jyotishŭ, on astronomy; and nirooktŭ, an explanation of difficult words, &c. in the védŭ.

The four oopangŭs, viz. the pooranŭs, or poetical histories; the nayŭ, or ethics; the mēēmangsa, on divine wisdom and on ceremonies, and the dhŭrmŭ sliastrŭ, or the civil and canon laws.

The author has prefixed to the succeeding account of the Hindoo writings, arranged under their appropriate heads, lists of all the works in each department of literature, so far as collected by the College of Fort-William, by H. T. Colebrooke, Esq. and by the Society of Missionaries at Serampore. The author is aware, that there will be little in this assemblage of names either to amuse or inform the reader; but he thinks he can hardly give any thing, more likely to convince the reader of the extensive nature of the Hindoo literature; and he has added explanations, as far as he could obtain them, of the leading subjects embraced by each treatise.