Hindu medicine.

Date:
[1845?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hindu medicine. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    present age, more recent by six centuries and a half, than the first mention of Medicine and its followers in the Mosaic writings. Without, however, adopting the views of Bentley * as strictly correct, notwithstanding their general truthfulness having been endorsed by Laplace and Delambre, or coinciding to the full ex- tent in his remark that no dependence is to be placed on Hindu opinions,“ since when thoroughly sifted and examined, they are principally founded in vanity, ignorance, and credulity,”—there can be no valid reason advanced or solid proof adduced, to shew that the medicine of the Hindus is more ancient than that of the Egyptians and Hebrews—although it appears subsequently to have attained more of the dignity of a science, and to have been cultivated with a greater degree of assiduity and success. * “ The name of Mr Bentley will descend with great distinction to posterity for his intelligent criticism on the antiquity of the Brahmanical books and their astronomical computations. It was a bold undertaking to be the first to break the spell of credulity which was lulling Europe into such an unphilosophical lethargy, but lie will soon fiud himself rewarded by his success. We are satisfied that the venerated books of the Brahmins need only to be translated, in order to enable every man who can read, to dis- cover their imposture; but till these translations appear, the researches of Mr. Bentley and those of our Sanskrit students, who follow his footsteps, will be wanted to undeceive such as have been hitherto deluded. Lieutenant Wilford, who is familiar with the Puranas, and has personally experienced the frauds of the modern Brahmins.has so far advanced in the progress to true criticism and common sense, as to tell us that with regard to history the Hindus really have nothing but romances. He says their works, whether historical or geographical, are most extravagant compositions, in which little regard indeed is paid to truth. In their treatises on geography they seem to view the globe through a prism, as if adorned with the liveliest colours, mountains are of solid gold, bright like ten thousand suns, and others are of precious gems. Some of silver borrow the mild and dewy beams of the moon. There are rivers and seas of liquid amber, clarified butter, milk, curds, and intoxicating liquors. Geographical truth is sacrificed to a symmetrical arrangement of countries, mountains, lakes, and rivers, with which they are highly delighted. There are two geographical systems among the Hindus. The first and most aucient is according to the Puranas, in which the eaith is considered as a convex surface gradually sloping towards the borders and surrounded by the ocean. The second and modern system is that adopted by astronomers, and certainly the worst of the two. The Purunics, considering the earth us a Hat surface or nearly so, their knowledge does not extend much beyond the old continent or the superior hemisphere; hut astronomers being acquainted with the globular shape of the earth, and of course with au inferior hemisphere, were under the necessity of borrowing largely from the superior part, in order to fill up the inferior one. Thus their astrono mical knowledge, instead of being of service to geography, hn« augmented the confusion, distorted and dislocated every part, every country, in the old continent. “ Even Mr. H. Colebrooke, who still looks at these books with an eye of favour, in his lost Essay confesses, that the mythology of the orthodox Hindus, their present chrono- logy adapted to astronomical periods, their legendary tales, their mystical allegories, are abundantly extravagant.”—Quarterly He view, Vol. 1, p. p. 66-67. “ We do not believe that even the Vedas me nearly so old as the poems of Horner, and we are satisfied that some of the Puranas are very modern.”—Ibid, p. 67. Dr. Maskeleyne adds his testimony to the geueral correctness of Bentley’s views, in the following terms: “ 1 think Bentley right: he has proved by his calculations that there was no real ob- servation made at the beginning of the Kali yuga. BaiUy was a pleasing historical writer, but he had more imagination than judgment: and I know he was condemned by his friends, La l,mule and I,a Place, as a superficial astronomer, and a very indifferent calculator. These two gentlemen entertained the some opinion with myself with res- pect to the antiquity of Hindu astronomy, and I think that Mr. Bentley has made out satisfactorily the real antiquity of the Surya Siddhanta !
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