- liever: let us make trial of him.' They went and said to him, 'Let us
sacrifice for thee.' 'With what victim?' he asked. 'With this bull,' they replied. 'Be it so,' he answered. When it had been slaughtered, the voice departed out of it, and entered into Manu's wife Mânavî. Wherever they hear her speaking, the Asuras and Râkshasas continue to be destroyed in consequence of her voice. The Asuras said, 'She does us yet more mischief; for the human voice speaks more.' Kilâta and Akuli said, 'Manu is a devout believer: let us make trial of him.' They came and said to him, 'Manu, let us sacrifice for thee.' 'With what victim?' he asked. 'With this (thy) wife,' they replied. 'Be it so,' he answered" O. S. T., vol. i. p. 188).
Sometimes, though not often, the Brâhmanas contain references
to moral conduct. A very theological definition of Duty
is given in the Chhândogya Upanishad, where it is stated,
"Threefold is the division of Duty. Sacrifice, study, and charity
constitute the first; penance is the second; and residence
by a Brahmachârin (a student of theology) exclusively in the
house of a tutor is the third. All those [who attend to these
duties] attain virtuous regions; the believer in Brahma alone
attains to immortality" (A. B., vii. 2. 10). In another Brâhmana
it is asserted that "the marriage of Faith and Truth is a
most happy one. For by Faith and Truth joined they conquer
the celestial world" (Chhand. Up., ch. ii. sec. 23). And the
the story of Sunahsepa, which contains an emphatic repudiation
of human sacrifice, has a moral bearing. As a rule, however,
the Brâhmanas do not concern themselves with ethical
questions. The rules of sacrifice, and the doctrines of a complicated
theology, are their main business; and the topics they
are thus led to debate in elaborate detail must frequently impress
the European reader as not only uninteresting, but un-*meaning.
Section IV.—The Tripitaka.[1]*
- ↑ No complete translation of the Tripitaka exists, or is ever likely to exist in any European language. Its vast extent, and the comparative worthlessness of many of its parts, would preclude its publication as a whole. But complete treatises, or portions of treatises, have been translated by Burnouf, in his "Histoire du Buddhisme Indien," and "Lotus de la Bonne Loi;" by Beal, in his "Chinese Buddhist Scriptures;" by Schmidt, in "Der Weise und der Thor;" by Hardy, in his "Manual of Buddhism," and by Ala-*
