THE DOCTRINE OF TRANSMIGRATION 273
this last was not permitted to the Bramines, it was
allowed to the Soudraes; the which was manifest from
the heathen governor Sinanna, who, in the time of my
residence at Paliacatta, ruled the city in the name of
the king of Carnatica, who had married his brother's
daughter. The heathen of Siam and Pegu also differ
much herein from the heathen on the coast of Coro-
mandel, since they may also wed with their father's
brother's wife, which these may not do.'
' The belief of the Hindus,' continues Eoger in an-
other chapter, ' is that more or less punishment doth
befall the wicked after this life, and that some are to
be punished in this world after their death, and some
outside this world. And in what fashion all this is to
take place we shall now set forth. They believe that
it is because of sin that the souls of some pass from
their bodies into another body so soon as they die.
These heathen agree herein with Plato, who likewise
was of the opinion that the soul of one migrateth to
another, and not alone into the body of another man,
but also into the bodies of beasts. This hath Plato
believed, who was a marvel among the heathen in his
time; this hath his disciple, Plotinus, also held to be
good. But this hath displeased Porphyry, who hath
thought that after death the souls of men migrate only
into the bodies of men, and not into the bodies of beasts.
And the reasons that moved him to make changes in
the belief of his master were that he held it shameful
for the soul of a mother to migrate into a mule and
draw her own son. But he did not take into consid-
