I. verse 15, by the Hindu commentators, I should be inclined to

translate the hemistich thus : the five senses gradually.*
In the twelfth chapter and the fiftieth verse. Sir William Jones has mentioned the agreement of the system of theogony and cos- mogony of Menu with that of Capila, the reputed founder of the Sanc'hya, or sceptical school of philosophy. The essay given by Mr. Colebrooke on this branch of Hindu metaphysicks, in the first volume of the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic So- ciety, is a real favour to all who take an interest in so important a link between ancient and modern opinions. The notices on the same subject, to be found at the end of Dr. Taylor's translation of the PrabdcTha^handrddajfo^ were too scanty to do more than excite a wish that some one competently versed in the philosophi- cal opinions of Europe and Asia would undertake the task.
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WhUe that given by the late Mr. Ward in his account of the Hindus, is evidently too hastily prepared to give any, but a general impression of the very curious and interesting do* cuments of ancient Hindu civilization and refined speculation. Neglected as these matters have heretofore been, it must prove highly satisfactory to every Sanscrit scholar that the philosophy of the Hindus has found so able an expositor as Mr. Colebrooke. It is to be hoped, that he will complete what he has so well begiu), by afibrding the world the theAm of judging of the other schdolsin which are contaioed the phOosophical speculations of a portion of the human race sk> andentiy civilized as the Hindus ; and whose literature is impressed with characteristick features, that are ample pledges c^ its antiquity and originality.
CHAP. II.
Verse 25. The word * univeirs^' has^ by an errour of the press, been printed i nitalick instead of Roman letters^ as it originally stood in Sir W. Jones's works. It may not be iminteresting to observe, that the word sarva, employed Jiere to signify the universe, in its original and j^niary sense iinpCeS all^ or the whole*, Hence it is employed aa an epithet of Siva, as well at of Vishnu, by tlie worshippers of those God^ agfeedkly to the Hindu doctrine, that contemplates the unherMl whole through any one of its multiform parts. In the account given in Enfield's History of Philosophy*, it will be seen that Zarva was the chief of all the Gods among th« Persians, and produced the good and evil principles, or Hormisda add Satana. I think, firom the evident coan^xion between the r^^ous systems of the Persians and the Hindus^ the identity of tbe god Zarva and the Sarva of India must be incontestible ; and we «re thus eaabled to take a new and
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iBMt accurate viefw of the real nature of the Magian religion. In it we find the same prevailing idea^comsioa infill thetbeogoqiet of the ssmoBotB, namely, th^ finite nstuep 4>f their gods, and dieir iiibordinate san^ as the peraonificatious or the powers of the iomuUess whole, that is, of nature. Moses Chorenenfds speaks of the same m3rthological character under the name of S^ebovan. An- quetil du Berroo in his Zend Avesta,^ likewise mentions Zervan, -whom he considers as time personified; but the sense of the word S^rcm or Sarvam enables us at once to fipd a clue to the neal nature of * the chief of all the Gods«' Good and evil were, under tbi» point of view, the inevitable results or oaring of material existence^ and the pantheism wiiich saw Godm ail, by the language of personification, made Sanaa, or the whole, the parent of the two principles, which were pamed Hormisda and Sat ana.
41. Sana is both hemp (Cannabis sativa), and Bengal son, a plant from which a kind of hemp is prepared, viz. crotolaria juncea, and other kinds.
Cshumh, is the linum usitatissimum.
42» Mwffa is a sort of grass (saccharum munja).
M^trvd is a sort of creeper, from the fibres of which bow- strings are made, (Sanseviera zeylanica).
43* Cum is a^^cies of grass used in many solemn and religious observances, hence called sacrificial grass (Poa cynosuroides).
The Asmdntaca does not occur in liie dictionaries.
The Vak)€ga is a sort of grass (saccharum cylindricum).
45. The Viha is a fruit-tree, commonly named Bil (iE^ marmelos).
The Paldsa is the Butea frondosa.
The Vata is the Ficus Indica.
Chadira is a tree, the rmn of which is Used in medicine, khayar or catechu (Mimosa catechu)*
The Vinu is the bamboo, hmt the text says the PUu, which is
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either the Careya arborea or the Salvadora Persica. It likewise implies the stem of the palm-tree.
The Udumbara is the glomerous %-tree (Ficus glomerata).
87* The learned translator has, in conformity with Hie view of his commentator, varied in translating the sentence meitra brdhmefia vchyati^ which occurs again in Chap. XI. y. 85.
99* ' As water flows through one hole of a bottle.^ The original is more expressive, and alludes to the custom of car- rying water in goat-skins in India. The skin is sewed together again, just as taken off the animal, and one of the feet is left open for the purpose of fiUing and emptying the skin, which is carried on a man's back ; the foot for use being firmly grasped by the hand of the carrier, who thus distributes the water at his pleasure. . Hence the passage would be more exactly rendered
113. The expression * should rathei* die with his learning,' would be more exactly rendered with his learning.'
142. Instead of Vfather* the text reads * brahmen,' but the comment fiivours Sir W. Jones's translation ; yet v. 144 inclines to the latter interpretation.
156. The word viduh^ which the translator has rendered in the past, is most commonly employed in a present sense, which is required in this verse. See Mr. Wilkins' grammar, page 174, Rule 196.
CHAP. III.
Verse 24. In the original we have cavayd viduh^ * poets, i. e. legislators consider* and not * some consider.'
34. ' That sinful marriage' should have been sinful marriage.'
44. The
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44. The word pratida rather implies a goad used to compel oxen, than a whip.
It may be r^narked, tiiat there seems to be some difficulty in reconciling the allusion in this verse of a S^rd marrying a priest, when we find the prohibition so strong in verses 13, 14, 15, and 16 of this chapter* The text clearly intends a marriage with a Brdhmen by the expression utcrishtS vidS * in the highest marriages.*
76. I have been particular in marking the words of this verse in Italick letters, as the translation is very paraphrastical. In- deed the original verse, which will be found exactly in the Roman letters, ccmveys in the latter part the exact germ of the doctrine which has been so ably handled of late by an eminent writer, pamely, the dependence of population upon sustenance.
123. The words * of the PitriS,l should follow * the monthly srdddka:
133. ^ Spears' should be included with ^ iron hdXW as among the number of things to be swallowed in the next world, by the giver of the srdddka*
158. It is not the mountain-rue, but the swallow-wort (the Asclepias acida). . .
36 i. The word purastdt, which I find in the mss. as well as in the Calcutta edition, implies * before,' therefore we should read * before the repast,' and not * after the repast'
270. Though the learned translator has . rendered the word sasa by * rabbits or hares,' yet I think there is a reasonable doubt whether the rab1)it came within the contemplation of the law- giver, as such an interpretation is not given even by the com- mentator. As far as my experience goes, it is decidedly against the supposition that the rabbit is indigeqous in India. The opinion of the natives is clear from their designatit^ them ' wUdgfoH khargi$h,\ ' Foreign or En^ish hares.' But I have the authority of the two most eminent oriental scholars in
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this country for the same opmiou, and one of them suggeitSr with great justice, that it may perhaps be found in the nmiip^ii districts to the north of Incfia, though it lie unknown to the inhabitante of the plsdos.
272. The podierb cdlasdca is not found in Ike dintipmujes.
The tnabdsalka is the shrimp or prawn.
CHAP IV.
6. The meaning of by which commercial dealings are not unaptly designated ; there being ioecessarily a mixture Of both in «uch transactions. , 47* The passage exact if rendered * on reaching the bank of a river/
49. I have ventured to alter tibe word ' potherb' into * potsherd,' which I think must have been ^ word intendedby die translaton The selection of potherbs, for the purpose notic^, carries with it something ridiculous, the sole intention of ihe injunction being to preserve the earth from contamination. The original passage is * cdshi'ha^l6shta^(ara4rinddin€h* * with wood, dods^ leaves, grass, and the like/
52. The words ^ in water,' should be inserted, and dien the passage will read ^ in water or against^ twice4K>m man/
66. U^re, as in V. 44 of Chap* III. the vwrdpratSda should be rendered * goad,' and not ' whip/
69« * The «un in the sign ecmgfd.' Cctmfd^ in its general sense, means a virgin, and here designates the sign Virgo.
74. We should here read, Met him not himself put off bis sandals with Ins hand.'
82. Th^yevh -^iMcandii^t* implies (as coming from the root candd^ Mteh') 'kt hi«i not scratch his head with both hands,' instead of * let him not stroke, &c.'
90. Among
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90. Among the list of places of future punishment here enumerated, I have in the Sanscrit text adopted, on the authority of other mss. that of * LdhaddricM \ or ^ Ldhdngdrica ' or pincers * I suppose a place of torment where the damned are continually tortured by being torn ivith iron-pincers.
129. llie word ^ repeatedly ' should be here added, and the passage will then stand * nor repeatedly with many clothes/
156. The passage * such practice gives desirable offipring * has been omitted by the translator, and should immediately follow the first sentence.
168. The same idea that ia found in this couplet, will be seen in Chap. XI. v. «a8.
230. • A giver of silver, exquisite beauty.' Beauty has been assigned as the reward for a gift of silver, i^arently because it made a sort of pun ; n^a implying both silver and beautifU. iSimtlar cases occur throughout the work, in which a play upon words has been allowed, when no solid rea- son could be assigned for any other allotment of rewards or punishments. In the twelfth chapter many such are to be observed.
S4a This verse has not been Ixanslated with the same felicity and exactness which distinguish the rest: perhaps it might be rendered more in consonance with tlie general spirit of the version thus (See v. I67. Chap. II.) :
** Yes, verily! Sovereign virtue instantly conducts the man whose sins have been expiated by penance, to the higher world, with a radiant and etherial body.''
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CHAP. V.
6. Tbe sSlu is the cordia myxa,
11. The tittibha is the Parra jacaHa or goensis.
12. The jptefl, is both the diver and a sort of duck, {WUson); and Mr. Wilkins considers it the saoie as the ployerf
The chacraivdca is the ruddy goose, fiuniliflrly t^own in India by the name of Brdhmany duck or goose (Anas casarca).
The sdrasa is the Indian crane«
The rqjjicodla is not found in the dictionaries.
The ddtyuha which Sir William Jones has translated ' wood- pecker/ is rendered Amera C6sha, to which Mr. Wilson adds in his Dictionary, * the chdtaca, a sort of cuckoo.' The chdtaca is specified by Mr. Colebrooke to be the cuculus melano-leucus.
It is worthy of remark, that the sdricd, which Sir William Jones renders female parrot, is actually a species of jay (graciila religiosa). By a similar connexion, the sdricd is fixed upon aa a suitable mate for the parrot in the Bengali * Tales of a Parrot.* Are we here to suppose, for the purpose of reconciling this apparent inconsistency, that the word sdricd is familiarly applied to the female parrot, though unnoticed in such a sense by the dictionaries?
13. The cdyashti is the lapwing.
14. Sir William Jones has omitted to render the baldca, which should have been inserted between ^ the heron, the raven,* and which Mr. Wilson renders * a sort of crane.*
The word which Sir William Jones writes c^hai^ana, as it is given in the comment, is spelt c'hanjaritaca in the text Neither the one or the other is found in the dictionaries.
16. The pd^hina is the sheat-fish (Silurus pelorius. Buchannon
MSS.).
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The rbKta is familiarly known as the r6bi-fish (cyprinus denti* culatus)*
The r^'^a is a large fish (cyprinus niloticus. BMhmmon.^
The smhaJhmda (lion*&ced) is not noticed in the dictionaries.
The sasalkd is likewise unmentioned in the dictionaries; but Cull6ca in his comment on the Mahdsalka^ Chap. IIL v. 272, iden- tifies these M\ witii one another : it is therefore the shrimp or prawn.
18. I am happy to be able to quote the words of an eminent orientalist, as explanatory of the proper import of the passage
* the lizard g6dhd^ the gandaccu^ The first of which, namely,
* the gddkdj not being the lizard or iguana.*
^* Wilh deference I wish to correct the translation of a verse of Menu relating to this subject. In his interlineary version. Sir William Jones has translated chadga rhinoceros, which is the undoubted meaning of the word. I can assign no reason for his substituting the Sanscrit word gandaca, which is another name for the rhinoceros. In the same version. Sir William Jones translated gddkd^ iguana ; I am led to understand by that term the godhicoj or lacerta gangetica, named g6M and garidl in the vulgar dialects of Bengal; the iguana is in Sanscrit called gaud^hira^ gaufhara^ gaud^hSya^ and gi^Uc&tmcga^ which lite- rally signifies offipring of the lacerta gangetica. May I add, that this species of alligator has been ill-described by European naturalists ; and through a strange mistake, has been called the open-belKed crocodile.*' A Digest qf Hindu Law^ translated by H. T. Colebrookej Esq. Vol. III. p. 345, note.
The interlineary version alluded to by Mr. Colebrooke, was made by Sir William Jones in his own copy of the original text The reason why Sir William Jones substituted gandaca for the original word chadga^ arose, probably, from that word being adopted by CuLLticA in hk comment upon the text :. a practice repeatedly followed by Sir William Jones; as the commentator
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has generally given those tenns which are most, sanctioned by familiar usage. It must be likewise borne in mind» that at the period when the translation was made, many of the commonest objects of natural history had not been identified with their San- scrit designations.
The ^ rabbit and hare :' see note on Chap. III. v. 270.
20. The nature of. the penance sdntapana may be seen in