common knowledge For this cause desirous to add any thing to the ingenious that the oportunities of my Trauayle might conferre vpon mee I ioyned my selfe with one of their Church men called their Daroo and by the interpretation of a Persee whose long imployment in the Companies seruice had brought him to a mediocrity in the English tongue and whose familiarity with me inclined him to further my inquirie I gained the knowledge of what hereafter I shall deliuer as it was compiled in a booke writ in the Persian Character containing their Scripture and in their owne language called their ZVNDAVASTAVV But because wee should bee better informed concerning the People spoken of before wee lay downe their Religion we will first declare who these Persees are and then proceed to their worshippe THE RELIGION OF THE PERSEES CHAP. I. Declaring who these Persees are their ancient place of aboad the cause of relinquishing their owne Countrey their arriuall in East India and their aboad there THese Persians or Persees of whose Religion we are now to speake of are a people descended from the ancient Persians in times not long after the Flood who then had their Natiue Kings and Gouernours but warre that causeth an alteration in States and Empires brought vpon them a forraigne Scepter About nine hundred ninety six yeeres elapsed one Yesdegerd was natiue King of Persia who had his residence in the City of Yesd neere vnto the old City of Spahaun which is somewhat remote from the new City known by that name this City of Yesd was a goodly City in those times as those vse to be where Kings keepe their Courts spacious for circuit sumptuous for buildings and populous for inhabitants where this people liued in flourishing prosperity What time the Arabian Captaines of the Sect of Mahomet made inuasion into his Countrey about the nineteenth yeere of his Reigne who hauing before beene newly assaulted by a great multitude of Turkes that came from Turquestan he was forced to flye to Karason where hee dyed sodainly in the twentieth yeere of his reigne being the fiue and fortith King that descended from the race of Guiomaras and the last in whom the ancient Persian Monarchie concluded The Mahometans vpon the death of Yesdegerd carried all in conquest before them and subiected the Natiues of the Countrey as vassals vnto them and as new Lords bring in new lawes they contented not themselues to bring them to their forme of gouernment in State subiection but also in matters of Religion to liue according to Mahomets Constitutions compelling them to bee circumcised according to the Mahometan custome contrary to the forme of their owne Religion and worship These Persees not enduring to liue contrary to the prescript of their owne lawe and lesse able to reiect their yoake many of them by priuie escape and as close conueyance as they might of their goods and substance determined a voyage for the Indies purposing to prooue the mildnesse of the Banian Raiahs if there though they liued in subiection for matter of gouernment they might obtaine liberty of conscience in course of Religion So repairing to Iasques a place in the Persian gulph they obtained a fleete of seauen Iuncks to conuey them and theirs as Merchantmen bound for the shoares of India in course of Trade and Merchandize It happened that in safety they made to the land of St. Iohns on the shoares of India and arriued together at or neere the Port of Swaley the vsuall Receptacle of such Shippes as arriue there Treaty was made by some of them with a Raiah liuing at Nuncery publishing their aggreeuances and the cause of their commimg thither as also their suite to bee admitted as Soiournors with them vsing their owne Law and Religion but yeelding themselues in subiection to their Gouernment vpon payment of homage and tribure they were admitted to land the Passengers contained in fiue of their Iuncks The other two Iuncks remaining one of them put into the Roade of Swaley and treated with a Raiah that then resided at Baryaw neere vnto Surrat who entertained them on like conditions to the former but the Raiah of that place hauing warres with a neighbouring Raiah who got the conquest the Persees that resided with the conquered were all put to the sword as adherents to the Enemie The last Iuncke coasted along the shoares and arriued at Cambaya where they were receiued vpon the prementioned conditions so that howsoeuer this people haue beene dispersed in India since their arriuall it hath beene from some of these places Thus they liued in India till tract of time wore out the memory of their originall and the Records of their Religion being perished they became ignorant whence they were being assigned to the profession of husbandry or the dressing of the Palmitoes or Toddy trees till being knowne by the name of Persees they were agnized by the remnant of their Sect abiding in Persia who acquainted them with the Story of their Ancestors and communicated to them both their law and instructors in the worshippe according to which they were to liue And these bee the Persees of whose Religion we are to treate in the Chapters following CHAP. II. Containing the Opinion of the Persees touching the Creation of the world and the Creatures therein together with a short mention of the Flood and the generall diuision of the following discourse NOw after the consideration of these Persees of whose Religion we are to speake we proceede more particularly to the Subiect of this booke which is their worshippe and Religion wherein firsâ— commeth to bee rendred their opinion touching the Creation Touching this the Persees affirme that before any thing was there was a God that was the maker of all things who when he did determine to make himselfe knowne by his workes in the Creation of the Vniuerse and the creatures therein did diuide this great worke of the creation into a sixfold labour First then they say hee made the heauens with their Orbes a place most glorious and pleasant which he adorned with great lights and lesser as the Sunne Moone and Stars as also hee did make the Angels which according to their seuerall dignities he placed in their seuerall Orders one aboue another which place he made a habitation of blessednesse for such as should liue holily in this life and hauing thus done that he might teach vs to doe great designes with consideration and aduise he rested fiue dayes from the worke of further creation Next he made Hell in the lower parts of the world from which he banished all light and comfort that as heauen might be a place of happinesse to those that are good and please the Almighty so this might be a place of horrour and punishment to such as offend his Maiesty wherein as in heauen so God had made seuerall mansions that exceeded each other in dolour which were proportioned according to the degrees of offenders about which time Lucifer the chiefe of Angels with other
world and was made a part of their worshippe to keepe in memory the destruction that was brought vpon the world for their defilement and sinne The Ceremony obserued in their washings is this First to besmeare their bodies in the mudde of the Riuer the Embleme of mans filthinesse and corruption by nature then walking into the Riuer and turning their faces towards the Sunne the Bramane vtters this prayer Oh Lord this man is foule and polluted as the Clay or Mudde of this Riuer but the water thereof can purge off the defilement doe thou in like manner cleanse away his sinne so diuing and plunging himselfe three times in the Riuer whilst the Bramane iterateth the name of the Riuer wherein hee washeth called Tâ—ppee with the names of other Riuers in India celebrated for these customary washings as Gonga and Nâ—rboda with other like Riuers the party shaking in his hand certaine graines of Rice as his offering on the water receiuing absolution for sinnes past is there dismissed Secondly they vse a certaine Vnction in the forehead of red painting that hauing certaine graines stucke in the glutinous matter is as their testimony that God hath marked them for his people this is no other then to keepe in minde the memory of their Baptisme which accordingly as the Marke vanisheth is daily by them renewed according to their Washings with the vtterance of certaine words accompanying the action to put them in minde to bee such as becommeth Gods marke Thirdly they are enioyned to tender certaine Offerings and Prayers vnder greene Trees the originall of which custome they deriue from Wyse to whom they say God appeared by vision vnder a Tree as is formerly mentioned with iniunction of worshippe in those places so that the Bramanes vnder such greene Trees erect Temples to Pagods in which they giue attendance to performe Religious Rites and Ceremonies to such as repaire thither The Tree peculiarized for this worshippe is called by some as by Pliny and others Ficus Indica the Indian Figtree and by Goropius Becanus affirmed to bee the tree of life that grew in the Garden of Eden how farre sorth to be beleeued I referre to St. Walter Raleighs 1. Booke of the History of the World Part 1. Chap. 4. Parag. 1.2.3 where the more probable opinion is giuen Certaine it is that to this Tree much is attributed by them and they suppose some notable mischance shall happen to that party that violateth or iniureth the leaâ— bowe or branch of the same It is a Tree of fertill growth whose branches be spreading ample and spacious from whose boughes so dispred doe descend certaine stemmes that rooting themselues anew in the earth propagate an ofspring and so dilate it that it seemeth beyond the custome of other Trees to be capacious To this Tree when they repaire they thither bring Offerings there they receiue Vnctions and there are sprinklings of seuerall coloured powders there they pay their Adorations which they number by the clapper of a little Bell there they pray for health for riches for fruitfulnesse of issue for successe in affaires there they often celebrate their Festiuals with great concourse In which May-game of superstition to make further inquiry would be but vaine and fruitlesse Fourthly they are enioyned to certaine prayers in their Temples which may hold some resemblance with common Seruice were it purged of superstitious Ceremonie the summe of which deuotion is the repetition of certaine names of God dilated and explained where also they vse processions with singing and loud tinckling of Bels which chaunting is of their Commandements with offerings to Images and such like impertinent seruices Fiftly they are enioyned to Pilgrimages to Riuers farre remote as to the Riuer Ganges there to wash their bodies and to pay their offerings that the concourse of people repairing thither is great and the golden offrings of Treasure and Iewels throwne into his siluer waues vnualuable hee is likewise esteemed blessed and purified from sinne that can dye with a pallate moystned with that water Sixtly another portion of their worshippe they bestow in Inuocation of Saints to whom they attribute the powers of giuing successe to seuerall affaires they therefore that would bee happy in Marriage inuoke Hurmount they that are to begin the workes of Architecture Gunnez they that want health Vegenaut the Souldier in his assault in feates of Armes cryes Bimohem the miserable inuoke Syer and they that are in prosperity giue their Orisons to Mycasser Seuenthly their Law bindes them to giue worshippe to God vpon sight of any of his creatures first presented to the eye after the rising Sunne Especially they pay their deuotion to the Sunne Moone which they call the two eyes of God as also to some beasts which they hold more cleane then others they giue extraordinary kinde vsage as to Kine and Bussalaes to whom they attribute so much innocence and goodnesse by the soules of men entring into them that they besmeare the floores of their houses with their dung and thinke the ground sanctified by such pollution In the eighth place touching their Baptizings or naming of their Children the Ceremony thereof is different in the Cast of the Bramanes and other Casts For those that are of the other Casts are onely washt in water then some of the kindred of the party deliuered menaceth the point of a writing penne against the forehead of the Child with this short prayer That God would write good things in the front of that Child All those then that are present saying Amen to that prayer they giue to the Child the name by which hee shall bee called and so putting an Vnction of red oyntment in the middest of his forehead as a signe that the Infant is receiued into their Church and marked for one of Gods children the Ceremony is absolued But then the Children that are of the Cast of the Bramanes are not onely washed with water but annointed with oyle with certaine words of consecration in this maÌ„ner Oh Lord we present vnto thee this Child borne of a holy Tribe annoynted with oyle and cleansed with water vnto which adding the former Ceremonies they all pray that he may liue a righteous obseruer of the Law of the Bramanes so enquiring out the exact time of the Childs birth they calculate his Natiuity gathering by the position of the twelue signes of heauen the chances or mischances that may happen vnto him all which they conceale and at the day of the Childs Marriage which they accoumpt one of the happiest dayes in his life publisheth the dangers past and the coniecturall euils to come in the sequeale of his life In the ninth place concerning their Marriages It is considerable that the time is different from the custome of other Nations for they Marry about the seuenth yeere of their age because they accoumpt Marriage one of the most blessed actions of mans life to dye without which they accoumpt it a great vnhappinesse which often
happeneth by protractation and delay of time as also that the Parents might before their death see their Children disposed which commeth to passe by these earely coniunctions Next for their contract in Marriage the Parents of the Children doe prepare the way by priuate conference the intention and purpose being made knowne and betwixt them agreed vpon then there are Messengers and Presents sent to the Parents of the Mayden to bee married with the noyse of Trumpet and Drumme and the singing of songs in the praise of the perfections of the Bride which may truely giue her the merite of one worthy to be coueted and sought vnto which presents being accepted then there are gifts sent backe to the Bridegroome in token of their acceptance of the nuptiall proffer with like singing of Encomiasticks in praise of the Bridegroome seeting him forth to bee so well composed as may well deserue acceptation So the Bramanes appointing a day for the solemnization of the Marriage then there is a certaine Show to publish to the whole Towne this Marriage intended This Show is first by the Bridegroome who in Nuptiall pompe attended with all the mens Children in the Towne of the same Tribe some on horsebacke some in Pallankins some in Coaches all adorned with Iewels Scarfes and Pageant like habiliments make their Cursitation round about the most publicke streets in the Towne with Trumpets and kettle Drummes and guilded Pageants the Bridegroome is distinguished from the rest by a crowne on his head decked with Iewels very rich And hauing thus published himselfe The next day followeth the Bride in like pompe crowned attended with all the Girles of the same Tribe in no lesse brauery and triumphant accommodation exposed to view of the Spectators The day drawing to his decline they repaire home to accomplish the full Rites of Marriage The Ceremony obserued in their Marriage is that they neuer are conioyned together but at the going downe of the Sunne at which time a fire is made and interposed betweene the Married couple to intimate the ardency that ought to be in their affections then there is a silken string that incloseth both their bodies to witnesse the insoluble bond of wedlocke that in Marriage there ought to bee no desertion or forsaking one another After this bond there is a cloath interposed betwixt them shewing that before Marriage they ought not to make their nakednesse knowne one to another this custome they say was taken from the meeting of Brammon with Sauatree who because they were naked couered their immodest parts till the words of Matrimony were vttered So the Bramanes pronouncing certaine words enioyning the man to affoord all things conuenient to the woman and charging the Woman to loyalty in the marriage vowe with pronunciation of a blessing of fruitfull issue to them both the speeches concluded the cloath interposed rest away the bond by which they were engirt vnloosed and after that full freedome to communicate themselues to each other Dowry there is none giuen that the drifts of Marriage might not be mercenary saue the Iewels worne on the Bridall day and to the Feast none repaire but those of the same Cast. To conclude in marriage they haue some particular legall iniunctions by which the Tribes are differenced as first that no woman may bee admitted to second Marriage except in the Tribe of Wyse which are in the handycrafts men Secondly that men in all Tribes are admitted to second Marriages except in the Bramanes Thirdly that euery Tribe do marry of such as are of his owne Cast Therefore the Bramanes must marry with such as are descended from the Bramanes and the Cutteryes with such as are descended from the Cutteryes so likewise the Shudderyes But the Wyses are not onely enioyned to match into their owne Tribe but into such as be of their owne Trade as a Barbers sonne to a Barbers daughter and so of others to keepe their Tribes and Trades from commixtion Lastly as for their burials this is their custome when any man is desperately sicke and past hope of recouery they inioyne him to vtter Narraune which is one of the names of God importing Mercy to Sinners of which mercy at that time he standeth most in need His spirits languishing they stretch out his hand pouring faire water into it as the offering of his life praying to Kistner uppon the God of the water to present him pure to God with this offering of his hand His life being departed they wash his body as a testimony of his cleannesse and purity this is the Ceremony obserued in the visitation of their sicke After this for the buriall of their dead it is after this manner First they beare the dead body to a Riuers side appropriate to such purpose where setting the Corps downe on the ground the Bramane vttereth these words Oh earth wee commend vnto thee this our Brother whilst he liued thou hadst an interest in him of the earth he was made by the blessing of the earth he was fed and therefore now hee is dead we surrender him vnto thee After this putting combustible matter to the body accended and lighted by the helpe of sweete oyle and aromaticall odours strowed thereon the Bramane saith Oh Fire whilst be liued thou hadst a claime in him by whose naturall heate he subsisted wee returne therefore his body to thee that thou shouldst purge it Then the sonne of the deceased taketh a pot of water and setteth it on the ground vpon which he setteth a pot of Milke when throwing a stone at the lower pot he breaketh it to sheards which rendereth the water to losse and perishing the vessell of milke aboue defrauded of his support powreth forth his humidity on the ground likewise vpon which the Sonne thus moralizeth the action That as the stone by his violence caused the vessels to yeeld forth their humour so did the assault of sicknesse ruine his Fathers body and bring it to losse as milke or water that is spilt on the ground neuer to bee redeemed The body then being incinerated or burnt to ashes they disperse the ashes abroad into the Ayre the Bramane vttering these words Oh Ayre whilst hee liued by thee he breathed and now hauing breathed his last we yeeld him to thee The ashes falling on the water the Bramane saith Oh water whilst he liued thy moysture did sustaine him and now his body is dispersed take thy part in him So giue they euery Element his owne for as they affirme man to haue his life continued by the foure Elements so they say he ought to bee distributed amongst them at his death After this funerall solemnity the Bramane presenteth to the sonne or neerest kindred of the deceased a Register of the deceases of his Ancestors as also readeth to him the law of Mourners That for tenne dayes he must eate no Beetle nor oyle his head nor put on cleane cloathes but once euery month throughout the whole yeere on the day of the