the name of the priests among the idolatrous Indians; the successors of the ancient Brachmans. See the title BRACHMANS.

Their name is formed from Brahma, their particular deity. They are found in Siam, Malabar, China, Coromandel, and most other eastern nations anywhere civilized; but their chief seat is in Indostan†, or the Mogul's country. They have a language peculiar to themselves, which they call Sanscrit; in which they have several ancient books, written, as is alleged, by their great prophet Brahma; as the Shagbraam, which is their bible; and Porane, a history which they esteem sacred, and pretend to have been dictated by God himself.

There are several orders of Bramins. Those who mix in society are for the most part very corrupt in their morals: they believe that the water of the Ganges will wash away all their crimes; and, as they are not subject to any civil jurisdiction, live without either restraint or virtue, excepting that character of compassion and charity which is so commonly found in the mild climate of India. The others, who live abstracted from the world, are either weak-minded men or enthusiasts; and abandon themselves to laziness, superstition, and the dreams of metaphysics. We find in their disputes the very same ideas that occur in the writings of Bramins, our most celebrated metaphysicians; such as, substance, accident, priority, posteriority, immutability, indivisibility, &c.

Their religion, which was anciently of the allegorical and moral kind, hath degenerated into a heap of extravagant and obscene superstitions, owing to their having realized those fictions which were intended merely as so many symbols and emblems. Were it possible to obtain a sight of their sacred books, the only remains there are of the Indian antiquities, we might in some measure be enabled to remove the veil that envelopes those numerous mysteries; but the following story will show how little reason there is to hope that we shall ever be intrusted with such a communication.

The emperor Mahmoud Akbar had an inclination to make himself acquainted with the principles of all the religious sects throughout his extensive provinces. Having discarded the superstitious notions with which he had been prepossessed by his education in the Mahometan faith, he resolved to judge for himself. It was easy for him to be acquainted with the nature of those systems that are formed upon the plan of making prophecies; but he found himself disappointed in his design when he came to treat with the Indians, who will not admit any person whatever to the participation of their mysteries. Neither the authority nor promises of Akbar could prevail with the Bramins to disclose the tenets of their religion; he was therefore obliged to have recourse to artifice. The stratagem he made use of was to cause a boy, of the name of Feizi, to be committed to the care of these priests, as a poor orphan of the sacerdotal line, who alone could be initiated into the sacred rites of their theology. Feizi, having received the proper instructions for the part he was to act, was conveyed privately to Benares, the seat of knowledge in Indostan; he was received into the house of a learned Bramin, who educated him with the same care as if he had been his own son. After the youth had spent ten years in study, Akbar was desirous of recalling him; but he was struck with the charms of the daughter of his preceptor. The women of the sacerdotal tribe are looked upon as the greatest beauties in Indostan. The old Bramin laid no restraint upon that growing passion of the two lovers: he was fond of Feizi, who had gained his affection by his address and docility; and offered him his daughter in marriage. The young man, divided between love and gratitude, resolved to conceal the fraud no longer; and falling at the feet of the Bramin, discovered the imposition, and asked pardon for his offence. The priest, without reproaching him in the least, seized a poniard which hung at his girdle, and was going to plunge it in his breast, if Feizi had not prevented him by taking hold of his arm. The young man used every means to pacify him, and declared himself ready to do anything to expiate his treachery. The Bramin, bursting into tears, promised to pardon him on condition that he should swear never to translate the Bedas or sacred volumes, or disclose to any person whatever the symbol of the Bramin creed. Feizi readily promised all that the Bramin required: how far he kept his word is not known; but the sacred books of the Indians have never been translated by him, or any one else, to this day. As the Bramins, Bramins are the only persons who understand the language of the sacred book; their comments on the text are the same as those that have ever been made on religious books; all the maxims which fancy, interest, passion, or false zeal can suggest, are to be found in these volumes. See the articles Shaf'tah and Vedam.

They own a supreme God, who created Brama, and gave him a power to create the world. They have also their subaltern deities, their pagods or temples, and idols, whom they fan to defend from flies, dancing before them. They also hold a feast in honour of the sun, considered as the source of light and heat, whereby all nature is fecundified.

Their pagods or temples consist of three parts. The first is a vaulted roof, supported on stone columns; it lies open, and all persons, without distinction, are allowed to enter into it. It is adorned with symbolical figures, made of wood, as elephants, oxen, and horses. The second part is open in the day-time, and shut at night. It is filled with grotesque and monstrous figures, as men with many heads and arms. The third, which is a kind of chancel, is kept always shut, with a very strong gate. In this is placed the statue of the deity to whom the pagod is dedicated. A great number of lamps burn day and night before the idol. The Bramins, before they go into the pagod, pull off their shoes, and leave them at the door.

The Bramins of Siam and Coromandel maintain that the earth will be destroyed by fire; and the former assert that another will arise out of its ashes, in which there shall be no sea, nor any change of seasons, but an eternal spring; and the latter maintain a plurality of worlds, which are alternately destroyed and renewed.

Robert de Nobili, an Italian Jesuit, and one of the Indian missionaries, in the beginning of the 17th century, in order to secure success to his mission, assumed the title and appearance of a Bramin, and at length persuaded the credulous people that he was in reality a member of that venerable order. He forged a deed in the ancient Indian characters, showing that the Bramins of Rome were older than those of India, and that the Jesuits of Rome descended in a direct line from the god Brahma. He farther declared on oath, that he derived his origin from this Indian deity. By this imposture he professedly twelve eminent Bramins, whose influence proved very favourable to his mission. After his death, the Portuguese Jesuits carried on the imposture with very considerable success. These missions, however, were suspended and abandoned in consequence of a papal mandate, issued out in the year 1744, by Benedict XIV. who declared his disapprobation of the artifices that had been used in the conversion of the Indians. See further under the article Observatory.