in modern history, according to the common acceptation of the term, denote the professors of the religion of the bramins or brahmans, who inhabit the country called Hindoostan, in the East Indies, from the word flan, a "region," and bind or hindoo; which Ferishteh, as we learn from colonel Dow's translation of his history, supposes to have been a son of Ham the son of Noah. It is observed, however, that Hindoo is not the name by which the inhabitants originally styled themselves; but according to the idiom of the Schanscrit which they use, jumbodeep, from jumbo, a "jackall;" an animal common in their country; and deep, a large portion of land surrounded by the sea; or bheretkhunt, from khunt, i.e., "a continent," and bherhut, the name of one of the first Indian rajahs. It is also to be observed, that they have assumed the name of Hindoos only since the era of the Tartar government, to distinguish themselves from their conquerors the Musulmans. The term Gentoo or Gents, in the Schanscrit dialect, denotes animal in general, and in its more confined sense mankind, and is never appropriated particularly to such as follow the doctrines of Brhima. These are divided into four great tribes, each of which has its own separate appellation; but they have no common or collective term that comprehends the whole nation under the idea affixed by the Europeans to the word Gentoo. Mr Halhed, in the preface to his translation of the Code of Gentoo Laws, conjectures, that the Portuguese, on their first arrival in India, hearing the word frequently in the mouths of the natives, as applied to mankind in general, might adopt it for the domestic appellation of the Indians themselves, or perhaps their bigotry might force from the word Gentoo a fanciful allusion to Gentile or Pagan. The Hindoos, or Gentooes, vie with the Chinese as to the antiquity of their nation. They reckon the duration of the world by four jagues, or distinct ages: the first is the Suttee jague, or age of purity, which is said to have lasted about 3,200,000 years; during which the life of man was 100,000 years, and his stature 21 cubits: the second, the Tirat jague, or the age in which one-third of mankind were reprobate; which consisted of 2,400,000 years, when men lived to the age of 10,000 years: the third, the Dwapar-jague, in which half of the human race became depraved; which endured to 600,000 years, when mens lives were reduced to 1000 years: and fourthly, the Collee jague, in which all mankind were corrupted, or rather diminished, which the word collee imports. This is the present era, which they suppose will subsist for 400,000 years, of which near 5000 are already past; and man's life in this period is limited to 100 years. It is supposed by many authors, that most of the Gentoo shafters, or scriptures, were composed about the beginning of the Collee jague; but an objection occurs against this supposition, viz. that the shafters take no notice of the deluge; to which the bramins reply, that all their scriptures were written before the time of Noah, and the deluge never extended to Hindoostan. Nevertheless, it appears from the shafters themselves, that they claim a much higher antiquity than this; instances of which are recited by Mr Halhed.

The doctrine of transmigration is one of the distinguishing tenets of the Gentooes. With regard to this subject, it is their opinion, according to Mr Holwell, that those souls which have attained to a certain degree of purity, either by the innocence of their manners or the severity of their mortifications, are removed to regions of happiness proportioned to their respective merits; but that those who cannot so far surmount the prevalence of bad example, and the powerful degeneracy of the times, as to deserve such a promotion, are condemned to undergo continual punishment in the animation of successive animal forms, until, at the stated period, another renovation of the four jagues shall commence, upon the dissolution of the present. They imagine six different spheres above this earth; the highest of which, called futtee, is the residence of Brhima and his particular favourites. This sphere is also the habitation of those men who never uttered a falsehood, and of those women who have voluntarily burned themselves with their husbands; the propriety of which practice is expressly enjoined in the code of the Gentoo laws. This code, printed by the East-India Company in 1776, is a very curious collection of Hindoo jurisprudence, which was selected by the most experienced pundits or lawyers, from curious originals in the Schanscrit language, who were employed for this purpose from May 1773 to February 1775; afterwards translated into the Persian idiom, and then into the English language by Mr Halhed.

The several institutes contained in this collection are interwoven with the religion of the Gentooes, and revered as of the highest authority. The curious reader will discover an astonishing similarity between the institutes of this code and many of the ordinances of the Jewish law; between the character of the bramins or priests, and the Levites; and between the ceremony of the scape-goat under the Mosaic dispensation, and a Gentoo ceremony called the afkummed jug, in which a horse answers the purpose of the goat. Many obsolete customs and usages alluded to in many parts of the Old Testament, may also receive illustrations from the institutes of this code. It appears from the code, that the bramins, who are the priests and legislators of the country, have resigned all the secular and executive power into the hands of another caste or tribe; and no bramin has been properly capable of the magistracy since the time of the futtee jague. The only privilege of importance which they have appropriated to themselves, is an exemption from all capital punishment: they may be degraded, branded, imprisoned for life, or sent into perpetual exile; but it is everywhere expressly ordained, that a bramin shall not be put to death on any account whatsoever. We have already observed, that the Hindoos are divided into four great and original tribes, which, according to the Gentoo theology, proceeded from the four different members of Brhima, the supposed immediate agent of the creation under the spirit of the Almighty. These tribes are the bramins, which proceeded from his mouth, and whose office is to pray, read, and instruct; the Chehteree, which proceed from his arms, whose office is to draw the bow, to fight, and to govern; the Bice, proceeding from the belly or thighs, who are to provide the necessaries of life by agriculture and traffic; and the Sooder, from the feet, which are ordained to labour, serve, and travel.

Few Christians, says the translator of the Gentoo code, have expressed themselves with a more becoming reverence of the grand and impartial designs of Providence in all its works, or with a more extensive charity towards all their fellow-creatures of every profession, than the Gentooos. It is indeed an article of faith among the bramins, that God's all-merciful power would not have permitted such a number of different religions, if he had not found a pleasure in beholding their varieties.