the name of the priests among the idolatrous Indians; the successors of the ancient Brach- mans. See the article BRACHMANS.

Their name is formed from Brama, their particular deity. They are found in Siam, Malabar, China, Co- romandel, and most other eastern nations anywhere ci- vilized; but their chief seat is in Indostan*, or the Mogul's country. They have a language peculiar to themselves, which they call Shanscrit; in which they have several ancient books, written, as is alleged, by their great prophet Brahma; as the Shastram, which is their bible; and Porane, a history which they esteem sacred, and pretend to have been dictated by God him- self.

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 Gan- ges 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 com- passion and charity which is so commonly found in the mild climate of India. The others, who live abstract- ed from the world, are either weak-minded men or en- thusiasts; and abandon themselves to laziness, supersti- tion, and the dreams of metaphysics. We find in their disputes the very same ideas that occur in the writings of our most celebrated metaphysicians; such as, sub- stance, accident, priority, posteriority, immutability, in- divisibility, &c.

Their religion, which was anciently of the allegori- cal and moral kind, hath degenerated into a heap of extravagant and obscene superstitions, owing to their having realized those fictions which were intended mere- ly as so many symbols and emblems. Were it possible to obtain a sight of their sacred books, the only re- mains there are of the Indian antiquities, we might in some measure be enabled to remove the veil that enve- lopes 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 communica- tion.

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 Ma- hometan 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 proselytes; 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 participa- tion 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. Af- ter 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 re- straint upon that growing passion of the two lovers: he was fond of Feizi, who had gained his afflection 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 imposture, and asked pardon for his offence. The priest, without reproaching him in the least, seized a poignard, 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 condi- tion 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 pro- mised 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 are the only per- sons who understand the language of the sacred books, their comments on the text are the same as those that have ever been made on religious books; all the max- ims which fancy, interest, passion, or false zeal can suggest, are to be found in these volumes. See the articles SHASTAH 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 be- fore 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 al- lowed 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 daytime, and shut at night. It is filled with grotesque and monstrous fig- ures, 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 num- BRA

BRANCH, in Botany, an arm of a tree, or a part which, sprouting out from the trunk, helps to form the head or crown thereof. Branches do not spring out of the mere surface of the trunk, but are profoundly rooted therein, so as not only to penetrate into the cortical, but also the woody substance, and even the pith. The constituent parts therefore of a branch are the same as of the trunk, viz., skin, bark, wood, and pith.

See the article Plants.

Branches of a Bridle, in the manege, are two pieces of iron bended, which, in the interval between the one and the other, bear the bit-mouth, the cross-chains, and the curb; so that on one end they answer to the head-stall, and on the other to the reins, in order to keep the horse's head in subjection. With regard to their form and structure, branches are either straight, in form of a pistol, for young horses to form their mouth; or after the constable of France's fashion, proper for a horse that carries his head well. Some are in form of a gigot or leg, which will prevent horses from carrying too low: Some are in form of a bent knee, contrived for horses that arm themselves against the operation of the bit; and others after the French fashion, which is hardly above-one third of an inch at the sevile hole, and knead 1½ inch at the jarret or ham.

It is to be observed, 1. That the farther the branch is from the horse's neck, the more effect it will have. 2. That short branches, ceteris paribus, are ruder, and their effects more sudden, than those of longer. 3. That the branch is to be proportioned to the length of a horse's neck; and one may sooner err in choosing one too short than too long.

Branches of Ogives, in Architecture, are the arches of Gothic vaults. These arches, traversing from one angle to another diagonal-wise, form a cross between the other arches, which make the sides of the square, of which the arches are diagonal.

Branch-Stand, with falconers, a term used to signify the making a hawk leap from tree to tree, till the dog springs the game.