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OF THE HINDUS.
153 here they begin to languish under the influence of a foreign government, uuder the unsympathizing superiority which looks upon the enjoyments of a different race with disdain, under the prevalence of the doctrine which regards public holidays as deductions from public wealth, and under the principles of a system of religious faithi which, although it might be indulgent to popular recreations, camot withhold its
disapprobation of them when their objects and origin are connected with falsehood and superstition. From the operation of these causes, the Hindu festivals have already diminished both in frequency and in attraction; and they may become, in the course of time, as little familiar to the people of India as those of European institution are to the nations of the West. They will then, perhaps, become also objects of curiosity and interest; and in anticipation of that period, and in order to secure an account of them whilst it is still possible to learn what they are, I propose to offer to the Society some notices of the religions Fasti of the Hindus and Calendar of their public festivals.
The different celebrations of the Hindus are specified in their Almanacs, and are described at length in different works, such as the Tithi Tattwa, Tithi Kiitya, Vratárka, Kála Nirnaya, the Kalpa Druma of Jaya Sinha, and others, and also in passages of several of the Puranas, particularly in the Bhavishyottara, which, as it usually occurs, treats exclusively of the festivals. The observances are, for the most part, the same in the different provinces of India, but there are some
