Chapter VACCA to VEDAS of V by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

(the Bramines).”—Rogerius, 3.

c. 1667.—“They say then that God, whom they call Achar, that is to say, Immoveable or Immutable, hath sent them four Books which they call Beths, a word signifying Science, because they pretend that in these Books all Sciences are comprehended. The first of these Books is called Athenba-(Atherba-)

bed, the second Zagur-bed, the third Rek-bed, the fourth Sama-bed.”—Bernier, E.T. 104; [ed. Constable, 325].

1672.—“Commanda primieramente il Veda (che è tutto il fondamento della loro fede) l’adoratione degli Idoli.”—P. Vincenzo, 313.

„ “Diese vier Theile ihres Vedam oder Gesetzbuchs werden genant Roggo Vedam, Jadura Vedam, Sama Vedam, und Tarawana Vedam. …”—Baldaeus, 556.

1689.—“Il reste maintenant à examiner sur quelles preuves les Siamois ajoutent foi à leur Bali, les Indiens à leur Beth ou Vedam, les Musulmans à leur Alcoran.”—Fleury, in Lett. Edif. xxv. 65.

1726.—“Above all it would be a matter of general utility to the Coast that some more chaplains should be maintained there for the sole purpose of studying the Sanskrits tongue (de Sanskritse taal), the head and mother tongue of most eastern languages, and once for all to make a translation of the Vedam, or Lawbook of the Heathen (which is followed not only by the Heathen on this Coast, but also, in whole or in part, in Ceylon, Malabar, Bengal, Surat, and other neighbouring Kingdoms), and thereby to give such preachers further facilities for the more powerful conviction of the Heathen here and elsewhere, on their own ground, and for the disclosure of many mysteries and other matters, with which we are now unacquainted. … This Lawbook of the Heathen, called the Vedam, had in the very old times 4 parts, though one of these is now lost. …These parts were named Roggo Vedam, Sadura or Issoure Vedam, Sama Vedam, and Tarawana or Adderawana Vedam.”—Valentijn, Keurlijke Beschryving van Choromandel, in his East Indies, v. pp. 72–73.

1745.—“Je commençais à douter si nous n’avions point été trompés par ceux qui nous avoient donné l’explication de ces cérémonies qu’ils nous avoient assurés être très-conformes à leur Vedam, c’est à dire au Livre de leur loi.”—Norbert, iii. 132.

c. 1760.—“Vedam—s.m. Hist. Superst. C’est un livre pour qui les Brames ou Nations idolâtres de l’Indostan ont la plus grande vénération … en effet, on assure que le Vedam est écrit dans une langue beaucoup plus ancienne que le Sanskrit, qui est la langue savante, connue des bramines. Le mot Vedam signifie science.”—Encylopédie, xxx. 32. This information was taken from a letter by Père Calmette, S.J. (see Lett. Edif.), who anticipated Max Müller’s chronological system of Vedic literature, in his statement that some parts of the Veda are at least 500 years later than others.

1765.—“If we compare the great purity and chaste manners of the Shastah (Shaster), with the great absurdities and impurities of the Viedam, we need not hesitate to pronounce the latter a corruption of the former.” —J. Z. Holwell, Interesting Hist. Events, &c., 2nd ed. i. 12. This gentleman also talks of the Bhades and the Viedam in the same line without a notion that the word was the same (see ibid. Pt. ii. 15, 1767).

c. 1770.—“The Bramin, bursting into tears, promised to pardon him on condition that he should swear never to translate the Bedas or sacred volumes. … From the Ganges to the Indus the Vedam is universally received as the book that contains the principles of religion.”—Raynal, tr. 1777, i. 41–42.

c. 1774.—“Si crede poi como infallibile che dai quattro suddette Bed, che in Malabar chiamano Vedam, Bramah medesimo ne retirasse sei Sastrah, cioè scienze.”—Della Tomba, 102.

1777.—“The word Ved, or Veda, signifies Knowledge or Science. The sacred writings of the Hindoos are so distinguished, of which there are four books.”—C. Wilkins, in his Heetopades, 298.

1778.—“The natives of Bengal derive their religion from a Code called the Shaster, which they assert to be the genuine scripture of Bramah, in preference to the Vedam.”—Orme, ed. 1803, ii. 5.

1778.—

“Ein indischer Brahman, geboren auf der Flur,
Der nichts gelesen als den Weda der Natur.”

Rückert, Weisheit der Bramanen, i. 1.

1782.—“… pour les rendre (les Pouranons) plus authentiques, ils ajoutèrent qu’ils étoient tirés du Védam; ce que n’étoit pas facile à vérifier, puisque depuis très longtems les Védams ne sont plus connus.”—Sonnerat, ii. 21.

1789.—

“Then Edmund begg’d his Rev’rend Master
T’instruct him in the Holy Shaster.
No sooner does the Scholar ask,
Than Goonisham begins the task,
Without a book he glibly reads
Four of his own invented Bedes.”