The writing which, at thy nativity,All-knowing Nature wrought upon thy brain.—XVIII. p. 69.Brahma is considered as the immediate creator of all things, and particularly as the disposer of each person’sfate, which he inscribes within the skull of every created being, and which the gods themselves cannot avert.—Kindersley, p. 21.Niecamp. vol. i. p. 10. § 7.It is by the sutures of the skull that these lines of destiny are formed. See also a note to Thalaba, (vol. i. p. 260, second edition,) upon a like superstition of the Mahommedans.Quand on leur reproche quclque vice, ou qu’on les reprend d’une mauvaise action, ils répondent froidement, que cela est écrit sur leur tête, et qu’ils n’ont pu faire autrement. Si vous paroissez étonné de ce langage nouveau, et que vous demandiez à voir oú cela est ecrit, ils vous montrent les diverses jointures du crâne de leur tête, prétendant que les sutures même sont les caracteres de cette écriture mysterieuse. Si vous les pressez de dechiffrer ces caracteres, et de vous faire connoitre ce qu’ils signifient, ils avouent qu’ils ne le sçavent pas. Mais puisque vous ne sçavez pas lire cette ecriture, disois-je quelquefois à ces gens entêtés, qui est-ce donc qui vous la lit? qui estce qui vous en explique le sens, et qui vous fait connoitre ce qu’elle contient? D’ailleurs ces pretendus caracteres etant les memes sur la tête de tous les hommes, d’ oú vient qu’ils agissent si différemment, et qu’ils sont si contraires les uns aux autres dans leurs vues, dans leurs desseins, et dans leurs projets?Les Brames m’ecoutoient de sang froid, et sans s’inguieter ni des contradictions oú ils tomboient, ni des consequences ridicules qu’ils etoient obligés d’avouer, Enfin, lorsgu’ils se sentoient vivement presses, toute leur ressource éloit de se retirer sans rien dire.—P. Mauduit. Lettres Edifiantes, t. x. p. 248.The Seven Earths.—XIX. p. 77.The seas which surround these earths are, 1. of salt water, inclosing our inmost earth; 2. of fresh water; 3. oftyre, curdled milk; 4. ofghee, clarified butter; 5. ofcauloo, a liquor drawn from thepullumtree; 6. of liquid sugar; 7. of milk. The whole system is inclosed in one broad circumference of pure gold, beyond which reigns impenetrable darkness.—Kindersley.I know not whether the following fable was invented to account for the saltness of our sea:“Agastya is recorded to have been very low in stature; and one day, previously to the rectifying the too oblique posture of the earth, walking with Veeshnu on the shore of the ocean, the insolent Deep asked the God, who that dwarf was strutting by his side? Veeshnu replied, it was the patriarch Agastya going to restore the earth to its true balance. The sea, in utter contempt of his pigmy, form, dashed him with his spray as he passed along; on, which the sage, greatly incensed at the designed affront,scooped up some of the water in the hollow of his hand, and drank it off: he again and again repeated the draught, nor desisted till he had drained the bed of the ocean of the entire volume of its waters. Alarmed at this effect of his holy indignation, and dreading an universal drought, the Devatas made intercession with Agastya to relent from his anger, and again restore an element so necessary to the existence of nature, both animate and inanimate. Agastya, pacified, granted their request, and discharged the imbibed fluid in a way becoming the histories of a gross physical people to relate, but by no means proper for this page; away, however, that evinced his sovereign power, while it marked his ineffable contempt for the vain fury of an element, contending with a being armed with the delegated power of the Creator of all things. After this miracle, the earth being, by the same power, restored to its just balance, Agastya and Veeshnu separated: when the latter, to prevent any similar accident occurring, commanded thegreat serpent(that is, of the sphere) to wind its enormous folds round the seven continents, of which, according to Sanscreet geography, the earth consists, and appointed, as perpetual guardians, to watch over and protect it, the eight powerful genii, so renowned in the Hindoo system of mythology, as presiding over the eight points of the world.”—Maurice.The Pauranics (said Ramachandra to Sir William Jones) will tell you that our earth is a plane figure studded with eight mountains, and surrounded by seven seas of milk, nectar, and other fluids; that the part which we inhabit is one of seven islands, to which eleven smaller isles are subordinate; that a god, riding on a huge elephant, guards each of the eight regions; and that a mountain of gold rises and gleams in the centre.—Asiatic Researches.“Eight original mountains and seven seas,Brahma,Indra, theSun, andRudra,these are permanent;not thou, not I, not this or that people. Wherefore then should anxiety be raised in our minds?”—Asiatic Res.Mount Calasay.—XIX. p. 77.The residence ofIxoruis upon the silver mountCalaja, to the south of the famous mountainMahameru, being a most delicious place, planted with all sorts of trees, that bear fruit all the year round. The roses and other flowers send forth a most odoriferous scent; and the pond at the foot of the mount is inclosed with pleasant walks of trees, that afford an agreeable shade, whilst the peacocks and divers other birds entertain the ear with their harmonious noise, as the beautiful women do the eyes. The circumjacent woods are inhabited by a certain peoplecalledMunis, orRixis, who, avoiding the conversation of others, spend their time in offering daily sacrifices to their god.It is observable, that though these pagans are generally black themselves, they do represent theseRixisto be of a fair complexion, with long white beards, and long garments hanging cross-ways, from about the neck down over the breast. They are in such high esteem among them, they believe that whom they bless are blessed, and whom they curse are cursed.Within the mountain lives another generation, calledJexaquinneraandQuendra, who are free from all trouble, spend their days in continual contemplations, praises, and prayers to God. Round about the mountain stand seven ladders, by which you ascend to a spacious plain, in the middle whereof is a bell of silver, and a square table, surrounded with nine precious stones, of divers colours. Upon this table lies a silver rose, calledTamora Pua, which contains two women as bright and fair as a pearl: one is calledBrigasiri, i. e.the Lady of the Mouth;the otherTarasiri, i.e.the Lady of the Tongue,—because they praise God with the mouth and tongue. In the centre of this rose is thetriangleofQuivelinga, which they say is the permanent residence of God.—Baldæus.O All-containing Mind,Thou who art every where!—XIX. p. 80.“Even I was even at first, not any other thing; that which exists, unperceived, supreme: afterwards I am that which is; and he who must remain, am I.“Except the First Cause, whatever may appear, and may not appear, in the mind, know that to be the mind’sMáyá, ordelusion, as light, as darkness.“As the great elements are in various beings, entering, yet not entering, (that is, pervading, not destroying,) thus am I in them, yet not in them.“Even thus far may inquiry be made by him who seeks to know the principle of mind in union and separation, which must beeverywhere, always.”—Asiatic Researches. SirW. Jones,from the Bhagavat.I am the creation and the dissolution of the whole universe. There is not any thing greater than I, and all things hang on me, even as precious gems upon a string. I am moisture in the water, light in the sun and moon, invocation in theVeds, sound in the firmament, human nature in mankind, sweet-smelling savour in the earth, glory in the source of light: In all things I am life; and I am zeal in the zealous: and know, O Arjoon! that I am the eternal seed of all nature. I am the understandingof the wise, the glory of the proud, the strength of the strong, free from lust and anger; and in animals I am desire regulated by moral fitness.—Kreeshna,in the Bhagavat-Geeta.Heart cannot think, nor tongue declare,Nor eyes of angel bearThat Glory, unimaginably bright.—XIX. p. 81.Being now in the splendorous lustre of the divine bliss and glory, I there saw in spirit the choir of the holy angels, the choir of the prophets and apostles, who, with heavenly tongues and music, sing and play around the throne of God; yet not in just such corporeal forms or shapes as are those wenowbear and walk about in; no, but in shapes all spiritual: the holy angels in the shape of a multitude of flames of fire, the souls of believers in the shape of a multitude of glittering or luminous sparkles; God’s throne in the shape, or under the appearance of a great splendour.—Hans Engelbrecht.Something analogous to this unendurable presence of Seeva is found amid the nonsense of Joanna Southcott. Apollyon is there made to say of the Lord, “thou knowest it is written, he is a consuming fire, and who can dwell in everlasting burnings? who could abide in devouring flames? Our backs are not brass, nor our sinewsiron, to dwell with God in heaven.”—Dispute between the Woman and the Powers of Darkness.The Sun himself had seem’dA speck of darkness there.—XIX. p. 82.“There the sun shines not, nor the moon and stars: these lightnings flash not in that place: how should even fire blaze there? God irradiates all this bright substance, and by its effulgence the universe is enlightened.”—From the Yajurveda. Asiat. Res.Hæc ait, et sese radiorum nocte suorumClaudit inaccessum.——Carrara.Whose cradles from some treeUnnatural hands suspended.—XXI. p. 92.I heard a voice crying out under my window; I looked out, and saw a poor young girl lamenting the unhappy case of her sister. On asking what was the matter, the reply was,Boot Laggeeosa, a demon has seized her. These unhappy people sayBoot Laggeeosa, if a child newly born will not suck; and they expose it to death in a basket, hung on the branch of a tree. One day, as Mr. Thomas and I were riding out, we saw a basket hung in a tree, in which an infant had been exposed, the skull of which remained,the rest having been devoured by ants.—Periodical Accounts of the Baptist Missionaries.That strange Indian Bird.—XXI. p. 93.The Chatookee. They say it never drinks at the streams below, but, opening its bill when it rains, it catches the drops as they fall from the clouds.—Periodical Accounts of the Baptist Missionaries, vol. ii. p. 309.The footless fowl of Heaven.—XXI. p. 93.There is a bird that falls down out of the air dead, and is found sometimes in the Molucco Islands, that has no feet at all. The bigness of her body and bill, as likewise the form of them, is much the same as a swallow’s; but the spreading out of her wings and tail has no less compass than an eagle’s. She lives and breeds in the air, comes not near the earth but for her burial, for the largeness and lightness of her wings and tail sustain her without lassitude. And the laying of her eggs, and breeding of her young, is upon the back of the male, which is made hollow, as also the breast of the female, for the more easy incubation. Also two strings, like two shoemaker’s ends, come from the hinder parts of the male, wherewith it is conceived that he is fastened closer to the female, while she hatches her eggs on the hollow ofhis back. The dew of heaven is appointed her for food, her region being too far removed from the approach of flies and such like insects.This is the entire story and philosophy of this miraculous bird inCardan, who professes himself to have seen it no less than thrice, and to have described it accordingly. The contrivances whereof, if the matter were certainly true, are as evident arguments of a Divine Providence, as that copper-ring, with the Greek36inscription upon it, was an undeniable monument of the artifice and finger of man.But that the reproach of over-much credulity may not lie uponCardanalone, Scaliger, who lay at catch with him to take him tripping wherever he could, cavils not with any thing in the whole narration but the bigness of wings and the littleness of the body; which he undertakes to correct from one of his own which was sent him byOrvesanusfrom Java. Nay, he confirms what his antagonist has wrote, partly by history and partly by reason; affirming, that himself, in his own garden, found twolittle birds with membranaceous wings utterly devoid of legs, their form was near to that of a bat’s. Nor is he deterred from the belief of the perpetual flying of theManucodiata, by the gaping of the feathers of her wings, which seem thereby less fit to sustain her body, but further makes the narration probable by what he has observed in kites hovering in the air, as he saith, for a whole hour together without flapping of her wings, or changing place. And he has found also how she may sleep in the air, from the example of fishes, which he has seen sleeping in the water without sinking themselves to the bottom, and without changing place, but lying stock still,pinnulis tantum nescia quid motiuncule meditantes, only wagging a little their fins, as heedlessly and unconcernedly as horses while they are asleep wag their ears to displace the flies that sit upon them. Wherever Scaliger admitting that the Menucodiata is perpetually on the wing in the air, he must of necessity admit also that manner of incubation that Cardan describes, else how could their generations continue?Franciscus Hernandeo affirms the same with Cardan expressly in every thing: As also Eusebius Nierembergius, who is so taken with the story of this bird, that he could not abstain from celebrating her miraculous properties in a short but elegant copy of verses; and doesafter, though confidently opposed, assert the main matter again in prose.Such are the sufferages of Cardan, Scaliger, Hernandeo, Nierembergius. But Aldrovandus rejects that fable of her feeding on the dew of heaven, and of her incubiture on the back of the male, with much scorn and indignation. And as for the former, his reasons are no ways contemptible, he alledging that dew is a body not perfectly enough mixed, or heterogenial enough for food, nor the hard bill of the bird made for such easie uses as sipping this soft moisture.To which I know not what Cardan and the rest would answer, unless this, that they mean by dew the more unctuous moisture of the air, which as it may not be alike every where, so these birds may be fitted with a natural sagacity to find it out where it is. That there is dew in this sense day and night, (as well as in the morning,) and in all seasons of the year; and therefore a constant supply of moisture and spirits to their perpetual flying, which they more copiously imbibe by reason of their exercise: That the thicker parts of this moisture stick and convert into flesh, and that the lightness of their feathers is so great, that their pains in sustaining themselves are not over-much. That what is homogeneal and simple to our sight is fit enough to be the rudiments of generation,all animals being generated of a kind of clear crystalline liquor; and that, therefore, it may be also of nutrition; that orpine and sea-house-leek are nourished and grow, being hung in the air, and that dock-weed has its root no deeper than near the upper parts of the water; and, lastly, that the bills of these birds are for their better flying, by cutting the way, and for better ornament; for the rectifying also and composing of their feathers, while they swim in the air with as much ease as swans do in river.To his great impatiency against their manner of incubation, they would happily return this answer: That the way is not ridiculous; but it may be rather necessary from what Aldrovandus himself not only acknowledges but contends for, namely, that they have no feet at all. For hence it is manifest, that they cannot light upon the ground, nor any where rest on their bellies, and be able to get on wing again, because they cannot creep out of holes of rocks, as swifts and such like short-footed birds can, they having no feet at all to creep with. Besides, as Aristotle well argues concerning the long legs of certain water-fowl, that they were made so long, because they were to wade in the water and catch fish, adding that excellent aphorism, τὰ γαρ ὄργανα πρὸς τὸ ἔργον ἡ φύσις ποιεῖ ἀλλ᾽ ὐ τὸ ἔργον πρὸς τὰ ὄργανα, so may we rationally conclude, will they say, that as the long legs of these water-fowlimply a design of their haunting the water, so want of legs in these Manucodiatas argue they are never to come down to the earth, because they can neither stand there nor get off again. And if they never come on the earth, or any other resting-place, where can their eggs be laid or hatched but on the back of the male?Besides that Cardan pleases himself with that Antiphonie in nature, that as the Ostrich being a bird, yet never flies in the air, and never rests upon the earth. And as for Aldrovandus, his presumption from the five several Manucodiatas that he had seen, and in which he could observe no such figuration of parts as implied a fitness for such a manner of incubation, Cardan will answer, Myself has seen three, and Scaliger one, who both agree against you.However, you see that both Cardan, Aldrovandus, and the rest do jointly agree in allowing the Manucodiata no feet, as also in furnishing her with two strings, hanging at the hinder parts of her body, which Aldrovandus will have to be in the female as well as in the male, though Cardan’s experience reacheth not so far.But Pighafetta and Clusius will easily end this grand controversy betwixt Cardan and Aldrovandus, if it be true which they report, and if they speak of the same kind of Birds of Paradise. For they both affirm that theyhave feet a palm long, and that with all confidence imaginable; but Nierembergius on the contrary affirms, that one that was an eye witness, and that had taken up one of these birds newly dead, told him that it had no feet at all. Johnston also gives his suffrage with Nierembergius in this, though with Aldrovandus he rejects the manner of their incubation.But unless they can raise themselves from the ground by the stiffness of some of the feathers of their wings, or rather by virtue of those nervous strings which they may have a power to stiffen when they are alive, by transfusing spirits into them, and making them serve as well instead of legs to raise them from the ground as to hang upon the boughs of trees, by a slight thing being able to raise or hold up their light-feathered bodies in the air, as a small twig will us in the water, I should rather incline to the testimony of Pighafetta and Clusius than to the judgment of the rest, and believe those mariners that told him that the legs are pulled off by them that take them, and extenterate them and dry them in the sun for either their private use or sale.Which conclusion would the best solve the credit of Aristotle, who long since has so peremptorily pronounced ὄτι πτηνὸν μόνον ὐδὲν ἐσιν ὥσπερ νευσικὸν μόνον ἐσιν ὶχθὸς. That there is not any bird that only flies as the fish only swims.But thus our Bird of Paradise is quite flown and vanished into a figment or fable. But if any one will condole the loss of so convincing an argument for a Providence that fits one thing to another, I must take the freedom to tell him, that, unless he be a greater admirer of novelty than a searcher into the indissoluble consequences of things, I shall supply his meditation with what of this nature is as strongly conclusive, and remind, that it will be his own reproach if he cannot spy as clear an inference from an ordinary truth as from either an uncertainty or a fiction. And in this regard, the bringing this doubtful narration into play may not justly seem to no purpose, it carrying so serious and castigatory a piece of pleasantry with it.The manucodiata’s living on the dew is no part of the convictiveness of a Providence in this story: But the being excellently well provided of wings and feathers,tanta levitatis supellectile exornata, as Nierembergius speaks, being so well furnished with all advantages for lightness, that it seems harder for her to sink down, as he conceits, than to be borne up in the air; that a bird thus fitted for that region should have no legs to stand on the earth, this would be a considerable indication of a discriminating Providence, that on purpose avoids all uselessness and superfluities.The other remarkable, and it is a notorious one, is the cavity on the back of the male and in the breast of the female, for incubation; and the third and last, the use of those strings, as Cardan supposes, for the better keeping them together in incubiture.If these considerations of this strange story strike so strongly upon thee as to convince thee of a Providence, think it humour and not judgment, if what I put in lieu of them, and is but ordinary, have not the same force with thee.For is not the fish’s wanting feet, (as we observed before,) she being sufficiently supplied with fins in so thick an element as the water, as great an argument for a Providence as so light a bird’s wanting feet in that thinner element of the air, the extream lightness of her furniture being appropriated to the thinness of that element? And is not the same Providence seen, and that as conspicuously, in allotting but very short legs to those birds that are called Apodeo both in Plinie and Aristotle, upon whom she has bestowed such large and strong wings, and a power of flying so long and swift, as in giving no legs at all to the manucodiata, who has still a greater power of wing and lightness of body?And as for the cavities on the back of the male and in the breast of the female, is that design of nature any morecertain and plain than in the genital parts of the male and female in all kinds of animals? What greater argument of counsel and purpose of fitting one thing for another can there be than that? And if we should make a more inward search into the contrivances of these parts in an ordinary hen, and consider how or by what force an egg of so great a growth and bigness is transmitted from the ovarium through the infundibulum into the processus of the uterus, the membranes being go thin and the passage so very small, to see to the principle of that motion cannot be thought less than divine.And if you would compare the protuberant paps of teats in the females of beasts with that cavity in the breast of the she-manucodiata, whether of them, think you, is the plainer pledge of a knowing and a designing Providence?And, lastly, for the strings that are conceived to hold together the male and female in their incubiture, what a toy is it, if compared with those invisible links and ties that engage ordinary birds to sit upon their eggs, they having no visible allurement to such a tedious service?—Henry More’sAntidote against Atheism, book 2. ch. 11.And Brama’s region, where the heavenly hoursWeave the vast circle of his age-long day.—XXIII. p. 113.They who are acquainted with day and night know that the day of Brahma is as a thousand revolutions of theYoogs, and that his night extendeth for a thousand more. On the coming of that day all things proceed from invisibility to visibility; so, on the approach of night, they are all dissolved away in that which is called invisible. The universe, even, having existed, is again dissolved; and now again, on the approach of day, by divine necessity, it is reproduced. That which, upon the dissolution of all things else, is not destroyed, is superior and of another nature from that visibility: it is invisible and eternal. He who is thus called invisible and incorruptible is even he who is called the Supreme Abode; which men having once obtained, they never more return to earth: that is my mansion.—Kreeshna,in the Bhagavat-Geeta.The guess, that Brama and his wife Saraswadi may be Abraham and Sarah, has more letters in its favour than are usually to be found in such guesses.—Niecamp, p. i, c. 10. § 2.The true cause why there is no idol of Brama (exceptthe head, which is his share in the Trimourter,) is probably to be found in the conquest of his sect. A different reason, however, is implied in the Veeda: “Of Him, it says, whose glory is so great there is no image:—He is the incomprehensible Being which illumines all, delights all, whence all proceeded;—that by which they live when born, and that to which all must return.”—Moor’sHindu Pantheon, p. 4.Yamen.—XXII. p. 99.Yamawas a child of the Sun, and thence namedVaivaswata; another of his titles wasDhermaraja, or King of Justice; and a thirdPitripeti, or Lord of the Patriarchs: but he is chiefly distinguished as Judge of departed souls; for the Hindus believe, that, when a soul leaves its body, it immediately repairs toYamapur, or the city ofYama, where it receives a just sentence from him, and thence either ascends toSwerga, or the first Heaven; or is driven down toNarac, the region of serpents; or assumes on earth the form of some animal, unless its offence had been such, that it ought to be condemned to a vegetable, or even to a mineral prison.—SirW. Jones.There is a story concerning Yamen which will remind the reader, in its purport, of the fable of Love and Death.“A famous penitent,Morrugandumagarexiby name, had, during a long series of years, served the gods with uncommon and most exemplary piety. This very virtuous man having no children, was extremely desirous of having one, and therefore daily besought the god Xiven (or Seeva) to grant him one. At length the god heard his desire, but, before he indulged it him, he asked him, whether he would have several children, who should be long-lived and wicked, or one virtuous and prudent, who should die in his sixteenth year? The penitent chose the latter: his wife conceived, and was happily delivered of the promised son, whom they named Marcandem. The boy, like his father, zealously devoted himself to the worship of Xiven; but as soon as he had attained his sixteenth year, the officers of Yhamen, god of death, were sent on the earth, to remove him from thence.“Young Marcandem being informed on what errand they were come, told them, with a resolute air, that he was resolved not to die, and that they might go back, if they pleased. They returned to their master, and told him the whole affair. Yhamen immediately mounted his great buffle, and set out. Being come, he told the youth that he acted very rashly in refusing to leave the world, and it was unjust in him, for Xiven had promised him a life only of sixteen years, and the term was expired. Butthis reason did not satisfy Marcandem, who persisted in his resolution not to die; and, fearing lest the god of death should attempt to take him away by force, he ran to his oratory, and taking the Lingam, clasped it to his breast. Mean time Yhamen came down from his buffle, threw a rope about the youth’s neck, and held him fast therewith, as also the Lingam, which Marcandem grasped with all his strength, and was going to drag them both into hell, when Xiven issued out of the Lingam, drove back the king of the dead, and gave him so furious a blow, that he killed him on the spot.“The god of death being thus slain, mankind multiplied so that the earth was no longer able to contain them. The gods represented this to Xiven, and he, at their entreaty, restored Yhamen to life, and to all the power he had before enjoyed. Yhamen immediately dispatched a herald to all parts of the world, to summon all the old men. The herald got drunk before he set out, and, without staying till the fumes of the wine were dispelled, mounted an elephant, and rode up and down the world, pursuant to his commission; and, instead of publishing this order, he declared, that it was the will and pleasure of Yamen, that, from this day forward, all the leaves, fruits, and flowers, whether ripe or green, should fall to the ground. This proclamation was no soonerissued than men began to yield to death: But before Yhamen was killed, only the old were deprived of life, and now people of all ages are summoned indiscriminately.”—Picart.Two forms inseparable in unity,Hath Yamen.—XXIII. p. 120.TheDharma-Raja, or king of justice, has two countenances; one is mild and full of benevolence; those alone who abound with virtue see it. He holds a court of justice, where are many assistants, among whom are many just and pious kings:Chitraguptaacts as chief secretary. These holy men determine what isdharmaandadharma, just and unjust. His (Dharma-Raja’s) servant is calledCarmala: he brings the righteous on celestial cars, which go of themselves, whenever holy men are to be brought in, according to the directions of theDharma-Raja, who is the sovereign of thePitris. This is called hisdivine countenance, and the righteous alone do see it. His othercountenance, orform, is calledYama; this the wicked alone can see: It has large teeth and a monstrous body,Yamais the lord ofPatala; there he orders some to be beaten, some to be cut to pieces, some to be devoured by monsters, &c. His servant is calledCashmala, who, with ropes round their necks, drags the wicked over ruggedpaths, and throws them headlong into hell. He is unmerciful, and hard is his heart: every body trembles at the sight of him.—Wilford.Asiatic Researches.Black of aspect, red of eye.—XXIII. p. 120.Punishment is the Magistrate; Punishment is the Inspirer of Terror; Punishment is the Defender from Calamity; Punishment is the Guardian of those that sleep; Punishment, with a black aspect and a red eye, tempts the guilty.—Halhed’sGentoo Code, ch. xxi. sect. 8.Azyoruca.—XXIII. p. 121.In Patala (or the infernal regions) resides the sovereign Queen of the Nagas, (large snakes, or dragons:) she is beautiful, and her name is Asyoruca. There, in a cave, she performed Taparya with such rigorous austerity, that fire sprang from her body, and formed numerous agnitiraths (places of sacred fire) in Patala. These fires, forcing their way through the earth, waters, and mountains, formed various openings or mouths, called from thence the flaming mouths, or juala muihi. By Samudr, (Oceanus,) a daughter was born unto her, called Rama-Devi. She is most beautiful; she is Lacshmi; and her name is Asyotcarsha, or Asyotcrishta. Like a jewel she remains concealed in the ocean.—Wilford.Asiat. Res.He came in all his might and majesty.—XXIV. p, 124.What is this to the coming of Seeva, as given us by Mr. Maurice, from the Seeva Paurana?“In the place of the right wheel blazed the Sun, in the place of the left was the Moon; instead of the brazen nails and bolts, which firmly held the ponderous wheels, were distributed Bramans on the right hand, and Reyshees on the left; in lieu of the canopy on the top of the chariot was overspread the vault of Heaven; the counterpoise of the wheels was on the east and west, and the four Semordres were instead of the cushions and bolsters; the four Vedas were placed as the horses of the chariot, and Saraswaty was for the bell; the piece of wood by which the horses are driven was the three-lettered Mantra, while Brama himself was the charioteer, and the Nacshatras and stars were distributed about it by way of ornaments. Sumaru was in the place of a bow, the serpent Seschanaga was stationed as the string, Veeshnu instead of an arrow, and fire was constituted its point. Ganges and other rivers were appointed its precursors; and the setting out of the chariot, with its appendages and furniture, one would affirm to be the year of twelve months gracefully moving forwards.“When Seeva, with his numerous troops and prodigiousarmy, was mounted, Brama drove so furiously, that thought itself, which, in its rapid career, compasses Heaven and Earth, could not keep pace with it. By the motion of the chariot Heaven and Earth were put into a tremor; and, as the Earth was not able to bear up under this burthen, the Cow of the Earth, Kam-deva, took upon itself to support the weight. Seeva went with intention to destroy Treepoor; and the multitude of Devatas and Reyshees and Apsaras who waited on his stirrup, opening their mouths, in transports of joy and praise, exclaimed, Jaya! Jaya! so that Parvati, not being able to bear his absence, set out to accompany Seeva, and, in an instant, was up with him; while the light which brightened on his countenance, on the arrival of Parvati, surpassed all imagination and description. The Genii of the eight regions, armed with all kinds of weapons, but particularly withagnyastra, or fire-darts, like moving mountains, advanced in front of the army; and Eendra and other Devetas, some of them mounted on elephants, some on horses, others on chariots, or on camels or buffaloes, were stationed on each side, while all the other order of Devetas, to the amount of some lacs, formed the centre. The Munietuvaras, with long hair on their heads, like Saniassis, holding their staves in their hands, danced as they went along; the Syddhyas, who revolve aboutthe heavens, opening their mouths in praise of Seeva, rained flowers upon his head; and the vaulted heaven, which is like an inverted goblet, being appointed in the place of a drum, exalted his dignity by its majestic resounding.”Throughout the Hindoo fables there is the constant mistake of bulk for sublimity.By the attribute of Deity——self-multipliedThe dreadful One appeared on every side.—XXIV. p. 124.This more than polypus power was once exerted by Krishna, on a curious occasion.It happened inDwarka, a splendid city built byViswa-karma, by command ofKrishna, on the sea-shore, in the province ofGazerat, that his musical associate,Nareda, had no wife or substitute; and he hinted to his friend the decency of sparing him one from his long catalogue of ladies.Krishnagenerously told him to win and wear any one he chose, not immediately in requisition for himself.Naredaaccordingly went wooing to one house, but found his master there; to a second—he was again forestalled; a third, the same; to a fourth, fifth, the same: in fine, after the round of sixteen thousand of these domiciliary visits, he was still forced to sigh andkeep single; forKrishnawas in every house, variously employed, and so domesticated, that each lady congratulated herself on her exclusive and uninterrupted possession of the ardent deity.—Moor’sHindu Pantheon, p. 204.Eight of the chief gods have each theirsacti, or energy, proceeding from them, differing from them in sex, but in every other respect exactly like them, with the same form, the same decorations, the same weapons, and the same vehicle.—Asiat. Res. 8vo, edit. vol. viii. p. 68. 82.The manner in which this divine power is displayed by Kehama, in his combat with Yamen, will remind some readers of the Irishman, who brought in four prisoners, and being asked how he had taken them, replied, he had surrounded them.The Amreeta,orDrink of Immortality.—XXIV. p. 129.Mr Wilkins has given the genuine history of this liquor, which was produced by churning the sea with a mountain.“There is a fair and stately mountain, and its name isMeroo, a most exalted mass of glory, reflecting the sunnyrays from the splendid surface of its gilded horns. It is clothed in gold, and is the respected haunt ofDewsandGandharvas. It is inconceivable, and not to be encompassed by sinful man; and it is guarded by dreadful serpents. Many celestial medicinal plants adorn its sides; and it stands, piercing the heaven with its aspiring summit, a mighty hill, inaccessible even by the human mind. It is adorned with trees and pleasant streams, and resoundeth with the delightful songs of various birds.“TheSoors, and all the glorious hosts of heaven, having ascended to the summit of this lofty mountain, sparkling with precious gems, and for eternal ages raised, were sitting in solemn synod, meditating the discovery of theAmreeta, the Water of Immortality. TheDew Narayanbeing also there, spoke untoBrahma, whilst theSoorswere thus consulting together, and said, ‘Let the Ocean, as a pot of milk, be churned by the united labour of theSoorsandAsoors; and when the mighty waters have been stirred up, theAmreetashall be found. Let them collect together every medicinal herb, and every precious thing, and let them stir the Ocean, and they shall discover theAmreeta.’“There is also another mighty mountain, whose name isMandar, and its rocky summits are like toweringclouds. It is clothed in a net of the entangled tendrils of the twining creeper, and resoundeth with the harmony of various birds. Innumerable savage beasts infest its borders; and it is the respected haunt ofKennars,Dews, andApsars. It standeth eleven thousandYojanabove the earth, and eleven thousand more below its surface.“As the united bands ofDewswere unable to remove this mountain, they went beforeVeeshnoo, who was sitting withBrahma, and addressed them in these words: ‘Exert, O masters! your most superior wisdom to remove the mountainMandar, and employ your utmost power for our good.’“VeeshnooandBrahmahaving said, ‘it shall be according to your wish,’ he with the lotus eye directed the King of Serpents to appear; and Ananta arose, and was instructed in that work by Brahma, and commanded byNarayanto perform it. ThenAnanta, by his power, took up that king of mountains, together with all its forests and every inhabitant thereof; and theSoorsaccompanied him into the presence of the Ocean, whom they addressed, saying, ‘We will stir up thy waters to obtain theAmreeta,’ And the Lord of the Waters replied, ‘Let me also have a share, seeing I am to bear the violent agitation that will be caused by the whirling of themountain!’ Then theSoorsandAsoorsspoke untoKoorna-raj, the King of the Tortoises, upon the strand of the Ocean, and said, ‘My lord is able to be the supporter of this mountain.’ The Tortoise replied, ‘Be it so;’ and it was placed upon his back.“So the mountain being set upon the back of the Tortoise,Eendrabegan to whirl it about as it were a machine. The mountainMandarserved as a churn, and the serpentVasoakeefor the rope; and thus in former days did theDews, andAsoors, and theDanoos, begin to stir up the waters of the ocean for the discovery of theAmreeta.“The mightyAsoorswere employed on the side of the serpent’s head, whilst all theSoorsassembled about his tail.Ananta, that sovereignDew, stood nearNarayan.“They now pull forth the serpent’s head repeatedly, and as often let it go; whilst there issued from his mouth, thus violently drawing to and fro by theSoorsandAsoors, a continual stream of fire and smoke and wind, which ascending in thick clouds, replete with lightning, it began to rain down upon the heavenly bands, who were already fatigued with their labour; whilst a shower of flowers was shaken from the top of the mountain, covering the heads of all, bothSoorsandAsoors. In the mean time the roaring of the ocean, whilst violently agitated with the whirling of the mountainMandarby theSoorsandAsoors, was like the bellowing of a mighty cloud. Thousands of the various productions of the waters were torn to pieces by the mountain, and confounded with the briny flood; and every specific being of the deep, and all the inhabitants of the great abyss which is below the earth, were annihilated; whilst, from the violent agitation of the mountain, the forest trees were dashed against each other, and precipitated from its utmost height, with all the birds thereon; from whose violent confrication a raging fire was produced, involving the whole mountain with smoke and flame, as with a dark-blue cloud, and the lightning’s vivid flash. The lion and the retreating elephant are overtaken by the devouring flames, and every vital being, and every specific thing, are consumed in the general conflagration.“The raging flames, thus spreading destruction on all sides, were at length quenched by a shower of cloud-borne water, poured down by the immortal Eendra. And now a heterogeneous stream of the concocted juices of various trees and plants ran down into the briny flood.“It was from this milk-like stream of juices, producedfrom those trees and plants and a mixture of melted gold, that theSoorsobtained their immortality.“The waters of the Ocean now being assimilated with those juices, were converted into milk, and from that milk a kind of butter was presently produced; when the heavenly bands went again into the presence ofBrahma, the granter of boons, and addressed him, saying, ‘ExceptNarayan, every otherSoorandAsooris fatigued with his labour, and still theAmreetadoth not appear; wherefore the churning of the Ocean is at a stand.’ ThenBrahmasaid untoNarayan, ‘Endue them with recruited strength, for thou art their support.’ AndNarayananswered and said, ‘I will give fresh vigour to such as co-operate in the work. LetMandarbe whirled about, and the bed of the ocean be kept steady.’“When they heard the words ofNarayan, they all returned again to the work, and began to stir about with great force that butter of the ocean, when there presently arose from out the troubled deep, first the Moon, with a pleasing countenance, shining with ten thousand beams of gentle light; next followedSree, the goddess of fortune, whose seat is the white lily of the waters; thenSoora-Devee, the goddess of wine, and the white horse calledOochisrava. And after these there was produced from the unctuous mass the jewelKowstoobh, that glorioussparkling gem worn by Narayan on his breast; alsoPareejat, the tree of plenty, andSoorabhee, the cow that granted every heart’s desire.“The moon,Soora-Devee, the goddess ofSree, and the Horse, as swift as thought, instantly marched away towards theDews, keeping in the path of the Sun.“Then theDew Dhanwantaree, in human shape, came forth, holding in his hand a white vessel filled with the immortal juiceAmreeta. When theAsoorsbeheld these wondrous things appear, they raised their tumultuous voices for theAmreeta, and each of them clamorously exclaimed, ‘This of right is mine.’“In the mean timeTravat, a mighty elephant, arose, now kept by the god of thunder; and as they continued to churn the ocean more than enough, that deadly poison issued from its bed, burning like a raging fire, whose dreadful fumes in a moment spread throughout the world, confounding the three regions of the universe with the mortal stench, untilSeev, at the word ofBrahma, swallowed the fatal drug, to save mankind; which, remaining in the throat of that sovereignDewof magic form, from that time he hath been calledNeel-Kant, because his throat was stained blue.“When theAsoorsbeheld this miraculous deed, theybecame desperate, and theAmreetaand the goddessSreebecame the source of endless hatred.“ThenNarayanassumed the character and person ofMoheenee Maya, the power of enchantment, in a female form of wonderful beauty, and stood before theAsoors, whose minds being fascinated by her presence, and deprived of reason, they seized theAmreeta, and gave it unto her.“TheAsoorsnow clothe themselves in costly armour, and, seizing their various weapons, rush on together to attack theSoors. In the mean timeNarayan, in the female form, having obtained theAmreetafrom the hands of their leader, the hosts ofSoors, during the tumult and confusion of theAsoors, drank of the living water.“And it so fell out, that whilst theSoorswere quenching their thirst for immortality,Rahoo, anAsoor, assumed the form of aSoor, and began to drink also: And the water had but reached his throat, when the Sun and Moon, in friendship to theSoors, discovered the deceit; and instantlyNarayancut off his head as he was drinking, with his splendid weaponChakra. And the gigantic head of theAsoor, emblem of a mountain’s summit, being thus separated from his body by theChakra’sedge, bounded into the heavens with a dreadful cry, whilst his ponderous trunk fell, cleaving the ground asunder, andshaking the whole earth unto its foundation, with all its islands, rocks, and forests: And from that time the head of Rahoo resolved an eternal enmity, and continueth, even unto this day, at times to seize upon the Sun and Moon.“Now Narayan, having quitted the female figure he had assumed, began to disturb theAsoorswith sundry celestial weapons: and from that instant a dreadful battle was commenced, on the ocean’s briny strand, between theAsoorsand theSoors. Innumerable sharp and missile weapons were hurled, and thousands of piercing darts and battle-axes fell on all sides. TheAsoorsvomit blood from the wounds of theChakra, and fall upon the ground pierced by the sword, the spear, and spiked club. Heads, glittering with polished gold, divided by thePattees’blade, drop incessantly; and mangled bodies, wallowing in their gore, lay like fragments of mighty rocks, sparkling with gems and precious ores. Millions of sighs and groans arise on every side; and the sun is overcast with blood, as they clash their arms, and wound each other with their dreadful instruments of destruction.“Now the battle is fought with the iron-spiked club, and, as they close, with clenched fist; and the din of war ascendeth to the heavens. They cry ‘Pursue!strike! fell to the ground!’ so that a horrid and tumultuous noise is heard on all sides.“In the midst of this dreadful hurry and confusion of the fight,NarandNarayanentered the field together.Narayan, beholding a celestial bow in the hand ofNar, it reminded him of hisChakra, the destroyer of theAsoors. The faithful weapon, by nameSoodarsan, ready at the mind’s call, flew down from heaven with direct and refulgent speed, beautiful, yet terrible to behold: And being arrived, glowing like the sacrificial flame, and spreading terror around,Narayan, with his right arm formed like the elephantine trunk, hurled forth the ponderous orb, the speedy messenger and glorious ruin of hostile towns; who, raging like the final all-destroying fire, shot bounding with desolating force, killing thousands of theAsoorsin his rapid flight, burning and involving, like the lambent flame, and cutting down all that would oppose him. Anon he climbeth the heavens, and now again darteth into the field like aPeesach, to feast in blood.“Now the dauntlessAsoorsstrive, with repeated strength, to crush theSoorswith rocks and mountains, which, hurled in vast numbers into the heavens, appeared like scattered clouds, and fell, with all the trees thereon, in millions of fear-exciting torrents, strikingviolently against each other with a mighty noise; and in their fall the earth, with all its fields and forests, is driven from its foundation: they thunder furiously at each other as they roll along the field, and spend their strength in mutual conflict.“NowNar, seeing theSoorsoverwhelmed with fear, filled up the path to Heaven with showers of golden-headed arrows, and split the mountain summits with his unerring shafts; and theAsoorsfinding themselves again sore pressed by theSoors, precipitately flee; some rush headlong into the briny waters of the ocean, and others hide themselves within the bowels of the earth.“The rage of the gloriousChakra,Soodarsan, which for a while burnt like the oil-fed fire, now grew cool, and he retired into the heavens from whence he came. And theSoorshaving obtained the victory, the mountainMandarwas carried back to its former station with great respect, whilst the waters also retired, filling the firmament and the heavens with their dreadful roarings.“TheSoorsguarded theAmreetawith great care, and rejoiced exceedingly because of their success. AndEendra, with all his immortal bands, gave the water of life intoNarayan, to keep it for their use.”—Mahabharat.Amrita, or Immortal, is, according to Sir WilliamJones, the name which the mythologists of Tibet apply to a celestial tree, bearing ambrosial fruit, and adjoining to four vast rocks, from which as many sacred rivers derive their several streams.END OF VOLUME SECOND.FOOTNOTES.[30] ProperlyTeica, an ornament of gold placed above the nose.RETURN[31] Pendents.RETURN[32]Seita Cund, or thePool of Seita, the wife of Rani, is the name given to the wonderful spring at Mangeir, with boiling water, of exquisite clearness and purity.RETURN[33] Her tears, when she was made captive by the giantRawan.RETURN[34] A small mirror worn in a ring.RETURN[35] Bracelets.RETURN[36] The inscription runs thus: Εἰμι ἐκεῖνος ἰχθὸς ταύτη λίμνη παντοπρωτος ἐπιτεθεὶς διὰ τῦ κοσμητῦ φεδηρίκυ β τὰς χεῖρας εν τὴ έ. ἡμερα τῦ Ὁκτωζρίυ. α.σ.λ. This pike was taken about Hailprun, the imperial city of Suevia, in the year 1497.—Gesner.RETURNEND OF FOOTNOTES.
The writing which, at thy nativity,All-knowing Nature wrought upon thy brain.—XVIII. p. 69.
Brahma is considered as the immediate creator of all things, and particularly as the disposer of each person’sfate, which he inscribes within the skull of every created being, and which the gods themselves cannot avert.—Kindersley, p. 21.Niecamp. vol. i. p. 10. § 7.
It is by the sutures of the skull that these lines of destiny are formed. See also a note to Thalaba, (vol. i. p. 260, second edition,) upon a like superstition of the Mahommedans.
Quand on leur reproche quclque vice, ou qu’on les reprend d’une mauvaise action, ils répondent froidement, que cela est écrit sur leur tête, et qu’ils n’ont pu faire autrement. Si vous paroissez étonné de ce langage nouveau, et que vous demandiez à voir oú cela est ecrit, ils vous montrent les diverses jointures du crâne de leur tête, prétendant que les sutures même sont les caracteres de cette écriture mysterieuse. Si vous les pressez de dechiffrer ces caracteres, et de vous faire connoitre ce qu’ils signifient, ils avouent qu’ils ne le sçavent pas. Mais puisque vous ne sçavez pas lire cette ecriture, disois-je quelquefois à ces gens entêtés, qui est-ce donc qui vous la lit? qui estce qui vous en explique le sens, et qui vous fait connoitre ce qu’elle contient? D’ailleurs ces pretendus caracteres etant les memes sur la tête de tous les hommes, d’ oú vient qu’ils agissent si différemment, et qu’ils sont si contraires les uns aux autres dans leurs vues, dans leurs desseins, et dans leurs projets?
Les Brames m’ecoutoient de sang froid, et sans s’inguieter ni des contradictions oú ils tomboient, ni des consequences ridicules qu’ils etoient obligés d’avouer, Enfin, lorsgu’ils se sentoient vivement presses, toute leur ressource éloit de se retirer sans rien dire.—P. Mauduit. Lettres Edifiantes, t. x. p. 248.
The Seven Earths.—XIX. p. 77.
The seas which surround these earths are, 1. of salt water, inclosing our inmost earth; 2. of fresh water; 3. oftyre, curdled milk; 4. ofghee, clarified butter; 5. ofcauloo, a liquor drawn from thepullumtree; 6. of liquid sugar; 7. of milk. The whole system is inclosed in one broad circumference of pure gold, beyond which reigns impenetrable darkness.—Kindersley.
I know not whether the following fable was invented to account for the saltness of our sea:
“Agastya is recorded to have been very low in stature; and one day, previously to the rectifying the too oblique posture of the earth, walking with Veeshnu on the shore of the ocean, the insolent Deep asked the God, who that dwarf was strutting by his side? Veeshnu replied, it was the patriarch Agastya going to restore the earth to its true balance. The sea, in utter contempt of his pigmy, form, dashed him with his spray as he passed along; on, which the sage, greatly incensed at the designed affront,scooped up some of the water in the hollow of his hand, and drank it off: he again and again repeated the draught, nor desisted till he had drained the bed of the ocean of the entire volume of its waters. Alarmed at this effect of his holy indignation, and dreading an universal drought, the Devatas made intercession with Agastya to relent from his anger, and again restore an element so necessary to the existence of nature, both animate and inanimate. Agastya, pacified, granted their request, and discharged the imbibed fluid in a way becoming the histories of a gross physical people to relate, but by no means proper for this page; away, however, that evinced his sovereign power, while it marked his ineffable contempt for the vain fury of an element, contending with a being armed with the delegated power of the Creator of all things. After this miracle, the earth being, by the same power, restored to its just balance, Agastya and Veeshnu separated: when the latter, to prevent any similar accident occurring, commanded thegreat serpent(that is, of the sphere) to wind its enormous folds round the seven continents, of which, according to Sanscreet geography, the earth consists, and appointed, as perpetual guardians, to watch over and protect it, the eight powerful genii, so renowned in the Hindoo system of mythology, as presiding over the eight points of the world.”—Maurice.
The Pauranics (said Ramachandra to Sir William Jones) will tell you that our earth is a plane figure studded with eight mountains, and surrounded by seven seas of milk, nectar, and other fluids; that the part which we inhabit is one of seven islands, to which eleven smaller isles are subordinate; that a god, riding on a huge elephant, guards each of the eight regions; and that a mountain of gold rises and gleams in the centre.—Asiatic Researches.
“Eight original mountains and seven seas,Brahma,Indra, theSun, andRudra,these are permanent;not thou, not I, not this or that people. Wherefore then should anxiety be raised in our minds?”—Asiatic Res.
Mount Calasay.—XIX. p. 77.
The residence ofIxoruis upon the silver mountCalaja, to the south of the famous mountainMahameru, being a most delicious place, planted with all sorts of trees, that bear fruit all the year round. The roses and other flowers send forth a most odoriferous scent; and the pond at the foot of the mount is inclosed with pleasant walks of trees, that afford an agreeable shade, whilst the peacocks and divers other birds entertain the ear with their harmonious noise, as the beautiful women do the eyes. The circumjacent woods are inhabited by a certain peoplecalledMunis, orRixis, who, avoiding the conversation of others, spend their time in offering daily sacrifices to their god.
It is observable, that though these pagans are generally black themselves, they do represent theseRixisto be of a fair complexion, with long white beards, and long garments hanging cross-ways, from about the neck down over the breast. They are in such high esteem among them, they believe that whom they bless are blessed, and whom they curse are cursed.
Within the mountain lives another generation, calledJexaquinneraandQuendra, who are free from all trouble, spend their days in continual contemplations, praises, and prayers to God. Round about the mountain stand seven ladders, by which you ascend to a spacious plain, in the middle whereof is a bell of silver, and a square table, surrounded with nine precious stones, of divers colours. Upon this table lies a silver rose, calledTamora Pua, which contains two women as bright and fair as a pearl: one is calledBrigasiri, i. e.the Lady of the Mouth;the otherTarasiri, i.e.the Lady of the Tongue,—because they praise God with the mouth and tongue. In the centre of this rose is thetriangleofQuivelinga, which they say is the permanent residence of God.—Baldæus.
O All-containing Mind,Thou who art every where!—XIX. p. 80.
“Even I was even at first, not any other thing; that which exists, unperceived, supreme: afterwards I am that which is; and he who must remain, am I.
“Except the First Cause, whatever may appear, and may not appear, in the mind, know that to be the mind’sMáyá, ordelusion, as light, as darkness.
“As the great elements are in various beings, entering, yet not entering, (that is, pervading, not destroying,) thus am I in them, yet not in them.
“Even thus far may inquiry be made by him who seeks to know the principle of mind in union and separation, which must beeverywhere, always.”—Asiatic Researches. SirW. Jones,from the Bhagavat.
I am the creation and the dissolution of the whole universe. There is not any thing greater than I, and all things hang on me, even as precious gems upon a string. I am moisture in the water, light in the sun and moon, invocation in theVeds, sound in the firmament, human nature in mankind, sweet-smelling savour in the earth, glory in the source of light: In all things I am life; and I am zeal in the zealous: and know, O Arjoon! that I am the eternal seed of all nature. I am the understandingof the wise, the glory of the proud, the strength of the strong, free from lust and anger; and in animals I am desire regulated by moral fitness.—Kreeshna,in the Bhagavat-Geeta.
Heart cannot think, nor tongue declare,Nor eyes of angel bearThat Glory, unimaginably bright.—XIX. p. 81.
Being now in the splendorous lustre of the divine bliss and glory, I there saw in spirit the choir of the holy angels, the choir of the prophets and apostles, who, with heavenly tongues and music, sing and play around the throne of God; yet not in just such corporeal forms or shapes as are those wenowbear and walk about in; no, but in shapes all spiritual: the holy angels in the shape of a multitude of flames of fire, the souls of believers in the shape of a multitude of glittering or luminous sparkles; God’s throne in the shape, or under the appearance of a great splendour.—Hans Engelbrecht.
Something analogous to this unendurable presence of Seeva is found amid the nonsense of Joanna Southcott. Apollyon is there made to say of the Lord, “thou knowest it is written, he is a consuming fire, and who can dwell in everlasting burnings? who could abide in devouring flames? Our backs are not brass, nor our sinewsiron, to dwell with God in heaven.”—Dispute between the Woman and the Powers of Darkness.
The Sun himself had seem’dA speck of darkness there.—XIX. p. 82.
“There the sun shines not, nor the moon and stars: these lightnings flash not in that place: how should even fire blaze there? God irradiates all this bright substance, and by its effulgence the universe is enlightened.”—From the Yajurveda. Asiat. Res.
Hæc ait, et sese radiorum nocte suorumClaudit inaccessum.——Carrara.
Hæc ait, et sese radiorum nocte suorumClaudit inaccessum.——Carrara.
Whose cradles from some treeUnnatural hands suspended.—XXI. p. 92.
I heard a voice crying out under my window; I looked out, and saw a poor young girl lamenting the unhappy case of her sister. On asking what was the matter, the reply was,Boot Laggeeosa, a demon has seized her. These unhappy people sayBoot Laggeeosa, if a child newly born will not suck; and they expose it to death in a basket, hung on the branch of a tree. One day, as Mr. Thomas and I were riding out, we saw a basket hung in a tree, in which an infant had been exposed, the skull of which remained,the rest having been devoured by ants.—Periodical Accounts of the Baptist Missionaries.
That strange Indian Bird.—XXI. p. 93.
The Chatookee. They say it never drinks at the streams below, but, opening its bill when it rains, it catches the drops as they fall from the clouds.—Periodical Accounts of the Baptist Missionaries, vol. ii. p. 309.
The footless fowl of Heaven.—XXI. p. 93.
There is a bird that falls down out of the air dead, and is found sometimes in the Molucco Islands, that has no feet at all. The bigness of her body and bill, as likewise the form of them, is much the same as a swallow’s; but the spreading out of her wings and tail has no less compass than an eagle’s. She lives and breeds in the air, comes not near the earth but for her burial, for the largeness and lightness of her wings and tail sustain her without lassitude. And the laying of her eggs, and breeding of her young, is upon the back of the male, which is made hollow, as also the breast of the female, for the more easy incubation. Also two strings, like two shoemaker’s ends, come from the hinder parts of the male, wherewith it is conceived that he is fastened closer to the female, while she hatches her eggs on the hollow ofhis back. The dew of heaven is appointed her for food, her region being too far removed from the approach of flies and such like insects.
This is the entire story and philosophy of this miraculous bird inCardan, who professes himself to have seen it no less than thrice, and to have described it accordingly. The contrivances whereof, if the matter were certainly true, are as evident arguments of a Divine Providence, as that copper-ring, with the Greek36inscription upon it, was an undeniable monument of the artifice and finger of man.
But that the reproach of over-much credulity may not lie uponCardanalone, Scaliger, who lay at catch with him to take him tripping wherever he could, cavils not with any thing in the whole narration but the bigness of wings and the littleness of the body; which he undertakes to correct from one of his own which was sent him byOrvesanusfrom Java. Nay, he confirms what his antagonist has wrote, partly by history and partly by reason; affirming, that himself, in his own garden, found twolittle birds with membranaceous wings utterly devoid of legs, their form was near to that of a bat’s. Nor is he deterred from the belief of the perpetual flying of theManucodiata, by the gaping of the feathers of her wings, which seem thereby less fit to sustain her body, but further makes the narration probable by what he has observed in kites hovering in the air, as he saith, for a whole hour together without flapping of her wings, or changing place. And he has found also how she may sleep in the air, from the example of fishes, which he has seen sleeping in the water without sinking themselves to the bottom, and without changing place, but lying stock still,pinnulis tantum nescia quid motiuncule meditantes, only wagging a little their fins, as heedlessly and unconcernedly as horses while they are asleep wag their ears to displace the flies that sit upon them. Wherever Scaliger admitting that the Menucodiata is perpetually on the wing in the air, he must of necessity admit also that manner of incubation that Cardan describes, else how could their generations continue?
Franciscus Hernandeo affirms the same with Cardan expressly in every thing: As also Eusebius Nierembergius, who is so taken with the story of this bird, that he could not abstain from celebrating her miraculous properties in a short but elegant copy of verses; and doesafter, though confidently opposed, assert the main matter again in prose.
Such are the sufferages of Cardan, Scaliger, Hernandeo, Nierembergius. But Aldrovandus rejects that fable of her feeding on the dew of heaven, and of her incubiture on the back of the male, with much scorn and indignation. And as for the former, his reasons are no ways contemptible, he alledging that dew is a body not perfectly enough mixed, or heterogenial enough for food, nor the hard bill of the bird made for such easie uses as sipping this soft moisture.
To which I know not what Cardan and the rest would answer, unless this, that they mean by dew the more unctuous moisture of the air, which as it may not be alike every where, so these birds may be fitted with a natural sagacity to find it out where it is. That there is dew in this sense day and night, (as well as in the morning,) and in all seasons of the year; and therefore a constant supply of moisture and spirits to their perpetual flying, which they more copiously imbibe by reason of their exercise: That the thicker parts of this moisture stick and convert into flesh, and that the lightness of their feathers is so great, that their pains in sustaining themselves are not over-much. That what is homogeneal and simple to our sight is fit enough to be the rudiments of generation,all animals being generated of a kind of clear crystalline liquor; and that, therefore, it may be also of nutrition; that orpine and sea-house-leek are nourished and grow, being hung in the air, and that dock-weed has its root no deeper than near the upper parts of the water; and, lastly, that the bills of these birds are for their better flying, by cutting the way, and for better ornament; for the rectifying also and composing of their feathers, while they swim in the air with as much ease as swans do in river.
To his great impatiency against their manner of incubation, they would happily return this answer: That the way is not ridiculous; but it may be rather necessary from what Aldrovandus himself not only acknowledges but contends for, namely, that they have no feet at all. For hence it is manifest, that they cannot light upon the ground, nor any where rest on their bellies, and be able to get on wing again, because they cannot creep out of holes of rocks, as swifts and such like short-footed birds can, they having no feet at all to creep with. Besides, as Aristotle well argues concerning the long legs of certain water-fowl, that they were made so long, because they were to wade in the water and catch fish, adding that excellent aphorism, τὰ γαρ ὄργανα πρὸς τὸ ἔργον ἡ φύσις ποιεῖ ἀλλ᾽ ὐ τὸ ἔργον πρὸς τὰ ὄργανα, so may we rationally conclude, will they say, that as the long legs of these water-fowlimply a design of their haunting the water, so want of legs in these Manucodiatas argue they are never to come down to the earth, because they can neither stand there nor get off again. And if they never come on the earth, or any other resting-place, where can their eggs be laid or hatched but on the back of the male?
Besides that Cardan pleases himself with that Antiphonie in nature, that as the Ostrich being a bird, yet never flies in the air, and never rests upon the earth. And as for Aldrovandus, his presumption from the five several Manucodiatas that he had seen, and in which he could observe no such figuration of parts as implied a fitness for such a manner of incubation, Cardan will answer, Myself has seen three, and Scaliger one, who both agree against you.
However, you see that both Cardan, Aldrovandus, and the rest do jointly agree in allowing the Manucodiata no feet, as also in furnishing her with two strings, hanging at the hinder parts of her body, which Aldrovandus will have to be in the female as well as in the male, though Cardan’s experience reacheth not so far.
But Pighafetta and Clusius will easily end this grand controversy betwixt Cardan and Aldrovandus, if it be true which they report, and if they speak of the same kind of Birds of Paradise. For they both affirm that theyhave feet a palm long, and that with all confidence imaginable; but Nierembergius on the contrary affirms, that one that was an eye witness, and that had taken up one of these birds newly dead, told him that it had no feet at all. Johnston also gives his suffrage with Nierembergius in this, though with Aldrovandus he rejects the manner of their incubation.
But unless they can raise themselves from the ground by the stiffness of some of the feathers of their wings, or rather by virtue of those nervous strings which they may have a power to stiffen when they are alive, by transfusing spirits into them, and making them serve as well instead of legs to raise them from the ground as to hang upon the boughs of trees, by a slight thing being able to raise or hold up their light-feathered bodies in the air, as a small twig will us in the water, I should rather incline to the testimony of Pighafetta and Clusius than to the judgment of the rest, and believe those mariners that told him that the legs are pulled off by them that take them, and extenterate them and dry them in the sun for either their private use or sale.
Which conclusion would the best solve the credit of Aristotle, who long since has so peremptorily pronounced ὄτι πτηνὸν μόνον ὐδὲν ἐσιν ὥσπερ νευσικὸν μόνον ἐσιν ὶχθὸς. That there is not any bird that only flies as the fish only swims.
But thus our Bird of Paradise is quite flown and vanished into a figment or fable. But if any one will condole the loss of so convincing an argument for a Providence that fits one thing to another, I must take the freedom to tell him, that, unless he be a greater admirer of novelty than a searcher into the indissoluble consequences of things, I shall supply his meditation with what of this nature is as strongly conclusive, and remind, that it will be his own reproach if he cannot spy as clear an inference from an ordinary truth as from either an uncertainty or a fiction. And in this regard, the bringing this doubtful narration into play may not justly seem to no purpose, it carrying so serious and castigatory a piece of pleasantry with it.
The manucodiata’s living on the dew is no part of the convictiveness of a Providence in this story: But the being excellently well provided of wings and feathers,tanta levitatis supellectile exornata, as Nierembergius speaks, being so well furnished with all advantages for lightness, that it seems harder for her to sink down, as he conceits, than to be borne up in the air; that a bird thus fitted for that region should have no legs to stand on the earth, this would be a considerable indication of a discriminating Providence, that on purpose avoids all uselessness and superfluities.
The other remarkable, and it is a notorious one, is the cavity on the back of the male and in the breast of the female, for incubation; and the third and last, the use of those strings, as Cardan supposes, for the better keeping them together in incubiture.
If these considerations of this strange story strike so strongly upon thee as to convince thee of a Providence, think it humour and not judgment, if what I put in lieu of them, and is but ordinary, have not the same force with thee.
For is not the fish’s wanting feet, (as we observed before,) she being sufficiently supplied with fins in so thick an element as the water, as great an argument for a Providence as so light a bird’s wanting feet in that thinner element of the air, the extream lightness of her furniture being appropriated to the thinness of that element? And is not the same Providence seen, and that as conspicuously, in allotting but very short legs to those birds that are called Apodeo both in Plinie and Aristotle, upon whom she has bestowed such large and strong wings, and a power of flying so long and swift, as in giving no legs at all to the manucodiata, who has still a greater power of wing and lightness of body?
And as for the cavities on the back of the male and in the breast of the female, is that design of nature any morecertain and plain than in the genital parts of the male and female in all kinds of animals? What greater argument of counsel and purpose of fitting one thing for another can there be than that? And if we should make a more inward search into the contrivances of these parts in an ordinary hen, and consider how or by what force an egg of so great a growth and bigness is transmitted from the ovarium through the infundibulum into the processus of the uterus, the membranes being go thin and the passage so very small, to see to the principle of that motion cannot be thought less than divine.
And if you would compare the protuberant paps of teats in the females of beasts with that cavity in the breast of the she-manucodiata, whether of them, think you, is the plainer pledge of a knowing and a designing Providence?
And, lastly, for the strings that are conceived to hold together the male and female in their incubiture, what a toy is it, if compared with those invisible links and ties that engage ordinary birds to sit upon their eggs, they having no visible allurement to such a tedious service?—Henry More’sAntidote against Atheism, book 2. ch. 11.
And Brama’s region, where the heavenly hoursWeave the vast circle of his age-long day.—XXIII. p. 113.
They who are acquainted with day and night know that the day of Brahma is as a thousand revolutions of theYoogs, and that his night extendeth for a thousand more. On the coming of that day all things proceed from invisibility to visibility; so, on the approach of night, they are all dissolved away in that which is called invisible. The universe, even, having existed, is again dissolved; and now again, on the approach of day, by divine necessity, it is reproduced. That which, upon the dissolution of all things else, is not destroyed, is superior and of another nature from that visibility: it is invisible and eternal. He who is thus called invisible and incorruptible is even he who is called the Supreme Abode; which men having once obtained, they never more return to earth: that is my mansion.—Kreeshna,in the Bhagavat-Geeta.
The guess, that Brama and his wife Saraswadi may be Abraham and Sarah, has more letters in its favour than are usually to be found in such guesses.—Niecamp, p. i, c. 10. § 2.
The true cause why there is no idol of Brama (exceptthe head, which is his share in the Trimourter,) is probably to be found in the conquest of his sect. A different reason, however, is implied in the Veeda: “Of Him, it says, whose glory is so great there is no image:—He is the incomprehensible Being which illumines all, delights all, whence all proceeded;—that by which they live when born, and that to which all must return.”—Moor’sHindu Pantheon, p. 4.
Yamen.—XXII. p. 99.
Yamawas a child of the Sun, and thence namedVaivaswata; another of his titles wasDhermaraja, or King of Justice; and a thirdPitripeti, or Lord of the Patriarchs: but he is chiefly distinguished as Judge of departed souls; for the Hindus believe, that, when a soul leaves its body, it immediately repairs toYamapur, or the city ofYama, where it receives a just sentence from him, and thence either ascends toSwerga, or the first Heaven; or is driven down toNarac, the region of serpents; or assumes on earth the form of some animal, unless its offence had been such, that it ought to be condemned to a vegetable, or even to a mineral prison.—SirW. Jones.
There is a story concerning Yamen which will remind the reader, in its purport, of the fable of Love and Death.
“A famous penitent,Morrugandumagarexiby name, had, during a long series of years, served the gods with uncommon and most exemplary piety. This very virtuous man having no children, was extremely desirous of having one, and therefore daily besought the god Xiven (or Seeva) to grant him one. At length the god heard his desire, but, before he indulged it him, he asked him, whether he would have several children, who should be long-lived and wicked, or one virtuous and prudent, who should die in his sixteenth year? The penitent chose the latter: his wife conceived, and was happily delivered of the promised son, whom they named Marcandem. The boy, like his father, zealously devoted himself to the worship of Xiven; but as soon as he had attained his sixteenth year, the officers of Yhamen, god of death, were sent on the earth, to remove him from thence.
“Young Marcandem being informed on what errand they were come, told them, with a resolute air, that he was resolved not to die, and that they might go back, if they pleased. They returned to their master, and told him the whole affair. Yhamen immediately mounted his great buffle, and set out. Being come, he told the youth that he acted very rashly in refusing to leave the world, and it was unjust in him, for Xiven had promised him a life only of sixteen years, and the term was expired. Butthis reason did not satisfy Marcandem, who persisted in his resolution not to die; and, fearing lest the god of death should attempt to take him away by force, he ran to his oratory, and taking the Lingam, clasped it to his breast. Mean time Yhamen came down from his buffle, threw a rope about the youth’s neck, and held him fast therewith, as also the Lingam, which Marcandem grasped with all his strength, and was going to drag them both into hell, when Xiven issued out of the Lingam, drove back the king of the dead, and gave him so furious a blow, that he killed him on the spot.
“The god of death being thus slain, mankind multiplied so that the earth was no longer able to contain them. The gods represented this to Xiven, and he, at their entreaty, restored Yhamen to life, and to all the power he had before enjoyed. Yhamen immediately dispatched a herald to all parts of the world, to summon all the old men. The herald got drunk before he set out, and, without staying till the fumes of the wine were dispelled, mounted an elephant, and rode up and down the world, pursuant to his commission; and, instead of publishing this order, he declared, that it was the will and pleasure of Yamen, that, from this day forward, all the leaves, fruits, and flowers, whether ripe or green, should fall to the ground. This proclamation was no soonerissued than men began to yield to death: But before Yhamen was killed, only the old were deprived of life, and now people of all ages are summoned indiscriminately.”—Picart.
Two forms inseparable in unity,Hath Yamen.—XXIII. p. 120.
TheDharma-Raja, or king of justice, has two countenances; one is mild and full of benevolence; those alone who abound with virtue see it. He holds a court of justice, where are many assistants, among whom are many just and pious kings:Chitraguptaacts as chief secretary. These holy men determine what isdharmaandadharma, just and unjust. His (Dharma-Raja’s) servant is calledCarmala: he brings the righteous on celestial cars, which go of themselves, whenever holy men are to be brought in, according to the directions of theDharma-Raja, who is the sovereign of thePitris. This is called hisdivine countenance, and the righteous alone do see it. His othercountenance, orform, is calledYama; this the wicked alone can see: It has large teeth and a monstrous body,Yamais the lord ofPatala; there he orders some to be beaten, some to be cut to pieces, some to be devoured by monsters, &c. His servant is calledCashmala, who, with ropes round their necks, drags the wicked over ruggedpaths, and throws them headlong into hell. He is unmerciful, and hard is his heart: every body trembles at the sight of him.—Wilford.Asiatic Researches.
Black of aspect, red of eye.—XXIII. p. 120.
Punishment is the Magistrate; Punishment is the Inspirer of Terror; Punishment is the Defender from Calamity; Punishment is the Guardian of those that sleep; Punishment, with a black aspect and a red eye, tempts the guilty.—Halhed’sGentoo Code, ch. xxi. sect. 8.
Azyoruca.—XXIII. p. 121.
In Patala (or the infernal regions) resides the sovereign Queen of the Nagas, (large snakes, or dragons:) she is beautiful, and her name is Asyoruca. There, in a cave, she performed Taparya with such rigorous austerity, that fire sprang from her body, and formed numerous agnitiraths (places of sacred fire) in Patala. These fires, forcing their way through the earth, waters, and mountains, formed various openings or mouths, called from thence the flaming mouths, or juala muihi. By Samudr, (Oceanus,) a daughter was born unto her, called Rama-Devi. She is most beautiful; she is Lacshmi; and her name is Asyotcarsha, or Asyotcrishta. Like a jewel she remains concealed in the ocean.—Wilford.Asiat. Res.
He came in all his might and majesty.—XXIV. p, 124.
What is this to the coming of Seeva, as given us by Mr. Maurice, from the Seeva Paurana?
“In the place of the right wheel blazed the Sun, in the place of the left was the Moon; instead of the brazen nails and bolts, which firmly held the ponderous wheels, were distributed Bramans on the right hand, and Reyshees on the left; in lieu of the canopy on the top of the chariot was overspread the vault of Heaven; the counterpoise of the wheels was on the east and west, and the four Semordres were instead of the cushions and bolsters; the four Vedas were placed as the horses of the chariot, and Saraswaty was for the bell; the piece of wood by which the horses are driven was the three-lettered Mantra, while Brama himself was the charioteer, and the Nacshatras and stars were distributed about it by way of ornaments. Sumaru was in the place of a bow, the serpent Seschanaga was stationed as the string, Veeshnu instead of an arrow, and fire was constituted its point. Ganges and other rivers were appointed its precursors; and the setting out of the chariot, with its appendages and furniture, one would affirm to be the year of twelve months gracefully moving forwards.
“When Seeva, with his numerous troops and prodigiousarmy, was mounted, Brama drove so furiously, that thought itself, which, in its rapid career, compasses Heaven and Earth, could not keep pace with it. By the motion of the chariot Heaven and Earth were put into a tremor; and, as the Earth was not able to bear up under this burthen, the Cow of the Earth, Kam-deva, took upon itself to support the weight. Seeva went with intention to destroy Treepoor; and the multitude of Devatas and Reyshees and Apsaras who waited on his stirrup, opening their mouths, in transports of joy and praise, exclaimed, Jaya! Jaya! so that Parvati, not being able to bear his absence, set out to accompany Seeva, and, in an instant, was up with him; while the light which brightened on his countenance, on the arrival of Parvati, surpassed all imagination and description. The Genii of the eight regions, armed with all kinds of weapons, but particularly withagnyastra, or fire-darts, like moving mountains, advanced in front of the army; and Eendra and other Devetas, some of them mounted on elephants, some on horses, others on chariots, or on camels or buffaloes, were stationed on each side, while all the other order of Devetas, to the amount of some lacs, formed the centre. The Munietuvaras, with long hair on their heads, like Saniassis, holding their staves in their hands, danced as they went along; the Syddhyas, who revolve aboutthe heavens, opening their mouths in praise of Seeva, rained flowers upon his head; and the vaulted heaven, which is like an inverted goblet, being appointed in the place of a drum, exalted his dignity by its majestic resounding.”
Throughout the Hindoo fables there is the constant mistake of bulk for sublimity.
By the attribute of Deity——self-multipliedThe dreadful One appeared on every side.—XXIV. p. 124.
This more than polypus power was once exerted by Krishna, on a curious occasion.
It happened inDwarka, a splendid city built byViswa-karma, by command ofKrishna, on the sea-shore, in the province ofGazerat, that his musical associate,Nareda, had no wife or substitute; and he hinted to his friend the decency of sparing him one from his long catalogue of ladies.Krishnagenerously told him to win and wear any one he chose, not immediately in requisition for himself.Naredaaccordingly went wooing to one house, but found his master there; to a second—he was again forestalled; a third, the same; to a fourth, fifth, the same: in fine, after the round of sixteen thousand of these domiciliary visits, he was still forced to sigh andkeep single; forKrishnawas in every house, variously employed, and so domesticated, that each lady congratulated herself on her exclusive and uninterrupted possession of the ardent deity.—Moor’sHindu Pantheon, p. 204.
Eight of the chief gods have each theirsacti, or energy, proceeding from them, differing from them in sex, but in every other respect exactly like them, with the same form, the same decorations, the same weapons, and the same vehicle.—Asiat. Res. 8vo, edit. vol. viii. p. 68. 82.
The manner in which this divine power is displayed by Kehama, in his combat with Yamen, will remind some readers of the Irishman, who brought in four prisoners, and being asked how he had taken them, replied, he had surrounded them.
The Amreeta,orDrink of Immortality.—XXIV. p. 129.
Mr Wilkins has given the genuine history of this liquor, which was produced by churning the sea with a mountain.
“There is a fair and stately mountain, and its name isMeroo, a most exalted mass of glory, reflecting the sunnyrays from the splendid surface of its gilded horns. It is clothed in gold, and is the respected haunt ofDewsandGandharvas. It is inconceivable, and not to be encompassed by sinful man; and it is guarded by dreadful serpents. Many celestial medicinal plants adorn its sides; and it stands, piercing the heaven with its aspiring summit, a mighty hill, inaccessible even by the human mind. It is adorned with trees and pleasant streams, and resoundeth with the delightful songs of various birds.
“TheSoors, and all the glorious hosts of heaven, having ascended to the summit of this lofty mountain, sparkling with precious gems, and for eternal ages raised, were sitting in solemn synod, meditating the discovery of theAmreeta, the Water of Immortality. TheDew Narayanbeing also there, spoke untoBrahma, whilst theSoorswere thus consulting together, and said, ‘Let the Ocean, as a pot of milk, be churned by the united labour of theSoorsandAsoors; and when the mighty waters have been stirred up, theAmreetashall be found. Let them collect together every medicinal herb, and every precious thing, and let them stir the Ocean, and they shall discover theAmreeta.’
“There is also another mighty mountain, whose name isMandar, and its rocky summits are like toweringclouds. It is clothed in a net of the entangled tendrils of the twining creeper, and resoundeth with the harmony of various birds. Innumerable savage beasts infest its borders; and it is the respected haunt ofKennars,Dews, andApsars. It standeth eleven thousandYojanabove the earth, and eleven thousand more below its surface.
“As the united bands ofDewswere unable to remove this mountain, they went beforeVeeshnoo, who was sitting withBrahma, and addressed them in these words: ‘Exert, O masters! your most superior wisdom to remove the mountainMandar, and employ your utmost power for our good.’
“VeeshnooandBrahmahaving said, ‘it shall be according to your wish,’ he with the lotus eye directed the King of Serpents to appear; and Ananta arose, and was instructed in that work by Brahma, and commanded byNarayanto perform it. ThenAnanta, by his power, took up that king of mountains, together with all its forests and every inhabitant thereof; and theSoorsaccompanied him into the presence of the Ocean, whom they addressed, saying, ‘We will stir up thy waters to obtain theAmreeta,’ And the Lord of the Waters replied, ‘Let me also have a share, seeing I am to bear the violent agitation that will be caused by the whirling of themountain!’ Then theSoorsandAsoorsspoke untoKoorna-raj, the King of the Tortoises, upon the strand of the Ocean, and said, ‘My lord is able to be the supporter of this mountain.’ The Tortoise replied, ‘Be it so;’ and it was placed upon his back.
“So the mountain being set upon the back of the Tortoise,Eendrabegan to whirl it about as it were a machine. The mountainMandarserved as a churn, and the serpentVasoakeefor the rope; and thus in former days did theDews, andAsoors, and theDanoos, begin to stir up the waters of the ocean for the discovery of theAmreeta.
“The mightyAsoorswere employed on the side of the serpent’s head, whilst all theSoorsassembled about his tail.Ananta, that sovereignDew, stood nearNarayan.
“They now pull forth the serpent’s head repeatedly, and as often let it go; whilst there issued from his mouth, thus violently drawing to and fro by theSoorsandAsoors, a continual stream of fire and smoke and wind, which ascending in thick clouds, replete with lightning, it began to rain down upon the heavenly bands, who were already fatigued with their labour; whilst a shower of flowers was shaken from the top of the mountain, covering the heads of all, bothSoorsandAsoors. In the mean time the roaring of the ocean, whilst violently agitated with the whirling of the mountainMandarby theSoorsandAsoors, was like the bellowing of a mighty cloud. Thousands of the various productions of the waters were torn to pieces by the mountain, and confounded with the briny flood; and every specific being of the deep, and all the inhabitants of the great abyss which is below the earth, were annihilated; whilst, from the violent agitation of the mountain, the forest trees were dashed against each other, and precipitated from its utmost height, with all the birds thereon; from whose violent confrication a raging fire was produced, involving the whole mountain with smoke and flame, as with a dark-blue cloud, and the lightning’s vivid flash. The lion and the retreating elephant are overtaken by the devouring flames, and every vital being, and every specific thing, are consumed in the general conflagration.
“The raging flames, thus spreading destruction on all sides, were at length quenched by a shower of cloud-borne water, poured down by the immortal Eendra. And now a heterogeneous stream of the concocted juices of various trees and plants ran down into the briny flood.
“It was from this milk-like stream of juices, producedfrom those trees and plants and a mixture of melted gold, that theSoorsobtained their immortality.
“The waters of the Ocean now being assimilated with those juices, were converted into milk, and from that milk a kind of butter was presently produced; when the heavenly bands went again into the presence ofBrahma, the granter of boons, and addressed him, saying, ‘ExceptNarayan, every otherSoorandAsooris fatigued with his labour, and still theAmreetadoth not appear; wherefore the churning of the Ocean is at a stand.’ ThenBrahmasaid untoNarayan, ‘Endue them with recruited strength, for thou art their support.’ AndNarayananswered and said, ‘I will give fresh vigour to such as co-operate in the work. LetMandarbe whirled about, and the bed of the ocean be kept steady.’
“When they heard the words ofNarayan, they all returned again to the work, and began to stir about with great force that butter of the ocean, when there presently arose from out the troubled deep, first the Moon, with a pleasing countenance, shining with ten thousand beams of gentle light; next followedSree, the goddess of fortune, whose seat is the white lily of the waters; thenSoora-Devee, the goddess of wine, and the white horse calledOochisrava. And after these there was produced from the unctuous mass the jewelKowstoobh, that glorioussparkling gem worn by Narayan on his breast; alsoPareejat, the tree of plenty, andSoorabhee, the cow that granted every heart’s desire.
“The moon,Soora-Devee, the goddess ofSree, and the Horse, as swift as thought, instantly marched away towards theDews, keeping in the path of the Sun.
“Then theDew Dhanwantaree, in human shape, came forth, holding in his hand a white vessel filled with the immortal juiceAmreeta. When theAsoorsbeheld these wondrous things appear, they raised their tumultuous voices for theAmreeta, and each of them clamorously exclaimed, ‘This of right is mine.’
“In the mean timeTravat, a mighty elephant, arose, now kept by the god of thunder; and as they continued to churn the ocean more than enough, that deadly poison issued from its bed, burning like a raging fire, whose dreadful fumes in a moment spread throughout the world, confounding the three regions of the universe with the mortal stench, untilSeev, at the word ofBrahma, swallowed the fatal drug, to save mankind; which, remaining in the throat of that sovereignDewof magic form, from that time he hath been calledNeel-Kant, because his throat was stained blue.
“When theAsoorsbeheld this miraculous deed, theybecame desperate, and theAmreetaand the goddessSreebecame the source of endless hatred.
“ThenNarayanassumed the character and person ofMoheenee Maya, the power of enchantment, in a female form of wonderful beauty, and stood before theAsoors, whose minds being fascinated by her presence, and deprived of reason, they seized theAmreeta, and gave it unto her.
“TheAsoorsnow clothe themselves in costly armour, and, seizing their various weapons, rush on together to attack theSoors. In the mean timeNarayan, in the female form, having obtained theAmreetafrom the hands of their leader, the hosts ofSoors, during the tumult and confusion of theAsoors, drank of the living water.
“And it so fell out, that whilst theSoorswere quenching their thirst for immortality,Rahoo, anAsoor, assumed the form of aSoor, and began to drink also: And the water had but reached his throat, when the Sun and Moon, in friendship to theSoors, discovered the deceit; and instantlyNarayancut off his head as he was drinking, with his splendid weaponChakra. And the gigantic head of theAsoor, emblem of a mountain’s summit, being thus separated from his body by theChakra’sedge, bounded into the heavens with a dreadful cry, whilst his ponderous trunk fell, cleaving the ground asunder, andshaking the whole earth unto its foundation, with all its islands, rocks, and forests: And from that time the head of Rahoo resolved an eternal enmity, and continueth, even unto this day, at times to seize upon the Sun and Moon.
“Now Narayan, having quitted the female figure he had assumed, began to disturb theAsoorswith sundry celestial weapons: and from that instant a dreadful battle was commenced, on the ocean’s briny strand, between theAsoorsand theSoors. Innumerable sharp and missile weapons were hurled, and thousands of piercing darts and battle-axes fell on all sides. TheAsoorsvomit blood from the wounds of theChakra, and fall upon the ground pierced by the sword, the spear, and spiked club. Heads, glittering with polished gold, divided by thePattees’blade, drop incessantly; and mangled bodies, wallowing in their gore, lay like fragments of mighty rocks, sparkling with gems and precious ores. Millions of sighs and groans arise on every side; and the sun is overcast with blood, as they clash their arms, and wound each other with their dreadful instruments of destruction.
“Now the battle is fought with the iron-spiked club, and, as they close, with clenched fist; and the din of war ascendeth to the heavens. They cry ‘Pursue!strike! fell to the ground!’ so that a horrid and tumultuous noise is heard on all sides.
“In the midst of this dreadful hurry and confusion of the fight,NarandNarayanentered the field together.Narayan, beholding a celestial bow in the hand ofNar, it reminded him of hisChakra, the destroyer of theAsoors. The faithful weapon, by nameSoodarsan, ready at the mind’s call, flew down from heaven with direct and refulgent speed, beautiful, yet terrible to behold: And being arrived, glowing like the sacrificial flame, and spreading terror around,Narayan, with his right arm formed like the elephantine trunk, hurled forth the ponderous orb, the speedy messenger and glorious ruin of hostile towns; who, raging like the final all-destroying fire, shot bounding with desolating force, killing thousands of theAsoorsin his rapid flight, burning and involving, like the lambent flame, and cutting down all that would oppose him. Anon he climbeth the heavens, and now again darteth into the field like aPeesach, to feast in blood.
“Now the dauntlessAsoorsstrive, with repeated strength, to crush theSoorswith rocks and mountains, which, hurled in vast numbers into the heavens, appeared like scattered clouds, and fell, with all the trees thereon, in millions of fear-exciting torrents, strikingviolently against each other with a mighty noise; and in their fall the earth, with all its fields and forests, is driven from its foundation: they thunder furiously at each other as they roll along the field, and spend their strength in mutual conflict.
“NowNar, seeing theSoorsoverwhelmed with fear, filled up the path to Heaven with showers of golden-headed arrows, and split the mountain summits with his unerring shafts; and theAsoorsfinding themselves again sore pressed by theSoors, precipitately flee; some rush headlong into the briny waters of the ocean, and others hide themselves within the bowels of the earth.
“The rage of the gloriousChakra,Soodarsan, which for a while burnt like the oil-fed fire, now grew cool, and he retired into the heavens from whence he came. And theSoorshaving obtained the victory, the mountainMandarwas carried back to its former station with great respect, whilst the waters also retired, filling the firmament and the heavens with their dreadful roarings.
“TheSoorsguarded theAmreetawith great care, and rejoiced exceedingly because of their success. AndEendra, with all his immortal bands, gave the water of life intoNarayan, to keep it for their use.”—Mahabharat.
Amrita, or Immortal, is, according to Sir WilliamJones, the name which the mythologists of Tibet apply to a celestial tree, bearing ambrosial fruit, and adjoining to four vast rocks, from which as many sacred rivers derive their several streams.
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[30] ProperlyTeica, an ornament of gold placed above the nose.
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[31] Pendents.
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[32]Seita Cund, or thePool of Seita, the wife of Rani, is the name given to the wonderful spring at Mangeir, with boiling water, of exquisite clearness and purity.
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[33] Her tears, when she was made captive by the giantRawan.
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[34] A small mirror worn in a ring.
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[35] Bracelets.
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[36] The inscription runs thus: Εἰμι ἐκεῖνος ἰχθὸς ταύτη λίμνη παντοπρωτος ἐπιτεθεὶς διὰ τῦ κοσμητῦ φεδηρίκυ β τὰς χεῖρας εν τὴ έ. ἡμερα τῦ Ὁκτωζρίυ. α.σ.λ. This pike was taken about Hailprun, the imperial city of Suevia, in the year 1497.—Gesner.
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END OF FOOTNOTES.