be situated in the centre of our globe, and to be of the altitude of at least 16,000 YOJANS,* were meditating the discovery of the AMREETA, or water of immortality, under which allegory is shadowed out the re-animation of nature after the general desolation made by the deluge. The sea was to be deeply agitated by the impetuous rotation of the mountain Mandar; but, as the united bands of Dewtahs were unable to remove this mountain, they went before Veeshnu, who was sitting with Brahma, and addressed them in these words; "Exert, sovereign beings, your most superior wisdom to remove the mountain Mandar, and employ your utmost power for our good." Veeshnu and Brahma having replied, “It shall be according to your wish :" HE, with the lotos eye, directed the king of serpents to appear. Ananta arose, and was instructed in that work by Brahma, and commanded by Narayen to perform it. Then Ananta, by his power, took up that king of mountains, together with all its forests and every inhabitant thereof; and the Soors accompanied him into the presence of the Ocean, whom they addressed, saying, "We will stir up thy waters to obtain the Amreeta ;" and the lord of the

* The YOJAN is an antient Indian measure, in extent about four miles.

waters replied, "Let me also have a share, seeing I am to bear the violent agitations that wil be caused by the whirling of the mountain." Then the Soors and Asoors spake unto Courma-rajah, 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, Eendra began to whirl it about as it were a machine. The mountain Mandar served as a churn, and the serpent Vasookee for the rope; and thus, in former days, did the Dewtahs, the Asoors, and the Danoos, begin to stir up the waters of the ocean for the discovery of the Amreeta. The mighty Asoors were employed on the side of the serpent's head, while all the Soors assembled about his tail. Ananta, that sovereign DEW, stood near Narayen.

"They now pull forth the serpent's head repeatedly, and as often let it go while there issued from his mouth, thus violently drawing to and fro by the Soors and Asoors, 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, while a shower of flowers was shaken from the top of the mountain, covering the heads of all, both Soors and Asoors. In the mean time, the roaring of the ocean, while violently agitated with the whirling of the mountain Mandar by the Soors and Asoors, 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; while, 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 the violent confrication of all which a raging fire was produced, involving the whole mountain with smoke and flame, as with a dark blue cloud and the vivid flash of lightning. The lion and the retreating elephant are overtaken by the devouring flames, and every being and every individual object 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 juice of various trees

vital

and

and plants ran down into the briny flood. It was from this milk-like stream of juices, produced from those streams, trees, and plants, and a mixture of melted gold, that the Soors obtained their immortality."

Concerning these extravagant mythological details of the Hindoos, I must remark, that, however mysterious the allegory, and however wild and romantic the language in which it is clothed, this fact may be depended upon, that there, in general, lies concealed at the bottom some physical meaning or deep theological truth. Divested of its inflated diction and fabulous incidents, the invention of an Oriental fancy, what can this general and stupendous convulsion of nature; - the mountain buried in the tempestuous bosom of the ocean; the ocean roaring and raging amidst the conflict of contending elements; the torrents of descending rain poured down by Eendra, the Hindoo god of the firmament; the total annihilation of every living thing on the mountain, and of all the inhabitants of the great abyss which is below the earth; (an expression very similar to the Scripture-phrase of all the fountains of the great deep;)-what can all this accumulation of magnificent and dreadful

།་

*Geeta, p. 146, 147, 148.

images

images shadow out except the desolation of the earth during the period of the universal deluge; when the Soors and Asoors, who may be considered as the etherial ministers of the divine vengeance, were commissioned to harass the agitated globe? What can the incarnation of Veeshnu, the preserving power of India, in the form of a vast tortoise, which incarnation constitutes the second or COURMA AVATAR, to support the ponderous mass on the strand of the ocean, portend, but the benevolent inte: vention of Providence, personified by the incarnation of Veeshnu, to save from total destruction a perishing world? Who is that physician so renowned in antient Sanscreet histories, the great DEW Danwantarce, who at length rose from the churned ocean, the white foam of which resembled milk, bearing in his hand a sacred vase full of the water of life, and who himself is even represented in some of those histories as a transformation of Veeshnu? who, I say, is to be understood by that fictitious character, unless the venerable sage who rose from the ocean, who gave new lite to his expiring species, and in his family upheld the human race: that pious patriarch, who, after his emerging from the hoary deep, builded an altar unto the Lord, and offered the first grateful oblation after the

deluge;