lar notice: Birmha, or Brahma, the prince of the Dewtahs, who presides over all above, and Naga, or, as Sir W. Jones* denominates him, SESHANAGA, who presides over all below. Of Brahma we have spoken above, and shall have occasion to speak much more hereafter. But of this sovereign of Patala, or the infernal regions, who also is the king of serpents, for the Hindoo Hell is composed of serpents, I am convinced my readers will think themselves obliged to me for the following account taken from the Bhagavat and inserted from the author last quoted. Creeshna is represented in that poem as descending with his favourite Arjun to the palace of this formidable divinity. and he is thus described: "He had a gorgeous appearance, with a thousand heads, and on each of them a crown set with resplendent jewels, one of which was larger and brighter than the rest; his eyes gleamed like flaming torches, but his neck, his tongues, and his body, were black; the skirts of his habiliments were yellow, and a sparkling jewel hung in every one of his ears: his arms were extended and adorned with rich bracelets; and his hands bore the

* I am aware that Indree, the god of the firmament, is also frequently called the prince of the Dewtahs. But Brahma is the supreme first-born Dewtah. Consult the Gentoo Code, p. 39.

holy

holy shell, the radiated weapon, the mace for war, and the lotos.'

The writers, who flourished in Greece and Rome had, as I before remarked, but a very imperfect idea of the true principles of the religion of the Indians. Jupiter Ammon, Bacchus, Pan, and Pluto, are said, by those writers, to have been the principal divinities worshipped in India. Strabo* expressly says, that they worshipped Jupiter Pluvialis, the river Ganges, and Εγκωμίους Δαίμονες Indigetes Genios. Such were the Grecian appellations for the several deities, or rather attributes of deity, adored throughout Hindostan. With far more truth was the celebrated GANGES affirmed, by the same writer, to be an object of superstitious veneration, when, charged with the blessings of Providence, he descended in majesty from the mountains, and, with his overflowings, fertilized the thirsty soil. In fact, the legislator whose sublime precepts improved, the hero whose resistless sword defended, the patriot whose inventive fancy adorned with useful arts, the country that gave them birth, received the fervent prayers of the grateful Ilindoo, were first remembered with admirá

Strabonis, Geograph. lib. xv. p. 682.

tion and then idolized. Without referring to the Egyptian Apis, we may assert, that the very animal, whose milk nourished him and whose labours turned the fruitful sod, received his tributary homage and was ranked in order next to a divinity. This is the general key that unlocks the portals of the grand temple of Indian superstition, and, perhaps, taken in a more general point of view, of all the superstitions of every region and of every denomination upon earth. To the philosophic eye, that contemplates without prejudice their endless variety, this is the universal clue to their full developement, and thus only can the mighty maze be intimately and successfully explored.

Besides the deities above enumerated, the Indians have a guardian genius, presiding over water, named VARUNA; over fire, named AGNI, the forger of the fiery shafts, called from him Agnyastra; † and over the winds,‡ named PAVAN. All the fanciful characters of a mythology, not greatly dissimilar from that of

See an engraving of Varuna, with her insignia, opposite p. 215, of the first volume of the Asiatic Researches.

+ Asiat. Research. vol. i. p. 248.

Ibid. 258.

Greece

Greece and Rome, seem to have prevailed among the Hindoos from the earliest periods. They have CARTICEYA, * the god of war, formidable with six heads, and bearing, in his numerous hands, spears, sabres, and other hostile weapons; whose prowess is not inferior to the Mars of Rome. They have LACSHMI, the goddess of plenty, and the wife of Veeshnu the preserver; who, in Mr Holwell's descriptive print, is represented crowned with ears of grain, and encircled by a plant, bearing fruit, forcibly reminding us of the Ceres of the antients. They have SERASWATTI, the protectress of arts and sciences, with her palmiraleaf, and her reed or pen for writing; ornaments more peculiarly characteristic of her high station than those which graced the armed Minerva of the Greeks. They have a moře beautiful Cupid in CAMA, the god of love with his flowery shafts and cany bow: although a regard to truth forbids me to add, that they have a more decent Venus in BHAVANI, the consort of Seeva, and goddess of generation; in honour of whom, on all the walls of the

Asiat. Research. 252, with an engraving. Carticeya is generally written Karteek. The former is the Sanscreet word un abridged.

pagodas

pagodas of Hindostan, sacred to that deity, such pictures are delineated and such images are engraven, as though by no means inconsistent with their, are not at all compatible with our, notions of delicacy and decorum. These are, indeed, the fanciful creation of poets and painters; but the characters of a mythology far less pleasing were, before their exhibition, deeply imprinted on the minds of the Hindoos. They were prepared for the reception of whatever partook of the nature of fable and mystery; and, if the sportive imagination wandered occasionally in the regions of mirth and festivity, they were soon recalled, by impressions at once awful and durable, in the contemplation of more gloomy objects. They found matter of alarm and dread even in the attributes of the sacred triple deity, who was appointed to be their defender against the malevolent Dewtah; and if, at one time, the amiable character and office of the preserver Veeshnu inspired them with grateful affection and veneration, they were, at other times, filled with the utmost horror in contemplating the dreadful insignia and the desolating fury of the destroyer Rudra, or Mahadeo.

Although I am apprehensive of incurring the censure of my readers for extending to too

great

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