Wanderings of a pilgrim in search of the picturesque, Volume 2 (of 2)

My journal is a constant source of pleasure; it not only amuses me to record passing events, but in writing it I perform a promise given ere I quitted England. Letters from home assure me of the delight with which it is received, of the pleasure with which they follow me through my wanderings, and of the interest they feel in all those scenes that pass before me. The religion of the Hindūs, who are perhaps the most extraordinary people on the face of the earth, is to my friends as interesting as to me; they wish for more information on the subject, therefore, however difficult the task, it must be performed. Performed!—“Aye, there’s the rub,” but how? shall I send them, pour commencer au commencement, a catalogue of the deities in the Hindū Pantheon, amounting to three hundred and thirty millions of gods and goddesses? 330,000,000, “Taintīs karor déotā!”—The nomenclature would be somewhat difficult.

Shall I send them the names of the three hundred gods which are interwoven in silk and gold on the janéo I wear around my neck, to which is appended the key of my cabinet? I have three of these sacred janéos, purchased at Benares; unlike the Brahmanical thread, which bears the same name, but which is merely thread tightly twisted, these janéos are thick strong ribbons made of red, black, yellow, and white silk, interwoven in which are the names of the gods. They are worn over the right shoulder and under the left arm on particular days of pūja, and are esteemed very holy. On one in my possession, formed of red and different coloured silk, the names of three hundred of the gods are interwoven; the letters are in the Sanscrit character; the breadth of the band one inch. On a second, formed of black and coloured silk, and rather narrower, at intervals in several places on the sacred band is woven in the same character, “Srī Radha Krishn.” The third is still narrower, and similarly ornamented. The janéo is considered to possess many virtues: some that I saw at Benares were from two to three inches in breadth, of rich silk, and the names interwoven in gold and silver thread; they were handsome and very expensive.

In my youthful days I devoted much time to drawing out the pedigree of my own family, a task that to me was one of pleasure, on revient toujours à ses premiers amours; in lieu of a dry catalogue of the three hundred and thirty millions of Hindū deities, I will form a short pedigree, if such a term be applicable to it, to assist my own memory, and for the amusement and edification of the beloved one to whom this my journal is dedicated.

BRŬMHŬ.

The Hindūs worship God in unity, and express their conceptions of the Divine Being and his attributes in the most awful and sublime terms. God, thus adored, is called Brŭmhŭ, “One Brŭmhŭ without a second,” the one eternal mind, the self-existent, incomprehensible spirit, the all-pervading, the divine cause and essence of the world, from which all things are supposed to proceed, and to which they return; the spirit, the soul of the universe. Amongst the Hindūs the ignorant address themselves to idols fashioned by the hand of man; the sage worships God in spirit. Of that infinite, incomprehensible, self-existent spirit, no representation is made: to his direct and immediate honour no temples rise; nor dare an Hindū address to him the effusions of his soul, otherwise than by the mediation of a personified attribute, or through the intervention of a priest; who will teach him that gifts, prostration, and sacrifice, are good, because they are pleasing to the gods; not as an unsophisticated heart must feel, that piety and benevolence are pleasing to God because they are good. But although the Hindūs are taught to address their vows to idols and saints, these are still but types and personifications of the deity, who is too awful to be contemplated, and too incomprehensible to be described. The Hindū erects no altar to Brŭmhŭ “Of him, whose glory is so great, there is no image” (Veda), and we must proceed to the consideration of the personified attributes of that invisible, incomprehensible Being, “which illumines all, delights all, whence all proceeded; that by which they live when born, and that to which all must return” (Veda).

Brŭmhŭ, the one god without a second, became a trinity, and the three emanations or parts of one Brŭmhŭ, are Brahma, Vishnŭ, and Shivŭ. The first presided over Creation, the second over Preservation, and the third over Destruction. The three principal goddesses are, Durgā, Lachhmī, and Saraswatī.

BRAHMA, THE CREATOR.

In mythology, Brahma is the first of the Hindū Triad, the three great personified attributes of Brŭmhŭ, or the Supreme Being; but his name is not so often heard of in India as either of the other two great powers of Preservation and Destruction. He is called the first of the gods, the framer of the universe. From his mouth, arm, thigh, and foot, proceeded severally the priest, the warrior, the trader, and the labourer; these, by successive reproduction, people the earth: the sun sprung from his eye, and the moon from his mind.

Brahma is usually represented with four faces, said to represent the four quarters of his own work; and said, sometimes, to refer to a supposed number of elements of which he composed it; and to the sacred Vedas, one of which issued from each mouth. Red is the colour supposed to be peculiar to the creative power: we often see pictures of Brahma of that colour; which also represents fire, and its type the sun. Images are made representing Brahma, but none of Brŭmhŭ, the one eternal God.

Brŭmhŭ, or the Supreme One, say the Brahmāns, has been pleased to manifest himself in a variety of ways from age to age in all parts of the habitable world. When he acts immediately, without assuming a shape, or sending forth a new emanation, or when a divine sound is heard from the sky, that manifestation of himself is called acasavani, or an ethereal voice: when the sound proceeds from a meteor or a flame, it is said to be agnipuri, or formed of fire: but an avatara is a descent of the deity in the shape of a mortal; and an avantara is a similar incarnation of an inferior kind, intended to answer some purpose of less moment. The Supreme Being, and the celestial emanations from him, are niracara, or bodiless; in which state they must be invisible to mortals; but when they are pratyacsha, or obvious to the sight, they become sacara, or embodied, and expressive of the divine attributes, as Krishnŭ revealed himself to Arjun, or in a human form, which Krishnŭ usually bore; and in that mode of appearing the deities are generally supposed to be born of a woman, but without any carnal intercourse. Those who follow the Purva Mimansa, or the philosophy of Jamini, admit no such incarnations of deities; but insist that the devas (gods) were mere mortals, whom the Supreme Being was pleased to endow with qualities approaching to his own attributes: and the Hindūs in general perform acts of worship to some of their ancient monarchs and sages, who were deified in consequence of their eminent virtues.

All the principal, and several of the secondary deities, or incarnations of the principal, have wives assigned them, who are called sacti; and, except in sex, exactly represent their respective lords, being their energy or active power, the executors of their divine will. The sacti of Brahma is Saraswatī, the goddess of harmony and the arts.

Many deities have vehicles or vahans allotted to them: that of Brahma and of his sacti is the swan or goose, called hanasa; but he is not so frequently seen mounted on it, as other deities are on theirs: he is represented with his swan or goose in the cave of Elephanta. Saraswatī, the goddess of learning, is sometimes represented as the daughter of Brahma, and wife of Vishnoo; and as the latter I have placed her in the annexed plate.

Brahma is represented as a man with four faces, of a gold colour, dressed in white garments, riding on a goose; in one hand he holds a stick, and in another a kŭmŭndŭloo or alms-dish. He is never adopted as a guardian deity.

VISHNŬ, THE PRESERVER.

Vishnŭ is the second person in the Hindū triad; he is a personification of the preserving power, and has on the whole a greater number of adorers than any other deity or attribute.

I have a brazen image representing Vishnŭ reposing on a serpent with seven heads; perhaps intended to represent Sesha, the vast thousand-headed serpent, or ananta, as the serpent, as well as Vishnŭ, is sometimes named; meaning endless or infinite. Vishnŭ is represented as he is described in the Scanda Purana, asleep in the bosom of the waters, when a lotus arose from his body, which soon reached the surface of the flood. Brahma sprung from the flower, and looking round without seeing any creature on the boundless expanse, imagined himself to be the first-born. Vishnŭ denied his primogeniture; they had an obstinate battle, which lasted until Mahadēo cut off one of Brahma’s five heads, which settled the affair, and the image of Brahma bears only four heads. Nothing can be more luxurious than this image, the god floating on the water-lily, and the serpent, whose outspread heads afford him shade during his repose; while two celestial beings, sitting at his feet, shampoo him during his slumber. The one is his sacti, Lachhmī, the goddess of beauty, who was produced with the chowda ratny, or fourteen gems, at the churning of the sea; the other, another sacti, Saraswatī, the goddess of literature and harmony, the daughter of Brahma.

Vishnŭ and Shivŭ are said each to have a thousand names; they are strung together in verse, and repeated on certain occasions by Brahmāns as a sort of litany, accompanied sometimes with the rosary. Images of Vishnŭ, either representing him in his own person, or in any of his avataras or incarnations, may be generally distinguished from those of other deities by a shell (chank), and a sort of wheel or discus, called chakra. The chank is the large buccinum, sometimes seen beautifully coloured like a pheasant’s breast. The chakra is a missile weapon, very like our quoit, having a hole in its centre, on which it is twirled on the forefinger, and thrown at the destined object; it has a sharp edge, and irresistible fire flames from its periphery when whirled by Vishnŭ. Two other attributes appertain to him; the gadha, a mace or club; and the padma, a lotus. The god is represented four-handed, and wears on his head a high cap of singular form, called mugut. At the back of this brazen idol lotus-leaves form a sort of glory, crowned by the head of a bird, perhaps intended as an emblem of his vahan Garuda. Vishnŭ is sometimes seen mounted on an eagle, or rather on an animal composed of an eagle and a man, cleaving the air, and soaring to the skies. Vishnŭ is represented in the form of a black man, with yellow garments.

SHIVŬ, THE DESTROYER.

The third personage in the Hindū trinity is Shivŭ, the Destroyer: he is represented as a silver-coloured man, with five faces; an additional eye and a half-moon grace each forehead; he has four arms; he sits on a lotus, and wears a tiger-skin garment. Nandi is the epithet always given to the white bull, the vehicle of Shivŭ, on which he is frequently seen riding; in his temple it is represented sometimes of great dimensions, couchant, and it is commonly met with in brass. The Nandi is often represented couchant, bearing the particular emblem the type of Shivŭ, crowned by the five heads of the god; the trident, called trisula, is his usual accompaniment. Durgā and Satī are his consorts.

Having thus given a brief account of the Hindū trinity, or emanations of the “One Brŭmhŭ without a second,” let me return to Vishnŭ, the second personage of the triad, and trace him through his various descents.

THE TEN AVATARS.

The word itself, in strictness, means a descent; but, in its more extended signification, it means an incarnation of a deity in the person of a human being. Such incarnations have been innumerable; however, speaking of the avatars, it is generally meant to be confined to the ten avatars of Vishnŭ, which are thus usually arranged and named:—l. Mach, Machchha, or the Fish. 2. Kurma, or the Tortoise. 3. Varaha, or the Boar. 4. Nara-singha, or the Man-lion. 5. Vamana, or the Dwarf. 6. Parashu-Rāma, the name of the favoured person in whom the deity became incarnate. 7. Rāma-Chandra, the same. 8. Bala-Rāma, the same. 9. Buddhŭ, the same. 10. Kalkī, or the Horse. Of these, nine are past; the tenth is yet to come.

1. MACH, MACHCHHA, OR THE FISH.

I have a curious and highly-illuminated Hindū painting of this first avatar, representing Vishnŭ as a black man, with four arms, issuing erect from the mouth of a large fish, which is represented in the water, surrounded by flowers of the lotus. The head of the Preserver is encircled by rays of glory, and he appears in the act of destroying the demon Hayagriva, whom he has seized by the hair with one hand, while, on the fingers of another hand, he is whirling round the disk with which to destroy the evil spirit. The demon is represented as a red man, issuing from a shell; on his forehead are two golden horns, and in his hands one of the vedas, the sacred books. On the right of the picture stands Brahma, a pale-coloured man, with four arms and four heads, each of which has a long white beard: three of the vedas are in his hands, and the fourth is in one of the four hands of Vishnŭ. The following is a literal translation from the Bhagavata, and the particular cause of this first or fish avatar is described as follows:—“At the close of the last calpa there was a general destruction, occasioned by the sleep of Brahma; whence his creatures in different worlds were drowned in a vast ocean. Brahma, being inclined to slumber, desiring repose after a lapse of ages, the strong demon Hayagriva came near him, and stole the vedas which had issued from his lips. When Heri, the Preserver of the Universe, discovered this deed of the Prince Danavas, he took the shape of a minute fish called Saphari. A holy king, named Satiyaurata, then reigned, a servant of the spirit which moved on the waves, and so devout that water was his only sustenance. As this pious king was making a libation in the river, the preserving power, under the form of the fish Saphari, appeared to him, at first under a very minute form, but gradually assuming a larger bulk, at length became a fish of immense magnitude.” The astonished king concludes a prayer by expressing his anxiety that the lotus-eyed deity should inform him why he assumed that shape. The Lord of the Universe returned the following answer: “‘In seven days from the present time, O thou tamer of enemies, the three worlds will be plunged in an ocean of death; but in the midst of the destroying waves, a large vessel, sent by me for thy use, shall stand before thee. Then shalt thou take all medicinal herbs, all the variety of seeds, and accompanied by seven saints, encircled by pairs of all brute animals, thou shalt enter the spacious ark, and continue in it, secure from the flood, on one immense ocean, without light, except the radiance of thy holy companions. When the ship shall be agitated by an impetuous wind, thou shalt fasten it with a large sea-serpent on my horn; for I will be near thee: drawing the vessel with thee and thy attendants, I will remain on the ocean, O chief of men, until a day of Brahma (a year) shall be completely ended.’” He spake and vanished from his sight. Satiyaurata humbly and devoutly waited the awful event, and while he was performing grateful services to Heaven, the sea, overwhelming its shores, deluged the whole earth: and it was soon perceived to be augmented by showers from immense clouds. He, still meditating on the command of Bhagavat, saw the vessel advancing, and entered it with the chief of Brahmāns, having carried into it the medicinal plants, and conformed to the directions of Heri. Alarmed at the violence of the waves, and the tossing of the vessel, the pious king invoked the assistance of the preserving power, “when the god appeared again distinctly on the vast ocean, in the form of a fish, blazing like gold, extending a million of leagues, with one stupendous horn; on which the king, as he had before been commanded by Heri, tied the ship with a cable made of a vast serpent, and, happy in his preservation, stood praising the destroyer of Madhu. When the monarch had finished his hymn, the primeval male Bhagavat, who watched for his safety on the great expanse of water, spoke aloud to his own divine essence, pronouncing a sacred purana; the substance of which was an infinite mystery, to be concealed within the breast of Satyaurata; who, sitting in the vessel with his saints, heard the principle of the soul, the Eternal Being, proclaimed by the preserving power. Then Heri, rising together with Brahma from the destructive deluge, which was abated, slew the demon Hayagriva, and recovered the sacred books. Satyaurata, instructed in all divine and human knowledge, was appointed in the present calpa, by the favour of Vishnŭ, the seventh menu, surnamed Vaivaswata; but the appearance of a horned fish to the religious monarch was all maya or delusion.”

2. KURMA, OR THE TORTOISE.

The second grand avatara of Vishnŭ, called the Tortoise, evidently, like that of the fish, refers to the Deluge. Of this I have an illuminated painting, representing Kurma-Rājā, the king of the tortoises, on whose back the mountain Mandara is poised; and just above it, Lachhmī, the goddess of beauty, is seated on the flower of the water-lily. This avatar was for the purpose of restoring to man some of the comforts and conveniences that were lost in the flood. The vast serpent, Vasoky, is represented coiled round the mountain, serving as a rope; the head of the serpent is held by two of the soors (demons), represented as men with two horns on their heads; the tail of the animal is held by Brahma, distinguished by his four heads, and the Vedas, the sacred books, in two of his hands; and next to him assisting in the operation is the blue form of Mahadēo, a form of Vishnŭ, his head surrounded by a circle of glory. They now pull forth the serpent’s head repeatedly, and as often let it go, thus violently whirling round the mountain, they churned the ocean, for the recovery of the amrita, or beverage of immortality; Vasoky serving as a rope to the mountain, which was supported on the back of the tortoise. Presently there arose out of the troubled deep, fourteen articles, usually called the fourteen gems, or in common language chowda ratny.—1. The moon, Chandra, with a pleasing countenance, shining with ten thousand beams of gentle light;—2. Srī, or Lachhmī, the goddess of fortune and beauty, whose seat is the white lily of the waters;—3. Sura, wine; or Suradevi, the goddess of wine;—4. Oochisrava, a horse with eight heads, and as swift as thought;—5. Kustubha, a jewel of inestimable value, that glorious sparkling gem worn by Narayen on his breast;—6. Parajata, the tree of plenty, that spontaneously yielded every thing desired;—7. Surabhi, a cow, similarly bountiful;—8. Dhanwantara, a physician;—9. Iravat, the elephant of Indra with three proboscides;—10. Shank, a shell conferring victory on whomsoever should sound it;—11. Danashu, an unerring bow;—12. Bikh, poison, or drugs;—13. Rhemba, the Aspara, a beautiful and amiable woman;—14. Amrita, the beverage of immortality, which was brought forth when the physician Dhanwantara appeared, holding in his hand a white vessel filled with the immortal juice Amrita.

3. BARĀH OR VARĀHA, THE BOAR.

I have a painting of this avatara, representing Vishnŭ in human shape, with the head of a boar, on one of whose tusks the earth is lifted up, which is represented as mountains; on which is a Hindoo temple, with a flag. Vishnŭ himself is in the ocean, his feet trampling on a gigantic demon who had rolled up the earth into the form of a shapeless mass and carried it down into the abyss, whither Vishnŭ followed him in the shape of a boar, killed him with his tusks, and replaced the earth in its original situation.

4. NARA-SINGHA, OR THE MAN-LION.

Hirinakassap, the younger brother of the gigantic demon, who in the third avatar rolled up the earth and carried it down to the abyss, succeeded him in his kingdom over the inferior world, and refused to do homage to Vishnŭ. His son Pralhaud, who disapproved of his father’s conduct, was persecuted and banished; his father sought to kill him, but was prevented by the interposition of heaven, which appeared on the side of Pralhaud. At length, Hirinakassap was softened, and recalled his son to his court; where, as he sat in full assembly, he began to argue with him against the supremacy of Vishnŭ, boasted that he himself was lord of all the visible world, and asked, “What Vishnŭ could pretend to more?” Pralhaud replied, “That Vishnŭ had no fixed abode, but was present every where.” “Is he,” said his father, “in that pillar?” “Yes,” returned Pralhaud. “Then let him come forth,” said the king; and rising from his seat, struck the pillar with his foot; upon which Vishnŭ, in the form of Nara-singha, that is to say, with a body like a man, but a head like a lion, came out of the pillar and tore Hirinakassap in pieces. Vishnŭ then fixed Pralhaud on the throne, and his reign was a mild and virtuous one. I have a Hindoo painting commemorative of this avatar, in which the man-lion is represented seated in the centre of a pillar that has been burst open, while, with his hands, he is tearing out the bowels of the impious king, who lies howling and kicking across the knees of Nara-singha. On the right of the picture a Hindūstanī woman stands, with the palms of her hands pressed together; and to the left, is a man, apparently a dwarf, standing in the same attitude.

5. VAMANA, OR THE DWARF.

Maha-Beli, by severe religious austerities, had obtained from Brahma the sovereignty of the universe, or the three regions of the Sky, the Earth, and Patala. He was a generous and magnificent monarch, but was so much elated by his grandeur, that he omitted the essential ceremonies and offerings to the deities; and Vishnŭ, finding it necessary to check the influence of such an example, resolved to mortify and punish the arrogant Rājā. He therefore assumed the form of a wretched Brahmān dwarf; and appearing before the king, asked a boon, which being promised, he demanded as much as he could pace in three steps: nor would he desire further, although urged by Beli to demand something more worthy of him to give. Vishnŭ, on obtaining the king’s promise, required a ratification of it, which is performed by the pouring out of water from a vessel upon the hand of the person to whom it is given. The monarch, although warned of the consequences, disdaining to deviate from his word, confirmed his promise with the required oath; and bidding the dwarf stretch forth his hand, poured out upon it the sacred wave that ratified the promise. As the water in a full stream descended from his extended hand, the form of the Vamana gradually increased in magnitude, until it became of such enormous dimensions that it reached up to heaven. Then, with one stride, he measured the vast globe of the earth; with the second, the ample expanse of heaven; and with the third, was going to compass the regions of Patala; when Beli, convinced that it was even Vishnŭ himself, fell prostrate and adored him; yielding him up without farther exertion, the free possessions of the third region of the universe. However, Vishnŭ left Maha-Beli, for the remainder of his life, possession of Patala, or the infernal regions. In this character Vishnŭ is sometimes called the three-step-taker. I have an illuminated painting of this avatar, in which the king, whose head is surrounded with rays of glory, is holding in his hands a spouted vessel, while just before him Vishnŭ in the character of a dwarf, but with rays also around his head, is standing with clasped hands. Behind the king an Hindūstanī woman is waving the chaunrī, the white tail of the yak, above his head; and behind the dwarf stands Sukra, called the one-eyed and evil counsellor. The ratifying stream was the river Gunga, which, falling from the hand of the dwarf Vishnŭ, descended thence to his foot, whence, gushing as a mighty river, it was received on the head of Shiva, and flowed on in the style commonly seen through the cow’s mouth.

6. PARASHU-RĀMA.

The epithet parashu, distinguishingly prefixed to the name of this Rāma, means a battle-axe. Among the avataras of Vishnŭ are recorded three favoured personages, in whom the deity became incarnate, all named Rāma,—Parashu-Rāma, Bala-Rāma, and Rāma-Chandra, and who are all famed as great warriors, and as youths of perfect beauty. Parashu-Rāma was born near Agra; his parents were Jamadagni, whose name appears as one of the Rishis, and Runeka. Jamadagni, in his pious retirement, was entrusted by Indra with one of the fourteen gems of the ocean, the wonderful boon-granting cow, Kam-dhenū or Surabhi; and on one occasion he regaled the Raja Diruj, who was on a hunting party, in so magnificent a manner as to excite his astonishment, until he learned the secret of the inestimable animal possessed by his host. Impelled by avarice, the cow was demanded from the holy Brahmān; and, on refusal, he attempted to carry her away by force, but the celestial cow, rushing on the Raja’s troops, gored and trampled the greatest part of them, put the rest to flight, and then, before them all, flew up triumphantly to heaven. The enraged tyrant immediately marched another army to the spot, and Kam-dhenū being no longer on earth to defend the hermit, the holy man was massacred, and his hut razed to the ground. Runeka, collecting together from the ruins whatever was combustible, piled it in a heap, on which she placed her husband’s mangled body; then, ascending it herself, set fire to it, and was consumed to ashes. The prayers and imprecations of a satī are never uttered in vain: ere she mounted the funeral pile, to strengthen the potency of her imprecations on the Raja, she performed also the ceremony of Naramedha, or the sacrifice of a man; thereby rendering her solicitation to the avenging deities absolutely irresistible.

Kam-dhenū, on her journey to Paradise, stopped to inform Parashu-Rāma, who was under the care of Mahadēo, of the cruel conduct of the Raja to his parents; to whose aid he immediately flew, but arrived only time enough to view the smoking embers of the funeral pile. The tears rushed down his lovely face, and he swore by the waters of the Ganges that he would never rest until he had exterminated the whole race of the Khettris, the raja-tribe of India. Armed with the invincible energy of an incarnate god, he commenced his career of vengeance by seeking and putting to death, with his single arm, the tyrant, with all the forces that surrounded him; he then marched from province to province, every where exerting the unerring bow Dhanuk, and devoted the whole of the military race of Khettri to death. After a life spent in mighty and holy deeds, Rāma gave his whole property in alms, and retired to the Kokan, where he is said to be still living on the Malabar coast.

I have an illuminated picture of this avatar representing a single combat between Parashu-Rāma and the tyrant Diruj: the Raja is represented with twenty-two arms, three of which, having been cut off by Rāma, have fallen to the ground, the remaining nineteen he is brandishing about. In the upper part of the picture is represented the cell of the hermit, in front of which Jamadagni lies dead, and the holy cow with golden horns and golden wings is flying through the clouds.

7. RĀMA-CHANDRA.

Rāma-Chandra, son of Dasarathu, and conqueror of Lankā or Ceylon, was the seventh avatar; when the deity descended for the purpose of destroying Rāvana, who having obtained (for his devotion) a promise from Brahma that he should not suffer death by any of the usual means, was become the tyrant and pest of mankind. The Devatās came in the shape of monkeys, as Rāvana had gained no promise of safety from them; hence, Hanumāna was Rāma’s general. Rāma-Chandra’s mother’s name was Kaushalyā. His younger brother, Bharata, was son of Kekayī, who was the cause of Rāma’s going to the desert to perform devotions on the banks of the Pampa-nadī, insisting that her son should reign the fourteen years that Rāma employed in the devotion. It was while performing his devotion (or during his stay in the forests) in company with Lakshmana (his brother by Sumitrā) that, while he was absent hunting, Rāvana appeared as a beggar, and enticed away Sītā, which gave rise to the war detailed in the Rāmayana. Sītā was daughter of Rājā Janaka, who had promised to give her to any person who could bend a certain bow, which was done by Rāma-Chandra. When in the forest, he drew a circle round Sītā, and forbad her to go beyond it, and left Lakshmana to take care of her; but Lakshmana hearing some noise which alarmed him for his brother, left her to seek him: then it was that Rāvana appeared, and enticed her out of the circle (gandī), and carried her off in his flying chariot. In the air Rāvana was opposed by the bird Jatāgu, whose wings he cut and escaped. Rāma-Chandra reigned in Awadh (Ayodhyā) before Christ 1600.

Vol. I. page 108, contains an account of the Ram Leela Festival, and of Hŭnoomān and his army of monkeys, most important personages in the history of Rāma-Chandra; the grief of the warrior when roaming the world in search of the beloved Sītā is described Vol. I. page 342. As the offspring of Shivŭ, Hŭnoomān is sometimes represented five-headed. Sītā is described as “endued with youth, beauty, sweetness, goodness, and prudence; an inseparable attendant on her lord, as the light on the moon; the beloved spouse of Rāma, dear as his own soul, formed by the illusion of the deva; amiable, adorned with every charm.” She is also a favourite in descriptive poetry, and is held forth as an example of conjugal affection.

I have an illuminated picture of Sītā, Rām, and Hŭnoomān. The happy pair are seated on a couch of silver and velvet, while Hŭnoomān, on the ground before them, is gravely employed shampooing one foot of the god; behind them stands an attendant, waving a chaunrī of peacock’s feathers over their heads.

8. BALA-RĀMA.

Bala-Rāma, although a warrior, may, from his attributes, be esteemed a benefactor of mankind; for he bears a plough, and a pestle for beating rice; and he has epithets derived from the names of these implements, viz.: Halayudha, plough-armed; and Masali, as bearing a musal or rice-beater. His name, Bala, means strength, and he is sometimes seen with the skin of a lion over his shoulders. A full account of the three Ramas is given in the Rāmayana, a great epic poem, so highly venerated that the fourth class of Hindūs, the Sudra, is not permitted to read it. At the end of the first section, a promise is made of great benefit to any individual of the first three tribes who shall duly read that sacred poem:—“A Brahman, in reading it, acquires learning and eloquence; a Kshettria will become a monarch; a Vaisya will obtain vast commercial profits; and a Sudra, hearing it, will become great.”

9. BUDDHA.

Such Hindūs as admit Buddha to be an incarnation of Vishnŭ agree in his being the last important appearance of the deity on earth; but many among the Brahmans and other tribes deny their identity; and the Buddhists, countenanced by the rahans their priests, do, in general, likewise assert the independent existence, and, of course, paramount character, of the deity of their exclusive worship.

Buddha opposed the sanguinary sacrifices of the Brahmans, and consequently, in a degree, the holy vedas themselves which enjoined them: in India, therefore, there has always been a sect who are violently hostile to the followers of Buddha, denominating them atheists, and denying the genuineness of his avatar. A rock altar is sacred to him throughout Asia; and he himself was often represented by a huge columnar black stone, black being among the ancients a colour emblematical of the inscrutable nature of the deity. His fame and the mild rites of his religion have been widely diffused; the Indian Buddha is the Deva-Buddha of the Japanese, whose history and superstitious rites are detailed at great length by Kœmpfer: among other circumstances, he relates, that, “in the reign of the eleventh Emperor from Syn Mu, Budo came over from the Indies into Japan, and brought with him, upon a white horse, his religion and doctrine.” I have an illuminated painting, which I purchased at Prāg, representing Mahadēo as a black man, with a crown of glory, leading a white horse, on which is a high native saddle, with a large bag pendant from each side, and above the saddle an umbrella (chatr), the emblem of royalty, and more especially indicative of Buddha, is fixed: the legs of the animal are dyed with menhdī up to the chest, and about a foot of the end of his tail is also dyed red: the horse is ornamented in the usual oriental style with jewellery and gold. It is evident that this is not a painting of the tenth or Kalkī avatar, as the horse has no wings; the saddle-bags, which, we may suppose, contain the doctrines which he brought with him upon a white horse, and the chatr, assign it to Buddha; the figure of the man has only two arms.

“From the most ancient times,” says Abu’l Fazel, “down to the present, the learning and wisdom of Hindūstan has been confined to the Brahmans and the followers of Jaina; but, ignorant of each other’s merits, they have a mutual aversion; Krishna, whom the Brahmans worship as god, these consider as an infernal slave; and the Brahmans carry their aversion so far as to say, that it is better to encounter a mad elephant than to meet a man of this persuasion.”

The Buddhism of Hindūstan appears formerly to have had its central seat in Buddha Gaya, a town in Bengal, as it had at Buddha Bamiyan, the northern metropolis of the sect. Ceylon appears its present refuge. Buddhism is orthodoxy in China and its tributary nations; and in the states and empires of Cochin China, Cambodia, Siam, Pegu, Ava, Assam, Thibet, Budtan, many of the Tartar tribes, and generally all parts east of the Ganges, including many of those vast and numerous islands in the seas eastward and southward of the farther Indian promontory, whose inhabitants have not been converted to Islamism.

Jayadeva, in the Gita Govinda, thus addresses Buddha (or rather Vishnŭ or Krishna, so incarnated), in his series of eulogy on each of the avatars:—“9. Thou blamest (O wonderful!) the whole veda, when thou seest, O kind-hearted! the slaughter of cattle prescribed for sacrifice.—O Kesava! assuming the body of Buddha. Be victorious, O Heri, lord of the universe!”

The three sects of Jina, Mahiman, and Buddha, whatever may be the difference between them, are all named Buddhas; and as the chief law, in which, as the Brahmans assert, they make virtue and religion consist, is to preserve the lives of all animated beings, we cannot but suppose that the founder of their sect was Buddha, in the ninth avatar, the benevolent, the tender-hearted.

Moor remarks:—“In very ancient sculptures and excavations we find the image of Buddha among other deities of Brahmanical superstition. The cave of Gharipuri, called by us Elephanta, an island in Bombay Harbour, is an instance of this; and this temple in itself may be called a complete pantheon; for among the hundreds—I may, perhaps, say thousands—of figures there sculptured, every principal deity is found. I noticed the following: Brahma, Vishnŭ, Siva, Buddha, Ganesa, and Indra; and these are, in fact, all that are, by their forms or attributes or vehicles, unequivocally distinguishable. The figure of Buddha, in the temple of Gharipuri, is immediately on your left at entering.” Moor supposes the temple is dedicated to the One Supreme Being; but as no representations are made of that being, his three principal powers or attributes, Brahma, Vishnŭ, and Siva, are united in the most conspicuous place, immediately fronting the entrance, and forming a gigantic triune bust of the trimūrtī, the Hindū triad. The native account of this avatar is, that Buddha descended from the region of souls, and was incarnate in the body of Mahamaya, the wife of the Raja of Kailas. Five days after his birth, the pandits prophesied that, as he had marks on his hands resembling a wheel, he would at length become a Raja Chacraverti, and arrive at the dignity of avatar. He was named Sacya, and on one occasion Brahma descended, and held a canopy over his head. His wife was Vasutara, the daughter of a Raja.

I have many images of Buddha, which were brought from Ava, in gold, silver, and in bronze. The common posture is that of sitting cross-legged on a throne, with his left hand resting on his right foot, which is placed over his left knee, and his right hand hanging over his right knee. I have two images of Buddha in bronze, which came from Ava, in which he is represented in this posture, sitting with his back against a plantain tree, the leaves of which spread out above his head, and adorn the image. These images were accompanied by several other figures apparently engaged in worship, wearing high conical caps; the hands of one figure are clasped in prayer; another holds in both hands, placed upon the knees, a plate containing four balls; and another, in the same attitude, holds in both hands something that has the appearance of a circular box. I have also various dragons and bells, formed of bronze, which also came from Ava. An umbrella, made of iron, and gilt, is fixed on the tops of the temples, round the border of which some persons suspend bells; the sound has a pleasing effect when they are put in motion by the wind. Bells of various size are sometimes hung near a temple; and images of lions, and monsters of various descriptions, facing the four quarters, or on each side the gateway, are attached to most temples. Umbrellas, and stone-vessels, in imitation of those used by Goutŭmŭ or Buddha as a mendicant, are also placed near the places of worship. When Buddha was one month old, his nurses “caused him to be laid under a white umbrella upon an adorned pleasure-abounding bed.” At the age of sixteen, Buddha practised the greatest austerities; the King, his father, became alarmed and dejected; and the destiny-foretelling Brahmans assured him, that unless he put the unfortunate horses to the unfortunate chariot, and carried his son out, and buried him in a square hole, that they perceived three evils might happen:—“One to the King’s life, another to the white umbrella, another to the Queen.” Buddha was carried forth; he manifested his divinity to the driver of the unfortunate horses in the unfortunate chariot, escaped from meditated death, and fixed himself as a religious mendicant in the forest, where he practised the greatest austerities. I have an illuminated painting of Mahadēo under a rock in a jungle, seated upon a tiger’s skin, with his arms raised above his head in penance. A sage leading a white horse stands in front, in the act of worship, and by the side of the river is a large tiger: and here it may be remarked, that, among works of the highest merit, one is the feeding of an hungry infirm tiger with a person’s own flesh, and the highest state of glory is absorption. The following may explain the painting:—In the midst of a wild and dreary forest, flourishing with trees of sweet-scented flowers, and abounding in fruits and roots, infested with lions and tigers, destitute of human society, and frequented by the munis (virtuous and mighty sages), resided Buddha, the author of happiness, and a portion of Narayana. Once upon a time, the illustrious Amara, renowned amongst men, coming here, discovered the place of the Supreme Being in the great forest. He caused an image of the supreme spirit Buddha to be made, and he worshipped it as the incarnation of a portion of Vishnŭ: “Reverence be unto thee, in the form of Buddha;—thou art he who rested upon the face of the milky ocean, and who lieth upon the serpent Sesha; thou art Trivikrama, who at three strides encompassed the earth. I adore thee, who art celebrated by a thousand names, and under various forms, in the shape of Buddha, the god of mercy.” The illustrious Amara-Deva then built the holy temple of Buddha Gaya, and set up the divine foot of Vishnŭ.

“The forefathers of him who shall perform a sradda (funeral obsequies in honour of ancestors) at this place, shall obtain salvation; a crime of an hundred-fold shall be expiated by a sight thereof; of a thousand-fold, by a touch thereof; and of a hundred thousand-fold, from worshipping thereof.”

The image of white marble, which the mūnshī at Allahabad informed me is that of Parisnāth, see Vol. i. p. 324, is six inches high; the position differs slightly from that of Buddha, the right palm is laid over the left, and the soles of the feet are shown, one on each side the hands; the head is raised conically; the hair is straight on the crown, and the woolly portion is so managed as to resemble a fillet of beads round the temple. A raised and quadrated lozenge is on the breast, and in the palm of the hand is a small ball. In the centre of the pedestal on which the image is seated is a crescent. The lobes of the ears are elongated to reach the shoulders. Moor informs us that in the museum at the India House, is an image “about fourteen inches high, of a whitish, and I think calcareous, sort of stone: an inscription is on the pedestal, under the crescent, but it is not easily to be made out or copied. This image is, I think, of a very singular and curious description: its curly hair, thick lips, and position mark it decidedly of Buddhaic origin, while its seven heads refer it to a sect of Sauras: hence the appellation of Surya Buddha, appropriately applied to it. The quadrated lozenge on the breast and in the palm of this image, is also unaccounted for, and singular.”

The image of Parisnāth agrees perfectly with the above description, with the exception that it has only one head, and there is no inscription on the pedestal.

Buddha signifies a wise man, and sacya, his other title, means a feeder upon vegetables; he inculcated a total subjugation of sense, and an utter annihilation of passion. According to the religion of Buddha, there are no distinctions of caste. Polygamy is not forbidden by the Buddha doctrine, and it is not uncommon for a man to have a plurality of wives. Priests are forbidden to marry; they are to live by mendicity; are to possess only three garments, a begging dish, a girdle, a razor, a needle, and a cloth to strain the water which they drink, that they may not devour insects. To account for the short, crisp hair on the head of the idol, resembling that of an African, it is said that Buddha, on a certain occasion, cut his hair with a golden sword, and its appearance in consequence was meant to be represented on his images.

There is a tradition among the Cingalese, that one of the kings of Hindūstan, immediately after Buddha’s death, collected together five hundred learned ascetics, and persuaded them to write down on palmyra leaves, from the mouth of one of Buddha’s principal disciples, all the doctrines taught by Buddha in his lifetime. The Cingalese admit they received their religion from the hands of a stranger. The Burmans believe that a Brahman was deputed to Ceylon to copy the histories of the incarnations of Buddha; and it is fabled that the iron stile with which he copied this work, was given him by an heavenly messenger. With the images of Buddha from Ava, were also presented to me four leaves of the palmyra-tree, twenty-three inches in length by two and a half in breadth, on both sides of which are engraved with a stile the religious doctrines of the Burmese. The leaves are held together by two pieces of ribbon passed through holes in them, and are a portion of a work of about three or four inches in thickness. In the plate entitled “Pūja of the Tūlsī,” the Brahman is reading from palmyra leaves of the same description.

10. KALKĪ, OR THE HORSE.

The Kalkī, or final avatar, is yet to come; in which Vishnŭ will appear incarnate in a human form, for the purpose of dissolving the universe. The Kalkī will be incarnate in the house of the Brahman Bishenjun, the apparent offspring of the sage by his wife Awejsedenee, and will be born in the city of Sambal, towards the close of the Kalī period or Yug, in the month Vaisach, the scorpion. In one hand he is represented bearing aloft a “cimetar, blazing like a comet,” to destroy all the impure, who shall then inhabit the earth; and in the other he displays a circular ornament or ring, the emblem of cycles perpetually revolving, and of which the existing one is on the point of being finally terminated. The Kalkī is represented leading a white horse, richly caparisoned, adorned with jewels, and furnished with wings. The horse is represented standing on three feet only, holding up, without intermission, the right fore-leg; with which, say the Brahmans, when he stamps with fury upon the earth, the present period shall close, and the dissolution of nature take place. Jayadeva thus describes the tenth avatar: “For the destruction of all the impure thou drawest thy cimetar, blazing like a comet: (how tremendous!) O Kesava, assuming the body of Kalkī: Be victorious, O Heri, lord of the universe!”

End of the Kalī-yug, or fourth Indian period, and of the history of the ten avatars.

THE DESCENT OF VISHNŬ AS KRISHNA.

The Preserver appeared on earth in the form of Krishna, who is regarded as Vishnŭ himself, and distinct from the ten avatars. For the history of this god I refer you to page 118, in which, under the title of Krishnŭ, or Kaniya, is given the history of his life, up to the time that he disappeared from amidst the gopīs, and left them mourning for his absence.

Here, it may be as well to remark, in consequence of an error in that part of my journal, that Dewarkī, the mother of Krishnŭ, was the daughter of the tyrant Kansa; and that Vasudeva, who carried him across the Jumna, was his father.

The death of Krishna, which happened some time afterwards, and his ascension to the heavens, is thus related:—“Balhadur met his fate on the banks of the Jumna, and when Krishna saw that his spirit had finally departed, he became exceedingly sorrowful. Near where he stood there was a jungle or brake, into which he entered; and leaning his head on his knees, sat absorbed in the deepest melancholy. He reflected within himself that all the effect of Kanharee’s curse had now fully taken place on the Yadavas, and he now called to remembrance these prophetic words, which Doorsava had once uttered to him:—‘O Krishna! take care of the sole of thy foot; for if any evil come upon thee, it will happen in that place.’ Krishna then said to himself, ‘Since all the Kooroos and the whole of the Yadavas are now dead and perished, it is time for me also to quit the world.’ Then, leaning on one side, and placing his feet over his thighs, he summoned up the whole force of his mental and corporeal powers, while his hovering spirit stood ready to depart. At that time, there came thither a hunter, with his bow and arrow in his hand; and seeing from a distance Krishna’s foot, which he had laid over his thigh, and which was partly obscured by the trees, he suspected it to be some animal sitting there: applying, therefore, to his bow and arrow, the point of the latter of which was formed from the very iron of that club which had issued from Sateebe’s body, he took aim, and struck Krishna in the sole of his foot. Then, thinking he had secured the animal, he ran up to seize it; when, to his astonishment, he beheld Krishna there, with four hands, and drest in yellow habiliments. When the hunter saw that the wounded object was Krishna, he advanced, and, falling at his feet, said, ‘Alas, O Krishna! I have, by the most fatal of mistakes, struck you with this arrow; seeing your foot at a distance, I did not properly discern my object, but thought it to be an animal; Oh, pardon my involuntary crime!’ Krishna comforted him to the utmost of his power, saying, ‘It was no fault of thine; depart, therefore, in peace.’ The hunter then humbly kissed his foot, and went sorrowing away. After the hunter was gone, so great a light proceeded from Krishna, that it enveloped the whole compass of the earth, and illuminated all the expanse of heaven. At that instant, an innumerable tribe of devatas, and other celestial beings, of all ranks and denominations, came to meet Krishna; and he, luminous as on that night when he was born in the house of Vasudeva, by that same light pursued his journey between heaven and earth, to the bright Vaikontha or Paradise, whence he had descended. All this assemblage of beings, who had come to meet Krishna, exerted the utmost of their power to laud and glorify him. Krishna soon arrived at the abode of Indra, who was overjoyed to behold him, accompanied him as far as Indra-Loke reached, and offered him all manner of ceremonious observances. When Krishna had passed the limits of Indra’s territory, Indra said to him, ‘I have no power to proceed any farther, nor is there any admission for me beyond this limit;’ so Krishna kindly dismissed him, and went forward alone.”

Arjoon, the friend of Krishna, went to Dwaraka, to see in what state Krishna himself might be; when he beheld the city in the state of a woman whose husband is recently dead; and finding neither Krishna nor Balhadur nor any other of his friends there, the whole place appeared in his eyes as if involved in a cloud of impenetrable darkness; nor could he refrain from bursting into tears. The sixteen thousand wives of Krishna, the moment they set their eyes on Arjoon, burst also into a flood of tears, and all at once began the most bitter lamentations; and, in truth, the whole city was so rent with uproar and distraction, that it surpasses description. A few days from this time, Vasudeva, the father of Krishna, died, while fourteen of his wives were standing around him, four of whom burnt themselves on his funeral pile. Arjoon made search also for the earthly portions of what once was Krishna and Balhadur: these also he solemnly committed to the flames. Five of Krishna’s wives burnt themselves; while Sete-Bame, with some others, investing themselves with the habits of Sanyassi’s, and, forsaking the world, retired into the deserts to pass their lives in solitude and prayer.

Of the eight wives of Krishna it is unnecessary to give a detailed account; the history of Radha has been mentioned before, but Rukmeni must not be forgotten, who, with several other of his wives, became satī, in the hope of an immediate reunion with her lord in the heaven of Vaikontha.

KAMA-DEVA, THE GOD OF LOVE.

Rukmeni bore to Krishna a son, who was named Pradyamna, and was no other than Kama, the God of Love. He was stolen by Sambara, a Rājā, cast into the sea, and swallowed by a fish; which being caught and presented to the Rājā, was opened by his cook, Reti, who discovered and preserved the child. A talisman was given which rendered the infant invisible at pleasure. He was nurtured by Kam-dhenū, the holy cow, one of the fourteen gems of the ocean. The god of Love attained manhood, and delusion (maya) being removed, he was restored to his delighted mother, Rukmeni.

He is represented as a beautiful youth, sometimes conversing with his mother and consort in the midst of his gardens and temples; sometimes riding by moonlight on a parrot or lory, and attended by dancing girls or nymphs, the foremost of whom bears his banner, a fish on a red ground. His favourite place of resort was a tract of country around Agra, and the plains of Matra; where Krishna also, and the Gopia, usually spent the night singing and dancing. Pushpa-dhanva, the god with the flowery bow, is one of his many appellations. His bow is represented of flowers, or of sugar-cane, with a string formed of bees, and his five arrows, each pointed with an Indian blossom of love-inspiring quality.

“Hail, god of the flowery bow; hail, warrior, with a fish on thy banner; hail, powerful divinity, who causest the firmness of the sage to forsake him, and subduest the guardian deities of the eight regions!

“Glory be to Madana; to Kama; to him who is formed as the god of gods; to him by whom Brahma, Vishnŭ, Siva, Indra, are filled with emotions of rapture!”

JAGANA’TH, OR JAGANAT’HA.

On the festival of the Rat’ha-jattra, or the festival of the Chariot, the images of Krishna and Bala-Rāma are borne about in a car by day: on this occasion Krishna is worshipped as Jagana’th, or Lord of the Universe. At the temple of that name the concourse of people is very great: the rising of the moon is the sign of the commencement of the feast, which must end when it sets. A legend is given of Krishna having hid himself in the moon, in consequence of a false accusation of stealing a gem from Prasena, who had been killed by a lion. To see the moon on the fourth day after full, and the fourth day after new, of the month Bhadra, is hence deemed inauspicious; and is consequently avoided by pious Vaishnavus, or followers of Vishnŭ. Further particulars relative to this deity will be found in the chapter that records my visit to the far-famed temple of Jagana’th.

Having thus traced Vishnŭ the Preserver through the various forms he assumed on earth in the ten avatars, in his appearance as Krishna, and the latter in the form of Jaganat’ha, let us return to the third personage of the Hindū triad.

SHIVŬ, THE DESTROYER.

This god is generally ranked as the third power or attribute of the deity, he personifies destruction; and in the obvious arrangement of the three grand powers of the Eternal One, Creation and Preservation precede Destruction. His most usual accompaniment is a trident, or tri-forked flame, called trisula; his colour is white, that of his hair light or reddish. He is sometimes seen with two hands, sometimes with four, eight, or ten; and with five faces. He has a third eye in his forehead, pointing up and down; this distinction is peculiar to him, his children, and Avataras. As the god of Justice, which character he shares with Yama and other deities, he rides a bull, the symbol of divine justice. As emblems of immortality, serpents are common to many deities, but this god is abundantly decked with them, and snakes are his constant attendants. A crescent on his forehead, or in his hair, is common in pictures and images of Mahadeva or Shivŭ. Serpents, emblems of eternity, form his ear-rings, called Naug Kundala: his pendant collar of human heads (Mund mala) marks his character of Destruction, or Time; and his frontal crescent points at its most obvious measurement, by the phases of the moon. He holds what has been considered as a small double hand-drum, shaped like an hour-glass, called damaru, probably a sand gheri. Shivŭ is called “the three-eyed god,” and “the auspicious deity with uneven eyes.” Sometimes he is represented with a battle-axe (gadha, or parasha), and an antelope (mirg) in his superior hands: and in many plates of the deity his loins are wrapped in a tiger’s skin, and the goddess Gunga (the Ganges) flows from his mugut or head-piece. The followers of Vishnŭ assert, that the blessed river flowed originally out of heaven, from the foot of Vishnŭ, and, descending upon Kailasa, the terrestrial paradise of Mahadēo, fell on the head of Shivŭ. Each sect is desirous of tracing the source of the sacred river to the head or foot of its own deity. The stream is sometimes seen issuing from the head of Shivŭ, and sometimes she afterwards issues from a cow’s mouth. It is said, that high up towards its source the river passes through a narrow rocky passage, which pilgrims, who visit the sacred cleft, imagine resembles a cow’s mouth. This spot is hence called Gawmuki, and is a place greatly resorted to by pilgrims.

Viswaswara is the name by which Shivŭ is invoked at a beautiful and famous temple of that name in Kashi, or Benares; and it is said in the Purānas, that “The Vedas and Shastrs all testify that Viswaswara is the first of Devas, Kashi the first of cities, Gunga the first of rivers, and charity the first of virtues.” Nandi is the epithet always given to the vehicle of Siva, the white bull: in his temples it is usually represented couchant.

Here I will mention some of the animals appropriated as vehicles to Hindū mythological personages. Brahma, the swan, Hanasa—Vishnŭ, the eagle, Garuda—Shivŭ, the bull, Nandi—Ganesh, the rat—Kartikeya, a peacock—Indra, the elephant, Travati—Varuna, the genius of the waters, bestrides a fish, as doth also Gunga, the prime goddess of rivers. Kama, the god of Love, is carried by a lory, or parrot; Agni, god of Fire, by a ram. The Sactī, or consorts of these deities, have the attendant animal or vahan of their respective lords. Bhavani is, however, oftener seen on a lion or a tiger than on a bull, the vahan of Shivŭ. Avataras of deities ride a bull, horse, &c.

Of Garuda, the man-eagle or bird-god, I have a small and curious brazen image; representing him with folded wings, sitting in an attitude of adoration, on the back of a nondescript animal, which I have been told is a rhinoceros, but it has no horn.

Another brazen image which I procured, as well as the former, at Prāg, represents the bird-god in an attitude of adoration on one knee, supporting on the top of his head a broadly-expanded cup, edged with leaves, perhaps intended to represent an expanded lotus; a vessel of this sort is used in pūja.

The title deva is very comprehensive, meaning generally a deity; devī is its feminine, but it is applied mostly to Bhavani, consort of Mahadeva, which name of Shivŭ is, literally, great god. But, as the title of deva is given to other gods, superior and inferior, so that of devī is, as hath been before stated, occasionally bestowed similarly on other goddesses. Devata is the plural of deva; by some writers spelled dewtah.

The antelope (mirg) that Shivŭ holds in one hand, alludes to a sacrifice, when the deer, fleeing from the sacrificial knife, took refuge with him. Five lighted lamps are used in pūja to this god.

Dūrgā is the consort of Shivŭ; this goddess is also known under the name of Bhŭgŭvŭtēē, which title is also given to the cow, which is regarded by the Hindūs as a form of Dūrgā. He was also married to Satī, the daughter of King Dukshu.

Mahā-kāla is another form in which Shivŭ is worshipped in the character of the destroying deity. The image is of a smoke-coloured boy, with three eyes, clothed in red garments. His hair stands erect; his teeth are very large; he wears a necklace of human skulls, and a large turban of his own hair; in one hand he holds a stick, and in another the foot of a charpāī; his body is swollen, and his appearance terrific. Images of this form of Shivŭ are not made in Bengal, but a pan of water, or an emblem of Mahadēo, are substituted; before which bloody sacrifices are offered. Except before this image, such sacrifices are never offered to Shivŭ.

MAHADÉO, OR MAHĀ-DEVA.

Shivŭ appeared on earth in the form of a naked mendicant, with one head, two arms, and three eyes, and was acknowledged as Mahadēo, the great god: when he was about to be married to Pārvatī, the daughter of the Himalaya, her friends treated the god in a scurrilous manner, and cried out, “Ah! ah! ah! this image of gold, this most beautiful damsel, the greatest beauty in the three worlds, to be given in marriage to such a fellow,—an old fellow, with three eyes, without teeth, clothed in a tiger’s skin, covered with ashes, encircled with snakes; wearing a necklace of human bones; with a human skull in his hand; with a filthy jŭta—that is, hair matted about his head in form of a tiara; who chews intoxicating drugs, has inflamed eyes, rides naked on a bull, and wanders about like a madman. Ah! they have thrown this beautiful daughter into the river!” The asoca is a shrub consecrated to Mahadēo, and is planted near his temples. The biloa, otherwise called Malura, is also sacred to him; he alone wears a chaplet of its flowers, and they are offered in sacrifice to no other deity; and if a pious Hindū should see any of its flowers fallen on the ground, he would remove them reverently to a temple of Mahadēo. The Hindū poets call it Srīphul, the flower of Srī.

I have a beautiful image in white marble, highly gilt and ornamented, representing Mahadēo as a white man, young and handsome, sitting on a platform, with Pārvatī on his left knee. His hair is braided into the shape of a conical turban around his head, about which a serpent is twisted; and from the top of his head flows Gunga, in a heavy stream, to the ground. His moustache is brilliantly jet black, and his forehead adorned with the triple eye in the centre of a crescent. Below Mahadēo in the centre of the platform, is a small image of his son Ganesh, on whose right is the Nandi, the white bull couchant, and on his left, below Pārvatī, is a yellow tiger. Mahadēo is represented with four hands, one bearing the tri-forked flame, another a warlike weapon, a third a short rosary of beads, the fourth, the hand-drum, the form of which is like an hour-glass. His hands and feet are dyed with hinnā; his dress is yellow; a large snake is around his neck, and his body profusely adorned with jewels.

GANESH.

The history of Ganesh, the son of Mahadēo and Pārvatī, having been fully detailed in the Introduction, is here omitted. This god is the guardian to the entrance of the heaven of Shivŭ. Vishnŭ, in the form of Parashu-Rāma, wished to have an interview with Shivŭ, which was denied him by Ganesh; upon which a battle ensued, and Parashu-Rāma tore out one of his tusks. No public festivals are held in honour of Ganesh in Bengal; many persons, however, choose him as their guardian deity. Stone images of Ganesh are worshipped daily in the temples by the side of the Ganges, at Benares, and at Allahabad.

KARTIKEYA.

The second son of Mahadēo and Pārvatī is the god of war, and commander of the celestial armies; he is represented as six-headed, six-armed, six-mothered, and sometimes riding a peacock.

An account of the three great gods of the Hindū triad having been given, I will add a short description of the three principal goddesses, Lachhmī, Saraswatī, and Dūrga.

LACHHMĪ.

This goddess is the consort of Vishnŭ, and is esteemed by his followers as the mother of the world. When the sea was being agitated for the production of the immortal beverage, and the fourteen gems of the ocean; “after a long time appeared the great goddess, inhabiting the lotus, clothed with superlative beauty, in the first bloom of youth, covered with ornaments, and bearing every auspicious sign; adorned with a crown, with bracelets on her arms, her jetty locks flowing in ringlets, and her body, which resembled burning gold, adorned with ornaments of pearl. This great goddess appeared with four arms, holding a lotus in her hand; her countenance of incomparable beauty. Thus was produced the goddess Padma or Srī, adored by the whole universe; Padma by name. She took up her abode in the bosom of Padma-nabha, even of Heri.” Vol. I. page 206, is an account and a sketch of this goddess of beauty and of prosperity. I have a very ancient and time-worn brazen image, representing Lachhmī seated on an elephant; she has four hands, the two superior hands are raised as high as her head; one holds a lotus-bud, the other something not unlike one; each hand also supports an elephant; their trunks unite above her head, and from two water-vessels they are pouring water on an emblem of Mahadēo, which rests on the crown of the head of the goddess. The lower hands are empty, the palm of one is raised, the other turned downwards. This image is very ancient and most singular: she is the goddess who presides over marriage, and, as the deity of prosperity, is invoked also for increase of children, especially male children. She bears the title of Rembha, as the sea-born goddess of beauty.

Moor gives a drawing, much resembling the above, of a cast in brass, which he considers to be Devi, the goddess, a form of Durgā.

SARASWATĪ.

Saraswatī, the daughter of Brahma, and wife of Vishnŭ, is represented as a white woman, playing on a sitar. She is adored as the patroness of the fine arts, especially music and rhetoric; as the inventress of the Sanscrit language, of the Devanagry character, and of the sciences which writing perpetuates. This goddess was turned into a river by the curse of a Brahman, and, at the Trivenī, the river Saraswatī is supposed to join the Ganges and Jumna underground. On the 5th day of the month Magha, Saraswatī or Srī, the goddess of arts and eloquence, is worshipped with offerings of flowers, perfumes, and dressed rice: the worship is performed before her image, or a pen, inkstand, and book; the latter articles are supposed to form a proper substitute for the goddess. On this day the Hindūs neither read nor write, it is the command of the shastr. Implements of writing, and books, are treated with respect, and are not used on this holiday. Of an eloquent man the Hindūs say, “Saraswatī sits on his tongue.”

I have a picture of the goddess of eloquence, having an interview with Ganesh, the patron of literature; with whom she is exchanging written scrolls, probably the vedas. Saraswatī is mounted, astride, upon a most singular looking bird; it is not a swan, neither is it a peacock; its legs are long, so is its neck; it is painted red; can it be intended for the sarasŭ, what we call cyrus, or Siberian crane? In one of her superior hands she bears the vina, or been, a musical instrument; in the second is a lotus and a scroll of paper with writing upon it; the other two hands also bear written scrolls. She is represented as a white woman, with one head, on which is a red and yellow coronet; her attire is of various colours, and she is adorned with jewellery, as well as with a long string or garland of flowers. Ganesh is represented sitting on a lotus, and standing behind him is a woman employed in fanning him with a chaunrī, made of the white tail of the yak; the black rat, the constant attendant of Ganesh, is sitting before him.