1 tial armies; he is mounted on a "Vishnu, the preserving deity, exclusive of his names in his several awatars, is Narayun, or moving on the ocean, Shreedher, Govind, and Hari. His wife is Luckshemi, the goddess of fortune, called also Kamala, or the lotus-born, having sprung on a lotus from the ocean. She is the goddess of beauty, and Her son presides over marriage. Her son Camdeo is the god of beauty and of love. It is related in the Ramayuna, that Camdeo or Kundurpa, having presumed to wonnd Siva, while with uplifted arm he was engaged in sacred austerities, the incensed god consumed his body with lightning from his eyes. Hence Camdeo is called Ununga, bodyless, and he is the only person in the Hindoo mythology who is ever said to be immaterial. He is sometimes called Muddun, and rides on a fish, with a banner in his hand. Vishnu is often seen riding on the shoulders of Garuda, a youth Many of the offices of Vishnu are common, both water. Each deity has weapons "The awatars of Vishnu, by the the waters to subside. The second awatar is Koorma, or the tortoise, In order to recover some of the advantages lost to mankind by the deluge, Vishnu became a tortoise, and sustained, on his back, the mountain Meru, while the gods and genii churned with it the milky ocean, and produced seven precious things, among which were the moon, a physician, a horse, a woman, an elephant, and Amrita, or the water of life, which was drank by the immortals. The third awatar is Varaha, or the boar. Prit'hivi, the earth, having been overcome by the genius of the waters, Vishnu, in the shape of a man, with the head of a hog, descended and supported her on his tusk, while he subdued the waters and restored her. In the fourth awatar, Vishnu, in the form of a monstrous man, with a lion's head, sprang from a pillar to destroy an impious king who was on the point of murdering his own son. He is called Narasinha, or lion-headed. Vishnu, in his fifth descent, is called Vamuna, or the Brahmin dwarf. Beli having, by his meritorious austerities, obtained the sovereignty of the world, neglected to worship the gods; the Dewtahs, alarmed lest he should deprive them of their celes: tial habitations, entreated protection from Vishnu, who descended in the form of a Bramin dwarf, and havjng obtained from Beli a promise, confirmed by an irrevocable oath, to grant whatever he should ask, he demanded as much space as be could compass in three steps. The boon being granted, his form dilated to its divine dimensions; the eight celestial weapons appeared in the eight hands of the god, whose first step compassed the earth, his second the ocean, and his third heaven, leaving only Patala or hell to Beli. Vamuna is sometimes called Tri-vikrum, or three-stepper. In the sixth awatar, Vishnu, as Parashu Rama, the son of the Bramin Jemadagni, is fabled to have destroyed all the males of the Xe trie or fighting caste, on account of the wickedness of their chief Sahasrarjum, who oppressed the Bramins, particularly Jemadagni. The soventh descent of Vishnu is sung in the epic poem of Valmiki, called the Ramayuna, from Rama the divine hero, the son of Dusharuthra, king of Uyodhya, or Oude, who led a life of adventure in the woods and forests of India, attended by his brother Lakshmana, and by bis faithful friend, Hanuman the divine monkey, the son of Pavana, god of the wind. Sita, the wife of Rama, having been stolen by Rawana the ten-headed tyrant of Lanka (Cey. lon) Hanuman discovered the place of her concealment, and, with the assistance of Soogreeva and other divine baboons, he built the bridge of Rama (Adam's bridge,) from the continent of India to Ceylon, to facilitate the passage of Rama and his army to that island, where he destroyed the tyrant and recovered Sita. "Krishna, the person in whom Vishnu was incarnate in his eighth awatar, is said to have been born of the sister of a tyrant, who, to secure the death of his nephew, caused all the young children in his dominions to be murdered; but, in the mean time, the young Krishna was concealed and brought up among some herdsmen, whence be is considered as the peculiar patron of herds, and is often represented as attended by nine Gopia or dairywomen. He is the god of poetry and music, of wrestlers and boxers. The The adventures of Krishna, and the come. "Of the religious sects worshipping Vishnu, the Vaishnavas adore him alone, as comprising in his person the greatest number of the attributes of the deity. The Goclasthas and the Ramanuj are in fact worshippers of deified heroes; the first pay respect to Vishnu in the awatar of Gocal or Krishna, and the second in that of Rama Chandra. "Besides the great deities above mentioned, there are multitudes of inferior divine persons, over whom Indra, the thousand-eyed lord of the dewtabs, presides. He dwells with his wife Indranee in the forest Nundana, and with her is often seen mounted on an elephant with three trunks. He presides over delusions. Agni, the god of fire, is represented with two faces and three legs, ridHe is said to have ing on a ram. married the goddess Gunga (Ganges,) the sister of Parvati. Gunga is fabled to have rested on the head of Siva, or that of Vishnu, in her descent from heaven, and to have flowed thence in three streams, called triveni, or three locks, and running to the sea, to have filled up its bason, which, although dug before that time, was empty. Her union with Agni produced the metals. The range of mountains among which the Ganges takes it rise, abounds with mines; hence the ` mythological union of the deities of heat and of water is fabled to have produced the metals. Surya, the god of the sun, is drawn in a chariot by a many-headed horse; he represents truth, and has a numerous sect of worshippers called Sauras. Chandra, the moon, is drawn in a car by an antelope; the twentyseven lunar stations, called Nukshutras, into which the Hindoos divide the heavens, are considered as his wives. "Viswakarman is the artificer of the gods; Koovera is the god of riches, and resides in the forest of Chitra-ruthra; and Pavanah is the Eight guardians god of the wind. preside over the eight quarters of the world; and all nature is crowded with deities. "In making this slight sketch of the Hindoo mythology, I have forborne to point out the striking similarity of many of the deities to those of Greece and Rome, as it is too obvious to escape your attenA remarkable proof of their tion. identity with the gods of Egypt occurred in 1801, when the sepoy regiments who had been sent into that country, fell down before the gods in the temple of Tentyra, and claimed them as those of their own belief. The coarseness and inelegance of the Hindoo polytheism, will certainly disgust many accustomed to the graceful mythology of antient Europe; but it is not incurious, nor perhaps useless, to examine the various systems of religion which the feelings natural to the mind of man have produced,to observe how they have been modified by climate or other circumstances, and to trace, under all these various disguises, the workings of the same common nature; and in the superstitions of India, no less than than in the lofty visions of Plato, to recognize the existence of those moral ties which unite the heart of man to the Author of his being.' For my own part, living among the people, and daily beholding the prostrate worshipper, the temple, the altar, and the offering, I take an interest in them which makes up for their want of poetical beauty. Nor can I look with indifference upon a system, however barbarous and superstitious, which has so strong a hold of the minds of its votaries, and which can bring them to despise death and torture in their most dreadful forms. "But to return to my, journal. We got into our boat at Mazagong a little before suprise, and had the pleasure of marking the gradual increase of day as it broke over the Mahratta mountains. First the woody tops of Caranja and Elephanta became illuminate 1, then Bombay, with its forts and villages stretching along the north of the bay, while the bases of the rocky islands to the south, slowly became distinguishable from the reflecting waves. After an hour's row, during which we passed Butcher's Island, called by the natives Deva Devi, or holy island, we arrived at Elephanta, a mountain isle with a double top, wooded to the summit. Opposite to the landing-place is the colossal stone elephant, from which the Portuguese named the place. It is now cracked and mutilated, as tradition says, by the Portuguese. It must have been carved out of the rock on which it stands, for it appears too large to have been carried to its present situation. After passing a village which, as well as the whole island, the natives call Gharipoori, we ascended the hill through romantic passes, sometimes over shadowed with wood, sometimes walled by rocks, till we arrived at the cave. We came upon it unexpectedly, and I confess that I never felt such a sensation of astonishment as wl.en the cavern opened upon me. At first it appeared all darkness, while on the hill above, below, and around, shrubs and flowers of the most brilliant hues were waving in the full sunshine. As I entered, my sight became gradually more distinct, and I was able to consider the wonderful chamber in which I stood. The entrance is fifty-five feet wide, its height is eighteen, and its length about equal with its width. It is supported by massy pillars, carved in the solid rock; the capital of these resembles a compressed cushion bound with a fillet; the abacus is like a bunch of reeds supporting a beam, six of which run across the whole cave; below the capital the columu may be compared to a fluted bell resting on a plain octagonal member placed on a die, on each corner of which sits Hanuman, Ganesa, or some of the other inferior gods. The sides of the cavern are sculptured in compartments, representing the persons of the mythology; but the end of the cavern opposite to the entrance is the most remarkable In the centre is a gigantic trimurti, or three-formed god. Brahma the creator is in the middle, with a placid countenance; his cap is adorned with jewels. Vishnu, the preserving deity, is represented as very beautiful; bis face is full of benevolence, his hand bolds a lotus, the same sacred flower is placed in his cap, with the triveni or triple-plaited lock, signifying the rivers Gunga (Ganges), Yamuna (Jumna), and Seraswati, and other ornaments referring to 1: ! bis attributes. Siva frowns; his nose is aquiline, and his mouth half open; in his hand is his destructive emblem, the cobra-capella, and on his cap, among other symbols, a human skull and a new-born infant mark his double character of destroyer and reproducer. These faces are all beautiful but for the under lips, which are remarkably thick. The length from the chin to the crown of the head is six feet; the caps are about three feet more. No part of the bust is mutilated but the two hands in front, which are quite destroyed. Concealed steps behind Siva's hand lead to a convenient ledge or bench behind the cap of the bust, where a Bramin might have hidden himself for any purpose of priestly imposition. On each side of the trimurti is a pilaster, the front of which is filled up by a figure fourteen feet high, leaning on a dwarf; these are much defaced. To the right is a large square compartment, hollowed a little, carved into a great variety of figures, the largest of which is sixteen feet high, representing the double figure of Siva and Parvati, called Viraj or Ardha Nari, half male half female, the right side of which is Siva, and the left his wife; it is four-handed; the two lower hands, one of which appears to have rested on the Nundi, are broken; the upper right hand has a cobra-capella, and the left a shield. On the right of the Viraj is Brama, four-faced, sitting on a lotus; and on the left is Vishnu on the shoulders of Garuda. Brahma are Indra and Indranee on their elephant, and below is a female figure holding a chamara or chow. ree. The upper part of the compartment is filled with small figures in attitudes of adoration. Near "On the other side of the tri murti is a compartment answering to that I have just described. The principal figure I take to be Siva; at his left hand stands Parvati, on whose shoulder he leans; between them is a dwarf, on whose head is one of Siva's hands, and near Parvati is another. Over Siva's shoulder hangs the zenaar, and he holds the cobra-capella in one of his four hands. He is surrounded by the same figures which fill up the compartment of the Viraj; his own height (which we measured by a plumb-line dropped from his head,) is fourteen feet, and that of Parvati is ten. All these figures are in alto-relievo, as are those of the other sides of the cavern, the most remarkable of which is one of Siva in bis vindictive character; he is eighthanded, with a chaplet of skulls round his neck, and appears in the act of performing the human sacrifice. "On the right hand, as you enter the cave, is a square apartment with four doors, supported by eight colossal figures; it contains a gigantic symbol of Maha Deo, and is cut out of the rock like the rest of the cave. There is a similar chamber in a smaller and more secret cavern, to which there is access from the corner next to the Viraj; the covering of the passage has fallen in, but, on climbing over the rubbish, we found ourselves in a little area which has no outlet, and is lighted from above, the whole thickness of the hill being cut through. The cavern to which it belongs contains nothing but the square chamber of Maha Deo, and a bath at each end, one of which is decorated with rich sculpture. "When we had tired ourselves with examining the various wonders of the cavern of Elephanta, I sat down |