58 Shells as evidence of the Migrations. 
Vedic /udra. He tells me that in the later Vedas /ndra 
took over a number of the attributes which originally were 
associated with Sema, who in addition to being a drink- 
god, #.e.,an Asiatic Dionysos, was also a moon-god. /ndra 
also assumed many of the characters of Varuna; and it 
affords further confirmation of the identity of /mdra with 
Chac or Tlaloc to find the same elements of confusion also 
in America. Each divinity is presented in Maya codices 
in numerous phases closely associated with the serpent, 
the tortoise, or the conch-shell, recalling forcibly the 
several incarnations of the popular Hindu deity, Vzshnu. 
The fundamental conception is, in fact, typically Brahmani- 
cal. In order to make this quite clear let us turn to the 
points of similitude which we find in India. The avataras 
[“descents”] of Vishnu are ten in number, the first of 
which, A/a¢sya, or fish, is said to have reference to the uni- 
versal deluge from the waters of which V¢s/nw in this 
form recovered the Vedas, or Sacred writings of the 
Hindus.” In a work published in 1731, Picart™ gives a 
picture and the following interesting and quaint account 
of Vishnu's exploits: “ He first assumed the shape of a 
fish, in order to search for the l’edam at the bottom of the 
sea, whither it had been carried by an evil Genzus, who 
had fore’d it away from the Deufas. Il¢stnou at the urgent 
request of the Deutas, plung'd into the sea, kill’d this evil 
Genius, and return’d with the Vedam, which he found ina 
shell. The figure [see /vg. 1, plate facing p. 62] represents 
W*estnou coming out of the fish, whose form he had assum’d; 
his two right hands hold the Vedam open, and a ring ; his 
two left, a sabre, and the shell in which the Vedam was 
42 Birdwood, ‘* The Industrial Arts of India,” Part 1, p. 57 (South 
Kensington Museum Handbook ). 
'e8 *§ Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the several Nations of the 
known World,” vol. iii., 1731, p. 415, pl. tor. 
Lae 
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