IN THE MUSEUM OF THE SOCIETY. 383 



which is trodden under foot by Maha Cali or eternity*. 

 A small figure of an antelope or kid standing, and look- 

 ing up, is on the left side of the stone, near the head 

 of the prostrate figure: this is not seen in the drawing, 

 which represents only the front of the stone. Cali is paint- 

 ed black by the Hindu artists. Anciently human sacrifices 

 were offered to Cali, according to the ritual of the Vedas; 

 the sacrifices now offered are kids. The worship of Cali ori- 

 ginated in India, with the Saiva's, that is, the sect of Siva, 

 and caused a separation from the Vaishnava's or sect of Vish- 

 nu. The consort of Siva, like the other deities, is known by 

 many different epithets, with some variation of character and 

 attributes in each form and name ; she is Cali, Parvati, Darga, 

 Bhavani The Cali age, or Kolei joog, in Hindu mythology, 

 is the fourth age of the world, the age which now exists : the 

 epoch of the commencement of this era is 4916 years ago. 



In the possession of the Antiquarian Society of Edinburgh, 

 there is an Indian idol of stone, representing a man standing, 

 with four arms holding weapons, and a cord hanging down 

 from the arms, like the figure of Cali at Fig. 1 : but the ex- 

 pression is quite different, the figure is not emaciated, the face 

 is placid, and there are no skulls on the cord. The god 

 Cal, a god of the sect of Siva, is represented with similar em- 

 blems in the excavated temples of Elephantai Vishnu is also 

 represented with four arms, holding the flower of the nelum- 

 bo ; the sancha, an emblem of his power to preserve ; the 

 mace, a type of his destroying power ; the chacra, shewing his 

 universal supremacy. 



Another figure of this kind, with four arms, holding a mace 



and other weapons, and standing upon a lion, is in the Mu- 



voL. IX. p. II. 3 c seum 



* See Asiatic Researches, Vol. viii. Dissertation 3. 



