[ 4 ] 



■who from the variety of her power and patronage is ftyled 

 Mahay Letchemy, or the Great Letchemy. She is the firft wife 

 of Vceflinoo, one of the Treemoortee or Hindoo Trinity, to 

 whom fhe was married tinder the name of Seddee, when that 

 god manifefted himfelf to the world under that of Rama, at 

 the court of her terreftrial father Tifleradah Rajah. She is 

 equally worlhipped in all the pagodas or temples both of Shiv- 

 ven and Veefhnoo, the former of whom is the chief and moft 

 powerful of the Treemoortee. Bruma, the third in confequence 

 and power, has no temples of worfhip eredled to him. She is 

 rcprefented in the habit of a Cunfhinnee or dancing girl, as the 

 goddefs of mirth and beauty : the flower fhe holds in her 

 right hand is the Taumaray or Indian Lotus, which grows in 

 all the tanks pr refervoirs of water, and is the emblem of fer- 

 tility, as it only grows in water, on which all fertility in that 

 country depends. 



The 



(he is called LncJJmi, and is by him fuppofed to be the Ceres of HinduJIan, her moft 

 remarkable name being S>/, or in the firft cafe SrU. — " It may be contended," con- 

 tinues he, " that although Lacflimi msfy figuratively be called the Ceres of Hinduf- 

 " tan, yet any two or more idolatrous nations, who fubfifted by agriculture, might 

 «' naturally conceive a deity to prefidc over their labours, without having the leaft in- 

 " tcrcourfe with each other; but no reafon appears why two nations fliould concur 

 " in fuppofing that deity to be a female : One at lead; of them would be more 

 '< likely to imagine that the earth was a goddefs, and that the god of abundance 

 " rendered her fertile. Befidcs, in very ancient temples near Gaya, we fee images 

 " of Lncflimi with fuU breafts, and a cord twiftcd under her arm like a horn of 

 " pknty, which look very much like the old Grecian and Roman figures of Ceres." 

 This goddefs is alfo named Pedma and Camala. 



