INDIA (MYTHOLOGY.) 



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other two the orthodox philosophy. These para- 

 phrases introduced dissension, and new religious 

 writings appeared, according to Gorres, probably 

 the Bali writings, the books of Buddha, in Malabar 

 and Coromandel. These books, rejected by the 

 orthodox Brahmins on the Ganges, are the basis of 

 six systems of philosophy, viz., Jogachara, Sand- 

 hanta, Vaibaschica, Madyjamica, Digambara, and 

 Charvae. Although a continual change may be thus 

 perceived, and a world of fables, continually growing 

 more and more variegated, was opened, yet the 

 foundation always remained the same, and Bramaism 

 and Buddhism remained essentially unchanged. The 

 Hindoo religion is, therefore, Pantheism, understand- 

 ing by that word a religion which inculcates the 

 belief in One existing in all things, and all things 

 existing in One God in the universe, and the uni- 

 verse in God, and regards nature as a revelation of 

 the divine intelligence. Every thing is thus the con- 

 tinual transformation (metamorphosis) of God. This 

 fundamental doctrine is inculcated in various ways by 

 all their writings on religious subjects; and upon this 

 doctrine rests the idea of the reciprocal influence of 

 worlds upon each other, and their central light, and 

 the conception of the universe as a perpetual crea- 

 tion, as does, likewise, the belief in metempsychosis, 

 or the transmigrations of souls after death. The 

 sins of the parents are considered to be visited on 

 their children, because the son is the father regene- 

 rated. Beginning and end are mingled, and mind 

 and matter are continually striving for predominance 

 in the universe, which therefore exhibits a never- 

 ending struggle between good and evil, light and 

 darkness. The original Hindoo conception of God, 

 the omnipresent Being, in all his purity, eternity, 

 and spirituality, and beatitude, is pure and elevated; 

 he is called Brahm, Atma (the breathing soul), Bram- 

 afma. Before the creation, he reposed in silence, 

 and absorbed in himself. This world, says Menou, 

 was all darkness undiscernible, unrlistinguishable al- 

 together, as in profound sleep, till the self-evident 

 invisible God, making it manifest with five elements 

 and other glorious forms, perfectly dispelled the 



loom. He, desiring to raise up various creatures 

 y an emanation from his own glory, first created the 

 waters, and impressed them with the power of mo- 

 tion ; by that power was produced a golden egg, 

 blazing like a thousand suns, in which was born 

 Brahma, self existing, the great parent of all rational 

 beings. The Hindoos, says Sir W. Jones, worship 

 the Supreme Being under three forms Vishnu, Siva, 

 Brahma; for that is the order in which the three are 

 expressed by the letters A, U, M, which coalesce 

 and form the mystical word O'm, which never escapes 

 the lips of a pious Hindoo, but is meditated on in 

 silence. The learned Indians, as they are instructed 

 by their own books, in truth acknowledge but one 

 Supreme Being, whom they call Brahm or the Great 

 One, in the neuter gender; they suppose his essence 

 to be infinitely removed from the comprehension of 

 any mind but his own, and they suppose him to 

 manifest his power by the operation or his Divine 

 Spirit, whom they name Vishnu, the Pervader, and 

 Nayaran, or Moving on the Waters, both in the 

 masculine gender, whence he is often denominated 

 the first male; and by this power they believe that 

 the whole order of nature is preserved and sup- 

 ported ; but tlie Vedantis, unable to form a distinct 

 idea of brute matter independent of mind, or to con- 

 ceive that the work of Supreme Goodness was left a 

 moment to itself, imagine that the Deity is ever pre- 

 sent to his work, and constantly supports a series of 

 perceptions, which, in one sense, they call illusions, 

 though they cannot but admire the reality of all 

 created forms, as far as the happiness of creatures 



can be affected by them. When they consider the 

 divine power exerted in creating, they call him 

 Brahma, in the masculine gender also; and when 

 they view him as the destroyer, or rather changer of 

 forms, they give him a thousand names Siva, Is- 

 wara, Mahadeva, &c. The first operations of these 

 three powers are described in the Puranas, by a 

 number of allegories, and from them we may deduce 

 the Ionian philosophy of primeval water, the doctrine 

 of the mundane egg, and the veneration paid to the 

 nymphae or lotos, which was anciently revered in 

 Egypt, as it is at present in Hinduostan, Thibet, and 

 Nepaul. The fundamental idea of the H indoo reli- 

 gion, that of metamorphoses, or transformations, is 

 exemplified in the Avatars. The Avatars are trans- 

 formations of Vishnu, and are interesting as an 

 extremely rich cycle of mythology. These transfor- 

 mations fill up the Indian Yugs, which compose a 

 certain series of periods intended to effect a junction 

 with God, and comprising 4,320,000 years. The 

 Yugs have been considered as an allegorical descrip- 

 tion of the year, divided by the solstices and equi- 

 noxes, and of the precession of the equinoxes. The 

 Avatars are generally considered as ten, though 

 others give more, which, however, are of inferior 

 importance. The five first are these : 1. Mat-ya- 

 avatara, the transformation into a fish, the deceptive 

 Maya-fish. Brahma one day fell asleep; the giant 

 Hayagriva (the rebellious, faithless human mind) 

 stole the four Vedas (the universal law, given by 

 Brahma), swallowed them, and concealed himself in 

 the sea ; Vishnu recovered them in the shape of a fish, 

 and thus annihilated the empire of the evil one; for that 

 incarnation had for its object and consequence the sal- 

 vation of the world from the power of evil. 2. Kur- 

 ma-avatara is Vishnu's transformation into a tortoise, 

 sustaining the universe, which had been convulsed by 

 the assaults of demons, while the gods churned the sea 

 with the mountain Mandar, to force it to disgorge 

 the sacred things and animals, together with the water 

 of life, which it had swallowed. 3. Varaha-avatar, 

 the transformation into a boar. The giant Hirany- 

 akshana (the giant of the earth) had coiled up the 

 earth like a cable, and concealed it in the Patalas, 

 seven subterraneous worlds. Vishnu, as a boar, 

 rooted up the earth with his tusks of fire. 4. Nara- 

 singha-avatara, the transformation into the man-lion. 

 In a contest with the giant Hirany-akasha (also Eru- 

 niakassiaben), Vishnu appeared as a man-lion from 

 Siva's pillars of fire, and saved the son of the giant, 

 who, pursued by his father, had taken refuge behind 

 the pillar. This is another version of the earth- 

 forming conflict of water and fire, as the name of the 

 metamorphosis (Narasingha) , and of the festival of 

 this incarnation (Neriosengh), denotes ; for nar is, in 

 Indian, water ; narasayana, the movement in water; 

 and the words seng, zenga (to scorch), imply the idea 

 of fire. 5. Vamana-avatara, transformation into the 

 Bramen, or Lingam dwarf. In the shape of a dwarf, 

 Vishnu visited the giant Bali, who had done the gods 

 much harm, and requested of him as much land as 

 he could cover witli three paces, whereon to sacrifice. 

 The giant having promised it, Vishnu immediately 

 resumed his divine form, with one step covered the 

 whole earth, and with another the whole space be 

 tween heaven and earth, upon which the giant sub- 

 mitted, adored him, and was sent to govern in Padalon 

 (the infernal regions). It is unnecessary to describe 

 the remainder of this series of transformations. 

 Among a people of such exuberant fancy as the Hin- 

 doos, it is natural that every thing should receive 

 form and life. But it is remarkable to what a degree 

 their works of imagination are pervaded by the idea 

 of sexuality. Sir William Jones remarks, that " it 

 never seems to have entered into the heads of the 



