126 REV. G. U. POPB^ D.B., ON 



dead, and then rising, worshipped the manifested god, acknowledging 

 themselves His faithful devotees. 



The very accomplished editor of the Puranam and commentator upon it, 

 a zealous reviver in modern times of the (^aiva system, Ai-ru-muga- 

 navalar, of Jaffna, gives his account of the meaning of this strange scene. 

 It seems that the 10,000 Ilishis dwelling in the wilderness were adherents 

 of the Purva Mimaii9a school (founded by Jaimini), whom (^iva resolved 

 to bring into his fold, and by the strange polemic detailed in the legend 

 he accomplished his purjiose. According to our editor, these Rishis held 

 seven erroneous doctrines : (1) they taught that the universe as it is is 

 eternal ; (2) that souls have no author or Lord ; (3) that ^ivan and all 

 the gods are not eternal ; (4) that the Vedam alone is eternal ; (5) 

 that the words of the Vedam are the only divinities ; (6) that tho.se 

 words reveal no other divine beings than themselves ; (V) that by 

 performance of the sacrifices prescribed in the Vedam, and by close 

 adherence to the Karma-kandam (the ceremonial part), all blessings here 

 and hereafter can be obtained. These Rishis, who were consummate 

 masters of the Vedic ritual, considered themselves indeiaendent of all 

 deities, showed neither love nor devotion to (^iva, and taught the same 

 absolute reliance upon rites and ceremoines to their wives also. To 

 convince them (both the Eishis and their spouses) of their moral weak- 

 ness and of the limited power of their most orthodox sacrifices, Civan 

 now appeared as the Bhikshatana-Murtti {Mendicant Deity), with 

 Vishnu as the goddess of Illusion, in order to bring them to his feet. 

 They were thus forced to recognise their dependence upon ^ivan, and to 

 acknowledge that by His grace alone they could obtain remission of sin 

 and merit. They acknowledged that ' the virtue of them who love not 

 Civan's foot is sin.' The legend teaches that He subdues and wraj)S 

 round Him as a girdle the tiger-like fury of human passion. The guile 

 and malice of mankind He wears as His necklace, and beneath His feet is 

 for ever crushed the monster of human depravity. 



Of course, recognising the spirit of this teaching, it may be allowed u.s 

 to doubt whether such explanations would ever have been dreamt of but 

 for Christian teaching, and whether myths like these are the appropriate 

 means for imparting this instruction. The fact is that we have here the 

 pre-Aryan divinity, half god, half demon, coming forth from the burning 

 ground where he holds his midnight orgies, dancing in the midst of his 

 rabble rout. The commentator adds that since Civa himself and his 

 disguised companion, though they excited evil desires in the poor liishis 

 and their wives, yet felt none themselves, and since no sin was com- 



