﻿1,1 8 ON THE CHRONOLOGY 



" in Dra-Sira, a maritime region to the south of 

 *' Carnata; this prince was performing his ablutions 

 " in the river Critamala, when Vishnu appeared to 

 " him in the shape of a small fish, and, after seve- 

 * 4 ral augmentations of bulk in different waters, 

 " was placed by Satfavrata in the ocean, where 

 " he thus addressed his amazed votary: " In seven 

 <e days all creatures, who have offended me, shall be 

 ** destroyed by a deluge, but thou shalt be secured 

 « f in a capacious vessel miraculously formed : take 

 " therefore all kinds of medicinal herbs and' esculent 

 M grain for food, and, together with the seven holy 

 " men, your respective wives, and pairs of all ani- 

 " mals, enter the ark without fear ; then shak thou 

 t: know God face to face, and all thy questions shall 

 " be answered." Sayihg this; he disappeared ; and 

 after seven days, the ocean ■ began to overflow the 

 *. coasts, and the earth to be flooded by constant 

 « showers, when Satyavratd? meditating on the 

 ' Deity, saw a large vessel moving on the waters: 



* he entered it, having in all respects conformed to 

 c the instructions oi Vishnu \ who, in the form of a 

 6 vast fish, suffered the vessel to be tied with a great 



* sea-serpent, as with a cable, to his measureless 



* horn. When the deluge had ceased, Vishnu slew 

 ' the demon, and recovered the Vedas, instructed 

 ' Sat)ai'idta in divine knowledge, and appointed 



* him the seventh Menu by the name of Va'was- 

 c rj;ata. y - Let us compare the two Indian accounts 

 of the Creation and the Deluge with those delivered 

 by Moses. It is not made a question in this tract, 

 whether the first chapters of Genesis are to be under- 

 stood in a literal* or merely in an allegorical sense; 

 the only points before us are, whether the creation 

 described by the first Menu, which the Brahmins 

 call that of the Lotos, be not the same with that re- 

 corded in our Scripture ; and whether the story of 



