51! OF THE ORIGIK OF 



and the whole assembly, shouting, besmear their 

 faces with the blood; they roll themselves in it, 

 and, dancing like demoniacs, accompany their dances 

 with obscene songs and gestures. The Abb6 Pluche 

 mentions the same particulars of the assistants in 

 the sacrifices of Bacchus. The winnowing fan, the 



Mystica vanmis iaccki, 

 is always used in the rites of Ca'l, Ca'li', and Dur- 

 ga'; but the Hindus at present affix no other idea 

 of mystery to it, than its being an appendage to 

 liusbandry; they use it as a tray, on \vhich they 

 place, before the image of the Deity, the Sesamum 

 or TV/, the Mundir, with its lamp, and all the other 

 articles used in the ceremony. A tray could serve 

 the purpose ; but on all solemnities the rituals pre- 

 scribe exclusively the use of this van or fan, which 

 they call Surp. 



Of Vishnu, as the Creative Power. 



The Vaishnavas, in order to appropriate the crea- 

 tive principle to Vishnu, make Brahma, whom 

 they acknowledge as the immediate agent of crea- 

 tion, to derive his origin from a Lotos, which sprang 

 out of the navel of Vishnu whilst sleeping upon 

 the vast abyss of primeval waters; thus Vishnu 

 becomes superior to Brahma, as being the cause, 

 first, of his existence, and secondly, of all created 

 things through his agency. The Argha is a vessel of 

 copper used by the Brahmais in their puja ; its shape 

 is intended to represent the universal Mother, but in 

 the centre of it is an oval rising embossed, and by 

 this the Vaishnavas assert, is meant the navel of 

 Vishu, from which all things originally sprang; 

 and by the mystic union of these two principles of 

 production, it is intended to describe them as iden- 

 tically one. The S'aivas, however, insist, that this 

 Omphalic rising is meant as the emblem of the 



