58 OF THE ORIGIN OF 



Elephanta, had eight arms. In one hand he holds 

 a human figure; in another a sword, or sacrificial 

 axe; in a third he holds a basin of blood; and with 

 a fourth he rings ov^er it the sacrificial bell : two 

 other arms are broken off; but with the two re- 

 maining he is drawing behind him a veil, which 

 extinguishes the sun, and involves the whole Uni- 

 verse in one undistinguished ruin. One of the titles 

 of this tremendous Deity is Bhairava, the horrific, 

 but his principal designation is Ca'l Agni Rubra. 



If the contemplation of the grand consummation 

 of all created things struck the mind of the initiated 

 Brahmen with awe; the uninformed mass of people 

 would not be less aflfected with the dreadful ap- 

 pearance and implacable character of this Deit}^ 

 To appease and reconcile so tremendous a Being 

 would naturally become an object of the greatest 

 necessit}' and anxiety; the personified metaphor of 

 all-devouring time, presented to their eyes a divi- 

 nity delighting in blood and slaughter; the zeal of 

 worshippers encreased in proportion to their terrors. 

 The unenlightened mind dwells with disturbed and 

 anxious attention upon horrors of its own creation; 

 and superstition takes its form and colour from the 

 ol>jects which excite it: hence arose those bloody 

 rites, those consecrated cruelties, and those astonish- 

 ing penances, which not only obtained in India, but 

 pervaded almost every part of the ancient world. 

 Thus a new superstition was grafted upon the old, 

 as much adapted, by its vain terrors, to degracfe the 

 human mind, as the former had been to corrupt it. 



If it was intended to instruct mankind in the 

 hieroglyphic language of former ages, and to shew 

 them hr-w absolutely necessary it was, to make a 

 sacrifice of their vices and depraved appetites, be- 

 fore they could render themselves acceptable to the 

 Deity, could any way be more natural than to typify 



