7S OF THE ORIGIN OF 



to an infant Siva, who stretches out his little hand 

 to receive it. Is not the resemblance particularly 

 striking between this representation and the cha- 

 racter of Amalthea, who nursed Jupiter when 

 an infant? Lastly, the tradition of her being the 

 old woman of Bovilla, which Ovid himself seems 

 inclined to adopt, is equally applicable to Anna 

 Pu'rna' Devi, who, according to the Puranas, 

 under the form of an old woman, miraculously fed 

 Vya'samuni, and his ten thousand Pupils, when 

 reduced to the extremities of distress and famine 

 by the anger of Siva, because Vya'sa had pre- 

 sumed to prefer Vishnu to him. 



It may not, therefore, be an unfounded conjec- 

 ture, that the consort of Siva is the point in which 

 all those opinions meet, and that they were found- 

 ed on confined and confused traditions of the god- 

 dess of abundance. 



Description of Anna Pu'rna' De'vi, from the An- 

 nada' Cripa'. 



She is of a ruddy complexion, her robe of various 

 dies, a crescent on her forehead; she gives subsis- 

 tence; she is bent by the weight of her full breasts; 

 Bhava, or SivA (as a child), is playing before her, 

 with a crescent on his forehead; she looks at him 

 with pleasure, and seated (on a throne) reliev-'^s his 

 hunger; all good is united in her; her names are 

 Annada', Anna Pu'rna' Devi, Bhava'nI, and 

 Bha'gavati. 



EXTRACTS. 



Sunt qulbus hsec luna est, quia niensibus impleat annum: 657 

 Pars TlieiJ'.in, Inachiiim pais putat esse boveni. 



Invenies, qui te Nyinphcn Atlaiitida dioant; 



Tequc Jovi prinios, Anna, dedisse cibos. 660 



Hxc quoque, quam referani, nostras pencnit ad'aures 

 Faiua: ucc a ver^ dissidet ilia fide. 



