THE HIXDU RELIGION. 79 



their bloodless oblations to fire. The ceremony is 

 called the Vhtu Pujd. Vastu is the habitable Earth. 

 A great Raja was called Va'stu Purush ; the ex- 

 pression is used by a raiat to his zemindar, as a title 

 of the highest respect. I think, that, in the name 

 of the ceremony, and in the objects of worship, 

 may be traced the Goddess Vesta of the Romans: 

 the Goddess of Nature, under whose name they 

 worshipped the Earth and Fire. 



The Fable of ^{r Bhadr, invented by the S'aivas 

 to exalt their Opinions and Sect. 



This fable, I conceive, is descriptive of an at- 

 tempt to abolish the worship of the male and female 

 symbols; of the struggles of the contending sects ; 

 and (as it is the nature of fanaticism to increase and 

 spread in proportion to the opposition raised against 

 it) of the final establishment and extension of that 

 worship. It seems a story invented by the Saivas, 

 to shew the imbecility of their oponents, and to ex- 

 alt their own doctrines. ^ 



' Dacsha celebrated a. yajni/a, to which he invited 

 all the Divatas, except his son-in-law, Siva. His 

 consort, the Goddess, being hurt at this exclusion, 

 went into the assembly, and remonstrated, but in 

 vain; sheexpired with vexation upon the spot. Siva, 

 upon hearing this, throws his Jetd, or plaited hair, 

 ii^pon the ground, and from that produces Bin Bhadr, 

 a furious being, armed with a trident, who imme- 

 diately attacks, and disperses the whole assembly; 

 puts a stop to J-he sacrifice; and cuts off the head 

 of Dacsha. Siva took up the body of his deceased 

 consort, and placing it upon his head, in a fit of 

 madness, danced up and down the Earth, threaten- 

 ing all things with destruction. Visuxu, at the 

 request of the otlier Dtvatas, with his Chacra, cut 

 the bod V of Sat! into fiftv one pieces, which Slv \ 



