25S AV ESSAY ON THE 



The next legend is that of Semiramts, which 

 the pandit has most shamefidly disfigured. She is 

 well known in India under the name of S'amidevi ; 

 and she is the goddess of the element of fire, so ini- 

 mical to the vegetable kingdom, the Sfhawaras, or 

 immoveable beings; and of course to their chief, 

 Vishnu, in the character of the Aswatt'ha tree, 

 which is declared to be the first, the chief of trees, 

 and of course Stlidicarpatiy or Staurobates. 



S'ami, and the Aswatt'ha tree, have each two 

 countenances; one is that of a tree of the same 

 name, the other is that of a human being. In this, 

 which is their original character, Sa'mi is the same 

 with Urvasi, who married Pururava, the grand- 

 son of Noah, exactly in the same degree of de- 

 scent with the founder of Ninive. The same is 

 called also Aila in the Puranas, and Lailan- 

 SHAH by Persian romancer;-, Ninus by tht Greeks, 

 and in the Tamuli didect he is called Nilan. 

 Their amours and then' quarrels, and ultimately 

 their reconciliation, are the subject of a beautiful 

 drama. Her charms certainly effected the conquest 

 of La I LAN's heart; they quarrelled, and she dis- 

 appeared in a most wonderful manner; but Lai- 

 la n, with powerful spells, forced her back. Se- 

 miramts first conquered Staurobates, but was 

 conquered by him at last. 



S'ami and Pururava were changed into two 

 trees, without losing their human countenances, 

 the SA3!i and the As'watt'ha ; the St'ha'wara- 

 PATi and Sami-devi remain dallying in the tree 

 of the same name ; hence she is really SamI-rama, 

 though that denomination be never used. 



• 



Her history is to be found in the Gan'es'a, 

 Vishnu, and Bhagavat Puranas, and also in the 

 Mahd Bkdrata, but it is incomplete in each 



