SACRED ISLES IN THE WEST, &C. 273 



nomy had undeceived the learned, who, as usual 

 at these early times, did not impart this discovery 

 to the vulgar. 



On the hio'her parts, and in the center of the 

 Earth, the Hindus place a mountain standing like 

 a column 84000 Yojanas high, 32000 broad at the 

 top, and 16000 at the bottom. It is circular, and 

 in the shape of an inverted cone. This idea pre- 

 vailed once in the West: for, when Cleanthes 

 asserted that the Earth was in the shape of a 

 cone, this, in my opinion, is to be understood 

 only of this mountain, called Meru^ in India *. 

 Anaximenes said that this column was plain, 

 and of stone : exactly like the Mtru-pargwette 

 (parvata) of the inhabitants of Ceylon, according 

 to Mr. JoiNViLLE, in the seventh volume of the 

 Asiatic Researches. This mountain, says he, is en- 

 tirely of stone, 6^000 Yojanas \\\g\ and 10000 in 

 circumference, and of the same size from the top to 

 the bottom. The divines o^ Tibet say, it is square, 

 and like an inverted pyramid. Some of the fol- 

 lowers of BuDD'HAf, in India, insist, that it is like 

 a drum, with a swell in the middle like drums in 

 India; and formerly, in the West, Leucippus had 

 said the same thing; and the Baiidd'hists in India 

 give that shape also to islands. This figure is gi'-'en 

 as an emblem of the reunion of the original powers 

 of nature. Meru is the sacred and primeval Linga: 

 and the Earth beneath is the mysterious Yoni ex- 

 panded, and open like the Padma or Lotos. The 

 convexity in the centre is the O* Tincce, or navel 

 of VisHXU : and they often represent the physiolo- 

 gical mysteries of their religion, by the emblem of 

 the Lotos ; where the whole tlqwer signifies both 

 the Earth, and the two principles of its fecunda- 



* Plutarch de placit. iihilosoph. 

 t Trailoci/a'derpana. 



Vol. VIII. T 



