362 AN^ ESSAY ON THE 



try about a bun rl red ?/(9;V?;?<75: in extent ; and'^tbere 

 the ground emits flames. It is a most dismal 

 place, liorrid to tbe sight, inpx'cessible to mortals: 

 the siiiht of it, makes the very hair stand. It is 

 the abode of tbe superior dei*"ies. 'J'here is Vibh a'- 

 VASii, or Vasu simply, who presides over the fire, 

 burning" without fnei ; he vrho is tlie great deity, 

 and the rie lire seems to have life. When perform- 

 ing holy rites witli offerings to the Gods, men al- 

 ways give fiie his sha're. There that very fire, 

 which one day will Sj)read over, and encompass 

 tbe whole universe, is constantly burning-. With- 

 in the mountains is the abode of the illustrious and 

 powerful Gods ; with the ]place of the Matu-l'mga, 

 ten yqjanas broad, and tiicre is the hermitage of 

 Vrihaspati. 



Like these two mountains are Cumuda and An- 

 jana: between these is an extensive valley with a 

 lake. The Cumuda range answers to the Corneal 

 mountains of ProT.fe^.MY : and the uhijaua, or black 

 range, to the Anthcnia of Persia?? writers, as I ob- 

 ser\ed before, and there is the /i'ljatana, or abode 



of ViSilNU. 



The st'h/m of Vasu is obviously a volcano in 

 the Al-burz mountains, and a volcano is really 

 Vascrcaijatana,i)\- the abode of^'Asu in a derivative 

 form : and here we have tbe etymology of Vesex'us, 

 Vesuvius, and Aihia or A^Ana, which words have 

 been improperly (fn ided. Between tbe great moun- 

 tains Crishna and Pan'dura, the black and white 

 mountains, is a le\ el country. In it is a Padmini. 

 land, or rnarsliy ground abounding with Lotos. 

 'Jhcre resides the God with a thousand bodies. 

 Mankind call it Ananta-sada, or A)utntee-sedes, the 

 seat of Hart, with the title of Ananta. In tbe 

 middle of the Cumuda mountains with a thousand 

 peaks, there is a forest fifty ycjanas long, and thirty 



