TAP 



called Tapafwi : he is much revered, and liis prayci-s are 

 earneftly folicited by the fuperftitious as neceflfarily efficacious. 

 (See Ravena.) Among his aufterities he went through 

 the following feries, each of the eleven fpeciiic mortifica- 

 tions enduring one hundred years. 



I. He Hood on one foot, Iiolding the other and both 

 hands up toward heaven, with his eyes fixed on the fun. 



2. He flood on one great toe. 3. He took as fuftenance 

 nothing but water. 4. He lived fimilarly on air. 5. He 

 remained in the water. 6. He was buried in the earth, but 

 continued, as in the other inflexions, in inccfTant adoration. 

 7. The fame in lire. 8. He Hood on his head, with his feet 

 upwards. 9. He flood on one hand. 10. He hung by his 

 hands on a tree. 11. He hung on a tree with iiis head 

 downwards. 



Some of the Puranas, or books of divine authority, con- 

 tain a feries of eighteen fpecific mortifications. One is now 

 lying before iis, and we give their denominations, with fome 

 explanatory obfervations. 



I. T'hcdfftr, is an elevation of the head, as the word de- 

 notes, during life : in this penance fome devotees profefs 

 never to fit. 2. Akas-muiii : this means etherial contempla- 

 tion : the afpirant in this cafe looks conflantly on the heavens. 



3. Med' ha-miim, indicates felf-examination : the arms are ufu- 

 ally croffed over the breall, and the penitent preferves a 

 thoughtful pofture or gait, with downcafl looks. 4. Pherfa- 

 bahu, with arms projedled horizontally. 5. Dhami-paiia, 

 inverfion ; by fufpenfion on a tree, &c. head downwards, 

 over a fire. 6. Patala-muni: this is the reverfe of Akas- 

 muni, meaning fubterrene contemplation ; Patala being the 

 name of the lower regions, and Yama the lord thereof. The 

 Patala-muni conflantly looks downwards to the earth. 



7. Mum, preferving continued filence in aid of abftraftion. 

 The word means a wife man, a fage, or faint, as well as 

 wifdom and contemplation. We know of no difference be- 

 tween this fpecies of devotion and that called Jap, which fee. 



8. Chouraft-afin : the meaning of this compound word is 

 eighty-four fitting pofitions ; but it may have fome other 

 more myflerious and lefs obvious meaning. It would feem 

 to be the reverfe of fome other penances, the merit of whicli 

 confifl in preferving one pollure ; whereas this imphes an in- 

 ceflant variation to the extent of eighty-four changes. 



9. K off all : the Areka or betle-nut penance. This con- 

 fiHs in Handing foles upwards, the head relling on the nut 

 placed on the ground. This is done at flated times ; but 

 cannot, one wovdd think, be long continued. 10. Patal't, 

 the earthly or fubterrene penance. This is defcribed to be a 

 partial burying of the body up to the breait, head down- 

 wards, and of courfe under ground, with the feet in the air, 

 as in the lafl. One can fcarcely fee at firfl how this can be 

 done ; but probably the earth is placed very loofely about 

 the head, &c. with the body or legs fupported againft 

 a tree or wall. II. Urd'ha-bahu, with elevated hands, 

 keeping them above the head. This is a common penance, 

 perfevered in fometimes till the arms become mere fl<in and 

 bone, the fore-arms fixed immoveably, crofling horizontally, 

 and the finger-nails perhaps perforating the palms. A mofl 

 eminent Urdha-bahu is defcribed, with a portrait, in the 

 fifth volume of the Afiatic Refearches, art. ii. i 2. B'ditftr'i, 

 fitting pofture, never rifing or lying. 1 3. Nyas-d'hean, re- 

 taining the breath. To this praftice great merit is afcribed, 

 and it is perfevered in to n very extraordmary extent ; till at 

 length no refpiration is vifible. In this ftate impoflors pre- 

 tend to beatific vifions, and the credulous of courfe admire 

 the wonders they relate. 14. Chourangi-qfn, a quadrupedal 

 pofition, obtained by refting on the elbows and knees, put- 

 ting the hands backwards over the fhoulders, and keeping 



T A P 



iiold of the toes. This mufl be a very aukward and un- 

 cafy pollure, and not obtainable without much praftice. 

 15. Brahm-hanfa : this is a ftage of aufterity much vene- 

 rated, and cafily prafticable, .at Icall oflenfibly. The de- 

 votee profefTes total indifference to fvery thing fublunary : 

 he provides or afl<s for no food or clotliing : he wanders or fit.s 

 naked : if any one bring him food, he eats: liis whole time, 

 in fhort, is occupied in divine contemplation. 16. Panch-a^ni, 

 five fires. The devotee fits on the ground, with a fire to'the 

 cardinal points, intenfc and near in proportion to his ability 

 to bear them. The fun over head is the fifth fire. (See 

 Panch-agni.) 17. r/rian^/j;, (landing on one foot. This 

 Lakfhmi is related to have done for 100,000 years in the 

 flower of the lotos, during one of her terrellri.il incarnations, 

 that file might be reunited to her lord Vifhnu. ( See Pavaka. ) 

 18. Surya-varti, propitiating Surya, or the fun. This is 

 done in various ways. Sometimes by abftinence merely till 

 he is rifen, or until other prcfcribed ceremonies have been 

 performed. Fixing the eyes conftantly on the fun is another 

 mode. See Surya. 



TAPASSANT, among Hunters, denotes lurking, or 

 fquatting. Hence alfo, to tappy, is to lie hid, as deer may do. 



TAPA-TACSO, in Geography, a town of Thibet ; 45 

 miles N.E. of Laffa. 



TAPAUACA, a town of South Am.erica, in the pro- 

 vince of Daricn ; 40 miles E.S.E. of St. Maria de Darien. 



TAPAYAXIN, in Zoology, the name of a very remark- 

 able fpecies of lizard, called by Hernandez the lacertut 

 orbicularis. 



It is not of the long and flender fliape of the common 

 lizards, but as broad as it is long, and much refembling the 

 ray-fifh in fhape, though feldom exceeding four inches in 

 length or breadth. It is a cartilaginous Kzard, of a very 

 beautiful variety of colours, always very cold to the touch, 

 and fo fluggifh a creature, that it often will not move out of 

 its place even on touching it. Its head is exceedingly hard 

 and elate, and has a fort of crown of prickles for its de- 

 fence ; yet it is a perfedlly harmlefs animal, and fo far from 

 having the feai- of man, and (hynefs that other beafls have, 

 that it loves to be taken up and played with, and will fland 

 perfeftly ftill, and feem very happy while played with. Her- 

 nandez, lib. ix. cap. 1 6. 



TAPE-WoRM, a fpecies of worm breeding in the human 

 bowels, and called by authors tunia, and htmlricus latiu, or 

 the broad worm. SeeT.ENlA. 



The Greek and Roman phyficians, as well as thofe of 

 our own time, have defcribed thofe forts of worms to which 

 the human bowels are fubjedl. The common long worms, 

 which refemble earth-worms; the afcarides, or fmall worms; 

 and this tape-worm, wliich they have alio called virnus cucuf 

 bititius, or the gourd-worm, from its refembling, in fome 

 degree, the feeds of that fruit. 



The interpreters of fome of the Greek phyficians have, 

 however, been guilty of a great error, in confounding the 

 gourd-worms and the afcarides together, though nothing 

 can be more unlike. The ancients feem to have had a very 

 juft opinion of this aiiimal in c.ilhng it vermis cucurlilinus, 

 fince it is plain by this, that they underftood evci7 joint, as 

 we call them, of this creature, to be a dillinft worm ; and 

 what we call a fingle worm, to be a long feries of thefe 

 worms, joined together end to end. 



The true hiftory of this animal is, that it is fhort and 

 broad. What is called a link of t!ie long ^orm is really a 

 diflinft worm ; and when one of thefe multiplies in tlie 

 bowels, its young adhere to it, and to each other endwifc,. 

 fo as to form a fort of chain, wliich lengthens as they con- 

 tinue 



