VIS 



VIS 



Bhaga and Bharga are names of Siva, of like allufion. Pad- 

 manabha, meaning lord of Padma ; the latter being a name 

 of Lakfhmi, and of the lotos, the appropriate fymbol of a 

 deity who is a perfonification of the humid principle. 

 Lakfhmi is the queen of beauty, and the lotos is the pro- 

 verbial type of female lovelinefs. (See Lotos and Padma. ) 

 Prabhu : this name may aUude to Vilhnu's folar godhead ; 

 for a word ,of the fame root, Prabha, implies brightnefs, 

 fplendour, effulgence ; and is a name of the confort of the fun. 

 See Prabha and Surya ; in which lall article, being the 

 name of the Hindoo Phoebus, are many particulars expla- 

 natory of the folar Vilhnu. Narayana, meaning moving on 

 or abiding in the waters, is a name applied to Vi(hnu by his 

 feftaries, and to other deities by theirs. (See Sects of 

 Hindoos.) Although Vifhnu hath t\{\?, aqueous name and cha- 

 raAer, he does not agree with the Neptune of the Weft fo 

 intimately as Siva. (See Siva, Trisula, and Varuna.) 

 Sri is a name or epithet meaning holy or divine, given to 

 gods, goddeffes, and men ; among them to Vifhnu ; but it 

 is not difcriminative. Kejava is a name of Krifhna and 

 Vifhnu, faid to allude to the finenefs of the hair of the in- 

 carnated deity. Madhava is derived from a giant named 

 Madhu, deilroyed by Vilhnu : it is a name alfo of 

 Krifhna, as is Murari of both. Trivikera, or Tri-vi- 

 hiama, alluding to three Jleps, taken by Vifhnu in the Vama- 

 navatara, is a defignation by which he is not unfrequently 

 called. Pitamba, or Pifamber. defcriptive of a yellow co- 

 loured garment worn by Krifhna, is fometimes given as a 

 name to him and to Vifhnu. See Prithu, for fome ac- 

 count of that name and form of the deity now under our 

 confideration, and Wjttoba for another. Shyamula, mean- 

 ing black-faced, is a name applied to Parvati as well as to 

 Vifhnu, in his form of Krifhna, who is ufually black or 

 blue-faced. Syama has the like derivation. Vinkatyeifh, 

 Vinkatramna, Viratarupa, and Yadava, are other names of 

 Vifhnu. Tama, the judge of departed fouls, is fometimes 

 called an emanation of him. The name Vifhnu is faid to 

 come from the root vis, which means to penetrate or pervade ; 

 and may allude to him more particularly in his form of 

 Surya, or the fun. (See Surya.) All thefe names of 

 Vifhnu, and a great many others, are difcufTed, as to their 

 derivation and myftical properties, in a Sanfcrit poem called 

 " Sahafra Nama." 



The name of this important mythological perfonage is 

 varioufly pronounced in different parts of India, and va- 

 rioufly written by Europeans : Bifhen, Vifnu, Viflinoo, &c. 



Thefe may fufBce of the names of Vifhnu. Like other 

 Hindoo gods, he has a particular abode afTigned him : his 

 is called Vatkontha ; which fee. 



VISHWARUPA, is the father of the two wives of 

 Ganefa, the god of prudence and policy ; called alfo Pollear, 

 which fee. The names of thefe wives were Sidi and Budhi. 

 (See SiDi.) Vifhwarupa, or Vifwarupa, is faid to be the 

 ion of Twafhta, or Vifiuakarma. See thofe articles. 



VISIAPOUR, in Geography. See Bejapour. 



VisiAPOUR, Vfapour, or Bejapour, a country, and at a 

 former period a confiderable kingdom, of Hindooftan, 

 bounded on the N. by Dowlatabad, on the E. by Golconda, 

 on the S. by Myfore, and on the W. by tlie Gauts, or 

 mountains which feparate it from Concan : formerly governed 

 by kings of the Patau race ; afterwards conquered by Au- 

 rungzebe, and now in poffeffion of the Mahrattas. 



VISIBLE, VisiBlLE, fomething that is an objedl of 

 fight, or vition ; or fomething by which the eye is affefted, 

 lo as to produce a fenfation. See Sight and Vision. 



The fchool pliilofophqrs make two kinds of vifibles, or 

 vifible objetts ; the one proper, or adequate, which are fuch 



JO 



as are no other way perceivable but by fight alone ; the 

 other common, which are fubjeft to divers ienles, as the light, 

 hearing, feeling, &c. 



Again, the firlt, or proper objeH of •u'tfion, is of two 

 kinds, viz. light and colour ; for thefe two are only fenfible 

 by fight. The firft, and primary, viz. light, they make the 

 formal, and colour, the material objeft. 



The Cartefians think they philofophize better, when they 

 fay that light alone is the proper objeft of vifion ; whether 

 it flow from a luminous body through a tranfparent medium, 

 and retains its firft name, light, or whether it be refjefted 

 from opaque bodies, under a certain new modification, or ha- 

 bitude, and exhibit their images ; or, lafUy, whether in 

 being refiefted, it is likewife refrafted, after this or that 

 manner, and affefts the eye with the appearance of colour. 



But, agreeable to fir Ifaac Newton's fentiments, colour 

 alone is the proper objeft of fight ; colour being that pro- 

 perty of light by which the light itfelf is vifible, and by 

 which the images of opaque bodies are painted on the retina. 



Ariftotle (De Anima, lib. ii) enumerates five kinds of 

 common vifibles, which are ufually received for fuch in the 

 fchools, ixs. motion, rcjl, number, figure, and magnitude. 



Others maintain nine, as in the verfes : 



" Sunt objefta novem vifus communia : quantum, 

 Inde figura, locus, fequitur diftantia, fitus, 

 Continuumque et difcretum, motufque, quiefque." 



Authors reafon very varioufly as to thefe common objeiSs 

 of vifion ; there are two principal opinions among the 

 fchoolmen. 



The adherents to the firft hold, that the common vifibles 

 produce proper reprefentations of themfelves, by fome pe- 

 cuhar fpecies, or image, by which they are formally per- 

 ceived, independently of the proper vifibles. 



But the fecond opinion prevails moft, which imports, 

 that the common vifibles have not any fuch formal peculiar 

 fpecies to become vifible by ; but that the proper objefts are 

 fufficient to throw themfelves in this or that place or fitua- 

 tion, and in this or that diftance, figure, magnitude, &c. by 

 the circumftances of their conveyance to the fenfory. 



In effeft, fince thefe comm.on vifibles cannot be repre- 

 fented alone (for whoever faw place, diftance, figure, fitua- 

 tion, &c. of itfelf?), but are always conveyed along with the 

 images of light and colour to the organ ; what neceflity is 

 there to conceive any fuch proper images by which the com- 

 mon vifibles fhould be formally perceived by the foul ? It is 

 much more probable, that from the pecuhar manner in 

 which the fenlitive faculty perceives a proper objeft, it is 

 apprized of its being in this or that fituation or place ; in 

 this or that figure, magnitude, &c. How this is effefted 

 may be conceived from what follows : 



I. The fituation and place of vifible objefts are perceived 

 without any intentional fpecies of them, merely by the impulfe 

 being made from a certain place and fituation, either above 

 or below, on the right or left, before or behind, by which 

 the rays of the proper vifibles are thrown upon the retina, 

 and their impreffion is conveyed to the fenfory. 



For, fince an object is feen by thofe rays which carry its 

 image to the retina, and in that place to which the vifible 

 power is direfted by the rays it receives, as it perceives the 

 impulfe of the rays to come from any place, &c. it is 

 abundantly admonifhed of the objefts being in that place and 

 fituation. See Apparent Place. 



Philofophers, in general, had formerly taken for granted, 

 that the place to which the eye refers any vifible objetl, feen 

 by refleftion or refraftion, is that in which the vifual ray 

 meets a perpendicular from the object upon the reflefting or 



the 



