N A R 



lunar zodiacs to Dakfha, who is mythologically reprefented 

 as a fon of Brahma, and they then give a free rein to their 

 poetical imaginations, repref'enting the Nakfhatras as the 

 •daughters of Daklha. 



NALA, in Hindoo Romance, is a perfonage of confider- 

 able importance, though defcribed as an ape. Others 

 begat by the divine architetl Vifivakarma (which fee) ; 

 and he is faid in the Ramayana to have been the builder of 

 Rama's bridge, ufually called Adam's bridge, from the con- 

 tinent to the illand of Ceylon, or Lanka. See Ceylox 

 and Lanka. 



NAMUKI, is the name of a friend and companion of 

 Indra, tlie regent of the firmament. 



NANCEMOND. See Nansemond. 



NANDANA, the name of the garden, or city, afligned 

 by Hindoo fabuliils for the delightful refidence of their 

 demigod Indra, the regent of the firmament. ( See Indra.) 

 There are four cities or gardens of this name, and three of 

 them are fometimes faid to belong to Ganefa, or Pattear. 

 One of them is called Swa-nandana-puri, the felf-deUghting 

 vity ; nandana meaning delightful or happy. 



NANDI, in Hindoo Mythology, is the name of the bull 

 <i\\ which the god Siva rides. The bull, with the Hindoos, 

 is the fymbol of divine juftice, as it is alfo of generation or 

 production. See SiVA. 



NANSEMOND, 1. 4, r. 10,324—4462. 



NANTICOKE, I. 2, r. 2843 inhabitants, including 192 

 flaves in 18 10. 



NANTMILL for Naxtrill, 1. 2, add — the former 

 contains 1544, and the latter 11 88 inhabitants. 



NANTUCKET, 1. 13, r. 6807. 



NARAKA, one of the receptacles for finners, or hells 

 of the Hindoos. Of thefe, they have at leaft feventy-one ; 

 and their names are given in the Inft. of Menu, c. iv. v, 88, 

 89, 90. 



NARAMEDHA, a term in the Sanflcrit language fig- 

 nifying the facrifice of a man. It cannot be doubted that 

 Luman facrifices were formerly offered by fome tribes of 

 Hindoos, although it is faid, and may be reafonably believed, 

 that in thefe days the praftice is wholly difcontinued. (See 

 RuNEKA.) To the goddefs Parvati, or Bhavani, the con- 

 fort of Siva, under her name of Kali, or the black goddefs, 

 thefe offerings, it would appear, were ufually, if not always, 

 made. The rules and regulations for this horrid facrifice 

 are laid down in a chapter, emphatically called the fanguinary 

 chapter of the Kalika-Purana, which has been tranflated by 

 Mr. Blaquiere, and publilhed in the fifth volume of the 

 Afiatic Refearches, art. xxiii. No religious rite can be 

 more minutely ordained and detailed. 



Although it muft appear evident, that human facrifices were 

 formerly legal and praftifed among Hindoos, they are moft 

 pointedly prohibited in very ancient, as well as in more modern 

 books : fuch prohibition is, indeed, a farther, and of itfelf 

 fufficicnt proof of the exillence of the praftice. In the 

 Brahma Purana, (fee PuRAXA,) every Naramedha, or man- 

 facrifice, is exprefsly forbidden ; and in the fifth book of 

 the Sri-Bhagavat, (fee that article,) fir W. Jones has 

 pointed out the following emphatical words : " Whatever 

 men in this world facrifice human viftims, and whatever 

 women eat the flefli of male cattle, thofe men and thofe 

 women (hall the animals here (lain torment in the manfions 

 of Yama, (fee Yam a,) and, like (laughtering giants, having 

 cleaved their limbs with axes, (hall quaff their blood." 

 Afiatic Refearches, vol. iii. 



In the firil Veda an emblematical or vicarial facrifice is 

 ordained, in which men and animals are the vittims, but are 

 releafed after certain ceremonies. 



Vol. XXXIX. 



N A S 



fou^tf ^t^^^^^"^' '" ^^'f'^y^ =^ '^'^ defignation of the 

 tourth avatara or mcarnation of the Hindoo dcitv V.flinu It 

 means hteraly nian-l'ion, fuch being the form m which 'this 

 defcent is related to have taken place. 



Sir W. Jones furmifed that this avatara, and the followinsr 

 ot Vamana, (fee Vamanavatara,) were allegorical re- 

 terences to the two prcfumptuous monarchs Nimrod and 

 lielus, under the names of Hiranyakafipu and Beli, the 

 tormer name meaning ^ith a golden axe, or, according to 

 other authorities, fW;„_fo/^. Hind. Panth. Af. Ref 



1 he three avataras, or defcents of Vi(hnu on earth, that 

 preceded that which is the fubjedl of this article, were the 

 Matiya or hlh, the Kurma or tortoife, and the Varaha or 

 the boar ; under each of which words, having the common 

 denomination of avatara polffixed, fome account of them 

 will be refpec^ively found. A lift of the ten grand defcents, 

 or dajanmtara, will be found under the article ViSH.NU. 

 i his IS fometimes written Nri Sinha. 



NARASINHI, or Narsixhi, or Nrifnhl, is the name 

 given to the Hindoo goddefs Lak(hmi, who became thus 

 incarnated to accompany her lord VHhnu in his avatara or 

 delcent of Narafingha, as fufficiently explained under that 

 article, and the others thence referred to. 



NARAYANA, is a perfonification of rather a bold 

 and apparently reprehenfible nature. « The waters are 

 called nara, becaufe they were the firft produdion of Nara, 

 or the Spirit of God ; and fince they were his firft ayana, 

 or place of motion, he is thence named Narayana, or mov- 

 ing on the waters." Inft. of Menu, c.l. v. 10. S°e 

 Menu. 



On the whole, Narayana feems to refer in character more 

 to Vifhnu than to any other of the Hindoo deities. 



NA R A YANI, a name and form of the Hindoo goddefs 

 Laklhmi. In this charadler, fhe is confidered as the Sakti 

 or confort of Narayana ; which fee, and Matri. 

 NARBETH, 1.9, r. 388. 



NAREDA, or Narada, in Hindoo Mythology, a per- 

 fonage among the Hindoos, deemed the mythological off"- 

 fpring of Brahma and Sarafwati. In the popular'hiftories 

 of Kri(hna, Nareda is reprefented as his humble friend, on 

 whom he pafies many practical and whimfical jokes, meta- 

 morphofing him into a woman. Sec. But in more ferious 

 books, his charafter is more correfponding with the m.agni- 

 ficence of his origin. He is reprefented as a wife legiflator, 

 great in arms, arts, and eloquence ; and, indeed, of fuch 

 hiftorical celebrity, that his aftions are the fubjeft of a 

 Purana, named after him ; fome account of which is given 

 under Purana. He was alfo an aftronomer, and an ex- 

 quifite mufician. Hence Sarafwati, the patronefs of fcience 

 and harmony, is faid to have been his mother. Pie farther 

 invented the vina, a fort of lute, which fir W.Jones remarks 

 as a fingular faft, is otherwife called katchnpi, having the 

 fame meaning as t,jludo ; tmd Nareda being alfo a frequent 

 melfenger of the gods, to one another, or to favoured mortals. . 

 His charafter, in thefe and other points, refembles tliat of 

 Hermes, or Mercury. 



NASH, 1. 2, r. 7268—2897. 



NASTICK, in Phdofiphy, the name of a fceptical fea 

 of Hindoos. The word in the Sanflvrit tongue means 

 negative, and is intended to deiignate thofe who do not 

 believe the Veda. Individuals of more orthodox feCts call 

 the Nafticks, materialiils and atheilfs. 



NASTURTIUM, in Botany, (fee our former article^) 

 is now adopted to defignate the Water-crefs and its allies, 

 feparated by Mr. Brown from Sisymbrium, (fee that arti- 

 cle,) fed. 1. — Br. in Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 4. 109 Clafs 



4. E and 



