1848.] Gleanings in Buddhism. 93 



Osiris, according to Plutarch, was the Commander of the Argo, and 

 was represented by the Egyptians by a boat carried on the shoulders of 

 men.* 



This Ossa Navicularis, as Mr. Maurice observes, was carried at Egyp- 

 tian solemnities by 80 men. Then there was the mystical boat of Isis, 

 which according to Lactantius was adored in the same country. It was 

 the cup of the sun in which Hercules they say traversed the ocean. The 

 Suivi again worshipped Isis in form of a ship.f 



A golden float, crescent-shaped, but less round, was an emblem of the 

 ark.f Iswara is called Argha-natha or the Lord of the boat-shaped 

 vessel. J There was also the Vitzliputula of South America, who was 

 carried in an ark like Osiris and the Jurar of Peru boasted of their 

 descent from the sun and moon, that is from Noah, and the ark worship- 

 ped in conjunction with these luminaries. § Faber says that the ark 

 was frequently described by the antients as the allegorical consort of the 

 principal Arkite Deity. (| 



The Argha is with the Hindus a type of the Yoni, the cymbium of 

 the antients, and in it were made offerings of fruits and flowers. ^f It 

 means a cup or dish, boat-shaped, used for offering fruits or flowers to 

 deities.* A third part of the worship of Bacchus consisted in carrying 

 about an ark.f 



A mare was a symbol of the ark, and we find a horse coupled with 

 the relics in the excavation of one of the Chaittyas just described ; a horse 

 was one of the most usual symbols of Noah. J 



" The Phonecian word Aron denotes either an ark or a coffin. In 

 scripture it is the ark of the covenant or a boat, which last was borne 

 aloft on the shoulders of the priests exactly in the same manner as the 

 Baris of the Egyptian Ogdoad.§ We cannot I think wonder at this 

 last resemblance, seeing that Moses had just left the practice behind him 



* As. Res. and other works— Wilford quoting- Tacitus, 

 t Key to Hindu Chronology. 



\ Wilford. 



§ Faber's Cabiri, Vol. I. p. 170, and Franklin quoting him. 



|| Do. Do. p. 79. 



If J. A. S. B. Vol. VIII. p. 274, et seq. 



* Ibid, Vol. VI. p. 521, et seq. 



t Faber's Cabiri, Vol. II. pp. 332, 333. { Ibid, Vol. I. p. 100. § Ibid, Vol. I. 

 pp. 226, 227. 



