1870.] The Vastu Yaga. 213 



his claims, and though rajas and owners of their own houses perform 

 the srdddha on their own land, they have still to make offerings 

 to Vastu Purusha, which we fancy represents the aboriginal owners 

 of the country. The modern expounders it is true identify the Vastu 

 Purusha and the Bhusvami with Yishnu, but as a separate plate is 

 always offered along with it to Yishnu, neither Bhusvami nor Vastu 

 Purusha can mean anything else, but what it literally says, unless 

 it be a typical offering to the sovereign of the country. 



In the Vastu Yaga, one of the oldest ceremonies of the Aryans, 

 Vastu is the principal god, and though the aborigines themselves 

 are not worshipped by name, the Naga is no doubt the ostensible 

 object of worship. The several gods, properly pitrs, (ancestors,) 

 manes, former owners, that occupy the several mandalas, are 

 also the names of Nagas. The Vastu is the god Earth, quite dis- 

 tinct from Dhara, the mother-earth (terra), and in the prayer he is 

 represented as the supporter of the world. 



All the gods are pervaded by Vastu, Vastu pervades tlie creation j he is 

 the supporter of the earth. Salutation be unto you, Vastudeva ! 



It is remarkable that nowhere in the Purdnic or Tdntric cosmo- 

 gony, is Vastu named as distinct from Sesha, or the primal snake 

 (^•T^^r^rt, eternity). 



The supporter of the universe is air, above which is the atlas-tortoise (colos- 

 sochelys atlas ? ) upon which rests the Sesha, and upon it the earth. 



The Vastu Ydga therefore, appears to be a memorial of the foun- 

 dation of the new Aryan home and of the Nagas, a race of powerful 

 aborigines of India. Their name is connected with the several 

 vegetable products of the soil, which the first Aryan settlers soon 

 found to be useful and worthy of preservation. Thus — 



Ndgapdsa, or the lasso, a weapon of the Nagas ; Ndgavandhu the re- 

 ligious fig tree {Ficus religiosa), the friendly shelter of the Nagas ; 

 Nagarenu,Nagaja, and Naga Sambhava for vermillion, litharge, and ga- 

 lena, all probably first mined by the Nagas ; Naga pus lip ilea, the golden 

 Jasmine (Jasminumfruticans) ; Naga Kesara, the Mesuaferrea flower; 



