3°4 



On ji g y p t . a .n. d the Nile 



rdjejharl, called alfo Is a'ni and Isr; and, in the, character of Sati', (he was 

 transformed into the river itfelf :• the word Cdla Signifies blacky and, from the 

 root cal, it means alfo devouring, whence it is applied to Time-, and, from both 

 fenfes in the feminine, to the Goddefs in her dcftru&ive capacity ; an inter- 

 pretation adopted, as we fhall fee hereafter, in the Purdnas. In her cha- 

 racter of M ah a'ca'li' me; has. many other epithets, all implying different 

 fliades of black or dark azure ; and, in the Cdlicd-purdn, they are ail afcrib- 

 ed to the river: they are Call ox Gala, Nila, Aji'jd, 'Shydmdy or 'Shyamala., 

 Mechacd, Anjandbhd, Crijhna. The fame river is alfo called Ndhufhi, 

 from the celebrated warriour and conquerour, ufually entitled De'va- 

 Nahusha, and, in the fpoken dialects, Deo-naush.: he is the Dionysus, 

 I. believe, of the ancient Europeans. 



By the Greeks, Romans, and Hebrews, the 'Nile (which is clearly a San- 

 Jtrit Word) was known alfo by the following names : Melar, Melo, Mgyptos, 

 Sikhor, or Sihor, Nous or 'Nils, Aetos, Siris, Oceanus, Triton, Potamos* The 

 word Nous (a) is manifestly corrupted from Nahufh, or Naush ; Aetos 

 from king Ft or Ait, an avdntara, or inferiour incarnation, of Maha'de- 

 va; Mgyptos from 'Agupta, or on all fides guarded ; and Triton, probably, 

 fromT'rituni, as the Ethiops, having no fuch letter as f, and generally 

 fubftituting t in its room, would have pronounced Tripuni, which is a com- 

 mon Indian corruption of TrivenL 



The Sanfcrit word Triveni properly means with three plaited loch ; but 

 it is always applied to the confluence of three [acred rivers, or to the branch- 

 ing of a river into three Jl reams : ./Ethic us, in his Cofmography, inftead of 



(a). Hor. Apoi.lo we^NaAsaY^fffwg. B. lO, 



