358 On Egypt and the Nile 



Tacazze, which Ptolemy calls the marlh of Coke; a word, which I fup- 



pofe to be derived from the Sanfcrit. 



VII. Yavana is a regular participial form of the root yu, to mix; fa 

 that yavana, like mifra, might have fignified no more than a mingled people : 

 but, (mce yoni, or the female nature, is alfo derived from the fame root, many 

 Pandits infift, that the Tavanas were fo named from their obflinate aflertion 

 of a fuperiour influence in the female, over the linga, or male nature, in pro- 

 ducing a perfect offspring. It may feem ftrange, that a queftion of mere 

 phyfiology mould have occafioned not only a vehement religious conteft, but 

 even a bloody war , yet the fact appears to be hiftorically true, though the 

 Hindu writers have dreffed it up, as ufual, in a veil of extravagant allegories 

 and myfteries, which we mould call obfeene, but which they, eonfider as 

 awfully facred. They reprefent Na'ra'yana moving, as his name implies, 

 on the waters, in the character of the firfi male, and the principle of all nature, 

 which was wholly furrounded in the beginning by tamas, or darknefs, the 

 Chaos and primordial Night of the Greek Mythologies, and, perhaps, the 

 Thaumaz or 'Thamas of the ancient Egyptians: the Chaos is alfo called Pra- 

 crTti, or crude Nature, and the male deity has the name of Purusha„ 

 from whom proceeded Sdcli, or power, which, when it is afcribed to the 

 earth, in contradiftinclion to the waters, is denominated Adhdra S'aBi, or, 

 the power of containing or conceiving; but that power in its firfi ftate was ra- 

 ther a tendency or aptitude, and lay dormant or inert, until it was excited by 

 the btja, or vivifying principle, of the plaftick I'swara. This power, or 

 aptitude, of nature is reprefented under the fymbol of the yoni, or bhaga, 

 while the animating principle is expreffed by the linga : both are united by the 

 creative power, Brahma'; and the yoni has been called the navel of 

 Vishnu, not identically, but nearly ; for, though it is held in the Vkdanta % 





