'370 On Egypt a n d t h e Nile. 



Section the Second.. 



OSIRIS, or, more properly, Ysiris, according to Hellanicus, was a. 

 name ufed in. Egypt for the Supreme Being : (a) \n Sanfcrit it fignifies Lord, 

 and, in that fenfe, is applied by the^ Brahmens to each of their three principal, 

 deities, or rather to each of the principal forms, in which they teach the people 

 to adoreB-RAHM,or the Great One; and, if it be appropriated in common fpeech; 

 to Maha'de'va, this proceeds from the zeal of his numerous votaries, who 

 place him above their two other divinities, Brahma', Vishnu, and Ma- 

 ha'de'va, fay the Paur antes, were brothers; and the Egyptian Triad, or 

 Osiris, Horus,. and Typhon, were brought forth by the fame parent,. 

 though Horus was believed to have fprung from the myfterious embraces of 

 Osiris and. Isis,, before their birth ■;. as the Vaijlmavas , alfp imagine, that 

 Hara, or Ma ha'de'va, fprang myftically from his brother Heri,. or 

 Vishnu. In the Hindu. J^ythology Brahma' is reprefen^d of a red, Vish-t- 

 m& of a black, of dark azure> and Hara of a white, complexion ; but in 

 that of Egypt, we find f OsiR.is black, Horus white, and Typhon red : the 

 indiscriminate applicati£$|;£>f the tittle Is war a nas occafioned great confufion 

 in f tK<* accounts, which; the Greeks have transmitted to us, of Egyptian My- 

 • for the priefts of Egypt were very referved on fubjects of religion, 

 Greeian.'tra.vtlhxB had in general too little curiofity to investigate fuch 

 vith fcriipulous exactnefsH iince Os.i.rjjs, however,, waa painted bjaek^ 

 we may prefume,, that he was ; Vishnu, who r on many oceafions, according 

 to the Purdnas, took Egypt under his fpecial protection, CrishnA was 

 Vishnu himfelf, according to the mofl orthodox opinion; and it was He,, 

 who vifxted the countries adjacent to the Nile, deftroyed the tyrant Sanc'haV 



{a) Plat. On Ifis and Qjiris* 



