from the Ancient Books of the Hindus. 42f : 



ter P'it'he'nas his protector, I fuppofe to be Typhon, Typmaon or Ty- 

 phosus : he was an ufurper and a tyrant, oppreffing the Devatds, encou- 

 raging the D lityas, and fuffering the Vedas to be neglefted, Herodotus 

 reprefents him, like Ra'hu, as conftantly endeavouring to deftroy Af ollo 

 and Diana (a); and the mythologies add, that he was thunderftruck by 

 Jupiter, and fell into the quickfands of the lake Sirbonzs, called alfo Sir- 

 Son and Sarbonis : now Swarbhamt, one of his names, fignifies Light of 

 Heaven* and, in that character, he anfwers to Lucifer. The fall of that 

 rebellious angel is defcribed by Isaiah, who introduces him faying, that 

 " he would exalt his throne above the flars of God, and would fit on the 

 ** mount of the congregation in the fides oF the North'*: the heavenly 

 Me'ruof the Puranas\ where the principal Devas are fuppofed to be feated, 

 is not only in the North, but has alfo the name of Sabhd, or the congrega- 

 tion. Fifty fix comets are faid, in the Chintdmani, to have fprung from 

 Ce'tu; and Ra'hu had a numerous progeny of Grahas t or crocodiles: 

 we are told by ./Elian, that Typhon affumed the form of a crocodile ('£)• 

 and Pva'hu was often reprefented in the fliape of that animal, though he 

 is generally defcribed as a dragon. The conftellation of the Dragon is by 

 the Japanefi' called the Crocodile ; and the fixth year of the Tartarian cycle 

 has the fame appellation : it is the very year, which the TUbetians name the 

 year of Lightning, alluding to the dragon, who was ftricken by ■ it (cj. 

 A real tyrant of Egypt was, probably, fuppofed to be Ra'hu, or Typhon, 

 in a human fhape; for we find, that he was actually expelled from that 

 country together with his Grahas : I have not yet b;en able to procure a 

 particular account of their expulfion. The -ft ban of Ra'hu or PaithT- 

 nasi, named alfo P'ait'hi, feems to have been the town of Pithom on the 



[a) B. z. C. 156. (t>) On Animals, B. 10 C. 21. (r) Alphab. Tibet, p. 46.3,, 



