74 ESSAY ON THE 



mode of worshipping the sun. They were invited by the son of the 

 most powerful leader and chief in Indh; and though learned men here 

 will not acknowledge, that ^Swe'ta and \Sdca are the same, yet they 

 confess, that they are close to each other in the J'FMte Sea, and that 

 ''Sdca being called a dwipa, and 'Swe'ta an Upadzvipa, or inferior dwipa, 

 it must have made part of 'Sdca, though perhaps perfe6lly independent 

 of it. Of course the learned of this country, and myself, differ very 

 little in opinion about it. 



In the Bhavishya-piirdn^a the sun says, " in the dwipa of Jambu I am 

 " Vishnu; there the F^'J^i in human shapes are constantly chaunting my 

 " praise :" but in the 'Samha-pura'na we read in the dwipa of 'Swe'ta instead 

 of Jamhu-dwipa, which is the true reading, and conformable to the other 

 Purdn'as : and where should Crishna, and his son have looked for per- 

 sons duly skilled in the worship of the sun., but in ^Swetam ; where their 

 prototype Vishnu resides; and is himself the sun there: and where the 

 •sacred Vedas in human shapes, because they were not written, but orally 

 delivered, are constantly chaunting the praise of the sun. " I am Diva- 

 <' cara in 'Saca," says the sun. In the ^Sdmha-purdna we read, " I am 

 " Bhdscara in the dwipa of ^Sdca." In the chara^ler of Vishnu the sun 

 is worshipped in 'Swe'tam only; the divine presence of Vishnu is limited 

 to 'Swetam; of course, it is more corre6l to say Vishnu resides in "Szveta??i, 

 than in 'Sacam; which would convey an inadequate idea. But the sun, in 

 his chara6ler of Bivacam, maker or giver of hght, and Bha'scara, or 

 the author of resplendence^ is worshipped all over'Sdcam, as he is with 

 the title of Bhaga in the dwipa of Craunclia. Thus St. George, the suc- 

 cessor of Vishnu, though greatly inferior to him, being only a Rishi, is 

 the patron of the British empire in general, or 'Sdcam; yet he is more 

 particularly the guardian angel of England or ^Swctam, 



