■^ ESSAY ON THE '-"•}..- 



moon. The learned and ingenious Mr. Bailly is of opinion, that we 

 •jnust look for the original D^/oj among the islands to the north-west 

 of Europe: and even the Greeks acknowledged, that Latona was born 

 in an island of the Hyperboreans. Delos, said the Greeks, was thus 

 called, because it shone forth, or appeared first after the flood. This 

 has some affinity with the opinion of the Paurdn'lcs on that subje^^l: 

 for as the White Island is exempted from the dissolution of the rest of 

 the world, it appears iirst, when these dreadful days are over. The moon 

 %as born there according to the Purdnas : and the sun, in the character 

 dt the^on of Ca'syapa, was born in the west: but the Sun and Lunus 

 are not considered as brothers in India. The Greeks considered the west 

 as the abode and native country of the sun, where he retired every day 

 to rest himself in the company of his mother and of his youthful wife, 

 according to the poet Stesichorus, as cited by Athenjeus.('> This 

 moon, re:maining on earth, gave general dissatisfaction to the gods, and 

 mankind ; as it gave no light : and besides the plants were poor, and 

 stunted, and their fruits of no use to mankind. In order to obtain a bet- 

 ter and more beneficial moon, it was resplved to churn the IFkite Sea: 

 and after infinite trouble a new moon was obtained of the purest amrit, 

 as consisting of the most subtile parts of the former moon, which was 

 churned along with a certain cornposition made for, that purpose, and 

 flung into the While Sea. This new moon instantly fiew up to heaven, 

 where it remains, to the unspeakable benefit of the world. 



Yet there was still something wanting : this new moon required a 

 ruling power, and a moonj or another self, in a human shape. For this 

 purpose Atri made again tapasya; and the Tri-murtti appeared to him, 



iO See Ilui)B£CK.'s Atlant. Yoi. II. p. 2Q2> 



V A 



