m ' " .fSSAY ON THE 



withdrew from tliis world.(J) There the three Par c{e presided over 

 the four divisions of Tri-cuta^ so combined together, as to make only 

 three parts. These four divisions of Tri-ciitd are mentioned in the Trixi-* 

 locya-derpan'a, Suvania, Rupavdra, Dhatuci and Vajra, but they are to 

 be considered as three only. Timarchus, in his vision of the infernal 

 regions/^) saw many islands in the eighth division of the world. The 

 friendly spirit, who pointed out to Timarchus, whatever was worth his 

 notice in these regions, told him that there were four shares or portions 

 of them. *^ A small portion only," says he, " of the superior parts be- 

 *' longs to us, the other parts are the abode of other gods. The share 

 " of Proserpine, intrusted to our care, is one of the /owr, which are 

 " divided from each other by the Styx: this you may survey, Proser- 

 " PINE is in the moon, and Mercury is her companion: this is the in- 

 " fernal Mercury or Pluto/'(3>^ Her portion, or share, is what the 

 western mytholagists understood, when they said, that there was really 

 a moon on earth; or, as Macrobius says, a terrestrial moon: thus it 

 appears that Luna is also an earth, land or country, which we should 

 call a celestial earth, in Sanscrit Swerga-bhiimi, an epithet of the IVhite 

 Island, or the island of the moon. This moon, says Plutarch, is a 

 mixed body, and the emblem of the Genii; as the sun is the emblem 

 of the superior deities. This some call a terrestrial heaven, and others a 

 celestial earth. This moon, says he, belongs to Genii living on earth. 

 All the islands which Timarchus saw, were floating: this also is con- 

 formable to the notions of the Hindus, who conceive that the earth, and 



the Islands are all floating upon the abyss. 



-■■■'■' ■■ ■ I f I . ■ ■ ' I — ^~i 



(0 Plutarch Vol. II. p. 421. 



(2) Plutarch de Genio SocRATis p. 589. 



(3) Plutarch YoL p. 943, 



