SACRED; ISLES IN THE WEST. 1|9- 



snd were forbidden to reveal.('>> As the ancients swore by them, there can 

 be little doubt, but that they ^vere the three great deities of their religion. 

 As they are said to be the guardian gods, ^nd keepers of th§ wipds, they 

 Ipelong to ilais British Isles, 



Pluto or Yama, Neptunp or Varun'a ^re excluded from the Hindu 

 triad. Jupiter, with the eagle, is Vishnu: but Jupiter Pluvius, and 

 Jupiter wielding the thunder-bolt, is Indra. In general, we jiiay say 

 that Jupiter is the Indra of the Hindus, the Olympian Jupiter, 



The White goddess, or Sarasvati, presides over arts and sci- 

 ences : she is the Vedas, and the Ve'das are in her. Sa'vitri, the 

 consort of Brahma'^ is the Gdyatri, called emphatically the mother 

 of the Ve'das. ' The Gdyatri consists of certain mysterious words, 

 which they consider as the quintessence of the Vedas, The three 

 superior classes are regenerated or born' again, as they say, of the 

 Gdyati i; in the same manner, that we are born again of the spirit and 

 water : and the mysterious name of the Holy Trinity is really our Gdya-= 

 trt. From this regeneration, Brdlmienssire c^llQd Dwija, or twice born. 

 The necessity of regeneration is a fundamental tenet among divines in 

 the east, as well as in the west; and we are equally Dwija, twice 'born, 

 or regenerated. There are five different Gdyatris, according to tlie 

 number of the principal deities, which are Vishnu, 'Siva, the sun, Devi 

 and Gan'es'a. That of the sun is the first, and belongs exclusively to 

 the sacerdotal class. Sarasvati the white goddess, assuming innumera- 

 ble forms, which are all alike, resides in many places : but the priniitive 

 form's place of residence is in the White Isla7id. There she was visited 



(1) MAcnoBius lib. I. c, viii. 



