140 ESSAY ON THE 



, It seems also, that it was once a general opinion, that the moon had 

 not been created with the rest of the world, but appeared afterwards. 

 This is the opinion of the Hindus, and it was also prevalent in the west. 

 The Arcadians boasted that they werq more mcient than the moon ; and 

 several old historians, among whom was Theodorus ©f Chalcis, said that 

 the moon made its appeajraiJ.ce ^ little before the war .of the giants, ex^ 

 f 6lly like the Paurdn'ks^ 



' . This churning of the Cdasddad'M^ or caldron-like sea, owes perhaps 

 Its origin to some strange convulsion of nature, in that part of the world, 

 accompanied with dreadful Storms, and some irruption of the sea; in con- 

 sequence of which the shores of the Caldsa sea were strewed with the 

 wreck of nature in that part of the country, such as plants, and trees torn 

 Irorri'the adjacent country, v/ith large masses of amber, and ambergris. 

 Which are only th^ coarser parts of the celestial Amrit or ambrosia, 

 Th^re are certainly obvious vestiges remaining of such a dreadful catas- 

 trophe ; such as the giant's causeway, on the Irish coast, and other re- 

 j^aains of volcanic ..con v.ulsiorLS .on tl^e adj.acejit shores of Scotland. The 

 direfu,! effe<5l? of s,ucl;i ,a cpnyiilsioji pf ;iatu_r.e, ii> that part of the world, are 

 still more clearly described in the Purdn'as; as will appear, w]i,en I come 

 to treat of the origin of the Vcdtaran'i or Styx. 



.The Isle of Man ^^ palled Monoeda by Ptolemy^ and Manand by Irish 

 Smachies, according to General yALAi^cEY, beiiig exactly in the centre. 

 01 the churn, or caldron, seejna?^ to be the mountain of Mandam, called 

 a|,so Manda, which was brought from distant countries, with infmit^ 

 trouble, for the purpose of churning this sea. , ^ .. ^^ ^ . . 



In the Hdldsya-c'han'da, a se6lion of the Scanda-purdn'a, it is s^id 

 that a holy Rishi, called Dad'hichi, swaljowed .^p the sacred ^oo|iSy 



