148 ESSAY ON THE 



biittero These are intended to represent the seven mother goddesses » 

 they then perform the pujd and pradac^hina, or go in procession round 

 them. These were well known in the west The Mdti-i-Devis 2ire dlso' 

 called Jandm-devi in Sanscrit ; hence the Junones-Dece of the Romans, 

 who were the same with the mother goddesses. Keysler says, that the 

 mother goddesses, worshipped in Gaul, were also called Mdtres-Familias; 

 and he cites Cesar's commentaries as his authority, Mater-Familias an- 

 swers to the Cula-Devatd, literally Detis or Bea-Familias of the Hindus;: 

 and out of respe6l, mothers are often called Jandnidcvi^ 



The present moon was created, as we have seen, a little before the 



war of the gods with the giants. This circumstance was not unknown to- 



the western mythologists ; for Theodorus, the Chalcidian, informs us 



that Selene, or Luna, made her appearance a little before that famous war. 



This circumstance is also noticed by Ariston of Chios, and Dionysi us of 



ChalciS) according to Mr. Bryan t.('^ This shows that the system of my- 



'.' thology in the west, was the same with that of the Hindus. Of the for- 



' mer we have only a few scattered fragments, but the deficiency may be 



' supplied from the Purdn'as, 



The famous tree Pdrijdta, a sort of J^yctantheSj is another invaluable 

 jewel procured by this churning. It is not singular; there are many others 

 in different parts of the world. They are called in general Calpa-vricsha, 

 and are endowed with knowledge and speech, like the oaks of Dodona; 

 and of the wood of such a tree, the Argo must have been made. Some 

 Christians believed also in these Calpa-vricshas^ endowed with reason > 

 and of course with the faculty of speech, according to Stephanus Go- 



(J) Vol, IIL p. 401 and 402. 



