OF THE HINDUS. 87 



this, we find traces of him in other places. There is a BeifheJc of his amongst 

 the Glials of Miittra, and about two miles from the fort of Chimar, is a place 

 called his well, Achcirj Icucin, comprising a temple and Mafh, in the court yard 

 of which is the %'<?// in question; the saint is said to have resided here sometime. 

 After this peregrination, Vallabha returned to Vrindavan, where, as a 

 reward for his fatigues and his faith, he was honoured by a visit from Krishna 

 in person, who enjoined him to introduce the worship of Bdlagopdl, or Gopdl 

 Ldl, and founded the faith which at present exists in so flourishing a condition. 

 Vallabha is supposed to have closed his carrier in a miracle : he had finally 

 settled at Jei'kan Ber, at Benares, near which a Mat'h still subsists, but at 

 length, having accomplished his mission, he is said to have entered the Ganges 

 at Hanumdn Ghat, when, stooping into the water, he disappeared : a brilliant 

 flame arose from the spot, and, in the presence of a host of spectators, he 

 ascended to heaven, and was lost in the firmament. 



The worship of Krishna as one with Vishnu, and the universe, dates 

 evidently from the Mahdhlidrat* and his more juvenile forms are brought pre- 

 eminently to notice in the account of his infancy, contained in the Bhdgaval^\ 

 but neither of these works discriminates him from Vishnu, nor do they recom- 

 mend his infantine or adolescent state to par-ticular veneration. At the 

 same time some hints may have been derived from them, for the institution 

 of this division of the Hindu faith.1: In claiming, however, supremacy for 



* The well known passage in the Bhdgavad Gitd, in which Aujuna sees the universe in the 

 mouth of Krishna, establishes this identity, 



f Particularly in the tenth book, which is appropriated to the life of Krishna. The same 

 subject occupies a considerable portion of the Hari Bans section of th» Mahdbhdrat, of the 

 Patdla section of the Padma Purdnci, the sixth section of the Vishnu Purdna, and the whole 

 of the Adi Upapvrdna. 



X Tlius in the Vana Parva of the Mahdbhdrat ; Markandeya Muni, at the time of a minor 

 destruction of the world, sees, << amidst tJie waters, an Indian Fig tree of vast size, on a principal 



