6 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS RITES. 
had to abide for a million years, and to submit to the severest penances, 
part of which were, his compulsory appearance upon earth during a portion 
of each of the four ages of the world, in order to act as a chronicler of 
Vishnw’s heroic acts. After that period had expired, he was again admitted 
into the celestial regions, there to be the representative of the Supreme 
God. The most prominent of his wives is Saravadi, who is described as 
seated by his side upon an elevated bench (pl. 2, jig. 15). Brahma 
is represented as of a golden color, with four heads and faces, with 
which he looks over the four divisions of the world (sometimes five are 
given to him); he has also four arms and hands, in one of which he holds 
the Vedas, in another a sacrificial spoon, in the third a sacrificial vase, and 
with the fourth he grasps the rosary hanging around his neck. His para- 
dise, Brahma-Loga, is upon Mount Meru, the favorite place of the gods. 
To that place he admits his faithful followers to bathe in the sea Behra, by 
which they renew their youth. 
The worship of Brahma has long ago been abandoned by the Hindoos, 
who now bow before Vishnu and Siva. 
- 6. Vishnu. Vishnu is the second person in the Hindoo Triad, and as 
the second emanation from Brahm, the personification of the preserving 
power of that God. His Avatars or Incarnations were ten in number, and 
are the most remarkable incidents in his history and the favorite subjects 
of Hindoo poetry. In his first Avatar (J/atsyavatara) he appeared as a fish 
(pl. 2, fig. 8). He assumed this form to save King Satyavrata or Vawvas- 
rata and his queen, with the seven /zshis and their wives, during the 
deluge which inundated the whole earth, for they alone, on account of their 
piety, were deemed worthy to escape the general destruction. The myth 
relates further, that he presented them with a vessel (the ark Cahztra) in 
which to navigate the waters, and then transformed himself into a fish of 
stupendous dimensions, to which the ark was moored, and which served as its 
guide during the flood. 
After the waters had subsided he returned to the land to promote the 
welfare of the new races. In his second Avatar (Curmavatara) he appeared 
with the body of a tortoise (jig. 4). The myth concerning it informs us 
that the gods and the giants united to prepare the Amrita, the draught 
which gives immortality to all who partake of it; and for that purpose 
twined the great serpent Scsha (sometimes called Vasky) around Mount 
Mandara (Mandreghi), and afterwards carried the mountain into the Milk 
Sea. The mountain was then made to revolve by means of the serpent ; 
for the gods on one side pulled it by the tail, and the giants on the other 
pulled it by the head in a contrary direction, and thus gave it the rotary 
motion in order to convert the sea of milk into butter. But after churning 
thus for a thousand years, they found that the mountain began to settle into 
the sea. To prevent its further sinking, Vishnu assumed the form of a 
tortoise, and diving under it supported it on his back till the Amrita was 
obtained. The gods, who immediately appropriated the precious draught, 
had to fight a hard battle for it with the giants, who were finally vanquished 
by Vishuu and then cast into the bottomless pit. But the Amrita was not 
226 
