HINDOO MYTHOLOGY. 11 
his head, and in each hand he holds a flower of the lotus which opens its 
petals to the first rays of the sun, and closes them again as soon as the last 
rays have left the horizon. Among the rest of the inferior gods we must 
notice Camadeva or Camos (pl. 1, fig. 20), the god of love. He is a son of 
Vishnu and Lakshmi, and is represented as a boy riding a parrot, and 
armed with a quiver, bow, and arrows. The old Hindoo idols, whose pic- 
tures are given in pl. 3, jigs. 1-5, were found in the cave-temples, but their 
names have as yet not been ascertained ; neither have we been able to learn 
the name or office of the god represented by jig. 7, an idol worshipped by 
the Indians of Astrachan. 
The Giants were a wicked race of beings, and since the difficulty about the 
Amrita, of which they were deprived by the gods, the bitter enemies of the 
Triad and all its friends. Like Garuda (pl. 1, jig. 22) they are represented 
with the most grotesque bodies and heads. 
House gods, worshipped as the particular patrons of individual families, 
are also common among the Hindoos. They are generally selected from 
the inanimate productions of nature; among these the Ganges, and other 
rivers considered sacred, held conspicuous positions. 7g. 21 is a specimen 
of the forms under which they were worshipped. It represents a personifi- 
cation of the Ganges, Jamuna, and Saraswadi, all embodied in one group. 
Some animals were also considered sacred; among these were the bull, 
the elephant, the monkey, the eagle, the swine, and the serpent. <A trace 
of this can be detected in the Mythic Camel (pil. 2, jig. 19). In the vege- 
table kingdom, the lotus was honored as peculiarly favored by the gods. 
But the Hindoos did not confine themselves in their consecrations and 
deifications to the productions of our globe; the blue ether above them, 
with its host of brilliant worlds, was introduced into their religious system. 
A specimen of this is seen in jig. 18, which is a representation of the Hindoo 
solar system (/ast-Chacra) with the zodiac. Swraya, with his phaeton, the 
only wheel of which is the sun itself, is seen driving through the centre. 
The back of the carriage leans against Mount Meru, while the remainder, 
with its seven green horses, is hovering in the air. The inner circle, with 
its figures, represents the seven planets, in which the sun and moon are 
included, revolving in their periodical courses. Each of them is named 
after a god, and has one day in the week assigned to him over which he 
rules. 
The two figures on the left are only imaginary planets ; the one with a 
crowned head resting upon a rug, and supported by a cushion, is intended 
to represent the ascending node or dragon’s head; and the other, the body 
without a head, seated upon an owl, and holding in one hand a sceptre, 
and in the other a flower, the descending node or dragon’s tail. The myth 
accounts for these strange figures, by telling us that when Vishnu struck 
off the head of the giant Bahu, whom he had canght taking by stealth 
the Amrita destined only for the gods, he did it with such force that the 
head flew into heaven, where it remained, and was placed among the stars. 
The outer circle of jig. 18 is an exact copy of our own zodiac. 
The Hindoo worship is much Jess complicated than the doctrines about 
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