Chap. I 
the Eaft- India Pagans. 
845 
jam, Gentives and Malabars : So, tho 
they acknowledg the fame Ixora, Bram- 
ma and Vtfinum, fome of them call'd 
Ixora MaheXy or Mahadeuw, Brammci^ 
Bruma or Ram, and Fiftnum Beoduo, &:c. 
which feems to intimate as if they had 
a certain refped to the Trinity , jufl: as 
the Chinefes worfliip three Divine Attri- 
butes under the Name of Pujfa, and the 
Greeks placed the three Chanties near the 
Throne of Jupiter and if the Modern 
yews were not quite obftinate in their de- 
nial of the Trinity, they might be con- 
vinc'd by their own Rabbies, Rabbi Ifaac, 
Rabbi Judas Nagi, and Rabbi Simeon. 
The firfl The firft Transformation was into a 
Transfor- pifli, occafion'd by Raxiaxa alias Adirem, 
lito""^^! who having carried away the Law-book 
no a >}'' the inferiour Gods call'd Devagal ov 
Deweias^ hid himfelf at the bottom of 
the Sea. The inferior Gods making their 
Complaints to riftnum, he transfor m'd 
himfelf into that ravenous Fifh the Shark, 
and thus diving to the bottom of the 
Sea, laid hold of Raxiaxa, otherwife 
call'd Seremiaxcn, and Sancafoor by the 
Senjans, kill'd him, and feiz'd the Law- 
book, divided into four parts ; the lirft 
whereof treated of the Souls of the Blef- 
fed, the fecond of the vagabond Souls, 
the third of good Works, the fourth of 
bad Works. But what Rogeriiis fays, /. r. 
c. 5. mz.. that the fourth part is loft, I 
could never be convinced of The Filh is 
calPd Mat or Mathia, tho the Malabars 
and Benjans call it Zecxt^, The Benjans 
tell us, that thefe Books were ftoln from 
Bramma, but the Malabars from the Devoe- 
tm, or inferiour Gods. The Benjans fay 
that Bramma was transformed into a Fifli, 
whereas the Malabars afcribe it to Fiftnum. 
The Benjans call thefe Tranfmutations 
Altars ; fo that according to their fuppo- 
lition Mats Altar being the firft, has now 
ftood 2500 years. 
Upon this occafion I muft agree with 
Rogeritis, when he fays, /. 2. c. 3- that he 
could not dive into the Myfteries of the 
Transformations, becaufe I am certain 
that it coft me a great deal of trou- 
ble before I could attain to the knowledg 
thereof, and that not without the AITi- 
ftance of a certain Brahman^ who coming 
from Bengale fettled at Jafnapatnam ;and 
as I frequently convers'd with him, fo I 
often ufed to difcourfe with him concern- 
ing the Animadverfions made upon this 
Head by Rogerim : He being afterwards 
converted to the Chriftian Faith, and bap- 
tized in the Church of Fanarpone, and 
our Difcourfe running upon the Transfor- 
mations of Fiftnmn, he told me that thi? 
t 
SaldcC'us. 
Fedam, or Law-book, being inclofed in a 
Cbanke^ or Sea-horfe's Horn, the fame 
was found out by Fiftnum ^ whence 
it is that they fay the Prints of the 
Fingers are to be feen in thefe Horns 
to this day j and that they have put the 
Saccaram or Sword, and the Chanki or 
Horn into his Hands, as you fee in the 
proceding Draught, tho fome afcribe the 
fame to Bramma. 
But before we enter further hpon the 
Defcription of the Tranfmutations, we 
muft add certain Preliminaries as tending 
to the Explanation thereof 
All thefe Transformations were per- Four yc-, 
form'd in four different times 01 fpaces : W'^'^Wc 
The firft call'd Kortefmge by the Benjans, ^I^f^' 
they fay continued 1 728000 years. The 
fecond Tretafinge 129*5000 years: The 
third Duaperfmge 8064000 years: The 
fourth KaUijlnge 4032000 years, being 
the fame term of time we now live in 5 
fo that according to their Computation at 
Suratte there were in 1657, at leaft 4758 
years elapfed of this laft term of Time. 
For it is to be known, that the Benjans, 
and moft other Pagans, Egyptians, Chine-. 
fes and Japonefes, differ feveral loco of ^ 
years in their Computations from ours. 
And to convince you that the Benjans 
have the fame years with ours, it is to 
be obferv'd, that they as well as we di- 
vide their Years into 12 Months, amount- 
ing in the whole to 3<5o days in the year ; 
and to make amends for our odd days, 
they have thirteen Months in every fourth 
Year, yet fo that the i^th Month hath 
no more than 16 days. And it is fur- 
ther their opinion, that after the expi- 
ration of this laft term of Time of 
4032000 years, the World lhall be re- 
new'd. In which Point they follow in 
fome meafure the Footfteps of Plato, who 
allow'd no lefs than 36000 years before 
the Sun could pafs through the 3<5o deg. 
of the Zodiack ; tho they make their 
uinnw magnus, as the antient Pagans call'd. 
it, 
Interea magnum Sol circumvolvitur An- 
num 
The Pagans on the Coaft of Coroman- 
del and Malabar call thefe four terms of 
time, Critagom, Treitagom, Dwaparugom, 
and Kaligom ; where it is to be obferv'd, 
that according to the Computation of the 
Pagans, and the Gentives of Suratte^ there 
are in this year 1670 elapfed 477 1. 
whereas thofe of Coromandel compute 
4770, being only one year's difference : 
but finding in 1665. that the Inhabitants 
of Jafnapatnam computed then the /\.%6^th 
year 
^ Virgii, 
1.3./Eneidi 
