36 
THE ORIENTAL ANNUAL. 
priest ; they have a thousand very wonderful and in- 
disputable tales to relate in verification of it. Many 
are doubtless founded upon facts, and among others, 
THE STORY OF RUNG BHOWANI,* 
a Raja of Kamroop, was gravely told to me by a 
Hindoo as an authentic instance of the virtue of the 
sacred water, for both the purposes above described. 
In the ancient Hindoo City of Jaurhat, through the 
centre of which runs the river Dekhor, there formerly 
lived a wealthy and influential Raja, by name Rung 
Bhowani, who enjoyed a large jaghir in the district of 
Kamroop, derived from the gods ; of whom, also, the 
family were descended. In his youth. Rung Bhowani 
had been blessed with a large family of very beautiful 
children; but as he advanced in years, when the 
autumn of life was fast withering his strength, he 
found himself bereft of his sons and daughters, one 
after the other, the victims of an insidious and un- 
known disease, which baffled the skill of all the phy- 
sicians, all the holy men, and the practitioners of 
astrology and magic. While in the very bloom of 
youth, they suddenly declined, and, without pain or 
any obvious cause, languished in mind and body; until, 
in a very few months, the cold grave closed over then- 
wasted forms. Throughout the province of Kamroop 
* Bhowani is the name of the Indian Venus ; hut in India it is by 
no means unusual for a man to be called by the name of a female 
deity, or for a woman to be named after the gods. 
