251 
of Vishnu, dividing into four streams , which streams rush up 
from an enormous tree that is thought to convey knowledge* 
The same volume states that Brahma becoming incarnate;, pro° 
duced the first woman, Satarupa or Iva } out of one-half of his 
body, and the first man, Swayambhuva or Adima , out of the 
other half. This pair had three sons, one of whom slew his 
brother with a club while performing a sacrifice .f Another 
volume gives the Hindu belief of a patriarch named Dhruva, 
who lived on the banks of the Jumna, devoting himself to 
divine contemplation and religious austerities ; and who, on 
account of his extraordinary holiness, did not die, but was 
translated to heaven , where he now shines as the polar star.J 
And the same volume tells us, from the Padma-Parana, that 
Satyaurata (whose preservation from the deluge I have before 
recounted) had three sons, the eldest of whom was named 
Jyapeti. The others were Sharma and (Tharma. To the 
first of these he allotted all the regions north of Himalaya, 
and to Sharma he gave the country on the south. But he 
cursed (Tharma, because when the old monarch was acci- 
dentally inebriated with a strong liquor made of fermented 
rice, (Tharma laughed. § Whatever the exact date of these 
Puranas may be, they are unquestionably both ancient and 
indigenous. Hence the testimony which Hindustan furnishes 
to the Pentateuch becomes irresistible. 
48. The same remark applies with still more force to 
another and more celebrated composition of purely indigenous 
growth, viz., the great epic poem named the Mahabhdrata } 
the chief topic of which is the history of the Naga, or Serpent 
race, and which opens, exactly like the Pentateuch, with a curse 
upon the serpent. It is even still more curious that in both 
instances the same form of expression is used. For, whereas, 
in the Pentateuch the serpent itself is cursed as the repre- 
sentative of the Evil Spirit which lay behind it, so in the 
Mahdbharata the curse is on the reptile itself, instead of being 
on its worshippers. This is noticed by Fergusson as a 
remarkable coincidence. || Yet it really is no more so than 
many other coincidences which are chronicled in this paper. 
(2.) Greece and Pome . 
49. Was it mere poetic fancy which led Hesiod to sing of 
that golden age — • 
“ When gods alike, and mortals rose to birth ; 
The immortals formed a golden race on earth ? ” 
* Vol. vi. pp. 436-493. + Maurice’s Hist. Hind., pp. 472-477. 
+ - Asiatic Res., vol. v. p. 522. § Ibid., vol. v. pp. 256-312. 
|| Fergusson’s Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 59. 
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