127 
1877.] G. S. Leonard —The Mythic History of the God Virdj. 
sents him as progenitor of the same. He is stated in the Institutes as 
father of Svayambhuva Manu, while in the Matsya and Padma Puranas we 
find him identified with the latter. The Brahma Vaivarta again represents 
him as the offspring of Radha and Krishna, and presents us with a multi¬ 
plicity of minor Virajs (Kshudra Virats) proceeding from the elder one 
(Maha Virat). 
The epithet of the first male (Adi Purusha) agrees with Viraj in one 
place, and with Brahma in another ; with Narayana in a third, and with 
Svayambhuva in a fourth. In one place the hymn addressed to the thou¬ 
sand-headed male (Sahasra STrsha Purusha) agrees with Viraj, and in another 
with Brahma, and elsewhere we find it addressed to Vishnu or Narayana. 
So his wife S'atarupa (Centiforma)—a fit epithet for the consort of Sahasra- 
rupa, milleformis —Viraj is represented in one place as his progenitrix 
and wife of Brahma, and in another as a daughter of the same and consort 
of Svayambhuva Manu, identified with Viraj. 
Notwithstanding the inextricable confusion, as shown above, in which 
the persons of Viraj and his consort are involved, a careful study of the subject 
and patient inquiry into the mists of fiction, which inseparably attend the 
character of Viraj in every theory of the S'astras, will enable us to find the 
true person of this deity, from the fictitious and pretended ones imposed upon 
him in sectarian works, each claiming the title for its respective divinity, 
which it attempts to glorify above the rest. Thus the Brahmites invariably 
honor Brahma with that title which the Vaishnavites contend to reserve for 
their adored Vishnu or Narayana, and the Krishnites of late for their favou¬ 
rite deity, as also for his offspring by Radha. While on the other hand the 
S'ivites lay a claim to it, not alone for their god but also for his pigmy son 
Ganesa, the Janus of the Hindus. They also denominate their goddess Kali 
by the name of S'atarupa. The Manavites or Adamites do not scruple to 
call the great ancestor of mankind by that august name, and the great mo¬ 
ther of the human race by that of S'atarupa. 
In the Vishnu Purana, says Dr. Wilson, “ Vishnu is said to be the first 
Purusha or spirit who, in association with Pradhana—matter, becomes male 
and female, i. e. active and passive energies for the creation of the world in 
the egg.” “ This system,” adds he, “ is conformable to that anciently main¬ 
tained as explained in the opening of Manu, substituting Vishnu for Brah¬ 
ma.” The same sort of reasoning applies in the case of Viraj also, who is 
represented, (vide Moore’s Pantheon) to be a biformed being half male and 
half female, sometimes joined together and at other times in separate forms. 
In disregard, therefore, of the persons, severally designated with the title 
Viraj (for we find not only the other gods but potentates of the earth often¬ 
times honored with that title), and in exclusion of every consideration 
respecting the different forms in which he is exhibited, we must satisfy our 
