133 
1877.] G. S. Leonard —The Mythic History of the God Virdj. 
to idolatry ? Does the language of the Bible attributing hands, feet, eyes 
and ears to the Most High savour of idolatry ? The answer is no ; these 
descriptions are but figures of speech. In this case I see no cause 
why this reasoning should not equally apply to Viraj. Although I have 
made many personal enquiries and consulted all the authorities on Hindu 
Mythology known to me, I have been unable to hear of, or discover, any 
mention of an image of Viraj, with the exception of the colossal figures in 
the caves of Elephanta, and these are only supposed to represent Viraj. 
Virdj worship .—The worship of Viraj, like those of the other divinities 
of the Vedantic Triad, is positively enjoined in the S'astras as an essential 
duty of the twice-born or higher classes of Hindus. It is absolutely requi¬ 
site for every Brahman to recite the Purusha S'ukta or Purusha Medha 
S'ukta—the Vedic hymn addressed to Virdt JPurusha —the first male, in his 
daily rituals, and is as indispensably necessary as the Gayatri, the essence 
of the Vedas, and the creed of all Brahmans, to be repeated in their daily 
ablutions and worship of Vishnu. There is no Brahman, however ignorant 
he may be, that has not got the Gayatri and the first stanza or at least 
the first hemistitch of the Purusha S'ukta by heart, to be muttered with his 
sandhyas or daily prayers in the morning or evening. 
The Trinities of the Veda and the Vedanta being much more concerned 
with the sacred scriptures and theology of the Hindus, than the other 
deities connected with their mythology, their worship is consequently con¬ 
fined with the learned few, while that of the other is widely spread among 
the lower classes of the people. Hence the worship of the supreme Brahm, 
which in the Vedic ages had been popular among Brahmans, was during the 
Puranic periods, driven to the woods and forests, where it was restricted to 
religious recluses and ascetics, till it was brought back and its worship re¬ 
established among the learned by the celebrated S'ankaraeharya of the 
Deccan, and lately introduced among the secular Hindu public by the 
philanthropic Ramamohana Raya, from whom the first Brakmya Samaj of 
Calcutta had its origin, and who was the prime mover in the wide and 
increasing dissemination of the truths of this primeval religion among the 
educated and intelligent classes of the people. 
The religion of Brahma too, which had been in full force among the an¬ 
cient Hindus was latterly supplanted by S'ivitism from many parts of India. 
(Vide As. Res., vol. 6.) It was re-established afterwards in the Deccan 
under the name of Hiranyagarbha adoration, until it was entirely suppressed 
by the zeal of the Unitarian S'ankaracharya, as is mentioned in the S'ankara 
Vijaya of Anandagiri, Chap. XI. It was, however, again revived by 
Madhava Acharya, under the appellation of Brahma Sampradaya or Madhva- 
chari, as Wilson describes in page 87 of his sketches of the “ Hindu Sects.” 
The worship of Brahma as god of fire, or Vulcan of the Hindus, still 
