137 
1877.] G. S. Leonard— The Mythic History of the God Virctj. 
wa-ruh elohim merahhefet ’ cil-pene tehom. The spiritual essence is the first 
developement of the divine soul (Brahm), that which is, filling all infini¬ 
tude and existing from eternity. All Sanskrit authorities from the Veda to 
Kalidasa speak of water as offspring (nara sunava,) or first creation (Srish- 
tiradya) of the Spirit of God, which is thence called Narayana, Vishnu, 
Jalasayi, &c., producing the mundane egg within the waters of the deep. 
This person of the Godhead agrees with the Holy Spirit of the Scriptures, 
'who begat the mundane egg in the womb of the watery abyss, as Milton 
describes in Books I and VII, of his Paradise Lost. 
“-with, mighty wings outspread, 
Dove-like sat’st brooding on the vast abyss 
And mad’st it pregnant. 
“-but ‘ on the watery calm’ 
His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspread, 
And vital virtue infused and vital warmth, 
Throughout the fluid mass. 
The next person is the first-begotten by the Spirit of God under the 
names of Brahma, Hiranyagarbha, Sutratma, &c. He is mentioned as 
the first male, and described as the creator of everything that was created. 
This person of the Godhead agrees with the “ only begotten Son of God”, 
or rather of the Holy Ghost, as we read in Matthew, “ for that which was 
conceived in her, is conceived of the Holy Ghost.” He is spoken of by 
John the evangelist as the Aoyos = Word, and Creator of all things. “ In 
the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was 
God. All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing 
made that was made.” 
Hence the Aoyos is regarded by Platonising Christians as one of the 
Demiurgic authors of the world, an agent or Aeon, employed by the Su¬ 
preme Deity in the creation of the universe like Brahma, although the 
majority of Christians will have the “ begotten Son” to be co-eternal with 
the Father. The last person of the godhead—Viraj, must, according to the 
Bible, be either the image of god “ in which created he him,” i. e. Adam or 
Adima, agreeing with Svayambhuva Manu, the first man according to the 
Matsya and the Padma Puranas. 
The authorities next in importance to Manu are those of the Puranas, 
which contain the historical, legendary, traditional, and mythological ac¬ 
counts of the Hindus, and which are invariably consulted by them in all 
matters concerning history, polity, law, jurisprudence, morality, and reli¬ 
gion. The Puranas, however, are so blended with myths, fables and fictions, 
that it is hardly possible to separate truth from falsehood. The preceding 
account by Manu is sufficient for all purposes, as on the authority ol the 
s 
