1’8 HINDOOSTA N. 
his only luftenar-ce. He was the child of the Sun, and, 
in the prelent Calpa, is invelted by Narayan in the office 
of Menu, by the name of Sraddhaditva, or the God of Ob- 
fequies. One day, as he was making a libation in the ri¬ 
ver Critamsla, and held water in the palm of his hand, 
he perceived a fmall filh. moving in it. The king of I)ra- 
vira immediately dropped the filh. into the river, together 
with the water which he had taken from it; when the 
fap’hari thus pathetically addreifed the benevolent mo¬ 
narch : “ How canft thou, O king, who flioweft affeftion 
to the opprefied, leave me in this river-water, where I am 
too weak to refill the mo'nllers of the ftream, who fill me 
with dread ?” He, not knowing who had affirmed the 
form of a filh, applied his mind to the prefervation of the 
fap’hari, both from good nature and from regard to his 
own foul; and, having heard its very fuppliant addrefs, 
he kindly placed it under his protection in a fmall vafe 
full of water ; but, in a Angle night, its bulk was fo in- 
creafed, that it could not be contained in the jar, and 
tints again addreifed the illuftrious prince: “ I am not 
pleafed with living miferably in this little vafe ; make me 
a large manfion, where I may dwell in comfort.” The 
king, removing it thence, placed it in the water of a cit¬ 
tern ; but it grew three cubits in lefs than fifty minutes, 
and laid, “ O king, it pleafes me not to flay vainly in this 
narrow cillern ; fince thou had granted me an afyluin, 
give me a fpacious habitation.” He then removed it, 
and placed it in a pool, where, having ample fpace around 
its body, it became a filh. of confiderable fize. “ This 
abode, O king, is not convenient for me, who mull fwim 
at large in the waters : exert tliyfelf for my fafety ; and 
remove me to a deep lake.” Thus addreifed, the pious 
monarch threw the/fuppliant into a lake, and, when it 
grew of equal bulk with that piece of water, he call the 
vail filh into the fea. When the filh was thrown into the 
waves, he thus again, fpoke to Satyavrata r “Here the 
horned (harks, and other monllers or great llrength, will 
devour me ; thou ffcouldeft not, O valiant man, leave me 
in this ocean.” Thus repeatedly deluded by the filh, 
who had addreifed him with gentle words, the king laid, 
“ Who art thou, that beguileil me in that alfunied lhape ? 
Never before have 1 feen or heard of fo prodigious an in¬ 
habitant of the waters, who, like thee, hall filled up, in a 
Angle day, a lake an hundred leagues in circumference. 
Surely, thou art Bhagavat, who appeared before me; the 
great Heri, whole dwelling was on the waves-;- and who 
now, in companion to thy fervants, beared the form of 
the natives cf the deep. Salutation and praife to tlree, O 
■fird male, the lord of creation, of prefervation, of de- 
rtruclion! Thou art the higbeft objeCt, O fupreme ru¬ 
ler, of us thy adorers, v/ho pioufiy feek thee. All thy 
delulive delcents in this world give exiltence to vari¬ 
ous beings ; yet, I am anxious to know for what caufe 
that ffiape has been affirmed by thee. Let me not, O 
lotos-eyed, approach in (vain the feet cf a deity, whofe 
perfect benevolence has been extended to all; when thou 
had Ihown us to our amazement the appearance cf other 
bodies, not in reality exiding, but fucceliively exhibit¬ 
ed.” The lord of the univerfe, loving the pious man, 
who thus implored him, and intending to preferve him 
from the fea of deftracrion, caufed by the depravity of 
the age, thus told him how he was to aft. “ In feven 
days from the prefent time, O thou tamer of enemies, 
the three worlds will.be plunged in an ocean of death ; 
but, in the midd of the deftroying waves, a large velfel, 
font by me for thy ufe, (hall Hand before thee. Then 
llralt thou take all medicinal herbs, ail the variety of 
feeds ; and, accompanied by foveti faints, encircled by 
pairs of all brute animals, thou ftralt enter the fpacious 
♦ ark, and continue in it, focure from the flood, on one im- 
menfe ocean, without light, except the radiance of thy 
holy companions. When the (hip (hall be agitated by 
an impetuous Wind, thou (halt fallen it with a large fea- 
forpent on my horn ; for I will be near thee; drawing 
the velfel, with thee and thy attendants. I will remain 
on the ocean, O chief of men, until a night cf Brahma 
diall be completely ended. Thou (halt then know my 
true greatnefs, rightly named the fupreme Godhead ; by 
my favour, all thy quedions (hall be anfwered, and thy 
mind abundantly indrufted.” Heri, having thus directed 
the monarch, difappeared; and Satyavrata humbly wait¬ 
ed for the time which the ruler of our fonles had ap¬ 
pointed. The pious king, having mattered toward the 
ead the pointed blades of the grafs darbha, and turning - 
his face toward the north, fat meditating on the feet of 
the god, who had borne the form of a filh'. The fea, 
overwhelming its (liores, deluged the whole earth; and it 
was foon perceived to be augmented by fhowers from 
immenfo clouds. He, dill meditating on the command 
cf jBhagavat, Taw the veffel advancing, and entered it with 
the chiefs of Brahmans, having, carried into it the medi¬ 
cinal creepers, and conformed to the directions of Heri. 
The faints thus addreifed him : “ O king, meditate on Ce- 
fava; who will, furely, deliver us from this danger* 
and grant us profperity.” The god, being invoked by- 
the monarch, appeared again didincliy on the vad ocean 
in the form or a fiili, blazing like gold, extending a mil¬ 
lion of leagues, with one dupendous horn ; on which the 
king, as he had before been commanded by Heri, tied the 
Blip with a cable made of a vad ferpent, and, happy ire 
his prefervation, dood praifing the dedroyer of Madhe. 
When the monarch had finilhed his hymn, the primeval 
Bhagavat, who watched for. bis fofety on the great ex¬ 
pand of water, fpoke aloud to his own divine effence, 
pronouncing a facred Purana, which contained the rules' 
of the S.mchya philofophy ; but it was an infinite mydery, 
to be concealed within the bread of Satyavrata ; who, fit¬ 
ting in the velfel with the faints, heard the principle of 
the foul, the Eternal Being, proclaimed by the preferving- 
power. Then Heri, rifing together with Brahma from the 
deflruftive deluge, which was abated, flew the demon Ha- 
yagriva, and recovered the facred books. Satyavrata, in- 
llrufted in all divine and human knowledge, was ap¬ 
pointed in the prefont Calpa by the favour of Vilhnu ; and : 
he who (hall devoutly hear this important allegorical nar¬ 
rative, will be delivered from the bondage of fin.” 
And from Mr. Kinderley's tranflation of their “ Wor¬ 
ship of the Supreme Being,” taken from pne of their 
facred books, it is evident that the Hindoos were not al¬ 
ways idolaters. The tranflation is as follows : 
“ As in all languages the letter A is at the head of the 
alphabet; fo is the all-wife God at the head of all the 
worlds. 
“ Though one fhould be Intimately acquainted with the 
-whole circle of fciences, and mailer of the refpeftive prin¬ 
ciples on which the moll abllrufe of them are founded ; 
yet, if this knowledge be unaccompanied by the humble- 
worlhip of the omnifeient God, it lhall prove altogether 
vain and unprofitable. 
“ Thofe, who with devout hearts draw near to the ado¬ 
rable feet of the Supreme Being, lhall afeend to that ftate, 
which is above all the worlds, and there enjoy incorrupti¬ 
ble happinefs. 
“The praife or cenfure of this world lhall not affeft 
thofe who worlhip, and fmcerely feek the glory of, the 
true God. 
“Thofe who uniformly mortify the five fenfes, of fight, 
hearing, tafle, imell, and feeling, lhall for ever -enjoy 
blifs unperifnable. 
“ Tiicfeonly who in prayer humbly approach the feet 
of that Being, to whom nothing is equal, lhall efcape the 
ordinary cares and troubles of the mind : and only thofe, 
who ferve that Being, whofe benevolence is boundlefs as 
the ocean, lhall pafs over and quit the fea of mortal exif- 
tence. 
“ Thofe who refufe to bend their llubborn necks to the 
Being, who poffeffes the eight attributes ; though they 
live, yet are they as dead as corpfes. 
“ The eight attributes are—infinite wifdom ; omnifei- 
ence ; omnipotence ; perfeft beatitude ; an univerfal name ; 
a . the 
