P A V 
fuppofed, to the prifmatic variety of a ray of light: and 
fire, like the fun, is fuppofed by the Hindoo philofophers 
to emit feven rays. This number is myfterioufly re¬ 
peated in invocations to Agni and Surya, the latter their 
Phoebus or Apollo. Hence the number of arrtis bellowed 
on Agni. 
Like other Hindoo deities, Pavaka has a wife, or fakti, 
(fee Swaha,) who appears to have been a form of Le- 
chemi, the goddefs of beauty. (See that article, vol. xii.) 
In one of the tales of the Puranas, it is related how 
Lechemi performed tapafya for 100,000 years, in the 
flower of the padina, or lotos, Handing on one foot, in 
order to obtain Vifhnu. She then faw Sri Krilhna, or 
Vifhnu, who faid, “Thou lhaltbemy wife when I affume 
the lhape of Varaha ; but in the mean time be the fakti 
of Agni, which fakti, or energy, burns every thing: 
Vahni, Agni, or Fire, for an hundred years of the gods, 
will have no other wilh but to pleafe thee.” She con¬ 
ceived by him : the gellation lafted twelve years, and three 
beautiful foils were born unto her; Daklhinagni, Gar- 
hapatya, and Ahavanya, three facred fires. (Af. Ref. 
vol. xi. art. 2.) In this manner the theogonical legends 
of the Puranas run into each other; very confufedly as 
W'ould feem on partial examination, but conneCtedly as 
it is faid will appear whenever that mafs of romantic 
fables lhall have been competently infpeCted. SeePuRANA. 
The number feven, we have feen, is that of the arms 
of Agni, and of many allufions to him in his form of fire. 
In the ceremony called vifwacleva, a comprehenfive one 
to “ all the gods,” which is the meaning of the word, in¬ 
cluding the effentials of the whole detail of daily facri- 
fice, and praClifed therefore chiefly by Brahmans not ex¬ 
ecutively engaged in the priefthood, the myftical number 
frequently occurs in this invocation ; for inltance, to 
Pavaka, or Agni. “Fire ! feven are thy fuels; feven thy 
tongues; feven thy holy fages ; feven thy beloved abodes; 
feven ways do feven facrifices worlhip thee; thy fources 
are feven; may this oblation be efficacious.” An ex¬ 
planation of this myfterious palfage is given by Mr. 
Colebrooke, in his Efiay on the Religious Ceremonies of 
the Hindoos, in the feventh volume of the Af. Ref. 
We have noticed three of the fons of Agni, or Pavaka, 
in the three facred fires, by Lechemi, in her form of his 
fakti. He had three other fons, perhaps by a different 
wife, named Uttama, Tamafa, and Riavata, whofe names 
occur in the lift of feven Menus, or fages. Their names 
have probably fome allufions, direCl or inverfe, to fire, or 
heat, or light. By another wife he had nine fons. He 
had alfo feven brothers, whofe names are varied fignifi- 
cations of flame. 
The three fons of Agni above named, are on other oc- 
cafions called fons of Brahma. Between Agni or Brahma 
we fee here fome identity: both are alfo painted red. 
It is in reference to hi's creative heat that he is connedled 
with Brahma. He is alfo called Vahni, a name likewife 
of Sarafwati, the confort of Brahma. A palfage above 
quoted has ffiown that the fpoufeof Agni coalelces with 
thofe of the other two perfons of the Hindoo head ; as 
doth Agni : his igneous property concentrated, connedts 
him with the deflrudlive Siva, who is alfo fire ; and his 
light, fo intimately related to fire, with Vifhnu the con- 
fervator. This triple connexion between the deity of 
heat and the three great powers, is fimilar to what is re¬ 
marked of the Sun under the article Surya. 
Sir W. Jones, in his Differtation on the Gods of Greece, 
Italy, and India, has the following palfage, applicable to 
the fubjedt of our prefent article. “ The worfhip of folar 
or veftal fire may be aferibed, like that of Ofiris and Ifis, 
to thefecond fourceof mythology, or an enthufiaftic ad¬ 
miration of nature’s wonderful powers; and it feems, as 
far as I can yet underiland the Vedas, to be the principal 
worfhip recommended in them. We have feen that Ma- 
hadeva himfelf is perfonified by fire ; but fubordinate to 
him is the god Agni, often called Pavaha, or the Puri¬ 
fier, who anlwers to the Vulcan of Egypt, wdiere he was 
p a v im 
a deity of high rank ; and Agni’s wife, Swaha, refembles 
the younger Vella.” 
To this deity a portion of the Vedas is aferibed, as 
having been revealed or promulgated by him. Seven 
books of the Yajurveda he is the reputed author of: and 
one of the Puranas, which details his hiflory, is called the 
Agni Purani. He is therein alfo named Agnidhra, 
Aanala, and Jivani : to the latter appellation it is added, 
“he, who does good to all ; front whom fprung the 
Vedas.” Under the article Marut it is noticed, that 
the Hindoos have guardians over the cardinal and inter¬ 
mediate points of the heavens. Among thefe is Pavaka; 
and he rules or governs the fouth-eafl. In the Gita, 
when Krifhna deferibes his own pre-eminence among all 
things and creatures, he fays to Arjun, “ Among the 
Vafus, I am Pavaka.” 
PAV'AN, or Pavin, /. [pavane, Fr. from the Lat .pavo$ 
a peacock, as fome have fuppofed ; but there is good 
reafon, Mr. Douce believes, for thinking the term is 
Italian, and derived from the city of Padua, where the 
dance is faid to have been invented : yet it was formerly 
called a Spanijh dance.] A grave kind of dance: not a 
light tripping dance, as Dr. Johnfon, following Ainfworth, 
has afierted. The method of performing it, Sir John 
Hawkins fays, was anciently by gentlemen dreffed with a 
cap and fword ; by thofe of the long robe in their gowns ; 
by princes in their mantles ; and by ladies in gowns with 
long trains, the motion of which in the dance refembled 
that of a peacock’s tail.—Your Spanifh ruffs are the bell 
wear, your Spanifh pavin the bell dance. Ji. Jonfon's Al- 
chemijl.—lw all fets of leflons for the virginal, from the 
time of queen Elizabeth to the reign of Charles I. there 
was a pavan, which ferved as an adagio or flow movement 
to the galiard, as the faraband did afterwards to the cou- 
rant. Burney. 
Who doth not fee the meafure of the moon, 
Which thirteen times (lie danceth ev’ry year ; 
And ends her pavin thirteen times as foon 
As doth her brother ? Davies's Orchejlra. 
PAVA'NA, in Hindoo mythology, is the regent of the 
winds, and of the north-welt quarter of the heavens; the 
Hindoos having, as noticed under the article Marut, a 
feparate ruler or guardian for each cardinal and interme¬ 
diate point. The name of this deity is ufually pro¬ 
nounced Pavan; and we may herein recognize the Faun- 
us of ancient Italy, a contraction of Favon- ius, the 
north-w r eft wind of the Mediterranean mythology, derived 
probably from a faun, or antelope, apt emblem of its ce¬ 
lerity, and allotted, therefore, in India, as a vehicle for 
Pavana, udio, in pictures, ufually appears fo mounted. 
The Puranas contain particular directions to artills in 
refpeCt to their delineating the gods. In the Matfya 
Purana, the following point out the attributes of the one 
in queftion : “ Let Pavana be painted young, clothed in 
robes of many colours, mounted on a fleet antelope, and 
with a ftandard in his hand, which the wind waves behind 
him as he cleaves the air.” 
PAUCA'RA, a town of Peru, in the diocefe of Gua- 
manga : twenty miles eaft of Guanca Velica. 
PAUCARCOL'LA, a town of Peru, which gives name 
to a jurifdiClion, in the diocefe of La Paz: thirty-two 
miles north of Puna. 
PAUCARCOL'LA, a jurifdiClion of Peru, in the 
diocefe of La Paz. The inhabitants feed a great number 
of flieep, and manufacture the wool, which is coarfe. 
There are fome mines of filver, but they are in general 
filled with water. Puna is the principal town. 
PAUCARTAM'BA, a jurifdiClion of Peru, fituated 
to the eaft of Cufco, about feventy-four miles in length.' 
It is fertile in corn and fruit. 
PAUCARTAM'BA, a river of South-America, which 
rifes about fifty miles fouth-well of Cufco, and after a 
northerly courle of about 200 miles through'a jurifdic- 
tion to which it gives name; it joins the Apurimac. 
PAUCIL'OQUENT., 
