Among the Hindûs, Siva is one of the greatest of the deities, and there are some sects who contend that all others are subordinate to him, or only his attributes; he is a particular favourite with the common people and with the Sanyassees who claim him as their peculiar patron, under the name of Dhoorghati, or with twisted locks. He is often represented with several heads, but generally he is contented with The number of his hands differs from four to thirty-two, and there is a peculiar weapon appropriated to each. He sits upon a tyger's or an elephant's hide, and he wears round his neck a chaplet of human skulls; the river Ganges is seen descending from his head, where she rested on her way from heaven to earth, and the moon adorns his forehead. one. Thus decorated, his residence is on Mount Kailassa, where he is surrounded by celestial forms, and is amused with songs and dances, while his wife Parvati, the mountain-born goddess, sits by his side and partakes his banquets. This Deity is one of the most celebrated in Hindû legends. She is Maha Cali or the great goddess of time: as such she demands victims of every kind from man to the tortoise. She is the punisher of all evil doers: in this character she corresponds with Proserpine, Diana Taurica, and the three-formed Hecate, as well as in that of patroness of enchantments. The Diana of Ephesus who was represented with a number of breasts, was considered by the ancients as the same with Cybele and Terra; Parvati is also Bhawanee, or female nature upon earth, when she appears like the Ephesian Diana. The appropriate name, however, of the goddess Earth is Prithivi, an inferior deity, but not on all occasions distinguishable from Bhawanee, whose attendant animal or `vahan, vehicle, is like that of Cybele a lion, though as the wife of Siva, she is often seen with the Bull. Diana, Ceres, and Cybele are all supposed to be the same with Isis the wife of Osiris, and one of the names of Parvati is Isa, as the wife of Mahesa or Iswara. Besides these characters in common with the deities of Greece, she is Doorga, or active virtue, in which character she fought and overcame Maissassoor the demon of vice, and this battle is celebrated by all sects in poems and songs. She is represented as Maha Cali, extremely ugly with long teeth and nails, sometimes dancing on a dead body, with weapons of destruction and punishment in her eight hands, and a chaplet of skulls round her neck. As Bhawanee she is more comely, and is worshipped with feasts in the spring. But Doorga is her favourite character, and her worship is performed in the autumn with excessive rejoicing and splendor. One of the appellations of Doorga is Maha moordanee, and by this name her figure which is sculptured at Mahaballi pooram, and is one of the best sculptures I saw in India, is distinguished. On the festival of Doorga Pooja her statues are carried in procession to the nearest river or lake, and there plunged into the water. But all these characters of the goddess are either obsolete or eclipsed by that of Padmala and Camala, or the lotus-born. Here she is decidedly the Venus of the western mythologists; she sprung from the churning of the ocean on a flower, and was received as the goddess of beauty by the celestials who bestowed her in marriage on Siva. With him she partakes of the charms of Kailassa, and she is the mother of Camdeo or Depac, the Indian Cupid, and of Cartakeya, the Indian Mars, whose vahan, the peacock, is often placed by her side. Ganesa, the god of wisdom, is also reckoned among her sons, and she is regarded not less than Seraswattee, as the patroness of science. She is also the guardian of those who work in mines, and is the inventress of musical instruments whose sounds are produced by wires. Here she resembles Minerva, and from her being equally skilled in arms and arts, she may be |