Wanderings of a pilgrim in search of the picturesque, Volume 2 (of 2)

by Fanny Parkes Parlby

THE TEN AVATARS.

The word itself, in strictness, means a descent; but, in its more extended signification, it means an incarnation of a deity in the person of a human being. Such incarnations have been innumerable; however, speaking of the avatars, it is generally meant to be confined to the ten avatars of Vishnŭ, which are thus usually arranged and named:—l. Mach, Machchha, or the Fish. 2. Kurma, or the Tortoise. 3. Varaha, or the Boar. 4. Nara-singha, or the Man-lion. 5. Vamana, or the Dwarf. 6. Parashu-Rāma, the name of the favoured person in whom the deity became incarnate. 7. Rāma-Chandra, the same. 8. Bala-Rāma, the same. 9. Buddhŭ, the same. 10. Kalkī, or the Horse. Of these, nine are past; the tenth is yet to come.

1. MACH, MACHCHHA, OR THE FISH.

I have a curious and highly-illuminated Hindū painting of this first avatar, representing Vishnŭ as a black man, with four arms, issuing erect from the mouth of a large fish, which is represented in the water, surrounded by flowers of the lotus. The head of the Preserver is encircled by rays of glory, and he appears in the act of destroying the demon Hayagriva, whom he has seized by the hair with one hand, while, on the fingers of another hand, he is whirling round the disk with which to destroy the evil spirit. The demon is represented as a red man, issuing from a shell; on his forehead are two golden horns, and in his hands one of the vedas, the sacred books. On the right of the picture stands Brahma, a pale-coloured man, with four arms and four heads, each of which has a long white beard: three of the vedas are in his hands, and the fourth is in one of the four hands of Vishnŭ. The following is a literal translation from the Bhagavata, and the particular cause of this first or fish avatar is described as follows:—“At the close of the last calpa there was a general destruction, occasioned by the sleep of Brahma; whence his creatures in different worlds were drowned in a vast ocean. Brahma, being inclined to slumber, desiring repose after a lapse of ages, the strong demon Hayagriva came near him, and stole the vedas which had issued from his lips. When Heri, the Preserver of the Universe, discovered this deed of the Prince Danavas, he took the shape of a minute fish called Saphari. A holy king, named Satiyaurata, then reigned, a servant of the spirit which moved on the waves, and so devout that water was his only sustenance. As this pious king was making a libation in the river, the preserving power, under the form of the fish Saphari, appeared to him, at first under a very minute form, but gradually assuming a larger bulk, at length became a fish of immense magnitude.” The astonished king concludes a prayer by expressing his anxiety that the lotus-eyed deity should inform him why he assumed that shape. The Lord of the Universe returned the following answer: “‘In seven days from the present time, O thou tamer of enemies, the three worlds will be plunged in an ocean of death; but in the midst of the destroying waves, a large vessel, sent by me for thy use, shall stand before thee. Then shalt thou take all medicinal herbs, all the variety of seeds, and accompanied by seven saints, encircled by pairs of all brute animals, thou shalt enter the spacious ark, and continue in it, secure from the flood, on one immense ocean, without light, except the radiance of thy holy companions. When the ship shall be agitated by an impetuous wind, thou shalt fasten it with a large sea-serpent on my horn; for I will be near thee: drawing the vessel with thee and thy attendants, I will remain on the ocean, O chief of men, until a day of Brahma (a year) shall be completely ended.’” He spake and vanished from his sight. Satiyaurata humbly and devoutly waited the awful event, and while he was performing grateful services to Heaven, the sea, overwhelming its shores, deluged the whole earth: and it was soon perceived to be augmented by showers from immense clouds. He, still meditating on the command of Bhagavat, saw the vessel advancing, and entered it with the chief of Brahmāns, having carried into it the medicinal plants, and conformed to the directions of Heri. Alarmed at the violence of the waves, and the tossing of the vessel, the pious king invoked the assistance of the preserving power, “when the god appeared again distinctly on the vast ocean, in the form of a fish, blazing like gold, extending a million of leagues, with one stupendous horn; on which the king, as he had before been commanded by Heri, tied the ship with a cable made of a vast serpent, and, happy in his preservation, stood praising the destroyer of Madhu. When the monarch had finished his hymn, the primeval male Bhagavat, who watched for his safety on the great expanse of water, spoke aloud to his own divine essence, pronouncing a sacred purana; the substance of which was an infinite mystery, to be concealed within the breast of Satyaurata; who, sitting in the vessel with his saints, heard the principle of the soul, the Eternal Being, proclaimed by the preserving power. Then Heri, rising together with Brahma from the destructive deluge, which was abated, slew the demon Hayagriva, and recovered the sacred books. Satyaurata, instructed in all divine and human knowledge, was appointed in the present calpa, by the favour of Vishnŭ, the seventh menu, surnamed Vaivaswata; but the appearance of a horned fish to the religious monarch was all maya or delusion.”

2. KURMA, OR THE TORTOISE.

The second grand avatara of Vishnŭ, called the Tortoise, evidently, like that of the fish, refers to the Deluge. Of this I have an illuminated painting, representing Kurma-Rājā, the king of the tortoises, on whose back the mountain Mandara is poised; and just above it, Lachhmī, the goddess of beauty, is seated on the flower of the water-lily. This avatar was for the purpose of restoring to man some of the comforts and conveniences that were lost in the flood. The vast serpent, Vasoky, is represented coiled round the mountain, serving as a rope; the head of the serpent is held by two of the soors (demons), represented as men with two horns on their heads; the tail of the animal is held by Brahma, distinguished by his four heads, and the Vedas, the sacred books, in two of his hands; and next to him assisting in the operation is the blue form of Mahadēo, a form of Vishnŭ, his head surrounded by a circle of glory. They now pull forth the serpent’s head repeatedly, and as often let it go, thus violently whirling round the mountain, they churned the ocean, for the recovery of the amrita, or beverage of immortality; Vasoky serving as a rope to the mountain, which was supported on the back of the tortoise. Presently there arose out of the troubled deep, fourteen articles, usually called the fourteen gems, or in common language chowda ratny.—1. The moon, Chandra, with a pleasing countenance, shining with ten thousand beams of gentle light;—2. Srī, or Lachhmī, the goddess of fortune and beauty, whose seat is the white lily of the waters;—3. Sura, wine; or Suradevi, the goddess of wine;—4. Oochisrava, a horse with eight heads, and as swift as thought;—5. Kustubha, a jewel of inestimable value, that glorious sparkling gem worn by Narayen on his breast;—6. Parajata, the tree of plenty, that spontaneously yielded every thing desired;—7. Surabhi, a cow, similarly bountiful;—8. Dhanwantara, a physician;—9. Iravat, the elephant of Indra with three proboscides;—10. Shank, a shell conferring victory on whomsoever should sound it;—11. Danashu, an unerring bow;—12. Bikh, poison, or drugs;—13. Rhemba, the Aspara, a beautiful and amiable woman;—14. Amrita, the beverage of immortality, which was brought forth when the physician Dhanwantara appeared, holding in his hand a white vessel filled with the immortal juice Amrita.

3. BARĀH OR VARĀHA, THE BOAR.

I have a painting of this avatara, representing Vishnŭ in human shape, with the head of a boar, on one of whose tusks the earth is lifted up, which is represented as mountains; on which is a Hindoo temple, with a flag. Vishnŭ himself is in the ocean, his feet trampling on a gigantic demon who had rolled up the earth into the form of a shapeless mass and carried it down into the abyss, whither Vishnŭ followed him in the shape of a boar, killed him with his tusks, and replaced the earth in its original situation.

4. NARA-SINGHA, OR THE MAN-LION.

Hirinakassap, the younger brother of the gigantic demon, who in the third avatar rolled up the earth and carried it down to the abyss, succeeded him in his kingdom over the inferior world, and refused to do homage to Vishnŭ. His son Pralhaud, who disapproved of his father’s conduct, was persecuted and banished; his father sought to kill him, but was prevented by the interposition of heaven, which appeared on the side of Pralhaud. At length, Hirinakassap was softened, and recalled his son to his court; where, as he sat in full assembly, he began to argue with him against the supremacy of Vishnŭ, boasted that he himself was lord of all the visible world, and asked, “What Vishnŭ could pretend to more?” Pralhaud replied, “That Vishnŭ had no fixed abode, but was present every where.” “Is he,” said his father, “in that pillar?” “Yes,” returned Pralhaud. “Then let him come forth,” said the king; and rising from his seat, struck the pillar with his foot; upon which Vishnŭ, in the form of Nara-singha, that is to say, with a body like a man, but a head like a lion, came out of the pillar and tore Hirinakassap in pieces. Vishnŭ then fixed Pralhaud on the throne, and his reign was a mild and virtuous one. I have a Hindoo painting commemorative of this avatar, in which the man-lion is represented seated in the centre of a pillar that has been burst open, while, with his hands, he is tearing out the bowels of the impious king, who lies howling and kicking across the knees of Nara-singha. On the right of the picture a Hindūstanī woman stands, with the palms of her hands pressed together; and to the left, is a man, apparently a dwarf, standing in the same attitude.

5. VAMANA, OR THE DWARF.

Maha-Beli, by severe religious austerities, had obtained from Brahma the sovereignty of the universe, or the three regions of the Sky, the Earth, and Patala. He was a generous and magnificent monarch, but was so much elated by his grandeur, that he omitted the essential ceremonies and offerings to the deities; and Vishnŭ, finding it necessary to check the influence of such an example, resolved to mortify and punish the arrogant Rājā. He therefore assumed the form of a wretched Brahmān dwarf; and appearing before the king, asked a boon, which being promised, he demanded as much as he could pace in three steps: nor would he desire further, although urged by Beli to demand something more worthy of him to give. Vishnŭ, on obtaining the king’s promise, required a ratification of it, which is performed by the pouring out of water from a vessel upon the hand of the person to whom it is given. The monarch, although warned of the consequences, disdaining to deviate from his word, confirmed his promise with the required oath; and bidding the dwarf stretch forth his hand, poured out upon it the sacred wave that ratified the promise. As the water in a full stream descended from his extended hand, the form of the Vamana gradually increased in magnitude, until it became of such enormous dimensions that it reached up to heaven. Then, with one stride, he measured the vast globe of the earth; with the second, the ample expanse of heaven; and with the third, was going to compass the regions of Patala; when Beli, convinced that it was even Vishnŭ himself, fell prostrate and adored him; yielding him up without farther exertion, the free possessions of the third region of the universe. However, Vishnŭ left Maha-Beli, for the remainder of his life, possession of Patala, or the infernal regions. In this character Vishnŭ is sometimes called the three-step-taker. I have an illuminated painting of this avatar, in which the king, whose head is surrounded with rays of glory, is holding in his hands a spouted vessel, while just before him Vishnŭ in the character of a dwarf, but with rays also around his head, is standing with clasped hands. Behind the king an Hindūstanī woman is waving the chaunrī, the white tail of the yak, above his head; and behind the dwarf stands Sukra, called the one-eyed and evil counsellor. The ratifying stream was the river Gunga, which, falling from the hand of the dwarf Vishnŭ, descended thence to his foot, whence, gushing as a mighty river, it was received on the head of Shiva, and flowed on in the style commonly seen through the cow’s mouth.

6. PARASHU-RĀMA.

The epithet parashu, distinguishingly prefixed to the name of this Rāma, means a battle-axe. Among the avataras of Vishnŭ are recorded three favoured personages, in whom the deity became incarnate, all named Rāma,—Parashu-Rāma, Bala-Rāma, and Rāma-Chandra, and who are all famed as great warriors, and as youths of perfect beauty. Parashu-Rāma was born near Agra; his parents were Jamadagni, whose name appears as one of the Rishis, and Runeka. Jamadagni, in his pious retirement, was entrusted by Indra with one of the fourteen gems of the ocean, the wonderful boon-granting cow, Kam-dhenū or Surabhi; and on one occasion he regaled the Raja Diruj, who was on a hunting party, in so magnificent a manner as to excite his astonishment, until he learned the secret of the inestimable animal possessed by his host. Impelled by avarice, the cow was demanded from the holy Brahmān; and, on refusal, he attempted to carry her away by force, but the celestial cow, rushing on the Raja’s troops, gored and trampled the greatest part of them, put the rest to flight, and then, before them all, flew up triumphantly to heaven. The enraged tyrant immediately marched another army to the spot, and Kam-dhenū being no longer on earth to defend the hermit, the holy man was massacred, and his hut razed to the ground. Runeka, collecting together from the ruins whatever was combustible, piled it in a heap, on which she placed her husband’s mangled body; then, ascending it herself, set fire to it, and was consumed to ashes. The prayers and imprecations of a satī are never uttered in vain: ere she mounted the funeral pile, to strengthen the potency of her imprecations on the Raja, she performed also the ceremony of Naramedha, or the sacrifice of a man; thereby rendering her solicitation to the avenging deities absolutely irresistible.

Kam-dhenū, on her journey to Paradise, stopped to inform Parashu-Rāma, who was under the care of Mahadēo, of the cruel conduct of the Raja to his parents; to whose aid he immediately flew, but arrived only time enough to view the smoking embers of the funeral pile. The tears rushed down his lovely face, and he swore by the waters of the Ganges that he would never rest until he had exterminated the whole race of the Khettris, the raja-tribe of India. Armed with the invincible energy of an incarnate god, he commenced his career of vengeance by seeking and putting to death, with his single arm, the tyrant, with all the forces that surrounded him; he then marched from province to province, every where exerting the unerring bow Dhanuk, and devoted the whole of the military race of Khettri to death. After a life spent in mighty and holy deeds, Rāma gave his whole property in alms, and retired to the Kokan, where he is said to be still living on the Malabar coast.

I have an illuminated picture of this avatar representing a single combat between Parashu-Rāma and the tyrant Diruj: the Raja is represented with twenty-two arms, three of which, having been cut off by Rāma, have fallen to the ground, the remaining nineteen he is brandishing about. In the upper part of the picture is represented the cell of the hermit, in front of which Jamadagni lies dead, and the holy cow with golden horns and golden wings is flying through the clouds.

7. RĀMA-CHANDRA.

Rāma-Chandra, son of Dasarathu, and conqueror of Lankā or Ceylon, was the seventh avatar; when the deity descended for the purpose of destroying Rāvana, who having obtained (for his devotion) a promise from Brahma that he should not suffer death by any of the usual means, was become the tyrant and pest of mankind. The Devatās came in the shape of monkeys, as Rāvana had gained no promise of safety from them; hence, Hanumāna was Rāma’s general. Rāma-Chandra’s mother’s name was Kaushalyā. His younger brother, Bharata, was son of Kekayī, who was the cause of Rāma’s going to the desert to perform devotions on the banks of the Pampa-nadī, insisting that her son should reign the fourteen years that Rāma employed in the devotion. It was while performing his devotion (or during his stay in the forests) in company with Lakshmana (his brother by Sumitrā) that, while he was absent hunting, Rāvana appeared as a beggar, and enticed away Sītā, which gave rise to the war detailed in the Rāmayana. Sītā was daughter of Rājā Janaka, who had promised to give her to any person who could bend a certain bow, which was done by Rāma-Chandra. When in the forest, he drew a circle round Sītā, and forbad her to go beyond it, and left Lakshmana to take care of her; but Lakshmana hearing some noise which alarmed him for his brother, left her to seek him: then it was that Rāvana appeared, and enticed her out of the circle (gandī), and carried her off in his flying chariot. In the air Rāvana was opposed by the bird Jatāgu, whose wings he cut and escaped. Rāma-Chandra reigned in Awadh (Ayodhyā) before Christ 1600.

[Vol. I. page 108], contains an account of the Ram Leela Festival, and of Hŭnoomān and his army of monkeys, most important personages in the history of Rāma-Chandra; the grief of the warrior when roaming the world in search of the beloved Sītā is described [Vol. I. page 342]. As the offspring of Shivŭ, Hŭnoomān is sometimes represented five-headed. Sītā is described as “endued with youth, beauty, sweetness, goodness, and prudence; an inseparable attendant on her lord, as the light on the moon; the beloved spouse of Rāma, dear as his own soul, formed by the illusion of the deva; amiable, adorned with every charm.” She is also a favourite in descriptive poetry, and is held forth as an example of conjugal affection.

I have an illuminated picture of Sītā, Rām, and Hŭnoomān. The happy pair are seated on a couch of silver and velvet, while Hŭnoomān, on the ground before them, is gravely employed shampooing one foot of the god; behind them stands an attendant, waving a chaunrī of peacock’s feathers over their heads.

8. BALA-RĀMA.

Bala-Rāma, although a warrior, may, from his attributes, be esteemed a benefactor of mankind; for he bears a plough, and a pestle for beating rice; and he has epithets derived from the names of these implements, viz.: Halayudha, plough-armed; and Masali, as bearing a musal or rice-beater. His name, Bala, means strength, and he is sometimes seen with the skin of a lion over his shoulders. A full account of the three Ramas is given in the Rāmayana, a great epic poem, so highly venerated that the fourth class of Hindūs, the Sudra, is not permitted to read it. At the end of the first section, a promise is made of great benefit to any individual of the first three tribes who shall duly read that sacred poem:—“A Brahman, in reading it, acquires learning and eloquence; a Kshettria will become a monarch; a Vaisya will obtain vast commercial profits; and a Sudra, hearing it, will become great.”

9. BUDDHA.

Such Hindūs as admit Buddha to be an incarnation of Vishnŭ agree in his being the last important appearance of the deity on earth; but many among the Brahmans and other tribes deny their identity; and the Buddhists, countenanced by the rahans their priests, do, in general, likewise assert the independent existence, and, of course, paramount character, of the deity of their exclusive worship.

Buddha opposed the sanguinary sacrifices of the Brahmans, and consequently, in a degree, the holy vedas themselves which enjoined them: in India, therefore, there has always been a sect who are violently hostile to the followers of Buddha, denominating them atheists, and denying the genuineness of his avatar. A rock altar is sacred to him throughout Asia; and he himself was often represented by a huge columnar black stone, black being among the ancients a colour emblematical of the inscrutable nature of the deity. His fame and the mild rites of his religion have been widely diffused; the Indian Buddha is the Deva-Buddha of the Japanese, whose history and superstitious rites are detailed at great length by Kœmpfer: among other circumstances, he relates, that, “in the reign of the eleventh Emperor from Syn Mu, Budo came over from the Indies into Japan, and brought with him, upon a white horse, his religion and doctrine.” I have an illuminated painting, which I purchased at Prāg, representing Mahadēo as a black man, with a crown of glory, leading a white horse, on which is a high native saddle, with a large bag pendant from each side, and above the saddle an umbrella (chatr), the emblem of royalty, and more especially indicative of Buddha, is fixed: the legs of the animal are dyed with menhdī up to the chest, and about a foot of the end of his tail is also dyed red: the horse is ornamented in the usual oriental style with jewellery and gold. It is evident that this is not a painting of the tenth or Kalkī avatar, as the horse has no wings; the saddle-bags, which, we may suppose, contain the doctrines which he brought with him upon a white horse, and the chatr, assign it to Buddha; the figure of the man has only two arms.

“From the most ancient times,” says Abu’l Fazel, “down to the present, the learning and wisdom of Hindūstan has been confined to the Brahmans and the followers of Jaina; but, ignorant of each other’s merits, they have a mutual aversion; Krishna, whom the Brahmans worship as god, these consider as an infernal slave; and the Brahmans carry their aversion so far as to say, that it is better to encounter a mad elephant than to meet a man of this persuasion.”

The Buddhism of Hindūstan appears formerly to have had its central seat in Buddha Gaya, a town in Bengal, as it had at Buddha Bamiyan, the northern metropolis of the sect. Ceylon appears its present refuge. Buddhism is orthodoxy in China and its tributary nations; and in the states and empires of Cochin China, Cambodia, Siam, Pegu, Ava, Assam, Thibet, Budtan, many of the Tartar tribes, and generally all parts east of the Ganges, including many of those vast and numerous islands in the seas eastward and southward of the farther Indian promontory, whose inhabitants have not been converted to Islamism.

Jayadeva, in the Gita Govinda, thus addresses Buddha (or rather Vishnŭ or Krishna, so incarnated), in his series of eulogy on each of the avatars:—“9. Thou blamest (O wonderful!) the whole veda, when thou seest, O kind-hearted! the slaughter of cattle prescribed for sacrifice.—O Kesava! assuming the body of Buddha. Be victorious, O Heri, lord of the universe!”

The three sects of Jina, Mahiman, and Buddha, whatever may be the difference between them, are all named Buddhas; and as the chief law, in which, as the Brahmans assert, they make virtue and religion consist, is to preserve the lives of all animated beings, we cannot but suppose that the founder of their sect was Buddha, in the ninth avatar, the benevolent, the tender-hearted.

Moor remarks:—“In very ancient sculptures and excavations we find the image of Buddha among other deities of Brahmanical superstition. The cave of Gharipuri, called by us Elephanta, an island in Bombay Harbour, is an instance of this; and this temple in itself may be called a complete pantheon; for among the hundreds—I may, perhaps, say thousands—of figures there sculptured, every principal deity is found. I noticed the following: Brahma, Vishnŭ, Siva, Buddha, Ganesa, and Indra; and these are, in fact, all that are, by their forms or attributes or vehicles, unequivocally distinguishable. The figure of Buddha, in the temple of Gharipuri, is immediately on your left at entering.” Moor supposes the temple is dedicated to the One Supreme Being; but as no representations are made of that being, his three principal powers or attributes, Brahma, Vishnŭ, and Siva, are united in the most conspicuous place, immediately fronting the entrance, and forming a gigantic triune bust of the trimūrtī, the Hindū triad. The native account of this avatar is, that Buddha descended from the region of souls, and was incarnate in the body of Mahamaya, the wife of the Raja of Kailas. Five days after his birth, the pandits prophesied that, as he had marks on his hands resembling a wheel, he would at length become a Raja Chacraverti, and arrive at the dignity of avatar. He was named Sacya, and on one occasion Brahma descended, and held a canopy over his head. His wife was Vasutara, the daughter of a Raja.

I have many images of Buddha, which were brought from Ava, in gold, silver, and in bronze. The common posture is that of sitting cross-legged on a throne, with his left hand resting on his right foot, which is placed over his left knee, and his right hand hanging over his right knee. I have two images of Buddha in bronze, which came from Ava, in which he is represented in this posture, sitting with his back against a plantain tree, the leaves of which spread out above his head, and adorn the image. These images were accompanied by several other figures apparently engaged in worship, wearing high conical caps; the hands of one figure are clasped in prayer; another holds in both hands, placed upon the knees, a plate containing four balls; and another, in the same attitude, holds in both hands something that has the appearance of a circular box. I have also various dragons and bells, formed of bronze, which also came from Ava. An umbrella, made of iron, and gilt, is fixed on the tops of the temples, round the border of which some persons suspend bells; the sound has a pleasing effect when they are put in motion by the wind. Bells of various size are sometimes hung near a temple; and images of lions, and monsters of various descriptions, facing the four quarters, or on each side the gateway, are attached to most temples. Umbrellas, and stone-vessels, in imitation of those used by Goutŭmŭ or Buddha as a mendicant, are also placed near the places of worship. When Buddha was one month old, his nurses “caused him to be laid under a white umbrella upon an adorned pleasure-abounding bed.” At the age of sixteen, Buddha practised the greatest austerities; the King, his father, became alarmed and dejected; and the destiny-foretelling Brahmans assured him, that unless he put the unfortunate horses to the unfortunate chariot, and carried his son out, and buried him in a square hole, that they perceived three evils might happen:—“One to the King’s life, another to the white umbrella, another to the Queen.” Buddha was carried forth; he manifested his divinity to the driver of the unfortunate horses in the unfortunate chariot, escaped from meditated death, and fixed himself as a religious mendicant in the forest, where he practised the greatest austerities. I have an illuminated painting of Mahadēo under a rock in a jungle, seated upon a tiger’s skin, with his arms raised above his head in penance. A sage leading a white horse stands in front, in the act of worship, and by the side of the river is a large tiger: and here it may be remarked, that, among works of the highest merit, one is the feeding of an hungry infirm tiger with a person’s own flesh, and the highest state of glory is absorption. The following may explain the painting:—In the midst of a wild and dreary forest, flourishing with trees of sweet-scented flowers, and abounding in fruits and roots, infested with lions and tigers, destitute of human society, and frequented by the munis (virtuous and mighty sages), resided Buddha, the author of happiness, and a portion of Narayana. Once upon a time, the illustrious Amara, renowned amongst men, coming here, discovered the place of the Supreme Being in the great forest. He caused an image of the supreme spirit Buddha to be made, and he worshipped it as the incarnation of a portion of Vishnŭ: “Reverence be unto thee, in the form of Buddha;—thou art he who rested upon the face of the milky ocean, and who lieth upon the serpent Sesha; thou art Trivikrama, who at three strides encompassed the earth. I adore thee, who art celebrated by a thousand names, and under various forms, in the shape of Buddha, the god of mercy.” The illustrious Amara-Deva then built the holy temple of Buddha Gaya, and set up the divine foot of Vishnŭ.

“The forefathers of him who shall perform a sradda (funeral obsequies in honour of ancestors) at this place, shall obtain salvation; a crime of an hundred-fold shall be expiated by a sight thereof; of a thousand-fold, by a touch thereof; and of a hundred thousand-fold, from worshipping thereof.”

The image of white marble, which the mūnshī at Allahabad informed me is that of Parisnāth, see [Vol. i. p. 324], is six inches high; the position differs slightly from that of Buddha, the right palm is laid over the left, and the soles of the feet are shown, one on each side the hands; the head is raised conically; the hair is straight on the crown, and the woolly portion is so managed as to resemble a fillet of beads round the temple. A raised and quadrated lozenge is on the breast, and in the palm of the hand is a small ball. In the centre of the pedestal on which the image is seated is a crescent. The lobes of the ears are elongated to reach the shoulders. Moor informs us that in the museum at the India House, is an image “about fourteen inches high, of a whitish, and I think calcareous, sort of stone: an inscription is on the pedestal, under the crescent, but it is not easily to be made out or copied. This image is, I think, of a very singular and curious description: its curly hair, thick lips, and position mark it decidedly of Buddhaic origin, while its seven heads refer it to a sect of Sauras: hence the appellation of Surya Buddha, appropriately applied to it. The quadrated lozenge on the breast and in the palm of this image, is also unaccounted for, and singular.”

The image of Parisnāth agrees perfectly with the above description, with the exception that it has only one head, and there is no inscription on the pedestal.

Buddha signifies a wise man, and sacya, his other title, means a feeder upon vegetables; he inculcated a total subjugation of sense, and an utter annihilation of passion. According to the religion of Buddha, there are no distinctions of caste. Polygamy is not forbidden by the Buddha doctrine, and it is not uncommon for a man to have a plurality of wives. Priests are forbidden to marry; they are to live by mendicity; are to possess only three garments, a begging dish, a girdle, a razor, a needle, and a cloth to strain the water which they drink, that they may not devour insects. To account for the short, crisp hair on the head of the idol, resembling that of an African, it is said that Buddha, on a certain occasion, cut his hair with a golden sword, and its appearance in consequence was meant to be represented on his images.

There is a tradition among the Cingalese, that one of the kings of Hindūstan, immediately after Buddha’s death, collected together five hundred learned ascetics, and persuaded them to write down on palmyra leaves, from the mouth of one of Buddha’s principal disciples, all the doctrines taught by Buddha in his lifetime. The Cingalese admit they received their religion from the hands of a stranger. The Burmans believe that a Brahman was deputed to Ceylon to copy the histories of the incarnations of Buddha; and it is fabled that the iron stile with which he copied this work, was given him by an heavenly messenger. With the images of Buddha from Ava, were also presented to me four leaves of the palmyra-tree, twenty-three inches in length by two and a half in breadth, on both sides of which are engraved with a stile the religious doctrines of the Burmese. The leaves are held together by two pieces of ribbon passed through holes in them, and are a portion of a work of about three or four inches in thickness. In the plate entitled “[Pūja of the Tūlsī],” the Brahman is reading from palmyra leaves of the same description.

10. KALKĪ, OR THE HORSE.

The Kalkī, or final avatar, is yet to come; in which Vishnŭ will appear incarnate in a human form, for the purpose of dissolving the universe. The Kalkī will be incarnate in the house of the Brahman Bishenjun, the apparent offspring of the sage by his wife Awejsedenee, and will be born in the city of Sambal, towards the close of the Kalī period or Yug, in the month Vaisach, the scorpion. In one hand he is represented bearing aloft a “cimetar, blazing like a comet,” to destroy all the impure, who shall then inhabit the earth; and in the other he displays a circular ornament or ring, the emblem of cycles perpetually revolving, and of which the existing one is on the point of being finally terminated. The Kalkī is represented leading a white horse, richly caparisoned, adorned with jewels, and furnished with wings. The horse is represented standing on three feet only, holding up, without intermission, the right fore-leg; with which, say the Brahmans, when he stamps with fury upon the earth, the present period shall close, and the dissolution of nature take place. Jayadeva thus describes the tenth avatar: “For the destruction of all the impure thou drawest thy cimetar, blazing like a comet: (how tremendous!) O Kesava, assuming the body of Kalkī: Be victorious, O Heri, lord of the universe!”

End of the Kalī-yug, or fourth Indian period, and of the history of the ten avatars.