This goddess is the consort of Vishnŭ, and is esteemed by his followers as the mother of the world. When the sea was being agitated for the production of the immortal beverage, and the fourteen gems of the ocean; “after a long time appeared the great goddess, inhabiting the lotus, clothed with superlative beauty, in the first bloom of youth, covered with ornaments, and bearing every auspicious sign; adorned with a crown, with bracelets on her arms, her jetty locks flowing in ringlets, and her body, which resembled burning gold, adorned with ornaments of pearl. This great goddess appeared with four arms, holding a lotus in her hand; her countenance of incomparable beauty. Thus was produced the goddess Padma or Srī, adored by the whole universe; Padma by name. She took up her abode in the bosom of Padma-nabha, even of Heri.” [Vol. I. page 206], is an account and a sketch of this goddess of beauty and of prosperity. I have a very ancient and time-worn brazen image, representing Lachhmī seated on an elephant; she has four hands, the two superior hands are raised as high as her head; one holds a lotus-bud, the other something not unlike one; each hand also supports an elephant; their trunks unite above her head, and from two water-vessels they are pouring water on an emblem of Mahadēo, which rests on the crown of the head of the goddess. The lower hands are empty, the palm of one is raised, the other turned downwards. This image is very ancient and most singular: she is the goddess who presides over marriage, and, as the deity of prosperity, is invoked also for increase of children, especially male children. She bears the title of Rembha, as the sea-born goddess of beauty.
Moor gives a drawing, much resembling the above, of a cast in brass, which he considers to be Devi, the goddess, a form of Durgā.
SARASWATĪ.
Saraswatī, the daughter of Brahma, and wife of Vishnŭ, is represented as a white woman, playing on a sitar. She is adored as the patroness of the fine arts, especially music and rhetoric; as the inventress of the Sanscrit language, of the Devanagry character, and of the sciences which writing perpetuates. This goddess was turned into a river by the curse of a Brahman, and, at the Trivenī, the river Saraswatī is supposed to join the Ganges and Jumna underground. On the 5th day of the month Magha, Saraswatī or Srī, the goddess of arts and eloquence, is worshipped with offerings of flowers, perfumes, and dressed rice: the worship is performed before her image, or a pen, inkstand, and book; the latter articles are supposed to form a proper substitute for the goddess. On this day the Hindūs neither read nor write, it is the command of the shastr. Implements of writing, and books, are treated with respect, and are not used on this holiday. Of an eloquent man the Hindūs say, “Saraswatī sits on his tongue.”
I have a picture of the goddess of eloquence, having an interview with Ganesh, the patron of literature; with whom she is exchanging written scrolls, probably the vedas. Saraswatī is mounted, astride, upon a most singular looking bird; it is not a swan, neither is it a peacock; its legs are long, so is its neck; it is painted red; can it be intended for the sarasŭ, what we call cyrus, or Siberian crane? In one of her superior hands she bears the vina, or been, a musical instrument; in the second is a lotus and a scroll of paper with writing upon it; the other two hands also bear written scrolls. She is represented as a white woman, with one head, on which is a red and yellow coronet; her attire is of various colours, and she is adorned with jewellery, as well as with a long string or garland of flowers. Ganesh is represented sitting on a lotus, and standing behind him is a woman employed in fanning him with a chaunrī, made of the white tail of the yak; the black rat, the constant attendant of Ganesh, is sitting before him.
DŪRGA.
The consort of Shivŭ derives her name from the giant Doorgŭ, whom she slew. A short account of the Dasera, a festival held in honour of this goddess, has been given in [Vol. I. p. 34]. Dūrga has a thousand names, and has assumed innumerable forms, among which are Kalī, the black goddess, worshipped at Kalī Ghat; Bhŭvanī, the wife of Shivŭ; Pārvutī, the Daughter of the Mountain; the Inaccessible, the Terrible, the Mother of the Universe. Kalī, under the name of Phŭlŭ-Hŭrēē, is described in [Vol. I. p. 164]; and Dūrga, as Bhagwan, will be hereafter mentioned. I have an ancient and curious brazen image of Dūrga, with ten arms, which I procured at Prāg. Also numerous images of Anna-Purna Devi, the goddess who fills with food, a very common household deity; most families in the Mahratta country include her among their Dii penates. She is represented as a woman sitting cross-legged, and holding a spoon with both hands across her lap.
Pārvatī, Bhavani, Dūrga, Kali, and Devi, or the Goddess, are names used almost indiscriminately in the writings and conversations of the Hindūs. The history of Satī has been given in [Vol. I. p. 94].
THE PURĀNAS.
The first Indian poet was Valmiki, author of the Ramayana, a complete epic poem; and Vyasa, the next in celebrity, composed the Mahabarat. To him are ascribed the sacred Purānas, which are called for their excellence, the Eighteen: they comprise the whole body of Hindū Theology; and each Purāna treats of five topics especially; i.e. the creation, the destruction, and renovation of the worlds; the genealogy of gods and heroes; the reigns of the Manus; and the transactions of their descendants. The Purānas are, 1. Brŭmhŭ; 2. Padma, or the Lotus; 3. Brahmānda, or the egg of Brahmā, the Hindū Mundane egg; 4. Agni, or fire; 5. Vishnŭ; 6. Garuda, the bird god, the vehicle of Vishnŭ; 7. Brahmavaivartā, or transformation of Brahmŭ; 8. Shivŭ; 9. Linga; 10. Naruda, son of Brahma; 11. Skanda, son of Shivŭ; 12. Mārkendeya, so called from a sage of that name; 13. Bhavishyat, future or prophetic; 14. Matsya, or the fish; 15. Varāha, or the boar; 16. Kūrma, or the tortoise; 17. Vāmaha, or the dwarf; and 18. The Bhāgavat, or life of Krishnŭ. The Purānas are reckoned to contain four hundred thousand stanzas. There are, also, eighteen upapurānas, or similar poems of inferior sanctity and different appellations; the whole constituting the popular or poetical creed of the Hindūs, and some of them, or particular parts of them, being very generally read and studied.