[95] Asiatic Researches, Dissert. Up. Egypt and Nile.
[96] Literally, “the goddess of the lotos.”
[97] Craufurd’s Sketches.
[98] Milton.
[99] Maya also signifies illusion, of which as an operation of the Deity, the following remark, extracted elsewhere from Sir William, may not be unseasonable:—“The inextricable difficulties,” says he, “attending the vulgar notion of material substances, concerning which ‘we know this only, that we know nothing,’ induced many of the wisest among the ancients, and some of the most enlightened among the moderns, to believe that the whole creation was rather an energy than a work, by which the Infinite Being who is present at all times and in all places, exhibits to the minds of his creatures a set of perceptions, like a wonderful picture or piece of music, always varied, yet always uniform; so that all bodies and their qualities exist, indeed, to every wise and useful purpose, but exist only as far as they are perceived—a theory no less pious than sublime, and as different from any principle of atheism, as the brightest sunshine differs from the blackest midnight.”
[100] Nature.
[101] The Hindoos never bathe nor perform their ablutions whilst the sun is below the horizon.
[102] Poojah is properly worship.
[103] Krishen of Matra may be called the Apollo of the Hindoos.
[104] Vassant, the spring.