The images of Buddh are multiplied in great numbers in all the pagodas of India, of Tartary, of China, and the countries of Asia. He is represented on a mat, his limbs crossed, his bust stiff, and his head elevated in an imposing attitude, announcing both instruction and education.
In ordinary cases he is naked and of a black colour, and with the bosom of a female.
Near him are groups of domestic animals, in allusion to the gentleness of the worship of this deity, which forbids the shedding of blood.
Beside the superior gods whom we have described, the numerous populations of India recognize a crowd of secondary divinities, whose history approaches in many instances to those of the Greek and Roman deities, and if their legends offer an interest by their singularity, they prove at the same time, that the founders of these various faiths have sought to give them a character of obscurity, that they may agree with the general mysticism of the East.
The fables of India, essentially metaphysical and philosophical, are less agreeable than those of the people of the West, who indulge their sensual ideas to a considerable extent.
Below the Supreme being, whose belief is spread among all nations, are placed the embodyings of the principal god: then, (of
an order still less important,) are placed idols of all kinds, and of all forms, adored by these ignorant and credulous people.
Of the many deities of the second category, the most remarkable is Ganga, who is the river Ganges personified, a river sacred alone to the Hindoos.