Page:The Hindu Pantheon.djvu/33

Rh In PLATE he is seen in his usual form, with four faces, and four arms, haying in his hands, what his descendants, the Brahmans, are supposed to have àften in theirs, viz, a portion of the Veda, or scripture; a spoon, used in the performance of sacred ceremonies, for lustral * water; a rosary for assisting abstraction, in contemplating the attributes of God, a bead being dropped at the mental recitation of each of his names, while the mind is intensely fixed on the idea that the name, which is significant of some attribute, excites; and, fourthly, a vessel to contain water for ablution, a preliminary essential to prayer or sacrifice.

This plate is taken from a cast in metal, made by Mr. WILKINS, SUperifltended by Pandits, (learned Brahmans, theologians,) in Benares.

PLATE 4 is copied from a beautiful painting, in the collection of Colonel STUART; in which BRAHMA is officiating as a Brahman, at one of the daily sacrifices which individuals of that tribe are compelled to offer. His consort, or Sacti, SARASWATI, is in attendance, and presenting him with the holy utensils. A sort of magical square is seen near the carpet, the sacrificial fire, and sundry implements used on these occasions: on which points we shall, when describing the plates containing those implements, bestow a further portion of our attention. The grace and elegance of the females, and the general beauty of the plate, will, I trust, bespeak the appjausive consideration of the reader.

The subjects in the two compartments of PLATR 5 are taken from two sketches that I found among my materials. They came into my hands at Poona, and are mere outlines; exactly represented in the plate. The upper compartment contains the three grand attributes of the Deity, personified in BaAu1fA, VISHNU, and SIVA: Creation, Preservation, and Destruction. The lower, has the same figure of SIVA in a sitting position, with his consort, or energy, PAR- VAT!, (fig. 5.) We shall hereafter advert descriptively to the other subjects, here only noticing B1LAHIA, (fig. 3.) with his four faces and arms, with the rosary, spoon, &c. as before. In the right superior hand, I imagine, is the water vessel for ablution, or sacrifice: it is ornewhat equivocal, but the plate is afac simile of the sketch, of the original of which I know nothing, nor by whom the sketch was taken.

Having rather unexpectedly introduced these five important mythological personages at so early a period, (I say five, for the lower central little gentleman (fig. 6.) I am not acquainted with,) I will make them further known to the


 * They are of different forms, as shown in some of our plate.. . I, I ‘I.