Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/185

 Many deities have vehicles or vahans allotted to them: that of Brahma and of his sacti is the swan or goose, called hanasa; but he is not so frequently seen mounted on it, as other deities are on theirs: he is represented with his swan or goose in the cave of Elephanta. Saraswatī, the goddess of learning, is sometimes represented as the daughter of Brahma, and wife of Vishnoo; and as the latter I have placed her in the annexed plate.

Brahma is represented as a man with four faces, of a gold colour, dressed in white garments, riding on a goose; in one hand he holds a stick, and in another a k[)u]m[)u]nd[)u]loo or alms-dish. He is never adopted as a guardian deity.

VISHN[)U], THE PRESERVER.

Vishn[)u] is the second person in the Hindū triad; he is a personification of the preserving power, and has on the whole a greater number of adorers than any other deity or attribute.

I have a brazen image representing Vishn[)u] reposing on a serpent with seven heads; perhaps intended to represent Sesha, the vast thousand-headed serpent, or ananta, as the serpent, as well as Vishn[)u], is sometimes named; meaning endless or infinite. Vishn[)u] is represented as he is described in the Scanda Purana, asleep in the bosom of the waters, when a lotus arose from his body, which soon reached the surface of the flood. Brahma sprung from the flower, and looking round without seeing any creature on the boundless expanse, imagined himself to be the first-born. Vishn[)u] denied his primogeniture; they had an obstinate battle, which lasted until Mahadēo cut off one of Brahma's five heads, which settled the affair, and the image of Brahma bears only four heads. Nothing can be more luxurious than this image, the god floating on the water-lily, and the serpent, whose outspread heads afford him shade during his repose; while two celestial beings, sitting at his feet, shampoo him during his slumber. The one is his sacti, Lachhmī, the goddess of beauty, who was produced with the chowda ratny,