Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/187

 trisula, is his usual accompaniment. Durgā and Satī are his consorts.

Having thus given a brief account of the Hindū trinity, or emanations of the "One Br[)u]mh[)u] without a second," let me return to Vishn[)u], the second personage of the triad, and trace him through his various descents.

THE TEN AVATARS.

The word itself, in strictness, means a descent; but, in its more extended signification, it means an incarnation of a deity in the person of a human being. Such incarnations have been innumerable; however, speaking of the avatars, it is generally meant to be confined to the ten avatars of Vishn[)u], which are thus usually arranged and named:—l. Mach, Machchha, or the Fish. 2. Kurma, or the Tortoise. 3. Varaha, or the Boar. 4. Nara-singha, or the Man-lion. 5. Vamana, or the Dwarf. 6. Parashu-Rāma, the name of the favoured person in whom the deity became incarnate. 7. Rāma-Chandra, the same. 8. Bala-Rāma, the same. 9. Buddh[)u], the same. 10. Kalkī, or the Horse. Of these, nine are past; the tenth is yet to come.

1. MACH, MACHCHHA, OR THE FISH.

I have a curious and highly-illuminated Hindū painting of this first avatar, representing Vishn[)u] as a black man, with four arms, issuing erect from the mouth of a large fish, which is represented in the water, surrounded by flowers of the lotus. The head of the Preserver is encircled by rays of glory, and he appears in the act of destroying the demon Hayagriva, whom he has seized by the hair with one hand, while, on the fingers of another hand, he is whirling round the disk with which to destroy the evil spirit. The demon is represented as a red man, issuing from a shell; on his forehead are two golden horns, and in his hands one of the vedas, the sacred books. On the right of the picture stands Brahma, a pale-coloured man, with four arms and four heads, each of which has a long white beard: three of the vedas are in his hands, and the fourth is in one of the four hands of Vishn[)u]. The following is a literal translation