Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/206

 thy banner; hail, powerful divinity, who causest the firmness of the sage to forsake him, and subduest the guardian deities of the eight regions!

"Glory be to Madana; to Kama; to him who is formed as the god of gods; to him by whom Brahma, Vishn[)u], Siva, Indra, are filled with emotions of rapture!"

JAGANA'TH, OR JAGANAT'HA.

On the festival of the Rat'hajattra, or the festival of the Chariot, the images of Krishna and Bala-Rāma are borne about in a car by day: on this occasion Krishna is worshipped as Jagana'th, or Lord of the Universe. At the temple of that name the concourse of people is very great: the rising of the moon is the sign of the commencement of the feast, which must end when it sets. A legend is given of Krishna having hid himself in the moon, in consequence of a false accusation of stealing a gem from Prasena, who had been killed by a lion. To see the moon on the fourth day after full, and the fourth day after new, of the month Bhadra, is hence deemed inauspicious; and is consequently avoided by pious Vaishnavus, or followers of Vishn[)u]. Further particulars relative to this deity will be found in the chapter that records my visit to the far-famed temple of Jagana'th.

Having thus traced Vishn[)u] the Preserver through the various forms he assumed on earth in the ten avatars, in his appearance as Krishna, and the latter in the form of Jaganat'ha, let us return to the third personage of the Hindū triad.

SHIV[)U], THE DESTROYER.

This god is generally ranked as the third power or attribute of the deity, he personifies destruction; and in the obvious arrangement of the three grand powers of the Eternal One, Creation and Preservation precede Destruction. His most usual accompaniment is a trident, or tri-forked flame, called trisula; his colour is white, that of his hair light or reddish. He is sometimes seen with two hands, sometimes with four, eight, or ten; and with five faces. He has a third eye in his forehead, ''pointing up and down''; this distinction is peculiar to him, his children, and