Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/213

 H[)u]rēē, is described in Vol. I. p. 164; and Dūrga, as Bhagwan, will be hereafter mentioned. I have an ancient and curious brazen image of Dūrga, with ten arms, which I procured at Prāg. Also numerous images of Anna-Purna Devi, the goddess who fills with food, a very common household deity; most families in the Mahratta country include her among their Dii penates. She is represented as a woman sitting cross-legged, and holding a spoon with both hands across her lap.

Pārvatī, Bhavani, Dūrga, Kali, and Devi, or the Goddess, are names used almost indiscriminately in the writings and conversations of the Hindūs. The history of Satī has been given in Vol. I. p. 94.

THE PURĀNAS.

The first Indian poet was Valmiki, author of the Ramayana, a complete epic poem; and Vyasa, the next in celebrity, composed the Mahabarat. To him are ascribed the sacred Purānas, which are called for their excellence, the Eighteen: they comprise the whole body of Hindū Theology; and each Purāna treats of five topics especially; i. e. the creation, the destruction, and renovation of the worlds; the genealogy of gods and heroes; the reigns of the Manus; and the transactions of their descendants. The Purānas are, 1. Br[)u]mh[)u]; 2. Padma, or the Lotus; 3. Brahmānda, or the egg of Brahmā, the Hindū Mundane egg; 4. Agni, or fire; 5. Vishn[)u]; 6. Garuda, the bird god, the vehicle of Vishn[)u]; 7. Brahmavaivartā, or transformation of Brahm[)u]; 8. Shiv[)u]; 9. Linga; 10. Naruda, son of Brahma; 11. Skanda, son of Shiv[)u]; 12. Mārkendeya, so called from a sage of that name; 13. Bhavishyat, future or prophetic; 14. Matsya, or the fish; 15. Varāha, or the boar; 16. Kūrma, or the tortoise; 17. Vāmaha, or the dwarf; and 18. The Bhāgavat, or life of Krishn[)u]. The Purānas are reckoned to contain four hundred thousand stanzas. There are, also, eighteen upapurānas, or similar poems of inferior sanctity and different appellations; the whole constituting the popular or poetical creed of the Hindūs, and some of them, or particular parts of them, being very generally read and studied.