mind alone can perceive, whose essence eludes the external organs, who has no visible parts, who exists from eternity, even He, the Soul of all beings, whom no being can comprehend, shone forth in person. (8) He having willed to produce various beings from his own substance, first with a thought created the waters, and placed in them a productive seed. (9) The seed became an egg, bright as gold, blazing like the luminary with a thousand beams; and in that egg, He was born himself, in the form of Brahma, the great forefather of all spirits. (10) The waters are called Nárá, because they were the offspring of Nara, the Supreme Spirit; and as in them his first áyana (progress) in the character of Brahmá took place, he is thence Nárayana (he whose place of moving was the waters). (11) From that which is, the cause, not the object of sense, existing everywhere in substance, not existing to our perception without beginning or end, was produced the divine male, famed in all worlds as Brahmá. (12) In that egg the great power sat inactive a whole year of the Creator, at the close of which, by his thought alone, he caused the egg to divide itself; (13) and from its two divisions, he framed the heaven above, and the earth beneath; in the midst he placed the subtile ether, the eight regions, and the permanent receptacle of the waters."

Then, passing over some twenty uninteresting, if not unmeaning, stanzas, respecting the creation, in the abstract of mind, consciousness, the vital forms endowed with the three qualities of goodness, passion, and darkness, and the five perceptions of sense, making six principles, immensely active, viz.: consciousness and the five perceptions, which with the great soul, make the seven active principles of the universe, the account proceeds:

"(24) He gave being to time and the divisions of time, to the stars also, and the planets, to rivers, oceans, and mountains, to level plains and uneven valleys. (25) To devotion, speech, complacency, desire, and wrath, and to creation; (26) for the sake of distinguishing action, He made a total difference between right and wrong.

(31) That the human race might be multiplied, he caused

the Brahman, kshatriya, the vaishya, and the shudra, to proceed from his mouth, his arm, his thigh and his foot. (32) Having divided his own substance, the mighty power became half male and half female, (or nature, active and passive, says the commentator) and from that female he produced Viraj. (33) Know me, O, most excellent Bráhmans, to be that person, whom the male power Viráj, produced by himself, Me, the secondary framer of all this visible world.

(34) It was I, who, desirous of giving birth to a race of men, performed very difficult religious duties, and first produced ten lords of created beings, eminent in holiness. (36) They, abundant in glory, produced seven other (Manus) together with deities, and the mansions of deities and Maharshis, or great sages, unlimited in power; (37) benevolent genii, and fierce giants, blood-thirsty savages, heavenly choristers, nymphs and demons, huge serpents and snakes of smaller size, birds of mighty wing, and separate companies of Pitris or progenitors of mankind; (38) lightnings and thunderbolts, clouds and colored bows of Indra, falling meteors, earth-rending vapors, comets and luminaries of various degrees; (39) horse-faced sylvans, apes, fish and a variety of birds, tame cattle, deer, men, and ravenous beasts with two rows of teeth; (40) small and large reptiles, moths, lice, fleas, and common flies, with every biting gnat, and immovable substances of distinct sorts. (41) Thus was this whole assemblage of stationary and movable bodies framed by those high-minded beings, through the force of their own devotions, and at my command, with separate actions allotted to each. (42) Whatever act is ordained for each of those creatures here below, I will now declare to you, together with their order in respect to birth.” (“Institutes of Manu, Sir William Jones's Translation, chap. I.).

Respecting the cosmogony, it may be remarked (passing by absurdities and incongruities, to speak of which being no part of our design), in comparing it with that of Moses:

1. We are reminded of the second verse of the first of Genesis: "And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

(2.) We are reminded by it, of the doctrine that ascribes creation to Jesus Christ, who is called, "The image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature," "the only begotten son of God." In the Hindû account it is said, the Supreme, self-existing spirit, with a thought created the waters, in them placed a seed, which became an egg, in that egg, he himself was born, in the form of Brahma, who is the active creator. In the Christian scriptures it is said: "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, and all things were made by him, and without him, was not anything made that was made;" and again, " For all things were made by him,” and "by whom he made the worlds." "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him," and other passages which bear upon the point. The two most remarkable particulars of resemblance between the two cosmogonies is: The self-existing Supreme Spirit is not the active Creator. The active Creator is the Son of this Supreme Spirit, and yet the same with him.

In the Hindû cosmogony, there are three stages of development before we come to the material universe; in the Jewish and Christian only two. In the latter, the only-begotten creates directly; in the former, Brahmá, who is the born from the Supreme self-existing Spirit, himself only created, mind, consciousness, and the five perceptions, and the great Soul, under which seems to be included the universe of spiritual existence. For the creation of the material universe, another stage of development is required, and another form is assumed, or rather, another being produced, who finished the work.

In regard to the origin of moral evil, according to Manu, it seems to be directly attributed to creative power. For he says: "Whatever quality, noxious or innocent, harsh or mild, unjust or just, false or true, he (the Supreme) conferred on any being at its creation, the same quality enters it, of course on its future births; (29) and among the beings created, he mentions fierce giants, and blood-thirsty savages. He says, moreover, that all the vital forms, were endowed

at creation with the three qualities, goodness, passion and darkness; and darkness, in Hindû theology, in moral beings, leads to folly, ignorance and sin.

But in the Vishnu Purána, it is said: "The beings creat ed by Brahmá, of the four castes, were at first endowed with righteousness and perfect faith; their hearts were free from guile; they were pure. In their sanctified minds Hari (Vishnu) dwelt; and they were filled with perfect wisdom. After a while, that portion of Hari, which is one with Kála (time), infused into created beings sin, as yet feeble though formidable, or passion and the like; the impediment of the soul's liberation, the seed of iniquity, sprung from darkness and desire. The innate perfection of human nature was then no more evolved. The eight kinds of perfection were impaired, these being enfeebled and sin gaining strength, mortals were afflicted with pain, arising from susceptibility to contrasts, as heat, cold and the like." (Vishnu P., p. 45.)

The next point of resemblance or coincidence, or perhaps we should say, tradition, for we believe it to be a tradition from a passage in Genesis, relates to the four rivers, that fall out of heaven on Mount Meru, a great mountain fabled to be in the midst of Jambu Dwipa, the inhabitable world. The account in the Vishnu Purána is as follows:

"On the summit of Meru is the vast city of Brahmá, extending fourteen thousand leagues and renowned in heaven. The capital of Brahmá is enclosed by the river Ganges, which issuing from the foot of Vishnu, and washing the lunar orb, falls here from the skies, and after encircling the city, divides into four mighty rivers, and flows in opposite directions. (Vishnu P., p. 169.)

The same account, substantially is found in some of the astronomical treatises. (See Sidhanta Shiromani Ganitádhya, ch. 1. vv. 37, 38.)

In Genesis 2: 10, it is said: "A river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads."

We pass to traditions respecting the flood. And in order to exhibit the various points distinctly, it is necessary to state briefly the Hindû theory respecting the life of Bramhá.

The Hindûs measure the lapse of time by ages or yugas. The present age, or the Kali yuga, consists of 432,000 years. Twice this, or 864,000 years, is the duration of the Dwápára yuga; three times, or 1,296,000, the Treta yuga; and four times, or 1,728,000 years, the Tritá yuga. The sum of these, or 4,320,000 years, constitutes a great age, or yuga. One thousand of these, or 4,320,000,000 years, is a day of Bramhá, called a Kalpa. Thirty of these days make a month of his life; twelve months, his year; and one hundred years, his life. At the close of this day he sleeps, during a night equal to his day. As he goes to sleep, the earth is destroyed by fire; this is quenched by a flood of waters. He awakes, and creates all things in the earth again as at the first. We think there can be no question but this idea of a general destruction of all living creatures on the earth is derived, by tradition, from the event recorded by Moses.

But the different accounts of the close of the last day, or Kalpa, specify incidents which, though not always congruous, yet indicate a traditionary connection with the Mosaic account.

The earliest traditionary account in the Hindû scriptures, in relation to the deluge, is found in the Mahábáhrata, one of the great epic poems in the Sanskrit language, the precise age of which it is impossible to determine. It was probably written as early as between the fifth or sixth century before

our era.1

The account, or legend, is likewise found in several of the Puránas, with slight variations. The substance of this legend in the Mahábhárata, where it is called ancient, is, that Brahmá, assuming the form of a fish, informs Manu, a holy sage, that the earth is to be overwhelmed with a flood of waters, and directs him to build a ship, in which himself and seven other holy sages, with the living seeds of all things, will be preserved. When well secured in the great ship, the fish-formed deity would appear. The holy sage was to fasten the vessel to the fish's horn, and it would then ride safe over the turbulent waters. The holy sage built the vessel,

See note on p. 845.