1

3

W. Clereth 41. Der Scho

Fig). Durga. 2 Ganesha 3. Kartikeya, as exhibited in Bengal at the celebrated festival of Durga, Bengal at the celebrated festival of Durga, or the Dusserah, from Models by Chit Roy.

Published by Parbury, Allen & Co Tondon 1832

MINOR AVATARS, AND THE MYTHOLOGICAL AND RELIGIOUS TERMS, &c. &c.

OF THE

HINDU S.

WITH

PLATES,

ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE PRINCIPAL HINDU DEITIES, &c.

BY CHARLES COLEMAN, Esq.

LONDON:

PARBURY, ALLEN, AND CO., LEADENHALL STREET.

£145.4 0692

PREFACE.

IN presenting the following pages to the Public, I have to acknowledge my obligations to the distinguished and intelligent writers on oriental subjects, from whose works I have derived very extensive and valuable assistance in the first part of this book, and have compiled the larger portion of the second.

It has been frequently observed by those who have been acquainted with India, that although almost the whole of the wide extent of country from the southern coasts of Ceylon to the snowy range of the Himalaya mountains, and from the confines of China to the shores of Guzerat has, within the last century, come under the dominion of Great Britain, there is scarcely a spot in the civilized world so incorrectly known to the British community in general as India. Tales of romance have beguiled the ardent imaginations of youth, and tales no less fictitious and delusive have misled the more ripened and sober judgment of manhood: for, with the general or local histories of the nations and tribes of Hindustan; the positions of the several states in regard to each other; the varieties in the people; or with their religion, their customs, or their manners, even the well-informed parts of European society have been almost as little

acquainted, as if this important and valuable portion of our empire had been placed within the ice-bound regions of the frozen ocean.* That this has not been caused by India under our rule having possessed historians deficient in industry and research, or in the necessary qualifications to embody, in a satisfactory manner, the scientific and literary treasures which they may have discovered in

*Of the too general correctness of the above observation, an extract from the Asiatic Journal of February 1826, will afford a lamentable proof. For the veracity of the statement contained in that extract the author of this work can vouch, as the circumstances mentioned occurred under his immediate notice; the only difference from the relation being, that the parties concerned were the captain and purser of an India ship, who, from the overstock of English goods in Calcutta at the time, could not dispose of their investments in the customary wholesale manner, and in consequence opened a room, to do so as they best could. Even several years after, the author being at a well-known watering place, observed the story reiterated in a paper published in the town, and on calling at the proprietor's, who was a highly respectable librarian, to point out the folly of such credulity, he greatly astonished the person whom he saw by an explanation of the facts. "Seven years ago, a dealer in dress dolls at Calcutta, having received a consignment of these commodities from Europe, advertised them at that presidency in the following humorous strain :— Females raffled for: Be it known, that six fair pretty young ladies, with two sweet and engaging children, lately imported from Europe, having the roses of health blooming on their cheeks, and joy sparkling in their eyes, possessing amiable tempers, and highly accomplished, whom the most indifferent cannot behold without expressions of rapture, are to be raffled for next door to the British Gallery. Scheme: twelve tickets, at twelve rupees (£1. 10s.) each; the highest of the three throws, doubtless, takes the most fascinating."

"So much ignorance respecting India, and credulity existed in England, that this advertisement was gravely appealed to as an evidence that a trade in women was really permitted in British India (it is surprising that the low price of the ladies did not lead to a discovery of the joke). To carry the farce still farther, a work of extensive circulation,† (The Percy Anecdotes, part ix, Anecdotes of Women), adopted the blunder, and prefaced the terrific advertisement with this extraordinary statement: While Britons deplore the traffic in negroes, and have abolished the slave trade, it is a fact that there are persons who actually import beautiful women to the British settlements in India, in order to sell them to the rich Nabobs or Europeans who may give a good price for them; but, what is worse, they are sometimes played for at a game of chance. The following advertisement appeared in Grinsby's (Greenway's) Daily Advertiser, of the 3d September 1818, a paper printed at Calcutta.' Then came the dreadful annunciation, to which were appended the following remarks: What a specimen of Calcutta morals does this advertisement exhibit! Surely a more abominable outrage upon morality and virtue has never been heard of than this, which is openly practised in a settlement under British laws and British government!""

† And it might be added, of generally valuable intelligence.