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Uttama, one of the seven Menus.

V.

Vaisyas, the merchant tribe of India pro-
duced from the thighs of Brahma.
Vaitarini, the Styx of the Hindus.
Vamuna, a dwarf; a form assumed by Vishnu
to destroy Maha Bali in the fifth avatar,
P. 18.

Varaha, an avatar of Vishnu in the third or
boar avatar,
16.
p.

Vagiswari, the goddess of eloquence. Vahan, a vehicle allotted to each of the gods. Brahma has the Hanasa, a goose or swan. Vishnu, Garuda, half man half bird; Siva, the bull; Indra, the elephant; Ganesha, a rat; Kartikeya, a peacock; Agni, a ram; Pavana, an antelope; Yama, Varahi, the sacti, or consort of Vishnu in a buffalo; Mungula or Mars, a sheep; Budh, a lion; Shunee or Sani, a vulture; Rama, a monkey; Kama Deva, a parrot; Durga or Parvati, a lion and bull, and the other goddesses the vahans of their respective lords.

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the boar avatar.

Varuna, the god of the waters, p. 135.
Varuni, the sacti of Varuna.

Vasanta (The spring), the friend of Kama
Deva, the god of love, and Reti, affection.
Vasishta, one of the most distinguished of
the seven Rishis; also one of the seven
Brahmadicas.

Vasu (A), one of the deities who form a Gana,
which is composed of eight. There are
nine Ganas, whose principal is Ganesha;
hence his title of lord of the Ganas.
Vasudeva, the father of Krishna, p. 35.
Vasuki, the venomous serpent used as a rope
by the Suras and Asuras, at the churning
of the ocean, p. 15 and 254, plate 6. The
pestilential breath of this enormous reptile
was such, as to cause the gods to resort to a
stratagem to induce the demons to change
sides with them, the former taking the tail,
the latter the head part. Siva swallowed
a portion of the poison, which changed
his throat to a blue colour; hence his ap-
pellation of Nilakantha, or blue throat.
Vauk, devotion offered by the audible effu-
sions of speech.

Vayu, a name of Pavana.

Vedas (The), the earliest sacred writings of the Hindus, p. 137.

Vedanga, one of the Adityas; a name of Surya.

Venamaly, a name of Narayana.

Vicramadittya or Vikramaditya, a learned monarch and an astronomer, whose capital, Oujein, was about his time overwhelmed by a violent convulsion of nature. Hindu legends thus whimsically account for that circumstance, together with his origin and birth; as described in the 6th vol. of the Asiatic Researches.

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"A certain deity, named Gundrufsein, was condemned for an offence committed against Indra, to appear on earth in the shape of an ass; but on his entreaty he was allowed, as a mitigation of his punishment, to lay aside that body in the night, and take that of a man. His incarnation took place at Ougein, during the reign of a rajah named Sundersein, and the ass, when arrived at maturity, accosting the rajah in a human voice, proclaimed his own divine origin, and demanded his daughter in marriage. Having, by certain prodigies, overcome the scruples of the rajah, he obtained the object of his wishes. All day, in the form of an ass, he lived in the stable; but when night came on, laying aside the ass's skin, and assuming the form of a handsome and accomplished young prince, he went into the palace, and enjoyed, till morning, the conversation of his beauteous bride. In process of time the daughter of the rajah became pregnant, pregnant, and as her husband, the ass, was deemed incapable of producing such an event in one of the human species, her chastity was suspected. Her father questioned her on the subject, when she explained the mys. tery. At night the rajah concealed him

self, and having witnessed the metamor-
phosis, set the ass's skin on fire to prevent
his son-in-law from reassuming that form.
Although rejoiced at his liberation, Gun-
drufsein foresaw the vengeance of Indra,
and warned his wife to flee; telling her
that his earthly tenement being consumed,
he must return to heaven, and that the
city would be overwhelmed with destruc-
tion.
The princess fled to a village at
some distance, where she brought forth a
son, named Vicramadittya; and a shower
of earth falling from heaven, buried the
city and its inhabitants."

Vina, the Hindu lyre, formed of a flat piece of wood with strings, having a gourd at one end, and sometimes one at both ends, seen in the plates in the hands of Nareda, Suraswati, and the celestial choristers. (See fig. 11. pl. 32.)

Vindhya Vasini, a form of Durga or Par

vati, to whom is ascribed the destruction of many giants. She is represented sitting on a lion, with four or eight arms. Vira Badra, or Ehr Badr, p. 74. Viraj, p. 100.

Virupacsha, a name of Siva.
Vishnu, p. 11.

Vismamitra, one of the Rishis, and the Guru
of Rama Chandra. He was seduced by
Rembha while engaged in austerities, at
the instigation of Indra.
Viswakarma, p. 6.

Vitruha or Vitrahan, a name of Indra. He who slew the giant Vitruha or Vitra. Viweswat, a name of Surya.

Viweswati, the son of Surya, called the child of the sun, and the founder of the

the race of Hindu rajahs, termed the Surya bans, or children of the sun.

the riches of the avaricious worshippers of the god of wealth.

Vogra Tapasu, one of the most severe of the Yajar, or Yajush Veda, one of the four
Hindu austerities. (See p. 251.).
Voiragees, religious mendicants of the sect
of Vishnu.

Vridgnani Kaumali, a form assumed by Lakshmi as the consort of Vishnu in the form of Buddha, to delude Divodasa. Like her lord, she taught to the females of Kashi the doctrines of self-existent nature,

Vedas, p. 138.
Yama, p. 112.

Yamuna (The), or Jumna, one of the sacred rivers of the Hindus. It joins the Ganges at Allahabad; also the sister of Yama,

Yasuda, the wife of Nanda, or Ananda, and the foster mother of Krishna.

and the abolition of castes. By these and Yoginis (called the fatal sisters): they are

other artifices, she seduced the women to counsel the men of that kingdom to abandon the worship of the Vedas for the atheistical religion preached by Vishnu, under the delusive form of Buddha. Vrihaspati, or Brishput, p. 133. Vrisha, the holy, a name of Indra. Vyagra Yahi, a name of Devi when mounted on a tiger.

W.

Waghacha-Kuniver, worshipped by the
Bheels, against the ravages of wild beasts.
Wittoba, p. 53.

Y.

Yakshas, or Yakshus, attendants of Kuvera,

sixty-four in number, and follow the Sactis in the field of battle, each holding in her hands a patera of a skull to receive the blood of the slain, on which they feast. Yogun. (See Jogun.) Yoni (The), p. 174.

Yoogadya, a form of Durga, much worshipped in some places; she is represented with her arms, sitting on a lion. Sanguinary sacrifices are offered to her; and, according to Mr. Ward, 100,000 people assemble at a place in Burdwan on the occasion of the annual festival in honour of her.

Yudishtra, one of the five Pandus brethren. (See Pandus.)

who wander about the world to preserve Zennaar, p. 154.

Z.

THE END.

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