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bosom of his father; but on trying his skill, on a subsequent occasion, upon Siva, when he happened to be engaged in prayer, he so incensed him, that with the eye in the middle of his forehead he consumed the god of love to ashes: from which he is called Ananga, the bodyless. Brahma, however, assured him that his body should be restored. After his second birth of Rukmini, he was, on the sixth day, carried away by the Daitiya Shambara and thrown into the sea, where he was swallowed by a fish; which being taken, was opened, and the infant discovered and given to Shambara, who delivered it to his wife, Mayavati. This female was no other than Reti, the wife of Kama in his former birth, who had assumed the form and name of Mayavati, in consequence of having been assured by Siva that her husband would be born again as the son of Krishna. Kama, or Pradyumna, was immediately recognised and brought up carefully by her; till, at a proper period, he was informed who he was, and of the cruelty of Shambara, whom he instantly slew.

His standard is, in consequence of the circumstance just mentioned, a fish, and he is called the son of Maya.

"Yes, son of Maya, yes, I know
Thy bloomy shafts and cany bow,
Cheeks with youthful glory beaming,
Locks in braids etherial streaming,

Thy scaly standard, thy mysterious arms,
And all thy pains and all thy charms."

The image of this god is represented as a beautiful youth, riding on a lory (or parrot) with emerald wings. In his hands he holds a bow strung with bees, and five arrows tipped with flowers.

"He bends the luscious cane, and twists the string,
With bees, how sweet! but ah! how keen their sting!
He with five flow'rets tips his ruthless darts,
Which through five senses pierce enraptur'd hearts:

Strong chumpa, rich in odrous gold,

Warm amer, nurs'd in heavenly mould,

Dry nagkesir, in silver smiling,
Hot kiticum our sense beguiling,

And last, to kindle fierce the scorching flame,
Love-shaft, which gods bright bela name.”

Sir William Jones.

He is supposed to be accompanied by his consort Reti, or affection:

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Also by the cuckoo, the humming bee, and gentle breezes, and to be always wandering through the world; but the banks of the Yamuna, the resort of Krishna and the Gopias, became his favourite haunt.

Kama, like the other Hindu deities, has numerous names, either indicative of the power of love over the mind, or descriptive of his attributes. He is called Smara, the son of Maya, Ananga the bodyless, Mudun, he whose banner is a fish, Pradyumna, &c. &c.

Fig. 2, plate 21, represents him as a beautiful youth kneeling on a lory with emerald wings, in the act of discharging the love-shaft arrow from his bow, strung with bees. Behind him hangs his quiver, filled with four other arrows tipped with the flowers of the chumpa, the amer, the naghesir, and the kiticum.

Images and pictures of this deity are not common.

The one given in

this work is from a drawing of a very inferior description. The sectarial mark on his forehead is that of Vishnu.

BALA RAMA.

This god was the brother of Krishna, and, as I have remarked in the life of that deity, was saved from the fury of Cansa, by being translated from the womb of his mother into that of another female. He is frequently represented as the coadjutor of his brother in his exploits, and his image usually accompanies that of Krishna in his reanimation (after having been killed) under the form of Juggarnat'h. According to a note in my account

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Fig 1. The Kalki or Tenth Aratar. 2. Juggarnath, Subhadra and Bala-Rama.

Published by Parbury, Allen & Co London 1832.

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of Suraswati, Sir William Jones has compared him to Bacchus, the inventor of the use of wine. There would not appear to be any incident for which he is individually famed, except the above-mentioned, and that of having married one of the most beautiful old maids of ancient times, of a standard somewhat above the usual size; his wife, Revati, having been, at the time of her marriage, 3,888,000 years of age, and so tall, that her stature reached as high as the hands clapped seven times could be heard."* I have not learnt how he managed in respect to her age; but he is said to have taken a very ingenious method, which I would seriously recommend to the modellers of high-shouldered young ladies, of reducing her inconvenient height to one more agreeable to his taste; by fixing an enormous ploughshare, which this delicate damsel herself used, to her shoulders. Bala Rama is represented with Juggarnat'h and Subhadra, in fig. 2, plate 13. Why he and the lady should also be without arms and legs, I am unacquainted.

JUGGARNAT'H.

Since gods, as well as men, must, it would appear, die some time or other, the love-inspiring Krishna was one day shot with an arrow from the bow of a hunter, who most unceremoniously left the lovely form of the deity, whom the Gopias had so franticly adored, to rot under the tree where it fell. After some time his bones, like those of the beautiful Rosalia in Sicily, were collected by some pious persons, and made the pious means of enriching the priests of the Hindus, as the more tender ones of the virgin saint have done the reverend fathers of Palermo. Having been collected they were placed in a box, where they remained till Vishnu, on being applied to by a religious monarch, Indra Dhoomna, commanded him to make an image of Juggarnat'h and place the bones in it. The king would willingly have done as he was desired, but unfortunately possessed not the skill for such an undertaking: so he made bold to ask Vishnu, who should make it? Vishnu told him to apply to Viswakarma, the architect of the gods. He did so, and as promptly as our great architect, Mr. Nash, would

* Ward.

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