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be, are nevertheless of no avail, unless earlier duties have been attended to. Bad men, especially those who neglect their first duties to their parents, to whom all duties are owing, may pass their whole lives in pilgrimages and prayer without benefit to their souls. On the contrary, with those who are piously performing those primary duties, the outward ceremonies of religion are of secondary and inferior moment; and even deities, as you have witnessed, minister to their comforts and conveniences. He who serves his parents, serves his God through them.' Struck with remorse at the rebuke, Pundelly resolved amendment; and dropping his intended pilgrimage, remained at Panderpur, and for a series of years acted in a most exemplary manner towards his parents, exceeding even in attention and duty the pattern of his former hosts, insomuch, that Vishnu inspired him with a portion of his divinity, and he now assumed the name of Wittoba.”

GARUDA or GURURA.

This demi-god, with the head and wings of a bird, and the body, legs, and arms of a man, will be found of considerable importance in Hindu mythology. He is the son of Kasyapa and Vinata, the brother of Arun, and the vahan or vehicle of Vishnu,

"When high on eagle plumes he rides.”

As Arun, the charioteer of Surya (the sun), is the dawn, the harbinger of day, so does Garuda, the younger brother, follow as its perfect light. He is the emblem of strength and swiftness, and besides being the bearer of the omnipotent Vishnu, is greatly distinguished in Hindu legends on many very important occasions.

His complicated endowments of person may be readily accounted for, by the extraordinary manner in which, as those legends inform us, he was ushered into the world. It appears that, for some good purpose or other, his mother, Vinata, laid an egg; which must have been of a marvellous size, as it required five hundred years to hatch from it the bird of the imperial Vishnu. Whether the good lady and her husband sate upon it

during that period is not, as I am aware of, shewn. Be that as it may, we are told that his shell was no sooner broken, than his body became so large as to reach the heaven of the gods; which so alarmed them, that they instantly ran to complain to Agni, believing that Garuda, the rays of whose wings had set the world on fire, could be no other than an incarnation of the regent of that all-powerful element.

The images of Garuda are set up and worshipped with those of Vishnu, in the temples dedicated to that deity. Sculptured images of him are also found in the magnificent cavern temples of Elephanta, Ellora, &c. &c. In the last-mentioned excavation he is seen in several places, accompanying Parvati, the consort of Siva. This we need not be surprised at, for in spite of the alarm which at his birth he caused to the gods and goddesses, he appears to have been, on all occasions, a ready champion and a useful character when required by any of these deities. He was of great service to Krishna, in his numerous encounters with the giants and datyas; as well as to Rama, in his contest with Ravan, by swallowing the serpent arrows of the latter, without which he would not have been able to have overcome that monster.

In some representations of him, he is described as being the gigantic crane of India, in which he would be the natural enemy of serpents. Mythology gives another, but I fear not a better reason for this antipathy; namely, a quarrel between his mother and that of the mother of those reptiles, on some celestial matter: on which occasion Garuda obtained from Vishnu permission to kill all the serpents he could meet with. It was this sanction which enabled him to assist so essentially the two deities just mentioned; as he was useful, in the same manner, to Krishna as to Rama, in clearing the countries conquered by that deity, not only of those venomous enemies, but of others of greater importance who assumed their forms.

By some Garuda has been called the Pondicherry or Malabar eagle, or the Brahmani kite of Bengal. This, as well as the adjutant, or crane, is a highly useful bird in India, in clearing away filth and carrion from the streets of the populous towns. The adjutant is a very voracious bird, and will swallow at a mouthful, without difficulty, a Bengal leg of mutton.

The Brahmini kites are equally voracious and more audacious, as it is not an uncommon occurrence for them to snatch poultry, or a joint of meat, if it happen to be uncovered, from a dish, as a servant is bringing it from the culinary offices to the table. Both these birds are destructive to snakes. Garuda has many names. He is called Superna, from the beauty of his plumage, which in the pictures of him is of the rich colours of blue, red, and green, embellished with the variety of gems which usually adorn the Hindu deities. He is also termed Nag-antara, or the enemy of serpents; Vishnu-rat'ha, or the vahan of Vishnu, &c. &c.

Fig. 4, plate 4, from an ancient sculpture, represents Garuda in the act of prayer. He is furnished with wings, and has a human face, with a hooked nose of remarkable length. His hair is turned up in the front and formed into a club behind, not unlike the pictures of a petit maître of the early part of the last century.

Fig. 5, in the same plate, from the temple of Rama, is Vishnu riding on the shoulders of Garuda, who has outstretched wings (although apparently running), with a head more resembling that of a bird than in the other figure.

HANUMAN.

Of this extraordinary simian demi-god I shall have occasion to say very little; but, after the gallant exploits which are related of him in the life of Rama, I cannot allow myself to pass over altogether in silence, this god of enterprise and attack. The common herd of beings may sink into oblivion in their graves, scarcely known in life, and wholly forgotten in death; but the illustrious conqueror cannot be so easily disposed of. Time, which destroys the most splendid fabricks of human genius, venerates that sacred and undying monument of glory, the historic page, which records the hero's deeds, and renders his renown as imperishable as itself. At all events, whatever fate may attend these humble pages, we now learn from that unerring source, that Hanuman could only claim alliance to the monkey race, through his mother, Unjuna, who was a dignified female monkey of

wonderful lactescent celebrity, for on being told of the astonishing feats of her son, she, in derision (it may be presumed, that such insignificant mole hills should be turned into mighty mountains) pressed a little milk from her breast, which, like an overwhelming Himalaya torrent, swept down in its course whole regions of ghauts, which were, as Hindu legends relate, thus destroyed by this milky stream. The father of Hanuman was Pavana, the god of the winds; so that we find this celebrated opponent of Ravan is, by no means, to be compared to some chieftains of the present day, whose lofty flights of heroism have commenced from aeries of a very uncertain and doubtful character. It is at all events unquestionable, that the hero of my present biography was of no common origin; though some accounts make it different from that which I have just related, in which Pavana is made to play a very subordinate part. In these, Hanuman is represented as an

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incarnation of Mahadeo, and his mother as a married female Brahman, with the posterior appendages of a monkey. This lady, who could not become as women wish to be who love their lords," performed austerities in honour of Mahadeo to procure that desirable object. Through the means of a charmed cake (that had been stolen by a kite from another female in a similar perdicament, just as she was about to taste it), which was conveyed to her by the order of Pavana, and of which she ate, the boon prayed for was obtained by the birth of Hanuman. The simian hero had no sooner entered the world than he displayed proofs of the aspiring mind, which afterwards led him to accomplish the deeds of renown that I have mentioned in the seventh avatar; for the first object of his mighty fancy was no other than the rising sun, which, as he made a spring from his mother's arms to possess himself of it, so frightened Surya, that he sat off, with Hunuman at his heels, to the heaven of Indra, who instantly launched a thunderbolt at the monkey god, and had nearly deprived Valmic of one of the most distinguished ornaments of the Ramayana.

Pavana now steps forward, and performs a somewhat extraordinary part in the drama; for being indignant at the treatment of his son (though it is difficult to make out how Hanuman became so, which, by-the-bye, is a

* Ghauts, or gauts, mountains.

mere trifle on these occasions), he called to his assistance, as regent of the winds, all the strength of his attributes; with which he inflated Indra and the rest of the gods, and gave them the colic to so violent a degree, that to relieve themselves from the pain, they were glad to restore Hanuman, and severally to endow him with a portion of their own power.

Hanuman is extensively worshipped, and his images will be found set up in temples, sometimes alone, and sometimes in the society of the former companions of his glory, Rama and Sita. He is supplicated by the Hindus on their birth-days to obtain longevity, which he is supposed to have the power to bestow; and which, of course, he unhesitatingly grants; or which, at least, the disinterested Brahmans of his temples unhesitatingly promise. As the god of enterprise, offerings should be made at his shrine by night.

Hanuman is called Maruty, from Pavana being chief of the Maruts, or genii of the winds. He is also called Muhabar.

A few years ago, a monkey, perfectly white, was caught in the Burmese territories. It was considered to be rare, and excited much admiration; as one only had before been seen like it, for which the king of Ava had sent a golden case, and to celebrate its happy arrival, from which the most fortunate auguries were drawn, expended, according to the Calcutta India Gazette, no less a sum than twenty thousand rupees in sacrifices and rejoicings. What happy exaltation might have awaited the other gentleman who succeeded him, had he lived, it is impossible to say: but he died, although a Burmese woman, who was suckling her child, prayed to have the nursing of him, and fairly divided her nurture and maternal attention between the human infant and the simian nursling.

Figs. 3 and 5, plate 9, from drawings, represent Hanuman armed for battle; 4 ditto, from a cast, trampling on a Daitya; 5, conveying the mountains for the bridge, to enable Rama to invade Lanka. Plate 10 represents Hanuman and his monkeys, with Rama, making oblations to Vishnu and Lakshmi. This plate is from a large and beautiful carving, brought, I imagine, from a temple. It has been richly emblazoned. Fig. 1, plate 11, is from the temple of Rama, and represents Hanuman relating his adventures to Rama,

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