DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.640#0040
ON THE HINDOO RELIGION. xxvii
derived from his devotion. The pan of water in his left hand
points out, that all things sprang from water. It has excited
much surprise, that this deity, so pre-eminent, should be entirely
destitute of a temple and of worshippers. Mr. Paterson sup-
poses, that, in some remote age, the worshippers of Shivii car-
ried on a contest with the followers of Brumha, and wholly
suppressed the worship of this god. This conjecture opens a
wide field of enquiry; but this gentleman does not adduce any
historical evidence of the fact. The story of Shivii's cutting off
one of the heads of Brumha, and the existence of violent conten-
tions betwixt different sects of Hindoos at the present day, can
scarcely be considered as establishing it, though the conjecture
appears not altogether improbable. These contentions for supe-
riority are annually renewed at Hiiree-dwaru, Uyodhya, &c.
betwixt the Voishnuviis (Ramatiis) and the followers of Shivii,
in which quarrels many perish 1.
2. Vishnoo. This is the image of a black man, with four
arms, sitting on Giirooru, a creature half-bird, half-man, and.
holding in his hands the sacred shell, the chiikru, the lotus,
and a club. His colour (black) is that of the destroyer,
which is intended to show, that Shivii and he are one; he
has four hands, as the representative of the male and female
powers; the shell (blown on days of rejoicing) implies that
Vishnoo is a friendly deity; the chukrfi is to teach that he
is wise to protect; the lotus is to remind the worshipper
of the nature of final emancipation, that, as this flower is
raised from the muddy soil, and after rising by degrees from
immersion in the waters, expands itself above the surface to the
admiration of all, so man is emancipated from the chains of
human- birth; the club shews that he chastises the wicked.
' Raja-Ramu, a learned shikh, employed as a translator in the Seram-
pore printing-office, says, that about forty years ago, not less than 10,000
persons, and, about twenty years ago, 4 or 5,000 perished in these con-
tests at Hiiree-dwaru, Another proof, added to that respecting the
Bouddhiis, that the Hindoo is not free from the fiercest spirit of perse-
cution.
d 2
derived from his devotion. The pan of water in his left hand
points out, that all things sprang from water. It has excited
much surprise, that this deity, so pre-eminent, should be entirely
destitute of a temple and of worshippers. Mr. Paterson sup-
poses, that, in some remote age, the worshippers of Shivii car-
ried on a contest with the followers of Brumha, and wholly
suppressed the worship of this god. This conjecture opens a
wide field of enquiry; but this gentleman does not adduce any
historical evidence of the fact. The story of Shivii's cutting off
one of the heads of Brumha, and the existence of violent conten-
tions betwixt different sects of Hindoos at the present day, can
scarcely be considered as establishing it, though the conjecture
appears not altogether improbable. These contentions for supe-
riority are annually renewed at Hiiree-dwaru, Uyodhya, &c.
betwixt the Voishnuviis (Ramatiis) and the followers of Shivii,
in which quarrels many perish 1.
2. Vishnoo. This is the image of a black man, with four
arms, sitting on Giirooru, a creature half-bird, half-man, and.
holding in his hands the sacred shell, the chiikru, the lotus,
and a club. His colour (black) is that of the destroyer,
which is intended to show, that Shivii and he are one; he
has four hands, as the representative of the male and female
powers; the shell (blown on days of rejoicing) implies that
Vishnoo is a friendly deity; the chukrfi is to teach that he
is wise to protect; the lotus is to remind the worshipper
of the nature of final emancipation, that, as this flower is
raised from the muddy soil, and after rising by degrees from
immersion in the waters, expands itself above the surface to the
admiration of all, so man is emancipated from the chains of
human- birth; the club shews that he chastises the wicked.
' Raja-Ramu, a learned shikh, employed as a translator in the Seram-
pore printing-office, says, that about forty years ago, not less than 10,000
persons, and, about twenty years ago, 4 or 5,000 perished in these con-
tests at Hiiree-dwaru, Another proof, added to that respecting the
Bouddhiis, that the Hindoo is not free from the fiercest spirit of perse-
cution.
d 2