DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.640#0041
xxviii INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
Guroorii is a portion of Shivu; his body represents the ve'du.
Vishnoo is distinguished as being the source of most of the
Hindoo incarnations; in which forms he commands the worship
of the greatest division of the Hindoo population. I know of
no temples nor festivals in honour of Vishnoo. He is called the
Preserver, but the actions ascribed to him under this character
are referred to other forms and names. The shalgramii, a stone,
is a form of Vishnoo. During four months of the year, all the
forms of this god are laid to sleep. From the agreement of this
fact with what is said of Horus, Mr. Paterson gathers a resem-
blance betwixt Vishnoo and Horns, and supposes that the Hin-
doos derived their system from the Egyptian: he conjectures,
also, that the fable of Vishnoo's lying down to sleep, turning to
one side, and rising> refer to the increase, the greatest rise, and
the retiring of the waters of the Ganges, the Indian Nile. The
state of the river in these four months agrees with this supposi-
tion, though the bramhuns I consulted were not aware that this
ceremony had any connection with the Ganges. Vishnoo is
sometimes called the household god.
S. Shivu is a white man with five faces and four arms, riding
on a bull. In one hand he holds an axe, as the destroyer of the
wicked; in another a deer, alluding to a sacrifice, when the
deer, fleeing from the sacrificial knife, took refuge with Shivu;
with another hand he is bestowing a blessing, and with the last
forbidding fear. Four of his faces are designed to point out the
sixty-four tuntriis, and the other a different tiintru. The bull is
a form of Vishnoo, as the personification of religion; its four
feet are, religious austerities, purity, compassion, and truth. In
some particulars, this god strongly reminds us of Vulcan and
Bacchus. The few Hindoos in Bengal who adopt Shiv.u as their
guardian deity, are called soivyus. Except those of the lingii
and Punchanunii, very few temples exist in honour of any other
form of Shivu: and none of his form riding on a bull. Before
the lingii, Shivu is however daily worshipped under eight sepa-
rate names, answering to the sun, moon, wind, fire, water, earth,
air, and an officiating priest at a sacrifice. Mr. Paterson thinks,
Guroorii is a portion of Shivu; his body represents the ve'du.
Vishnoo is distinguished as being the source of most of the
Hindoo incarnations; in which forms he commands the worship
of the greatest division of the Hindoo population. I know of
no temples nor festivals in honour of Vishnoo. He is called the
Preserver, but the actions ascribed to him under this character
are referred to other forms and names. The shalgramii, a stone,
is a form of Vishnoo. During four months of the year, all the
forms of this god are laid to sleep. From the agreement of this
fact with what is said of Horus, Mr. Paterson gathers a resem-
blance betwixt Vishnoo and Horns, and supposes that the Hin-
doos derived their system from the Egyptian: he conjectures,
also, that the fable of Vishnoo's lying down to sleep, turning to
one side, and rising> refer to the increase, the greatest rise, and
the retiring of the waters of the Ganges, the Indian Nile. The
state of the river in these four months agrees with this supposi-
tion, though the bramhuns I consulted were not aware that this
ceremony had any connection with the Ganges. Vishnoo is
sometimes called the household god.
S. Shivu is a white man with five faces and four arms, riding
on a bull. In one hand he holds an axe, as the destroyer of the
wicked; in another a deer, alluding to a sacrifice, when the
deer, fleeing from the sacrificial knife, took refuge with Shivu;
with another hand he is bestowing a blessing, and with the last
forbidding fear. Four of his faces are designed to point out the
sixty-four tuntriis, and the other a different tiintru. The bull is
a form of Vishnoo, as the personification of religion; its four
feet are, religious austerities, purity, compassion, and truth. In
some particulars, this god strongly reminds us of Vulcan and
Bacchus. The few Hindoos in Bengal who adopt Shiv.u as their
guardian deity, are called soivyus. Except those of the lingii
and Punchanunii, very few temples exist in honour of any other
form of Shivu: and none of his form riding on a bull. Before
the lingii, Shivu is however daily worshipped under eight sepa-
rate names, answering to the sun, moon, wind, fire, water, earth,
air, and an officiating priest at a sacrifice. Mr. Paterson thinks,