DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.640#0184
THE HINDOO MYTHOLOGY. 67
fies those who perform the homu.—Dhuniinjuyu, he who
conquers (destroys) riches.—Kripeetiiyonee, lie who is born
from rubbing two sticks together.—Jwiilunu, he who
burns.—Ognee, he to whom fuel is presented.
SECTION IX.—Pumnii.
This is the god of the winds, and the messenger of the
gods". His mother ftditee, it is said, prayed to her hus-
band, that this son might be more powerful than Indrii:
her request was granted; but Indru, hearing of this, enter-
ed the womb of tJditee, and cut the foetus, first into seven
parts, and then each part into seven others. Thus Puvunu
assumed forty-nine formsx. He is meditated upon as a
white man, sitting on a deer, with a white flag in his right
hand.
Puvunu has no separate public festival, neither image,
nor temple. As one of the ten guardian deities of the earth,
he is worshipped, with the rest, at the commencement of
every festival. He is said to preside in the N. W. Water
is also offered to him in the daily ceremonies of the bram-
huns; and, whenever a goat is offered to any deity, a service
is paid to Vayoo, another form and name of Puvunu. In
" I can find no agreement betwixt this god and either Mercury or iEolus.
* The forty-nine points. The Hindoos have 49 instead of 32 points;
and the pooranus, which contain a story on every distinct feature of the
Hindoo philosophy, have given this fable: and in the same manner all
the elements are personified, and some remarkable story invented to ac-
count for their peculiar properties.
K 2
fies those who perform the homu.—Dhuniinjuyu, he who
conquers (destroys) riches.—Kripeetiiyonee, lie who is born
from rubbing two sticks together.—Jwiilunu, he who
burns.—Ognee, he to whom fuel is presented.
SECTION IX.—Pumnii.
This is the god of the winds, and the messenger of the
gods". His mother ftditee, it is said, prayed to her hus-
band, that this son might be more powerful than Indrii:
her request was granted; but Indru, hearing of this, enter-
ed the womb of tJditee, and cut the foetus, first into seven
parts, and then each part into seven others. Thus Puvunu
assumed forty-nine formsx. He is meditated upon as a
white man, sitting on a deer, with a white flag in his right
hand.
Puvunu has no separate public festival, neither image,
nor temple. As one of the ten guardian deities of the earth,
he is worshipped, with the rest, at the commencement of
every festival. He is said to preside in the N. W. Water
is also offered to him in the daily ceremonies of the bram-
huns; and, whenever a goat is offered to any deity, a service
is paid to Vayoo, another form and name of Puvunu. In
" I can find no agreement betwixt this god and either Mercury or iEolus.
* The forty-nine points. The Hindoos have 49 instead of 32 points;
and the pooranus, which contain a story on every distinct feature of the
Hindoo philosophy, have given this fable: and in the same manner all
the elements are personified, and some remarkable story invented to ac-
count for their peculiar properties.
K 2