568 IDOL OF JAGGANNATʼH. are brought before they are delivered up to their husbands. This pyramidal stone may be plainly traced to its original; that idol which in the same, but a larger form, is worshipped by the Gentoos under the name of Jaggannat'h; which, according to all accounts, and to Captain Hamilton's especially, is no other than a pyramidal black stone*, fabled to have fallen from heaven, or, at least, to have miraculously presented itself on that place where stands his temple before-mentioned. Now, according to the best information I could obtain from the Gentoos, this stone, of which all the images of that form in India are esteemed but copies, is meant for the power presiding over universal reproduction; which they attribute to * In support of Grose and Hamilton's testimony, that of Clemens Alexandrinus may be cited. This author states most distinctly, that the pyramid was worshipped by the Gymnosophists: -" Those among the Hindoos who are denominated the Venerable,' go naked all their lives: they cultivate truth, foretell future events, and worship a certain pyramid, beneath which, they imagine, the bones of some deity repose." Οἱ καλούμενοι δὲ Σεμνοὶ τῶν Ἰνδῶν, γυμνοὶ διαιτῶνται τόν πάντα βίον· οὗτοι τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀσκοῦσι, καὶ περὶ τῶν μελλόντων περιμηνύουσι, καὶ σέβουσι τινα πυραμίδα, ὑπ ̓ ἣν ὀστέα τινὸς Θεοῦ νομίζουσιν ἀποκεῖσθαι. — Stromat. 1. iii. p. 539. ed. Ox. 1715. — According to Clemens, the Ark of the Covenant was constructed in a pyramidal form. Stromat. vi. 785., where the reader will find some extraordinary fancies on the mystical value of numbers. The learned Dodwell, in his “Classical Tour through Greece," describes certain cones in terra-cotta, which he rightly supposes to represent the μúopos, or conic emblem of Baal or Astarté. "These cones are about three inches and a half high; the perforation at the top shows that they were attached to something: others are frequently found in the fields in the different parts of Greece, especially in Attica; they are in general painted black and red, and are sometimes circular, like those of Corfu, and sometimes four-sided (i. e. pyramidal), and all have the perforation." i. 34. The inscription on the engraved specimen, is POAEITH. INDIAN CEREMONIES. 569 the genial heat and influence of the sun acting under subordination to it; and to whom the following formulary, or prayer, is addressed, and often repeated in a day, by the Brahmins especially, with their eyes towards the sun. "Thou Power! which illuminates that resplendent orb, deign also to illuminate my mind, so as that I may hereby be directed to walk in the way most pleasing to thee." Now, considering the dignity attached in the idea of the Gentoos to the generative power, it is no derogation to the supremacy attributed to Jaggannat'h,-manifested by their making his temple and image the head place of their worship,to infer, that he is their god Brahma, under that title, just as Jupiter had several names, according to his various functions, and equivalent to the Mythras, or Venus Urania, of the Persians, or simply the Venus of the heathens. That the deity, however, represented specifically by that image, and under that name, was held to preside over the genial fire, is plainly proved by the ceremonies with which, at a certain time of the year, they perform their worship to it, especially on the banks of the Ganges. For the Gentoo inhabitants there form domestic idols after that of Jaggannat'h, to which they give its name, and which are niched in a conveyance that is to serve them for a triumphal car, altogether decorated with gilding and tinsel. Formerly it used to be so with jewels and expensive finery, according to the circumstances of the owner; but of late they have much abated on this point. This machine is kept for some days in the best apartment of their house; during which time it 570 WORSHIP OF THE CREATIVE POWER. is matter of devotion with them to exhibit all the obscenest postures, and to act all manner of lasciviousness in sight, as it were, of the idol, and as the most acceptable mode of worship to the deity it represents. After which, they carry it in its gilded car processionally to the Ganges, and throw all in together, as an acknowledgment to that river of its congenial fertilisation with that of the sun."* DCCLXXIII. One of the gods of Jaggannath, represented in the pyramidal form, has frequently been supposed to be the divinity presiding over concupiscence; but, though the Brahmins, naturally lewd and profligate, profane the rites by indecent exhibitions, the original worship, like that of the celestial Venus, probably consisted in the silent adoration of the creative power of nature. † This productive energy, for reasons derived from their physiological system, they conceived to be feminine in its nature, and selected as its symbol the pyramid, known throughout the ancient world as the emblem of womanhood. Sometimes, where the immortality and transmigration of the soul formed a portion of the * Grose, Voyage to the East Indies, pp. 323–327. + Garcilasso de la Vega enumerates the pyramid among the objects of Peruvian worship, but entirely misunderstands the cause of this superstition. "De Parihuana Cocha l'Ynca passa plus avant, et traversa le désert de Coropuna, où l'on voit une belle et haute pyramide de neige, qui les Indiens sont accoûtumé d'appeler Huaca, c'est-à-dire, 'merveilleuse ;' comme elle l'est en effet ; c'est pourquoi les habitans de cette frontière, gens superstitieux, et de peu d'esprit, lui fesoient des sacrifices, et l'adoraient pour son extrême beauté." Hist. des Yncas, i. 264. The Peruvians, in general, worshipped lofty mountains, caverns, large stones, and emeralds. i. 39. Among the Greeks, the tops of high mountains were sacred to Jupiter. Maxim. Tyr. Dissert. xxxviii. 450. PYRAMIDAL TEMPLES. 571 national creed, the bodies of the dead were deposited in the pyramidal fane, to intimate that, by the power thus mystically typified, man triumphs over death itself, his spirit passing from form to form in the eternal circle of generations. But, in these cases, the pyramid was no more considered as a tomb than one of our churches, in which the dead are constantly interred. Many temples erected in this form still exist in Hindoostan; and the Brahmins, knowing in honour of what power they were raised, naturally infer that, wherever similar structures are found, the same deity must once have been adored. Beyond 66 * Various ancient authors appear to have identified the goddess Venus with the planet which bears her name. Dazzled by the superior splendour of this beautiful star, the Greeks, and other nations of the west, represented it as a woman. Euseb. Præp. Evangel. 1. iii. p. 114. — The Peruvians denominated this planet," the sun's page," and represented it with beautiful long hair. Quant à le planète de Venus, parcequ'ils la voyoient tantôt le matin, et tantôt le soir, ils disoient que le Soleil, en qualité de Roi des Etoiles, ordonnoit que celle-ci, comme la plus belle de toutes, se tint toujours auprès de lui." Hist. des Yncas, i. 198. 205. 313. The ancient Arabians and Indians, between which two nations was a great conformity of religions, had seven celebrated temples dedicated to the seven planets; one of which, in particular, called Beit Ghomdán, was built in Sana, the metropolis of Yemen, by Dahak, to the honour of Al Zohara, or the planet Venus.".... Other idols were mere rude stones, but their form is not specified. Sale, Prelim. Discourse to the Korán. — The patriarch Abraham, on issuing from the cave in which he had been confined by his father, is said to have adored the planet Venus:- Vidensque stellam Veneris forte exorientem, et cæteras lumine, splendore, et claritate longe superantem, ait, Hic est deus meus et creator meus.'" Abraham Ecchellensis, ap. Burnett, Archaol. Philosoph. p. 140.—In an elegant Idyllium of Ausonius, Venus is denominated the "Queen of the Star and of the Rose:" -: "Sideris et floris nam domina una Venus." Upon which Alciatus observes :-"Certè philosophi quidam odorem rosæ et colorem à Veneris stella proficisci existimarunt." Emblem. p. 483. 572 TESTIMONY OF THE BRAHMINS. this I attach no weight to the testimony of the learned Hindoos, brought forward by Colonel Wilford. The passages from the Puránas, supposed to refer to the ancient history of Egypt, are evidently spurious, notwithstanding the positive assertions of Sir William Jones to the contrary: it would, therefore, be disingenuous to attribute to them the slightest value in a discussion of this kind; but at the same time, it will, perhaps, be allowed, that, on a question of sacred architecture, the opinion of learned Brahmins is worthy of consideration, more especially when corroborated in a very striking manner by the character of existing monuments. - DCCLXXIV. Even legends, fictitious narratives, and poetical traditions, when invented with a due regard to the popular mythology upon which they are superinduced, may be referred to in support of an hypothesis perfectly in keeping with the spirit of the age and country to which they relate. In Hindoostan, the pyramid, the triangle, and all their modifications, are connected with the worship and temples of Bhavani, the Indian Venus, and are, consequently, beheld, and spoken of, with the greatest reverence, as symbols of the sacred yoni, or kteis. Some obscure resemblance of this figure is supposed to be found within the chalice of the lotus. Bhavani, therefore, in her generative character, is sometimes denominated Padma-devi, or "the goddess of the lotus ;" and the Brahmins, accustomed from their infancy to associate the pyramid with the mysteries of Padma-devi, very |