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secret spring of this concurrence of sentiment in sects, otherwise so irreconcilable to each other? What is intended by a representation, so extraor dinary, of the Deity of the place: a figure that re sembles nothing in the heavens above, or the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth.

These questions will naturally arise upon a view of the accompanying drawing, taken from a large picture brought from the temple, in possession of Raja PARAS'U RA'M.

It is a representation of the SNA'N JATRA, when the images, stripped of their ornaments, are bathed. But it is this unadorned condition of the image that leads to the discovery of the mystery.

The Pranava, or mystical character which represents the name of the Deity, is thus expressed this man

ner,

By making

a cypher thereof in

filling them up, and giving a body

to the central and connecting part of the cypher, you have

From this cypher, they have made three distinct Idols; probably, to prevent the original allusion from being too obvious to the multitude. SUBHA DRA's place is, however, always between the other two, for she represents the connecting participle of the cypher; the propriety of her being so situated is therefore evident; and as the actual connection

is dissolved, by the separation of the figures into distinct idols, we see the reason of her being represented without arms.

CRISHNA, as PARAME'S'WARA, is JAGAN-NA'TH, or Lord of the Universe; his half brother is BALRA'M (a terrestrial appearance of SI'VA); and SUBHADRA' is a form of DEVI.

To me it appears a stroke of refined policy, in the first founders of the temple, to present, as an object of worship, the personification of the triliteral word which is held in reverence alike by all sectaries; and to give it a title which each sect might apply to the object of its particular adoration. The intention of the foundation was evidently to render the temple a place of pilgrimage open to all sects, and to draw an immense revenue from the multifarious resort of devotees. The ornaments and apparel with which they cover the image, conceal the real figure from the multitude, and give it an air of mystery: the fascination of mystery is well understood by the Brahmens.

JAGAN-NATH and BAL-RA'M have both the same form, to shew their identity, and their faces have the respective colours of VISHNU and SI'VA. Considered in this point of view, this temple may be considered as the rallying point for the three great sects. It is upon this principle, that JAGAN-NATH and BAL-RA'M appear sometimes with the attributes of GANE'S'A, to shew that it is one and the same Deity who is worshipped under so many names and forms.

On CRISHNA.

When the Vaishnavas separated themselves from the Saivas, they introduced a new symbol of the Sun, under the name of CRISHNA, as a contrast to the horrid rites of CA'LI', which had so disgusted them.

CRISHNA, being an incarnation of VISHNU, is depicted with the same characteristic complexion of dark azure, to identify the Deity in the symbol.

The Earth is represented as a Cow, the cow of plenty; and as the planets were considered by the Hindus to be so many habitable Earths, it was natural to describe them by the same hieroglyphic; and as the Sun directs their motions, furnishes them with light, and cherishes them with his genial heat, CRISHNA, the symbol of the Sun, was pourtrayed as an herdsman, sportive, amorous, and inconstant.

The twelve signs are represented as twelve beautiful Nymphs; the Sun's apparent passage, from one to the other, is described as the roving of the inconstant CRISHNA. This was probably the groundwork of JAYADE'VA's elegant poem, the Gita Góvinda. It is evidently intended by the circular dance exhibited in the Rásijátrá. On a moveable circle, twelve CRISHNAS are placed alternately with twelve GO'PI's, hand in hand, forming a circle; the God is thus multiplied to attach him to each respectively, to denote the Sun's passage through all the signs; and, by the rotary motion of the machine, the revolution of the year is pointed out.

CRISHNA obtains a victory on the banks of the Yamuná over the great serpent Cálíyá Nága, which had poisoned the air, and destroyed the herds in that region.

This allegory may be explained upon the same principle as the exposition given of the destruction of the serpent Python by the arrows of APOLLO. It is the Sun which, by the powerful action of its beams, purifies the air, and disperses the noxious vapours of the atmosphere.