clusions merely from what appears to us to be analogous. The wars of Rama with Ravana, form the subject of a beautiful Sanscrit poem, called the Ramayan, written many ages since. "The war of Lanca (Ceylon) is dramatically represented at the festival of Rama, on the ninth day of the new moon of Chaitra; and the drama concludes, says Holwell, who had often seen it, with an exhibition of the fire-ordeal, by which the victor's wife Sita gave proof of her connubial fidelity. The dialogue, he adds, is taken from one of the eighteen holy books, meaning, I suppose, the Puranas; but the Hindus have a great number of regular dramas, at least two thousand years old, and among them are several very fine ones on the story of Rama. The first poet of the Hindūs with whom we are acquainted, was the great Valmic, and his Ramayan is an epick poem, which, in unity of action, magnificence of imagery, and elegance of style, far surpasses the learned and elaborate work of Nonnus, entitled Dionysiaca; half of which, or twenty-four books, I perused with great eagerness when I was very young, and should have travelled to the conclusion of it, if other pursuits had not engaged me. I shall never have leisure to compare the Dionysiacks with the Ramayan, but am confident, that an accurate comparison of the two poems, would prove Dionysos and Rama to have been the same person. Meros is said by the Greeks to have been a mountain of India, on which their Dionysos was born; and Meru, though it generally means the north pole, in the Indian geography, is also a mountain, near the city of Naishada, or Nysa, called by the Grecian geogra Nonnus Panopolites, a Christian Greek poet, born at Panopolis, in Egypt. The Dionysiaca is in heroic verse, in forty-eight books. Besides this, he wrote a paraphrase on the gospel of Saint John: the latter is much admired, both for style and composition; the other has been greatly criticised, and is now scarcely ever read. phers, Dionysopolis, and universally celebrated in the Sanscrit poems, though the birth-place of Rama is supposed to have been Ayodhya, or Audh."* The sun, an object of adoration among all heathen nations, named Phoebus and Apollo, by the Greeks, is by the Hindus called Surya, "whence the sect who pay him particular adoration, are called Souras. Their painters describe his car as drawn by seven green horses;"+but it is said, that in the temple of Visweswara, at Be nares, there is an ancient piece of sculpture, well executed in stone, representing this god sitting in a car drawn by a horse with twelve heads.‡ His charioteer, by whom he is preceded, is Arun, or the dawn; and among his many titles, are twelve, which denote his distinct powers in each of the twelve months; those powers are called * Jones. + Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 262. + Forster. Adityas,* or sons of Aditi, by Casyapa, the Indian Uranus. "Surya is supposed to have descended frequently from his car, in a human shape, and to have left a race on earth, equally renowned in Indian stories with the Heliades of Greece. It is very singular, that his two sons, called Aswinau, or Aswinicumaraw, in the dual, should be considered as twin brothers, and painted like Castor and Pollux; but they have each the character of Esculapius among the gods,"+ which seems to relate to Apollo, in his healing quality. They are believed to have been born of a nymph, who, in the form of a mare, was impregnated with sun-beams. I suspect the whole fable of Casyapa and his progeny, to be astronomical, and cannot but imagine that the Greek name Cassiopeia, has a relation to it."‡ * Each of the Adityas has a particular name. The sun is often styled king of the stars and planets. The name of his goddess is Sangya, who is supposed to be the mother of the river Jumna. The moon, as Chandara, or Chandrya, different from Diana, Artemis, Cynthia, queen of the woods and patroness of hunting, is a male deity. He is represented sitting in a car, drawn by Antelopes, and holding a rabbit in the right hand. “I have not yet found a parallel in India for the goddess of the chace, who seems to have been the daughter of an European fancy, and very naturally created by the invention of Bucolic and Georgick poets: yet since the moon is a form of Iswara, the god of nature, according to the verse of the Hindu poet, Calidasa, and since Isani has been shewn to be his consort, we may consider her, in one of her characters, as Luna."* The Palmyrans, Mesopotamians, and other people, worshipped this planet, both * Jones. |