and the town of Palaipatrai, to this day called Paliputra by the natives, ftood on the fhore of the Hellefpont: thefe difquifitions, however, would lead me too far; and I proceed to demonftrate the ancient intercourfe between Egypt and India, by a faithful epitome of fome mythological and astronomical fables which were common to both thofe Countries.

SECTION THE SECOND.

OSIRIS, or, more properly, YSIRIS, according to HELLANICUS, was a name used in Egypt for the Supreme Being; (a) in Sanfcrit it fignifies Lord, and, in that fenfe, is applied by the Brahmens to each of their three principal deities, or rather to each of the principal forms, in which they teach the people to adore BRAHM, or the Great One; and, if it be appropriated in common speech to MAHA'PE'VA, this proceeds from the zeal of his numerous votaries, who place him above their two other divinities. BRAHMA, VISHNU, and MAHA'DE 'VA, fay the Pauránics, were brothers; and the Egyptian Triad, or OSIRIS, HORUS, and TYPHON, were brought forth by the fame parent, though HORUS was believed to have fprung from the myfterious embraces of OSIRIS and Isis before their birth; as the Vaishnavas also imagine, that HARA, or MAHA'DE'VA, sprang myftically from his brother Hɛ

(a) Plut. on Ifts and Ofiris,

RI, or VISHNU. In the Hindu mythology BRAHMA' is represented of a red, VISHNU, of a black, or dark azure, and HARA of a white, complexion; but in that of Egypt, we find OSIRIS black, HORUS white, and TYPHON red: the indifcriminate application of the title ISWARA has occafioned great confufion in the accounts, which the Greeks have transmitted to us, of Egyptian Mythology; for the priests of Egypt were very reserved on fubjects of religion, and the Grecian travellers had in general too little curiofity to inveftigate fuch points with fcrupulous exactnefs: fince OSIRIS, however, was painted black, we may prefume, that he was VISH NU, who, on many occafions, according to the Puránas, took Egypt under his fpecial protection. CRISHNA was VISHNU himfelf, according to the moft orthodox opinion; and it was he, who vifited the countries adjacent to the Nile, deftroyed the tyrant SANC'HA'SURA, introduced a more perfect mode of worship, cooled the conflagrations, which had repeatedly defolated thofe aduft regions, and established the government of the Cutila-céfas, or genuine Egyptians, on a permanent bafis: thus OsiRIS, as we are told by PLUTARCH, taught the old Egyptians to make laws and to honour the Gods. The title Sri-Bhagavat, importing profperity and dominion, is given peculiarly to CHRISHNA, or the black deity, and the black OSIRIS had also the titles of Sirius, Seirius, and Bacchus. It is related, indeed, that OSIRIS, OF BACCHUS, imported from India the worship of two divine Bulls; and, in this

character,

character, he was MAHA'DE'VA, whofe followers were pretty numerous in Egypt: for HERMAPION, in his explanation of the hieroglyphicks on the Heliopolitan obelifk, calls HORUS, the Supreme Lord, and the author of Time (a): now ISWARA, or Lord, and CA'LA, or Time, are among the diftinguished titles of MAHA'DE'VA; and obelisks or pillars, whatever be their fhape, are among his emblems. In the Vribad-baima, which appears to contain many curious legends concerning Egypt, it is exprefsly faid, that "ISWARA, with his confort PA'RVATI, "descended from heaven, and chofe for his abode "the land of Mifra in Sanc'ha-dwip." We must observe, that the Egyptians feared and abhorred TYPHON, or MA'HADE'VA in his character of the Destroyer; and the Hindus alfo dread him in that character, giving him the name of Bhairava, or Tremendous: the Egyptian fable of his attempt to break the Mundane Egg is applied to MAHADEVA in the little book Chandì, which is chiefly extracted from the Márcandéya Purán. There is a ftriking refemblance between the legendary wars of the three principal Gods in Egypt and India; as OSIRIS gave battle to TYPHON, who was defeated at length and even killed by HORUS, fo BRAHMA fought with VISHNU and gained an advantage over him, but was overpowered by MAHA'DE'VA, who cut off one of his five heads; an allegory, of which I cannot pretend to give the meaning.

(a) Ammian. Marcellin.

PLUTARCH

PLUTARCH afferts, that the priests of Egypt called the Sun their Lord and King; and their three Gods refolve themselves ultimately into him alone: OSIRIS was the Sun; HORUS was the Sun; and fo, I fuppofe, was TYPHON, or the power of destruction by heat, though PLUTARCH fays gravely, that fuch, as maintained that opinion, were not worthy to be beard. The cafe was nearly the fame in ancient India; but there is no subject, on which the modern Bráhmens are more reserved; for, when they are closely interrogated on the title of Déva, or God, which their most facred books give to the Sun, they avoid a direct answer, have recourfe to evafions, and often contradict one another and themselves: they confefs, however, unanimoufly, that the Sun is an emblem, or image, of their three great deities jointly and individually, that is, of BRAHM, or the Supreme One, who alone exifts really and abfolutely, the three male divinities themfelves being only Máyà, or illufion. The body of the fun they confider as Máyà; but, fince he is the most glorious and active emblem of GOD, they refpe&t him as an object of high veneration. All this must appear very mysterious; but it flows from the principal tenet of the Védántis, that the only being, which has abfolute and real existence, is the divine fpirit, infinitely wife, infinitely benign, and infinitely powerful, expanded through the universe, not merely as the foul of the world, but as the provident ruler of it, fending forth rays or emanations from his own effence, which are the pure vital fouls of all animated crea

tures,

tures, whether moveable or immoveable, that is, (as we should exprefs ourselves) both animals and ve getables, and which he calls back to himself, according to certain laws established by his unlimited wifdom; though Brahma be neuter in the character of the Moft High One, yet, in that of Supreme Ruler, he is named PARAME'SWARA; but, though the infinite veneration, to which he is entitled, the Hindus meditate on him with filent adoration, and offer prayers and facrifice only to the higher emanations from him. In a mode incomprehenfible to inferiour creatures, they are involved at first in the gloom of Máyd, and fubject to various taints from attachment to worldy affections; but they can never be reunited to their fource, until they dispel the illufion by self-denial, renunciation of the world, and intellectual abftractions, and until they remove the impurities, which they have contracted, by repentance, mortification, and fucceffive paffages through the forms of animals or vegetables according to their demerits in fuch a reunion confifts their final beatitude, and to effect it by the best poffible means is the object of their fupreme ruler; who, in order to reclaim the vicious, to punish the incorrigible, to protect the oppreffed, to deftroy the oppreffor, to encourage and reward the good, and to show all spirits the path to their ultimate happinefs, has been pleafed, fay the Bráhmens, to manifeft himfelf in a variety of ways, from age to age, in all. parts of the habitable world. When he acts imme