relations of the dying man spread the sediment of the river on his forehead or breast, and afterwards with the finger write on this sediment the name of some deity. If a person should die in his house, and not by the river side, it is considered as a great misfortune, as he thereby loses the help of the goddess in his dying moments. If a person choose to die at home, his memory becomes infamous. The conduct of Raja Nüvů-krishnŭ of Nudeeya, who died in his bed-room about the year 1800, is still mentioned as a subject of reproach because he refused to be carried to the river be'fore death. "Ah! Ah!' say the superstitious, when a neighbour at the point of death delays the fatal journey to the river, 'he will die like Raja Nuvů-Krishnů.'

Dead bodies are brought by their relations to be burnt near this river, and when they cannot bring the whole body, it is not uncommon for them to bring a single bone and cast into the river,* under the hope that it will help the soul of the deceased.

In the eastern parts of Bengal, married women, long disappointed in their hopes of children, make an offering to Gunga, and enter into a vow, that if the goddess will give them two children, they will present one to her; and it is not uncommon for such women to cast the first child into the river as an offering; but it is said, that at present, some relation or religious mendicant stands ready to preserve the life of the child. The mother cannot take it again, but this person adopts and provides for These offerings are made on the tenth of the moon, in Jyoisht'hŭ, and on the 13th of Choitrů.

it.

Some persons even drown themselves in the Ganges, not doubting but they shall

* Many persons, whose relations die at a distance from the Ganges, at the time of burning the body preserve a bone, and at some future time bring this bone and commit it to Ginga, supposing that this will secure the salvation of the deceased. The work called Kriya-yogusară contains the following curious story: A bramkin, who had heen guilty of the greatest crimes, was devoured by wild beasts; his bones only remained. A crow took up one of these bones, and was carrying it over Ganga, when another bird darting upon it, the crow let the bone fall. As soon as the bone touched Gŭnga, the bramhun sprang to life, and was ascending to heaven, -when the messengers of Yŭmů, the judge of the dead, seized him, as a great sinner. At this time Narayŏnŏ's messengers interfered, and pleaded, that the sins of this man, since one of his bones had touched Gunga, were all done away. The appeal was made to Vishnoo, who decided in the bramhŭn's favour. The bramhůn immediately went to heaven.

immediately ascend to heaven. The shastră encourages this.* It is a sin for a bramhun, but an act of merit in a shoodrů, or a dundee, if he be in worldly trouble, or afflicted with an incurable distemper. The Gunga-Vakya-Vulee says, 'Should any person have eaten with another who is degraded for seven successive births; or have committed the five sins, each of which is called muha-patuků; should he have eaten the food which has been touched by a woman in her courses; or have constantly spoken falsely; or have stolen gold, jewels, &c. ; should he have killed the wife of his friend; or have injured bramhůns, or friends, or his mother, &c.; or have committed the sins which doom a man to the hell called Müha-rourüvů; or have committed those sins for which the messengers of Yumu constantly beat a person; or have committed multitudes of sins in childhood, youth and old age,-if this person bathe in Gănga, at an auspicious period, all these sins will be removed; he will also be admitted into the heaven of Brumha, the Párum-hängsee; be put in possession of the merits of the man who presents a lack of red cows to a bramhun learned in the four védus; and afterwards will ascend and dwell at the right hand of Vishnoo. After he has enjoyed all this happiness, and shall be re-born on the earth, he will be possessed of every good quality, enjoy all kinds of happiness, be very honourable, &c. He who shall doubt any part of this, will be doomed to the hell called Koombhee-paku, and afterwards be born an ass. If a person, in the presence of Gunga, on the anniversary of her arrival on the earth, and according to the rules prescribed in the shastris, present to the bramhuns whole villages, he will obtain the fruits that arise from all other offerings, from all sacrifices, from visiting all the holy places, &c.; his bo

* The Skǎndů poorană declares, that by dying in the Ganges, a person will obtain absorption into Brumhŏ. The same work contains a promise from Shivă, that whoever dies in Gŭnga shall obtain a place in his heaven.--The Bhavishyň pooranŭ affirms, that if a worm, or an insect, or a grass-hopper, or any tree growing by the side of Gŭnga, die in the river, it will obtain absorption into Brůmhă.---The Brůmhů poorană says, that whether a person renounce life in Gănga praying for any particular benefit, or die by accident, or whether he possess his senses or not, he will be happy. If he purposely renounce life, he will enjoy absorption, or the highest happiness; if he die by accident, he will still attain heaven.---Mănoo says, 'A mansion with bones for its rafters and beams; with nerves and tendons for cords; with muscles and blood for mortar; with skin for its outward covering; filled with no sweet perfume, but loaded with feces and urine; a mansion infested by age and by sorrow,

the seat of malady, harassed with pains, haunted with the quality of darkness, and incapable of standing long such a mansion of the vital soul le its occupier always cheerfully quit.'

T

dy will be a million times more glorious than the sun; he will obtain a million of virgins, and multitudes of carriages, palanqueens, &c. covered with jewels; he will dwell for ages in heaven, enjoying its pleasures in company with his father; as many particles of dust as are contained in the land thus given away to the bramhins, for so many years will the giver dwell in happiness in Vishnoo's heaven.'

Every real christian must be deeply affected on viewing the deplorable effects of this superstition. Except that part of the rig-véda which countenances the burning of women alive, no writers ever gave birth to a more extensive degree of misery than those who have made the Ganges a sacred river. Thousands, yea millions of people are anually drawn from their homes and peaceful labours, several times in the year, to visit different holy places of this river, at a great expence of time, and money spent in making offerings to the goddess; expensive journies are undertaken by vast multitudes to obtain the water* of this river, (some come two or three months' journey for this purpose,) or to carry the sick, the dying, the dead, or the bones of the dead, to its banks; what the sick and dying suffer by being exposed to all kinds of weather in the open air on the banks of the river, and in being choaked by the sacred water in their last moments, is beyond expression. In short, no eyes but those of Omniscience can see all the foul deeds done upon and by the sides of this river, and the day of judgment alone can bring all these deeds to light. The bramhan will then see, that instead of Ganga's having removed the sins of her wor shippers, she has increased them a million-fold.

Many thousands perish by the dysentery, and others through want, in these journies.

SECTION LXXXIX.

Other deified Rivers.

THE Godavǎree, the Nărmuda, the Kavérée, the Atréyee, the Kurŭtoya, the Bahooda, the Gomitee, the Sărăyoo, the Gundŭkee, the Varahee, the Churmunwătee, the Shitůdroo, the Vipasha, the Goutumee, the Kurmŭnasha, the Shonů,* the Oiravătee, the Chăndrăbhaga, the Vitusta, the Sindhoo, the Bhudra-vŭkasha, the Pănůsa, the Dévika, the Tamrupurnee, the Toongübhüdra, the Krishna, the Vétrůvůtee, the Bhoirůvů, the Brumhu-pootrů,* the Voiturŭnee, and many other rivers, are mentioned in the Hindoo shastrus as sacred.

At the full moon in Asharhŭ, many thousand Hindoos assemble at Průtapŭ-gărů, a place to the W. of Lucknow, and bathe in the Godavŭree, or in the remains of it, for at this season of the year this river is nearly dried up.

On the last day of Choitrů, a large assembly of Hindoos meet at Modiphŭrů-poorů, about sixteen miles from Patna, where the Gundakee, the Suruyoo, and the Ganges meet. The assembly remains eight days, and a large fair is held on the spot, at which horses, camels, and other beasts, and also children, are bought and sold: the price of a boy is from ten to twelve roopees; that of a girl is less.

On the same day a large concourse of Hindoos, some say as many as 20,000, prine cipally women, assemble at Ŭyodhya, to bathe in the Suruyoo.

On the 14th of the decrease of the moon in Phalgoonu, an equal number of people

* These are male rivers. + There are several causes why particular places of these rivers are esteemed peculiarly sacred. Some of these causes are given in the shastrus, and others arise from tradition. One instance of the latter occurs respecting Voidyvŭatēē, a place near Serampore, where Nimace, a religious mendicant, performed his devotions, and where at present, at a conjunction of particular stars, multitudes assemble to bathe. Bb

are said to meet on the banks of the Sŭrŭyoo at Bühürüm-ghată, near Lucknow : but they do not bathe in the river, the water of which is very filthy, but in a sacred pool adjoining.

On the banks of the Yumoona, on the second of the moon in Kartikŭ, and on the eighth of the decrease of the moon in Bhadrů, vast crowds of Hindoos assemble in different places to bathe.

The Brůmhu-pootrů receives the same honours on the eighth of the increase of the moon in Choitrů. At a place three days' journey from Dacca, 50 or 60,000people assemble, and sacrifice pigeons, sheep, and goats, casting them into the river. Children are also cast into the river here by their mothers, but are generally rescued and carried home by strangers. Superstitious people say, that on this day the river gradually swells so as to fill its banks, and then gradually sinks to its usual level.

The Voiturǎnee, in Orissa, is also placed among the sacred rivers, and on the thirteenth of the decrease of the moon in Choitrů great multitudes of Hindoos, (6 or 700,000) assemble at Yaju-poorů, near the temple of Jugünnat'hŭ, and bathe in this river.

Many other rivers receive the same honours ;* and I could have greatly enlarged this account, in detailing their fabulous histories, and in noticing the superstitious ceremonies of this deluded people on their banks: but what I have here inserted, and the preceding account of Gunga, must suffice.

See Asiatic Researches.