BRAMA,.... the Creator.
VEESHNOO, the Preserver.
SEEVA,

INDRA,

the Destroyer.

These form the Trimourtee, or Trinity, as it has been called, of the Bramins. The allegory is obvious, but has been made for the Trimourtee, not the Trimourtee for the allegory; and these Deities are regarded by the people as three distinct and personal Gods. The two latter have at this day their hostile sects of worshippers; that of Seeva is the most numerous ; and in this Poem, Seeva is represented as Supreme among the Gods. This is the same God whose name is variously written Seeb, Sieven and Siva, Chiven by the French, Xiven by the Portugueze, and whom European writers sometimes denominate Eswara, Iswaren, Mahadeo, Mahadeva, Rutren, according to which of his thousand and eight names prevailed in the country where they obtained their information.

.......

.....

God of the Elements.

The SWERGA,.. his Paradise,-one of the Hindoo heavens. YAMEN,. Lord of Hell, and Judge of the Dead. PADALON, Hell,-under the Earth, and, like the Earth, of an octagon shape; its eight gates are guarded by as many Gods.

....

MARRIATALY, the Goddess who is chiefly worshipped by the lower casts.

POLLEAR....

...... or Ganesa,-the Protector of Travellers. His statues are placed in the highways, and sometimes in a small lonely sanctuary, in the streets and in the fields.

CASYAPA.,

DEVETAS,

SURAS,

ASURAS,

......

the Father of the Immortals.

The Inferior Deities.

Good Spirits.

Evil Spirits, or Devils.

GLENDOVEERS, the most beautiful of the Good Spirits, the

Grindouvers of Sonnerat.

THE

CURSE OF KEHAMA.

I.

THE FUNERAL.

Midnight, and yet no eye

Through all the Imperial City closed in sleep!

Behold her streets a-blaze

With light that seems to kindle the red sky,

Her myriads swarming thro' the crowded ways

Master and slave, old age and infancy,

All, all abroad to gaze ;

House-top and balcony

!

Clustered with women, who throw back their veils

VOL. I.

A

With unimpeded and insatiate sight

To view the funeral pomp which passes by,

As if the mournful rite

Were but to them a scene of joyance and delight.

Vainly, ye blessed twinklers of the night,
Your feeble beams ye shed,

Quench'd in the unnatural light which might out-stare Even the broad eye of day;

And thou from thy celestial way

Pourest, O Moon, an ineffectual ray !

For lo ten thousand torches flame and flare

Upon the midnight air,

Blotting the lights of heaven

With one portentous glare.

Behold the fragrant smoke in many a fold,

Ascending floats along the fiery sky,

And hangeth visible on high,

A dark and waving canopy.

Hark! 'tis the funeral trumpet's breath!