pearest before me; the great Heri, whose dwelling was on the waves, and who now in compassion to thy servant bearest the form of the natives of the deep. Salutation and praise to thee, O first male, the Lord of Creation, of preservation, of destruction! Thou art the highest object, O supreme Ruler, of us thy adorers, who piously seek thee. All thy delusive descents in this world give existence to various beings; yet I am anxious to know, for what cause that shape has been assumed by thee. Let me not, O Lotos-eyed, approach in vain the feet of a Deity, whose perfect benevolence has been extended to all: When thou hast shewn us, to our amusement, the appearance of other bodies not in reality existing, but successively exhibited." The Lord of the Universe, loving the pious man who thus implored him, and intending to preserve him from the sea of destruction, caused by the depravity of the age, thus told him how to act. "In seven days from the present time (day) O thou, tamer of enemies, the three worlds will be plunged in an ocean of death; but in the midst of the destroying waves, a large vessel sent by me for thy use, shall stand before thee. Then shalt thou take all medicinal herbs, all the variety of seeds; and accompanied by seven saints, encircled by pairs of all brute animals, thou shalt enter the spacious ark, and continue in it, secure from the flood, on

one immense ocean, without light, except the radiance of thy holy companions. When the ship shall be agitated by an impetuous wind, thou shalt fasten it with a large sea serpent to my horn; for I will be near thee, drawing the vessel, with thee and thy attendants. I will remain on the ocean, O chief of men, until a night of Brahma shall be completely ended. Thou shalt then know my true greatness, rightly named the Supreme Godhead. By my favour all thy questions shall be completely answered; and thy mind abundantly instructed.” Heri having thus directed the monarch, disappeared, and Satyavrata humbly waited for the time, which the Ruler of our senses had appointed. The pious king having scattered towards the east the pointed blades of the grass Darbha, and turning his face towards the north, sat meditating on the feet of the god, who had borne the form of a fish. The sea overwhelming its shores, deluged the whole earth; and it was soon perceived to be augmented by showers from immense clouds. He, still meditating on the command of Bhagavat, saw the vessel advancing and entered it with the chiefs of Brahmans, having carried into it the medicinal creepers, and conformed to the directions of Heri. The saints thus addressed him: O king, meditate on Cesava, who will surely deliver us from this danger, and grant us prosperity.'

The God, being invoked by the monarch, appeared again, distinctly on the vast ocean, in the form of a fish, blazing like gold, extending a million of leagues, with one stupendous horn, on which the king, as he had been before commanded by Heri, tied the ship with a cable made of a vast serpent; and happin his preservation stood praising the destroyer of Madhu. When the Monarch had finished is hymn, the primeval male Bhagavat, who watched for his safety in the great expanse of water spoke aloud to his own divine essence, pronouncing a sacred Purana, which contained the rules of the Sanc'hya philosophy; but it was an infinite mystery to be concealed within the breast of Satyavrata, who sitting in the vessel with the saints, heard the principle of the soul, the Eternal Being proclaimed by the preserving power. Then Heri, rising together with Brahma from the destructive deluge, which was abated, slew the demon Hayagriva, and recovered the sacred books. Satyavrata, instructed in all divine and human knowledge, was appointed, in the present Calpa, by the favour of Vishnu, the seventh Menu, surnamed Vaivaswata. But the appearance of a horned fish to the religious monarch was Máyá, or delusion; and he who shall devoutly hear this important allegorical narrative, will be delivered from the bondage of sin."

From this Purana Sir W. Jones, in conformity

to the opinion of Mr. Bryant, infers that the first age of the Hindus (that which he terms the Saturnian, and which the Hindus name the age of Virtue)" was in truth the age of the general flood;" thence inferring that, as all the Avatars were placed subsequent thereto by Jayadeva, they were all postdiluvian: whereas the first address of the pious Satyavatar to the Sap'heri after he discovered that it was Narayana, denotes the contrary: "All thy former delusive descents in this world having been to give assistance to mankind;" and again, "Thou hast shewn us to our amazement thy appearance in other bodies:" evincing that the other Avatars were prior to this. That this Purana described the deluge, and the preservation of Noah and his family, although in a figurative. dress; has very generally been admitted. Beyond this, it has been little understood. It comprises a period of more than 1200 years. The Satyavatar who ruled in Dravira, was not Noah: it is impossible it could have been intended for him; for the prophecy was made certainly not later than the eighth century. Noah was of the tenth century, and tenth Satyavatar of the fourth generation, and ruled at the same period with Cainan, the son of Enos. It is, therefore, to be presumed that they were the same person. The Purana commences by stating that in the last, which was the VOL. I. E

second Calpa, a general destruction took place, during the sleep of Brahma. This Purana was written about the same time as the book of Genesis; during the third thousandth year of the world ; consequently, the last Calpa was the second, during the sleep of Brahma." Whose second night did not commence until after fifteen hundred years were past.

Having in general terms stated thus much, it proceeds to particularize, and explain the cause of the flood; the period when idolatry was introduced; by whom the deluge was foretold; the period when the prophet died; the prince to whom the prophecy was made, and the year in which the destruction actually commenced.

We meet with some difficulties in making these divisions; but they arise from European translators substituting their own ideas, and their own expressions, in lieu of those which they find in the Puranas. For example, in the transcript under consideration, we find "after a lapse of years"

substituted for "at the close of the sixth Menwantara ;" and in the prophecy "in seven days," rendered "seven days from the present time." These are not intentional misrepresentations: the translator appears not to have known, that "the close of the sixth Menwantara" denoted the sixth Antara of Menu, marking the period when the race,