________________
OF THE HINDUS.
67
and she receives scarcely less universal homage than Krishna himself. The adoration of the forms of Siva or Vishnu is advocated not upon the original principle, that worship addressed to them is virtually addressed to the Supreme, they being merely representations of his power, but upon the novel doctrine, that one or other of them is himself the Supreme: and not only this, but in the true spirit of pantheism that he is all things. This is asserted of Siva by the Saivas; of Vishnu, by the Vaishnavas. This notion, which is very widely disseminated, seems to have originated with the next great class of the sacred writings of the Hindus, the Puráňas.
The Puranas are eighteen in number: some of them are voluminous compositions. It is said that they were the work of the same Vyása by whom the Vedas were arranged, and they are held in almost equal estimation. According to a definition* furnished by many of them, a Purana should treat of five topicsprimary creation, secondary creation, the families of the patriarchs, the reigns of the Manus, and the dynasties of kings. The actual Puranas conform in no one instance to this definition: the authors are often declared to be others than Vyása, and they offer many internal proofs that they are the work of various hands, and of different dates, none of which are of very high antiquity. I believe the oldest of them not to be anterior to the eighth or ninth century; and the
* [Wilson. Visbuviu Pur.puf.; Burnout. Blugav. Pur. I. SLIT.]
