liquors, are presented to these goddesses. The last sixteen are worshipped when rice is first given to a child, at the investiture with the poita, at the time of marriage, and in general at all the ceremonies performed for a son before marriage. Juyu-doorga is worshipped to obtain deliverance from danger.

Beside the above forms of Doorga, there are many others, whose names end with the word Bhoirŭvēē, viz. the terrific; and temples consecrated to Bhoirůvŭ and Bhoiruvee are erected at many of the holy places visited by the Hindoo pilgrims. When a person performs any of the ceremonies of Hindoo worship at these places, he must first, on pain of meeting with some misfortune, worship these two deities.

SECT. XIX.-Kalēē.

THIS goddess may also be considered as a form of Bhu gŭvůtee, or Doorga. According to the Chundee, the image of Kalēē, at present worshipped in Bengal, had its origin in the story of Ruktů-vēēju, already inserted in page 127. Kalēē was so overjoyed at the victory she had obtained over this giant, that she danced till the earth shook to its foundation; and Shivă, at the intercession of the gods, was compelled to go to the spot to persuade her to desist. He saw no other way, however, of prevailing, than by throwing himself among the dead bodies of the slain. When the goddess saw that she was dancing on her husband, she was so shocked, that to express her surprise she put out her tongue to a great length, and remained motionless; and she is represented in this posture in almost all the images now made in Bengal.

The Udhyatmů Ramayŭnů gives another story from which the image of Kalee may have originated :—Ramŭ, when he returned home with Seeta from the destruction of Ravunu, began to boast of his achievements before his wife; who smiled, and said, 'You rejoice because you have killed a Ravŭnů with ten heads; but what would you say to a Ravŭnů with 1000 heads? Destroy him,' said Rumů. Sēēta, again smiling, advised him to stay at home; but he, collecting all the monkies, the giants, and his own soldiers together, with Sēēta, Lŭkshmůnů, Shůtrůghnŭ, and Bhŭrŭtů, immediately departed for Shutŭ-dwēēpů to meet this new Ravănă; sending Hunoomanů before to discover the residence of this thousand-headed monster, and bring a description of his person. Hunoomanů, after a little play with him, returned to Ramů, who soon after attacked the giant: but he, looking forward, beheld Ramŭ's army as so many children; and discharged three arrows, one of which sent all the monkies to Kishkindha, their place of residence; another sent all the giants to Lŭnka, (Ceylon;) and the third sent all the soldiers to Ŭyodhya, Ramu's capital. Ramu, thunderstruck at being thus left alone in a moment, and thinking that all his adherents had been at once annihilated, began to weep: when Sēēta, laughing at her husband, immediately assumed the terrific form of Kalēē, and furiously attacked this thousand-headed Ravůnů. The conflict lasted ten years, but she at length killed the giant, drank his blood, and began to dance and toss about the limbs of his body. Her dancing shook the earth to its centre, so that all the gods, filled with alarm, applied to Shivă: but he declared that he almost despaired

8 There are four Ramayŭnůs, one written by Valmēēkee, another by Vyasŭ-dévů, and two others, called the Udbootů and the Udhyatmu Ramayŭnus; but the others are in little estimation compared with the work of Valmēēkee.

of calming her passions, for she was mad with joy; he promised, however, to do all that could be expected from à god in so desperate a case; but, pausing for some time, and seeing no other alternative, he, in the presence of the assembled gods, threw himself among the dead bodies under her feet. Brumha called to the goddess, and said, 'O goddess! what art thou doing? Dost thou not see that thou art trampling on thy husband?' She stooped, and saw Shivă under her feet; and was so ashamed, that she stood still, and threw out her tongue to an uncommon length". By this means Shivă saved the universe; and Seēta, again assuming her proper form, went home with Ramŭ and his brothers.

In the images commonly worshipped, Kalee is represented as a very black female, with four arms; having in one hand a scymitar, and in another the head of a giant, which she holds by the hair; another hand is spread open bestowing a blessing; and with the other she is forbidding fear. She wears two dead bodies for ear-rings, and a necklace of skulls; and her tongue hangs down to her chin. The hands of several giants are hung as a girdle round her loins, and her tresses fall down to her heels. Having drank the blood of the giants she has slain in combat, her eye-brows are bloody, and the blood is falling in a stream down her breast; her eyes are red like those of a drunkard. She stands with one leg on the breast of her husband Shivă, and rests the other on his thigh'.

h When the Hindoo women are shocked or ashamed at any thing, they put out their tongues, as a mode of expressing their feelings.

i The image of Minerva, it will be recollected, was that of a threatening goddess, exciting terror: on her shield she bore the head of a gor gon. Sir W. Jones considers Kalēē as the Proserpine of the Greeks.

This deity is equal in ferocity to any of the preceding forms of Doorga. In the Kalika pooranŭ MEN are pointed out, amongst other animals, as proper for sacrifice. It is here said that the blood of a tyger pleases the goddess for one hundred years, and the blood of a lion, a rein-deer, or a MAN, a thousand. But by the sacrifice of THREE MEN, she is pleased 100,000 years! I insert two or three extracts from the Sanguinary Chapter of the Kalika pooranŭ :-' Let a human victim be sacrificed at a place of holy worship, or at a cemetery where dead bodies are buried. Let the oblation be performed in the part of the cemetery called hérůků, or at a temple of Kamakshya, or on a mountain. Now attend to the mode: The human victim is to be immolated in the east division, which is sacred to Bhoirůvů; the head is to be presented in the south division, which is looked upon as the place of skulls sacred to Bhoirŭvů; and the blood is to be presented in the west division, which is denominated hérŭků. Having immolated a human victim, with all the requisite ceremonies at a cemetery, or holy place, let the sacrificer be cautious not to cast his eyes upon it. The victim must be a person of good appearance, and be prepared by ablutions, and requisite ceremonies, (such as eating consecrated food the day before, and by abstinence from flesh and venery,) and must be adorned with chaplets of flowers, and besmeared with sandal wood. Then causing the victim to face the north, let the sacrificer worship the several deities presiding over the different parts of the victim's body let the worship be then paid to the victim himself by his name. Let him worship Brumha in the victim's rhundrŭ, i. e. cave of Brumha, cavity in the skull, under the spot where the sutura coronalis and sagittalis meet. Let him worship the earth in his nose, &c.—Worshipping the king of serpents, let him pronounce the following incantation: "O best of men! O most auspi

cious! O thou who art an assemblage of all the deities, and most exquisite! bestow thy protection on me; save me, thy devoted; save my sons, my cattle, and kindred; preserve the state, the ministers belonging to it, and all friends; and as death is unavoidable, part with (thy organs of) life, doing an act of benevolence. Bestow upon me, O most auspicious! the bliss which is obtained by the most austere devotion, by acts of charity, and performance of religious ceremonies; and at the same time, O most excellent! attain supreme bliss thyself. May thy auspices, O most auspicious! keep me secure from rakshůsŭs, pishachus, terrors, serpents, bad princes, enemies, and other evils; and, death being inevitable, charm Bhŭgŭvŭtēē in thy last moments by copious streams of blood spouting from the arteries of thy fleshly neck. '-When this has been done, O my children! the victim is even as myself, and the guardian deities of the ten quarters take place in him ; then Brumha and all the other deities assemble in the victim; and be he ever so great a sinner, he becomes pure from sin; and when pure, his blood changes to ambrosia, and he gains the love of Muhadévēē, the goddess of the yogu nidrů, (i. e. the tranquil repose of the mind from an abstraction of ideas,) who is the goddess of the whole universe, the very universe itself. He does not return for a considerable length of time in the human form, but becomes a ruler of the gunů dévtas, and is much respected by me myself. The victim who is impure from sin, or ordure and urine, Kamakshya will not even hear named. The blind, the crippled, the aged, the sick, the afflicted with ulcers, the hermaphrodite, the imperfectly formed, the scarred, the timid, the leprous, the dwarfish, and the perpetrator of mŭha patŭků, (heinous offences, such as slaying a bramhun, drinking spirits, stealing gold, or defiling a spiritual teacher's bed,) one under twelve years of age, one who is