Brahm, the great god of the Yeda or sacred
book, whose attributes are distributed amongst
three other deities, appearing either as the Indian
Triad (Trimunti), or each separately, namely, Brahma,
the Creator, represented as a golden coloured figure
with four heads and four arms ; secondly, Yishnu,
the Preserver, black or blue, with four arms, and
a club to punish the wicked ; he again has ten
incarnations, nine of which have already taken place,
and by which the great ends of providence are
brought about ; and thirdly, Seva, the Destroyer, with
four or five heads, sometimes with only one head^-in
th a t case furnished with three eyes. The latter also
appears under the title of Mahadeva, the Great God,
and is then adored as the author of all life. There
are besides innumerable minor deities. The Hindu
worship of the present day consists mainly of pilgrimages
to sacred shrines and sacrifices. They are
sources of a large income to the temples, and in some
of the smaller Native States the Bajah himself does
not unfrequently take advantage of his subjects’
superstition for the purpose of increasing his own
revenue ; he of Sandur, a petty Rajput, is the latest
example ; his entire receipts from ordinary sources
do not exceed forty thousand rupees, which he supplements
by charging pilgrims, on the occasion of a
great triennial festival, a couple of rupees for admittance
to a temple, situated within his rocky stronghold,
and to have a glimpse of the idol “ Koomarswamy,”
one of the sons of Shiva and Parbatti, who, according
to the Hindu legend, on learning th a t the bride,
selected for him by his mother, was as beautiful as
Parbatti herself, refused to marry her, as he would
imagine having married his own mother, upon which
his disobedience was punished by his father’s blood
and his mother’s milk oozing from the pores of his
body, and, making his escape, he eventually reached
the rocks of Sandur, where he became a statue of
stone, which marks the spot of the temple dedicated
to Koomarswamy.
The system of caste and other religious customs,
which I shall have another opportunity of explaining,
are very strictly observed by all Brahmins. Of
temples the latter had none until the Yedic reliOgion
was corrupted by the Turanian and Dravidian
converts.
The streets of Bombay have much the same appearance
as those in the Levant; they usually have a
shop below and a verandah on the first floor, with
flat roofs above, and in the country they are sur-
C 2