11

Kustub'ha's rays transcendent shine,
Next, on the Deva's host divine :-
With one consent, these legions blest,
The prize fix'd on Narayan's breast.
At length, amidst the refluent throes,
The wond'rous Parijah 12 arose ;
What lyre an anthem fit can raise
To celebrate its deathless praise?
To sing its gifts, and varied power
Renew'd, in each successive hour?
Its boughs with fragrant clusters bent,
Each wish, 13 ere it be formed, prevent:
Twas will'd, that Indra's paradise alone
So bright a gem of such vast worth should own.

X.

Proud, from the ocean's troubled base,
Surabhi 14 stalks with lordly pace;
Great Kamad'hok! thy fame inspires
With countless themes the Gopyan 15 lyres!
As she arose, the Moon in Heav'n's bright plain,
With Sura-Devi in his gorgeous train,

And Lakshmi with the gallant steed pursue
The solar course, these strange events to view.
They mark'd D'hanwautar 16 cleave the surge,
And from the milky tide emerge :
Death from his healing aspect shrank,
And to the shades of Yama sank.
Advancing slow, 'twixt either band,
He bears a chalice in his hand;
Its lucid hue, so vastly bright,
Dazzled each Deva's longing sight;
Within, the much-sought Amrit 17 lay,
For which they toil'd by night and day.

Myriads rush forth to claim the draught their own; 18
Here Brahma fights, there conquer'd Daityas groan.
Vishnu assails the foe;-their legions spring,
And rashly brave Kshiroda's 19 awful King;-
Lord of Avatars, firm in might he stands,
And issues forth his terrible commands.
Indra descends, and soon the strife foments;20
His tortile rage on friends and foes he vents.
The Rakshas tribe support their fainting friends,
Th' Asuran 21 host their yielding rear defends;

A jewel of inestimable value and miraculous powers. 12 An all-yielding tree, like Mohammed's tuba. 19 So say the Indian Poets. 14 The universal boon-granting Cow. 15 The lyre of the Indian Muses. 16 A Physician, the Indian Esculapius.

17 Amrita, or the nectar of immortality.

18 This account is mostly taken from the Mahàb'hàrăta, and differs from many others.

19 Vishnu. 20 Indra is so represented on this occasion.
21 Evil spirits,

But Sid'has and Gaudharvas 22 join,
With eager zeal, the heav'nly line,
And panting for some valiant deed,
In cars of lucid glory speed.

XI.

Round Kinniras 23 the warlike tempest plays,
And gallant Dund'hubis fresh slaughter raise;
(As when the vast machinery of the clouds
In baleful mists the azure concave shrouds,

Fights with the winds, whilst round the lightnings stray,
Whirls the dread bolt, and horrifies the day;)

Until the mighty ocean's roar

Recals them to their work once more;
First, after this terrific fight,
Huge Iracat 23 arose to light,
Doom'd Indra's Vahan to become,
In Swerga's courts he seeks his home.
Below the foam a trumpet sounds,
And from the mountain's sides rebounds;
Then, with its glitt'ring beauties fair,
Victorious Shauk uprose to air.
Conquest slept within its side,
Floating with it on the tide.

At length, the waves yield the Danushan 25 bow,
Whose strings an erring aim can ne'er bestow;
And, shortly, R'homba's 26 beauteous face is seen,
The essence of Vaikohntha's 27 peerless queen,
Tribute fore-doom'd to pay unto the grave,
Bikh 28, lastly, rose from the disorder'd wave.

And, whilst the Gods with lab'ring hand
Around the much-whirl'd mountain stand,
The deadly pois'nous mass of fire
Spreads far and wide with baleful ire,
Till Earth and Heav'n are robed in red,
Till ev'ry God to Siva sped,

Dread Nilacanth 29! who drank the fateful tide,
Whose streams his throat divine to azure dyed.

XII.

Then burst the fray with renovated might,
Then sought the Daityas the abandon'd fight.
Th' Asuran host arise in arms,
Burning for Shri's all-pow'rful charms;

22 Good spirits.

23 The elephant with three proboscidas. 24 A shell, conferring victory on its possessor. 25 Danusha, a bow which never errs. 26 An Apsara, who is identified with Shri in this mythology. 27 Vaikontha is Vishnu's palace. 28 Poisonous matter; I suspect it to be medicinal drugs, pápμaka, but I have retained the legend.

29 Siva, so called from this circumstance.

As one with the other vies,
Rahu steals the Amrit-prize.
Siva, on this side, leads the dire array,
And marks the order of th' eventful day;
The fiends, on that, their barbed jav'lins fling,
And dare the horrors of the vengeful king.
Meanwhile, Mohini Maya's 30 charms appear,
The fight is hush'd,—the Daityan chiefs draw near,
And seek, perchance, to gain a smile
From her whose art is to beguile,

Heedless, that Vishnu that fair form conceals,
And that disguised the sacred Lymph 3 he steals.
He quaffs immortal Amrit's flood,
And then his fateful arm descends,

Which Rahu's 32 course of treach'ry ends.
Now, he returns to scenes of blood,

Where battle-axes cleave the air,
The vehicles of wild Despair.

The Chakra 33 whelms in death the Daityan hosts,
And Pati's 33 blade fresh acts of triumph boasts.
The Sun, from his resplendent car,
Foments the wound-exulting war,

He robes his face in deepest blood; -
The Heav'ns rain down a crimson flood.
Sudersan cleaves the wond'ring skies,
Then to its warrior-master flies;
Narayan takes Nar's heav'nly bow,
And lays full many a chieftain low.

XIII.

But Sudersan's celestial fire

Is doom'd the godlike force t' inspire;
Its might the Earth's foundation shakes,
And Swerga's self in terror quakes.
Tardy Hau'sa 34 Brahma bears,
Where he many conflicts shares;
His Nandi Malá Déva rides,
And Vishnu swift Garuda 35 strides,
Whilst Iravat, of matchless might,
Brings Indra to the raging fight.
Fish-borne Varuna leaves the deep,
Expecting some renown to reap.
Meanwhile, the sage Ganesa 5 sat
Upon the ever-wary rat,

30 Personified illusion, continually introduced in these fables,

31 Amrita.

32 A curious personage, or Daitya, who had stolen it, and imbibed some of it; the legend is simply astronomical.

33 Various divine weapons.

34 The swan, Brahma's Vaban; some say the goose. 35 Vishnu's Vahan, an animal between a man and an eagle, swift as the winds.

C

36 The God of wisdom and policy, always on a rat.

Proboscis-arm'd supremely great,
Disdainer of the shafts of fate.
Vrihaspati,37
,37 whose eyes creation scan,
And Heav'n of old encircled in a span,
Rode on the lofty wings of Skill,

And bade th' eternal mind on earth distill.
Next, clouds of fire th' approach declare
Of ram-borne Agni 38 through the air;
Whilst, drawn by seven coursers green,"
The flaming Surrya 39 was seen:

66

In rays of light, 'midst clouds of azure hue,
The glitt'ring god arose to view,

And crowds of tuneful genii came,

With modulations hymning forth his name.
Here, Yama rode:-there, down the smiling sky,
Behold the gay-plumed peacock swiftly fly,
And Kastik'eya,10 gen'ral of the Pole,
With skilful hands th' obedient reins control!

58 The God of Fire.
40 The God of War, and the General of Heaven.
(To be concluded in our next.)

$7 The Gúru of the Gods.

39 The Sun.

OPINIONS OF A CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY ON THE POWER OF SUMMARY BANISHMENT FROM INDIA.

SIR,-Conceiving it desirable that all classes of residents in India, who are of opinion that the power of transportation without trial, possessed and exercised by the present Government of this country, is unnecessary, dangerous, and liable to great abuse, should express their opinion strongly and frequently, I beg to offer my humble example, which I trust will be followed by many others.

To me this power appears inconsistent both with our interest and our duty as a nation: our interest, which is to maintain and consolidate the British rule in India; and our duty, which is to enlighten and improve the millions subject to our sway. Nothing will prove more conducive to the attainment of these ends than the temperate and unfettered discussion of every subject in religion and politics, science and literature; and nothing will prove more fatal to ourselves, or injurious to our Native subjects, than the exercise of an arbitrary power like that of summary transmission for the punishment of crimes cognizable by the law. The one will beget attachment to the British nation, and confidence in the protection which it affords;-the other will sow the seeds of suspicion and distrust, and give an effectual blow to those plans of improvement which delight and engage the christian and the philanthropist.

What can be more inconsistent than the conduct pursued by the Government of this country? Both governors and governed are alike

convinced of the advantages enjoyed by the Natives under British rule, compared with the state in which they were, either under their Native Princes, or Musulman conquerors; and yet the former act as if conscious of guilt and fearful of exposure; as if public oppression, or secret injustice, was the only characteristic of their reign.

Who, that reflects on the subject, can doubt that the power exercised by Government is unnecessary? Against whom is this power exercised? Against a few isolated individuals who can do nothing against the Government if they would; against British-born subjects who would do nothing if they could; against men whose birth and education, whose feelings and interests, form the surest pledge that they will seek the permanency of British power in India. By whom is this power exercised?-By a Government which, more than any other Colonial Government that perhaps ever existed, has secured the affections by seeking the welfare of its subjects; and which, in the event of invasion or insurrection, has 150,000 troops ably commanded, fully disciplined, well fed, paid, and clothed, with the incalculable resources of its own territories, and dependent Native states, to back it in the maintenance of its power.

Who can fail to perceive that this monstrous power of punishment without trial is liable to abuse? In a country where the supreme power is absolute, and this absolute power rests in a single individual, the personal pique of that individual, or of any one of his numerous friends and dependents, may find a speedy and an easy gratification in the exercise of a power which the legislation, in bestowing it, intended should be employed only against public delinquents for the public good.

As this power is unnecessary, and liable to abuse, so it is highly dangerous. The natural tendency of the exercise of this power is to suppress all liberal and independent discussion, and in proportion as this is effected, abuses and injustice will strengthen and increase. As these increase, a dissatisfaction with our Government will be generated in the Native mind, which, not finding vent, but strengthening with increasing evils, will finally explode in some dire calamity.

But it is impossible to suppress all discussion. The Government may, by the strong hand of power, gag its British-born subjects, but the Anglo-Indians and Natives have both learned the right, and have acquired some facility in, the exercise of free discussion. The effect, therefore, of measures similar to that which has been lately adopted, will be to throw the press entirely into the hands of these two classes, subject as they are only to the verdict of a jury, and to the sentence of the law. As, however, the permanence of the British Government affords the only prospect of Native improvement, so it is principally through the writings of British-born subjects that that improvement can be effected. Any measures, therefore, which leaves the Native press free and unfettered, except by law, whilst to the British conductors of the press it holds up the terrors of summary transmission, can be looked upon in no other light than as taking away the key of knowledge, and as calculated to perpetuate the reign of ignorance