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SIVA

Volume 17 · 265 words · 1810 Edition

a name given by the Hindoos to the Supreme Being, when considered as the avenger or destroyer. Sir William Jones has shown that in several respects the character of Jupiter and Siva are the same. As Jupiter overthrew the Titans and giants, so did Siva overthrow the Daityas, or children of Diti, who frequently rebelled against Heaven; and as during the contest the god of Olympus was furnished with lightning and thunderbolts by an eagle, so Brahma, who is sometimes represented riding on the Garuda, or eagle, presented the god of destruction with fiery shafts. Siva also corresponds with the Stygian Jove, or Pluto; for, if we can rely on a Persian translation of the Bhágavat, the sovereign of Pátála, or the infernal regions, is the king of serpents, named Sejhanaga, who is exhibited in painting and sculpture, with a diadem and sceptre, in the same manner as Pluto. There is yet another attribute of Siva, or Mahádeva, by which he is visibly distinguished in the drawings and temples of Bengal. To destroy, according to the Vedantis of India, the Siva of Persia, and many philosophers of our European schools, is only to generate and reproduce in another form. Hence the god of destruction is holden in this country to preside over generation, as a symbol of which he rides on a white bull. Can we doubt that the loves and feats of Jupiter Genitor (not forgetting the white bull of Europa), and his extraordinary title of Lapis, for which no satisfactory reason is commonly given, have a connection with the Indian philosophy and mythology?