Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c27.s4.t2.72

v2.c27.s4.t2.72

The 4th is also dedicated to Vishnu under his infantine appellation Hari (Ἥλιος), because when a child " he hid himself in the moon." We must not derogate from Sir W. Jones the merit of drawing attention to the analogy between these Hindu festivals on the equinoxes, and the Egyptian, called the entrance of Osiris into the moon, and his confinement in an ark. But that distinguished writer merely gives the hint, which the learned Bryant aids us to pursue, by bringing modern travellers to corroborate the ancient authorities : the drawings of Pocock from the sun temple of Luxor to illustrate Plutarch, Curtius, and Diodorus. Bryant comes to the same conclusion with regard to Osiris enclosed in the ark, which we adopt regarding Vishnu’s repose during the four months of inundation, the period of fertilization. I have already, in the rites of Annapurna, the Isis of the Egyptians, noticed the crescent form of the ark of Osiris, as well as the ram’s-head ornaments indicative of the vernal equinox, which the Egyptians called Phamenoth, being the birthday of Osiris, or the sun ; the Phag, or Phalgun month of the Hindus ; the Phagesia of the Greeks, sacred to Dionysus.²