instruction, thought within herself, 'Will he who, on account of the grief he felt for my having formerly consumed myself, not accept me as his spouse when redolent of life? And how can disjunction exist between those who have been predestined from their first being to be husband and wife?' Confident in her youth, loveliness, and numerous attractions, and persuaded that on the first mention of her name Siva would be anxious to espouse her, Parvati did not seek to gain him by the performance of austerity, but night and day gave herself to joyous sports with her companions." Her hopes, however, were disappointed. She had to perform most severe penance before she was reunited to her husband; and it was only by the assistance of Kamadeva, who, at the instigation of the gods, wounded him with his arrows as he was engaged in meditation, whilst Parvati was seated in front of him, that her wish was gratified. Siva at first was anything but grateful for this interference; and as before narrated he rewarded Kama by destroying him with a flame of glory that issued from his third eye.

In a Bengali account of Durga, a legend is given from a later work than the Purana from which the above extract was taken. It is to the following effect:--When Siva raised the dead body of Sati in his arms he began to dance in a frantic manner. The earth trembled beneath the weight of such a load; and Vishnu, fearing there would be an utter destruction of the universe if this were allowed to continue, let fly his wonder-working discus, and cut the body into fifty-one pieces. These fell in different places, a leg here, a hand there; but wherever a part touched the earth, the spot became sacred, an image of the goddess was set up, and a temple rose--in some places it is said they grew to her honour

[paragraph continues] --which pilgrims still visit as shrines. The renowned temple at Kali Ghat, near Calcutta, is said to possess the big toe of her left foot; and the other principal shrines of Parvati profess to contain a relic of her body.

Parvati is represented in pictures as a fair and beautiful woman, with no superfluity of limbs. Few miraculous deeds are claimed for her. It is when she appears as Durga, Kali, etc., that she manifests divine powers, and exhibits a very different spirit from that which appears in her as Parvati. Hence the supposition that these were originally distinct deities, though now believed to be one and the same.

DURGA.

The consort of Siva now assumes a very different character from that in which she has so far been represented. In those incarnations, though the wife of Siva, she acted as an ordinary woman, and manifested womanly virtues; as Durga she was a most powerful warrior, and appeared on earth, under many names, for the destruction of demons who were obnoxious to gods and men.