partly by invention, perhaps, and partly by reference to equally ancient authorities, the blanks left in some of its narrations.

Legends of Vritrásura's death, Baladeva's penance, Hariśchandra's elevation to heaven, and the quarrel between Vaśisht́ha and Viswámitra, are followed by a discussion respecting birth, death, and sin; which leads to a more extended description of the different hells than is found in other Puráńas. The account of creation which is contained in this work is repeated by the birds after Márkańd́eya's account of it to Krosht́uki, and is confined to the origin of the Vedas and patriarchal families, amongst whom are new characters, as Duhsaha and his wife Mársht́i, and their descendants; allegorical personages, representing intolerable iniquity and its consequences. There is then a description of the world, with, as usual to this Puráńa, several singularities, some of which are noticed in the following pages. This being the state of the world in the Swáyambhuva Manwantara, an account of the other Manwantaras succeeds, in which the births of the Manus, and a number of other particulars, are peculiar to this work. The present or Vaivaswata Manwantara is very briefly passed over; but the next, the first of the future Manwantaras, contains the long episodical narrative of the actions of the goddess Durgá, which is the especial boast of this Puráńa, and is the text-book of the worshippers of Káli, Chańd́í, or Durgá, in Bengal. It is the Chańd́í Pátha, or Durgá Máhátmya, in which the victories of the goddess over different evil beings, or Asuras, are detailed with considerable power and spirit. It is read daily in the temples of Durgá, and furnishes the pomp and circumstance of the great festival of Bengal, the Durgá pujá, or public worship of that goddess 56.

After the account of the Manwantaras is completed, there follows a series of legends, some new, some old, relating to the sun and his posterity; continued to Vaivaswata Manu and his sons, and their immediate descendants; terminating with Dama, the son of Narishyanta 57. Of most of the persons noticed, the work narrates particulars not found elsewhere.