ORISSA. 441 treatises, which, under the name of Puranas or Ancient Sayings, are devoted to the mythology and legendary history of the Hindus. These works especially extol the nienbers of the Hindu trinity, now claiming the pre-eminence for Vishnu, and now for Siva; but in their nobler flights always rising to a recognition that both are but manifestations of the one eternal God. The Vishnu Purana, compiled barely 800 years ago, starts with an intolerance equal to that of the ancient code of Manu. It still declares the priests to have sprung from the mouth, and the lowcastes from the feet, of God. Its stately theogony disdains to touch the legends of the people. Its cosmography confines itself to the Aryan world. It declares, indeed, that there is but one God; but this God is the God of the Brahmans, to whom He gave the carth for an inheritance, and in whose eyes the ancient races are as demons or wild beasts, Vishnuism had to preach a far different doctrine before it could become, as it has for ages been, the popular religion of Orissa. These withered sticks of mythology could never blossom forth into a national faith, Sivaism had also its ancient sayings, and it outrivalled Vishnuworship by a ritual singularly adapted to terrify and enchain the masses. But about the middle of the twelfth century a great change began to take place. Up to that time, Vishnuism had been the religion of the upper ranks. Jagannath, although unknown to the Veclas, had ever been the companion of the ruliny race in Orissa. We find him sharing the flights of the priests, and appearing in the dreams of kings. But from the twelfth century a curious movement began. Vishnuism in its turn began to throw itself upon the people. Sivaism had enlisted their ignorant terrors; Vishnuism was soon to appeal to the eternal instinct of human liberty and equality. The movement first commenced in Southern India, where Rámánuja about 1150 A.D. preached from city to city the unity of God under the title of Vishnu, the Cause and the Creator of all. The preacher made converts from every class, but it was reserved for his successors formally to enunciate equality of caste before God as an article of the Vishnuite faith. And meanwhile the great temple of Jagannath, which now stands at Purí, was built. It was a last magnificent assertion of aristocratic devotion. In 1174 A.D., King Anang Bhím Deo ascended the throne of Orissa. He ruled all the country from the Húgli river on the north to the Godávari on the south, and from the forest country of Sonpur on the west, eastward to the Bay of Bengal ; his kingdom comprising an area of over 40,000 square miles. But in the midst of his grandeur he was struck down by a great calamity. He unhappily slew a Brahman, and the rest of his life became one grand expiation of the guilt.
