and I should like to ask if they really represent
individuals, or are creatures of the imagination."

"Both," replied Sir Modava with a smile; "there are, as you have been told
before, a great many different sects, and a system of mythology. About all
the gods and goddesses known to the Greeks and Romans have an existence in
the Indian mythology more or less similar to them. Indra, the counterpart
of Apollo in some of his functions, drives the chariot of fire that lights
the day.

"Rhemba was born of the sea, and is the Indian Venus; Cama is Cupid;
Parvati, whose image you saw at Elephanta, is Ceres; and so on to the end
of the chapter. These divinities are represented in the temples, but they
are without form or comeliness."

"They are not much like the beautiful statues of the Greeks," added Louis.

"The most prominent Indian sects are the Saivas, or worshippers of Siva;
the Vaishnavas, who bow down to Vishnu under his several incarnations, like
Krishna, whom you could not greatly respect; and the Jains, allied to the
Buddhists, found mostly in the northern sections of India. They occupy
important positions, and possess wealth and influence. There are
subdivisions into sects among them, and it would be quite impossible to
follow them through the mazes of belief to which they adhere. There is a
great deal of philosophy among many of the sects."

"But what are the Buddhists?" inquired Dr. Hawkes.

"Buddhism is quite as much a philosophy as a religion. It is not as
prevalent in India proper as formerly; though it is still dominant in
Ceylon, Napaul, Burma, and in the more northern countries of Asia. Its
history is somewhat indefinite. Gautama, of whom a great many pretty
stories are told, is sometimes regarded as the founder; though some who
have studied the history of the sect, or order, do not believe that the
Buddha was a real person, but an allegorical figure.

"Those who give a personal origin to the system, now said to be the
religion of one-third of the human race, begin with Prince Siddhartha, a
young man disposed to be an ascetic, and inclined to retire from the world.
In order to wean him from his meditative tendency, his father, in order to
cure him, and prevent him from forsaking his caste, married him to a
beautiful princess, and introduced him to the splendid dissipation of a
luxurious court. A dozen years of this life convinced him that 'all was
vanity and vexation of spirit,' and he became a sort of