The extreme importance that the Hindoos attach to the gayatri, renders it a text of more curiosity than perhaps a general reader will be able to discover in the words themselves, in either their familiar or recondite meaning. It is, like the holy monosyllable, to be mentally revolved, never articulated. It is taught, as we have seen in the preceding extracts from the Menu, to the three first classes, that is, to the Brahman, or priesthood; to the Kshetriya, or soldier; and to the Vaisya, or merchant; but not to the Sudra, or labourer, nor to individuals of the three first named classes if rendered by vicious propensities unworthy of the ‘second birth,’ promised in the holiness of this mysterious regeneration. Fasting, ablution, prayer, alms-giving, and other commendable acts, are necessary preliminaries and accompaniments to initiation in the mysteries of this ‘ineffable text,’ which is done by the Guru, or spiritual preceptor, in a reverent and secret manner. In the Vedas the text occurs several times, and translations of it by different Sanscrit scholars are given, with many particulars of it and other mysterious points in the Hindoo Pantheon. “There is no doubt,” says the author of that work, “but that pious Brahmans would be very deeply shocked at hearing the gayatri denied by unholy articulation, even if expressed in the most respectful manner; and many would be distressed at knowing the characters, sound, and meaning, to be in the possession of persons out of the pale of sanctity. A gentleman on the western side of India, unaware of the result, began once to recite it audibly in the presence of a pious Pandit: the astonished priest stopped his ears, and hastened terrified from his presence.” In the frontispiece to that work, the character or symbol is given that would, if uttered, yield the sound of OM. The author says he once shewed it to a Brahman, who silently averted his face, evidently pained at what he unwillingly saw. * * * * * The Hindoo deities have vehicles assigned for the conveyance of themselves and wives. These are called vahan. The vahan of Siva is a bull, called Nandi. They have likewise peculiar symbols or attributes: those that more particularly designate Siva, his sakti, or anything connected with them are the Linga, or phallus, and the Trisula or Trident. The phallic emblem denotes his presiding over generation, reminding us of the Jupiter Genitor of western mythologists, with whom Sir William Jones identifies the Siva of the East.