SECTION THE SEVENTH DESCRIBES THE TENETS OF THE SÁKTÍAN.――The belief of this sect is as follows: Síva, that is Mahádeva, who in their opinion with little exception is the highest of the deities, and the greatest of the spirits, has a spouse whom they call _Máyá saktí_;[232] this spouse shows first one color, and then another, that is, something else than what really exists: for instance, water like wine. This spiritual and material principle has three natures and three qualities, namely: _rajas_,[233] that is, “dominion and desire;” _sattva_,[234] which is “rectitude and wisdom, and the power to control the senses, not to be subject to them;” and _tamas_,[235] or “violence, passion, besides eating, gluttony, and sleeping.” With the Hindus, Brahma, Vichnu, and Mahadeva are personified as proceeding from these three conditions,[236] or as the powers of the three qualities mentioned. This Máyá is the maker of the productions of this world and of its inhabitants, and the creator of the spirits and of the bodies; the universe and its contents are born from her: from respect of the said productions and of the mentioned effects, she is entitled _Jagat-ambá_,[237] or “mother of the universe;” non-entity finds no access to this creator; the garment of perishableness does not sit right upon the body of this fascinating empress; the dust of nothingness does not move round the circle of her dominion; the real beings of heaven, and the accidental creations of the nether world, are equally enamoured and intoxicated of desire before her; bound by these ties of deceit in this revolving world, whoever rebels feels the desire of _mukt_, that is, of emancipation, independence, and happiness; nevertheless, from carelessness, he pays obedience and worship to this world-deceiving queen, and never abandons the path of adoration of this bewitching lady. This goddess, that is the spiritual principle, exists in all living beings in six circles, which they call _shat chakras_,[238] as the fibres in the stalk of a water-lily, in which there are six divisions: 1. the _Muládhára_, or “the sitting-place;” 2. the _Manipúram_, that is, “the navel;” 3. the _Swadhishtanam_,[239] “the firm place, and which commands the upper region of the navel;” 4. _Hrid_,[240] or “the heart;” 5. _Sáda_,[241] that is, “the purified mansion and the place of purification,” and this proceeds from the upmost part of the breast; 6. _Agni tchakra_,[242] or “the circle of the fire,” and this is that of the eye-brows. These are the six circles, and above them is _Indra_, that is the window of life, and the passage of the soul, which is the top and middle of the head; and in that place is the flower of the back of one thousand leaves: this is the residence of the glorious divinity, that is, of the world-deceiving queen, and in this beautiful site reposes her origin. With the splendour of one hundred thousand world-illuminating suns, she wears, at the time of rising, manifold