3. Others are of opinion that the god _Parabrahma_ first created the elements: these were enclosed in a _motta_, that is, an egg; the egg burst in such a manner that the upper fragments formed seven equal parts, and the lower fragments the same number; and from these arose the seven superior and the seven inferior worlds, so that they reckon fourteen of them. When the Supreme God, _Parabrahma_, had created the elements, and all these worlds, his appeared on the gold mountain _Meru_; called the other gods thither, and assigned to _Brahma_ the office of continuing the creation; to _Vishnu_, that of preserving it; and to _Shiva_, that of again annihilating every thing in the world. The whole theology of the Brahmans is founded on these three different systems. They are contained in the _Mahabharada_, _Bhavagavada_, _Aadiparva_, and other Indian manuscripts. A more particular account of them may be found in my _Systema Brahmanicum_, and in the explanations of the Indian manuscripts preserved in the Borgian Museum at Velitri. From all these systems it incontrovertibly follows: 1. That the Indians believe that God created the world, though they do not agree in their ideas respecting the manner in which it was produced. 2. That they are neither Atheists nor Materialists, because they believe in an exalted self-existent being, who produced every thing, and who is the creator of the world. 3. That they are also not Manichæans, as they acknowledge that the only true God is exalted over and independent of every other being. According to their opinion he is eternal, the only one of his kind, and the sole creator of the universe. According to the first system, God, before the origin of all creatures, created a female. But who is this female supposed to be? From the name given to her by the Brahmans, it appears that they understand by it Nature, which they have personified under the figure of a woman. In the Samscred she is called _Paramèshavari_, the supreme woman; _Ishi_ or _Ishani_, the woman; _Bhavani_, the creatoress, who gives existence to all things; _Aadicumari_, the first maid, the first virgin; _Manassa_, the will of the lord; _Shakti_, the strength, the power, &c. Father Joseph de Carignan and Father Marcus à Tumba assert, that the Indians under these appellations understand the will of God, which emanated from him in a female form, in order to begin the creation of the world. According to the doctrine of the Brahmans, this goddess _Bhavani_ changes and transforms herself into a thousand shapes, and appears sometimes as a man, and sometimes as a woman. In Thibet she is called _Lhamaciupral_; in Nepal, _Mayadevi_; in Bengal, _Ishani_; and, as Sir William Jones has very properly remarked, she is every where worshipped as the goddess of Nature. Some ignorant Indians believe that she is the wife of the Supreme God; and others consider her as the spouse of _Sura_ or _Suraya_, that is, the Sun.