CHAPTER XXXII.                           325

Further, the Hindus maintain that the world will Notions re-
perish in consequence of the conjunction of the twelve fndofthe''
suns, which appear one after the other in the different
months, ruining the earth by burning and calcining it,
and by withering and drying up all moist substances.
Further, the world perishes in consequence of the union
of the four rains which now come down in the different
seasons of the year ; that which has been calcined attracts
the water and is thereby dissolved. Lastly, the world
perishes by the cessation of light and by the prevalence
of darkness and non-existence. By all this the world
will be dissolved into atoms and be scattered.

The Mcttsya-Purdna says that the fire which burns
the world has come out of the water ; that until then it
dwelt on Mount Mahisha in the Kusha-Dvipa, and was
called by the name of this mountain.

The Vishnu-Purdna says that "Maharloka lies above
the pole, and that the duration of the stay there is one Page 166.
kalpa. When the three worlds burn, the fire and
smoke injure the inhabitants, and then they rise and
emigrate to Janaloka, the dwelling-place of the sons of
Brahman, who preceded creation, viz. Sanaka, Sananda,
Sanandanada (?), Asuras, Kapila, Vodhu, and Panca-
sikha."

The context of these passages makes it clear that Abu-Ma'-
this destruction of the world takes place at the end of a Indian
kalpct, and hence is derived the theory of Abii-Ma'shar
that a deluge takes place at the conjunction of the
jolanets, because, in fact, they stand in conjunction at
the end of each caturyuga and at the beginning of each
kaliyuga. If this conjunction is not a complete one,
the deluge, too, will evidently not attain the highest
degree of its destructive power. The farther we advance
in the investigation of these subjects, the more light
will be shed on all ideas of this kind, and the better
the reader will understand all words and terms occur-
rinof in this context.
 

theories.