Note 156 — Chapter I

This goddess Lakshmi is, by Sonnerat, called Latschimi. See his voyage, vol. I. p. 132. She is the goddess of riches, and, according to the Indian mythology, married Vishnu, and with him produced Manmodi the god of love. In Fra Paolino’s Latin work, a German translation of which was published at Gotha, in 1797, with engravings, may be seen, Plate XII., three figures of Lakshmi, taken from brass images, preserved in the Museum at Velitri. In that work she is called the wife of Vishnu: and all the names given to her by the Indians are there enumerated. Among these are: the goddess of good fortune, the woman in labour, the mother of the world. Here the author calls her the fruitfulness of the earth, and, a little farther, the goddess of riches. It will be, in general, necessary in reading this part of the author’s book, to compare with it Sonnerat’s Voyage to India; also the Code of the Hindoos, or the Ordinances of Menu, by Jones and Hüttner, Weimar, 1797; and, lastly, the Gentoo Laws, by Raspe, Hamburgh 1778. These works contain many things which will serve to illustrate what is here said by the author. F.