become silted up. There are numerous minor rivers or watercourses in the District, but they are chiefly cross passages between the larger rivers already named.
The Principal Arms of the Sea, proceeding from the east, are the Málanchá, Ráimangal, Maltá, Jámirá, and Húglí. The mouth of this latter river is called by the people the Burá Mantreswar. Horsburgh gives the soundings of the chief of these estuaries in his ‘Sailing Directions.’ A full description of the Húglí will be found in my Account of Calcutta.
Legend Of The Origin Of The Ganges And Hugli.—The following is the Hindu traditional account of the origin of the holy stream. Ságar, King of Oudh, was the thirteenth ancestor of Ráma, the seventh or warrior incarnation of Vishnu. He had ninety-nine times performed the Aswamedha jajna, or Horse-Sacrifice. This ceremony consisted in sending a horse round the Indian world, with a defiance to all the earth to arrest its progress. If the horse returned unopposed, it was understood to be an acquiescence in the supremacy of the challenger, and the animal was then solemnly sacrificed to the gods. Now King Ságar had performed this ceremony ninety-nine times. He made preparations for the hundredth sacrifice; but Indra, King of Heaven, who had himself performed the ceremony a hundred times, and had hence acquired the title of Satamanna, jealous of being displaced by this new rival, stole the horse, and concealed it in a subterraneous cell, where the sage Kapilmuni was absorbed in heavenly meditation, dead to all occurrences of the external world. The sixty thousand sons of Ságar traced the horse to his hiding-place, and, believing the Sage to be the author of the theft, assaulted him. The holy man being thus roused, opened his eyes and cursed his assailants, who were immediately burnt to ashes and sentenced to hell. A grandson of Ságar, in search of his father and uncles, at last came to Kapilmuni, and begged him to redeem the souls of the dead. The holy man replied that this could only be effected if the waters of Gangá (the aqueous form of Vishnu and Lakshmi) could be brought to the spot to touch the ashes.
Now Gangá was residing in Heaven, in the custody of Brahmá the Creator, and the grandson of Ságar prayed him to send the goddess to the earth. He was unsuccessful, however, and died without his supplication having been granted. He left no issue; but a son, Bhagirath, was miraculously born of his widow, and through
