_A woman crouching at his feet, awaits the moment of his awaking._)
HILARION. "Such is the primordial duality of the Brahmans,--the Absolute being inexpressible by any form."
(_From the navel of the god has grown the stem of a lotus flower; it blossoms, and within its chalice appears another god with three faces._)
HILARION. "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are but one and the same Person!"
(_The three faces separate; and three great gods appear._
_The first, who is pink, bites the end of his great toe._
_The second, who is blue, uplifts his four arms._
_The third, who is green, wears a necklace of human skulls._
_Before them instantly arise three goddesses--one is enveloped in a net; another offers a cup; the third brandishes a bow._
[Illustration: ... instantly arise three goddesses]
_And these gods, these goddesses, decuple themselves, multiply. Arms grow from their shoulders; at the end of these arms hands appear bearing standards, axes, bucklers, swords, parasols and drums. Fountains gush from their heads, plants grow from their nostrils._
_Riding upon birds rocked in palanquins, enthroned upon seats of gold, standing in ivory niches,--they dream, voyage, command, drink wine, respire the breath of flowers. Dancing girls whirl in the dance; giants pursue monsters; at the entrances of grottoes solitaries meditate. Eyes cannot be distinguished from stars; nor clouds from banderolles; peacocks quench their thirst at rivers of gold dust; the embroidery of pavilions seems to blend with the spots of leopards; coloured rays intercross in the blue air, together with flying arrows, and swinging censers._
_And all this develops like a lofty frieze, resting its base upon the rocks, and rising to the sky._)
"How vast is their number! What do they seek?"
HILARION. "The god who rubs his abdomen with his elephant-trunk, is the solar Deity, the inspiring spirit of wisdom.
"That other whose six heads are crowned with towers, and whose fourteen arms wield javelins,--is the prince of armies,--the Fire-Consumer.
"The old man riding the crocodile washes the soul of the dead upon the shore. They will be tormented by that black woman with the putrid teeth, who is the Ruler of Hell.
"That chariot drawn by red mares, driven by one who has no legs, bears the master of the sun through heaven's azure. The moon-god accompanies him, in a litter drawn by three gazelles.