SALAGRAMA, fossil ammonites, reverenced and worshipped by the Hindus; supposed by some to be the mtiles or eagle stones of the ancients. The principal sorts are the Lakshmi Narayani, the Vamuna, the Demodura, the Narasiugha, etc. Their abundance in the beds of mountain torrents, especially the Gandak, has been long known. They form an indis pensable article in the saem of the Hindus, and are used in propitiatory oblations to Vishnu, as well as in funeral and other ceremonies. They are black, mostly rounded, and are commonly perfomted in one or more places by worms, or, as the Hindus believe, by Vishnu, in the shape of a reptile. According to the number of perforations and of spiml curves in each, the stone is sup posed to contain Vishnu in various characters. For example, such a stone perforated in one place only, with four spiral curves in the perforation, and with marks reseznbling a cow's foot and a wreath of flowers, contains Lakshmi Narayani. The salagrama is fossilized with iron, clay, and pyrites, strikes fire with steel, but scarcely at all effervesces with acids ; some very heavy, commonly black, but sometimes violet, oval or round, a little flat, nearly resembling a touch stone, and hollow, with only ono small aperture ; within it has spiral lines terminating towards the middle. Some aro supposed to represent the gracious incarnations of Vishnu, and are then highly prized; but when they border a little on the violet, they denote ft vindictive avatara, such as Narasingha, when no man of ordinary nerve dares keep them in his house. The possessor of a salagrama preserves it wrapped in clean cloth. It is frequently perfumed and bathed ; and tho water thereby acquiring virtue, is drunk., and prized for its sin-expelling property. It is always placed near persons when they are about to die. A garden or plantation is consecrated by the Hindus by marrying the salagrama stone carried by one man to represent the groom, to a branch of the tulsi tree carried by another to represent the bride. It is the usual marriage ceremony, somewhat modified ; and after this con secration, the fruit can be eaten. Dunlop found two extensive lias beds at Takuli Shem, in Hundes, with numerous salagram, which are thence taken to Badrinath and Kailas. Hindus are averse to show them. The Grihadeva or house hold deity is sometimes represented by a water pot, a rude figure, a salagrarna, or a tulsi plant.
The stones, called Ban-ling, found in the Nermada, are similarly considered as types of Siva, but they are not fossils, merely stones rounded by attrition.—Sonnerat ; Gerard, October 1830 ; As. Res. iii. p. 24 ; Cole. Myth. Hind. ; Moor's Pantheon ; Wilson's Gloss.
SALAH-ud-DIN, the Saladin of English writers, a distinguished Kurd soldier of the twelfth century, who opposed the Crusaders led by Richard Cceur de Lion. Salah-ud-Din, the son of Ayyub, a Kurdish chief, early became attached to the service of his uncle Asad, usually called Shirkuh, who commanded the army of Nur-ud-Din, king of Aleppo, a strong upholder of the Abbasside khalifs. Salah-ud-Din Yussuf was still very young, when two vizirs of Egypt, the ministers of the Fatimite khalif, residing at Cairo, quarrelled, and one of them succeeded in banishing the other. The exile Shawer betook himself to Aleppo, and Nur-ud-Din offered hini the help of Shirkuh and his Kurds to reinstate him. But Shawer soon quarrelled with the wild mercenaries, and made an alliance against them with Amaury or Amalrich, the crusader king of Jerusalem. Shirkuh, with the help of his nephew, defeated them both ; and, taking Cairo, put Shawer to death, and annexed Egypt to the possessions of his master, Nur-ud-Din. The Fatimite khalif, a mere puppet, conferred on him a robe of honour, and gave him the title of "Malik-al-Mansur, or Victorious King. He was thus serving Nur-ud-Din of Aleppo and both the rival khalifs. His servitude did not hinder him, however, and his nephew from establishing their power in Egypt. Shirkuh lived long enough to secure his nephew a firm hold upon Egypt, and the title of Malik-al-Nasr—which rneans nearly the same as Malik-al-Mansur—from the Fatimite khalif in his palace or state prison. Nur-ud-Din sent word to Saladin from Aleppo that he must not receive these favours from a heretic, and ordered him to proclaim the Sunni khalif. Saladin desired the preachers in the \Cairene mosques to omit the name of the Eatimite khalif from their prayers, and to replace it with that of the Sunni Commander of the Faithful, and 41 Aadad. , buried in the recesses of his palace, knew nothing about it. Saladin's life after this was on. e of uninterrupted prosperity. Nur-ud-Din died just w.hen he might have become trouble some ; so did Nur-ud-Din's little boy. As king