Page images
PDF
EPUB

mentioned by the historians of Alexander, under the name of Sandracottos. These two poems I have not been able to procure; but I have found another dramatic piece, intitled Mudra-Racshasa, or the Seal of Racshasa, which is divided into two parts: the first may be called the Coronation of Chandra-Gupta; and the second, the Reconciliation of Chandra-Gupta with Mantri-Racshasa, the prime minister of his father."*

By Hindi writers it is said, that Maha Nandi, king of Prachi or Prasii, had by a woman of the Sudra cast, a son named Nanda, who succeeded him. Nanda is described as victorious in war, and though fond of amassing wealth, just and wise in government. By his first wife, named Ratnavati, he had nine sons, and by a second, named Mura, Chandra-Gupta and others; who, to distinguish them from those of the first bed, were called, from their mother, Muryas. After the death of Nanda, ChandraGupta found means to exclude the race of Ratnavati, and usurp the crown.

"Diodorus Siculus and Curtius relate, that Chandram was of a low tribe, his father being a barber. That he, and his father Nanda too, were of a low tribe, is declared in the Vishnu-purana, and in the Bhagavat Chandram; and that he, as well as his brothers, were called Maurya, from his mother Mura; and as that word,† in Sanscrit, signifies a barber, it furnished occasion to his enemies to asperse him as the spurious offspring of one. Diodorus and Curtius are mistaken in saying, that Chan

Wilford, As. Researches, vol. v. p. 262.

+ "See the Jutiviveca, where it is said, the offspring of a barber, begot by stealth, of a female of the Sudra tribe, is called Maurya: the offspring of a barber and a slave-woman is called Maurya."

dram reigned over the Prasii at the time of Alexander's invasion; he was contemporary with Seleucus Nicator."*

Megasthenes was a native of Persia, and appears to have enjoyed the confidence of Sybertius, governor for Seleucus of Arachosia,† the present Candahar and Glezni. He had been sent at different times into India by Sybertius, and afterwards by Seleucus, as ambassador to the king of the Prasii.

The country of the Prasii and the site of Palibothra, have occasioned so much discussion, that we are induced to state some of the opinions in regard to them, which appear the best entitled to regard.

Major Rennell says, that the empire of the Prasii seems to have included most of the tract through which the Ganges flows, after it enters the plains of Hindustan.‡ But Mr. Wilford, using more positive language, ob

serves:

:

"By Prachi, (in Sauscrit,) or the East, is understood all the country from Allahabad to the easternmost limits of Hindustan it is called also Purva, an appellation of the same import, and Purob in the spoken dialects. From Prachi is obviously derived the name of Prasii, which the Greeks gave to the inhabitants of this country. It is divided into two parts: the first comprehends all the couniry from Allahabad to Raj-mehal, and the western branch of the Ganges; the second includes Bengal, the greatest

Wilford, As. Res. vol. v. p. 285.

+ See Arrian, Exp. Alex. lib. v. p. 323, edit. Amst. 1668.

+ Speaking of this river, he says, that, after quitting the mountainous tract in which it must have wandered above eight hundred miles, it receives in its course through the plains, eleven rivers, some of them as large as the Rhine, and none smaller than the Thames, besides as many more of lesser note.

part of which is known in Sanscrit under the name of Gancara-desa,* or country of Gancara, from which the Greeks made Gangaridas, or Gangaridai, in the first case. Gancara is still the name of a small district near the summit of the Delta.”

"The capital city of Prachi Proper, or the western part of it, is declared to be Raj-griha, or the royal mansion. According to the Puranas, it was built by a son of king Prithu, called Haryacsha. It was afterwards taken by Bala-Rama, the brother of Crishna, who rebuilt it, and assigned it as a residence for one of his sons, who are called in general Baliputras, or the children of Bala. From this circumstance it was called Balipura, or the town of the son of Bala; but in the spoken dialects it was called Bali-putra, because a putra, or son of Bali, resided in it. From Bali-putra, the Greeks made Palipatra and Palibothra, and the inhabitants of the country, of which it was the capital, they denominated Palibothri.”

"Diodorus Siculus, speaking of Palibothra, says, that it had been built by the Indian Hercules; who, according to Megasthenes, as quoted by Arrian, was worshipped by the Suraseni. Their chief cities were Methora and Clisobora: the first is now called Mathura, the other, Mugunagur, by the Musulmans, and Calisapura, by the Hindūs. The whole country about Mathura is called Surasena, to this day, by learned Brahmins."

"The Indian Hercules, according to Cicero, was called Belus. He is the same with Bala, the brother of Crishna, and both are conjointly worshipped at Mathura; indeed, they are considered as one Avatara, or incarnation of

* This word I am assured by persons intimately acquainted with the Sanscrit, has never been met with by them in that language.

Vishnu. Bala is represented as a stout man, with a club in his hand. He is called also Bala-Roma. To decline the word Bala, you must begin with Balas, which I conceive to be an obsolete form, preserved only for the purpose of declension, and etymological derivation. The first a in Bali is pronounced like the first a in America, in the eastern parts of India: but in the western parts, and in Benares, it is pronounced exactly like the French e; thus the difference between Balas and Belus is not very great. As Bala sprung from Vishnu, or Heri, he is certainly Hericula, Heri-culas, and Hercules. Diodorus Siculus says, that the posterity of Hercules reigned for many centuries in Palibothra, but that they did nothing worthy of being recorded; and, indeed, their names are not even mentioned in the Puranas."

"In the Ganga-mahatmya, in which all places of worship, and others of note, on the banks of the Ganges, are mentioned, the present town of Raj-mehal is positively declared to be the ancient city of Raj-griha of the Puranas, the capital of Prachi, which afterwards was called Bali-putra."

"Raj-griha in Bengalee and Raj-mehal in Persian, signifies the same thing. It is also called by the natives Raj-mandalam; and by Ptolemy, Palibothra-mandalon, for Bali-putra-mandalam: the first signifies the royal mansion, and the second the mansion of the Bala-putras. In a more extensive sense, Mandalam signifies the Circle, or country belonging to the Bali-putras. In this sense we say Coro-mandel, for Cholo, or rather fala-mandal.”

"Here I must observe, the present Raj-mehal is not precisely on the spot where the ancient Raj-griha, or Bali-putra, stood, owing to the strange devastation of the Ganges in that part of the country for several centuries

past. These devastations are attested by universal tradition, as well as by historical records, and the concurring testimony of Ralph, Fitch, Tavernier, and other European travellers of the last century. When I was at Raj-mehal in January last, I was desirous of making particular inquiries on the spot, but I could only meet with a few Brahmins, and those very ignorant; all they could tell me was, that in former ages, Raj-mehal, or Raj-mandal, was an immense city; that it extended as far as the eastern limits of Boglipoore towards Terriagully; but that the Ganges, which formerly ran a great way towards the N. E. and E. had swallowed it up; and that the present Rajmehal, formerly a suburb of the ancient city, was all that remained of that famous place. For further particulars they referred me to learned Pundits, who unfortunately lived in the interior parts of the country."

"In the Mudra-racshasa it is declared, that the city in which Chandra-Gupta, or Sandrocotus, resided, was to the north of the hills; and, from some particular circumstances that will be noticed hereafter, it appears that they could not be above five or six miles distant from it. Megasthenes informs us also, that this famous city was situated near the confluence of the Erannoboas with the Ganges. The Erannoboas has been supposed to be the Sone, which has the epithet of Hiran-ya-baha, or gold wasting, given to it in some poems. The Sone, however, is mentioned as a distinct river from the Erannoboas, both by Pliny and Arrian, on the authority of Megasthenes: and the word Hiran-ya-baha, from which the Greeks made Erannoboas, is not a proper name, but an appellutive, (as the Greek Chrysorhoas) applicable, and which is applied, to any river that rolls down particles of gold with its sands. Most rivers in India, as well as in Europe,

« PreviousContinue »