Lieut.-Colonel Tov’s Comparison of the Hindu and Theban Hercules. 153 
‘“« Bapotd,”* or birth-right. But Duryodhana received them with scorn, 
though they limited their demands to the “ panch-Pali’s,” or five townships 
of Indraput, Paniput, Soniput, &c.t In the full pride of possession, their 
relative, spurning all compromise, contemptuously replied, ‘they should not 
have so much of the soil, his sovereignty, as would cover the point of a 
needle.” Left without alternative, they determined to conquer what injus- 
tice denied them. 
The extensive plains of the Caggar, or Sarasvati, were fixed upon to 
decide the claims to supremacy of the rival clans, the Carus and Pandis, 
and there the auxiliary bands of the “ fifty-six Yadu tribes,” (“ chapun ciila 
Yadi,”) gathered from the most remote regions to espouse either cause in 
this great conflict. The theme has alike secured immortality to the bard 
and to the actors in that exterminating day, and the martial Rajput, who yet 
continues his pilgrimage to Cvird-khéta, feels sanctified in only beholding 
this the Troad of India, on which Fame has erected her temple. Hither her 
votaries have crowded for ages,§ ready, like the Yadu warrior, 
“« To sail in tempests down the stream of life,” 
in order to have their names recorded on the pedestal of the “ Great idol 
of mankind:” around whose statue their mental vision pourtrays in all the 
honours of apotheosis, the just Yupisurra, the warlike Buima, and, resting 
on his club the mighty Batprva; while seated in their war chariot, between 
the rival hosts, Hert and Arsuna discourse on the horrors of civil dissension.|| 
the black pool, in which the infant Heri slew his hydra foe; the Python of the Greeks and 
Typhon of the Egyptians. 
* Bépota, “ patrimony,” from Bap, “ father.” 
+ This tradition establishes the antiquity of those towns yet existing. Were people to be sta- 
tioned there during the rainy season, I have no doubt coins and other memoria of the Panduas 
would be abundantly discovered. It was thus I obtained hundreds, nay, thousands of coins and 
medals from the ancient cities of Mathura, Surpura, Oojein, &c. &c. 
{ The “ gathering” of the Cards and Pandus, however exaggerated by the Bards, must have 
been a very stirring scene. It is detailed at length, the clans, the leaders, and their actions, in 
the great work. The pick-axe, applied to the Céii-khéta, might yet yield ‘something for the 
antiquarian. 
§ Here Maumoup of Ghizni and SHansupin were defeated; and here the last struggle for 
Hindu independence was maintained to the death by the Chohan Emperor Pirt’HrraJ, SAMARSI 
of Cheetore, and many a noble Rajpit. 
|| Thanks to the venerable translator yet amongst us, we are enabled to appreciate this episode 
Vor, III. x 
