304 Lieut. -Colonel Tod on the Religious Establishments of Mewar. 



relatives of Crishna. The allegory of Crishna's eagle pursuing the serpent 

 (Buddha), and recovering the books of science and religion with which he 

 fled, is an important historical fact disguised : namely, that of Crishna 

 incorporating the doctrines redeemed from Buddha after the expulsion of the 

 Buddhists from India. Dare we further attempt to lift the veil from this 

 mystery, and seek in the seat of the redemption of lost science or "wisdom 

 (Buddha), its original source ?* The gulf of Kutch, the point where the 

 serpent attempted to escape, has been from time immemorial to the present 

 day, the entrepot for the commerce of Sofala, the lied Sea, Egypt, and 

 Arabia. There BuddhaTrivicrama, or Mercury, has been and is yet invoked 

 by the Indian mariners, especially the pirates of Dwarica. Did Buddha or 

 Mercury come from, or escape to the Nile ? Is he the Hermes of Egypt 

 to whom the " four books of science," the Vedasf of the Hindus, were 

 sacred? The representative of Buddha at the period of Crishna was 

 Nema-nat'h ; he is of a black complexion.t with full lips, and his statues 

 exactly resemble in feature the bust of young Memnon. His symbol is 

 the snake. 



I have already observed that Crishna, before his deification, worshipped 

 Buddha ; and his temple at Dwarica rose over the ancient slirine of the 

 latter, whicii yet stands. In an inscription from the cave of Gaya their 

 characters are conjoined, " Heri xvho is Buddha." According to western 

 mythology, Apollo and Mercury exchanged symbols, the caduceus for the 

 li/re : so likewise in India their characters intermingle ; and even the Saivd 

 propitiates Heri-Crishna as the mediator and disposer of the ' divine spark ' 

 (jote) on its re-union with the " parent flame :" and thus, like Mercury, he 

 may be said to be the conveyer of the souls of the dead. Accordingly in 

 funereal lamenfation his name only is invoked, and Heri-bol ! Heri-hol! is 

 emphatically pronounced by those conveying the corpse to its final abode. 



ThQ vahan {qu. the Saxon van?^ or celestial car of Crishna, in which the 

 souls {ansa) of the just are conveyed to Surya-Mandal, the mansion of the 



* In this peninsula and the adjacent continent was the cradle of Buddhism, and here are 

 three of the ^Jtve ' sacred mounts of their faith, i. e. Girnar, Sntrunja, and Abu. The author 

 purposes giving, hereafter, an account of his journey th: ough these classic regions. 



f The Buddhists and Jains are stigmatized as Vedyavan, which signifying 'possessed of 

 science,' is interpreted ' magician.' 



X Heuce called Arishta-Nemi, ' the black Nemi.' 



