154 THEORY OF THE EARTH. 



which bears the name of a prince called Vicrama- 

 ditjia, or Bickermadjit, bears it only by a sort of 

 convention ; for we find, according to the synchro- 

 nisms attributed to Vicramaditjia, that there 

 may have been at least three, and perhaps so 

 many as eight or nine, princes of this name, who 

 have all similar legends, and who have all waged 

 war with a prince named Saliwahanna ; and, 

 further, we cannot well make out whether this 

 period, the fifty-seventh year before the Christian 

 era, is that of the birth, reign, or death of the 

 hero whose name it bears.* 



Lastly, the most authentic books of the In- 

 dians, contradict, by intrinsic and very obvious 

 characters, the antiquity attributed to them by 

 the pundits. Their vedas, or sacred books, alle- 

 ged by them to have been revealed by Brama 

 himself from the beginning of the world, and ar- 

 ranged by Viasa (a name which signifies no- 

 thing else than collector), at the commencement 

 of the present age, if we judge of them by the 

 calendar which is found annexed, and to which 

 they refer, as well as by the position of the co- 

 lures indicated by this calendar, may extend to 



* See Bentley, on the Astronomical Systems of the 

 Hindoos, and their Connection with History ; Calcutta Me- 

 moirs, vol. viii. p. 243. of the 8vo edition. 



