QQ4? OX THE CHRONOLOGY 



In another lift of the thoufand names of Siva (1 

 there are five or fix of them extracted from lb many 

 ; we read, as one of his names, Balesa Isa 

 ( ■ •• l'ra the 'infant. In the fame lift Siv a is laid 

 to be Varahi-Palaca, or lie who fqftered and che- 

 i, the contort of Vishnu, who was in- 

 1 in the character of Sharma. From the above 

 paflages the learned here believe that Siva, in a hu- 

 man fhape, was legally appointed to raife Iced to 

 Sharma during an illnefs thought incurable. In this 

 fenfe Japhet certainly dwelt in the tents of Shem. 

 My chief pandit has repeatedly, and mofr poiitively, 

 allured me, that the poiterity of Sharma to the tenth 

 or twelfth generation, is mentioned in fome of the 

 puranas. His fearch after it lias hitherto pro. 

 fruitlefs, but it is true, that, we have been able to -pro- 

 cure only a few feclions of fome of the more fcarce and 

 valuable puranas. The held is immenfe, and the powers 

 of a finsrle individual too limited. 



V. The ancient frames of the geds having been de- 

 ftroved by the Mufiulmans, except a few which 

 were concealed during the various perfecutions of 

 thefe unmerciful zealots, others have been ereeled 

 occafionally, but they are generally reprefented in 

 a modern drefs. The itatue of Bala-Rama at Mutra 

 has very little reiemblance to the Theban Hercules, 

 and, of courfe, does not anfwer exactly to the de* 

 fcriptiori of Megqfthenes. There is, however, a very 

 ancient fbatue of Bala-Rama at a place called Baladt 

 cr Baldeo in the vulgar dialects, which artfwers min- 

 utely to his defcriptum. It was vilited fome years 

 aoo by the late Lieutenant Stewart, and I mail de- 

 i'cribe'it in his own words : u Bala-Rama or Bala-deva 

 is reprefented there with a ploughfhare in his left- 

 hand, with which he hooked his enemies, and in 

 ri&ht hand a thick cudgel, with which he cleft their 

 Us ; his moulders are covered with the fkin of a 

 tygef. The village of Baldeo i • n miles E. by 



S. from Muttra." 







