4(5 ORIGIN- AND DECLINE OF THE 



now called Paftana, on the banks of the Goddverif 

 but with what propriety, will appear hereafter. Be 

 this as it may, whether in India or out of it, there 

 2it ^Saileycmiy 'Sa'liva'hana was to be born, of a 

 virgin, one year and a half old : his father was to be 

 the great Tacshaca or carpenter, and himself was to 

 live in the humble cottage of a pot-maker. This le- 

 gend is somewhat differently told by others, as we 

 have seen in our account of Vicrama'dity a. His 

 mother was a married woman ; but her husband, a 

 Brahmen, died, whilst she was still very young. She 

 conceived by the great Tacshaca, carpenter or artist, 

 and when her pregnancy became obvious, her two 

 brothers, ashamed of her seemingly unwarrantable 

 behaviour, left PratisKtcina, and the unfortunate 

 young woman, thus unprotected, found an asylum in 

 the humble cottage of a pot-maker : and, in the Vi- 

 CRAMA-CHARiTRA,sheissaid to be his daughter; whilst 

 according to another legend, 'Siva was incarnated in 

 the womb of the Avife of King Sura-Mahendra'di- 

 tya-Bhu'-pati, and there was born, under the name 

 of Sama-'Sila-Tri-Vicrama, or with the triple 

 energy. 



It is declared in the Vicrama-charitra, that the 

 birth of this divine child, from a virgin, had been 

 foretold one thousand years before it happened, nay 

 some say two thousand. That a Saviour was ex- 

 pected with a regeneration of the universe, all over 

 the more civilised parts of world, in consequence 

 of certain old prophecies, cannot be denied, at least 

 in my humble opinion. It was firmly believed in 

 the west : it was so in the east ; and in the inter- 

 mediate countries among the Hebrews, it was a fun- 

 damental tenet of their religion. Whether this notion 

 was borrowed from the Jews or not, is immaterial tQ 



