CHRISTIAN RELIGION IN INPIA. 7^ 



Marco Polo has given us the meaning of the word 

 Avariia, it is very easy to reascend to its pure and 

 original fonn, which is Av-Aryya in Sanscrit ; and, 

 as he says, that the CImstians there were highly 

 respected, being good soldiers, and above all, good 

 and holy men, remarkable for their integrity, they 

 were certainly Av-Aryyas, or ^Aryyas, as well as their 

 holy Apostle. The word Avariia is derived from the 

 Sanscrit compound /Iv-Aryya, from two words per- 

 fectly synonymous, Ava, and Aryya. The first is 

 rendered in lexicons, by ^Suddlia, or Pavit7^a, equally 

 implying holiness, and purity. It is often used in 

 composition, where it enhances the sense. One of 

 the titles of Budd'ua is Ava-Locita, or Ava-L6ca- 

 na't'h, the holy sovereign of the world : Ava-r6ha 

 or A-r6ha, well seated. This word is very often 

 pronounced Aba, and more particularly so, in the 

 S. W. parts of India : and the same M. Polo men- 

 tions in the country of Lae, a race of most pious men 

 called Ahraiani and Abraiam in the JM. S. S. But the 

 editors thought proper to write that word, Abraja- 

 mini; because they conceived that they were Bruh- 

 mens. But it is much more probable, that it is the 

 same word with Avariiam, or Avariia, which he 

 mentioned before. Ab-Aryya in the objective case, 

 in the singular number, makes Ab-Aryyam, and Ab- 

 ^Aryydn in the plural, in the first case. These Abraia- 

 ni, says he, have in abhorrence lying, theft, ^ and 

 cheating. They marry but one wife, and abstain 

 from intoxicating liquors, and fiesh. They eat mo- 

 derately, and their tasts are long, and most severe : 

 otherwise, says he, they are idolaters. He then 

 mentions other idolaters in that country ; but from 

 the context, entirely different from the Ab-'A?yyas : 

 who it seems, were only degenerated Christians, who 



