CHRISTIAN- RELIGION IN INDIA. $1 



ries, in general, adopt the same regiraen, in order to 

 gain credit among -them. 



These Chi^'istians were then very properly deno- 

 niMiated \4njyjs and Tacshacas, or Peishcm^a Br h- 

 mens. These and their Kings probably introdi;ced 

 the Christian Era into their country : but, in the 

 saine manner, that their sanctity, and their power in 

 In .ia are foretold in the Puranas, their fall is equally 

 mentioi'.ed. When, says the compiler of the Vaya- 

 Purdn'a, their time is come, the ^Aryyas will pass 

 ^way, like the rest. 



These good ^Aryyas are called \Sakvas, 'Salavas and 

 ^Sdlyas in the Camaricd-chanda. These three forms 

 are regular, but the last, according to Mr. Join- 

 viLLF, prevails in the Dekkin, and Ceylou; where 

 they are cailed Sdie, Sdiyas, and ChdUyas, because, I 

 suppose, they were the followers of 'Sa'la. They :.re 

 called also in thai, country, ^Saca-Roja-vdnsa^, and 

 Sdla-vdnsas in the \vesteni parts of India They are 

 now followers of Budd'ha ; and in the Peninsula the 

 Christians are included in the general dcnominp.tion 

 of Bauddhists, and their divine legislator is considered 

 as a form of Budd'ha. 



The chief of the -Sdiyas, or ^Ai^yyas, is called ^Aryyd- 

 'sira by the followers ol' Budd'ha, a Sanscrit com- 

 pound implying as much. He was overthrown by 

 Budd'ha, and yet he is called Pra-Aryya-sira, or 

 Pra--Aria-seria, the venerable Sire, or chief of the 

 'Aryyas. 



- The Manicheans, and the Muselmans, on the au- 

 thority of the Apocryphal Gospel of the childhood 

 of Christ, and that of St. Barnabas, of which 



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