CHRISTIAN RELIGION IN INDIA. 103 



the Hindus ; but the Miisdmans in India call him 

 TuMTUM, and D'Herbelot Thomthom-al-Hendi, 

 He is noticed by Abul-Fazil in his preface to the 

 third vohuiie of the Ayin-Acberi. He was probably 

 thus called, because he lived upon a Dumdum, or 

 Dumdumd, which is a platform of earth, now more 

 generally called a Chebootra or Thdnd, from Sthdna a 

 stand. 



As the names, or rather the surnames of these fo- 

 reigners, are in great part derivable from the Arabic^ 

 and from no other language, it is not improbable, 

 but that several, if not all of them, were from Ara- 

 bia, whatever their religious tenets might have been. 

 The first of them, according to tradition, lived a 

 little before Muhamed, when the schools of Alex- 

 andria, and Beryttis in Phcenice, were still flourishing. 

 From that period, learning began to revive among 

 the followers of Muhamed ; and of course this learn- 

 ed man flourished, from the latter end of the sixth, 

 or from the beginning of the seventh century to the 

 time of Al-Mamun, who reigned at Balkh in the 

 tenth, and till the invasion of /y^^/ia by the Musd- 

 mans. 



The Hindus, at an early period, were famous for 

 their knowledge of astronomy and astrology. The 

 latter is entirely grounded upon the former ; and the 

 accuracy of the decisions, and predictions, depends 

 entirely upon the precision, with which the conjunc- 

 tions, oppositions, and the various aspects of the hea- 

 venly bodies are ascertained. In the first century, 

 Hindu astrologers were in high estimation and repute 

 at Homey and none but the richest men could afford to 



H 4 



