104 ORIGIN AND DECLINE OF THE 



employ them. It appears, from Arriai^ on the au- 

 thority ofMEGASTiiENES,* that in the time of Alex- 

 ander, they had almanacks, with predictions con- 

 cerning the weather, and mipending calamities, such 

 as they liave at present, but more particularly so in 

 the Pen'msida. Strabo says, that the Brahmens pro- 

 fessed astronomy ;'|^ and he extols, at the same time, 

 the attention they paid to learning. Q. Curtius tes- 

 tifies, that they skilfully oi:)served the motions of the 

 heavenly bodies.;]: Eusebjus, who lived in the 

 third and the beginning of the fourth centur\, says 

 that it was a Hindu, who first delineated schemes of 

 the heavens, or the principal constellations His 

 name was AxVdubarius, and he was considered as the 

 founder of astronomy in Lidia, and was famous for 

 his skill and wisdom. According to Eusebius, he 

 lived soon after the flood, in the western parts of In- 

 dia ; and this famous astronomer probably formed, and 

 delineated the twenty-seven lunar mansions, which 

 seem to be the exclusive property of the Hindu^. 

 The opinion of Eusebius, and the other learned au- 

 thors whom I have mentioned, was certainly that of the 

 age in which they lived; and Stkabo says, that the no- 

 tions of the Hindus concerning the universe, and the 

 sphericity of the earth, were the same with those of the 

 Greeks. They had a code of laws in the time of Alex- 

 ander, and th^y wrote upon a sort of paper ; for 

 thus I understand the words «v av^oai xiav xixgoT»)/xemj{, up- 

 on cloth well beaten.§ Strabo takes notice, that in 

 his time some asserted, that the Hindus were ac- 

 quainted with the use of letters, whilst others denied 

 it. He adduces the above passage from Nearchus in 



* Arrian de Indicis. f Lib. 15. 



X Lib. 8. § Strabo, lib. 15. p. 717. 



