CHRISTIAN RELIGION" IN INDIA. l^V 



tion at Benares but those procured from Chitra-ciita, 

 and Lfiichnow, till I was lately presented with a neat 

 copy 'i30 years old, from Gujarat, by a Pandit of 

 that country. The Lucknow copies are tolerably ac- 

 curate; but those from Chitra-cuta are miserably 

 mangled, through the carelessness of transcribers. 

 The passage relating to 'Saca, is in the following 

 words ; Tatah trishu sahasresha 'sate chdpyadhichhu 

 cha ; 'SACoiidtfia hhavishijas''cha yotiddridra haracahr 

 and whether we read ^Saca or ^Savaca, it points to the 

 same individual. . 



The idea that Sa-liva'haxa was borne on a tree, 

 cross, OY furca, they might have borrowed from the 

 JSIankheans, who represented Christ stretched upon 

 a tree. Vcihana, hcihana, and vdlia or bdha, are nonns 

 derived from the verb rah, I'eho, to carry ; and used 

 both in an active and passive sense. Thus Havya- 

 \)dhana is one of the titles of y^o??,?;, or fire. Ixdra 

 is called MegJia-vdhana, or the cloud borne ; Gand^- 

 ha-vdha is the wind, from its being the vehicle of 

 perfumes. The clouds loaded with water are called 

 Vdri-vdka. Thus ^Sdl-bah, Hdl-bah, ^Sdl-bdhana, &c. 

 may signify either he who carries his cross, or who 

 was borne, or exalted upon the cross. Criicifer is 

 one of the titles of Christ, perfectly answering ta 

 Sdla-balia. 



The Hindus are very fond of forms or emanations, 

 which they consider to be the same with the original 

 from which those emanations sprang; and disciples 

 are very often considered as so many forms of their 

 masters. It is then very possible, that they should 

 have considered the Apostle and disciple, who first 

 preached the Gospel in India, as a form of Christ, 

 or as Christ himself, after several centuries had 

 elapsed ; and thus possibly have mistaken the year 



