460 ON MOUNT CAUCASUS. 



cd Amayim, which is the name of a famous mountain. 

 m the leffer Afia, and is certainly part of the Himd-laya 

 mountains; which, according to the Purdnas, extend 

 fjom fea to fea. The weflern part of this range was 

 called Taurm ; and Strabo * fays, that mount Immis 

 was called alfo Taurus. The etymology of this lall ap- 

 pellation is rather obfcure ; but fince the Brdhmens in- 

 fjlt that Tochdrejidn is corrupted from TvJIodra-Jihdn^ 

 by which appellation that country is dillin^uifhed in 

 the Purdnas ; and that Turdn is derived from Tufodrduy 

 its Sanfirit name, they^ being quiefcent; may we not 

 equally fuppofe, that Taurus is derived from T'ujhdra 

 or Tiijhdras: for this laft form is ufed alfo, but only in 

 declenfions for the fake of derivation. Tnjhdra Ggni- 

 fies fnow ; Tujhdra-Jihdn or Tuc haras -Jlhdn, the place 

 or abode of fnoWj and Tujbdran in a derivative form, 

 the country of fnow, 



Strajjq and Arriak were certainly miftaken, when 

 they fuppofcd, that the fpHo^vers of Alex an per, in or- 

 der to flatter his vanity, had given out, that the moun- 

 tains to the north and north-weft of CahuU were the 

 real Caucafus, The information the Greeks received 

 about it was true and accurate : they were undoubt- 

 edly carelefs in their inquiries; but I can aver, that 

 all the names of places in Alexander's march, from 

 Bdhlac or Bdlk to Multan, (where my friend Mogul 

 Keg's furvey ended), are either pure Sa?i/irit, or an- 

 alogous to the idiom of the dialecls ufed m the coun-, 

 tries he conquered. The moft queftionable names, ac- 

 cording to the learned, arc Nicaa and DcpJala : the fir(t 

 is a true and accurate tranflation of the Sanfcrit yayini^ 

 devi Jthduy or the place of the goddefs of victory, whq 

 '^s> wor (hipped under that name at Cahid to this day. 

 Numerous are the legends in the Purdnas^ relating to 

 this place ; which is called Jfa-vana, and in the fpoken 

 didlecis A'jhdnd. There are two places of that name j 



* Strabo, B. xi. p. 519. 



one 



