SftO ON MOUNT CAUCASUS. 



Neriman, which }( r Sa?iscnt 2Lp^e\htior\y is very 

 applicable to Noah : nei'e signifies a wave in Per- 

 sian, and nara water in Sanscrit. Sam may be the 

 same with Siamec the son of Key-Umursh; for 

 Sharma and Sharmaca, Shama, and Shamca are 

 various appellations of the patriarch Shem. As to 

 Key-Umursh or king Umursh, it is a denomina- 

 tion given equally to Adam aad Noah in Persian 

 romances, and with great propriety, for Umarsha 

 in Sanscrit signifies the lord of Uma, the female 

 power of nature and the earth. In that section of 

 the Scanda-purdna called the Hividchel'C'handa, it is 

 said that Buddha the ninth ^^u«^«7'a of Vishnu ap- 

 peared in the characters of Shama or Shem; by 

 which we must understand, according to the learned, 

 that Sharma an incarnation of Vishnu reappeared 

 as Buddha. Indeed the character of Sharma is 

 well preserved throughout : for this famous patriarch 

 is represented of a most benevolent and mild dispo- 

 sition, with a very weak constitution. When Bud- 

 dha was seven years above eight old, he was invest- 

 ed with the sacerdotal cord. He went immediately 

 to Vdmigram or Vdmiyam in order to defeat the 

 schemes of the DaitAjas, who were assembled in its 

 vicinity, to perform solemn sacrifices and the most rigid 

 acts of devotion in order to obtain the dominion of 

 the world. Vdrniyan is declared to have been at 

 that time a most magnificent city. There the gods 

 and many holy men were assembled in order to pay 

 their respects to Vishnu and implore his assistance 

 against the Dailyas. Buddha in the shape of a 

 ^SawzT/ff^/ presented himself to them, and was kindly 

 received : he then told them, that every sacrifice of 

 an animal was an abomination, and that even ablu- 

 tions were wicked, because small insects might be 

 killed by bathing. Such was his eloquence, that the 

 Dailyas wept bitterly, abandoned all thoughts of sa- 

 crifice and ablution, and thereby were frustrated in 



their 



