AN UG AN GAM, &C. 79 



out employ, are become a most despicable race of 

 men. They are more respected in the Deccan, ac- 

 cording to Major jMacki.nzif, wlio says, that they 

 are generally called Cavi'sars, from Cavyesxcaras^ or 

 the Lords of the Drama. 



The Merchants o? MagacTha formed not only a pe- 

 culiar class, but also a particular tribe, called the Ma- 

 gadlil tribe. It seems, that they were bold, enter- 

 prising, and at the same time cautious and circum- 

 spect : hence they are said to be merchants by the 

 father's, and warriors by the mother's side, according 

 to Mr. Coleerooke's account of the llindu Classes. 

 According to the Vishnu-pura'n'a, the kings of 

 Magad'lia originally resided at a place called Giri- 

 Vrqja, or Giri-Braja. Vraja is synonymous with 

 GirosHA, a herdsman, also the abode of a herdsman: 

 and being situated in the hills, it was called Giri- 

 vraja. From that circumstance, tlie kings of Ma- 

 gadlia were, till a very late period, called Vraja-balas, 

 or rather, in the spoken dialects, Vraja-icalds, or 

 Braja-xvalas, distorted afterwards by Musidman 

 writers, into Birdaoval., according to IIerbelot, and 

 Birdawal according to Abuli'eda ; wliosays, that it 

 was also the name of their metropolis. Giri-Braja 

 was situated in the province of South Bahar, among 

 the mountains of *S'ii'zVY/, now called the Rqja-gir, or 

 the Royal mountains : but m.ore probably the real 

 name was Ra'jagriha, from a place of that name, 

 implying the Royal abode. It is erroneously written, 

 in Major Rem n ell's atlas, Rargiara. This is ac- 

 knowledged to have been one of their places of 

 abode : lor they say, that the royal throne was at 

 a place called Asana, above Gaijd., on the river Balga, 

 now Fulgo, called Cacuthis, by Arrian. Asana signi- 

 fies a Royal seat, or throne : and Ptolemy mentions, 

 also, a place of that name, Asana mltra^ or the de- 

 stroyed thione. It is called Pracjijotisha in the 

 Purcuias, and its remains are near Go-hdti, on the 

 frontiers of Assam. 



