58 ESSAY ON 



nature, that no mode of expiation for it could be 

 found in the ritual. Chanacya immediately per- 

 formed the Carsha'gni, and went i:o heaven. But 

 the friendly crow was punished for her indiscretion : 

 she was thenceforth, with all her tribe, forbidden to 

 ascend to heaven ; and they were doomed on earth 

 to live upon carrion. 



The Carsha'gne consists in covering the whole 

 body with a thick coat of cow-dung, which, Avhen 

 dry, is set on fire. This mode of expiation, in des- 

 perate cases, was unknown before; but was occasion- 

 ally performed afterwards, and particularly by the 

 famous SAXCAKACHA'iiyA. It seems that Chan- 

 dra gupta, after he was firmly seated on the impe- 

 rial throne, accompanied Chaxacya to the Sucla^ 

 tirfha, in order to get himself purified also. 



This happened, according to the Cumarica-chanda^ 

 after 300 and 10 and 3000 years of the Cali-yuga 

 were elapsed, which would place this event 2 10 years 

 after Christ. The fondness of the Hindus for quaint 

 and obscure expressions, is the cause of many mis- 

 takes» But the ruling epocha of this paragraph is 

 the following : " After three thousand and one hun- 

 dred years of the Cali-yuga are elapsed (or in 3101^ 

 will appear king Saca (or Sa'liva'hana) to re- 

 move wretchedness from the - orld. The first year 

 of Christ answers to 3101 of the Cali-i/iiga, and we 

 may thus correct the above passage : " Of the Cali- 

 yuga, 3100 save 500 and 10 years being elapsed (or 

 2790), then will Cha'nacya go to the Sucla- 

 tirt'har 



This is also confirmed in the GSd and last section 

 of the Agni-purana, in which the expiation of Cha'- 

 nacya is placed 3i2 years before the first year of the 

 rci^n of Saca or S'aliva'iiana, but not of his era. 

 This places this famous expiation 310, or 312 yeaps 



