117 



jESSAY IV. 

 VICRA]\[A'DITYA and SALIVA MA'NA: 



THEIR RESPECTIVE ERAS, 



With an Account of th« 



BALA-RAYAS OR BALHAR EMPERORS. 



XHE two periods of Vicram adit y a and 'Sa'li-va'^ 

 HAN A are intimately connected ; and the accounts 

 >ve have of these two extraordinary personages are 

 much confused, teeming with contradictions and ab- 

 surdities, to a surprising degree. Their history is to 

 be found in tlie Vicrama-cJmritra^ the Sinhhana-Dwd- 

 tri?is'ati, and the Vetdla-pancha-vinsati^ which have 

 been translated from the Sanscrit into all the dialects 

 ■of India ; and the two last tracts are sections of the 

 VrViat-cafhd. The Vicrama-charitra is very scarce 

 in the Gangetic provinces : but this deficiency is 

 abundantly supplied, by ample extracts from that 

 book, communicated to the Society, by JMajor 

 Mackenzie of the Madras establishment. In o-e- 

 neral, the Hindus know but of one Vicrama'ditya ; 

 but the learned acknowledoe four ; and when, at mv 

 request, they produced written authorities, I was 

 greatly surprised to find no less than eight or nine. 

 Those wlio reckon four heroes of that name, agree 

 only about two. The first Vicrama Avas he, after 

 whom the period is denominated : the second is 

 Raja' Bho'ja. Some suppose that'SALivAHANA was 

 one of them, and that the fourth was the son of 

 Bho'ja ; whilst others insist that this last was 

 either Jaya-chaxdra, or Prithwi'-Ra'ja, who fell 

 in the great war against the Alahdhhdtadicas, or 

 Musulmans,mX\iQy^7i.\' 1192. Every Vicrama'ditya 

 ' I 3 



