lis ESSAY ON^ 



is made to wage war against an antagonist called 

 Sa'liva'hana, Sa'laba'n, and often denominated 

 Nristnha, Na'ge'ndra, &c. except one, whose oppo- 

 nent's name was Maha-bhat, and that of his fol- 

 lowers Mahdbhdtadicas, that is to say Muhammed 

 and the Muhammedans. 



Vicramaditya made a desperate tapasija, in 

 order to obtain power and a long life from Ca'li'- 

 de'vi', and as she seemingly continued deaf to his 

 intreaties, he was going to cut off his own head, 

 when Jie appeared, and granted him undisturbed 

 sway over all the world for 1000 years, after which a 

 divine c])ild, born of a virgin and the son of the 

 great Tacshaca, carpenter or artist, would deprive 

 him both of his kingdom and of his life. Such are 

 the words of the Vkrama-charifra : and in the Cunui- 

 ricd-chaiida it- is said, that tins would happen in the 

 year of the Cali-yuga 3101, answering to the first 

 of the Christian era. Thus, Vicrama'ditya 

 reigned for 1000 years nearly unmolested, in the en- 

 joyment of every rationed pleasure, and never trou- 

 bling himself about his latter end ; till, recollecting 

 the prophecies about th's wonderful child, and that 

 the time for their being fulftlied was near at hand, he 

 grew very uneasy, and sent people all over the world, 

 to find him out, that he might destroy him : and 

 having discovered the place of his abode, he ad- 

 vanced at ti.e head of an immense army, but was de- 

 feated, and lost his life, by the hand of this divine 

 child, who was then fi\c vears of asje. 



Tlie history of these nine worthies, but more par- 

 ticularly I'hen considered as a single individual, is a 

 most crude and undigested mass of heterogeneous 

 legends, taken from the apocryphal gospel of the 

 infancy of Christ, the tales of the llabbis and Tal- 

 inudists concerning Solomon, with some particulars 

 about Muhammed ; and the whole is jumbled to^^e- 



