128 ESSAY ON 



a fourth, he saw, in the house of VisVacarma, a 

 beautiful damsel, daughter of Calinga-s'eni, king* 

 of Stambhasta, (now Cambcit^ or Cambay,) in Calhiga- 

 des'a. He sent a trusty man to demand her of her 

 father, who refused his consent: butViCRAMA'DiTYA 

 sent one of his attending spirits, who soon obliged 

 him to comply. 



This is, it seems, the Vicrama'ditya who ob- 

 tained a famous boon from Indra, in favour of his 

 favourite country Mdlava, that it should never be 

 visited bv drouoht. In his time there had been no 

 rain for twelve years, owing to San'i, (or Saturn,) 

 passing into the house of'SucRA, (or Venus,) in 

 vRisiiA, (or Taurus,) through the S'acaia-bheda, (or 

 section of the wain,) in Rohini, (or the stars near 

 Aldebaran). In the time of Da'sarat'iia, Saturn, 

 the offspring of the Sun, attempting to go through 

 this path, was prevented by Das'arat'iia, and hurled 

 down into a country which he set on fire, and it 

 was, from that circumstance, called Barbara. 



In the Sinhhana-dxvatrinsati, the twenty-fourth sta- 

 tue is introduced, giving to king Bhoja an account of 

 VicRAMA, and of 'Sa'liva'uan'a. There was, in 

 Purandarpura, a rich merchant, who, before he died, 

 gave to every one of his four sons an earthen pot, 

 sealed, with injunctions not to open it till after his 

 decease. When opened, the first was found to con- 

 tain nothing but earth ; the second, coala; the third, 

 bones; and the fourth, bran. Vicrama was applied 

 to for an explanation, but neither he nor any body 

 else could explain this enigma. The four sons 

 went afterwards to Pralisht'an'a, and neither tlic 

 king nor any body else there could give them an 

 answer; but there was a wonderful child who 

 did. There were two Brahmens, who had a sister, 

 who lived with them in a slate of widowhood, 

 her husband having died whilst she was yet very 



