136 ESSAY ON 



regeneration. He was kindly received by Vicrama'- 

 DiTYA, who being old and decrepit, wished very 

 much to be regenerated. Samudra pa'la complied 

 with his wishes; and, as there was a stout young 

 man just dead, he directed the old king to send his 

 own soul into that corpse, and showed him how to 

 do it. Vicrama'ditya did so, and the young man 

 revived immediately, to the great astonishment of the 

 multitude. In the mean time, Samudra-pa'la con- 

 veyed his own soul into the body of the king; and, 

 in that old and decrepit frame, he contrived to main- 

 tain himself, for the space of ,55 years, or more cor- 

 rectly 54 years, two months, and twenty days ; and 

 thas governed the country, with unlimited sway, in 

 the shape and character of Vicrama'ditya. These 

 55 years being added to the 90 years of Vicrama's 

 life or reign, the sum, 145, is exactly the difference 

 between the eras of Vicrama, and 'Sa'liva'hana, 

 in the Dekliin ; for, in the northern parts of hidiay 

 they reckon only 135 years. This new'SA'ijvA- 

 HANA, or rather his disciple, or follower, if he ever 

 existed, died in the year 335 : for this second Vi- 

 crama, or 'SuDRACA, as he is called in the Cumd- 

 ricd chanda, ascended the Imperial throne in the yeai* 

 of Christ I9I : but in Raghuna't'h's list, this 

 event took place In the year t9\. That there is an 

 error of 100 years is obvious, on the authority of the 

 above section of the Scanda-purdna, and also from 

 the particulars in the same list. There it is declared, 

 that the succession of tiie Hindu princes ended in 

 the year of the Cal'i-yuga 4116, answering to that of 

 Christ IOI6; but the particulars give 4216; and, 

 by retrenching these 100 }'ears, the aggregate sums, 

 resulting from the subordinate periods, perfectly 

 agree with the general one, as given at full length in 

 the list. These subordinate periods become also pro- 

 portionate tooneanother, fromMAiiA'sALi's accession 

 to the throne, ^55 B. C. down to the year 101 6 of 



