^36 ESSAY ON 



KHA'N. According to some, a prince of the royal 

 family, in the province oi Lar or Laristan^ embarked 

 with 18,000 of his subjects, and landed, at three 

 different places, near Surat, and in the gulf of Cam- 

 bat. This prince was a S'jn of Nushirva'n; and 

 the emigration took place in consequence of a violent 

 persecution fronv Abu-becr. 



Anotlier account states, that they were all secretly 

 conveyed on board sliips, and thus committed to the 

 sea without pilots ; and they all landed safely near 

 Surat, where they were kindly received by the king 

 of that country *. These various accounts are current 

 in the western parts of India; and there is probably 

 some truth in every one of them. 



There are some inaccuracies in these accounts; 

 first, Abu-Becr's conquests never reached beyond 

 Chalcka ; and of course, he could not by any means, 

 be the cause of this emigration, during a short reign 

 of two years. Besides, 1 8,000 men are certainly too 

 great a number to come by sea, especially as it is 

 added, that they had only seven ships. The Hindu 

 accounts mention only eighteen individuals, including 

 a camel, from whom a tribe of Mahratas is de- 

 scended. These seventeen men were flung secretly 

 into the sea, and were drowned. Their corpses were 

 wafted to the shores of India, and there brought to 

 life again, some by Parasu'-Ra'ma, and others by a 

 magician : for the Hindus could not handle this his- 

 torical event, without new modelling it as usual, 

 after their own way. The first emigration is asserted 

 in general, to have happened in the beginning of the 

 seventh century -j". This induces me to think, that 

 these seventeen persons were the sons of Khosru- 



* History of the East Indies, by Capt. Cope, p. 244; 

 i See Mandelslo and others. 



