522 Buddhist Chronology. [Sept. 



however, from the present capital, which is attributed to a much later monarch. In 

 the reign of As6ka, Cashmir was overrun by the Mlech'has, for whose expulsion 

 the king obtained from Siva a pious and valiant son, as a reward for the auste- 

 rities he had practised *." 



" Ja'loka, the son and successor of As6ka, was a prince of great prowess : 

 he overcame the assertois of the Bauddha heresies, and quickly expelled the 

 Mlech'has from the country, thence named Ujjhita dimba : he then carried his 

 victorious arms to foreign regions, and amongst others to the north of Persia, 

 which he subjugated in the reign of Darab, and then proceeding in an opposite 

 direction, he subdued the country of Canouj." 



" The successor of this celebrated monarch was Damodara, of whose descent 

 various opinions were entertained." 



" Damodara was succeeded by three princes who divided the country, and 

 severally founded capital cities named after themselves. These princes were 

 called Hushka, Jushka, and Canishka, and these appellations are strongly 

 corroborative of an assertion of our author, that they were of Turushka, that is, 

 of Turk or Tartar extraction : they are considered as synchronous, but may 

 possibly be all that are preserved of some series of Tartar princes, who, it is 

 very likely, at various periods, established themselves at Cashmir. The chief 

 event recorded of their reign is the foundation of the three several capitals, 

 named after themselves, but another and more important consequence of their 

 sovereignty is said to have been the almost entire change of the national faith, 

 and the nearly exclusive prevalence of the doctrines of the Bauddhas under a 

 Bodhisatwa or heirarch named Na'ga'rjuna. The period at which this took 

 place is said to have been 150 years before the death of Sa'kya Sinha." 



" The Tartar princes were succeeded by Abhimanya, a monarch evidently 

 of a Hindu appellation, and a follower of the orthodox faith, which he re- 

 established in Cashmir." 



In elucidation of the date assigned to the age in which Na'ga'r- 

 juna lived, Professor Wilson adds the following appendix. The 

 Sanscrit quotation, which (if I have correctly read it) is here repre- 

 sented in Roman, is there given in Deva-nagari characters. 



* The faith of As6ka is a matter of very little moment, as the prince himself 

 is possibly an ideal personage : as, however, the comparative antiquity of the 

 Buddha and Brahminical creeds in Cashmir has been supposed to be affected 

 by it, and the events subsequently recorded, it may be advisable to give the 

 passages of the original, which shew that As6ka was a worshipper of Siva : it 

 is not impossible, however, if we are to attach credit to any part of this portion 

 of theCashmirian history, that he permitted heretical, possibly Bauddha doctrines, 

 to be introduced into the kingdom during his reign from his Tartar neighbours. 



"Then the prince As6ka, the lover of the truth, obtained the earth ; who 

 sinning in subdued affections, produced the Jena Sasana." This may mean 

 possibly something very different from the received idea, and may imply his 

 neglect of affairs of state through excess of devotion, and his consequently omit- 

 ting to prevent the intrusion of a foreign power, rather than a foreign faith, 

 into the kingdom, the expulsion of which was the object of his son's birth. — 

 fJNote by Professor Wilson.] 



