1835] Copper-plate grants from Gujerdt. 483 



gained the supremacy, all the historical hooks in existence, which 

 related facts anterior to the Musalman conquest; and we certainly do 

 not find in the Daktian, and other countries which have been long 

 under their exclusive influence, any thing whatever prior to that 

 period ; whereas, on the contrary, the Jainas have treasured up in their 

 libraries, every historical legend and fragment that could be preserved 

 by them. 



May it not be inferred, that the brahmans, sensible of the great 

 changes introduced by themselves to serve their own avaricious pur- 

 poses, in the Hindu worship, at the sera of the Musalman conquest, 

 neglected the preservation of the historical works which then existed ; 

 for as no king of their own faith remained, and their nobles and 

 learned men must have lost their power and influence, no one was 

 left who took any interest in their preservation ; and it appears pro- 

 bable, that at such period, the Purdnas were altered, and the novel 

 practices now existing introduced, to enable these wily priests still to 

 extort from the superstition of the people, what they had formerly 

 enjoyed by the pious munificence of their own kings. 



The Jainas indeed assert, that the Purdnas are mere historical works; 

 that Parasurama, Ramachandra, Krishna, &c. were merely great 

 kings, who reigned in Oude and other places, and have not the slight- 

 est pretensions to divinity. 



It may tend to confirm this theory, when we consider, that all the 

 great reformers of the Hindu religion, whose doctrines and whose 

 expositions of that faith are now followed, flourished about the same 

 period when India was thrown into confusion by the invasions of 

 those ferocious and fanatical barbarians, the Arabs, the Turks*, and 

 Afghans, or from five to eight hundred years back ; Sanxara A'cha'rya, 

 Valabha A'charya, and Ramanuja A'charya, are all supposed to 

 have lived between those periods. 



The great Hindu sovereignties falling to pieces, it became impossi- 

 ble to perform sacrifices requiring such prodigious expendituref, the 

 kings of foreign faith, no longer ruling by the Shastras, no check 

 existed to the intermixture of castes : hence the Warna Sankara ; 

 the Kshetriyas overcame, and fleeing from their foes, emigrated into 

 various parts, laid down the warlike profession, and engaged in civil 

 and commercial pursuits : hence the present Kshetri, the Prabhi, 



* By Turks, T mean natives of Central Asia. 



t Such as Asvamedha, &c, notwithstanding the assertions of the brahmans 

 that these sacrifices of the horse, &c. have been abolished in this Kali-yuga, we 

 find instances of their performances recorded in inscriptions of 800 years and 

 later date. 



