164 Discovery of the name of Antiochus the Great, [Feb. 



Now it is not by any means improbable that the Jon a (or Yona) here 

 introduced as a rival to Asoka, may be the identical Yona raja, men- 

 tioned in the edict before us, or in other words, Antiochus himself; 

 although it is certainly true that the Persian historian goes on to give a 

 circumstantial account of his reigning at Canouj for a long time, with 

 indefatigable attention to the police of the country and the peopling and 

 cultivation of the waste tracts of Hindustan ! Yona is placed 260 years 

 before Christ, and is stated to have made a present of elephants and a 

 vast quantity of gold and jewels to Ardeshir, who claimed tribute from 

 the empire of India. This seems to be, mutato nomine, a repetition of 

 the story given by Polybius, for, independently of the anachronism, it is 

 hardly probable that the Arsacidae, themselves tributary to Syria, should 

 have yet mustered courage to exact the like respect from their powerful 

 neighbours. 



I think the edict furnishes a satisfactory solution of the difficulty, 

 by enabling us to erase Yona from the Indian list, and to transfer him 

 either to Syria or to some principality of the Bactrian Greeks who are 

 acknowledged to have held sway in the upper part of India. 



As for the Pauranic histories of the Hindus, all I need say is, that if 

 any thing can tend to persuade the brahmanical pandits of the erroneous 

 basis on which their chronology rests, and the necessity of seeking its 

 explanation (which I do not deem at all impossible) it will be this dis- 

 covery of a coincidence between our histories and these sculptured monu- 

 ments in their own language, which cannot have been tampered with, 

 and cannot be suspected of giving false testimony on such a matter. 



The best accounts however of the early occurrences of Indian history 

 are to be sought in the Buddhist annals. Let us see what light they 

 throw on the term Yona, 



In Mr. Turnour's introduction to the Muhdwamo (which I have 

 only this moment seen through the kindness of Dr. Bland of the Wolf) 

 I find these words : " In regard to the geographical identification of 

 the Yona country, I am of opinion that we shall have to abandon past 

 speculations on the similarity of the names " Yona" and " Yavana" 

 and the consequent inference that the Yavanas were the Greeks of 

 Bactriana; — as yona is stated to be mentioned long anterior to Alexan- 

 der's invasion in the ancient Pali works. The term in that case can 

 have no connection with the Greeks." Now on turning to the only 

 two passages indicated in the glossary ; I find that the first relates to the 



unknown in the Puranas : — neither are Koderz and Terasi, known as kings of 

 Persia of that period. The former resembles much the Kodes of our Bactrian 

 eoins : the latter may be Tiridates (B. C. 253). 



