1855.] On the Epoch of the Gupta Dynasty. 381 



" 11 eut pour successeur son fils Fa-che-lo (Vadjra), qui, plus loin 

 au nord, construisit un autre couvent. 



" Quelque temps apres, un roi de ¥ Iude centrale batit a cote 

 un autre couvent. 



" De cette maniere, six rois, qui monterent successivement sur le 

 trone, se livrerent chacun a de pieuses constructions. Le dernier 

 de ces rois entoura tous ces couvents d'une enceinte de murs en 

 briques et les reunit en un seul. pp. 149, 3 50 * # 



# * # Dans le sejour de tous ces hommes vertueux, regnaient 

 naturellement des habitudes graves et severes ; aussi, depuis sept 

 cents ans que ce couvent existe, nul homme n'a jamais enfreint les 

 regies de la discipline." — p. 152. 



Having now shewn how baseless Major Cunningham's whole 

 fabric is, I need scarcely occupy myself with the adventitious sup- 

 ports with which he designs to give it strength ; but it may be 

 instructive to examine his reasoning on these lesser matters, in 

 order that the public may still further judge of the soundness of 

 the conclusions of an antiquarian guide it might otherwise be 

 disposed to rely upon. 



First in order of these subordinate aids is placed certain vague 

 information contributed by Ma-twan-Un, regarding the power of the 

 Indo-Scythians having survived in India till A. D. 222 — even sup- 

 posing our authority to be trustworthy in the general assertion, we 

 require a much more specific exposition of the geographical limits 

 to be assigned to the Chinese idea of "India" — we have already 

 seen it used somewhat loosely by this same author, and it is quite 

 in accord with probability that successors of Scythians may have 

 continued to reign in various outlying kingdoms of India or even 

 in isolated portions of India Proper until long after the 3rd century 

 A. D. ; I freely adverted to these points in my previous essay, and 

 moreover quoted a curious passage from M. Pauthier, which if borne 

 out — would materially shake all hitherto-received opinions as to 

 the connexion between the Guptas and the Indo-Scythians. 



I remarked — "It is clear that in some divisions of Northern 

 India, the Tochari, or Tue-Chi, continued to furnish Scythic oppo- 

 nents for the occasional display of heroism on the part of the indi- 

 genous monarchs until at least the early portion of the 3rd century 



3 d 2 



