90 On the Ballads and Legends of the Punjab. [No. 1. 



Salivahana may have been called the Aryya Eaja from his autho- 

 rity extending into Ariana or Arya, of which we must remember that 

 the Punjaub (the Western half of it at least) from time to time 

 formed a portion. Salivahana seems to have been master as far as 

 Jullalabad beyond the Khyber. 



Of the birth of Eussaloo and of his early history there remain 

 many fabulous traditions. His father from fear of him kept him 

 whilst young in a subterranean apartment. It therefore does not 

 follow that the son was of the same faith as the father. Eussaloo 

 may have been either a Christian or a Hindoo. But it seems pro- 

 bable that his foes, styled Eakuss, were Boodhists, whom as the per- 

 secutors and murderers of his father, he would naturally have hated. 



One of the most remarkable points in the religion of the Bood- 

 hists is their monastic establishments of both sexes. Another is 

 their use of candles and cows in their religious ceremonies. A third 

 is their practice of hoarding up relics. In all these respects they 

 resemble the Eoman and Greek churches, and it becomes a curious 

 enquiry, whether they derived these remarkable institutions and 

 customs from Christian sects, or whether the Christian sects copied 

 from them ; or whether both borrowed from the Essenes, who appear 

 to have at least practised Monachism previous to the institution of 

 Christianity. It seems to me not improbable that the Manichaeans 

 may be the original founders of Boodhism. That Manes may be 

 the type of the Mooni of the Boodhist and of the Munnoo of the 

 Hindoo. 



The great difficulty attending such a theory is the inscription 

 upon the rocks of Girnar and Dhauli. If the Asoka who engraved 

 these was the grandson of Chundragupta and not a subsequent 

 king of the same name, Boodhism must have preceded Christianity. 

 It is however no uncommon thing to find the same name recurring 

 in the lists of Hindoo kings. Thus in the Eaja Tarangini we have 

 two Domodaras, three Gonardas, two Vibhichamas, two Sunkramas, 

 two Yikramadityas, two Naras : there is also an Asoka who could 

 scarcely have been the great Boodhist king. Moreover although 

 the lists of kings make Asoka grandson of Chundragupta, these 

 lists are not very worthy of dependence. "Wherever the number 

 of kings does not agree with the period, they are supposed to cover 



