m HISTORY OF CASHMIR. 



their discovery, and that nobleman privately took home his sister and her 

 son. In the mean time Toramana died in captivity ; on which event the 

 princess, to divert her grief, went, accompanied by her son upon a pilgrim- 

 age to the south : during her absence the king died, after a reign of thirty 

 years and two months. He left no posterity, and the claims of his nephew be- 

 ing unknown, the throne of Cashmir was vacant, and continued so for a 

 short period. 



The ruler of L^^imatthat time was Srinian Hersha Vicramadltjja, who 

 after expelling the Mlechch'has, and destroying theSacas, had established his 

 power and influence throughout India.* In his train was a Brahman named 

 Matrigupta, to whom he was much attached : upon hearing of the vacant 

 situation of the Cashmir throne, and the indecision of the nobles with regard 

 to a successor, he sent the Brahman to them, with a letter from himself, 

 recommending him to their election: they complied with the recommenda- 

 tions of a sovereign, whose commands they felt themselves unable to resist, 

 and crowned MATRiGUPTAt as their king. 



The reign of the Brahman was of limited duration : the death of his 

 powerful protector exposed him to the disaffection of his chief subjects, 



* Who was this prince ? As the enemy of the Sacas, and also from our author's chronology, 

 lie is synchronous with Salivdhana, with whom indeed, notwithstanding a difference in date of 

 135 years, all the Hindu accounts represent him to have been engaged in hostility. We have had 

 a Vicramdditya before him in this history, not the Sacdri as expressly remarked by the historian, 

 and therefore we cannot doubt our author's meaning, although we may question his chronologi- 

 cal correctness, as I shall hereafter endeavour to shew : it ■ is singular that in a very long 

 eulogium on this prince, which I have not thought it necessary to translate, the author never 

 alludes to Salivdhana, nor to any of the literary ornaments usually assigned to Vieramas court. 

 The name Hers HA appears to bear some affinity to Hersha Megha (A. R. ix. 175) father of the 

 Vicrama of the fifth century, in which indeed he may not very improbably be placed. We must 

 however leave these points for the present, as we are not yet prepared for their due discussion. 

 The Mohammedan writers are of no assistance here, as they repeat the name of Bicramajit 

 without any comment on its again occurring. 



f Mater hunt. — Abulfazl. 



