HISTORY OF CASHMIR. 11 



guide, to contemplate the series of monarchs, derived from another source, 

 According to Bedia ad-din, after the settlement of the country by Suliman, 

 he left the sovereignty to his cousin, Isaun, who reigned over CasA/mY twen- 

 ty-five years, and was succeeded by his son 



2. Cassalgham, who fixed his capital at Islamabad and reigned nineteen 

 years. 



3. MAHERKAzhis son succeeded and reigned thirty years ;&eing childless, 

 |ie adopted for his son and successor 



4. Bandu or Pandu-khan The birth of this prince was miraculously effect- 

 ed, his mother becoming pregnant from bathing in a reservoir or tank : his 

 death was equally marvellous, as upon bailing himself in the same reservoir, 

 he dissolved, and returned to the element whence he sprang : he is said to 

 have haJ a most numerous offspring, and to have seen in his life time, no 

 fewer t'tan fifteen thousand descendants : these were the Pandavas, after* 

 Wards so celebrated in Indian History. 



We may here piuse to notice the concurrence of this account, with that 

 which we have already extracted from Hindu authority, of tli3 subjection 

 of Cashmir to a long series of Caurava princes, as these are in the rsiima- 

 tion of tho Hindus, the offspring of a common ancestor, and virtually the 

 same with the Pandava race. This position of the family in the north west of 

 India, is referred to in many works, and ihe chief scene of their early exploits 

 is ihe Punjab, and its vicinity ; and these traditions therefore although much 

 embarrassed by uncertainty and fiction, seem to support the idea th »t this 

 part of India was the native seat of the Pandavas. Besides the posi- 

 tive assertions to this effect in the history of Cashmir, I find, that in an unfi- 

 nished manuscript essay by Colonel Wilford, and liberally put into my 

 hands by that eminent scholar, he has also particularised Cashmir as the 

 birth place of the Pandavas upon Hindu authority, and we find in classical 

 .authors* the realm or city of Panda, or of the Pandav as, in a similar directi- 

 on, although not precisely the same position : < t the same time, it is true, that 



* Appendix, No. 3. 

 J3 3 



