m HISTORY OF CASHMIR. 



been overlooked by the original authority. We also have nothing in the 

 Sanscrit text here, respecting tin colony of Brahmins, whom Abulfazl 

 says, he introduced into the province, and from which it might be inferred 

 that he then introduced the Brahmanical religion, an event that probably 

 occurred, as we shall see, at a subsequent period ; the worship in Cashmir, 

 being in the mean time apparently that of the Ndgas or snake Gods;* a su- 

 perstition of very obvious occurrence, amongst the rude inhabitants of a 

 country, recently recovered from the waters, and consequently abounding 

 with the venomous reptiles common to slimy and marshy places.f 



Prom the period of the first settlement of Cashmir to the reign of Goner- 

 da, the first prince whose name has been recorded, the country was govern- 

 ed by a succession of 52 kings of the Caurava family, whose reigns formed 

 a period of 1266 years ; % these princes were not worthy of record, says our Hin- 

 du author, on account of their disregard of the precepts of the Vedas, and 

 their impure and vicious lives ; and he assigns a better reason for their being 

 forgotten, did they ever indeed exist, in this expression, c^n? ^tffT^TRrei 

 SRX^^ff^h^! which we may employ Horace to translate, Illacrymabiles 

 urgeutur ignotique longa node, carent quiavate sacro. 



The blank thus left in the history by the Hindu writer, is partly filled 

 up by Mohammedan authority, and we may therefore here desert our usual 



* See Appendix, No. 2. 



f With respect to the Leader of the colony, Dr. Hamilton correctly observes, much confu- 

 sion prevails, arising probably from different persons being designated by the name Casyapa, 

 He has endeavoured to distinguish three of the names. 1st. " CasyapaMuni son of MariCHJ.; 

 2nd. Kasyapa married to the daughter of Dacsha, also named Ta'rkshya, who led a colony 

 of civilized people into Cashmir. And 3d. Kasyapa married to the daughters of Vaiswanara, 

 grandson of the preceding." — Genealogies of the Hindus. There is reason to fear however that this 

 distinction can scarcely be made out on original authority. Dr. Hamilton's chronology would 

 rather confirm the assertion of the text that it was the son of Marichi who colonised Cashmir, 

 for he places this sage in the 20th century before the Christian JEra, and it appears not unlike- 

 ly that Cashmir was colonised about that period. 



| So also the Ayin Acberi : the author of the Wakiat Cashmir cites Hindu authority, fof 

 & Series of 55 Princes and a period of 1919 years. 



