•94 HISTORY OF CASHMIR. 



hadeo appeared to him, and assented to his prayers for the extirpation of 

 Jalacleo. Mahadeo accordingly sent his servants Vishnu and Brahma 

 to expel the demon. Vishnu was engaged in the conflict 100 years, when 

 finding that the mud and water afforded a secure retreat to the Deo, he at 

 last made the chasm at Baramouleh, by which the waters were drained off, 

 the demon exposed, taken and slain, and the country recovered and ren- 

 dered habitable ; being thence called Cashef-Sir, or the mountain of Cashef, 



No. II. 



Snake worship in Cashmir, 

 We have frequent occasion to notice the important figure which snakes 



and snake deities make in the worship and traditionary history of Cash- 

 mir. The extent and permanence of the superstition we may learn 

 from Abulfazl, who observes, that in seven hundred places there are carv- 

 ed figures of snakes, which they worship. Ay. Ac. ii. 148. His statement 

 is in fact taken from the text of Punya Bhatta : for its being as old as 

 the age of Alexander, we have what may be regarded as sufficient, though 

 indirect testimony ; for Onesicritus, as quoted by Strabo, avers, that 

 Abisarus, who we shall hereafter see is a misnomer for Cashmir, or a 

 part of it, is said by his embassadors to cherish two enormous dragons, 

 Trcip' & 3oo 6pa.Koviag awr\yysKhw oi nap ctulou wp'sa-^ig Tf s$ ?er&et* tov [xsv 6yhr t xovlin 

 tttjxcSv, rov U revl a. fdxov] a, 7rfi$ rot's ixdrlv, log hprjxpv, 'Ovrjtrixptlos: 



Apud quern, Abisamm, legati ab eo missi, nunciaverunt, duos dracones 

 nutriri, alteram octoginta cubitorum longitudine, alterum centum et qua- 

 driginta, ut Onesicritus refert. The Oxford editor judiciously observes on 

 this passage; "Serpentes in India nonnulli pedes 30 longitudine eequant ; 

 nulli autem superant. Quo circa haec legatorum relatio, ad cultum Idola- 

 tricum referre videtur, nam Idola esse magnitudinis vere mirabilis, in tern- 

 plis Indorum constat. Exinde Dfacones esse ingentes figuras in templis 

 suspicor, et legati vel vivos existire finxefunt, vel Macedones eorum Lin- 



