FROM BENARES. 457 



which Jaya Chandra's army was totally routed ; he himself was obliged to 

 flee, and in attempting to cross the ganges in a small boat, was drowned. 



19. Sesha; to understand this passage it is necessary to suppose the 

 large mountain Mandara fixed on the back of a tortoise and pulled back- 

 wards and forwards by two opposite parties, thereby making an indenta- 

 tion on the tortoise's back: the story to which the passage alludes is thus 

 told: — The earth rests on the hoods of the serpent Sesha, beneath whom, 

 at a considerable distance, is the Kurma, or tortoise; when the mountain 

 Mandara was removed into the ocean by the deities and infernals in order 

 to churn for the amrita or liquor of immortality, it sunk : they were sorely 

 afflicted and Narayana from compassion having assumed the form of a tor- 

 toise uplifted and supported it. The gods and infernals then using Vasuki 

 as a cable, churned the ocean, with the mountain Mandara, the continued 

 friction of which, indenting the part of the tortoise's back on which it rest- 

 ed, caused a rim. 



20. The preceptor of the gods ; he is the son of Angiras. 



21. A particular class of demigods. 



22. The manes of ancestors. 



23. The moon is named Oshadhipati, "the lord of plants (annual.") 



24. Vasudeva, a name of Krishna. 



25. The grant was made to one of the Rajputra tribe, as is fully proved 

 by the term Varma peculiarly applied to that tribe. This is in direct viola- 

 tion of every precept; for all grants of land ought to be made to Brah- 

 manas exclusively. It must be supposed in order to obviate the apparent 



Fff 



