from the Ancient Books of the Hindus. 327 



cara. At the time of that prodigious intumefcence in the river it is laid, 

 that Prometheus was king of Egypt; but Prometheus appears to be 

 no other than Pramat'he'sa, a title of Mrira, fignifying Lord of the 

 Pramai'has, who, are fuppofed to be the five fen fes j and, in that character, 

 he is believed to have formed a nee of men, Stephanus of Byzantium 

 and EusTATHius(tf) afTert, that Aetus was an Indian or Hindu-, but, as no* 

 thing like this can be collecled from the Parana:, they confounded, I ima- 

 gine, It or Ait with Yadu, of which I fhall inftantly fpeak. The chief 

 ftation of It, or Altam\ which coulJ no*: have been very diflant from Mn- 

 raftlmn, I take to be the celebrated pl.ici of worlhip, mentioned by Stra- 

 bo (Z»)i and by Diodorus called Avatum (c), which was near Meroe : it 

 was the fame, I believe >; with the Ta'.bis of Ptolemy and Tutu of Pliny, 

 filiated in an ifland, which, according to Mr. B^uce, is at prefent known' 

 by thz nunc of Kurgos, and which was (o neap Meroe &s to form a kind 

 of- harbour for it. 



Tje origin of the Ydtiis is thus related. Ugrase'na, ©tUgra,, was 

 father of De'vaci\ who was Crishna's mother; his fonCANSA, having im- 

 pr Toned him> and ufurped his throne, became a mercilefs tyrant, and mow- 

 ed a particular animoiity agaraffc his kinfmen the Yddavas, or defcendants of 

 Yadu, to whom, when any of them approached him, he ufed to fay ydtu, 

 or be gone, fo repeatedly, that they acquired the nickname of Ydtu, inftead 

 of the refpectable patronymick, by which they had been diftinguifhed. 

 Cansa made feveral attempts to deftroy the "children- of De'vaci v ; but 

 Crishna, having been preferved from his machinations, lived to kill the 

 tyrant and reftore Ugrase'na, who became a fovereign of the world. Dii- 



(a) On Dionys. U«>i\\y. 

 [b) Strabo B. 17. /. 82 3. (c) Diod. Sic. B. 4. C. 



