from the Ancient Books of the Hindus. 423 



that pan of the Delta, which had been peopled by a Colony from Miletus ;. 

 and was, probably, the Milefian wall or fort near the fea-fhore, mentioned 

 by Strabo. 



The ufurper was Succeeded by Ishte'na's, thereal fonof Pi't'he'na's, 

 who had alfo a daughter named Pait'he'ni'; and her ftory isrelated 

 thus in the Brahmdnda-puran. From her earlieft youth me was diftin- 

 gufhed for piety, especially towards Maha'deVa, on whom her heart 

 was ever intent; and, at the- great festival, when all the nation reforted to 

 Cardamafiha!i\ or Thebes, the princefs never failed to ling and dance be- 

 fore the image of Cardame'swara : the goddefs IswARTwas fo pleafed 

 with her behaviour, that me made Paithe'n'i her Sadbi, or female com- 

 panion ; and the damfel ufed to dance thrice a day in the mud before the 

 gate of the temple, but with fuch lightnefs and addrefs as never to foil her 

 mantle. She died a virgin, having devoted her life to the fervice of the 

 god and his confcrt. The female patronyrnick Pait'he'ni comes from 

 PitV or Pit'he'na, but from Pit*he'na's the derivative form would be 

 Paithe'nasiY and thence Nonnus calls her Peithianassa, and de- 

 fcribes her as a handmaid of Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, in 

 which character me received Juno, (a) who was devifing the ruin of Se- 

 mele, and with that intent had aifumed the form of a loquacious nurfe : 

 t?his paffage in the Dionyfiacks is- very interefting, as it proves, in my opi- 

 nion, that the Semele and Cadmus of the Greeks were the fame with the 

 Sya v mala s and Cardama of the Hindus. 



The fourteenth prince of this dynafty was devoted from his infancy to 

 the worfhip of I'swara, on whom his mind was perpetually fixed, {o 



(«) Dionyfiac. B. 8. v. 193. 



