from the Ancient Books, of the Hindus. 459 



a rigorous adherence to truth. Lu b dh ac'a was appointed regent of Sirius, 

 which is called the yoga {tar; his body is chiefly in our Greater Dog, and 

 his arrow feems to extend from fi in that afterifm to * in the knee of Orion,. 

 the three flars in whofe neck are the lunar manfion Mrigajiras, or the bead 

 of the male antelope, who is reprefented looking round at the archer j the 

 three liars in the belt are the females, and thofe in the fword, their young 

 progeny; Maha'de'va, that he might be near his favourites, placed 

 himfelf, it is faid, in the next lunar irjanflon A'rdra, his head being the 

 bright liar in the moulder of Orion, and his body including thofe in the 

 arm with feveral fmaller Mars in the gahxy. The fan of Lubdhaca fuc- 

 ceeded him on earth, and his lineal defendants yet reign, fays the author 

 of the Pururiy on the delightful banks of the Crijhnd. 



This legend proves a very material fac\ that the Pallis and Cirdtas 

 were originally the fame people; it feems to indicate a reformation in fome 

 of the religious tenets and habits of the nations bordering on the, Crijlind; 

 and the whole appears connected with the famous Egyptian period regu- 

 lated by the heliacal riling of Sirius: the river here mentioned I fuppofe to 

 be the fmaller Crijl:nd, or the Sin's of the ancients, fo named, as well as 

 the province of Sire, from the word Seir, which means a dog, fays Mr. 

 Bruce, in the language of that country. The conftellations of Orion 

 and the two Dogs point at a fimilar ftory differently told; but the name of 

 Lubdhaca feems changed by the Greeks into Labdagus; for fince, like the 

 ancient Indians, they applied to their new fettlements the hiftory and fables 

 of their primitive country, they reprefent Labdacus as the grandfon of 

 Cadmus, the fon of Polydorus, (for fo they were pleafed to difguifc 

 the name) and the father of Lai us : now Cadmus, as we have mown-, 

 was Cardame'swara, or Maha'de'va, and Polydorus, or Polydo- 



Kkk 2. 



