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78: i ESSAY ON THE-." ;:^ ■ ' / • : ■ 



ill the eighth degree of lineal descent from Swayambhuva, Adam o? 

 pROTOGONus, as I shall prove hereafter from tlie Purdnm. Twashta' 

 was the grand father of Maga, and of the present Manu ; both answer^ 

 ifig: to Magus and Amynus descended from Tjlcknites, according to 

 Sanc.honiatkoNo From Magus and Amynus 'Were desc^aded M.isor 

 ^nd Sydic, the father of the Bioscuri, ^Cabiri^nd Corybantes, one of 

 whom was; called ^^sculapius, .or Esmunus'. . These tv/o -names, in Saur' 

 5i;nt,#.re nearly synonymous ; AsVi^cula»pa, AsVa-cula-pa and As-va* 

 i^a'n, from his being priginally.de.scended from ^^'^^ or Asvi\ a mare.o 

 According to Apoi^lodorus,Thyesjes, (or Tv/askta',) was the father of 

 Leda, the mother of the (Aswinau or) Dioscuri, According to Acesilaus 

 thQArgim.y as cite^ byiSTKABo, the Cabiri were the grandrsons of Vul- 

 can, otherwise called Teghnites (or Twashta'). Many learned men are 

 of opinion lihdil \he Telchines are the same with .the Corybantes and Cabiri: 

 and if not the same, it ^pp.e;^rs, that .they were related to them. The 

 Teldiines were famed for their skill in forging and yv^orking of metals t 

 they moreover ex^ercised themselves in charms, spells and divinations, like 

 Tv^ashta', who was not only conversant with the three principal Vedas, 

 but also With the At'Iiarvana-V eda, a most complete system of incanta- 

 tioqs and magical devices. Bad'hyach taught this Veda particularly, 

 with the three others, to the Aswinau or Dioscuri, the grand-sons of 

 Twashta'. He taught -also Yisva^rupa or Twa'shtra ; that is to say, the 

 son of Twashta', and his son Abhuti. Thus the sacred Ycdas were 

 orally handed down to Vya'sa, who first presun^ed to write them in a 

 book J and was contemporary with Maga, who was sent for by 'Sa'riba the 

 son of CRisHifA. There appears an inepnsistency in the Pi^ri^V*^^ ; for 

 Maga was the child of the sun, by Surehuh^ dgpghtey of Twashta', in 

 the eighth generation from Adaaj, and of course before the flood; and 



