SACRED ISLES IN THE WEST. 81 



md this Muni is acknowledged by everybody to be Vy as a. Having made 

 japa in honor of Na ra'yan'a, or having inwardly repeated his sacred 

 names, he flew through the air, to the Cshirodam or White Sea, (amritdsa^ 

 yam,) the abode of amjita ; and performed piijdm honor of the God of 

 Qods, at his own place of abode, (swam'ds'ramam, Suum eremum,) which 

 is the White Island. (For dsrama, m Sanscrit, signifies an uninhabited 

 place, a forest : also the dwelling of an hermit in such a place : and it 

 is of course synonymous with eremus, a. desert, and an hermitage.) 

 According to Luci an, the priests, not only of the Persians, but those 

 of the Parthians, Bactrians, Chorasmians^ Arians, Sacce or Saxons, and 

 other barbarous nations, were" equally called Magi. Indeed all those 

 nations were so many tribes descended from the ''Sac as. 



It was not the intention of the children of Mag a to remain in India; 

 and accordingly they had previously bargained with Garu'da, that he 

 should carry them back to ^Sdcam, as soon as they had completed the ob- 

 je6l of their mission. To this Garu^da agreed : but Jara-Sand'ha, king 

 and lord paramount of India at that time, and whose capital city was Rd- 

 jagriha, in South Bahar, prevailed on them to come to him, to perform 

 certain religious rites, and to teach him, as well as the priests in his domi- 

 nions, the true worship of the sun. They agreed to it, and when they had 

 acquitted themselves of their promise to the king, they wanted to return to 

 'Sdcam, but Garud'a refused to carry them back, as they had broken 

 the terms of the agreement; which was, that he, Garud'a, bound 

 himself to carry them back as soon as the objedl of their mission to 

 ^Sa'mba was accomplished, instead of which they had gone to Jarasand'ha 

 and spent much time with him. Deterred from travelling back to'Sdcam, 

 on account of the immense distance, they were forced to remain in India. 



W 



