69S 
APPENDIX B. 
7. Asiatick Researches , XI (1810), p. 73, Art.: Essay on the Sacred Isles of the West. 
The town of Samba is very little known to us, and even to the natives. It is mentioned, 
however, by Father Monserrat, who accompanied the Emperor Acbar in his expedition to Cabul 
in the year 1581. The emperor, and his army, passed in sight of Samba , which was then gar- 
risoned by his troops; and Monserrat places it 13 minutes of long, to the east of Jummoo, and 
21 minutes, or geographical miles, to the north of it. It cannot be far from the Chinab. * 1 
one has tackled this subject of early Christianity in Northern India, either in proof or disproof of Wilford’s 
statements. 
I do not see on what authority Wilford asserts that Manes was called S’alivahana. What is extraordinary is 
that the man whom Wilford sent into the country of the Bhats should have mentioned the names of three sons 
of one S'alivahana, one of whom at least, Thaimaz or Thamaz, a name un-Indian in appearance, is identical in form 
with that of Thomas, one of Manes’ disciples. The identification of Bhat with Budda or Addas, and of Maya 
or Moye with Hermias or Hernias is less convincing 
It is true that in Timur’s time there were at Tughlikpur near Delhi, and in many parts of India, e.g., at 
Bhatnir, Mirat, Nagarkot, in the Sawalik Hills and Kashmir, people called Gabrs, Magi (sanawiya), or Salun. 
Sometimes these Gabrs seem to be confounded with the Hindus as infidels; but, in many places they are clearly 
distinguished from them and represented as worshipping two gods, one called Yazdan, the other Ahriman, 
whom they typified by light and darkness. They supposed all good to proceed from the one, and all evil from 
the other. Cf. Elliott’s Hist, of India, s.v. Gabrs, (especially in the Zafar-nama), III, 497. In the MalfuzdtS 
Timufi we find: “From the information supplied tome I learned that these people were called Sanawi (fire- 
worshippers). Many of this perverse creed believe that there are two gods. One is called Yazdan, and whatever 
they have of good, they believe to proceed from him. The other god they call Ahriman, and whatever sin and 
wickedness they are guilty of they consider Ahriman to be the author of.’’ (Cf. ELLIOTT, ibid., III. 431.) Many of 
these men had been expelled from Khurasan (ibid., V. Note C. On fire-worship in India, pp. 559-570). 
Whether these people were Zoroastrians or Manicheans is not settled. We do not expect, however, that Parsis 
should have been settled so far inland in large communities, as were those of the Sanawis. Even if the Sanawis or 
Gabrs were Manicheans, it could scarcely have been appropriate to call them Christians. If it be suggested that, in 
Monserrate’s time, the term Gabrs was sometimes applied by Muhammadans to Christians (cf. ibid, V. 562 n. 4), whence 
Monserrate might have concluded to the existence of Christians in Timur’s time, we answer that he identifies the Gabrrei 
or Gabrs with the Parsis, whom he is inclined to identify in turn with the Jews (fol. 8a. 1). Yet, it would seem that 
it is these very Gabrs who have been taken for Christians by later writers than Monserrate. Paulinus a S. Bartho- 
lomseo writes in his India Orientalis Christiana, pp. 175-176: “ Circa annum 1209 quo Ginghis-Chan Tibeti regnum 
invasit, adhuc ducei \tum circiter millia Christianorum in regno Tibet, in Turkestan, in Corasan, atque in Indica 
urbe Cabul, Cashemir, et Lahur versabantur. .. Ginghis-Chano successit Timur in India circa annum 1409., promo- 
vendae sectae Muhamedanne ardore flagrantissimus. Is a[b] hominum memoria omnium crudelissimus uno decreto, 
et una fere hora centum circiter mille Indos indigenas, inter quos non pauci Christiani ad urbem Delhy in India 
interfecit. Vide Histoire de Timur-Bec, Ecnte en Persan par Clierefuddin-Aly , trad.uite en Francois par Mr. Petit 
de la Croix, tom III. Cap. 18, pag. 89-90.” The reference to the last author is properly Tom. II, Bk. IV, ch. XVII 
(a.d. 1398), where we find the term “ Guebres.” 
For the existence of a Christian King at Delhi, named David, Monserrate quotes the authority of St, Antoninus, 
Pars III Summae Historiarum. All I can say is that our Indian historians know no such king, in Timur’s or 
Chinghiz Khan’s time. Cf. J.A.S.B., 1912, p. 207, n. n. See, however, Yule’s Cathay and the way thither, I. 175, 
text and n. 2, where Eccard, Corpus Historic, II. 1451, mentions a Christian king of the Tartars, called David. 
The following bibliographical references from de Deon Pinelo’s Epitome de la Bibl. Oriental, Madrid, 1737, 
I. Cols. 51-52, would point to some of “ those reports of Prester John... circulated throughout Europe, and sur- 
viving in many continental labraries.” (Yule, l.c., I. 175.) “ Maestro Jacobo, Obispo Achorense, Carta a Valtero 
Villaviense i los Hermanos de Ogmes, de lo que sucedio a los Cliristianos en la Tierra Santa ; i de los prosperos, 
i casi increibles Sucesos del Rei de los Indios David, que Juan de Viago llama Preste Juan, M.S. esta en la Libreria 
de Leida, segun su Catologo, fol. 375. 
“ Carta de David, Rei de la India, despues de la Historia Hierosolimitana, M.S. en la misma Libreria, i por 
cl mismo Jacobo, fol. 327.” Compare also the next number with Yule, ibid., I, 175, n. 3. Nearly the whole of de 
Leon Pinelo’s vol. I. cols. 51-52 is devoted to curious accounts of this mysterious Prester John. 
I Samba is mentioned in Mong. Legal. Comm., foil. 4 b, 62 a. I, 2. 
