Chap. II. 
of the East Indies. 
SECTION II. 
The Hiftory of I n d i a in the TLarliejl Ages , 
j. The Tradition of the Indians concerning Bacchus. 2. The Egyptians transferred their Reports to Ofirfs. 
3 . Semiramis attacked the Indians, and was repulfed. 4. The Invajion of India by Sefoflris. 5 . The 
Indians had their Hercules as well as the Greeks. 6. M.Huet, Bifhop of Avranches, had no juft Grounds 
to fuppofe the antient Indians defended from the Egyptians. 7. The Argument drawn from the Con fcf ion 
of the Indians to Alexander the Great , examined and confuted. 8. A Summary of Matters of Fact, which 
may be collected from this fabulous Hijtory. 9. The Ufefulnefs of thefe Inquiries to the thorough under ft and - - 
ing of this Subject. 
%, A S we have very confided and indiftind Accounts 
ZJk of the firfi: Settlements of almoft all Nations, 
X Jaw it is no Wonder, that we fliould have many ab- 
furd and unintelligible Fables as to the Settlement of the 
Indies ; efpecially if we confider how remote thefe Coun- 
tries lie from thofe which produced the Hiftorians, from 
whom all our Accounts are derived. The firfb Indian 
Monarch, or Conqueror, of whom any mention is made in 
Hiftory, is the God Bacchus , or Dionyfius , who is reported 
to have led an Army out of Greece as far as the Indies , 
which he conquered, and taught the Inhabitants the Ufe of 
Wine, and built the City of Nyfa a . There is, however, 
good Reafon to believe, that Bacchus , or Dionyfius , is 
only a Greek Name for that Indian Prince who firfi: civilized 
the People of that Country ; for one of the mod valuable 
Writers of Antiquity, Diodorus the Sicilian, explains the 
Hiftory thus, and tells us, that the Indians themfelves related 
the Matter in the following Manner. 
That Bacchus was a Native of their Country, and the 
firfi: who found out and taught the way of prefiing Grapes, 
and making Wine ; that he likewife employed himfelf in 
pruning Fig-trees, and other Fruit-trees, of a large]- Size •, 
in which he likewife inftruded his People, eftabliffied a 
little Principality in the Country of Nyfea , and called his 
'Capital Nyfa , from the Name of hisNurfe. The Indians 
had likewife a Tradition, that he was a great Conqueror, 
and a Lawgiver, built many ftately Cities, inftituted divine 
Worfhip, and ereded every-where Courts of Juftice : 
They fay further, that, after ruling over all India for the 
Space of fifty- two Years, he died in an extreme old Age, 
and left his Dominions to his Children, by whom they were 
enjoyed for many Generations ; till at length, feveral Re- 
volutions happening, many of the Cities became free, and 
fet up fuch Forms of Government as feemed moft agree- 
able to the Inhabitants. All this is reafonable enough as 
is alfo the latter Part of the Story, which is, that, after 
his Death, he was revered as a God b . 
2. In the antient Hiftory of the Egyptians we are told, 
that Ofiris , the great Conqueror of that Country, having 
firft added Ethiopia to his Dominions, palled over from that 
Country into Arabia , and marched from thence into India , 
where he taught the Inhabitants the Ufe of Wine, and 
founded the City of Nyfa ; from whence it is plain, that 
this Ofiris is the fame with Dionyfius , or Bacchus c . There 
feems to be no great Difficulty in accounting alfo for this 
Story, fince it is a Point univerfally agreed among the 
Learned, that the Egyptians , in order to fortify their 
favourite Opinion, that they were the moft antient Nation 
in the World, and that all Arts and Sciences were derived 
to other People from them, were accuftomed to transfer 
whatever they learned relating to the Addons of antient 
Princes in other Countries, to fome of their own Monarchs ; 
and thus, it is highly probable, they delivered what the 
Indians reported of their firft Lawgiver, as if performed 
by Ofiris. The Greeks , who moft certainly borrowed 
their Learning from the Egyptians , and, in Imitation of 
them, endeavoured to eftabhfh a Lotion of their own An- 
tiquity, adj lifted thefe Accounts to the Grecian Bacchus *, 
whence arifes all that confufed and fabulous Hiftory, re- 
ported by feveral Greek Authors, upon this Subject, and 
with which we ffiould not have meddled at all, but that it 
will be round neceffary to explain fome Pafiages in Alex- 
ander's Expedition, which is a tiring of the utmoft Con- 
fequence with refped to the Indian Hiftory. 
3. The AJfyrian, which was the firft of the great Em- 
pires ereded after the Flood, was governed, after the Death 
of Ninus, by his Widow Semiramis , who founded the 
antient Babylon. This great Princefs, after the Conqueft 
of Badtria , refolved to undertake that of India. The 
Reafons that moved her to this Refolution, were the Re- 
ports fire had heard of the Fruitfulnefs of the Country, and 
the Riches of its Inhabitants ; but, as fhe forefaw, that this 
Enterprize would be attended with many and great Diffi- 
culties, fhe fpent no lefs than three whole Years in preparing 
for it. In order to this, fire ordered a prodigious Army, 
drawn out of all the Provinces of her extenfive Empire, to 
affemble in Badtria : She likewife direded the Inhabitants 
of Phoenicia , Syria , and Cyprus , to fend her a diffident 
Number of Shipwrights to build two thoufand Ships, or 
rather large Barks, which were fo contrived, as that they 
might be taken to-pieces, and carried, according to her 
Project, from Badiria to the River Indus , where fhe under- 
ftood the Indians had a confiderable Naval Force. 
But, as ffie was apprehenfive, that her Troops might 
be ftruck with a Panic at the Sight of the Elephants, 
which the Indians ufed in War, or, rather, apprehending 
that the Indians themfelves would place all Confidence of 
Vidory in their armed Elephants, fhe contrived certain 
Machines, made of the Skins of Oxen fewed together, and 
carried by Camels, which refembled Elephants, in order 
to take from the Indians their Notion of Superiority in this 
refped. All Things neceffary being provided, fhe marched 
out of Badiria , with an Army, that the Greek Fliftorians 
have, by their Relations, rendered lefs formidable than in- 
credible •, for they report, that it confided of 3,000,000 
of Foot, 200,000 Llorfe, 100,000 Chariots, and 100,000 
mounted on Camels. 
Stabrobates , who was at that time King of the Coun- 
tries that border on the River Indus , as foon as he had In- 
telligence of this formidable Invafion, prepared to defend 
his Country, and his Subjeds •, and, with this View, 
affembled a prodigious Army, augmented the Number of 
his Elephants, and caufed four thoufand Boats to be built 
of Cane, which is not fubjed either to rot, or to be eaten 
by the Worms, to encounter the Affyrians on the River, 
having his Army and Elephants drawn up on the Shore 
ready to fupport them. The Fleet of Semiramis , either 
becaufe her Veffels were ftronger, or better manned, proved 
vidorious, a thoufand of the Indian Boats being funk, 
with all who were on board them, and a vaft Number of 
Indians taken Prifoners. Upon this, the Indian King 
abandoned the oppofite Shore, and left the Enemy a free 
Paffage, in hopes of attacking them with better Succefs by 
Land. Semiramis , as loon as the Indians withdrew, con- 
verted her Fleet into a Bridge of Boats, over which (he 
marched her whole Army, with the counterfeit Elephants 
in the Front. 
When the Indians were informed by their Spies, that 
the Affyrians had a great Number of Elephants, they were 
amazed at it, and in great Confufion ; but they foon rer 
covered their Spirits, when, by the Defertion of fome of 
the Troops of Semiramis , they came to underftand the 
Truth., A Battle fqon after followed, in which the Af 
fyrians had at firft the Advantage, but at Jaft the Indians 
a Strabo Geograph, lib. xv. Ltelor. Si cut. lib. iii. Cicero de Natura Deorum, lib. iii, 
tthi fupra. 
Numb. 26. r q 
h Diodor. Sicul. lib. iii. cap. 4. c Cicero 
prevailed. 
