5 
■ H I N D O O S T A N. 
the title of great king, which had diftinguifhed the Perfian 
monarchs in the days of their higheft magnificence; and 
they railed their city, the ancient Maracanda, now Samar- 
cand, to conliderable fplendour and importance. Their 
power, however, feems not to have been lading; for if we 
credit the Chinefe hiftorians. cited by M. de Guignes, a 
numerous horde of Tartars palTed the Jaxartes ; and, pour¬ 
ing into Badtria, overwhelmed that kingdom, and put an 
end to the Greek dominion there, and in other more re¬ 
mote parts of the Eaft, about one hundred and twenty-fix 
years before the Chriftian era. See the article Bactria, 
vol. ii. p. 60S. From this period, until the clofe of the 
fifteenth century, no European nation acquired dominion 
in any part of India. During this long interval, however, 
the commerce of the Eaft was not neglected; and it is re¬ 
markable how foon and how regularly the trade with In¬ 
dia came to be carried on by that very channel in which 
the fagacity of Alexander had deftined it to flow. 
But prior to Sandrocottus, to whom Seleucus had dif- 
patched his ambaflador, king Nanda is laid to have reign¬ 
ed over the Prafii and the Gangarides. The Sanfcrit name 
of the countiy is Prachi, meaning the eajl ; whence the 
Greek Prafii -was formed. It comprehended the whole 
country from Allahabad, fituaied on the conflux of the 
Ganges and Jumna, to the moll eaftern boundaries of India. 
It included alfo the fertile province of Bengal, known in 
Sanfcrit by the appellation of Gancarade/a ; whence the 
Greeks formed Gangarides. On the death of Nanda, San¬ 
drocottus, a lbldier of fortune, and of low extraction, 
found means to afl'ume the fovereignty. His courage and 
prowefs, however, were of a fuperor kind : he foon found 
means to extend his dominions, weftward to the banks of 
the Indus ; and northward, to the lofty range of moun¬ 
tains which feparates Hindooftan from Tartary. In pro¬ 
portion as Sandrocottus advanced in power and import¬ 
ance, he conceived it practicable to throw off his allegi¬ 
ance to the Grecian conqueror, and to defend his domi¬ 
nions againft every domeltic or foreign enemy, who might 
think fit to dilturb his repofe. On this occafion, Seleucus 
advanced againlt him with a formidable army, and en¬ 
camped on the banks of the Indus. Here he firft learnt the 
true extent of the refources of Sandrocottus ; that he was 
brave and expert in war; that he followed the Grecian tac¬ 
tics, that his army confifted of fix hundred thoufand men, 
with a large train of elephants, with which he had fubju- 
gated the higher India; and was then advancing without 
helitationto give battle to geleucus. On this intelligence, 
the ardour of the Greek invader was checked ; and more 
particularly, as at this inftant mefiengers arrived in his 
camp, informing that his great enemy Antigonus was him 
vaging the Lefler Alia, and had already l'ubdued many ci¬ 
ties of negleCled Greece. Seleucus, on thefe tidings, con¬ 
sidered the fubjugation of Sandrocottus as only a fecon- 
dary confideration ; he therefore deemed it more expedi¬ 
ent to enter upon negociation, than to engage in battle 
with fo warlike and determined a chieftain. 
The Indian king, on being informed of the pacific fen- 
timents of Seleucus, listened with readinefs to propofals 
for the adjuftment of their difputes ; and ambafladors were 
mutually difpatched, to fettle the preliminaries of a lalt-' 
ing peace. Sandrocottus muft have had great confidence 
in his.own ftrength, when he demanded that the barrier 
of the Indian empire lhould be reftored to its ancient-li¬ 
mit, the banks of the Arbis, a river of Gedrofia; which 
was, in truth, requiring the furrender of many rich and 
fertile provinces to the weft of the Indus, in return for 
five hundred of his beft-difciplined elephants; which on 
his part, he was ready to deliver to the lovereign of the 
Syrian empire. Seleucus, without helitation, complied ; 
nnd thus was founded that good underftanding between 
them, which placed Megafthenes for fo many years in 
quality of Grecian ambaflador nt the court of Palibothra. 
Long as was the reign, and howfoever diftinguilhed the 
legiflation of Sandrocottus confefledly was, as a lovereign 
prince in India, yet it is Angular that the period of his 
Vol. X. No. 636. 
death is wholly unknown. It is certain, however, that he 
died fome time previous to Seleucus, fince Daimachus is 
recorded to have been lent ambaflador from the latter, to 
the court of Aliitrochades, his fon, and to have compofed 
fome interefting particulars, in part cited by Athenseusj 
Concerning India; but they have long ago perilhed. 
Ferilhta hates, that Sandrocottus, and his fon after him, 
pofteffed the empire of India feventy years ; after which the 
grandfon of Sandrocottus fucceeded to the throne ; a prince 
named Jona, who isfaid to have been-endued with many 
great and amiable qualities. He aleeitded the throne'of 
India about two hundred and fixty years before the com¬ 
mencement of the Chriftian sera; and, not many years 
after his accefllon, Arfaees, poflefling liimfelf of the eaft¬ 
ern provinces of Perfia, expelled the fucceflors of Alexan¬ 
der, and founded the Parthian, or fecond Perfian, empire. 
Arfaces aflumed the name of king about two hundred 
and fifty-fix years before Chrift, according to the writers 
of Greece, which perfectly agrees with the accounts of 
the Brahmins ; for he then claimed and eftabliflied the 
right of Perfia to a tribute from the empire of India ; and 
Jona, dreading the fury Of his arms, made him a prefent 
of elephants, and a valt quantity of gold anti jewels. Jo¬ 
na, after this tranfaciion, reigned in great tranquillity at 
Canouge; and he and his poftefity pofie fled the ■ throne, 
according to Ferifhta, during the fpace of ninety years. 
It was during the time that the dynafty of Jona fat on 
the Indian throne, that Antiochus the Great, after granting 
an independent crown to Euthydemus, the Baftrian king', 
was tempted to proceed onwards with his army into Hin¬ 
dooftan. Polybius records his crofting the Paropamilus 
with his army; having renewed an alliance with the In¬ 
dian Sovereign, and obtained from him a tribute in money 
and elephants. After Jona’s pollerity became extinft, 
Callian Chund, a fanguinary prince, is faid to have reign¬ 
ed over Hindooftan ; that is, the eaftern diltriels, of which 
Canouge was then the capital; and, on account of his ty¬ 
ranny, to have been driven from the throne, by a general 
infurredlion of the rajahs dependent upon his authority. 
With him the regular fuccefiion to the empire of India on 
the Ganges feems, for a time at leaft, to have ceafed ; for 
after this event many years of difcord enfued, when each 
more powerful rajah, oppofing his competitor, became al¬ 
ternately a candidate for the fupreme authority. 
The next emperor of India ihentioned in Ferifhta, and 
noticed by fir William Jones, is the celebrated Bickerma- 
jeet; who, by a feries of bold exertions, arrived at the fu¬ 
preme fovereignty of Hindooftan in the 56th year before 
Chrift. Of him a moft famous account is given in all the 
Indian hiftories. He rapidly fubdued the kingdoms of 
Malva and Guzerat, and rendered all the other great feu¬ 
datories dependent upon his will. He was alfo a muni¬ 
ficent patron of literature; and the philofopher Calidas, 
who flourifhed in his reign, was protected by him, and 
confidered as the chief of fourteen learned Brahmins, who 
were denominated the fourteen jeivels of his crown. The 
Hindoos retained fuch a refpeft for his memory, that 
many of them, to this day, calculate their civil time 
from the period of his inauguration. The famous Sapor, 
king of Perfia, is placed, in the Indian chronology, as 
cotemporary with this renowned king of Malva; who was 
flain in his old age, about the commencement of the Chrif¬ 
tian sera, in a battle againft a confederacy of the princes 
of the Deccan. The Hindoos have alfo another famous 
epoch, commencing from the death of a prince, third in 
lucceflion from Bickermajeet, as fome report; but his im¬ 
mediate fuccefl'or,according toother accounts, was’named 
Salbahan. Concerning his hiftory, however, we have no 
particulars ; except that he is recorded to have headed the 
infurgents of the Deccan who deprived Bickermajeet of 
his throne and life; and that for a time he transferred the 
feat of the empire in the Deccan from Tagara to Pattan, 
his proper rajahfhip ; though Tagara afterwards recovered 
its dignity, and became the imperial city ,of Southern 
India. 
C 
After 
