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Some kind of Buddhism probably existed beyond the Himalayas before Sakya-muni? s time. It still flourishes there, and seems indelible in all these lands. In India it did attain great prevalence and power during a thousand years, but it does not seem to have existed before the time of Sakya-muni ; ; and it is now so completely washed out, that there probably does not exist a single Buddhist, certainly not a Buddhist: establishment, between the Himalayas and Cape Cormorin.* * Assuming this view of the matter to be correct, we shall of course look in vain, in-the Vedas or any of the earlier writings in Sanskrit, for any trace of Serpent Worship. Not only was it repugnant to their own feelings, but they: so utterly despised the Dasyus—or by whatever other name they chose to designate the aborigines—that they. would not even condcscend to notice their superstitions.+ The traditions from which the Ramiyana was compiled also represent a state of Aryan society so comparatively pure, that, except in. cases above alluded to-(p. 55), there is probably no mention of Nagas there. But the heros of the Mahabharata were much less pure a race. Their origin, their polyandry, and other peculiarities, all point to the Himalayas ; and from this work, consequently, we may expect some light on Serpent Worship. The poem, however, was compiled—in its present form at least-— by Brahmans long after the events it describes; and although many ancient fragments are encrusted in its more modern form, little even of its narrative can be accepted as true history. * In a recent statistical report on the population of Bombay, I see “ odie ” enumerated among the sects. Who are they ? { M. Vivien de St. Martin, in his “ Géographie du Veda,” pp. 103—4, states that the Aryaus ascribed to the Dasyus the power of controlling the elements, and of granting or witlittolding rain at their pleasure. If this were so, it was not to the people themselves, but to their Serpent God, ghat this power should have been ascribed by the writers of the hymns of the Vedas. I confess, however, that my reading of the work in Wilson’s translation does not bear out this attribution. -MATABHARATA. 59 MAHABHARATA, “One of the most remarkable coincidences connected with the subject of Serpent _ Worship arises from the fact that this great epic poem, which may practically be considered as one of the books of the Hindu Bible, opens, like the Pentateuch, with a curse on the perpen What is even more curious is that in both instances the same “equivoque” as to the name exists: read carelessly or in a translation, the curse in the Mahdbharata ts on the reptile, not on its worshippers, just as . happens in the Bible, where, however, the conciseness of the narrative does not ‘enable us to rectify the meaning from the context. In the Hindu epic, however, the story of the great sacrifice for the destruction of the Serpents is so mixed up with historical and human action that it is evident at once that the ambiguity* about the name is only seized upon by the Hindu poets as an excuse for intro- ducing the supernatural into an ordinary human transaction, and to enable them to give rein to that exuberance of fancy which is the curse of their poetic effusions. It is not of course to be expected that anything like real history can ever be elaborated out of such a mass of fables, but if any competent Sanskrit scholars were to apply themselves to the task, they might at least recover as reasonable a narrative as it is now possible to frame out of such materials as are available for the history of Greece before the fall of Troy. - Passing. over the first canto, which is a general introduction to the inci poem, the next. three (Slokas 657 to 2197), are wholly oceupicd by the affairs of the Naga race, commencing with the marriage of the two sisters Kadrd and Vinat& with the Rishi Kasyapa, and the strange. desires of the two with regard to their progeny. _ These led to Kadri, the eldest, being the mother of 1,000 Nagas, who were the progenitors of the whole serpent race. The names of her principal descendants are then given,f some of which have already been quoted, others will frequently be. referred to in the sequel; such, for instance, as Sesha, Vasouki, Airdvata, Takshaka, Karkotaka, Kaliya, Aila or Eldpatra, Mila and Anila, Nahusha, and others. Her sister, on the other hand, became the mother of Garuda, who, in consequence of the trick played by Kadxi on her sister, became the all-powerful enemy of the Naga _vace, and hence also the -mother’s curse, from which such fatal consequences flowed. When divested, however, of its poetic garb, and all its mythological rubbish, ‘the story of the Mahdbhirata, in so far at least as Serpent Worship is concerned, ~ does not seem difficult to understand, and may be succinctly narrated. The Lunar race, to which the heros of the great war belonged, were a second — great horde of the Aryan. race, who seem to have entered India across the Upper Indus | at least 1,000 years after the purer so-called Solar race. The first seat to which we can trace them back seems to be Takt-i-Bahai, north of Peshawar.t Thence, passing sas ——— * In the Adi Parva the word used for serpent is almost invarinbly “ Naga.” In the Vana Parva, where Bhima gets into trouble with Nahusha in the form of a real serpent or boa, it is as usually “ Sarpa.” + Adi Parva 1551, et seq. } Bellew, Report on the Yusufzai ais, p. 186. Some very curious sculptures have recently been discovered at this place, but they are all long subsequent to the age of Bharata, and betray a Bactrian ; or at least a Western influence, which gtve them’ a character very different from anything found in India. They are all Buddhistic ; but with a strong infusion of eee feeling, H 60 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. through the Punjib, we find them settled at Hastinapura, between the Jumna and Ganges, about the thirteenth century 3.c., when the real action of the poem conimenccs. ' Ye. The first transaction in which the Nagas appear, is the burning of the forest of Khindava.* Simply, it seems, that when the family at Hastinapura became too numerous, it was determined to found a second capital, and for this purpose the spot where Delhi now stands was cleared by burning the forest which then occupied its site, and dislodging the Nagas who occupied the spot. The Nagas were protected by the Buddhist deity Indra. But, attacked by the Vedic god Agni, the Brahman poet represents them as all perishing except their king Takshaka. : Subsequent to this the relations between the Pandus and the Nagas seem to have been of the most friendly description. Arjuna, in his first banishment, marries first —Uldpi,t the daughter of a Naga king at the foot of the Himalayas, near Hurdwar; and shortly afterwards he formed a still more important connexion, by marrying Chitringad’é, daughter of ChitravAhana, the Naga king of Manipur, by whom he had a son, Bhabra-vahana, who played so strange a part in a subsequent episode, when his father, in the performance of the ASwamedha, or horse sacrifice, again visited Manipur.t From these and other minor particulars it would seem that the author of . the Mahabharata wished to represent the Aryans of that day as cultivating friendly relations with the aborigines. The real quarrel took place some time after the great war was ended, and in this manner :—Parikshit, the grandson of Arjuna, had succeeded to the throne; and one day, while hunting in the forest, incensed at the aontumacious silence of a hermit,§ insulted him by hanging the dead body of a snake round his neck. Tis son and disciple cursed the king for the insult to his father, and - invoked the aid of Takshaka, the king of serpents, to avenge it. ‘The consequence was, that on the eighth day from that time Parikshit was bitten|| by Takshaka, who is always represented as king of Takshasila.] It was to avenge this assassination of his father, that Janamejaya undertook the. great sacrifice for the destraction of the Nagas.** Thousands—myriads—had already perished, when the slaughter was stayed at the intervention of Astika, a Brahman, though at the same time the nephew of Vasuki, the serpent king of the eastern Nagas.j+ It is probable the remnant either, like Astika, became converts, or at least promised submission to the dominion of the Aryans. We consequently hear no more of them for three or four centuries, till at last, about the year 691 B.c., we find a Naga dynasty on the throne of Magadh4;{{ and it was under Ajatasatru, the sixth king of this race, in the year 628, that Buddha was born, and the great regeneration of the subject races was inaugurated. * Adi Parva, Fauche’s translation, 8050, et seq. | § Adi Parva, 1696, et seq. t Loc. 7788. — . || Idem, 1801. : ~ Wheeler’s History of India, vol. IL, p. 404. - { Idem, 678, 830, et seq. _ Professor Goldstiicker informs me that the version ** Tdem, 2073, et seq. " of the ASwamedha adopted by Mr. Wheeler is not tt Idem, 1025, et seq. really a part of the original Mahabharata, but the {t Wilson’s Vishnu Purina, p. 467. Lassen’s Ind. facts are the same in both versions. (See West- Alt. I. (2d ed.) App. p. wxxviii. et seq. minster Review, April 1868.) as RISE OF BUDDHISM. _ 61 If we knew more of the local ethnology of India, all this narrative might probably be authenticated to an extent which it is now impossible to attempt. It-is curious to observe that in Manipur, the scene of Arjuna’s marriage with ChitringadA, and his _ slaughter by her son, that at’the present day the peculiar god of the Royal family is a species of snake, called Pa-kung-ba, from which the family claims descent. When: it appears, it is coaxed on to a cushion.by the priestess in attendance, who then performs.certain ceremonies to please it.