The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia, Commercial, Industrial, and Scientific; Products of the Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Kingdoms, Useful Arts and Manufactures
by Surgeon General Edward Balfour
in Three Volumes
Third Edition
1885
I cannot help mentioning a discovery which accident threw in my way, though my proofs must be reserved for an essay which I have destined for the fourth volume of your Transactions. To fix the situation of that Palibothra (for there may have been several of the name) which was visited and described by Megasthenes, had always appeared a very difficult problem, for though it could not have been Prayaga, where no ancient metropolis ever stood, nor Canyacubja, which has no epithet at all resembling the word used by the Greeks; nor Gaur, otherwise called Lacshmanavati, which all know to be a town comparatively modern, yet we could not confidently decide that it was Pataliputra, though names and most circumstances nearly correspond, because that renowned capital extended from the confluence of the Sone and the Ganges to the site of Patna, while Palibothra stood at the junction of the Ganges and Erannoboas, which the accurate M. D'Anville had pronounced to be the Yamuna; but this only difficulty was removed, when I found in a classical Sanscrit book, near 2000 years old, that Hiranyabahu, or golden armed, which the Greeks changed into Erannoboas, or the river with a lovely murmur, was in fact another name for the Sona [Son/Sone: Wiki] itself; though Megasthenes, from ignorance or inattention, has named them separately. This discovery led to another of greater moment, for Chandragupta, who, from a military adventurer, became like Sandracottus the sovereign of Upper Hindustan, actually fixed the seat of his empire at Pataliputra, where he received ambassadors from foreign princes; and was no other than that very Sandracottus who concluded a treaty with Seleucus Nicator...
-- Discourse X. Delivered February 28, 1793, P. 192, Excerpt from "Discourses Delivered Before the Asiatic Society: And Miscellaneous Papers, on The Religion, Poetry, Literature, Etc. of the Nations of India", by Sir William Jones
In the Cshetra-samasa the Carna-phulli [Karnaphuli/ Karnafuli/ Khawthlanguipui: Wiki] or Chatganh [Chittagong: Wiki] river, is said to come from the Jayadri or mountains of victory, and the Nabhi or Naf [Naf: Wiki] river from the Suvarda, or golden mountains...
The next is the Sona [Son/Sone: Wiki], or red river: in the Puranas it is constantly called Sona, and I believe never otherwise. In the Amara cosa, and other tracts, I am told, it is called Hiranya-bahu, implying the golden arm, or branch of a river, or the golden canal or channel. These expressions imply an arm or branch of the Sona [Son/Sone: Wiki], which really forms two branches before it falls into the Ganges. The easternmost, through the accumulation of sand, is now nearly filled up, and probably will soon disappear.
The epithet of golden does by no means imply that gold was found in its sands. It was so called, probably, on account of the influx of gold and wealth arising from the extensive trade carried on through it; for it was certainly a place of shelter for all the large trading boats during the stormy weather and the rainy season.
In the extracts from Megasthenes by Pliny and Arrian, the Sonus and Erannoboas appear either as two distinct rivers, or as two arms of the same river. Be this as it may, Arrian says that the Erannoboas was the third river in India, which is not true. But I suppose that Megasthenes meant only the Gangetick provinces: for he says that the Ganges was the first and largest. He mentions next the Commenasis or Sarayu, from the country of Commanh, as a very large river. The third large river is then the Erannoboas or river Sona [Son/Sone: Wiki].
Ptolemy, finding himself peculiarly embarrassed with regard to this river, and the metropolis of India situated on its banks, thought proper to suppress it entirely. Others have done the same under similar distressful circumstances. It is however well known to this day under the denomination of Hiranya-baha, even to every school boy in the Gangetick provinces, and in them there is no other river of that name....[???!!!]
Then comes the Suvarna-recha, or Hiranya-recha, that is to say the golden streak. It is called also in the Puranas, in the list of rivers, Suctimati, flowing from the Ricsha, or bear mountains. Its name signifies abounding with shells, in Sanscrit Sucti, Sancha, or Cambu...
The Damiadee was first noticed by the Sansons in France, but was omitted since by every geographer, I believe, such as the Sieur Robert, the famous D’Anville, &c; but it was revived by Major Rennell, under the name of Dummody. I think its real name was Dhumyati, from a thin mist like smoke, arising from its bed. Several rivers in India are so named: thus the Hiranya-baha, or eastern branch of the Sona [Son/Sone: Wiki], is called Cujjhati, or Cuhi† [Commentary on the Geog. of the M. Bh.] from Cuha, a mist hovering occasionally over its bed. As this branch of the Sona [Son/Sone: Wiki] has disappeared, or nearly so, this fog is no longer to be seen....That mist was an aura of phantasy or imagination with which their minds were possessed....
-- Conjugial Love and its Chaste Delights, by Emanuel Swedenborg, Henry Butter
It got totally out of hand!
Long before large art exhibitions and blockbuster shows, crowds were awed by traveling shows called “phantasmagoria” in which familiar scenes and stories were performed with the use of magic lanterns and rear projections to create dancing shadows and frightening theatrical effects. These lively, interactive events incorporated storytelling, mythology, and theater in a single art form that entertained while providing a space for thinking about the otherworldly—playing with the viewers’ anxieties regarding death and the afterlife. A comparable trend can be seen in works by contemporary artists who create ghostly images to reflect on notions of absence and loss, using spectral effects and immaterial mediums such as shadows, fog, mist, and breath. These artists’ approaches range from the festive to the ironic, counterbalancing the emotionally charged, often somber implications of their subject matter.
The shadow—literally, the absence of light— represents something that is beyond the object yet inseparable from it. In many of the works included in Phantasmagoria, shadows are used to allude to death, the obscure, and the unnamable, and to construct allegories of loss and disappearance. In other pieces, artists evoke the history of the shadow theater, as in a video animation by South African artist William Kentridge, and in the shape-shifting shadow cast by French artist Christian Boltanski’s revolving doll, recalling imagery from the carnival as well as figurines used to celebrate the Mexican Day of the Dead.
Mist, breath, and fog are often associated with mystery; in their double status as perceptible yet almost nonexistent phenomena, they suggest evanescence or absence. Colombian artist Oscar Muñoz has made a series of mirrored surfaces that seem blank until the viewer breathes on them to expose photographic likenesses of people who have died, often under violent circumstances, their images taken from newspaper articles. Mexican artist Teresa Margolles alludes to the dead in much of her art, in this case using vapor to stand in as a metaphor for the absent body, literally incorporating minuscule traces of material washed from corpses in a morgue. Throughout the installations presented here, artists’ use of shadows or actual fog evokes the alluring enigma and magic of phantasmagoria.
-- Phantasmagoria: Specters of Absence, by Independent Curators Internation Exhibitions
Let us now proceed to the Sulacshni, or Chandravati, according to the Cshetra-samasa. It is now called the river Chandan, because it flows through the Van or groves of Chandra, in the spoken dialects Chandwan, or Chandan. In the maps it is called Goga, which should be written Cauca, because according to the above tract, it falls into the Ganges, at a place called Cucu, and in a derivative form Caucava, Caucwa, or Cauca. It flows a little to the eastward of Bhagalpur: but the place, originally so called, has been long ago swallowed up by the Ganges, along with the town of Bali-gram. In the Jina-vilas, it is called Aranya-baha[!!!], or the torrent from the wilderness, being really nothing more....
The Carma-phulli,[Karnaphuli/Karnafuli/Khawthlanguipui: Wiki] as I observed before, is called in the upper part of its course Dumbura, Dumura, or Dumriya: on its passing through the hills it assumes the name of Carma-phulli: but its original name is Bayuli or Bayula....This river is called in the Bhuvana-cosa, Hema, or golden river, probably because it comes from the golden mountains, styled Hema, Canchana, Canaca &c., which signify gold. In general all the rivers of this country are considered as branches of the Carma-phulli, some are actually so, others are so only in a mystical sense....
Let us now pass to the Brahma-putra [Brahmaputra: Wiki], or Brahmi-tanaya, that is to say the son of Brahma, or rather his efflux.
Brahma, in the course of his travels, riding upon a goose, passed by the hermitage of the sage Santanu, who was gone into the adjacent groves, and his wife, the beautiful and virtuous Amogha, was alone. Struck with her beauty he made proposals, which were rejected with indignation, and Amogha threatened to curse him.
Brahma, who was disguised like a holy mendicant, began to tremble and went away: however, before he turned round, his efflux fell to the ground at the door of the hermitage. The efflux is describe, as Hataca, like gold, Cara-hataca, radiant and shining like gold, which is the colour of Brahma; it is always in motion like quicksilver. On Santanu’s return Amogha did not fail to acquaint him with Brahma’s behaviour: he gave due praise to her virtue and resolution, but observed at the same time that with regard to a person of such a high rank as Brahma, who is the first of beings in the world, she might have complied with his wishes without any impropriety. This is no new idea; however Amogha reprobated this doctrine with indignation. I shall pass over how this efflux was conveyed into her womb by her husband. The Nile was also the efflux of Osiris, and probably the legend about it was equally obscene and filthy. In due time she was delivered of a fine boy amidst a vast quantity of water, and who was really the son of Brahma, and exactly like him. Then Santanu made a Cunda, or hole like a cup, and put the child and waters into it. The waters soon worked their way below to the depth of five Yojans, or forty miles nearly, and as far as Patal, or the infernal regions. This Cunda, or small circular pond, or lake, is called Brahmacunda, and the river issuing from it Brahma-putra, the son of Brahma....
There are in Asama [Assam: Wiki] two rivers called Lohita [mythological river, actually part of the Brahmaputra: IndiaZone.com], and both are mentioned in the Matsya-purana, in the list of rivers; the Chacra-Lohita or greater Lohita, and the Cshudra-Lohita, or the lesser one. This last falls into the Brahma-putra near Yogi-gopa, and is noticed in the Bengal Atlas. The original name of the greater Lohita is Sama or Sam, and this is conformable to a passage in the Varaha-mihira-sanhita. The Sama was afterward called the red river, from the following circumstance. The famous Rama, with the title of Parasu or Parsu, having been ordered by his father to cut off his own mother’s head, through fear of the paternal curse was obliged to obey. With his bloody Parasu, or Parsu, or cimetar in one hand, and the bleeding head of his mother in the other, he appeared before his father who was surrounded by holy men, who were petrified with horror at this abominable sight. He then went to the Brahma-cunda to be expiated, his cimetar sticking fast to his hand all the way; he then washed it in the waters of the Sama, which became red and bloody, or Lohita. The cimetar then fell to the ground, and with it he cleft the adjacent mountains, and opened a passage for himself to the Cunda, and also for the waters of the Brahma-putra; he then flung the fatal instrument into the Cunda. The cleft is called to this day Prabhu-Cuthara, because it was made with a mighty Cuthara, or cimetar. This is obviously the legend of Perseus, and the Gorgon’s head....
-- VII. On the ancient Geography of India, by Lieut. Col. F. Wilford
Finally; the classical authors concur in making Palibothra a city on the Ganges, the capital of Sandrocoptus. Strabo, on the authority of Megasthenes, states that Palibothra is situated at the confluence of the Ganges and another river, the name of which he does not mention. Arrian, possibly on the same authority, calls that river the Erranoboas, which is a synonime of the Sone. In the drama, one of the characters describes the trampling down of the banks of the Sone, as the army approaches to Pataliputra; and Putaliputra, also called Kusumapura, is the capital of Chandragupta. There is little question that Pataliputra and Palibothra are the same, and in the uniform estimation of the Hindus, the former is the same with Patna. The alterations in the course of the rivers of India, and the small comparative extent to which the city has shrunk in modern times, will sufficiently explain why Patna is not at the confluence of the Ganges and the Sone, and the only argument, then, against the identity of the position, is the enumeration of the Erranoboas and the Sone as distinct rivers by Arrian and Pliny: but their nomenclature is unaccompanied by any description, and it was very easy to mistake synonimes for distinct appellations. Rajamahal, as proposed by Wilford, and Bhagalpur, as maintained by Franklin, are both utterly untenable,...
Bhagalpur & Rajmahal
... and the further inquiries of the former had satisfied him of the error of his hypothesis. His death prevented the publication of an interesting paper by him on the site of Palibothra, in which he had come over to the prevailing opinion, and shewn it to have been situated in the vicinity of Patna.* [Asiatic Researches, vol. xiv. p. 380.]
-- The Mudra Rakshasa, or The Signet of the Minister. A Drama, Translated from the Original Sanscrit, Select Specimens of the Theatre of the Hindus, Translated from Original Sanskrit, in Two Volumes, Vol. II, by Horace Hayman Wilson, 1835
This essay on the ancient geography of the Gangetick provinces, will consist of three sections. The first will treat of the boundaries, mountains, and rivers. In the second will be described the various districts, with some account of them, as far as procurable. The third section will be a comparative essay, between the geographical accounts of these countries by Ptolemy, and other ancient geographers in the west, with those of the Pauranics. Then occasionally, and collaterally will appear accounts, both historical and geographical of some of the principal towns, such as Palibothra and Patali-putra now Patna, for these two towns were close to each other, exactly like London and Westminister.
The former was once the metropolis of India; but at a very early period it was destroyed by the Ganges: an account of it is in great forwardness, and is nearly ready for the press. Its name in Sanscrit was Pali-bhatta, to be pronounced Pali-bhothra, or nearly so. Bali-gram near Bhagalpur, never was the metropolis of India; yet it was a very ancient city, and its history is very interesting. It was also destroyed by the Ganges....
It is written in the Vayu and Vishnu-puranas, that Hastina-pur was destroyed by the Ganges early in the Cali-yuga. The Vayu places this event in the sixth generation after the great war, and the Vishnu-purana in the eighth; that is between eleven or twelve hundred years before our era; and it is recorded there that the seat of empire was transferred to Causambi near Allahabad. It is well known that the old site of Patali-putra, or Patna, has been entirely carried away by the Ganges, and in its room several sand banks were formed, and which are delineated in Major Rennell's map of the course of the Ganges with his usual accuracy. However Colonel Colebrooke [Robert Hyde Colebrooke], Surveyor General, having made a new survey of the river, found that these several sand banks were consolidated into an island about sixteen miles long, and which masks entirely the mouth of the Gandaci, nay it has forced it in an oblique direction about six miles below Patna, whilst in Major Rennell’s time it was due north from the N.W. corner of that town, and in sight of it.
The most ancient town of Bali-gur, or Balini-gur, close and opposite to Bhagal-pur, was entirely destroyed by the Ganges in the beginning of the thirteenth century, according to the Cshetra-samasa. Its place is wholly filled up with sand and loose earth, many villages are now upon it.
-- VII. On the ancient Geography of India, by Lieut. Col. F. Wilford
I have not been able to learn, on what authority Major Wilford calls Patna by the name of Padmavati, the residence of Nanda, king of India in the 4th century before Christ, and this denomination for Patna is not known to such, as I have consulted; nor could I hear of any remains of antiquity at the Mawbellypoor of Major Rennell on the Son river, which is said to have been the abode of Mahabali, another name for the same prince. I therefore suspect, that this great king never resided in this district. It seems to me however to have been about this period, that the Brahmans descended of the Magas arose into great distinction, and communicated to this district the name of their ancestors.According to Major Dow’s history, when the emperor Firose III, in the year 1358, was returning from Bengal, he passed through the Padmavati forest, which is one of the old names of Patna, once the metropolis of that country. These forests abounded with elephants, and the emperor caught many.
-- VII. On the ancient Geography of India, by Lieut. Col. F. Wilford
I have found in this district no traditions concerning Chandragupta nor his descendants the Baliputras, although Palibothra his capital, is by Major Rennell supposed to be the same with Pataliputra, or Patna. This city is indeed allowed by all the Pandits to be called Pataliputra, but Pataliputra has no great resemblance to Palibothra, nor can Patali be rationally considered as a word of the same origin with Pali, said to be an ancient name of this country, and of its people and language. In the vicinity of Patna few traces of antiquity remain as a guide to conjecture; but, with all due deference for the opinion of Major Rennell, I doubt very much of its having been the Palibothra of the Greeks. The conjecture of Major Wilford, in the fifth volume of the Asiatick Researches, placing Palibothra at the old junction of the Kosi with the Ganges near Rajmahal, seems better founded, although all traces of the city have been swept away by numerous changes in the river; and although, when in that vicinity, I heard no traditions concerning the great personages who resided at Palibothra. But the Pali are still the most numerous tribe in Matsyadesa, the country immediately north and east from the situation, which Major Wilford assigns. Although this country no doubt belonged to the kings of the Gangarides, it was so far removed from their capital, that no traces of them are now to be discovered. That Patali however, has been a place of great consequence, from its being now universally called Patana, or the city by way of excellence, there can be no doubt, and this seems to have been during the reigns of the earlier princes of the dynasty of the spurious Andhras of Major Wilford, (As. Res. vol. 9, p. 43,) who governed until the year 640 after the birth of Christ; but between this period, and the government of the Baliputras ending about 160 years before the birth of Christ, Behar seems to have risen into great note, as capital of the Magas and of their country Magadha.
-- Chapter II. History of the Province of Behar, From "The History, Antiquities, Topography, and Statistics of Eastern India; Comprising the Districts of Behar, Shahabad, Bhagulpoor, Goruckpoor, Dinajepoor, Puraniya, Rungpoor & Assam, in Relation to their Geology, Mineralogy, Botany, Agriculture, Commerce, Manufactures, Fine Arts, Population, Religion, Education, Statistics, Etc., Surveyed Under the Orders of the Supreme Government and Collated from the Original Documents at the East India House, With the Permission of the Honourable Court of Directors, by Montgomery Martin, 1838
-- The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia, Commercial, Industrial, and Scientific; Products of the Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Kingdoms, Useful Arts and Manufactures, by Surgeon General Edward Balfour, in Three Volumes, Vol. I. A-GYROCARPUS, Third Edition, 1885
-- The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia, Commercial, Industrial, and Scientific; Products of the Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Kingdoms, Useful Arts and Manufactures, by Surgeon General Edward Balfour, in Three Volumes, Vol. II. H-NYSA, Third Edition, 1885
-- The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia, Commercial, Industrial, and Scientific; Products of the Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Kingdoms, Useful Arts and Manufactures, by Surgeon General Edward Balfour, in Three Volumes, Vol. III. O-ZYMOOSHT, Third Edition, 1885
[SEARCH RESULTS FOR "HIRANYA"]
AVATAR.
4. Nara-Singh or Man-Lion Avatar.—In this Avatar, Vishnu took the form of another monster, to punish the wickedness of Hiranya Kasipa, a profane and unbelieving monarch, the brother of the gigantic demon mentioned in the third Avatar, and his successor on the throne, who also refused to do homage to Vishnu. Quarrelling with his son Pralhand, the king boasted that he himself was lord of the universe, and asked wherein Vishnu was greater than himself. Pralhand replied that Vishnu was supreme over all, and was everywhere. 'Is he,' cried Hiranya Kasipa, 'in this pillar? ' striking it at the same moment with his sceptre. 'If he be, let him appear.' In an instant the magnificent column was rent in twain, and Vishnu, in the form of a man with the head of a lion, issued from it and tore Hiranya Kasipa in pieces.
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BALI, also called Mahabali, king of Maha-balipura. He was the son of Virochana, son of Prahlada, son of Hiranya Kasipu. His wife was Vindhyavali. — Dowson.
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CHANDRAGUPTA, the Sandracottus or Sandracoptus of the Greeks, the founder of the Mauryan dynasty of Magadha. He was the illegitimate son of the last Nanda, by the beautiful but low caste Mura, from whom he obtained the designation of Maurya. In the Mudra Rakshasa, a Sanskrit drama detailing his elevation, Chandragupta is, however, frequently named Vrishala, a term said to be equivalent to Sudra; and as Nanda himself was the son of a Sudra woman, there can be little doubt that the celebrated Maurya family were of Sudra extraction. In the early part of his career, Chandragupta led a wandering life in the Panjab see Turnour, Introduction to the Mahawanso, p. 41, quoting the Tika or Commentary), and was probably engaged with his fellow-countrymen in opposing Alexander. His chief adviser, the Brahman Chanakya, was a native of Takshasila or Taxila, the capital of the Western Panjab; and it was in that country that Chandragupta first established himself by the complete expulsion of the Greek troops left by Alexander (Justin, xv. 4: 'Auctor libertatis Sandrocottus fuerat'). It would appear that the Greek colonists in the Panjab had first been placed under Philip, while the civil administration of the country remained in the hands of its native princes, Taxiles and Porus. Afterwards, on the murder of Philip by the mercenary soldiers, Alexander (Anabasis, vi. 2, vii.) directed Eudemos and Taxiles to govern the country until he should send another deputy. It is probable, however, that they continued to retain the charge; for, after Alexander's death in B.C. 323, Eudemos contrived, by the treacherous assassination of king Porus by his general Eumenes, to make himself master of the country (Diodorus, xix. 5). Some few years later, in B.C. 317, he marched to the assistance of Eumenes with 3000 infantry and 5000 cavalry, and no less than 120 elephants. With this force he performed good service at the battle of Gabiene. But his continued absence gave the Indians an opportunity not to be neglected, and their liberty was fully asserted by the expulsion of the Greek troops and the slaughter of their chiefs (Justin. XV. 4: 'Praefactos ejus occiderat' [He had slain his officers]; again, 'Molienti deinde bellum adversus praefactos Alexandri' [Then he was planning a war against the nobles of Alexandria]). Chandragupta was present when Porus was murdered. He afterwards became the leader of the national movement, which ended in his own elevation to the sovereignty of the Panjab. Justin attributes his success to the assistance of banditti (Justin. XV.: 'Contractis latronibus Indos ad novitatem regni solicitavit' [Having gathered together the robbers, he enticed the Indians to the new realm]). But in this Colonel Cunningham thinks he has been misled by a very natural mistake; for the Aratta, who were the dominant people of the Eastern Panjab, are never mentioned in the Mahabharata without being called robbers (Lassen, Pentapot Indica: 'Aratti profecto latrones,' [the robbers of Aratti] and 'Bahici latrones' [Bahici robbers]). The Sanskrit name is Arashtra, the kingless, which is preserved in the Adraistae of Arrian, who places them on the Ravi. They were the republican defenders of Sangala or Sakala, a fact which points to their Sanskrit name of Arashtra, or kingless. But though their power was then confined to the eastern Panjab, the people themselves had once spread over the whole country: 'Ubi fluvii illi quivi . . . ibi sedes sunt Arattorum.' [Where I could see those rivers . . there are the settlements of the cultivators.]—Lassen, Pentapot Indica, from the Mahabharat. They were known by the several names of Bahika, Jarttika, and Takha; of which the last would appear to have been their true appellation, for their old capital of Taxila or Takka-sila was known to the Greeks of Alexander; and the people themselves still exist in considerable numbers in the Panjab hills. The ancient extent of their power is proved by the present prevalence of their alphabetical characters, which, under the name of Takri or Takni, are now used by all the Hindus of Kashmir and the northern mountains, from Simla and Sabathu to Kabul and Bamian. On these grounds, Major Cunningham identifies the banditti of Justin with the Takka, or original inhabitants of the Panjab, and assigns to them the honour of delivering their native land from the thraldom of a foreign yoke. This event occurred most probably about 316 B.C., or shortly after the march of Eudemos to the assistance of Eumenes. It was followed immediately by the conquest of Gangetic India (Justin, xv. 4), and in 316 B.C. the rule of Chandragupta was acknowledged over the whole northern Peninsula, from the Indus to the mouth of the Ganges. Authorities differ as to the length of Chandragupta'a reign. The Mahawanso gives 34 years; the Dipawanso and the Vayu Purana give only 24 years. This difference may perhaps have originated in two distinct reckonings of the date of his accession, the one party counting from the death of Nanda Mahapadma, in B.C. 325, and the other party from the conquest of India, in B.C. 315. Some assumption of this kind is clearly necessary to reconcile the different authorities, unless, indeed, we take the only alternative, of adopting the one and of rejecting the other. At this period the capital of India was Pataliputra or Palibrotha, which was situated on the Ganges, at the junction of the Erranaboas or Alaos[???] river. The former name has been identified with the Sanskrit Hiranyabahu, an epithet which has been applied both to the Gandak [Gandaki] and to the Sone. The latter name can only refer to the Hi-le-an of the Chinese travellers, which was to the north of the Ganges, and was there undoubtedly the Gandak [Gandaki]. Indeed, this river still joins the Ganges immediately opposite to Patna, that is, the city, or metropolis, as its proper name (Patna) implies; the junction of the Sone is some nine or ten miles above Patna. But as there is good reason for believing that the Sone once joined the Ganges at Bakipur or Bankipur, immediately above Patna, it is quite possible that the Erranaboas may have been intended for the Sone, and the Alaos[???] for the Gandak [Gandaki]. According to Megasthenes, Palibrotha was 80 stadia or nearly nine miles in length, and 15 stadia or one mile and two-thirds in breadth. It was surrounded with a deep ditch, and was enclosed by lofty wooden walls, pierced with loopholes for the discharge of arrows (Arrian, Indica, x., and Strabo, XV, both quoting Megasthenes). But when Alexander's successors were at peace with each other, the great Seleucus turned his arms towards the east, with the intention of recovering the Indian provinces of Alexander, but Chandragupta formed an alliance with Seleucus, whose daughter he received in marriage. He also received, at his court of Palibrotha, Megasthenes as an ambassador, and in return Chandragupta sent presents with an ambassador to Seleucus Nicator to Babylon. The Hindu drama Mudra Rakshasha records the memorable political event of his usurpation. His name occurs in an inscription at Sanchi, also on one at Ujjain. Tod says he was of the Takshak race. He died B.C. 289. His successor died B.C. 261; and Asoka, the great Buddhist sovereign, the grandson of Chandragupta, then succeeded. Asoka had murdered his brother, whose son converted him to Buddhism, and he was crowned B.C. 259-258, at Patalipura, in the third year of his reign. Asoka engraved on rocks numerous inscriptions inculcating Buddhist doctrines, and erected, it is said, 84,000 chaitya, many of which still remain. — Bhilsa Topes, Cunningham, pp. 87-91, 141; Bunsen, Egypt, iii. 544; Tod, Rajasthan; Cal. Review; Indische Alterthumskunde, i. App. p. xxx., and ii. pp. 1161, 1162; Jo. As. Soc. Ben. p. 146; Thomas' Prinsep, i. pp. 61, 276; Burgess and Fergusson, pp. 190, 725; Tennant's Ceylon.
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HIRANYA. Sansk. Gold or golden; hence --
Hiranya or Svarna, supposed to be Ireland.
Hiranya-Garbha, from Hiranya and Garbha, the womb.
Hiranyabaha, the river Sone. Its E. branch is also called Gujjhabate or Cobi.
Hiranya Kasipa, in Hindu mythology, Adaitya, an enemy of the Hindu gods, a king destroyed by Vishnu as Narasimha. He is the same with Vijaga, son of Kasyapa and Diti. -- As. Res. iii. p. 383, Hiranyaksha, from Akshi, the eye.
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KASYAPA, according to the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and the Puranas, son of Marichi, son of Brahma, was one of the prajapati or progenitors of created things. He married thirteen of the daughters of Daksha, from whom descended the twelve Aditya or sun-gods by Aditi; the Daitya or Titans by Diti and the Dhanava; many classes of animals, etc. His son Vivasvat was father of Menu. Hence this family of men became known as the race of Menu, from whom Brahamans, Kshatriyas, and other men sprang. His eldest son, the Daitya named Hiranya-Kasipu, is famous throughout India for his denial of the omnipresence of Vishnu, which led to the manifestation of the Narasingha or 'man-lion' avatar. He was followed by his still more famous son Prahlada, the ardent worshipper of Vishnu, after whom Multan city was named Prahladapura. His great-grandson Bana, commonly called Bana the Asur, was the unsuccessful antagonist of Krishna, who took possession of the kingdom of Multan. Here Samba, the son of Krishna, established himself in the grove of Mitra-vana, and by assiduous devotion to Mitra or the sun, was cured of his leprosy. He then erected a golden statue of Mitra in a temple named Adyasthana, or the first shrine; and the worship of the sun thus begun by Samba has continued at Multan down to the present day.—Cunningham, Ancient Geog. of India. p. 232.
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