An Essay on the Hindu History of Cashmir [Raja Taringini of Calhana Pandit]
by Horace Hayman Wilson, Esq., Sec. A.S.
Asiatic Researches, Volume 15
1825
pgs. 1-119
THE only Sanscrit composition yet discovered, to which the title of History, can with any propriety be applied, is the Raja Taringini, a history of Cashmir. This work was first introduced to the knowledge of the Mohammedans by the learned minister of Acber, Abulfazl, but the summary which he has given of its contents, was taken as he informs us from a Persian translation of the Hindu original, prepared by order of Acber. The example set by that liberal Monarch, introduced amongst his successors, and the literary men of their reigns, a fashion of remodelling, or retranslating the same work, and continuing the History of the Province, to the periods at which they wrote.
The earliest work of this description, after that which was prepared by order of Acber, is one mentioned by Bernier, who states an abridged translation of the Raja Taringini into Persian, to have been made, by command of Jehangir; he adds that he was engaged upon rendering this into French, but we have never heard anything more of his translation: at a subsequent period, mention is made in a later composition, of two similar works, by Mulla Husein, Kari, or the reader, and by Hyder Malec, Chadwaria* [A summary taken from this work, and which appears to have been the one alluded to by Bernier, is given in the Description de l'Inde from Tieffenthaler (1. 89.)] whilst the work, in which this notice occurs, the Wakiat-i-Cashmir was written in the time of Mohammed Shah, as was another History of the Province, entitled the Nawadir-ul-Akhbar. The fashion seems to have continued to a very recent date, as Ghulam Husein† [Seir Mutakherin— 3. 210.] notices the composition of a History of Cashmir having been entrusted to various learned men, by order of Jivana the Sich, then Governor of the Province, and we shall have occasion to specify one History of as recent a date, as the reign of Shah-Alem.
The ill directed and limited enquiries of the first European settlers in India, were not likely to have traced the original of these Mohammedan compositions, and its existence was little adverted to, until the translation of the Ayia Acberi by the late Mr. Gladwin was published. The abstract then given naturally excited curiosity, and stimulated enquiry, but the result was unsatisfactory, and a long period intervened before the original work was discovered.‡ [A. R. i. 431; and iv. 188.] Sir Wm. Jones was unable to meet with it, although the history of India from the Sanscrit-Cashmir authorities, was amongst the tasks his undaunted and indefatigable intellect had planned, and it was not until the year 1805, that Mr. Colebrooke§ [A. R. ix. 294.] was successful in his search. At that time he procured a copy of the work from the heirs of a Brahman, who died in Calcutta, and about the same time, or shortly afterwards, another transcript of the Raja Taringini was obtained by the late Mr. Speke from Lucknow. To these two copies I have been able to add a third, which was brought for sale in Calcutta; and I have only to add, that both in that city and at Benares, I have been hitherto unable to meet with any other transcript of this curious work.
The Raja Taringini has hitherto been regarded as one entire composition: it is however in fact a series of compositions, written by different authors, and at different periods; a circumstance that gives greater value to its contents, as with the exception of the early periods of the history, the several authors may be regarded almost as the chroniclers of their own times. The first of the series is the Raja Taringini of Calhana Pandit, the son of Champaca, who states his having made use of earlier authorities, and gives an interesting enumeration of several which he had employed. The list includes the general works of Suvrata and Narendra; the History of Gonerda and hrs three successors, by Hela Raja, an Ascetic; of Lava, and his successors to Asoca, by Padma Mihira; and of Asoca and the four next princes by Sri Chhavillacara. He also cites the authority of Nila Muni, meaning probably the Nila Purana, a Purana known only in Cashmir; the whole forming a remarkable proof of the attention bestowed by Cashmirian writers upon the history of their native country: an attention the more extraordinary, from the contrast it affords, to the total want of historical enquiry in any other part of the extensive countries peopled by the Hindus. The history of Calhana commences with the fabulous ages, and comes down to the reign of Sangrama Deva, the nephew of Didda Rani, in Saca 949 or A.D. 1027, approaching to what appears to have been his own date, Saca 1070 or A.D. 1148.
The next work is the Rajavali of Jona Raja, of which I regret to state I have not yet been able to meet with a copy. It probably begins where Calhana stops, and it closes about the time of Zein ul Ab-ad-din, or the year of the Hijra 815, as we know from the next of the series.
The Sri Jaina Raja Taringini is the work of Sri Vara Pandita, the pupil of Jona Raja, whose work it professes to continue, so as to form with it, and the history of Calhana, a complete record of the Kingdom of Cashmir. It begins with Zein ul Ab-ed-din, whose name the unprepared reader would scarcely recognise, in its Nagari transfiguration, of Sri Jaina Ollabha Dina, and closes with the accession of Fatteh Shah, in the year of the Hijra 882, or A.D. 1477. The name which the author has chosen to give his work of Jaina Taringini has led to a very mistaken notion of its character: it has been included amongst the productions of Jaina literature, whilst in truth the author is an orthodox worshipper of Siva, and evidently intends the epithet he has adopted as complimentary to the memory of Zein ul Ab-ed din, a prince who was a great friend to his Hindu subjects, and a liberal patron of Hindu letters, and literary men.
The fourth work, which completes the aggregate current under the name of Raja Taringini, was written in the time of Acber, expressly to continue to the latest date, the productions of the author's predecessors, and to bring the history down to the time at which Cashmir became a province of Acber's empire. It begins accordingly where Sri Vara ended, or with Fatteh Shah, and closes with Nazek-Shah; the historian apparently, and judiciously, avoiding to notice the fate of the kingdom during Hamayun's retreat into Persia. The work is called the Raja vali Pataca, and is the production of Punya or Prajnya Bhatta.
Of the works thus described, the manuscript of Mr. Speke, containing the compositions of Calhana and Sri Vara, came into my possession at the sale of that gentleman's effects. Of Mr. Colebrooke's manuscript, containing also the work of Punya Bhatta, I was permitted by that gentleman, with the liberality I have had former occasion to acknowledge, to have a transcript made; and the third manuscript, containing the same three works, I have already stated I procured by accidental purchase. Neither of the three comprises the work of Jona Raja, and but one of them, the transcript of Mr. Colebrooke's manuscript, has the third Tarang or section of CALHANA's history. The three manuscripts are all very inaccurate; so far so indeed, that a close translation of them, if desirable, would be impracticable. The leading points, however, may be depended upon, agreeing not only in the different copies, but with the circumstances narrated in the Compendium of Abulfazl, and in the Mohammedan or Persian histories which I have been able to procure.
The Persian works which I have consulted are the following: the Nawa-dir-ul Akhhar, the work of Refiuddin Mohammed, the Wakiat-i-Cashmir by Mohammed Azim, the Tarikh Cashmir of Narayan Cul, and the Goheri Alem Tohfet us shahi, by Badia ud-din. The first of these authors has the advantage of being a Cashmirian by birth, although descended of a Ballch family. He alludes to the work of Calhana Pandit, which he avows his purpose of correcting where at variance with the true faith; and it must be acknowledged, that he has altered without remorse, although it may be questioned, whether he has corrected. His chief disagreements are those of omission however, as in the Hindu portion of his history, he occasionally passes over whole dynasties, and connects the disjuncta membra of his original, with very little regard to accuracy of time or descent. The date of his work is 1133 of the Hijra, in the reign of Mohammed Shah.
The Wakiat-i-Cashmir contains a much fuller account of the Province, and is a closer approximation to the Hindu original. The History follows the order of the Sanscrit work very regularly, but the work is not confined to the History of Cashmir, two of the three portions into which it is divided being appropriated to the description of the country, its natural and artificial curiosities, and the religious and literary characters it has given birth to since the establishment of Islam. Mohammed Azim, the author, calls himself the son of Kheir-uz-zeman Khan, and writes in the year of the Hijra 1140: living therefore, as well as Rafi-ad-din, in the Reign of Mohammed Shah. The same reign produced the third work, which is professedly a translation of the Raja Taringinii. It has all the usual defects of oriental translation, and follows the original with a whimsical interchange of fidelity and variation; some passages, especially those of a legendary character, being minutely given, whilst others of more historical importance are imperfectly rendered or altogether omitted. The author, Narayan Cul, was a Hindu Brahman, and a native of Cashmir.
The last work enumerated is of very modern date, having been written in the time of the last Shah Alem: the author Bedia-ud-din was the son of Mohammed Azim, the author of the Wakiat, whose omissions he purposes to supply, from authorities peculiarly his own, and of which he had subsequently become possessed. He particularly specifies the Nur Namah, an ancient history of Cashmir, written by Sheikh Nur-ad-din Wali in the Cashmirian language, and rendered into Persian by Moulavi Ahmed Almeh, in the reign of Zein ul ab-ad-din. A copy of this the author had procured from one of the descendants of the last independent princes of Cashmir, who were settled as private individuals in Akberabad or Agra; and it is to be presumed that to this work Bedia-ud-din owes the extraordinary additions which he has made occasionally to the labours of his predecessors, and their common original. None of the works above particularised, offer much valuable illustration of the Sanscrit original history; nor do they furnish any additions of historical importance. As well as the summary of Abulfazl however they are very useful in corroborating or explaining many parts of the Sanscrit text, whilst they do comprise a few additional circumstances, which are curious at least in their origin and character, although very questionable in point of probability or truth. The chief value of these works, however, is the notice they take, of the comparatively modern condition of many towns and temples, the foundation of which is commemorated by the Hindu writers, and the existence of which at all, cannot perhaps now be verified, except upon the testimony of these Mohammedan authors; the short interval that has elapsed since their days, having been sufficient to sweep away the vestiges of antiquity, which in their time continued to bear witness to the public spirit, and munificence, of the Hindu Sovereigns of Cashmir.
In the utter darkness which envelopes the history of India previous to the Musselman invasion, the appearance of such a record as that furnished us by the Cashmirian writers acquires an importance, not otherwise derived from the value of the record itself, nor the character of the transactions it commemorates, Its being the sole luminary, however, of the gloomy interval alluded to, renders us naturally curious to follow the track it singly serves to light, and the history of Cashmir, has accordingly attracted the attention of those best competent to have prosecuted the investigation. I have already stated it to be one of the Desiderata of Sir Wm. Jones; and at the time that Mr. Colebrooke announced the discovery of the manuscript, he also declared his intention of giving to the public an account of its contents. The execution of his purpose has probably been impeded by other more important labours, and the too contracted term of Sir Wm. Jones's splendid career, disappointed his hope of performing this, and greater undertakings. A more satisfactory account of the contents of the Raja Taringini than that furnished by Abulfazl is therefore still a desideratum, and in the little probability that now exists of the task being undertaken by living talent more adequate to its accomplishment, I have been induced to prepare, from it chiefly, the following sketch of the Hindu history of Cashmir.
The want of a copy of the connecting series of Jon a Raja, and the occupation of the works of Sri Vara and Punya BHATTA by Musselman transactions, will prevent me, at present at least, from extending the limits of my essay, beyond those of Calhana Pandit, or following any other Hindu guide. His work as a historical composition is clear and consistent, and contains fewer extravagancies than most of the works to which the name of History has been assigned, by the unphilosophical and credulous natives of the East. Like the mass of the Hindu compositions on all subjects, it is written in verse, and as a poem, it contains many passages of merit, both in sentiment and style. The summary of its contents given by Abulfazl is too concise to be of much service, and in the transformation of names occasioned by the difficulty of expressing the Nagari alphabet in Persian characters, excites not unfrequently a doubt, whether the persons named were possessed of Hindu appellations. Farther, it is in many places inaccurate, and it does not therefore preclude a necessity, for some such fuller account of the Raja Taringini and its contents, as is attempted in the essay now submitted to the Society, and which, whilst it follows the order and authority of Calhana Pandit, proposes to comprehend such occasional illustration of his history of Cashmir, as may be derived from the Mohammedan writers above mentioned, or from classical authorities, or more modern investigation.
AN ESSAY ON THE HINDU HISTORY OP CASHMIR.
THE Hindu History of Cashmir commences with the statement, that the beautiful valley forming that kingdom was originally a vast Lake, called Satisaras* [[x], a virtuous woman, and [x], a Lake; the original does not give the etymology, but Abulfazl makes it the Lake of Uma, the wife of Mahadeo, one of whose names, it is true, is Sati in the character of a virtuous spouse. [x] Wak. C. so Abulfazl, Gladwin's translation, ii. 169. Bernier says, les Histoires des anciens rois de Cachemire, veulent que tout ce pays n 'ait ete autrefois qu'un grand Lac [Google translate: the stories of the ancient kings of Cashmere, want this whole country to have once been nothing but a great lake.]. And, according to Forster, the Legends of the country assert that Solomon visited the valley, and finding it covered, except one eminence, with a noxious water, which had no outlet, he opened a passage in the mountains, and gave to Cashmir its beautiful plains. From the general concurrence of the Persian writers, with the account of the Hindu historians, must be excepted Bedia ud-din: he begins with the creation, and brings Adam from Serandip, where all Musselman authorities place him after the fall, to Cashmir. The sovereignty of Cashmir continued in the Line of Seth for 1110 years, when the Hindus conquered the Province under Harinand Raja, and his family ruled it till the period of the deluge. After the flood, Cashmir was peopled by a tribe from Turkestan. The inhabitants were taught the worship of one God, by Moses, who died there, and whose tomb or place of sepulture is still to be seen in Cashmir. The relapse of the Cashmirians into the Hindu idolatry was punished by the local inundation of the province, and the solitary supremacy of the Afrit, Jaladeo, as described in the Wakiat-i-Cashmir. See Appendix No. I. These details are sufficient to give an idea of Bedia ud-din's, or probably of the Sheikh Nur-ad-dins, historical merits.] and this assertion has not only been copied by the Mohammedan writers, but it agrees with the local traditions of the Country, and as far as probability is regarded, has received the sanction of that able geographer Major Rennel.* ["So far am I from doubting the tradition respecting the existence of the Lake that covered Cashmir, that appearances alone would serve to convince me without either the tradition or the history." — Memoir of a Map of Hindoostan, 107.]
The draining of the water from the valley is ascribed, by the Hindu Historians to the Saint Casyapa, the son of Marichi, the son of Brahma, the Cashef or Kasheb of the Mohammedans, according to some of whom, he was not the Hindu Seer, but a Deo or Genie, the servant of Suliman, by whose orders he effected the desiccation of Cashmir. The method of doing this was opening a passage through the mountain at Baramouleh,† [The Wakiat-i-Cashmir has another legend relative to the opening on this occasion of the Baramouleh pass, which is ascribed to Vishnu: the story is not worth quoting, except as a curious specimen of a Mohammedan disposition to enlarge upon Hindu fable: not a syllable of the legend is to be found in the Raja Taringini. See Appendix, No. 1.] by which the water passed off; but the Hindu accounts do not specify the channel by which Casyapa originally drained the Valley. As however it is not improbable that the Valley was really submerged, it is equally possible, as Bernier supposes,‡ ["Pour moi Je ne voudrois nier que toute cette terre neut autrefois ete couverte d' eaux: on le ditbien de la Thessalie, et de quelques autrespays, mais J' ai de la peine a croire que cette ouverture soit 1' ouvrage d'un homme parceque la montagne est tres large et tres haute. Jecroirois plutot que quelque grand teemblement de terre, comme ces lieux y sontassez sujets, auroit fait ouvrir quelque caverne souterraine, ou la montagne se seroit enfoncee." [Google translate: "As for me, I would not deny that all this land was once covered with water: says well of Thessaly, and of some other countries, but I find it hard to believe that this opening is the work of a man because the mountain is very wide and very high. I believe rather than some large earthen building, such as these places are quite subject to, would have to open some subterranean cave, where the mountain would have sunk."] — Voyage de Kachemire. The remark made by Bernier continues applicable to the neighbouring and analogous districts; during the labours of Capt. Hodgson in Gerwhal, in 1817, he noticed forty shocks.] that some natural convulsion rent the confining mountainous barrier, and opened to the waters, an outlet to the plains of the Punjab.
The district thus recovered by Casyapa, was also it is said peopled by him, with the assistance of the superior deities, whom he brought from heaven for that purpose, at the beginning of the seventh or present Manwantara. We must of course subject Cashmir to the same periods of destruction and renovation, as the other parts of the universe, if we wish to reconcile this date with the usual chronology, but as this is not very indispensable, it has been overlooked by the original authority. We also have nothing in the Sanscrit text here, respecting the colony of Brahmins, whom Abulfazl says, he introduced into the province, and from which it might be inferred that he then introduced the Brahmanical religion, an event that probably occurred, as we shall see, at a subsequent period; the worship in Cashmir, being in the mean time apparently that of the Nagas or snake Gods;* [See Appendix, No. 2.] a superstition of very obvious occurrence, amongst the rude inhabitants of a country, recently recovered from the waters, and consequently abounding with the venomous reptiles common to slimy and marshy places.† [With respect to the Leader of the colony, Dr. Hamilton correctly observes, much confusion prevails, arising probably from different persons being designated by the name Casyapa. He has endeavoured to distinguish three of the names. 1st. "Casyapa Muni son of Marichi; 2nd. Kasyapa married to the daughter of Dacsha, also named Tarkshya, who led a colony of civilized people into Cashmir. And 3d. Kasyapa married to the daughters of Vaiswanara, grandson of the preceding." — Genealogies of the Hindus. There is reason to fear however that this distinction can scarcely be made out on original authority. Dr. Hamilton's chronology would rather confirm the assertion of the text that it was the son of Marichi who colonised Cashmir, for he places this sage in the 20th century before the Christian Aera, and it appears not unlikely that Cashmir was colonised about that period.]
Prom the period of the first settlement of Cashmir to the reign of Gonerda, the first prince whose name has been recorded, the country was governed by a succession of 52 kings of the Caurava family, whose reigns formed a period of 1266 years;‡ [So also the Ayin Acberi: the author of the Wakiat Cashmir cites Hindu authority, for a Series of 55 Princes and a period of 1919 years. ] these princes were not worthy of record, says our Hindu author, on account of their disregard of the precepts of the Vedas, and their impure and vicious lives; and he assigns a better reason for their being forgotten, did they ever indeed exist, in this expression, [x] which we may employ Horace to translate, Illacrymabiles urgeutur ignotique longa nocte, carent quia vate sacro. [Google translate: Unlamentable and strangers are hard pressed after a long night, because they lack the sacred bard.]
The blank thus left in the history by the Hindu writer, is partly filled up by Mohammedan authority, and we may therefore here desert our usual guide, to contemplate the series of monarchs, derived from another source. According to Bedia ad-din, after the settlement of the country by Suliman, he left the sovereignty to his cousin, Isaun, who reigned over Cashmir twenty-five years, and was succeeded by his son.
2. Cassalgham, who fixed his capital at Islamabad and reigned nineteen years.
3. MAHERKAZ his son succeeded and reigned thirty years; being childless, he adopted for his son and successor.
4. Bandu or Pandu-khan. The birth of this prince was miraculously effected, his mother becoming pregnant from bathing in a reservoir or tank: his death was equally marvellous, as upon batling himself in the same reservoir, he dissolved, and returned to the element whence he sprang: he is said to have had a most numerous offspring, and to have seen in his life time, no fewer than fifteen thousand descendants: these were the Pandavas, afterwards so celebrated in Indian History.
We may here pause to notice the concurrence of this account, with that which we have already extracted from Hindu authority, of the subjection of Cashmir to a long series of Caurava princes, as these are in the estimation of the Hindus, the offspring of a common ancestor, and virtually the same with the Pandava race. This position of the family in the north west of India, is referred to in many works, and the chief scene of their early exploits is the Punjab, and its vicinity; and these traditions therefore although much embarrassed by uncertainty and fiction, seem to support the idea that this part of India was the native seat of the Pandavas. Besides the positive assertions to this effect in the history of Cashmir, I find, that in an unfinished manuscript essay by Colonel Wilford, and liberally put into my hands by that eminent scholar, he has also particularised Cashmir as the birth place of the Pandavas upon Hindu authority, and we find in classical authors* [Appendix, No. 3.] the realm or city of Panda, or of the Pandavas, in a similar direction, although not precisely the same position: at the same time, it is true, that Curu the progenitor of the Caurava and Pandava races is placed by the Pauranic writers in a more central part of India, and made king of Hastinapur: the five suppositious sons of Pandu were however according to the same authorities actually born in the Himalaya mountains,* [[x] Mahabharat Adi Parva (2. 64.) "Thus the five God-given sons of Pandu grew up in the holy mountain of Himavat, endowed with divine force, with the strength, the gait and prowess of lions, expert archers, lovely as the moon, and graced with every auspicious mark, renowned through the World, and honouring the race of Curu." In the first or Anucramanic portion of the Mahabharat a curious passage occurs relative to the spurious descent of the Pandavas, for when the boys are brought to Hastinapur by the Rishis, their preceptors, some of the citizens say, they cannot be the sons of Pandu, for he has long been dead; [x], the passage is not the less remarkable from its being singular, that is to say, it is not adverted to in the subsequent part of the poem which details the event at length. The Anucramanica is a summary of the whole work, and not impossibly the original, the bulk of the poem being merely a repetition and expansion of the brief narration, which it contains.] whither Pandu with his wife Cunti had accompanied the Rishis, and where the Gods descended to rear posterity for the prince: there can be little doubt therefore, that either the original Caurava family, or a very important branch of it, came from the northwest and mountainous parts of India. † [As one additional argument, the complexion of Pandu may be mentioned; it is said in the Mahabharat that he was named Pandu, pale, from the paleness of his colour. Vyasa says to the younger widow of his late brother [x], Maha, Ad. P.]
To return however to the series of princes enumerated by Bedia Ad-din; we have:
5. Ladi-Khan, son of Pandu-Khan.
6. Ledder-Khan, his son.
7. Sunder-Khan in whose reign the idolatry of the Hindu worship again made its appearance: the prince was slain in endeavouring to obstruct its progress, and was succeeded by
8. Cunder-Khan his son, who reigned thirty-five years.
9. Sunder-Khan, the second. Idolatry was now the national religion, and the king- erected a temple to Sadasiva.
10. TUNDU-KHAN.
11. Beddu-Khan, who reigned 115 years.
15. Mahand-Khan.
13. DURBINASH-KHAN.
14. Deosir-Khan.
15. Tehab-Khan. This prince was attacked and slain by his neighbour and relation, the king of Cabul, who seized upon the throne of Cashmir, and reigned under the name of
16. Calju-Khan; after a reign of seven years he was driven out by his Pandava relatives, who raised to the throne
17. Surkhab-Khan; his reign lasted 191 years.
18. Shermabaram-Khan.
19. Naureng-Khan; this prince was a great conqueror and extended his dominions to the kingdom of China.
20. Barigh-Khan.
21. Gawasheh-Khan.
22. Pandu-Khan the second; he recovered the provinces that had been subject to the crown of Cashmir, and which extended to the shores of the Indian sea.
23. Haris-Khan; his reign lasted 23 years.
24. Sanzil-Khan.
25. Akber-Khan.
26. Jaber-Khan.
27. Nauder-Khan, he introduced the worship of fire.
28. Sanker-Khan, who was attacked and slain by Barra-Raj, a neighbouring chief who headed the Cashmirian nobles driven into rebellion by the tyranny of their king.
The six sons of Sanker-Khan succeeded in due order to their father's sovereignty, and also to his fate. Their accession and deaths were the work of a few hours, whence originated the proverb, said to be still current in Cashmir;
[x]
"One Caldron, on one fire, saw seven kings before the flesh was boiled;"
a proverb, which though not of literal, has been in a general sense, of not inappropriate application, to events of eastern history, of a more authentic character, than the one to which its origin is here ascribed.
29. Bacra-Raj then took possession of Cashmlr, and bequeathed it to his descendants: their names are however unknown, and a blank interval precedes the succession of Augnand the first monarch, with whom all the authorities are agreed to commence, what may be regarded, as the dawn of legitimate historical record.
The list above inserted, although of an obviously fabulous construction, still contains matter to excite curiosity, and awaken some speculation as to the possibility of any part of it being true; it seems very probable that it originates with tradition, and is not altogether unfounded, although no doubt much disfigured, and most probably misplaced: the title of Khan attached to the names, few of which too appear to be Hindu, indicates a race of Tartar princes, and we shall have occasion to notice the presence of Tartar rulers in Cashmir, accompanied with something like chasms in the history, which Bedia ad-din's catalogue would enable us to fill, conveniently enough: if we might conjecture from the names of several princes on the west of India, the invasion of Alexander was the period of Tartar rule in this direction, as Oxycanus and Musicanus might easily be resolved into Tartar appellations with the designation Khan attached:* [I am not disposed to attach any importance to etymological conjectures in general, and merely adduce such analogies, as possible identifications in the absence of better guides; at the same time I am very much disposed to think with the learned Dr. Vincent, that "most, if not all of the Indian names, which occur in classical authors, are capable of being traced to native appellations, existing at this day among the Hindoos, at least, if not the Moguls." (Voyage of Nearchus, 129.) Lieut. Pottinger finds a similarity between Musicanus and Mop-Sehwan, the names of two contiguous districts in Sind, and usually connected in utterance. They lie exactly, where we are told, the Greeks found that chief's territories. Travels in Biloochistan.] it may be resting too much on conjecture only, however, to give a period of existence to what are perhaps after all but phantoms, and we must remain satisfied with the possibility, that they were real personages, who ruled Cashmir as foreigners, and that as foreigners, they were extruded from the Hindu annals, and were preserved only by undefined traditions, which have been embodied into the Mohammedan history of Sheik Nuraddin with little regard to chronology, or truth.
As the first named sovereign of the Hindu history of Cashmir, succeeded to the princes who had governed the country for nearly thirteen centuries, there should have been little or no chronological difficulty about the period of his accession: the introduction of Manwantaras and Calpas, has however obscured a system, otherwise clear at least, if not unexceptionable, and has left it doubtful, whether these princes, as well as the first settlement of the country, come within the limits of the Cali-age, and consequently at what date in that age, Gonerda, the Augnand* [In Nagari [x], or in some copies [x], Gonerda or Gonanda; the Persian is [x], Augnand and the author of the Wakiati Cashmir as well as Bedia-AD-DIN leave no doubt of the intention of the Musselman writers as they detail the letters of this and other names, in the manner, common in Arabic and Persian Lexicons.] of the Mohammedan writers, was king of Cashmir: there are other chronological points, connected with his history, that have received the notice of the Hindu historian.
The passage of the original is however here not very distinct, and refers evidently to computations of an uncommon character. Gonerda as appears from the transactions of his reign, was contemporary with Crishna and Yudhishthir, who according to the generally received notions, lived at the end of the Dwapar age: this however the author observes is irreconcileable with the series of Gonerda's successors, which agrees better with the opinion, that places the existence of the Caurava and Pandava princes about the middle of the seventh century of the Cali Yug; a computation it may be remarked which is at variance with Gonerda's succeeding to the throne, after that had been occupied for 1266 years, unless some of those years be carried into the preceding age: it is of very little use however to attempt to reconcile these discrepancies, as the different statements are all probably equally incorrect; and it is only of importance to observe, the disagreement between this author and the popular belief, as to the age of Yudhishthir and Crishna, and the reduction of the antiquity usually assigned to them, which is thus derivable from Hindu authority: any other conclusions, we shall be better prepared to make when we have gone through the different dynasties of princes, and the events recorded to have happened during their reigns.* [Appendix No. 4.] If we may trust the Hindu historian, Gonerda the first was a relation of Jarasandha, king of Magadha, to whose assistance he led an army from Cashmir: the confederates were opposed to Crishna, in the province of Mathura, and were defeated in an engagement upon the banks of the Yamuna by that chief, and his brother Balarama, by whose hands Gonerda was slain, whilst attempting to rally his flying troops:† [Appendix No. 5.] the prince was succeeded by his son Damodara who in his impatience to revenge his father's death, attacked a party of the friends of Crishna on, their return from a marriage in Gandhar on the Indus;‡ [Appendix No. 6.] the bride was killed in the affray; but the rage of the bridegroom and his friends was irresistible, and the followers of the prince were defeated, and himself slain; the whole transaction being such as was probably of not unfrequent occurrence, in the history of these mountainous regions, in a state of society much more advanced, than that of which it is narrated. Damodara left his wife Yasovati pregnant, and ill able to resist the victorious Yadava. Crishna however sent Brahmans to appease her anxiety, and establish her in the kingdom, silencing the remonstrances of his friends by this quotation from the Puranas [x], "Cashmir is as Parvati,§ [This appears to be a pun, Parvati meaning both mountainous and the wife of Siva.] and the king is a portion of Hara: if even vicious therefore, he is not to be disrespected by the sage who hopes for heaven."
In due time Yasovati was delivered of a son, who was immediately anointed king|| [There is no other word that can be used to express the Abhishec, considered an essential part of the ceremony of coronation; the word means in fact sprinkling, and implies in these cases, the sprinkling of the king with water from some sacred stream, as the Ganges, &c.] the minister of his father conducting the affairs of the state during his minority: he was named Gonerda* [Abulfazl has Bala; the designation of the infant monarch, or Bala, a child, having been mistaken for his own appellation.] after his grand-father: his tender years prevented him from taking any part in the war that continued during his youth, to rage between the Caurava and Pandava families.
A dark period follows the reign of this prince, and the chasm is filled by a nameless troop of thirty-five kings, who deviating from the precepts of the Vedas were consequently immersed in the waters of oblivion:† [According to Bedia-ad-din they were all of the Pandava race.] to them succeeded a monarch of some celebrity, Lava, the Loo or Looloo of the Mohammedan historians, of whom the only action recorded is the foundation of the city Lolora‡ [Perhaps the Durroo or Lurroo of Forster, ii. 5.], a city which, according to the extravagant accounts of all parties, contained originally an incredible number of stone edifices,§ [Abulfazl has 80 Crore; the original, one Crore minus 16 Lacs or 84,00,000: both Refiuddeen and Mahommed Azim say, that Looloo or Lolot was a populous place in the Pergannah of Camraj, or the western division of Cashmir. Ayeen Acberi, ii. 162.] and which in modern times, continued to be a celebrated and populous Tappa or village. Lava is also said to have been a benefactor of the Brahmanical tribe.
Cusesaya, || [Kishn. Abulfazl, &c.] the son of Lava, succeeded his father, whom he resembled in conferring endowments of land upon the Brahmanical priesthood.** [The term used on these occasions is Agrahara, which imports a portion of land, or a village, given to the Brahmans, with or without a temple or dwelling.] He was followed in habits and sovereignty by his son Khagendra,†† [Khagunder. Abulfazl.] of whom it is recorded that he constructed the towns Khagi and Ehanmusha.‡ ‡ [Cacapur and Gowmoha in the time of the Mohammedan writers.] Surendra,§§ [Serendair. Abulfazl.] the son of this prince succeeded him, and was actively employed in founding towns and building temples and palaces: one city of his construction was Suraca situated near the Darada country, or at the foot of the mountains.
According to the Mohammedan writers, this prince had a daughter named Catapan Bhanu of great beauty and accomplishments; the reputation of which induced Bahman, the son Isfendiar, who afterwards governed Persia under the name of Ardisheer Dirazdest, to solicit and obtain the princess in marriage. It does not appear from what source they have derived this story, as it is not found in the Hindu records, nor in the hstorical romance of Firdausi, unless we suppose it to have originated in the adventures of Gushtasp, the grandfather of Bahman, who whilst in exile in the west married Kattyoon, the daughter of the Emperor of Room. ( Malcolm's Persia 56.) Had there been any foundation for the tradition, it might have been of some chronological utility, but it is probably either an idle invention, or it is a misrepresentation of the fables which relate to the adventures of Behram Gor, who according to Firdausi, visited India, and there married Sipanud the daughter of Shancal king of Canouj.* [Or rather of the whole tract of country from Canouj to Khorasan, according to the Persian poet. Thus Bahram, he says, sends an embassy to Shancal, who is sovereign of India from the river of Canouj to the borders of Sind [x], the king in his reply tells him, that the region he rules is full of mountains and streams, and extends from Canouj to Iran in one direction, and in the other from Siclab (Sclavonia or Tartary) to China. [x]. The Shancal here mentioned is probably the Shincal of Meerkhond and Ferishta; they have however added to his history, and have made him contemporary with Afrasiab. The union noticed in the text terminated according to Bedia-ad-din unhappily, and Behman was murdered by the attendants of the princess at her instigation, in resentment of his contemptuous mention of her father; and he did not perish, he observes, as said by other reports, of the bite of a snake.]
As Surendra however had no son, he was succeeded by a prince of another family named Godhara;* [Gowdher, Ayin Acberi.] whose successors Suverna, Janaca and Sachinara† [Suren, Jenek and Seijuner. Ibid.] followed him in regular descent, and continued to build cities, and construct and endow temples for the advantage of the Brahmans, and chiefly it would seem for the worship of Siva. Janaca the second of these princes is said by Bedia-ad-din to have sent one of his sons into Persia, with a hostile force during the reign of Homai: the invader however was repelled and slain by the Persians under Darab, the son of Bahman.
The last of these princes being childless, the crown of Cashmir reverted to the family of its former rulers, and devolved on Asoca who was descended from the paternal great uncle of Khagendra. This prince, it is said in the Ayin Acberi, abolished the Brahmanical rites, and substituted those of Jina: from the original however it appears, that he by no means attempted the former of these heinous acts, and that on the contrary, he was a pious worshipper of Siva, an ancient temple of whom in the character of Vijayesa‡ [There are a Vijayesa and Vijaya cshetra at Benares. The Vijaya Linga adjourned, or in other words, his worship was brought, according to the Casi C'hand from Cashmir. Sec. 69. [x]] he repaired. With respect to the second charge, there is better foundation for it, although it appears that this prince did not introduce, but invented or originated the Jina Sasana.§ [Bedia-ad din says, the new faith was brought from Ajem, in which case it must have been, the worship of fire that was introduced, a circumstance of no unlikely occurrence, but which at this period of our history is utterly irreconcilable with the chronology of the original, as if it took place after Darab the son of Homai — it very little preceded Alexander's invasion of India — but we have not yet come to the second Gonerda, who lived, agreeably to the assertion of Calhana pandit, 1182 B.C.— It must not be forgotten that these Persian transactions are taken from the Mohammedan writers, and are not hinted at in the Raja Taringini.] He is said to have founded a city called Srinagar, a different place however from the present capital, which is attributed to a much later monarch.|| [Rafi-ad-deen calls it Babara; the Wahiat-i-Cashmir and Narayan Cul call it Sir, and the latter states that it was in Miraj, or the eastern division of Cashmir, and that traces of its site were visible in his time.] In the reign of Asoca, Cashmir was overrun by the Mlechhas, for whose expulsion the king obtained from Siva a pious and valiant son, as a reward for the austerities he had practised.* [The faith of Asoca is a matter of very little moment, as the prince himself is possibly an ideal personage: as however the comparative antiquity of the Bauddha and Brahmanical creeds in Cashmir has been supposed to be affected by it, and the events subsequently recorded, it may be adviseable to give the passages of the original, which shew that Asoca was a worshipper of Siva: it is not improbable however, if we are to attach credit to any part of this portion of the Cashmirian history, that he permitted heretical, possibly Bauddha doctrines, to be introduced into the kingdom during his reign from his Tartar neighbours. [x] "Then the prince Asoca, the lover of truth, obtained the earth; who sinning in subdued affections, produced the Jina Sasana." This may mean possibly something very different from the received idea, and may imply his neglect of affairs of state through excess of devotion, and his consequently omitting to prevent the intrusion of a foreign power, rather than a foreign faith, into the kingdom, the expulsion of which was the object of his son's birth. [x] "The country being overspread with Mlechhas, the king for their expulsion obtained from Bhutesa (Siva as the Lord of the elements) pleased with his Tapas, an excellent son." — Dr. Buchanan has made a strange misquotation from Abulfazl; (A.R. vi. 165.) He calls Asoca Raja Jennet, and says he established in his reign the Brahmany rites, instead of abolished them as it occurs in the Ayin Acberi; an error which justly drew down the angry censures of the Oriental Critics in the Edinburgh Review for October, 1802, and the Asiatic Annual Register of the same year; the Mlechhas might have been Scythians or Tartars. See the observations on the Tartar princes.]
Jaloca, the son and successor of Asoca, was a prince of great prowess: he overcame the assertors of the Bauddha heresies, and quickly expelled the Mlechhas from the country, thence named Ujjhita dimba: he then carried his victorious arms to foreign regions, and amongst others to the North of Persia, which he subjugated in the reign of Darab,† [Bedia-ad-din.] and then proceeding in an opposite direction he subdued the country of Canouj.
The conquest of Canyacubja by this prince, is connected with an event not improbable in itself, and which possibly marks the introduction of the Brahmanical creed, in its more perfect form, into this kingdom. Jaloca is said to have adopted thence the distinction of casts, and the practices which were at that time established in the neighbouring districts: he also introduced into the Government the forms and offices elsewhere prevalent, and first assigned titles and duties to the following seven officers of state, the Dhermadhyacsha, the justiciary, or chancellor; Dhana-adhyacsha, treasurer; Cosha-adhyacsha, master of the military stores; Chamupati, commander in chief; Duta, messenger or ambassador; Purodha, the royal chaplain or almoner, and the Daivajnya or chief astrologer. The eighteen offices, and their duties, were also defined by this prince, who appears to have been the first of the Cashmir kings who introduced religion and government into that kingdom. He is said to have particularly worshipped Siva as Mandesa in consequence of having had read to him the Nandipurana by one of Vyasa's scholars: he also erected temples to the same deity as Jyeshta Rudra. This prince was possessed of supernatural powers, and several marvellous stories are narrated of him, which we need not pause to extract: he was also a prince of a generous disposition, and a rigid observer of his word: although devoted to Siva, he forbore in the latter part of his reign from molesting the followers of the Bauddha schism, and even bestowed on them some endowments as the Vihar* [Vihar is a common Sanscrit word usually employed to designate a Bauddha temple as well as an establishment or College of Bauddha priests. It seems to have been also used by the old Persians in a similar sense, and to have been applied to their fire temples. See Ouseley's Persia 126, and note. In the work before us, it has frequently an extended meaning, and also signifies a Royal pleasure house or garden.] called Crityasrama, in honor of one of their female divinities, or spirits named Crityadevi, by whom he had been addressed as a Bodhisatwa himself,. †[The divinity who appeared to the prince to intercede for the Bauddhists explains the term Bodhisatwa; [x] 'Those who are Bodhisatwas trusting to the one great refuge, are desirous of the destruction of darkness; they proceed in the universe of the Lord, from the Lord of the universe, and are not wroth sinfully at the distresses inflicted on animal nature unpervaded by waking truth, but alleviate them by patience. Those who seek to understand themselves, they are strenuous in bearing all." A Bodhisatwa is therefore nothing but a man of patience and piety, and may be regarded as a living type, and figuratively as a lineal descendant of Buddha: his origin from the Lord of the universe (Locanath, an epithet of Buddha) in this passage, may be so intended: at the same time it appears that Bodhisatwa is sometimes considered literally as the son of Buddha; On verra dans la suite de cet ouvrage que Phou sa ou Boudhisatoua, les fils de Bouddha, &c. (Google translate: We will see in the rest of this work that Phou sa or Boudhisatoua, the sons of Buddha) Mons. Rrmusat, on the polyglot Chinese vocabulary. Mines de l'orient vol. iv. 198, note. The continuation he refers to has not yet been received. The term, as a generic appellation of a living Buddha, is common in all Bauddha countries: one of the Bourkhans of the Calmucks is named Khomschin Bodi-Sada (Pallas. Fr. Trans. Oct. ii. 222.) An Indian teacher of Bouddhism, who was invited into Tibet, is named Pothi satho (Giorgi. 240), and according to Loubere one of the names of Sommono Codom (Samana Gotama) amongst the Siamese, is Pouti Sat, or Seigneur Pouti. (Vie de Thevetat.)] After a long and glorious reign, he went on a pilgrimage to Chiramochana Tirtha, where after worshipping Jyeshta Rudra, the prince and his queen were both identified with that deity.
The successor of this celebrated monarch was Damodara, of whose descent various opinions were entertained; some deducing him from Asoca and others considering him as sprung from a different family: he was a devout worshipper of Siva: this prince constructed several stone bridges and causeways, the remains of which were visible in modern times; and there were also two remarkable places, which in the time of Mohammed Azim were connected with the legendary history of this prince; the one a set of small irregular springs, and the other a spot of uneven and marshy ground near the city.
On one occasion as Damodara was proceeding to perform his customary ablutions in the Vitasta, he was importuned for food by some hungry Brahmans; he deferred complying with their solicitations till he had bathed in the river, then at some distance: to shorten the interval they proposed to bring the river to him, and immediately the water of the Vitasta bubbled up from different places near them, forming the springs that are still to be seen; the king was unmoved by this miracle, and being still determined to bathe in the genuine stream, the Brahmans denounced a curse upon him, and transformed him into a snake, in which shape he haunts the ground near the Capital, and is often to be seen: this spot is called Damodar-uder according to the Musselman accounts.* [I understand from some natives of Cashmir that this superstition still exists, and that Damodara, transformed to a serpent, still haunts a lake about seven cos from the Capital, and is still occasionally visible: no doubt, in that form.]
Damodara was succeeded by three princes who divided the country, and severally founded capital cities named after themselves. These princes were called Hushca, Jushca, and Canishca,† [Beyshek, Reshek, Kinshek. Abulfazl. Brothers according to the same authority, but not so termed in the original.] and these appellations are strongly corroborative of an assertion of our author, that they were of Turushca, that is, of Turc or Tartar extraction: they are considered as synchronous, but may possibly be all that are preserved of some series of Tartar princes, who, it is very likely, at various periods, established themselves in Cashmir. The chief event recorded of their reign is the foundation of the three several capitals, named after themselves,‡ [Hushcapur, said by the modern writers to be the modern Shecroh in the Pergannah of Lar, and a town of some extent: Jushcapur and Canishcapur are identified with Dahimpur and Cansapur, two inconsiderable villages in the time of Mohammed Shah.] but another and more important consequence of their Sovereignty is said to have been the almost entire change of the national faith, and the nearly exclusive prevalence of the doctrines of the Bauddhas under a Bodhisatwa or hierarch named Nagarjuna. The period at which this took place is said to have been 150 years before the death of Sucaysinha.§ [Appendix, No. VII.] The presence of the Turushca princes in Cashmir, we may observe, is in harmony with Tartar traditions; according to these, Oghuz their patriarch is represented to have subdued that country, and introduced the religion of Japhet there, so long back as 2800 years before the Christian aera.|| [Oghuz conquit ainsi toute la Bukharie, Balkh, Khor, Kaboul, Ghazna et le Kaschmir ou il y avoit un prince fort puissant nomine Jagma. Des Guignes Tome prem. Partie seconde p. 10. [Google translate: Oghuz thus conquered all of Bukharia, Balkh, Khor, Kabul, Ghazna and Kashmir or there was a very powerful prince named Jagma. Des Guignes Tome prem. Second part p. 10.] We cannot find in the text any name resembling the Jagma of the Tartar tradition, but it is apparently a Hindu appellative, and the omission of its original is easily accounted for; we have an evident chasm in the history here, and the accession or expulsion of the Turushca princes is equally unexplained.] A second Scythian irruption and subjugation of India, bordering on the Sind is also said to have occurred about the middle of the 7th century before Christ:* [Maurice's Ancient History of India, ii. 224; according to Blair, B.C. 624 in the reign of Cyaxares or Kaikaoos. A subsequent irruption took place in the reign of Darius Hystaspes, if he be, as he probably is, the same with Gushtasp: this last was of a decidedly religious character. Malcolm's Persia, i. 62.] neither of these dates will correspond precisely with that of the reigns above described, but they are all perhaps equally of little value, and only corroborate the general fact, that at some remote period the Tartars or Scythians did govern Cashmir, and render it probable, that they first gave the sanction of authority to their national religion, or that of Buddha, in India.
The Tartar princes were succeeded by Abhimanyu, a monarch evidently of a Hindu appellation, and a follower of the orthodox faith, which he reestablished in Cashmir. The chief instrument in this reform was Chandra, a Brahmin celebrated as the author of a grammar, and a teacher of the Mahabhashya.†[The name of Chandra occurs amongst the eight ancient Grammarians of the Hindus. Colebrooke on the Sanscrit and Pracrit Languages, A.R. vii. 204 and 5.] In consequence of the disuse of the prescribed institutes, the abolition of every form of sacrifice, and a departure from the lessons of the Nila Purana‡ [The Purana of the Naga or Serpent god, named Nila.] the Nagas were particularly incensed, and visited the offences of the people with severe and unseasonable storms of rain and snow, in which those especially perished who had adopted the Bauddha heresy:§ [Appendix, No. VIII.] in this situation of the kingdom, Chandra, descended it is said from Casyapa, addressed his prayers to Maheswara as Nila Naga, the tutelary deity of the country, and obtained from him a termination of what our author calls, the double plague of Cashmir, the severity of the seasons, and the predominance of the Bauddhas.
