Hebrew to the Septuagint or Samaritan text, whenever it suits their purpose) inform us that the ninth, or Buddha Avatara, commenced at the beginning of the fourth, instead of the conclusion of the third age. And, of a period which was to last five thousand years, an hundred and fifty-seven might very well be termed the beginning.

Europeans in general, following the Hindu poet, suppose the exploits performed in the several Avataras, to have occurred as placed by that author; which is an evident mistake. For, considering them as celebrated by Jaya Deva, the first, sixth, and ninth, allude to Buddha the son of Máyá, and the prophecy of the deluge. Although the ninth, equally alluding to the actions of Buddha the son of Jina, in whom the prophecy was fulfilled, is usually termed the Buddha Avatar. The second and third treat exclusively of Buddha, the son of Máyá, who described the fall of man, and prophetized of his redemption. The fourth, fifth, seventh, and eighth are elucidatory of the religious wars carried on by the children of the Sun, against the Idolaters or children of the Moon, during the early part of the old world, before the general apostacy; all of which I shall explain hereafter. We must now return to those Avataras who became Menus or kings; of whom the Hindus suppose six in each

race. If we may believe Eusebius, Berosus allotted that number of kings between Aloros or Adam, and the deluge, in the race of Cain. And we know that the Hebrews suppose the same number in the race of Seth. For Enoch and Lamech, dying before their respective fathers, could not have succeeded to the sovereignty of the world in succession; and Methuselah having lived until within a few days of the deluge, Noah consequently did not commence his reign in the old world. And so the Purana denotes, saying, "the prince who was saved in the ark was appointed a Menu, by favour of Vishnu, after the waters of the deluge had subsided, by his patronymic of Vaivaswata;" which was not only an epithet of the Sun, but the name of the great ancestor of this prince; a person so eminently pious, that many of the Hebrews suppose that the destruction of all created beings, who had offended the Almighty, was withheld until the number of his days were completed. From the last table it appears, that the six patriarchs, who ruled in succession, were named as follows.

Hebrew.
Adam.

1 Seth.

2 Enos.

3 Cainan.

4 Mahalaleel.

5 Jared.

6 Methuselah.

5 Chur'shusha, or beaming with glory.

6 Vaivaswata, or child of the Sun.

That the Mosaic account agrees with that of the Hindus is certain; not only in the number of the patriarchs, or Avataras, but in the date of their birth, and the number who became Menus, or kings, in succession. We must, then, give credit to both, or to neither. A variety of other circumstances might hence be deduced, to prove that the beginning of the Cali age is correctly placed at the year B. c. 3102, or A. M. 900. It is marked by the death of their first Buddha; and Adam died in the 31st year of that age. It is mentioned as the period when idolatry had assumed a gigantic form; when men were consecrated as gods. And the Hebrew writers inform us, that before the death of Adam, A. M. 931, he sent for Seth and his descendants, charging them to retire from the plain, where Abel had been murdered,

and to reside in the mountains; in the holy mount opposite to Paradise, lest they should be drawn to idolatry by the descendants of Cain. Perhaps no period of the old, or new world, could so appropriately have been named the age of Sin and Sorrow, as that in which the Hindus place it: "when the earth became corrupt before God, and was filled with violence" (Gen. vi. 11.) given up to idolatry. Those who argue for the removal of this age, are obliged to transform the children of Adam into the children of Noah, as will appear by returning to the quotation, which proceeds to say, "On a supposition that Vaivaswata, or Sun-born, was the Noah of the Scripture, let us proceed to the Indian account of his posterity; which I extract from the Puranar-thaprecasa, or the Puranas explained; a work lately composed in Sanscrit by Rhadacanta Sarman, a pundit of extensive learning and great fame among the Hindus of this province. Before we examine the genealogies of kings which he has collected from the Puranas, it will be necessary to give a general idea of the Avatars, or descents of the Deity. The Hindus believe innumerable such descents, or specific interpositions of Providence in the affairs of mankind. But they reckon ten principal Avatars in the current period of four ages, and all of them are described in order as they are supposed to

occur in the following Ode of Jayadeva, the great lyric poet of India.”

THE ODE.

1. Thou recoverest the Veda in the water of the ocean of destruction, placing it joyfully in the bosom of an ark fabricated by thee! O Cesava, assuming the body of a fish, be victorious, O Heri, Lord of the Universe!

2. The Earth stands firm on thy immensely broad back, which grows larger, from the callous occasioned by bearing that vast burden. O Cesava, assuming the body of a tortoise, be victorious, O Heri, Lord of the Universe.

3. The Earth placed on the point of thy tusk, remained fixed like the picture of a black antelope, on the Moon. O Cesava, assuming the form of a boar, be victorious, O Heri, Lord of the Universe.

4. The claw with a stupendous point in the exquisite Lotos of thy lion's paw, is the black bee that stung the body of the embowelled Hiranyacasipa. O Cesava, assuming the form of a lionman, be victorious, O Heri, Lord of the Universe.

5. By thy power thou beguilest Bali, O thou miraculous dwarf, thou purifier of men with the water (of Ganga), springing from thy feet. O Cesava, assuming the form of a dwarf, be victorious, O Heri, Lord of the Universe.