without understanding the text, insists that the Buddha whom the Bhagavat alludes to, as being born at the commencement of the Cali age, appeared 840 years later: thereby identifying the person of Noah; no other person, in the postdiluvian world, having lived that number of years. The Bhagavat informs us that this Buddha was born in the antediluvian world, or which is the same thing, in the beginning of the Cali age, which commenced after years 900, or 700 years before the deluge. The Bhagavatamrita tells us that he appeared two hundred and forty-six years after the deluge, or after the one thousand and second year of the Cali age was past, answering to A. M. 1903 and this date answers to the year B. C. 2100, when, according to Rhadacanta, Purangata, son of the last king of Mugadha (of the sacerdotal cast) "was put to death by his minister; who placed his own son on the throne." This is mentioned as an epoch of the highest importance,

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first, as it happened according to the Bhagavatamrita, two years, exactly, before Buddha's appearance in the same kingdom; and, secondly, as it is believed by the Hindus, to have taken place 2100 years before Christ," or a. M. 1902; evincing, beyond controversy, that Buddha the son of Jina, was Noah, the son of Lamech. No other person

* See p. 153.

has been recorded, by any nation, as having attained to so great an age, in the new world. He appeared at Mugadha two years after the usurpation of Pradyato, which took place 107 years before the death of Noah. For A. M. 1900+107 = 2007, the year in which the patriarch died. Pradyato was the contemporary of Thoth, or Athothes, king of Egypt. The one began his reign A. M. 1902, the other A. M. 1911*. Pradyato was decidedly of the race of Ham. He was the first prince of the Cshatriya, or military cast, that ruled at Mugadha, after the mild race of Shem were deposed. This is confirmed by a coincidence of several circumstances. Among the most conspicuous, is the omission of the deluge. Sanchoniatho, who copies from the records found at Berytus, and the cosmogony of Thoth, is silent relative to that memorable event; and Rhadacanta, who gives the Solar and Lunar dynasties, from the records of Mugadha, as they were written during the dynasty of Pradyato, is equally silent on the subject. Whereas other Hindu recorders are profuse in their account of that great and awful event.

As Noah divided the world between his sons A. M. 1759; as the dispersion from Babylon took place A. M. 1798; as, according to Sanchoniatho,

* Vide Table XXV.

to

Noah was driven into banishment A. M. 1892, and as Buddha appeared at Mugadha A. M. 1902; it is a fair inference, that he fled to that province for protection. For that Mugadha was originally peopled by the race of Shem we learn from the division of the world. The patriarch allotted the eastern and northern parts of Asia to Shem Ham that part which led to Africa, and to Japheth that which led to Europe. The two latter travelled together, and stopt at Babylon, where they occupied themselves in building, and in other pursuits: during which period, the race of Shem were settling themselves in those countries allotted to them. So record the Hebrews, and so believe the Hindus. For while the Chaldeans were taking possession of that country, the Hindus suppose that their ancestors were settling at Mugadha, where they had an undisputed rule for an hundred and fifty years; or from the division of the world, to the usurpation of Pradyato. Thither, according to the Bhagavatamrita, the afflicted Buddha fled for safety. There he appeared as an aged man, without power. Whither was it so likely that Noah should have fled, from the persecution of his rebel son, as to a kingdom inhabited by the virtuous race of Shem? But here, it seems, his misfortunes pursued him. The descendants of Shem were deposed by an usurper of that race, by whom he was persecuted and no

asylum being afforded him, he migrated yet farther towards China. And although we may safely pronounce that he never reached that country, yet we may suggest that he travelled so far eastward, as to be beyond the boundary of either Assyrian or Hindu historic knowledge; and, with the exception of the year in which he died, the Scripture is totally silent respecting Noah. If Buddha appeared at Mugadha, it was only as he passed eastward for Rhadacanta, who gives the dynasties of that country, is totally silent respecting him, as an Avatara, although he mentions the other Avataras: and the author of the Bhagavatamrita mentions him as "an aged man without hair" (Noah was at that time 847 years of age), " with only two arms." Now, it is observable, that all the Avataras, when in power, are drawn with four arms; a convincing proof that this appearance was during his banishment. The works of Rhadacanta are on this, as on many other occasions, very unjustly quoted. Sir William Jones, wishing for an explanation of the Bhagavat, a classical book, which states the birth of this Buddha at the commencement of the Cali age, demands written proof of what might be considered as the commencement. The Bhagavatamrita was, therefore, produced. But that by no means warrants the assertion" that Rhadacanta insists that Buddha, the

son of Marza, of whom the astronomers of Varanes were treating, appeared after the thousandth year of the Cali age." The vast distance of China from the mountain, where the ark rested; the advanced age of the patriarch; his being seen at Mugadha A. M. 1902, all militate even against a supposition that he ever reached China: and the history of that country, if dates are attended to, renders it impossible that he should have done so. Noah of the Hebrews, Vaivaswat of the Hindus, and Yau of the Chinese, are each of them recorded, by the historians of their several countries, as being the first postdiluvian king, whose reign commenced one year from the commencement of the deluge; which event each of these historians places at A. M. 1656. The Hebrews place it in that year; the Hindus in the prophetic year 1680; and the Chinese in the Cali year 756, which answers to A. M. 1656: and, what is yet more remarkable, each of them limits his rule to one hundred years, naming a successor at that period. Now, as it is physically impossible, that the patriarch could have appeared in three places, at one and the same time, it is evident that Noah being the general stock from which all postdiluvian nations originated, each, with a vanity very excusable, made his own country the first seat of empire. Besides which, Navaret is of opinion that China was not peopled until an hundred and