fwara-ft' bán, or the feat of A'MAN or AMON, which can be no other than the Amonno of Scripture, tranflated Diofpolis by the Seventy interpreters; but it was Diofpolis, between the canals of the Delta, near the fea and the lake Manzalè, for the Prophet NaHUM (a) defcribes it as a town fituated among rivers, with waters round about it, and the fea for its ramparts; fo that it could not be either of the towns, named alfo Diofpolis, in Upper Egypt; and the Hindu author fays exprefsly, that it lay to the north of Himádri.

HAVING before declared my opinion, that the Noph of the three greater Prophets was derived from Nabbas, or the sky, and was properly called Nabba-ifwara-ft' bán, Nabba-ft'hán, I have little to add here: HOSEA once calls it Moph (b), and the Chaldean paraphraft, Maphes; while Rabbi KIMCHI afferts, that Moph and Noph were one and the fame town: the Seventy always render it Memphis, which Copts and Arabs pronounce Menuf or Menf; and, though I am well aware, that fome travellers and men of learning deny the modern Menf to be on the fite of Memphis, yet, in the former fection, I have given my reasons for diffenting from them, and obferved, that Memphis occupied a vaft extent of ground along the Nile, confifting in fact of feveral towns or divifions, which had become contiguous by the acceffion of new buildings. May not the words Nopb and Menf have been taken from Nabba

(a) Ch. 3. v. 8.

(¿) Ch. 9. v. 6.

and

and Mánava, fince Nabhómánava, as a title of IswaRA, would fignify the celestial man? The Egyptian priests had nearly the fame ftory, which we find in the Puráns; for they related, that the ocean formerly reached to the spot, where Memphis was built by king MINES, MINAS, or MINEVAS, who forced the fea back by altering the courfe of the Nile, which, depofiting its mud in immenfe quantities, gradually formed the Delta.

DIOSPOLIS, diftinguished by the epithet great, was a name of Thebes, which was alfo called the City of the Sun (a), from a celebrated temple dedicated to that luminary, which I fuppofe to be Súryéfwara-ft' bán of the old Hindu writers: the following legend concerning it is extracted from the Bháfcara-mábátmya. The fon of SO'MARAJA, named PUSHPACE TU, having inherited the dominions of his father, neglected his publick duties, contemned the advice of his minifters, and abandoned himself to voluptuousness; till BHIMA, fon of Pa'MARA, (or of an outcast) defcended from the hills of Níládri, and laid fiege to his metropolis: the prince, unable to defend it, made his efcape, and retired to a wood on the banks of the Cálì. There, having bathed in the facred river, he performed penance for his former diffolute life, ftanding twelve days on one leg, without even tafting water, and with his eyes fixed on the Sun; the regent of which appeared to him in the character of SURYE'SWARA,

(a) Diod. Sic. B. 2. c. I..

N

commanding

commanding him to declare what he moft defired. "Grant me mócfha, or beatitude," faid PUSHPACE'TU, proftrating himself before the deity; who bade him be patient, affured him that his offences were expiated, and promifed to destroy his enemies with intense heat, but ordered him to raife a temple, inscribed to SU'RYE'SWARA, on the very spot where he then ftood, and declared, that he would efface the fins of all fuch pilgrims, as fhould visit it with devotion: he alfo directed his votary, who became, after his reftoration, a virtuous and fortunate monarch, to celebrate a yearly feftival in honour of SURYA on the feventh lunar day in the bright half of Mágha. We need only add, that Heliopolis in lower Egypt, though a literal tranflation of Surya-ft' bán, could not be the fame place, as it was not on the banks of the Nile.

X. ONE of the wildeft fictions, ever invented by Mythologifts, is told in the Pádma and the Bhágavat; yet we find an Egyptian tale very fimilar to it. The wife of CA'S'YA, who had been the guru, or spiritual guide, of CRISHNA, Complained to the incarnate God, that the ocean had fwallowed up her children near the plain of Prabhása, or the western coaft of Gurjara; now called Gujarat; and fhe fupplicated him to recover them. CRISHNA haftened to the fhore, and, being informed by the fea-god, that SANC'HA'SURA, or PANCHAJANYA, had carried away the children of his preceptor, he plunged into the waves, and foon arrived at Cuba-dwip, where he inftructed the Cutila-céfas in the whole fyftem of religious

religious and civil duties, cooled and embellifhed the peninfula, which he found fmoking from the various conflagrations which had happened to it, and placed the government of the country on a fecure and permanent bafis: he then disappeared; and, having discovered the haunt of SANC'HA'SURA, engaged and flew him, after a long conflict, during which the ocean was violently agitated and the land overflowed; but,, not finding the Brákmen's children, he tore the monster from his fhell, which he carried with him as a memorial of his victory, and ufed afterwards in battle by way of a trumpet. As he was proceeding to Varáha-dwip, or Europe, he was met by VARUNA, the chief God of the Waters, who affured him pofitively, that the children of CAS'YA were not in his domains: the preferving power then defcended to Yamapuri, the infernal city, and, founding the shell Pánchajanya, ftruck fuch terrour into YAMA, that he ran forth to make his proftrations, and restored the children, with whom CRISH NA returned to their mother.

Now it is related by PLUTARCH (a), that GARMATHONE, queen of Egypt, having loft her son, prayed fervently to Isis, on whofe interceffion OSIRIS defcended to the fhades and restored the prince to life; in which fable OSIRIS appears to be CRISHNA, the black divinity: Garmatho, or Garbatho, was the name of a hilly diftri&t, bordering on the land of the Troglodytes; or Sanc'háfuras; and Ethio

(a) On Rivers, art. Nile.

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pia

pia was in former ages called Egypt. The flood in that country is mentioned by CEDREN US, and faid to have happened fifty years, after CECROPS, the first king of Athens, had begun his reign: Abyffinia was laid wafte by a flood, according to the Chronicle of Axum, about 1600 years before the birth of CHRIST (a); and CECROPS, we are told, began to reign 1657 years before that epoch; but it must be confeffed, that the chronology of ancient Greece is extremely uncertain.

XI. HAVING before alluded to the legends of GUPTA and CARDAMA, we fhall here fet them down more at large, as they are told in the Puránas, entitled Brahmánda and Scanda, the fecond of which contains very valuable matter concerning Egypt and other countries in the weft. SU'RYA having directed both Gods and men to perform facred rites in honour of VISHNU, for the purpose of counteracting the baneful influence of SANI, they all followed his directions, except MA'HADE'VA, who thought fuch homage inconfiftent with his exalted character; yet he found it neceffary to lie for a time concealed, and retired to Barbara in Sanc'ba-dwip, where he. remained seven years hidden in the mud, which covered the banks of the Cáli: hence he acquired the title of GUPTE'SWARA. The whole world felt the lofs of his vivifying power, which would long have been fufpended, if MANDAPA, the fon of CUSHMANDA, had not fled, to avoid the punishment of

(a) Bruce's Travels, vol. I. 398.

his