he was unable to decipher. According to Mr. H. T. Colebrooke,[1] the religious books of the Jains are written in the Prácrit called Magadhi, which he believes to be the Páli of Ceylon, and cites one of their works, the Calpa Sútra composed about 1500 years ago, written in this language, observing that the Sanscrit language is used by the Jainas for translations or for commentaries, on account of the great obscurity of the Prácrit tongue.
Major Wilford with considerable ingenuity and much research traces the intercourse that formerly prevailed between Magadha, Nepal, Thibet and China. But the spread of Buddhism southerly to the peninsula of India and the island of Ceylon, is by no means satisfactorily elucidated. The translations of the Mackenzie MSS. and that of the Mahawanso will throw much light, it is to be expected, on this part of Indian history, as well as on the expedition of Rama and the expulsion of the Jainas, who are identified with the Buddhists. It is certain that at a very early period fierce disputes arose between them and the Brahmins, which terminated in the expulsion of the former from the shores of India. Many took refuge in Ceylon, and probably some few contrived to escape to Java, Sumatra and other islands to the eastward.
Date of Expulsion from India. The date of this event or events, as well as that of the expedition of Ráma, with which perhaps the first persecutions of the Buddhists by the Brahmins may be found to be connected (Hémachundra, an ancient Jain author enumerates among the nine foes of Vishnu the king of Lanca Rávaná, and the king of Magadha, Jará Sandha both probably worshippers of Buddha (As. Res. ix—316), are epochs, the fixing of which I take to be of considerable importance in Indian history. Their final expulsion from the Deccan was not effected, according to Mr. Chambers, until so late as the 9th or 12th century of the Christian era; and, according to the Hindu author of a history of Cashmir translated by order of the emperor Akber, it was not till the reign of Naikh the 59th prince of Cashmir, that the Brahmins of Cashmir got the better of the followers of Buddha and burned down their temples. Dr. Francis Buchanan[2] fixes the reign of Naikh at about A. D. 342.
Arracan and Burma. We shall now attempt to trace this singular religion eastwards. It appears certain that the people inhabiting the countries immediately to the eastward of the empire of Magadha soon adopted the tenets of Buddha—among the rest the Mughs or Magas of Arracan; from which nation, Buchanan is of opinion, the Burmese received their religion, laws, and government, about 600
