The only events in the History of Hindostan, prior to the birth of Christ, of which we possess any direct and clear information, either from the Greek and Roman au Blots, or from the ancient books of the Hindoos, are, the great war of the Mahabharat, the invasion of India by Se. sostris, and by the Persians in the reign of Darius stas pes ; and the transactions of the reign of Chandra Gupta, the contemporary of Alexander the Great.
The ;era of the %val• of the Mahabharat can be fixed with considerable precision and accuracy ; the heroes of that war are expressly declared in the Hindoo books to have been contemporaries with Parasara, in whose time an observa tion of the place of the solstices was made, from which it appears that he lived 1391 years before Christ. This war was carried on by Krishna and his brother Bali Rama, against Jara Sandha, who reigned in Magadha, and was distinguished by its cruelty, and by the decisive and per manent political and religious changes which it produced. The brothers having surprised their adversary in his capi tal, Rajagriha, caused him to be split asunder. The an cient worship of Siva, or Maha Deo, was nearly annihila ted, in order to introduce that of Vishnuor Hercules, Krish na ; those who still adhered to the ancient religion were compelled to flee to the mountains, while the political as well as the religious followers of Krishna took possession of the plains. At the period of this invasion, there exist ed in the kingdom of Magadha, several warlike tribes, call ed, Xetries ; by these Krishna was not only strenuously re sisted, but his newly established power was rendered in secure by their activity and turbulence. In order, there fore, to give security and stability to his conquests, the Xetries were actually exterminated in many of the pro vinces, and Sudras and other low castes elevated in their stead. After the murder of Jara Sandha, Bali Rama plac ed Sahadevati, the son of Jaya, on the throne of his father ; but his authority was little more than nominal, as Bali re tained for himself the greatest part of his conquests ; the extent of these may be inferred from the circumstances, that within his own territory he built or restored Palipotra on the Ganges, NI ahaballipooram to the south of Madras, and Pali Pura in the Decan ; and that Gada, another bro ther of Krishna, was raised to the sovereignty of the coun try called after him Gadipoor, or Gazipoor, while many other provinces were bestowed by Krishna on the principal of his followers.
Though it has been found so extremely difficult to fix the era of Sesostris, and to free his history from events evidently either fabulous or highly exaggerated, that many authors have been disposed totally to deny its authenticity ; yet it appears to us that no reasonable doubts can be en tertained that he invaded India. The circumstances of this invasion, the causes which gave rise to it, and the ob jects which he had in view, cannot be ascertained ; hut we are expressly informed by Diodorus Siculus. that he cross ed the Ganges, and advanced as far as the Eastern Ocean. Ilis conquests, however, were not permanent, and indeed were so contrary to the genius and habits of the Egyptians, that, on the death of Sesostris, they were entirely relin quished.
The Persians under Darius Hystaspes obtained a firmer, though a less extensive empire in India, than the Egyp tians. That monarch having subdued the countries which lie in a south east direction from the Caspian to the Oxus, turned his thoughts towards India, on which they border -ed. In order to prepare himself for this new enterprise, he appointed Scylax to explore the Indus and the country ly ing on its banks, from the upper part of its navigable course to its mouth. The account which Darius received from Scylax of the populousness, fertility, and high culti vation of this territory, incited the Persian monarch to aim at its conquest. This he appears soon and easily to have ac complished ; but his conquests did not extend beyond the district watered by the Indus ; and of the circumstances at tending them, we are entirely ignorant. It would seem, however, that he compelled some of the Indian princes to acknowledge his dominion, by the payment of an annual tri bute ; for we learn from a Hindoo writer, that the ostensi ble cause of the celebrated invasion of India by Alexander the Great was, to levy this tribute, which some of its prin ces had refused to pay, and to compel them to acknowledge their dependence on the throne of Persia.