THE Mahabharut is the most celebrated historical work among the Hindoos. It was translated from the original Sanscrit into Persian verse, by Sheikh Abool Fuzl, the son of Sheikh Mobarik, by order of Akbur Padshah, and it consists of more than 100,000 couplets. Mahomed Kasim Ferishta, the author of this work, having made an abstract of that translation, has availed himself of it to form the introductory part of this history.

The philosophers and sages of India have re­lated the formation of this earth differently, according to their own notions. Thirteen various accounts are given in the Mahabharut alone, not one of which is sufficiently satisfactory to induce us to adopt it in preference to another. The Hin-doos divide time into four ages: 1st, Sutyoog; 2d, Tritayoog; 3d, Duwapuryoog; 4th, Kul-yoog; and they assert, that the four ages continue in succession to all eternity; the present being the Kulyoog, which when at an end, the Sutyoog will re-commence. The earth, therefore, is by them deemed eternal, without beginning and without end: though some brahmins assert, that this world will have an end, and that a judgment-day will come.

The Sutyoog is said to have lasted during a period of 1,728,000 years; when virtue and truth prevailed, and man lived 100,000 years.

The Tritayoog is a period of 1,296,000 years; three parts of the creation, during that time, obeyed the word of God, and the life of man was 10,000 years.

The Dwapuryoog is a period of 864,000 years; during which half of the creation was wicked, and man only lived 1000 years.

The Kulyoog is a period of 432,000 years. Men, in this period, became sinful; only one quarter of the human race followed the dictates of God, and the life of man was curtailed to 100 years. According to the Hindoo account, in the present year (1015 of the Hijra), 4684 years of the Kulyoog have elapsed.*

In the beginning, God created the four elements; besides which the Hindoos reckon the æther as a fifth element; and after that, according to some ac­counts, he created man, whom he called Brumma; to whom he gave the power of creating every living thing. The Hindoos are of opinion, that the æther, which they consider an element, is immaterial; that air only moves round the earth; that the planets, which are emanations from the Deity, have appeared on earth as men; who, after terrestrial mortality, are translated into heaven, in reward of their holy works on earth, by which they approxi­mate so nearly to the Divinity in excellence, as to partake of his glory. It would appear from some of their books, that they consider the firmament itself as the divine essence.

Brahma, in virtue of the power vested in him, created four tribes of the human race; viz. 1st, Brahman; 2d, Kshetry; 3d, Byse; and, 4th, Soodr. The first was charged with the worship of the di­vinity, and the instruction of the human species. The second was appointed to rule over mankind. The third was required to plough the ground, and perform all sorts of handicraft. The fourth was doomed to be servile to the other three tribes. Brahma then wrote the book to direct mankind, which he called Veda. This is a work on theology, composed of 100,000 slogs; each slog or couplet being four churun, each churun or verse containing not more than 26 or less than 21 letters. Brahma lived 100 years of the sutyoog, each year containing 360 days, each day being 4000 years of the present age, and each night the same. The brahmins unanimously agree, that there is but one Brahma; that he has appeared 1001 times; and of the life of the present Brahma 50 years and half a day have elapsed, and the other half is now in progress.

It is related, that in the latter end of the Dwa-puryoog, in the city of Hustnapoor, * Raja Bhurt, of the tribe of Kshetry, sat on the throne; after whom, seven rajas lineally descended from him reigned. The eighth was named Kooroo, and the Koorooket, or field of Tahnesur, is called after him. His descendants are denominated Kooroos. This dynasty reigned for six gener­ations, till the accession of Veechitrveera Tej Raja, of the same line. He had two sons, the one D'hertrashtra, the Conqueror, and the other Pundoo (the Fair†); * but the former, being blind, was put aside (although the elder), and his younger bro­ther Pundoo sat on the throne, from whom is sprung the Pandoo dynasty. Pundoo left five sons; Yoodishteer (the Bold), called also Dhurma Raja; Bheema, and Arjoon, all born of one mo­ther, called Koonty; while Nukool and Sahadeva were born of Madry. D'hertrashtra had 101 sons, 100 born of a daughter of the Raja Gand'har, the eldest of whom was called Dooryodhun, and another son called Yooyoocha, born of a plebeian's daughter. From the descendants of D'hertrashtra are the Kooroo tribe; while the descendants of his younger brother, Pundoo, are called Pandoos. Upon the death of Pundoo, D'hertrashtra, notwith­standing the circumstance of his blindness, was pro­claimed raja, and his eldest son, Dooryodhun, be­came regent; and entertaining a jealousy of his cou­sins (the five Pandoos), he determined to put them to death. D'hertrashtra, too, was not without his ap­prehensions from his nephews, the Pandoos, whom he commanded to build their houses outside of the town, in order to prevent family disputes. Doory-odhun bribed the architects to construct the houses with large quantities of pitch and bitumen, so that they might easily be consumed; but the Pandoos, anticipating his intentions, set fire to their habit­ations, and, with their mother, left Hustnapoor. In this conflagration a woman named Bheel, * toge­ther with her five sons, who had been bribed to commit the act, fell victims to the flames; but the Kooroos, on the next day, finding the remains of Bheel and her sons, concluded that they were those of the Pandoos. After this event, the Pandoos having withdrawn from Hustnapoor, travelled over great part of India, and fought several battles, accounts of which occupy the greater part of the Maha-bharut. At length they reached the city of Kum-pila†, * where the five brothers, being married in suc­cession to Drowpdy, the daughter of the raja of Kumpila, agreed that she should live with one of them for 72 days, by which means each contrived to enjoy her company for one-fifth part of every year. Some Hindoos, however, deny this fact. Be it as it may; Dooryodhun hearing the Pan-doos were alive, determined to ascertain the truth; and unable to dispute their rights, he invited them to Hustnapoor, when he gave over to them Indra-prust * as their hereditary patrimony, and half of the kingdom of Hustnapoor. The Pandoos gained strength and power daily, while the Kooroos, al­though they pretended friendship, retained malice in their hearts. At length, the elder brother (Yoo-dishteer) resolved to celebrate a festival in honour of the gods, at which it was necessary that all the kings of the earth should be present to pay ho­mage to him. Yoodishteer accordingly despatched his brothers to the four corners of the earth; who subdued, and brought to the feast the kings of Khutta, Room, Hubush, Ajum, Arabia, and Toorkistan.† * Dooryodhun, having long beheld with envy the rising power of his cousins, could no longer restrain his jealousy, and sought means to subvert their authority. Unable to expel them by force, he determined, if possible, to effect it by stratagem. In those days gambling with dice was a common amusement; and as he knew that the brothers were much addicted to this vice, he re­solved, with the assistance of sharpers, to lead them on to lose to him their share of the empire. The Pandoos, falling into the snare, lost all they pos­sessed, but their kingdom.

Dooryodhun now proposed one more throw, with a promise, that if he lost, he would restore all he had won, but if the Pandoos lost, they should abandon their country, and wander for twelve years; and on their return it was required, that they should remain concealed for a whole year, without making themselves known, but if discovered, they were again to perform twelve years more penance. The Pandoos lost, and having performed their pil­grimage, on the thirteenth year, they settled in the district of Waee, * a country of the south. Doo-ryodhun sought throughout the empire, without discovering them, till at the end of the year, the Pandoos sent Krishna, the son of Vasdew, as ambas­sador to the capital, to claim their kingdom. Dooryodhun, however, refusing to restore it, and the Pandoos having procured a number of the rajas† * of India to espouse their cause, attacked the forces of the Kooroos, near Tahnesur, in the beginning of the Kulyoog, when Dooryodhun was killed, and the Kooroos were defeated. The army of the Kooroos consisted of eleven kshoons, and that of the Pandoos of seven. Each kshoon consisting of 21,870 elephants, 21,870 chariots, 65,610 horsemen, and 109,350 foot. * The most ex­traordinary part of the tale is, that only twelve men† * of both armies are said to have survived the battle. These were, four of the Kooroos; the first, Kripa Acharia, a brahmin, the tutor of the cousins, dis­tinguished alike for his courage and his learn­ing. The second, Ashwathama, the son of the philosopher Drone, who fell in the battle; the third, Keert Varma, of the family of Yado; and the fourth, Sunjye, the intelligencer of D'hertrashtra, and who acted as his charioteer during the battle. Also eight of the Pandoos, viz. the five Pandoo brothers; sixth, Satik Yado; seventh, Yooyoocha (half brother of Dooryodhun); and eighth, Krishna, who had been employed as ambassador to Doo-ryodhun, from Waee. With respect to this latter personage, we shall give his history as translated from the Mahabharut.