for you.

they could neither force it open, nor break it, they began to weep. While thus engaged they were accosted by Julum Paikā and Kāpi Karan, who said, “Call upon the bongas, and we will soon break open the stone door with our bows, and clear a passage

» Being in great straits they were compelled to call upon these strange gods, and Julum Paika and Kapi Karan each struck the massive stone door with the sharp end of his bow, and shivered it to a thousand pieces. They passed through, and in a short time reached the Bahi door, which was also of stone. As with the Singh door, so with this, they could neither force it open nor break it. Here they were met by Ulum Paikā and Bhalwai Bijai, who said, “ Call upon the bongas, and we will make a way for you.” It was easier a second time to look for deliverance to strange gods, so they did as they were advised, and Ulum Paikā and Bhalwai Bijai struck the Babi door with their bows with such force as to break it to pieces. They were here taught by Ulum Paikā and Bhalwai Bijai to offer sacrifices to the bongas. They sacrificed a black fowl to Marang Buru, and a brown one to Jāher-erā, and cut ox-hides into strips, which they hung on the bushes along their line of march. They also marked the stones with sindur as they proceeded.

Mädho Singh was very wroth when he knew the Santāls had decamped, and seizing his battle-axe, and taking his sword under his arm went in pursuit. Passing through the Singh door and the Bahi door he saw the strips of ox-hide on the bushes, and the signs of bonga worship in the sindur on the stones by the wayside. He then said, “These people have apostatised, I shall leave them to themselves and return home."

From Bhelwa ghāt they advanced to the plain of Chitri Hatup. They remained many years here and enjoyed peace and prosperity. The elders passed their time in legislating for the good of the community. The young men were employed in breaking cattle for the plough, and the maidens were to be seen dancing the Dahar dance.

a

The festivals sanctioned by their religion were duly observed at the proper seasons, and all social institutions, such as marriage, funeral rites, etc., were held in reverence, and all obligations connected therewith cheerfully discharged.

The water of the Sonae Sókra and the Kērē Spring having failed, they were under the necessity of moving on again. Turi pökhöri and Bāhā bāndelā* lay in the way and had to be crossed. This was done by spreading lotus leaves on the surface of the water, on which they passed over without wetting the soles of their feet. They then reached Murup godā.

From Murup god, they once more moved on and came to Amber.

Leaving Amber they encountered the jungle of Kaker, which was so dense that they with great difficulty made their way through it, some of the people, it is said, crept through on their hands and knees. Beyond this lay the forest of Bare-bārāngon, through which they passed, trampling down the undergrowth, until a path Was made.

They then came to Kadmă bedā, from whence they passed on to Belāonjā, and afterwards to Sir and Sikhar. They then spread over the parganas of Pālganjo, Tundi and Pāndrā, and adjoining districts. A portion went south and settled in the Midnāpur jungles.

From Palganjo, Tundi and Pandra they crossed the Barākar river, and spread over the Santāl Parganās.

The leaders tried to prevent the people orossing the Barākar river, but the bad name they gave to the country beyond, as well as the punishment which was to overtake those who disobeyed, failed to restrain them. After crossing the Barākar river they pressed on to the banks of the Adjaē river, which they also crossed, and possessed the country on the north bank also. Finding themselves cramped in the Santāl Parganās they began to cross the Ganges, and clear homesteads for themselves in the Pundua jungle.

Turi and Flower tanks.

By Mahamahopadhyaya Hara Prasad Shastri, M.A., C.I.E.

As already stated, the only positive facts known about Kálidāsa's date is that he lived some time before 634 and 620 A.D. That gives the outer limit of his date, but the inner limit will have to be found out. The Indian tradition asserts that Vikramāditya of Ujjain founded the Era of 56 B.C., and that he had nine

gems in his court, one of them being Kālidāsa. This tradition asserts four different facts: (1) That there was a Vikramaditya at Ujjain in 56 B.C. ; (2) that he founded the era of 56 B.C. ; (3) that he had a court in which there were nine distinguished men, and (4) that Kālidāsa was one of them. Let us examine all these four statements.

(1) There was no great king at Ujjain in the year 56 B.C. There was indeed a great conqueror at Palitānā or Pratisthāna on the Godāvari far away from Ujjain named Vāsisthiputra. But it is nowhere asserted that he had nine gems in his court.

(2) The Era of 56 B.C. had nothing to do with Vikramāditya at all. For the first three centuries we do not get any inscription dated in this Era. There is only one inscription dated in this era in the fourth century, but in that inscription the Era is called Krita or newly made (by calculating backwards). In the fifth century there are several inscriptions dated in this era, in the earliest of which dated 404 A.D., it is called both Krita and Mālavaganāmnāta, i.e., newly made and adopted by the tribes of Malwa. Gradually the word Krita was dropped and it was called the Mālava Era or the era adopted by the Mālavas. In an inscription dated 533 A.D., this era is called “Mālavaganasthityanusarātat Kālajnānāya likhitesu, i.e., for the purpose of ascertaining time according to the convention of the tribe of Málavas. It is only in the eighth century of this era which

a

had the name Kirta in the beginning, and the name Mälava after that, became associated with the name of Vikrama. There are scholars who think that the name Vikrama, there, is not a proper name, but a common noun denoting prowess as the epoch of the era coincides with Dashera festival in which kings used to show their prowess by issuing from their capital in a great procession and cutting down the branch either of a Sami or a Kovidāra tree. It is only in the thirteenth century, when the Indian people had lost all their date traditions and lost their historical sense, that the full name Vikramāditya became associated with this era.

(3) So there was no Vikramāditya in 56 B.C. and the era of 56 B.C. became associated with the name of Vikramaditya in the thirteenth century A. D., i.e., after fourteen centuries of its existence.

The theory of nine gems is equally untenable, because the nine gems belong to different periods. One of them Varahamihira by his own statement wrote one of his great works in 505 A. D. Amarasimha, the other gem, is universally believed to have flourished about the end of the sixth century. There are so many Vararuchis, all equally distinguished, that it is impossible to tell which Vararachi is included among the nine gems. So the list of gems given in Indian tradition includes names of men belonging to different periods and is, therefore, useless as a chronological data.

(4) If there be no nine gems, it is scarcely possible that Kālidāra was one of them. So from Indian traditions there is no possibility of getting a clue to Kālidāsa's date.

The attempt made by S. Roy, Esq., to take Kālidāsa back to the second century B.C. on the ground that some of the expressions used by him are not sanctioned by Patanjali, though they may be sanctioned by Panini, is opposed to the history of the development of the Sanskrit language. Patanjali wrote his Bhāsya for a language which was fast vanishing and going out of use. It is a well-known fact that when he wrote, literary veruaculars had grown up in different provinces and that he was