Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/441

Rh better-class Manipuris, escaped to Cachar, and I think this enforced sojourn in a country which had recently come under the influence of the Brahmans must have strengthened the hold of Hinduism on the exiles. I cannot refrain from quoting Mr. E. A. Gait's account of the conversion of the Raja of Cachar. "At Khāspur it [the process of Hinduization] proceeded rapidly, and in 1790, the formal act of conversion took place: the raja, Krishna Chandra, and his brother Govind Chandra, entered the body of a copper effigy of a cow. On emerging from it, they were proclaimed to be Hindus of the Kshatriya caste, and a genealogy of a hundred generations, reaching to Bhim, the hero of the Mahābhārat, was composed for them by the Brahmans."

I have made so many references to the Chronicles of the Manipur Kings that it seems necessary to say a few words regarding them and their value as history. When discussing this question with my friend Mr. Hodson he expressed an opinion that, while the Chronicle can not be considered history, it is certainly very good tradition. The Chronicle begins with a date equivalent to 392 A.D. Up to the year 1431 the entries are extremely brief, and I think that, as regards that portion, Mr. Hodson's estimate is too favourable; from 1431 to about 1700 his estimate seems very fair; but, after that, I think more credit may be given to the book. I have come across two striking proofs of the truth of the latter part of the Chronicle. The excavation and consecration of a large tank are recorded in the years 1725 and 1726, part of the ceremony being the placing of images of Krishna and Kali in the tank. In 1906 the tank was drained, and the images were found at the foot of the consecration post, exactly as recorded 180 years before. Again, in 1905, in the course of enlarging another tank, we found unmistakeable evidence that the river had at some previous time run to the west of the royal enclosure instead of to the east, as it now does, and, on referring to the