The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.16

v2.c17.16

⁴ The word *Keśari* has a close resemblance to the proud title of the Kaisars of Persia and the Cæsars of Rome. and knowing that the history of the Kaisars was well-known to the Uriyās, that the coins of some of the Cæsars of Rome have frequently been met with in Southern India, (*Journal As. Soc.*) and that the commercial intercourse of the Romans with India was intimate in the early part of the Christian era, (Vincent's *Periplus of the Erythrian Sea* and Heeren's *Historical Researches*), it would not be presumptuous to suppose that the title was a borrowed one. It is interpreted by the Uriyās of the present day to be “lion”, and said to be the counterpart of the title *siṁha* so universal in India ; but that is of no importance, inasmuch as the practice of interpreting foreign words by reference to Sanskrit roots is universal in this country, and it would not by any means subserve the cause of truth to rely on it. Dr. Hunter gives the alternative meaning of "long-haired" from *Keśara* "mane", *Kesarī* "the maned"; but such an epithet would scarcely be worth adoption by a great sovereign and his descendants for many generations. Epithets like "long-shanks" or "red-haired" in English history were nick-names and not titles.