The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.s1.143

v2.c17.s1.143

It is impossible to suppose that they knew nothing of the ascendancy of Buddhism, and the omission, therefore, can be attributed solely to religious hatred. They would do anything to avoid naming the Jains and the Buddhists, as the old adage has it ‘they would rather be eaten up by tigers than seek shelter in a Jaina temple’. And it is this feeling that prompted them to invent a Monghal and Pathan dominion in Marwar, in the 5th century before Christ, a Yavana kingdom, with a captain of the name of Seyaet Khan at Delhi in the 3rd century, a Monghal supremacy in Kashmir at about that time, and the invasion of Red-Arm at a latter period, when the powers of invention or of impudent fiction apparently broke down, and a long period of foreign supremacy had to be admitted. If we substitute the word Buddhist for the Yavanas, Monghals, Pathans, &c., the whole history at once becomes clear and consistent. The part of the *Records*, in which this account of ancient history is given is obviously an after-thought, got up after northern India had passed to the Muhammadans. Dr. Hunter⁶ is disposed to believe that by the word Yavanas the Greeks were meant, and he shows at great length that certain Greek adventurers did well in Central India in the early part of the Christian era. I am, however, not satisfied with the arguments about the Greek occupation of Central India at the time mentioned⁷; and even if that could be established it would not suffice for Red-Arm's invasion of Orissa from the sea. Anyhow, had the word Yavana alone been used, it would have been possible to argue that it referred to the Greek, the Bactrian, the Scythian, or some other North-Western nation, but that not being the case, and having to deal with such modern terms as Pathans, Seyaet Khan, and the like, the whole may be, without offence to history, relegated to the domain of fiction. I must admit that I cut the Gordian knot instead of untying it, but in dealing with such a huge mass of falsehood, it is vain to search for the possible grain of truth that may be hidden in it.