6. For the Mahabharata, see _ante_, note 11, Chapter 1. The Bhagavata
Purana is the most popular of the Puranas, The Hindi version of the
tenth book (_skandha_) is known as the 'Prem Sagar'. The date of the
composition of the Puranas is uncertain.
7. The dates given in this passage are purely imaginary. Parts of the
Mahabharata are very ancient. Yudhishthira is no more an historical
personage than Achilles or Romulus. It is improbable that a 'throne
of Delhi' existed in 575 B.C., and hardly anything is known about the
state of India at that date.
8. It is hardly necessary to observe that this grotesque theory is
utterly at variance with the facts, as now known.
9. The existing settlements of native Christians at Agra are mostly
of modern origin. Very ancient Christian communities exist near
Madras, and on the Malabar coast. The travels of Jean de Thevenot
were published in 1684, under the title of _Voyage, contenant la
Relation de l'Indostan_. The English version, by A. Lovell (London,
1687), is entitled _The Travels of Monsieur de Thevenot into the
Levant, in three Parts_. Part III deals with the East Indies, The
passage referred to is: 'Some affirm that there are twenty-five
thousand Christian Families in Agra, but all do not agree in that'
(Part III, p.
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