as well as by the modern Rajput, shall we draw no conclusion from this testimony of the father of history, who declares that such rites were practised on the Jaxartes in the very dawn of knowledge?[4.21.10] Moreover, why hesitate to give Eastern etymologies for Eastern rites, though found on the Baltic? The antiquary of the North (Mallet) may thus be assisted to the etymon of ‘Tir-sing,’ the enchanted sword of Angantýr, in _tir_, ‘water,’ and _singh_, ‘a lion’; _i.e._ in water or spirit like a lion; for even _pani_, the common epithet for water, is applied metaphorically to ‘spirit.’[4.21.11] It would be less difficult to find Sanskrit derivations for many of the proper names in the Edda, than to give a Sanskrit analysis of many common amongst the Rajputs, which we must trace to an Indo-Scythic root:[4.21.12] such as Eyvorsél, Udila, Attitai, Pujun, Hamira,[4.21.13] and numerous other proper names of warriors. Of tribes: the Kathi, Rajpali, Mohila, Sariaspah, Aswaria (_qu._ Assyrian?), Banaphar, Kamari, Silara, Dahima, etc. Of mountains: Drinodhar, Arbuda, Aravalli, Aravindha (the root _ara_, or mountain, being Scythic, and the expletive adjunct Sanskrit), ‘the hill of Budha,’ ‘of strength,’ ‘of limit.’ To all such as cannot be [561] resolved into the cognate language of India, what origin can we assign but Scythic?[4.21.14] =Festivals in Mewār. Naurātri Festival.=—In a memoir prepared for me by a well-informed public officer in the Rana’s court, on the chief festivals celebrated in Mewar, he commenced with those following the autumnal equinox, in the month Asoj or Aswini, opening with the Nauratri, sacred to the god of war. Their fasts are in general regulated by the moon; although the most remarkable are solar, especially those of the equinoxes and solstices, and the Sankrantis, or days on which the sun enters a new sign. The Hindu solar year anciently commenced on the winter solstice, in the month Pausha, and was emphatically called ‘the morning of the gods’; also Sivaratri, or night of Siva, analogous, as has been before remarked, to the ‘mother night,’ which ushered in the new year of the Scandinavian Asi, and other nations of Asiatic origin dwelling in the north. =The Repose of Vishnu.=—They term the summer solstice in the month of Asarh, ‘the night of the gods,’ because Vishnu (as the sun) reposes during the four rainy months on his serpent couch. The lunar year of 360 days was more ancient than the solar, and commenced with the month of Asoj or Aswini: “the moon being at the full when that name was imposed on the first lunar station of the Hindu ecliptic.”[4.21.15] According to another authority, the festivals commenced on Amavas, or the Ides of Chait, near which the vernal equinox falls, the opening of the modern solar year; when, in like manner as at the commencement of the lunar year in Asoj, they [562] dedicate the first nine days of Chait (also called Nauratri) to Iswara and his consort Isani.