The first and earliest Indian princes were _Egàvagi_, that is, monarchs; from _èga_, one, and _vàgi_, a reigning king. As a proof that the monarchical form of government has been preserved till the present period among the Pagan Indians, I need only refer to the princes of the _Marashdi_, who are very improperly called _Marattas_; to some kings of _Nepal_; to the king of _Candia_ in the island of Ceylon, and to the king of Travancor, who all now rule as unlimited sovereigns. According to tradition, _Menu_ was the first king of the Indians. This _Menu_, who in some Indian works is called _Menu Mahusha_, was certainly the patriarch Noah, as Sir William Jones acknowledges. Anquetil du Perron, Father Tiefenthaler, and the editor of the _Asiatic Researches_, have given us different catalogues of the oldest Indian kings; and I myself was induced to give, in my _Systema Brahmanicum_, the commencement of a nomenclature of the like kind. They are all transcribed from the _Mahabhàrada_, that is, the _Great History_, which is written in Malabar verse, and consists of eighteen books. But the reader will perceive, on the first view, that these catalogues are in open contradiction with each other, and that they contain the names of kings whose descent is deduced from the sun and the moon. All that can be gathered from my copy of the _Mahabhàrada_, and the pretty long catalogues of the Indian kings in the _Asiatic Researches_, is as follows: _Menu_ the 1st, or Adam, lived 5794 years before the year 1788 of the Christian æra. _Menu_ the 2d, or _Menu Mahusha_, the _Nochos_ of the Greeks, and the Noah of the Israelites, lived 4737 years before that period. Under the government of this king happened the _Vellapralaya_, that is, the deluge or devastation of the earth by water. Then comes _Hirannyacasipu_, perhaps Nimrod, whom the Brahmans class among the wicked dæmons, and who lived 4006 years before the birth of Christ. _Bali_, or _Mahábali_, the Belus of the Assyrians, lived 3892; and _Budha_, the _Thaut_ of the Egyptians, and _Hermes_ of the Greeks, 2815 years before the year 1788. Next follow _Vikramàditya_, _Devapàla_, and _Salbahin_, or rather _Salivahan_. The first lived 1844, the second 1811, and the third 78[176] years before 1788. With the death of the last begins the _Salivàhana Sagàptam_, that is, the new Brahmanic period of the Marattas, Canarians, Malabarians, and Tamulians. _Bharaden_, or _Bharata_, is the head or chief, from whom the Indians deduce the descent of their national kings. He lived 1600 years before the birth of Christ.--Kings who actually existed are: I. _Ciassar_, a cotemporary of Cyrus, to whom he wrote a letter, and sent money. Cyrus in all probability had conquered that part of India which extends from the _Sindhu_ towards the north-west, and at that period was sometimes under the dominion of the Persian, and sometimes under that of the Indian kings. _Candahar_ was the metropolis.