1 THE EXPEDITION OF SEMIRAMIS. . 53
2 the warlike insignia; it is equally the emblem of the goddess of peace and
3 prosperity in India, under the altered name of Maha Bhagd, or the pros-
4 perous goddess. The festival of Semiramis is still held in India about
5 the month of October, when lamps are lighted under the soma tree, and an
6 offering of rice, flowers and liquor is made. Songs in praise of the deity are
7 sung, and she and her favourite residence, the tree, are worshipped.
8 About the time when Sami Raméd flourished in Assyria, there ruled in
9 India a king of great piety named “Virasena. He visited Mochoasthdn
10 (Mecca) to pay his benedictions to Mosch-Iswara, otherwise known as Matha-
11 dena, and after a long series of ardent devotions (ugia tapasia) the deity
12 was pleased to make him king over Sthavaras, or the immoveable part of
13 the universe. He was hence called Sthavarpati (the Staurabates of the
14 Greeks) and he had under his jurisdiction the hills, the earth, trees, plants and
15 grass, His kingdom lay near the sea, apparently the regions of the Indus.
16 Being incensed at an insult offered to his authority ‘by Sami Rdmd, queen
17 of Vahnisthdn, Sthavarpati invaded her country with a large army and
18 routed the Bactrian forces. The proud Assyrian queen was humbled
19 and paid her homage to the mighty king of India by acknowledging him
20 as the son of Mahadeva.
21 The above legend, given in the Shastras, is wrapped in fiction, yet, when
22 compared with the Greek accounts, it is found to be based on historic truth,
23 with only this difference that, whereas by the accounts of the Western
24 writers, the queen of Assyria is represented as having invaded India, the
25 Indians make the king of India the aggressor. As to the names of the
26 kingdoms concerned, the contending parties, the scene and the result of
27 the contest, both accounts are in perfect aécord.
28 From the accounts of this expedition, as given by the classical writers,
29 it does not appear that the Assyrians penetrated far beyond the western
30 frontier of the Panjab. The principal scene of their memorable exploit was
31 the region bordering on the Indus. Having extended her dominions
32 widely over Western Asia, their great queen, Semiramis, determined on
33 the conquest of India, renowned, ‘even in those early times, for its great
34 wealth and populousness. The great obstacles to the execution of her
35 ambitious design were, it is said, chiefly two, the presence of a wide and
36 turbulent stream on the north-west of India, which formed a barrier on
37 its frontier, on that side, and the superiority of the Indians in possessing
38 war elephants, which, by their unwieldy forms and the vastness of their
39 strength, spread terror and consternation in the battle-field. To overcome
40 these difficulties she employed the whole resources of her mighty empire.
41 She caused a large number of counterfeit elephants to be constructed out
42 of the hides of beasts, which were stuffed so as to represent those animals,
43 the motive power introduced in them being camels. Naval architects
44 from Phoenicia, Cyprus and other maritime districts bordering on the
45 Assyrian dominions, were, at the same time, employed in Bactria to
46 construct vessels suited for the navigation of the Indus, and the whole
47 forest was cut down to facilitate the project. It took three years to complete
48 these mighty preparations, and the enormous structures fabricated were
49 “conveyed from Bactria overland. The Assyrian army, consisting of the
50 bravest and most experienced soldiers, accompanied by maritime adven-
51 turers, marched to the frontier of India headed by the queen herself and
52 her famous general, Dercetzus.
53 Staurabates, the Indian monarch, who claimed descent from the Surdj-
54 bans, or race of the sun, with a numerous army and a mighty host of elephants,
55 advanced to meet the invader. He also launched on the Indus a large number
56 She was contem-
57 porary with Virasena,
58 the king of India,
59 Hindu version of
60 the story.
61 Account of the ex-
62 pedition given by the
63 classical writers,
64 Artificial elephants.
65 Her mighty prepara-
66 tions for the eaped:
67 tion,
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