388                       ALBERUNPS INDIA.

Page 195.          The difference which the reader perceives in the enu-

tion oT*^^' meration of the future manvantaras beyond the seventh
Purdna re- ^^^> ariscs, as I think, from the same cause whence
^anvanta^^ the difference in the names of the Dvipas is derived
ras.            ^y pp_ 225, 236), viz. from the fact that the people care

more for the names than for the order in which they
are handed down to posterity. We may here rely on
the tradition of the Vishnu-Burdna, for in this book
their number, their names and descriptions, are given
in such a way that renders it necessary to us to con¬
sider also the oirler in which it gives them as trust¬
worthy. But we have refrained from communicating
these things in this place, since they offer only very
little use.

The same book relates that King Maitreya, a Ksha¬
triya, asked Parasara, the father of Vyasa, about the
past and the future manvantaras. Thereupon the latter
mentions the name by which each Manu is known, the
same names which our table exhibits. According to
the same book, the children of each Manu will rule the
earth, and it mentions the first of them, the names of
whom we have given in the table. According to the
same source, the Manus of the second, third, fourth,
and fifth manvantaras will be of the race of Briyavrata,
an anchorite, who stood in such favour with Vishnu,
that he honoured his children by raising them to this
distinction.