?) was the same as Hekate. In
conclusion, Sir W. Jones remarks, "I strongly incline to believe that
Egyptian priests have actually come from the Nile to the Ganga and Yamuna,
and that they visited the Sarmans of India, as the sages of Greece visited
them, rather to acquire than to impart knowledge."

The interest that had been excited by Sir William Jones's researches did
not subside, though he himself did not return to the subject, but devoted
his great powers to more useful labors. Scholars, both in India and in
Europe, wanted to know more of the ancient religion of India. If Jupiter,
Apollo, and Janus had once been found in the ancient pantheon of the
Brahmans; if the account of Noah and the deluge could be traced back to
the story of Manu Satyavrata, who escaped from the flood, more discoveries
might be expected in this newly-opened mine, and people rushed to it with
all the eagerness of gold-diggers. The idea that everything in India was
of extreme antiquity had at that time taken a firm hold on the minds of
all students of Sanskrit; and, as there was no one to check their
enthusiasm, everything that came to light in Sanskrit literature was
readily accepted as more ancient than Homer, or even than the Old
Testament.

It was under these influences that Lieutenant Wilford, a contemporary of
Sir William Jones at Calcutta, took up the thread which Sir William Jones
had dropped, and determined at all hazards to solve the question which at
that time had excited a worldwide interest. Convinced that the Brahmans
possessed in their ancient literature the originals, not only of Greek and
Roman mythology, but likewise of the Old Testament history, he tried every
possible means to overcome their reserve and reticence. He related to
them, as well as he could, the principal stories of classical mythology,
and the leading events in the history of the Old Testament; he assured
them that they would find the same things in their ancient books, if they
would but look for them; he held out the hopes of ample rewards for any
extracts from their sacred literature containing the histories of Adam and
Eve, of Deukalion and Prometheus; and at last he succeeded. The coyness of
the Pandits yielded; the incessant demand created a supply; and for
several years essay after essay appeared in the "Asiatic Researches," with
extracts from Sanskrit MSS., containing not only the names of Deukalion,
Prometheus, and other heroes and deities of Greece,