(lxxi. ) take in hand the compilation of such a volume, and if ever a book of this kind is published, the house of Gokul Mitja of Bagbazar Will no doubt be given a prominent place. Bihari Lal Mitra is the i persent scion of this house. 3. MITRAs OF ANCIENT TIMES. In a book called Prakriti Rahasya or "Mysteries of Nature,' of which Bihari Lal Mitra is the author, he has given a short account of the family in the supplementary end of the work. In this short history, he carries his reader back to a hoary past, when man had not yeat learnt to record in writing the verses strung together by poet-prophets or the deeds of massacres enacted by kings and conquerers. Our knowledge, however, is too limited and our power of comprehension too marrow to grasp the deep researches he has displayed in bringing to light fragments of authentic history that lay imbedded among the misty traditions of old. It was the time when the great Aryan race in their original home in Central Asia split up into sections and emigrated to distant parts of the earth. One section moved towards the south and settled down in that prosperous region known to the ancients as the Palhava country. They were the worshippers of the sun, and were therefore called Mithras, the name by which the great luminary, the source of life in our planetary system, is known in the Zendavesta, the scripture of the Parsis. There were no doubt many subsequent emigrations,
