bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dated Chinese Manuscripts in the Stein Collection.
Authors: Giles Lionel
Published: January 2010

So far as our manuscripts are concerned, the first half of the ninth s century yields an almost complete blank. To judge by the absence of any dated text during forty-five years, the Tibetan rulers were not favourable either to orthodox Buddhism or to any form of literary activity. At any rate, a remarkable revival took place immediately after the revolution of Chang I-ch’ao, and the number of dated documents for the second half of the century is actually larger than for any previous period of the same length. It is true that the proportion of sutras and other Buddhist texts has now shrunk considerably. In their place we find miscellaneous documents of many kinds—letters and reports, circulars and account notes, calendars and didactic treatises, mostly in a fragmentary state. The most important feature, however, is the first appearance of printing, of which there are three specimens, dating from 868, 877, and 882 respectively. The first of these is the world-famous copy of the Diamond Sutra with its well-designed frontispiece, printed from blocks in so masterly a fashion as to make it evident that the art of printing must already have been practised in China for a considerable time.
The Perfect Tense Ending K(-) in the Spoken Arabic of Ta'izz
Authors: Prochazka Theodore
Published: January 2010

The occurrence of -k- in the conjugation of the verb in the perfect, instead of the expected -t- which marks the 2s., 2 pl., and 1s. in other Arabic dialects, was noted and discussed in two studies by Ettore Rossi. His aim was to offer a general classification of the Yemeni dialects, and he treated the occurrence of the personal suffixes in -k- in terms of their geographical extent. He found these suffixes in the area of the western slope of the Yemen plateau, and the parts stretching southward to Aden. As an illustration he gave for the dialect of Raymah:

This type of suffixation, as Rossi noted, falls into line with that of Ethiopic, and the Modern South Arabian languages, such as Mahri and Socotri.
The Authorship of the Adulis throne text
Authors: Bebston A. F. L.
Published: January 2010

Early in the sixth century A.D. the Greek author known generally as Cosmas Indicopleustes records in his ‘Christian Topography’ that he visited Adulis on the western Red Sea coast and there saw two Greek inscriptions, one on a marble throne and one on a stela standing behind it. The monuments have long ago disappeared, but we have the texts as copied by Cosmas. The stela belongs to Ptolemy III Euergetes (246–222 B.C.), but the throne text begins in mediis rebus without name of author, and is introduced by Cosmas with the slightly mysterious words ‘Then, as if sequentially, there is further written on the throne as follows’. Whatever he may have meant by this, it is certain, as modern scholars recognize, that the throne text is not part of the stela one: the former is drafted in the first person, the latter in the third; and the throne text was drafted ‘in the 27th year of my reign’, whereas Ptolemy HI died at the beginning of his twenty-sixth regnal year. This leaves the field open to speculations about the authorship and date of the throne text.
The non-occurrence of a t- prefix in certain Jibbāli verbal forms
Authors: Johnstone T. M.
Published: January 2010

In an earlier issue of BSOAS I published some notes on an interesting feature of the Socotri language, namely that certain imperfect forms lack the t-prefix which marks 2nd and certain 3rd person forms in Semitic languages.

The J(ibbāli), or Śherí, language of Dhofar also exhibits this negative feature, and in much the same series of forms; principally the indicative, subjunctive, and conditional forms of causative verbs, intensive-conative verbs, quadriliteral verbs and passive verbs.
Hindko in Kohat and Peshawar
Authors: Shackle C.
Published: January 2010

The Indo-Iranian linguistic frontier constitutes one of the most complex and interesting language-areas of the sub-continent. Given the nature of the area, it is perhaps inevitable that scholarly attention should have been directed particularly to its remoter corners, where so much that is of historical importance has been preserved, and we certainly have every reason to be grateful for the fascination which such out of the way survivals have held for the minds of several outstanding linguists. It is, on the other hand, a matter for regret that so little has been done by comparison on the languages which flourish in less inaccessible parts of the frontier, particularly on the Indo-Aryan side. The wide distribution of such languages alone, quite apart from their intrinsic interest, demands that they too be accorded adequate coverage if the peculiarly complex language-patterns of the area are ever to be properly understood as a whole. The present article, based largely on material collected during a recent field-trip to Pakistan,1 represents an attempt to fill one such gap in contemporary coverage, by providing descriptions of the extreme north-western extensions of the main body of Indo-Aryan.
On some ‘editorial’ terms in the Mongol Ganjur
Authors: Serruys Henry
Published: January 2010

The colophons of the Mongol Ganjur contain a large number of terms and expressions having to do with ‘writing’, ‘translation’, ‘revising’, ‘correcting’, ‘copying’, etc.; but, with these expressions appearing in almost numberless varieties of combinations with each other and with other words, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to assign a precise meaning to each particular one as distinct from the others. Some of these terms are synonyms and are used either together, or as substitutes one for the other, duplicating and repeating each other. The taste of the writers may very well have dictated the choice of one term in one place, and a different one, with roughly the same meaning, in another passage. The various ways in which these terms are combined and strung together, themselves strongly suggest that the Mongol translators, or the authors of the colophons, maintained no sharp distinction between the various terms: where is the precise line between ‘correcting’ and ‘revising’, ‘editing’, and ‘compiling’? Nevertheless, it should be possible to classify those expressions or terms into a few categories, even if there exists no clear line of demarcation between the various notions shading off into each other. I do not intend to trace such neat lines of separation, but I do believe that it is possible to define, if only in broad terms, the general meaning of the expressions concerned. And if carefully analysed and compared, these very words may tell us something about the manner in which the translation of the Buddhist sūtras was achieved.
A note on Syriac and Hebrew manuscripts in Iraq
Authors: Healey John F.
Published: January 2010

A recent visit to Iraq (made possible by a fellowship grant from the British School on the Gertrude Bell fund and by the kind assistance of the Directorate General of Antiquities in Iraq) enabled the writer to look closely at a number of manuscript collections. What follows is an indication of these resources and a review of a new catalogue.
Balti Proverbs
Authors: Read A. F. C.
Published: January 2010

The land of Baltistan lies in Kashmir State territory beyond the Himalayan range and to the north of the province of Ladakh. It is occasionally called Little Tibet, but nowadays it is usually referred to by the State as that part of Ladakh which comes under the jurisdiction of the Skardu Tehsil. Some hundred thousand people speak the Balti language, which in some instances would appear to resemble more the written Tibetan than any spoken dialect of that language.
Burmese Dedicatory Inscription of A.D. 1683
Authors: Stewart J. A.
Published: January 2010

The inscription here reproduced appears on the covering leaf of a gilt palm-leaf manuscript, in. by in., in the possession of the Java Head Bookshop, Great Eussell Street, the proprietors of which have kindly agreed to its publication.
Notes on Some Poets and Poetry of the T'ang Dynasty
Authors: Edwards E.
Published: January 2010

After the fall of the Han dynasty in A.D. 220, owing to the weakness and tyranny of its last representatives, China was divided by a long internal struggle into three parts. The Later Hans held Shu (Ssǔ-ch'uan), the remainder of the south became the kingdom of Wu, and the north, with its capital at Ho-nan Fu, or Lo-yang, was known as Wei.
Eine rabbinische Parallele zu
Authors: Künstlinger Von David
Published: January 2010

Über die mutmasslichen Ansichten von der Herkunft des in der Überschrift angeführten arabischen Wortes, welches “Abschnitt, Teil des Kur'āns” bedeutet, ist Nöldeke-Schwally, Geschichte des Qorāns i, 31 sowie El. iv, 606–7 u. Verbesserungen u. Nachträge das., Lieferung J., dritte Seite des Umschlagś, nachzusehen.
Imagery in Nģok Dinka Cattle-Names
Authors: Evans-Pritchard E. E.
Published: January 2010

The Nilotes refer to their cattle in a number of ways, and one of these is by colour or interrelation of colours which are associated in their minds with some animal or bird or reptile. Their cattle are thus called by colour-analogy crocodile cow, fish eagle cow, leopard cow, and so on. The Dinka go even farther and make a double analogy in referring to their cattle by terms which suggest some activity associated with, or some attribute of, the creature that displays similar colouring to the cattle.
Another fragment from the autograph of Ibn al-Tilmīdh's ‘Marginal commentary on Ibn Sīnā's Canon of medicine’
Authors: Iskandar Albert Z.
Published: January 2010

The Christian physician Ibn al-Tilmīdh (d. 560/1165) was assisted by eminent doctors and philosophers of Baghdad in transcribing the five books of al-Qānūn fī 'l-ṭibb (Canon of medicine) by Ibn Sīnā, (d. 428/1037). Ibn al-Tilmīdh's own copy remained the definitive edition of this encyclopaedic work for centuries after his death.
An Amharic version of the origin of the Cross
Authors: Kane Thomas L.
Published: January 2010

One of the major activities of the printing press established by the late Emperor Haile Selassie in the early 1920s was the printing of religious works in Geez which were provided with an accompanying Amharic translation in keeping with the then Regent's known desire that these religious texts be made accessible to the public. This tradition has been continued by the Tənsa'e zäGvba'e and Täsfa Gäbrä-sәllase presses of Addis Ababa, at least until they were nationalized in 1976. The latter press has devoted most of its output to reprinting religious works in Geez and Amharic in cheap editions intended for sale to the pious lay public. Works in Geez may or may not be provided with an accompanying Amharic translation. Sometimes the Geez original and the Amharic translation are published separately. Occasionally the Geez text appears without an Amharic translation, and very rarely the Amharic text (as is the case with the version appearing below) appears without the Geez original. This is undoubtedly owing to the fact that the original Geez text or the Amharic translation were not available to the publisher.
Some rules concerning vowels in Chadic
Authors: Frajzyngier Zygmunt
Published: January 2010

The purpose of this paper is to show that one of the characteristics of the Chadic languages is the existence of two types of phonological rules affecting vowels. One type of rule operates on the vowels of the stem when a suffix is added and another type of rule operates on the vowel of the suffix itself. The latter type is triggered by the syllabic structure and/or the height of the vowels of the stem.
Materials for South Arabian History Notes on new MSS from Hadramawt
Authors: Serjeant R. B.
Published: January 2010

The basis of the list of biographical works in this part is the material in two articles from al-Rābitat al-‘Alawīya, a rare but learned journal published by the ‘Alawl saiyids for about four years at Batavia. This journal is unlikely to be found in Europe, unless indeed a set exists in Holland, but it is a source of major importance for the student of Hadramī history, as he will find material there not available elsewhere. I have not seen a complete set even in Hadramawt, though individual issues are to be found in various libraries.
A Balūčī text, with translation and notes
Authors: Elfenbein Josef
Published: January 2010

The following story occurs on folios 26r. to 33r. of a MS in the British Museum, catalogued ‘Codex Additional 24048’ in the handwritten List of Oriental MSS, Vol. iii (1854–66). There is another copy in the Staatsbibliothek, Munich, which was noticed long ago by Wilhelm Geiger, who edited and translated from it parts of the story given here in full.
Does Khaṛī Bolī mean nothing more than Rustic Speech ?
Authors: Bailey T. Grahame
Published: January 2010

THIS question arises out of some remarks made by Professor Abdul Haq of the Osmaniya University, Hyderabad, Deccan, who, criticizing views on Khaṛī Bolī (=KB) which I had expressed in my Hist, of Urdu Lit., pp. 5, 8, 9, 13, said :—

hamẽ is se hūī ki ḍākṭar ṣāḥab ne is ko rafa‘ kīā hai, lekin aṣl mẽ yeh bhī mubtilā haī: khaṛī aur kharī kā farq inhõ ne bahut ṣaḥiḥ batāeā. hai, lekin ma‘ne taqrīban vohī rakkhe haī jo kharī ke haī, ya‘ne murawaja, ‘ām, mustanad (standard) zabān ; aur dūsrā gaẓab kīā hai ki Khaṛī Bolī ko ek zabān qarār dīā hai, aur us kī do batāī haī, ek Hindī aur dūsrī Urdū … Khaī Bolī ke ma‘ne Hindostān mẽ ‘ām par gãvārī bolī ke haī jise Hindostān kā, bacca bacca jāntā, hai; voh na koī khāṣ zabān hai, aur na zabān kī koī (Urdu, July, 1933, p. 590.)
Purāna Leǵends and the Prakrit Tradition in New Indo-Aryan
Authors: Chatterji Suniti Kumar
Published: January 2010

It is now generally admitted that a great deal of the ancient and medieval myth and legend enshrined in the Sanskrit epics and Purānas is of non-Aryan origin, and that even in Vedic mythology certain pre-Aryan elements are present. Puranic myths of the godsand legends of kings, heroes, and sages, in the form in which we find them in the Sanskrit works, represent undoubtedly a considerable amount of modification from their original forms, whether Aryan or non-Aryan: witness, e.g., the treatment of what would appear to bea genuine Aryan (? Indo-European) saga-that of Purūravas and Urvaśī, as we find it in the Rigveda and the Śatapatha Brāhmana, in the Visnu Purāna and in the subsequent Puranas.
The Prakrit underlying Buddhistic Hybrid Sanskrit
Authors: Edgerton Franklin
Published: January 2010

A Sanskritist who reads for the first time a Buddhistic Sanskrit text such as the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka is struck at once by peculiarities of vocabulary and style which differentiate it from normal Sanskrit. If he limits himself to the prose parts, ignoring the verses, he will rarely encounter forms or expressions which are definitely ungrammatical, or at least more ungrammatical than, say, the Sanskrit of the epics, which also violates the strict rules of Pāṇini. Yet every paragraph will contain words and turns of expression which, while formally unobjectionable (if, perhaps, non-Pāṇinean), would never be used by any non-Buddhist writer.
Soghdische Miszellen
Authors: Henning Von W.
Published: January 2010

In einem der von mir unlängst veröffentlichten manichäischen Texte in mittelpersischer Sprache kommt zweimal ein Wort bšnbyd vor, für das sich die Bedeutung ” Götzenpriester “ zwingend aus dem Kontext ergab; die Herkunft des Wortes kannte ich damals noch nicht: sie wird mit einem Schlage klar, wenn man soghdisch βγynpt- ” Zauberer“ herbeizieht (βγynptw SCE. 255; Alte Briefei, 10; fem. βγynpt'nch SCE. 255, 252), das offensichtlich mit mp. bšnbyd etymologisch identisch ist.
Nochmals mleccha
Authors: Liebich B.
Published: January 2010

Ueber diese Entsprechung des griechischen bárbaros im Sanskrit habe ich im 72. Band der ZDMG. (1918) Seite 286/7 eine kleine Studie veröffentlicht. Den Anlass dazu gab ein Artikel von K. P. Jayaswal, der am gleichen Ort einige Jakre vorher erschienen war. Jayaswal hatte richtig erkannt, dass die allgemeinere Bedeutung von mleccha, wie sie in der Literatur erscheint und auch von den indischen Grammatikern angegeben wird, sekundär sei, und dass das Wort ursprünglich ein bestimmtes nichtindisches Einzelvolk bezeichnet haben müsse: “like Yavana,” sagt er, “Mlechchha is a foreign word, and like Yavana it originally meant a specific foreign people.”
Nugae Burushaskicae
Authors: Lorimer D. L. R.
Published: January 2010

The makers of Burushaski, whoever they were and wherever and whenever they lived, were people of resource and ingenuity, perhaps of imagination. So much is evident from the grammar of the language, which I have described in some detail elsewhere, The Burushaski Language, vol. i, Oslo, 1935, I am not referring to the modern speakers of Burushaski. They appear to me lacking in these qualities. They might be gifted as craftsmen, but not as creative artists.
Iranian Elements in Khowar
Authors: Morgenstierne G.
Published: January 2010

Khowar, the predominant language of Chitral and of the adjacent parts of the Gilgit district, is characterized on the one hand by a tenacious preservation of ancient IA. sounds, forms, and words, and on the other hand by the existence of a remarkably large number of foreign elements. According to Sir George Grierson, Khowar “in some essential particulars agrees rather with the Ghalcha languages to the north”. And, drawing attention to the fact that the Chitral valley was formerly inhabited by Kalashas, he expresses the opinion that the originally homogeneous Dardic population of Kafiristan, Chitral, and Gilgit “was subsequently split into two by a wedge of Khō invasion, representing members of a different, but related, tribe coming from the north [of the Hindukush]”. In whatever way one may be inclined to interpret the position there can be no doubt that Kho., when compared with the neighbouring Dardic dialects, presents many peculiarities which deserve our attention.
Grammairiens tardifs et dialectes du prākrit
Authors: Nitti Luigia
Published: January 2010

Sir george grierson, en reprenant aprés Lassen l'étude de l'unique MS du de Rāmaśarman Tarkavāgīśa (No 1106 de la Bibliothéque de I'India Office) et en le comparant au de MārkaṇḌdeya, a reconnu 1'existence d'un groupe de grammairiens prākrits, fidéles à l'enseignement de Vararuci pource qui concerne le prākrit principal, mais caractérisés en outre par le nombre beaucoup plus grand de dialectes qu'ils traitent. II les a nommés “grammairiens orientaux” et s'est efforcé pendant de longues années de divulguer leur doctrine et d'utiliser leurs données.
Ein parthischer Titel im Sogdischen
Authors: Schaeder Von Hans Heinrich
Published: January 2010

In der sogdischen Version des Vessantarajātaka (VJ) erscheint vor dem Namen des Helden, des Königsohns oder an seiner Stelle das Wort (einige Male , 196, 222, 232, 349, 364; Vokativ 52e, 1198). Gauthiot sah darin einen zweiten Namen des Helden, , den er als sogdische Umbildung von skr. Viśvantara (pali Vessantara) ansprach. Erst Benveniste hat festgestellt, dass es kein Name, sondern ein Titel ist, dessen Sinn sich unzweideutig aus Z.
The Numerals in the Niya Inscriptions
Authors: Stein O.
Published: January 2010

1. For “ one ” the NI use eka (106 Uo 7. 159 r 2. 187 o 8. 211 r 5. 231 r 2. 248 o 8. 253 r 1. 348 Uo 4. 425 Uo 5. Cr 6. 437 Cr 1. 577 Uo 6.630 o 4. 638 o 2, 3. 676 Uo 5. 688 oA 3).1 In the form eǵa it appears 709 Cr 4. It is used in the uninflected form, irrespective of gender;the genit. sing, ekisya “ single ”, is found 272 o 10. 514 o 1; a plural eke occurs 468 Cr 2. egaǵa in 417 o 2, as nomin. masc. egaǵo in 296 Uo 3, corresponds to Skt. ekaika-, Pāli ekaka- “single”, in accordance with the phonetic value of -ǵa.2 eka- is found in compounds with numerals(see 11), nouns (ekadeśammi 272 o 6), 3 adjectives (ekavarsaǵa ═ekavarṣika- 589 Uo 3).
Sanskrit -kṣeti and Pali acchati in Modern Indo-Aryan
Authors: Turner R. L.
Published: January 2010

In a notice of an article full of new facts and invaluable suggestion like all those of the great scholar, to honour whom this volume is designed, I ventured to suggest that the origin of Pali acchati was tobe looked for in Skt. -kṣeti. The assumption of an Old Indo-Aryanform with kṣ was necessitated by the Kashmiri chuh [ he is ]: for Ksh. ch corresponds (except in loanwords) to Skt. kṣ; Skt. (c)ch > Ksh. dental affricate ċh (tsh).
Joan Josua Ketelaar of Elbing, author of the First Hindūstānī Grammar
Authors: Vogel J. Ph.
Published: January 2010

In his Linguistic Survey of India, Sir George Grierson has drawn attention to the first Hindūstānī grammar, and given someparticulars about its author, Joan Josua Ketelaar, who was a German in the service of the Dutch East India Company. In the presentpaper I wish to supplement the information regarding Ketelaar's career by means of some biographical data mostly drawn from the Company's records preserved in the “ Bijks Archief ” at The Hague.
A letter from Th. Nöldeke to E. Mittwoch
Authors: Ullendorff Edward
Published: January 2010

Eugen Mittwoch, the distinguished orientalist, died in London in 1942 at the age of 66. His writings, particularly in the field of Ethiopian languages, have retained their value and importance even at a time when much progress has been made in this branch of studies.
Mahōrasop II: The Thai National Library manuscript
Authors: Simmonds E. H. S.
Published: January 2010

In a recent article in BSOAS the writer called attention to the existence of a very detailed passage on mahōrasop entertainments in a Thai manuscript of part of the tale of Suthon and Manōrā in the library of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. That passage is incomplete because it occurs at the end of one of the folding books in which the version was written down. The Royal Asiatic Society library possesses only the first book, but the writer has since found that the National Library of Thailand, Bangkok, has a set of six books containing a complete version of the tale and therefore a continuation of the mahōrasop passage found in the Royal Asiatic Society manuscript.
Brass Kettledrums in Sabah
Authors: Bastin John
Published: January 2010

The problem whether or not West Malaysia passed through a distinctive Bronze Age has been the subject of a good deal of discussion since the second World War, and is again raised by the remarkable discoveries in 1964 of four bronze ‘Dông-so'n’ (Heger Type I) drums, two at Kampong Sungai Lang in the Kuala Langat District of Selangor, and two at Batu Burok near Kuala Trengganu on Malaya's east coast. With these and the remains of two other Heger Type I drums found in 1926 at Batu Pasir Garam on the Tembeling River, Pahang, and at Bukit Kuda, north-east of Klang, Selangor, in 1944, West Malaysia can now boast more ‘Dông-so'n’ drums than Sumatra, but not so many as Java where more than a dozen drums or fragments of drums have been found.
Profits from trade with the Levant in the fifteenth century
Authors: Ashtor E.
Published: January 2010

To show how great were the profits in the medieval Levant trade may seem like bringing coals to Newcastle. The accounts of the strenuous efforts made to discover the sea route to India bear witness to the Europeans’ desire to get a greater share of these riches. Anybody passing by the old palaces along the Grand Canal of Venice becomes aware of the riches accumulated in the trade of the Indian spices. However, it goes without saying that the margin of profit changed in the course of time. Certainly they were very great in the period of the Crusades, both on the Red Sea and in the Mediterranean. In a Judaeo-Arabic letter written in 1134 in Aden by Abū; Zikrī Kōhēn, one reads: ‘If you would have come this year (to Aden), there would have been no need to journey to India. Youngsters came who had never travelled before, who have no knowledge of selling and buying, and those (of them) who had a hundred earned another hundred…and if he were a Muslim—a hundred and fifty’. The riches of the Kārim merchants, who specialized in the spice trade on the Red Sea, were fabulous, if one can believe the Arabic chroniclers. Judging from the Geniza documents, one would be bound to conclude that the profits in the spice trade were much greater than in other branches of trade. But in the later Middle Ages, when it had become a wholesale trade conducted on regular lines, did it still yield returns much greater than other branches of trade and industry? And if this was indeed so, how can one explain the fact that the Levant traders succeeded in maintaining high prices for the Indian commodities destined for mass consumption?
A fortified tower-house in Wādī Jirdān (Wāḥidī Sultanate)—II
Authors: Doe Brian , Serjeant R. B.
Published: January 2010

Sacrifices of animals at the various stages in the construction of a house are already reported from the country of the Subbaihah, Daw'an, and Tarīm. Ibn al-Mujāwir even records in the Middle Ages that when a road was being built between Mafālīs and Ta'izz, about 425/1033–4 up a mountain pass (naqīl) with 360 bends (malwīy), a head of cattle (rās baqar) was slaughtered at each bend as a sacrifice (fidyah); he calls a bend f rkah.
Problems of Sabæan Chronology
Authors: Beeston A. F. L.
Published: January 2010

Whereas during the earlier part of South Arabian history dating is effected only by reference to the year of office of an eponymous magistrate, from about the 1st century A.D. we begin to find texts dated by a fixed era. The earliest inscriptions so dated are R.3958 of ‘ the year 144 ’, and R.4197b of ‘ the year 172 ’. Although these two texts are in Sabæan dialect, both have associations with the Beiḥān area, and Albright is probably right in suggesting that they do not refer to a ‘ Sabæan ’ era. The majority of the dated texts which are unquestionably Sabæan belong to the 6th and 7th centuries of that era.
The Almohade Hierarchy
Authors: Hopkins J. F. P.
Published: January 2010

It is well known that the Almohades instituted a politico-social system or hierarchy. In it the subjects of the Almohade state were divided into ranks or grades of aristocracy which do not appear to be closely connected with their administrative arrangements but may originally have been a battle-array. The broad lines of this system are fairly clear; it is the details that are often obscure. The Mahdī's, later the Caliph's, advisers, the ‘ cabinet’ of his government, were ten men known simply as ‘ the Ten’ or Ahl al-jamā'a. Below them came a council called ‘ the Fifty ’ {Ahl Khamsīn or Ayt Khamsīn). The mass of the people were divided thus in descending order (I follow here Ibn al-Qaṭṭān, later copied by the anonymous author of the Ḥulal al-mawshiyya): the Talaba, the Ḥuffāẓ, the Ahl al-dār, Hargha, Ahl Tīnmāl, Gadmīwa, Ganfīsa, Hintāta, the Jund, the Ghuzāt, and Rumāt. Other writers have additional categories and put them in a slightly different order. Gaudefroy-Demombynes has used the Kitāb al-ansāb for the light it throws on the description of Hafsid institutions given in his partial edition of ‘Umarl's Masālik al-abṣār, and more recently Terrasse has summarized its information in his Histoire du Maroc.
The Takahasi Uzibumi
Authors: Mills D. E.
Published: January 2010

On several occasions in the Nara period, the Takahasi and the Azumi families quarrelled over the precedence to be observed at religious ceremonies. These petty struggles for preference are in themselves of little historical significance, but they are of interest in that certain family records with which the Takahasi family attempted to justify their claims have been preserved and constitute what is known as the Takahasi Uzibumi (The corresponding Azumi records have unfortunately been lost.) Though the exact date of its composition is unknown, the Takahasi Uzibumi belongs undoubtedly to the 8th century and is the oldest extant document of its kind; yet it appears to have been neglected by commentators, for I have been unable to find any commentary on it save that of the kokugakusya Ban-Nobutomo (1773–1846)1 Certainly, these fragmentary records do not have as great a value as, say, the records of the Imibe family, the Kogo Syuui
Notes on the Muslim System of Pensions
Authors: Tritton A. S.
Published: January 2010

Every history book describes the system of registration and pensions (dīwān) set up by 'Umar I and the reform attempted by 'Umar II. Wellhausen set out the causes of dissatisfaction with it, the larger sums given to the Syrians, the desire of converts to share equally with the Arabs, and the resentment of the Arabs at the government keeping much of the money instead of handing it all over to the fighters who had earned it. These notes do not claim to be exhaustive but throw some light on the working and intricacies of the system.
The Old Khotanese fragment H 147 NS 115 and remarks on Old Khotanese haṃdärväto, patīśu, vya and ya.
Authors: Skjærv⊘ Prods Oktor
Published: January 2010

The Old Khotanese fragment H 147 NS 115 in the collection of the India Office Library, London, was first published in transcription by Bailey in KT, v, 56. This paper contains a re-edition of the fragment, now with a translation and a commentary, and a discussion of two of the words occurring in the fragment: ha[ṃ]där-väto ‘*in the interior’ and patīśu ‘in autumn’, also including an excursus on OKh. vya and ya, 3S optative of ‘to be’.
An Outline of Achehnese Phonology and morphology
Authors: Cowan H. K. J.
Published: January 2010

It is a remarkable fact that of the Achehnese language, one of the most important languages of Sumatra, no grammatical description has ever appeared in print that meets minimum requirements. The only grammar extant is K. H. van Langen's Handleiding voor de beoefening der Atjehsche taal (The Hague, 1889). But notwithstanding Van Langen's laudable effort under difficult conditions, his work does not do justice to the language. There are two main objections. First, it is based on the written language. This is (or was in Van Langen's time) exclusively written in Arabic script, which clearly represents an earlier stage of the Achehnese language when certain phonemes had a different value and certain finals existed which have now been dropped. But Van Langen based even his transliteration in Latin characters on these archaic and obsolete Arabic spellings. The second objection is that the author never realized that Achehnese is an inflecting language, and treated certain personal prefixes as indicating a passive voice and a gerund instead of flexional elements of the verb. One aspect of his work is, however, still useful: the chrestomathy which forms a part of it, written in Arabic script, with a transliteration and a translation of some of the texts.
The Oromo orthography of Shaykh Bakri Saṗalō
Authors: Hayward R. J. , Hassan Mohammed
Published: January 2010

The existence of a totally indigenous Oromo writing system is not something that is very widely known about among Éithiopisants, and our present description of this remarkable achievement is written in the belief that the subject has never before received attention. Remarkable achievements are generally the achievements of remarkable men, and before embarking on a consideration of the writing system itself, it has seemed only appropriate to devote the first section of this paper to a short biographical sketch of the man who devised the system. At this point we are bound to acknowledge our great indebtedness to Shaykh Mahammad Rashād, a student of Shaykh Bakri Saṗalō, who not only gave us copious information about the life of his teacher, but generously provided us with copies of a number of manuscripts, among which is one (shown in Figs. 2–5) which sets out in a clear way the principles of Shaykh Bakri's orthography. Without the Amharic and Arabic explanations of this key we should have been involved in a work of decipherment, and the present study might well have proved impossible. We are likewise indebted to Dīmā Yōnīs, who took great pains on our behalf in interviewing former students and friends of Shaykh Bakri, and subsequently translated into English and typed out the information he collected.
Hāritī and the chronology of the Kuṣāṇas
Authors: Bivae A. D. H.
Published: January 2010

The view has more than once been mooted amongst archaeologists, though dissenting voices have frequently made themselves heard, that the art of the ‘Graeco-Buddhist’ School of Gandhāra is contemporary with the zenith of the Kuṣāṇa dynasty under the rulers Kaniṣka, Huviṣka, and perhaps Vāsudeva. A further analysis is naturally required to convert this proposition into terms of absolute chronology. Yet the basic thesis is one that would find justification in an argument developed by Ibn Khaldūn in his masterpiece of historical theory, theMuqaddima:

‘The monuments of a dynasty are its buildings and large (edifices). They are proportionate to the original power of the dynasty. They can materialize only when there are many workers, and united action and co-operation. When a dynasty is large and far-flung, with many provinces and subjects, workers are very plentiful, and can be brought together from all sides and regions. Thus even the largest monument can materialize’.
Cause, and some linguistically allied concepts, in Armenian
Authors: Dowsett C. J. F.
Published: January 2010

The Stoics, according to Seneca and others, divided the whole of creation into two main principles: cause and matter. In a previous article I discussed some words meaning ‘matter’ in Armenian. The time seems ripe to deal with the other half of the universe, though perhaps not exhaustively. A linguistic analysis of the concept “cause” in Armenian involves a consideration of two roots, namely, IE *ai (IH *hei, *a4ei), and Iranian *5kar. Since these, especially the latter, are good examples, in the field of etymology, of the “polycephalous rhizomes” which perplexed an early Armenian translator of Gregory of Nyssa, they lead also to a consideration of words which seem to have very little to do with “cause”.
A note on the Tibetan version of the Karmavibhaṅga Preserved in the MS Kanjur of the British Museum
Authors: Simon Walter
Published: January 2010

When first examining, now quite some time ago, the Tibetan version of the Karmavibhaṅga in the MS Kanjur of the British Museum, I was struck immediately by the preservation therein of the ‘introductory tale’, which apparently has not survived in the printed Kanjurs. On closer inspection the MS version showed two other prominent features which, taken together with the first, may justify the present note and, it is hoped, may make it acceptable to the great Indo-Iranian scholar in whose honour it has been written.
An early Jewish-Persian argument
Authors: MacKenzie D. N.
Published: January 2010

The Jewish-Persian manuscript Or. 8659 was brought to my attention by Dr. J. Rosenwasser of the British Museum, to whom I am most grateful for giving me the occasion to examine it closely and discover its great interest. Dr. Rosenwasser had rightly queried the description of the manuscript as ‘a commentary on Joshua’. There are quotations from Joshua on fol. lr and v, it is true, but that is by no means the whole story. He also remarked that the first and last folios deal with the same subject, and fol. 1 should in fact follow immediately on fol. 10. It was with this introduction, and much initial help with the Hebrew passages, that he urged the investigation of the text on me.
Some aspects of the Anglo-Russian Convention and its working in Persia, 1907–14—II
Authors: Greaves Rose Louise
Published: January 2010

The Americans arrived (May 1911) to find Tehran in a turmoil of political excitement. In February the Minister of Finance, who had been a leading figure in the constitutional movement, had been assassinated by Russian subjects on his way home from attending the Majlis. This was followed by another political murder in Tehran later in February—again undertaken by Russian nationals. Since Russia retained the right of jurisdiction over her own subjects in Persia the murderers had to be hunded over to the Russian government. The situation the Americans found has been described by one of the members of the mission in a latter to President Taft. He wrote:

‘Pursuant to your kind request to keep you informed of our progress in Persia, the following statement of experiences and conditions may be of interest, especially in view of the recent return of the exiled Shah, Mohammed Ali, and the near approach of civil war which now seems inevitable, as the result of foreign intrigues. The entire country is in the most complete state of anarchy possible to imagine, and the government—if such it can be called—is of the opera bouffe variety, fit to adorn any stage without alteration of a single feature. Civic corruption exists to an extent beyond the limits of the wildest imagination, and is so widespread that an honest official, high or low, is almost unknown. No laws exist for the punishment of official crimes, and as the Oriental system of bribery for the consummation of any purpose whatsoever has existed since time immemorial, the natural result is beyond description.
The Bengali text Śrīḳṛṣṇakīrtana palaeorgaphic and textual problems
Authors: Mukherjee Tarapada
Published: January 2010

The manuscript now known as Śrīkṛṣṇakīrtana was discovered by Basanta Ranjan Ray in 1909 in the village of Kakilya in west Bengal. The manuscript, which is incomplete, undated, and without title, consists of 418 songs on the Rādhā-kṛṣṇa theme. The songs, which are arranged so as to form a continuous narrative, each contain a bhaạitā giving the name of the author. In the majority of cases, but not in all, the name in Baḍu Caṇḍidasa. On the evidence of these bhaṇitās Basanta Ranjan Ray ascribed the whole work to Baḍu Caṇḍīdāsa. He also gave it the title ŚrīkṛṢṇakīrtana, hereafter abbreviated as ŚKK. The MS is probably the work of two hands. Some scholars allege that there were three scribes, but in view of the close similarity between the third hand and the first, this is doubtful.
The speech of God: A tract of the Eighth/Fourteenth Century
Authors: Tritton A. S.
Published: January 2010

This tract is an answer to Ḥanbalī claims; it is badly arranged with much repetition and there are no new ideas in it. It is an example of theological controversy at a low level of intelligence. A summary will show the conclusions reached by Muslims about the speech of God.
Ibn Muqlah
Authors: Harley A. H.
Published: January 2010

Abū ‘Alī Muḥammad b. ‘Ali b. al-Ḥasan b. Muqlah, better known as Ibn Muqlah, was born in Baghdad in A.H. 272 (I. Kh.). It has been said that “the details of the childhood of great men are apt to be petty and cloying”; the historians have not provided an opportunity of judging of the truth of this generalization in his case, for their notices only begin when he had already set about earning a livelihood. He worked in one of the dīwāns or administrative departments on a salary of six dīnārs per mensem (Fakh., 318). Fortune favoured him, and while yet very young he came to enjoy intimacy with and a share in the counsels of Ibnu'l-Furāt during the first term of his wazirate, which extended from 296, the year following the accession of the Khalīfah al-Muqtadir, to 299. He had a turn for composition both in prose and verse, and well illustrated the Arab adage: “the pen is one of the two tongues” (al-‘Iqdu'l-Farīd, ii, 153, Cairo, 1316). Specimens of his verses will be given later; Ibn Miskawayh quotes his prose-account of the circumstances in which news of the murder in 296 of Md. b. Dāaūd b. al-Jarrāḥ, after he had been enticed from the place where he had concealed himself when his intrigue on behalf of Ibnu'l-Mu‘tazz miscarried, was secretly communicated to Ibnu'l-Furāt; he there states that on this occasion he was a companion of the wazir's privacy (TU., 66).
Notes on the History of the Oxus-Jaxartes Basin
Authors: Toynbee Arnold J.
Published: January 2010

The Basin of the Rivers Oxus and Jaxartes (which may be regarded as a single unit from the geographical as well as the historical point of view) has several times over played a particular part in the world's history. In conjunction with its complement, the Basin of the Tarim, it has served as a corridor or line of communication between the home-lands of several independent civilizations. By this route; the Middle Eastern World (and the Mediterranean World behind it) has communicated with India, and both India and the Middle East (sometimes alternately and, less often, simultaneously) with the Far Eastern World of China, Korea, and Japan.
A Note on the Text of Kaltyanasaugandhikam
Authors: Barnett L. D.
Published: January 2010

Mr. k. rama pisharoti, m.a., has very kindly reported to me the readings of the MSS. of the Kalyāṇasāugandhikam in the library of the Sanskrit College at Trippoonithura, and I gratefully present the most important of them as a supplement to my provisional edition of that play in this Bulletin, Vol. IV, p. 33 ff.
Abhasa-Bhasa
Authors: Barnett L. D.
Published: January 2010

Ecce iterum Crispinus! The readers of this Bulletin are doubtless as weary of the dis crambe repetita of the Bhāsa-controversy as I am, and I must crave their indulgence for returning to it in reply to Professor Keith's remarks in Vol. III, p. 295 ff.
The Mathara-Vrtti
Authors: Keith A. Berriedale
Published: January 2010

In a paper contributed to the Bhandarkar Commemoration Volume in 1917, Professor S. K. Belvalkar announced the discovery of a new commentary on the Sāṃkhyakārikā by Māṭhara, and identified it with the lost Sanskrit original of the commentary on that work preserved in the Chinese translation of Paramārtha (c. a.d. 550). Commenting on this suggestion in 1918, I observed that derivation of the newly discovered commentary and of Paramārtha from the same source was an alternative possibility. Professor Belvalkar has now, in a paper which was written to form part of the collection presented to Professor Hillebrandt on his 70th birthday, and is pxiblished in the Annals of the Bhandarkar Institue, adduced reasons in support of his original suggestion.
An Embassy from King John to the Emperor of Morocco
Authors: Ross E. Denison
Published: January 2010

Onpages 559–64 of Vol: II ofChronica Majoraof Matthew Paris (London. 1874) we find under the date ofa.d.1213 the following curious anecdote regarding King John. The heading runs:Qualiter rex desperans miserit ad admiralium Murmelim. The story, which never seems to have attracted the attention it deserves, is of considerable interest to students of Islamic history, whether it be based on fact or no.
Arya II
Authors: Bailey H. W.
Published: January 2010

A Buddhist practice existed whereby adānapati, patron, had a manuscript of a Buddhist religious text copied, into which at the appropriate place his personal name was inserted with Sanskrit inflexion. In the Buddhist SanskritSitātapatra-sūtra, the ‘Book of the white umbrella’, Stein manuscript S 2529, two personal names are inserted. In lines 45–6 occursaṣṭānā mahāgrrahāṇā vaidhvasanakara hu ttrū 〈rakṣa rakṣa〉 mama vaṣayānasya‘O destroyer of the eight great ravishers,hūṃ trūṃ. Protect, protect me Yaṣayāna’. In lines 48, 70, 88, 117 the name is Sīdyākaraca. Here we read:

48auma svasta〈ka〉ra bavattū mama sīdyākaracasya

70rakṣa rakṣa mama sīdyākaracasya:

88ye ke cai salvā mama sīdyākaracasya ∥

117:rakṣa rakṣa mama sīdyākaracasya:

Instead of a name in line 122 occurs the wordīthanāmasya‘of so-and-so’.
The Bactrian Inscription
Authors: Henning W. B.
Published: January 2010

The long-awaited Greek-letter inscription discovered, on 6 May 1957, by the Délégation Archéologique Française en Afghanistan in the course of their excavations at ‘Surkh-Kotal’, the ancient Bagolango, has now been made public by M. André Maricq under the title of ‘La grande inscription de Kaniṣka et l'étéo-tokharien, l'ancienne langue de la Bactriane’, JA, CCXLVI, 4, 1958, 345–440. It is wonderfully well-preserved and, once one gets accustomed to the somewhat barbaric forms of certain letters, offers not the slightest difficulty to the reading. The difficulties lie elsewhere: this is the first substantial, and at the same time readable, document of the Iranian language once spoken in Bactria and, appropriately to a text in an unknown language, is slow in yielding its meaning to the scholar, who inevitably has to be guided partly by often contradictory internal evidence, partly by uncertain comparisons with related languages. All those devoted to Central Asian history and languages will be grateful to M. Maricq for his painstaking work and for his unselfishness in publishing this superb monument before being able to submit more than a partial interpretation.
The Principal Offices of the Ṣafawid State During the Reign of Isma'īl I (907–30/1501–24)
Authors: Savory R. M.
Published: January 2010

Isma'īl's defeat by the Ottomans at Chāldirān—his first defeat—destroyed the legend of his invincibility. This legend was based on his pretensions to a quasi-divine status, and, after Chāldirān, the qizilbāsh, although they continued to pay lip-service to this idea, showed clearly by their actions that they no longer accorded any special reverence to the person of their ruler. They had lost their faith in Isma'īl's supernatural powers, and this impaired their fundamental relationship with him. Although in theory Isma'īl was still the murshid-i kāmil, and the qizilbāsh were his murīas, the qizilbāsh were no longer prepared to follow him with the fanatical devotion and indifference to personal danger which had been noted by a Venetian merchant in 1518, only two years before Chāldirān. Once the religious bond between Isma'īl and the qizilbāsh had been broken, and their relationship reduced in practice (though not in theory) to a secular plane, it was but a short step to disobedience to his commands and an open flouting of his authority, especially as this authority was further reduced by his virtual withdrawal from the conduct of state affairs and by the fact that after Chāldirān he ceased personally to lead his troops into battle. The oppressive rule of Amīr Khan Turkmān in Khurāsān during 922–8/1516–22, and his arrogant disregard of Isma'īl's express commands, constituted a challenge to Isma'īl's authority which he seemed reluctant or unable to meet.
The Tāti Dialect of Kajal
Authors: Yarshater E.
Published: January 2010

Kajali is a Tāti dialect spoken in at least two, and possibly more, villages in Khalkhāl, the south-eastern province of Persian Āzarbāijān. Kajal, the main village where this dialect is spoken, lies in Kāghaz-konān, the southwestern district of Khalkhāl, and has a population of over 400 persons, who live mainly by cultivating cereals (particularly wheat and barley), growing fruit, and keeping a small number of farm animals. Most of the Kajali men go to Tālesh, the Caspian province east of Khalkhāl, during the winter to work, and return for the summer.
The Nature and Characteristics of the Boxer Movement—A Morphological Study
Authors: Ch‘ên Jerome
Published: January 2010

The Boxer Movement is traditionally treated by Chinese and foreigners alike as a political or military phenomenon. In this study, however, it features as an episode in social history. Moreover, our interest lies in a static picture rather than in the dynamic development of the movement. Questions of political wisdom or foolhardiness are not our main concern. This, of course, does not mean that we shall not take political factors into consideration, but that we shall regard them only as data in the mathematical sense. To us, the movement is neither sublime nor ridiculous. It is a religious uprising—the most important religious uprising in the world as a whole to take place in the present century. Neither Mafia in Europe nor the Tong Hak in Korea, for instance, can be compared with it in either scale or influence.
A Fāṭimid Decree of the Year 524/1130
Authors: Stern S. M.
Published: January 2010

For many years it was vaguely known that the monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai possessed a large collection of documents concerning its own affairs and written in Arabic and Turkish, and more especially that this collection also included a number of decrees issued by various Fāṭimid caliphs; but it was only recently that detailed information became available. It will be convenient to preface the edition of one of these Fāṭimid documents by a review of what has been written about the Sinai documents up to now.