bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Art. XVI.—Al Kāhirah and its Gates
Authors: Kay H. C.
Published: March 2011

On the occasion of a recent visit to Cairo, I occupied myself in an endeavour to copy the Cufic inscriptions on the Bab en Naṣr. I only partially succeeded, but what I have been able to decipher is sufficient to show that the inscriptions are of somewhat more than ordinary interest. As far as I am able to discover, they have never been published, —a sufficient excuse, I hope, for offering the Society the imperfect results of my attempt to perform a task, which some other student will perhaps be induced to take up and complete.
Art. II.—Parthian and Indo-Sassanian Coins
Authors: Thomas Edward
Published: March 2011

The design of this paper, in the first instance, was confined to the description of a remarkable coin, communicated to me, in photograph, a year or two ago, by M. Wold Tiesenbausen, whose comprehensive work on “Les Monnaies des Khalifes Orientaux “ placed him in the front rank of Oriental Numismatists. Subsequently, the owner of the piece, M. le Comte S. Stroganofif, was so good as to risk the dangers of International Postal deliveries, and to send me the original coin itself for more exact and critical scrutiny.
Art. IX.—The Oldest Book of the Chinese (the Yh-King) and its Authors (Continued).
Authors: de LaCouperie Terrien
Published: March 2011

The possibility of understanding certain parts of the Yh-King, such as the ethnological chapters and the legendary ballads, led early to the conclusion, that the whole of these documents could be currently read and interpreted. It is quite possible that the hexagrams were attached to them merely as a system of numerical classification to keep them in proper order; but it is more likely that the antiquity of these obscure documents, and the tradition that they contained a treasure of ancient wisdom, first led to their use as fateful and prophetic sentences, in which some glimmer of meaning was detected or surmised, and that the hexagrams were then applied to them for the purposes of divination.
Art. II.—Pujahs in the Sutlej Valley, Himalayas
Authors: Simpson William
Published: March 2011

In the summer of 1860, I started from Simla to pass a few weeks at Chini, so as to avoid the rains. Chini is 16 marches about due east, which may be roughly put as being nearly 200 miles. Being just beyond the higher range of the Himalayan chain, the rain cloud is generally spent before it reaches the locality; still there is enough moisture to nourish vegetation, so that trees and flowers are plentiful. About two or three marches beyond this the rainless region commences, where trees are few and far between, and crops depend on the irrigation of small streams coming down from the melted snow of the higher peaks. Chini is about 10,000 feet above the sea, hence it is a most delightful climate in the summer; and few places in the Himalayas can present such a splendid view as the one looking across the Sutlej from the village. A bungalow had been erected at the time of Lord Dalhousie, and in it I put up for about two months; as I did my best when any of the people applied with ailments, they became friendly, and seeing me sketching, and taking an interest in their doings, they announced their ceremonies, and invited me to come and see them. I regret that my knowledge of the ordinary Hindostani was, at that time, but very small, so that I was unable to ask questions and collect information. from this cause my account of their Pujahs is far from complete.
Art. III.—On some New Discoveries in Southern India
Authors: Sewell Robert
Published: March 2011

I have the pleasure to announce to the Society the recent discovery at Kâñchipura, the capital of the Pallava Dynasty of Southern India, of some ancient temples, the importance of which in the history of Dravidian architecture it would, I think, be difficult to overrate. The present paper is put forward merely by way of notifying the existence of these temples, and of calling attention to them; there is reason to hope that ere long reliable details will be laid before the public in the shape of photographs, plans, and drawings, prepared by the Archæological Survey of Southern India under the superintendence of Dr. Burgess.
Art. IX.—Grammatical Note and Vocabulary of the Language of the Kor-kū, a Kolarian tribe in Central India
Authors: Cust R. N.
Published: March 2011

After the meeting of the Society on the 21st of Jan. 1884, to discuss the subject of the origin of the Indian alphabet, brought forward by me, a printed Missionary pamphlet and a lithographed Vocabulary of the Language of the Kor-kū, were found in the Rooms of the Society, left intentionally or by accident by some unrecognized visitor. From internal evidence they appear both to have been composed by Mr. Albert Norton, an American Missionary, working among the tribe at Ellichpúr. It appears to be a proper compliment to him to insert the Vocabulary and Grammatical Note in our Journal, as they are genuine, entirely new material, and a contribution to our knowledge.
Art. XI.—Some Bihārī Folk-Songs
Authors: Grierson George A.
Published: March 2011

The following songs are a portion of those collected by me last hot weather, when acting as Magistrate of Patna. They were written down for me in the heart of Bihār by Bābū Shiv Nandan Lāl Rāy, Deputy Magistrate, a gentleman born and bred in the neighbourhood of Ārā (Arrah), who takes a most lively and intelligent interest in his own beautiful native language. I have printed them exactly as they have been taken from the mouths of the reciters, a few obvious slips of the pen being alone corrected. I have allowed no theories of my own to interfere with the text obtained, and I have religiously abstained from consulting even competent native scholars as to probable or possible emendations. Natives in such cases are, as is well known, only too ready to invent readings which have never existed. They have no reverence whatever for the words or matter of songs in the vernacular, and feel themselves justified in making any alterations or additions on the spur of the moment, which may seem required by the metre, or more adapted to their present temperament.
Art. I.—Ancient Navigation in the Indian Ocean
Authors: Edkins Joseph
Published: March 2011

Sir Henry Rawlinson has drawn attention to the mention of the ships of Ur in early inscriptions, and the connection of these very ancient vessels with those of Ethiopia. The Babylonian traders at a very remote period voyaged to India and Africa for gold and other articles to use in the arts and to supply the demand of markets. The Euphrates' banks were the ancient quays at which the primitive navigators loaded and unloaded their vessels. They proceeded by the Persian Gulf into the ocean, and there they were guided by landmarks and by the heavenly bodies. These voyages may have continued from the time when Ur was a great city, B.C. 2300, down to the period of the Persian empire, when Babylon began to decline. During all this period, as afterwards, the navigators of the Indian Ocean, whether Babylonian, Arabian, Phoenician, or Egyptian, were trading, aided by the monsoons, along the African and Asiatic coasts, and conveying knowledge from one country to another.
Art. II.—La Calle and the Country of the Khomair, with a Note on North African Marbles; being the Report of a recent Tour, addressed to H.M. Secretary of State
Authors: Playfair R. L.
Published: March 2011

My tour really commenced at La Calle. I proceeded thither by the ordinary land route, and arrived at Bone just in time to catch the Tunis steamer, which left on the 6th April. It was perfectly calm when the vessel left, but after we had been an hour at sea the sirocco, which had been blowing, was suddenly succeeded by a strong north-west gale, and when we arrived off the port, two hours later, we had the greatest difficulty in landing.
Art. VIII.—The Present State of Education in Egypt
Authors: Cunynghame H.
Published: March 2011

Volumes have been written about the political and financial state of Egypt, but little attention has been directed to the present condition of education in that country. Therefore the results of a personal inspection of the schools in Cairo may not be uninstructive, especially since the importance of the subject has been strongly emphasized in Lord Dufferin's celebrated despatch (Feb. 6th, Egypt, No. 6, 1883).
Art. XI.—The Life and Labours of Alexander Wylie, Agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society in China. A Memoir
Authors: Cordier M. Henri
Published: March 2011

It may be at first a matter of surprise to many that an alien by nationality and religion, a Roman Catholic Frenchman, should come before this learned Society to discourse on the life and labours of a British Protestant Missionary. A few words, however, will show that there are strong reasons for my taking up some of your valuable time with an account of the good work done by our late friend.
Art. XIII.—Ibnu Baṭūṭa in Sindh
Authors: Haig M. R.
Published: March 2011

The extract from the Narrative of his Travels by Ebu ‘Abdu-’llāh Muhammed of Tangier, commonly called Ibnu Baṭūṭa, an English translation of which appears below, relates to his experiences in the province of Sindh, and touches on matters of local history and geography which may interest some readers, and be thought deserving of such elucidation as may be possible. These matters are noticed in the remarks subjoined to the extract, a form of comment which I have thought preferable to the alternative of interrupting the narrative by frequent and copious footnotes.
Art. XIX. —The First Maṇḍala of the Ṛig-Veda
Authors: Pincott Frederic
Published: March 2011

The paper which. I formerly wrote on the Rig-Veda was merely intended to lay down the general principles which guided the ancient Arranger of that venerable collection of poems. It was my good fortune to be the first to lay before scholars the following discoveries:—

1. That the hymns of the Ṛig-Veda are arranged in the order of their diminishing length.

2. That the First Maṇḍala differs from the rest, and that it possesses a special arrangement of its own.

3. That Maṇḍalas II. to VII. are uniform in character.

4. That the hymns of the Ninth Maṇḍala are manifestly arranged according to the metre and length of the hymns.

5. That certain long hymns in the Ṛig-Veda can be resolved into short sets of verses.

6. That the Tenth Maṇḍala consists of, at least, two collections, showing a distinct mark of cleavage between the 84th and 85th hymns.
Art. XXI.—The Babylonian Chronicle
Authors: Pinches Theo. G.
Published: March 2011

Among the tablets acquired by the British Museum in 1884, is one of peculiar interest. It is a tablet of unbaked clay, 6⅛ in. by 7¾ in., inscribed, on both sides, with two columns of writing in the Cuneiform or wedge-character. This tablet is one of a series which must have contained, when entire, a complete chronicle of all the important events which had taken place in Babylonia, Assyria, Elam, etc., in ancient times. The text (of which a paraphrase has already been published by the present writer) begins with the reign of Nabonassar (747 B.C.), and ends with the accession of Šamas-šum-ukîn or Saosduchinos, brother of Aššur-banî-âpli (667 B.C.). The subject of this tablet was continued on others of the series, a part of one of the tablets, referring to the reign of Nabonidus and relating the capture of Babylon by Cyrus, having been acquired in 1878.
Art. III.—The Chaghatāi Mughals
Authors: Oliver E. E.
Published: March 2011

Without attempting to go back to the obscure traditions concerning the great nomad confederacy or confederacies that ranged the country north of the desert of Gobi, or to the genealogies of the tribes of Turks, Tārtārs, and Muals, descendants of Yāfi (Japhat) son of Nūḥ, who, after coming out of the Ark with his father, is said to have fixed his yūrat or encampment in the Farther East, and who have furnished subjects for the most copious traditions for native chroniclers, and materials for the most intricate controversies ever since; it may perhaps safely be assumed that Mual was probably in the first instance the name of one tribe among many, a clan among clans, and extended to the whole as its chief acquired an ascendency over the rest. The name is most likely locally much older than the time of engiz, but it was hardly known to more distant nations before the tenth century, and became only widely famous in connection with him.
Art. IX.—The customs of the Ossetes, and the Light they throw on the Evolution of law. Compiled from Professor Maxim Kovalefsky's Russian Work on “Contemporary Custom and Ancient Law,” and translated with Notes by E. Delmar Morgan, M.R.A.S
Authors: Kovalefsky Maxim
Published: March 2011

The following paper, of which a part only was read before the Asiatic Society on March 19th, is founded on a book published in Russian by Prof. Maxim Kovalefsky. In the author gives the results of his investigations into the manners and customs of the Ossetes, with special reference to the light thrown by them on the evolution of law. The late Sir Henry Maine, who may be justly regarded as our authority on ancient law and early customs, has well said in a passage quoted by Prof. Kovalefsky on his title-page, “In order to understand the most ancient condition of society all distances must be reduced, and we must look on mankind, so to speak, at the wrong end of the historical telescope.”
Art. XIII.—The Tantrākhyāna, a Collection of Indian Folklore, from a unique Sanskrit MS. discovered in Nepal
Authors: Bendall Cecil
Published: March 2011

The first notice of the work that forms the subject of the present paper was given in Dr. Daniel Wright's “History of Nepal,” where, at p. 322, the title of the book occurs in the list of Sanskrit MSS. procured for the University of Cambridge. In examining this collection in the years 1880–3, I noted the work as related to the Pañca-tantra.
Art. XV.—Moksha, or the Vedántic Release
Authors: Datta Dvijadas
Published: March 2011

Nothing could be more important for a student of Indian thought than to have a correct notion of the Moksha of the Vedánta, which is so curiously allied to the Buddistic Nievána. And as there are some methods of translation which seem to me to give an inaccurate tone to some of the most scholarly treatises in Europe on the subject, I venture to submit a few remarks on one or two points of importance. Is it quite correct to treat Moksha as more a matter of metaphysical knowledge than the reward of moral improvement, as Dr. Deussen does in the following passage?
Art. V.—Early History of Kannaḍa Literature
Authors: Rice B. Lewis
Published: March 2011

Among the so-called Dravidian languages of Southern India none can boast of a higher antiquity in the cultivation of its literature than the Kannaḍa or Karṇâṭaka, commonly called Canarese by Europeans. And yet, while the sister languages Tamil and Telugu have their votaries, Kannaḍa has received attention from but few, if any, among Oriental scholars. This neglect is no doubt partly due to its being principally spoken in Native States, whence it has come less into contact with Europeans, while the other languages form the media of official business through a large extent of British territory. An erroneous impression has, besides, been fostered by some writers, whose acquaintance with South Indian languages was probably chiefly confined to Tamil or Telugu, that these were in some way superior either in structure or in the contents of their literature to Kannaḍa, a statement for which there is not the least foundation, and originating in the want of accurate information regarding the latter.
Art. XIII.—The Western Kshatrapas
Authors: Indrajī Paṇḍit Bhagvānlāl , Rapson E. J.
Published: March 2011

[“This is my last contribution to Indian archæology. It contains views which I have arrived at after a careful and continuous study, extending over twenty-six years, of the Kshatrap coins and inscriptions.” These were among the last words of Paṇḍit Bhagvānlāl Indraji, who almost up to the day of his death was engaged in completing the article now published. Hisv death in March, 1888, was a real loss to Indian archaeology. The tributes paid to his memory by Prof. Peterson in the Academy, by Dr. Bühler in the Indian Antiquary, by Mr. Javerilal Umiashankar Yajnik and Dr. Codrington in the Journal Bombay Asiatic Society, testify to the esteem in which he was held, both as a man and as a scholar, by those who knew him.
Art. VII.—Serpent-Worship in India
Authors: Oldham C. F.
Published: March 2011

From the Rājatarangmī we learn that, when Kāsyapa raised Kāshmir above the waters, Nīla, whose royal canopy was the hood of the serpent, reigned there over the Nāgas.
Art. IX.—The Sects of the Buddhists
Authors: Davids T. W. Rhys
Published: March 2011

We find in the Dīpavamsa (Chapter V. 39–48) a list of the eighteen sects (or schools rather) into which the Buddhists in India had, in the course of the second century of the Buddhist era, been divided. In the Mahāvamsa (Chapter V.) there is a similar list, evidently drawn from the same sources, but omitting (in Tumour's texts) numbers 1–7 of the older list. It is curious that precisely where these names ought to come in (at line 5), the text given by Tumour is evidently corrupt, a half-sloka at least being missing, and probably more.
Art. III.—A Collection of Kammavācās
Authors: Baynes Herbert
Published: March 2011

Having recently received from Mandalay through the kindness of an uncle, several interesting and important Buddhist MSS. in Pāli, Burmese and Shan, I ventureto lay before the Society a Collection of Kammavācās, some of which, though known to European scholars, have hitherto remained inedited.
Art. V.—The Book of the Apple, ascribed to Aristotle
Authors: Margoliouth D. S.
Published: March 2011

A pseudo-Aristotelian treatise called de pomo et morte incliti principis philosophorum Aristotelis has been printed several times in Europe, the earliest editions being without place or date. This work is a Latin translation of a Hebrew tract bearing the name “The Book of the Apple,” the translator being Manfred, King of Sicily (ob. 1266), or, as Steinschneider suggests, a Jew employed by him. The Hebrew text professes to be a translation from the Arabic made by R. Abraham B. Hisdai, an author who flourished at the end of the thirteenth century. There are MSS. of B. Hisdai's work in the Vatican and at Oxford, and it has been repeatedly printed, first at Venice, 1519. It was republished with a new Latin translation and a copious but irrelevant commentary by J. J. Losius, at Giessen, in 1706.
Art. VII.—Some Remarks on the Bábí Texts edited by Baron Victor Rosen in Vols. I and VI of the Collections Scientifiques de l'Institut des Langues Orientales de Saint-Pétersbourg.
Authors: Browne Edward G.
Published: March 2011

The Institut des Langues Orientales of St. Petersburg has an admirable custom, which it were well if other similar institutions would imitate. From time to time it publishes, under the title of Collections Scientifiques, not mere catalogues of recent acquisitions, but full accounts of the more interesting manuscripts which have been added to its library, with copious extracts, tables of contents, and critical notes. The sixth volume of these Collections has lately appeared in two parts, of which the second is almost entirely filled with a description, from the pen of Baron Rosen, of certain Bábi MSS. acquired by the Institut. It is this second part of vol. vi that I propose specially to discuss here, but of the Bábí texts contained in vol. i (published in 1877) I shall also have something to say.
Art. XIV.—Dusratta's Hittite Letter
Authors: Conder C. R.
Published: March 2011

The subject of the present paper is the translation of one of the most interesting and important tablets that have been discovered within the last twenty years—interesting not only from a linguistic point of view, but also as casting new light on the history of Western Asia, about 1500 years before our era, and as showing the manners of the age and the political relations of Egypt with Asiatic countries. It also informs us of the language spoken in Armenia and in Syria, and of the extent of the Hittite dominions before the fall of the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty.
Art. VI.—Remarks on Mr. Kay's edition of ‘Omārah's History of Yemen
Authors: Smith W. Robertson
Published: March 2011

The main object of this paper is to propose some emendations of the text which have occurred to me in reading through ‘Omārah's History of Yemen and the other anecdoton, Al-Janadī's account of the Carmathians of Yemen, with which Mr. Kay has enriched our collection of Arabian histories. Incidentally I shall take occasion to remark on some passages in the accompanying translation which seem to be open to criticism, and I have also a few observations to make on the Introduction and Notes. As the paper will thus be occupied almost exclusively with matters in which the editor's work appears to me to admit of supplement or call for correction, I may be allowed at the outset to express my hearty recognition of all the loving labour that Mr. Kay has spent on his authors. For each of the texts but one MS. was available, and those who have handled Arabic codices know how difficult it is to produce a satisfactory edition on such a basis.
Art. VII.–The Tribes and Castes of Bengal, by H. H. Risley. Vols. I. and II. Ethnographic Glossary, Vols. I. and II. Anthropometric Data
Authors: Hewitt J. F.
Published: March 2011

No one can fully appreciate the great value of this work to all students of ethnology until they realize the historical importance of an accurate classification of the characteristic differences which divide the social strata known as the castes living in a country occupying the geographical position of Bengal. Bengal is practically the country of the Deltas of the Ganges and Brahmaputra, and of the Western rivers, which rise in the Vindhyan range, called by Hindu geographers the Sukti mountains, and flow down thence to the Ganges and the Bay of Bengal. It has always been one of the great highways by which Southern tribes moved northward and Northern tribes southward, and was, owing to its geographical advantages and its fertile soil, civilized and settled before the advent of the Aryan conquerors to North-western India. It is for this reason that we find in Bengal the undisturbed remains and the still living and almost unchanged representatives of some of the principal races who are described by the poets of the Rigveda under the general name of Dasyus, a name which, as Zimmer shows, merely means the people of the country or “desh.” It was from the union of the people of Bengal called the Maghadas or Mughs with the Northern Kushikas or sons of Kush the tortoise that the first great Indian Empire arose, which was formed by the two races ruled by the king called in the Mahābhārata Jarasandha.
Art. III.—Temiya Jātaka Vatthu. From the Burmese
Authors: St. John R. F. St. Andrew
Published: March 2011

This Jātaka stands No. 541 in the Ceylon list under the title of Mūgapakkha or “The dumb cripple.” The Burmese, however, prefer to call it by the name of the Prince, who is the hero of the story. It is the first of the ten greater Jātaka, and, unlike the Bhūridatta, contains little or no folk-lore, but illustrates the value of asceticism.
Art. XVIII.—Notes on Hindu Astronomy and the History of our Knowledge of it
Authors: Burgess James
Published: March 2011

The following notes are perhaps somewhat miscellancous, but they may help to re-direct attention to an interesting subject, recalling the history of European studies of it with some of the results obtained. And since the scheme arranged by Mr. Whitley Stokes for cataloguing the Sanskrit works in Indian libraries, private and other, and for obtaining copies of the rarer ones has yielded such excellent results in all departments, it will perhaps be possible for Orientalists now to publish and translate some of the more important Siddhântas and Karaṇas hitherto inaccessible, and which would be most useful in tracing the origins and history of this Indian science.
Art. XXII.—Notes on Akkadian
Authors: Conder C. R.
Published: March 2011

The study of Akkadian is based on upwards of thirty bilingual inscriptions of considerable length, the texts having been translated into Assyrian in the seventh century B.C. The affinity of the language to the Mongolic dialects of Central Asia, and especially to the Uigur and Turkish, is very generally recognized by scholars, the syntax and grammar, not less than the vocabulary, pointing to such comparison. The following notes refer to points which are not generally mentioned in former treatises on the subject, but which seem clearly deducible from a study of the texts, and from comparison with living languages.
Art. I.—Description of Mesopotamia and Baghdād, written about the year 900 a.d. by Ibn Serapion. The Arabic Text edited from a MS. in the British Museum Library, with Translation and Notes
Authors: le Strange Guy
Published: March 2011

The Geography of Mesopotamia during the epoch, of the Baghdād Caliphate has not, I think, received the attention which the subject deserves. With the exception of the small maps found in the Spruner-Menke Atlas, I believe no detailed description or delineation of the country at this date has been attempted. Yet it must be admitted that the history of the Abbasids is almost incomprehensible without such an aid; for the physical and political condition of the country was not then what it is now, as a glance at the accompanying map will show.
Art. VIII.—Mythological Studies in the Rigveda
Authors: Macdonell A. A.
Published: March 2011

Viṣṇu, the supreme god of one of the two great divisions of the Hinduism of the present day, is already a leading deity in the Rigveda, though he plays a less prominent part there than Varuṇa, Indra, Agni, or Soma. His essential character as the Preserver in Hinduism is displayed in his Avatārs or incarnations, by means of which he appears on earth as the friend and helper of humanity in distress. “For the defence of the good and the suppression of the wicked,” he is made to say in the Bhagavadgītā (IV. 7–8), “for the establishment of justice, I manifest myself from age to age.” The Brāhmaṇas know nothing of the theory of Avatārs, which are not mere transitory manifestations of the deity, but the real presence of the supreme god in mundane beings. In the great Epics, however, the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa, the theory is already fully recognised.
Art. XXVII.—Counter-marks on early Persian and Indian Coins
Authors: Rapson E. J.
Published: March 2011

The addition of a counter-mark to a coin already current has usually served one or other of two distinct purposes. It has occasionally merely denoted the ratification or re-sanction of a currency already legal; it has more frequently been used to show some change in the conditions of a currency—as, for instance, a change in its value as legal tender, or its circulation in a different country or under a different government. The true interpretation of many ancient counter-marks would no doubt add considerably to our knowledge of the world's history. Unfortunately their evidence is generally of that kind which suggests a great deal more than it can prove; and it must be confessed that their contribution to knowledge has been disappointingly small.
Art. I.—Chinese Translations of the Milinda Paṇho
Authors: Takakusu J.
Published: March 2011

The above has been written to clear up the doubtful points concerning the Chinese translation as mentioned by Prof. Rhys Davids in his Introduction to the “Milinda” II, pp. xi–xvii.
Art. VIII.—Mahuan's Account of Cochin, Calicut, and Aden
Authors: Phillips Geo.
Published: March 2011

In the July, 1895, number of this Journal I gave a description of the kingdom of Bengala (Bengal) from the pen of a Muhammadan Chinaman named Mahuan, who on account of his knowledge of Arabic was attached as Interpreter to the suite of Chêng Ho, when he made his voyages to India and other places in the Eastern seas at the beginning of the fifteenth century.
Art. XIX.—Note on the Panjmana Inscription sent by Mr. Ney Elias
Authors: Beveridge H.
Published: March 2011

The inscription is an interesting one, and well deserves publication in our Journal. It records a march by Shaibānī to the Kirghiz Steppe, and a victory which he gained over the inhabitants at Kindilik in the Ulugh Tāgh country. He began his march from Merv-Shāhijān on 2 Shawwāl, 915 (13 January, 1510), and returned after four months and twenty days on 22 Safar, 916 (1 June, 1510). Mr. Elias considers that the inscription is false and that the so-called victory was a defeat, and he quotes in support of this view the Ḥabīb-as-Siyar and the Tārīkh-i-Rashīdī. But surely a contemporary inscription is better authority than two books—one by a compiler and the other by an enemy—and, moreover, the latter are not, I think, absolutely contradictory of the inscription. Shaibānī was apparently at first successful over the people of the Dasht-i-Kipchāk, though he, or at least his son, was eventually defeated by them, and I take the inscription to refer to the initial victory. That some such victory did occur, seems to be admitted by Haidar Mirza. At p. 230 (Ross's translation) we read: “In the middle of the winter, Shāhi Beg Khan was engaged in plundering on every side, but he soon returned, his object being not to remain too far from his own country.” I think this must be the expedition commemorated in the inscription. That began in the middle of winter (13 January, 1510), and was characterized by wondrous rapidity of movement, as the inscription tells us.
Art. XXI.—On a system of Letter-numerals used in South India
Authors: Bendall Cecil
Published: March 2011

I trust that English readers will have before them ere long a full account of the very important “Encyclopaedia of Indian Research” (Grundriss der Indo-Arischen Philologie), at present in course of publication by K. Trübner of Strassburg, under the editorship of Dr. Bühler. A copy of the editor's own extremely weighty contribution on “Indische Palaeographie” has, together with its accompanying set of excellent plates, reached me by the author's kindness. At his request I now draw attention to an. omission in his chapter on the denotation of numerals (VI. Zahlenbezeichnung, pp. 73–83).
Art. I.—The Iron Pillar of Delhi (Mihraulī) and the Emperor Candra (Chandra)
Authors: Smith Vincent A.
Published: March 2011

The project of writing the “Ancient History of Northern India from the Monuments” has long occupied my thoughts, but the duties of my office do not permit me, so long as I remain in active service, to devote the time and attention necessary for the execution and completion of so arduous an undertaking. There is, indeed, little prospect that my project will ever be fully carried into effect by me. Be that as it may, I have made some small progress in the collection of materials, and have been compelled from time to time to make detailed preparatory studies of special subjects. I propose to publish these studies occasionally under the general title of “Prolegomena to Ancient Indian History.” The essay now presented as No. I of the series is that which happens to be the first ready. It grew out of a footnote to the draft of a chapter on the history of Candra Gupta II.
Art. VI.—The Story of Umm Harám
Authors: Cobham Claude Delaval
Published: March 2011

About four miles from Larnaca, in Cyprus, on the western shore of thegreat salt lake from which the town. (Túzla) takes its Turkish name, standsthe Khálat-i-Sulṭán Tekyé, a much - frequented Moslem shrine. The situation is picturesque. The noble outline of the mountain of the Holy Cross (Santa Croce or Stavro Vouni) bounds the view on the west; andthe domes and minaret, embowered in. garden and grove, are not without grace, especially when seen reflected in the still waters of the lake. The shrine is held in great veneration by Moslems of every country; vessels carrying the Ottoman flag salute it as they pass, and the gardens are a favourite place of resort on Musalmán holidays. The whole is dedicated to a lady known as Umm Ḥarámbint Milḥán, whose body lies in this holy place.
Art. XVII.—The Buddhist “Wheel of Life” from a New Source
Authors: de la Vallée Poussin Louis
Published: March 2011

The doctrine of the Pratītyasamutpāda is expounded at considerable length in the sixteenth chapter of the Caṇḍamahā-roṣaṇa-tantra (MSS. of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Société Asiatique, and Cambridge).

As is well known, the doctrine expressed in this very difficult formula forms one of the details of Buddhist doctrine regarded by the early Buddhists themselves as of primary importance; and its meaning has been frequently discussed. Mr. Waddell lately published in our Journal the explanation of the Lamas of Tibet; and the fullest account of the whole question will be found in Professor Rhys Davids's “American Lectures,” pp. 120, 155–161, where previous discussions are referred to. Since then M. Senart has published a very interesting article on the same subject, which is as rich in the results ascertained as remarkable for the elegance of its deductions.
Art. XVIII.—On the Har Paraurī, or the Behāri Women's Ceremony for Producing Rain
Authors: Mitra Sarat Chandra
Published: March 2011

In a paper entitled ‘On some Ceremonies for Producing Rain,’ which I published in the Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay, I gave a short description of the Har Paraurī, or the “Behāri Women's Ceremony for Producing Rain,” to the following effect:—

“The other day I came across another curious custom, peculiar to this part of the country, the observance whereof is supposed to bring down rain. It was at about ten o'clock in the night of Saturday, the 25th June last (1892), as I was about to retire to bed, I heard a great noise made by the singing, in high-pitched tones, of some women in front of our house (at Chupra). I thought that the women were parading the streets, singing songs, as they often do before some marriage takes place in a family. But, on making inquiries next morning, I came to learn that the previous night's singing formed part and parcel of a rainbringing ceremony, known, at least in this district (Saran), as the Har Paraurī, and that some women of the locality had formed themselves into a little band and paraded the neighbouring streets, singing certain songs, which they superstitiously believed would surely bring down showers. Curiously enough, a tolerably good shower of rain fell during the afternoon of the following day.”
Art. XIX.—An old Hebrew Romance of Alexander
Authors: Gaster M.
Published: March 2011

More marvellous and more remarkable than the real conquests of Alexander are the stories circulated about him, and the legends which have clustered round his name and his exploits. The history of Alexander has, from a very early period, been embellished with legends and tales. They spread from nation to nation during the whole of the ancient times, and all through the Middle Ages. Many scholars have followed up the course of this dissemination of the fabulous history of Alexander. It would, therefore, be idle repetition of work admirably done by men like Zacher, Wesselofsky, Budge, and others, should I attempt it here. All interested in the legend of Alexander are familiar with those works, where also the fullest bibliographical information is to be found. I am concerned here with what may have appeared to some of these students as the bye-paths of the legend, and which, to my mind, has not received that attention which is due to it, from more than one point of view. Hitherto the histories of Alexander were divided into two categories; the first were those writings which pretended to give a true historical description of his life and adventures, to the exclusion of fabulous matter; the other included all those fabulous histories in which the true elements were smothered under a great mass of legendary matter, the chief representative of this class being the work ascribed to a certain Callisthenes. The study of the legend centred in the study of the vicissitudes to which this work of (Pseudo-) Callisthenes had been exposed, in the course of its dissemination from the East, probably from its native country, Egypt, to the countries of the West.
Art. XXVIII.—A Modern Parallel to the Culla-Paduma Jataka (193)
Authors: Brahman Ram-Rap , Rouse W. H. D.
Published: March 2011

[Mr. W. Crooke, late of Mirzapur, and Editor of North Indian Notes and Queries, kindly gave me the notes of the following story as told by the Brahman. In his version the story is much shortened, the Iguana episode does not occur, and the finale is different. But this story is more dramatic than the Jataka, and it is not improbable that here we have a version nearer than that is to the original.]
Art. XVII.—Notes on Alaṅkāra Literature
Authors: Jacob G. A.
Published: March 2011

The presentation of the Rules and Examples of the Kāvyaprakāśa, in skeleton form, traced as far as possible to their sources, is the object of the present paper. I wish, however, that I had been able to achieve greater success as the result of the immense labour bestowed upon it. Most of the quotations from the older writers were found when studying the work in Poona, twenty-one years ago, with Krshna Śāstrl Vaijāpurkar; but many others were obtained from the literature unearthed by my friend Dr. Bühler during his famous tour in Kashmir and edited by the late Pandit Durgaprasad and by Dr. Peter Peterson. Doubtless many of those which have defied my efforts to track them were composed by the joint authors themselves; whilst others may have come from works no longer extant, a remark which applies very specially to the large number of untraced Prākrta passages. Yet, in spite of all this, I feel that the task might have been performed in more scholarly fashion but for the complete breakdown of my eyesight three years ago, which has considerably circumscribed my work ever since. And, now, a second attack of Glaucoma incapacitates me still more, and seems even to demand the complete abandonment of Oriental studies.
Art. XIX.—Al-Muzaffariyé: containing a Recent Contribution to the Study of 'Omar Khayyām
Authors: Ross E. D.
Published: March 2011

Under the above Arabic title there has just appeared in St. Petersburg a Festschrift to Baron Victor Rosen, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his professional activity. It contains articles extending over a wide range of subjects by eleven of his former pupils, who are most of them at present professors or lecturers at the University of St. Petersburg.
Art. XXI.—Kauśāmbī and Srāvastī
Authors: Smith Vincent A.
Published: March 2011

Exact investigation, assisted by some recent fortunate discoveries, has proved that the reputed identifications of many of the ancient sites famous in early Indian history are beyond doubt erroneous. Almost every such identification requires to be submitted to searching criticism before it can be accepted as correct. If any ancient site could be regarded as satisfactorily identified, that of the city of Kauśāmbī might apparently be so regarded. Nevertheless, the current belief is mistaken.
Art. XXII.—Kapilavastu in the Buddhist Books
Authors: Watters T.
Published: March 2011

The recent discoveries in Nepāl associated with the name of Dr. Fuhrer, Archaeological Surveyor in the employment of the Government of India, may lead at an early date to a revival of interest in the life of the historical Buddha, distinguished generally by the names Gautama and Sakyamuni, and in the district in which he is supposed to have been born.
Art. X.—Notes on the Origin of the ‘Lunar’ and ‘Solar’ Aryan Tribes, and on the ‘Rājput’ Clans
Authors: Baden-Powell B. H.
Published: March 2011

By way of explanation, I may be permitted to say that having been for some time engaged on an inquiry into the history of the various kinds of Indian landlord tenure, not as a matter of theory, but on the basis of local facts, it became necessary to consider the origin and distribution of the tribes or clans to which the landlord classes most commonly belong. A number of notes were thus accumulated; and I thought it might be useful to put them together, much more in the hope of receiving correction, and of thus gaining information, than with the design of imparting it. It at once appears, as regards Northern India, that of the superior proprietor class when ‘Hindu,’ or at least originally Hindu, a large proportion belongs to the tribes known as ‘Rājput.’ Some of the higher families, however, now resent being so designated, and call themselves ‘Kshatriya.’ The latter name, again, is usually understood to have reference to the military and ruling caste of ancient times, and to have been comprised in two great groups known as ‘Solar’ and ‘Lunar’ respectively. It was almost inevitable to inquire whether anything could be ascertained about the (probable) real birthplace and connection of the so-called ‘Rājput’ races. So much is clear, that the names of the various clans and septs are not names which occur in any early literature; and they can but rarely be connected, even by any tradition that will stand the slightest analysis, with the Kshatriya races of the Mahābhārata and Purāṇas.
Art. XI.—The Pre-Aryan Communal Village in India and Europe
Authors: Hewitt J. F.
Published: March 2011

In Mr. Baden-Powell's article, No. XXV of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for July, 1898, on Village Land-Tenures in India, he asks with reference to my letter on the same subject in the Journal of the Society for July, 1897, for further local details on the following points:—

I. As to whether the original matriarchal stage of village life described by me is to be found in the primaeval history of both Kolarian and Dravidian tribes, or whether its institutions were only indigenous among one of these groups.
Art. XXII.—Notes on Inscriptions from Udyāna, presented by Major Deane
Authors: Stein M. A.
Published: March 2011

For some time back the attention of scholars interested in the history and antiquities of the North-West Frontier regions of India has been drawn towards the remarkable series of inscriptions “in unknown characters” which the zealous search of Major H. A. Deane, C.S.I., Political Officer, Swat, Dir and Chitral, has brought to light in the territory of the ancient Udyāna.
Art. II.—Aśwakrāntā, near Ganhati
Authors: Gurdon P. R.
Published: March 2011

Amongst the many interesting places that lie near the old town of Pragjotishpur or Ganhati is Aśwakrāntā, or, as some people call it, Aśwakrāntā. It is called Aśwakrāntā because the route of Krishna is said to have been viâ Aśwakrāntā when he was carrying off his bride, Rukmini (Aśwa ‘horse’ and krāntā ‘passed by’). If it is called Aśwakrāntā, it means the place where the horse was tired; klāntā meaning ‘tired’ or ‘ weary.’ It should also be remembered that r and l are often interchangeable. Compare Sukreshwar, which is often called Sukleshwar. Aśwakrāntā, or Aśwakrāntā, is on the north side of the Brahmaputra, a little to the west of the island of Umananda, which lies in the midst of the mighty Brahmaputra. The people at the temple show you various holes in the rock at Aśwakrāntā, which, they say, are the footprints of Krishṇna's horses. It is at this place that the people bathe during the Asokastami festival, the day when the current of the Brahmaputra is thought to flow backwards, the reverse current being popularly supposed to be the holy Gangā. The origin of the festival is said to be due to Aśwakrāntā having been the bathing-place of Rukminī. This goddess bathed in the river, but was annoyed by people staring at her from the opposite bank, upon which Krishṇa promptly interposed what is now known as the “ Ar parbat” as a screen.
Art. IX.—A Sanskrit Deed of Sale concerning a Kaśmīrian Mahābhārata Manuscript
Authors: Stein M. A.
Published: March 2011

The manuscript to which the present note refers was purchased by me at Śrīnagar in October, 1898. It is written in Śāradā characters, and contains the Gada, Sauptika, Strī, and Aśvamedha Parvans of the Mahābhārata. The manuscript acquired by me originally formed only a portion of a codex which must have contained the whole of the great Sanskrit epic. This is made clear by the curious notice I shall proceed to discuss, as well as by the fact that other portions of the codex have been seen by me in Śrīnagar during earlier visits. The whole must have formed two large folio volumes which, judging from the writing and the paper, were probably copied in the sixteenth century, or in the early part of the seventeenth. The manuscript is very carefully written, evidently by the hand of a Paṇḍit, and represents a very good specimen of the text of the Western recension of the Mahābhārata current in Kaśmīr.
Art. XII.—The Story of the Death of the last Abbasid Caliph, from the Vatican MS. of Ibn-al-Furāt
Authors: Le Strange G.
Published: March 2011

At the end of January of the year 1258 A.D., after a siege of more than a month, the Mongol array stormed and took possession of Baghdad; then, on or about the 18th of February following, the thirty-seventh and last Caliph of the House of Abbas, Al-Musta'ṣim-billah, was by order of Hūlāgū put to death. Concerning the manner of his death the accounts differ; unfortunately there has come down to us no narrative by an eye-witness of these events, for the only really contemporary historian, the author of the Ṭabaḳāt-i-Nāṣirī, was a native of India and wrote at Delhi.
Art. XVI.—Notes on some Brāhmī-Kharoṣṭhī Inscriptions on Indian Coins
Authors: Bergny A. V.
Published: March 2011

These notes are the result of a personal examination of Brāhmī-Kharoṣṭhī inscriptions on coins published by Sir A. Cunningham in his Coins of Ancient India (London, 1891 = C. CAI. in the following pages), and now in the British Museum. I have selected here only those coins on which we find a Brāhmī inscription word by word confirmed by a Kharoṣṭhī inscription. The best known of these biliteral coins are those of the Kuṇindas, to which I have devoted another monograph which I hope to publish shortly. In this monograph I enter more fully into the discussion of certain questions of phonetics, which equally affect the inscriptions dealt with in the present article. By examining and comparing the readings thus given in both alphabets, we may hope to obtain some definite results as to the decipherment of the various forms of each. In the first place, an account is given of these forms as they occur in each inscription, so that they may be compared with those already known from other sources, and their readings determined in accordance with results already obtained. As a rule, these inscriptions exactly correspond, syllable for syllable, to each other. Such differences as do occur—e.g., in case-forms, in vowels, in varied representations of the same sound—are of great interest from the point of view of phonetics.
Art. XIX.—Notes on the MSS. of the Turkī Text of Bābar's Memoirs
Authors: Beveridge Annette S.
Published: March 2011

The information contained in the following notes on the MSS. of the Turkī text of Bābar's autobiography I have not seen put together elsewhere. It is offered as an ad interimcontribution towards a better knowledge of the Turkī text.
Art. XXVII.—Notes on Malayalam Literature
Authors: Krishṇa Menon T. K.
Published: March 2011

Malayalam is the language of the south-west of the Madras Presidency. It is the third most important language of the Presidency, the first and the second being Tamil and Telugu respectively. It is spoken in Malabar, Cochin, and Travancore. Out of a total of 5,932,207 inhabitants of these parts, 5,409,350 persons are those who speak Malayalam. These countries, taken as a whole, are bounded on the north, by South Canara, on the east by the far-famed Malaya range of mountains, on the south by the Indian Ocean, and on the west by the Arabian Sea.