bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Nostratic
Authors: Clauson Gerard
Published: March 2011

I have two reasons for writing this paper. The first is that, while I have occasionally heard the word Nostratic, I have never had a clear idea what it meant, and I suspect that most readers of this Journal are in a similar position. The second is that I have recently received from a colleague in Moscow a book just published there entitled “An attempt to compare the Nostratic languages” (Opyt sravneniya nostraticheskikh yazykov) which defines the term, gives a history of the origin and development of the Nostratic theory, and marshals a great deal of evidence in support of it. The author, V. M. Illich-Svitych, died in 1964, and the first part of his book, which was perhaps never finished, has now been published, with an introduction, notes, and some supplementary matter, by his friend and colleague, V. A. Dybo. This was Illich-Svitych's only major work, but the bibliography (p. 74; this and similar references are to pages in the book) lists also six articles by him in various learned journals. The first feeling of any reader of the book must be utter astonishment at the amount of sheer hard detailed work which he packed into a short life of no more than 32 years.
Japanese Poetry
Authors: Mills D. E.
Published: March 2011

In a chapter on “loanwords” in his book The Japanese language, Roy Andrew Miller quotes the following poem composed by H.I.H. the Crown Prince of Japan on the occasion of the New Year's Poetry Ceremony at the Imperial Palace in 1965:

This can be translated as follows: “The conveyor-belt which brings in the feed revolves and thousands of young birds cluster about it to eat.” I quote the poem not as a gem of literature, but as in a sense symbolic of modern Japan, a country which loves and clings to tradition, but is very ready to adapt it. The poem is a modern example of the ancient traditional form called tanka, or “short song”, consisting of five unrhymed lines containing 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7 syllables respectively—a form which has existed and been practised for over twelve hundred years. This tanka, though, is one which must surely have ancient tanka poets turning in their graves, not simply because the syllable count of the last two lines is all wrong, but because—horror of horrors!—it admits words of foreign origin among native Japanese words. This is obvious enough in the case of the ultra-modern word which drew Miller's attention to the poem, beruto konbea. But it applies equally to another type of word which the poem uses, namely words of Chinese origin. Words like these were available to poets in the hey-day of tanka poetry, from say 900—1300, but they were shunned like the plague. At that time, they would have stuck out like a sore thumb just as beruto konbea does today.
Die Lydische Sprache
Authors: Gusmani Von Roberto
Published: March 2011

Das Lydische ist uns hauptsächlich durch eine Reihe von Inschriften bekannt, die fast alle auf dem Gebiet des klassischen Lydien (insbesondere in der Hauptstadt Sardis) gefunden wurden. Sieht man von einigen kleineren Schriftzeugnissen ab (wie Münzen und Siegel), deren Herkunft nicht feststeht, so beschränkt sich die Anzahl der Inschriften, die ausserhalb des lydischen Gebiets ans Licht gekommen sind und wohl nur von der vorübergehenden Anwesenheit von einzelnen lydischen Sprechern zeugen, auf drei: eine Weihinschrift aus Pergamon, ein Steinfragment mit Resten von drei Wörtern aus Aphrodisias in Karien und ein altertümliches Graffito aus Oberägypten. Inwieweit die als lydisch bezeichneten Glossen tatsächlich von dieser Sprache Zeugnis ablegen, ist in vielen Fällen fraglich: bezeichnenderweise findet nur eine solche Glosse eine sichere Übereinstimmung in der Sprache der uns bekannten Inschriften, was indessen auch auf Zufall beruhen könnte; es handelt sich um πλμυς “König”, dem das qaλmλuś unserer Texte entspricht, doch muss man bei diesem als Name eines kleinasiatischen Häuptlings schon bei Homer belegten Wort einschränkend hinzufügen, dass es wahrscheinlich ein altes Lehnwort im Griechischen darstellt. Hinzu kommt noch τασας, das sicher mit lyd. tavśaś “mächtig” zu identifizieren ist und als Glosse ohne Angabe der Herkunftsprache überliefert wurde.
The Decipherment of Minoan and Eteocretan
Authors: Gordon Cyrus H.
Published: March 2011

Two categories of non-Greek inscriptions from Crete, known as Minoan and Eteocretan, are from different periods. Minoan documents stem from the Middle and Late Bronze Ages (particularly c. 1850–1400 B.C.), whereas the extant Eteocretan texts were inscribed during Early Iron III (c. 600–300 B.C.). In assigning both categories to North-west Semitic, we shall base our conclusions on the inscriptions themselves, rather than on secondary considerations. Proper names will not be used as primary evidence, because people (including ourselves) often bear names derived from languages other than the one they speak. The same goes for the names of the places they inhabit and of the gods they worship. We shall not reiterate the evidence of history and tradition. Since our problem is linguistic, we shall concentrate on the direct linguistic data in the Minoan and Eteocretan inscriptions.
Some Problems of Early Indian History
Authors: Sircar D. C.
Published: March 2011

Thomas R. Trautmann's paper entitled “Licchavi-dauhitra” appears in JRAS, 1972, 2–15. The following are some of our observations on certain points raised in it.
The “Gurū Nānak” inscription at Baghdad
Authors: Ménage V. L.
Published: March 2011

In his Gurū Nānak and the Sikh religion (Oxford, 1968), Dr. W. H. McLeod quoted verbatim (pp. 131–2) a note which, at his invitation, I had sent to him regarding an inscription at Baghdad. This inscription, discovered by some Sikh soldiers after the entry of British and Indian troops into the city in March 1917, is now set in the wall inside the reputed (and much restored) tomb of Buhlūl, itself adjacent to the tombs of Sitt Zubayda (the wife of Hārūn al-Rashīd) and of “Yūsha' Nabī”, between the modern airport and the railway station Baghdad West. Ever since its discovery, Sikh scholars have regarded it as recording a visit to Baghdad by Gurū Nānak (1469–1539) in 927 A.H. (= A.D. 1520–1), as the figures beneath the text were first read, or in 917/1511–12.
Iron in early Indian literature
Authors: Chakrabarti Dilip K.
Published: March 2011

In this paper it is proposed to evaluate the Indian literary data up to the early centuries A.D. as a source for a history of iron in India. The issues to be considered are: the beginning of the use of iron in agriculture, the terms used to denote iron, and the metallurgical details, if any.
The position of the Paribhāṣās in the textual order of the Āpastamba Śrautasūtra
Authors: Chakrabarti Samiran Chandra
Published: March 2011

Controversy continues over the position of the paribhāṣās in the textual order of the Āpastamba Śrautasūtra. The paribhāṣās occupy the first four kaṇḍikās of the 24th Praśna in the printed text edited by R. Garbe. They are regarded by Garbe as a later addition and by Narasimhachar as the initial portion of the Śrautasūtra. This paper examines the validity of their views. From a reassessment of their data combined with further grounds the present author concludes that the position in which the paribhāṣās now appear in the printed text is the original one.
Tattooing in Thailand's history
Authors: Terwiel B. J.
Published: March 2011

In view of the lengthy descriptions of tattooing from many other regions in Southeast Asia, it is odd that the Chao Phraya basin receives but little attention. The custom is usually not mentioned, or is given a passing reference as one rather old-fashioned habit to which modern observers need pay little regard. Accounts of central Thai tattooing which cover more than a single paragraph are rare. Moreover, this is in marked contrast to the extensive local literature on closely related subjects such as magical diagrams, protective spells, amulets and astrology.
Monuments of the Early Caliphate at Dārzīn in the Kirmān region (Iran)
Authors: Shokoohy Mehrdad
Published: March 2011

Dārzīn is a village located on the main road eastward from Kirmān to Bam, at the point where the branch road diverges to Jīruft (Fig. 1). East of the present village there stand a number of ruined mud-brick buildings of interesting form and ground plan, surrounded by a substantial spread of Islamic pottery containing a fair proportion of slip-painted ware. The latter fabric suggests settlements at least as early as the Sāmānid period. In 1977 the present writer had the opportunity to visit the site, and prepared drawings of the momuments with a view to establishing their probable date. The result of this survey suggests that these ruins could be amongst the earliest Islamic structures still extant in Iran. The purpose of this article is to present this evidence.
The measure of Hecatompylos
Authors: Hansman John
Published: March 2011

In an article published some 12 years ago, the present writer proposed a location in Iran for the lost Parthian capital named by the Greeks Hecatompylos. This site, called in later days Shahr-i Qūmis, had been located with the help of references given by Apollodorus of Artemita (apudStrabo XI, 9, 1). These describe the Caspian Gates as located 500 stades from the city of Rhagae (modern Ray), and Hecatompylos as a further 1,260 stades beyond the Gates. Since the sites of the first two locations are known, the actual distance of 82 km.
The ancient pillar-cult at Prayāga (Allahabad): its pre-Aśokan origins
Authors: Irwin John
Published: March 2011

The monument at Pl I, until recently called the “Allahabad-Kosam” pillar and attributed to Aśoka, is now known to have been erected before Aśoka came to the throne in 272 B.C. We also know with certainty that its original emblem had been – not a lion, as previously supposed – but the bull of pre-Buddhist, brahmanical religion. Moreover, there is no longer any reason to suppose that it had not always held a position overlooking the confluence of the two sacred rivers, the Gaṇgā and the Yamunā, otherwise known as “the holiest site in India”.
Some observations on the Hund inscription of the reign of Jayapāla Śāhi, dated 146 (Śāhi Era)
Authors: Agrawal Jagannath
Published: March 2011

This stone inscription, which has provided very welcome information on the history of the Śāhi dynasty of Udbhāṇḍapura, commonly called the Hindu Śāhis of Kabul and Panjab, was brought to light in the course of the comprehensive search for Śāhi records carried out by Mr Abdur Rehman, who published the text together with an English translation and copious notes in JRAS, 1978, pp. 31–37. Rehman has made an important contribution to the history of the Śāhi dynasty by suggesting that the dates in the inscriptions of the Sahis should be referred to an era founded by Kallar, the founder of the dynasty, in A.D. 850. Rehman has rightly called this era the Śāhi Era. Some of the verses and expressions in this inscription of Jayapala have not been correctly interpreted, however, and in one case by his rendering of verse 8, the editor has been led to draw wrong historical conclusions. The need for a re-appraisal is apparent.
Manuscript sources for some motifs in early Islamic glass painting
Authors: Wenzel Marian
Published: March 2011

The study of decorated glassware from the early Islamic period hinges very largely on the classification and dating of fragments, since few complete vessels have survived. Perhaps for this reason the subject, though full of interest for the glass historian, has received rather scant attention in the literature. The purpose of this article is to suggest that surviving examples of painted lustre glass from this period enable us to identify several ways in which manuscript models were used by glass craftsmen in the sphere of early Islam.
Muslim graves of the “Lesser Tradition”: Gilgit, Puniāl, Swāt, Yūsufzai
Authors: Burton-Page John
Published: March 2011

A visit in October–November 1985 to northern Pakistan provided me with the chance of observing and recording certain types of village grave. Since enquiries revealed that some types are no longer being constructed, and some of the most interesting graves are falling into decay, it seems appropriate to publish these fragmentary observations in the hope that awareness may be stimulated, and that other and more leisured travellers may be able to make more detailed observations while the material is still available.
Dākṣiṇya and Rasa in the Vikramorvaśīya
Authors: Goodwin Robert E.
Published: March 2011

This verse comes at the end of the 2nd Act of Kālidāsa'sVikramorvaśīya(hereafter V). It is spoken by the royal hero Purūravas moments after his wife Auśīnarī has left the scene in a jealous pique, refusing to accept hisanunaya, his attempt at conciliation. Auśīnarī had confronted him with evidence of his affair with theapsarasUrvaśī, a love-verse that the nymph had inscribed on a piece of birch-bark. Urvaśī had by then already left the lovely palace garden where she had appeared to him beyond his hopes (for how can a mortal expect a liaison with a divinity?), called back to Indra's palace to act the principal role in a play calledLakṣmī's Svayaṃvara. The King had entrusted the piece of bark to the Vidūṣaka's safekeeping, but of course the latter—true to his name of “spoiler”—had dropped it, leaving it to be discovered by Auśīnarī and her maid. At first the hero tries to deny that the inscribed message has anything to do with him, but this is hardly convincing. Furthermore, the Vidūṣaka's attempts at camouflage only succeeded in underscoring his friend's guilt. But “No,” Ausmari responds, “you haven't transgressed. It is I who transgress with my disagreeable presence. I'll go!” With this she plays her trump card, and Purūravas can only play his. He admits his guilt, but only formulaically, only by invoking a gallant convention: he is and has always been her slave, and when the mistress is angry then surely the slave is guilty. Saying this, he falls at her feet, but she turns her back on him and leaves. The Vidūṣaka remarks that this is all to his favour since he will no longer have to camouflage his affair, but Purūravas rejects this callous notion. His respect (bahumāna) for Auśīnarī is genuine. He does not want to hurt her and regrets that his gallantry cannot soothe her. Thus he utters the lines I have quoted above.
The last two letters of Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia (April 11 and 12,1868) — corrigenda
Authors: Appleyard David
Published: March 2011

After the publication of the translations and accompanying notes of the last two letters of Emperor Tewodros in JRAS1987/1, the authors were made aware of a number of unfortunate errors in the translations and of differences between their versions and the “official” translations produced not long after the originals. As several of these errors of translation have direct repercussion on the annotation of the letters, it has seemed expedient to publish the corrections as soon as possible. Accordingly, we are grateful to the Publications Committee of the JRAS for allowing these revised translations to appear so soon after the original article. We are also deeply grateful to Prof. E. Ullendorff for drawing our attention to the corrections and improvements that have needed to be made.

In order to facilitate the presentation of the corrections, it seems preferable to reproduce here in full the revised translations of the letters, though these should of course be read in conjunction with the original article.
Art. VI.—The Chinese Secret Triad Society of the Tien-ti-huih
Authors: Newbold  , Wilson
Published: March 2011

Various associations have long existed in China, of which secrecy was at an early period the prominent feature, since the jealousy of the imperial government declares the association of even five persons to be illegal, and punishes the crime of belonging to these associations with death. Among these fraternities may be enumerated—1st, the Great Ascending Society; 2nd, the Society of Glory and Splendour; 3rd, the Union of the Three Great Towers, viz., Heaven, Earth, and Man; 4th, the White Jackets; 5th, the Red Beards; 6th, the Short Swords; 7th, the White Water-Lily; 8th, the Sea and Land Society; 9th, the Righteous Rising Society, &c. The third of these associations, which, from all that can be gathered, assimilate in their origin, is the one that prevails in Canton, and obtains almost exclusively in the Straits of Malacca, and the vast islands of the Indian Archipelago; and which will principally form the subject of this notice. It is commonly known under the terms of Tien-ti-huih, or San-ho-huih, and is sometimes divided into two branches—the Canton and Fokien, to which provinces most of the Chinese emigrants belong. Those from Canton, are, I believe, by far the most numerous. Other societies or Kongsis exist, with the benevolent object of raising funds for the assistance and support of those among their number in distress; but they are almost all subject, more or less, to some of the objections that exist against the Tien-ti-huih.
Art. VI.—On the Identification of the Mustard Tree of Scripture
Authors: Royle J. Forbes
Published: March 2011

Numerous attempts have at different times been made by a variety of authors to identify the two plants which in the authorised version of the Scriptures are translated Mustard Tree and Hyssop. That these attempts have not been so satisfactory to others, as to set the questions at rest, is evident from fresh plants being continually adduced, even in recent works, as possessed of the requisite characteristics. It may be inferred that these do not appear, to the author of this paper, to have been more successful than preceding endeavours, from his making a fresh, and which to many will appear a presumptuous attempt to determine what has baffled so many able inquirers. Few fields, however, are so barren, even after they seem to have been cleared by the most skilful reapers, as not to yield some grains to the careful gleaner. So, continued attention to any one pursuit, never fails to throw light, not only on itself, but also on other, and what at first appear but remotely connected subjects. Thus it has been in the study of ancient for the purpose of elucidating modern Materia Medica, and of both in connexion with the Botany of the East, that the author has been led to conclusions, which seem to elucidate some of the disputed points in Biblical botany.
Art. X.—On the Hyssop of Scripture
Authors: Royle J. Forbes
Published: March 2011

When I lately had the honour of reading a paper before the Society, on the Mustard Tree of Scripture, I ventured to make some observations on what I considered to be the requisites for, and the best mode of pursuing, as well as upon what we should admit as proofs in, such enquiries. I proceed now to treat of another Biblical plant, which is not less interesting than the Mustard Tree to determine. This is the Hyssop, frequently mentioned in the Old, and twice independently in the New Testament, and which, if we are to judge by the numerous attempts which have been made to ascertain the particular plant that is meant, is not less difficult to determine, than any one of the several unascertained plants of the Bible.
Art. XVI.—Analysis of the Ganeśa Purána, with special reference to the History of Buddhism
Authors: Stevenson
Published: March 2011

Thinking that the Gańeśa Puráńa might throw some light on the origin of the Saiva worship, I lately took it up to examine it in that relation, I had not proceeded far in this investigation before I was fortunate enough to meet with two legends, which I conceive have a distinct reference to the rise and fall of Buddhism in India. One of these is contained in the first, and the Other in the second khanda or division of the Puráńa; and to their consideration I shall devote this paper, after a few brief general remarks on the work itself;
Art. XVII.—The Ante-Brahmanical Religion of the Hindus
Authors: Stevenson
Published: March 2011

It is a matter of no small difficulty to give a general view of the Religion of India, and so to arrange the different Deities composing the Hindu Pantheon, as to place before the student of Hindu Mythology a connected and harmonious system of the religious belief of the natives of Hindustan. Brahmá for example is styled the Creator of the Universe, and yet almost totally disregarded, not even a single temple being erected to his honour, although creation is one of the chief grounds of religious worship. Vishnu in the system stands forth as the Preserver, but in the eye of his votaries consisting of myriads in every part of the country, the world owes its origin, as well as its preservation to him; and Siva, though systematic writers tell us he is to be regarded as the author of Destruction, and the third God of the Hindu Triad, is worshipped by millions as the Supreme God, the Preserver as well as the Destroyer, the Imparter equally with the Taker away of life. Again, no small proportion of the Hindu nation ascribe the origin of the system of the Universe to a female divinity, whom they consider the Mother of all the Gods, and to whom also they attribute a principal share in its government.
Art. XIX.—Extract from a letter addressed by Professor Westergaard to the Rev. Dr. Wilson, in the year 1843, relative to the Gabrs in Persia
Authors: Westergaard
Published: March 2011

I am to-day at Ser Yazd, eight farsakhs south of Yazd, on my road to Kennan…. As I suppose the Gabrs interest you most, I will begin my rambling letter with them. I heard at Shiraz, where there are occasionally a few Gabr shopkeepers, that in Kermán there are only a few illiterate Gabrs; so when I at Darebjard heard that the road lies for six days through a complete desert, without any habitation, or the least cultivation, I determined to go straight to Yazd, which would be passing over ground that had been travelled by few or no Europeans before. I found at least on my map many places laid down wrong, even Yazd; and I am now on the road to Kermán, only on account of my having heard at Yazd, that though there are there only one hundred houses, (or about four or five hundred Gabrs), still they have from olden time a good many books, far more than there are in Yazd; whether it be true or not, I shall tell you by and bye.
Art. XXI.—On the Secret Triad Society of China, chiefly from Papers belonging to the Society found at Hong Kong
Authors: Gutzlaff C.
Published: March 2011

The following is the account given by the Triad Society of themselves and of their origin:—

The Selús (a Tatar tribe) invaded China, under the reign of Kang-he, (about 1675–79), and greatly disturbed the country. The people were very much alarmed; and the Manchús sent an army to resist the invaders, which was several times defeated without gaining a single advantage. Upon this, an officer named Kwŏ-ting-hwuy returned to the Court to ask for assistance, simply stating, that whilst the enemy were making inroads in the country, there were few soldiers to oppose them, or generals to command; he added, that the troops wanted provision, and that he came to give a representation of the state of things. The Emperor, on receiving the report, instantly called a council, and after some discussion, it was agreed to declare by proclamation, that if any able man would come forward and lead the army into battle, he should receive a present of 10,000 taels and a dukedom. This welcome news reached a monastery in Fokien, where there were above 1200 bonzes, who immediately proceeded to the capital and begged to be admitted to the imperial presence. One of their number was forthwith appointed commander-in-chief, and he successfully routed the Selú army.
Art. I.—On the Dynasty of the Sáh Kings of Suráshtra
Authors: Thomas Edward
Published: March 2011

Among the many objects of Indian antiquarian research which possess general claims upon the attention of the Royal Asiatic Society, none perhaps can be cited as more peculiarly entitled to its fostering care than the History of the Suráshtran Kings, as illustrated by their Coins. The pages of the Journal of this Society contain the earliest systematic notice of these beautiful medals; and though much has been written, and much additional information gained in other places, little or nothing has since been done by our Association to forward this particular enquiry. Having presided over the first introduction of this investigation into the world of literature, it is but fit the Society should watch over its accepted offspring; and if as yet unable to conduct it to a safe and satisfactory resting-place, it may at the least prove useful in advancing it some stages ou its way.
Art. V.—On the Rock Inscriptions of Kapur di Giri, Dhauli, and Girnar
Authors: Wilson H. H.
Published: March 2011

The circumstances under which the remarkable inscription at Shah baz gheri or Kapur di Giri was discovered and transcribed by Mr. Masson, and decyphered by Mr. Dowson and Mr. Norris have been already detailed in a preceding Journal, vol. VIII, and it was then shown by a comparison of one of the divisions of the inscription with a similar division of those of Girnar and Dhauli, that they were all three substantially the same. The interest excited by this identification, and the possibility that some of the difficulties in the reading and translation of the earlier known inscriptions might be explained by the one more recently discovered, naturally recommended the prosecution of the inquiry and the complete collation of the several inscriptions. In the absence of any person more competent to accomplish so desirable an object I consented to undertake the task, and now lay before the Society the result of the comparison. It has not, I fear, added materially to our knowledge of the purport of these curious documents, but it leaves no doubt of the identity iu all material respects of the records preserved by the rocks of Guzerat, Cuttack, and Afghanistan.
Art. II.–Book of the King's Son and the Ascetic
Authors: Rehatsek E.
Published: March 2011

The striking fact that the Buddha has been officially enrolled in the list of the saints of the Christian Church has very naturally attracted much attention to the book to which this strange result is due. This book, a romance in Greek, founded on some unknown Buddhist life of the Buddha, was ascribed in some of the later MSS. to St. John of Damascus, and this was the view held by scholars until the publication in 1886 of the masterly monograph by M. H. Zotenberg (Notices sur la livre de Barlaam et Joasaph). He there shows conclusively that the John who was the author of the romance was not John of Damascus, but a monk of the convent of St. Saba near Jerusalem, who wrote it in the commencement of the seventh century A.D. This romance, whose hero, though really the Buddha, appealed so strongly to the sympathies of the Christians, that they raised him to the rank of a saint, contains, besides the description of the life and character of the hero, a number of fables, some of which have been traced back to the Buddhist Jataka book, while the source of others is still unknown. This being so, it becomes of great importance to ascertain the earliest form of the story. Now it is admitted that the numerous versions of it in various European languages (of which a list is given in my ‘ Buddhist Birth Stories,’ vol. i. pp. xcv and foll.)
Art. XI.—Saïat-Nova, sa vie et ses chansons
Authors: Tchéraz Minas
Published: March 2011

Avant de vous entretenir du pöete populaire arménien Saïat-Nova, fort célèbre en Asie occidentale, mais fort inconnu en Europe, je voudrais vous parler du génie et du rôle des poëtes populaires de l'Arménie moderne.
Art XV.—Hebrew Visions of Hell and Paradise
Authors: Gaster M.
Published: March 2011

The recent recovery of the Revelation of St. Peter has again attracted attention to this branch of apocalyptic literature. Speculation has been rife as to the sources of that Revelation.

I intend publishing now, for the first time in English garb, the oldest extant Revelations which must have served as source to that of Peter, then to that of Paul, Ezra, Abraham, Isaiah, Virgin Mary, St. Macarius, and the host of others down to Dante and St. Patrick.
Art. V.—A Trilingual List of Nāga Rājās, from the Tibetan
Authors: Waddell L. A.
Published: March 2011

The Lāmas, as is well known, have preserved in very full form much archaic Indian lore, now otherwise imperfectly known or altogether lost. And a valuable feature of such Lāmaist literature is the frequent use of bilingual names, where the Sanskrit name is supplemented by a most careful etymological translation into Tibetan, thus enabling us to fix the etymology of many of the Hindū and Buddhist mythological and historical names, regarding which vague guesses are often hazarded. These Tibetan etymologies, though not necessarily the true ones, are certainly those which over a thousand years ago were the current traditional etymologies in India. And as, even apart from etymological features, categorical lists of little known personages, mythological or prehistoric, are helpful to students of both Buddhism and Hinduism, I here give a list of Nāga Rājās from the Mahācyutpatti, in the bsTan-hgyur (Tén-gyur) section of the Lāmaist Scriptures. This list, which may be compared with that in the Vāyu Purāna, seems to include many of the Vedic terrestrial Nāga Kings, the aboriginal enemies of the primitive Aryans, whose more direct descendants are now confined chiefly to the remote hills of Nāgpur, Chhoṭa Nāgpur, etc., etc. Tibetan literature contains much information about these Nāgas, one of Buddha's titles being ‘King of the powerful Nāgas.’
Art. VII.—The Story of Thuwannashan, or Suvaṇṇa Sāma Jātaka, according to the Burmese version, published at the Hanthawati Press, Rangoon
Authors: St. John R. F. St. Andrew
Published: March 2011

A peculiarly interesting feature of this Jātaka is the fact that it has undoubtedly been depicted on the western gateway of the Sanchi Tope (Figure 1 in Plate xxxvi. of Fergusson's “Tree and Serpent Worship”), and will illustrate what curiously erroneous theories may be evolved from imperfect data. I feel convinced that a complete knowledge of the Jātaka and other stories current in. Buddhist literature would enable one to explain most of the scenes depicted on these and other Buddhist ruins. That trees and serpents were, and are, largely worshipped is not to be denied, but I think it will be clearly seen from this and other plates that Fergusson did not draw correct deductions regarding the Sanchi and Amravati Topes. In his second edition he admits this.
Art. XII.—The Vedalla Sutta, as illustrating the Psychological Basis of Buddhist Ethics
Authors: Foley Caroline A.
Published: March 2011

The two Suttas entitled Mahāvedalla and Cūḷavedalla are the 43rd and 44th in the Mūlapaṇṇāsaṁ, or first division of the Majjhima Nikāya, the second book of the Sutta Piṭaka. This book embodies the whole of the Dhamma or Buddhist doctrine “considered in a series of long and short conversations, the principal interlocutor being usually Gotama himself, but occasionally Sāriputta, or some other of his principal disciples.” In the Mahāvedalla Sutta it is Sāriputta who answers questions on matters mainly psychological put to him by Mahāk Koṭṭhito, another member of the Order. In the Cūḷavedalla Sutta, Visākha, treasurer to the Buddha's kinsman and convert, King Bimbisāra, of Rājagaha, raises a number of miscellaneous philosophical problems—psychological, logical, ethical, metaphysical—in the course of an interview with Dhammadinnā, a lady, erst his wife, now a member of the Order, who has attained to Arahatship, and is about to become renowned as the first among the women-preachers of the Buddhist doctrine. If I dwell on the present occasion more upon the contents of the latter Sutta than upon those of the former, it is because readers of this Journal have recently had their attention directed to Dhammadinnā and to her dialogue with Visākha by the articles which Mrs. Bode has contributed on “Women Leaders of the Buddhist Reformation,” consisting of selections from Buddhaghosa's Commentary on the Anguttara Nikāya.
Art. XV.—Buddha's Secret from a Sixth Century Pictorial Commentary and Tibetan Tradition
Authors: Waddell L. A.
Published: March 2011

Apart from its importance as an illustration of the earlier intellectual life of humanity, the Buddhist Ontology, the most wonderful, perhaps, the world has seen, possesses a paramount interest for all who would arrive at a right understanding of the religion and ethics with which, it is associated.
Art. XXI.—The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Van. Part V
Authors: Sayce A. H.
Published: March 2011

Since the publication of my last paper on the Cuneiform Inscriptions of Van (J.R.A.S. Jan. 1893) a discovery of considerable importance has taken place. In 1890 Mr. de Morgan, now Director of the Service of Antiquities in Egypt, succeeded, at the risk of his life, in taking a squeeze of the inscription on the pillar of Keli-shin Ushnei, which I have described in the first part of this Memoir (J.R.A.S. XIV. p. 66, No. LVI.). He found that there was engraved upon the stele, not only the Vannic text which I have published, but also an Assyrian text which had never been noticed before.
Art. XII.—Writing, Printing, and the Alphabet in Corea
Authors: Aston W. G.
Published: March 2011

The first definite statement with regard to a knowledge of the art of writing in Corea belongs to A.D. 372, the same year in which Buddhism was introduced from Tsin in Western China. The standard history of ancient Corea, known as the Tong-kuk-thong-kam, or, more briefly, the Tongkam, informs us that in this year “Kokuryö established a High School, in which pupils were taught.”
Art. XV.—The Story of Yūsuf Shah Sarrāj (the Saddler), and of how the inhabitants of Kazwīn outwitted the heavenly bodies. A Satire
Authors: Ross Edward C.
Published: March 2011

Mīrzā Fath 'Ali, Akhwand-Zādeh, an officer of Tartar origin in the Russian Service at Tiflis, wrote a series of comedies in the Azeri-Tūrkī dialect, and this satirical tale, about the year 1858. These compositions were translated into Persian by Mīrzā Ja'afar of Karājah Dāgh, and these translations were lithographed and published at Tehran in 1874. The volume contains six Plays—

The Wazīr of the Khān of Lankurān, in four acts.

The Thief-taking Bear, in three acts.

The Miser, in three acts.

The Court-Pleaders, in three acts.

Mūllā Ibrāhīm Khalīl, the Alchemist, in four acts.

And the Story of Yūsuf Shah, which comes between the fourth and fifth Plays, and is written partly in narrative, partly in drama form.
Art. IX.—A Historical Basis for the Questions of King ‘Menander,’ from the Tibetan, etc.
Authors: Waddell L. A.
Published: March 2011

It may interest students of Buddhism to learn that the famous Questions of King ‘Milinda’ appear to be known to the Tibetans.

Last year (1895), when I was making inquiries on this subject from Lāmas at Darjiling, I found that most of the Lāmas knew of the existence in their literature of conversations purporting to have been held between Nāgasēna and a certain ancient king, who, however, was named ‘Ananta,’ and not ‘Menander’ or ‘Milinda.’ I failed to procure any Tibetan text or book bearing on this question, except the few references which will presently be cited. But from the character of the questions, as quoted from memory by the Lāmas, and the statement that this king Ananta was the greatest of Nāgasēna's converts, there could be little doubt that he is intended for the same person as the ‘Milinda’ (or Menander) of the Pāli text.
Art. XII.—Account of the Hindu Fire-Temple at Baku, in the Trans-Caucasus Province of Russia
Authors: Stewart C. E.
Published: March 2011

In 1866, I first visited Baku on the Caspian Sea on a journey from India to Nijni Novgorod Fair. Travelling with me at the time was a Hindu trader from Scinde, who was going to Russia to sell jewellery. He had previously heard of the Hindu Fire-Temple near Baku, and was most anxious to visit it.
Art. VI.—Detailed Survey of the Languages and Dialects spoken in certain portions of British India
Authors: Cust Robert Needham
Published: March 2011

This is not an entirely new subject. Mr. Beames, of H.M. Indian Civil Service, in 1875, published a small yet valuable work, called “Comparative Grammar of Modern Aryan Languages of India.” I myself, in 1878, published in greater detail, accompanied by Language Maps, a “Sketch of all the Languages of Nearer and Further India,” and I still hope, that my valued friend Mr. Grierson, of H.M. Indian Civil Service, will, in 1903, after the expiration of a quarter of a century, complete and publish an enlarged and corrected edition of my Sketch; and I have arranged, that the accumulated additional information, entered in my interleaved copy, should after my death be made over to Mr. Grierson, to add to his own collections, for he is out and out the best informed scholar in this branch of Linguistic knowledge at the present epoch.
Art. XI.—On a Jain Statue in the Horniman Museum
Authors: Kielhorn F.
Published: March 2011

[Having noticed, on a visit to the Museum, a Jain statue with a clearly written inscription on its base, I asked the curator of the Museum, Mr. Quick, about it. He expressed himself very glad to give me a photograph of it in order that the inscription might be deciphered. And Professor Kielhorn, to whom the photograph was sent, has been good enough to send us the following note. The reproduction of the figure is from a block kindly lent to the Society by P. J. Horniman, Esq., M.P.

Mr. R. Quick informs me that Mr. Horniman purchased the statue in London in the year 1895.—RH. D.]
Art. XIV.—The Iron Pillar of Dhār.
Authors: Smith V. A.
Published: March 2011

In the article on “The Iron Pillar of Delhi” I noticed that another iron pillar exists at Dhār in Central India, but observed that no detailed description of that pillar was known to me.

I now find that a description of this very remarkable monument has been printed—I can hardly say published—in a report by the indefatigable Dr. Führer.
Art. XV.—On the Mahābhārata MSS. in the Whish Collection of the Royal Astatic Society
Authors: Winternitz M.
Published: March 2011

At the last Congress of Orientalists in Paris I read a paper on the Mahābhārata MSS. in the Royal Asiatic Society, which represent the South Indian recension of the great Hindu epic. As it will take some time before this paper, with extracts from the MSS., will be printed, it may be useful to give here a brief summary of the results to which a closer examination of at least two of these MSS. has led.
Art. IV.—The Upāsakajanālaṅkāra
Authors: Barnett L. D.
Published: March 2011

This book, the work of the Mahāthera Ānanda, is all but unknown in Europe, and though copies exist in Ceylon they have never, I believe, been published. A Sinhalese MS. in the possession of Mr. Easton, of Opawa, Christchurch, N.Z., was recently shown to me by the possessor, to whose courtesy I am indebted for permission to publish the following excerpts, to which I add a few doubtful conjectures.
Seals from Harappa
Authors: Fleet J. F.
Published: March 2011

Harappa is a village, having a station on the North-Western Railway, in the Montgomery District, Panjāb: it is situated in lat. 30° 38′, long. 72° 52′, on the south bank of the Ravi, some fifteen miles towards the west-by-south from Montgomery. The place is now of no importance: but extensive ruins and mounds, one of which rises to the height of sixty feet, indicate that the case was otherwise in ancient times; and it has yielded thousands of coins of the “Indo-Scythians” and their successors. Amongst other objects of interest from this place, there are the three seals, full-size facsimiles of which are given in the accompanying Plate. The original seals are now in the British Museum, in the Department of British and Mediæval Antiquities in charge of Mr. Read. In all three cases, the substance of these seals seems to be a claystone, hardened by heat or some other means. In the originals, the devices and characters are sunk: the illustrations represent impressions from the originals, with the devices and characters reversed, as compared with the way in which they lie in the originals, and standing out in relief. The animal on A has been held to be a bull, but not an Indian bull, because it has no hump: another opinion, however, is that it may be a male deer of some kind. The animal on C has a tail of such a nature as to suggest that this creature cannot be a deer. On A the hind legs were not fully formed; and it is possible that a similar tail has been omitted there.
The Aryan Invasion of Northern India: an Essay in Ethnology and History
Authors: Kennedy James
Published: March 2011

We have seen how the Panjab and the Valley of the Middle Ganges were organized before the sixth century b.c. We have still to answer the question, wherein did this organization consist? It consisted in three things: it established a differentiation in physical type; it created caste; and it brought about a novel intellectual and religious outlook upon life. Of the physical types we need say nothing more; and the intellectual and religious evolution was -in part a concomitant, in part a consequence of the social evolution. Our primary concern, therefore, is to inquire into the origin and development of caste, and as caste was the creation of the Aryo-Dravidians of the middle land, Madhyadēśa, it is among them that we must seek its origin.
On the Representation of Tones in Oriental Languages
Authors: Grierson George
Published: March 2011

In offering the following notes I would especially ask for consideration on the part of students of Sinitic languages. I in no way pretend to be familiar with these forms of speech, and I must explain that, while I shall be grateful for criticisms on their part, my remarks are not directly addressed to them, but rather to those students of philology who have not made a special study of Chinese, but who, for purposes of comparison, are compelled to acknowledge a bowing acquaintance with all, or nearly all, the tonic languages of Asia.
The Sumerian Law Code compared with the Code of Hammurabi
Authors: Langdon S.
Published: March 2011

The great Semitic digest of laws made by Hammurabi and inscribed at his orders on the magnificent diorite stele of Susa was probably promulgated soon after the 34th year of the reign of that famous king, or about 2088. His reign extended to 2081. The period of its composition and promulgation is therefore limited to the brief space of eight years at the end of his reign. This date is at any rate certain for the great stele deciphered by Père Scheil (1902). Fragments of the same code written on clay tablets of the period of Hammurabi were found at Susa, at Ellasar or Warka, and at Nippur. From Nippur two large tablets have been recovered, one of which has the colophon, “Fourth tablet of ‘ When the far-famed Anu ’.” Since the Code as written on the Paris Stele begins “ When the far-famed Anu ”, it is evident that the editions written on tablets are based upon the monumental copy and that they are later than it. For it is highly improbable that the original tablet edition began with a long historical prologue. The Nippur tablet has a colophon which says that it is the al-gub-ba of the king Hammurabi.
The Shahbandar in the Eastern Seas
Authors: Moreland W. H.
Published: March 2011

The personages described by the term Shahbandar, with such variations in orthography as Savendar, Sabinder, Xabendar, and the like, appear so frequently in the literature of the Eastern seas that it is desirable to arrive at a definite idea of the position which they occupied, and the functions which they discharged. The task is not, however, easy, for the ordinary Persian and Portuguese dictionaries are not very enlightening on this particular topic, while the discussion of the term in Hobson-Jobson is by no means exhaustive.
A Notice on the Library attached to the Shrine of Imam Riza at Meshed
Authors: Ivanow W.
Published: March 2011

It is very difficult to say how long the library attached to the shrine of Imam Riza at Meshed has been in existence. It is impossible to believe that it dates back to the beginning of the shrine itself. Those great calamities which befell Persia, such as the invasions of the Moghuls and Tamerlane, were accompanied by destruction everywhere, and this holy place did not escape. One can, however, reasonably believe that the library as it now stands has existed since the time of the first heirs of Timur, who bestowed many favours on the shrine. The blue dome of Gauhar-i-Shād, which from afar attracts the attention of a pilgrim approaching Meshed, was built at the beginning of the ninth century of Hijra by the wife of Shāhrokh Mirzā. It seems probable that the library was started at that time and has existed down to the present time without any further disasters. Indeed, it must have been greatly enriched after the triumph of the Shia religion under the Safawy kings. The invasions of Nadir Shah and the Uzbeks probably did not affect the library greatly. Nadir Shah was a generous donor to the shrine and the golden dome and minarets were rebuilt and embellished by him. Therefore it may be concluded that the period during which the library could develop must be close on five hundred years.
The Creation-legend and the Sabbath in Babylonia and Amurru
Authors: Pinches Theophilus G.
Published: March 2011

To many the name Amurrū will come as something new, but to Assyriologists mât Amurrē, “the land of Amurrū,” is a revelation dating from the time of the decipherment of the Tel al-Amarna tablets in 1887–8. It is true that the identity of the name did not dawn on them immediately, but it was not long before they became aware of it. When this took place they realized that the district which they had read as mât Aḫarrē, thought of as “the land behind”, and rendered “the west”, had, owing to the polyphony of the Assyro-Babylonian syllabary, been misread. It should have been mât Amurrē, and translated “the land of Amurrū”, i.e. “the Amorites”, who, because they dwelt west of Assyria and Babylonia, were thought of as “the westerners”, and their country became the designation of the western cardinal point.
Three Assyrian Roots
Authors: Driver G. R.
Published: March 2011

In the Annals of Ashurbanipal (Rassam Cylinder, col. iv, 1. 85) for attaddi ana nakamāti Streck adopts the variant at-ta-ad-di a-na ka-ma-a-ti, which he translates “ich warf sie auf den Maueranger”. He apparently follows Delitzsch (Ass. Handw.,p. 334, col. ii) and Muss-Arnolt (Lexicon, p. 399) in taking kamâtu as the plural of a noun kamātu, outer gate (Jensen, K.B. vi, 496), derived from kamû, to bind, to surround. Now there is here a variant reading na-ka-ma-a-ti, heaps, which gives the preferable sense “I cast them forth in heaps”. It has therefore occurred to the writer that kamâti in our text is the plural not of kamâtu but of a word kâmtum. This I take to be derived from a root kâmu, to cover over, to heap up, which is found in some of the cognate languages (Arabic I, covered; II, heaped up; heap; Syriac concealed). Thus kâmâtu in this passage would be an alternative, with the same meaning, for nakamâti, which may originally have been a gloss or scribal conjecture for the rare kâmtum.