bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Art. V.—Notes on Hwen Thsang's Account of the Principalities of Tokháristán, in which some Previous Geographical Identifications are Reconsidered
Authors: Yule H.
Published: March 2011

Recently engaged in compiling a Map of Badakhshán and the adjoining regions, to illustrate a paper for the Geographical Society, I have naturally been led to consider the interesting geographical details which the Chinese pilgrim Hwen Thsang gives of those countries, as well as the current interpretations of his routes and localities. In several instances those interpretations seem to me open to amendment. The most eminent of Hwen Thsang's geographical illustrators are Major-General Cunningham and M. Vivien de St.-Martin; both of whom have dealt ably with the whole series of the Chinese Traveller's wanderings. If, after the careful study of a small part of these, I venture to differ from both accomplished commentators in regard to some of the identifications which concern that part only, I trust that I shall be guilty of no presumption. Recent documents, in part as yet unpublished, afford advantages for this discussion which were not available to my predecessors.
Art. II.—Notes on the Megalithic Monuments of the Coimbatore District, Madras
Authors: Walhouse M. J.
Published: March 2011

The Coimbatore District, containing more than 8000 square miles, is almost centrally situated in the south of the Peninsula, within the region occupied by the Tamil-speaking race, being about 250 miles west of Madras, and 80 east of the Malabar coast. Mysore bounds it on the north, and the Madras and Tinnevelly districts lie between it and Cape Comorin. Megalithic monuments are found in all the Madras districts, but I am inclined to think are most numerous in Coimbatore, where singly, in twos or threes, or in assemblages of scores or hundreds, they occur in every variety of situation, high on the ghauts and wild mountainsides, in remote jungles and malarious river-valleys, on wide open plains, on cultivated land, amid fertile gardens and rice tracts. Excluding the Nilgiri Hills, which, though belonging to Coimbatore, are a separate region, with a group of remains peculiar to themselves, the Coimbatore monuments are all sepulchral, consisting of kistvaens or tumuli, containing cists or chambers, originally underground, but now often more or less exposed. Stone-circles and standing stones are almost always associated with the tumuli, but never, so far as I know, found independently, as in other parts of India and in Europe. Neither am I aware of any true cromlech in Coimbatore. It may be interesting to give some account of two of the principal assemblages of these remains, one on the east, and another on the west side of the district. Seven miles north of Perămdoŏry, the chief town of a talook of the same name, midway between the towns of Salem and Coimbatore, after passing along a tract of fertile bottom-land, luxuriant with topes and gardens, the ground, iust beyond the village of Năllămpătti, rises into one of the wide rolling barren maidans characteristic of Southern India, on which a great cairn-cemetery is situated. Many hundreds of cairns are spread over a considerable tract; in general appearance heaps of blackened stones, some very small, and thence of every size up to 30 feet and more in diameter, they vary in height from one to four feet, but have evidently been much worn down by lapse of time and weather.
Art. VIII.—Three Inscriptions of Parâkrama Bâhu the Great from Pulastipura, Ceylon (date circa 1180 A.D.)
Authors: Davids T. W. Rhys
Published: March 2011

Pulastipura, situated in lat. 7° 56′ N., long. 81° 3′ E., and rather more than 50 miles S.E. of Anurâdhapura, was the capital of Ceylon from the middle of the 8th century to the beginning of the 14th (A.D. 769–1314), and when at the height of its prosperity, during the long and glorious reign of Parâkrama Bâhu the Great, it must have been a city of great size and importance. It is pleasantly situated in the plain, on the shores of one of those numerous artificial lakes which the Sihalese kings loved to dot over the country; and from most of its ruins, as well as from the lake itself, are visible to the S.W. the mountain ranges of Mâtalê, ending in the Hunasgiriya Peak, and to the N.W. the haunted top of Riṭigala.
Art. X.—Sîgiri, the Lion Rock, near Pulastipura, Ceylon; and the Thirty-ninth Chapter of the Mahâvaṁsa
Authors: Rhys Davids T. W.
Published: March 2011

In Lat. 7° 59′ N., Long. 81° E., about fourteen miles N.E. of Dambulla, and about seventeen miles nearly due W. of Parâkrama Bâhu's capital, Pulastipura, is the singular natural stronghold referred to in the Thirty-ninth Chapter of the Mahâvamsa, and first re-discovered by Major Forbes, of the Ceylon Civil Service, in the year 1831. Sir Emerson Tennent (Ceylon, vol. i. p. 15) says of it: “Sîgiri is the only example in Ceylon of those solitary acclivities, which form so remarkable a feature in the table-land of the Dekkan, starting abruptly from the plain with scarped and perpendicular sides; and converted by the Indians into strongholds, accessible only by precipitous pathways, or steps hewn in the solid rock.” And, again (vol. ii. p. 579): “This gigantic cylindrical rock starts upward to a height prodigious in comparison with its section at any point, the area of its upper surface being little more than an acre in extent. Its scarped walls are nearly perpendicular, and in some places they overhang their base. The formation of this singular cliff can only be ascribed to its upheaval by a subterranean force, so circumscribed in action that its effects were confined within a very few yards, yet so irresistible as to have shot aloft this prodigious pencil of stone to the height of nearly 400 feet.” The height of the rock above the sea is probably more than this—a point which soon will be (if it is not already) settled by the Surveyors engaged in the Trigonometrical Survey of that part of Ceylon. I am also informed that the occurrence of so circumscribed and yet so irresistible a subterranean force is almost, if not quite impossible, and that the present position of Sîgiri, like that of the many similar strongholds in the table-lands of South India, may be more easily explained by a general subsidence of the soil around it. It is to be regretted that the geological history of Ceylon altogether has received so little attention; but it seems certain that Sîgiri owes its origin to the same force to which is due the great elevation which stretches for more than 150 miles in a N.E. direction from below Adam's Peak to Trinkomali, and forms the principal gneiss and granite mountain ranges of Ceylon, which, since their first appearance above the waters, have certainly undergone no second immersion. If this be so, then the crag of Sîgiri, which lies almost in the centre line of that upheaval, must be among those parts of the now habitable globe which first emerged from the deep, and have been longest accessible to man.
Art. XVII.—Two Old Simhalese Inscriptions. The Sāhasa Malla Inscription, date 1200 A.D., and the Ruwanwæli Dāgaba Inscription, date 1191 A.D. Text, Translation, and Notes.
Authors: Davids T.W.Rhys
Published: March 2011

Of the following two inscriptions, the former is edited from a MS. in Dambulla Wihāre, of which I have a transcript in the Roman character by a native copyist; and the latter from a copy made by Nāranwiṭa Unnānse, which I owe to the courtesy of Mr. R. C. Childers. In the Dambulla MS. the inscription is repeated twice, and the readings of the two copies differ pretty frequently, as will be seen from the various readings given below the text.
Art. XVIII.—Notes on a Bactrian Pali Inscription and the Samvat Era.
Authors: Dowson J.
Published: March 2011

In Trübners Record of June, 1871, I gave a notice of a short Inscription, of which a rubbing was brought from Takht-i-Bahi by Dr. Leitner. The rubbing showed the Inscription to be in a very defective state, and, according to General Cunningham, the original stone has been used for grinding spices on. A photograph of it has since been obtained, from which the accompanying plate has been copied. Many of the letters are indistinct, but the photograph would seem to indicate that the blank space in the middle was blank from the first. The stone is now in the Lahore Museum. I quote what I said in the Record.
Art. XIX.—Note on a Jade Drinking Vessel of the Emperor Jahángír
Authors: Thomas Edwards
Published: March 2011

Among other curiosities dispersed at the sale of the late Col. C. S. Guthrie's Oriental Collection, Lot 118—described as “A Dark-green Jade Jar, the neck engraved with an inscription”—realized £60, and was wisely retained in the family by Mr. Arbuthnot Guthrie.
Art. I.—Catalogue of Buddhist Sanskrit Manuscripts in the possession of the Royal Asiatic Society (Hodgson Collection)
Authors: Cowell E. B. , Eggeling J.
Published: March 2011

The manuscripts of Buddhist works described in the following pages were collected in Nepal by Mr. Brian Houghton Hodgson—who has contributed so largely to the elucidation of Northern Buddhism—and presented by him to the Royal Asiatic Society in 1835 and 1836. The great importance of a thorough examination of the Buddhist Sanskrit works of Northern India, both for Prâkrit philology and for Buddhist research, is becoming more and more apparent; and it seemed very desirable that the contents of this collection, which, though deficient in many of the standard works, is perhaps the finest of original manuscripts in Europe, should become better known to scholars interested in these inquiries. A detailed analysis of the works was beyond the scope of the present catalogue, as it would in many cases be extremely difficult, if not impossible, without comparing other copies. It is hoped, however, that the brief description now offered will, at least, suffice for the identification of the works, and will for that reason be acceptable to Sanskrit scholars.
Art. II.—On the Ruins of Sîgiri in Ceylon
Authors: Blakesley T. H.
Published: March 2011

The fortified rock of Sîgiri is situated in the centre of Ceylon, in the Central Province, at its northern extremity, close to the boundaries of the Eastern and the now North Central Province. This part of the island has long been in a very poor condition for want of water, and is but scantily inhabited; the cultivation of paddy has been abandoned for some years as hopeless, and the jungle on the site of the city which once surrounded the base of the magnificent rock is very dense and uninviting. The rock, too, lies some distance from the high road to Trincomalee, and can be approached only by a jungle path, so that the few visitors who pass through the village are as a rule glad to hurry on to the more attractive ruins of Pollanarrûa, or to the Elephant forests which lie to the east.
Art. IV.—Notes on the Sinhalese Language. No. II. Proofs of the Sanskritic Origin of Sinhalese
Authors: Childers R. C.
Published: March 2011

Since I published my first Note on the Sinhalese Language, I have heard that two eminent Orientalists dispute the truth of my conclusions, and still hold to the old view, originating with Rask, that Sinhalese belongs to the Dravidian group of languages. It is true that in my paper I dealt in any detail only with one grammatical form: but if, as I venture to think, I have proved beyond doubt that the Sinhalese neuter plural is formed by compounding the noun with a vocable val, which is the Sanskrit vana used in the sense of multitude, I have gone far to demonstrate the Sanskritic origin of Sinhalese. But in addition to this I have adduced a great number of Sinhalese nouns, all of which I have traced direct to their Sanskrit equivalents. And it gives me great pleasure to find that so eminent a scholar as Dr. Max Müller has recently expressed himself clearly and unmistakably in favour of my Aryan theory. I am, however, perfectly willing to make allowance for scholars who decline to accept my theory without evidence of a more extended character than I have yet given in its favour, and I propose to continue the publication of these Notes until I have overcome the scepticism of my opponents, and established on the widest grammatical basis the Sanskritic origin of the Sinhalese language. Instead of dealing in detail with a single grammatical form, I propose in the present Note to touch briefly upon several different points, and I may as well say at once that it is not part of my plan in these Notes to show that Sinhalese is not Dravidian. This has been already done by Mr. James D'Alwis, who, in his paper “On the Origin of the Sinhalese Language” (Journal Ceylon Br. E.A.S. 1867–70), has shown that, whether we compare the vocabulary or the grammar, we find absolutely no resemblance between Sinhalese and the Dravidian languages. To me this course appears superfluous, and my own plan will be to let alone the Dravidian languages, and show that Sinhalese is Sanskritic. Of course, however, the proof of the Sanskritic theory carries with it necessarily the disproof of the Dravidian theory.
Art. VII.—Notes on Persian Belúchistán. From the Persian of Mirza Mehdy Khán. Published Teheran, July, 1875
Authors: Schindler A. H.
Published: March 2011

The part of Belúchistán now under Persian rule is bounded upon the north by Seistán, upon the east by Panjgúr and Kej, upon the south by the Indian Ocean, and upon the west by Núrámshír, Rúdbár, and the Báshákerd mountains.

This country enjoys a variety of climates; almost unbearable heat exists on the Mekrán coast, we find a temperate climate on the hill slopes and on the slightly raised plains as at Duzek and Bampúr, and a cool climate in the mountainous districts Serhad and Bazmán. The heat at Jálq is said to be so intense in summer that the gazelles lie down exhausted in the plains, and let themselves be taken by the people without any trouble.
Art. I.—On the Non-Aryan Languages of India
Authors: Brandreth E. L.
Published: March 2011

In the Address delivered by him at the Second International Congress of Orientalists, in 1874, Prof. Max Miiller remarks, “No real advance has been made in the classification of the Non-Aryan Indian dialects since the time when I endeavoured, some twenty years ago, to sum up what was then known on that subject in my letter to Bunsen, ‘On the Turanian Languages.’” A table of the Indian languages is given by Max Müller in that most popular work of his, eight editions of which have already been published, the Lectures on the Science of Language. A very few lines are devoted to these languages in the Lectures: for further particulars we are referred to the above-mentioned letter on the Turanian languages.
Art. II.—A Dialogue on the Vedantic Conception of Brahma
Authors: Mittra Pramadá Dása
Published: March 2011

European Scholar.—Is the Grod of the Vedántin a conscious or an unconscious being ?

Pandit.—Your question rendered into Sanskrit would indeed startle a Vedántin, who would consider it an insult offered to his philosophy of pure spiritualism.
Art. VIII.—The Maldive Islands: with a Vocabulary taken from François Pyrard de Lavel, 1602–1607
Authors: Gray A.
Published: March 2011

It is one of several disadvantages which the island of Ceylon has had to endure in its political separation from the Anglo-Indian empire, that its language has until lately been left out of the category of Indian tongues, and has received but little attention, except from the few scholars whom so small a country has been able to produce. There has also been an unfortunate wrangling among those who have touched the subject as to whether Sinhalese is a Turanian or an Aryan tongue. This dispute has now for some time been settled in favour of the Aryan origin; and we can but repeat the surprise of Professor Childers that Mr. Beames should omit the Sinhalese in his “Comparative Grammar of Modern Aryan Languages of India.”
Art. IV.—Note on Manrique's Mission and the Catholics in the Time of Shán Jahán
Authors: Keene H. G.
Published: March 2011

In A.D. 1653 was published at Rome a small quarto of 470 pages, containing the “Itinerary of Missions in the East Indies, made by P. Maestro Fra Sebastian Manrique, an Eremite Monk of S. Augustine.” The first fifty-six chapters describe the travels of the missionary in Burma, Bengal, and Bahar; but, in chapter fifty-seven, we find him going to Hindustan; and the next ten chapters are devoted to an account of the cities of Agra and Lahore and of the Court of “the Mogul.” Then follows a journey to Multan, then one to Candahar; after which is a fresh description of the Mogul system, wealth, power, etc. Then comes a relation of the fall of Hughli some years before; and of the imprisonment and sufferings of the Catholic Priests of that place, especially of Prior Antonio de Christo, whose liberation the author undertook with success. The remainder of the book shows how the enterprising Father returned to Rome through Persia and the Levant.
Art. VII.—On the Identification of Places on the Makrān Coast mentioned by Arrian, Ptolemy, and Marcian
Authors: Mockler E.
Published: March 2011

During the latter part of 1876, I travelled along the Makrān coast from Gwādar to Jāsk, and as it appeared to me that the identifications of the various places on this coast mentioned by Arrian as having been touched at by Alexander's Admiral Nearchus, and others, mentioned by Ptolemy and Marcian, had not, up to the present time, been satisfactorily established by Dr. Vincent, Otter, Kempthorne, Müller, or, indeed, by any one who has touched on the subject, I collected all the names of places along the coast I could, and made notes regarding its physical aspect, in the hope of finding some traces of the spots mentioned by the geographers above alluded to, and which might be sufficient to fix their positions with somewhat more certainty.
Art. IX.—On the Proper Names of the Mohammadans
Authors: Colebrooke T. E.
Published: March 2011

It is well known that proper names in the East, and especially among the Mohammadans, follow no such simple rule as that which has long prevailed in modern Europe, where the Christian name or names conferred in infancy and the family name or surnames are usually borne through life, and where it is a matter of suspicion to have an alias. In the East, on the other hand, we hear of persons gathering up in the course of their career a variety of names, and being popularly known by one or other of them at different periods, and to an extent that gives rise to perplexity. This was notably the case among the Arabs in the height of their preeminence. A person might receive a name in his infancy (usually conferred on his birth or at his circumcision), and to this might be added a patronymic, or a name expressive of his paternal or family relations. He might then receive a title expressive of his zeal for the faith, and soubriquets descriptive of his personal qualities or appearance, or the country or town in which he was born or had settled, or the religious sect to which he belonged ; and if he played a part in public life, to all these might be added, as in Europe, a title or titles of dignity; and if he had acquired a reputation as an author, he might assume some name of fancy. These various names or titles might never be united in the same individual, but the combinations are numerous and shifting. Certain rules are observed in their formation or application, but it was a matter of accident by which of these designations a person might be known to his contemporaries, or his name transmitted to modern times.
Art. X.—Principles of Composition in Chinese as deduced from the Written Characters
Authors: Legge
Published: March 2011

It has often been said that there is no Grammar in Chinese; and the statement is true. When we speak of “grammar,” with reference to the written characters, or even to the spoken language, of the people of China, the term must be understood in a peculiar sense. Grammar, as the Greek derivation shows, has to do with words, and is applicable only to languages that have an alphabet; whereas the Chinese written characters were at first pictures and ideagrams, and they have continued to be so substantially during all the millenniums of their use, down to the present day.
Art. III.—Note on Hiouen-Thsang's Dhanakacheka
Authors: Sewell Robert , Fergusson M.
Published: March 2011

In a Report recently sent to the Government of Madras on antiquities discovered at Bēzwaḍa, and the Rock-cut Temple at Uṇḍavilli (both on the Lower Kṛishṇā in South-Eastern India), I devoted considerable space to the question of the identity of the former place with the capital city of Dhanakacheka as described by Hiouen-Thsang. I do not claim to be in any sense considered as the originator of this discovery, Mr. Fergusson having previously pointed out, first the likelihood, and afterwards the certainty, that the two places were identical.
Notes on babu Rájendralála Mitra's Paper on the Age of the Caves at Ajantá
Authors: Fergusson James
Published: March 2011

When this paper was first presented to the Council in July last, I objected to its being received, inasmuch as it contained a vast amount of irrelevant matter, and personalities, which I should regret to see introduced into any discussion in this Society. Since then Mr. Grote, in the exercise of a discretion given him by the author, has cut it down to about one-half its original length, and now presents it in a form to which I personally can have no possible objection. I would only, however, like to observe, that the title now given to it is a little misleading. It would hardly be worth while, if an attempt to fix their dates were all the paper contained, to print a disquisition on the age of the Caves at Ajantá by a person who has never visited them, and who, though eminent as a Sanskrit scholar, has hitherto shown no aptitude for, or knowledge of, archaeological subjects.
Notes on Capt. Durand's Report Upon the Islands of Bahrein
Authors: Rawlinson H.
Published: March 2011

Having been led by Capt. Durand's discoveries at Bahrein to look into the question of the antiquities of the Persian Gulf, I have been surprised to find how much new and interesting matter relating to this region has been accumulated since Vincent and Heeren conducted their investigations into “the commerce and navigation of the ancients”; and although, therefore, I have not sufficient leisure at my command at present to work out the inquiry as it deserves to be worked out, I have still thought that the notes collected during my desultory reading might be usefully submitted to a meeting of this Society, both with a view to the partial illustration of the subject, and more especially in the hope of suggesting lines of research to other and more competent students.
Art. IX.—On the Saka, Samvat, and Gupta Eras. A Supplement to his Paper on Indian Chronology
Authors: Fergusson James
Published: March 2011

The following notes on Indian Chronology were written in 1874, and were originally intended for the pages of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Before, however, they were printed off, I received a letter from Dr. Bühler, of Bombay, in answer to one I had written to him, on hearing a rumour that he had found Kanishka's name in one of the Puranas. I consequently refrained from publishing them, till it was known what bearing this discovery might have on the questions at issue. In order to ventilate the question, however, I had them printed, and in March, 1875, circulated them among my friends. As nothing has since been heard of Dr. Bühler's discovery, and recent excavations in Afghanistan throw new light on the question, I now submit them for republication where they were originally intended to appear.
Art. XI.—Historical and Archœological Notes on a Journey in South-Western Persia, 1877–1878
Authors: Houtum-Schindler A.
Published: March 2011

Six miles beyond the first stage from Teherán, on the road to Hamadán, are the ruins of a stone caravánseráï and of two wells. The caravánseráï is called sangi ‘the stone one.’ It appears to have been one of the many caravánseráïs built in the sixth century by Anúshírván the Just. Ruins of a caravánseráï, exactly like this one, are to be seen at Ahúán, a stage beyond Semnán on the high road to Meshed, and there the legend says that it was one of Anásishírván's constructions. The distribution of the rooms and stables in these two old caravánseráïs is very different from that of the more modern ones.
Art. XII.—Identification of the “False Dawn” of the Muslims with the “Zodiacal Light” of Europeans
Authors: Redhouse J. W.
Published: March 2011

In a paper read before the Royal Asiatic Society in the spring of 1877, and printed in the tenth volume, new series (p. 344), of its Journal, a suggestion was made that the natural phenomenon known to Muslims of every clime as the “False Dawn” was no other than what is known in Europe by the name of “The Zodiacal Light.”

Through the liberality of the Society's rule by which a certain number of copies are furnished to the writers of papers printed in its Journal, this subject was brought to the notice of several of our most talented astronomers, in the hope that they might adopt a method of authoritatively settling the question, which is not only interesting to Orientalists as one of lexicology, but also to the astronomical world as involving a point in the archæology of their special science.
Art. XIII.—The Gaurian compared with the Romance Languages. Part II.
Authors: Brandreth E. L.
Published: March 2011

In Part I. published in the preceding Volume, XI. page 287, I compared, principally, the phonology of the two groups. I now proceed to compare some of the other parts of their grammar. Since Part I. was written, the third volume of Mr. Beames's Grammar has appeared, which gives a very complete account of the Gaurian verb, and also by the kindness of Professor Hoernle the proof-sheets of a great part of his Grammar of the Eastern Hindi have been sent me. This work is also a comparative grammar of the Gaurian languages in general. It is, it seems to me, a most valuable work, and throws a great deal of new light on the origin of many of the grammatical forms. Professor Hoernle now calls the languages treated of ‘Gaudian’ instead of ‘Gaurian,’ as we have ‘Dravidian’ instead of ‘Dravirian.’
Art. XX.—Buddhist Nirvāna, and the Noble Eightfold Path
Authors: Frankfurter Oscar
Published: March 2011

The following three Pāli suttas strictly bear on the much-diputed question of the Buddist Nirvāna, and I trust they will, as far as Southern Buddhism is concered, help to finally settle the question.

The suttas are taken from the Saṁyutta Nikāya, and form respectively the 4th, 5th, and 9th part of the SaỊāyatanavagg0, which itself forms the fourth part of the Saṁyutta Nikāya.
Art. II.–Notes on the Kawi Language and Literature
Authors: van der Tuuk H. N.
Published: March 2011

One of the chief difficulties which I have to encounter in the study of Old-Javanese manuscripts consists in the faulty spelling introduced by the Balinese transcribers. The Balinese language is not closely related to Javanese, the latter being a foreign language in. Bali. Only a few words are identical in both languages, while many others have in each case a more or less different form. Thus, the Old-Jav. nyû, cocoanut, is nyuh in Balinese; hence, the Balinese transcribers, finding the word nyû in a Kawi composition, change it into nyuh. Again, being unable in their own language to distinguish between u, wu and hu, all three being pronounced u, they write promiscuously uçinâra, huçinâra, wuçinâra, as well as hûçinâra or wûçinâra, so that it is difficult to say which is really the Kawi form of this name. The metre sometimes helps us in settling the spelling of a word, but this can only be in the poems called Kĕkawin (from Kawi, poet), the metre of which is essentially Indian and is regulated by long and short syllables; but, clearly, not in the poems called Kiḍung, wherein the metre is regulated by rhyme and the number of syllables. The Kiḍung are of far greater interest than the Kĕkawin, the latter being simply imitations from the Sanskrit, containing nothing about ancient Javanese life, whereas the Kiḍung, on the other hand, supply us with valuable particulars in this respect. It is, therefore, a matter of regret that the manuscripts are so faulty.
Art. IV.—An Account of the Malay “Chiri” a Sanskrit Formula
Authors: Maxwell W. E.
Published: March 2011

The presence of a large number of Sanskrit words in the Malay language has often been pointed out, and the purity with which they are reproduced has been a subject of remark, showing, as it probably does, that they have been borrowed direct from the parent-language, and not from any of the Sanskrit-derived languages of India. Their sense, equally with their pronunciation, has varied little, and though many of them are more commonly met with in books than in the colloquial dialects, they are more completely part of the language than the ever-increasing crowd of Arabic words which have been introduced into it since the faith of El-Islam became established among the Malays. There is no documentary evidence, however, to show that the Sanskrit character was ever known to the Malays. What their alphabet was before the introduction of the Arabic character, or whether they ever possessed one, is unknown, though it has been conjectured that the Battak alphabet, or one closely resembling it, may have been in use among them.
Art. XI.—The Avâr Language
Authors: Graham Cyril
Published: March 2011

In the year 1873, having traversed Russia from Archangel to Astrakhan, from the White Sea to the borders of the Kaspian, my friend and I determined to pass homewards through Daghistân and Georgia, and thence by the Black Sea to Odessa.
Art. XV.—Aryan Mythology in Malay Traditions
Authors: Maxwell W. E.
Published: March 2011

One of the most striking coincidences in the traditions of different Malay states is the constant recurrence of three persons as the founders of kingdoms, the authors of government and order, or the progenitors of a line of rulers. In Menangkabau, the most ancient state of Sumatra, it is related howlskandar Z'ul Karnayn (“lord of the two horns,” or the East and the West; generally identified with Alexander the Great) begot three sons named respectively Maharaja Alif, Maharaja Dipang, and Maharaja Diraja. When the three brothers had reached maturity, they proceeded on a voyage together and arrived at Ceylon, where they agreed to separate. “Then the eldest, Maharaja Alif, claimed the crown, Makota Singhatahana. And Maharaja Dipang said, ‘I too want it.’ Maharaja Diraja said, ‘It is mine, because I am the youngest.’ Then an angel descended and said, ‘Which of you is Raja? Why are ye disputing?’ And they replied, ‘It is about the crown which was our father's.’ Then said the angel, ‘Are ye willing to give it up to me?’ And they surrendered it to the angel, who forthwith let it fall into the sea, and then instantly vanished. Then said Maharaja Alif, ‘How now, my brethren, will ye sail towards the setting of the sun?’ Maharaja Dipang replied, ‘I intend to sail for a land between the rising and setting of the sun.’ And Maharaja Diraja said, ‘As my two elder brothers have thus decided, I shall sail for the rising sun, and we will take our chance of what fortune may befall us.’ Then Maharaja Alif set sail for the setting sun, namely, Roum; and Maharaja Dipang sailed to the dark land, the country of China; and Maharaja Diraja sailed away to the land of the rising sun, and after a long time reached the top of the burning mountain (Menangkabau in Sumatra).”
Art. XVII.—On the Duty which Mohammedans in British India owe, on the Principles of their own Law, to the Government of the Country
Authors: Baillie N. B. E.
Published: March 2011

The Mohammedan law was for several centuries the general law of the territories now forming the British Empire in India. It still enters to some extent into the dealings of Mohammedans with each other, and, being founded on texts of the Koran and sayings of the Prophet, is binding on their consciences in all cases to which it is applicable. It has a direct bearing on their conduct to foreigners; and it is therefore of great importance that it should not be in conflict, but in harmony, if possible, with the law of the place on a matter that so nearly affects themselves and their fellow-subjects, as the duty which they owe to the Government.
Art. XXI.—Two Malay Myths: the Princess of the Foam, and the Raja of the Bamboo
Authors: Maxwell W. E.
Published: March 2011

In the thirteenth century A.D. the Muhammadan religion spread from India to the Malay Archipelago. Many centuries before, the commerce which was carried on between India and the Eastern Islands had been the means of familiarizing the inhabitants of the latter with the tenets of Brahmanism. These had taken root among them, at all events, wherever monarchies were established on the Hindu pattern, and had, to some extent, modified the nature or demon-worship which had previously been the sole religion of the Malay tribes. When the religion of Muhammad was established in the western regions, from which commercial intercourse was carried on with the Eastern Archipelago, it made its way gradually eastward. The Hindu rulers of petty Malay States in Sumatra and in the Peninsula of Malacca became converts, and the movement spread thenceforward uninterruptedly. At the present day all the Malay communities in reasonably accessible localities have embraced the Muhammadan religion. Some have been Muslims for centuries; among others, the adoption of this faith has been a comparatively recent event. Some Malay races, like the Dayaks of Borneo and the Battaks of Sumatra, still cling to their primitive beliefs and customs.
Art. XXII.—The Epoch of the Guptas
Authors: Thomas Edward
Published: March 2011

In the year 1848, I read before a Meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society one of my earliest Essays on Indian Antiquities, relating to “the Dynasty of the Sáh kings of Surashtra.”
Art. XXIV.—A Sanskrit Ode Addressed to the Congress of Orientalists at Berlin
Authors: Sena Ráma Dása , Krishnavarmâ Shyâmaji
Published: March 2011

Ráma Dása Sena, the Zemindár of Berhampore, well known to Sanskrit scholars in Europe by bis Aitihesika Rahasya or essays on Sanskrit literature (in Bengalî), not being able to join the Oriental Congress, to which he had personally been invited, has sent the following verses to be read at the Congress. The English translation has been made by Mr. Shyâmaji Krishnavarmâ, of Balliol College.—Ed. J.R.A.S.
Art. III.—On a Coin of Shams ud Dunyâ wa ud Dîn Mahmûd Shâh.
Authors: Rodgers Charles J.
Published: March 2011

This coin bears evidence of being genuine. The metal is that mixture of silver and copper which obtained under the Pathâns of the date on the coin, 718 A.H. It is also of the same weight, or nearly so. The dated coins of Ala ud Dîn Muhammad Shâh of this type average, according to Thomas, 55·7. Those of Kutub ud Dîn Mubarak Shâh average 55 grs. The coins of Shahâb ud Dîn Umr are 54·5. The inscriptions, omitting names, are exactly similar to those of Ala ud Dîn's No. 135 of Thomas, Shahâb ud Dîn's Thomas No. 141, and Kutub ud Dîn's Thomas No.147.
Art. VIII.—The Intercourse of China with Eastern Turkestan and the Adjacent Countries in the Second Century B.C.
Authors: Kingsmill W.
Published: March 2011

The following notes refer to a period which is one of considerable historic interest. In the Far East the Emperor Wu-ti, the most enterprising of the Han dynasty, having broken the power of the Turkish empire of the Hiung-nû, i.e. Kara-Nîrus, was engaged in strengthening the internal administration of China, and in extending its influence abroad. In the west the Romans had, B.C. 146, captured and destroyed Carthage, and had reduced Greece to a Roman province. The Ptolemies yet ruled in Egypt; and, in Asia, the Syrian empire under the house of the Seleucidse still survived, but was showing evident signs of decrepitude. In Asia Minor, Pontus was rising into importance under Mithradates V., who was one of the first of the more important sovereigns of the continent to enter into close relations with Rome. This position of affairs finally resulted in the great war between his son Mithradates VI. and Rome, which afforded that encroaching power the opportunity of firmly establishing the Roman rule in Asia, and of eventually overturning the decadent power of Syria, already frittered away by internal dissensions between the members of the royal house of Seleucidæ.
Art. X.—On a Lolo MS. written on Satin
Authors: de La Couperie Terrien
Published: March 2011

This splendid MS. on red and blue satin is, in fact, the first that has reached Europe in the language and writing of the Lolos, almost unknown a few months ago; before the important Journey of Exploration in Western Sz'e chuen, by Mr. E. Colborne Baber, now Secretary of the Chinese Legation at Peking, noticed by him in a paper addressed to the Royal Geographical Society of this country. From this paper we learn that Mr. Baber displayed a remarkable diligence in procuring materials for the study of the language and writing of the Lolo population; his paper comprising a vocabulary, copy and tracing of three documents in the Lolo writing; but, till the arrival of this wonderful MS., it must be confessed that we had no other Lolo documents.
Art. XIX.—The Vaishṇava Religion, with special reference to the Śikshā-patrī of the modern sect called Svāmi-Nārāyaṇa
Authors: Williams Monier
Published: March 2011

It is a remarkable circumstance that the Queen of Great Britain rules over two hundred millions of people, who though deeply religious, possess a religion which cannot be designated by any one name. Most of the religions of the world, as, for example, Christianity, Muhammadanism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, are called by the names of their founders, though without the sanction of the founders themselves.
Art. XX.—Further Note on the Apology of Al-Kindy
Authors: Muir W.
Published: March 2011

With reference to my paper on the Apology of Al-Kindy, I have received the following letter from Professor Ignatius Guidi, dated Rome, 24th February:—

“You will he glad to hear that in the Propaganda Library (Museo Borgiani) I found a MS. of the Apology of Al-Kindî, together with the letter of his Moslem friend. The amanuensis was, I think, a Jacobite (the MS. is written in Karshuni character), hence he says (page 5, line 18 of the printed text):

The Roman MS. is apparently of the same family with the Paris MS. as described by Zotenberg, Catalogue des MSS. Syriaques de la Biblioth. Nationale, Nos. 204, 205.”
Art. XXI.—The Buddhist Caves of Afghanistan
Authors: Simpson William
Published: March 2011

In going through the Khyber Pass I saw numerous recesses in the rocks which struck me as places which might have been used by ascetics, but they indicated no signs of having been excavated, hence nothing definite could be assumed regarding them. In the scarp under the Ishpola Tope there is one of these rude niches which would be a very desirable spot for a holy man to retire to, who wished to give up the things of this world, but who at the same time had some intention that his light should not be hid under a bushel, for if an ascetic ever made it his residence, every passer-by must have seen him, high above the road, with little more than a fair allowance of space in which to sit cross-legged. From the immense number of caves I afterwards saw which had been excavated, indicating that a very large monastic population had existed, I have now little doubt that during the fervour of asceticism in the Buddhist period, most of these rocky niches had been thus occupied at one time or another. At Daka there are a few caves which have been excavated, but they are little more than holes.
Art. XXVI.—The Oldest Book of the Chinese(theYh-King)and its Authors
Authors: de LaCouperie Terrien
Published: March 2011

More than two years ago, the 10th of May, 1880, at a special meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society, I presented a paper onL'Histoire de la Langue Chinoise, in which I communicated my discoveries on the old phonetic laws of the orthography of the Ancient Chinese writing,—the derivation of this writing from the pre-cuneiform characters of Southwestern Asia,—and also the nature and contents of the long-disputed book, theYh-King. I have delayed the printing of that paper in order to make it more precise and complete, but parts of its contents, as well as several results of my researches, have been published, by my friend Prof. R. K. Douglas and by myself.
Art. I.—On the Genealogy of Modern Numerals. Part II. Simplification of the Ancient Indian Numeration
Authors: Bayley E. Clive
Published: March 2011

The second part of this paper will be occupied by an attempt to show how the ancient Indian system of numeral signs, described in Part L, was simplified. In other words, it will be attempted to show how this old system became the parent of that now used in India, which employs only nine units and a zero,—indeed of that system as used not in India alone, but now almost universally both in eastern and western countries
Art. VI.—Malagasy Place-Names
Authors: Sibree James
Published: March 2011

Place-names, it is now acknowledged, form one of the most reliable sources of information as to ancient and prehistoric times, and are among the most enduring and unaltering records of the past. In all the older countries of the world the names of the mountains and rivers, of the fields and the valleys, of the farms and villages and towns, as well as of all other geographical features, reveal the existence and successive occupation of the soil from remote epochs by many different races of mankind. And in the newer countries the names given to places tell in the plainest terms of their discoverers, and often fix the date of their becoming known to the civilized world.
Art. VIII.— Chinese Laws and Customs
Authors: Gardner Christopher
Published: March 2011

When I promised to write a paper for the Royal Asiatic Society on Chinese Laws and Customs compared with the primitive Laws and Customs of the Latin, Teutonic, and Indo-Germanic Eaces, I was not aware that my friend Mr. E. H. Parker had already written on the same subject (China Review, vol. viii. p. 67). I have now read Mr. Parker's paper with great care and attention. Though he only deals with Comparative Family Law, yet this is so large a portion of my subject, and Mr. Parker's views are so in accordance with my own, that I doubt whether he has left me enough to say so as to form the subject of a full paper. I therefore propose, on this occasion, only to make a few observations.
Art. X.—Gleanings from the Arabic
Authors: Freeland H. W.
Published: March 2011

The name of the author of the preceding poem was Abubakr (Ibn Abdurrahman Ibn Almiswar Ibn Makhramat) of Medina, a poet of the family of the Kūraish. He had married Saliha, the daughter of Abu Ubaidah, to whom he was tenderly attached. On one occasion, when on his way to Syria, he was so overcome by his affection for his wife, and by his longings to rejoin her, that he struck his camels on the head, turned them round, and went back to Medina. On this occasion he composed the preceding verses. When his wife heard his verses, and saw that for her sake he had returned to Medina, she was naturally much gratified. She said that of all the objects of her regard he was most dear to her, and that in future she should withhold nothing from him. She also made over to him her private property, with which she had not previously allowed him to interfere.
Art. XV.—The Rivers of the Vedas, and how the Aryans entered India
Authors: Thomas Edward
Published: March 2011

For the origination of this line of investigation we are mainly indebted to M. Vivien de Saint-Martin, who, in his “ Étude sur la géographie et les populations primitives du Nord-Ouest de l'lnde, d'après les Hymnes Védiques,” correctly defined one of the leading peculiarities of those chants, “ c'est que les indications géographiques des hymnes du Véda se rapportent à peu près exclusivement à des rivières.”
Art. X.—The Pariah Caste in Travancore
Authors: Mateer S.
Published: March 2011

The Pariahs or Parayans (feminine in Tamil Parachi, in Malayalam Parayi) number 63,688, and are more numerous in the South of Travancore, though a few are found in almost every Talook (county). Of the whole, only 192 males, and no females, can read. Their general social condition is very similar to that of the other so-called “slave castes,” though, perhaps, not quite so low.
Art. XVII.—The Yi king of the Chinese, as a book of Divination and Philosophy
Authors: Edkins
Published: March 2011

An important point in the study of the Yi king is the recognition of its existence before Wen wang's time. The elements of main difference between the Yi king of the early dynasties and that of Wen wang was in the order of the Kwa. The same names were current, and probably the admonitory remarks were, many of them, the same also. These remarks are all anonymous, and we are at liberty to guess who wrote them. The appendices are anonymous also, and they may have mainly been written by men before the time of Confucius. The three sages, Wen wang, Cheu kung, and Confucius, were all editors, and Fu hi the original author.
Art. II. — Buddhist Remains near Sámbhur, in Western Rajputana, India
Authors: Hendley T. H.
Published: March 2011

The Sámbhur Lake, as the most important salt source in North-West India, must have always been a possession of value; it is, therefore, astonishing that there are few indications of a large population in ancient times having existed along its shores, notwithstanding that it is, in the rainy season, twenty miles in length, with a maximum width of seven miles and a half.
Art. III.—On the Bearing of the Study of the Bántu Languages of South Africa on the Aryan Family of Languages
Authors: Kolbe F. W.
Published: March 2011

In 1784, just a century ago, the Asiatic Society was founded at Calcutta, and since then a great movement has been going on, leading to the discovery and study of Sanskrit and other Indian languages, and resulting in what is called Comparative Philology or the Science of Language.
Art. IV.—Gleanings from the Arabic
Authors: Freeland H. W.
Published: March 2011

The Arabic texts of the two following poems, of which I have ventured to offer translations to English readers, were published in 1854 in London, under the patronage of the Oriental Translation Fund. They formed part of the Hudsailite Poems contained in the manuscript of Leyden, which were edited and were to have been translated, with annotations, by a very distinguished German Orientalist, John Godfrey Lewis Kosegarten, late Professor of Theology and Oriental Literature in the University of Greifswald. The poems were composed by two sisters, named Amra and Janûb, Arab poetesses of the tribe of Hudsail. Overwhelmed with grief at the loss of their brother Amr, or Amru, whom they tenderly loved as a relative and stood in need of as a protector, they sought relief in song, and in composing elegiac tributes to his memory. Three of these have come down to us, two by Janûb and one by Amra. For translation I have selected the latter and one only of the two former, as the second poem by Janûb is less adapted than that which I have chosen for translation into English verse. Amr, or Amrun, the master of the dog, was the designation by which the brother of the poetesses was distinguished among the Arabs of his time. He was himself a poet, and would seem, from the tributes which his sisters paid to his memory, to have been possessed of those high qualities which, in the estimation of the Arabs, were typical of heroism and virtue.