bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Proto-Hittite
Authors: Sayce A. H.
Published: March 2011

Proto-Hittite is the name given by Dr. Forrer to the prefixal language, examples of which are found in the cuneiform texts of Boghaz Keui. In them it is called Khattilis “Hittite”, the mixed official language of Boghaz Keui being known as “the language of the scribes” (EME sa ameli dubbi, Annals of Archœology, iii, 3, pl. xxvi, 1, 12). This latter was, in fact, a mixture of Sumerian, Assyrian, and Indo-European elements on the basis of an Asianic language which was spoken in Arzawa (Western Cilicia) and Kizzuwadna (of which the southern Qumani or Komana was the capital). The royal line of Boghaz Keui, as their names show, originally spoke Proto-Hittite, and must have given the name of Khattu and Khattusis (“Silver-town”) to the city which they made their capital after the conquest of the surrounding territory. They came from Kussar, written Kursaura in earlier documents, the Garsaura of classical geography, and their capital had been Arinna (“Well-town”), the Phreata of Ptolemy. Here their annals reached back to the time when Sargon of Akkad had invaded their country (2800 b.c.).
Three Mathura Inscriptions and their bearing on the Kushana Dynasty
Authors: Sahni Daya Ram
Published: March 2011

This is the title of an article which I have just submitted for publication in the Epigraphia Indica. As the controversy about the various problems connected with the Kushana period of the Indian History has been carried on chiefly in the pages of this Journal, I venture to present a brief note on the new details furnished by the three inscriptions concerned. All the three records were discovered by Rai Bahadur Pandit Radha Krishna, Honorary Curator of the Museum of Archæology at Mathurā (vulgo Muttra). Inscriptions Nos. 1 and 2 were brought to light in the year 1918–19 and 1920–1 respectively, and have been briefly noticed in the Annual Report of the Archæological Survey of India, Northern Circle, Hindu and Buddhist Monuments for those years. The contents of the third inscription were summarized by Dr. Vogel in the Annual Report of the Director-General of Archæology in India, part ii, for 1911–12, p. 125. In this note I propose to publish a complete transliteration of the existing portion of the record and to draw attention to one or two points which escaped Dr. Vogel's notice.
VI. The Indo-Germanic Accent in Marāṭhī
Authors: Turner R. L.
Published: March 2011

1. The following article is primarily an attempt to explain the equations, Sanskrit mārjāraḥ = Gujrāti mājār = Marāṭhī mājar; Sanskrit śmaśānáḥ = Gujrāti masāṇ = Marāṭhī masaṇ; Sanskrit palāśáḥ = Marāṭhī palas; Sanskrit upasthnam = Marāṭhī vaṭhāṇ.
VIII. An Early Text of the Saddharma-Puṇḍarīka
Authors: Hoernle A. F. R.
Published: March 2011

In the course of my registering and describing the collection of manuscripts of Sir Aurel Stein's second expedition in Eastern Turkestan, I have come across two sets of fragments which appear to me to preserve portions of an early recension of the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka; earlier, that is to say, than the ordinary recension published by Professor Kern in the .Bibliotheca Buddhica, x. They were discovered by Sir A. Stein in September, 1906, in the sand-buried ruins of Khadalik, as described by him in his Ruins of Desert Kathay, vol. i, pp. 239 ff.
Pictographic Reconnaissances. Part V
Authors: Hopkins L. C.
Published: March 2011

A rigorous restriction of space in the Journal, which to the editor has all the virtues of necessity, and to the contributor most of the features of calamity, confines me to a few lines of preliminary matter. I should have wished to explain the use in these papers of the words “ ideogram ” and “ ideographic ”, but I cannot. I should also have liked to include entries on the important characters yin and yany of the dualistic system, which occur in my own collection of Honan relics, but are unknown to either Lo Chên-yü or Wang Hsiang, but this too is impossible. Let us therefore proceed to business.
The Name Kurd and its Philological Connexions
Authors: Driver G. R.
Published: March 2011

It is not unlikely that the earliest trace of the Kurds is to be found on a Sumerian clay-tablet, of the third millennium B.C., on which “ the land of Kar-da ” or “ Qar-da ” is mentioned. This “ land of Karda ” adjoined that of the people of Su, who dwelt on the south of Lake Wân, and seems in all probability to have been connected with the Qur-ṭi-e, who lived in the mountains to the west of the same lake, and with whom Tiglath-Pileser I fought; the philological identity of these two names is, however, uncertain, owing to the doubt about the precise value of the palatals and dentals in Sumerian.
Sakara
Authors: Charpentier Jarl
Published: March 2011

More than thirty years ago Professor Sylvain Lévi, in his excellent book Le Théatre Indien (1890), p. 361, suggested that the Śakāra, the ridiculous, brawling scoundrel of a king's brother-in-law (śyāla) in the Hindu drama, is in reality a Śaka, a type of the Scythian princes ruling during nearly four centuries in Western India, as seen from the Indian point of view. This very judicious suggestion was repeated by Professor Lévi some ten years later in a very interesting article in the Journal Asiatique, ix, 19 (1902), p. 123, and might be looked upon as being fairly well established though its author has not given any detailed proofs to support his hypothesis. No reasons whatsoever have been adduced by Professor Konow in his book Das indische Drama, p. 15, for rejecting this theory, and so we need scarcely regard his rejection more seriously than several other less well-founded assertions in his work.
Some remarks on the text of the Tabaqat ash-Shu‘ara of Muhammad ibn Sallam al-Jumahi
Authors: Bevan A. A.
Published: March 2011

This book was edited for the first time by Professor Joseph Hell of Erlangen (Leiden, 1916), and since it is one of the oldest extant treatises on the literary history of the Arabs it will always be regarded as an important source of information. Unfortunately the printed text is very incorrect and often quite unintelligible. A large number of valuable emendations have been proposed by the late Professor H. Reckendorf in his review of the book (Orientalistische Literaturzeitung for May, 1917, columns 147–152), by Mr. C. A. Storey in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for April, 1918, pp. 349–355, and by Professor G. Levi della Vida in the Rivista degli Studi Orientali, vol. viii, pp. 611–636 (Rome, 1920). But many passages still remain obscure, and for this reason I venture to offer the following additional suggestions. If some of my remarks have been forestalled by others, I must apologise for my inadvertence. Mere misprints and incorrect vocalisations I have not thought it worth while to mention, except where they are likely to mislead the reader.
Tibetan Documents concerning Chinese Turkestan. IV: The Khotan Region
Authors: Thomas F. W.
Published: March 2011

The word rtse, “peak” or “top”, is a very appropriate termination for the names of places in a mountainous region; in Tibet there are innumerable place-names of this type. In the Nob region of Chinese Turkestan we have noticed (JRAS. 1928, pp. 586–8) several such names, e.g. Klu-rtse, Snuṅ-rtse, Gyuṅ-druṅ-rtse. In the case of the last named we have suggested the possibility that -rtse may have denoted nothing more than a height in a fort. There may have been instances of such a nature; but in general the position will have been otherwise. The numerous names in -rtse will have been due to the occupation of commanding positions by the Tibetan troops for the purpose of observation and control. In the case of Pehu-rtse we shall quote documents which in fact refer to building operations. The actual designations of some of the places, e.g. Stag-sras-dges-gyi-rtse “Young-tigerdelight(??)-peak”, Hphrul – gyi – me – loṅ – kun – snaṅ – rtse “Magic – mirror – all – vision – peak”, while characteristically Tibetan, may also be set down partly to the fancy of those who established the new military posts. The names are naturally all Tibetan, and will not often have been attached to old sites.
The Samaritan Hebrew Sources of the Arabic Book of Joshua
Authors: Gaster M.
Published: March 2011

In 1848 Juynboll published the Arabic text with a Latin translation and elaborate introduction of a Samaritan work, which he called the Samaritan Chronicle. He printed it from a MS. in the Leyden library deposited there by Scaliger; this MS. belonged to the fourteenth century. It was written by two hands, the second part being of a somewhat later date. Juynboll was quite justified in callingit a chronicle, although the largest part of the MS. consists of the book of Joshua. It is a paraphrase of the book of Joshua of the Jewish Bible, containing chiefly the first chapters to which various legendary stories had been added. But the MS. contains much more. It starts with the appointment of Joshua as successor to Moses, in the latter's lifetime, then the history of Bileam, slightly differing from the record in the Bible, then also two different recensions of the death of Moses are given, after which, with a special heading, the book of Joshua begins. At the end of it the history is continued; it is very fragmentary. Within a very brief space the story of the Exile, under Bokht Nasar—the Arabic form for Nebuchadnezzer—is told, and then it is continued in the same brief form down to the time of Baba Rabba—second or third century—the great hero of Samaritan history. The Samaritans considered him as the one who had been able to throw off the yoke of the foreign rulers and to obtain for them a certain amount of political liberty.
The Decipherment of the Moscho-Hittite Inscriptions
Authors: Sayce A. H.
Published: March 2011

The number of Hittite hieroglyphic inscriptions known to us has increased considerably of late years. Unfortunately a large proportion of the texts is either broken or illegible, not infrequently just where a complete text is most needed. Thanks, however, to our increased knowledge, it is now possible to correct former copies and supply in many caṡes missing characters or words. The result is that I can now improve to a large extent upon my old attempts at translation as well as correct mistakes and misreadings. Another result is to show that the fundamental elements in my decipherment are correct; it is true that I have made many mistakes, as is inevitable in pioneering work of the kind, but on the whole it was based on sound principles and a considerable proportion of the phonetic values or ideographic meanings I have attached to the characters turn out to be right. Those who wish to see the evidence for these will find it given in detail in my articles in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archœology. In my present notes I shall give it only where the identifications are either new or corrections of those I formerly proposed.
Further Arabic Inscriptions on Textiles (III)
Authors: Guest A. R.
Published: March 2011

The preceding article of this series is in the Journal for 1923, p. 406. Mr. H. A. Elsberg of New York has kindly supplied photographs and descriptions of the following Fatimid pieces in his collection and authorized their publication, and Mr. S. Flury has been so good as to give assistance in the decipherment of the inscriptions:—

No. 1. Collection No. 1356.
The sar-gudhasht-i sayyidnā, the “Tale of the Three Schoolfellows” and the wasaya of the Niẓām al-Mulk
Authors: Bowen Harold
Published: March 2011

The original version of the Assassin biography of al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ, called sar-gudhasht-i sayyidnā, is not extant. All we possess are two recensions of it, if such a term is apposite, in the notes taken on the work by the two seventh/thirteenth century historians, ‘Aṭā-Malik al-Juwaynī (work completed 658/1260) and the Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍdl Allāh (work completed 710/1310–11). For unless we may suppose that al-Juwaynī, who discovered the book in the library of the Assassin headquarters at Alamūt, afterwards condensed the notes that he first took, and that the Rashīd later incorporated these first longer notes in his history, we can only conclude that the Rashīd consulted the original work afresh, since his version is in fact very much fuller than al-Juwaynī's. Which the Rashīd did it is impossible to say. There is one fact, however, that points to the first course as the likelier, namely that in introducing their, extracts both use almost the same words (which cannot have appeared in the original work). Moreover, the copy used by al-Juwaynī was burnt after perusal with the other pernicious writings of the heretics. So the second course would involve the (improbable) existence of another copy.
The Pronunciation of the Formula of the Muhammadan Declaration of Faith
Authors: Fischer A.
Published: March 2011

The formula of the Muhammadan declaration of faith (ash-shahādah or, more exact, ash-shahādatāni) (1) when recited on more solemn occasions, is presumably mostly to this effect:—
Turkish Instruments of Music in the Seventeenth Century
Authors: Farmer Henry George
Published: March 2011

One of the most complete and entertaining accounts of the instruments of music of Turkey is that given by the chatty and voluble, though highly imaginative writer, Ewliyā Chelebī 1611– ca. 1669. Although his family held high appointments at the Ottoman court, yet young Ewliyā yearned for a literary career and, like many such Parnassian aspirants, began his public life as a ḥāfiẓ in Aya Sofia on the Lailat al-kaḍr of 1045 (=A.D. 1636), whenhe attracted the notice of Sultan Murād IV, who took him into the royal household. Here he was specially favoured, mainly on account of his musical and literary gifts. He had been taught music and singing by one of the best masters of the day, the Khalwatī dervish 'Umar Gulshanī, who lived to the great age of 140 years, himself having been taught by the eminent shaikh Ibrāhīm Gulshanī (d. 1533–4) of Cairo. After two years' service as a muṣāḥib, Ewliyā began his travels which have made him famous.
The MS. Bodl. Marsh 384
Authors: Ahmedali A.
Published: March 2011

The MS. consists of 203 folios; but the first leaf bears only the title of the work. Size of the written page is 8½ in. by 5½ in.: thirty to thirty-one lines to a page. On the titlepage appear the words , which are of a much later date than the MS. itself, and added probably by some bookseller. The colophon, which is written in the same hand as the text, contains the date 7th Sha'bān, 547. The whole MS. is very closely written and with hardly any diacritical points or vowelsigns. The absence of these and the peculiar style of the writing make it rather difficult reading. Unfortunately the work is not complete in this MS. The whole work was divided into twenty-three sections (), of which the last ten sections (14–23) are given here complete and the greater part of section 13, of which only a page or two seem to be missing. Thus the first portion of the MS. comprising more than half the work is missing.
The Instructions of the East India Company to Lord Macartney on his Embassy to China and his Reports to the Company , 1792–4. Part II: Letter to the Viceroy and First Report
Authors: Pritchard Earl H.
Published: March 2011

The Honorable the President, and Chairman, of the Honorable the Court of Directors, under whose orders, and authority the Commerce of Great Britain is carried on with the Chinese Nation at Canton, to the high and mighty Lord, the Tsontock [Tsung-tu], or Viceroy, of the Provinces of Quantong [Kuangtung] and Kiang-si, Greeting.
A Few Corrections on Guy Le Strange's “Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane (1403–1406)”
Authors: Kurdian H.
Published: March 2011

In the new edition of Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, translated from the Spanish by Guy Le Strange (publ. Harper and Brothers, New York and London, 1928), I noticed several errors and offer the following in correction thereof.
Bi

sh

r b. abi

Kh

āzim: Collection of Fragments
Authors: von Grünebaum Gustav
Published: March 2011

The high esteem in which Bishr b. abī Khāzim is held by the native theorists and critics has been the main motive that induced me to collect his verses. The widely scattered quotations of his work present still better proof of the æsthetic merits which his poems held for the Arabs than the favourable judgment which an authority such as al-Aṣma'ī passed upon him by inserting him into the ranks of the fuḥūl. Four of his qaṣīdahs have found their way into the Mufaḍḍaliyyāt (ed. Lyall, poems 96–9); six more are contained in the anthology of Hibatallāh b. al-Shajarī, known as the Dīwān mukhtārāt shu'arā' al-'Arab (lithographed Cairo, 1306, pp. 65–81). Hartigan, who has tried to establish Bishr's biography (MFO., i, 284 ff.), mentions his fragments (loc. cit., 293), claiming a knowledge of 131 verses belonging, in his opinion, to thirty different poems. He does not, however, name his sources. He obviously had the intention of making an edition himself, but this never appeared. From the standpoint of modern literary history, the work of Bishr has the special interest of permitting a deep insight into the formation of poetical schools in ancient Arabia. To provide a solid foundation for any such investigation, a complete edition of his poetical remains has proved indispensable. In spite of the somewhat unfavourable circumstances under which I was obliged to complete this collection,
On the Assyrian words for “whetstone” and “corundum”
Authors: Thompson R. Campbell
Published: March 2011

CT. xiv, 17, 1–2, and 15,1–2, and Matouš, Lex. Taf., No. 88, 2, 46–7, give the equivalences takKALAG.GA, tak(alu)KA. ŠAL.LA, and aban ki-su-si as all equal to taksû.
X. The Nations of India at the Battle between the Pandavas and Kauravas
Authors: Pargiter F. E.
Published: March 2011

This paper explains how the nations and tribes of India were arrayed in the great war of the Pāṇḍavas against the Kauravas, and the annexed map illustrates the position by exhibiting the names of the countries and peoples in different colours, those supporting the Pāṇḍavas being printed in blue ink, and the Kauravas and their allies in red, while those which were neutral and all collateral details are printed in black ink. It has been prepared at Dr. Grierson's suggestion in order to ascertain whether the division has any ethnographical significance with reference to his researches into the languages of India.
XVIII. The Pahlavi Text of Yasna LXXI (Sp. LXX), 1–38, for the first time critically treated.
Authors: Mills Lawrence
Published: March 2011

Frašoštar, the holy, asked of Zartūšt, the saint: give me the answer, (O thou) foremost Zartūšt (most pre-eminent in authority and initiative), [that is to say, before this Dēn, O Zartūšt, thou didst come:—

(2) Which is the full recital of the liturgies ? which is the summarised-celebration of the Gāθas ? (3) Thereupon said Zartūšt: to Aūharmazd, the Holy Chief of A(r)ša (as the Ritual), do I sacrifice.
I. Ancient Indian Genealogies and Chronology
Authors: Pargiter F. E.
Published: March 2011

The subject that I venture to discuss in this paper is one that may seem surprising and even fantastic, and yet, if any orderliness can be introduced into the earliest Indian ages, it can only be attained by examining and co-ordinating all the genealogical and quasi-historical data which have been handed down in Sanskrit books. The subject has been before my mind for many years, and it has been only after long consideration of all the relevant information, which I have been able to collect out of all those books, especially the Epics and Purāṇas, that it has seemed to me some measure of order may be educed out of the chaos of material. That information is condensed in the following pages, and no statement is made without citing the authorities that support it. I may say that the conclusions set out here were not reached from any preconceived ideas, except this one (if it merits that description), that the ancient kṣatriya literature deserves to be examined from a common-sense point of view on the supposition that it may contain genuine tradition, however much distorted in the course of time. It was only after investigating the subject piecemeal, following each detail into other details to which it led and continually rearranging them as their number and mutual relations developed, that something definite seemed at first to emerge out of the chaos, and then gradually the subject seemed to shape itself into some degree of order. Even if my views should not commend themselves to others, yet the material collected here and the method of treatment may, I hope, be of some service to others in elucidating the subject.
IV. Gleanings from the Bhakta-Mala
Authors: Grierson George A.
Published: March 2011

Before proceeding to the subject-matter of this paper, I would ask leave to revert for a moment to the preceding article on the Bhāgavata system of incarnations. Several kind Bhāgavata friends have sent me criticisms on points of detail in what I then wrote, which will be utilized when opportunity occurs. I would mention one now, as it affects the question of terminology. On p. 624 I used the name Vibhu or Vibhava Avatāra as the name of one of the forms under which the Supreme manifests Himself. I can give authority for both these names from North Indian literature; but, writing from Mysore in the south, Paṇḍit Gōvindâcārya, the translator of Rāmaňuja's commentary on the Bhagavad Gītā, informs me that the use of Vibhu in this connexion is incorrect. As a technical term of Bhāgavata theology, vibhu means “infinite”, in contradistinction to aṇu, “finite.” For the incarnation, vibhava is the only correct term. In this sense vibhava is explained as vividhēna bhavati, and means literally “many-becomingness”.
The Last Buwayhids
Authors: Bowen Harold
Published: March 2011

The introduction to the edition of the fárs-námeh of “Ibn al-Balkhí” by Mr. Le Strange and Professor Nicholson contains a long passage dealing with the end of the Buwayhid or Búyid dynasty. This passage, and particularly its footnotes, show that there are points in this section of history that it would be interesting to clear up. I have attempted to clear them up in what follows. For the purpose I have used a number of Arabic and Persian works, indicated respectively in the footnotes to my account by the letters or words preceding each name in the following list.
A Visit to an “Astronomical” Temple in India
Authors: Tucci Giuseppe
Published: March 2011

In Assam, near Gauhāṭī, on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra, there is one of the most famous places of pilgrimage in India, I mean the temple of Kāmākhyā. Kāmākhyā is one of the names for the Indian devī, Kālī, or Durgā; in fact, Kāmākhyā is the devī herself in one of her most jolly aspects, as may be gathered from the Paurānic and the Tāntric literature connected with her cult, as for instance the Kālikā-purāṇa, the Yoginī-tantra, the Kāmakhyā-tantra, the Kāmarūpa-tantra, etc. The temple and all its neighbourhood for twelve krośas is considered one of the pīṭhas, or holy and consecrated places: the hills and rivers near it have been identified with some of the most renowned tīrtha-sthānas of India, with the purpose of associating with that revered spot some of the most sacred religious traditions of India.
A Prayer to Ea, Shamash, and Marduk
Authors: Mullo-Weir C. J.
Published: March 2011

The fragment K. 2784, published by Langdon in his OECT. vi, pi. xxii, belongs to the same tablet as K. 7593, which was edited by King, Babylonian Magic and Sorcery, No. 62. We now have, therefore, an almost complete text of the earlier part of a hymn to Ea, Shamash, and Marduk. I have to thank Dr. H. R. Hall and Mr. C. J. Gadd, of the British Museum, for permission to collate the reunited tablet, and Professor Langdon for his kindness in helping me with the interpretation of the text.
An Unknown Turkish Shrine in Western Macedonia
Authors: Hasluck Margaret
Published: March 2011

The Turkish shrine to be described below lies in Greek Macedonia, where there are now no Turks. But the paper will describe the shrine as it was in 1923, a year before the Turks were removed from Greece to Asia Minor under the terms of the Lausanne Convention for the Exchange of Populations between Greece and Turkey.
The Combat of 'Aleyân-Ba'al and Mōt A Proto-Hebrew Epic from Ras-Shamra
Authors: Gaster Theodor Herzl
Published: March 2011

The original tablet contained about 527 lines; of these only 367 remain, excluding unintelligible fragments. Large gaps, involving fifteen lines and more, occur in Cols. I, II, III, and VIII; Cols. IV, V, VI, and VII (in the centre of the tablet) are less damaged, though everywhere minor breaks affect the text. In view of this it is very difficult to recover the sequence, and the following summary must be regarded as partially conjectural, though in the main reasonably certain.
The Combat of 'Aleyân-Ba'al and Mōt. Two missing portions
Authors: Gaster Theodor H.
Published: March 2011

A Lucky find in 1933 enables us to supply the missing beginning and end of the long Ras Shamra tablet printed in JRAS., October, 1932.
The Ratnavali of Nagarjuna
Authors: Tucci Giuseppe
Published: March 2011

In the April issue, 1934, of this Journal, I edited and translated the first chapter of this work of the great Nāgārjuna, still a fundamental treatise in the monasteries of Tibet. I now publish the remaining portions of the second and fourth chapters, the second being incomplete and the third entirely missing. The fifth and last pariccheda contains chiefly vinaya-rules, and will be published in a subsequent issue, along with the Tibetan text and the English translation of the missing portions.
Four Anthologies of Arabic Poetry
Authors: Krenkow F.
Published: March 2011

It is remarkable that four important works on the criticism of Arabic poetry, and at the same time anthologies, should appear in one year and, to avoid any misunderstanding, I shall deal with them in the chronological order of the deaths of their authors.
Formulation of Pratītyasamutpāda
Authors: Law B. C.
Published: March 2011

The Ariyapariyesana-Sutta in the Majjhima-Nikāya specifically mentions these two as the main points of Buddhism: (1) Paṭiccasamuppāda and (2) Nibbāna. The first point is the basic idea of Buddhism as a system of thought, and the second, the goal of Buddhism as a religion. The former is introduced as idappaccayatā, “causal relations.” The latter is introduced as sabbasaṅkhāra-samatho sabbūpadhipaṭinissaggo taṇhāhākkhayo virāgo nirodho, “the stilling of all plastic forces or the renunciation of all worldly ties, the extirpation of craving, passionlessness, peace.” The Sutta does not, however, offer any formula to interconnect the two.
Some Ethical Ideals of the Tso-chuan
Authors: Morley Arthur
Published: March 2011

If the traditional opinion were correct which ascribes the Tso-chuan to Tso Ch'iu-ming, a contemporary of Confucius, his work would be of the utmost importance as a source of historical information, though even in that case we might well doubt whether all the incidents which it relates are genuinely historical and might wonder how many of the speeches in which it abounds were the composition of Tso Ch'iu-ming himself. If, on the other hand, those scholars are right who assign it to the Han dynasty, while of less importance as a record of fact, the Tso-chuan is still one of the most valuable of the works which have come down to us from Chinese antiquity, part of its significance on that supposition being that it illustrates what were believed at the time of its composition early in the Christian era to have been the ethical ideals which were acknowledged in the period to which Confucius himself belonged.
Notes on Costume from Arabic Sources
Authors: Levy Reuben
Published: March 2011

Dozy's Dictionnaire des Noms des Vêtements long ago settled the meanings of the great majority of the terms used for clothes and clothing in Arabic. Texts not available at the time of its compilation have come to hand in the meanwhile, and, further, something still remains to be said on the social and historical aspects of the subject.
The Ships of the Arabian Sea about A.D. 1500
Authors: Moreland W. H. , Burn Richard
Published: March 2011

It is clear then that the ships plying in the Arabian Sea in 1250–1350 were structurally weak. The question whether this feature persisted until 1500 must be answered almost exclusively from the early Portuguese literature. It is very voluminous; most of it is either badly indexed or not indexed at all; and I have not been able to search it all through, but have looked only in the likely places. My collection of passages may thus be incomplete, while those I have found are mostly fragmentary, and to interpret them itis necessary to have a general view of the course of shipping in the Arabian Sea.
The Nam Language
Authors: Thomas F. W.
Published: March 2011

Before publishing, with a view to further study by scholars, the available text or texts in this language, it may be advisable to supplement the notes previously contributed to this Journal (JRAS., 1926, pp. 505–6; 1928, pp. 630–4) by a few further observations.
Notes on the Silver Punch-marked Coins in the British Museum
Authors: Walsh E. H. C.
Published: March 2011

The Catalogue of the Coins of Ancient India in the British Museum, by Mr. J. Allan, published last year, has made the silver punch-marked coins available to all, and the clear system of classification which Mr. Allan has followed and his scholarly and complete Introduction give all the information about these coins that is at present available, while the large number of the coins which are illustrated in the plates enable the conclusions arrived at in the Introduction to be confirmed or questioned. General thanks are due to Mr. Allan for this important work. As this Catalogue will be the standard source of reference for the consideration and classification of these coins, it is important to note any points that arise from its consideration.
Aspects of Muḥammadanism in the Eastern Sudan
Authors: Hillelson S.
Published: March 2011

The country with which we are concerned—Nubia, Sennār, and Kordofān—is a comparatively recent conquest of Islam, and it does not properly emerge into the light of history before the sixteenth century. Of its state during the Middle Ages we are very imperfectly informed. Nubia had adopted Coptic Christianity in the sixth century, and there were two kingdoms, Maqarra in the north, with its capital at Dongola, and Aiwa in the south, with its capital at Soba near the modern Khartoum. The Arabs twice overran northern Nubia within a decade or two of the Muslim conquest of Egypt, and in their second expedition they sacked Dongola and destroyed its church; but there was no attempt at annexation, and for some five or six centuries the relations between Muslims and Nubians were based on a treaty concluded in 651–2, which precluded either party from settling in the territory of the other; it also imposed on the Nubians an annual payment of 300 or 360 slaves in exchange for gifts of cloth and grain. The treaty was but indifferently observed, and from time to time there were raids and counter-raids, but Nubia preserved its independence and its isolation from the worlds both of Islam and Christendom. Intercourse with the Muslim lands was not entirely lacking, and in the tenth century two Arabic authors composed accounts of the state of Nubia: I refer to the famous al-Mas'ūdī and to a certain Ibn Salīm or Ibn Sulaym of Aswān, extracts from whose work are preserved in Maqrīzī's Topography of Egypt.
Some Sumerian Tablets of the Third Dynasty of Ur
Authors: Fish T.
Published: March 2011

The tablets published here for the first time belong to the British Museum and to the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. I am indebted to Mr. Sidney Smith for permission to publish the British Museum tablets and to Dr. L. Legrain for permission to publish the tablet in the Pennsylvania University Museum.
Sh

afta ḏ Pi

sh

ra ḏ Ainia
Authors: Drower E. S
Published: March 2011

Ana hu hibil ziwa zadiqa u'uthria ahai bnia nhura ḏ minh huaina yatbinin banana rabtia ḏ nhura uruha ḏ qudsha ḏ shimat qalaian qashtinun 'l piṭrunia ukasitinun '1 hililia hiwaria urmit sandlia hilia blighrai wamra 'qum 'zil baina 'mhinun l'uthria rurbania bnia nhura anin ḏ hzainh sdamnh hramnh. 'l aina bishta ukawihta usdamnh hramnh 'l aina aqta uraiubtia u'l aina qliqtia u'l aina mṣuṣtia u'l aina 'kimtia u'l aina raiubtia mhaina bakla rba ḏ ziwa ubnarga rba ḏ. shiriatha urmaina btasniqia ḏ arqa titaita wasutha tihuilh '1 P. br P. b'sqtaihun 'uthria rurbania bnia nhura (banhura ?) (460) yatbia ḏ 'qara hiia zakhin … Hazin tartin babania kdub lṭasa d abara 'u lmagalta d ṭabia urmih bgufta d qaina ḏ zrara urmih para upartia umihla umisha ḏ shushma hawia asutha lgabra u'ntha u'lyanqia u'l yanqitha tum qrih lmihla u'l piria u'mbia u'lania u'lzira u'l bazira hiia zakhin …
Notes on the Silver Punch-marked Coins in the British Museum
Authors: Walsh E. H. C.
Published: March 2011

18. The Taurine. On p. xxxiii Mr. Allan gives a group of eighteen symbols “ formed by combinations of taurine symbols. None of them are common, and most of them are characteristic of variations only ”. Three of these require notice. No. 6, No. 18, and No. 7, are shown the wrong way up, No. 6 in its perfect form occurs as one of the four class-marks on 147 of the Bhiṛ Mound coins (Class D), on many of which it is clear, as . The vertical line in symbol 6 is the shaft of a spear, the spear-head of which is in the centre of the mark.
A Forgotten Branch of the Ismailis
Authors: Ivanow W.
Published: March 2011

Every student of Indian history is familiar with the extraordinary event, quite unique in the annals of the Muslim dynasties in India, which took place in 1537, when Burhān Niẓām Shāh, the Sunni ruler of the Ahmadnagar state, in the Deccan, proclaimed Shi'ism the official religion of his kingdom. Indian historians offer only “popular” explanations for this important step, attributing it to religious zeal or the superstitious fears of the prince. It appears, however, that Burhān Niẓām Shāh (who reigned from 914/1508 to 961/1554), though nothing exceptional, was, nevertheless, quite a reasonable and statesmanlike ruler, who would hardly permit his religious emotions to carry him too far. It is therefore permissible to suspect some weightier motives behind this act, in the form of considerations connected with the policy of the then ascendant dynasty of the Safavids of Persia, which still remain unrevealed. As is known, both Shah Ismā'īl and Ṭahmāsp used to take much interest in Indian politics. In all this the central figure, who inspired the policy of Burhān Niẓām Shāh, was the rather enigmatic personality of a Persian emigrant, a learned theologian, philosopher, poet, stylist, and politician, Shāh Ṭāhir, surnamed Dakkanī and Ḥusaynī. It would be very interesting to study every side of his activities. This, however, would carry us too far; the present note is only intended to draw attention to quite an unexpected circumstance which presents this already extraordinary historical figure in a still more extraordinary light: some materials, recently discovered in Badakhshan, reveal that in reality he was regarded as an Ismaili Imam, a successor of the khudāwands of Alamūt, in a schismatic line of the Imams, which became extinct about two hundred years ago.
The Alf Trisar Suialia “The Thousand and Twelve Questions”
Authors: Drower E. S.
Published: March 2011

The Manuscripts.—The only copy of this text that I have seen in Europe is Code Sabéen 16 in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. Berlin has no copy, and as both Lidzbarski and Nöldeke quote from the Paris MS., it was, apparently, the only copy to which they had access. It, however, has not all the texts which compose the miscellany, as I found when I compared it with the rolls in my possession; for, like most of the longer Mandæan books, the Alf Trisar Šuialia is not a single composition, but a collection of writings or fragments under the title of one of the texts incorporated. I have two copies of the roll, and in both the first part of the text has suffered through much recopying. The outer convolutions of a roll suffer more from wear and tear than the inner, and hence one rarely finds an old MS. roll that does not show traces of dilapidation and repair in the earlier portion. When reed huts catch fire, an accident which often occurs, the outer layers alone become charred, as the fire dies down quickly, and the smouldering roll is easily rescued from the ashes.
On the Sogdian Vessantara Jātaka
Authors: Gershevitch Ilya
Published: March 2011

The publication by Benveniste of the facsimiles of all Sogdian manuscripts preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale (Monumenta Linguarum Asiae Maioris, vol. iii, Codices Sogdiani, Copenhagen, 1940) enables us to check the correctness of Gauthiot's reading of the Vessantara Jātaka (published in JA., 1912, 163–193, 430–510). Since most people interested in Sogdian are more likely at first to try to read the texts so far unpublished than to compare the original with texts already published, it seems convenient to give a list of the comparatively few misreadings or misprints that have been noticed in Gauthiot's edition. I have also thought it useful to confirm the reading of spellings which one would have suspected to be misprints. Thirdly, there will be found a few attempts at explaining unclear words or passages. Here and there I have made use of Dr. Henning's kind permission to quote from his photographs of unpublished texts.
A Lecture on the Sculpture of Indochina, Siam, and Java
Authors: Gordine Dora
Published: March 2011

The Director (Sir Kichard Winstedt) introduced this sculptor to a large audience of members of this Society and of the Royal Central Asian Society in the following words: “Those who have seen Dora Gordine's sculpture in London or Paris, at the Tate Gallery or at London University, in Achimoto or Singapore, will know that they are to listen to a real artist. She is not one of those acrobats of art, who tickle a public too amused by novelty to appraise the antics of artists as Dr. Johnson appraised the antics of a dog walking on his hind-legs: ‘it is not well done, but one is surprised to find it done at all.’ Eccentricities in modern art are the now belated relics of revolt from realistic representation. Greek reason, fascinated at discovering itself, came to ignore other faculties of the human spirit, and left the world the doubtful legacy of a specious realism. It substituted for the emotional interpretation of the individual sculptor a cold art of formal rules and ideal types. To-day, too, in spite of the modern reaction against the tyranny of reason even the surrealist thinks too much and sees and feels too little. ‘You are an artist,’ Tchekov wrote to Gorki, ‘you can feel superbly. You are plastic, that is, when you describe a thing, you see and touch it with your hands. That is real art.’ Dora Gordine's mind, like that of every genuine artist, is, in Tchekov's phrase, plastic, so that she is acutely aware of the perfection of modulated planes in Maillol's best work, of the tense vitality beneath the apparent simplicity of an archaic Greek κρη, and of the vibrant rhythm of Hindu masterpieces. Feeling superbly, she can interpret sensations that admit of no equivocation.
Art. II.—Chronology of the Medes, from the Reign of Deioces to the Reign of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, or Darius the Mede
Authors: Bosanquet I. W.
Published: March 2011

The origin and duration of the empire of the Medes, which occupied 80 important a position in early Asiatic history, has been the subject of attention to many recent writers. The Lectures of Niebuhr on the Medes and Persians are probably familiar to us all. Dr. Leonard Schmitz, the translator of Niebuhr's works, has recently published his matured views on the same subject. Mr. Johannes Von Gumpach in 1852, Professor Brandis in 1853, and Jacob Kruger in 1856, have also expressed their views upon Median history and chronology; and within the last twelve months, the works of Marcus Von Niebuhr on Assyrian and Babylonian history, and the translation of Herodotus by the Rev. George Rawlinson, have appeared, embracing and commenting upon the early history of the Medes.
Art. VIII.—Traits of Indian Character
Authors: Sykes
Published: March 2011

It is less my object in the present paper to give national characteristics than traits of individual character. To attempt the Former with the twenty one nations and twenty-one languages of India, and in the absence of trustworthy history, could only mislead, but with the latter, the richness of the field offers the assurance of a plentiful harvest. Nevertheless, as the twenty-one nations belong to the great family of man, there will necessarily be certain features common to them all, and I will give a running commentary upon such of these common features as occur to me. And, first, with respect to the long-received and constantly-iepeated opinion of Western nations, of the immutability of the customs, habits, and opinions, whether religious or moral, of the nations of India; or at least of the Hindús. No doubt since the institution of caste, classes of men have been fettered and confined within certain rules, prescribing to them not only modes of action, but modes of thought. Nevertheless, we find that natural impulses, by leading to the irregular intercourse of the sexes, have broken down these conventional barriers, and that state of society which comprised only four great divisions, Brahman, Rajpút, Vaisya, and Sudra, has ramified into scores of castes, each with its own exclusiveness, its own habits, its own polemics, and its own intermarriage limitations. Here has been ceaseless change, and ceaselessly is it going on.
ART. XVI.—On an Ancient Inscription in the Neu-chih Language
Authors: Wylie A.
Published: March 2011

An indigenous record of the nomade tribes of Tartary, who shook the world with their conquests during the middle ages, would no doubt form an interesting episode in universal history. Although the Mongols made their power to be felt from east to west, comparatively little was known in Europe of their actual condition; but that little is sufficient to stimulate curiosity, and while the names of Genghiz and Tamerlane have gained a world-wide celebrity, very much that pertains to their people, as a nation and as individuals, is left to be filled up by the imagination. Tokens of former grandeur are still to be met with in the northern wilds, suggesting to the mind of the traveller a host of questions, which receive no satisfactory solution from the erratic nomades who inhabit those sterile regions. How many monarchies were overthrown by these children of the desert; how many kingdoms reduced to desolation; how many nations subdued, their power broken, and their inhabitants dispersed ? Questions allied to something higher than the mere inquisitive faculty attach to some of these points; and, while we scan the débris of bye-gone generations, we are impelled by the conviction that all efforts in that direction are auxiliary to the more mature knowledge of the history of the human racé.
Some Remarks on Free Will and Predestination in Islam, together with a translation of the Kitabu-l Qadar from the Sahih of al-Bukhari
Authors: Guillaume Alfred
Published: March 2011

The problem of reconciling man's free will with God's omnipotent will and prescience has exercised the minds of the theologians of those religions which claim to present an almighty and a moral god to their votaries. In the following pages my aim is to show how the Muhammadan dogma of Determinism, despite the revolt of the most vigorous thinkers of the early Muslim church, was developed and consolidated; to indicate in more detail than earlier writers how dependent that reaction was on Byzantine Christianity; and how completely has been put to flight by in the traditions universally accepted as authentic.
The Religion of Ahmad Shah Bahmani
Authors: Haig Wolseley
Published: March 2011

Firita records that Yūsuf ‘Ādil āh of Bījāpūr, the founder of the ‘Ādil āhī dynasty, on learning that āh Ismā‘īl I, Ṣafavī (1502–24), had established the ī‘ah religion in Persia, caused the call to prayer and the ut̤bah to be recited, in the month of Ẕi-’l. Ḥijjah, a.h. 908 (June–July, 1502), in the ī‘ah form, and attempted to establish that faith as the state religion of Bījāpūr. He adds that Yūsuf was the first sovereign in India to make such an attempt. This does not necessarily mean that he was the first ī‘ah monarch in India. All that it means is that he was the first monarch of that religion who attempted to force his people to conform to his own faith.
Art. XI.—On the Ante-Brahmanical Worship of the Hindús in the Dekhan
Authors: Stephenson John
Published: March 2011

In former notices on this subject, I have given probable reasons for believing, that those objects of worship among the Hindús which by custom are denied the use of temples—denominated demons by the Brahmans, which do not require the aid of Brahmans for the celebration of the rites by which they are honoured, and even if at all venerated by them have the worship paid them represented as if it were a boon given to Rakshas, slain by some one or other of the Brahmanical gods,—were adored prior to the ascendency of the priestly caste in this part of India.
Chola Invasion of Bengal
Authors: Banerji A. C.
Published: March 2011

The latter part of the tenth century of the Christian era gradually ushered in a new epoch in the history of India. In northern India the old kingdoms, which had dominated the political arena so long, made their exit, and new powers rose to take their place. The struggle between the Gurjaras and the Rāshṭrakuṭas ended fatally for both the contending parties. The great empire of Bhoja and Mahendrapāla had shrunk into the little principality of Kanauj. Its place was taken by the Chāndellas, the Haihayas, and the Chāhamānas, etc. The Pāla empire, too, in eastern India, had fallen on evil days. The land south of the Vindhyas was no exception from this. The Cholas of Tanjore who were to reach the height of their glory in the succeeding century, were gradually consolidating their position in the extreme south. While a new Chālukya dynasty claiming relationship with the older one eclipsed the supremacy of the Rāshṭrakuṭas in the Deccan. The history of the tenth and eleventh century a.d. is full of internecine warfare, which paved the way for Muslim conquest of India.
A Note on the Allahabad Pillar of Aśoka
Authors: Sahib C. S. Krishnaswamy Rao , Ghosh Amalananda
Published: March 2011

It is a fact that hardly requires repetition that one of the edicts on the pillar of Aśoka standing inside Akbar's fort at Allahabad is addressed to the Mahāmātras of Kauśāmbī (modern Kosam on the bank of the Jamna, about thirty miles from Allahabad) whence it was removed to Allahabad by some king. Cunningham suggested that Firūz Shāh, who is known to have removed two other Aśokan columns to Delhi from Meerut (Mīrath) and Topra, was the author also of this removal from Kosam to Allahabad. On this Hultzsch makes the following remarks: “But while Delhi was the capital of Firōz Shāh, Allahabad was founded, or rather re-founded two centuries after him by Akbar. This ruler may have removed from Kōsam the Allahabad pillar, on which the inscriptions of his favourite Bīrbal and of his son Jahāngīr are engraved. In this case the pillar would have been still standing at Kōsam when the inscription of Samudragupta was incised on it.” The divergence between the views of these two scholars makes the subject worthy of a fresh study.
The Cas-chrom v. the Lei-ssŭ
Authors: Hopkins L. C.
Published: March 2011

The four unfamiliar syllables in the title of this paper seemed as originally written so like the heading of some important appeal from one of the less known Colonies to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, that a more informative sub-title appeared advisable.
An Important Interpretation in the Rāma-carita-Mānasa Regarding its Date
Authors: Gupta Mata Prasad
Published: March 2011

The verses that give the date of composition of the poem are the 34th and 35th dohās of the Bālakāṇḍa in Rāmadāsa Gaur's edition, and may be translated as follows:—

“Having so removed all doubts,

And having placed on my head the pollen-dust of my master's lotus-feet,

I again pray to all with joined palms

That I may not be blamed as I make this Tale.