bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Art. XI.—Summary of the Geology of Southern India
Authors: Captain Newbold
Published: March 2011

Geographical Position.—About nine miles inland of Pondicherry on the Coromandel coast, Lat. 11° 56′ N., are beds of limestone rising in gentle undulations, and running in a S.E. by E. direction, almost parallel with the coast, for a distance, as far as I was able to trace, of about four or fire miles. Of these strata no detailed account had been published up to the date of my visit in March, 1840. They are seen to crop out near the villages of Sydapett, Carassoo, Coolypett, and Vurdavoor, from a superincumbent tertiary lateritic grit imbedding large quantities of silicified wood, and of which a description has been given by Lieutenant Warren: who has, however, overlooked the fossil limestone. The beds of the latter dip very slightly easterly. The greater part of the surface of the limestone is concealed by the soil and vegetation. A short distance further towards the west it is again covered by beds of the silicified wood deposit, and both are underlaid by plutonic and hypogene rocks, which crop out near the village of Trivicary, and form the western boundary of the fossiliferous beds. Rolled and angular fragments of the hypogene rocks are scattered here and there over the limestone, as well as fragments from the silicified wood beds, and from the limestone itself; the surface of the latter has evidently been exposed by the denudation of the superincumbent beds. It appears in surface-worn tables traversed by innumerable fissures.
Art. XII.—The Chenchwars; a wild Tribe, inhabiting the Forests of the Eastern Ghauts
Authors: Captain Newbold
Published: March 2011

Since the year 1836 I have occasionally come in contact with a singular half-savage race of aborigines in Southern India, and have lately sent them a few questions, which, with their answers, I have the pleasure to forward to the Society. The information, though scanty, ia full of interest, as relating to the remnants of one of the many races that inhabited India prior to the Brahmanical invasion, by which it is more than probable they were compelled to flee to the rocks and caves for shelter, stigmatised in Hindu annals as demons and rakshasas.
Art. XVIII.—Memorandum on certain Fossils, more particularly a new Ruminant found at the Island of Perim, in the Gulf of Cambay
Authors: Bettington Albemarle
Published: March 2011

The fact that fossils are found at Perim has been noticed by Baron Hugel, Captain Fulljames, and others.

In a paper published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, May, 1836, Captain Fulljames, who has obtained certain of these fossils, has accurately described the general appearance of the island, and the matrix in which the greater portion of the fossils are found, viz., a conglomerate of sandstone, clay, and silex. In addition to what has been written on the subject, I would observe, that the appearance of the island at the ebb of spring tides is extraordinary; and accounts for, if it will not countenance, the legend, that Perim was formerly connected with the main.
Art. XX.—Visit to the Bitter Lakes, Isthmus of Suez, by the bed of the ancient Canal of Nechos, the “Khalij al Kadim” of the Arabs, in June, 1842
Authors: Captain Newbold
Published: March 2011

It will hardly be necessary to premise that the Red Sea and Mediterranean are separated by a strip of desert about seventy-five miles across. The ancient kings of Egypt, struck with the vast importance of uniting the navigation of the two seas, at an early period attempted this great work. Nechos II., the Necho of Scripture, and son of Psammeticus, after defeating the Assyrians, and slaying Josiah king of Judah, B.C. 610, commenced a canal that was to unite the Red Sea with the Pelusiac or eastern branch of the Nile, which communicated with the Mediterranean, almost directly north from the present Suez, near the ancient city of Pelusium. Some give it a much greater antiquity, attributing it to the great Sesostris, or Rhameses III., the founder, among other vast works, of the Giant Hall of Columns of the Palace at Carnac, and under whose reign Egypt arrived at her zenith of power and prosperity. This canal is supposed by Herodotus to have joined the Nile near the old Bubastis, to have been filled by the water of the river, and to have been completed, or rather continued, by Darius Hystaspes. Diodorus Siculus states it to have been finished by Ptolemy II. Herodotus tells us that the first works, which cost 120,000 men their lives, were arrested in their progress by the oracle which Nechos consulted, and which declared that the canal would open Egypt to foreign invasion. Its width was calculated by Strabo at one hundred and fifty feet, and by Pliny at one hundred feet. Herodotus informs us, it was broad enough to admit two triremes to move abreast, and that it required four days for a vessel to pass through it. Strabo says, it was provided with water-gates (locks?) and broad enough to admit ships of the largest class. Pliny calculates its depth at thirty feet.
ART. IX.—Replies to Queries in relation to China, Proposed by Sir G. T. Staunton, Bart., M.P., in the year 1846
Authors: Gutzlaff C.
Published: March 2011

1. What are the geographical features and geological characters of your distriot?

The ports with which I am most acquainted are, Hong-Kong, Chusan, and Ningpo.

Hong-Kong and the adjacent district of Singan consists of red earth mixed up with gravel and disintegrated granite, interspersed with large masses of granite. The fertile parts are formed by deposits of alluvial soil in the valleys, of which there are many on the shore opposite Hong-Kong, between ridges of mountains stretching along the whole coast.—Chusan has a loamy soil, the hills being covered nearly to the top with black earth, and is with very few exceptions productive. Sandstone is found in the north-western parts of the island, but not in any large quantity. The writer has never seen any volcanic remains, as some English residents on the spot are said to have found, thereby suggesting the idea that this group is a continuation of the Japan Islands.—The soil around Ningpo is still more fertile than that of Chusan, the environs forming a very extensive valley, with mountains at a considerable distance. The. whole is well watered, both by nature and art, and it presents the most delightful views, and one aspect of teeming fertility.
Art. X.—On the Inscriptions of Assyria and Babylonia
Authors: Rawlinson H. C.
Published: March 2011

When I drew up the following Notes upon the Inscriptions of Babylonia and Assyria, and read them at the Royal Asiatic Society's Meetings of January 19th, and February 16th, I had no intention of publishing them in their present form. I merely wished, as much interest had been excited by the exhibition of the Nineveh marbles, to satisfy public curiosity, by presenting at once, and in a popular shape, a general view of the results at which I had arrived in my labours on the Inscriptions; and I judged that this object would be more conveniently attained by oral communication than by publication in the pages of a Scientific Journal. At the same time, of course, I proposed to follow up the oral communication, by publishing with the least practicable delay, a full exposition of the machinery which I had employed both for deciphering and rendering intelligible the Inscriptions, and during the interval which would thus elapse between announcement and proof, I trusted that, if inquiry were not altogether suspended, philologers and palaeographers would, at any rate, refrain from pronouncing upon the validity of my system of interpretation.
Art. III.—Adventures of a Japanese Sailor in the Malay Archipelago, a.d. 1764 to 1771
Authors: Aston W. G.
Published: March 2011

The following narrative is abridged from a Japanese book called “Nankai Kibun” (Notes of the Southern Ocean), which records the examination by the officials of Ohikuzen in Kiushiu, of a native of that province, named Magotarō, who had been cast away on an island near Mindanao, and, after a captivity of seven years, was ultimately brought back to Japan in a Dutch ship.
Art. IV.—Methods of Archæological Excavation in India
Authors: Rea A.
Published: March 2011

After devoting two successive seasons to investigating some of the Buddhist mounds in the Krishna and Godavari districts of the Madras Presidency, and having on occasions conducted excavations at various other places, the experience thus gained may be of service, if placed at the disposal of those whose duty or pleasure it is to conduct such interesting work.
Art. XIII.—Women Leaders of the Buddhist Reformation
Authors: Bode Mabel
Published: March 2011

Some years ago the late Dr. Trenckner made a transcript of an important Pāli work, the commentary on the Aṇnguttara Nikāya, called Manoratha Pūraṇī (“Wish-Fulfiller”), written by the great Buddhist commentator, Buddhagosha. When this work is added, by-and-bye, to the list of Pāli Texts already published, its value, as a further contribution to our knowledge of early Buddhism, will hardly need putting forward—the book will speak for itself. Meanwhile, as it has not yet been edited, the following short extract from the Text, accompanied by a translation, may not be without interest.
Art. VI.—Mr. Justice Telang
Authors: West Raymond
Published: March 2011

No death in India in the present generation has been more universally deplored than that of the Honourable Mr. Justice Kasinath Trimbak Telang. This widespread regret gives us in some sense a measure of his great worth to his country and to learning, of his personal charm, and of the influence he exercised in helping unnumbered disciples to take larger views and lead purer and nobler lives. Amid the manifold activities to which the needs of life and his public spirit led him, his high aims and his passionate desire for the moral elevation of his countrymen gave to his conversation and character a loftiness, a singleness of purpose, and a tender consideration for the weaknesses of others which, combined with his wide range of information and his penetrating intelligence, made his presence almost fascinating to all for whom he lifted the veil of his reserve. It was a reserve consistent with a polished urbanity, and even outside the veil there were ample stores to furnish forth the discussion of all common topics on the accepted lines; but his inner nature was in a great degree that of a meditative Saint enamoured of purity and holiness, and filled with longing aspirations for the progress of mankind, but especially of the Hindus, towards perfection in knowledge, wisdom, and purpose.
Art. XIII.—The Nigrodha-miga-Jātaka and the Life of St. Eustathius Placidus
Authors: Gaster M.
Published: March 2011

In connection with the story of Paṭācārā I had occasion to refer (J.R.A.S. 1893, pp. 869–871) to a series of parallels in Eastern and Western literature, one of which was the life of St. Eustathius Placidus. The second half of this Vita contained those incidents which made me connect it with the cycle of which Paṭācārā seemed to be the prototype. The first half, however, was totally different, and must have been added to the other portion by the compiler of the Life. That “Life” was worthy of being put up as an example to the pious, which contained a greater number of temptations successfully withstood, of sufferings meekly borne, of miracles wondrously wrought. Therefore the miraculous and pathetic portions were enlarged and specially dwelt upon.
Art. XIX.—On Certain Features of Social Differentiation in India
Authors: Baines J. A.
Published: March 2011

The question of caste, with a branch of which I am to deal, is, I need hardly observe, the most important of all social subjects connected with India. As the most prominent feature in the organization of the community, it enters into every ramification of the administration, and these, as we all know, are many. As admittedly the mainstay of the religious belief of the majority of the population, it has received a place in the sacred lore of the priesthood such has been given to no similar institution in any other known system; and on this consideration, therefore, it has been discussed for the last century and more with all the scholarship and power of laborious investigation that are associated with the great names that adorn the roll of the Asiatic Society.
Art. XXII.—The

Kh

aláṣat - at - Tawáríkh, or Essence of History; being the description and history of India as told by a Hindu two hundred years ago
Authors: Beveridge H.
Published: March 2011

The Khaláṣat-at-Tawáríkh is a history of India from the days of the Pandus and Kurus down to the defeat of Dárá Shikoh and the beginning of the reign of Aurangzeb. It was written two hundred years ago (1695–96) by an upcountry Hindu, whose name has been variously given as Sanjan, Suján, Saján, Shuján, and Subhán Rái. He does not name himself in his history, but he tells us that he was a native of Batála, in the Panjáb, and that he had been from his youth up in the employment of high officials as a munshi or secretary. Apparently he was a kshatriya by caste, but in my opinion he was almost, if not quite, a Sikh by religion.
Art. XXIV.—The Babylonian Chronicle
Authors: Pinches Theo. G.
Published: March 2011

In the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for October, 1887 (p. 655), I gave the text of a tablet of the Babylonian Chronicle referring to the period immediately following 747 B.C. Since then I have copied and studied the rather difficult text of an earlier tablet of the series, of which I now give a rendering, accompanied by the Babylonian text, a transcription, and notes.
Art. X.–An unpublished Valabhī Copper-plate Inscription of King Dhruvasena I
Authors: Bloch Th.
Published: March 2011

The two copper-plates from which the subjoined transcript has been made were entrusted by Dr. Burgess to Professor Bühler for publication, and he has kindly allowed me to edit them. They are now in the British Museum.
Art. XI.—The History of Kilwa
Authors: Strong S. Arthur
Published: March 2011

It would seem at first sight as if the history of a small African island were hardly worth the trouble of editing in its original and not very stylish Arabic dress. But it was a saying of Scaliger's that omnis historia bona, and no people seem to have realized the truth of this more than the Arabs. An event once recorded simply as and because it happened, may by the advance of time be brought into new clearness and significance. Once in possession of the fact we can agree upon the fiction at our leisure. And from this point of view we have every reason to be grateful that the influence of Islam tended to narrative rather than criticism, to veracity rather than profundity. In the present instance we have a record, scanty indeed and prosaic, but one to which in the excitement of the scramble for Africa we can hardly be indifferent. It is true that the author, after a fashion not uncommon in the East, conducts us to the crisis and turning-point of his story, and then suddenly relapses into silence, but not before we have seen and recognized “the intruder on his ancient home.” The arrival of Vasco da Gama opens a new chapter of history, of which, with its complications and surprises, we have not yet come to the end.
Note on the Ganaratnamahodadhi
Authors: Buhler G.
Published: March 2011

Note on the Gaṇaratnamahodadhi.

By Q. Bühler.

Page 247, line 26, for “Tānūnāyakasuta” read "Jānūo.”

Page 248, line 2, for “Tānū Nāyaka” read “Jānū”

Page 248, line 12, “The date corresponds to Wednesday, November 7, 1229 a.d.”
Art. VIII.—On the Origin of the Ancient Northern Constellation-figures
Authors: Brown Robert
Published: March 2011

Amongst the most remarkable instances of the result of careful observation and systematized thought which Western Asia has given to the world at large, are the Signs of the Zodiac, and the ancient extra-zodiacal constellation-figures, northern and southern; and by ‘ancient’ I mean those which have been enshrined for all future time in thePhainomenaof Aratos. Of the Twelve Signs I shall only speak incidentally. It is now many years since Ideler and Guigniaut, contrary to the views of Letronne, arrived at the correct conclusion that the Signs of the Zodiac came, with so much else of archaic thought and civilization, from, the Euphrates Valley; and, having firmly established themselves in Hellenic usage, were afterwards carried by Greek conquerors as far as India in the east and Egypt in the south. But, although modern research has supplied an immense amount of material for the purpose, it is remarkable that the classic work of Ideler still gives the best account of the constellation-figures and their various stars. Surely, then, it is time that an effort was made to utilize in a connected form some at least of the results of subsequent investigation; and, although the inquiry, like all such, is progressive, and, like all researches into the ancient and archaic past, is beset with numerous difficulties, yet the principles to be applied and the general outlines of the subject are clear and distinct.
Art. XI. — Notes on Alaṅkāra Literature
Authors: Jacob Colonel G. A.
Published: March 2011

The Alaṅkṅaraśāstra may be said to bear somewhat the same relation to the Plays and Poems that the Vedānta system does to the Upanishads, and the student of that general literature is not fully equipped without it. The most popular and probably the most generally useful work of this class is the Kāvyaprakása, and the main object of this paper is to assist the unlearned by indicating as far as possible the sources from which its illustrations were drawn. As, however, much of its material was derived from older treatises of the same kind, it will be desirable in the first instance to notice them very briefly in chronological order, especially as no such epitome exists at present; and in doing so I shall not only draw from my own resources, but also endeavour to bring together valuable items of information scattered about in Reports, Prefaces, Periodicals, and such like literature not always easy of access. The first section of the paper will, therefore, be devoted to Notes on the date and authorship of the Kāvyaprakāśa, and on the treatises which preceded it; and before that work itself is dealt with I hope to give the hitherto unpublished text of Udbhaṛa's short treatise, to which reference is made below.
Art. II.—The Archaeological Survey of Ceylon and its Work
Authors: Geiger W.
Published: March 2011

Amongst the many objects that occupied the Eleventh International Congress of Orientalists held at Paris, it had the opportunity of noticing also the admirable work done by the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon. According to a proposal which I made in the afternoon meeting of the Indian Section on September 10, the Congress accepted a resolution to express its warmest thanks to the British Government in Colombo for the varied and efficient assistance afforded to the historical inquiry about the island by publishing the Archaeological Reports, as well as by editing the Mahavamsa and similar documents. The Congress hoped also that the work which has been undertaken so auspiciously, will be continued by the Government, and carried out in the same manner. Now I beg to add a few remarks to that resolution, which may explain its origin and its purpose. These remarks are only caused by the anxious desire to make the work of the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon as useful as possible to the scientific world, and they are based upon the experiences which I myself had in making use of its publications for my own historical and linguistic studies.
Art. IV.—Alphabet for Languages not yet reduced to Writing
Authors: Morris Henry
Published: March 2011

The subject of Transliteration has lately occupied the attention of the Council of the Royal Asiatic Society. After careful consideration they gave their approval to the system for transliterating the alphabets of Oriental languages into the Roman character, which had been recommended by the Oriental Congress at Geneva in 1895; and after suggesting a few emendations, with the object of securing consistency and harmony in some comparatively unimportant details, commended it to the favourable attention of those Oriental scholars with whom they are connected, and over whom they have any influence. This seems, therefore, a good opportunity to make an effort for the introduction of a similar system among those who are engaged in the very arduous labour of reducing hitherto unwritten languages to writing. The number of such languages is great, and work among them is annually increasing. It is, perhaps, more necessary that an attempt at unanimity should be made in this instance even than in the case of languages which, like those of Oriental nations, themselves possess old and venerable alphabets. The characters of these alphabets have come down to us from a remote antiquity, have borne the tests of time and use, and have satisfied several generations of men who have long employed them; and, as a general rule, it is far better that they should be learned and used by European students and scholars than that they should be transliterated into the Roman or any other character. But the case of “illiterate” languages, if we may be allowed the terra, is quite different.
Art. IX.—Some Notes on the Literature and Doctrines of the Ḥurūfī Sect
Authors: Browne Edward G.
Published: March 2011

In my Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the Cambridge University Library (pp. 69–86) I described, at what may have seemed rather inordinate length, a work called the Jāvidān-i-Kabīr, which aroused my interest in the highest degree. The interest of this work, as I there pointed out, is twofold: it embodies very remarkable doctrines, apparently akin to those of the Isma'īlīs or Shī'ites of the “Sect of the Seven”; and considerable portions of it are written in a peculiar dialect of Persian which certainly merits a fuller study. Concerning the author of this work, Faẓlu'llāh b. Abī Muḥammad of Tabrīz, called “al-Ḥurūfī,” we know little (except what may be gleaned from his writings) beyond what is contained in the brief notice of Ibn Ḥajar al-'Asqalānī (d. a.h. 852), cited by Flügel at pp. vii–viii of the preface to the second volume of his edition of Hājī Khalfa. “Faẓlu'llāh,” says Ibn Ḥajar, “the son of Abū Muḥammad of Tabrīz, was one of those innovators who subject themselves to ascetic discipline. Imbued with heretical doctrine, he finally produced the sect known as the Ḥurūfīs [from ‘Letters’] pretending that the Letters [of the alphabet] were metamorphoses of men, together with many other idle and baseless fancies. He invited the Amīr Tīmūr the Lame [Tamerlane] to adopt his heresies, but he desired to slay him. And this came to the knowledge of his son (with whom he had sought refuge), and he struck off his head with his own hand.
Art. X.—The Language of Somáli-land
Authors: Cust Robert Needham
Published: March 2011

In the Eastern corner of North Africa is a country very little explored, the extreme Eastern Headland of which is called Cape Guardafui, known to the ancients as Aromáta Promontorum. The Region has a frontage to the Red Sea, and to the Indian Ocean, and its geographical position is in its favour. There is no Protestant Missionary Station within its boundaries: there is no portion of the Scriptures translated into the Language of the people.
Art. XII.—Tathāgata
Authors: Chalmers Robert
Published: March 2011

The precise meaning of this familiar title of the Buddha is still unsettled. As the word tathāgata is not used either in. the Upanishads or (so far as I am aware) in older Sanskrit writings, there exists no available evidence earlier than the Pāli Pitakas; and there its use is so common as to merit special investigation. Before submitting my own interpretation to the judgment of scholars, I propose to state the views already advanced by others, including the great scholar Buddhaghosa, and next to examine Pitaka passages in which the title tathāgata occurs.
Art. XXVI.—Tārī

kh

s or Eastern Chronograms
Authors: Rodgers C. J.
Published: March 2011

It is well known that every letter in the Persian alphabet has a numerical value. These values are perfectly conventional. They are as follows:—
Art. XXIX.—The Northern Frontagers of China
Authors: Howorth Henry H.
Published: March 2011

In a series of papers which by the favour of the Asiatic Society I have been able to publish in its transactions, I have endeavoured to trace the various revolutions which have taken place among the tribes on the north of China, and I have thought it most convenient in doing so to begin with the latest of these race movements and changes and to gradually work back to earlier times. I should like to continue this work somewhat further, and propose in the following memoir to give an account of the history of an area which has greatly occupied English travellers and students during recent years, and whose history is still very obscure: I mean the great district bounded on the north by the so-called Celestial Mountains, the Tien Shan of the Chinese, and on the south by the Kien Lung Range. This district is generally known as Eastern Turkestan, and I propose to collect in this paper what I can find of the history of its Turkish, as distinguished from its Mongol, masters from the ninth to the sixteenth century.
Art. XXX.—The Syro-Armenian Dialect
Authors: Margoliouth D. S.
Published: March 2011

That Armenian was at one time written in Syriac characters is asserted by writers on Armenian antiquities, of whom one, Indjidjean, whose work appeared at Venice in 1835, says: “We hear that even to this day Armenian books are occasionally found written in Syriac letters; and Simon Assemani, one of the professors at Padua, assured us that he had seen such a MS.” It is unfortunate that Indjidjean gives no further information about this MS., for in no other work that is easily accessible does it seem possible to find out anything about either the method of transliteration or the dialect of Armenian that is so written. It would seem therefore that MSS. of this character are either wholly unknown hitherto in Europe, or, at any rate, concealed; and I am confirmed in that opinion by the fact that, although the last few years have produced a copious literature3 on the origin of the Armenian alphabet, none of the writers who have contributed to it have taken any notice of Syro-Armenian MSS. of this character are either wholly unknown hitherto in Europe, or, at any rate, concealed; and I am confirmed in that opinion by the fact that, although the last few years have produced a copious literature on the origin of the Armenian alphabet, none of the writers who have contributed to it have taken any notice of Syro-Armenian MSS. Since some of these authors argue on a priori grounds that the Armenians must have used the Phoenician alphabet between the time when they employed Cuneiform and the invention of their own alphabet, they could scarcely have neglected the practical light which the Syro-Armenian writing throws on the applicability of the Semitic alphabet to Armenian, had it been known to them.
Art. I.—Biographies of Persian Poets contained in Ch. V, § 6, of the Táríkh-i-Guzída, or “Select History,” of Ḥamdu'lláh Mustawfí of Qazwín
Authors: Browne Edward G.
Published: March 2011

[Fakhru'd-Dín Fatḥu'lláh], the brother of the author of this work (may his life be long!), has composed some fine odes. The following is written in imitation of Awḥadí:—
Art. V.—Description of an Arabic Manuscript bought in Egypt 1898–1900 a.d.
Authors: Guest A. R.
Published: March 2011

The manuscript consists of 827 folios with two detached leaves. The paper on which it is written measures 10 in. by 7 ½ in., and is generally creamy white and thick. A few sheets are coloured brown, and there are a few sheets of very thin paper.
Art. VI.—Notes on Indian Coins and Seals. Part IV. Indian Seals and Clay Impressions
Authors: Rapson E. J.
Published: March 2011

Clay impressions bearing the well-known Buddhist formula, Ye dharmā hetuprabhavā, etc., are well known and have often been published. The specimens to be described in the present article seem to be partly non-religious—simply the signets of individuals—and partly Hindu (Vaiṣṇava or Śaiva). The last-named class, represented here chiefly by a number of specimens belonging to Mr. L. White King, seems hitherto to have attracted little or no notice.
The Historical Position of Ramananda
Authors: Farquhar J. N.
Published: March 2011

I was fortunate enough to be able to visit the great Kumbh Mela at Allahabad in February, 1918. There I found that Śaṅkara's Daśnāmī sannyāsīs were more numerous than any other group of ascetics, and that next to them in numbers came the Rāmānandī Vairāgīs. This illustrates the fact that in the history of religion in North India Rāmānanda is one of the very greatest figures. Yet very little is known about him with certainty. Hitherto his date, life, sect, teaching, attitude to caste have all been uncertain. Is it possible to-day to throw any light upon his historical position?

We take his date first. The traditional dates are 1299–1410. The great age to which this makes him live is at least suspicious, so that the statement requires to be tested; and since his immediate predecessors and all his chief disciples are known, we may be able from their chronological position to realize when he lived.
Identification of the “Ka-p'i-li country” of Chinese Authors
Authors: Smith Vincent A.
Published: March 2011

Watters, when discussing various passages in Chinese literature referring to Kapilavastu, the early home of Gautama Buddha, or to other localities with similar names (JRAS. 1898, pp. 539, 540), observed that “for the names Kapila and Kapilavastu the Chinese seem to have obtained from their foreign teachers several explanations more or less exact”.
Assyrian Lexicographical Notes
Authors: Langdon S.
Published: March 2011

The Babylonians divided the night into three watches, to which they gave the names maṣṣartu bararîtu, evening watch, maṣṣartu ḳablîtu, midnight watch, maṣṣarti šat urri, morning watch. Bararîtu and kablîtu are adjectives in this construction. The full forms occur rarely as in Ebeling, Religiöse Keilschrifttexte aus Assur, No. 58, Rev. 7 ; No. 91, Rev. 21–2. Ordinarily maṣṣartu is omiṭted in the Semitic texts and bararîtu, ḳablîtu are treated as nouns. So in the syllabars, where the Sumerian equivalents contain the word ennun = maṣṣartu, the noun for “ watch ” is invariably omitted.
A Semi-official Defence of Islam
Authors: Mingana A.
Published: March 2011

In cataloguing the Oriental MSS. of the John Rylands Library, I came across an unknown and semi-official defence of Islam. The MS, containing it is in some places in a bad state of preservation, but apart from about ten words which have completely faḍed away, the text has been read and translated, and it is hoped that the book, accompanied by a critical apparatus, will shortly be published by the Governors of the Library at the Manchester University Press.
Note on an apparently unique Manuscript History of the Safawi Dynasty of Persia
Authors: Browne Edward G.
Published: March 2011

In my article on “The Persian Manuscripts of the late Sir Albert Houtum-Schindler, K.C.I.E.”, published in the JRAS. of October, 1917, pp. 657–94, brief mention was made (on p. 672) of a book entitled Silsilatu'n-Nasdb-i-Ṣafawiyya, on the genealogy and history of the Ṣafawís. I can find no notice of another copy, and as the work is of considerable interest and importance, I think that a somewhat fuller account of its scope and contents may be acceptable to students of Persian history.
Assyrian Lexicographical Notes
Authors: Langdon S.
Published: March 2011

This Semitic root occurs regularly in Hebrew, Phœnician, and Aramaic in the form r-š-p, although Syriac agrees with Assyrian in having the metathesis š-r-b. The regular Semitic form of this root exists in Assyrian in the word raššubatu, flame, conflagration, brilliancy, terror, and is the cognate of Hebrew réšeph. The root rašābu, blaze, has been entered in the lexicons with the meaning “be powerful, terrible”, and the error still persists, although Jensen indicated the correct root of rašābu, rašbu, and rašubbu, blazing, in his Mythen und Epen, 580. A passage which finally disposes of the old error is CT. 19, 22, 11, izi ú-gug-ga = rà-šub-bat īšāti, Syn. of kibbat īšāti, flame of fire. The syllable ra is written with the sign UD, which has the value ra, RA. 10, 74, 18. But it is a rare value and consequently the passage was never understood. The Sumerian word ugug is a derivative of the root gug, to burn.
Taxila Silver-scroll Inscription
Authors: Deb Harit Krishna
Published: March 2011

In Part III of last year's JRAS. (pp. 319–24), Mr. Ramā Prasād Chanda has well summed up the controversy regarding Sir John Marshall's explanation of the word ayasa in the Taxila silver-scroll inscription recently discovered by that eminent archæologist. Mr. Chanda has, however, in his defence of Sir John, put forward arguments which, I submit, are far from convincing. I propose, therefore, to examine them in the following note.
An Unidentified Territory of Southern India
Authors: Aiyer K. V. Subrahmanya
Published: March 2011

Free intercourse with Malabar was long denied to the rest of Southern India by the formidable natural obstacle of the Western Ghats with their impenetrable fastnesses and few passes. Owing chiefly to this circumstance that part of the country remained to a great extent isolated and secure from frequent invasions by other southern powers. This isolation, coupled with the conservative nature of the people of this tract, accounts for the preservation intact of several ancient customs of the Indians. Even in later times, whenever there had been any general disaster affecting the whole of the Dekhan, such as an invasion by the Muhammadan kings of the Khilji and Taghlak lines, the west coast afforded a safe asylum to the rest of the south. There is nothing unnatural in the following exclamation of the poet-composer of the Tiruvālaṅgāḍu plates of the eleventh century a.d.:—

“Excepting Paramēśvara, who else in this world could contemplate even in mind the humiliation of that country which is protected by the glory of the crest jewel of the Bhrgu race (i.e. Paraśu-Rāma) and the austerities of its chiefs, and which had not been injured by enemies.”
The Provision of Funds for the East India Company's Trade at Canton during the Eighteenth Century
Authors: Morse H. B.
Published: March 2011

The dominating factor in the China trade for over two centuries was the problem of “laying down the dollar”. The dollar was not the currency of China; but during those two centuries—positively to 1834, and practically to 1857— it was the token by which the pound sterling and the woollen cloths of England were converted into the taels of silver and the silks and teas of China; and on the answer to the question whether the dollar delivered to the Company's treasury at Canton had cost to lay down four shillings, or five, or six, might depend the degree of profit on the round voyage.
The Sale of a Priesthood
Authors: Driver G. R.
Published: March 2011

The tablet of which I here give a text and translation was given by Col. Stevenson, of the Ordnance in Mesopotamia; to Professor Langdon, to whom I am indebted for much help in its decipherment. It was found at Wannah wa-Ṣadûm, a group of mounds in S. Babylonia, situated on the Euphrates, to the west of Nippur, and a little to the south-west of Daghara, where other isolated inscriptions of the reigns of Narâm-Sin and Nebuchadrezzar II concerning Marad have already been found.
The Earliest Annals of Mysore
Authors: Rice Lewis
Published: March 2011

The earliest annals of Mysore are of much interest, and round up a critical period of Indian history long wanting in authentic records. The inscriptions discovered at Śravana Bejgola in Mysore have brought to light detailed accounts of events that transpired in connexion with Chandragupta, contemporary with Alexander the Great, and founder of the Maurya dynasty. Moreover, we have in conjunction with him full notices of Bhadrabahu, the greatest leader of the Jains at the time. Opinions have been credulous as to their value, but their validity is coming to be recognized.
The South Indian Tradition of the Apostle Thomas
Authors: Thoma P. J.
Published: March 2011

Although a great deal has been written concerning St. Thomas's connexion with India, it has so far resulted only in barren controversies and inchoate theories. The finding of the “Gondophares.” coins in the Cabul region raised great hopes of a final settlement of the problem; but apart from the (itself doubtful) identification of a single name in the Ada Thomae, it has shed little light on the mysteries of Christian origins in India. Nay, it has had positively injurious results, inasmuch as it diverted the attention of scholars into fields far remote from the familiar haunts of the Thomistic tradition. South India is the quarter from which we should expect fresh evidence: the north has no known claims to any connexion with the Apostle. In the south live the Christians of St. Thomas—the so-called “Syrians” who for more than a thousand years have upheld their descent from the Apostle's disciples. There also we have what has been believed from immemorial antiquity to be the tomb of St. Thomas, with various lithic remains of pre-Portuguese Christianity around Madras. South India has a remarkably ancient tradition of St. Thomas; and it is a living tradition, not a dead legend. It can be traced back at least to the sixth century a.d., and it still lives in popular memories, not only of Christians, but of others not recognizing the claims of Christianity. The existence of this tradition is known and recognized; but no organized attempt has yet been made to explore it.
The Table-talk of Jalalu'ddin Rumi
Authors: Nicholson Reynold A.
Published: March 2011

The great poet, whose Mathnawí and Díwáni Shamsi Tabríz are well known to students of Persian mysticism, is said to be the author of a prose work entitled Fíhi má fíhi. Riḍá Qulí Khán mentions it in the preface to the Tabríz edition of the Díwán, remarking that it is addressed for the most part to Mu'ínu'ddín, the Parwána (Lord Chamberlain) of Rúm, that it is equivalent to 3,000 verses in extent, and that manuscripts are rare. I have not met with any further account of it. The only copies of which the existence has yet been announced are the two at Constantịnople referred to by M. Louis Massignon in his Bibliography of Ḥalláj, which was published last year. Since then, however, an Indian scholar, Mr. 'Abdu '1-Majíd, of Daryábád, Bara Banki, has brought to my notice three more copies, one in the Hyderabad State Library, one in the Rampur State Library, and one in Nawáb Sálár Jung's Library at Hyderabad, Deccan. Mr. 'Abdu'1-Majíd, who proposes to edit the Persian text, is having these MSS. transcribed for his own use, and a few weeks ago he was so kind as to lend me for a short period his copy of the manuscript belonging to the Hyderabad State Library. I am glad to take the opportunity of thanking him for this and other important services which he has rendered me in connexion with my work on the Mathnawí. So far as I can judge at present, the Fíhi má fíhi throws a good deal of light on the meaning of that immense and difficult poem; but the question is one that it would be premature to discuss now.
The Beginnings of Arabic Lexicography till the time of al-Jauhari, with special reference to the work of Ibn Duraid
Authors: Krenkow F.
Published: March 2011

The early beginnings of grammatical and lexicographical studies of the Arabic language are said to have been due to the desire to enable the many converts to Islam to understand the meanings of the Holy Book correctly as their languages differed and the Qur'ān contained many words and expressions which were by no means clear to the Arabs themselves. It is not surprising therefore to find that the chief of the early interpreters of the Qur'ān, Ibn 'Abbās, is stated to have been learned in “Lugha” i.e. lexicography or interpretation of words. The real home however, of these studies lay in the borderland towards Persia, in the newly founded towns of al-Baṣra and al-Kūufa. As the originator of these studies generally, Abul-Aswad ad-Du'ali is named. His work has not come down to us, but it can only have consisted of a few general notes. The man, if judged by the poems which have been preserved in a Dīwān edited by Nöldeke and Rescher, gives the impression of not being endowed with high ideals, but conceited beyond the measure of his own worth. As an example that circles existed in his time in which the display of strange words was appreciated, a poem rhyming upon the letter Dāl may serve, in which he defies his adversary to produce one upon the same rhyme.
Assyriological Notes
Authors: Smith Sidney
Published: March 2011

The copy of a new trilingual inscription of Darius on page 434 is taken from a photograph of a thin sheet of gold now in the possession of Mr. T. C. Zorab of Hamadan, who has very kindly given me permission to publish it. The tablet measures about 9 inches square, and seems to be of the same type as the foundation inscriptions on metal tablets of Warad Sin of Larsa, of Simat-Inninni, the wife of Rim-Sin, king of Larsa, of Tukulti-Ninurta I, and of Sargon II, though there is nothing in the inscription to prove that the gold tablet was actually a foundation deposit. Restorations of the text have been made from a silver tablet, a photograph of which I have been able to use owing to the kindness of Dr. Campbell Thompson.
The Supernatural in the Popular Belief of the Gilgit Region
Authors: Lorimer D. L. R.
Published: March 2011

Gilgit offers a rich field to the student of Folklore, and one which up to the present has been only partially worked.
The Text of the Buddhacarita Cantos IX–XIV, 32
Authors: Johnston E. H.
Published: March 2011

In the Journal for April, 1927, pp. 209–26, I published some notes on the text of the first eight cantos of the Buddhacarita in the light of the old MS. in Nepal and of the Tibetan translation as edited and translated by Dr. Fr. Weller. The second part of the latter work has now appeared, containing the Tibetan text of cantos ix–xvii and the translation of cantos x–xvii, the translation of canto ix, which has gaps in the Sanskrit, being apparently reserved for further consideration. The notes in this part are full and careful and will be found of great help to all interested in the restoration of the Sanskrit text. We have every reason, too, to be grateful to Dr. Weller for undertaking the difficult task of translating the part from xiv, 33, on, for which no Sanskrit text exists, and, though, inevitably, owing to the nature of the Tibetan translation if the Sanskrit text were to be discovered minor details in Dr. Weller's translation would be found to require modification, at least we can now see clearly how Aśvaghoṣa handled the story.
The Return of Marduk to Babylon with Shamashshumukin
Authors: Mullo-Weir Cecil J.
Published: March 2011

Professor Langdon has pointed out to me that the Assyrian text published in Ebeling, KAR., No. 360, bears a close resemblance, alike in diction and in subject-matter, to Lehmann, Šamaššumukin, Taff. xxxvii f., edited in Streck, Assurbanipal, ii, 264–8, and it is almost certain that we have here two different but relạted accounts of the return of the god Marduk to Babylon with Shamashshumukin, in 668 B.C. In the following interpretation of KAR. 360, I am again very greatly indebted to Professor Langdon.
The Vannic Inscription of Nor-Bajazet
Authors: Sayce A. H.
Published: March 2011

In 1927 an inscription of the Vannic King Rusas I was discovered by the Armenian Archæological Commission at Nor-Bajazet on Lake Gotcha. Its decipherment has been attempted by several Armenian and Russian Vannic scholars and it has been made the subject of an interesting article by one of our leading Hittite decipherers, Professor Friedrich (Archiv Orientálni, iii, 2, p. 257). Unfortunately the younger decipherers do not always show themselves acquainted with the older work on the subject or with the script and character of other forms of cuneiform. Nor do they always remember that common-sense is a necessary preliminary to any attempt at the decipherment of ancient texts.
“The Combat of Death and the Most High”: A Proto-Hebrew Epic from Ras-Samra
Authors: Gaster Theodor Herzl
Published: March 2011

The text which is here presented is part of a long mythological poem inscribed in alphabetical cuneiform upon clay tablets found at Ras-Samra. This portion of the text was published by Virolleaud in Syria, October, 1931, together with a transliteration into Latin characters, a French translation, and brief notes. It is here transliterated into square Hebrew characters, translated into English, and furnished with a commentary. Needless to say, this fresh edition owes more than can be adequately expressed to the pioneer work of Virolleaud, whose philological interpretations have been largely adopted. It appeared, however, that there was still room for further interpretation of the text along purely mythological lines, and that several allusions could still be explained. Moreover, there were quite a few passages where philological treatment from a different angle would seem to throw light upon obscurity. In none of these matters can finality be claimed; one can but suggest. And it should especially be remembered that at the moment only one portion of a large text is to hand. One may hope that the great French scholar may see his way to letting us have the remainder without undue delay.
Human Remains from Jemdet Nasr, Mesopotamia
Authors: Field Henry
Published: March 2011

During the past ten winter seasons the Field Museum – Oxford University Joint Expedition has been conducting archæological excavations on the site of the ancient city of Kish, which according to the texts, was “the first city founded after the Flood”.
A group of Arabic–Latin translators working in northern Spain in the mid-12th century
Authors: Burnett C. S. F.
Published: March 2011

In his classic study of the transmission of Arabic science into Latin, which contributed so much to our knowledge of the “Renaissance” of the 12th century, Charles Homer Haskins was the first scholar to bring into clear focus the morass of bibliographical information given by Wüstenfeld and Steinschneider, and he was able to define, on the basis of fresh investigation of the manuscript material, the activity and personalities of individual translators. The bulk of his evidence rested on the translators' prefaces, which give some or all of the following information: the title and author of the Arabic original, the Latin translator, the dedicatee, and other works by the same translator, whether contemplated or already finished. Such information provides a very useful framework for assessing the œuvre of a particular translator. However, the edition and investigation of the texts themselves have yielded a certain amount of new information and, although Haskins's work has by no means been superseded, we are now in a position to clarify certain points and add to his conclusions.
The Alfonsine school of translators: Translations from Arabic into Castilian produced under the patronage of Alfonso the Wise of Castile (1221–1252–1284)
Authors: Harvey L. P.
Published: March 2011

In the course of this seminar we have learnt, for example from Dr. Latham's paper, how fruitful it is in considering problems of cultural and linguistic contact to focus on one point, even if that point is only the size of the top of a pimple. I am going to do just the opposite, and to cover a very wide area, and I am conscious of the risks which I run in dispersing my attention in this way, but I hope that what I will say will give us the opportunity to go back over a number of themes dealt with in other papers. I am thinking in particular of what Dr. Daniel said, but indeed I might also be thinking of those classical marble columns which we were shewn stuck upside-down in alien façades: striking examples of the completely different meaning which a cultural element can assume when transmitted from one cultural realm to another.