Indian Antiquary Vol 02

SR No.: 032494
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 428
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 233

JULY, 1873.]
MISCELLANEA.
213
ahań nian gohan gamissam, it would be doubtful whose house was meant. With keraka it is very different; in many instances it is absolutely superfluous; as in kassa kerakan edan pavahanam, * whose is that carriage' P which is absolutely iden. tical with kassa edar pavahanan.
I am indebted to Dr. Pischel for pointing out the inaccuracy in the word bhramarkao, which of course ought to be bhamarako. It is inexplicable to me how it escaped me. Such slips will happen to most writers.
DE. A. T. RUDOLF HOERNLE. Benares, May 1878.
Who on King Nala's neck let fall the wreath of
victoryan appropriate reference to the Naishadha, which concludes with the description of Damayanti's Svayamvara.
F. S. GROWSE. Mathurd, May 11, 1873.
DISCOVERY OF DIES. A Soni at Umreth, a town in the Kaira Zilla, was charged with receiving stolen property. The police in searching his house found four dies: two of them Muhammadan, impressions alone of wnich have been forwarded to us. They are from 0-98 to 1 inch in diameter. The legend on the obverse one, as read by Professor Blochmann, is
شاي ما لم پادشای فازي
Shah Alam Padishah i Ghazi; on the one for the reverse is
میمنت مانوس
ضربه سنه ۳۸ جلوس
Struok in the year 48 of the auspicious accession.
As Prof. Blochmann remarks, they represent "a coarse type of modern Shah 'Ålams as still struck by native princes, chiefly in Rajputana. As Shah Alam was the last (historical) Mughul om. peror, his name is continued on coins."
The other two when first found were so encrusted with rust and dirt, it was not clear there was any engraving on them, but a little Washing and brushing revealed figures and legends. We are enabled to print these directly from the dies themselves.
SRI HARSHA, AUTHOR OF THE NAISHADHA.
As a slight contribution to the discussion that has arisen regarding the date of the poet srf Harsha, it may be interesting to note the place assigned him by the Hind: bard Chand, writing at the end of the 12th century after Christ. At the commencement of his great epic poem, the Prithirdj Rdea, he gives a list of the most eminent writers, his predecessors, with brief allusions to their principal works. The catalogue includes only eight names, which are evi. dently arranged in what is intended to be chrono. logical order. First comes is the great mythical mouths, Sesh någ, the author of the universo; second, Vishņu, who revealed the Veda; third, Vy&sa, the composer of the Mahabharat ; fourth, Sukade ve, who recited the Sri Bhagavat; fifth, Sri Harsha, author of the Naishadha; sixth Kalid&sa, to whom is ascribed the popular work, in mixed verse and prose, entitled the Bho. japrabandha; Beventh, DandamAli, without reference to any special work, though doubtless the Dasa-Kumdra-Charita is intended; and eighth and last, Jayadova, who wrote the Guld Govinda.
From this it is clear that Ohand regarded the Naishadha as & poem of considerable antiquity; and writing in the twelfth century he is presumably so far a better authority than Raja Sek. hara, who wrote in the fourteenth. Mr. Beames has attempted a translation of the passage to which I refer (reprinted in the Ind. Ant. vol. I. p. 318), but it is not very accurate, and he has omitted as unintelligible the line in which Sri Harsha's name ocorrs, adding in a note that he does not know what the allusion is. The couplet is :
नररूप पंचम्म श्रीहर्ष सार
नलेराय कंठं दिन शुद्ध हार॥ which may be thus literally done into English:
SH Harsha fifth, preëminent in arts of poesy,
SOV
200
BAS
rea
They represent clumsy imitations of the impress on Venetian sequins. The legend round the Madonna ought to be
REGIBISTE DVCA.
BIT.T.I.PE.DAT. Q.TV. That down behind the Apostle on the other side of gennine coins is
8.M. VENET And behind the 'Doge' ought to be his name: one before us reads 'PET - GRIMANI.' Prof. Blochmann mentions a forged one in the Calcutta Mint cabinets reading IO AN. CORNBL and a genu.
who
• No allusion to this work oan be traced in Mr. Beames' translation, who rendore the line meaning simply composed the chronicle of King Bhoja' by 'who firmly bound the dy