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MAY 3, 1872.]
NOTES, &c.
163
had the good fortune to know him personally will recollect the singular fascination he exercised upon all with whom he was brought into contact. During the last three or four years he was repeatedly prostrated by the attacks of a torturing malady, to which he had long been a victim, and to one of these attacks he has succumbed after protrated suffering. "The Sthavira Yâtrâmulle Dhammarama, of the Vanavasa monastery, on the 28th day of this month of January, in the last watch of the night, passed away to another world." Yåtrâmulle, at the time of his death, cannot, have been more than fifty years of age.
MR. W. SKEEN. WE regret to hear of the sudden death of Mr. W. Skeen, the author of " Adam's Peak," and who had in preparation an elaborate work on the listory of the Tooth Relic of Ceylon, which could scarcely have failed to throw much light on the history of Buddhism, both in India and Ceylon. His loss to the Ceylon Asiatic Society will be irreparable.
founded on the Agra MS., when his attention was directed to the Baidla MS. as the only one " which the noble families of Rajputana considered to be of any authority." Finding that he would be unable to do anything towards preparing it for the press before March or April 1873, he wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Bengal Asiatic Society on 3rd February 1872, from which we extract the following: -
"I am convinced that in an editio princeps of a work of this peculiar nature, which is mainly interesting to the philologist, it is imperative on an editor, having once secured a good MS., to adhere to its ipsissima verba, without the slightest attempt at alteration or correction. If I contique editor, I shall sinply make a faithful transcript of the Baidla MS., adding at the foot of the page the various readings which I find in the Agra copy. Now such a task, though laborious, is purely mechanical, requires no special knowledge and can be equally well perforined by any one who can read the character. I would therefore suggest to the Philological Committee the desirability of having the two MSS sent down to Calcutta and there made over to a native writer without engaging any regular editor, but simply having some trustworthy corrector for the press to add the varice lectiones and compare the proofs with the MS..... I am convinced that the adoption of the plan which I have suggested above, will obviate all cause for delay and secure a result in all respects as satisfactory as if the work had remained under my supervision."
The Philological Committee has resolved to recommend to the Council of the Society " that for the present the edition of Chand be deferred; but they have recommended also that on receipt of the Baidla and Agra MSS. a sum of about Rs. 200 be devoted to the collation of both MSS., the variæ lectiones of the Agra MS. are to be entered on the margin of the Society's Baidla MS." But the Committee do not think that it would be of much use to print any portion of Chand in the manner which Mr. Growse suggests, without separating the words, which is of course the greatest difficulty.
White and Black Yajur Vedas. It is worth noticing that the followers of the Black Yajurveda are almost confined to Southern India while the predominant or only Veda among the Gaudas of the North is the White Yajur. The Gujarat people have got a trace of one Sakhi only of the former, the Maitrayaniya Among the Marathas, the Chitpavana Brahmans are nearly equally divided between the Rigveda and the Black Yajurveda ; while the Des'asthas are Vájasaneyins (followers of the White) and Rigvedis. Whether this is to be accounted for by a revolution or some such event enabling the followers of the White Veda to drive their rivals to the South, or by the supposition of that part of India being the country of the origin of the Black Yajur is not determined. But there is a prophecy in the Agni Purána which represents the White Yajurveda as a conquering or triumphant Veda, saying that the only Veda that will prevail in the latter part of the Kaliyuga will be the Vájasenayaka"; all others being lost, and the purohita or priest of Kalki, the King that will overthrow the Mlechchhas, who will have overspread the earth, will be Yájnavalkya.t This latter, part of the prophecy occurs in other Puranas also. Yajnavalkya is the founder or first teacher of the White Yajurveda.
Why should not a census be taken of the several Vedas and Sakh&s, and of the most important sects of Theosophy or religious philosophy?
Note on Arachotis' p. 22. PROFESSOR Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar doubts if Archotis ought to be rendered in Zend Haraqaiti or in Sanskrit Sarasvati. He has the more reason for this doubt because Archotis does not belong to the Indo-European system at all, but conforms to the great group of ancient river names. Where these have any meaning in Sanskrit, as Zadu drus, for instance, it is accidental. The river names belong to an older group, and that of Archotis to a well defined class of roots in
Zadudrus is called in the Vedas S'ntudrl, which in Sanskrit has no satisfactory Etymology.
Publication of Chand. Mr. Growse, during the latter part of the rainy season of 1871, had begun an edition of Chand
Dasyavas s'ilahinkscha vedo Vajasaneyakah. + Kalki Vishnuyas'ab-putro Yájnavalkya-purohitah.
