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MISCELLANEA.
OCT. 4, 1872.]
la or Jaimur on one hand, and into Chaul on the other. And Ptolemy says the natives called it Timylla (Tiamylla?).
It was probably also the Sibor of Cosmas, as the order of his names indicates, rather than Supara.
Supâra, on the other hand, appears to correspond exactly to the Swally of our old traders, the Bandar of Surat, north of the Tapti. Supâra is represented by Lassen to be a corruption of (Sanskrit) S'urpâraka "Fine shore." Is Swally a Hindu name, in which case it might be a surviving trace of Supâra, or is it only the Arabic Suwahil, "shores"? I have seen the latter suggestion somewhere, but on the other hand Supâra is called Sufálah by Abulfeda, which comes near Swally. And Langlois quoted by Rienaud, says that Supâra or Sufalah "answers to the place called by the Sanskrit writers Subahlika," which comes nearer still. Gildemeister says of Sufalah "de cujus situ omnis interiit memoria." But if Swally is Sufâlah, its memory is not clean perished. Supera is mentioned by Friar Jordanus, a contemporary of Abulfeda's, who was there as a missionary. This is perhaps the latest mention of the name in that form.
5. Perhaps few readers of the Antiquary, though it is published at Bombay, know that four Francissan missionaries, corrades of the said Jordanus, suffered martyrdom at Thanna, at the hands of the Musalman " Melic', or Governor, in 1321. The story is told at length by Friar Odoric a few years later.
3. Cosmas mentions as exported from Kalliana (near Bombay) sesumin logs (a oncard). The Periplus also names among exports from Barigaza "spare of sasamin and ebony" (paλayyar savaμirar xas iẞaviva). And Kazwînî (in Gildemeister, p. 218) quotes some verses on the products of India by one Abuldhali of Sind, in which are mentioned "arbor Zingitana et såsim et piper. No commentator to my knowledge has explained what this timber is. But is it not manifestly sisû, or as it is more usually called (at least in upper India) shishamn? If I am right in supposing the blackwood of Bombay to be a kind of sisû, we see how old the export is, What is the Arbor Zingitana (shajar-al-Zanij) in the last quotation? Can it be ginger? A Sanskrit etymology is assigned to the word zingiber, but the medieval map of Marino Sanuto (circa 1320) connects the name and article with Zinj or Zanzibar. H. YULE, Colonel.
Palermo, August 28th, 1872.
SUPARA.
ALBIRUNI says, from Bahruj to Sindan is 50 parasange; from thence to Subarah 6 parasangs; and from thence to Tanah is 5 parasangs. Had he given these distances as 40, 16, and 5 respectively they would have agreed remarkably well with the distances from Bharuch to Sanjân 106 miles in a
*Reinaud, Frag. Arab. et Pers. p. 121.
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direct line, Sanjân to Supârâ near Wasâi (N. Lat. 19° 25'; E. Long. 72° 55') 41 miles, and from Supârâ to Thânâ 17 miles. The last distance, however, is so nearly 5 parasangs, and the distance from Bharoch to Suparâ so nearly 56, that it can scarcely be doubted that Supârâ is the Subarah of the Arabs and the Soupara of Ptolemy.†-EDITOR.
THE GAULI RAJ.
I see in the Indian Antiquary page 258, some remarks by Mr. Ramsay on my suggestions about the Gâuli Raj. Monuments similar to those that he mentions are very common in that corner of Khandesh which lies on the head waters of the Panjara River west of Pimpalner. I believe that the Bhills erect them both of stone and wood at this day, but had no time when I was there to go into the subject. The favourite figures are horsemen and warriors, and a curious symbol like "the young moon with the old one in her arms." I do not know whether it represents that or the Sun and Moon.
With reference to Mr. Ramsay's concluding remarks I must point out that I have "conjured up the ghost of some lost dynasty" with some success, as I have induced hira to contribute the Chindwârâ legend to the stock of published information on the subject. And when he guesses "that at some past time the upland plains of the Sathpuras and adjoining lands were chiefly occupied by shepherd tribes," I think he is more open than I am to chaff about the ten lost tribes of Israel.
Tribe or dynasty, they are gone, and it is the totality of their disappearance that leads me to believe that they cannot have been a nation, for that seldom perishes utterly, while it has been often seen in Europe and Asia that a mighty dynasty can collapse.
"And like the baseless fabric of this vision Leave not a wrack behind."
W. F. SINCLAIR.
ON GOMUTRA.
THE remarks recently made before the Asiatic Society of Bengal by Babu Rajendralâla Mitra with regard to the use of beef among the Hindus of ancient days, seem to have startled a good many, and have suggested an inquiry as to the period at which the cow come to be regarded as a sacred animal in this country. As a contribution to this enquiry, it is perhaps worthy of note that one of the "products of the cow" appears to have been held sacred in the days of Patanjali. In his commentary "Gomûtra on Pânini I., 4 96, occurs the sentence. syapisyât which may be rendered,-" Might there be [a drop] at least of Gomatra ?" This looks very like an inquiry by one who holding the "mutra" sacred, required it for purposes of purification. Now the date of Patanjali has been ingeniously fixed by the late Dr. Goldstücker in the middle of
† See my Notes of a Visit to Gujarat, p. 18.
