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CORRESPONDENCE AND MISCELLANEA.
AUGUST, 1875.]
inhabitants of the West," the more so as Chrysostomos himself shortly after, in repeating his statement, tells us distinctly what he means by West, viz. all the countries from Thracia to Gades in Spain, καὶ ἄνωθεν τοῖς ἀπὸ Θράκῃς μέχρι Γαδειρῶν οἰκουσι κατάδηλος καὶ ἐπίσημος γέγονε, The substance of this passage I have given in Piper's words: "the Festival then came from the West to the East;" to enter more into the above details was not to the purpose of my essay. Finally I cannot find words strong enough to express my indignation at the tone in which Mr. Growso speaks of my remarks about the question of a connection between the Madonna-cult and the worship of Isis, saying "that they can scarcely have been introduced except from a wanton desire to give offence;" he seems not to be aware of the full import of these insulting words, which heap on the scientific as well as moral character of an earnest scholar the highest possible abuse and dishonour. The very fact that I am striving through "several long. columns" to get at the truth ought to have prevented Mr. Growse from throwing such foul dirt on my name. And this much the more as it is not at all, what he completely omits to mention, my own theory or hypothesis which he combats, for I am only quoting, and criticizing all the while, the opinions of others, viz. M. Raoul Rochette and Mrs. Jameson; and he ought therefore to have directed his wrath not against me, but against these distinguished writers, both of whom, on the other hand, ought certainly to be secure in their graves from such an affront, even if Mr. Growse. should be too much exasperated by that horrid idea to spare the living.
Allow me now to return also in a few words to my questions concerning Chaturanga in vol. I. p. 290. That Râdhâkânta the friend of Sir W. Jones and disciple of Jagannatha, mentioned by the latter as standing at the head of his school, in the introduction to the Vivádabhangárnava, v. 4 (see Colebrooke's Digest of Hindu Law, 1796; Madras, 1864, I. 1), is different from the celebrated author of the Sobdakalpadruma, is self-evident from what I have said already before, but I had not succeeded in getting any further particulars about him till lately I met in my own Catalogue of the Sanskrit MSS. of the Berlin Library, p. 359, with the following note by Sir R. Chambers, dated Sept. 16th, 1785: "Rådhâkânta Tarkavâgisa informs me that this book is Bhaktiratnávali." We have here before us not only the second name of this Râdhâkânta, but moreover a statement dated five years earlier than the paper of Sir W. Jones, and but two years later than the birth of Râdhâ
Allow me to correct here a slight mistake in the translation of my note as given on page 51, 1. 5, infra; "long
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kânta Deva. The questions regarding the Chaturangakriḍd itself are now keenly debated with us, as the beautiful and excellent work of Dr. Antonius van der Linde, Geschichte und Literatur des Schachspiels (two large vols., Berlin, 1874), has drawn to it anew the attention of the learned, as well as the public at large. It would be very welcome if any new information on this noble play, the invention of which does so much credit to the imaginativeness and speculative power of the Hindu mind, could be got from Sanskrit sources. Dr. Bühler informs me that the manuscript of the Manasollása in his possession (see vol. IV. p. 83), which contains a chapter on it, is too defective to admit of a restoration of the text.
I am, dear Sir, truly yours, A. WEBER.
Berlin, 13th April 1875.
COINS.
Sir D. Forsyth lately obtained some gold Byzantine coins (from A. D. 408-668) from the ruined cities round Kashgarh, and a few large and old Chinese coins, with very elaborate inscriptions not yet deciphered. The most interesting is, however, a coin with, on one side, a loose horse within a circle, and, on the margin outside the circle, a Bactrian-Pali inscription, which Mr. E. Bayley, from a rubbing sent to Calcutta by General Cunning. ham, reads as Mahárájasa rájadehrajassa Mahátakasa (Sp)aramayasa. The Sp is doubtful, but as the preceding word commonly occurs as a title of Spalirises in the coins hitherto known (Prinsep, ii. 204), there can, he thinks, be little doubt as to the correctness of the reading. But the curious point about the coin is that the other side is entirely filled with an inscription in old Chinese not yet deciphered. Among some silver Gupta coins obtained by Miss Baring at Faizâbâd, and presented by her to the British Museum, there is one very perfect Toramana, with a complete inscription and a date. This coin will be of interest, since Mr. E. Thomas's reading of the name Toramana on one of the coins of the later Gupta dynasty (Prinsep, i. p. 339) has recently been doubted by Prof. Kern. In Col. Gardner's collection of coins, which Mr. Bayley has examined, there are several interesting Kashmirian coins which supply four new kings: viz. Parva Gupta, Tribhuvana Gupta, Rama Deva, and Raja Deva, besides one or two names not yet deciphered. General Cunningham has been working at the Barahat Tope, and has now recovered all that has been preserved, including
afterwards" is a good deal more than "but at second hand", "erst secundär," as the original has.
