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MAY, 1887.]
which had occurred on the day before (September 26th). After some touching remarks from the President, Prof. von Roth, on the personal character of that great pioneer of Indian philology in Europe, the members honoured his memory by rising from their seats.
MISCELLANEA.
Tuesday, September 28th.-The second sitting opened with a most valuable paper from Dr. R. Hoernle, who exhibited a very ancient Bakhali MS. scarcely later than 1,000 A.D., important both for the archaic form of the Sarada character, in which it is written, and its contents. It was discovered a few years ago in the Pañîjâb, and expounds one of the ancient systems of Hindu arithmetic, remarkable for many of its technical features, as e. g. its peculiar use of the sign + for
minus.
Prof. Lignana, of Rome, followed with a paper in Italian on those puzzling figures of Vêdic mythology, the Navagrah and Dalagudh. After a careful examination of the passages in the Rigveda, from which light as to their real character might be gathered, Prof. Lignana traced some affinities between these mythological conceptions of the Vedic Aryans and certain obscure Italian divinities, the names of which appear to be preserved only in the epigraphic remains of the Marsi and Volsci.
The next paper, read by Prof. P. Hunfalvy, of Budapest, treated of the origin of the Roumanian Language, a much contested question, which was further discussed by Profs. Ludwig and Hasdeu.
Captain R. C. Temple then gave a short account of his edition of the late Dr. Fullon's Dictionary of Hindustant Proverbs, explaining the method pursued in carrying out the work and reporting the progress made. Prof. Weber expressed his satisfaction at Captain Temple's publication, as being the first step towards the fulfilment of the wishes of the previous Con. gress."
A short paper on the Sanskrit names of precious stones, communicated by Dr. K. Glaser, of Trieste, as a specimen from his glossary of old Indian natural history terms, concluded the proceedings of this day's sitting.
Wednesday, Sept. 29.-In opening the third sitting the President announced the completion in print of Dr. Bühler's new Translation of Manu, which was about to be issued as one of the volumes of Prof. Max Müller's Sacred Books of the East.
Prof. E. Leumann, of Strassburg, next made some interesting remarks on the MS. of the
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Angavijjd, which Prof. Bhandarkar had brought over from India to lay before the Congress. Prof. Leumann pointed out that the MS. is of very high interest, as it probably belongs to a group of Jain texts altogether different from the canonical texts, represented by the Angas, Upangas, etc. The Angavijjd seems to range in age with the Angas, and to refer to the previous sacred literature (called Púrvas or Puvvas) by the words standing at the head of each chapter: viz. ahapuvvam khalu, etc., which Prof. Leumann takes for yathd-púrvam khalu, etc. As nothing is more desirable than some new light thrown on these old Parva texts, which have been lost for centuries, the importance of a text like the Angavijjd, is sufficiently evident. The MS. in question is, however, not complete, and gives, perhaps, only the last third of the whole Angavijjd.
Prof. H. Jacobi, of Kiel, followed with an extremely suggestive paper on Jainism and the worship of Krishna, a somewhat full abstract of which is sure to meet with ready acceptance on the part of our readers. Prof. Jacobi pointed out that Buddha and Mahavira may be looked upon as founders of monastical orders, caring little for the religious needs of the laity. But, as an order of monks cannot exist without a lay community devoted to them, it afterwards became a necessity to provide for laymen a creed and cult suitable to their moral and religious condition. This necessity must have made itself still more felt when the order spread beyond the country of its origin. Now, the chief propagation of Jainism seems to have taken place about the middle of the third century B. C. under Aryamahagiri and Suhastin, the latter of whom converted Kunala, the grandson of Asôka; because the list of theras in the Kalpasútra ascribes more disciples, ganas, kulas, and sákhás to these théras than to any others; and from the names of some kulas and bakhas we may conclude, that the new creed had then spread over the valley of the Ganges and beyond as far as Surashtra. In this tract of country there flourished, as stated by Megasthenes, the worship of Krishna, which was, at that time, scarcely touched by Brahmanical theology; and in order to make converts in great numbers, the Jain monks had not only, as they were wont to do, to tolerate the popular belief, but even to blend it with their own creed. According to the Jains, Krishna was a relation of Arishtanemi, the 22nd Tirthakara; and in the history of that prophet is related the whole Legend of Krishna, differing in some details only from that which is given in Brahmanical sources.
⚫ See Proceedings of the Sixth Congress at Leyden, Vol. I. pp. 160, 296.
