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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[MAY, 1887.
this was accordingly done. The fame of the Janamtherefore, --should life and health be spared himSaleht lead to further inquiries in the same direc- not to translate the Sikh sacred writings, which tion in India, and two other works of a similar are exceedingly voluminous and tedious; but to import were discovered. Dr. Trumpp's Janam give lives of the Sikh Gurus, with translations Sakhi was not complete, nor was the one found by of characteristic passages from their writings, Mr. Macauliffe, but happily the lacuna of both and thus introduce what may be considered a were different, so that, what was wanting in one, curious and not unimportant chapter in the could be supplied by the other. This Mr. Macau- history of universal religion. Mr. Macaaliffe's liffe has done, and the work he has lithographed, is interesting communication was received with a complete reproduction of the earliest life of hearty applause by the assembled members. BADA Nanak. Mr. Macauliffe has also punctuated | The last paper read in this day's sitting was by the volume throughout, ning the diacritical marks Dr. Hanusz, of Vienna, on the dialect spoken in of European languages. He has furthermore, the Armenian colony of Kuty, Galizia. separated the prose from the poetry, and has given Saturday, October 2.-The Aryan Section conto each line of the latter separate space. Strange cluded its proceedings in a short sitting, which as it may seem, this is the first time that any of preceded the closing meeting of the Congress, the sacred books of the Sikhs has been thus pre- held at noon of the same day. sented to the public; and those who are familiar | Dr. M. Wintetnitz, of Vienna, read an essay, with the condition in which Eastern MSS. are in which he traced the numerous afinities between found, will appreciate the manner in which the the Sraddha ritual, of the Indians, as contained in Janam Sakht laid before the Congress has been the Griya and Dharma-Sútras, and the funeral lithographed. The ordinary lives of BABA NAnak cults of other Indo-European peoples. These read by his followers, are in no way trustworthy. affinities he treated as proofs of his supposition, They are overloaded with absurdities and puerile that the common origin of these cults is to be mythological details. The Sdkhí now reproduced looked for in funeral rites of the age of Indois by no means free from exaggerations; but on European unity. In the course of his interesting the whole it may be taken as the safest account of paper, the author also gave a detailed account of the life of that simple-minded peasant and founder the Ashtaka rites, based chiefly on the Vishnuof the Sikh religion. The speaker then referred smriti, the Grihyasutras of Baudhayana, Åpasto the facilities with which religious teachers in the tamba, Hiranyakaśin, and the Manavagrihyasátra, East were deified by their followers; sixty years and concluded by showing their identity with the after his demise Nanak was deemed a god. by his annual sacrifices to the manes of the early Indo..! enthusiastic followers! The late Keshab Chandar Europeans. Sen is now deified by several Indians, and the late Prof. Weber reported, that Prof. Romeo Selig. Dayananda Saraswati was declared by earnest mann, of Vienna, has finished his translation of disciples to be, even during his lifetime, an in- Aba Mansur Muwaffak's Liber fundamentorum carnation of the Creator, books being even pharmacologiæ, published by him in 1859 with published to establish that conclusion. To Dr. extensive and highly valuable prolegomena. Prof. Trumpp belongs the merit of being the first Weber enlarged on the importance of this er. European who really understood the Sikh re- cellent work, both for the history of the language Higion and traced it to its Buddhistio foun. (being one of the oldest specimens of Persian). dation; but his work can be considered only and the history of the medical science of the preliminary to what remains to be done towards | Hindus. the exposition of Sikhism. In the first place, Dr. Papers having been read by Prof. Hasdeu, on Trumpp translated only some out of the 31 Rdge the Turkish elements in the Boumanian, and by or metrical sections of the Granth, which itself Prof. Straszewska, on the growth of philoso contains only the writings of the first five Gurus. phical ideas in India and China, Prof. Bhan. Secondly, Dr. Trumpp's translation is not written darkar recited his complimentary Sanskrit poem in idiomatic language, and for this and other to the Section Tbeoons can never be a work suited for popular A vote of thanks to the presidents, proposed stady. Thirdly, his interpretations of the portions by Prot Lädwig, and carried by aoclamation, he has translated, are not accepted by learned fittingly terminated the last of the Seation's mon among the Sikhs. H. Macauliffe hoped, sittings.
