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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
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[NOVEMBER, 1890.
investigation much better, for himself and for his science, than by 'bringing up' so and so many Kavyas or Sastras.
G. BÜHLER. Vienna, 10th January 1890.
defective language and of its most objectionable contents, the Sukasaptati will never become a school-book.
NOTE. I have to add an additional note to the Review of Dr. Bhandarkar's Report for 1883-84, ante, Vol. XVIII. p. 184 ff.
With respout to the correct title of the Nilamata, I must add to my remarks on p. 188, that Kalhana calls the work twice (Rdjataramgin I. 179. 183) a Purana. It is thus not advisable to change the title, which has existed for more than seven hundred years.
As regards the Idar MS. of the Mahdbhashya. Professor Kielhorn has found that the calculation of the week-day clearly shews its date, Samvat 1514, to refer to the Vikrama era. Hence I am obliged to strike it off the list of the cases, where Sauvat seems to stand for SakaSamvat.
G. BÖHLER. Vienna, 10th January 1890.
VIER ERZAHLUNGEN AUS DER SUKABAPTATI. Sanskrit
und Deutsch. Von DR. RICHARD SCHMIDT. Kiel, C.F. Kaeseler. 1890. 8vo., pp. 52.
The Bukasaptati or the seventy tales of parrot' is a collection of short stories, which has obtained great popularity in India and other eastern countries through the medium of vernacular translations. Of its Sanskrit original, only the first chapter was hitherto known, from Lassen and Gildemeister's Anthologia Sanscritica. Dr. R. Schmidt, a pupil of Professor Pischel, is now engaged on a critical edition of the whole work, as a specimen of which he has just published the text of four stories, with various readings, and with a German translation. Most of the MSS. contain a testus simplicior, while an apograph from a MS. in the Tanjore Palace Library, which the editor received from Dr. Rost, represents a textus ornatior. Dr. Schmidt has printed and translated each of the four tales according to both redactions. An ancient Jaina MS. in the possession of Professor Lanman contains a third version of the text, which stands between the two others, and is probably the most faithful reproduction of the original. Dr. Sohmidt's promised edition of the whole work will be gladly wel comed, both by Sanskritists and by students of comparative folklore; though, on account of its
JOURNAL OF TEX CEYLON BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ABIATIO
SOCIETY. Vol. X. No. 85. 1887. Edited by H.O.P. Bell, C.C.S., Honorary Secretary. Colombo, Govt. Press, 1839.
There is no hurry about science in Ceylon evidently, for this number, dated 1887, was printed in 1889, and has reached us in 1890 !
The number opens with a very short account of the excavations of Mr. Boake, Ceylon C. S., at Tirukketisvaram, a ruined town or temple near the shore of the Gulf of Manaar, which is also known by the names of Mahatirtha, Matoddam and Mäntoddai. He does not appear to have found anything of historical value, except perhaps two unidentified copper coins, and the inscriptions appear to be all in modern Sinhalese.
This description is followed by an account of the temple by the Hon. P. Ramanathan, which connects Tirukketisvaram with Vijaya, who entered Ceylon in 543 B. O., and shews that in 700 A. D. it was a most flourishing temple. It is one of the two most sacred places of Hindu wor. ship in Ceylon, the other being Tirukkonamalai (Trincomalee).
The second article gives a translation, without the text, of an inscription of Bri-Parakrama. Bahu VI., dated in his-thirty-eighth year, i. e. 1448 A. D. It was found in the temple at Mopnisvaram.
This is followed by a short and interesting note on the Hill penkandura at Kandy by Mr. J. P. Lewis, Ceylon C. S. . This is a pilar with a basin at the top, so contrived that three persons can bathe under it at a time, and seems to have been used by the kings of Kandy for bathing pur. poses, as it was said to contain the best water in the neighbourhood. The supplying stream has now been fouled by dhøbts, and can no longer be used for bathing purposes.
An interesting contemporary account of the capture of Trincomalee by the Dutch from the Portuguese in 1689 is given in a translation from the journal of the Dutch Commander, Antonio Caen. And then follows a translation of Daalman's Notes on Ceylon in 1687-80, accompanied by most valuable notes on the text from the well-known pen of Mr. Donald Ferguson.
The number winds up with the publication of a posthumous paper, dated 1876, by the late
