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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[May. 1892.
präguna safety,' f. 5a* (but also pragunya ibidem ; perhaps a false reading). vsiti diagram,'' a dice-board,' f. Ib4.
spriha desire,'' envy,' fl. 27 (for sparha or spriha). To these words should be added all the technical names of groups of verses or throws of dice; thus:
navikli 'an eulogy', f. 166 (a vernacular form of Skr. navikų, from nava; see my
Gaudian Grammar, $ 195). paltabandha 'a decoration,' 'investiture,' fl. 2al. kalaviddhi 'the regulation of time,' fl. 2al, (apparently a synonym of vidhi; other
wise it would mean the piercing'). óápala 'imprecation,'' abuse,' A. 2a, (a bye-form of sápa). mali 'garland,' f. 2a4 (a vernacular form of Skr, málıká, cf. Prikrita Prukása V,
21, Hêmachandra III, 32, 34, and my Gaudian Grammar, $ 195). vahula 'manifoldness,' A. 2a5. kúta fa puzzle' (?), f. 261. Dhadrá cow,' fl. 263. sakti power,' f. 3a2. dundubhi 'kettle-drum,' A. 3a6. vrisha 'bull,' 364 préshya 'maid-servant,' f. 8b6. viļi "yellow sandal,' A. 4a3 (in the smaller Petersburg Dictionary; or perhaps for
víli 'a ball'). karna 'ear,' f. 4a5. sajá 'armoar' (?), f. 5a2 (perhaps for sajjá). kána or kúnatantra, f. 5a4 and 1. 5að (or kanatantra fl. 5ab), one eyed,' also
a crow.' chuchuna, meaning unknown, A. 561 (see below). . páñchi, fl. 5b3 or panchi A. 5b4 consisting of five' (see below).
khari 'she-ass,' 4. 565. As we shall see presently, all these words are technical names of certain throws of dice and of corresponding groups of verses. The meanings above given are merely the original meanings of the words, and in some cases they are doubtful: probably it matters little what the meanings were, or why the throws were so called. The main point is, that the words are names of certain throws of dice. Dundubhi is the only one among them which I have found noted in Sauskțit dictionaries in that sense : in the Petersburg Dictionary it is given as "the name of certain throws in games with dice.''
The subject of the manuscript I believe to be divination or fortune-telling by means of dice. The work is a small treatise or handbook for instruction, or for the guidance of adepts, in the art of prognostication. This art is to be exercised, as the introduction of the treatise shows, with the help of dice (prásaka), of which there are three, respectively named, or probably marked, with the figures of a pitcher (kumbhaka), a discas or wheel (arin), and an elephant (mnátanga). They are thrown on a diagram or board (oritt), divided into fields, which are marked with one of the four numeral figures, 1, 2, 3, 4. There must have been twelve fields, of which three were marked with the figure 4, three with 3, three with 2, and three with 1. So far as I can make out, the order in which these fields where arranged was immaterial. Every
• Pañchi or pañchild is at present used as the name of a game played with five-dice, and chufichult is given in the s akrit dictionaries AB game of hasard played with needs of tamarind, instead of dion,
