________________
871
DECEMBER, 1898.]
IN MEMORIAM GEORGE BÜHLER.
examinations. But it was in 1871-72 that we became intimate. The Bombay Asiatic Society was then publishing little, and at long intervals; and it occurred to me that, by using the grant it had from Government for the publication and inviting papers from many men able to contribute such in the numerous branches of Oriental research, the Society might publish every quarter, if not every second month. This proposal I brought formally before the Society's Managing Committee, urging it as a duty to use the funds granted for publication in this way, and pointing out the extent of the field. But the Secretary, Mr. Jas. Taylor (who had formerly been in the firm of Smith, Elder & Co.), pooh-poohed the proposal as chimerical. This led me to promise to attempt what the Society declined, and towards the close of 1871, I wrote to all the scholars I knew in India, asking whether they would support a monthly magazine on the plan of the programme of the Indian Antiquary. I had an immediate and encouraging response from several, including Dr. Burnell, Mr. Beames, Prof. R. G. Bhandarkar, Prof. Blochmann, Dr. Bühler, Mr. T. W. Rhys Davids, Mr. F. S. Growse, and others. Thus the Journal was commenced. Dr. Bühler sent me his first paper "On the Chandikâsataka of From that date we Bâṇabbaṭṭa" in March 1872, and it appeared the following month. started a correspondence which continued more or less regularly till the time of his lamented death. To the Indian Antiquary he was a warm friend and frequent contributor, and, during the thirteen years I edited it, I never appealed to him in vain when I wanted a paper: he commended it to his friends; and though so liberal a contributor, he insisted on paying his annual subscription for it, thereby testifying practically his anxiety for its success.
-
From 1885 our correspondence continued quite as regularly as before, and touched mostly on chronology, ancient geography, palæography and epigraphy. From the latter part of 1888 till 1894, his contributions to the Epigraphia Indica were also frequent and extensive Daring all these years we had much personal conference, meeting in Vienna, Edinburgh, London, Paris, and elsewhere, and I always found him the same, full of information drawn from all sources, enthusiastic about everything connected with Indian history and antiquities. His judgment was remarkably accurate and his knowledge of human nature instinctively clear, while his energy, wisdom and tact ensured success in whatever he undertook, and rendered his opinion one of great weight in any matter he expressed it upon. He was a true and valued friend as well as an accomplished scholar. His loss for the ancient history of India seems almost irreparable.
A NOTE ON DR. BÜHLER.
BY PROFESSOR MAURICE BLOOMFIELD.
PROFESSOR BÜHLER was an almost perfect embodiment of what might be called the pragmatic scholar. His work was full of action, but in all his varied activity he never lost sight of the highest scholarly ideals. He gave freely to all that camo of his advice and help. Whether it was necessary to search obscure catalogues for notices of manuscripts; to engage the co-operation of the Government officials in India; or to stir up a dreamy Pandit to the point of answering a letter, or parting with a manuscript in his possession; in all these and many other contigencies you might count upon his help given in the most cordial fashion. Yet how far was he from becoming the agent and business-man of others: he always remained the master. With all his wonderful grasp of the realities of India, and Indian life and history he never lost patience with the pains-taking closet-work of the philologist that is needed to secure a firm foundation for the reconstruction of the past. He was an ideal philologist: philologist and historian in one. Every Indian scholar, that is not a mere tradesman, is something of an historian, but the force of most of us is spent at the door of historical inquiry. To edit and translate, to restore and decipher, these are certainly important and unavoidable tasks; most of us are so busy with such labours as to be at times in danger of not seeing the forest for the trees that
