Indian Antiquary Vol 48

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 20

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[F#BRUARY, 1919
A. Vivien de Saint-Martin, the father of the geography of Ancient India.-(a) His Btude sur In géographie et les populations primitives du Vord-ouest de l'Inde d'après les Hymnes Védiques (Paris, 1860) is the sole work on Vedic geography. Its treatment is masterly in the extreme. But as he relied solely on M. Langlois's French translation of the Rigreda-"a version which does not seem altogether to have commended itself to later interpreters"-and as much Vedic research has been done since that time, it is necessary to revise this Étude.
In his (b) Etude sur la géographie Grecque et Latine de l'Inde, et en particulier sur l'Inde de Ptolémie and (c) Mémoire Analytique sur la carte de l'Asie centrale et de l'Inde (appendedi to Vol. III of Julien's translation of Hwen Tsiang, 1888), he critically examined the classical and the Chinese sources. "His identifications have been made with so much care and success that a few places have escaped his research and most of these have escapeil only because the imperfection or want of fulness in the maps of India rendered actual dentifications quite impossible" (Cunningham's ASR., II, Preface, p. 85).
5. Sir Alexander Cunningham, the father of Indian archæology. He came to India as a "Royal Engineer." The influence of Prinsep-"the decipherer of the early Indian Alphabets"--made him to fix his eyes on the antiquities of this country. In 1861 he *pplied to Lord Canning to sanction an "archæological survey" which he justly showed in letter to be the only means for the reconstruction of an account of Ancient India. He was appointed the Archeological Surveyor in January 1862; but as after a few years the post was abolished, he went home and produced the Ancient Geography of India, Vol. I (1871). In it he gave a summary of the results of V. de St. Martin and Lassen revised and corrected in light of his own researches and discoveries due chiefly to his vast travels in this country-an advantage which the earlier writers did not possess. Thus he brought to a focus the then accumulated knowledge into a single English volume which is still the work to which every student of this subject has to refer to. But it must be borne in mind that
(a) Cunningham (following St. Martin and Julien) gave in most cases the proposed restorations of foreign sounds as the Skr. names. Though nothing more than this could have then been possible, it is clear that such restoration of a Greek, Latin or Chinese transcript of an Indian proper name could not always be identical with the original one. Hence one ought to search for the original names from Indian sources and there is no doubt that they would eventually be found out. Thus Pâqini furnishes Kapiti (IV. 2. 99), Sankala (IV. 2. 75.), Varru (IV. 2. 103; IV. 3. 93), Parvata (IV. 2. 143), etc.--the Sk, forms of Kapisene, Sangala, Fa-la-na, Po-lo-fo-ta, etc. [IA., Vol. I, p. 21). Kasikâ supplies Ayomukhi (A-ye-mu-ka'). Rajatarangini mentions Udabhânlapura. (Wu-to-ka-han-tu). Vinaya Texts ii, 38 and Jataka iv, 30 supply Kajai gala (Cunningham's Kajughira). Inscription No. 14 of EI. VI shows that the Skr. form of Kong-yu-to is Kongoda and not Konyodha us given by Cunningham.
(b) In utilising the accounts of Fa Hian and Hwen Tsiang--undoubtedly his chief sources-- he took 6 li of Hwen Tsiang as one mile and one yojana of Fa Hian to be 675
niles. But later researches have shed much light on this subject causing a scrutinization of his work.
(c) Cunningham usually says that Hwen Tsiang made mistakes when his evidence is not in accord with what he (Cunningham) wishes to prove. It is very easy to say that