Indian Antiquary Vol 58

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 150

140
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JULY, 1929
Senekrit. there is similarly & definitenes about the i Janapada would represent the grámas or townmeaning, "[the seal) of the Janapada of the grdmas ships, according to the Vivdda-ratndkara.3 Purikd. of Purikå.
grdma-janapada would mean the Janapada of the Purika is noted by the Purgas (Pargiter, The gramas of Purika (i.e., the Purikå territory). It is also Pundna Text of the Dynasties of Kali Age, p. 49; possible that the main Janapada represented local JRAS., 1910, pp. 445-6) as an ancient city which Janapadas in the Gupta times. In any case, this rose to be a small cepital after the disappearance of much is certain that Janapada was a body and that the Sungas of Vidis. Purika figures in the inscrip: in the Gupta times it was still a living institution. tions of Bharhut.
The Janapada office was located at the capital 2. 10 18 worthy of notice that Asoko refers to the Purika represented a small principality in its best Janapada of his time in the singular. days. Probably it remained & small unit under the Guptes.
K. P. JAYASWAL.
BOOK-NOTICE. The BAKASHALI MANUSCRIPT: A STUDY IN MEDLÆ- records, Mr. Kaye comes to the conclusion that
VAL MATHEMATICS. A.S.I., New Imperial Series, "all the evidence that the BakhshAli script gives vol. XLIII. By G.R. KAYE. 122 x 91;Pp. 156, vi; points to some time about the tweltth century, and with 4 Tables, 48 Plates of collotype reproduc- there is not a single type against this conclusion." tions, and some Figures in the Text. Calcutta,
and some Figures in the Text. Calcutts. He shows that the sloka measure was used in nume1927.
rous works on astronomy and mathematics up to The Bakhshali Manuscript, comprising a mathe
the 12th century. He thinks the dinara referred matical treatise written in the Narada script on birch to was the copper, and not the gold coin of that hark, was found at Bakhshali near Mardan in 1881.
name. What Dr. Hoernle regarded as peculiar The present volume contains facsimiles of the com.
characteristics of language he finds to be common plete text, as far as it remains, of the manuscript,
in Sårsdå inscriptions of the 11th and 12th centuwith a transliteration in the Roman character, an
ries; and he comes to the "tentative conclusion" important introduction and a detailed description
that the language of the manuscript is not appreof the script. In his introduction Mr. Kaye sur
ciably earlier than the script itself. veys the contents of the manuscript, analyses the Mr. Kaye has also pointed out a question that mathematical matter, describes the measures used appears to have escaped Dr. Hoernle that certain
of the are, of time, money, weight, length and leaves of the manuscript differentiate themselves capacity and then discusses the sources of the from the rest by a bolder and, on the whole, a better work and the probable age thereof and of the manu. style of writing, and present certain other distincscript preserved to us.
tive peculiarities. Though not convinced thas this At the time of its discovery this manuscript
section was the work of a separate author, he rather aroused much interest in Orientalist circles as it
suspects that it was : in any case it is pretty certain was thought to be of great age, and it was even sug.
that it was the work of a different scribe. The gested that it might prove to be one of the Tripita
mathematical contents have been dealt with in a kas which Kanishka ordered to be deposited in
manner that discloses the hand of an expert. Mr. stú pas. The late Dr. A. F. R. Hoernle, to whom
Kaye is to be congratulated on the completion of a
difficult and laborious task. the MS. was sent in the first instance, gave some
The volume forms a preliminary descriptions of it, the fullest of which
valuable addition to the records of the department. was published in vol. XVII of this Journal. He
The plates have been excellently produced. considered that, having regard to the find epot and
C. E. A. W. OLDHAM. the history of the frontier, it was at least older than the time of Mahmod of Ghazni, when that area
THE K. R. CAMA ORIENTAL INSTITUTE. was lost to Hindu civilization; that the characters Essay for the Sarosh K. R. Cams Prize of Rs. 500. used exhibited & rather archaic type"; that the The Executive Committee of the K. R. Cama use of the sloka measure pointed to a date anterior
Oriental Institute invites an Essay from Avestan to the 5th century A.D., when the drya measure
scholars for the above prize of Rs. 500 consuperseded the floka in the mathematical works of
taining "A lucid and thoroughly intelligible transthe Hindus ; that the language employed pointed to
lation in English of the following Yashte, in due & date not later than the 3rd or 4th century; and
scoordance with grammar and philology, with notes that the way in which the terms dindra and dramma
and comments wherever necessary." were used seemed to indicate that these coins formed
1. Abån Yasht 6. Meher Yasht the ordinary currency of the day, which also suggest.
7. Rashna ed a date within the first three centuries of our era. 3. Mah
8. Farvardin , He was of opinion, further, that the M8. probably
4. Tir
9. Råm preserved a fragment of an early Buddhist or Jain 5. Gosh
10. Din work on arithmetic, the manuscript itself being of
The essay bearing only the nom-de-plume of the later date. For these, and other, reasons Dr.
writer on the front page should be submitted to the Hoernle, though refraining from expressing & very
undersigned on or before the 31st December 1930. definite opinion as to the age of the manuscript, w86
The full name and address of the writer should be inclined to design it to the early centuries of the
submitted with the essay in a sealed cover bearing Christian era. Mr. Kaye joins issue with Dr.
only the nom-de-plume on the outside. Hoernle on all these points, and demonstrates the fallaciousness of many of his arguments. In the
172, HORNBY ROAD, JIVANJI JAMSHEDJI matter of the script, after a very full examination BOMBAY (INDIA),
MODI, and comparison of the types used in this and other 1st February 1929. Joint Honorary Secretary.
9. Hindu Polity, II, 79.
3 MT 4TH - C: p. 179, samúha the authoz defines by sangha (HE: , p. 182). Delo sangha was composed of grdmas or townships, p. 182. I have shown this identity of the Desa-sangha and Janapada, H.P., II, 67.
Khorshes Yashtcorsary."