Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 59
Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications
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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JUNE, 1930
BOOK-NOTICES. A HISTORY OF MUGHAL NORTH-EAST FRONTIERtant information in regard to the complete sub
POLICY, being a Study of the Political Relationjugation of the Bengal and Orisss zamindårs during of the Mughal Empire with Koch Bihar, Kamrup Jahangir's reign, furnishes a mass of detail in respect and Assam, by SUDHINDRA NATH BHATTACHARYYA, of the campaigns in Kamrup and its vicinity during M.A. 81x51 in. ; pp. xxv + 434, with map. the years 1612-24, in which the author himself took Calcutta, 1929.
& prominent part. In chapters IV and V, Professor The only comprehensive historical account of the Bhattacharyya has made full use of this account, north-east frontier region hitherto published is that and in chapter VII, of the Fathiya--'ibriya of Shi. contained in Sir E. A. Gait's History of Assam. habu'd-din Talish. He has subjected all the availThe volume before us does not supersede that useful able Assam and Ahom buranjis to a thorough exam. work, but largely amplifies and supplements it in ination, as well as Dr. Wade's MS. History of Assam respect of the Mughal period, and incidentally eug in the I. O. library. He has, besides, utilized all the gests some corrections, as a result of the fresh
relevant portions of the better known Persian material used and a more detailed examination of
histories and the scanty numismatic and epigraphica the local chronicles. The scope of the work, in the
evidence bearing upon the area concerned. The author's words, is primarily that of "& political result is a valuable contribution to the history of the narrative, in which the origin, progress and result north-east frontier in Mughal times. The appendices of an interesting phase of Mughal history, i.e.,
contain a useful chronologien summary, lists of Muchal foreign policy in the north-east frontier of kings and an exhaustive bibliography. The index India, has been described in as exhaustive and
is fairly full, and the map, though not complete, is
is fairly systematic & manner as has been found possible." very helpful. The defects due to "rushing into This being the avowed object, the first two chapters,
print" will, no doubt, he rectified in the next dealing with (1) the land, the people and their early
edition. history, and (IT) the pre-Mughal Muslim relations
C. E. A. W. o. with north-eastern India, are comparatively brief. In chapter II, however, the author puts forward UNE GRAMMATRE TIBÉTAINE DU TIRÉTAIN CLASSIQUE. certain conjectures as to the campaigns in this LES SLOKAS GRAMMATICAUX DE THONMI SAMquarter by Chiyânu'd-din Bahadur Shah, Muham- BHOTA, avec leurs commentaires, traduits du mad bin Tughlaq, Sikandar Shah and Chiyaou'd-din
Tibétain et annotée par JACQUES BACor. 10 x64 Azam, which, being based upon coin finds as yet
ini pp. iv. 4231 + 8 Plates. Paris : Geuthner. 1928. otherwise uncorroborated, cannot be accepted As In this work, which is published under the authofinally established. The bulk of the work deals rity of the French Ministry of Instruction, and with the period 1576-1682, or rather more than a forms one of the Annals of the Musée Guimet, century, falling within the reigns of the four great M. Bacot publishes for the first time the original Mughal emperors-Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan Rules of Tibetan Grammar laid down in the seventh And Aurangzeb commencing with Akbar's final century by Thonmi Sambhota, who, with the aid conquest of Bengal from the Afghan dynasty and of Indian Pandits, created the written language ending with the year in which the Assam king of Tibet. The object of their labours was to finally triumphed over the Mughals, and Kâmrüp translate the Buddhist scriptures into Tibetan. passed out of their hands for good. The sections of and for this purpose the language of the primitive these chapters (III to VII) den with more or less nomads had to be adapted to represent and translate distinct phases in the ever-shifting struggle for supre- the abstract metaphysical and technical terms macy. The headings prefixed to them tend to give of the later school of Indian Buddhism. The the impression that a fixed policy Was maintained result was a purely artificial language, bearing by the Mughal Court for definite periods of time, but little resemblance to the current speech of whereas the constantly changing local conditions the people, restricted to their simple life and and the variable conduct of the rulers, so often at requirements. As M. Bacot observes, classical feud between themselves, rendered continuity of Tibetan is not dend language, for it hnd never policy largely impracticable. Much depended, more. ived. over, upon the personal disposition of the Bengal Thonmi Sambhota embodied his Rules in 65 vioeroy. But this does not detract from the value short aphorisms or articles called, after Sanskrit of the historical matter that has been collected and analogy, klokas, though they are actually of varying arranged with great industry and much impartiality. length. His slokas occupy in Tibetan the position
The credit of first drawing attention to the value corresponding to the rules of Panini in Sanskrit, of what appears to be a unique manuscript of the
as the basis on which all subsequent Tibetan Bahdristan-s-Ghaibi, preserved in the Gentil collec.
grammarians have built. M. Bacot gives the tion in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, lies with manuscript of Thonm Sambhota's Slokas in 8 the distinguished historian, Sir Jadunath Sarkar, platee in photogravure, and also the Tibetan toxt who published an aonysis thereof in the JBORS., (pp. 167-177) and their translation, with an index vol. VII, pt. I. This work, besides giving impor- ! of the grammatical terms employed (pp. 76-107).
