Indian Antiquary Vol 59

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

Page 48

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[ FEBRUARY, 1930
BOOK-NOTICES. FALAK-I-SHIRWAN. HIS TIMES, LITE AND WORKS, excluded, leaving a balance of 1197, es previously
by Hadi Ilasan. James G. Furlong Fund. mentioned. Vol. VI. The Royal Asiatic Society. 1929.
From the poems of Falaki which have been quoted
and translated by the editor in this introductory This short fasciculus of 96 pages constitutes an
fasciculus, it is impossible to form a high opinion of introduction to an edition of the complete extant
Falaki's poetical merite. A fairer estimate of their remains of an early Persian poet, who lived in the
value may perhaps be formed when the whole works first half of the twelfth century and was a pupil of
are available en masse. This introduction is certain the great poet Khaqani, who lived from 1106 to
ly a first-rate piece of work. The manner in which 1185 A.D. It is not possible to fix the date of birth
such diverse questions as the date of Falakt's death, or death of Falaki with any accuracy, but it is clear
his relations with Khaqant, and the correct name of from Khaqani's reference to him that he died young
the Shirwan king who imprisoned Khaqani- this is and that the date ordinarily accepted for his death
shown on metrical grounds combined with evidence (577 A...) is much too late. Like his master, Falaki
from the Georgian chronicles to have been AkhBAWas & court poet of the small principality of Shir.
tan-and to whom Nizami dedicated his LailA and wan or Sharwan, which lay between the Christian
Majnon, and many other debateable pointe have kingdom of Georgia and the Caspian Sea.
been handled, must command no small degree of There is no preface or introduction to this little
admiration from those who are interested in book. The reader is left without any information
Oriental scholarship. as to the personality of the author, who does not
R. P. DEWHURST. explain how and why his attention was attracted to the works, of no great quantity or quality, of & BULLETIN DE L'ECOLE FRANCAISE D'EXTREME comparatively insignificant poot, who, like 'Umar ORIENT, Tomes XXVI, XXVII. 11x7; pp. 552 Khayyam, was primarily an astronomer. There
and 703. Hanoi, 1927 and 1928. can be no doubt, however, that Mr. Hadi Hasan
These Bulletina, replete with matter of value to (assuming this not to be a nom de plume) is &
all scholars interested in the Far East, maintain the competent and trained scholar, with a thorough
high standard for which they are so widely known. knowledge not only of the Persian language and
Volume XXVI is dedicated to the memory of literature but also of western methods of criticism
M. Charles Maybon, whose zealous and fruitful and the use of manuscripte. He shows a marked
labours in various capacities were prematurely cut interest in questions of history and particularly of
short in that year through a fatal accident when he chronology. Chronological points arising out of
was on leave in France. The contents include a the poems are handled with great skill and acumen.
French-Mán dictionary, being an important study The way in which it is proved that two particular
of the language of the Kim-di-mun, 'the people who codes of Falaki must have been written in the years
live at the foot of the mountains,' in Tonkin and the 521 and 522 A... is most interesting and also quito
adjoining Chinese territory, by M.F. M. Savina of the convincing. On some historical points aid has been
Société des Missions Etrangers of Paris, and a selecobtained from numismatics.
tion of three Japanese lyrical dramas, with a trans. The text of Falaki as determined by the present literation of the Japanese text, & translation in editor consists of 1197 couplets, 70 more than are French and numerous annotations by Lt.-Col. Re. included in the longest extent collection, viz., that nondeau. In addition to these longer articles, we which is contained in a manuscript in the Munich have an interesting noto by M. Henri Marchal on library. This Alunich dlwan comprises 20 qasidas
certain peculiar architectural features of the Nak in alphabetical order. 3 tarkib-bands, one prison
Pan remains, not observable elsewhere in Cambodia, poem, o quatrains and some ghazals and fragments,
and a description of excavations at two sites at Amounting altogether to 1135 coupleto. Three of
Quang-binh in Annam written by the late M. L. these couplets, however, oceur twice over, and if we
Aurousseau, whose sad death since we deeply subtract these and two coupleta proved to belong
deplore. to Shams-i-Tabriz (i.e., to Maulana Růmi) and three attributable to Qatrân, a balance of 1127 is left.
In volume XXVII Col. Renondeau continues his In addition to the couplets found in the Munich
study of Japanese lyrical dramas, adding five more diun, a collection of 108 couplets attributed to
plays to those published in the preceding volume. Falaki has been made by the editor, mostly from two
The following article by M. Henri Parmentier forms
the eighth of his serios of Notes on Indo-Chinese MS. copies of an anthology arranged by Taqiu'udin
Archæology and deals with the modifications under KAshi in 985 A.H., which are in the British Museum
gone by the Bayon in the course of its construction. and in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.
In anticipation of a larger work which he contem. This would have given an aggregate of 1235, but plates, M. Parmentier sets forth in this article out of this one couplet has been omitted as assign- reasons for holding that the Bayon as extant differs able to Adib-i-sabir, and a whole prison-poem of 37 from the edifice originally planned and that numecouplots attributed to Sa'd 1. Salman has also been rous religious elements of the decoration have boon